I've got a little bit of a head cold. Certainly not in the mood to extend very far cooking. I'm also hoping my sense of taste isn't too distorted. No trip to the store today either, I'm using what I have in the fridge and freezer.
I also found out that Ali is coming for Christmas. That gives me 4 days less than expected. My brain needs to function on overdrive for this.
Last night's enchiladas were good but lacking in protein. Today I'm going for something a little more substantial. Instead of a Parmesan, we're going with carbonara.
Cut up half the eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes. Save the rest, the stuff is versatile. I also used about a third of a block of extra firm tofu. Marinate in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, veggie stock, salt and pepper. I had some fresh rosemary lying around so I chopped two big stalks of that and threw it in. I should have done this last night to let it soak overnight. We'll go with what we've got. Things marinate slower in the fridge so I'm leaving it in a warm space. Total prep time: 7 minutes.
Last night's stock came out pretty good. The onions give a very base flavor but the carrots were a little overpowering. Less carrots today. Probably don't need as much onion either, it was very rich. All in all, I got slightly over a gallon.
Carbonara can be made without cream. That's the authentic way. It's also probably more difficult and time-consuming to make that way. I'll give it a try and we can always go back to the cheating method that tastes just as good.
Maybe we're not using cream but we have to replace it with butter. It's going to be an emulsion, cooked in-place with the pasta. The pasta needs to be very al dente, should seem only about half cooked. It'll cook more in the sauce.
Boil the pasta. It will always taste better if you boil it in stock instead of just water. Since the stock on hand is rich, I'm going to go 50-50. I've got about a full pound of, "large shells," but they seem about regular size to me. They're not the tiny ones but not the huge ones that you stuff like manicotti. Normal shells. You could use penne or spaghetti or anything else relatively small which will hold onto a relatively liquid sauce. Penne and spaghetti both work on capillary action, sucking things into them. Linguini less so, rigatoni not at all. Farafalle, rotini (twists) and other flat pastas are for thick sauces that won't let go of the pasta. A pound is a little more than two hungry people can eat. This isn't so great a leftover dish. Better to save the marinated materials and cook up a fresh batch the next day. You can even save the cooked pasta. It's the sauce that won't weather well.
While the pasta is cooking, melt a half stick of butter. Use a microwave if you've got one and aren't afraid of it. Ali has a strange aversion to them. They're less likely to give you cancer than using a mobile or cordless phone. Teflon isn't bad for you either. Lots of urban myth there.
We're going to need a large pan for this. Half an eggplant, a third of a block of tofu and a pound of pasta constitute a lot of volume. It's going to be hard to stir if everything's up to the neck of the pan.
Beat two eggs and two more egg whites in a bowl. Between the tofu and the eggs, we're going for double-whammy. I'd use four whole eggs but that's more calories than a normal person should eat in a meal, even if you divide the recipe among many people.
Saute the veggies in some vegetable oil when they're ready. We've got to soften the eggplant a little. If you used olive oil in the marinade, discard it and use water. If not, use the marinade for liquid. Simmer for about 5 minutes. If you have one large or deep non-stick pan, use it for this. When done, drain any remaining liquid, set the contents aside and rinse the pan. I ended up using most of the sauteeing time to pick out the rosemary stems. That was relatively unpleasant.
Now comes the emulsion. Use a large pan, not cast iron, put it over low heat and add the butter. Let it sit for just a minute for the butter to heat up, then slowly mix in a little bit of the egg. Stir vigorously. Adjust the heat so the egg doesn't curdle. That's the trick, you want to cook the egg very slowly so it solidifies into tiny little particles, not larger pieces of egg. It'll mix with the butter and other liquid to give you a creamy sauce instead of a chunky mess. Keep adding a little bit at a time, continually stirring. It's a balance of thermal mass, you want to make sure the whole thing is hot enough to cook the egg slowly while stirring, cooking it, but not too quickly. It's not as hard as it sounds. Once you have something saucy, add the vegetables and pasta, preferably still hot. Add about a half cup of stock and cook over very low heat until warm, about a minute or two. The whole ordeal should take about 5 minutes.
Total time, just under 30 minutes. I checked my Blackberry and wrote some of this while I was cooking, so it's not too intense. Now we're talking. Tastes great too. This would have been really good served with some fresh, grainy bread. Save that for tomorrow.
For my own notes, definitely marinate the eggplant longer. It was a little hard with 45 minutes of marinating. The rosemary is key, make sure there's some in the marinade and add a little more while sauteeing the veggies if it's dried. Don't try to make the emulsion with anything else in the pan, it's too hard and you end up with a ruined consistency. Use some stock with the butter too, especially to cool it down if it's too hot.
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