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Wednesday, September 26, 2001
Outside the box

Secret to perfect pasta is Italian dressing

Gerlach

   David Gerlach, executive chef at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club, said Italian salad dressing is his secret ingredient to perfect pasta.
   “Put in 2 ounces per quart when you start cooking,” Gerlach said. “The oil rises to the top, creating a ‘lid’ so the water boils faster. The pasta sucks up the flavor, which makes it a little tastier than regular pasta. Plus, it won’t stick.”
   Stir pasta after it goes in the pot to make sure all of it gets coated with seasoning.
  — Staff writer Leanne Libby

   Ask Food Network
   Q: My husband and I are planning a vacation, and in order to spend as much as we want when we are in Spain, we have put ourselves on a budget. Now we are craving "real" protein, which I have been avoiding, because of its expense. We have been eating the alternatives: tofu, rice and beans, and fish. However, I have realized that I like tofu, but not as much as I should; we have done the rice-and-bean thing in almost every combination, and if I eat one more piece of tilapia, I'm going to do something drastic, like buy filet mignon. DESPERATE IN DETROIT
   A: You didn't mention eggs! Eggs are an excellent source of protein, and they can be made into many yummy dishes.
   We'll start with simple: hardboiled or poached eggs. These can be sliced and served on a salad, or chopped and turned into egg salad. But, they can also be quartered and sauteed in butter with cumin and sesame seeds or tossed in a sauce made with caramelized onions, white wine and thyme.
   A classic Spanish tortilla - thick with onions, potatoes and some roasted pepper - is filling, as is an Italian frittata, made with whatever vegetables and cheese are handy. Frittatas are especially versatile; any leftovers can be used, and since they are baked in the oven and don't have to be flipped, are really easy to make. Beaten eggs can also be cooked on a griddle as a very flat omelet and then sliced thinly and added to stir-fry.
   Eggs baked in the oven in a bed of sauteed greens look beautiful, and can be served with focaccia or garlic bread. Eggs baked this way start in a hot oven, and finish under the broiler to cook the tops.
   Eggs are great in soups as well. Beaten eggs can be stirred into simmering broth, like the Chinese egg-drop soup. Eggs can also be used to thicken a soup, like the Greek avgolemeno, an egg and lemon chicken soup. Also delicious are Sephardic haminados: whole eggs, still in the shell, cooked slowly, in broth with onion skins, or in soup; the result is a creamy, coddled egg.
   If you are feeling ambitious, a souffle (cheese or vegetable) served with a salad and a chilled soup is an elegant and completely satisfying meal. And there are those who believe that a fried-egg sandwich is manna.


   All-purpose tomato
   www.aggie horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/recipes/carvertomato.html
   Step back in time to 1936 with this all-purpose bulletin about the tomato.This tomato treatise includes 115 recipes, and the author writes, "it is hoped that the large number of recipes given below will encourage the housewife to serve this choice vegetable many times during the week."


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