Tradition in cooking is a near-sacred principle among chefs. Tal Baum, owner of Bellina Alimentari in Ponce City Market, speaks passionately about pasta production as an art.
“Pasta is a very, very traditional kind of ancient form of art,” she told the AJC. “Italians take their pasta very, very seriously. And once you’ve eaten pasta in Italy, it’s very hard to go back, and there is a reason. There are certain rules and certain parameters when it comes to pasta that I always like to protect.”
While holding space for rules, though, Baum and other Atlanta-area chefs acknowledge there are ways to add a certain flair to time-tested recipes. Here are a few new ideas for old recipes to consider bringing into your kitchen.
Added cream and greens
For pasta dishes, starting with proper, traditionally produced pasta, Baum said, is essential, whether it’s made or store-bought fresh or dried. She recommends using Durum wheat pasta for its consistency and nutritional values.
From there, she encourages cooks to put their own twists on sauces. For instance, finishing a ragu sauce with butter and a little cream lends a level of richness and balances tomato acidity. Even serving quality pasta with olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese can produce a satiating meal, she said.
Incorporating greens into well-known dishes is an easy way to liven them up, Baum pointed out. English peas in the spring can freshen up carbonara and bring a little color to the plate, she said. Butternut squash can do the same in the fall. Other greens like spinach or broccolini can help to break up this decadent dish.
Credit: contributed by Bellina Alimentari
Credit: contributed by Bellina Alimentari
Bellina Alimentari is also focused on marrying tradition and local offerings. One example is the Georgia Shrimp dish, which incorporates ramps — the wild leak native to the South and prolific in early spring — in its green pasta. The noodles come ensconced in a light butter and white wine sauce with shrimp and pickled shallots.
“We bulk up for a few months, and then we make our green pasta when ramps are available instead of using garlic or spinach,” she said. “We are very big on seasonality and changing things according to the season.”
A twist at hoiidays
Putting a twist on tradition also works well on holidays. Such is the case with corned beef as St. Patrick’s Day approaches. Claudio Furgiuele, owner of Reuben’s Deli on Broad Street in downtown Atlanta describes the ideal cut of corned beef as a brisket as opposed to a round. Those using it should expect a soft, tender consistency.
“It’s got some internal fat. It’s got some external fat. You cook it, and it becomes very tender,” he said of brisket.
When making corned beef, coating on a brisket, he pointed out, will simply wash off in the boiling process necessary for the recipe. Therefore, additions to the water via a filtering mechanism are what change the flavor.
Credit: contributed by Reuben’s
Credit: contributed by Reuben’s
He described brisket texture as “soft and velvety” and said there’s no way to get it wrong. The recipe he prefers utilizes anise which adds sweetness, and coriander, which brings in a “peppery sense.” Fresh red pepper is another good addition, he said, and will make a flavor profile “ a little bit spikier.”
Beer rounds out the recipe. Furgiuele often uses Guinness, but he’s used Budweiser in a pinch, harkening to his assertion that there’s no way to mess up corned beef. For those who don’t want to use alcohol, he said water works just fine. When using cabbage, adding onions brings in more flavor. Adding potatoes and carrots late in the hours-long boiling process makes for a hearty dinner. Corned beef is a simple, longstanding recipe that allows for lots of versatility mealwise, he said.
“It’s a poor man’s product. When you think about where it came from and what it is, it was basically something that Mom put on or Grandma put on at noon,” he said. “And you worked out in the field, and somewhere around four or five o’clock, you came in for supper, and you had had a good meal. Then, you had lunch the next day or breakfast the next day.”
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