The Dinner Files

I know I promised quick meals beyond pasta. I am presenting this pasta dish for your consideration despite my earlier and very recent promise for two reasons: first and foremost, it is flippin’ delicious. Who would think of adding brussels sprouts to spaghetti carbonara? Me! That’s who! And I’m pretty pleased with myself. (Brief side note: Many Americans seem to think that spaghetti carbonara should have a big mess of cream in it. For those people, I guess it does. But the Italian version of the dish has not a drop of cream – just egg that cooks and turns into a vaguely creamy sauce as the heat from the pasta cooks it on contact. If not-fully-cooked egg freaks you out, move right along – this recipe would not be for you).

The second reason I present it to you is quite simple: I am slammed. Work and life and civic duty have colluded to render me a shell of my usual self. And it’s going to last a while and I’m only at the beginning. About all I can do is cook pasta.

Brussels sprouts pasta

You can use less brussels sprouts, if you like. I tend to overdo it because I love them so much. This recipe is all about the method, so be sure to read the whole thing before you start. I can prep all this stuff while the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks, but I’m speedy – you might want to do some brussels sprouts trimming ahead of time. You can always start the water and let it boil until you’re ready to the add the pasta – a watched pot may never boil but a pot of boiling water is not the boss of you! Oh my, I’m really losing my mind.

12 oz. orecchiette or penne pasta (or other bite-sized shape)

1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 slice pancetta, about 1/3-inch thick or 3 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes or more to taste, if you like

1/2 cup white wine

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese (or other hard grating cheese, such as parmesan), plus more to taste

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Salt it until it tastes as salty as ocean water. Cook the pasta until tender to the bite. BUT FIRST…

While the water comes to a boil, heat the olive oil or butter over medium heat in a large frying pan. Cook the pancetta until brown and crispy. Add the garlic and red chile flakes. Cook about a minute before adding the white wine. Boil and let it reduce to about half of what it was. Add the brussels sprouts, cover, and cook, stirring now and again, until the sprout slices are yummily tender, about 5 minutes.

As the brussels cook, beat the eggs in a large bowl until no glops or gobs remain – they should be as thin as water. Add the cheese and pepper. Stir or whisk to combine.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and IMMEDIATELY dump it into the egg mixture and start tossing. Keep tossing. Seriously, just keep tossing it. Then add the hot brussels sprout mixture and toss that like there is no tomorrow. The egg and cheese should have cooked and melted, respectively, to form a luscious sauce with the bit of oil and pancetta fat and reduced wine left in the brussels sprouts somewhere.

Top with more cheese and pepper and see how easy it is to eat a giant bowl or two of this after a long hard day.

I recently went to TWO in the space formerly known as Hawthorne Lane. We were there for happy hour, trying to grab a dinner between various hectic schedules. We needed a place within a pretty small radius downtown that served food and cocktails at 5. TWO fit the bill. Bonus prize was their “5 for $5″ menu on offer this month. It’s pretty self-explanatory (or, really, just very well named): each week they feature five of their regular dishes sort of pared-down (I imagine fancy garnishes are removed, for example) for $5. We didn’t end up ordering any of them simply because there were things on the bar menu – warm pretzels, house-made lamb sausage in flakey pastry, various pizzettas – that sounded better to our crew, but the very possibility of such a deal excited the whole table. Correction: it excited the whole table except for Ernest. He was excited by 1) the aforementioned warm pretzels and 2) the root beer we let him order. “Mama,” he said, “this root beer is almost as good as in Minnesota.”

Along with the pizzas and sausages and cocktails we asked to be brought to our table, I ordered a salad that I couldn’t quite imagine how it would taste:

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
Pecorino Cheese and Marcona Almonds
Garlic and Chili Vinaigrette

I figured if it was good it would be really good. It was. The tender shaved sprouts were completley coated with chili and parmesan and the crunchy almonds were their perfect foil. So I made it last night. A little less cheese and dressing than the restaurant version, natch. And I remembered there being mint in the salad, which there was not at the restaurant but which there was in mine and it was fabulous. A fresh, bright note against the rich almonds and spicy chile flakes. Accomplished cooks out there can probably use what I’ve said about it so far to go forth and make their own versions. If you’d rather follow a recipe, I’ve posted the one I made last night over at Local Foods, where I’ve called it Spicy Brussels Sprouts Salad With Almonds and Mint.

This weekend we had more people to dinner (not a dinner party, oh no). My Very Tall Cousin Sam and his Viking Goddess girlfriend stopped by. Very Tall Cousin Sam had volunteered his girlfriend to make “something Nordic” so the pressure was on. They arrived with a bag of groceries they lugged across town on their bikes, two giant smiles, some Norwegian chocolate for Ernest, and a cookbook for me. 

Next thing I knew we were downing luscious slices of gravlax draped over snofrisk-spread toasts and drizzled with a sweet mustard sauce. I was so busy snarfing slices down I forgot to get the recipe for the sauce. I’ll get on that. 

Then we sat down to a tasty Braised Beef With Paprika & Root Vegetables I’d been working on, served over a Norwegian-made celery root puree (celery root cubed, boiled until tender,then mashed with cream and butter), with a side of brussels sprouts (I left out the bacon from that recipe), which Ernest insisted on having. While he was picking them out at the store he expressed a desire to “grill” them. Then at dinner he was put out that I hadn’t “fried” them. Since I’ve never grilled or fried brussels sprouts, I was a bit confused.

We love brussels sprouts at our house. Love them! Roasted, sauteed, steamed, and in a soup. I browned a few of the garlic sausages I made Sunday (just using smoked sausage like andouille would have worked very well too), cut them into pieces while I brought 4 cups chicken broth and about a pound of yellow finn potatoes (cut into bite-size pieces) to a boil, added a pound of trimmed and halved little brussels sprouts, 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, and the cut-up sausage. Simmered everything until the vegetables were tender.