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Pasta with Hand-Crushed San Marzano Tomatoes, Garlic, Evoo, Basil, Pecorino, & Peperoncino

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Fred Bollaci

Pasta with simple hand-crushed San Marzano Tomatoes, lots of garlic, evoo, basil, peperoncino, and pecorino.
I was feeling a little under the weather so I decided it was one of two things today: soup (but it’s a sunny gorgeous day so I decided on plan b), pasta with a lot of garlic and lovely San Marzano tomatoes, something that comes together nicely in under 20 minutes and contains lots of ingredients that are beneficial to health, followed by some natural vitamin D (sun) and Vitamin Sea (the sea).
Serves 2
1/2 pound pasta
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Evoo
1 can San Marzano Tomatoes, crush by hand
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, additional to garnish
1 tablespoon red chili flakes, more to garnish
Sea salt to taste and for cooking water.
2 tablespoons grated pecorino, additional grated or shaved to serve.
Optional drizzle evoo off the heat.
Instructions
Add evoo and garlic to sauté pan, cook to soften do not brown the garlic, add tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper flakes.
Let simmer medium heat about ten minutes, stir as needed.
Drop pasta into boiling water, cook to shy of al dente. Save cup of cooking water. Add pasta to sauce, turn up heat, splash of cooking water, stir about two minutes.
Remove from heat.
Add pecorino and toss. Plate and serve.

Posted in Fred Bollaci on Dining | Tagged chili flakes, pasta, pecorino, peperoncino, san marzano, tomato | Comments Off

Pasta “Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino” (Garlic, Oil, & Chili Flakes)

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Fred Bollaci

Recipe and photo by Fred Bollaci Enterprises

Pasta “Aglio Olio e Peperoncino” Evoo, Garlic, Red Chili Flakes, garnished with Italian Parsley and Pecorino. 👍❤️🇮🇹🍝🌶🧄
This is simple and spicy (as much as you want it to be), if you’re not into spicy, just do garlic and oil.
Serves 2
1/2 lb pasta
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons red chili flakes, more to garnish
6 tablespoons evoo, more to garnish.
Italian parsley chopped to garnish.
Pecorino Romano grated, to garnish.
Heat the water to a boil. Drop the pasta.
Heat evoo and garlic with red chili flakes, simmer a couple minutes to soften garlic, combine flavors. Shut heat, remove from stove, splash pasta water and stir to slow cooking.
Toss very al dente pasta with pan of sauce, add splash more pasta water, put back on to stove, turn up heat, stir a couple minutes.
When sauce is “tight” not liquidy, remove from stove, garnish with chopped Italian parsley, serve with pecorino and drizzle of evoo.

Posted in Fred Bollaci on Dining, Pastas and Sauces | Tagged aglio, chili flakespeperoncino, garlic, oil, olio, pasta | Comments Off

Ossobuco alla Milanese (Braised Veal Shanks)

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Fred Bollaci

OSSOBUCO alla Milanese (c) Fred Bollaci
Serves 4
4 Veal shanks with large marrow bones
Flour (to coat shanks)
Salt and pepper to coat and to taste in the preparation
Salt and pepper the shanks, Dredge in flour, shake off excess, then brown in
Olive oil and butter until golden, flip to get both sides.
In a separate stock pot or Dutch Oven, Heat olive oil and butter (several tablespoons each), add
2 cups Carrots, 2 cups celery stalks and leaves, and 1 yellow onion all nicely chopped, salt and pepper, sweat them until soft,
Add
Bay leaf
Add
2 tables Tomato paste (prefer imported Italian), allow to Rossolare or be exposed to the heat a couple minutes to enhance the flavor.
Add the shanks and their juices. Add several twists fresh ground nutmeg. Add a slice of lemon peel and orange peel, gives a slightly tangy, subtle citrusy freshness.
Add 1 cup dry white wine, add in several sprigs rosemary and a few fresh sage leaves, reduce, then add 2 cups Chicken or beef broth, let reduce, then add 1 cup red wine, let reduce medium/high heat. ONLY cook with something you would drink! I used a Sonoma Chardonnay and Cabernet (about $11 a bottle) to cook with.
Add 1 can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, let cook medium heat, stir as needed a few minutes (note: not all Italian recipes include tomato, remember tomato came from the New World via Spanish explorers, so Italians were cooking for centuries without them, and while they have truly perfected their use and cultivation, they aren’t always incorporated, it’s a matter of taste. I like a little, a brownish red sauce. Some like it brown. Your call).
Lower heat
I added a piece of Parmesan rind.
Let simmer 4 hours on stove with lid partially covered, stir as needed, or cover and place in 350 degree oven
Remove, stir, taste sauce, skim unwanted fat, add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
Before serving:
Make
Gremolata
Lemon zest
Chopped Parsley
Finely Chopped Garlic
Sprinkle over the top when plating.
Garnish with herbs, such as rosemary sprigs in the bones for presentation, serve with fresh pasta with excess sauce or Risotto with Saffron and Parmigiano.
Consider making extra, the flavors concentrate overnight in the refrigerator and they can be kept several days and reheated. This can be similarly done with lamb or pork shanks. Any leftover meat can be torn into small pieces by hand (the meat should be
melt in your mouth tender) and sauce can be added to a pasta. The bones are great for making stock, think Onion Soup.

Posted in Fred Bollaci on Dining | Tagged gremolata, ossobuco, veal | Comments Off

Pasta all’ Ubriaco (Drunken Pasta) Cooked in Red Wine

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Fred Bollaci

Pasta all’ Ubriaco (Drunken Pasta). Used Fusilli and Sangiovese wine to cook down the pasta. Great for a summer holiday party (hope we can have some this year), it’s good an hour later as long as the pasta is al dente.
RECIPE:
Serves 2
1/2 pound imported Italian dry pasta (1/4 lb pp)
Evoo for pan and drizzle
1/2 bottle (2 cups) dry red wine, Italian like Sangiovese or Chianti, spend no more than $15/bottle.
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
2 anchovy fillets (in oil), if salt packed, rinse first.
Chop all and heat in evoo on stove, soffritto method til soft.
2 tablespoons capers, sauté in small pan separately in a little evoo til lightly crisp, drain over paper towel, set aside
Boil water, cook pasta about 2-3 minutes max, drain, saving splash pasta water, combine with soffritto ingredients and the red wine, cook in pot over high heat, stir as needed.
I added chili flakes and basil leaves.
Cook about 3-4 minutes, til wine mostly evaporates, pasta should remain al dente.
Remove from pot and serve with garnish of chopped parsley, basil, the capers drizzle evoo, freshly shaved pecorino.
This can also be kept our room temp a few hours and served for a pot luck or party as long as you took the pasta out sufficiently al dente. Shorter shapes are more conducive to eating room temp for parties.

Posted in Fred Bollaci on Dining, Pastas and Sauces | Tagged pasta, ubriaco, Wine | Comments Off

Linguini alla Puttanesca: Olives, Capers, Anchovies, Tomato, Basil, Garlic, Chili Flakes, an Easy Favorite

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Fred Bollaci

Linguine alla Puttanesca. Recipe (c) Fred Bollaci Enterprises
Puttanesca (Whore’s Sauce) gets its name because it is spicy and sassy, plus can be made quickly with pantry ingredients (in between clients), but really should be called “Pantry Sauce” as most Italians have the ingredients in their pantry to make this fun and tasty dish in just a few minutes. Briny, spicy, zesty, salty, a little fishy, it’s one of my favorites. This is featured in my second book in “The Restaurant Diet” series, as prepared by Le Sirenuse in Positano, Italy. My two favorite renditions are there and La Bussola on Long Island, NY (in my first book). This is my adaptation as prepared tonight. Being a popular southern Italian dish, pair with a wine from southern Italy, you can go white or red—be it a Greco di Tufo, Aglianico, Lacryma Cristi or Falanghina from Campania, a Primitivo from Puglia, or a Nero d’Avola, Chardonnay, or Etna Rosso or Bianco from Sicily, you’ll be transported to southern Italy’s sunny shores. Buon’ Appetito! 👍❤️🇮🇹🍷🍝🌶
Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a first course.
Ingredients
1/2 lb linguine (imported Italian dry pasta, like De Cecco)
Evoo
4 cloves garlic
1 tin anchovies
2 tbsp capers
1/2 cup green olives (like Castelvetrano)
1/2 cup brown olives (like Kalamata or Gaeta)
1 can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
Tbsp chili flakes
Bunch fresh basil
Set pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, start a sauté pan with evoo on med/high heat, add sliced garlic and anchovies before heats up, as heats and simmers, stir and mash anchovies into the oil.
Don’t let garlic brown/burn
Add capers, olives, and a little of their liquid. If capers are in salt, rinse first.
Add tomatoes, hand crush and remove stems first and basil.
Simmer medium/high heat about ten minutes.
Stir as needed.
Meanwhile, once water is rolling boil, add sea salt and drop pasta, stir as needed.
When pasta is about half done, take aside cup of cooking water, drain pasta, combine with sauce, turn up heat to high, add splash pasta water, stir, toss vigorously.
Summer several minutes high heat, add more pasta water as needed. Want sauce reduced if gets too dry add a little of the water to help the ingredients cook and bind.
When pasta and sauce are amalgamated, and sauce is cooked down not runny or dry and pasta is still al dente, take off heat.
Add chopped parsley, drizzle evoo, grated pecorino and plate.
Serve with garnish of fresh basil. Shave pecorino over the top. More Chili flakes optional at the table.