A Creamy, Calming Pasta Dish with Sausage

Everyone’s definition of “comfort food” is different. When I was sick as a child, all I wanted was creamy oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. Warm, soothing, with a hint of sweet. The following recipe hits the mark for me as well. The creamy garlic-infused pasta calls out to be eaten on a chilly day when the rich fulsome sauce encourages you to give into your desire to snuggle under the covers with a good book after consuming a bowlful.

4 heads of garlic or an equivalent number of garlic cloves
Note: Most supermarkets now-a-days have plastic containers of peeled garlic in the produce department. If you are pressed for time, this is the occasion to use them.
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 springs of fresh thyme
1 pound dried shell or tube-shaped pasta
2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
4 fresh uncooked sweet Italian sausages
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped and chopped

1. Place the unpeeled whole heads of garlic or the equivalent peeled garlic cloves in a small baking pan. Drizzle with oil and thyme and place in a 400ºF oven. Roast the garlic until the cloves are very soft and sweet, 50-60 minutes for the heads and much less for the cloves.
2. Cool the garlic heads and then tear them apart and squeeze out the contents of each clove into a small bowl. [This step took nearly all of my considerable patience and is the reason I devised a simpler method.] Or place the peeled cloves in a bowl. Mash them into a paste, adding a small bit of your 2 cups of cream to help the process.
Note: You can use a mortar and pestle, a Japanese suribachi, a potato masher, a small food processor or a fork to smash and mash the garlic. You do not need to make it perfectly smooth unless you want to.
3. Put your pot of salted water (for cooking the pasta) on the stove on high. Bring it to a boil while you are working on the next two steps.
4. Warm the garlic paste in a sauté pan over moderate heat, pour in the cream, whisk the garlic and the remaining cream to combine, bring to a simmer, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for several minutes.
5. Skin the fresh sausage, crumble the meat into a frying pan and fry until done.
6. Cook the pasta in your pot of boiling salted water until it is al dente. Drain in a colander, saving about ½ cup pasta water to use in the sauce as needed.
7. Tip the pasta and drained sausage into the cream, toss gently and heat until all the elements are warm and the cream is gently bubbling. If the sauce is thicker than you like it, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to thin it out until you reach the consistency that is right for you. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Ladle into plates or bowls and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.

6 servings
Adapted from Nigel Slater’s Appetite

Sautéed Fresh Spinach
I serve this pasta with steamed spinach; I like its bracing flavor up against the richness of the cream and pasta.

Spicy Soba with Tofu

Linda, my Berkeley next-door neighbor who now lives in New York City, requested a tofu dish.  This one is excellent.














Dressing:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 small fresh hot red chile, seeded, deveined, and minced (green is fine too)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoon tahini
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons chile oil, optional
Salt to taste

Noodles:
8 ounces dried soba noodles
½ bunch scallions, thinly sliced
12 ounces firm tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small fresh hot red chile, seeded, deveined, and minced, optional (green is fine too)
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon aleppo pepper or other mildly hot pepper or paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

1. To make the sauce, heat the soy sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar, chile, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the molasses, and heat until warm. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the sesame oil, tahini, vinegar and chile oil, if desired, to combine. Season to taste with salt. Set aside to cool.
2. To make the noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles, return to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes or until they are cooked, but still a bit firm. Drain the noodles. Set aside in a large bowl, if you want to serve them warm. Place them in a bowl of ice water if you want to serve them cold.
3. Combine the drained noodles with the dressing and scallions. Toss well. Place on a serving platter or low-sided bowl.
4. Drain the tofu. Pat dry and crumble. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the optional chile and garlic. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Increase the heat to medium high and add the crumbled tofu. Stir fry for a few minutes to sear the tofu. Remove from the heat and add the parsley and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Distribute the tofu over the prepared noodles and serve warm or cover and chill to serve cold. Sprinkle with Aleppo pepper or other semi-hot pepper or paprika just before serving.

4 servings
Adapted from The Junior League of Honolulu, Inc.’s Aloha Days, Hula Nights

Menu suggestions:

Cauliflower, Caper and Pumpkin Seed Spread
For the Asian theme, this dip is great served with crispy rice crackers.
 








Cucumber Salad
Refreshing and so easy.

CHAPTER 7: Seafood and a Story about Menu Planning

I usually cook two dishes for dinner: the main dish and a vegetable or salad. And perhaps some bread, as in the photo to the left. For a dinner party, I might add a first course and most likely dessert. How much and what you cook depends a lot on your guests. If they are dainty eaters, less is preferable. If they are teenage boys, quantity counts. So how do I go about creating a menu that is fun, beautiful, tasty, and doable?

Gathering information
First of all I ask the dinner guests about any dietary restrictions. Is anyone a vegetarian, a vegan, or gluten intolerant? And I think about what kind of food would appeal to them and to me. Next I look to see what is hiding out in the fridge that needs to be used. Finally I think about what is in season. Oranges, lemons, and sorrel are growing in my backyard. New crops keep showing up at the Farmers Market.

With this information in mind, I have two options:
1. I can consult a cookbook for menu suggestions, look at the Winter or Spring section of a cookbook organized that way, or cook a dinner I’ve cooked before and love.
OR
2. I can plan a new menu using my own imagination and tastes. When I choose this method, I use a few guidelines to help me out. I love the imagining part—seeing the plate, tasting the flavors in my mind, envisioning the work flow. I usually start by choosing the main dish. As I add one dish after another, I ask myself some questions:

Color Will the plate of food be pretty and colorful? I love color. If I’m fixing a pasta with a cream sauce, for example, I might want a fresh green veggie on the side. Cauliflower wouldn’t work. Tomatoes, red peppers and carrots are great favorites of mine for adding color.


Taste/flavor How will the flavors work together? Most of us wouldn’t want to eat a meal where every dish contained cayenne. Our mouths would cry out for the soothing comfort of sour cream, avocado, cold beer. So I watch for balance in the hot flavors with the soothing ones. The same principle applies with sweet, sour, bitter, salty. Balance and contrast rule.

Migration Will the juices on the plate be compatible? A stew with a nice gravy works wonderfully with mashed potatoes. Most of the time a salad needs to be on a separate plate because the vinaigrette merging with the rest of the food would make it all taste like salad.


Texture How will the textures of the food work together? A silky-textured dessert is nice after a crisp salad. Polenta has a nice mouth feel with braised lamb shanks. Full-flavored dips are great with fresh crusty bread or crackers. You get the idea.



Timing Can I fix the meal without driving myself crazy? What can I fix ahead? I try to avoid dinners where too much has to be done at the last moment. I try to imagine the process of cooking the meal so that I can stay calm and collected. Sometimes that means waiting to have a glass of wine until dinner is on the table, as hard as that is. I know I need a clear head.

I love creating menus. But if this process seems too complicated, choose one thing, like Color, and put the rest aside. Keep it easy. Remember that you can BUY some or most of the add-ons so you can focus on the main dish. Most of all, cook with pleasure and have fun with your guests.

In the next seven recipes for seafood dishes, I have given you more suggestions about accompanying dishes.

Fresh Marinated Cracked Crab

I wanted to include this fantastic crab feast before crab season is over. I love crab with melted butter but I must admit that this marinated version has won me over. It is lighter and perfectly complements the crab. Hurry. You don’t want to have to wait until next December.

This is what one crab looks like.











3 Dungeness crabs, cooked and cracked

Marinade:
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley, washed, leaves coarsely chopped
Sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup olive oil

Provisions for the table:
Plenty of paper napkins or paper towels to wipe off your face and hands.
Bowls for the shells.
Crab-eating utensils (crackers, forks, picks) so that you can get in the little tiny crevices for the best parts of the crab.

1. Drain your cracked crabs of any water that has accumulated in the plastic bag or wrapping paper. Stir all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and toss in the drained cracked crabs. Refrigerate for several hours.
2. Remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving. Transfer to a large platter and place in the middle of the table. Have at it.

I love to serve this crab with warm bread and a nice crisp green salad, perhaps with grapefruit sections and pomegranate seeds.

Serves 6 moderate crab lovers. If you are serving extreme crab lovers, you may need to purchase a crab for each of them and increase the marinade accordingly.
Adapted from Peggy Knickerbocker’s Simple Soirées

Fish with Teriyaki Sauce

Katherine Fulton wooed me and wowed me with this recipe in the opening stages of our relationship. At that point, almost 21 years ago, we were unaware of the mercury these wonderful deep sea fish were ingesting. Knowing the health dangers as we do now, I choose to eat them only occasionally and to buy them from a fish purveyor whom I trust to get the best and safest available.

2 pounds fish, thick fillets or steaks (tuna and swordfish both work well)
¼ cup chopped scallions, garnish

Marinade:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
½ cup mirin
OR as a substitute for the mirin
¼ cup sherry or sake with 2 teaspoons sugar and
¼ cup white or rice vinegar or fresh lemon juice

1. Combine the marinade ingredients.
2. Rinse the fish fillets or steaks and place them in a deep bowl. Pour the marinade over the fish and chill for ½ to 1 hour. Remove from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes before cooking.
3. Place the fish with the marinade in an oiled plan. Cover and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
OR
Remove the fish from the marinade and grill or broil it, basting occasionally with the marinade. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side so as to keep it a little pink in the center.
OR
If you want to use a grill pan on the top of the stove, heat it over medium-high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and cook it for about 3 minutes on each side so as to keep it a little pink in the center.
4. If you grill, broil, or pan grill the fish, heat the remaining marinade in a small saucepan until it boils. Pour into a small bowl and serve with the fish.
5. Garnish the fish with chopped scallions.

4-6 servings
Adapted from The Moosewood Collective’s New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

I might serving the following with this lovely fish:

Lemon Barley Pilaf

And a light salad of cucumber, jicama, lettuce, and avocado.

Catfish with Cherry Tomatoes and Lemon Sauce

I'm going to give you a quickie demo of how I go about putting a menu together.

I’m going to fix Catfish with Cherry Tomatoes and Lemon Sauce for the main dish. The dish can be put together ahead, refrigerated and baked right before serving. The sauce can be made ahead. I imagine what it will look like with the breading and the cherry tomatoes. (Cookbook photos are so helpful.) I imagine tasting the lemon sauce and the capers in the breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumb Caper topping:
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
¼ cup capers, drained
1½ cups fresh bread crumbs
Zest of 1 lemon, see photos if you need them
Juice of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper

1½ pounds catfish fillets of similar thickness or other white fish fillets
2 tablespoons olive oil
Basket of cherry tomatoes
Lemon Sauce, see recipe below
Parsley for garnish, coarsely chopped, optional

1. If you need to grate the cheese and make the breadcrumbs, you can do both in a food processor. Grate the cheese with the grater insert, remove the cheese, and then make the breadcrumbs with the regular blade.
2. To make the topping, combine the cheese, garlic, capers, breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper and mix well.
3. Preheat oven to 450°F. Place the olive oil in a baking dish. Turn the fillets in the oil to coat both sides and lay side by side in the dish in a single layer.
4. Sprinkle with the topping and the cherry tomatoes. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Test for doneness. When the fish flakes easily, it’s done.
5. While the fish is baking, make the lemon sauce. When the fish is done, sprinkle with parsley if desired and serve with the Lemon Sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Serve at room temperature.

4-5 servings
Adapted from the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi’s Come On In

Here are a few suggestions of dishes to serve with the Catfish and the reasons that I've chosen them.

Green Olive Tapenade
If you want to have something to eat standing around the kitchen, what about a Green Olive Tapenade with crispy crackers or cucumbers? Nice color, can be made ahead, and has a strong distinctive flavor.









Stir-Fried Sugar Snap or Snow Peas
I know that the texture of the fish is nice and soft. The peas have great color and the crunch. The peas can be de-strung ahead. They need to be fried at the last moment.

The breadcrumbs on the fish take care of starch. No rice or bread or potatoes are necessary unless one of your guests would feel neglected without it.

Jicama Slaw
If I wanted a salad, I might choose a slaw, such as Jicama Slaw or Erasto’s Slaw. Either can be put together ahead of time and stored in the fridge. Stir again just before serving. It might be best to serve in small side bowls.

Chocolate Pots
For dessert, I probably wouldn’t want a big lemon hit because of the fish’s Lemon Sauce. Tiny Chocolate Pots might be just right. They can be made ahead and are ready whenever you are, unless you want to add some whipped cream.

Salmon with Swiss Chard

This is perhaps my favorite fish dish in the world. I have had a hard time getting a good photo of it. The last time I made it, I was so eager to dig into it that I forgot to take a picture until the dish was in shambles: messy, half-eaten, unappetizing. So at last I have a photo that is good enough. You will love this dish—or at least I hope so.

2 pounds Swiss chard, red or green, about 2 bunches
5 ounces pitted Kalamata black olives
1½ pounds salmon fillets, cut into serving size pieces, skin removed if you desire

Marinade (chermüla):
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon paprika or smoky sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon ground chile molido or any chile powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon salt

1. Remove the stems from the chard; save for another purpose or compost. Wash the leaves very well to remove all the dirt and cut into ½-inch strips.
2. Put it and the olives in the top of a steamer. Cover and steam over high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the chard is al dente. Remove from the heat. Take off the lid, cover with a cloth, and leave the chard to cool.
Note: You can do this step the day before you’re making the dish, preferably before trying to stuff the unwieldy bunches of chard into your fridge.
3. Combine all the ingredients in the marinade. Rub it all over the fish and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours in a cool place. Less time is fine too.
4. When you are ready to roast the fish, spread the chard and olives on the bottom of a baking dish. Place the salmon fillets on top of the chard, skin side down, surrounded by the marinade. Pour the liquid of the marinade over everything.
5. Roast at 425ºF for about 30 minutes, checking after 25 minutes to see if the fish is done to your liking. The time depends on the thickness of the fish fillets.
6. Serve with bread to mop up the delicious sauce.

4-6 servings
Adapted from Anissa Helou’s Street Café Morocco