A hot plate, some pasta, and leftovers

 

A pasta concoction--what ingredients can you identify?

As the name indicates, I started this blog to explore cooking with a hot plate instead of a stove because I now cook with a hot plate and a toaster oven—and I can’t use both simultaneously or I’ll blow the circuit breaker. I’ve gotten comfortable enough with my induction hot plate that the recipes I choose aren’t necessarily geared to that heat source. But today I want to talk about pasta and the hot plate.

Pasta is a great dish for the hot-plate cook—it offers an easy way to entertain, and in this day, when pasta is no longer red sauce over spaghetti, you can experiment all you want. Pasta is also a great way to use up leftovers. Whatever you choose to put in your sauce, pasta allows you to cook from scratch and to deal with individual foods in your final dish.

Most recipes call for cooking the pasta and, while it’s cooking, making the sauce on another burner. If you only have one hot plate, you obviously can’t do that. My trick is to cook the pasta, whatever shape and size you want, and rinse thoroughly in cold water when you get it to al dente stage. Remember, it will cook a bit more when you reheat in your sauce. Rinsing gets rid of most of that loose starch that makes cold pasta clump. Sure, it will chill while you make the sauce, but when the sauce is ready, you can dump the pasta into the skillet and reheat. Once, in the novel, Saving Irene, I had Henny James, the main character, pour a little olive oil on the pasta to keep it from clumping (I’ve been known to do that). I was roundly criticized by a reader who otherwise loved the book but claimed no self-respecting Italian would ever do that unless they were making aglio e olio (basically garlic and olive oil pasta).

An aside: I’ve discovered the advantages of serving pasta in soup plates. It makes everything so much easier. The pasta can’t slide off the plate. And I also always have parmesan or pecorino in my freezer, for spontaneous pasta meals. But back to leftovers.

One evening I was preparing to leave town the next day and wanted to use up what I could from the refrigerator. Prowling around, I found some good, thinly sliced ham left from a sandwich project, a stub of zucchini, and some asparagus that wouldn’t last much longer. I had spinach fettucine in the cupboard—just the right amount.

I sliced the zucchini thin, julienned the ham, and cut the asparagus into bite-size pieces. I used salt and pepper generously on the vegetables. Then a dollop of butter—maybe 1/8 cup--went into the skillet, and I sautéed the vegetables a bit longer than the ham—they needed to cook, and the ham was precooked and very thin. When the vegetables were cooked, I added the ham and well-drained pasta to the skillet, stirred, and heated on low until thoroughly warm. Just before dishing, I gently blended in a good-sized dollop (heaping tablespoon) of sour cream and some parmesan. Surprised myself both at how good it was and how much I ate.

Another suggestion: use canned salmon as your base. Add green peas (I love frozen petite peas), sliced green onions, chopped spinach. Season the vegetables and sauté in butter. Then sprinkle maybe 2 tsp. flour over them and stir to distribute evenly. Slowly make a sauce by pouring in white wine and half and half—maybe in equal parts. When the sauce is the right thickness (you be the judge), stir in some fresh or dried herbs—maybe a bit of basil or thyme or oregano. Stir in the cooked pasta and top with grated parmesan or pecorino for serving.

In general, spaghetti or angel hair, even fettucine, are best with light sauces. Richer, thicker sauces might call for tagliatelle or another type of pasta with lots of flat surface for the sauce to cling to. Tubular pastas like rotini, penne, or ziti are also good for heavy, meaty sauces—and for cold salads. Leftovers can make great pasta salads. Got some chicken from last night? Add some artichoke hearts, maybe quartered, some green onion, bell pepper if you like it (I don’t), sliced hearts of palm, cherry tomatoes halved, goat cheese--the possibilities are endless. Season with salt and pepper and herbs of your choice, and dress with a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise or use as I sometimes do your favorite bottled vinaigrette (we like Newman’s Original Oil and Vinegar).

Go ahead, look in your refrigerator, and see what you find. Experiment and make a pasta dish for dinner tonight!