Lemongrass Pasta Salad
March 19th, 2008 Posted in Cooking ideas, Dishes
About a year ago I discovered lemongrass in a tube. It’s made in Australia by an outfit called Gourmet Garden, and they sell it in Safeway. I’m not crazy about their other products, and I don’t like everything about this one, but I must say it’s awfully convenient to have lying around the fridge. Anytime I need a flavor blast of lemongrass, I just grab it from the fridge and squeeze some in (as opposed to hunting down fresh lemongrass, chopping it up, infusing something with it, and then straining it). So it gets an A+ on the convenience factor, and an A on taste — it tastes just like fresh lemongrass infused in canola oil, which is pretty much what it is, with the addition of some xantham gum and ascorbic acid/vitamin C to keep it happy in the tube (that’s the part I don’t like about it).
So what do you do with fresh convenient lemongrass? Lots! Last summer the SF Chronicle ran a recipe of mine (written by the charming Casey Ellis, whose blog, Margin Notes, is well worth subscribing to) for an instant lemongrass granita. I often use a little squirt in my salad dressings, which gives a lemony and grassy zing. It’s great in reduced sauces of all kinds; I regularly make a reduced citrus sauce with lemons, oranges, lemongrass, and honey (I’ll happily post the recipe, if anyone wants it — please speak up in the comments section). Or mix lemongrass simply with a freshly squeezed lemon and spoon it over roasted chicken. Or, make a quick pasta with it, as I did today, shown below.
I started, as I always do with pasta, by firing up a big pot of salted water to boil — the goal is often to finish the sauce by the time the pasta finishes cooking. I began to saute a red onion and some chard. I had more canned tomatoes open, so added a few of those. And then came the big squirt of lemongrass, which infused everything beautifully, as it always does. I cooked up some thin penne, and added it to the sauce. Finished it with some chopped roasted almonds. No parm needed here! So much flavor, and so little effort. My holy grail!
2 Responses to “Lemongrass Pasta Salad”
By alan on Mar 24, 2008
let’s hear the reduced citrus sauce recipe! and recommended uses!
By Eric on Mar 24, 2008
Hey Alan –
Simplicity itself; in a shallow saucepan add the following
* juice of two oranges
* juice of one lemon
* splash of carrot juice
* drizzle of honey, to taste
* pinch of cayenne
* one lemongrass stalk, chopped
Reduce everything to about half its original volume, then strain out the lemongrass. It’s great on tofu, as part of a salad dressing, a glaze for fish, drizzled over cooked veggies, as part of stir fry, in fried rice . . . . lots of others!