Please settle a domestic/culinary dispute.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

For dinner, my wife made penne pasta. It was to be accompanied by spinach, pine nuts and bacon, sauteed in olive oil with parmesan cheese.

During the sautee phase she discovered that the parmesan cheese we had was all moldy. As it was too late to go get more, she decreed that the penne would go sans cheese.

When I informed her that I wanted to try sprinkling some shredded cheddar on part of it (because for me, it's GOTTA HAVE CHEESE), she became livid, and accused me of the worst kinds of crimes against good taste and offenses against the culinary gods.

In my defense, I tried with and without, and preferred with, it substantially enhanced my enjoyment of the meal, on which I generously complimented her.

I was reminded of the opening scene in "The Big Night" where the two Italian brothers, trying to make a go of their failing restaurant, serve a meal to an idiot American couple, where the couple orders spaghetti to go with their meal when it has already been accompanied by a fine risotto created by the chef, who insists on going out to speak to the couple despite the desperate entreaties of his brother, the "smooth front man" for the business.

So please settle this dispute...

[crispini]

1. Dude, cheese IS already half-rotten.

Just cut the mold off the parmesan and use it, what's the prob? :shrug:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. She'd already tossed it. She could have certainly done this, at least to

my portion, and I'd be none the wiser!!

[SofaKingLiberal]

3. You're right, pasta has to have at least some kind of cheese.

You can't have pasta without cheese! :wtf:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. It wasn't ideal, but it was WAY better (IMHO) than the "bareback" pasta.

I'm just sayin'!

[crispini]

What? Of course you can.

I eat pasta with just olive oil and pine nuts all the time! Yum.

[SofaKingLiberal]

18. .

:crazy:








:D

[seemunkee]

4. You deserve pie

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. I value my existence way too much to even go there though. I gotta sleep

SOMETIME, ya know! :shrug:

[Bunny]

6. Dude, it's all your fault. You screwed up, grievously.

Go to your wife, apologize profusely, and offer her a foot massage.

Now, go, and fuck up no more!





:D

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. OK

Your bunny is cute cute!

[Bunny]

13. I MUST have that little puppy!

I've followed your threads since they were born - they are adorable! :loveya:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

16. They are just starting to open their eyes in the last day or so.

[trof]

8. Substituting a "new" cheese is culinary tradition

for a new recipe.
You could look it up.
;-)

[Bunny]

9. Good evening, trof! How are you?

It's a fine Friday evening, isn't it? :hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. It'll be my new recipe. Penne Rustica Mayberry Machiavelli. SMOTHERED in a

provocative cheddar topping!

Yeah! Sticking it to the man!

[IronLionZion]

10. Sprinkle the damn cheese on your own share of the pasta

skip the bacon, and YOU go make some pie. I recommend key lime.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. What th-I never! (sputters angrily in Mr. Burns fashion)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

14. LOL!

:spray:

[SOteric]

15. OH. MY. GHOODDDDDD! You ~threw out~ a moldy Parmesan?!

Dude, that just enhances the culture of the cheese. On a hard cheese like Parmesan you just cut the mold off and sell it for 3 times as much. Cheese assassins!

[TheBaldyMan]

22. I agree with SOteric

the Parmesan would have an even more pungent taste than usual.

Just scrape the mould away if you're squeamish about grey-green stuff. Don't turn your nose up at some very ripe parmesan?

[Magrittes Pipe]

23. What she said.

And, while a little grated parmagiano-reggiano sounds delicious on your dish, the thought of shredded cheddar on it makes me a little queasy.

[Richard Steele]

25. Very true. We were once given a 10 lb wedge of parmesan...

...and it took almost 2 years to use it all.
Any mold just got peeled off with a sharp knife,
and the cheese underneath got better and better.

We used smaller amounts of it as the months went by,
because the flavor got stronger and stronger!

By the end, I was only using 1/3rd the amount that
recipes called for, and it was still a powerful presence
in any dish.

[pitohui]

17. that brings me back

my mom used to use new york sharp cheddar cheese on our spaghetti sometimes, it was good, and better than that so-called parmesan powder that can came in the green can and tasted like sawdust

[Twillig]

20. Did you say anything about the dirty fork?

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Okay, two things here - one, cut the mold off and save the cheese.

Jesus Christ, unless the mold went all the way through the cheese, it's still fucking good! Goddamn, what a waste of a good cheese.

Secondly, yes, using cheddar is an abomination - however, it's only an abomination when appropriate cheeses are available. When there is not other cheese available, then yes, of course, one must substitute and do the best one can. Nothing wrong with that.

[BrotherBuzz]

24. Ummm, before they invented that plastic clingy stuff to wrap things in..

ALL cheese grew mold. We would just slice it off and have a go at the good stuff inside. What you tossed aside was what we would call aged extra dry Parmesan cheese, something us old farts would kill for.