a la mama

We’re building a deck. Last week, we rented a concrete mixer and a “two-man auger” with a 12-inch wide drilly thing. I felt pretty sassy that morning. Two-man auger. Isn’t that a little outmoded? Here we were, two women. Was it was confidence-leaching to go along with that particular name? I comforted myself by seeing that two-man has a woman in it, t(wo-)man. I am sooooo dorky.

Well. I think it should be called a “two WWF (could be World Wrestling Federation, could also be What Whuh F$%&) auger, because that sucker was insane. It has a smelly, fumey motor on the top, and then there’s this big drill bit the size of a small silo that’s chewing away at the earth, throwing you across the yard (and viciously jamming its handle into every soft part of your leg) each time it hits a rock. I think the whole thing weighed over 70 pounds. And there was a lot of lifting up involved. While the blade spun!

Also. Our particular rented auger didn’t. Shut. Off. The doohickey that was supposed to shut it off…didn’t work. So it just ran for hours (as we worked) until Laura did something completely counter-intuitive to get it to chill. Don’t ask me what. I couldn’t tell you.

And God forbid you don’t pull it out regularly enough, because if you let it go too deeply into the earth, it will get stuck, like a screw into a piece of wood. We spent 40 minutes digging the drill out of the ground…on the second to last hole. And we weren’t sure we’d actually be successful. I was thinking about how much the Home Depot rental manager would titter after receiving my phone call. He knew (and he was right) that it was going to be a brutal chore–given that it also is difficult for burly people who do things like this all the time. I write on my computer all the time. I cook all the time. I do not man or woman an auger all the time. And that made it even more beastly.

So that was last weekend. This Wednesday I worked all day, and had another super-stressful thing in the schedule–something that should have warranted me kicking back and NOT trying to cook dinner. So, but, I did, in a bit of a “throwing things together” kind of way. I sauteed a sliced onion with chopped basil and sun-dried tomatoes. Everything got all delicous and gooey. I made a bunch of angel hair pasta. I dumped it in a colander in the sink, the colander tipped, and that big pile of pasta jumped out of the colander and slid down the drain like a hell-bent snake. I just stood there, going, “Uh….uh….I think I just ruined dinner.” Laura put her arm around me and said, “Oh, honey. Let’s order pizza.”

Luckily we have ridiculously good pizza nearby.

I put the sauce in the fridge (without any mishaps). Tonight, I decided to pull it out and take two. So, I added a bunch of broth, and spinach. I shredded a big green farmer’s market zucchini and threw that in, too. I let the broth cook down, and it became stewy and ratatouille-y.

Cue rascally angel hair. This time, I was careful. I put the drained angel hair in a bowl, and chopped it up a little so it would be easier to mix with the sauce. Then I plopped the sauce on top and stirred it all up. Added parmesan, Herbamare (seasoned salt) and ground pepper.

It was good. But I still felt like it needed something. I cut up a ripe heirloom tomato, and spread the luscious chunks on top of the surface of the pasta-sauce mix. Then I grabbed 3 small slices of salami, chiffonaded them, and sprinkled them on top too (meat as a condiment, indeed). THEN it was kick-booty. Laura and I sat outside on the patio, amidst construction flotsam and tool jetsam, and we enjoyed our dinner. The waning light was glowy and beautiful, the sunset dramatic over the slowly manifesting deck site.

We each made a series of happy mammal noises, which led me to concur that this experiment was worth repeating and should be preserved and named, even.

“So what are we going to call this pasta?” I asked.

“Deck Pasta,” Laura said, and I looked it up online to find out that deck, in Italian, is “piattaforma,” which is just perfect. I’m glad that’s perfect, because the kids thought the pasta dish was “ewey” and ended up eating sandwiches and yogurt for dinner (they made it themselves, with resourceful aplomb). My mom’s dad couldn’t say “This isn’t a restaurant, you know,” because he actually had a Greek diner where she ate most meals. But I can.

Francis Lam’s 5-Minute Summer Tomato Pasta Recipe

Thank you, Francis Lam, for revolutionizing my idea of tomato “sauce” in the summertime.

One less burner going…one less pot to wash…so perfect for this season. It’s a lycopene bonanza.

We made it for the second time this week last night. I used some heirloom tomatoes, which made it even more divine, plus fresh basil as part of the greens layer, and about 1/4 cup of pignole nuts, rough-chopped and mixed in at the end. Instead of letting the pasta sit on top of the whole deal for 2 minutes, I upped it to five minutes. And kind of chopped up the pasta (DeBoles Spaghetti made with Jerusalem Artichoke Flour) a bit so that I could mix it more evenly.

Frilenta/Polatta
Ingredients:
4 eggs
splash of milk-like liquid of your choice
¼ cup polenta
1 cup broth (veggie or chicken)
1 smallish onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ to 1 cup chopped broccoli (or asparagus, or fresh spinach)
grated cheese of your choice, to taste

Add ½ of the chicken broth to a medium saute pan, and heat to a near boil. Add onions and garlic. Saute/soften. Add polenta and the rest of the broth, bring to a low boil, and stir. Then lower flame to simmer.
Crack the 4 eggs into a bowl and whisk them with a splash of milk.
Check on the polenta. If it seems like it’s not cooked enough and the broth is evaporating too fast, add a little more. What you want to end up with is almost completely cooked polenta grains with not too much extra liquid at the end, before the next step, which is to pour the egg mixture on top of the polenta mixture.
After you do that, add the vegetables. And then sprinkle the cheese evenly on top of everything. Keep the heat on low, cover the pan with the lid. Turn on your oven to the Broil setting.
After about five minutes, transfer the pan to the top rack of the oven and, keeping an eye on it, let it finish up and get a little browned on top…probably about five more minutes (depending on your oven).
Once it’s done, pull it out of the oven and place it someplace to set for 3 minutes.

Notes: I was happy with the results. I was able to cut the frilenta/polatta in slices and serve it like a frittata or quiche. The polenta on the bottom was both a little custardy and also had a lovely crispy bottom. Where it met the egg layer, it created a nice softly chewy texture.
This recipe is VERY substitution-friendly. If you have leftover quinoa or brown rice couscous, use that as your bottom layer. If you want to make a bunch of polenta separately, or have leftovers, shmear a big fat layer on the bottom after you’ve sauteed the onions and garlic. It will just need more time to warm through.
Use any vegetables you have around (although if the veggies are watery, it might mess up the egg texture and make it hard to know when they’re cooked). Asparagus, fresh spinach, and peas seem like good alternates. We had sausages on the side, but I think I would have liked some prosciutto or bacon up in there, too.
We also thought that in terms of the cheese on top, sharp white cheddar, grated, would have been delicious…or smoked gouda. It’s the kind of recipe where you don’t need a lot of cheese to liven things up, since there’s so much else to notice.

I took a lovely long walk this morning in my dirt road desert neighborhood. It poured down rain for hours last night, and I wondered if maybe I’d be slogging along in mud up to my ankles. But no–someone designed these roads correctly. All of the wild grasses and flowers and chamisa bushes stood stunned in the aftermath of the water onslaught, while puddles caught the sun. But the roads were solid.

To make a long story short, I worked up an appetite. “I hope you’re even a little bit hungry,” I told Laura as I started pulling things out of the fridge, mad scientist style. Eggs. Baby broccoli that was nearing the end of its freshness. An onion. Chicken broth.

I sliced the onion thinly and sauteed it in chicken broth with two chopped garlic cloves. After they got a little soft, I added another half cup of broth and a quarter cup of polenta and let it simmer. I thought it would be nice to make a frittata with a polenta crust. Just on the bottom, not up the sides. While it was softening and melding with the onions, I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl, poured in a splash of skim milk, and then whisked them together with a fork. I checked on the polenta, added a little more broth, stirred, and then chopped up the florets of the baby broccoli, rinsed them in the colander, and put it aside.

I turned the oven on to broil. Poured the egg mixture on top of the polenta (which was by now firm enough not to get all gumped up with the egg). I sprinkled the broccoli evenly over the top of the eggs so that they sank into the eggs a bit, then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top (to taste), kept the heat on low, and covered the pan so that the eggs could start cooking through.

After about five minutes, I transferred the pot to the top rack of the oven, and turned the light on so that I could keep an eye on it. Within a few minutes, it started to brown, so I pulled it out and let it set for about three minutes.

It worked! I was able to cut it in slices and serve it like a frittata or quiche. The polenta on the bottom was both a little custardy and also had a lovely crispy bottom. Where it met the egg layer, it created a nice softly chewy texture.

This recipe is VERY substitution-friendly. If you have leftover quinoa or brown rice couscous, use that as your bottom layer. If you want to make a bunch of polenta separately, or have leftovers, shmear a big fat layer on the bottom after you’ve sauteed the onions and garlic. It will just need more time to warm through.

Use any vegetables you have around (although if the veggies are watery, it might mess up the egg texture and make it hard to know when they’re cooked). Asparagus, fresh spinach, and peas seem like good alternates. We had sausages on the side, but I think I would have liked some prosciutto or bacon up in there, too.

We also thought that in terms of the cheese on top, sharp white cheddar, grated, would have been delicious…or smoked gouda. It’s the kind of recipe where you don’t need a lot of cheese to liven things up, since there’s so much else to notice.

I need help naming this recipe…so if you have any ideas, let me know. And please share your favorite brunch dishes.

I wish I could post a picture, but we ate it all.

linky-loo