Playing With Pasta - Color

In working with restaurants, I spend a fair amount of time talking about color dynamics. Color dynamics are the psychological triggers that certain colors trip in the brain. Reds - yellows - oranges evoke feelings of warmth, hunger, sensuality... while blues present as comfort and calm.

Greens, on the other hand evoke feelings of loneliness and solitude.... and as far as a restaurant goes, should never...ever be used as a plating color. You want patrons to feel excited when they eat your food - not forlorn.

Saffron is by far my favorite spice... deep, rich golden yellow -  it's just sexy. In deciding on the game plan for the infused pasta, I instinctively reached for the saffron. It is by far the easiest colorant to add to a pasta and the exotic muskiness of it would work wonders with the scampi I had in mind.

So - the technique on infusing pasta with saffron. You will need:
1 Medium sauce pan
1/2 Teaspoon Saffron - you can either pulverize it in a pestle or leave the threads whole. Grinding will give you a deeper - more orange color, while whole threads will result in some sexy little tiger stripe on the pasta one you set it aside.
1 Tablespoon Smoked Salt - I use the smoke to round out the flavor in the pasta. If you aren't a fan - by all means, use regular salt.
Strainer
Plastic Baggie

• Salt the water and bring it to a boil
• Once the water is boiling, place the saffron in a ladle and transfer some of the pasta water to it and let the threads steep for a minute or 2
• Add the saffron slurry back to the pot and add the pasta
• Cook al dente (about 12 minutes for penne - 5 to 7 for angel hair)
• Drain the pasts and transfer to the baggie - refrigerate until cool.

(I know - the pasta-philes are going to hate me. You're going to reheat it when you do the scampi - and you want the saffron to continue to permeate through the pasta. I typically chill any infused pasta overnight.)
What you will have the next day is:

Beautiful golden pasta... and if you did the thread thing, you'll have interesting dark orange shadows trailing through the pasta.

To finish - heat a small saute pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Add the pasta and quickly toss to warm through.

and..... what can you use it for?  How about a deconstructed paella - or - scampi?

Shrimp Scampi
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 1/2 Pounds 16 / 20 Shrimp - Peeled and De-veined
2 Cloves Garlic - minced
2 Tablespoons Parsley - Minced
1/4 Cup Radicchio - Julienne
2 Tablespoons Scallions - Minced
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper
1 Large Saute Pan

• On medium high heat, melt the butter
• Add the garlic and parsley and brown lightly
• Add in the Lemon Juice, wine, salt and pepper - whisk to combine
• Add in the shrimp and the radicchio and saute for about 5 minutes
• Transfer to the saffron pasta and serve

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