cooking journal
Last night I attempted to make spaghetti aglio e olio.
Obviously "attempted" is the key word in that sentence.
I had a particular flavor in mind when I made the dish. Nevada County residents have probably eaten at Cirino's at some point. They used to offer a wonderful spaghetti aglio e olio, with a very different flavor from most versions of the dish I've encountered. The key difference is in the exact variety of spices, lack of parsley, and added mushrooms (crimini) and sliced olives. Given the fact that I'm a pretty decent cook, I gave it a shot.
I realize now I made two key errors. The first, was using dried spices without reconstituting them first. They soaked up all the olive oil, and clumped together. The second error was similar, cooking the mushrooms with the rest of the sauce. They too, soaked up too much of the olive oil, ruining the consistency of the sauce. Next time I'll saute them separately, and add them with the pasta (which is the last step).
Overall the outcome wasn't inedible. But I wasn't in the mood for crappy food so I scrapped the project. I'll give it another shot soon.
Obviously "attempted" is the key word in that sentence.
I had a particular flavor in mind when I made the dish. Nevada County residents have probably eaten at Cirino's at some point. They used to offer a wonderful spaghetti aglio e olio, with a very different flavor from most versions of the dish I've encountered. The key difference is in the exact variety of spices, lack of parsley, and added mushrooms (crimini) and sliced olives. Given the fact that I'm a pretty decent cook, I gave it a shot.
I realize now I made two key errors. The first, was using dried spices without reconstituting them first. They soaked up all the olive oil, and clumped together. The second error was similar, cooking the mushrooms with the rest of the sauce. They too, soaked up too much of the olive oil, ruining the consistency of the sauce. Next time I'll saute them separately, and add them with the pasta (which is the last step).
Overall the outcome wasn't inedible. But I wasn't in the mood for crappy food so I scrapped the project. I'll give it another shot soon.