ONE OF the most delicious
foods you can serve at a
party is a pasta dish.

THE FRUGAL GOURMET

If you are having a large gath-
ering, you may want to consider
cooking the pasta before and
heating it at the last minute.

This can be done if you are
careful to boil the pasta until it is
not quite done to your taste, and
then draining it and plunging it
immediately into cold water.

Drain the pasta and keep it cold
until dinner. Heat it by throwing
it into a pot of boiling water for
just a moment, then draining it
and serving it immediately.

PASTITSIO
(Serves 6-8)

1 think the Greeks are to be
given credit for the invention of
baked pastas, this particular dish
being the most famous of the
many regional varieties.

It is a splendid invention and
pre-dates what the Italians were
later to call lasagne.

THE MEAT MIXTURE

6 tablespoous butier

% cap peeled and finely chopped
yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1% pounds iean ground beef

1 16-ounce can peeled tomatoes,
mashed

% cup canned tomato sauce

% cup water

1 teaspoon salt

Ys teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper .

Y, teaspoon cinnamon

Y% teaspoon cloves

THE MACARONI

“2 tablespoons dry

Wednesday, July 8, 1992 ~ North Shore News - 41

" MEWS photo Paut MleGrath

TODAY'S PASTA recipes include pastitsio; pasta ears with caulifiower; pasta carbonara, Roman-

style; glass noodles with peanut sauce; and noodles in oyster sauce.

4 quarts water
Sait

¥% pound Greek macaroni or
Italian ziti (use long, medium size,
not elbow or skort pasta)

Ys cup butter, melted

G eggs, beaten

! cup grated Parmesan or
Romano cheese

THE WHITE SAUCE

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons flour

2 cups warm milk

3 eggs, beaten

sherry (op-
tional)

¥2 teaspoon nutmeg

V2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

_ ¥2 teaspeun salt

Dash of whate pepper

Prepare the meat mixture by
heating a large skillet and adding
2 tablespoons of the butter. Saute
the onion and garlic until golden.

Add remaining butter and the
crumbled ground beef. Add re-
maining ingredients for the meat
mixture and simmer, uncovered,
for 20 minutes or until most of
the liquid has been absorbed.
Mixture should be thick. .

Set aside.

Prepare the macaroni by bring-
ing the water to a boii in a large
stockpot. Add the salt and the
macaroni. Stir gently .and cook
uncovered until tender, about 7 or
8 minutes.

Drain arid rinse with cool water.
Drain well and place in a large
bowl.

Add the melted buiter, beaten
eggs and grated cheese. Put half
this mixture into a greased 9°’x
9°x 2”? baking pan. Top with the
meat mixture.

Cover the meat with the re-
maining half of the pasta.

Prepare the white sauce by
melting butter in a medium-sized
saucepan. Stir in the flour and
cook for a moment. Gradually
add the heated milk, stirring con-
stantly, and cook until thickened
and smooth. .

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl
and stir in % cup of the sauce.
Blend and, stir the egg mixture in-
to the saucepan. .

Continue to stir and cook over
low heat until all is thickened.
Add remaining ingredients for the
sauce.

Pour the sauce over the maca-

roni and bake at 350°F for 25
minutes or until the iop is deli-
cately browned.
PASTA EARS WITH
CAULIFLOWER
(Serves 6-8 as a first course)

This dish comes from Sicily, |

where grandmas stilf press out the
tiny pasta ears. You can buy them
already prepared in any Italian
grocery. Ask for ‘“‘orecchiette,’”
little pasta ears.
1 1%-poyad head of cauliflower,
broken iuto little flowerets
Y cup olive oil
Ye pound dry pasta ears (orec-
chiette)
3°‘cloves garlic, chopped fine or
crushed
6 anchovies, Mat, soaked in 2 cup
milk for 1 hour, then drained;
discard the milk
Y% teaspoon dried
flakes or to taste
Sait and freshly ground black
pepper to taste

Bring a pot of 4 quarts of water
to a boil and blanch the flowerets
of cauliflower for just a few
minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the
olive oil to the water during this
process.

red-pepper

Drain the vegetable, reserving
the water, and plunge the
flowerets into cold water. Set
aside.

Bring the water in which the
cauliflower was cooked to a boil
again and cook the pasta until just
barely tender.

In the meantime, heat the re-
maining oi! and saute the garlic,
drained anchovies and pepper
flakes until the anchovies can be
mashed with a wooden fork.
Drain the pasta and the cauliflow-
er and mix al} together, heating
until the dish is hot.

Serve without cheese.

PASTA CARBONARA,
ROMAN STYLE

(Serves 8-10 as a first course)

Pasta carbonara is an old dish
and reminds us .of times when
people had to live on a few pieces
of dried Italian bacon and an egg
or two, but with pasta ydu could
survive very well.

% pound pancetta (you can use
regular bacon for this dish, but. it
is just not the same)

VY pound butter

i cup milk

2 tablespocns white-wine vinegar

1 pound pasta, dry

2 eggs, whipped

¥% cup grated Parmesan cr
Romano cheese .

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the pancetta into little
pieces %-inch square and saute in
the butter until the bacon is clear.

Heat the milk in a small sauce-
pan and add the bacon and but-
ter. Add the vinegar; this will turn
the milk to cheese.

Simmer gently for about 15
minutes or until the sauce is
smooth. .

Boil your favorite pasta al
dente. Drain and return to the
pan. . .

Immediately throw in the eggs,
the bacon sauce and the grated
cheese. Add salt and pepper, toss
and serve immediately. °

NOTE: The pasta must be hot
when tossed with the eggs and
remaining ingredients so that the
raw eggs will reach a temperature
of 140°F,

GLASS NOODLES WITH
PEANUT SAUCE
(Serves 4-6 as an appetizer course)

“Sai fun,’? the thin noodles

made from mung beans, are often

See Serve page 42

New potatoes: Enjoy the tiny gems of summer now

inquisitive

THERE’S NOTHING that
heralds the coming of
summer like tiny, new
potatoes.

These sweet, moist nuggets are
little luxuries, harvested before
they're mature and sent im-
mediately to the marketplace. The
smailer they are, the better.

We usually think of potatoes as
“*keepers.”” But new potatoes are
meant to be eaten right after
they’re harvested because that’s
when they're sweet and moist.

Once dug, their sugar content
decreases as sugar immediately
begins converting to starch. And
as they’re stored, they lose
moisture.

Because these potatoes are so
fresh, their skins are paper-thin.
The coarse, peelable skin of

mature potatoes develops as
they’re stored in a dark, cool,
humid environment.

Scrub them jusi before cooking.
Steam in just enough water to
keep them from burning or in a
steamer basket over simmering
water.

Or boil in just enough water to
cover and add sprigs of fresh mint
to flavor while they cook.

Roll in butter, and toss with
finely chopped parsley, or minced,
sauteed garlic. Ambrosia!

New potatoes can also be
oven-roasted. Coat them in oil
and roast in a shallow roasting
pan at 375°F (190°C) turning until
brown on ail sides.

Or oil and cook slowly in a
shallow pan or aluminum foil on

the back of the barbecue while the

rest of the dinner grills.

You can even serve bite-size
potatoes as appetizers, with a
dollop of sour cream and taste of
caviar or fresh dill on each.

New potatoes aren’t well suited
to baking, partly because of their
size and thin skins, but also
because they lack starch.

in a mature Idaho or Russet
potato, starch granules absorb sce
much moisture that they burst,
separating from one another in a
fluff that we prize as the ideal
texture for a baked potato.

New potatoes are wonderfully
flavorsome in potato salad. But
once again, their high sugar con-

tent affects texture. Use them if

you like a chunky salad where the
potatoes retain their shape. New
potatoes are dense, allowing
themselves ta be coated but not
swallowed by dressing.

in contrast, mature potatoes,
richer in’ starch, absorb salad
dressing, making a_ softer,
creamier cold summer salad.

When selecting potatoes, avoid
any that have a gpreenish hue
under their skin. If stored in the
light, chlorophyll develops and in
potatoes, it's associated with a
bitter compound called solanine.

In large quantities, solanine is
toxic. If potatoes start to turn
green before they’re eaten, cut or
peel away the green portions. If
they taste bitter, discard them.

Should new potatoes be around
long enough to te stored, keep
them in the dark and at cool, but
not refrigerator temperatures. The
perfect temperature is 50°F
(10°C).

Enjoy these tiny gems of early
summer now.

i a LS