To chiffonade, or not to chiffonade...there really is no question.

Basil is a very delicate herb. It's important to treat it with care when you are chopping it. It came to my attention that I did not address this in yesterday's post, even though chopped basil was necessary for the recipe. It's a pretty important skill to have if you are going to cook on a regular basis so I've taken the liberty of making a video to show you how to properly chop basil leaves.

The reason that the edges of basil turn darker when you cut them is that the knife is damaging the leaf where it slices. The more you pound on the leaves with your blade, the more damaged it gets, and the less flavorful. Basil is one of the best flavors in a meal, and you don't want to jeopardize that flavor by brutalizing the leaves. 

For this reason, we take a bunch of basil leaves and pile them on top of each other, larger leaves at the bottom of the pile, smaller ones at the top. Once the pile is completed, we are going to roll the leaves into a cigar like shape. Hold the cigar with your left hand while you take the knife in your right (unless you are left-handed...in which case, reverse this). Start slicing in a determined fashion, one slice taking a small row of basil off of the cigar. Once you get to the stems, stop slicing (you don't really want the stems to find their way into your dish if you can help it). You'll have a nice pile of basil ribbons which you can then use in whatever you are cooking. Only one leaf (the outside of the cigar) was damaged this way and you preserve the majority of flavor from the basil. This technique is called a chiffonade. You can use it for any leafy green or herb, but I tend to find it most helpful when cutting basil. If the recipe calls for a smaller cut than this, you can then take those ribbons and cut them in small squares, but I tend to leave them in ribbons for aesthetic appeal.

And now, for the main event:

I hope that this sheds some light on the delicate art of basil chopping. If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I promise to clear up any confusion!

Until tomorrow, my budding chefs!

Sunday Night Dinner

I decided to make a somewhat easy meal tonight, one that would also provide us with some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thankfully, this same recipe was a great one to make into a how-to entry. Baked ziti is an easy meal that goes a long way since a whole box of pasta makes quite a few servings. If served with a side salad and some garlic bread, you can make it go even further. The best part is that baked ziti is delicious when re-heated too so it works well for warm lunches on those cold days!

The recipe I used is from The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles. My husband bought me this book with a pasta-maker, because I normally make my own fresh pasta. One of the best presents EVER! :) However, with certain shapes, I purchase dried pasta, and I am actually excited about this new brand I found at Whole Foods. It's called Severino Pasta, and it was delicious. I didn't use the traditional "ziti" that this recipe calls for ... I used a shape called "paccheri." It's a GIANT tubular shape and it held the sauce and cheese really well. Ziti always works just as well though!

So, first things first, and I will ALWAYS start my how-to's with this: my mise en place. You will need 2 garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil, salt, 1 lb of ziti or other tubular pasta, 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1/4 of grated parmesan cheese.



This recipe only called for a few ingredients really so this is a very basic mise en place...but there are all of my ingredients, ready to go as I read the directions for cooking.

The oven should be preheating to 400 degrees, and a pot of water should be set to boil on the stove. Add a pinch of salt to that water to season it a little bit. I put two garlic cloves through a garlic press, and mixed the crushed garlic with a teaspoon of water. I then added 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet, and let it heat. Once warm, I added the garlic and water to the mix, allowing it to heat until fragrant, but not brown (about 2 minutes). If you brown garlic, it becomes bitter...you don't want to do that!



Once the garlic is fragrant, I add the tomatoes, and simmer until they thicken a little bit. This should take about 10 minutes.



How are we doing so far? Not too bad, huh!? Once those 10 minutes are up, you'll want to take the sauce off the heat, and stir in the basil, as well as some salt, to taste. When a recipe says "to taste," they mean it! Taste your food - that's the only way to know if it's seasoned correctly...and when I say correctly, I mean, the way YOU like it! You should enjoy your food so season it to your taste...if you don't like salt, don't use a lot. If you do like salt...add a little extra, but taste more often to make sure you aren't overdoing it!



Meanwhile, you should have put the pasta into the boiling water, stirring occasionally. You should always stir your pasta every few minutes. Otherwise, it can get clumped up on the bottom of the pot and not cook evenly.



While the pasta is cooking, brush a 13x9 inch baking dish with that third tablespoon of olive oil. I actually opted to use a 9x9 inch dish because my pasta didn't spread out enough in the larger dish. You don't want your layers to be too thin, so if that seems to be the case for you as well, use the smaller dish.

You want to cook the pasta to be almost al dente but still firm to the bite, since it will continue to cook a bit in the oven. Drain the pasta in a colander, and then put it back in the pot, and mix it with the tomato sauce.

Next, you'll want to put half of the pasta and sauce (mixed) into your baking dish. From there, layer half of your mozzarella, with half of your grated parmesan, and then top it with the rest of your pasta and sauce. Top that with the rest of your mozzarella and parmesan. This is what it should look like before it goes in the oven:



Put your baking dish in the oven for about 20 minutes. You want to bake it until the cheese turns golden brown (but not burned). Once you remove the dish from the oven, you should let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving.



And there you have it folks...that wasn't too bad was it, and you have a delicious meal to be enjoyed for days! Serve it with a nice green salad, and maybe some garlic bread...and you've got a nice, home-cooked Italian meal!

Bon Appetit!



If you have any questions about the recipe before you try it, let me know. I will walk you through whatever you found confusing. If it's a question, it's a good question...it means you are trying to learn! I also recommend the whole cookbook as it gives you lots of "master" recipes, such as this one, and then builds off of it to give you lots of different variations. If you can master one, you'll have about 10 variations under your belt! How does THAT sound?