Back in October when I fell off the Korean Drama bandwagon, there was a suggestion in the comments that I watch a show called Pasta. Needing something to do while I was on the elliptical machine in the gym, I once again thought, “Ah … just one episode”.
I’m 18 hours into it.
[mainbodyad]The problem with watching a show centered on Italian cooking is that 1.) everyone in this household cooks well, which is no secret, and 2.) a huge portion of the show is about fights or conflicts regarding dishes. In one, the chefs were arguing over whether the garlic should be chopped, minced, or sliced for a particular pasta dish, in another, judging the oil ratio of aglio e olio (that one’s not hard – Hazan’s rule of 1/3rd cup olive oil per pound of pasta is flawless).
This has led to me pausing the show for 45 minutes at a time while I go into the kitchen to try the different methods about which they are screaming. I’ve been testing the aglio e olio recipes, including going to the extreme on some of the flavor profiles just to see how far I could push a certain experience. The red pepper and sun dried tomato version tonight was so hot it burnt the outside of the lips; it felt like fire. I loved it, but it was too intense for general consumption. It’s now a normal thing for the excess pasta to be stored in the fridge because I just want to try it. At least we have enough leftovers for awhile.
We had some ingredients in the pantry, so I grabbed them and made dinner. Too bad we didn’t have sun dried tomatoes; I would have loved to add those to the dish. I tried Colavita olive oil, too, to test different extra virgin olive oils. Have to say not my favorite. There’s something … not … exactly right about it. It hits my tongue a little too hard and a little too close to the front of my mouth but I can’t put into words what the experience is like. It’s just not something I’d ever be excited to buy again, though it’s certainly better than most. Next on the list to try is Columela. I’ve heard very good things about their product.
It’s funny how only three ingredients can smell so wonderful when they are being heated, or how hot oil can disburse pepper flakes to create a burn in the aftertaste when you eat the food. In this batch, I tested chopped garlic.
For this one, I doubled the pepper flakes and included sun dried tomatoes. I also had the garlic minced rather than chopped.
This was the one I liked, which was so hot it burned even the outside of your mouth. Not so much everyone else; it was too intense.
A single bowl of the stuff, as pictured, tends to run less than $1 in ingredients (I’d have to add up the specifics) and right around 625 calories plus whatever cheese you put on top. Now, I need to practice making scallops.
[mainbodyad]
