Fantastic Fresh Pasta, More on a Budget
Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo grew up together in New York.
The lifelong friends are veterans of gourmet family-style kitchens, and they bring their skills to their popular restaurant in Brooklyn, Frankies Spuntino.
They also have a new cookbook, "The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooiking Manual" (read an excerpt), filled with some of their favorite recipes from the eatery, all of which have a home-cooked touch.
"The Two Franks" specialize in modern, fresh Italian offerings.
And they gave "The Early Show on Saturday Morning" viewers two-for-the-price-of-one when they accepted our "Chef on a Shoestring" challenge - but we didn't double our usual paltry $40 budget, which they tried to stick to as they made a simple, scrumptious three-course Italian meal for four.
They were also automatically entered in our "How Low Can You Go?" competition, in which the "Shoesting" chef (in this case - it would be two chefs!) with the lowest ingredients cost will be invited back to cook for our year-end holiday extravaganza!
MENU
• Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley, and Red Onion Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
• Ricotta Cavatelli with Sausage and Browned Sage Butter
• Olive Oil Cake
FOOD FACTS
Fennel: There are two main types of this aromatic plant, both with pale green, celery-like stems and bright green, feathery foliage. Florence fennel, also called finocchio, is cultivated throughout the Mediterranean and in the United States. It has a broad, bulbous base that's treated like a vegetable. Both the base and stems can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in a variety of methods such as braising, sautéing or in soups. The fragrant, graceful greenery can be used as a garnish or snipped like dill and used for a last-minute flavor enhancer. This type of fennel is often mislabeled "sweet anise," causing those who don't like the flavor of licorice to avoid it. The flavor of fennel, however, is sweeter and more delicate than anise and, when cooked, becomes even lighter and more elusive than in its raw state. (Source: Epicurious.com)
Celery Root: This rather ugly, knobby, brown vegetable is actually the root of a special celery cultivated specifically for its root. It's also called celery root and celery knob. Celeriac tastes like a cross between a strong celery and parsley. It's available from September through May and can range anywhere from the size of an apple to that of a small cantaloupe. Choose a relatively small, firm celeriac with a minimum of rootlets and knobs. Avoid those with soft spots, which signal decay. The inedible green leaves are usually detached by the time you buy celeriac. Refrigerate the root in a plastic bag for 7 to 10 days. Celeriac can be eaten raw or cooked. Before using, peel and soak briefly in ACIDULATED WATER to prevent discoloration. To eat raw, grate or shred celeriac and use in salads. Cooked, it's wonderful in soups, stews and purees. It can also be boiled, braised, sautéed and baked. Celeriac contains small amounts of vitamin B, calcium and iron. (Source: Epicurious.com)
Cavatelli: Short, narrow, ripple-edged shell pasta. (Source: Epicurious.com)
RECIPES
Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley and Red Onion Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
1/2 celery root
1 fennel bulb, with stems removed
2/3 cup sliced red onion
2 packed cups flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup olive oil, or more to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
16 turns white pepper
pumpkinseed oil, for drizzling (optional)
Pecorino Romano, to taste
Peel the celery root and cut it into fine julienne. Trim the fennel bulb, discarding tough stems and reserving any fresh, pert fronds to garnish the salad, and julienne. (You should have in the neighborhood of 2 cups of each).
Toss the cut vegetables together with the parsley in a large bowl. Add the oil, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper and toss again. Taste and add more oil, salt, and/or lemon juice as needed.
Divide the salad among serving plates. Finish each with a drizzle of pumpkinseed oil and a few curls of Pecorino Romano (cut with a vegetable peeler) and serve.
For more recipes, go to Page 2.
Cavatelli with Sausage and Browned Sage Butter
1 pound hot Italian pork sausage (4 to 6 links, depending on the size of the sausage)
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 to 10 sage leaves (fewer if they are very large, more if they are very small)
Freshly ground white pepper
Cavatelli
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
Put a large pot of water on to boil and salt it well.
Meanwhile, put the sausages in your widest saute pan with 1/2 inch of water and turn the heat to medium. After 10 minutes, flip the sausages over and simmer them for another 5 minutes (replenish the water if it threatens to boil off). After 15 minutes, the sausages should be firm and cooked through. Remove the sausages to a cutting board (discard the water) and slice them into coins just shy of 1/2 inch (you can do this an hour or even a day ahead of time if you like).
Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. After a minute, add the sausage coins in an even layer and let them cook, untouched, unstirred, unfussed with, until they're deeply browned on the first side (if there's not enough room to brown all the sausage in one pan - which there will very probably not be - split it between two pans or brown it in two batches and use an additional tablespoon of butter). Flip and brown them on the B side. The browning is integral to the ultimate depth of flavor of the finished dish - don't stint on it. When the sausage is browned, remove it from the pan (a plate lined with paper towels is a nice place to hold it) and return the pan to the burner.
Keep the heat at medium-high and add the sage, the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, and a few twists of white pepper. Stir the butter and scrape at the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. After a minute or two, it should stop foaming and start to take on color. That's when you should drop the cavatelli into the boiling water. Continue to cook the butter until it's deeply browned and fragrant, about 4 minutes more, which should be just about how long the cavatelli takes to cook.
Do not drain the cavatelli too thoroughly. The water clinging to the pasta will give the sauce body. Add it to the butter sauce along with the sausage and stir.
Add the cheese, stir again, and portion the cavatelli among serving plates. Scatter each with a couple of pinches of parsley. Serve immediately.
Olive Oil Cake
5 eggs
Zest of 1 1/2 oranges
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
Heat the over to 325ºF.
Combine the eggs, orange zest, and sugar in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for a minute, until evenly mixed. Reduce the speed to low and add the olive oil in a slow, steady, continuous stream. Stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add the dry mixture to the egg mixture in three additions, whisking at low speed the entire time. Whisk just until the batter is smooth and even.
Rub the inside of mini Bundt pans with a film of olive oil and fill with batter until the pan is nearly full. Bake the mini Bundts for 25 to 30 minutes, and the 10-inch cake for 45 to 50 minutes. The cake is down when a toothpick inserted into its thickest part comes out dry.
Serve with fresh summer fruit if desired.
So, how did "The Two Franks" do with our $40 Budget?!
Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley & Red Onion Salad
celery root $2.33
fennel bulb $2.99
red onion $1.49
parsley $0.99
lemon $0.50
sea salt $1.49
white pepper $2.99
pecorino romano $3.69
total $16.47
Ricotta Cavatelli with Sausage
pork sausage $2.99
sage leaves $1.99
parsley $0.99
ricotta cavatelli $2.99
total $8.96
Olive Oil Cake
oranges $1.32
olive oil $3.39
cake flour $2.79
strawberries $2.99
blueberries $2.50
total $12.99
Grand total: $38.42
Close, but no cigar!
Our Leaders Board
1. Amanda Freitag $37.17
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2. Mikey Price $37.18
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3. Kelly Liken $37.20
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