Vegetarian

My mom is an excellent cook. In particular she is an excellent intuitive cook. When we were kids we’d compliment her on a meal and she’d say “Well, enjoy it because you’ll never have it again.” Because she’d totally just made it up on the fly.

This was on my mind today when I decided to make Broccoli & Cheddar soup.

Until the other day—when my daughter got a cup of said soup from a questionable-looking crock at Stop & Shop—I hadn’t thought of Broccoli & Cheddar soup since the 90’s when they used to serve it in bread bowls at restaurants that specialized (weirdly) in soup served in bread bowls. Back then, I refused to eat it because it was trendy, and the bread bowls seemed wasteful. But in hindsight, I can see how Broccoli & Cheese soup might actually be delicious.

I whipped up a batch in no time and it was really good. So good that I wish I’d measured. Alas, I’ll have to enjoy it because… I may not ever have it again.

Here’s what I recommend if you’d like to try it, yours might come out delicious too, you never know!

• Broccoli & Cheddar Soup•
edited to me more precise on 12/6/19

Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter, divided
2 small shallots, minced
1 small head of broccoli, chopped
Salt
Water
Flour
1-1/2 cups whole milk (approx)
1-1/2 cups grated white cheddar (approx – when in doubt use more)
pinch nutmeg
pinch cayenne

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in an enamel pot and sautée two minced shallots in that butter until soft. To the shallots and butter, add a small head of broccoli, chopped into floret-sized chunks, stems and all. Sautée that for a couple of minutes then added a good amount of salt and about half an inch of water (ie: add water to the pan until you’ve got 1/2 an inch). Cover and let simmer over low heat.

To make a simple bechamel, add 3 tablespoons butter to a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add a heaping soup spoon full (about 2 tablespoons) of flour and mix it for a minute. Then, add a cup and a half of warmed whole milk, turn the heat to medium-low and stir until thickened (less than 5 minutes). 

Grate a cup and a half of sharp white cheddar and add it to the bechamel with some salt, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of cayenne. Stir together till smooth. Add the cheese sauce to your broccoli and water. Turn off the heat and blend with a hand blender, until the big chunks are gone.

Serve with a pinch of cayenne for color. Also wonderful with homemade croutons!

For years I thought that Fettuccine Alfredo was a really complicated and time-consuming dish to make. Back in the early 90s when I was in art school, this guy (a fellow student) invited my friend and I to his house for Fettuccine Alfredo. My friend had a seemingly endless stream of male admirers, a perk for me at times like these.

We traveled in a pair anyhow, my friend and I. We both wore Posner Ripe Raisin lipstick, I because it was cheap, and she because it probably horrified her parents. I spent hours applying mine symmetrically, she dashed it on like Robert Smith from The Cure—I was never sure if it was deliberate or if her mind was elsewhere when she did her makeup.

We wore funny, puckered-cotton, kids mumu dresses we’d found in a dumpster, I because they were free, and she because her parents would never approve. Our shoes were perfectly intact 1940s heels from a warehouse downtown that sold them cheap, because of their quadruple A width, which you could make work if you sized up a bit. We wore black eyeliner, hers on the top lids, mine on the bottom. We had paint on an exposed body part, at any given time.

The guy’s house was lovely. A hundred years old with soaring ceilings, flooded with evening light. We sat at his kitchen island and drank oversized glasses of red wine while he cooked… for ages! He whisked and simmered until evening was fully and completely gone.

When we finally sat down to eat, the Fettuccine Alfredo was the best thing we’d ever tasted. Clearly worth the hours of stirring and prep. I thought: maybe I’ll make this one day. But I’ve never really felt compelled to cook something that takes all day, and isn’t cake.

When my kids asked the other night for that pasta with the white sauce—which it seems they’ve been eating when they’re not with me—I sighed and looked up the recipe prepared to say no, due to time constraints. The recipe I found said: cooking time: 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes! That poor guy tried so hard, and we didn’t even sleep over.

• Fettuccine Alfredo •
from the New York Times
serves 6

Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1 pound fresh fettuccine (linguini or thick spaghetti work fine too)
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground pepper to taste.

Bring 6 quarts generously salted water to a boil.

While the water heats, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; saute until fragrant and sizzling, about 2 minutes. Whisk the cream with the egg yolk in a bowl until blended; pour into the garlic butter. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir until hot but not boiling. Keep warm over low heat.

Cook the pasta, until al dente. Reserve some cooking water, then drain in a colander, shaking out excess water. Pour hot pasta into the cream mixture and toss to coat (still over low heat). Add the cheese and keep tossing gently until cream is mostly absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. If sauce is absorbed too much, toss with a little pasta water. Serve immediately, with a simple salad.

It’s 1000 degrees with 500 percent humidity in Boston today. It’s hard to see your way to cooking a nice hot meal. Yesterday we just ate a giant bucket of hummus with pita from Rami’s.

But tonight, my ambitious mom (who doesn’t have air conditioning, btw) decided to make this pasta dish she’s been meaning to make for a while now. It comes from the New York Times by way of my dad, aka my mom’s personal recipe clipper.

Orecchiette with Corn, Jalapeño, Feta and Basil. All parties agreed it’s a keeper. The jalapeño really just adds a bit of interesting, subtle flavor. Don’t expect something very spicy. Pasta with corn is always a favorite of mine, this corn happened to be fresh off the cob which didn’t hurt the flavor one little bit.

Have at it:

• Orecchiette With Corn, Jalapeño, Feta and Basil •
from the New York Times
serves 4

Ingredients
1 pound orecchiette
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 jalapeño, finely chopped
5 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed (about 3 1/2 to 4 cups kernels)
Kosher salt
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
½ cup torn basil leaves, plus more for serving
Flaky salt, for serving (optional)

Directions
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until it is just short of al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water.

While pasta cooks, make the sauce: In a 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add jalapeño, and cook until softened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add corn, and cook until it begins to brown in spots, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water and bring to simmer and cook until reduced by half, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add pasta to skillet, tossing to coat with sauce. Add feta cheese and an additional 1/4 cup of pasta water, tossing until pasta is slick and glossy with sauce. If needed, add in another 1/4 cup pasta water. Stir in basil. Transfer to a large bowl and scatter with remaining basil. Season with flaky salt, if desired. 

You will be shocked to learn that I didn’t think it needed any salt.

I love cheese ravioli with a simple, creamy tomato sauce, and not just because I love pretty much anything involving tomatoes and cream. It just feels like the right combination, the cream mellows the tomato so it doesn’t overwhelm the cheese in the ravioli.

Thing is, I didn’t really have a go-to creamy tomato sauce… dum dum dum dum… until now! Enter Marcella’s favorite sauce re-interpreted (recipe below). Just as easy as the original but a bit smoother and, of course, creamy (because that’s the whole point).

• Tomato & Cream Sauce •
interpreted from Marcella Hazan’s Famous Sauce

A 28oz can crushed or pureed San Marzano tomatoes, I like this brand
2.5 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted, either is fine)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
1/4 cup (approx) heavy cream
Salt to taste (pepper too, if you like)

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. You don’t need to cut the butter into pieces, just bung a piece from the stick righ in the pot. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat, discard the onion, stir in the heavy cream and add salt to taste. Add more cream if you like it lighter. That’s it! 

Serve with cheese ravioli (if you like) and with some grated pecorino or parmesan too.

Sometimes you just want a good, hearty salad. A satisfying salad. A salad, with cheese, croutons, grainy mustard dressing and maybe some tart apple chunks.

Fortunately I had these ingredients on hand last night. Shane and the kids ate meat.