Perle di Patate, Tomato-Basil Cream sauce and Smoked Gouda; Purple Carrots
We’ve fallen in love with Perle pasta. It has all of the warmth and comforting depth of gnocchi but it cooks faster which is a wonderful trait when managing the timely demands of a 2-year old. It takes a mere minute and thirty seconds to cook and you can actually cheat and do it in a fairly small pan. They don’t turn out perfect but they’re perfectly edible in just a few minutes.
I’ve been toying around with some really good canned chopped tomatoes we’ve started picking up at Costco of all places. I’m usually not a fan of canned chopped tomatoes, preferring to use whole peeled instead, but this stuff is great for making a quick sauce. I don’t have a recipe, but here’s the basic formula:
Half an onion, small dice. 4 Cloves of garlic, small dice. 1 Shallot, small dice. Saute the onion in bit of olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add shallot and garlic and saute for about 2 more minutes. Add about a tablespoon of tomato paste and saute for another minute or two. Add in 1/4 cup dry white wine and let it reduce a bit (3-5 minutes). Drain the tomatoes and add only the solids. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add in 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, and 2 tablespoons of dried basil. Let it simmer for another minute or two. Transfer to a blender and blend like crazy. While blending, carefully remove the top and add cream until desired flavor is reached. Naturally, season and re-season at just about every step.
The smoked gouda adds something to this combination of flavors that you just couldn’t get with Parmigiano-Reggiano (which would be my normal go-to flavor addition).
The grocery store had these little gems the other day: beta sweet carrots. I wasn’t sure what to make of them or what to do with them. When I’ve picked out odd looking carrots before, I’ve always been disappointed that once you peel them, they look just like normal carrots.
These, though, are not. Before I read a few pages about them, I’d already cooked them so I’d half figured they were part carrot part beet (yes, my hands are still blue). The purple exterior penetrated the carrot around an eighth of an inch or so. They were visually stunning, a quality that, unfortunately due to my negligence, didn’t make it into the final dish (I blanched them about 90 seconds too long, I think).
The result? They’re sweet, a bit earthy, and very carrot-y. I blanched them, shocked them, then used a light champagne and raspberry vinaigrette and garnished with chopped parsley and chive. Simple, good, and very interesting looking. What more could you want from a carrot?