Cook Like a Rock Star (22 page)

Molto sexy!

Save the leftover egg whites for another purpose. You can even freeze them if you like.

Spaghetti with Olive-Oil-Poached Tuna in Tomato-Fennel Sauce

SERVES: 4 TO 6 • TIME: ABOUT 1¾ HOURS

I used to go to Lupa, Mario Batali’s Roman trattoria on Thompson Street in Manhattan, and eat preserved tuna belly with beans. It was SOOOOO good! The tuna belly—which is a highly underrated ingredient—becomes succulent and delicious when it’s slow-poached, and that’s exactly how I cook it. I use it in a pasta sauce that’s full of tomatoes, fennel, and lots of garlic to create a wonderful tomato-y, perfume-y, olive oil-y dish that just screams of Sicily.

One of the great things about tuna belly is that because it’s considered the throwaway part of the fish, it’s really cheap. You have to spend some time cleaning it, but usually if you pay a bit more you can get it already prepped from your fishmonger (much easier!). If you can’t find tuna belly or don’t feel like making it, a good substitute is Sicilian tuna packed in olive oil.

MISE EN PLACE

FOR THE TUNA

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 pound cleaned tuna belly

Kosher salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, smashed

2 bay leaves

1 thyme bundle, tied with butcher’s twine

FOR THE SAUCE

Extra virgin olive oil

4 onions, cut into ¼-inch slices

1 fennel bulb, cut into ¼-inch slices, fronds reserved for garnish

Kosher salt

Pinch of crushed red pepper

5 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced

1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, passed through a food mill

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground (reserved while preparing the tuna)

1 pound spaghetti

Big fat finishing oil

FOR THE TUNA

1
Add the fennel seeds to a small sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. (You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!) Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.

2
Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (you’re saving the other half for the sauce).

3
Preheat the oven to 200°F.

4
Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil. Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle. Cover and
put in the oven; cook for 1 hour. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.

FOR THE SAUCE AND PASTA

1
Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat. Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

2
Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt. Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.

3
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center—this is al dente.

4
Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.

5
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and serve garnished with fennel fronds.

That’s no tuna noodle casserole!

YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SAN MARZANO

San Marzano tomatoes are, as the name suggests, from San Marzano, Italy, outside of Naples. Sweet and delicious, these canned tomatoes are naturally very low in acid. Sometimes you’ll notice people add a pinch of sugar to tomatoes when making sauce—this is not to sweeten the sauce so much as to offset the acid in the tomatoes. When you’re using San Marzano tomatoes, this isn’t necessary because they’re naturally super-sweet and low in acid. However, for this same reason, they need a lot of salt to bring out their best flavor … accept it and move on.

San Marzano tomatoes are perfect for sauce,
and
they work beautifully with my favorite piece of kitchen equipment: the food mill. It’s super–old school but I love using a food mill to purée tomatoes because it lets the seeds slip through, leaving all the big-money stuff up top. Remember, when you put your tomatoes through a food mill, be sure to scrape the pulp off the bottom to get every last bit of tomato-y goodness! This is the stuff that will help thicken the sauce, so you don’t want to leave it behind. Got it?

SERVES: 4 TO 6 • TIME: ABOUT 20 MINUTES WITH PREMADE PASTA DOUGH

I LOOOOOVE nuts. And this super-classic preparation, which is hugely flavorful and really easy to make, is all about them. I start by toasting and puréeing walnuts—both of which help bring out their flavor and natural fattiness. Combine them with some sharp cheese and spicy arugula, and you end up with a dish that’s luscious and palate cleansing at the same time.

MISE EN PLACE

Kosher salt

1 cup walnuts

3 cups baby arugula

1 clove garlic, smashed

½ cup freshly grated Pecorino

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano

Extra virgin olive oil

½ cup heavy cream

1 recipe
Chef Anne’s All-Purpose Pasta Dough
, cut into tagliolini, or 1 pound fresh tagliolini

Big fat finishing oil

1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.

3
Put the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 6 to 7 minutes.

4
Combine the walnuts, arugula, garlic, Pecorino, and Parmigiano in a food processor and purée until the mixture is a coarse paste. While the machine is running, drizzle in just enough olive oil to get the paste from coarse to smooth. Stop, scrape down the sides, and add the cream. Pulse, pulse, pulse until the cream is just combined; season with salt and taste to make sure it’s delicious.

5
Put the pesto in a large wide saucepan and loosen it with a couple ladlefuls of the pasta water—you don’t want it to be thin, but you want it to be a
sauce.
Bring to medium heat.

6
Cook the pasta for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender but still toothsome. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce, stirring vigorously to coat. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and stir once more. Serve immediately.

I love the feel of nuts in my mouth!

Here’s a tip: to avoid burning your nuts, set a timer. Once you start to smell them—it’s too late!

Spag & Excellent “Meatbawls”

SERVES: 4 TO 6 • TIME: ABOUT 4 HOURS, MOSTLY UNATTENDED

I LOOOOOVE meatballs—who doesn’t? This is my interpretation of the classic Italian-American dish. What makes these meatballs special are two things: First, I cook the onions before putting them in the meatball mix. Second, I add water—this helps ensure a moist ball every time!

MISE EN PLACE

FOR THE SAUCE

Extra virgin olive oil

¼ pound pancetta, cut into ¼-inch dice

4 onions, cut into ¼-inch dice

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped

4 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes, passed through a food mill