✨Home Movies is back✨
with season 2, rejoice!
Hello and welcome to Home Movies Tuesday! If you’ve found your way over by some miracle but are not yet subscribed, here, let me help you with that:
Hello and welcome BACK to Home Movies.
After three long beautiful years and two apartments, it was time for Home Movies Season 1 to come to an end. Some are saying Season 2 began when I moved out of the first apartment, some of you still mourn (not me), but for me, it begins today.
We have a new team (Dan and David, we thank you, we love you!), a new kitchen (after three years of “renovations,” I finally felt like my upstate space, while not finished, was finished enough) and a new white button-down that is stain-free (it’s J.Crew). But don’t worry, all is well: Dan and David are great, busy pursuing other wonderful endeavors; yes, I still live in Brooklyn (splitting time as best we can); and soon enough, this new white shirt will also be stained.
While creative and personal evolution is necessary, it is difficult to evolve in real time, especially publicly. People notoriously hate change! I personally crave it, generally feel invigorated by it. Change is growth, change is brave, change is scary, change is exhilarating. So I am changing! We are changing—figuring it out in a new space, sort of in real time. What this version of Home Movies looks like, feels like, sounds like. It’s still me, cooking food, and if that’s what you’re here for, boy, will you be thrilled. I’m also excited to show you my little pantry store (First Bloom, I love her) and talk more about the things we stock, and how to make the sorts of things from your pantry that make you say, “Wow I can’t believe I just made something from nothing.”
It only feels right that the first video back be something easy, gentle, comforting and soothing to both watch and eat. It’s Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter, and yes I also blanch some broccoli (and peas) because it’s what I desire. I will be making this for lunch to celebrate. Let me know if you do the same.
This little lemon number prefers a longer noodle to a fat tube shape, but I’ve made this with both and it’s very good all around. I will put in a plug for higher quality bronze-cut dried pasta here– they are typically thicker than your average box of DeCecco (which I still love for other things), lending more starch and additional structural integrity, making your humble bowl of pasta feel extremely…luxe?
As an “opening day” note, I want to say how grateful I am to be working with so many friends this season (new friends, old friends!), all of whom helped make this transition/renewal so fun and dare I say, easy. Thank you to everyone who pushed this forward with your creativity, scrappiness and positive energy; long live self-produced longform content!
Director: Doron Max Hagay / Producer: Graham Mason / Photography Director: Eric Schleicher / Audio: Yves Albaret
Camera Operator: Alex Bliss / Camera Operator: Will Colacito / Editor: Maya Tippett / Graphics: Gordon Landenberger
Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter
serves 4
While “lemon” and “pepper” are the two primary flavors here, this pasta really does taste enough like cacio e pepe to hit many of the same pleasure receptors as excellent boxed macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, it does require a bit more technique here (the simplest things often do), in that the sauce is only created with some browned butter, finely grated parmesan, pasta water and not much else. If this isn’t something you’ve done before, wow, are you in for a treat– but also, be patient, the al dente pasta does take a bit of time in the skillet to fully cook and create a thick enough sauce. It’s the ultimate “I can’t believe this came from only that” – my favorite way to cook.
If this feels too simple for your taste, I encourage you to just try it because it really does dazzle. That said, feel free to do something like add a little thinly sliced preserved lemon or maybe a finely grated clove of garlic to the skillet, maybe toss in a handful of leafy greens at the end (but really, that’s what the blanched broccoli is for).
12-16 ounces / 300-450g of pasta (a whole box or ¾ of a box), a long, noodle shape works best here*
Kosher salt
6 tablespoons/85g unsalted butter
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more
Lots of freshly ground black pepper (from a pepper mill)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
½ cup/50g finely grated parmesan cheese, plus more
1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until it’s nicely al dente (it’ll finish cooking in the sauce you make); Set aside 2 cups of the pasta water, then drain the pasta, setting both aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Let the butter melt, then begin to brown, using a whisk to scrape up all the browned bits as they form (this will give you a good evenly browned brown butter). Cook until the butter is all foamy and nutty-smelling, 3–4 minutes or so.
3. Add red pepper flakes, lots of freshly ground black pepper and the lemon zest. Add the pasta along with ½ cup cheese and ½ cup of pasta water. Season with salt and increase heat to medium–high. Cook, tossing frequently (I like to use tongs) until the liquid starts to thicken and evaporate, 3–4 minutes or so. Add another ½ cup pasta water to the skillet, and continue to cook, tossing, tossing, tossing…again until the liquid starts to thicken and evaporate, about 2-3 minutes (it’ll start happening quicker with each addition).
4. Add another ½ cup water and continue to cook until the sauce appears thickened, glossy, starchy and luscious. Taste a noodle– it should be salty, creamy and fully cooked (but not mushy). If you think the pasta or sauce needs it, give another splash of pasta water and get it to where you want it.
5. Remove from heat and add half the lemon juice. Season with salt and maybe more pepper or some crushed red pepper flakes. Taste a noodle and add the remaining lemon juice if “very lemony” is what you’re after (it’s what I’m after). Divide among bowls, making sure each has a nice pool of sauce. Top with more pepper and cheese, if you like.
*The pasta pictured that I used is called fusilli di gragnano (we carry it at First Bloom!). You can use any pasta shape here, though I do think a long, fun noodle is best. I am true fan of the humble spaghetti, but bucatini would also work. There is an increasingly large number of new, interesting, “cool” shapes at even the most basic grocery stores, so I encourage you to experiment to see what you like best.
Blanched Broccoli
serves 4
Treated well, broccoli can be spectacular. Of course I love to roast it, sauté it, etc. But cut into elegant little spears and blanched (or steamed) in salted boiling water for about 60-90 seconds, they turn bright green and tender, perfect for dousing in lemon juice, adding some raw grated garlic and sprinkling with flaky salt and it's just...a wonderful experience.
For reasons I myself do not fully understand, from time to time I like to add half a bag of frozen peas at the last minute to warm through (they're already cooked), but this is optional. This broccoli is best eaten with your hands as a palate cleanser between bites of buttery pasta—kind of a salad, if you think about it?
1 head broccoli, stems peeled, the whole thing sliced into long, elegant pieces
Kosher salt
½ lemon
1 clove garlic, finely grated (I use a microplane)
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Add the broccoli to a pot of boiling, salted water (if you’ve just made pasta, add the broccoli to the same pot after you’ve strained your pasta out). Blanch until the broccoli turns a bright, neon green, about 30 seconds. If you’re adding frozen peas, add them now and cook for another 30 seconds. Strain and transfer to a plate.
2. Squeeze some lemon juice and grate garlic over everything, giving it a toss to combine. Taste a spear— it should be tangy, salty, garlicky, not unlike an aggressive salad. Season with flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper.
The jeans that I wear in this episode of Home Movies are these Levi's Ribcage Full-Length Jeans in Valley View.
I use this All-Clad Stainless 10-inch Steel Fry Pan for…everything. If you get one “good” skillet, I think this 10-inch should be it.
I don’t peel anything if I don’t have to. But when I do have to—I use this Kuhn Rikon Swiss Peeler.
If you have questions about my ELECTRIC STOVETOP, please ask in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer. It’s an AGA and I got it gently used from a retailer in North Carolina (when it comes to purchasing big ticket items, a lot of Googling WILL reward you with a good discount from time to time). TLDR; I love cooking on it, my water boils so fast, it looks gorgeous, it cleans up so well, yes, I paid for it with my own money, and no, I didn’t have to get any new cookware to use it (all my All-Clads, Staubs, Le Creusets and cast iron work great on it). I’m not ready for any sort of “kitchen tour” because it’s really not complete yet, but the fun part about that is you get to watch it change and morph as I do, so stay tuned for backsplash above the sink and a built-in banquette, among other things.
Oh, and if you want to ask me any of these (or other questions) in PERSON, you can. Find me in Denver, Seattle, Portland OR, Vancouver, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Brooklyn this May for the first and only tour of the year. Xx
Very much here for the wood-burning oven situation (or whatever it is) in the new kitchen!
The new title design is so cute. ☘️