Chicagoist: Simple Cooking - Red Wine Pasta

Pinko

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:37:24 -0600

I've always heard that you shouldn't cook with any wine you wouldn't drink, which I would assume is easier to abide by if you're a celebrity chef bringing home a fat paycheck every week... Once the timer goes off... Really?? You cook pasta by a timer? I just assumed most people went by this method: Fish a noodle out of the boiling pot with your stirring spoon. Quickly pick up the piece of still-scalding pasta and rapidly flip back and forth between the palms of your hands until cool enough to handle. Eat said piece of pasta, focusing specifically on the 'chewy' factor. If still a bit too al dente, continue boiling for an additional 3-5 minutes, and remove from heat... Anyway, this recipe looks pretty cool. Though I'd prefer to dine on a properly prepared dish first to see if I liked it, before going through all the effort myself...

Prescott Carlson

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:46:48 -0600

I don't have any official opinion on the matter, just making the statement that it might be one of those things that vary widely depending on who you talk to. Sorry if I made it seem like I was trying to discredit your statement. It would make for an interesting taste test, that's for sure.

Dig

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:07:45 -0600

PC: I've just heard it and read it from various professional and home cooks, I suppose in much the same way you came about your opinion on the matter. I would at the very least not mix a bunch of wines together for a single dish, though the judgement of cheap v. expensive wine is obviously relative.

Prescott Carlson

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:24:41 -0600

I got the impression Anthony saves the leftover wine that's in the bottle not the stuff from everyone's glasses. And Dig, I used to work with a fairly well-known chef that had the bar give him any corked bottles so he could cook with it and not waste them, so I don't know about your theory.

Spook

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:19:54 -0600

Looks like worms yo, right after a hard rain. Or like those pictures you see while waiting in the vet of worms inside a dog!

Dig

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:56:20 -0600

I don't want to hate on a dish if it makes a person happy, but aren't you supposed to use pretty good wine in cooking as the flavors concentrate in te cooking process? I don't know that the leftovers of various bottles left to sit in the fridge qualifies.

The Meteorologist

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:52:34 -0600

In Anthony's defense, this is a classic pasta dish. The color is pretty cool for pasta (in my opinion!), but if you aren't that adventurous maybe you won't like this? Though yeah, I'm not sure I would save the wine like you do...that seems kind of gross. Anthony, what do you serve with this? You just eat the pasta by itself? Vegetables or meat or anything else?

mepps

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:48:46 -0600

The idea of collecting what should have been backwash in a jug in the back of a fridge is beyond disgusting.

Spav1

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:18:29 -0600

That looks literally disgusting.