Did you ever play that trust falling game when you were younger? Close your eyes and fall backwards in the hope that your friend catches you. Well, I made this pasta dish the other day and it reminded me of that game. I didn't fall backwards int the kitchen and land in pasta, no, but it did go against everything I've ever done before. I trusted and it worked and it was one of the best homemade tomato spicy pasta dinners I've made.
The recipe, Pasta all' Amatriciana with Confit Tomatoes is from a cookbook called Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music (thank you!). The book itself is split into two sections, technique and recipes that use the techniques you've learnt in the first half of the book. Some of the techniques I am not so confident in such as confit and she simplifies and breaks them down into easy-to-do steps. She then gives you a whole bunch of ideas to use that technique. Such as with confit, she gives you a dozen things that you can confit and shows you step by step how to do it. Garlic cloves, carrots, chicken thighs, potatoes, leeks, lemons, parsnips, tinned tomatoes, salmon, turkey legs, tuna steaks and butternut squash. Other techniques she guides you through are, saute, pan-roast, steam, boil and simmer, slow roast and pastry dough. Each of them then has their own dozen of examples. It's definitely going to become one of my go-to reference guides and that's before even getting to the recipes.