I'm In Love With Andrea Immer

My favorite cookbook of all time, you ask? Why, that would be Everyday Dining with Wine, by the indomitable Andrea Immer, wine goddess and chef extraordinaire. In this book, Andrea walks you step by step through all the varietals, and offers up gorgeously delicious recipes that are well-matched to particular categories of grapes. Admittedly, however, since Chris and I don't drink much on weekdays we often eat Andrea's food without wine. And it is still AMAZINGLY GOOD.

Andrea's Linguine with Walnuts, Arugula and Olives is one of my favorites from the book so far (others include the Yukon Gold Potato and Cauliflower Soup with Truffle Oil, the Warm Wild Mushroom Salad with Black Truffle Vinaigrette, the Oven-Crisped Potatoes with Thyme and Pumpkinseed Oil...honestly the list goes on and on). In this recipe, the pasta isn't surrounded by tame-tasting liquid--it's enrobed in olive oil "spiked" with a few intense ingredients--fleur de sel, peppery arugula, salty olives, garlic, parmigiano-reggiano, and toasted walnut pieces. The combination is making my mouth water just thinking about it. So try it!!

Note: Andrea recommends pairing this dish with Cabernet Sauvignon--she notes that "the toasty walnuts and arugula highlight the toastiness of oak in the wines, while the vegetal flavors of the olives and arugula pick up Cabernet's cedary-tobacco-minty notes."

Ingredients
1 pound linguine fini or other thin, flat noodle
1/3 cup walnut pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups tightly packed baby arugula leaves, washed and dried
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling, if desired)
1/3 cup pitted, chopped black olives
1/4 cup grated Manchego or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Coarse sea salt such as fleur de sel

1. Add a tbsp of salt to a large pot filled with 4 quarts of water. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook to al dente.

2. While pasta is cooking, place walnuts in a large dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently, and cook until browned and fragrant, 3-4 min. Set aside to cool slightly, then chop roughly and reserve.

3. In the same skillet heat the 2 tbsp olive oil on medium, and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to soften and turn golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and transfer it to the skillet with the garlic. Turn heat to medium. Stir in the arugula and the 1/4 cup olive oil and toss to coat the pasta with the oil and wilt the arugula. Stir in the walnuts and olives, tossing to combine. If the pasta seems dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water.

5. Remove the pasta from the heat and drizzle with a little more olive oil, if desired. Stir in the cheese, adding more to taste, black pepper, and a sprinkling of the fleur de sel. Serve immediately.

Linguine Carbonara, Redeemed (Partly!)

My boss at work, whom I adore, passed me this recipe by Jamie Oliver for "Beautiful Zucchini Carbonara"--basically penne, luscious carbonara sauce, bacon, and zucchini melded together. Anyone who knows me knows I am OBSESSED with creating the perfect carbonara, and this recipe comes really darn close. The use of some starchy pasta water in the sauce makes it creamy and lush, but not too thick and eggy; the use of only egg yolks, not whites, prevents curdling; the zucchini adds an extremely pleasing smoky, tender note; and the copious amount of freshly cracked black pepper prevents the feeling I get from most carbonaras--"this is tasty, but it's missing something!" This is definitely my favorite carbonara recipe yet, and I've tried many. One thing to note is that carbonara does not reheat well, so this recipe basically begs for a pasta pig-out fest--or lots of guests crowding around the pan.

I tweaked this recipe a bit. First, I used linguine fini instead of penne, because the idea of doing carbonara with anything besides long pasta leaves me befuddled. I cut the zucchini into slender strips, so that it could be scooped up easily on the fork along with the strands of pasta. I also used lean center-cut bacon and poured out all but one tbsp of bacon fat after rendering it down in the pan. I also used half-and-half instead of cream, with great results (gotta cut down the fat somewhere!). Lastly, I tossed out the thyme/zucchini flower recommendations--I couldn't be fussed on a weeknight. The recipe below notes all of these changes, but the original recipe can be accessed above via the hyperlink.

The zucchini-bacon mixture in the pan. Note the copious amounts of black pepper!

Not the best shot--but still yummy-looking nonetheless.

So ready for its close-up.

Ingredients

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-4 medium green and yellow zucchini
1 pound linguine fini or other long flat thin pasta
4 large free-range or organic egg yolks
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 good handfuls freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
12 thick slices pancetta or lean bacon, cut into chunky pieces

Before you start cooking, it's important to get yourself a very large pan, or use a high-sided roasting pan so you can give the pasta a good toss.

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Halve and then quarter any larger zucchini lengthwise. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the zucchini into slender strips (a bit larger than julienne). Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the package instructions.

To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the half-and-half and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a very large frying pan (a 14-inch is a good start - every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon until dark brown and crisp. Pour out excess fat, if desired. Add the zucchini slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Give everything a stir, so the zucchini is coated with all the lovely bacon-flavored oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.

It's very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the zucchini, bacon and lovely flavors, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you'll scramble the eggs.)

Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straightaway. While you're tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. Eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.

Ridiculously Yummy Summery Soup

What comes to mind when you think of minestrone soup? Chunks of too-soft carrots, potatoes, and peas? Globules of starchy, overcooked pasta? A salty broth, perhaps with a tomatoe-y tang?

Now turn your conception of minestrone around 180 degrees, and TRY THIS SOUP. This version of minestrone--featured in a 2007 article in LA Times that was recently published as an "encore"--includes lots of summer vegetables in a parmesan-scented vegetarian broth (the whole soup can be made vegan, even), and is topped with an incredibly flavorful garlic-and-parsley pistou. I made the soup as a tribute to the summer diet gods, but it has turned into a new obsession. I'll be making it again this weekend!

Note: I topped the soup with shredded parmesan, and then a dollop of pistou. The parmesan really adds a level of unparalleled flavor. I also substituted/added several things in the recipe, and I'll note those substitutions below.



Summer minestrone with parsley pistou

Total time: About 1 hour, 40 minutes

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: From test kitchen director Donna Deane. Save the rinds from Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to add to the soup pot. It gives added flavor and substance to this vegetarian soup.

3/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 bulb fennel, cored and cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
6 cloves minced garlic, divided (I used more garlic)
2 large tomatoes, cored, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (canned would also work here)
2 (2-inch) pieces Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
21/4 teaspoons salt, divided
3/8 teaspoon white pepper, divided
2 cups parsley leaves
1 yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 zucchini squash, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (I'm not wild about green beans, so I used more squash instead)
1/2 cup tube pasta (such as tubetti), cooked according to package directions, about 8 minutes and drained (I subbed yukon gold potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch dice. let the chunks simmer for 25 minutes)

1. Heat one-fourth cup of the oil in a large pot over high heat until hot. Add the onion, and reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it begins to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Stir in the fennel and continue to sauté until the fennel is tender and just begins to brown around the edges, about 5 more minutes. Stir in 2 cloves of the minced garlic during the last minute of sautéing.

2. Add the tomatoes and 6 cups water. Stir in the cheese rinds, 2 teaspoons of the salt and one-fourth teaspoon pepper. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and then cover and simmer 20 minutes. (Put the potatoes in after 5 minutes of simmering time so that they get 25 minutes total of cooking time)

3. While the soup is cooking, prepare the pistou. Purée the parsley and the remaining minced garlic cloves in a food processor. Add the remaining one-fourth teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. With the motor running, drizzle in the remaining olive oil until emulsified. Set aside.

4. Add the squash and the beans to the pot, and continue to simmer until the beans are just cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove the Parmesan rinds from the soup, and stir in the cooked pasta. Ladle the soup into large flat bowls. Spoon a dollop of pistou onto each serving. Serve immediately.

Each serving: 251 calories; 3 grams protein; 15 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 21 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 685 mg. sodium.

Little Morsels of Ridiculousness

Very rarely do I come across a recipe that is easy, pretty in its presentation, and insanely delicious. I made Parmesan-Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Bacon last night, and the result was a food orgasm. Dates--parmegiano reggiano--and bacon are already indulgent and delicious on their own; combining them created a captain planet-like food superhero. Words cannot describe how the sweetness of the dates, salty pungency of the parmegiano, and pork fat smokyness of the bacon combined to produce a Perfect Food. If you've ever been to A.O.C. or Cobras and Matadors and had these before, just know that for the $8.95 you spent on a tapas dish, you can make 30-something of these little critters. And we (4 of us) ate every last one. The recipe is from a 2005 issue of Gourmet.

Can you hear them? They're saying, "eat me."

I'm pretty sure that this one is now in my belly.

Lookin goooood on a simple white platter.

I doubled the recipe below, with great results.

Ingredients
18 (1- by 1/4-inch) sticks Parmigiano-Reggiano (from a 1/2-lb piece)
18 pitted dates (preferably Medjool)
6 bacon slices, cut crosswise into thirds (I used center cut bacon--30% less fat, natch--and used half a slice per date)
18 wooden picks

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.

Stuff 1 piece of cheese into each date, then wrap 1 piece of bacon around each date, securing it with a pick. Arrange dates 1 inch apart in a shallow baking pan.

Bake 5 minutes, then turn dates over with tongs and bake until bacon is crisp, 5 to 6 minutes more. Drain on a paper bag or parchment. Serve immediately.

Note: Dates can be stuffed and wrapped in bacon 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before baking.

Chocolate Pudding Cakes (and...I'm Back!)

Yes yes, I know, it has been a very long time since I have blogged. Wedding preparations have majorly gotten in the way (how is it economically viable, I ask, that wedding invitations--the cheap, unengraved kind--cost $10 a person? how???)...Anyhoo--wah wah wah I know you missed me, but I am back, *DIGICAM IN HAND*. Please give me a round of applause, it took me 6 months to figure out how to upload photos from this thing.

Here are my sumptuous, pillowy, scrumptious pudding cakes for your perusal:

Even ignoring the loads of alcohol in the background that accompanied the consumption of these precious beauties, the pudding cakes were deeelicious. The outside has a faint crackle to it, the inside is melty and gorgeously thick--it is chocoholic paradise. And even better yet, they are super-easy to make, and can even be prepped in advance--perfect for a party.

This is another recipe from The Essence of Chocolate, from my high school bestie (and bridesmaid-to-be) Lauren. Use the best chocolate possible with this--I recommend Valrhona or Scharffenberger.

Alcohol note: we had these with a classic 10-year tawny port--I highly recommend the budget-friendly Whiskers Blake brand.

Ingredients
Unsalted butter or butter spray for the ramekins
1/4 to 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for coating the ramekins
7 ounces 99% unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
8 tbsp (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
Whipped Cream (optional)

Serves 8-10 (bigger ramekins-->fewer servings)

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325.

2. Butter (I used butter baking spray) ten 5-6 oz ramekins and coat the insides with cocoa powder.

3. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.

4. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream and butter to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat, add the chocolate, and let sit for 1 minute to melt the chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate has melted completely and the mixture is smooth.

5. Position a fine-mesh strainer over a large measuring cup with a spout. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the eggs. While whisking, gradually add the chocolate mixture. Strain into the measuring cup and divide the batter evenly between the ramekins. (The ramekins can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temp before baking.)

6. Bake until the surface is puffed and cracked, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving (if you can wait that long!). Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

I have to say--my friends know me really well. So when my best friend since 8th grade, Lauren, bought me The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg for the holidays, Laur knew that I'd be hightailing it to the kitchen for some chocolate madness. I love the first section of the book, which focuses on really simple recipes that focus entirely on the quality of the chocolate at hand.

Chris and I were celebrating our 5-year anniversary for the 3rd or 4th time last night, this time to enjoy our traditional bottle of Mer Soleil 2005 Chardonnay, which we've had for 3 years in a row now (sadly, I think it's time to move on from Mer Soleil--their focus on french oak flavors has increased in the past couple years, IMO, and no longer has a unique palate. Or, maybe, our palates are the ones that are changing). To add to the celebration, I decided on a whim to make these cakes, which use entirely pantry-available ingredients. We had them with tawny port, but a ruby port or dessert wine would also go quite well. Our tawny was Whisker's Blake Classic Tawny, a very wallet-friendly and highly-rated port that has been aged for 8 years.

I altered the recipe a bit—I served the cakes still in the ramekins instead of unmolding them, so I didn’t need to cover the ramekins in butter or parchment—I just used a bit of baking nonstick spray. Gotta cut down on calories somewhere! And remember, the quality of the chocolate really matters here—I’m a huge fan of Scharffenberger’s Bittersweet for cooking. It can be very intense, though, so I think the Semisweet version would also work well in this recipe.

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray for the ramekins (you'll need 4 5- to 6-oz ramekins, or 6 4-oz)
6 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
¼ granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1½ tbsp all-purpose flour
Ice cream (we used chocolate peanut butter…but vanilla might be best)


It is best to bake these on the floor of the oven. If that's not possible, position a rack on the lowest level of the oven. Preheat to 400. Spray the ramekins, and arrange on a baking sheet.

Place the chocolate and butter in a double-boiler, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or, in my case, use a large bowl and a hand-held mixer) fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs, yolks, sugar, and salt and beat on high speed for 4 or 5 minutes, or until the mix is thick and pale. when the whisk is lifted and the batter runs back and forth over itself, it will hold a slowly dissolving ribbon.

With the mixer on low speed, sprinkle the flour over the batter, and mix until combined.

Fold the egg mix one-third at a time into the chocolate mixture.

Fill the ramekins with batter within 1/4 of the top. (At this point, the ramekins can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring back to room temp before baking).

Bake for 8-10 min, or until the sides of the cake are firm--centers will be soft to the touch but set (I had to take it to 12 min).

Let stand for 1 minute, and serve with ice cream and port!

Healthy Wintery Comfort Food

I'm intensely grumpy today. Messy house + upcoming microecon midterm do not make for a happy Kari. My day was noticeably improved, however, by this low-fat dish of shredded butternut squash, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, red pepper flakes, and penne--heavy on the veggies. I'm still grumpy, but dinner + a glass of vinho verde improved my mood significantly!

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's recent NYT article on "rethinking pasta"--upping the amount of sauce, and decreasing the amount of pasta, which you can find here. Sometimes I find Bittman's recipes to be boring and/or untasty (and yet his compendium is one of the best cookbooks out there), but this one hit the spot.

Pasta With Winter Squash and Tomatoes

Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup sliced shallots

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 to 2 pounds peeled, cubed or shredded butternut or other winter squash, about 5 cups

1/2 pound cut pasta, like ziti or penne

Freshly chopped parsley or Parmesan for garnish.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots and pepper flakes and cook for about a minute; add tomatoes and squash, and cook with some salt and pepper.

2. When squash is tender — about 10 minutes for shreds, 15 or so for small cubes — cook pasta until it is tender. Combine sauce and pasta, and serve, garnished with parsley or Parmesan.

Yield: 4 servings.