Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune--All recipes from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook
Asparagus And Rice Soup With Pancetta And Black Pepper
Ingredients:
6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 cups diced yellow onions
salt to taste
1/4 cup white rice
3-1/2 cups chicken stock (approximately)
1/2 cup water
8 oz. (approximately) asparagus, woody ends trimmed
3 to 4 oz. (1/2 to 2/3 cup) pancetta (or bacon), finely minced
freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Preparation:
In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, warm four tablespoons of the olive oil. Add onions and a pinch of salt and cook slowly, stirring regularly. Don't let onions color; they should sweat their moisture and then become tender and translucent in about 10 minutes. Add rice, chicken stock and water and bring to a simmer. Cover tightly and cook until rice is nut-tender, probably 15 to 20 minutes, depending upon rice you choose. Broth will be cloudy and should taste sweet from onions. Turn off heat.
While rice is cooking, sliver asparagus, slicing it at an angle and about 1/8 inch thick. Don't worry if slivers vary a little in thickness; irregularity will guarantee uneven cooking and a pleasantly varied texture. You should get about two cups.
In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, warm remaining two tablespoons of olive oil. Add pancetta and asparagus and stir once to coat, then spread them out and leave to sizzle until those at the edge of pan begin to color. Toss or stir once, then leave to color again. Repeat a few times until mass has softened and shrunk by about a third.
Scrape pancetta and asparagus into broth and bring to a boil. Add lots of pepper to taste. Boil for about a minute. Soup is best when served while all flavors are still bold and texture is varied.
Book excerpt: "This simple soup is crowded with flavors and textures. The ingredients are dosed to strike a high-pitched balance between the sweet onion and asparagus and the pungent pancetta and pepper; the mild, tender rice mediates. Choose any size spears with neat, tight tips and bright, firm stocks. I use carnaroli or arborio rice for this soup; you can use any type of white rice you like and gauge the cooking time accordingly."
Makes about 4 cups
Pasta Alla Carbonara
Ingredients:
6 qts. water
2 Tbs. kosher salt
5 oz. (4 to 5 slices) bacon, cut into 1/4- to 1/2" segments
5 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese, at room temperature
1 lb/ spaghetti, penne or bucatini
3/4 cup shucked sweet English peas or mature sugar-snap peas or double-peeled favas
2 oz. (about 1 cup, lightly packed) pecorino romano or pecorino sardo cheese, grated and divided
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation:
In a large pot over high heat, bring water seasoned with kosher salt to a rapid boil. In a 12-inch skillet or 3-quart saute pan over low heat, warm bacon in olive oil. Bacon should gradually render a little fat, which will mix with olive oil.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs and ricotta. Drop pasta into boiling water, stir and cook. When pasta is one minute from being done, add peas or favas to water and raise heat under bacon.
Cook bacon until it is just crispy on edges but still tender in middle. Turn off heat, slide pan from heat and swirl it a few times to cool it slightly. Drain pasta, shake off excess water and slide pasta and peas or favas into pan of bacon; you'll hear a discreet sizzle. Place pan back on burner used to cook bacon and immediately pour beaten eggs all over steaming pasta.
Add most of the pecorino and lots of cracked pepper and fold to combine. Work quickly so the heat of the noodles, bacon and bacon fat slightly cooks eggs. Eggs and ricotta will coat pasta and form tiny, soft, golden curds. (If you prefer to cook the egg further, return pan to low heat, but use a nonstick pan, or else much of the egg and some of the pasta will stick to the pan). Serve in warm bowls and garnish with black pepper and remaining pecorino
Book excerpt: "This rogue version of carbonara is based on one I had in Rome. It is not very saucy, and the ricotta makes it pleasantly curdy. The bacon should be crispy-tender and aromatic; don't be tempted to cook it in advance--you will sacrifice much of its aroma to convenience and it will harden. And don't substitute Parmigiano-Reggiano for the aged pecorino. Serve with a chewy, semolina pasta shape that does not grab too much sauce: spaghetti, spaghettini, penne or bucatini."
Serves 4 to 5
Espresso Granita with Whipped Cream
Granita Ingredients:
1 cup sugar, divided
2 cups espresso, room temperature (see excerpt at bottom)
3 Tbs. water
Whipped Cream Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
2 tsp. sugar
Preparation:
Choose a glass, plastic or stainless 3-cup bowl with a tightly fitted lid. Make sure it is dry, snap on the lid and place in freezer. In a medium bowl, dissolve all but two tablespoons of sugar into espresso and taste. It should taste too sweet; if not, gradually add some or all of remaining sugar until it does.
Add water, stir and pour into a stainless-steel pan or glass dish so liquid forms a pool about one inch deep. Cover and freeze for one to two hours until espresso has a very thick crust, but has not quite frozen through.
Place pan on a cool surface in a cool room. Use a stainless-steel pastry scraper (their relatively dull edges tease frozen crystals apart without slicing them up. A knife blade produces a finer, denser texture) to cut through and lift the layer of coarse crystal-ice, amalgamating it with the unfrozen core. A few cuts and folds are usually sufficient. Cover pan and return to freezer.
Check hourly and when it is firm to the touch but still yields easily to a stab with pastry scraper (due to high concentration of sugar, this may take up to eight hours), it is ready for final chopping.
Set pan of frozen espresso on a cool surface and methodically chop the crystalline blocks into a regular flaky, granular mass. This can be tedious, but it is easy, as long as you haven't let the liquid freeze too solid. If it is rock hard, it will take more brawn to cut through chunks and you may overwork some bits as you try to split harder pebbles.
At opposite extreme, in rare instances where mixture is fairly sweet or thick, it may never fully freeze hard and will chop to a rich, grainy-slushy texture. Such "defective" granitas can be exquisite. Transfer granita to chilled container, snap on lid and place in freezer.
Ten to 15 minutes before serving, turn container upside down in freezer (espresso syrup sometimes drains from ice crystals, like syrup in a snow cone; turning it upside down will redistribute the syrup). Place 5- to 6-ounce bowls or glasses in freezer to chill. I use clear, narrow, fluted stemware to show off the layers and crystals.
Take the cold, medium-size bowl from the freezer, combine cream and sugar and whip until stiff. To serve, layer granita and whipped cream like a parfait in chilled glasses. There should be nearly as much whipped cream as granita. The cream's surface will freeze where it touches the granita, and the succession of voluptuous chewy and slushy textures is delightful.
Book excerpt: "This granita is sweet yet surprisingly refreshing, an effect requiring fiercely rich espresso. Weaker espresso will make an insipid, pale, sugary granita not worth the effort. Zuni's espresso is made with equal parts dark-roasted Costa Rican, Papua New Guinean and Colombian beans. Its machine doses 1/4 cup water per espresso and I use 1/4 ounce ground espresso beans (1 1/2 tablespoons, very tightly packed) per dose. Don't use instant espresso or any sort of brewed coffee.
Serves 5 to 6
