A remarkable dish was served at Chez Panisse one evening, many years ago, for the midsummer Garlic Festival: “Catalan Noodles with Shellfish Essences.” The "noodles" were made by taking ordinary packaged dry spaghetti, breaking it into 1- or 2-inch lengths, then slowly toasting the pieces in a big pan in olive oil, until they were pale brown. You then boil the pasta in water as you would normal pasta, only it takes a little longer. I took this idea with me when I cooked at Deep Springs, resulting in the “Toasted Pasta with Garlic” recipe in The Commonsense Kitchen. As for those shellfish essences, I never knew exactly how they were made, but I know a team of several people worked on them. I imagine they began by concocting rich stocks of various types of shellfish—fresh local shrimp, scallops, and spiny lobster, perhaps. Then, they got out all the wide skillets and browned more of the same shellfish, then deglazed the pans with the stocks, collecting every bit of the lovely brown residue, or fond, that formed on the pans. Then they reduced everything carefully and gently, letting all the flavor and value of the shellfish go into the stock, finally straining out the solids, only the deep, rich, liquid essence remaining. This was the only sauce for the pasta. (more…)
