Eating Dinner With My Family

This recipe is out of Top Chef: The Cookbook .  I have made it before, long, long ago and really loved it.  It was still tasty this time too.  My biggest problem that happened, then and now, was the pasta just didn't get done enough.  Before, I used angle hair pasta as I couldn't find fideos, but this time, I spotted some in the store and thought I would try it again with the proper pasta and it will get done enough.  Wrong.  It was edible, and yummy at that, but seemed ill prepared.  I don't think this is how it came out when made by the chef.  And while I expect that they will make a dish much better than I could, I am perplexed as to how to work around this issue I keep having with out adding a lot more liquid and increasing the cooking time.  So while I wholeheartedly recommend you make this dish, I just want to give you a heads up on what to expect.  If you find the solution, please clue me in:)! Fideos with Clams & Saffron ...

Well I over salted the water tonight, and it made the dish a bit too salty.  I knew I had so I didn't add the salt when the recipe called for it, but it was still too salty.  That being said, it wasn't bad.  If the salt had been correct I think it would have been outstanding.  I've been wanting to make this dish for a while.  We love fresh chorizo and I can only ever find the dried.  One of my neighbors told me they had the fresh at Publix; I didn't believe her since I had been looking for it there forever. Turns out I was wrong. (shhhh, don't let my husband hear that I said that;)  Tonight I started soaking the clams when I brought them home from the store at about 12:30.  (I put down a bed of cornmeal and placed the clams on top of it then covered it with water)  I soaked them for an hour on the counter and then put them in the refrigerator.  I had looked up way...

I got this recipe from Food and Wine Magazine.  I love Food & Wine.  While not every recipe is a family favorite, none have really disappointed.  This is a almost there recipe for us.  We all liked it but to tailor it to our tastes we have some suggestions and some tips if you are thinking of changing it yourself.  First of all it is spicy.  Ok for our tastes, but be forewarned that the heat does build as you are eating it.  The herbs are critical!  I am not a big fan of mint (in sweet but especially in savory), but it is very refreshing in this and a needed cooling element.  The black pepper, didn't taste it at all so next time I would leave it out.  The coppa, it wasn't well represented in every bite and sank to the bottom of the cooking pan; this made it difficult to portion it in to the dishes easily.  Everyone (but myself) added a pat of butter to their portion with great results.  (I abstained solely for the calo...