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Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel

Growing up pasta wasn't part of the family's standard fare despite it being one of the easier things to make. In fact, when I was growing up on Cape Cod, we never heard the word pasta. All we knew was spaghetti which was only a Sunday dinner meal, easily made ahead thus allowing the cook, our mother, "time off" from preparing three course meals.

Sometime in the mid-80s, as upscale gourmet Italian restaurants peppered the Manhattan landscape, I became aware, as we all did, of pasta and the word became prevalent in our vernacular. Celebrity chefs introduced us to all different shapes of pasta, each with its own characteristics and name - the corkscrews of fusilli, the pointed pipes of penne, the tight spirals of rotini, the bow-ties of farfalle, and the large round tubes of rigatoni. And no longer were noodles drowned in tomato sauce, rather they were bathed in light cream sauces and crowned with thin strips of prosciutto, mushrooms, and herbs. Noodles were now gourmet fare and prices reflected their elevation to these new heights.

I will say on the cold winter nights in the Northeast this past winter, pasta was a comforting (and easy) meal. Once again I found a very satisfying and flavorful recipe from Ina Garten in her last cookbook Cooking for Jeffrey. Sweet Italian sausage and fennel flavor a light cream sauce touched by a dollop of tomato paste. I liked this so much I had it for breakfast the morning after our original dinner. It's also a great "pot luck" dish but don't expect any leftovers.

Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel
(Serves 6) 

3 tablespoons good olive oil
3 cups chopped fennel (1 large bulb)
1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
1 ¼ pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
½ teaspoon minces garlic (2 cloves)
½ teaspoon whole fennel seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle (or a hammer in a baggy)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
⅔ cup half and half
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound rigatoni, such as DeCecco
½ cup chopped parsley leaves
1 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese, divided
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• Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium heat.
• Add the fennel and onion and sauté for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.
• Add the sausage and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, crumbling it with a fork until nicely browned.
• Add the garlic, crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute.
• Pour in the wine, bring to a boil, and add the heavy cream, half and half, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
• Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to boil, add 2 tablespoons of salt, and cook rigatoni according to the directions on the package. Drain and add to the sauce, stirring to coat the pasta.
• Cook over low heat for 5 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce.
• Off the heat, stir in the parsley and ½ cup Parmesan.
• Serve hot in shallow bowls with the remaining ½ cup Parmesan on the side.

Stuffing Alternative

Leek & Artichoke Bread Pudding © Claudia Ward

Preparing for the holidays and holiday meals can be stressful, especially if you want everything to be ready at the same time and at least warm if not piping hot. I've found a savory bread pudding to be a very satisfactory and satisfying alternative to stuffing, and it's meant to be cooked "outside the bird". I can assemble this one or two days before the feast, refrigerate it covered, and then just bake it off in the final hour before we sit down. Looking to make your holiday a little easier, try this - it's really tasty too.

Leek & Artichoke Bread Pudding
(Serves 8)

8 cups (1-inch diced) day-old bakery white bread, crusts removed
3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta
6 cups (1/2-inch diced) leeks, white and light green parts (5 leeks)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (9-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted
3 tablespoons minced chives
2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
4 extra-large eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups grated Emmentaler Swiss cheese (8 ounces)
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• Preheat the oven to 350℉.
• Place the bread cubes on a sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes, tossing once, until lightly browned. Place the pancetta in one layer on another sheet pan and bake in the same oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Place the pancetta on a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
• Meanwhile, soak the leeks in water until they are clean, and spin them dry in a salad spinner.
• Heat the butter in an 11-inch pot over medium heat, add leeks, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the wine, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and cook for 5 minutes, until the wine almost evaporates and the leeks are tender.
• Off the heat, mix in the artichokes, toasted bread cubes, chives, and tarragon.
• Whisk the eggs, cream, chicken stock, nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon salt together in a large bowl.
• Spoon half of the bread mixture into a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish.
• Sprinkle with half the Emmentaler and add the remaining bread mixture.
• Pour on the cream mixture, sprinkle with the remaining Emmentaler, and press lightly to help the bread absorb the liquid.
• Dice or crumble the pancetta, scatter on top, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
• Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb the cream mixture.
• Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the pudding is puffed and golden. Serve hot.
  
  

Fruit Tart

At the height of the summer season (a wonderful memory now), fresh fruit is at its best and what better way to celebrate and enjoy those fruits than in a tart made with a shortbread crust and sublimely, velvety pastry cream. This is truly easy, as long as you don't make the mistake I did the first time I made it ... I used whole eggs making the pastry cream rather than the called-for egg yolks. What happens when you use the whole egg making pastry cream? You get very peculiar, creamy scrambled eggs. Learn from my mistakes but please don't let them deter you from making this wildly delicious tart. We had it for breakfast several mornings with a hot cup of coffee. Now that starts a day out on the right foot!

Fruit Tart
(1 10-inch tart)

Tart Shell:
¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

Pastry Cream:
3 extra-large egg YOLKS, at room temperature 
6 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tabledpoon heavy cream
½ teaspoon Cognac or brandy

Topping
An assortment of berries and fruit, e.g. blueberries, red raspberries, black raspberries, sliced strawberries, etc.
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Tart Shell:

• Preheat oven to 350℉.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar together until they are just combined.
• Add the vanilla.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar-mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Press the dough into a 10-inch round or 9-inch square false-bottom tart pan, making sure that the finished edge is flat. Chill until firm.
• Butter one side of a square of aluminum foil to fit inside the tart and place it, buttered side down, on the pastry. Fill with beans or rice. Bake 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork, and bake again for 15-20 minutes more, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Spread tart with pastry cream and decorate completely with fresh fruit.

Pastry Cream:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light yellow and falls back into the bowl in a ribbon. On low speed, beat in the cornstarch. Bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan and, with the mixer on low, slowly pour it into the egg mixture. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Bring to a boil and cook on low heat 2 to 3 minutes more. Taste to be sure cornstarch is cooked. Remove from the heat, mix in the butter vanilla, cream, and Cognac and strain into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.

Topping:

• Assemble the tart, spreading the shell with pastry cream and then decorating it with fresh fruit. Serve at room temperature.

Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa once again for inspiring me to create something new.

 

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

In the summer, we - like most people - want to minimize the time we spend in the kitchen cooking, so roasting something that can provide multiple meals in many forms fits the bill. Turkey, it seems to me is an under appreciated fowl. Sadly what we all remember are those Thanksgiving turkeys that were cooked for hours in the oven, basted with everything from butter to beer, resulting in dark meat (which hardly anyone liked) that was done and white meat (which everyone wanted to love) which was grossly overdone. The cranberry industry had to love it because you truly couldn't eat the white meat without the addition of some moisture, traditionally in the form of cranberry sauce.

Well our dry, flavorless white meat days are behind us since I found this recipe for Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast in the Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? If you cook only the white meat you can control the "doneness" and thus the moisture of the final product. Adding a mixture of rosemary, thyme and sage under and on the skin allows for the herbs to add the essence of their flavors to the meat as well as the skin. We have made this roasted breast of turkey numerous times now and it's done to perfection every time, and what better meat to use as an anchor to several summer lunches and dinners. Roast turkey, of course, turkey sandwiches, turkey salads, and naturally we freeze the carcass so I can make turkey stock for soups when the heat breaks. You can't go wrong making this one day this week, it will feed you until next week-end.

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast
(Serve 6 to 8) 

1 whole bone-in turkey breast (6½ - 7 pounds) (we found Shady Farms in our grocery store)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup dry white wine
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Preheat oven to 325 ℉. Place turkey breast on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture evenly all over the skin of the turkey breast. (You can also loosen the skin and smear half of the paste underneath, directly on the meat.) Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast the turkey for 1½ to 1¾ hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest area of the breast. Check the breast after and hour or so; if the skin is over-browning, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

When the turkey is done, remove from the oven, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and allow the turkey to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Slice and serve warm with the pan juices.