My excellent editor, Mia Leimkuhler, recently asked me to reconsider angel hair pasta and — while I was revisiting the 1990s — watch the movie “Twister,” which came out in 1996 and has a new sequel, “Twisters.” Mia, I’ve completed this assignment. Here goes.
Angel hair, a.k.a. capellini, was embraced in the ’90s for being lighter than other pastas, a finely twirled pairing for the simplest of sauces, vegetables and seafood. I loved angel hair pasta when it was in vogue, and then I turned on it when it fell out of style. (Pasta lovers: We’re capricious!)
But just look at Dan Pelosi’s recipe for angel hair pasta below: The strands are tossed with olive oil, butter, garlic, herbs and those blistered cherry tomatoes, like elegant flavor balloons. It’s the perfect pan of pasta for a high-summer dinner.
There are a few things to know about angel hair. For starters, “al dente” is not its vibe. This pasta cooks rapidly and thoroughly. Start checking for doneness early, as overcooked angel hair is a soppy Koosh ball on your plate. Angel hair doesn’t really do heavy sauces or substantial mix-ins, so save your eggplant cubes or sausage hunks to toss with a less sensitive pasta shape. (As for “Twister,” which I’d never seen — Helen Hunt is a treasure.)
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One more thing: We’ve got news from the broader world of food at The New York Times. Pete Wells, our longtime restaurant critic, has decided to step aside from the role, and he explains his thinking and the requirements of the job in a brilliant column. I see more home cooking in Pete’s future … maybe we can even persuade him to write about it.
I’m also making:
1. Angel Hair Pasta
I’d serve Dan Pelosi’s new recipe with a green salad or a platter of vegetables, like steamed broccoli or, even better, broccoli rabe. And wine. Definitely wine.
2. Chicken and Herb Salad With Nuoc Cham
This recipe from Yewande Komolafe uses store-bought rotisserie chicken (or leftover cooked chicken) and chile-flecked nuoc cham, the Vietnamese sauce made with fish sauce and lime, for a salty-crunchy, bright summer dinner.
3. Pearl Couscous Salad With Shrimp and Feta
Yossy Arefi’s new recipe — which already has five stars — reaches a breezy balance of chewy pearl couscous, sweet corn, seared shrimp and lots of fresh herbs. You could use another protein, though I like the juicy snap that shrimp brings to the bowl.
4. Chile-Crisp Tofu, Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Like a mash-up of Chinese smashed cucumbers and Greek cucumber-and-tomato salad (horiatiki), Ali Slagle’s easy new recipe is refreshing but also substantial because of that quickly seared tofu. I’ll make rice to go with it.
5. Sausage Smash Burgers
A smash burger, but made with pork sausage meat and festooned with sautéed onions and peppers? Where has Christian Reynoso’s recipe been all my life?
We wrote a cookbook! “Easy Weeknight Dinners: 100 Fast, Flavor-Packed Meals for Busy People Who Still Want Something Good to Eat” comes out on Oct. 8. Preorder it now.
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