Meet Chris Delaney, chef de cuisine at The Macintosh
Pasta 2.0 from a Southern chef
When Chris Delaney moved to Charleston, South Carolina, eight years ago, he quickly adapted to the Southern lifestyle, or at least its food. “Boiled peanuts blew my mind,” says the 29-year-old chef de cuisine of The Macintosh. He goes on to list the other discoveries he made, including Allan Benton’s bacon, Carolina Gold rice, and whiskey--which, he jokes, “fosters good feelings until the fighting starts.”
A native of Massachusetts, Delaney attended Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, then spent two years cooking at Al Forno, Johanne Killeen and George Germon’s seminal Italian restaurant. In 2004, he and his wife had plans to move to New Orleans that were derailed by Hurricane Katrina. They chose Charleston instead, a city Delaney had never visited. He spent five years working with Sean Brock at McCrady’s before joining the crew at The Macintosh.
We spent the day with the Southern transplant, visiting his chickens and his restaurant (click here for the slideshow) and mastering Delaney's recipe for spring pasta with peas and radishes, boosted with a full-flavored compound butter.
Pasta with Chive-and-Pickled-Scallion Butter
Yield: 8 servings
Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus overnight chilling)
- INGREDIENTS
Pickled scallions
½ cup Champagne vinegar
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon chopped jalapeño
1 dried bay leaf
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1½ pounds scallions (about 36 scallions)--thoroughly cleaned, dried, ends trimmed and green tops removed (reserve half of the tops and discard the rest)
Scallion Butter
3 scallion tops
½ bunch chives
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pasta
14 ounces dried or fresh pasta (preferably a short, grooved pasta such as cavatelli)
Kosher salt
1 bunch radishes (preferably breakfast radishes), trimmed and quartered lengthwise
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1½ cups grated Pecorino cheese



