Macarona b'Laban
معكرونة باللبن·(ma-ka-ro-na b-la-ban)
Oodet El Mouneh: The Lebanese-American Pantry
A box of supermarket pasta, a tub of whole-milk yogurt, and a few cloves of garlic crushed in the mortar. This is the food of a Tuesday night, when your mother was exhausted, you were hungry, and she had exactly twenty minutes to get dinner on the table. It relies entirely on pasta, yogurt, garlic, and dried mint. The genius here is a grandmotherly middle finger to Italian culinary dogma: you boil the pasta, then immediately rinse it in cold water so the residual heat doesn't break the cold yogurt sauce. Keep the pot off the flame, stir until the yogurt coats the spoon, and eat.
Ingredients
- dry pasta1 lb
- plain whole milk yogurt3 cup
- garlic3 large
- kosher salt1 tsp
- dried mint1 tbsp
- extra-virgin olive oil1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Prepare the garlic paste.
In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic cloves and kosher salt together until they form a smooth, sticky paste. If you don't have a mortar, finely mince the garlic, sprinkle it with the salt, and use the flat side of your chef's knife to repeatedly press and scrape the garlic against your cutting board until it turns into a paste.
- 02
Mix the yogurt sauce.
In a large serving bowl, vigorously whisk together the yogurt, the garlic paste, and the dried mint until completely smooth. Let this sit at room temperature while you boil the pasta so the dried mint can rehydrate and release its oils.
- 03
Boil the pasta.
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil, add your pasta, and cook according to the package directions until al dente.
- 04
Shock the pasta with cold water.
Drain the pasta into a colander in the sink and immediately run cold tap water over the noodles for five to ten seconds, tossing them with your hands. You aren't trying to make the pasta ice cold; you just want to remove the aggressive, steaming heat and the sticky surface starch. Shake vigorously to remove excess water.
- 05
Toss and serve.
Dump the warm, drained pasta directly into the serving bowl with the yogurt sauce and toss thoroughly until every noodle is coated. Drizzle the top with a high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, add a tiny pinch of dried mint for color, and serve immediately.
Notes
The yogurt consistency is crucial.
You want standard plain, whole milk yogurt, not non-fat. If all you can find is ultra-thick Greek yogurt, whisk in a few splashes of water until it has the consistency of heavy cream or thin pancake batter.
The Shishbarak hack.
To turn this simple pantry side into a hearty main dish, brown 1 lb of ground beef in a skillet seasoned heavily with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of Lebanese 7-Spice. Serve the yogurt pasta with the crispy, spiced beef piled in the center, and pour bubbling butter-toasted pine nuts over the top.
From Cook Lebanese in America.