Guest Post: Scallop Sauce with Olive Oil, Garlic and Hot Pepper

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I just put on a t-shirt. Not only did I put it on inside-out but I also managed to put it on backwards. Maybe I'm not in the best state of mind to write a blog post?

Whatever. This is another of my brother's pastas from my recent trip to St. Louis. For the past 2 years, he's been raving about how great it is and how I really need to make it. He even took pictures of the recipe and e-mailed it to me. However, my near constant obsession with Asian food got in the way and I never got around to it. James decided to chef it up for me so here we go. This recipe is taken from the previously recommended Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

P.S. I keep hot sauce on my desk the way most people keep pens and pencils. Just thought I'd share.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb fresh bay or deep sea scallops (my brother swears by the bay scallops, says they're much better than the sea scallops for this recipe)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic chopped very fine
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Red chili flake to taste
Salt
1 lb pasta (cookbook recommends spaghettini or spaghetti)
1/2 cup dry, unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted in oven or in a skillet

1. Rinse scallops and pat dry. If using bay scallops, leave as is. If using sea scallops, cut into 3/8 inch thick slices.

2. Put olive oil and garlic in a large pan, turn heat to medium and cook until garlic is colored a light gold. Add parsley and hot pepper, stir and toss in scallops and salt to taste. Turn heat to high and cook until scallops turn white. Taste and add additional salt or red pepper if needed. The cookbook points out that if the scallops shed a lot of liquid, remove them from the pan and boil down the water juices and then add the scallops back into the pan.

3. Toss the scallop sauce with the cooked pasta, add bread crumbs, toss again and eat!

Thanks, James! Really tasty and much, much better than the shaking beef stew. :)

Guest Post: Bucatini all'Amatriciana

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Loyal readers might remember these two posts: #1 & #2 and my little brother is back for another round of pasta posts! I'm not much of an Italianophile but his pasta is pretty much the best I've ever had. That's right, I went there.

My brother's Italian food bible is the excellent and widely available Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion chopped fine
A 1/4 inch thick slice of pancetta, cut into strips 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch long (Pancetta is salt and spice cured like American bacon but isn't smoked. James also doubled the amount of pancetta and cut it into simple chunks)
1.5 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, drained and cut up
Dried red chili pepper flakes to taste
Salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
1 pound pasta (James used bucatini pasta. So fun to eat! It's kinda like spaghetti but hollow on the inside.)

1. Put oil, butter and onion in a sauce pan and heat over medium flame. Saute the onion until it is a pale gold then add pancetta. Cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes, chili flake and salt. Gently simmer for 25 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

2. Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce. Add cheeses, toss thoroughly and eat!

So easy and so good. Please try!

Pasta with Tomatoes and Anchovies

If this isn't my little brother's signature recipe, it should be. It is ridiculously easy but yields disproportionately delicious results. When I made it for a Sunday supper, all you heard was "slurp, slurp, yummm, slurp, nom nom nom." Don't be scared of the anchovies...they aren't particularly fishy...just ultra savory.

INGREDIENTS
1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes in juice (James recommends Muir Glen)
1 2.5 oz. container of anchovies
3 cloves of minced garlic

1 box of spaghetti
1/4 cup of good quality olive oil (important because the olive oil is very present)
1/4 cup of rough chopped Italian parsley

Take the tomatoes and remove them from the can. Leave the juice behind. Rough chop the tomatoes and place in a bowl. If any juice from the rough chopped tomatoes collects in the bottom of the bowl, that is okay. You just don't want to use all the juice from the can.

Drain the anchovies and cross cut. Mash with a fork and set aside.

Start heating up your water for the pasta. Salt the water.

Heat up the quarter cup of olive oil. You don't want to color the garlic...just get a mild sizzle going to help release the garlic flavor into the oil. After a minute of two of this, toss in the mashed anchovies and distribute. Mash the anchovies into the oil and cook for another minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. You will want to cook the sauce for 15-20 minutes. The sauce is done when the tomato juice has evaporated and, when you slide a spatula through the pot, the tomatoes part and the bottom of the pan is clearly evident. Add a touch of salt...remember, the anchovies are quite salty.

About 10 minutes into the tomato sauce simmering time, toss in the pasta. It'll take 8 or so minutes to cook. Drain the pasta.

By now, the sauce should be done. Dump the drained pasta into the tomato sauce and mix well. Toss in the parsley and mix again. Dish up and dig in!

Time- 25 minutes, most of it is inactive.

Food cost-
Tomatoes- $2.59
Garlic- Like 4 cents?
Pasta- $1.00
Olive Oil- $0.19
Anchovies- $1.49
Parsley- Ummm, another 4 cents?
Total- $5.35...3-4 servings so $1.78 or $1.33 per serving.