I’ve prepared this wonderful dish several times before, and at least once since initiating this food blog, and it never fails to dazzle me, visually as well as tastily. It’s perfect: it cannot be made more complicated, or improved. It’s Michele Scicolone‘s “Spaghetti with Rubies”, and I don’t know of an entrée which better shows off the beauty of the red beet.

There’s another thing going for it: Theater. Each time I make it, even I will forget that it’s going to happen, until it does so once again: It’s an amazing experience to watch the very neutral shade of cooked pasta gradually take on color as the beets are stirred into the mix, and then suddenly it ends up a solid ruby red.

• eight ounces of beetroot, most of them from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, a few from Alex’s Tomato Farm (the latter in Chelsea’s Down to Earth Market), roasted in a 400º oven for about an hour while wrapped in tin foil, cooled, peeled, then roughly chopped, tossed, and heated inside a large enameled cast iron pot in which 2 cloves of chopped garlic from from Norwich Meadows Farm and part of a dried Sicilian pepperoncino from Buon Italia, crushed, had been warmed in olive oil until fragrant, followed by 8 ounces of Afeltra spaghetti, from Buon Italia, cooked al dente and drained, the whole then warmed, stirring, along with some of the pasta cooking water, until the spaghetti had turned an even deep ruby red

There had been an antipasto.

• three ounces of La Quercia ’Speck Americano’ from Whole Foods, drizzled with a very small amount of Alce Nero DOP ‘Terra di Bari Bitonto from Eataly, and accompanied by arugula from Stoke’s Farm, the greens seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and dressed with the same good oil and a squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market
• slices from a quarter section of a Balthazar rye boule purchased at Schaller & Weber

 

• the wine throughout was a California while (Clarksburg) white, Karen Birmingham Pinot Grigio Clarksburg 2016 from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was the album, ‘The Golden Dream – 17th Century Music from the Low Countries’

Those hues are real.  This meal clearly screams color even more than yesterday’s, even if it is completely monochromatic.  Michele Scicolone‘s “Spaghetti with Rubies” makes one of the most spectacular presentations I’ve come across anywhere, and it’s really very easy to put together.

Characteristically, Scicilone takes no credit for the original recipe.   In her “A Fresh Taste of Italy” she describes her delight in seeing a waiter in a lively Adriatic beachtown restaurant walk past her with “steaming bowls of vivid red spaghetti”.   The cover photo featuring this dish was alone enough to get me to buy the book years ago, but not long after I ran into the warm and generous author herself in the Union Square Greenmarket and I feel like we’re friends and gustatory conspirators every time I prepare this dish.

• Afeltra spaghetti, from Buon Italia in Chelsea Market, mixed with beetroot from Race Farm which had first been roasted and peeled, cooled, then roughly chopped and mixed with some chopped garlic from Phillips Farm and a generous pinch of dried peperoncini from Buon Italia, both warmed in olive oil until fragrant, the whole then warmed along with some of the pasta cooking water
• the wine was a northern Italian white, Cascina dei Ronchi (Giordano Lombardo), Gavi 2012

I almost tripped over a little outpost of India on Saturday at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, Nirmala Gupta’s ‘Bombay Emerald Chutney Company‘. I had gone up the street that day only to buy a few beets to augment the few I already had, since those weren’t going to be enough to put together one of my favorite accidentally-vegan dishes later this week, ‘‘spaghetti with rubies“.

I ended up purchasing 2 cauliflower-potato rotis, a delicious coconut chutney, and a small bottle of dried fenugreek from Nirmala.

I know I’ll be enjoying the chutney, even outside Indian entrées, and I’m determined to find uses for the ‘Greek hay‘, since I’ve been enamored of that exotic name for, well, maybe decades. What does it taste like? I think I can go with this description, at least for now: “..a slightly sweet, nutty flavor often described as a cross between celery and maple.”

I immediately made plans for a Sunday breakfast which would be unlike any I had put together before, eventually inspired to make some otherwise luscious but possibly redundant beet greens a part of it. I found this simple recipe which I used as the basis for the side; I was missing a few key ingredients, but I substituted a few of my own.

The breakfast was of course vegan.

The only thing missing was the lassi.

I used to say that for practical reasons alone (storage and shelf space, access to the ingredients), not to mention a relative ignorance of the food cultures, I couldn’t imagine trying to cook meals from traditions radically different from the European, but after my modest experience with this simple breakfast, and with Nirmala’s help, I may be willing to occasionally adjust my practice.

• two cauliflower and potato-filled roti from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company (Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market), heated for a few minutes over medium heat inside a large enameled cast iron pan, turning several times
• half of a teaspoon of mustard seeds and one dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia allowed to crackle a bit in about a teaspoon of olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pot, joined by one small new onion from Neversink Organic Farm, chopped finely, and one ‘Calabrian Rose’ rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, also chopped finely, the alliums stirred in the flavored oil for about 2 minutes, the finely-chopped greens from a small bunch of beets purchased from Alex’s Tomato Farm, also at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market, added to the pot along with a pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg and a pinch of fenugreek, a little salt, and a few torn leaves of basil from Stokes Farm, stirred until cooked a bit, served alongside the roti
• some ‘Royal Coconut Chutney’ from Bombay Emerald Chutney Company, purchased from the Bombay Emerald Chutney Company stall in the 23rd Street farmers market

If you’re paying attention, you had probably already anticipated there would be beet greens somewhere in this meal.  The beetroot was a big star two days back, so it was only a matter of time before the greens would show up. In fact, right now there are still some left in the crisper drawer.  There are also still more meatballs waiting in the freezer.

• rose veal meatballs from Gaia’s Breath Farm via Summers End Orchard in Unadilla, New York (a boon found at New Amsterdam Market this summer), defrosted overnight, lightly floured, cooked in oil and nestled in a bed of beet greens from Race Farm which were braised with split garlic cloves from Berried Treasures and water remaining from their rinsing, the meatballs finished with pan juices, chopped oregano, and a bit of oil
• Austrian Crescent potatoes from S & SO Produce, split lengthwise and tossed with a bit of oil, rosemary from Stokes Farm, and salt, then roasted, and served in this instance as a contorno
• the wine was an Austrian white, Weingut Stadlmann Pinot Noir Classic Traiskirchen 2012