This is sort of an American bachelor’s dinner, or midnight pasta, and with a dash of Iberia instead of Italia. Without the need to wait for water to boil, it’s even faster than the classic Italian modes.

Another thing in its favor is that it’s open-ended; it welcomes improvisation, probably even more the pasta equivalents (if there’s time and some supples to let the imagination run).

The basic formula, from a list of 101 meals that could be prepared in 10 minutes or less, later edited up to 111, created by Mark Bittman many years ago:

40 Put a large can of chickpeas and their liquid in a medium saucepan. Add some sherry, along with olive oil, plenty of minced garlic, smoked pimentón and chopped Spanish chorizo. Heat through.  

I’ve put this simple dish on the table many times, and I blogged about it once, 4 years ago, when I said, “We’ve enjoyed it with leftover wilted kale, collards, or other greens, but I can imagine any number of other cooked vegetables working as enhancements, giving them a chance to leave the refrigerator and shine a second time.”

Last Saturday, returning home from a preview of a new production of Christopher Shinn’s ‘Dying CIty’ at 2nd Stage Theater [“this quiet, transfixing tale of grief and violence” – Ben Brantley writing in 2017], not wanting to do anything the least bit complicated that night, after a long absence I returned once again to Bittman’s simple chickpea/chorizo formula.  This time, while I used 3 cloves of hard garlic, in spite of the fact that they’re not now locally in season, I did add some chopped spring garlic stems at the end, and a miscellany of herbs I had on hand that, conveniently, had already been chopped.

• the chorizo was ‘Natural Chorizo with Brandy Sausage’ from North Country Smokehouse, in New Hampshire, via Chelsea Whole Foods Market, and the boiled chick peas were Bioitalia, also, I believe, from Whole Foods
• the wine was a delightful, smooth California (Central Coast/Paso Robles) red, Richard Bruno Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, from Naked Wines

• the music was Daniel Wohl‘s album, ‘État’

 

[the image of the composer is from his own website, Daniel Wohl]

Just after midnight Tuesday I tweeted, aware of the possible ambiguity, “we had local mushrooms and hemp pasta tonight; now enjoying a little California rosé as a chaser, listening to @WilliamBasinski” (we had turned to the Basinski after the Vaňhal symphonies that had accompanied the meal itself).

The reality had nothing to do with hallucinogenics, although there was real wine.

• nine ounces that remained from a box of Sfoglini hemp reginetti opened for an earlier meal, boiled until just before it would have reached the point when it was al dente (about 10 minutes), drained and served with a mushroom sauce made by heating 4 tablespoons of rich Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ until it had stopped sizzling, after which one large sliced ‘camelot’ Dutch red shallot from Quarton Farm, and 10 small whole fresh sage leaves from Phillips Farms, and 10 ounces of separated or sliced sections of yellow oyster mushrooms from Blue Oyster Cultivation were tossed in, followed by 2 chilis (a pinch of crushed dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper and a slightly larger amount of light colored home dried habanada pepper), the mix sautéed until the mushrooms were soft and golden brown, then seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, and almost a quarter of a cup of shredded Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 24 months) from Whole Foods Market scattered on top, finished with a garnish of micro purple kale from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was an Italian (Chianti) red, Chianti Santa Fiora Villa Travignoli 2014,from Garnet Wines & Liquors
• the music was an album of symphonies by the classical Czech composer Jan Křtitel Vaňhal [here using the modern Czech spelling]

It’s sometimes called ‘midnight pasta’. I’ve cooked this simple dish many times, and it’s shown up on this blog four times before. I wrote last time, “It never fails to satisfy whatever either of us was looking for in a meal at the moment; usually it was when we didn’t have the time or patience to come up with something more complicated.”

It’s a great dish.

And so simple.

• approximately 8 ounces of Afeltra spaghetto, from Eataly, boiled, but only until still pretty firmly al dente, tossed inside the same pot in which it had cooked with a very savory sauce (created with 4 garlic cloves from Trader Joe’s, roughly chopped, cooked in about a third of a cup of olive oil over low-medium heat until softened and beginning to brown, then 4 salted anchovies, well-rinsed, added to the pan and mashed with a wooden spoon, a tablespoon of Mediterranean organic wild capers in brine (from a Providence, RI distributor), rinsed and drained, half of one dried Itria-Sirissi chili, peperoncino di Sardegna intero from Buon Italia), along with several tablespoons of chopped parsley from Eataly, and a little of the reserved pasta water, then simmered for another minute or so while the sauce was both emulsified and slightly reduced, the mix distributed in two bowls and sprinkled with a little more parsley
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) white, Saladini Pilastri Falerio 2015, from Philippe Wines
• the music was Lorenzo Ferrero‘s 1985 comic opera, ‘Mare nostro‘

‘midnight pasta’, but this time without the pasta

 

We had been to a holiday party, and although we had enjoyed some terrific hors d’oeuvres (Chinese-Portuguese tapas, actually), when we arrived back home we both felt we could use a little more substance. I had anticipated the probabliity by defrosting two crab cakes earlier in the day, the trusty central ingredient of one of my go-to, short-notice meals.  The whole deal probably took less time than boiling a pot of water, but it wasn’t a race, so who cares?

• two crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (ingredients: crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, parsley), heated in a heavy cast iron pan, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, and served on a bed of 6 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, which were chopped and combined with salt, black pepper, one finely-chopped fresh not-so-hot red cayenne pepper from Oak Grove Plantation, and some chopped fresh oregano leaves from Stokes Farm, and then some of the liquid from the salsa drizzled over the cakes
• red watercress from Max Fish Hatchery, washed, drained, dried, and dressed with good olive oil, organic lemon juice, salt, and freshly-ground black pepper
• the wine was a California (Central Valley) white, JC van Staden Pinot Grigio 2014
• the music was that of (Johann) Michael Haydn, who was no slouch, even compared with his brilliant older brother

This is another example of the stock Italian guy’s ‘midnight pasta’, or spaghettata di mezzanotte, but I’m thinking more and more that it’s not just a dude thing, and not even just an Italian thing. Everyone needs a go-to, at-home dinner concept, and this is a pretty good one.

This is one version, published by the Times in its ‘NYT Cooking Recipe Box’.

My description is directly below; it’s what I served the two of us last night at my own dude’s suggestion.

• approximately 10 ounces of Setaro spaghetti chitarra from Buon Italia boiled, but only until pretty firmly al dente, then tossed with a sauce made of 4 plump rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm, roughly chopped, cooked in about a third of a cup of olive oil over low-medium heat until softened and beginning to brown, before adding to the pan 3 salted anchovies, well-rinsed, and mashing them with a wooden spoon, plus half of one dried Itria-Sirissi chili (peperoncino di Sardegna intero) from Buon Italia, several tablespoons of chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms, and a little of the pasta water, all simmered for a few minutes while the sauce was slightly reduced, the entire mix distributed in bowls and sprinkled with another few tablespoons of parsley
• the wine was an Italian (Veneto) white, Boirá Veneto IGT Pinot Grigio 2014 from Flat Iron Wines & Spirits
• the music was several pieces by Bruno Maderna, beginning with the magnificent ‘Concerto per due pianoforti e strumenti‘ (1947–48)