Weekend Plans Post: My First Piccata

I know that there are people who hate that a recipe begins with a long rambling story before getting to the recipe so let’s start with the recipe:

Get some of the Monte Pollino Organic Pasta Nests from Costco. 2 1/2 pounds for $16.

We’re going to make 8 nests so I put four cups of water on to boil and I put some salt and olive oil in the water. Let it come to a nice rolling boil and add the 8 nests.

Set up your strainer so that you can save a cup of the water after we’re done. After 6 minutes, drain the pasta and retain about a cup of the liquid gold.

Melt a stick of butter and add some garlic to it in the pot you just emptied and toss the butter and garlic and linguine together.

Add some of the fancy schmancy Parmigiano Reggiano to it… shavings or dust because the shreds don’t quite melt just right. Add the liquid gold you retained to help melt everything together.

Add the juice of a lemon to the pot. Use a reamer so that the debris gets in there too. Add two tablespoons of capers.

Add some of your leftover shredded chicken if you want, maybe some leftover tofu or leftover shrimp. Whatever. I’m not going to tell you how to live.

Toss it again. Serves 4.

Okay. Now here’s the rambling story:

While at the first real trip back to Costco after the holidays, I saw a package of those pasta nests on the shelf and I had just made some of my red sauce. Huh. I thought to myself. Maybe instead of getting some more spaghetti, I should try those? What’s the worst that could happen?

When I got home, I saw the recipe on the side of the box:

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil, place fettuccine nest in boiling water and let cook for 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Serve with extra virgin olive oil and grated parmigiano. Buon Appetito!

And, under that, a recipe for Cacio E Pepe:

Ingredients: 2 pasta nests, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon freshly-cracked coarse black pepper, 1 cup greshly-grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Method:
1. Cook pasta nests as directed above
2. Save 2 cups of the starchy pasta water.
3. Transfer al-dente pasta to pan and add butter and 1 cup of starchy water
4. Add pepper and cheese and a little more starchy water until cheese melts.
5. Garnish with extra black pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano. Buon Appetito!

And I thought… well, I’ll double the recipe and make dinner for me and Maribou.

AND HOLY COW IT WAS AMAZING. Seriously. I ate my half and thought about it for the entire next day.

So I got home and told Maribou that I would be making it again, except I picked up a lemon and some capers and we’d be having a piccata. She said “Nah. Please make my half just like last night, please. Capers are a good idea maybe once a year and it’s too soon. Make the piccata for yourself.”

So I made the extra big serving, cut it in half, put half of Maribou’s in one of those Ziploc containers and the other half in a bowl and served it up to her and then I added half of a lemon to mine and about a tablespoon of capers. I had some shredded chicken in the fridge so I heated that up and threw it in there too.

AND HOLY COW. IT WAS AMAZING.

I have encountered a lot of stuff in the various kitchens where I’ve worked and helped and cooked but the biggest lesson that I keep forgetting is how really good dishes can also be really, really simple if they merely have high quality ingredients. I’ve thought stuff like “I can’t possibly make that. It tastes too good.” and those thoughts are deliberately beamed by restaurant commercials into the regular populace in order for them to increase their profits. I was so apprehensive about making it, I didn’t bother to take pictures because I was pretty sure that I’d mess it up. Nope! I made one of the best piccatas I’ve ever had and I was just able to throw it together reading the back of a box of pasta I got from Costco.

This weekend I think I’ll make an Alfredo.

So… what’s on your docket?

(Featured image is Alice enjoying the very last of Maribou’s Cacio Sans Pepe. Photo taken by Maribou.)