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!

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.

Bucatini with Tomatoes, Olives, Marash Pepper, and Shrimp

I realize that this is yet another post about a tomato recipe, but Matt had a huge bag of them in his apartment that needed to be used last weekend. His fault!

I also wanted to use the Zingerman’s Marash pepper flakes he got me from his trip home to Ann Arbor the prevous weekend:


The bottle describes it as having “amazingly full flavor with just a moderate amount of heat.” I tried a little before using and it definitely had a kick, but not enough to stop me from using a sizeable amount in my meal. Also, it was insanely delicious. I decided to make a tomato sauce with the pepper flakes, some red bell pepper, and olives with bucatini pasta and shrimp. If you’ve never had bucatini, it’s kind of like thick spaghetti but with a hole running through the center like a tube. Not only is it really fun to eat, it’s nice and sturdy so it holds up well with a thick tomato sauce.

¾ lb. bucatini
½ c. red bell pepper, chopped
½ c. shallot, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
Red pepper flakes (generous pinch)
Olive oil
12 black olives, sliced (I used canned, but we both agreed that it could have benefited from some better quality ones…and maybe more of them)
3 ½ c. peeled and seeded tomatoes, roughly chopped
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Shrimp (3-4 medium per portion)
Parsley, chopped (for garnish)

1. Cook the bucatani until al dente in salted water and reserve some of the pasta water.

2. In a large sauté pan, sauté the pepper, shallot, garlic, and pepper flakes in some olive oil until soft. Add the olives and sauté for a few more minutes.


3. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add some kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Cook these down until they become sauce-like.

4. Add the pasta to the sauce with a little bit of the pasta water.


5. Meanwhile, season the shrimp with salt and pepper and saute in some olive oil.

6. Top the pasta with a few shrimp, some chopped parsley, and another dash of pepper flakes. The shrimp is of course optional - the vegetarian went without.

Here’s another view of the final dish. It was pretty tasty!

Gnocchi (and Football)

Matt was psyched for the first Patriots game of the season last Sunday and we had been talking about making homemade gnocchi for awhile, so we combined the two and made a day out of it. We slow-roasted some amazing tomatoes from my neighbor’s garden and pureed it into a sauce to go with the gnocchi.

I had never made slow-roasted tomatoes, probably because I don’t usually have the time or patience. Matt insisted that it was worth it, so we cut them in half, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with plenty of salt, and let them sit in a 175 degree for about 4 hours.


Eventually, they shrivel up and get super sweet. You can actually roast them on an even lower heat overnight if you plan ahead.


We followed Mario Batali’s Gnocchi recipe, which calls for just russet potatoes, flour, an egg, salt, and oil. The recipe is really simple; the key is to use a food mill to mash the boiled potatoes so that they are smooth, but not gummy from being overworked.

Our shaping of the gnocchi was kind of…rustic. At least they looked homemade! We first rolled out the dough into ¾-inch dowels (roughly):


Then, we cut them into one-inch pieces and “flicked” with a fork:


To cook the gnocchi, we dropped them in batches into a huge pot of boiling water and took them out as soon as they floated to the top (about a minute). Then, we shocked them in ice water and tossed them in olive oil to keep until our sauce was ready.


When the tomatoes were done, we pureed them whole and then strained to get rid of most of the seeds and skin. What resulted was an intensely flavored, sweet tomato mixture. The only thing we decided to add was some garlic, which we sautéed in a skillet with some olive oil before adding the tomato puree. We cooked that down until it thickened a little and then added some of the gnocchi, cooking just until they were heated through.


We tossed in some torn basil leaves at the very end and topped with some parmesan cheese. Finally, time to eat!

Truffle Mac

Do you ever wind up with a little bit of various types of cheeses in your refrigerator? I noticed yesterday that I had a little bit of parmesan, goat cheese, cheddar, romano, and havarti. Knowing that a couple of them were nearing the end of their shelf life, I thought some macaroni and cheese was in order.

I estimated that I had about 16 ounces of cheese total:

• 5 oz. light havarti (in slices, which was not ideal but I made it work)
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar
• 3 oz. herbed goat cheese
• 3 oz. parmesan


• 1 oz. romano, grated

This was a bit of an experiment since I had never combined so many cheeses before, but I thought – I’ve never met a combination of cheeses that I didn’t like, so why not?

To compensate for the fact that I was using skim milk (that’s what I had) and some light cheese, I decided to add some truffle oil for a little extra richness. The truffle oil is completely optional, but just a small amount really goes a long way in adding some serious depth of flavor.

Truffle Mac
16 oz. cavatappi pasta
3 slices of bread (crust removed), or one cup of breadcrumbs
5 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. flour
2 c. milk (I used skim, but something closer to whole would be even better)
16 oz. of your favorite cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1-2 tsp. white truffle oil (depending on how strong you want the flavor to be)

Make the breadcrumb topping by putting the bread slices in a food processer. Add 3 tbsp. of melted butter and some freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

Create a roux by melting the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter in a dutch oven over medium-low to medium heat and adding the flour. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking it into the flour and butter mixture to make sure you get rid of any lumps. The sauce will thicken as it gets hot.

Add the white pepper, nutmeg, and dry mustard. I did not salt the sauce because of the amount of salty parmesan I used, but you may need a small amount of salt depending on the type of cheese you’re using.

When the sauce has thickened, reduce the heat to low and slowly add the cheese. Stir until all the cheese has melted into the sauce. At this point, stir in the truffle oil if you’re using it.

Cook the pasta until it’s just shy of al-dente, drain well, and add to the dutch oven with the cheese sauce. Raise the heat to medium-low and let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce for about five minutes.

Sprinkle the breadcrumb topping over the pasta and transfer to a broiler that has been preheated to high. I used an oven-proof dutch oven so I didn’t have to dirty another dish, but you could also transfer it to a separate casserole. Broil until the top is golden brown.

The end result may look a little sloppy, but it sure tasted good!

Lobster Fideua

(As you can probably tell, I’m a little behind on blogging on all of my cooking while I was in Boston because we kind of cooked non-stop, but here goes my last post from my trip.)

My parents met in Spain and lived there for some time before I came along and, as a result, I grew up eating a lot of Spanish food. Paella was always our big special occasion meal, and my dad makes an amazing paella. Sometimes he likes to switch it up and make a Fideua, which is basically a paella made with noodles called fideos instead of rice. Fideos are short noodles that come in little nests and can be found in the international aisle of most grocery stores:


We had my cousin Amy, her husband David, and their new baby James over for dinner on my last night in Boston and we decided to make Fideua for the occasion. Well, my dad really did the cooking and I did the picture taking. I have made a couple of paellas, but I haven’t mastered it like he has. It takes practice to get it perfect!

He started with a base recipe from The Food and Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas, but adapted it to use the types of seafood we wanted. We wanted to use lobster (because it was a special occasion!) and we supplemented that with shrimp, clams, and mussels. To boost the lobster flavor, he made a lobster stock instead of the fish stock that's normally used. The recipe might look a little complicated, but the basic method is in the steps below. The detailed recipe follows.

1) Sauté the lobster tails and shrimp in a paella pan to par-cook and remove
2) Sauté a tomato mixture in the same pan
3) Add the noodles to the pan and sauté
4) Add fish/lobster stock that has been simmering with saffron
5) Cook for a few minutes on the stovetop and add the lobster, mussels, and clams
6) During the last few minutes of cooking in the oven, add back in the shrimp and lobster claw meat
7) Garnish with lemons and fresh chopped parsley

Note: We often make paellas on an outdoor grill, but it was actually too hot to cook outside that night so we put the paella pan over the stovetop and transferred to an oven. The recipe can easily be done on a grill, though.

Lobster Fideua

4 small lobsters
1 lb. large shrimp, shelled
1 lb. mussels
1 lb. clams
White wine
Olive Oil
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp. smoked paprika
¼ tsp. cayenne
4 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
12 c. fish and lobster stock
Pinch of saffron
24 oz. fideos (two bags)
Fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper

To prep the lobster, you will first need to kill them. I won’t go into detail about how to do that here, but there are some simple instructions here. Then, remove the tails and split them.


We used the claw meat in the Fideua and the rest of the shells to make the lobster stock. To make the stock, combine a cup of white wine and a about two quarts of water in a big pot and bring to a boil. Add the lobster claws and bodies to the pot. Remove the claws after about 10 minutes, take the meat out, and set aside for later. Simmer the rest of the contents in the pot for another 20 minutes and strain.

To prep the mussels and clams, soak them in cold water and a little bit of cornmeal and salt for about a half hour. This will help remove the sand.


Start by simmering 12 cups of fish stock with a large pinch of saffron. We used the lobster stock we made and added extra store-bought fish stock to make 12 cups.

Next, season the lobster tails with some salt and pepper and sauté in some olive oil over medium-high heat in the paella pan (and don’t skimp on the olive oil!). You really just want to par-cook them, so remove after a couple of minutes.


Season the shrimp and do the same thing. Shrimp don’t take long to cook, so they will probably be mostly cooked at this point.

Then, sauté the tomatoes, garlic, paprika, and cayenne for a few minutes. Add some more olive oil if needed.


Add the noodles, breaking up the nests as you add them. Saute them for a few minutes.


Add the stock and cook until the noodles are no longer soupy but some liquid remains.


Add the lobster tails, clams, and mussels on the top and transfer to a 350 degree oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and the remaining lobster meat during the last few minutes of cooking.


Garnish with some chopped fresh parsley. Done!

Basil and Arugula Pesto

I picked up some beautiful basil at Green City Market yesterday and decided to make some pesto. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I love to make a lot of something and freeze it for later, so that’s exactly what I did with my pesto: I saved a little bit for a couple of meals, and froze the rest in an ice cube tray for perfect little freezer portions.


I’ve read that, when freezing pesto, it’s best to omit the cheese and just add it after defrosting. I did just that, which is why I don’t have a cheese measurement in the recipe. I also added some arugula to the mix because I had some in my refrigerator that needed using, as well as some lemon zest to brighten the flavor a bit. I served it with some penne and grilled shrimp, but pesto is so versatile; it’s a great thing to keep on hand.

Basil and Arugula Pesto
2 c. basil
1 c. arugula
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
Lemon zest

Combine the basil, arugula, olive oil, pine nuts, and chopped garlic in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper, to taste (but take it easy on the salt because the parmesan is salty). If you are not freezing the pesto, add some parmesan cheese and little bit of lemon zest.

To freeze, line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and fill with the pesto. Cover with another layer of plastic wrap and freeze. When the pesto is frozen solid, transfer to a freezer bag.

Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

I actually don’t always love lasagna because I find that the noodles can get soggy, but I came across a Cooking Light recipe for Turkey Lasagna that doesn’t call for pre-cooking the noodles. I’ve made it a few times, tweaking the recipe a little bit each time. I kept the base recipe (uncooked noodles, cottage cheese and mozzarella mixture), but upped the amount of sauce, added some extra seasoning, added some spinach to boost the veggie content, and broiled it at the end to crisp up the top.

This lasagna freezes really well, so I’m going to bring it to work for lunch this week and then freeze the rest for later. I love having this kind of thing in the freezer for lazy nights!

1 lb. ground turkey breast
Olive oil
1 ½ c. water
3 ½ c. marinara sauce (homemade or store bought…I used store bought)
16 oz. chopped frozen spinach, thawed
3 ½ cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 c. 1% low-fat cottage cheese
½ c. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 eggs + 1 egg white
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
9 uncooked lasagna noodles

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a large saucepan and add the ground turkey breast. When the meat is browned, add the marinara sauce and the water. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Drain the spinach to get as much water out of it as possible. Combine it with 2 cups of the mozzarella, the cottage cheese, parmesan, egg, parsley, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
4. To assemble, spread ½ cup of the turkey mixture on the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles over turkey mixture; top with 1 ½ cups turkey mixture. Spread half of cheese mixture over turkey mixture. Repeat layers, ending with the remaining turkey mixture.
5. Top the lasagna with the remaining 1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese and some cracked black pepper.


6. Bake covered for one hour. Then, uncover the lasagna and broil on high for a few minutes until the cheese is slightly browned.

Rigatoni with Lamb Ragu with Mint

I had been wanting to try Giada’s Lamb Ragu with Mint recipe and I found myself with some leftover lamb shank that I had frozen from a dinner at Terragusto recently, and – in an effort to clean out my freezer – I changed around the recipe a little bit to use my leftovers.

½ lb. rigatoni pasta
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Lamb (like I said, I used leftover lamb shank meat that I defrosted)
½ c. red wine
2 c. marinara sauce (I used store bought)
¼ c. fresh mint leaves, chopped
¼ c. whole milk ricotta cheese

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
2. Sauté the shallot and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the red wine and cook until reduced by half.
3. Add the marinara sauce and lamb meat. Simmer for 10 minutes and add the ricotta cheese.
4. Add the pasta and the fresh mint to the sauce.

I added some peas to this when I ate it the next night and thought it cut the richness of the sauce nicely. Either way, the lamb and the mint are a fantastic combination in this pasta dish.

BBQ Fare

Barbeque season has officially begun and I couldn’t be happier about it. My friend Matty had a Memorial Day BBQ last weekend and it was the perfect opportunity to make some awesome side dishes. My roommate Katie and I decided to make grilled balsamic vegetables and cold sesame noodles.

Sesame Noodles
This recipe is slightly adapted from the Uncommon Gourmet, an extremely reliable cookbook that my family has been using for a long, long time. I found that the noodles need a little more sauce than the recipe calls for and I added some sriracha for some spice. I also put in some snap peas for some color and crunch.

Ingredients
2 lbs. linguini
¾ c. sesame oil
¾ c. soy sauce
4 ½ tsp. sugar
¾ tsp. pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¾ c. chopped scallions
4 tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
Sriracha, to taste
1 c. snap peas


Directions
1. Cut the snap peas in half and very briefly blanch for about 30 seconds.
2. Combine the sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, garlic, scallions, and sesame seeds in a large bowl.
3. Cook and drain the pasta.
4. Pour the hot pasta over the sauce and toss well. Add Sriracha to taste.
5. Refrigerate and add the snap peas.


Grilled Balsamic Vegetables
I make this balsamic vinaigrette fairly often for salads, so I thought it would be delicious if I brushed it on some vegetables and grilled them. Since the BBQ was at a friend’s house, we just grilled the veggies at home and ate them at room temperature at the BBQ.

Ingredients
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
½ tsp. dried oregano
¼ c. balsamic vinegar
¾ c. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Assorted vegetables – we used 2 small yellow squashes, 2 small zucchinis, 2 small eggplants, 2 portabella mushrooms, and a bunch of asparagus.


Directions
1. Combine the Dijon, honey, garlic, shallot, and oregano in a medium bowl.
2. Stir in the balsamic and then slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


3. Cut the vegetables into ¼- ½ inch slices and brush with the vinaigrette.
4. Grill on medium-high until the vegetables are cooked.

Note: We also had some leftover watermelon that needed using, so we threw it on the grill and added it to our platter.


Both sides were huge hits; at first, we thought that we had brought too much food, but everything got devoured!