Heatwave

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Orecchiete with Beans, Carrots, Arugula and Pinenuts

This is another one of those week-day dishes that is far more phenomenal than it sounds. It is also amenable to prep ahead of time.

The Italians like to cook their arugula. It does bring out its peppery nature!

Ingredients

1 cup cooked beans (cannellini, or similar)
1 onion (sliced into thin half-rounds)
1 carrot
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup pinenuts

olive oil
salt
pepper
parmigiano-reggiano

Recipe

Cook the white beans in salted water until edible. This step can be done ahead of time, say on the weekend.

Shred the carrots using a box grater.

Toast the pinenuts on a skillet.

Cook the orecchiete in salted water until just under al dente.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan, and sautée the onions over medium-high heat. Fry the carrots, followed by the beans, salt and pepper. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to thin. Toss in the arugula followed by the orecchiete.

Top with the parm and the pinenuts.

An Evening Meal

The CC enjoys the spoils acquired at the Indonesian and Burmese markets.

The white rice is scattered with fried garlic. Mmmmmmmmmm..........

Burmese Food Festival : Part 3

And then there was eating ...

Poached Scallops over Spinach Couscous

This is the ultimate weekday dish. You should be able to manage this even with your "busy schedules" and "heatwaves".

If you can't manage this, the CC suggests you keep all the local takeouts and deliveries on speed dial. Oh, and you are not fit material for this blog.

Heat some tomato broth in a pan. When it comes to a simmer, turn the heat down. Add salt, pepper, herbs of your choice -- the CC added rosemary and/or thyme -- pop in the scallops and poach gently until they are barely set.

In parallel, the CC heated some water. Use the nuker. Drop in a bouillon cube (go on! don't be so uppity.) Pour it over the couscous. Cover. Let the couscous do its thing.

Remove the scallops from the pan using a slotted spoon. Turn the heat for the sauce on high, and reduce.

Plate as below. Not exactly rocket surgery but a perfectly balanced delicious meal.


This is a fairly general idea. You can poach squid, or shrimp, or even a fish fillet (for which you will need a larger amount of broth.)

You could even poach an egg.

You can use whatever herbs you have at hand. Sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano. You can bung in a chilli pepper or two for some heat. Or an anchovy for some umami.

The variations are endless. This is a meta-recipe.

As the CC said, it's the ultimate weekday dish.

Burmese Food Festival : Part 2

Burmese Food Festival : Part 1

Food better than the Roman emperors. What did the CC tell you?

This one was also in Queens. All proceeds went to a child-development charity if you need to feel good about gorging. (The CC doesn't care either way.)

Special note to the "fermented tea salad" in the last picture. It's wonderful, and has a textural variety and crunch that is similar to that Bombay specialty bhel.

Indonesian Food Festival : Part 5

And then we ate some more ...

Special note to the purplish drink which is made out of fermented black rice. This was not to everyone's taste but the CC loves kvass too so it's right up his sleeve. Tart and a great counterpoint to the food.

Wild Arugula Salad with Beans & Pistachios

The beans are the "yellow-eyed beans" from Rancho Gordo. They were prepped by boiling them with a little bit of prosciutto. Yep, this makes all the difference in the world. Vegetarians will never "get it" but at the very least they can read a technical explanation here.

The pistachios, are well, pistachios. However, they've been roasted lightly.

The greens are wild arugula. They are thinner and more peppery than their cultivated counterpart.

The vinaigrette is a standard one. It was made with pistachio oil to bring out the pistachio-ness of the ensemble.

The white shavings ia parmigiano-reggiano.

There is nothing complicated here but the attention to detail makes it go zing, zing, zing.

Indonesian Food Festival : Part 4

What we ate ...

All you Southern boys, please note the two kinds of fried chicken in the second picture. One is covered with lip-smacking hot-sweet-sour sauce. Finger-lickin' good! (and that's not some shitty corporate marketing bullshit neither!)