¿Qué pasta?

Betcha didn't know that parmesan is a big thing in Argentina!!! Hard to believe?! I have the proof! During my lunchtime today I decided to take a quick trip to the fancy, posh, Manhattan grocery store to pick up some parmesan... Normally I'd go to an Italian deli for this type of thing but I really didn't have the time or desire to search out a bargain place for buying parmesan. My plans for this evening were changed because what I thought was happening tonight is actually happening tomorrow at noon; better eat more of those eggs, as I'm going kooky! I didn't want to make this a non-CL night as I have loads of recipes to try, and there's no time to be a-wastin'! I decided to do a simple dish, Pasta with Parmesan, from, you guessed it, CL's Pasta chapter. It is one of three cheesy pasta dishes that Tom N-D includes in his Cupboard Lurrrvve book. To shake things up a bit, I decided to also do a variation of the pasta for my dear husband.

2. Pasta with Parmesan - *Pasta*
3. Pasta with Parmesan (tomato puree variation) - *Pasta*

So back to the parmesan. I am probably Tom's worst fear -- an intelligent and modern young lady who still uses ready-made 'grated' parmesan! In the beginning of each chapter, Tom includes The Kit which includes items people should have in their cupboard or fridge -- ready-made 'grated' parmesan is not one of them! In fact, he says parmesan has been getting a bad rap for ages because of the pulverized stuff. Look, P, I don't mean no disrespek, but you used to sort me out just fine. Well Tom doesn't think pulverized parmesan suited me well enough! Since the main ingredient of these dishes is the parmesan I knew that I could make a bit more of an effort and buy the non-grated kind, hence my trip to fancy, posh, Manhattan grocery store... And to prove to you just how posh they are, I happened upon a 100 gram packet of Spanish serrano jamón; the same jamón, by the way, that we found in a fish store of all places, in Brighton Beach. The price in fancy, posh, Manhattan grocery store -- $6.99; the price in obscure crazy fish store in Brighton Beach -- $1.69; the look of smug glee-ness on my face -- priceless!

Ok, ok, I promised you the story of the Argentinian parmesan. Well I saw the price of the parmigiano reggiano, and with mouth agape, had a rethink and thought perhaps I should go back to my pulverized parmesan. Then on the same shelf, I saw Argentine Reggianito. It was a third of the price of the parmigiano, and the little note under the name told me that this cheese and I were MFEO -- made for each other.

Full bodied parmesan, poor man'sgrana...and not bad at all.

Well 'not bad at all' was good enough for me, so off I went back to my office with dreams of the lovely Pasta with Poorman'sgrana I would make this evening. Hey, maybe one day I'll graduate to the real thang!

Coming home, I was in a state that I could imagine most New Yorker nine-to-five'ers feel on Monday evenings. Relief, fatigue, anxiety to call it a day and finally be home. Walking to the train, I was hit by fierce and cold winds; the sky was grey and dark with rain. You call this Spring!?! Then I waited on the platform with anticipation of hearing those magical words:

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a downtown express train approaching West 4th Street.

Your mind never really stops in New York. If you're not thinking about how late the train is, then you're thinking why the train is so packed and how come you didn't get a seat...or worse, why did you end up sitting next to a person that is coughing out their lungs while simultaneously playing Soduku; what a talent! Oh, I just wanted to be home!

I was originally going to pair the pasta with a salad, also from CL, but logistics did not let me. And they were:

1. I never carry enough cash on me when I really need it.
2. I needed to buy 2 zucchinis and a bag of baby spinach.
3. My grocery store doesn't take credit cards for purchases less than $10.
4. There are 6 banks on the street where I do my shopping; none of those are my bank. (We're switching in December!)
5. 2 zucchinis and a bag of baby spinach would probably come to somewhere around $3-$4.
6. I had two dollars on me.

So instead of going with the salad plan, I decided to make the original pasta recipe for myself, and the slight variation for Rafa.

The method was simple enough. Put 200g of spaghetti into boiling water and start grating 50g of parmesan. Tom noted that the parmesan should be grated up until the last minute for peak of freshness - hey who am I to argue? If I'm going to get wet, might as well go swimming. I had a hard time with my microplane so quickly moved to my shitty box-grater, but it did the job.

Once the pasta is done, it needs to be strained not too vigorously and returned to the pan. This is where the recipe for me went into two different directions. I separated the pasta between two pans and added 25g of butter to each. To one, I also added a 1/2 tsp of tomato puree (the variation!) and stirred both pans simultaneously for about 20 seconds. Then the parmesan was divided and added to both pans to be slowly folded in. Tom says that parmesan is not to be cooked at all, otherwise it will lose it's 'character'. The man sure knows a thing or two about parmesan! The variation of the tomato puree is supposed to give the dish a slighly sweet/sour note, but not to be overally tomato-ey.

Rafa fell asleep shortly before I started cooking (I should tell you that the dish takes no more than 15 minutes max!), so I decided to have his variation and my original recipe together.

Both were fantastic. The parmesan was indeed 'full-bodied', and I can definitely taste the difference now with freshly grated. This dish is the penultimate cupboard standby. All you need is pasta, butter, and parmesan!

So now I could invite an Argentinian gaucho over for some of my 'poor man'sgrana'... And after eating this dish, he and I will proclaim, 'Tom N-D, I wish I knew how to quit you'. ;)