'Pasotto': Pasta cooked Like risotto

[Robin Garr]

Cooking pasta in its own sauce, adding liquid in small portions and stirring as if it were risotto? Bizarre, but curiously intriguing. I'm tempted to try it. Have any of you ever done this?

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive ... tto/57175/

Might have been nice of them to share an image of the finished prep, rather than a bowl of crunchy penne. But it sounds intriguing.

[Jenise]

Sure! I've done it with orzo a couple of times (which does not make it an orzotto, orzotto is made with barley--'orzo' is the Italian word for barley which is the inspiration to the name given the small kernel-shaped pasta). In fact, I think by making a risotto with pasta one is categorically in the realm of 'barlotto', but I can't confirm that. It works very well. But the question becomes...why?

We eat a lot of pasta here at Chez J and I've not been compelled to increase that by substituting pasta for rice in a risotto-like dish. I love rice, I love risotto, and it doesn't have to be the cheese-heavy dish the author of this article complains about.

I've had farrotto (made with farro).

I saw Daisy Martinez do this on her show "Daisy Cooks" a few years ago, using straight boxed spaghetti that she just snapped as a bundle into short lengths. I tried it, and it works great.

BTW, I got to meet her a year or so ago when she interviewed on my morning radio show (different show than I'm on now, though). What a lovely lady, and a passionate cook! She was still thrilled that her dean of studies at the French Culinary Institute was Jacques Pepin, and talked about how much she learned from him.

[Jenise]

Tom, good to see you again! I like Daisy Martinez too, though I've only seen her show once or twice. She probably called the dish a 'fideo'.

Hi Jenise!

"Fideo", huh? Gotta admit, I just don't remember (typical guy short-to-long term memory transmission problem - probably beer induced). Whatever she called it, I do recall her saying that her mom always made it when she was a kid, and they all loved it.

Yeah, sorry I haven't been around much lately. It's funny, I'd just found this board, signed up, made a few posts, then....*wham*. A series of simultaneous real life fiascoes at both work and home suddenly reduced my available free time to near nil. So frustrating!

I know how you babes, especially, must pine for me, though. So, hard as it is, I'm gonna try to make more time for you.

I made fideo once based on a recipe from Ilan Hall from Top Chef. It came out really great and I know why the judges called it one of the best dishes to come out of the TC kitchen.

Is fideo like fideua? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideu%C3%A0

There is a paella place here that makes fideua and it is terrific.

[Jenise]

Is fideo like fideua? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideu%C3%A0

There is a paella place here that makes fideua and it is terrific.

Si. Various versions of the dish occur across latin cuisines. Or at least, I'm aware of it in Spain as you spelled it (and it's pronounced fee-dwa) and as 'fideo' amongst the Spanish culture in the Carribean islands. We had 'fideo' in a Cuban resto in Florida.

[Jenise]

I know how you babes, especially, must pine for me, though. So, hard as it is, I'm gonna try to make more time for you.

{{{{SMOOCH!}}}}

Glad the home and work issues have calmed down, though!

Eh, they haven't really calmed down. I've just begun drinking more to compensate. The result is the same.

*smoooooochies* back!