Three Days Later We’re Still Talking About This

Two things today.

First: Big huge apologies for all the ridiculous spamming action happening on your feedly feeds and on my homepage here lately. I’m not sure who or what is behind it, but one thing is clear: I have been hacked. And though I’m not exactly going to tell you it’s fun, I will say I’m touched by all the emails from concerned readers, so many of whom ended up writing Post Scripts expressing appreciation for DALS in general. I appreciate this appreciation more than you could ever really know. It’s truly why I’ve been able to keep this blog up and running for more than six years. So thanks for that.

Next: Our dinner on Saturday night. Wowowow. Yesterday Andy texted me “How good was our dinner on Saturday?” This was around noon, a full 36 hours after we had finished (licked clean?) two bowls of homemade fettuccine, and yet it was still very much top of mind. That night, Phoebe was babysitting (My baby! Babysitting!) and Abby was at a slumber party, and instead of bolting to our favorite neighborhood haunt and eating dinner at the bar like we usually do, we embarked a Project Dinner. As in homemade pasta. This is not the kind of thing we do very often, but every time we do, we wonder why not. Of course, cranking your own noodles is a lot more complicated than buying them, but that was sort of the point, and plus, it’s really kind of insane what a dramatic difference homemade noodles make. I wouldn’t have had any problem paying 20-plus bucks for our dinner if someone served it to us at a restaurant — which is less about us being wizards than it is about just how little you have to do once you have a few piles of those fresh, floured, lovely ribbons of pasta. Here is what we did.

Fettuccine with Mushrooms and Spring Chives
We ate this with fresh market greens dressed in a simple vinaigrette. (Vinaigrette: 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, juice from half a lemon, salt, pepper, pinch sugar, olive oil.) This recipes makes two large bowls with leftovers.

1 pound fettuccine (preferably homemade, see page 228 Dinner: A Love Story for instructions)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
2 cups mushrooms (we used shiitake but maitake was my first choice), cleaned and sliced
generous handful spring scallions and chives, the freshest you can find
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup good quality chicken stock
drizzle of heavy cream
Pecorino Romano for serving

Set pasta pot on stovetop and bring heavily salted water to a boil.

As you wait for water to boil, add olive oil, butter, and red pepper flakes to a large skillet set over medium heat. Add mushrooms, spring onions, salt and pepper, and cook until wilted. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Keep on low heat.

Cook pasta until al dente. (If it’s homemade, it will not need more than 2 to 3 minutes.) When pasta is ready, using tongs, transfer noodles to the skillet. (It’s ok — no it’s good — if a little bit of the starchy pasta water drips into the skillet along with the noodles.) Toss with the mushrooms so the mushrooms are evenly distributed. Drizzle in the tiniest amount of heavy cream, tossing until noodles look just coated and not soupy.

Serve in pasta bowls with generous topping of Pecorino Romano and more freshly ground pepper.

Note: Though this meal is pretty much all about the pasta being homemade. If you do go in the store-bought direction, at least try to treat yourself to the good stuff.  I recommend the tagliatelle that is packaged in little “nests.” In my anecdotal opinion, that usually means they are higher quality. (But unfortunately higher priced.)