Cook Like a Rock Star (18 page)

Authors: Anne Burrell

BOOK: Cook Like a Rock Star

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SERVES: 6 • TIME: ABOUT 40 MINUTES

I call these my little Parmigiano puddings and when I say they are easy to pull together, I’m SOOOOO not kidding. They’re also easily made ahead of time—in fact, I recommend doing so—and they’re a huge crowd pleaser at a party. Just put them in a 300°F oven for 5 to 7 minutes to take the chill off before serving.

MISE EN PLACE

FOR THE FLAN

Nonstick cooking spray

2 cups heavy cream

4 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano

Kosher salt

Pinch of cayenne

FOR THE SALAD

1 bunch pencil asparagus, tough bottom stems removed

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Pinch of crushed red pepper

2 cups arugula or mesclun

½ red onion, thinly sliced

Big fat finishing oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

FOR THE FLAN

1
Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2
Spray six 4-ounce ramekins or disposable aluminum cups with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, combine the cream, eggs, Parm, salt, and cayenne and whisk well. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Divide the mixture evenly between the ramekins.

3
Put the ramekins in a baking dish large enough to hold them all, then fill the dish with hot water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins—be careful here, you don’t want any water getting in the ramekins! Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the flans are set. Remove from the oven and let the dish cool on a rack.

FOR THE SALAD

1
Heat the oven to 400°F.

2
Toss the asparagus with olive oil until lightly coated and sprinkle with salt and red pepper. Put on a baking sheet and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until it begins to color and is pliable.

3
In a large bowl toss the arugula, asparagus, and red onion with finishing oil, lemon zest, juice, and salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

TO SERVE

To unmold the flans, gently run a butter knife around the outside edge of each ramekin, then flip them over onto serving plates, slightly off center. To serve, arrange the salad so it leans up against the flan.

Flan-tastic!

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Crispy Prosciutto & Mint

SERVES: 4 • TIME: ABOUT 15 MINUTES

I love sugar snaps because they’re crispy, they’re crunchy, and they’re snappy! Just blanch, shock, and cut them into little slivers to enjoy the full sugar snappy experience. To keep things interesting, toss in some minty fresh deliciousness and some salty, crispy prosciutto! Now that’s what I call a summertime salad.

MISE EN PLACE

Kosher salt

1 pound sugar snap peas, stem ends and strings removed

Extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, smashed

Pinch of crushed red pepper

¼ pound prosciutto, sliced thin and cut crosswise into ¼-inch strips

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 cups baby arugula

½ small red onion, julienned

¼ cup Pecorino, shaved with a veggie peeler

8 to 10 fresh mint leaves, cut into a
chiffonade

1
To blanch the peas, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and set up a large bowl of well-salted ice water. Toss the peas into the boiling water, let the water return to a boil, and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove the peas from the boiling water and immediately plunge them into the ice water. When the peas are cold, drain them and lay on paper towels to dry.

2
Cut the peas in half lengthwise and reserve.

3
Coat a medium sauté pan with olive oil and add the garlic and red pepper; bring the pan to medium heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the garlic and ditch it—it has fulfilled its garlic destiny! Add the prosciutto to the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until crispy, then add the vinegar. Turn off the heat.

4
In a large bowl, combine the arugula, snap peas, and onion along with the prosciutto and any juices from the pan; toss well. Add the Pecorino and mint and TASTE it! Season with salt if needed and serve.

Sugar snap peas often have strings that run along the edge of the pod—be sure to remove them because eating sugar snaps and flossing at the same time is not a pleasant experience.

Pasta is my favorite thing to make, cook, and eat. Sure, I LOOOOOVE to cook almost anything, but I LOVE-PLUS pasta. It’s the food that really speaks to me. My passion for pasta started as a teenager when I was given one of the old-fashioned Atlas hand-crank pasta machines for Christmas—long before I ever decided to become a professional chef. I spent a lot of time playing with that machine, and back then it took me far longer than it should have to make a pound of pasta. Now, after doing it for years, I’ve got it down—I can whip right through it.

To this day there’s still nothing in cooking as thrilling to me as mixing together some flour, oil, eggs, and water and imagining all the possibilities, all the delicious things I can create—and with such basic ingredients! On
Iron Chef,
when I’m working with Mario, my main job is making the pasta, and I have to make it really fast and absolutely perfect EVERY TIME. And guess what? My thousands of pounds of pasta practice are going to help streamline this operation for you—so get ready!

But before you jump in and start whipping up a bowl of carbonara, there’s something you have to understand: Pasta deserves respect. It’s not mashed potatoes; you don’t serve it as a side dish. PASTA IS ITS OWN COURSE. And you don’t pile a plate with mounds of spaghetti covered in red sauce. You eat small portions of pasta that have been lovingly tossed with a delicious sauce to create the perfect marriage. Sometimes in Italy you’ll be served multiple pasta courses, but they’re always small so you can savor the flavors and enjoy how the noodles and sauce work together. Remember, pasta is its own special thing, and it needs to be treated that way.

This is true when it comes to cooking the pasta as well. It’s not just about boiling some salted water and tossing in the noodles; it’s about how you cook the noodle, about the aroma and consistency of the pasta when it’s done, the scent of the sauce, and the taste of the two together once they’re intertwined in the bowl. Every sauce acts differently—cream sauces are totally different from vegetable sauces; seafood sauces are completely unlike meat sauces. Yes, they’re all condiments to go with the pasta, but they each bring something sparkly and wonderful and all their own to the party.

Knowing how to make pasta—and make it well—is an essential part of Italian cooking. Endless dishes can be created around pasta, and once you know how to make it the right way, you’ll never be at a loss for something delicious to eat.

Chef Anne’s All-Purpose Pasta Dough

Chef Anne’s Light-as-a-Cloud Gnocchi

Wild Mushroom Ragù

Sweet & Spicy Sausage Ragù

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Fagioli

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Raviolo al’Uovo (Ricotta-Nestled Egg Yolk)

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

Tagliolini with Arugula-Walnut Sauce

Spag & Excellent “Meatbawls”

Tagliatelle with Bacon, Sweet Corn, Burst Cherry Tomatoes & Arugula