Layers

Good food has layers. I'm thinking about this as I'm eating my dinner of penne and chard. It's a simple meal, but it has lots of layers.

It all started a couple weeks ago, when I roasted a chicken. A week and several chicken sandwiches later, I simmered the carcass (including the rosemary sprigs it had been stuffed with) with some onions, carrots, and celery to make chicken stock. Fast forward to tonight, when I started by cooking diced carrot (and chard stem) in butter. I threw in a few herbs, including celery seed, oregano, and rosemary. Then in went the (chiffonad-ed) chard leaves plus a cup or two of the aforementioned chicken stock. I let the chard cook a bit in the liquid and then added about a half-pound of (uncooked) penne. Right at the end, I added a fresh dose of oregano and celery seed. A little bit of fresh pepper and it went straight into my bowl.

There was something very satisfying about this dish, and I think it has to do with the layers. The base is the subtle, umami-laden taste of the chicken stock. Then comes the flavor of celery, but is it the celery stalks from the stock, the celery seeds added at the beginning and the end, or is it maybe just the taste of chard stems? Well, it's probably all of them, but you don't really think of these things in the moment. Mostly you just scarf it up as fast as you can and think about how nice it is to be eating, if you think at all.

Note: For those of you who find this method of cooking pasta unusual, note first that it is the same method used to cook risotto. If you remain unconvinced, I refer you to the great French chef Alain Ducasse, who has championed this method. I discovered it independently while living for several months without a pot. No doubt it predates both of us.

Posted at 21:04 on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 in category food | Comments (0)