h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A581212

Another tasty recipe, I think the title speaks for itself.

All right, Dogster,

You're invited to my house to make some.

You do mean to say the peppers should be sliced lengthwise, (parallel to the core) right? The flavour is quite different if the slices are crosswise.

How do you suggest the onions be sliced? Personally, when I make a variation of this recipe (using yellow and black peppers as well as the red ones, it's very *festive*) I like to halve the onion from root to stem, lengthwise, and then make very thin slices crosswise, which break up while cooking, into all the thin layers of onion.

As a vegetarian, I've got quite fascinated with how different various vegetables taste, depending upon how one slices. Onions, for example, are markedly sweeter cut as described above than in the opposite (lengthwise) direction, and the thinner the better with them too. A really sharp knife, large enough to cut all the way across and through is a big help. I use a serrated knife on tomatoes and black olives, to avoid crushing the pulp. (You might want to mention Roma tomatoes - the elongated, egg-size ones - as an alternative to cherry tomatoes if available)

You didn't mention seeding and coring the peppers (I think... it's late, and I'm ) and might want to do, since pepper seeds have a way of giving people gas, and aren't especially nice, and the cores are inedible.

And you might want to add to your footnote about chillies that the seeds *must* be removed (preferably with the tip of a knife, and the core as well) unless a person has no tendency for dyspepsia, and that chillies should ideally be cut under running water, and hands washed thoroughly with baking soda, or a person could touch hir eye the next day and be very, very sorry... OWW.

That's it for anything I think you *should* say.

Definitely penne, or another of the *sturdy* varieties of pasta.

I blacken pepper skins under the broiler (which is a bother, because of having to turn them) because I have an electric stove.

Do you have a recommendation for cheese? Given how strong the sauce is, one might favour a blandish cheese, like parmigiano (fresh grated, not the gnarsty Kraft crap ), or go the other direction and use asiago, which makes the sauce *stronger*, but would be a good complement.

As a total side note, this type of sauce can be made with a cream base (a sauce bechamel, or if you're into *rich*, Alfredo) or with no base except olive oil and the veg juices. Both of the above are terrific with, of all things, about a cup of vodka added at the last minute. I've *heard* the sauce without a base is especially nice on .

Sounds yummy. Let's have some soon! You're cooking.

Arpeggio, for LeKZ
Pasta gourmande extraordinare.

Hmm...I like this entry but I still don't quite get what matchsticks are...it could be because I'm so stupid though. Is it something like thin sticks?

Niwt,

It's cookery jargon. It means cutting anything into roughly the dimensions of a matchstick. 3cmx1.5mmx1.5mm. You know potato sticks? Like them, if you do.

Arpeggio, for LeKZ

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------ sweet peppers! and s !

Could it be possible to put a short description in on the flavour of this dish -"I'm thinking red wine, sun-dried-tomatos, fine slices on the tongue" - kind of thing.

OK, made a couple of changes, added a bit more description at the beginning (not quite sure what Ad is getting at though), mentioned the Roma tomatoes and pithing, coring and seeding the peppers.

I'm intrigued about this idea of the flavour of vegetables being different depending on how you slice them. I've never noticed it myself, although I'll be on the lookout in future.

I also mentioned the cheese a bit, although in my opinion it doesn't really need it (I never bother to have cheese with this one).

Finally, if you could enlighten me as to what "dyspepsia" is then I'll include something about it (never heard of it until now).

Dogster

'Dyspepsia' is a quaint, semi-genteel British word for 'heartburn' and all upper-GI disorders. 'Pep'to-Bismol refers to the stomach, 'dys' to the not feeling good, and '-ia' to make it a condition.

People in Britain may get heartburn, or even GERD, now, but when I was a little girl, they had 'dyspepsia'.

Yes, about the how it's sliced: best veg to experiment on is carrots. Try using a peeler to make lengthwise slices, and cut crosswise 'pennies', and make lengthwise matchsticks, and cut diagonal slices. Just taste them all raw, and it should be obvious. The inner ring 'xylem' of the carrot is much sweeter than the outer one, 'phloem'. Think of them as analogous to a tree (which they are) with the xylem being the sap-filled, growing part of the tree, and the phloem being the bark (which, in fact, is what they are). The diagonal slices have the most xylem relative to phloem, so are the sweetest. Some of your matchsticks will be pure phloem, and not that tasty.

Why are 'French-cut' green beans so much better than inch long segments... same stuff, slightly different arrangement.



Great recipe!

Yum.

Arpeggio, for LeKZ

I've noticed that when I read this you said "I" somewhere I think. Guide entries should be written in the third person, so possibly you could replace that with "one can" or "it is possible to" or "you can" or something.

Duly noted and corrected, thankyou.

Wow - someone listened to me - I'm happy

Actually...you might want to change pepper to capsicum - if that's what you mean. Or if you want to keep it as pepper, you might like to put in a footnote or something saying that they're also called capsicums.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'Penne with Tomato and Sweet Red Pepper Sauce'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

Yes, well done! A superb entry. One I really must try out soon...

Thankyou very much, I'd almost forgotten I wrote this

Well done!

Hello, Dogster, I'm GTBacchus, the SubEditor working on your entry. The recipe sounds great! I'd try it, if I had any aptitude for such things (or a kitchen), but as things are, I know someone who could cook it up for me as soon as he's back in town...

Anyway, the version of your entry that I'm editing, which is also the version that will go to the Front Page () is at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A602902

Feel free to drop by and see what I'm doing to it. Also, if you have any last minute changes, additions, or whatever, now is a great time to let me know before I submit my subbed version to the towers. Even then, you can tell me about changes and I'll forward the information through the proper channels.

So, thanks for the entry, and Congratulations!

GTBacchus

Cool. But did you make any changes? I didn't notice any...

Um... no, not really. I changed a comma to a semicolon somewhere... I guess I could make some capricious and arbitrary layout alterations, if you'd like ... no, I was thinking of tossing in a footnote about peppers also being called capsciums, as someone said in this thread, but otherwise it's all good.

I probably won't submit it til Monday anyway, since the Towers are vacated for the weekend, and I might have some weird late-Saturday-night revelation about how things are spelled.

Whatever.