The Cooking Thread

[Doug Tait]

Leftover stovies are good for that, lovely fried up with eggs.

[sime42]

Look at the size of this fcker. Golden beetroot.

 

 

It seemed like it's only vocation in life was to become a hearty soup.

 

 

 

 

There's half a gallon of it so that's a few easy winter dinners right there.

 

 

[AHPP]

Puttanesca. I've done a load of things I've called puttanesca before. Basically if it's pasta with all the usual plus black olives, it's puttanesca. Have procured a tin of anchovies and a jar of a capers for the particular purpose of making a relatively authentic one. Recipes abound. Which one to follow? Nominate @peds.

 

 

While I'm on the subject, a story about puttanesca and life. At uni, the least popular lecturer teaching the least popular module demanded a bit of coursework be completed in groups. I'd kicked off about this with other lecturers and done all mine solo but this time I was for some reason amenable to a joint venture. I forget exactly how it came to pass but I approached a girl who had fallen back a year to do the work with me. She was a bit of an outsider, a bit goth, all her mates moving on and her held back but she had something about her. It wasn't pity but I felt some compulsion.

She came over to my digs to do the work. She told me about the various troubles she was having with life: long commute in, working nights on the front desk of a lapdancing club, trouble with the rent, scum neighbours, difficult family etc etc. The poor girl was not having a great time. I whipped us up a spaghetti puttanesca (because I always had olives in) and listened to her woes. She was living on toast and supernoodles so a decent meal was a revelation I think. We had the nicest couple of evenings writing some shit about whatever but most of all bonding and making her feel human.

Anyway. Assignment went in, did fine, move on. Spoke every now and then but we both had things to get on with. Roll on the end of uni. We've all graduated and are out on the piss. She came up to me in some bar and poured her heart out. She was at the time feeling totally shit about life, about to ditch the course etc and it was basically a restorative feed and a few hours of shared time that pulled her round. Man, I've never felt so good. The little things you can do for someone that can make such a big difference. I have tears in my eyes thinking about it. I felt like a father.

She's doing fine now. Married, professional job and all that. We talk occasionally. We're not bezzies because that would be weird. I'm a fair bit older and we have very different lifestyles. But we've got this lovely little bond, just from cooking her dinner.

[John Shutler]

so did you shag her or not? 

[Will C]

36 minutes ago, John Shutler said:

so did you shag her or not? 

We need pics - only to advise in his best interest!

[AHPP]

On 27/03/2024 at 22:44, AHPP said:

Puttanesca. I've done a load of things I've called puttanesca before. Basically if it's pasta with all the usual plus black olives, it's puttanesca. Have procured a tin of anchovies and a jar of a capers for the particular purpose of making a relatively authentic one. Recipes abound. Which one to follow? Nominate @peds.

 

 

While I'm on the subject, a story about puttanesca and life. At uni, the least popular lecturer teaching the least popular module demanded a bit of coursework be completed in groups. I'd kicked off about this with other lecturers and done all mine solo but this time I was for some reason amenable to a joint venture. I forget exactly how it came to pass but I approached a girl who had fallen back a year to do the work with me. She was a bit of an outsider, a bit goth, all her mates moving on and her held back but she had something about her. It wasn't pity but I felt some compulsion.

She came over to my digs to do the work. She told me about the various troubles she was having with life: long commute in, working nights on the front desk of a lapdancing club, trouble with the rent, scum neighbours, difficult family etc etc. The poor girl was not having a great time. I whipped us up a spaghetti puttanesca (because I always had olives in) and listened to her woes. She was living on toast and supernoodles so a decent meal was a revelation I think. We had the nicest couple of evenings writing some shit about whatever but most of all bonding and making her feel human.

Anyway. Assignment went in, did fine, move on. Spoke every now and then but we both had things to get on with. Roll on the end of uni. We've all graduated and are out on the piss. She came up to me in some bar and poured her heart out. She was at the time feeling totally shit about life, about to ditch the course etc and it was basically a restorative feed and a few hours of shared time that pulled her round. Man, I've never felt so good. The little things you can do for someone that can make such a big difference. I have tears in my eyes thinking about it. I felt like a father.

She's doing fine now. Married, professional job and all that. We talk occasionally. We're not bezzies because that would be weird. I'm a fair bit older and we have very different lifestyles. But we've got this lovely little bond, just from cooking her dinner.

 

 

Come on, chef @peds. Someone's coming for dinner tonight and I won't get him into bed with just any old pasta. 

[5thelement]

3 hours ago, AHPP said:

 

 

Come on, chef @peds. Someone's coming for dinner tonight and I won't get him into bed with just any old pasta. 

Wife’s recipe, not pasta but risotto. 
I find risotto the best thing in the world to cook, as I can open a bottle of wine even though the recipe only requires a splash, then finish the rest off whilst adding the stock ladle by ladle, good Parmesan is a must. 

[peds]

Ah shite, sorry skip. I have no idea about the authenticity of this, but authenticity often stands in the way of a good meal anyway. 

 

For putanesca I put a pan on to boil for the pasta first and a frying pan or another saucepan second. While waiting for the water, the oil from the anchovies goes into the frying pan at medium-high heat, followed shortly after by a minced clove of garlic per person, plus one more for the pan. A minute later, a pinch of red pepper flakes and black pepper, and the anchovies themselves, which are crushed apart with the wooden spoon in the pan. This is all fried together with occasional agitation until the anchovies have essentially disappeared, and in the meantime, I have been pressing the stones from the olives, if necessary, and if not, I will start slicing up a couple of tomatoes, or a handful of cherry tomatoes. Once the anchovies are gone-ish, I add the olives, wait a minute, add some capers, wait another minute, add some chopped parsley and wait yet another minute, then finally add the tomatoes, which are crushed down and simmered for 60 seconds. I use fresh tomatoes instead of a tin because I don't think this is a pasta-in-sauce dish, it should instead be things-stuck-to-pasta. You could get the same effect by using just a third of a tin or so.

 

By now the pasta is about three-quarters on the way to being done, so it gets drained and a mug full of the cooking water is retained (anyone with the counterspace available in their kitchen might like to use a ladle of the hot water to preheat the bowls they'll be eating from, which may or may not be necessary depending on the time of year and how warm your house is). The pasta is tossed into the sauce along with some of the reserved cooking water, stirred and simmered with more water as needed until the pasta is cooked, then a squirt of the good olive oil is tossed through at the last possible second, emulsifying the sauce and giving it a glossy sheen. A knob of butter does the same thing. 

 

Slop into your (hot?) bowls, add any finishes you want (parmesan or pecorino, chopped herbs or rocket, fresh chopped chilli or dry chilli flakes, garlic-toasted pangrattato, etc.).

 

Sometimes I grate a bit of lemon zest into it somewhere along the line if there's one lying around on the counter.

[Botty Cough]

 

Edited March 29 by Botty Cough

[peds]

Well, yeah.