Growing up, I spent most of my easter breaks on the Mississippi gulf coast at my grandmother and uncle’s house.
It was something I looked forward to all year. The day before, I’d pack the shorts I couldn’t wear during New York’s winter overtime, hoping for a breath of summer.
When I arrived, the air smelled damp and the world was green and blossoming.
Some days, my uncle would take me on canoeing trips. We’d cross alligator inflected waters snacking on peanut butter cheese crackers and drinking cans of diet grape soda.
And for dinner, if we didn’t go out somewhere, there was sometimes a microwaveable meal – the ultimate treat for me.
It was always a chicken dinner with vegetables (broccoli I think) and gemelli. The pasta in particular was something I’d really enjoyed. It had a zingy chicken-y cream sauce that I could never get enough of and still crave to this day.
It’s been more than a decade since I last had it, but I recently I found myself scouring the frozen food section more than usual, looking for something that might be similar to that dinner with no avail. So I finally got down to trying to recreate it myself.
The Sauce
For this recipe, I went with something resembling a velouté with a splash of cream. Basically the kind of light gravy you might use in a chicken pot pie.
But there was a lemony brightness to it that may or may not have come from the glow of memory, but either way I added a bit of lemon zest.
And since we’re dealing with a packaged product, I also used a bit of MSG because who doesn’t love a little umami bump? (A lot of people don’t, so omit the MSG if you can’t stand it on its own. If you’re worried about the health risks however, great news! It’s a myth!).
The Carrots
Understated but essential to the pasta’s balance were chewy bits of partially dehydrated carrots. I don’t have a dehydrator, but I do have an (slightly broken toaster) oven. I chopped carrots into tiny pieces, tossed them with a light dressing of olive oil and salt, and stuck them in until they began to shrivel.
The Pasta
This is where I ran into a few problems. From what I remember, the gemelli was chewier than your traditionally boiled pasta; it had the spring of fresh egg noodles but the smooth texture of dried spaghetti.
This would require a bit of experimenting
I tried four different cooking methods: the traditional method, the alkaline cooking method, a hot soak, and a cold start (as J. Kenji Lopez-Alt suggests).
I used the traditional method of boiling pasta in rolling salt water as a control group. Each batch was cooked to aldente and finished off in the sauce with a splash of pasta of water.
The Alkaline Water Method
This method was originally billed as a way to make dried spaghetti taste more like ramen noodles. It’s a simple trick: just add a bit of baking soda to your water and cook as you normally would.
The result was noticeably more yellow and slightly chewier than the package-cooked pasta – pretty close to what I was looking for.
The Hot Soak Method
This was a mistake.
I assumed that if I soaked the gemelli in hot water before finishing it off in the sauce, that would be pretty close to what was technically happening in a packaged meal as you heat it up in the microwave.
I was wrong.
While the end result was oddly the most attractive of the bunch, it was also very very gluey. Like, almost slimy. Don’t use the hot soak method.
The Cold Water Method
I was the most skeptical of this one at first, but it turned out to yield something very close to what I was looking for. Instead of bringing the water to a boil first, you add pasta to a small amount of cold water and bring it to a boil from there.
It’s the easiest thing in the world and the gemelli had a nice, subtle spring you don’t get with pasta cooked the traditional way.
The Verdict
Both the alkaline and the cold water methods will do, although I preferred the cold water start if only because it’s easier and doesn’t require any extra ingredients. Also, with the alkaline method you run the risk of having noodles that taste like baking soda.
TV Dinner Pasta
Ingredients
1 cup chopped carrots
1 tbsp neutral oil
4 tsp butter
2 tsp flour
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 tsp heavy cream
⅛ tsp MSG
½ tsp lemon zest
2 cups dry gemelli
¾ cup reserved pasta water
2 tsp parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Dress the carrots in the oil and bake in an over preheated to 350F/177C until chewy and shriveled, about half an hour (they should just beginning to brown).
2. In a pot, cover the gemelli with about two inches of water, salt, and bring to a boil (you can do other prep work while this is going). Turn off heat once the noodles are aldente and reserve ¾ cup of the pasta water before straining. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a pan until it just starts to brown. Add the flour and whisk for a minute on low heat. Add the stock and continue to whisk, making sure there are no lumps. Add the cream, MSG, and lemon zest and continue to cook until just thickened.
4. Add the reserved pasta water and cooked gemelli, stirring the whole time until the sauce thickens again and the noodles are chewy. Stir in the carrots and remove from heat. Add the parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 3-4
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