Lou's Most Excellent Blue Cheese Dressing

You are not going to find a better blue cheese dressing than this.

Anywhere.

Really - you won't.

Once you have this you will never go "back to the bottle" and will sneer in mild disappointment at every restaurant that has blue cheese dressing as an option.

I got this from my buddy Jim who in turn got it from a cookbook by Paul Prudhomme, whom I had the honor to meet for all but 14 seconds at the 2008 Fancy Food Show.

"Hi Chef Paul - I'm a big fan of your blue cheese dressing."
"Thank you. I have a new one that you should try."
"Really? Great! I'd like to know..."

And by then he was talking to some other schmuck and giving his autograph.

I've modified it a tinge (more garlic and chili powder). Also make this eight hours or even a day before you need it: it's much better the second day as the flavors have had a chance to blend together.

½ large white onion, coarsely chopped
5 garlic cloves, coarsely minced
1 egg
½ cup buttermilk (lowfat or fat free - doesn't matter)
2 cups canola oil
6 ounces of crumbly blue cheese (typically Danish)
1 TSP ground white pepper
1 TSP table salt
½ to 1 TSP cayenne pepper
¼ TSP chili powder

In a food processor add the onion and garlic and puree until smooth, about one minute. Add the egg and salt and process for 30 seconds, then pour in the buttermilk while the processor is running.

With the thing still whirling away, slowly pour in the oil in a continuous stream. Add 2 ounces of the blue cheese and white pepper and process for another 15 seconds.

Pour the dressing into a glass bowl (if you use plastic it will wreak of blue cheese forever). Add the remaining blue cheese and the cayenne and chili powder.

This comes out pleasantly spicy with a tinge of smokiness. You can leave the cayenne and chili out, or reduce the amounts, and you still have a great dressing.

Serve on a wedge of cold iceberg with bacon bits, chunks of tomato and red onion. Good times, good times.

Lou's Most Excellent Spaghetti Carbonara

Too many people mess with this dish up by adding additional ingredients, like cream and onion. I’ll eat it, hell, I’ll even order it knowing that it may come out not like mine unless I know in advance it has peas in it. WTF is that all about?

I’m a big fan of fresh pasta except here. The preparation can be a bit tough on delicate pasta so dried works best because it has a higher crunch factor. Also, fresh pasta takes on a lot more water than dried and can wind up becoming gummy here.

I’m always one for adding more stuff to everything I make…except this. Carbonara shouldn’t be fucked with and everyone loves my carbonara and that’s the proof. Try this recipe and you’ll see why. Proof to my obsession with this dish? My old roommate in grad school (Liz) and I tried to coteam on making carbonara and we got into a huge fight about it. There wasn’t enough bacon and I flat out didn’t want to help her because of that reason alone. Happily we laugh about it today. But…well…still…never mind….

This recipe happens quickly, like restaurant kitchen quickly. Assuming no distractions you can easily have this done in 15 minutes or less (once you have the water boiling) from start to finish.

1 pound spaghetti
½ pound of pancetta (substitute thick cut bacon if unavailable)
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 large eggs, room temperature
¼ cup dry white wine
¾ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
2 TBS fresh grated Pecorino-Romano cheese
2 TSP minced parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Extra Parmesan for serving, if desired

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil according to the pasta directions. You will cook the noodles to al dente, which is critical to great carbonara. Start cooking the pasta when you’re ready to proceed below.

Heat the 2 TBS of olive oil in a skillet over medium/medium-high heat. While heating, cut the pancetta into dime sized chunks. Add the garlic cloves and pancetta and cook until browned; discard the garlic. Drain the oil, reduce heat to medium and add the wine. Simmer until the wine is cooked into the meat, about 5 minutes.

While pancetta is cooking, in a very large bowl scramble the eggs. Add the cheeses, parsley, and 5 – 8 cranks of fresh ground pepper. Mix thoroughly.

By this time your pasta should be near al dente. When ready, QUICKLY drain and then pour the pasta – still a little wet – into the cheese/egg mixture. With salad tongs quickly toss – don’t stir – the mixture together; the egg mix should start to coddle. Sprinkle the pancetta over and toss together.

Serve immediately on warmed plates.

If using pancetta instead of bacon you may need to add a little more salt. Also, if you don’t have Pecorino-Romano you can do without; just add more Parmesan. The trade off is you won’t have the flavor bite one should get with carbonara – it should sting your nose just a little with some pungent aroma in the steam rising off the plate. That bite, along with the bite of the al dente pasta and crisp pancetta, is what makes this great dish.

But it’s still great without.