Pasta Puttanesca by the numbers - authentic Italian cooking series · Friday September 3, 2021 by colin newell
I was raised on Spaghetti and meat balls. Tomatoes are my blood. Decades on, I take the greatest delight in genuine Italian cooking. My mama was raised in an Italian-Canadian enclave in Montreal and she knew her stuff. Here in the 21st Century, I have expanded on my childhood knowledge by digging deeper into the cuisine.
Click on the photo for some screen filling action!
Enter pasta Puttanseca. It is a simple dish with a storied past. I’ll let my readers draw their own conclusions as to the myth versus the reality – but on dreary days, this is one of our go-to recipes for a quick and satisfying meal with the minimum of fuss, quick preparation with ready ingredients… made better by the addition of my incredible sourdough focaccia bread
Ingredients
1/8 c. extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 (14-oz.) diced fire roasted tomatoes
1/4 c. kalamata olives, pitted
1/8 c. capers
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
Serving for 2 of boxed spaghetti or bucatini
Chopped parsley, for garnish
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving
Instructions
Heat oil in a large skillet or pot over medium heat.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant – about 1 minute.
Add anchovies and cook until fragrant, another minute.
Add tomatoes, olives, capers, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Bring a large pot of salted water (heaping tablespoon of kosher salt to water) to a boil.
Add spaghetti and cook according to package directions, until al dente; drain. Toss spaghetti in sauce.
Sprinkle with parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Serve with a fat glass of Red wine and my incredible Focaccia bread – You’ll thank me later.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and coffee expert exploring the powers of the internet since 1996 – his treatise on caffeine has cured many a case of insomnia over the years…
Winter Storm Muffin re-mix - healthy fibre muffins · Wednesday September 1, 2021 by colin newell
I have been doing most of my own baking since I was 12 years of age – And although I do not have a cookbooks worth of experience, I have come up with a few good things.
These are a Daylight Saving Time classic to get you over the shock of the time change, get your train out of the station on time (I have no idea what that really means!) or keep you happy, healthy (and by design) more regular than sunrise.
One recipe that I have been making for over a decade is my Winter Storm muffin recipe – and I do reference it quite a lot on my blog as it has evolved some – so here is the remix:
The Dry – mix in a large bowl
2 Cups Whole Wheat flour
2 Cups All-purpose Flour (I often sub out the White flour for 4 whole wheat – yes, it’s healthier)
1 Cup Each; Rolled oats, Corn meal and (oat or wheat) bran – sub in Muesli if you have it.
(A variation for me is using 3 cups of All-Bran for a classic Bran muffin or a sugar free granola mixture)
1/2 to 1 Cup dark brown sugar (I now use 1/2 cup Demerara sugar and/or 1/8th of a cup of black strap molasses for intensity)
1.5 Tbsp Baking Soda
1 Tbsp Magic Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Kosher or Sea Salt
1/2 – 1 Tbsp Organic Saigon Cinnamon
1/2 whole fresh ground nutmeg
The Wet Mix
3/4 Cup unsweetened Apple Sauce
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
3 Eggs
1 Tbsp Organic Vanilla
2 Cups Almond milk OR 2 Cups Goat’s milk OR Yoghurt
Almond milk (sugar free) is a healthy alternative to cow’s milk
and if you like an interesting flavour consider some organic Goat’s milk – great for the lactose intolerant among us.
Add Wet to Dry Mix – Do not over-mix.
I use a Kitchen-aid mixer. Stress on the over-mixing. You do not want to work the gluten in the flour in any way.
Add from 2 to 4 cups of the fruit of your choice – I use finely chopped mango, or apple, or fresh Turkish figs, blueberries, rhubarb or anything in the way of frozen fruit medleys – the sky is the limit. If the fruit falls from the sky, even better.
Another option is 1/2 cup of chopped nuts (any kind) in lieu of single cups of fruit.
A couple of times the mix seemed a little dry after the liquid was added.
Solution: Add a shot glass (2 fluid ounces) of your favourite juice; Orange, Cranberry, Lemon – whatever you have.
Pam spray 2-3 Muffin tins (I use a 12 and a 6)
Use an Ice Cream scoop for loading up the muffin tins – paper definitely not needed!
Bake for 24 minutes in a 375 degree oven or a few moments less in a 350 degree convection oven.– check for degree of done with a toothpick.
Poke the muffins. If the picks come out clean, you are good to go.
Colin Newell has been a Victoria resident and food writer for over 30 years – His website CoffeeCrew.com has kept readers wide awake since 1995.
We interview Jed Grieve of Cook Culture · Saturday July 24, 2021 by colin newell
Talking food culture with Jed Grieve
or download the audio here – Jed-Grieve-Cook-Culture.mp3
Owner and creator of Cook Culture, Jed Grieve talks and gestures as if powered by some underground green energy power-plant. Which is to say, he is tireless, passionate and largely unstoppable. A strong advocate for conscious and responsible living, Jed feels that we all need to think and act based on the needs of the greater good, the planet and its fragile eco-system and mindfully act as an advocate and ambassador for our Planet Earth.
It’s a fine line to walk as a successful food culture businessperson and educator. One could have any random set of priorities on the road to financial freedom. The desire for quick profit without a thought of truth or consequences might be one such random set. But for Jed, well, he is more thought and consequences first as a top priority. And this means: “I could sell finite life products indefinitely in an ever broadening circle and that would suit the average business person for a lifetime… But, I’d rather supply you with a product or knowledge that will serve you for a lifetime.”
As you wander the Cook Culture stores in Victoria and Vancouver, you are immediately impressed with the longevity-forward approach, embracing the culture and passion of the West Coast multi-cultural food scene, and the education potential of their in store kitchens.
The knife selection, as one example, establishes clearly, that you are not buying a product until the next better product comes along… or until this product wears out. No. You are beginning a relationship with a kitchen utensil that may be with you for life. And this philosophy does fly in the face of the “endless growth – endless consumption” model of buy for a year and toss into the landfill!
Jed talks buoyantly about the joys of cooking pans. Hey, let’s face it. We all use pans in our kitchens. In the 20th and 21st Century, non-stick pans have been miracle kitchen conveniences – but not without a huge environmental and health consequence. In short, and in Jed’s words, “Cooking pans for life!…” Ok, that is more a celebratory phrase, but you get the point.
Need to know more? Jed’s YouTube channel is a testament to the sustainable approaches and choices that you are free to make – in your life and the life of your family.
His short videos are fun, informative and at times sobering.
The Leeming Effect - stop dragging my timeline around · Sunday April 11, 2021 by colin newell
Around two decades ago I was in the parking lot at the University of Victoria – likely on a Saturday – doing some extra chores.
I finished up about mid-day and was about to set off for some downtown routine to-do items when a strange man appeared in front of my car. He was quite distinguished and around 60 years old – give or take.
I tapped the brake to a stop and he stood by the drivers side window as I rolled it down.
“Hello…” I said, if offering some help to someone appearing very lost.
“Hello…” he paused, and continued. “Do you know someone by the name of John Smith?”
“Why yes, I do…” relieved that this interaction was about to start making sense.
The man looked up over the hood into the sunshine, squinting and paused for around 30 more seconds.
He then returned his very serious looking gaze to me. Another pause of around 30 seconds began. This time the seconds seemed to tick by much more slowly.
“You have coffee at the Finnerty Express most weekdays do you not?” he pointed out with crystal clarity.
I now felt like I was having a very cautious conversation with a CSIS officer.
“Uhm, yes… yes I do… and…”, I slipped back into the conversation.
He then addressed me by name, which surprised me. “Colin, you are Colin, yes? I shall see you for coffee next week…”
He turned on his heel and vanished as quickly as he appeared.
I had a funny feeling that his presence manifested itself at that moment to impede my progress downtown.
In some small (or profound) way he was interfering with the passage of time or my timeline, that if not interrupted, would have lead to some major or minor catastrophe.
These are regular (I guess if you can call them that…) encounters with regular people who, for the moment, are a form of guardian angel arriving just in a nick of time to prevent something really bad from happening.
And yes, the very next week, “David” appeared for coffee – and has appeared for coffee ever week (vacations occasionally interrupting) since that fateful encounter 20 years ago.
Today a young man stopped me at the Root Cellar farmers market in the very same fashion.
He was drawn to a very special sweat shirt that I was wearing. It was the classic blue sweatshirt from the very old and no longer in existence Victoria College from well before 1963! I won’t include the entire conversation (and for the record I was in no hurry…) but he had so many questions.
So this is what it felt like to be a pop star encountering a fan that I could simply not shake. But in this instance, the shirt was the attraction.
He was with his wife or girlfriend but it seemed that the Victoria College shirt took center stage.
Nothing mattered but the shirt I was wearing.
Within a minute or so of answering a barrage of questions, the answers to which he did not appear to be absorbing, I broke away to go through my grocery shortlist.
Within a minute he re-appeared and the questions began again. I quietly and calmly answered and then satisfied, he returned to his shopping… as if nothing had happened.
In an odd coincidence, the elderly man at the beginning of this story was a Victoria College student and a faculty member!
I could not help feeling that I’d just had some kind of alien encounter – but in a good way. I mean, I am, by and large, a science guy, but very occasionally, lost in the glint of bright sunlight or hidden in the shadows of a rainy Victoria afternoon, rests something very likely between science… and the Twilight Zone…
Colin Newell lives and works in Victoria B.C. Canada and has been writing about coffee and food culture for what feels like an eternity…
