Missed Meals
We don't miss meals in our house. But, occasionally, I do miss getting them posted. Here are a few of the gastronomic delights we feasted on this week!
First off is a Spinach Pasta with a quick sauce of fresh tomatoes, bacon, langostinos, garlic, and olive oil. Freshly-grated parmesan cheese on the top. And it really was that simple. A couple of good ingredients in the skillet makes for a powerful taste sensation. This is one of those use what you have dinners. It was absolutely great and the odds of us having exactly these ingredients together again are slim. But it's okay, because we'll always have some variation of them - along with other fun things.
Next was a Tomato and Asparagus Salad. Asparagus, tomato, red onion, garlic, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
It doesn't get any easier - and it doesn't get any better - especially since Victor was doing the cooking. Again, it's a few simple ingredients that just explode with flavor.
The salad accompanied Grilled Tuna Steaks.
A quick marinade of red wine, olive oil, and fresh herbs from the garden. It went great with the salad.
And then we had Stuffed Peppers.
These are a favorite. Victor usually makes them and makes extra for his mom. I'll bring a couple over tomorrow when I do her shopping.
These were a simple ground beef filling with garlic, Italian seasoning, bread crumbs, some cheese... Nothing fancy - just really tasty.
Victor made Strawberry Shortcakes for dessert last night. I was too busy drooling to take pictures, but rest assured they were good - albeit a bit messy. the recipe he used said to place the shortcake dough into an ungreased 8"x8" pan. UNgreased. It stuck. Go figure.
It broke apart but was still really yummy. Strawberries, cake, and whipped cream. How could it be bad?!?
Farro Fawcett
Okay. I admit it. It's a cheap play on words. But as gay as I am, even I remember that poster! The girl was definitely hot! I had already reached the quarter-century mark when the poster came out and was living up at Lake Tahoe. I knew of Farrah - but had never heard of Farro. And probably wouldn't have been interested in either.
Well... not entirely true. I've always liked grains and I definitely could have used some hair tips...
Tahoe was a time of whole-grains-and-back-to-nature-in-a-'70s-pot-smoking way. Wheat berries were plentiful. Whole-grain brown rice was everywhere. Lots of sprouts. On everything. No boxes or mixes. It was back to nature at its finest. Granted, we moved from the little house in Tahoe Vista to the big house up above Kings Beach with the 20 foot ceiling and wall of glass overlooking the lake after leaving the little coffee shop and going to work for the glitzy hotel casino, but it was still The Mountains. We started off with a parachute for floor-to-ceiling drapes and ended up with a huge section of Christo's Fence, compliments of our new roommate, Susan.
Christo's Fence was a 24 1/2 mile long 18' tall fabric fence that ran through Sonoma and Marin before ending at the Pacific Ocean. It was pretty awesome to behold - and pretty cool to have in our living room.
But back to Farrah. Er... Farro...
I probably started reading about farro in Bon Appetit magazine in the '90s sometime. I honestly don't remember, but after getting out of the hotel business in 1989 and getting into health care, I started eating better, again, and I really started paying attention to what was in things. Aren't you glad?!?
One thing I did learn right away is farro is not spelt. There is still a lot of controversy over this but... farro is Triticum dicoccum and spelt is Triticum spelta. (Common bread wheat is Triticum aestivum.) They're all related - they're not all the same.
Botany lesson is over.
I picked up some farro a while back and decided last night it was time to cook it up - in a risotto! My first thought when I picked it up was for a wheat-berry-type salad. I'm glad I held out.
Unlike spelt, farro really needs to be soaked prior to cooking - 30 minutes to an hour usually suffices - so start thinking about this early in the day - not 30 minutes before you want to sit down to dinner. And it can soak longer - even overnight.
It probably took about 40 minutes to cook - and that meant a lot of stirring and attention - but the final result was worth it!
I served it with a lemon chicken breast. Really easy! I mixed 2 eggs with the juice and zest of 1 lemon, and a bit of salt and pepper. I then floured two chicken breasts and dipped them into the lemony-egg mixture and then quickly browned them in a skillet. The skillet then went into a 350° oven for about 20 minutes. I could have cooked the whole thing on the stove, but it was easier to pop them into the oven than to have to watch it while stirring the risotto.
Farro Risotto
- 1 cup farro
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
- several florettes cauliflower, sliced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/3 cup mustard seed and ale cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
Soak farro in cold water at least 30 minutes. Drain.
Heat the broth in a small saucepan and keep warm.
In a large skillet or wide pan, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook until onions are wilted. Add the drained farro and cook, stirring constantly until toasted.
Add the wine and stir constantly until mostly absorbed. Add 1/2 cup of the hot broth and stir constantly until completely absorbed. Continue adding the remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, until the farro is creamy and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat and add the raisins, pine nuts, parsley, and cheese.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
I used cauliflower and a mustard ale cheddar because that's what I had in the house. A cup or so of just about any vegetable would work, as would just about any cheese. You don't need a lot - just enough to add a bit of creaminess. And obviously you can switch the chicken broth for vegetable broth to make it vegetarian, and omit the butter and cheese to make it vegan.
It promises to be good no matter how you do it!
Rice and Lentil Rolls
Ah, Saturday...
How I love coming home to Victor in the kitchen, chopping, slicing, and dicing away. It's so much fun to see what new and exciting thing he has prepared.
Victor has the cooking shows on TV while I'm at work and he's playing Domestic Goddess - laundry, vacuuming, whatever. And every now and again a recipe comes up that he decided we should try.
Giada De Laurentis had such a recipe... a rice and lentil filling wrapped in swiss chard.
Yum.
Naturally, he changed his filling around - neither one of us is very good at following recipes - but Giada's original recipe follows.
Giada's Goat Cheese, Lentil, and Brown Rice Rolls
Ingredients
- Butter, for greasing the baking dish
- 6 large Swiss chard leaves (about 1 1/4 pounds)
- Salt
Filling:
- 2 cups cooked short grain brown rice
- 1 packed cup baby arugula leaves, chopped
- 1 cup goat cheese, at room temperature (8 ounces)
- 1 cup cooked green lentils
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- One 26-ounce jar marinara or tomato-basil sauce
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, or unsalted butter diced into 1/4-inch pieces
Directions
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.
Remove the thick stem from the center of each chard leaf. Cut each leaf in half lengthwise. Trim the ends from the leaves to make each leaf-half about 7 inches long and 5 inches wide. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the chard leaves and cook for 10 seconds. Remove the leaves and rinse with cold water. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
For the filling: In a medium bowl, mix together the brown rice, arugula, goat cheese, lentils, mint, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and garlic. Season with additional salt and pepper.
Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling onto the end of each chard leaf and roll up like a jellyroll.
Spoon 1 cup marinara sauce on the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the rolls, seam-side down, in a single layer on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Drizzle with olive oil or dot the top with butter, if using, and bake until the cheese begins to brown and the rolls are heated through, about 25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.
First thing Victor did was substitute red lentils for the green. He said was snickering as he went through the jars on top shelf. Most folks, he surmised, probably didn't even have lentils in their cabinets. We had three varieties - red, brown, and French green. He chose the red lentils to empty a jar. That's actually an important consideration when we're searching ingredients. Is there a container I can empty and remove so I can find other things easier?!?
Everyone should have this problem.
He also left out the mint but added diced prosciutto and peas. And jarred sauce?!? At our house?!?
The end result was fantastic.
The flavors just blended perfectly. And it was really easy.
We're going to get several meals out of this.
Several really good meals.
Butternut Squash Risotto
It's an Almost-Fall day. A slight chill in the air. An absolutely-perfect A perfect day to make risotto. But since it is Almost-Fall, a butternut squash risotto seemed appropriate.
I love risotto. The creamy goodness is the epitome of comfort-food. And you can literally put anything in it - from seafood to sausage, and any and every vegetable known to mankind. And they're easy to make - 20-25 minutes start to finish. Real food on the table in 20 minutes without microwaving some processed food-thing.
Perfection.
Butternut Squash. Another perfect food. Roasted, baked, boiled, mashed, cubed, sweet, savory, soup, stew... The uses are endless as are the flavors it can take.
We'll be seeing more of it this fall. For tonight's risotto rice, I used carnaroli, but arborio will work just fine...
Butternut Squash Risotto
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli, vialone nano)
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 6 cups hot chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegetarian)
- garlic powder
- sage
- salt and pepper
Coat cubed squash with olive oils, and sprinkle with sage, garlic, and salt and pepper. Place on sheet-pan in 425° oven for about 25 minutes. Set aside.
Saute onion, mushrooms, bell pepper and garlic in 2 tbsp butter a risotto-style pan. (We use a heavy 30-year old Le Creuset braiser.) Cook until vegetables are wilted and fragrant.
Add 1 cup rice and continue sauteing until rice is slightly translucent. Add 1 cup broth and stir until most of broth is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding broth until about 3/4 has been added. Add tomatoes.
Add roasted butternut squash, mashing some with spoon as you stir.
Continue adding broth until rice is tender.
Stir in parmesan cheese and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary.
I was rich, filling, and filled the house with the scents of autumn.
Perfect for the first cool night of the season.
I'm ready.
Oh. And yes, the stove-top is dirty. It's always dirty. It's the down-side of cooking at home every night.
Oh well.
Fresh Peach Salad
Tonight's dinner has been brought to you by another box of peaches.
I've been on a peach kick all month long... they have been beyond good. (I wish I could say the same for plums and apricots - they've both been pretty sad.) But the peaches?!? Spectacular.
So with another 4 pounds of them rapidly ripening in the kitchen, it was time to think outside the (peach) box.
And that's where Peach Salad was born.
Sweet and savory are a favorite flavor combination of mine and sweet peaches with sharp cheese and onions just seemed a perfect blend of flavors. A drizzle of raspberry vinegar and some chopped fresh basil brought it all together.
It really was that simple! I sliced 4 peaches and thinly-sliced a quarter of a red onion. I drizzled them with raspberry vinegar and put it in the 'fridge. Right before serving I added basil and ribbons of a really sharp, aged asiago cheese I sliced using a potato peeler.
Rounding out the plate was a nice medium-rare roast beef with pan gravy and Israeli couscous.
To stay on the peach theme, Victor made iced tea and steeped 2 sliced peaches with the tea to make a really nice peach tea. I usually eschew flavored beverages but this one was really good.
And tomorrow I'm thinking I need to make another peach dessert.
Time to start thinking...
Fresh Summer Pasta
It's still a gazillion degrees outside but we just had pasta - and it was heavenly!
Light, refreshing, full of the flavors of summer. Pasta.
Victor made fresh tagliatelle pasta today. It's a pasta he has seriously mastered over time. It is pure silken perfection.
And atop that pure silken perfection was an uncooked sauce comprised mostly of fresh garden produce. It was unbelievably fresh-tasting; the perfect hot-weather meal.
The tomatoes, peppers, and basil came from the yard. Fresh asparagus, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes pretty much finished it off.
There are no measurements for the sauce. Use what you have to make as much as you need.
Salsa di Tagliatelle Fresche
- olive oil
- cherry tomatoes
- bell peppers
- roasted red and yellow peppers
- asparagus
- garlic
- sun-dried tomatoes
- fresh basil
- parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Cut asparagus and quickly blanche. Drain and drop into ice water immediately to stop cooking and chill.
Meanwhile, halve the cherry tomatoes and slice the peppers and place in bowl with asparagus, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and olive oil. Add minced fresh basil, shredded parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper, to taste.
Leave at room temperature for flavors to meld up to an hour or so.
Tagliatelle Fresche
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add eggs and egg yolks to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.
Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.
Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.
Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.
With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.
To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.
It really brought out the flavors of summer. I had actually been craving ravioli for the past few days but kept thinking about how heavy they can be - and I just didn't need heavy food with this weather.
This solved the ravioli craving and brought summer's bounty indoors.
I made a loaf of beer bread at the last minute just to have something to sop up the juices on the plate.
Quick Beer Bread
- 3 cups self-rising flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 12 oz beer
Use a 4″ x 8″ bread pan. Mix ingredients and place in buttered pan. Top with melted butter and bake at 350° about 1 hour.
There was enough of the vegetables left over to have as a salad for lunch tomorrow.
A perfect summer dinner.
Candied Cherry Tomatoes
Victor is back from 3 days in New York City. No more hot dogs and chili burgers eaten at the desk. It's time for real food, again.
I'm really bad. When Victor heads off for a business trip, my cooking ceases. Well... real cooking ceases. Hot dogs and burgers on the grill with canned chili become my mainstay. I've even been known to fry up a can of Mary Kitchen Roast Beef Hash. It's not exactly healthful eating, but it's fun to slum it for a couple of days. I really do get lazy.
It really isn't a lot of fun cooking for myself. If there were to be longer-than-3-day absence, I would probably break down and create a real meal, but his business travel is pretty infrequent. Hot dogs work.
The return home was right on time for the cherry tomato harvest. We have two cherry tomato plants out back that are producing bazillions of tomatoes. Fortunately, they're not all ripening at the same time, but I am not going to waste one of them!
I have a dozen ideas for using them, from tarts to salads to frittatas and more, but I was looking for something a bit different tonight.
I came across a fun food blog - The Runaway Spoon - that had a recipe for Baked Ricotta and Goat Cheese with Candied Tomatoes. The whole shebang sounded good - but I was looking for the tomatoes tonight. I had the polenta and the pork loin figured out and wanted the tomatoes to tie it all together.
Recipes are guidelines to me. They are generally the spark that gets the creative juices flowing. Unless I'm baking, I rarely follow a recipe exactly. And tonight was no exception. I took the main idea and spun it around a bit.
Candied Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp chopped basil
- few sprigs minced parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste.
Heat butter in skillet. Add tomatoes and cook until skins begin to pop. Add wine and bring to boil. Add brown sugar and continue cooking until mixture is syrupy. Stir in fresh herbs and S&P to taste.
I could see this used in any number of ways. As I did it tonight, it was great over pork tenderloin and would also be great over chicken or even flank steak. It could be cooked down even further - letting the tomatoes really fall apart - and used as a bruschetta topping. The original recipe called for vermouth, I used white wine, but I'm sure any number of wines or liquors could be used.
Let the imagination run...
One of these days I do want to try the recipe as written with the ricotta and goat cheese. Victor has been making a really really good homemade ricotta. I think it would be perfect.
BBQ Parmesan and Corn Salad
Okay, it's not really parmesan, but you get the idea... Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce and cheese. It tastes every bit as good as it sounds!
Ever since making the BBQ sauce last night I've been thinking of how good melted cheese would taste on top of it - and a few thick slices of havarti proved me right!
I just salted and peppered the chicken and placed it on the grill. When it was about 3/4 cooked, I liberally (great word, liberal!) doused the breasts with BBQ sauce and when they were done, added the cheese and let it melt a bit. The cheese slid all over the grill and made a nice mess. But it really did taste good!
The rice is a throw-together rice and orzo rice-a-roni-type-dish. Rice and orzo browned in butter and cooked in chicken stock. Simple.
The other star of the show was a Fresh Corn Salad.
Cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, basil, rosemary, and parsley from the garden. Lovin' the goodies from the garden!
Fresh Corn Salad
- Corn kernels cut from 2 ears of corn
- 1 small bell pepper, chopped
- 1 yellow zucchini (or other squash) diced
- Cherry tomatoes, sliced
- Fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, parsley, whatever)
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp while balsamic vinegar
- garlic
- salt and pepper, to taste
Blanch corn kernels and plunge into ice water to quickly cool. Drain.
Add all vegetables and herbs to bowl and lightly todd to combine.
Add mayonnaise and vinegar. Mix well.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, to taste.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Really simple. The vegetables can be switched out to whatever you have on hand. It's a great clean-out-the-refrigerator salad.
The BBQ sauce was really good, but as I said yesterday, just doesn't have the pronounced root beer flavor I'm looking for.
What I finally realized is I have to construct the recipe backwards. I have to start with the reduced root beer, treat it as my base and add my ingredients to it instead of the other way around. It's hard to believe I used to get paid do this stuff. I need a refresher course in Recipe Development 101.
Oh well. I'm not in a huge hurry to get it done. I have two BBQ sauces in the 'fridge right now that will keep us going for a while...
I'm just glad I finally realized where I was making my mistake. Things are a lot different when you're in a commercial kitchen with (more or less) unlimited supplies and all day - or longer - to do something. It's really a lot easier to stop midway and toss and start over.
And over.
And over.
Asparagus and Mushroom Flan
Tonight's dinner is brought to you by a grocery store magazine. Well... they came up with the concept, anyway...
I received a copy of the Wegmans magazine the other day and one of the recipes that caught my eye was a Mushroom Flan. It just sounded like something I would like.
The recipe as printed serves 8 people. Even the way we eat, that was excessive, so I cut it way back, substituted asparagus for the gourmet mushrooms and used 10 oz souffle cups to bake them.
They came out great! The browned and lightly-crisped top and edges contrasted perfectly with the light, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth interior. It almost floated off the plate.
Here is the Wegman's recipe. I made about a third of this.
Mushroom Flan
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, divided
- 1 pkg (5 oz) sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 1 pkg (8 oz) Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms
- Salt and cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp chopped Fresh Thyme
- 2 Tbsp White Wine
- 4 cups Heavy Cream, divided
- 1 pkg (4 oz) Gourmet Blend Mushrooms
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
You'll Need: 8 (3 1/2-inches each) ramekins, nonstick cooking spray, rimmed baking sheet, food processor
Directions:Preheat oven to 350°.
1. Add 1 Tbsp oil, shiitake and baby bella mushrooms to skillet on HIGH. Cook, stirring, about 5 min, until mushrooms are golden and no moisture remains. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Reduce heat to MEDIUM; add thyme and wine. Cook 1-2 min, until wine is reduced to almost dry. Add 1 cup heavy cream. Cook, stirring, 6-8 min, until mixture is thick and reduced by two-thirds.
3. Transfer mushroom mixture to food processor; puree until almost smooth (some mushroom bits should remain). Transfer to large bowl; refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
4. Wipe skillet with paper towel. Add remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil and gourmet mushrooms to skillet on HIGH. Cook, stirring, about 4 min, until mushrooms are golden. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
5. Spray ramekins with cooking spray and place on rimmed baking sheet. Spoon gourmet mushrooms into bottoms of ramekins, portioning evenly.
6. Make custard: Whisk together eggs, remaining 3 cups heavy cream, and cornstarch into bowl. Add to cooled mushroom mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Divide custard evenly among ramekins.
7. Bake 45-50 min, until knife inserted 1-inch from edge comes out clean and tops are lightly browned and custard is set. Serve in ramekins or cool about 15 min to unmold. To unmold, run knife around inside edges of ramekin. Cover ramekin top with small plate; invert. Invert again onto serving plate.
Chef Tip(s):
# Can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat in 350 degree oven 20 - 25 min.
# Can be baked in 3-quart shallow (at least 2-inches deep) baking dish directly on oven rack for 50-60 min or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
This is something that is going into the repertoire. There are a billion-and-one variations that can be made with this.
The main course was a veal marsala. Veal scallops dusted with a mixture of flour, sage, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. About 4 oz mushrooms, sliced and a half-cup of marsala to deglaze the pan.
When the wine cooked down, I added about a cup of chicken stock and then about a half-cup of heavy cream. I let it boil until it was thick.
Served over noodles...
I used veal stew meat for the scallops. Just pounded them thin. They were about half the cost of pre-cut scalloppini...
Chicken and Cranberries
While shopping yesterday I picked up a bag of fresh cranberries. It seems a bit late in the season for cranberries to still be so plentiful. I don't know if I just haven't been paying attention or I'm noticing them more because everything else is looking so bad. Weather in Florida and California is really wreaking havoc on produce right now - and I'm sure prices are going to be reflecting it soon.
But I digress...
I picked up cranberries with the thought of making a cranberry sauce for some chicken breasts and leftovers for ham sandwiches. Love hose versatile sauces!
Cranberry sauce really is the easiest thing in the world to make. Really. I had sparkling cranberry juice and dried cranberries in the house so I made a really simple triple cranberry sauce.
Triple Cranberry Sauce
- 1 cup sparkling cranberry juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
Mix cranberry juice and sugar in medium saucepan. Heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Add both cranberries and cook until cranberries pop and sauce begins to thicken a bit - about 10 minutes.
Cool and chill.
As I said - easy.
The chicken was a simple boneless, skinless breast that I sauteed in a bit of butter and then finished off in the oven. The only thing I did was add salt and pepper. No other seasonings. I didn't want anything to compete with the cranberry sauce tonight.
Green and yellow Italian beans - salt, pepper, butter - and plain white rice finished the plate. The simple rice also worked well capturing the runaway cranberry sauce.
It was one of those meals with really simple flavors but also one where every flavor was noticed. I like moving back and forth between using every spice in the cabinet and showing restraint. I mean... restraint is not a word that is often associated with me. It's fun to step outside of the box now and again.
I'm also thinking that the sauce can be reworked into a dipping sauce for some hors d'oeuvre or another on Sunday. We have a biannual dinner with dear friends and while the main dish (a lobster pasta) and dessert (a big ol' cheesecake) are already planned, the hors d'oeuvres are not chiseled in stone. But as I sit here, I think a mini-fritter of sorts with a spicy cranberry dipping sauce may be fun. I really love that deep fryer!
I made the cheesecake when I got home today because it really needs to set for a few days. Not an easy thing to allow to happen, but it's for a special occasion. We'll deal with it.
And I need to figure out what to do with the veal chops for our New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow night.
The stress.
Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
I don't even know where to begin.
I keep saying that every week it is the best one, yet, but... really. This may be the best one, yet!
Victor has finally made his way through the Pasta Issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine. This recipe came from the just-arrived February issue. The same issue I got the Gianduja yesterday.
This is a really grown-up Mac and Cheese with three different cheeses that just knock your socks off topped with lemon, orange, grana padano, and parsley that just explodes a citrusy freshness in your mouth.
It is gastronomic heaven. The sauce is three very different cheeses that blend perfectly together. No one overpowers another. The fresh lemon and orange mixed with the freshness of parsley and a slightly salty grana padano cheese adds a complete contrast but at the same time blends perfectly.
Gastronomic heaven, indeed. The taste-buds are going to be talking about this one for days!
Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
Trottole with Cheese and Citrus Gremolata
- salt
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 ounces gorgonzola cheese (about 1 cup)
- 4 1/2 ounces taleggio cheese, bubed (about 1 cup)
- 3 ounces fontina cheese, cubed (about 1/2 cup, packed)
- 1 pound Trottole pasta - uniquely curled pasta rings surrounding a center stalk (or Fusilli or other short pasta)
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Wask lemon and orange; zest half of each fruit, avoiding the white pith. Finely chop zests together with parsley; place in a bowl and stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padana. Set gremolata aside.
In medium saucepan, bring milk just to boil over medium-low heat; remove from heat. In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly with a wodden spoon for 2 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from heat. Add 2 tablespoons milk to flour mixture, stirring constantly until milk is incorporated. Repeat until 1/2 cup of the milk has been added. Add remaining milk 1/2 cup at a time, incorporating between additions, until all milk has been added. Return yo low heat and cook, stirring frequently, especially along corners of pan, until sauce is the consistency of thick cream. Stir in remaining cheeses; cover to keep warm.
Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and immediately transfer to a large serving bowl. Add cheese sauce, toss to combine and divide among bowls. Sprinkle with gremolata and serve immediately.
The recipe does make the white sauce seem a bit overly complicated, but it's really just a rather simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
But it's an extremely good simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
This would also make a great side dish and a pretty spectacular buffet dish, as well.
This one is going into the rotation, for sure!
Tagliatelle al Burro al Tartufo
We have pretty much run out of the La Cucina Pasta Issue recipes. Tonight, Victor made one of their pastas, but the sauce was pure Victor.
In his TV cooking-show-watching, he saw a couple of different pasta recipes with truffles. One was a Wolfgang Puck dish with billion-dollar-a-pound white truffles. Another was Ina - the Barefoot Contessa - making a pasta butter or something.
So...
Tagliatelle al Burro al Tartufo - Tagliatelle with Truffle Butter - was born.
The sauce is definitely not for the faint of heart, but I tell ya... if ya have to go, this is the way to do it - with a smile on your face.
And we have to thank Ann and Julie for letting us know that it was okay to have real, fresh truffles in the house in the first place. They brought us truffles last year when they visited and after using them up, decided I really could buy one myself now and again.
They really are a very special treat!
Tagliatelle al Burro al Tartufo
Tagliatelle Fresche
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add eggs and egg yolks to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.
Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.
With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.
To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.
In the meantime, in a large skillet:
Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 7 oz truffle butter
Truffle butter
- 1 small, fresh truffle
- 7 oz softened butter
Grate the truffle with a fine plane and in a mixer (or by hand) whip the truffle and butter together. You can do this a day ahead and refrigerate, covered.
While the pasta is cooking, add the heavy cream to the skillet and bring to just a simmer. Add the butter and let it melt into the cream. Remove from heat and immediately add the drained pasta to the skillet with the grated cheese, reserving some cheese for topping. Serve immediately.
Victor only used about half of the truffle butter. It was more than adequate.
And better markets will probably have truffle butter already made, if you're so inclined.