Rigatoni with Grilled Eggplant, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Mint

I had pretty much been through all of my standard food magazines last week, so I reluctantly picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Living at the airport. I was skeptical, but I got a pretty amazing recipe out of it: Pennoni pasta with grilled eggplant, burrata cheese, thai chilis, and mint. It looked pretty incredible, so I used it as inspiration for my dinner the next night.

Whole Foods was out of burrata, so I used buffalo mozzarella to get a comparable creamy texture. I also couldn’t find a Thai chili in my quick grocery trip, so I used a serrano. Finally, I went with rigatoni instead of searching out the Pennoni pasta shape. I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table!

The grilled eggplant gave a great charred flavor, but also turned nicely creamy when mixed with the pasta. The combination of the eggplant and buffalo mozzarella made a luxuriously creamy sauce. The mint gave it some brightness and the chili gave it a nice kick. Another bonus - the dish came together extremely fast.

Rigatoni with Grilled Eggplant, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Mint
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living
7 oz. rigatoni
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium eggplant
1 serrano chili
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ tsp. lemon zest
½ tbsp. lemon juice
Fresh mint, thinly sliced
3 ½ oz Buffalo mozzarella
Salt and Pepper

Heat the grill to high. Cut the eggplant lengthwise in ½ - ¾ inch slices and brush with olive oil. Grill, turning occasionally, until soft and cooked through.

Transfer to a cutting board and let cool. Chop coarsely.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic until golden. Add the chili about halfway through cooking the garlic. When the garlic is cooked, add the cooked eggplant. Season with salt.

Cook the pasta to al dente, reserving some pasta water. Add the pasta to the skillet, along with a small ladle of reserved pasta water, the lemon zest, and lemon juice. Keep adding pasta water until the sauce reaches the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Finally, remove from the heat and stir in the burrata and mint.

Black Spaghetti with Shrimp and Chorizo

My mom recently came back from a three week trip to Spain. The trip was to chaperone a school trip, but she was luckily able to spend a lot of time with a lot of family friends who live in Madrid. Her friend Nieves sent her back with, among other things, a package of squid ink dried spaghetti.

My only experience with squid ink in pasta was the amazing squid ink spaghetti dish with sopresatta, rock shrimp, and jalapeno pesto that I had at Babbo last year. I’m a huge fan of any pork and shellfish combination, and clearly love spicy food, so this dish was practically made for me. We found the actual recipe posted in Babbo’s recipe archives.

We used the recipe as a guide using what we had available. Since we don’t have Mario Batali’s means to buy fresh rock shrimp, we used medium sized regular shrimp from our trusty fish monger. We also had some spicy, cured Spanish chorizo that we used in place of the sopresatta.

We were honestly in awe of how well this dish turned out. The pasta itself was very midly fishy, as if there were just a touch of fish stock in the sauce. The jalapeno pesto was a little harsh on its own, but mellowed out nicely when it was briefly fried in olive oil and tossed with the hot pasta. With the addition of the sweet shrimp and the spicy, instense chorizo, it was just perfect.

Black Spaghetti with Shrimp and Chorizo
Adapted from Mario Batali’s Recipe

1 lb. black spaghetti
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
6 oz. fresh shrimp
1 c. sliced cured chorizo
4 tbsp. jalapeno pesto (see recipe below)
1 c. scallions (green parts only)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta until just barely al dente. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until just cooked through. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic and chorizo.

When the garlic is toasted (but be careful not to burn it), add the jalapeno pesto and the cooked shrimp.

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Toss it with the sauce and cook for a minute or so longer until the pasta is al dente.

Jalapeno Pesto

3 c. jalapeno peppers, roughly chopped
½ c. sliced almonds
½ c. red onions, chopped
Salt
½ c. extra virgin olive oil

Puree all of the ingredients in a food processor.

It doesn’t look pretty, but I promise it’s good!

Restaurants: The Farmhouse Tap & Grill

Unfortunately, my pictures of the best restaurant we tried all weekend didn’t come out very well. We ate dinner at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill on Saturday night and loved it so much that we went for lunch again on Sunday.

On Saturday night, we started with the Roasted Mushroom - Walnut Pâté, which was served with grilled bread, whole grain mustard, and pickled green beans. It was earthy, nutty, and had the great texture of a pesto. It was delicious spread on the grilled bread.

The waiter brought over the condiments served with every meal: root beer barbeque sauce, garlic aioli, whole grain mustard, and ketchup.

Matt ordered the Nitty Gritty Corn Griddle Cakes. They were served with roasted mushrooms, wilted greens, and buttermilk herb vinaigrette on top. I forgot to take the picture before Matt dug in, so it looks a lot messier than it really was. The griddle cakes were like normal pancakes but with cornmeal. The sweet pancakes went really well with the mushrooms and bitter greens. Matt was very pleased that he was able to get away with having pancakes for dinner.

I ordered the Venison Burger topped with arugula, tarentaise cheese, and preserved lemon aioli. I asked them to add some pickled jalapenos as well. This was definitely the best thing I ate all weekend. It was cooked perfectly (on the rare side of medium-rare) and was incredibly juicy considering how lean venison is. The cheese was incredible – creamy and nutty – and the preserved lemon aioli was to die for. There were actually small chewy pieces of preserved lemon that in the aioli. The bun was just the right amount of toasted hold the burger without getting soggy. This burger was just a special that night, but I hope they put it on their permanent menu!

We split the blueberry pie for dessert. The slice was enormous and packed with fresh blueberries. I would have preferred if it were warm, but it didn’t need much help since the berries were so fresh.

Now, onto lunch the next day…

Matt ordered the Farmhouse Veggie burger, which I believe was lentil based. It was topped with kimchi, arugula, and house pickled jalapenos. Matt opted to have a fried egg added on top, which was obviously a great decision. I stole a bite and it was a pretty amazing combination.

I decided on a veggie burger this time as well – the Smoky Portobello White Bean Burger. It was topped with fresh mozzarella, local tomato, arugula, and basil aioli (which I ordered on the side). Again, I added the pickled jalapenos. Anyone who says they don’t like veggie burgers needs to try a homemade one. The white bean patty was rich and creamy with a nice crust on the outside. The cheese on top even got a little caramelized. I would order both of these burgers again.

The Farmhouse Tap also has a great beer selection and beer garden in the back. I’m in love.

The Farmhouse Tap and Grill
160 Bank Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: Penny Cluse Cafe

There seems to be no shortage of breakfast restaurants in Burlington. I read a lot about Penny Cluse Café, so that’s the first place we tried over the weekend.

We both tried the Penny Pickler, which is a spicy, pickly version of their regular bloody mary. It was a little too chunky for my tastes, but I guess that has the benefit of not letting you drink too fast!

The standout of our breakfast was the biscuits. They were insanely buttery, but still had a light and flaky texture.

With a little bit of jam, they were heaven.

Matt ordered the Bellber Combo, which had french toast or pancakes (he chose french toast), 2 eggs any style (scrambled), and a side (homefries). To be honest, the french toast wasn’t great. It seemed like they didn’t let the batter soak through the bread.

The homefries, however, were killer. They were crispy and seasoned perfectly. I think there were some fried onions in there as well.

I got the Roasted Pepper and Egg Tacos. The eggs were scrambled with roasted red, green, and poblano peppers and then folded into soft corn tortillas with some jack cheese. I thought that the eggs needed a little salt, but they were tasty after I added some. They were served with pico de gallo, guacamole, red cabbage, and black beans.

Since I’m a sucker for hot peppers and anything pickled, I had to get a side of the pickled jalapenos. I stuffed them into my egg tacos for an added kick.

Our meal wasn’t entirely perfect, but the café had a great atmosphere, the service was great, and we had an enjoyable meal.

Penny Cluse Cafe
169 Cherry St.
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: American Flatbread

Matt and I kicked off our weekend in Burlington, Vermont with dinner at American Flatbread. I’m usually wary about restaurants with the word “flatbread” in their name (why not just call it pizza?), but a couple of people had recommended it. I figured if nothing else, they have a great beer list.

We split two “individual” sized pizzas. The first was the Roasted Tomato Salsa, which had homemade salsa, corn, black beans, cheese, and lots of cilantro. The crust was thin, crispy around the edges, but a little soft in the middle. It was good, but we weren’t blown away. I was also turned off by the square “slices,” but that might just be a personal pet peeve.

The combination of flavors went well together, but I think we both realized that we prefer a more traditional pizza.

Our second pizza was called the Revolution Flatbread. It had tomato sauce, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese, and fresh herbs.

This was definitely our favorite out of the two, but it was a little too light on the tomato sauce.

We got a side of their homemade hot sauce. It was spicy but flavorful, and gave a great kick to the salsa pizza.

Everything, including the beer, was good but not amazing. I guess I’m just picky about my pizza!

American Flatbread
115 Saint Paul St
Burlington, VT 05401

Banh Mi Picnic

The day after our Summer Rolls and Satay, Matt and I made our own version of Banh Mis with our leftovers and picnicked. Banh Mis are Vietnamese sandwiches usually made on a baguette made partially with rice flour. They can include a variety of fillings, but they traditionally include pate, grilled meat or ham, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro, butter and/or mayonnaise, and chili peppers. I am by no means an expert on the Banh Mi, but Serious Eats has a great article/rant all about them if you’re interested in what’s truly authentic. I can’t claim that ours were authentic, but they were delicious and the perfect picnic food.

We started with a French baguette, sliced mostly in half lengthwise but not all the way through. Since this bread was a little denser than the typical Bahn Mi baguette, I tore out a little of the inside to make room for the fillings. Then, I spread each side with a thin layer of room temperature butter.

Next, I added a layer of meat. I used leftover satay beef that I had marinated and grilled the night before. Matt used some fried tofu.

I sprinkled a sliced chili evenly around the sandwich (but I wish I had actually added more).

We had quick pickled the leftover carrots and cucumber from the summer rolls the night before, so I added a generous pile of those next.

I topped the pickles with a handful of cilantro, stems and all.

I then sprinkled some fish sauce over the top, because I love the stuff.

Finally, I added some squirts of Sriracha for even more heat.

We ate our Bahn Mis with a 2010 Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rose, one of my favorites. I’m no expert in wine pairing, but I thought it went wonderfully.

Summer Rolls

I absolutely love Vietnamese summer rolls, so last weekend I decided to learn how to make them myself to get my fix. I find that a lot of places make them too far ahead of time (I’m looking at you, Whole Foods); by the time they come to me, the rice paper loses the nice chewy texture. The natural solution was to learn to make them myself!

I read a lot of recipes and kind of combined them so I could use the fillings I wanted. I usually order them with shrimp and pork, but I made them at home with just shrimp to keep it simple. I used lots of herbs – cilantro, basil, and mint – as well as some cooked rice noodles, lettuce, carrots, and cucumber. I love when they’re served with that peanuty hoisin sauce, so that’s what I tried to replicate. I used a recipe from this website, which called for hoisin sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and chilis. It turned out to be exactly what I had in mind.

All of the components can be made ahead of time. I boiled the shrimp for just a couple of minutes and shocked them in cold water to stop them from overcooking. I poured hot water over the rice noodles and let them soak for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes – just enough to get them soft, but not mushy. I find that they turn out perfectly when I rinse them in cold water when they just start to get chewy. The rest of the ingredients just require chopping. The real trick is to get them rolled correctly, which I found takes some practice.

Ingredients

Summer Rolls

Rice paper
Cooked shrimp, sliced lengthwise
Rice noodles, cooked
Carrots, shredded (I used a peeler to achieve this)
Cucumbers, cut into long, thin strips
Romaine lettuce
Fresh cilantro
Fresh basil (Thai basil would be even better)
Fresh mint

Dipping Sauce

1 c. hoisin sauce
¼ c. smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 hot chili, minced

Start with all of the summer roll ingredients ready to go. The assembly happens fast.

Dip a rice paper into a bowl of hot water (but not boiling). Remove it as soon as it gets soft (this takes less than a minute, but varies depending on how hot the water is obviously).

Lay the soft rice paper out on a plate and start adding fillings. I probably should have started with the shrimp so that they looked nicer in the end, but I just went for it with the first filling I had next to me.

On top of the lettuce, I added cucumber, carrots, all of the herbs, and a small amount of rice noodles.

After adding the shrimp, I tucked in each end as best as possible (kind of like you’re rolling a burrito).

Not the prettiest of the bunch, but still delicious.

For the dipping sauce, simply puree all of the ingredients. I may have added a little bit more rice vinegar to suite my tastes. The recipe is pretty flexible. You’ll also need to adjust the amount of chili depending on which kind you’re using and how spicy you want the sauce.

These summer rolls were a great summer starter to have with our grilled satays.