January 13, 2011

HB Cooks: Isabella's Hay and Straw Pasta

Isabella's restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is one of my all time favorite New York restaurants. The ambiance is cozy and romantic, and the food is simple yet elegant. It's been a while since i made a trip to Isabella's, but I often think about two dishes that I love there-- the hay and straw pasta with chicken and the dark chocolate bag dessert. A few months ago I was excited to find this hay and straw pasta recipe online and tried to recreate the dish. Unfortunately, I started my grocery shopping after a long day of work and then had to go to 5 markets to find all of the correct items. Although I did learn a lot about my neighborhood shops, I was not a happy camper, especially when I got home and still had to cook everything! Therefore, i suggest planning ahead for this recipe.


This time around it only took one market trip to gather the ingredients. I used dry pasta instead of fresh for convenience, and combined the pasta with the sauce before serving to avoid clinging noodles. I have found that peeling tomatoes is next to impossible unless you blanch them for a minute or two first (you can use the boiling pasta water). The food turned out awesome, and from what I remember the dish was just as tasty as the original.


One day in the future I will try to conquer that chocolate bag, or perhaps go back to the restaurant and get the real one!  Yum.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

Can you post the recipe? The link isn't working anymore and this was my favorite dish!

The Hungry Bee said...

Hi! Thanks for your post. I found the recipe in my archive. Please email me at HB@thehungrybee.com and I can send it to you. Thanks!

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