for the love of tiny pasta (and pork)

it always begins like this - i had bought something at star because it was on sale (raspberries at 2 pints/$5), with no actual plans to make anything in particular. as i had bought them a significant number of days ago, carrien and i went ahead and made something with them. probably not a good idea considering that i'd left the office to get a respite from model-making for my hands, which are feeling kind of arthritic, but i couldn't resist. cooking seems to be the only thing i really want to do nowadays.

based on the ingredients we had on hand, we combined a bunch of different recipes to create the above tart. the crust is made out of chocolate graham crackers and cocoa. we needed butter to hold it all together but only had 3ish tablespoons, so in desperation and an unwillingness to go to the supermarket, we added a few tablespoons of sour cream and an egg yolk. hey, it worked - it's a tad crumbly when you cut the tart, but it holds together surprisingly well.

carrien made the filling, which was a basic frangipane dealio. we put strawberry preserves (that my sister made last summer) on the crust before adding the frangipane, then baked it. we thought about baking the crust before adding the frangipane, but instead we baked it all together to give the crust the best chance of holding together. after the tart cooled, we added whipped cream and the raspberries.

the tart not only cut well, but tasted pretty good too. it would have been better with more frangipane, but we only had half of the almond paste left from the batch that jessica made us. it was good that we didn't sweeten the whipped cream very much, because the jam was very sweet, the frangipane was just right, and the crust was not very sweet (because of the cocoa, probably), so altogether it had just the right balance of sweetness. in the future, i think i might add an entire layer of pastry cream on top of the frangipane, to add more body; that would hopefully better showcase the raspberries.


in addition to having random raspberries around, i realized while making space in the fridge for our boston organics delivery that i had pork spareribs that i'd bought on sale as well. they were an exceptionally good deal - i forget how much it was exactly, but i think it was about 3 lbs for less than $3. i didn't want to go to the supermarket, so instead i rooted around in the fridge and cupboard and combined some recipes i found on epicurious. the end result is braised pork spareribs with onions, carrots, peas, and acini de pepe (little balls of pasta that are the size of peppercorns - "acini de pepe" means "peppercorn" in italian). i took a braised pork recipe and combined it with some of the seasonings from a chinese barbecued spareribs recipe. the braised pork recipe called for chicken broth as the braising liquid, but we used ours up when we made soup on sunday night, so instead i used water and figured i'd make do. i was pleasantly surprised to find that the pork gave more than enough flavor to the sauce - i don't know if it's this particular cut of meat, combined with the fact that it was bone-in, or what. this would have been fine without the carrots and peas, but i had them around so i added them anyway. the carrots are actually baby carrots cut with a technique i can't remember the name of - you cut diagonally, then rotate the carrot 20 degrees, cut again diagonally, and repeat. the peas got a bit freezerburned, i think, or perhaps they got thawed then frozen again, because they looked a little bit less than green when i popped them into the sauce. all in all, though, this was a great success - greater than the tart, i would say. i don't think anything can quite beat meat that's bone-in. and of course, i wouldn't make this with any other pasta than acini de pepe, because it's exactly the right size to go with the sizes of the other ingredients. you can then eat this with a spoon, out of a bowl. i would have left the meat on the bone, but i thought i might want to take it with me for lunch tomorrow, in which case i wanted to go for ease of eating.

pork sparerib stew
3 lbs pork spareribs, bone-in (preferably country-style)
1/4c sherry

2 large onions, halved and sliced thinly
1 1/2T olive oil
1/4t crushed red pepper
1 1/2t cumin
2t paprika
2 large bay leaves
1/2c red wine vinegar
~2c water
2T soy sauce
1/4c honey

1c baby carrots (or regular carrots), cut on the bias
salt & pepper
1/2c frozen peas

1/3 box acini de pepe, cooked (this takes about 20 minutes for the water to boil, then boil the pasta, in case you want to make the pasta while cooking other things)

1. in a 12" skillet (preferably not non-stick), brown the spareribs on each side, then remove to a plate. if the spareribs are large, do them in two batches to avoid overcrowding your skillet.

2. add the sherry and a little water (about 1/4c) and scrape the fond on the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze it. let the liquid evaporate almost completely, then add the onions and the olive oil.

3. after the onions have cooked for a few minutes, add the crushed red pepper, cumin, and paprika. let cook until the onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes longer. add the bay leaves and red wine vinegar and let simmer for 5 minutes.

4. add the soy sauce and honey, stir to combine, and return the spareribs to the pan. add enough water to either cover the spareribs or come almost to the top of the skillet (whichever comes first) and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. reduce heat to medium and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by 2/3 to 3/4 (it should have a gravy-like consistency), about an hour to an hour and a half. while the spareribs are cooking, cook the carrots until soft; add a few tablespoons of sugar if you wish to caramelize them.

5. remove the spareribs to a plate and let the sauce reduce a little more. add the carrots and peas and cook until the peas are cooked through.

6. pull the meat off the bones and shred it into small pieces; put the pieces in a large bowl. add the sauce with the carrots and the peas. add the pasta and stir to combine.

[serves 3-4]