Maccheroni alla romanesca

Il freddo parigino di questa fine inverno mi ha spinta domenica fino al mercato di Buci, dove ho comperato della buona salsiccia dell'Aveyron, che abbiamo mangiato a pranzo con un Touraine 2004 Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf, produttore accurato e biologico.
Con l'avanzo della salsiccia (circa 120 grammi) questa sera ho preparato una pasta romanesca niente male. Ho spelato la salsiccia, l'ho ridotta a pezzetti e messa a soffriggere in una padella con olio, una cipolla rossa tritata e mezza carota tritata. Ho aggiunto del vino bianco (un cepage che non conoscevo: Melon, estremamente profumato, con una nota proprio di melone), una foglia di alloro (mmmhh, l'alloro, con il suo profumo di carne, di terra, di rame: è il punto di volta in cucina tra mondo animale, vegetale e minerale) e ho lasciato ridurre per 5 minuti. Poi ho aggiunto due pomodori a pezzetti e un po' di curry (mezzo cucchiaino). Ho cotto dei maccheroncini fini, quelli che in Francia si usano per il gratin, la cosa che avevo in casa di più simile ai bucatini. Scolata la pasta, l'ho saltata in padella, aggiunto parmigiano e pecorino grattati e mischiati insieme e molto pepe. Una delizia, ideale per far risalire il morale con questo freddo. Il vino, sempre dello stesso produttore, Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf, era un Cheverny, 100% Pinot Noir, pieno, rotondo e fruttato, davvero inaspettato piacere.

Gloria

Caper fusilli for lunchtime

I came up with this pasta as a solution for when you have little food left in the house, can't be bothered to go out and shop and have no time or inclination to cook, yet want a satisfying, simple, healthy, warm lunch. You do need to have good capers at hand (sotto sale, and the big ones, from the Eolie preferably).
For two people:
Take a handful of capperi sotto sale; rinse them well but quickly; chop them roughly. Put in serving bowl. Open a 250g pack of Greek feta cheese, take about half of it, crunch it along with the capers. You may add a tablespoon of stracchino cheese, and/or some good ricotta, the result will be creamier. Add some fresh thyme, a little bit of white pepper. In the meantime, boil the water, don't salt it too much, throw in the pasta - fusilli or fusilli bucati. (It doesn't really work with spaghetti or even penne.) Use the pasta water to liquefy the feta mix a little (just a few teaspoons, as needed). Add to the caper mix a tablespoon of good olive oil. Mix in the pasta, stir carefully. While you stir, you can throw in some rucola leaves, which will of course wilt in the heat. Add black pepper. Eat immediately. It's quick, clean, delicious.
Noga da New York (ma che viaggia ovunque coi suoi capperi)

Dinner, 24 February

Here too, we began the dinner, after the usual guacamole, with the pasta alle verdure al forno - parallel lives. Used a glass pan, in which I put in two large fennels, four small aubergines, one red pepper, five or six cherry tomatoes, three or four small courgettes, a couple of garlic cloves cut in half, all finely chopped except for the garlic; olive oil, salt and rosemary, no black pepper but some Espelette. It stayed in the oven for about as long as yours, I mixed it occasionally. At the end, as I mixed the vegetables and the fusilli, I added, thinking of your trick, a little bit of crumbed feta. Then, we had the red snapper fillets described below, served on a bed of rucola (another coincidence with your dinner in Paris - parallel lives again). The pure red and white thing on the plate would have been perhaps better, I was too eager for green stuff, one might say. Still, it met with success. Wine-wise, we remained in the south of France: we drank first the Pic St Loup (Lauret) Chateau de Cazeneuve 1997 "Le Roc des Mates" (producer: André Leenhardt), followed by a lovely Cotes du Rhone Villages brought by our friends Claude and Winsome, who drink it as their vin de la maison - a non-filtered thing called Mas de Boislauzon, from the Orange area (producers: Monique et Daniel Chaussy). Both spicy, the first probably rounder; both functioned perfectly in accompaniment to the spicy, multi-coloured food. Four bottles in all, for seven of us. But feeling fine. Conversation turned quite political by the end so no one realized that Marcello had prepared a cup of vanilla ice-cream with melted chocolate for everyone. Sweet relief.
Noga

Straccetti all'orientale

Allora, ho preso la ricetta degli straccetti classica: marinare le fettine di manzo (io compro carpaccio già tagliato dal macellaio) con olio, harissa, aceto balsamico, un cucchiaio di miele, sale, pepe (un cucchiaio da zuppa di olio per 100 grammi di carne, un cucchiaio di miele per 300 grammi di carne). Ho aggiunto alla marinata citronella tritata con un po' di zenzero e ho lasciato il tutto un paio d'ore. Poi, tre minuti a scottare in una padella molto calda. Li ho serviti con la rucola cosparsa sopra, troppo tradizionale, avrei dovuto cercare una combinazione più originale con la citronella: pepperoni arrostiti? o magari crescione?
Per la carne, bisogna contare circa 120/150 grammi di carpaccio per persona.
Li ho serviti di secondo dopo una pasta alle verdure al forno in cui ho messo: trevisana, un pepperone giallo, mezzo arancione, una melanzana, una cipolla rossa, tre cipollotti freschi, un finocchio, una zucchina, un po' di rosmarino, il tutto tagliato a fette sottili e cotto un'ora e venti in forno in una teglia d'alluminio (importante) condito con olio sale, pepe e rosmarino.
Delusa dalla mia degustazione "orizzontale" di Bourgogne: due côtes de nuit 2002, un Marsanay senza nessuna grazia (Domaine Philippe Naddef), un Gevrey-Chambertain, stesso domaine più interessante e un côte chalonnaise più strutturato, sempre 2002, un Mercurey (domaine Jeannin-Naltel). Vini che non si prestano alla cucina italiana. Aromi che evocano cacciagione e terriccio, che si sposano male con verdure e olio d'oliva.

Gloria

Red snapper Noga style

In some olive oil, sauté shallot, ginger, hot pepper (dried - Espelette, or small Calabrian, or a bit of both), one carrot, chopped finely. You may also replace the carrot with a finely chopped red pepper (à la Gloria).

Add a can of tomatoes and/or a few chopped fresh tomatoes.
Add some turmeric, to colour.
Add some saffron, to taste.
Variations: you may add a small amount of finely chopped orange rind; a capful of Madeira, Sherry, or Marsala wine; and a knob of butter. You can also perfume the sauce with fresh rosemary, some fresh thyme, or, for a Persian twist, with dried fenugreek (leaves, not seeds).

Once the sauce has an agreeably thick consistency, turn off the flame. Place the skinned red snapper fillets - or any other light, white fish - in the pan, spooning the sauce over them. Cover pan with lid. A few minutes or so before eating, turn on the flame, low. The fish should be done within 5 mn or so. You may eat it on its own, or with basmati rice cooked in salted boiling water after having carefully rinsed and soaked it.

You can also turn this tomato sauce into a pasta sauce, with or without the fish. Without the fish, it is an unusual, somewhat wintery variation on tomato sauce; and if you want to include the fish, you should use a light white fish, cut into chunks before putting it into the sauce. This tomato base is also good with fresh tuna and even with canned tuna (the Italian kind, sott'olio di oliva). The variations are endless, since the taste changes according to the amount of saffron, ginger, butter, wine or orange you use, if any, and to whether you use carrot or pepper, if either, shallot or garlic, or which herbs you choose (fenugreek does not work with pasta). In any case I always use turmeric (curcuma) because it adds a very subtle edge, confers a beautiful colour, and adds thickness (and apparently it has anti-cancerous properties, too).