dsmWeekly - August 28, 2024

Chef Krysten "KP" Pierce shared her recipe for this pasta dish, a favorite among her coworkers at Tupelo Honey. (Photo: Duane Tinkey)

FOOD & DINING

Pristine pasta
There’s a good chance you’ve tasted some of chef Krysten “KP” Pierce’s handiwork. Over the last 14 years, she’s worked in “nearly every kitchen in Des Moines,” she said, from Exile to Mulberry Street Tavern to Aura to Barn Town Brewing, and some of those places still use a few of her recipes.

Now at Tupelo Honey, Pierce often oversees the “family meals” the staff eats in the kitchen, and she takes on the task with enthusiasm and pride. “I made a pan of this sun-dried tomato pasta for them with sausage, and they went nuts,” she said. “They were taking containers of it home.”

Ingredients
8 ounces pasta of your choice, like cavatappi or penne
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup of white wine or chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or more
1 cup cooked Graziano sausage (optional)
Small handful of fresh chopped basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to its package instructions. Drain it well, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, for one to two minutes. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about one minute. Gradually whisk in white wine (or chicken broth) and cook, whisking constantly until incorporated, about one minute.

3. Stir in heavy cream, tomatoes, mozzarella, Parmesan, oregano and red pepper flakes until slightly thickened, about one minute.

4. Stir in optional sausage and basil and season with salt and pepper.

5. Toss the pasta with the sauce, adding cooking liquid as needed to thin out the sauce. Serve immediately.

For more recipes from chef KP, read the full story online from our new September/October issue.

Head to Water Works Park for two nights of free outdoor concerts by the Des Moines Symphony and guest singers. (Photo: Des Moines Symphony.)

BEST BET

Des Moines Symphony pops off with Pops Concerts

Broadway star Michael Cavanaugh sings from the Billy Joel songbook in a free concert with the Des Moines Symphony at the Lauridsen Amphitheater in Water Works Park on Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m. The following night, singers Jason Forbach and Scarlett Stratton jump in for a program called “Dance Away with Me.”

The Week Ahead

DSM Flea (5 p.m. Thursday): The monthly pop-up flea market returns to the Surety Hotel with a curated selection of art, vintage clothing and handmade goods.

Mary’s Meals benefit concert (6 p.m. Thursday): Nashville-based musicians Drop Dead Gorgeous perform at Jasper Winery to support Mary’s Meals, an international nonprofit that provides meals to school-aged kids around the world.

Taste of the Junction (5 p.m. - 8:30 p.m Thursday, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. - 10 pm. Saturday): Three days of events – including a pop-up museum, spoken word poetry, live music and plenty of food and drinks – highlight the historic Valley Junction neighborhood.

Fall Renaissance Faire (starting Saturday through Sept. 15): The freewheeling festival returns to Sleepy Hollow for three weekends of music, feasting and general merriment — joust in time for fall.

Iowa Cubs vs Memphis Redbirds (Today - Sunday): Head to Principal Park to watch Des Moines’ very own minor league baseball team in one of five games against the Memphis team, including the postgame fireworks show on Friday.

Aminah Nalani, a 19-year-old dancer, performing artist and poet, poses during a freestyle session in the Swan Project dance studio in Des Moines’ East Village neighborhood. (Photo: Candace Carr / NetGenRadio)

ARTS & CULTURE

Growing Queer Culture in Des Moines, One Ball at a Time

This story was originally published as part of the NPR Next Generation Radio Project hosted by Iowa Public Radio, and is excerpted here with permission. The full story is available here.

Writer: Candace Carr

Aminah Nalani lives at the intersection of expression and education.

Nalani, known as Miyani when performing, hopes to challenge Des Moines’ lack of intersectional creative spaces. Their efforts to establish those opportunities have helped deepen their connection to their home state and create new pathways for queer POC representation.

To the self-described dancer, poet, singer, DJ, and educator of hip-hop, step, poll, twerk, whine, ballet, modern and jazz genres — ballroom culture feels like home, where they combine their creative passions. The LGBTQ+ subculture speaks to Nalani’s identity on a deeper level, with its roots deep in queer Black history, its shimmery costumes, and its emphasis on performance.

“In ballroom culture, there is dancing. That’s where vogue was born,” Nalani, who uses she and they pronouns, said. “There’s a lot of dance, there’s a lot of fashion elements. There’s a lot of things pertaining to looks and confidence and just overall expression. You just got to own that! That’s really it.”

With family roots in Chicago, an admiration for ballroom and an even deeper love for their birthplace, Nalani says it’s their duty to bring ballroom to Des Moines.

Thus, the Black Magic Ball was conceived.

Nalani wanted to create a dance space centered in voguing based on their love for creative hand movements and improvisational expression.

“I’m the only person that I knew for a long time that, like, knew how to vogue,” she said. “Now I know like three or four people in this city — which is still not enough — that know how to vogue. And so I was, like, ‘I’m gonna start a space.’”

In a five-slide Instagram post, Nalani invited POC, queer individuals and allies to “dance, sing, laugh, learn and create a new culture together.”

On June 29, Mainframe Studios became the inaugural ballroom space of the city.

As neon strobe lights bounced off the hues of brown skin in the room, ball-goers sang and loudly clacked their fans to the house music mixes spun by Nalani.

Before the next ball, Nalani continues to educate through performing, social media, and teaching the next generation of minority performers and artists.

“The legacy I want to leave for the queer POC community in Des Moines is just being loud and proud about who I am, who we are, and what we bring to a space and the pioneers that we are in culture.”

READ MORE.