Recipe Notes: Pasta e Fagioli

21 October 2019

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2018

My mom would make pasta e fagioli (Italian for pasta and beans) using a packet of dried ingredients from the supermarket. I don't remember ever making this myself so I don't know what else went into it, but it was a good soup. I have made a number of very good soups using America's Test Kitchen recipes in the last few years so I was hoping my memories and this new recipe would come together to provide another good soup.

Two cans of cannellini beans provided the fagioli for the recipe. One can was mixed with water and puréed in a food processor. In a Dutch oven, chopped onions, carrots, celery, and pancetta were cooked in olive oil to soften the vegetables. Tomato paste, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes were added and cooked until fragrant. The second can of beans was stirred into the mixture with the puréed bean mixture, brought to a boil, and simmered for 10 minutes. Pasta was added (I used tubetti rigati  #72, the closest I could find to the ditalini specified in the recipe) and cooked until al dente. Off heat, grated parmesan and chopped fresh basil were stirred into the soup. The soup took about 90 minutes to prepare.

This is a good soup but we both thought it was lacking something. Even though I halved the amount of red pepper flakes called for in the recipe, I thought the background warmth it added go well with  the earthy flavors of the soup, the beans, pasta, and aromatic vegetables. Diane thought is was a little bland and needed something more, but probably not more red pepper flakes. So this a good soup but I don't know if it is good enough to make again given the other soups we have tried that we liked better.

Update, January 2022: Wanting to make this soup but disappointed in the ATK recipe, I tried an older recipe from Food Wishes. The ingredients and video instructions are found, now, on different web pages.  While we did not do a side-by-side tasting, I think we liked the Food Wishes recipe better. This recipe includes Italian sausage which perhaps adds the element that we found missing in the ATK version. I used mild sausage, a modest amount of red pepper flakes (as always), and tubetti pasta because I had it in the cupboard. It was simple to make, taking less than an hour. Chef John of Food Wishes has several more recent versions of "pastafazool" which might be worth trying.

Recipe Notes: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

25 September 2019

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, recipes from The Perfect Cake, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, pp. 116 and 401; also available online.

Autumn is the time for spiced desserts. Thus when I had an opportunity to make a cake for some meetings I went to the sheet cake section of The Perfect Cake and found this recipe. 

Some advance planning was needed as several ingredients (butter, eggs, and buttermilk) needed to be at room temperature. The powdered spices (cinnamon, cardamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg) were mixed together and a small portion was set aside for the frosting. The butter was put into a skillet, melted, and browned. The spices were added to the hot, nutty brown butter to bloom their flavors. After the butter mixture had cooled to room temperature, the dry ingredients were whisked together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla were whisked together. Butter, sugar, and molasses were creamed in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Grated fresh ginger was added along with the the butter mixture and half of the egg mixture.  These were mixed until combined then the remaining egg mixture was added. The flour mixture and buttermilk were added and mixed into the batter, alternating flour and buttermilk additions to help prevent the formation of lumps. The batter was placed in a greased and floured 13x9-inch baking pan and baked at 350° for 31 minutes. The cake came out of the oven 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting.

The frosting was made by beating together cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla and salt until smooth then beating in confectioners' sugar and the spice mixture from the cake. This was spread on the cake after it had cooled.

When I first ate the cake I must admit I wasn't a fan. The cake and frosting had a great texture, both were light and moist. However I found the frosting to be too tangy (remember that I am not a big cheese eater) and the cake uninspiring. However, the flavors grew on me over time. I think resting in the refrigerator helped the flavors to mellow and blend which I liked. This is a cake that I might serve  again some day, but if I did it might be worth making it a day in advance and letting the cake sit for a day in the refrigerator before serving.

Recipe Notes: Challah

24 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019; recipe is also available online

Challah is a soft, rich Jewish bread often served at holiday meals. I made it once before and remember how beautiful the braided loaf was. Unfortunately my blog post didn't include many details beyond mentioning the three-braid loaf so I can't compare that loaf with the one made with this new recipe. However, this recipe uses some newer techniques and ingredients and I was eager to try it.

Preparing the dough was pretty standard except for the addition of an egg, two egg yolks, and some vegetable oil. The dough included a paste of flour and water, tangzhong, which is used to good effect in several other bread recipes I regularly make. The flour paste was whisked together with the egg and yolks, oil, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Bread flour and yeast were added, mixed until combined, then allowed to rest for 20 minutes. Sugar and salt were added and the dough was kneaded for about 9 minutes. The relatively dry dough was then placed in a large measuring bowl and left to rise until doubled in volume. The risen dough was transferred to a counter and cut into four equal-weight pieces. These were rolled into 18-inch long ropes which were braided to form the loaf. This was covered loosely with plastic wrap and left to rise until doubled; this took 2 hours rather than the 3 hours listed in the recipe. An egg wash was applied and the bread baked until golden brown. Total time from beginning to removing the finished bread from the oven was about 5½ hours.

Like the older recipe, this one produced a beautiful loaf of bread. I used it mostly for sandwiches. I appreciated the more uniform shape of the 4-braid loaf compared to the earlier 3-braid loaf which was more triangular than rectangular. The bread was soft and rich and made good sandwiches. I didn't try it for French toast but hope to do so one day, Challah is said to be the best bread to use for French toast.