Have A Backup Plan - Bee Wilson 🌞

Have A Backup Plan

When cooking, it’s easy to get fixated on plan A: the perfect and elaborate
versions of things that we make when time is no object and the fridge is
well-stocked. But more often, the thing you need is a plan B: a form of
standby cooking that will have your back when life is complicated (which it
is, after all, most of the time). If plan A is quiche, plan B might be a frittata
cooked in the oven. If plan A is apple pie, plan B is a berry cobbler or
crumble made from berries stashed in the freezer (which take almost zero
prep compared to apples). Plan C is berry croissant cobbler: take the best
croissants you can buy, slice them, arrange them over the sugared frozen
berries, sprinkle with more sugar and bake until crisp.
A backup plan in the kitchen can take many forms. It might mean
keeping a few sauces in the freezer which you can turn into dinner at short
notice by adding some vegetables, with or without meat. Or maybe it means
memorising a few quick recipes you can make almost instantly using tins of
beans (see page 262) or fish from the cupboard. Or it could be an even
quicker way to make pasta which can be adapted to pretty much any
ingredients you have to hand, assuming you have a packet or two of pasta in
the cupboard.

Magic pasta

When I first saw references to this all-in-one method of making pasta, I was
sceptical. Surely it couldn’t be possible to cook the sauce and the pasta all
at once in the same pan? It seemed to violate every rule in Italian cooking.
But then I realised that the method is not really so far from a risotto. The
bonus of this technique – aside from incredible speed and ease and minimal
washing up – is that the pasta is seasoned by the sauce as it cooks and
becomes deeply flavoured with wine, aromatics, stock – whatever you
choose to add. It works with any shape of pasta – but a good quality brand
makes a big difference here – and almost any combination of vegetables
and other flavourings such as anchovies or cured meats. You just have to be
careful to measure the ratio of pasta to water accurately, use a wide shallow
frying pan or sauté pan (it won’t work in a tall narrow saucepan) and be
generous with your seasoning.

This will never be my first-choice way to cook pasta. On leisurely
evenings, I still prefer the time-honoured process of cooking the noodles
and the sauce separately (a method which my youngest son now calls
‘Muggle Pasta’ to distinguish it from ‘Magic Pasta’). And yet, I can’t urge
you strongly enough to learn this technique and have it in your head for
when you are in a pinch and you need a hot meal right now.
On those days when time and/or energy are scarce, you can rely on this
formula to pull you through. It’s a dish that is very kind on the cook and
you feel you are somehow pulling off a miracle. I made a version of it with
cauliflower and chorizo for a late lunch the day of my father-in-law’s
socially distanced funeral. Because of the pandemic, there was no food after
the funeral. Family members stood in a cold and empty car park trying to
make gestures of love and sorrow to one another from behind our masks.
When the children and I finally arrived home, we felt flat, grief-stricken and
insatiably hungry. Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting down to a warming
and savoury tangle of linguini with chorizo and flecks of saffron-yellow
cauliflower. We were still sad but at least we didn’t feel quite so empty
inside.

Actually, my favourite version of this pasta isn’t the cauliflower one but
a variant made with mushrooms and garlic and cream and wine that tastes
the way I remember Italian restaurant food tasting in Britain in the 1980s.
It’s also a bit like the tinned mushroom soup my father was once so fond of;
don’t let that put you off. It has a deep umami quality that comforts me to
my core. But do try the cauliflower version too – it’s good.Magic pasta with mushrooms,
garlic, cream and wine

Serves 1
120g mushrooms (I usually make it with chestnut but any kind will do,
even plain old closed cup or button)
100g pasta, any kind that says on the packet that it will cook in 10
minutes (I favour linguini here but penne also works)
1–2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
A knob of unsalted butter
30g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
25ml white wine or vermouth
25ml double cream
A squeeze of lemon
Parmesan, to serve

Take the mushrooms and grate them coarsely on a box grater (or blitz them
in a food processor). Put all the ingredients up to and including the white
wine into a wide frying pan or sauté pan (keeping back a handful of the
parsley) and add ⅓ teaspoon of salt and 400ml of water from a freshly
boiled kettle. It will look wrong putting wet and dry ingredients together so
haphazardly but have faith – it will all come together.

Put over a high heat and bring to the boil with the lid on. Continue to
simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes, checking and stirring every minute.
Now remove the lid and cook for 3–5 minutes more with the lid off,
stirring frequently with tongs or a wooden spoon.

If it looks dry or if the pasta isn’t cooked, add another splash of water but
you don’t want it to go too soupy. Creamy, yes; soupy, no. Continue to
cook, testing pieces of pasta, until it is done to your liking.

Add the cream and squeeze of lemon. Test for seasoning. Serve with the
reserved parsley and Parmesan on top. Devour.

Once you get the basic concept of this pasta, you soon see you can adapt
it to almost any flavours that you like. Here are a few more ideas for 3–4people:

Cauliflower, saffron and chorizo

200g of chorizo (any kind), cut into coins, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 350g of
dried pasta, a large cauliflower (about 500g), chopped very small, 100–
200g of cherry tomatoes, halved, 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and grated,
1.25 litres of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, a pinch of saffron strands, 1 teaspoon
of smoked paprika. At the end: a squeeze of lemon and some toasted flaked
almonds plus chopped parsley.

Leek, seaweed and ginger


350g of dried pasta, a few sliced leeks, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a quarter
of a cabbage, sliced, 1 dessertspoon of miso paste, a thumb of ginger,
grated, ¾ teaspoon of salt, 2 cloves of garlic, grated, 1.25 litres of water. A
minute before the end: 150g of frozen peas. At the end: lime juice and zest,
black sesame seeds, torn nori seaweed.

From "The Secret of Cooking"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77264998-the-secret-of-cooking

Thanks Bee!