Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes From the New York Times - Mark Bittman [119]
3. When the pasta begins to bend—after less than 5 minutes of cooking—drain it and add it to the wine mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, adding wine a little at a time if the mixture threatens to dry out completely.
4. Taste the pasta frequently. When it is done—tender but with a little bite—stir in the butter and turn off the heat. When the butter glazes the pasta, serve it immediately.
VARIATIONS
• You can easily add another dimension to this dish by tossing in about 1 cup chopped walnuts—pieces of about ¼ inch, no smaller—along with the butter.
• A garnish of chopped fresh parsley or basil will make the presentation more attractive and the flavor somewhat brighter.
PASTA, RISOTTO STYLE
MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
TIME: 30 MINUTES
WHY NOT COOK pasta as you do risotto? That is, add broth a bit at a time and stir frequently, with the goal being a creamy, quickly made pasta (no waiting for the requisite gallon of water to boil!) that requires only marginally more attention than the standard variety. The concept is simple, it makes sense—pasta, like Arborio and other rices used for risotto, is plenty starchy enough—and it takes just the use of good-quality stock and a vegetable to make the dish delicious.
If you’re using canned stock and have a little time, heat it with an onion, a carrot, and a garlic clove before beginning to add it to the pasta. And don’t salt the dish until you’re finished cooking; canned stock can be overly salty.
1 pound asparagus
3 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound penne, gemelli, or other cut pasta (long pasta will be far too unwieldy)
6 to 8 cups good-quality stock, heated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)
1. Break the woody ends from the asparagus and peel the stalks if necessary. (If you use thin asparagus, you won’t have to peel them at all; thicker asparagus should be peeled from the bottom of the flower to the end of the stalk.) Break or cut off the flower ends and cut the stems into ½-inch sections (it looks a little nicer if you cut the stems on a diagonal, but this is hardly essential).
2. Put half the butter or oil in a deep 10- or 12-inch skillet or a broad saucepan and turn the heat to medium-high; when it melts, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes more.
3. Add a ladleful of stock. As the stock is absorbed and the pasta swells, add more stock and continue to stir once in a while, until the pasta is beginning to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus stalks and continue to add stock as needed until the pasta is just about done, another 5 minutes or so.
4. Add the asparagus tips and a little more stock, stirring until the tips are crisp-tender, the pasta is cooked to your liking, and the mixture is moist but not soupy (add a little more stock if necessary). Stir in the remaining butter or oil and the Parmigiano-Reggiano to taste if you like and serve.
VARIATIONS
• Substitute carrots, cut into small chunks, for the asparagus; they add vivid color and a marked sweetness. Or experiment with other vegetables.
• Any sharp grated cheese will fill in well for the Parmigiano-Reggiano, especially pecorino Romano.
A FEW TIPS FOR MAKING PARMESAN CUPS
BE CAREFUL not to grate the cheese too finely; you don’t want the same powdery consistency you might prefer on pasta. One of the larger holes of a box grater works well, and so does the steel blade of the food processor, which produces small, even pellets of cheese.
Baking the cheese disks doesn’t present much of a problem, and it’s easy enough to tell when they’re done because the edges begin to brown. But removing them from the baking sheet can be