Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Escaping the misery of January isn't easy sometimes-- it's been so damn cold that we are forced to wear multiple layers of clothing in our apartment. I'm cooking a lot these days, not just because school continues to be inspirational, but because moving and chopping and turning on the stove keeps me a little bit warmer.

I've always loved puttanesca sauce-- the salacious story behind it's name, the rich and salty flavors, how easy it is to throw together. But of course traditional puttanesca sauce gets some of it's complex flavor from anchovies, so it's not something this vegetarian can enjoy any more.

Until now, of course-- my version skips the anchovies in favor of kombu, which is a miraculous sea vegetable. Just like anchovies, when kombu is added to a dish it does not impart a sea-tang or fishy flavor, rather it simply adds that satisfyingly savory fifth taste: umani. Umani creates a meaty, mouth-watering, tongue-coating taste in foods. It helps foods that are low in fat taste more satisfying. Meat is, of course, full of umani, but so are tomatoes, mushrooms, olives and many fermented products like cheese. Kombu is available in it's dried form at Asian markets and in many upscale grocery stores in the Asian section. It's a great addition to your pantry-- try throwing a piece in your cooking water when you're cooking beans from their dried state. You'll be amazed. Got to love those sea vegetables!

I had such grand plans to make this sauce completely from scratch, beginning with gorgeous concassed Roma tomatoes (concasse is one of the many cuts I will be tested on in my Knife Skills Practical Exam), but of course the season had other ideas for me. The "fresh" (and I do use that term loosely) tomatoes at the market were hard and mealy and incredibly unappealing. Canned tomatoes it was, and I must say they worked out quite nicely. Without the concasse, this recipe came together in a snap, making it a perfect weeknight meal. If you still crave this hearty sauce when tomatoes are more in season, by all means use fresh Romas so you can practice your blanching and shocking and peeling and de-seeding and chopping.


Bain taitneamh as do bheil!


PREP TIME: about 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 20 minutes
SERVES: 4-6 people


INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 28 oz. cans whole tomatoes, drained and chopped into 1/2" dice (about 4 cups)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced kalamata olives
• 3 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 piece (approximately 4" by 1") dried kombu
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (1/2 teaspoon if you like things spicy)
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, roughly chopped, plus a few whole leaves for garnish
• 1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook spaghetti in a pot of salted water until just al dente. Drain, toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan that is off the heat, combine garlic slices and olive oil. Turn burner on low and gently warm oil until the surface begins to shimmer, taking care not to burn the garlic. (This is a trick I learned from Chef Peter, who claims that as the oil warms, it infuses the garlic and therefore makes it less harsh) As soon as oil is shimmering, add chopped tomatoes, olives, capers, kombu piece and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and bring mixture to a simmer.
3. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and tasting frequently, adding sea salt as necessary. (Because of the olives and the capers, this dish can get very salty. Taste often to determine whether or not you think the added salt is necessary).
4. Add chopped fresh oregano and a few cracks of the pepper mill. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes more.
5. Remove kombu and discard. (Or eat it-- it's pretty tasty, in my opinion...)
   
6. Toss cooked spaghetti into the sauce and keep on the burner for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce begins to cling to the pasta.
   
7. Garnish with whole oregano leaves and serve with a crusty piece of bread and a hearty red wine.
   

Multi-Grain Bread Machine Loaf

When I first moved into the city of Philadelphia, to a rather shabby apartment on 8th and Christian Streets, I had awesome downstairs neighbors. At first we didn’t have much contact with the pretty, hip woman and her lanky, New Zealand-accented husband other than brief pleasantries in the daytime and drunk salutes at night, but they seemed so cool and fun. They were starting up a dog walking business from their tiny apartment, so they were always super busy. One day I ran into the woman with a bread machine under her arm, ready to go outside for trash pickup. She confessed to me that it still worked just fine, but that she didn’t ever use it. And then she offered it to me and I gladly accepted.

Flash forward a few years—although we’ve long since left those dumpy apartments on 8th and Christian, we count Lindsay and Carrie as two of our very best friends. Lindsay and Carrie bought a beautiful house a few blocks from our new apartment, and their dog walking business has really taken off. And I still have that bread machine, and it still works just great. Oh, and if you live in Philly and have a dog, check out The Monster Minders. Lindsay and Carrie are great people, great dog walkers and great friends.

It’s taken a few years of experimentation with my bread machine, but I’m happy to report that I’ve hit upon a great recipe that produces beautiful, fluffy loaves of multi-grain bread on a consistent basis. Of course bread, whether made by machine or made by hand, is notoriously finicky. Variations in humidity, elevation, water temperature and star alignment (I’m kidding about that last one—kind of) produce different results. Not to mention that everyone’s bread machine is slightly different. For the record, my machine is a Welbilt Model ABM6900, and for this recipe I use the Basic 1 lb setting. This recipe is meant to be a basic outline, but you will have to do some experimenting with your own machine to get your loaves exactly right.

Never fear, though—should your loaves come out over-baked, hard and toothsome, there are uses for your rejects. Simply cut the bread into 1 ½” slices, remove the crusts from each slice and then cube the slices into 1 ½” cubes. Allow these cubes to become a little stale on your counter overnight (or on a baking sheet in the fridge, if you have a cat who prowls counter-tops like I do) and then freeze cubes in a large plastic bag. The stale cubes can be toasted and used for croutons, stuffing or the breakfast casserole recipe I’m going to post next week.

Using bread flour is essential for this recipe—loaves made with all purpose flour have the consistency of hockey pucks. I find that a 2 to 1 ratio of white bread flour to whole wheat bread flour yields the fluffiest results, but feel free to monkey with that ratio if you like chewier loaves. The seeds can be substituted for any other nuts and seeds you have around the house, just try to keep the proportions the same.


Bain taitneamh as do bheil!


PREP TIME: about 15 minutes, including proofing
COOKING TIME: will vary with your machine; mine takes about 2 ½ hours
SERVES: six to eight 1 ½” slices


INGREDIENTS:
• 2 ¼ teaspoons dry instant-rise yeast (one .25 ounce package)
• 1 cup warm water (no hotter than 114 degrees Fahrenheit)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups white bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsulphured blackstrap molasses
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon millet
• 1 tablespoon flax seeds
• ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

DIRECTIONS:
1. In the bowl of your bread machine, measure out yeast, sugar and warm water. Set in a warm place (on top of your stove or fridge) for ten minutes or so until the yeast blooms, becoming puffy and slightly fizzy.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bread machine bowl and place in machine, making sure it’s firmly connected to the base. (I’ve made that mistake before…) Run machine on its equivalent of Basic, 1 lb setting.

3. Remove bread from machine as soon as it’s cool enough to touch, and if a little damp on the bottom, lay loaf on its side on the counter for an hour to ensure that the bottom dries out adequately. Cut into thick slices for toast and sandwiches!

4. If your loaf doesn’t turn out this time or goes stale before you consume it all, simply cube and save in the freezer as directed above. And don’t despair if it’s not perfect right away—bread is tricky! Just experiment and enjoy. You’ll find the perfect bread formula for your machine soon, plus you’ll have bread cubes for next week’s recipe stocked away in your freezer.