Teach me about Tea

Pfft... box-graters and monkey-grinders... these days we have wonderful, mystical devices called "food processors" to handle such mundane tasks with nigh-effortless speed and efficiency.

Bah! messy machines, those "food processors"... too many parts to clean!

mandolin

I needs to get me one

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*hugs thread*

oh hey, I didn't notice this had suddenly become a general food thread.

here's my go-to recipe for fast, quite delicious red sauce. You can make it in the time it takes the pasta water to boil. Almost as fast as heating up some canned or jarred sauce, and tastes a million times better. Got it out of Cook's Illustrated.

Yayy the food thread is back!!

*hugs thread*

So, last night we cooked brats & andouille sausage... more specifically...

• Punctured uncooked mild italian sausages with fork or small knife (about 3 punctures on two opposite sides) and placed in stewpot.
• Poured a decent beer over sausage (we used Blue Moon last night) to the point that they were immersed completely.
• Last night, I was in the mood for spicy, so I added some already cooked andoullie sausage on top (punctured slightly to impart some of their flavor).
• Topped the whole mess with 4 (small) cloves garlic chopped fine, small (or half a large) onion, & 2 "julienned" green bell peppers.
• Cooked, uncovered, on medium heat for about 15-20 min. We used the handy side burner on the bbq so as not to heat the house up too much (we had a balmy 95 degree day). Some of the andoullies 'sploded, but I was okay with that... just gave the stock some good flavor.
• A few minutes after putting the pot on, we put some foil wrapped corn cobs on the grill.
• When sausages were well cooked, we pulled them out and grilled them briefly just to give them some nice char marks.
• Sausages came out slightly crispy on the outside, but oh so tender on the inside. Served in slightly toasted buns & topped with the cooked peppers & onions.

Last night I made dinner for my girlfriend...

Can anyone teach me tricks or ideas related to pasta? We didn't know what sauce went with which noodle, so we picked an amalgam of things that "sounded good". What we ended up with was grape soda compared to wine; enjoyable but not full potential.

Any shopping tips for picking the best ingredients for a pasta dish? Some notes on what we did:

• Whole grain noodles. (We presumed this healthy)
• She and I disagreed on how much to salt the water. I said "Err on more than necessary". She found the idea of salt repellent inherently.
• I prepurchased spaghetti sauce. It was "Basil" themed. What sauce would have gone best? Should I have made my own?
• Italian sausage used for meatballs. Simple here. I just buttered the pan and let them fly.
• Parmesan cheese. Is this always a given? I assumed so.
• This all with garlic bread. Obviously.
• If I were to add a wine, would that work? Which would I pick?

Aha! I found Alton Brown's guide, it was in one of his Pantry Raid episodes. He starts talking about the various pasta shapes around the 3:30 mark (and the rest of the episode has some good advice and recipes).

Tea is drunk by one of the following two types of people:

1 - People who can't handle coffee.

2 - British villains.

Please note that these two groups sometimes overlap

Keep in mind that it was a fairly large batch (6 italian sausages, 6 andoullies) that fed 5 adults. You may want to adjust accordingly.

As for pasta... matching a sauce with a style of pasta can be fun. I generally think in terms of if the pasta will "hold" the sauce. If a sauce is thin, I tend to go with pastas that have more textures; rotini, tortellini, pene, etc., so that the pasta will hold the sauce to it. If a sauce is thicker or chunkier style, I go with straighter pastas. This is just my trial & error opinion... ymmv.

As for wheat pastas, as I understand it, they have more gluten in them, so they cook differently than the more common (semolina?) pastas. I think the trick is to really keep an eye on the pasta's "doneness" and pull and rinse in cool water as soon as you notice they are "al dente". Don't worry, the sauce will heat them back up for eating.

Salt in the water is mostly to help it boil faster, though it also does help bring out the pasta flavor a bit. I rarely use it. A bit of oil in the water will help keep the noodles from sticking to each other.

Sauce: I'm a cheater.... I have a proprietary sauce recipe from my dad. I mix the spices up in big batches, separate into packets and keep them in the freezer. When I need sauce, it's 2 x 14 oz cans of chopped tomatoes, 1 x 6 oz can tomato paste, & spice packet. Depending on my mood, I add sauteed veggies and/or sausage, & sometimes a little (4-6 oz) merlot or cabernet.

To kick up a commercial sauce, I might add some sauteed garlic, onions, green pepper.... or just sprinkle in some extra oregano/basil... add some red wine... sprinkle of ceyanne pepper... For creme sauces I'll sprinkle in some nutmeg (just a little)...

Have I confused you further?

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A quick note on olive oil.... older olive oil will develop bitter tannins... so don't let it sit around for too long. Make sure it is fresh & "clean" tasting.

This becomes very important if you are going to use it as a "stand alone" ingredient such as angel hair pasta with a bit of garlic, olive oil & parm.


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