Spaghetti, Chocolate and Half a Tart

One of the very first lessons Julie Powell learned when tackling Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was that "simple" is not the same thing as "easy" (think about tying your shoe vs. a prostitute. See? Not the same thing.) As I make my way through the recipes of Giada De Laurentiis, I'm learning the same thing. That's why I have to break down my latest dishes into two separate categories.

Simple and Easy

Lemon Spaghetti - This definitely qualifies as both. All you really need is a box of spaghetti, olive oil, Parmesan and two lemons. Cook the pasta, make a little sauce/dressing with the rest of the ingredients, add some fresh basil (because everything is better with fresh basil) and you're done. Seriously, that's it. Spring on a plate. So make that simple, easy and cheap, too, because all together this dish costs less than $10. Not only that, it lasted me a long time (one pound of pasta for one person? Um, what's up, carb-a-thon?) and by adding some broccoli and grilled chicken, I had an easy one-dish meal.

Espresso Brownies - OK, so Miss Giada may be doctoring up a brownie mix here, but hey, everyone needs a shortcut here and there, right? Right. Just like how I couldn't find instant espresso (seriously, Jewel, I'm not asking for imported Chinese cinnamon here) so I used instant coffee instead. So I guess these were technically Coffee Brownies, but whatever. The point is...they're awesome. Adding chocolate chips and instant coffee to the mix, then smearing a creamy coffee vanilla glaze over the top - ugh, stop me now, before I go into a chocolate coma via mere memories.

These are so densely rich, and yet I ignored Giada's advice to cut them into little bite-sized squares. Because men don't eat bite-sized anything, right? I mean, I had to counteract the fact that I was indulging a girly chocolate fix by at least eating manly, brick-sized portions, right? Oh well, I guess if you're going to indulge, why hold back? Hence the title of this blog: everything in moderation, including moderation.

Simple...but not so Easy

Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Red Pepper Flakes - Simple, classic Italian flavors, a straightforward recipe - what could go wrong? First of all, it says to saute the garlic in the olive oil, and then "remove and discard the garlic." Um, she wants me to actually take garlic out of a dish? Blasphemy, no? So, OK, I tried, but since Giada warned me not to overcook the garlic, I instead over-compensated and undercooked it, and the garlic flavor barely infused the oil. And when you're working with as few ingredients as this, you want as much flavor as possible. Next time, I'll just leave the garlic in.

Second, I read the part where you save some of the pasta's cooking water to add to the oil, helping create more of an actual sauce. Yeah, well, I forgot that until I was already draining the pasta, so I barely got even the two tablespoons the recipe recommends.

Third, well, this wasn't so much a mistake as a future adjustment. Giada adds her own twist to the recipe by adding some fresh parsley, basil and mint at the end for flavor and color. I would have added more, because with just one tablespoon of each for a pound of pasta, the red pepper flakes easily overpowered the herbs. Still, add some grilled chicken and you have a simple, spicy dish.

Apricot Crostata - Who looks at a recipe where you actually have to make pastry dough by hand and thinks it will be easy? Me, that's who. Me and, um, (fill in name of famous French pastry chef). I saw the minimal ingredients, skimmed through the recipe and thought nothing of it. When, in fact, you're creating a dough, balling it up, flattening it out into a disc, chilling it for an hour, then rolling it out again to the right thickness, adding some jam in the middle and then folding over the edge to create a rustic, handmade yet expertly crimped Italian fruit tart.

I over-rolled it, creating, what I thought, was a much-too-thin dough. I also used orange marmalade instead of the apricot or raspberry jam that Giada recommends. The marmalade was thicker and therefore heavier than jam, thus endangering my precious, delicate dough. However, everything worked out in the end, as the crust was crumbly and buttery, with the aroma of grated lemon zest floating through my kitchen. The recipe says it serves eight, but I don't know who she's kidding. In my family, this would barely serve four. And we're not pigs or anything, we just want more than a thin sliver of our dessert.

The brownies and crostata are from Giada's newest book, Giada's Family Dinners. Yes, even though I'm nowhere near finishing all of her recipes from Everyday Italian (my original plan), I simply couldn't resist. I guess I'll now be making my way through both books. And while I love finding new Italian desserts, I really need to keep the sweets in check, so I'll be focusing on the recipes that really prove a chef's worth: marinara sauce. I used to make my own tomato sauce from scratch and did a pretty damn fine job, so we'll see how it compares. Bring it, Giada.