Orechiette with Sausage, Beans, and Mascarpone

There are few episodes of “Everyday Italian” that I watch that do not inspire me to make something… immediately.  We affectionately call Giada the “Skinny Italian Chick” around these parts.  We watch her Food Network show, get really hungry, and refuse to believe that she eats more than the mere bite or two that she savors as she cooks for the cameras.

The other day I was certain that I had had my fill of pasta for a few days.  We had been binging on Italian-like foods, and I was a bit tired of it…  until I watched the Skinny Italian Chick make her Orechiette with Sausage, Beans and Mascarpone.  I did not make the recipe as she made it.  As is usual, I borrowed heavily from it and modified it to our tastes.

1 pound orechiette pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon Oregano
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large, heavy skillet warm the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, garlic and onions. Break up the sausage into bite-sized pieces as it browns.
Continue cooking until the sausage is golden and the onions are tender. Add the beans and oregano cook for 2 more minutes. Add the cup of pasta cooking liquid and stir, scrapping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the mascarpone and parmesan cheese and stir until it dissolved into a light sauce. Add the salt, pepper, and hot pasta. Stir until coated and serve.

Popularity: 67% [?]

Last night, dead tired, I tumbled into bed somewhat early.  I picked up a book for a little bedtime reading.  It just happened to be this book:

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen

Read more about this book here…

I wasn’t awake for long… just long enough to become obsessed with his recipe for breakfast quesadillas.  And the obsession was still there this morning.  I had little in the house to appease the obsession, so I made a quick trip to the grocery store. 

I suspect that I am not unique.  I believe that most people who cook often look to cookbooks for technique and inspiration, not for actual recipes.  And this recipe gave me lots of inspiration, though I didn’t follow it in practice.  Here’s what I did:

• store bought southwestern seasoned hash browns (can be found in the dairy case)
• two chorizo links, diced
• 4 flour tortillas
• shredded cheese
• 2 eggs, fried
• Salsa

Preheat oven to 425.   Brown hash browns in pan.  While hash brown are browning, dice and saute chorizo. 

Lay 2 tortillas out on a baking sheet.  Cover with shredded cheese.  Spread the hashbrowns and chorizo on tortillas.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over mixture.  Place tortillas on top.

Brush tortillas with olive oil, and place in 425 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes, until crisp.

Top tortillas with fried eggs, salsa and cheese, to taste.

Bobby uses bacon in his quesadilla.  I decided that if I was going to make a southwestern quesadilla, I was going to use chorizo.  I think it added a nice spice.

Additionally, I cheated.  I’m sure that homemade hash browns stuffed between the tortillas is the way to go, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go through that effort, so I made due with store bought hash browns.

And still, it turned out great, but incredibly filling. 

Popularity: 33% [?]

I’ve made a beef roast or two in my time.  My repertoire ranges from a quick yet elegant tenderloin to an extremely slow roasted brisket, braised in a tangy liquidy base.

This weekend I was in the mood for a slow roasted cut of beef.  Not a stringier brisket, and yet not a fattier prime rib.  I headed to the local butcher shop, Kens, in Monona, in search of the perfect cut of meat.  I found a five pound sirloin tip roast and knew that would do the job.

My idea was to roast it like a prime rib - put it in a blazingly hot oven for a short period of time to sear it, then drop it all the way down to around 225 degrees and let it go for a few hours.  In preparation, I did a little bit of searching to see who else in the blogosphere was making their roast beef in that manner.  I found Elise, who is always doing something interesting.  While the method wasn’t quite what I had in mind, she did add an element which I would not have if I had not found her entry.  She put the beef roast directly on the oven rack.

Well, ok, I could add that to the mix easily enough.

And so I pulled the roast beef out of the fridge and let it warm up at room temperature on the counter for about 45 minutes.  I turned the oven on to 500 degrees and let it heat up well in advance.

I cut slits into the roast and studded it with garlic - a trick which I have resorted to often, with good results.  Then I rubbed the roast with rosemary, Penzey’s smoky sea salt, pepper, cumin, and a Penzey’s roast beef seasoning.  It was popped into the very hot oven, which was left at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes.  I had placed a pan on the rack immediately underneath the roast to catch the drippings.  In that pan I placed beef broth, onions, and garlic.

Then I dropped the temperature to 200 degrees and let it go.  Using my temperature probe, I monitored the progress.  After about 3 hours, it began to get up to around 120 degrees.  I had planned on leaving it in for at least 4 hours, and so I turned the oven off completely, without opening the oven door.  This held the oven temperature nicely, and the roast ever so slowly inched its way up to 131 degrees.

As I estimated that my roasted root vegetables would be done shortly, I again turned the oven up high, to about 450 degrees.  The roast temperature rose to 135 degrees.  At that point I pulled it, let it sit a very short amount of time, the sliced it.  I had made a pan gravy from the drippings, broth, onions and garlic that had simmered in the drippings pan, adding some red wine as a finish.

   

This was perfectly done, melt in your mouth tender, with the best flavor I have ever tasted out of a beef roast, bar none.  This will be repeated, there is no question.

Served alongside roasted root veggies - turnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions, with some cauliflower thrown in for good measure.

Popularity: 67% [?]

The day started out dismally, with a cold breeze and even colder termperatures. I had previously had plans of making a light, grilled meal comprised of spring vegetables and grilled chicken, but as the day moved forward I couldn’t shake the cold feeling in my bones and in search of comfort food I went.

Enter Carbonara.

I’ve written about Carbonara before. It’s a rich, filling pasta treatment which will never be mistaken for health food, but, you know, sometimes you just need it - even if you have to behave yourself for a week to make up for it. I had gone to our local Italian deli, Fraboni’s, this weekend and as usual had spent an ungodly amount of money there, so I had much of what I needed on hand to make this. I had picked up a nice orecchiette pasta, some spicy imported pancetta (sliced into thick slabs, pefect for dicing), and a grated blend of romano and parmesan cheeses (a staple in my fridge). I combined it with some frozen peas (still no peas in my CSA box) and with fresh ramps.

Pasta Carbonara with Pancetta, Peas and Ramps:

1/2 pound pancetta, diced (substitute bacon if you wish)
Olive Oil
1 bunch ramps, bulbs sliced (substitute onion and garlic if no ramps are on hand)
Red Pepper flakes - to taste
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan/romano cheese
Grated pepper to taste
1 lb pasta
1 cup frozen peas
1 bunch scallions, bulbs and greens sliced

Warm a tablespoon of olive oil to a deep sautee pan. Add diced pancetta and sautee until crisp. Add ramps and red pepper flakes to taste, turn heat to low, stir occasionally, as needed.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and egg yolks together well. Add cream, grated cheese and pepper. Whisk again. Set aside (this can be done ahead of all other steps, leaving egg mixture to come close to room temperature).

Cook pasta per instructions. As pasta completes, add peas to the boiling water and cook with the pasta for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain cooked pasta, reserving some water. Add pasta and peas to bacon mixture. Stir until incorporated through.

Add hot pasta and bacon into bowl with egg mixture. The heat should cook the eggs through. If sauce becomes too thick or gummy, add some of the reserved pasta water to thin it out. Toss scallions into mixture.

Pour into pasta serving bowl.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Gorgonzola has rapidly become one of our favorite cheeses. We cook with it, we eat it after dinner as a cheese course with wine or port, and we always have it on hand. Much of the reason for this is because we are fortunate enough to live close to one of the top Gorgonzola producers, Hook’s Cheese, in Mineral Point, WI. Read more about them here!

So, what did I do with my latest hunk of Hooks Gorgonzola cheese?

First, I made a Gorgonzola Buffalo Burger. Lean, grilled to perfection, then liberally topped with fresh spring greens (heavy on the arugula!), bruchetta and gorgonzola, this burger can quickly become addicting. Put the gorgonzola on the burger while it is still on the grill so that it becomes a bit oozy. You won’t regret it!

The next thing that I really like to do with gorgonzola is create a gorgonzola compound butter. It’s easy to do. You merely need to take a stick of softened butter and 3/4 of pound of slightly softened gorgonzola. Blend it in your food processor and add your ingredients of choice to the blending. For this particular butter, I added scallions and garlic. Spoon it out of the food processor and onto a sheet of saran wrap. Hand roll it into a log and put it in the refrigerator.

Once you’ve done this, there a plethora of uses for the compound butter. Once such use is to simply glop it on top of a nice, thick, juicy grilled New York Strip (below). You can also use it as a butter spread, or you can toss it in some hot pasta for a quick, simple sauce.

Popularity: 22% [?]