Tag Archives: cellentani

Cellentani with Spiced Beef, Onion Sauce and Feta

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This savory pasta dish was inspired by kawarma, the spicy ground beef topping spooned over hummus in Israel. Milk Street re-envisioned it over pasta with just a few adjustments, resulting in a ground beef sauce seasoned with fragrant spices and generous amounts of onion and garlic, all lightened with a good dose of mint at the end.

I was scratching my head over the ingredients, wondering how they would all come together. Well we were both surprised how delicious the meal was! While we didn’t change anything dramatically, the amount of ground beef was a stretch over the one-and-a-half pounds by another four ounces, no biggie.

Milk Street warns not use ground beef fattier than 90 percent lean or the sauce will be greasy. However, we happened to have an 85 percent lean ground beef in the house and just made sure to siphon off the grease after Step 2, before adding the tomatoes. The type of pasta was switched from linguine to cellentani because that’s what we happened to have on hand, plus I think the feta clung to those curves more willingly.

And by all means, make sure to use authentic Greek block feta, not the already crumbled bits packaged in plastic containers—the taste is immeasurably more pleasant. Rather than sprinkle the feta as a garnish, it is tossed in with the just-cooked noodles so it melts and coats the strands, or in our case, the cork screws because we used cellentani pasta.

Perhaps because of the extra beef and thicker pasta, our version would easily feed five.

Cellentani with Spiced Beef, Onion Sauce and Feta

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 1½ lbs. 90 percent lean ground beef
  • 2 Tbsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper
  • 2 large yellow onions, finely chopped
  • 8 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
  • 12 oz. cellentani, linguine, or your choice of pasta
  • 8 oz. block feta cheese, shredded on the large holes of a box grater
  • 1 cup chopped fresh mint

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the beef, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper and ¼ cup water. Mix with your hands until homogenous.
  2. Add the beef mixture, onion and garlic to a 12-inch skillet. Set the pan over medium-high and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat with a spatula, until the onion has softened and the beef is no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the tomatoes with juices and bring to a simmer, then reduce to medium and cook uncovered, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Stir in the pasta and 2 tablespoons salt; cook until the pasta is al dente. Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water (you probably won’t need it all), then drain the pasta.
  5. Return the pasta to the pot. Add about ¾ of the feta and toss. Taste and season with salt and pepper, add reserved pasta water a bit at a time to loosen if needed, then transfer to a platter.
  6. Stir the mint into the sauce, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining feta.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Adapted from a recipe for Milk Street

Cellentani with Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Basil

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In our neck of the country, no food combo screams summer quite as loudly as the holy trinity of sweet, fresh corn, tomatoes and basil. The Hubs and I try to eat them as often as we can during the short growing season. So finding a version of this recipe from Milk Street was welcome news.

The ingredients in this summery pasta dish are few, so fresh corn and ripe tomatoes are key. To create a creamy sauce without cream, grate the corn kernels from the cobs. To reinforce the corn flavor, boil the cobs in the water that is later used to cook the pasta. Using a minimal amount of water—just 2½ quarts—means the flavors and starches are concentrated in the liquid, and you put some of this liquid to good use in the sauce.

Yellow corn gives the dish a golden hue, but white corn—which is what we had at the time—works jut as well. Whichever you use, make sure to remove as much of the silk as possible before grating.

Twisty, fluted, or frilly eye-catching pasta shapes are best here—if you can’t find cellentani (a delightful corkscrew-shaped pasta), look for gemelli, cavatappi or campanelle. With its tubular center and ridged surface, cellentani is perfect for a hearty pasta meal, capturing every drop of the flavorful sauce and trapping the grated corn kernels in every delicious forkful.

I know many of you may turn your nose when a habañero chili is listed in the ingredients. But do not fear. In this dish it does add a little heat (seeding the chili removes much of its burn), but it’s here mostly because its fruity notes are a nice complement to the corn, tomatoes and basil. Please do not omit it.

I made the mistake of using the entire one-pound box of cellentani instead of just 12 ounces which is what the recipe called for. The Hubs questioned me as I was making the dish, but at that point it was too late, I’d already cooked the pasta. I believe it would be best with the lesser amount.

Next time, I would also add another ear or two of corn, but with those, don’t grate, rather slice the kernels whole off of the cob and mix them in. It would give a bit more tooth to the overall texture. Finally, we also felt a garnish of grated Pecorino Ramono provided another layer of depth to the flavor profile and a hint of saltiness.

Cellentani with Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Basil

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper
  • 4 ears corn, husked
  • 4 Tbsp. (½ stick) salted butter, cut into 4 pieces, divided
  • 2 medium shallots, minced
  • 1 habañero chili, stemmed, seeded and minced
  • 12 oz. cellentani (or gemelli, cavatappi, campanelle)
  • 2½ quarts water
  • 1 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, stir together the tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt; set aside. Set a box grater in a large bowl or pie plate. Using the grater’s large holes, grate the corn down to the cobs; reserve the cobs.
  2. In a large pot, bring 2½ quarts water to a boil. Add the corn cobs and 1 tablespoon salt, reduce to medium and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Using tongs, remove and discard the cobs, then remove the pot from the heat.
  3. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the grated corn, shallots, chili and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the shallots have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1½ cups of the cooking water. Cook over medium-low, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened (a spatula should leave a brief trail when drawn through the mixture), 10 to 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, return the remaining corn-infused water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the skillet and cook over medium, stirring constantly, until the pasta is coated and the sauce is creamy, about 2 minutes; if needed, add the reserved cooking water 2 tablespoons at a time to reach proper consistency.
  5. Off heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, the tomatoes with their juices and the basil, then toss until the butter has melted. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Recipe found on Milk Street