DIFFICULTY: GC made this one look easy.
COOKING TIME: 2½ records
RECOMMENDED DRINK: Vodka with Ceres youngberry juice, over crushed ice
What you’ll need:
- 2/3 to a full box/bag of pasta (any pasta is good but our favorites are egg noodles or penne pasta)
- 2 large onions, julienned
- 2½ cups of baby carrots, sliced diagonally
- 2 bell peppers, julienned (yellow, red, and/or green)
- ½ lb. or less of snow peas (snap off ends to remove the “strings” that go down the spine)
- 1 can coconut milk (can use “light”)
- ¼ cup half and half
- ¼ cup raisins
- 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tsp. coriander
- ½ Tbsp. cumin
- 1½ Tbsp. curry powder (more if yours isn’t very spicy)
- 2 small handfuls of chopped cilantro
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil
Note: Feel free to improvise with your veggies (broccoli is a good pick that’s not listed above). If you want to make a chicken or seafood version, you won’t need as many veggies.
For the optimal cooking experience, you should also have:
- Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones
- Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren
- I’ve Always Been Crazy by Waylon Jennings
- Terry Gross’s Fresh Air interview with Billy Joe Shaver
And here’s how it’s done:
1. Heat your pan on medium. Add olive oil.
2. When olive oil is hot, add onions, stirring occasionally. GC slow cooks the onions to make them sweeter. This means they go in about 12 minutes before the other veggies.
3. This is a good time to cook and drain your pasta and set it aside for later.
While the onions and pasta cook, you have time to make a drink and put on some music. GC recommends Exile on Main St. by the Rolling Stones, since it is the best rock and roll album ever. “Its construction is the blues,” GC says, “but it’s London-white-boy blues. And that’s rock and roll.”
4. The carrots go in roughly 12 minutes after the onions. Sauté the onions and carrots until soft, stirring occasionally.
You should now be on your second drink and the second side of Exile on Main St. According to GC, this album is influenced by Muddy Waters. “The reason the Stones are so great is that they are Apollonian and Dionysian opposites wrapped up in one band.” He plays air guitar.
5. Once the onions and carrots are soft, add garlic, snow peas, and peppers. Salt and pepper to taste.
Now it’s time to move on to Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren. This may require you to move from air guitar to air keyboard. If, like me, you haven’t heard of Todd Rundgren, it is because he's “a music person’s musician.” GC says he’s a good singer but doesn’t have a good voice, which adds sincerity and tenderness to his songs.
6. Once your veggies are sticking to the bottom of the pan and your snow peas are limp, turn the heat to low and gently stir in your coconut milk. Add about 1/3 cup of water to the can and pour that into the pan, too, to get out the last of the coconut milk.
7. Add coriander, cumin, curry powder, half and half, raisins, and half your cilantro. Bring the heat back up to medium and take it to a low boil.
The amount of seasoning listed above are approximations. “There’s a reason I don’t measure things,” GC says. Frustrated, he explains that each dish is like a snowflake, with a unique mixture of ingredients that blend together in a special way.
8. When the consistency “looks like something you could glob on top of something else,” remove it from the heat and set it aside.
9. Now it’s time to fry the pasta you cooked earlier. Sauté it over medium heat until it’s just slightly brown and hard.
Ideally—unlike GC and me—you will have two pans and be sober enough to multitask. If so, you can fry your pasta while sautéing your veggies and save yourself a good 30 minutes of cooking time (i.e., one record).
Otherwise, it's time to turn over your Todd Rundgren record. You have time to dance to two songs. We recommend “I Saw the Light” and “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference.” Todd Rundgren is “a womanizing nerd,” according to GC, and was influenced by Phil Spector’s wall of sound.
Remember to stir the pasta before and after each dance. You will now want to put on Waylon Jennings’s I’ve Always Been Crazy and go immediately to the song “Billy,” which is about country songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. GC says Terry Gross did an amazing interview with him. “When people start talking about de-funding NPR, they should really listen to this. I mean, who on Fox News would spend an hour talking to Billy Joe Shaver?”
10. By now your pasta should be ready. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with your veggie curry sauce on top. Sprinkle on the rest of the cilantro.
This is a gorgeous, healthy, delicious meal that goes perfect with the Fresh Air interview of Billy Joe Shaver.
Happy eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment