Heaven knows I never thought I would be passing along a link from Metafilter, but Cooking for Losers is pretty darn charming.
We are snowed in in in, ever so snowed in, though I might be motivated to wade through the snow for four blocks in order to get some more dishwashing detergent. There's plenty of food, but while we're luxuriating in our cozy little snowtrap, it would be nicest if we could carry on washing up with the greatest of ease. I wonder if the store is even open, though -- I kind of feel like it shouldn't be (poor employees) but who knows?
Last night I made a really delicious pile of pasta based on a leek recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking. (If I were enterprising, I would make a little sidebar for the cookbooks I've been using most lately. Don't hold your breath, though!) First you trim 3 big leeks and cut them into 1-2" pieces, washing them thoroughly of course. Then you crush 3 cloves of garlic and toss them into a few tablespoons of hot oil, along with a tablespoon of sugar. Cook, as Roden says, "for moments only," until the sugar starts to caramelize.
Toss in the leeks and cook a few minutes more, moving them around so they color a bit. Add the juice of one lemon or a splash of vinegar, and some salt. Add just enough water to barely cover and turn the heat down very low. Stew, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are very soft and the liquid is reduced to a syrupy puddle. This will take a while, maybe half an hour? Roden would have you stop there, and serve it hot, cold, or at room temperature as an appetizer or side dish. But I made half a pound of linguine and tossed it with the leeks (this recipe is involving a lot of tossing, I'm noticing!) and some freshly grated parmesean. Plenty of pepper at the table. With half a pound of pasta, there was a very high leek-to-pasta ratio; you could easily do it with a whole pound and the same quantity of leeks, and feed four people.
We are snowed in in in, ever so snowed in, though I might be motivated to wade through the snow for four blocks in order to get some more dishwashing detergent. There's plenty of food, but while we're luxuriating in our cozy little snowtrap, it would be nicest if we could carry on washing up with the greatest of ease. I wonder if the store is even open, though -- I kind of feel like it shouldn't be (poor employees) but who knows?
Last night I made a really delicious pile of pasta based on a leek recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking. (If I were enterprising, I would make a little sidebar for the cookbooks I've been using most lately. Don't hold your breath, though!) First you trim 3 big leeks and cut them into 1-2" pieces, washing them thoroughly of course. Then you crush 3 cloves of garlic and toss them into a few tablespoons of hot oil, along with a tablespoon of sugar. Cook, as Roden says, "for moments only," until the sugar starts to caramelize.
Toss in the leeks and cook a few minutes more, moving them around so they color a bit. Add the juice of one lemon or a splash of vinegar, and some salt. Add just enough water to barely cover and turn the heat down very low. Stew, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are very soft and the liquid is reduced to a syrupy puddle. This will take a while, maybe half an hour? Roden would have you stop there, and serve it hot, cold, or at room temperature as an appetizer or side dish. But I made half a pound of linguine and tossed it with the leeks (this recipe is involving a lot of tossing, I'm noticing!) and some freshly grated parmesean. Plenty of pepper at the table. With half a pound of pasta, there was a very high leek-to-pasta ratio; you could easily do it with a whole pound and the same quantity of leeks, and feed four people.
