Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Spanish Rice

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated mostly by Americans to celebrate a battle against the French, I'm presenting a recipe served with Spanish rice, and I'm posting it on May 6.  Why?  Because in life, nothing's perfect.  One day, you will come to accept this, and all will be well.

Perhaps a short backstory is in order on this.  I will attempt to guess at your day yesterday.  It's May 5.  It's getting late.  At some point in the day you've had this conversation:

You: "what the heck is Cinco de Mayo all about?"
Anyone who will listen: "I have no idea."
You: "well I think we should probably have a margarita somewhere, just to be sure."

Needless to say, I was no exception.  A quick Wikipedia search turned up the fact that this is not Mexican independence day, and that Cinco de Mayo is hardly celebrated in Mexico at all, unless you're from Puebla, where a fairly spectacular battle was fought against the French in 1862.  But it is celebrated in Mexican restaurants north of the border, and that's good enough for me.  So we settled on making some tacos, which soon gave way to burritos, as we had consumed overly strong margaritas following a 3-2-1 recipe and weren't quite in the mood for portion control.  Also an artifact of the margaritas was our inclusion of tequila in the shrimp recipe, which was invented last night.  And finally, the ingredients of the rice, which started off as plain brown rice but quickly became "whatever you feel like should be in there" rice, and which turned out to be one of the best parts of the meal.

But we'll get to the rice in a bit.  Let's start with these tacos, which were deemed so good that they arguably shouldn't be put on the blog.  After a lengthy discussion and more margaritas, it was decided that the world had to know, so here we are.  Some of the better shrimp I've ever eaten, let alone made.  Let's do this!

Burritos and Spanish rice, the results of a successful night of invention at the hands of a bottle of Herradura

Tequila-Fired Shrimp Tacos-Turned-Burritos
by me, entirely me, and nobody but me

• 1/2 pound large (21-25 count) shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1/2 tsp cumin, freshly ground
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 chipotle, chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried chile powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 oz tequila
• 1/4 head cabbage, shredded fine
• 1/2 avocado
• Cilantro leaves as desired
• Tortillas
• Sour cream

In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with the next 8 ingredients.  Try to work the lime juice into the shrimp.  Allow to sit for a few minutes, but not enough to accidentally cure the shrimp in the acidic solution.  While marinating, begin heating a large cast-iron skillet over high heat.

Season the shrimp in lime juice and a whole bunch of awesome.

Once smoking hot, add the oil and immediately add the shrimp so you don't burn the oil.  It may splatter if you just dump everything in, so individually add the shrimp, leaving behind the liquid.  Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes, then flip and cook another 2 minutes.

Not too much shrimp!  If you overcrowd, you'll end up with steamed nastiness, not seared crustacean magic.

At this point, a rational person would stop.  But someone 2 margaritas deep will instead forge on, and try to light the kitchen on fire.  By this I mean you will add 1 shot of tequila, and apply fire to it to get it to catch.  I had some difficulty with the flame part, but you can try to tip the pan or use a fireplace starter to get that thing to blow up like the Godfather.  Do it immediately, because it will evaporate quickly.  Once done having fun, remove shrimp to a bowl.

My alcohol-fueled tequila-fired shrimp.  Actual fire is optional.

To serve, assemble burritos/tacos with sour cream, cabbage, sliced avocado, the shrimp, and cilantro if you don't think it tastes like soap (I don't).  Serve with escabeche (pickled vegetables) if you have them, Spanish rice (recipe follows), or whatever you like.  More margaritas, for example.  ¡Olé!

Spanish Rice

• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 2 green onions, white parts only, sliced finely
• 1/2 lime
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup brown medium- or short-grain rice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Begin by cooking the rice, which takes a while given that it is brown rice.  While rice is cooking, prepare your other ingredients.  In a pot, bring 2 cups water to a boil, then add 1 tsp of the oil and the brown rice.  Once boiling, add the brown rice, cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 30-40 minutes, until rice is chewy and cooked through.  Drain rice in a colander or large strainer, and set aside.

Get your ingredients ready to go while the rice cooks

In a large skillet over medium heat, add remaining oil, and then add garlic, peppers, and green onion.  Saute for 3-4 minutes until soft and just starting to brown.  Now add the rice and toss to coat.  Stir in tomato paste and salt, and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Just before removing from heat, pour in juice from 1/2 lime.  Serve immediately.

Using brown rice gives a healthy kick, plus a delicious chewy bite to the rice that I thought was a huge improvement over standard long-grain white rice

Come on, work that lime!

Risotto with Shiitake, Asparagus, and Artichoke

Here's a dish that commemorates springtime - a risotto showcasing asparagus, among other things.  Risotto is that classic Italian dish using a short-grain, high starch rice that is stirred continuously during cooking to loosen the starch and create a thick, flavorful sauce that envelops the whole dish.  The dish is almost always made with Arborio rice, although these days you can find arguably better rice to use, such as Carnaroli.  The process also generally follows a formula - saute some aromatics, coat the rice in some oil, add a liquid while stirring, and then add the remainder of the ingredients once cooked, usually including a cheese of some kind. You can't phone this dish in - you have to stir for all you're worth for the 15-20 minutes that the rice cooks, and you have to pay attention to the doneness level so you don't ruin anything.  Be on your guard, and this will be well worth the effort.

Springtime Risotto of Shiitake, Asparagus, and Artichokes
expanded on from Gourmet, May 2003

• 5 cups chicken broth (40 fl ounces)
• 1 cup water
• 1 pound thin to medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices, leaving tips 1 1/2 inches long
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 3/4 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
• 2 artichoke hearts, fresh if available, jarred if not
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice (10 ounces)
• 1/2 cup dry vermouth
• 2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)

Shiitakes add a great earthy flavor and meaty consistency to this otherwise meat-free (except the broth) dish

Shallots.  Only way this dish would get better is if I put in flakes of gold.

First, we have to blanch the asparagus - boil to partially cook, then stop the cooking process in ice water.  Usually you just use water to boil, but we can do double duty and start heating up the broth here, which saves a pot.  So bring the broth and water to a boil in a large pot, then add asparagus and cook, uncovered, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes.  Immediately transfer the asparagus with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, reserving the hot broth which you should keep at a simmer.  Drain the asparagus and set aside.

Digitize your asparagus.  Anybody ever see that movie Tron?

Blanch in the broth - cook 3-4 minutes, then shock in ice water.  Now the asparagus is ready to add at the last step, cooked and ready to go.

In another large heavy pot or pan, heat the oil with 1 tablespoon butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then saute mushrooms.  You want them nicely browned, so I recommend doing this in two batches, using half of the fat each time.  Don't overcrowd the pan or you will get squishy grey mushrooms!  Stir occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a bowl.

Brown the mushrooms.  You don't want to see moisture coming out - do this in two batches

The mushrooms came out great, but are easily ruined

In that same pan, cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  This will coat the rice grains in oil and begin frying them, which adds flavor.  Add the wine to deglaze and start infusing flavor into the rice, and cook, stirring, until absorbed, about 1 minute.

Add the rice and toss to coat in the oil

Now the fun part - start cooking the rice with the broth.  Ladle in 1 cup of the simmering broth and cook at a strong simmer, stirring, until absorbed, about 2 minutes.  Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until rice is just tender and looks creamy, 18 to 20 minutes.  There's going to be a lot of stirring involved.  Now here's the most important point: it's done when the rice is cooked through, not when the broth is gone.  Keep tasting periodically as you get towards the end, and when the rice has just a bit of bite left (called al dente or "to the tooth", like a pasta), you're done.  Save any leftover broth for thinning as needed.

Stir the rice while adding broth

Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese, remaining tablespoon butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Gently fold in asparagus, artichokes and mushrooms, then cover pan and let stand for 1 minute.  If desired, thin risotto with some of remaining broth.  Serve immediately with remaining cheese on the side.

Fermented Pickles (Half-Sours)

Somewhere along the line, some brilliant hunter-gathered figured out that if he took the seeds from a wild vegetable and stuck them in the ground, they would produce more of that plant.  He hurried to tell his tribe of the discovery, who rejoiced in the bounty.  And one night about a week after his first harvest, he came home from chasing gazelles all day to find a bunch of rotten vegetables sitting around.  That night, he was beaten with reeds by the village chieftain, because the tribe would go hungry.  So the next, smarter person came along and thought, "we need a way to keep all of these things longer", and hurriedly set about the task of preserving food.  And so, because he did not know the location of the nearest supermarket and his internet was out, he learned through experiment that if the vegetables were packed in a salt water brine, they would soon become pickled, lasting through until the next season in a bacteria-thwarting environment.  This man was revered by all, and lived a happy life until being eaten by a bear at the ripe old age of 28.  This was a long time ago, after all.

That's probably not the exact history of pickling - it was apparently worked out in India about 4,000 years ago with cucumbers.  Since then, many different cultures figured this out this trick, bringing us the Korean kimchi, Japanese tsukemono, German sauerkraut, Eastern European beets, Italian giardiniera, and American pickled okra and watermelon, to name just a small handful of what's out there.  Not to mention Scandinavian pickled herring, American pickled pig's feet, and a slew of other pickled protein parts that the world has come to love, or at least tolerate.

Pickling magic is actually quite simple, and you can play it one of two ways:

1. A 'chemical' pickling can be accomplished with an acid, by soaking the vegetables in a mixture of vinegar and spices, then putting them in sterilized jars with some form of preservative if a longer shelf life is desired.  This preservative used to be alum, but since it probably gives you brain damage, commercial shops tend to use sodium benzoate.  This process can be accomplished in a matter of hours, as with quick-pickled American watermelon or Sichuan bamboo shoots.
2. A 'natural' pickling is accomplished by leaving the vegetables in a brine of salt water and spices, where natural yeasts and bacteria ferment the pickles over a longer period.  This process can take days, weeks, or even months, depending on the desired result.  This would include kimchi, sauerkraut (buried in the yard for months), most refrigerated cucumber pickles, and of course the Chinese Thousand Year Eggs, which is a bit of a special case.

I have tried quick pickling with vinegar before, but it just didn't do it for me.  It's the difference between the non-refrigerated pickles that are yellow-ish green inside, and the refrigerated ones that are still a pale white green inside.  This, to me, not only looks more like food, but I find that it also tastes more 'pickley' - crisp, tangy, salty, not sweet, and not sharp unless it's your own choosing.  So here I present to you my first experiment in naturally pickled cucumbers, fermented in brine rather than steeped in vinegar.

Naturally Fermented Half-Sour Pickles
Modified from multiple sources

• 2 lbs Kirby cucumber, unwaxed
• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) non-iodized salt, ideally pickling salt
• 6 cups of water

For equipment, you will also need:

• 1 adequately large, non-reactive, food safe container, with a lid
• 1 plate or bowl which is slightly smaller than the size of the container
• Small finger / prep bowl

Let's start with the ingredients.  Why Kirby cucumbers?  Because they are perfect for pickling - right size, right moisture content, VERY crunchy.  There's a reason they're also known as 'pickling cucumbers'.  Next, the salt.  I would go with pickling salt, which is much more fine than table salt.  It also contains no iodine, which supposedly avoids the white haze my liquid had (although this doesn't affect the product).  If you can't find pickling salt, go with non-iodized table salt.  I omit dill because I wanted to try the dill-free version, and I'm upping the garlic I actually used by 100% because I thought it needed more, and will plan to add more in the next round.

Scrub your cucumbers to remove any residues, and trim off the blossom end if it's still on there (it will rot).  In a large saucepan, warm the water and dissolve in the salt, allowing to come completely back to room temperature before using.  Once done, add the garlic and peppercorns, and pack in the cucumbers densely.  Weight these down by placing the small bowl / plate / whatever over the tops, then put the prep bowl on top of that, and fill with water.  This needs to keep all cucumbers fully submerged, so make sure you get things right.

The submerged pickles, trapped by a small prep bowl.  I later added a plasticware lid to keep the pickles better submerged

Put the container in a warm-ish place (I'll make up a number and say 60-75 F), and let them sit, undisturbed, for 3 days.  After this time, you may see some foam starting to collect on the top of the container.  If so, skim it off.  If not, do not despair - I didn't see any, and I lived to tell the tale.  Regardless, let your cucumbers rest in the brine for 7-14 days, checking on them periodically.  You can open up the container and have a look if you like.  Make sure to skim any 'white foam' off the surface of the liquid, which is a perfectly normal occurrence that looks suspiciously like mold, which is probably natural bacteria eating away happily at the cucumber.

Oh man, you're going to eat that?  Are you crazy?!  It's fine - this is just a sign of the bacterial / fungal activity going on in the brine, and is a sign of a healthy fermentation.  So long as the pickles are under the level of the water and not rotting above the surface, you're good.  Just skim this off every few days.  FYI, mine are floating only because I had just moved the bowl

When done, place the container in the fridge for 3 days to stop the fermentation process, and then keep in there for a few weeks while you eat them.  Ah, but how do you know when they are done?  Well, follow your nose.  If the cucumbers smell like pickles and you've had to remove some foam, you're probably done. If it smells like nothing, give it some more time.  This isn't a science, and nobody's going to give you a score.  You eat them when you're damned good and ready to.

I call my pickles 'half sours' because I put in less salt than other recipes, although more than some I saw online.  If you want to go crazy, add more salt, but do so at your own risk - they're going to be mighty sour.  You could also add a full bunch of dill to the pickles to make the more common dill half-sours, and you could also add something spicy to kick up the punch a bit.  I didn't think mine needed any tweaking, but will keep experimenting and will post the results in updates.

Update 8/5/13: made these again with pickling salt - 7 c. tap water, 4 tbsp pickling salt.  Way too salty, and then they turned mushy.  Need to experiment further.

30-Minute Mozzarella

If you're like me, you tend to let a good amount of food spoil and then experience "first-world guilt", described as a pang somewhere near your overly plump stomach that makes you feel terrible about wasting food while others are starving.  Well, here's an interesting way to prevent that, which (it turns out) has been what Europeans have been doing for centuries - make cheese out of your milk.  There are plenty of reasons to do this:

• It's cost-effective
• You have control over exactly what goes into the finished product
• Homemade cheese is guaranteed to separate out the lactose-containing elements and trap them in the whey, while mass-produced cheeses don't always do this
• It tastes amazing if you do it right
• It's really freaking cool to see this happen

I got this recipe out of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, who in turn got it from the "Cheese Queen", Ricki Carroll (www.cheesemaking.com).  It's basically verbatim, although presented as something in between the two recipes they each list.  I made this twice in two days - the first time to learn what NOT to do, the second time to get a good product.  FYI, things not to do here: don't use cheesecloth just because you think cheesecloth is used in the manufacture of all cheese.  Don't overstir after adding rennet.  Don't overheat on the stove.  Don't forget to buy gloves before kneading.  And definitely don't rush the cutting of the curd before it has set - that's the #1 most important tip here.  Patience is a virtue, and it was only about 2 minutes of patience.

The ingredient list is incredibly short, and the equipment list is similar.  All you will need for hardware is a large (1.5+ gallon) pot, an instant thermometer, and a microwave-safe bowl.  Ironically, cheesecloth was not necessary for this, despite my having bought some expressly for this purpose.  And the ingredients require just four things: milk, salt, rennet, and citric acid.  To find those last two, I suggest a homebrew store or health food store / co-op for the rennet, and, surprisingly, a hardware store or craft store for the citric acid.  Look in the canning section, citric acid is used in jam- and jelly-making as well as canning a number of other products, so it's not impossible to find.  And by the way, if you see rennet's lesser cousin, junket, don't even bother - just keep searching until you find the real deal, which is much more powerful.

And now, a history on cheese.  Turns out that long ago, people used to carry around their beverages not in Nalgenes and Siggs, but in cow stomachs.  Well, folks noticed that when they put their liquids into these stomachs, for some strange reason the milk kept turning solid, separating the liquid whey from the more solid curds.  The reason was not apparent until later, but it had to do with enzymes found in the cow's stomach lining, which eventually were discovered, named "rennet", and sold to cheesemakers the world around.  If you are daring, feel free to look up how they acquire rennet from a cow's stomach, but you should probably just take my word and be grateful that now you can buy this ready-made, and note that these days you are much more likely to find a rennet derived from vegetables or even microbes than you are from cow's stomach.

The cut curd, sitting in whey, waiting to be made into deliciousness.  There's some old nursery rhyme about this.  Something about muppets and spiders.

I learned an interesting fact about the name "mozzarella".  Turns out that it comes from the Italian verb "mozzare", meaning "to cut".  This is because of how they form the cheese into balls when everything is working perfectly, where they fold the cheese over itself a few times, form into a tight ball, and then pinch the cheese ball from the main strand before storing.  The cheese is closely related to scamorza cheese, which is derived from "scamozzata", which translates as "without a shirt".  Love it.

30-Minute Mozzarella

by Ricki Carroll, by way of Barbara Kingsolver

• 1 gallon milk.  This can be whole, part skim, whatever, just so long as it isn't ultra-pasteurized.  Go with raw if you're daring, but if you get sick and die, it's totally not my fault.  Learn from Louis Pasteur, they didn't name the process after him for nothing.
• 1.5 tsp citric acid, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool distilled water
• Rennet (liquid is best, tablets work if that's all you can find), dissolved in another 1/4 cup cool distilled water.  1/4 tsp for liquid, or 1/2 tablet for pellets.
• Salt, to taste

Just four ingredients, all shown here.  And if you couldn't guess that 'milk' was one, you should  probably search for other hobbies, like bricklaying or popping bubble wrap.

Add the milk to the pot and place over medium-low heat.  Add citric acid once milk gets to 55 deg. F and stir.  The mixture will begin to curdle as it gets warmer, which is really cool to watch.

When the mixture gets to 88 deg F, add the rennet dissolved in water, and stir in with a spoon in a gentle up-down motion.  Remove from the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes to set up.  Do NOT stir during this period.

Add the dissolved rennet at 88-90 deg F, then kill heat and leave alone.  Better to pour this over a slotted spoon to distribute quickly and evenly, then stir with an up-and-down motion.  This photo is from my first attempt, not the better second attempt shown below.

Now, a question you might have is this:

"I can see the cheese curdling with just the citric acid - why should I bother adding rennet as well?"

Well, Mr. Know-It-All, it turns out you're right, but only partially.  If you just add citric acid, you will be making an 'acid-set cheese', which is what cream cheese, ricotta, and paneer are.  But adding rennet will give you much more complexity of flavor, so don't skip it or your cheese will be bland, and will take quite a while to set up.

Once the curd (solid portion) has set, the whey (liquid portion) will become mostly clear.  If it's not yet clear, allow the mixture to sit a few minutes longer.  Most soft cheeses are actually made by allowing the enzyme in the rennet to work overnight, so don't worry about letting this sit for a few minutes extra.  But once you're satisfied, cut the cheese into 1" curd squares with a big knife.  Place the pot with the sliced curd back on the stove and heat to 105 deg F.  Once heated, remove with a slotted spoon, or a spider if you have one, to a large collander.

Grab a large knife that can reach to the bottom of the pan and cut into medium cubes.  This will allow more whey to be released, and promote even heating

Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon.  The curd will have the consistency of a runny custard.

Allow the curds to drain off as much of the whey as they're prepared to give off.  Once curds are all removed from the pot and drained, place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 60 seconds on high.  This will wring out more of the whey, which you can pour off before kneading the curd slightly.  Discard any remaining whey that forms, then heat again for 35 seconds.  Knead again, pour off whey again.  Do this one last time for 35 seconds, kneading and pouring off any whey.  This is going to be knuckle-searing hot when you're done, so be prepared.

Drain off the whey as you continue heating.  Note: this cheese is for friends and family, who can handle arm hair in their cheese.

Continue kneading to release more whey and get to a shiny ball state.  This isn't ready yet.

Now the next fun part - stretching and kneading the curd.  First, add salt to taste (I added about 1 tbsp to a gallon's worth of milk after I saw a video from BelGioioso that called for 1 tbsp per pound of curd), and knead the curd a few times.  It should be around 135 deg F for this to work.  As you stretch the dough, it should easily elongate, rather than snap apart.  If it stretches, keep forming into a ball and stretching a few times to align the protein strands.  If it doesn't, give it a bit more kneading until you get that firm skin and shiny surface to the ball, then try stretching again.

Almost there...

...nope.  Needs more kneading.

Getting pretty close...

Bingo!  This is the look you want for the cheese.

Only do this a few times - the longer you do it, the more of a string cheese consistency you will have.  If the curd isn't stretching, reheat again and try after warmed up again.  After you've stretched the curd a number of times, it should begin to look shiny and elastic, and will stretch easily, like taffy.  Pull this into a long rope, and  shape however you like.  This time I spun it around itself and then just folded it up, like a pretzel.

Once the cheese looks shiny and is at the right temperature (135 F or so), you should be able to do this.  Bring people in to watch.

You can braid it, or form back into a ball.  If you  really want traditional "mozza"-rella,  you have to make a long ribbon, then form into balls and pinch them from the ribbon.

Or form into whatever shape you like.  I don't care.

Once you're satisfied with the shape, drop the finished cheese into a bath of cold water.  This will stop the cooking process.  You can now slice and eat immediately (best option), or wrap in plastic wrap and store for up to a week in the fridge.

Drop in cold water to stop the cooking.

Slice and serve, or store in plastic wrap for a week.  If it's around that long.

And here's something you could do with your mozzarella, if you were so inclined.

Here's another: Italian sausage sandwich melts

And a classic: insalata caprese di tomate e mozzarella

Orecchiette with Rapini and Goat Cheese

I finally got around to making this pasta dish with broccoli rabe and goat cheese, showcasing the unique shape of orecchiette pasta.  You may not have heard of orecchiette before, but it's heard of you.  That's a joke, because orecchiette translates as 'little ears' based on their crazy shape.  Only Italians might get that joke, and they're usually not very impressed with it.  Let's move on.

This is orecchiette, pronounced "ORE-EH-KIET-EY":

Dried orecchiette, or 'little ears'

And this is broccoli rabe:

Broccoli rabe, known also as rapini

Broccoli rabe, aka rapini, aka broccoletti, is another less common ingredient, incredibly bitter when raw, but delicious when cooked properly.  From the brassica family, it is similar to broccoli in that it has tightly bunched clusters of green buds, but it is not at all the same plant.  It is much more closely related to a turnip oddly enough, but also related to one of my favorite plants, rapeseed.  You may know rapeseed by another name given by the food industry to stop scaring off potential consumers: canola (actually, it's an acronym for a modified rapeseed breed - CANada Oil, Low Acid).  Anyway, in Italian cuisine, broccoli rabe is often slowly sauteed with garlic over low heat, though in this recipe we're going to do the more universally accepted blanch and quick saute method.  Read on to figure all of that out.

I have concluded that this recipe is inspired by the Puglia region of Italy, as based on the overlap in ingredients presented in this dish being used there.  If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.  I found the dish to be simple to prepare, bursting with the almost nutty flavor of the browned garlic and a mild sweetness from the blanched and quickly sauteed rapini.  The tang of the lemon zest and the earthy creaminess of the goat cheese really rounded out the dish nicely, and I thought it did a great job of smacking all of my taste buds around.

It's worth noting that finding orecchiette was somewhat of a challenge, and required going to a couple of specialty stores.  This actually held me up for multiple months, as I kept checking the pasta section of my standard megalomart hoping to find them with zero success.  It was a similar story for rapini - it's hard to find out of season, which I guess would be late summer in most parts.  Check Italian stores for dried orecchiette, and Asian markets for rapini.


Orecchiette with Rapini and Goat Cheese 
Modified from Saveur

• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1 bunch rapini (about 1 lb.), roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¾ tsp. crushed red chile flakes
• 12 oz. orecchiette 
• 2 tbsp. lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 4 oz. goat cheese, softened

The setup - a short list, but all very interesting ingredients

Bring an 8-qt. pot of salted water to a boil.  Add rapini and boil until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.  Why not just saute and call it a day?  Because if you don't break down the bitter compounds in there first and leach them out into the cooking water, you'll end up with something that's thoroughly inedible.  Blanching (quickly boiling to partially cook the vegetables) first will mellow out the flavors quite a lot.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer rapini to a large bowl of ice water to shock (immediately stop cooking process and preserve bright green color).  Reserve boiling water for cooking pasta.  Drain rapini, pat dry, and set aside.

You have to shock the rapini after boiling, or they will keep cooking and turn grey, as well as become lifeless.

Once that step is done, heat the olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 3 minutes.  I cooked my garlic a bit more than usual, adding a bit of a nuttiness and subtle bitterness that I thought played off of the now mellowed rapini quite well.  Add the chile flakes and cook, stirring frequently, for 30 seconds.  Add the rapini, toss, and remove all contents from the pan to a plate.

Saute the garlic until starting to brown

Toss the rapini in your chile infused garlic-oil mixture

Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water used for the rapini and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.  Drain pasta, reserving about a cup of the boiling water for the next step.

Reheat the skillet to medium-high heat, and transfer in the rapini mixture, pasta, and lemon zest.  Toss quickly to combine, and season with salt.  If the pasta is too dry for your taste, add a tiny amount of the boiling water to the dish and quickly stir, to give body to the dish.  I didn't do this, and loved it more on the sauceless side.

Quickly zest the lemon over the pasta

Divide pasta between bowls and add a dollop of goat cheese to each.  Serves 4 as a main dish.  Add shredded roasted chicken if you absolutely have to, but I don't think this dish requires any meat to be stellar.