FOOD ON THE FOOD

Cellentani with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts

Boy, that blizzard sure walloped New York, Pennsylvania, and D.C. over the weekend. More than two feet of snow is a lot of snow for anyone. It’s not easy for a Bostonian to maintain her winter martyrdom under these conditions.

We had a lovely pot roast dinner by candlelight at my in-laws on Saturday as the storm’s wind gusts knocked out power on some parts of the Cape. Despite poor visibility during much of the storm, the accumulations were pretty modest, especially closer to home. It reminded me of how lucky we were to be trapped indoors with good food, not stuck on a highway somewhere.

Here’s a pasta dish we’ve been enjoying this winter. The whole thing can be made in the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. Bacon is fried until just short of crispy and then chopped into fat pieces. The Brussels sprouts caramelize in the hot bacon fat until tender, along with some onion for extra flavor. Cream and starchy pasta water form a delectable sauce that quickly coats the pasta. A dusting of Pecorino Romano is the final touch.

Don’t worry about all that bacon and cream. You need your strength for shoveling. After all, February is almost upon us.


Cellentani with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts

Use any pasta shape you want. You can double the recipe, but then you’ll have to cook the bacon and vegetables in two batches (or use two pans). Not a fan of Brussels sprouts? Sub in broccoli. If you like your pasta dishes saucier, add more cream and extra cooking water. Serve alongside salad with a strong vinaigrette.

6-8 strips of bacon (or whatever will fit in your pan at once)
1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, preferably small ones less than 1-inch across
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 pound cellentani or other pasta
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

While the pasta water comes to a boil, heat a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Cook the bacon in the dry pan, flipping as needed, until it renders much of its fat, shrinks, and turns golden on each side, but not too brown. Drain the bacon on paper towels, then cut into bite-sized pieces.

If your Brussels sprouts are larger than 1-inch across, cut them in half. Otherwise, keep whole. Cook the pasta in salted water as directed.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat (or use it all) and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to coat evenly with bacon fat. Let sit undisturbed for about 2 minutes until browned on one side. Decrease the heat to medium and stir in the onion. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the Brussels sprouts are tender, about 3 to 5 more minutes. (It’s okay if the onions start to brown—that’s good flavor. If it’s taking too long for the Brussels sprouts to cook, add a little water to create steam and cover for a few more minutes.) Once the vegetables are tender, stir in the cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer just until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and remove from the heat.

Before you drain the pasta, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan of Brussels sprouts along with the bacon. Add half of the pasta water and stir it around. Return the pan to medium-low heat and toss until the pasta is well coated, adding more pasta water as needed to thin out the sauce.

What I’m Reading: Honey and Jam

I got another cookbook for Christmas, and it’s a beaut. Honey and Jam by Hannah Queen chronicles seasonal country baking from her kitchen in the Appalachian mountains. The recipes appealed to me right away: Cherry Almond Brown Butter Cake, Green Tomato Cornmeal Cake, Honeysuckle Cake, Apple Cider Doughnut Cake, Blueberry Corn Skillet Cake, and Autumn Breakfast Cake with pear, sweet potato, and hazelnuts. Yes, it’s mostly cakes (with a few tarts and pavlovas mixed in), but who doesn’t like cake? All the recipes are arranged by season and the photography is gorgeous.

Keep it in mind for next season’s garden bounty.

 

My Weird Oatmeal Addiction

Is there anyone else out there who likes to eat raw oatmeal?

It all started with the blueberry pecan granola that my local grocery store makes in-house. As soon as I professed my undying love for this granola, they immediately stopped making it. What the hell, Hannaford? Next thing you know, you’ll stop making those delicious salt and vinegar chicken wings at the wing bar. Oh god, I’ve said too much.

Anyway, I started trying to duplicate the granola at home, WHICH ISN’T AS GOOD, HANNAFORD! My homemade version wasn’t clumping right and the dried blueberries tasted different. I tried it a bunch of times, and finally, as I hovered over my last batch spread out on the pan, brow furrowed, hand on hip, I absent-mindedly licked the spoon. And then I ate half the batch raw straight off the pan.

So now I don’t bother making granola. I just melt a few teaspoons of butter and a few teaspoons of maple syrup in a small pot and stir it into a half-cup of rolled oats with—and this is very important—two pinches of fine sea salt. Voila. The best breakfast ever in under 2 minutes. Buttery and chewy, sweet and toothsome, it tastes like oatmeal cookie dough. Delicious! High-calorie to be sure, but I save it for gym days.

A quick Google search for any potential negative health effects didn't turn up anything too alarming, but I admit that I don't want to hear it. I'm enjoying this too much. If you know something I don't know, just give me a few more weeks before you break the bad news.

 

Cheese Coasters

Here's a tip for all you cheese-lovers out there. Save the lids from the little wooden boxes that house your Brie, Camembert, and other soft-ripened cheeses. You know, the ones with pretty etchings or graphic prints. They make very cool cocktail coasters. Just peel off the band of wood around the edges.

 

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year, Internet. I know it’s been a while since we’ve had one of our heart-to-heart chats, so let’s get caught up.

My eldest son became a teenager last month. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Same kid, just bigger. Both boys got their own rooms, which meant that we had to move my writing space into Husband’s office and move Husband’s office downstairs to the family room (formerly the Lego explosion room), and move all of the Legos upstairs. It felt like we packed up the whole house only to move to another place exactly the same size. But the kids are happy because they have their own space and I’m happy because I have a cozy, newly painted office that I love and hopefully Husband will be happy once I promise him that we never have to go to IKEA ever again.  

I also got a job. Since October I’ve been gainfully employed as a part-time cooking instructor at Create a Cook in Newton. I teach parent and child cooking classes during the week and one-day workshops on the weekends. Go here to check out their class offerings (they also offer kids’ birthday parties and culinary date nights for adults). It’s been a good opportunity for me to do more hands-on teaching, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while but my at-home kitchen setup is not ideal.

I’m also co-teaching our elementary school’s Math Olympiad team with a friend of mine. Holy cow, you should see some of these math problems. One of them involves drawing congruent lines between all of my hives and then calculating the sum of their angles. I used to be pretty good at math, I thought, but clearly it’s been a while. Luckily, I have a crack team of mathematicians at MathWorks available on speed dial to answer any questions I might have at a moment’s notice: Hello? It’s Tammy again. Can you explain one more time why 1 isn’t a prime number? Needless to say, I’ve had to assign myself an incredible amount of homework just to stay one step ahead of these kids. Go ahead, give me a number, any number, and I’ll factor the hell out of it.

As for writing projects, my long-awaited cryptogram book will finally be making its debut in the spring. We’re finalizing the galleys for the printer this month. I’m excited to see it after almost a year of radio silence. One aspect of publishing I have yet to adjust to is how fully you immerse yourself in a project to the exclusion of all else, submit it in a wild panic, and then hear absolutely nothing about it for up to a year. Not a word. Did they even receive the file, I wonder? It’s so anticlimactic. I always get really depressed and angsty post-deadline. Then, after weeks of sulking, I forget I ever wrote it, like it was all a dream or something, until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, everything’s rush, rush, rush, and abracadabra there’s a book in my hands. So, yes, I’ll be very happy to prove to myself (and all 100 contributors) that this book actually exists and isn’t just a figment of my imagination. (You can have a peek here.)

Now the question is, what next? I want to keep writing books, but it’s not clear to me what the next project will be. Something nonfiction probably. Something involving food is likely. Something beyond the scope of my own personal experience would be a good change of pace. Perhaps something with meaty research, but it would have to have a very human story at its core since that’s where I find my best writing. I just don’t know what. I feel like it’s right in front of my face but I can’t see it. Hopefully time will tell.

In the meantime, I have a nice stack of books to keep me busy thanks to my family’s good taste in Christmas presents. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!