Disappearing for a Week

Woot!  Thank you very much!  I've already eaten today, but I'm so going to try this tomorrow.

I just want to clarify about how long to cook the spaghetti though.  Usually I cook spaghetti until I can take one of them, fling it onto the wall and it sticks.  Is al dente before or after that stage?

Danke!

Whatever floats your boat (or covers your kitchen walls), Jo. "Al dente" should be slightly before the glue-forming stage. But really - cook 'em as you like 'em. Simply take one out and check, every now and then.  

Win!   I'll do this and report back tomorrow.

Thanks again!

JoHarrington: 05/30/2013 - 06:26 PM

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*saunters in, pausing in the doorway so everyone gets a good look at my tan*

*dumps a few gallons of (pixel) Piri-Piri in front of ChefKeem*  That's something to do with chicken.  Big in Portugal.  Something to knock up for the omnivores of Wizzley.  I'd have brought you all sardines, but, well, smell.

Unfortunately for the vegetarians here, the Algarve isn't big on feeding us.  At least if you fancy anything other than cheese omelette or a salad.  So we'll have to make do with all this Port and Sangria.  All good?

I'm back and ridiculously laid-back.  How are you all?  Any gossip?

You old floozy you!

Piri-piri yum-yum. Want! Not so keen on sardines so youse can keep them to yourself.

I love cheese omelette and salad, that's a diet. Piri-piri gives an omelette a blow-the-hangover-away zing.

Port and Sangria also good, though they tend to wreck the goodness imparted by industrial quantities of omelette and salad...

Chef is teasing us with all kind of sparkly new things (read the forums, especially humagaia's contributions).

Good to have you back. Your ears should burn, the times you were mentioned.

Spaghetti and garlic?

The original Mrs McCartney had that one to a T:

This recipe is from Linda McCartney's cookbook Linda's Kitchen. It is very quick and easy to make. It can be made vegan by substituting with vegan cheese or omitting it altogether. She recommends pairing it with a Caesar or watercress salad. 

* 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced (it says "or more according to taste", but I tend to use a little less)
* 3 tbsp olive oil
* freshly ground black pepper
* 6 ounces spaghetti (I use Tinkyada brown rice)
* freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional- I use rennet-free - can use cheddar as substitute)
* chopped fresh herbs to taste, such as parsley, basil, and oregano

Stir the minced garlic into the olive oil and add lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Cook the spaghetti until al dente and drain well. Mix the garlicky oil into the hot spaghetti, add the Parmesan and herbs, and toss thoroughly. Serve immediately.

My German friend used to make this. Freeze the spag when made and it comes out of the freezer eye-wateringly garlicky yummily strong. Will go well with chili-no-carne too, by memory.

(No vampires around here: we just breathe on them!)

Oooh!  Can I have a link to the sparkly things teasers please?   I do like sparkly things.

And thank you for the Linda McCartney recipe.  I'm definitely having this for my tea. :D

Sparkly things for us UK peeps, hopefully...

Lots of other upgrades promised. I have so much to do this weekend I can't keep up with all the changes so I hope it's all still recognisable when I do pop in.

Thanks for the link, Paula.  And thanks to you and Achim for the recipes.

I made it for my tea yesterday!   I used parsley as the herb.  Unfortunately, I messed up a couple of times.  The first was cooking the spaghetti for too long.  I fetched a bit out to check and it already felt gluey, so I chucked it up the wall and it stuck.  I'm guessing that wasn't al dente. >.>

The second was not mixing the oil and spaghetti enough.  When I came to eat it, there were some bits so slimy that I had olive oil dripping off my lips.  Not a fun situation.  Then others which were patently just dry spaghetti and therefore quite dry.

Also, I didn't put the parsley in until I had all oil and spaghetti cooked, mixed and in the bowl being tossed.  Yet somehow I could taste the parsley over the garlic. :/

When you all said 'three cloves of garlic', did you mean three segments of a bulb?  That's what I used.  Or did you mean three whole bulbs?  That looked like too much to me. Though I do like garlic.

I'm going to keep experimenting with this until I can cook it. :D

Cilantro, rugabuga etc - exactly why we need a UK site!

I grow garlic that is one big bulb - no segments - so stating cloves is no help - but I reckon 'add to taste' covers it.

Best way to get flavour into anything is to make, vacuum-pack, freeze. The vacuum-packing forces the flavour into the food. Take out of freezer, cut corner of bag and microwave (may not be best for spagetti - in which case defrost and re-heat).