How I Do Cooking

Category: pasta

  • Lobster Mac and Cheese

    I didn’t grow up eating Mac and Cheese, so it’s not comfort food for me. The wife did, and she loves it, and what she loves is the revolting instant stuff.

    This is my riff on a version I tried at a local restaurant, and it’s Michigander-approved.

    SERVES: 6
    PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES
    COOK TIME:35 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    16oz/454g elbow pasta
    1-2lbs cooked lobster meat
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    5 tbsps butter (a stick)
    2 cups of whole milk
    8oz Gruyere cheese (2 cups)
    8oz Cheddar (2 cups)
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C.

    Cook the pasta.

    Melt the butter in a skillet, and whisk in the flour till there are no lumps left. Still whisking, add the milk and cook for about 2 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the Gruyère and Cheddar until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

    Add the pasta to a 9×13″ baking dish. Scatter the lobster meat in, and pour the sauce on top.

    You can go ahead and scatter half a cup of Parmesan over the top if you like, or breadcrumbs. That’s not my style.

    That can go in the oven for twenty-five to thirty minutes.

    Notes

  • Tuna Pasta (Date Night Edition)

    This is the same basic recipe I’ve been making since I was in my twenties, but with some upmarket ingredients.

    SERVES: 2
    PREP TIME: 2 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 10 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    12oz/340g canned tuna in oil – buy the fancy stuff
    2oz/56g anchovies in oil
    8oz/227g spaghetti (that’s half the box)
    2 garlic cloves, minced
    1/2 tsp chili flakes
    1 small onion, finely chopped
    1 lemon
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Start the pasta.

    Open the tuna and drain the oil into a bowl. Same goes for the anchovies.

    Mince the garlic, mince the anchovies, and finely chop the onion.

    When the pasta is about a minute shy of ‘doneness,’ take it off the heat, saving a cup of the pasta water, and drain in a colander.

    Put the pot back on the heat, add the reserved oil. 

    When the oil is hot, add the onion, anchovies, and chili flakes. Sauté (bounce it around with a wooden spoon) until the onion is soft.

    Shag in the garlic while you’re at it.

    Add the water you saved, the pasta water, then the pasta to the pot.

    Toss gently for a minute or two, using a pair of wooden spoons, or whatever is handy. Forks, chopsticks, two old screwdrivers….

    Gently fork in the tuna. What you’re really trying to do here is pull the pasta over the tuna, rather than mash the tuna chunks into the pasta. If that doesn’t make sense now, it will when you’re at the stove.

    That goes into two big bowls. 

    Crack of pepper, go easy on the salt.

    Lemon zest goes over the top, then a good squeeze of lemon juice.

    Notes

    Anchovies are very salty, so you won’t need much additional seasoning unless you’re my father-in-law.

    My lady wife loves the heat the chili flakes add, but I prefer it without. Ditch the chili flakes for a more citrus-forward dish.

    If you don’t have a kitchen grater to zest the lemon, and don’t know where to buy one, I recommend the Stanley 6 in. Pocket Surform Plane, available at all major hardware stores.