0409 April 2009.pdf - Pacific San Diego Magazine

TASTE: what’s cooking
Getting the
Boot
How to prepare light Italian cuisine at home
By Frank Sabatini, Jr.
Italians cook with strokes of intuition that are
seemingly passed down telepathically from
previous generations. Just ask the maestros
how to make a gentle red sauce or pillowy
gnocchi, and their reply is inevitable: “I don’t
use recipes.”
Luckily, this lack of a paper trail hasn’t
prevented the rest of us from constructing
healthy and affordable meals that taste
straight from The Motherland. A snoop into
the kitchens of our esteemed Italian friends
and restaurant chefs reveals a treasure trove
of valuable cooking tips for constructing
fool-proof pasta dishes, low-cal meatballs,
oozy stromboli, and yes, a lightweight
tomato sauce that clings lovingly to noodles.
Consider these culinary pearls before
hanging an Italian flag over the stove:
The longer pasta is boiled, the weightier
it gets. When using dried American brands,
remove the pasta from the water two
minutes earlier than what the instructions
indicate and say goodbye to gluey rigatoni.
Surprisingly, traditional Italian meals do not
contain copious amounts of garlic, but
rather teasing whispers of it. When making
bruschetta, for example, use one small,
thinly sliced clove per two diced tomatoes.
For a family-size serving of pasta tossed
in olive oil and herbs, infuse the oil with a
single crushed clove or a half-teaspoon of
jarred garlic paste.
Working with basil has gotten a lot easier,
thanks to miniature frozen cubes of the herb
by Dorot, available in trays of 24 at Trader
Joe’s. Each concentrated cube equals one
teaspoon of fresh basil, making it the
best invention since sliced garlic bread.
Move
over Prego.
Red sauce is
cheap and easy
to make – and far less
sugary. Combine equal
parts of tomato paste with water or
chicken stock. Toss in a couple cans
of diced tomatoes, dried bay leaf and
pinches of oregano, rosemary and
red pepper flakes, and then heat for about
15 minutes. For a decadent Milanese
touch, whisk in a splash of cream and a
shot of vodka.
Meatballs constructed of lean ground
turkey taste equally rich as those made
with beef and pork. For every pound of
meat, add a quarter-cup each of seasoned
breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan, plus
a few generous pinches of oregano and a
oodles of noodles:
Capellini
Ranking as the skinniest
of long-shaped pastas,
capellini is easily
intimidated by thick sauces
and large chunks of protein,
but it regains confidence in
the company of olive oil
or thinner tomato sauces.
Farfalle
With thick,
pinched centers,
this pretty-shaped
pasta is tuxedofitted
for chunky
sauces containing
diced tomatoes or
lean ground meat.
Fettuccini
Fettuccini is the
ultimate magnet
for smooth and
zesty cheese
sauces, such
as Alfredo,
Gorgonzola and
creamy tomato.
Linguini
Linguine is a shoe-in
for pesto, yet manages
to absorb the mild
flavors of clam broth
and sauces made
of vegetable
and meat stocks.
Orecchiette
In rural Italy,
these round,
thumbprintshaped
ears play
well with broccoli
sautéed lightly in
olive oil and garlic.
26 | APRIL 2009 « PACIFICsandiego.com