The How and Why of Clarified Butter
- Deutsch: Flüssiges Butterschmalz direkt nach der Herstellung English: Freshly made clarified butter, still liquid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Clarified butter, also known as (aka) drawn butter is simply unsalted butter where the milk solids and water have been removed so that all that remains is the pure butter fat.
When butter is melted the different components of it will separate by density. The water will evaporate and some of the milk solids will float to the top which can be skimmed off. Other milk solids will sink down to the bottom in which case the clear butter fat can then be poured off. As an alternative, once the water has evaporated, you can pour the melted butter through a cheesecloth to remove the milk solids. There won’t be as much waste using this method as opposted to skimming and you will remove most if not all of the milk solids which will increase its shelf life.
Why would you want clarified butter? The main reason is that clarified butter has a higher smoke point and is therefore much better for sauteing and other applications. It can also be stored longer. Since it has no milk products remaining there is only traces of lactose, which is a good thing if you are lactose intolerant. Have you ever wondered why that melted butter that you are served with seafood tastes so good? It’s because it was clarified.
Watch this youtube video to see how easy it is to clarify butter. As an althernative, try ghee. Ghee is the Indian version of clarified butter and has a smokey flavor to it. You can find it online.
How To Clean Clams The Italian Way
Clams (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Before you prepare your spaghetti alle vongole you will want to clean your little-neck clams in order to purge any sand that they might contain. To do this you will need cold water and salt. You can use table or sea salt.
Add the clams to a large bowl and cover with water. The water should be adequate so that there is at lease four inches of water above the clams. Now add about 1.5 ounces of salt and stir to distribute the salt. Let the clams sit for at least three hours in a cool place. Don’t forget the clams are alive at this point and they are more active at night. You should cover them with a dark towel to keep out the light and to encourage the purging process.
After three hours the clams are clean and they should have purged any sand and other impurities. Rinse well with cold water and remove any open or damaged clams. The clams are now ready to be incorporated into your favorite clam dish.
Buon appetito.
Caserecce Con Pesto Alla Sciciliana
Caserecce Con Pesto Alla Sciciliana or Pasta with Sicilian Pesto is a fresh, hearty but light pasta dish that is perfect for the summer. It’s simple and really fast to prepare. Just take a blender, put all of the ingredients in it, except for the pasta, blend and serve on a plate with the sauce. It has a distinctive Mediterranean flavor ot it.
Clean and wash the tomatoes and cut them in half after removing the inner white part near the stem, remove the seeds and excess liquid with a spoon. Put them in a container or directly into the blender and add the ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Stir in the basil and then, washed and dried pine nuts, garlic and oil.
If you prefer, you can replace the pine nuts with almonds peeled and cut into fillets or triterete before adding the sauce.
Pasta e Fagioli
Pasta e fagioli is a rustic dish born in the taverns of ancient Rome. It’s an inexpensive and healthy dish that is simple to make. There are so many variations of the dish but they all start with this basic recipe which is quite capable of standing on its own.
Ingredients:
| Ditalini or elbow Pasta | 12 ounces |
| Beans | 2 cups or one can |
| Pancetta (or smoked bacon) | 4 ounces |
| Pork fat | 3 ounces |
| Celery | 1stalk |
| Carrot | 1 |
| Onion | 1 medium |
| Tomato | 1 peeled whole tomato chopped |
| Garlic | 2 cloves |
| Beef or Vegeatable Broth | 16 ounces |
| Olive Oil | 1/2 cup |
| Peper | to taste |
Steps:
- Brown the pancetta in a pan and then add the beans. Cook until the beans have softened a bit. If the beans begin to dry out, you can add some broth to the pan. For the beans you can either soak them over knight or use canned beans. I like cannellini beans for this recipe but kidney beans will work as well.
- Meanwhile, in another pan melt the pork fat.
- Add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic which should be minced for beforehand. Cook until just golden.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan.
- Add the beans to the vegetables. Add a couple of ladles of broth and let all of the flavours cook together for a few minutes over low to medium heat.
- Cook the pasta about halfway. You don’t want to cook the pasta all the way because you will cook the pasta with the beans. Add the pasta to the beans and ix and let the pasta cook until al dente. Again if it looks a little dry, just add some more broth.
- Season with pepper to taste.
You can garnish the dish with chopped fresh parsely or with parmigiano reggiano cheese (my preference). It tastes wonderful.
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How do you Blanche Tomatoes
Tomato 'San Marzano' (Photo credit: Satrina0)
This technique applies to just about any variety of tomato. Using a paring knife score the bottom of the tomato with an ‘X’ that is just skin deep. You then remove the core (where the stem was once attached). Drop them in boiling water for about 10 seconds. Remove them and drop them into a bowl of ice water. The skin will separate and you can easily peel them.
The next time your recipe calls for tomatoes try this technique out and you will be amazed at how much better your tomato based dish will taste using fresh tomatoes as opposed to canned. Check out the video below:
Thanks.
Michael
Spaghetti all’carbonara
Spaghetti all’carbonara is an excellent alternative to a pasta dish that uses a tomato based sauce. It is simple to make, requires few ingredients and can be thrown together in under 30 minutes. No body is exactly sure where the name carbonara came from. Some think it might have evolved from ‘carbone’ italian for coal which resembles the cracked pepper. We know it first appeared in Italian cookbooks shortly after World War II making it a newcomer in the world of pasta. What makes it unique is that it uses eggs as the base for the sauce. This requires a special, but not difficult, technique otherwise you end up with pasta and scrambled eggs. Guanciale is your best option to use in this disch but pancetta or cured bacon are acceptable substitutes.
Ingredients:
| Pasta | 16 ounces |
| Guanciale (cubed) | 8 ounces |
| Olive oil | 2 tablespoon |
| Pecorino cheese (grated) | 4 ounces |
| Eggs | 1 + 4 yolks |
| Cracked Black Pepper | To taste |
| Salt | To taste |
Preparation:
Prepare the sauce while the pasa is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished. It is very important that the spaghetti is hot when you add the egg mixture. It is the heat from the pasta that cookes the eggs in the sauce.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta and cook for about 10 minutes or until ‘al dente’, tender but firm. Drain the pasta well but reserve about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce if you like. It smoothes it out and sort of pulls everything together. Add the hot drained spaghetti to the pan you cooked the bacon in and toss for a couple of minutes to coat the spaghetti.
- Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the guanciale (or pancetta or bacon) and saute for about 3 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered.
- Beat the egg, yolks and cheese together in a mixing bowl. Stir well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly entil he eggs thicken, but do not scramble.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4
Basic Tomato Sauce
Makes 4 cups
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped in 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt, to taste
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce can be saved in the refrigerator for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.
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