Pasta with Vodka Sauce

I’m a huge fan of noodles and living on my own again I realized I don’t make rice as much as I'm used to eating; instead, I opt for noodles. I guess when I get to make the choices of what’s for dinner each night, I always want noodles and that works for me. So this past week, I’ve decided I’m going to make my first pasta with Vodka Sauce, with the guidance of Molly Baz at Bon Appetit. I have a bunch of these recipes saved up waiting to try and I was a little busy this past week. I haven’t been home to cook often and when I do cook it lasts for a few meals so the number of new dishes I make per weeks is pretty low. I’ve been getting better at cutting recipes in half so I get to try more dishes but I’m not going to lie, it’s work. There’s a lot of planning involved and luckily I enjoy going to the grocery store which is less than 10mins away from me.

So, Molly’s recipe is actually a Basically recipe which I get very excited about because that means there are few ingredients and the recipe is super easy and fast. Molly makes hers using rigatoni but I didn’t have any in my cupboard so I went with a farfalle which worked perfectly fine. The pasta goes in one pot and the base of the sauce starts in another with onions and garlic. Now, the recipe calls for the cloves of garlic to just be lightly smashed and throw in almost whole and while I did that this time, I would totally cut them down at least a little next time because i like getting chunks of garlic, not a whole clove. Tomato paste went in then the vodka to deglaze the pot. Then a mix of pasta water and heavy creme to ensure the dairy didn’t break. I like that technique and it was super easy and smart to just mix the cream with hot water first to temper and add it into the pot warm. The sauce was a really nice color an when I added the pasta it was a good sauce to noodle ratio so I ended up not adding more pasta water to the mixture. I feel my sauce was a little heavy on the tomato paste and could’ve used a tad bit more cream but I’m not going to lie, the tomato paste was the one thing I didn’t measure out fully so I’m 100% sure I added a little more than what the recipe calls for (halved).

I added parm to finish and actually had a side of green peas to cut the pasta with some vegetables which completely helped. The Vodka sauce was actually really good and I did a better job than I was expecting to for my first ever Vodka sauce. The dish overall was a little rich with the tomato paste and cheese so a little more cream to the sauce to lighten it up would likely help but adding a veggie also helped cut the richness with a little fresh/sweet pop. I would totally make this again. I love Basically because they feel so easy and they keep coming out perfectly that I can’t help but be happy when I make these dishes. Would totally recommend trying this one out.

Spicy Chicken Katsu

It’s been a solid month since I’ve cooked something worthwhile which isn’t to say I haven’t been cooking but I’ve been slacking a little for sure. What with Lunar New Year and visiting Rochester quite a bit I’ve been eating leftovers from my parents and clearing out some soups and boxes of food in my cupboard. Lazy cooking Emily always circles back around. But I’ve been eyeing this recipe from Bon Appetit, of course, and finally got around to cooking it and let me just say, I wasn’t disappointed. Chris Morocco makes a Spicy Chicken Katsu Sandwich which I found via the Bon Appetit YouTube and I was interested. While Chris uses the superior chicken thigh, I have a freezer full of chicken breasts that I got as a Wegman’s family pack with a coupon so I have to pick away at it somehow.

I wasn’t totally sold on a sandwich because I’m not REALLY a sandwich person and most of the time, I want something soft and warm and a sandwich is the last thing on my mind. Instead I decided to just make the chicken katsu and go with a side of rice and veggies. This isn’t to say that it wouldn’t be an amazing sandwich, it would be, I’m just more of a noodles or rice kind of person. Sandwiches have been growing on me though so it’s not totally off the table for the future.

This recipe is super easy to follow and easy to make. You just do a simple dredge and fry it and you’re done. I love the addition of hot sauce in with the egg, I used Frank’s Red Hot because it’s stocked in my fridge, and of course, panko never does anyone wrong. My thermometer is still out of commission so I’m relying on a lifetime of looking at oil and testing batter to see if it’s hot enough and wiggling the flame up and down so the food doesn’t burn. It’s not a full proof method and I’m getting closer to buying a new battery, don’t you worry. Still, this chicken cooked through in about 5 or 6 mins which was super fast and the dredge just kept all the moisture in while the panko gave it a great crust. Honestly, store bought breadcrumbs need to go in the trash and panko will live in my pantry forever and always. Decision made.

I was super excited to eat this chicken but I got a little ahead of myself and never made my rice before I started the chicken process and couldn’t stop midway through with raw chicken sitting in front of me to cook a pot so once the chicken was fried and ready I threw on a pot of rice and distracted my grumbling stomach by washing the dishes and cleaning up my kitchen a little. As the rice was cooking i decided a little avocado on the side as my veggie wasn’t going to cut it and I made some peas I had lying in my freezer. A slightly more balanced meal for sure.

Like I said, the chicken was still super moist inside but had an amazing crunch on the outside. The hot sauce and cayenne on the breading was so good and gave a really great kick. I was a little worried it wouldn’t be spicy enough because the color didn’t look as vibrant as Chris’ chicken did in the video but I went with it and anticipated adding a little hot sauce on top if needed after but that wasn’t necessary. Over all this chicken katsu was amazing. I would 10/10 recommend and plan on making again for sure. I love the crunch and the spice and with a little rice and peas on the side, the flavor was well balanced and perfectly filling. Maybe I’ll find some milk bread and actually make Chris’ sandwich next time!

Carbonara Lasagna

I redeemed myself with my second carbonara so clearly, it was time for me to try to step up my game and make a carbonara lasagna. I’d like to note I’ve never made a lasagna before and my only experience with lasagna before this week was the kind that comes in a box that you can literally microwave… challenge accepted.

Caleb has mentioned wanting to make a homemade lasagna from scratch (not including store bought pasta) so that’s what we did over the weekend. I was the extra set of hands and he made the sauce and bought all the ingredients and instructed me on what he wanted done. His lasagna came out pretty tasty though structurally it was a little loose and didn’t really cut or sit up like a traditional lasagna. His first try was a great learning experience for me. I’ve mentioned the carbonara lasagna which I saw on an instagram story by someone I went to RIT with that currently works in Bon Appetit’s social media department. She’s doing a good job because I’m definitely making more Bon App recipe’s and watching their videos in part to play “spot Emily in the background and tell people I’ve been to several different countries with her.” So she posted a photo awhile ago of a carbonara lasagna and I knew I wanted to give it a shot. Emily has good taste so I was ready to go off on a recommendation from her.

Bon Appetit’s recipe was actually easier than I expected and I was a little nervous as to what the substitute might be for the sauce but it ended up being a cream sauce that sounded tasty and simple. Caleb got a little excited this weekend and cooked two boxes of lasagna pasta so needless to say, I took a whole container of cooked lasagna noodles home with me and had the motivation I needed to try my recipe out. He wasn’t interested in this recipe so I knew it would be all me on this one (meaning I would be eating this whole thing alone all week so it better be good). The lasagna assembly actually came together pretty easily and because the cream sauce is added on top at the end, I only had to alternate stacking noddles with an amped up ricotta mixture. I felt I made a little too much cream sauce but it ended up not being a terrible amount and the noodles and cheese soaked everything up pretty well. After baking for 40mins you’re supposed to cut little rounds to indent a spot for eggs and I, of course, do not have round cookie cutters so I had to improvise and ended up pressing down a little to give my eggs a slight home. It worked out and they didn’t just run around willy nilly but I have to say that I did get a little distracted and the eggs overcooked. I can’t say how sad I am about this because we all know I love a good runny yolk but these are still a little jammy in the middle and I was super satisfied when I tried the lasagna with it.

The recipe calls for 4 eggs but I actually cut my lasagna into 6 pieces so maybe I’ll poach an egg or two later for those egg-less slices and still have my runny yolk. I think the consensus when we had Caleb’s traditional lasagna over the weekend was that too much ricotta is a no go so I was nervous that this would be too much since theres only ricotta layers but the pancetta and the parm and fontina blend in it worked out so well and balanced really nicely. I honestly though I would be able to cut this into fourths and knock it out but of course lasagna is pretty heavy especially with a cream sauce and an egg on top so six works for me. I get serious carbonara vibes from this lasagna and urge people to give it a shot because it’s pretty wonderfully satisfying. Would make again, but maybe for a larger crowd.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I’m not a huge chocolate fan but I saw this recipe on Bon Appetit’s twitter awhile back for Chocolate Brownie Cookies and they looked so good and I actually do enjoy a piece of brownie that I wanted to give these a shot. Caleb and I disagree about brownies and I’m a fan of the cake-y chewy quality of brownies (though I still do love the corner pieces) and Caleb isn’t a huge fan because he likes things that are crunchy. I figured this could be a good middle ground because the cookie edges would provide a nice crunch to cake ratio.

I checked out the recipe on Bon Appetit and it was actually really surprising because there’s no flour in this cookie; it’s mostly powdered sugar and cocoa powder. No leaveners either so this is a really interesting recipe. The recipe does call for a gluten free powdered sugar which I’m not sure about because I just used the powdered sugar I had in the cupboard so that could have affected the way my cookies came out. The mixture was a little dry and took some good mixing to get to the right stage but the amount of eggs actually did hydrate everything enough with a little bit of time so I’m glad I didn’t panic and add any extra liquid to it. I baked it for 14mins rotating halfway through then I let them cool a little before removing them from the pan but to my dismay they were slightly burned on the bottom and hard to remove. I guess since they have such a high sugar content then burn pretty easily and I think they could’ve gone with a little less time in the oven. It was hard to gauge because they’re so dark to begin with and were kind of soft looking in the middle but trust me, pull them sooner rather than later. To me they seem a little too hard and overdone and I wish I baked them closer to 10-12mins but that could also be my oven. They’re very chocolatey and with the one I tried it tasted a lot like the cocoa powder but people at work seem satisfied with them and I think they go well with a cup of coffee or milk so Caleb may enjoy the crispness of them.

For me they were a little bit of a disappointment and I’d rather have a cake-y chewy brownie corner. I’m glad I tired this recipe but it’s not going to be part of my wheelhouse in the future.

Carbonara

I’ve had a rocky experience with carbonara and totally scrambled eggs onto the noodles but this time I swore I would do a better job! So when Molly Baz made a video making Bucatini Carbonara and it was a recipe with about 6 ingredients , I felt like I had pretty good odds at doing a better job.

Molly uses guanciale and bucatini but I couldn’t find them at the local grocery store and I haven’t had time to drive to Wegmans so I used a thick cut bacon and a fettuccini because I’m happy with these minor adjustments. I still cut my bacon into small pieces and fried them it while my pasta was cooking then mixed my eggs with parm. Once everything was cooked, I started getting a little nervous that the residual heat would scramble my eggs giving me flashbacks to my first attempt at carbonara but Molly said to just add the meat and pasta to the egg mixture so I listened to her and went for it. Everything turned out perfect. I added extra bacon fat and pasta water to the mixture to loosen it and get it to coat the pasta until it was shiny and glossy. I’m so happy with this attempt and it turned out great. I definitely over-salted with the bacon and just what I put in the pasta water and with the parm so I’m a little sad about that part. I’ll be a little more careful next time and maybe watch my water to salt pasta ratio but besides that, this is a super easy recipe and totally doable whenever I feel like frying up some bacon.