Linguine with Clams, Leeks, & Bacon

This is a nice twist to wake up the same old linguine and clams.

Yes. There are two leeks shown there.

Just use one to feed two people.

Live and learn.

Remove the root end and the darkest green part, split in half and rinse the dirt from between the layers of the leek. If your leek appears REALLY dirty as you are prepping it, slice it into half-moons and soak it in a cold water bath so the dirt falls to the bottom of the bowl.

Bacon.

Yes please.

That's about 2 slices split, but figure one to two slices per person.

(More if you know you're going to snack on it while cooking...)

Once the bacon has rendered its fat and become crispy, place it on a paper towel to drain and keep the fat in the pan.

Add the washed (and dried) chopped leeks to the bacon fat and allow to soften over medium heat, 5-7 minutes. Use only a pinch of salt to season as the bacon fat is salty.

Half way thru cooking, grate (or mince) two cloves of garlic into the mix.

If you want to let the leeks go a little farther into caramelizing, that would also be delicious with this combination of flavors. 

I was just in a hurry to eat, so mine only got to wilt.

After scrubbing your clams and letting them sit in cold salted water for 30 minutes to discharge their grit:

Cook the clams in a covered sauce pan with white wine and one bay leaf over medium-high heat 6-8 minutes, or until all the clams opened.

Give the pan a shake to make sure they have room to open.

Discard any unopened clams, as well as the bay leaf.

I remove the shells when I make this so eating it is easier, but if you want to keep them for presentation's sake, go for it.

Put your linguine, cooked 1 minute shy of the directions on the box, into the remaining white wine and clams and add in the cooked leeks and garlic mixture. Add a bit of chopped parsley or basil and a tablespoon of butter (or 2) and stir to combine.

Check your seasoning after a minute and then plate.

I top the dish with the cooked bacon as I hate soggy bacon, but really the bacon drippings make this dish as they impart all their smokey, porky goodness into the cooking leeks.

Without it you'd just be eating very onion-y pasta.

But I'd call this one a hit!

Broccoli Bow-tie Carbonara

Carbonara is such a decadent and satisfying meal. I mean, it's pasta with bacon.

What's not to like?

There are arguments as to whether or not carbonara has cream in the sauce or if it's just egg yolks.

I fall in the middle and occasionally use 1/4 cup or less of cream for a little added richness but not a huge shift in the sauce's texture.

But traditionally it's just egg yolks and grated parmigiano.

Traditionally there are no vegetables in carbonara either, but I'm a vegetable nut, and I can also tell myself this dish is not as evil of a diet-killer if I throw a bunch of green things in it as well.

This time I had broccoli on hand, so that's what went in.

Chop up one large broccoli stem and steam them with a pinch of salt so they are still slightly firm, only about 4-5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Technically you only need 1 egg yolk per person, but as I was using quite a bit of broccoli, which does not coat with sauce as easily as say, peas or zucchini when mixed in with pasta, I used 4.

Also, I wanted a LOT of sauce.

Make sure your eggs are fresh!

And save the whites for an egg-white omelette the next morning.

(Tho it's smart to label the clear white goo...)

Beat the egg yolks together with about 1/2 cup of grated parmigiano (pecorino can make it too salty once combined with the bacon) and set aside.

Mmmm... bacon.

I used two slices per person, but you can make as much as you like of course.

Just make sure you do not have too much rendered fat in the pan when you add the pasta and vegetables. Maybe 1-2 TBSP tops.

Crumble the bacon and add the broccoli into the pan with the drippings.

Stir to combine a bit.

Add the cooked pasta to the pan with the broccoli and drippings and remove it from the heat source.

Take a medium ladle-full of the hot and starchy RESERVED pasta water and, while stirring, add it to the egg and cheese mixture. This is "tempering" your egg.

If you add the yolks directly to a hot pan, you will just get scrambled eggs.

Toss everything well to combine, adding more pasta water if the sauce seems too tight.

Garnish with crumbled bacon and black pepper (unless you are like me and hate black pepper) and Get It While It's HOT!

Sun-Dried Elbows

Super simple summer pasta?

Done.

Fresh mozzarella, marinated/rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and pasta.

Oh, and salt to season.

That's all you really need.

Dice.

Cook pasta.

Red.

If you're feeling decadent, throw a knob of butter on the hot drained pasta along with the sun-dried tomatoes.

Combine all ingredients in the still-hot pot, making an homage to the Italian flag while the mozzarella begins to soften and stretch.

Serve.

Yum.

My First Manicotti

What do you do when you only have 2 sheets of fresh lasagna left?

Make manicotti!

This may highly resemble the lasagna from my last post.

That's because I made this just a day or two after the lasagna, as I had leftovers of just about everything.

But this time I made sure to use a healthy dose of prosciutto.

The hubs and I are not vegetarians.

Yay pork!

I start out, as ever, sautéing some shallot and garlic in olive oil, and once it was translucent and fragrant, I added some diced asparagus and cooked it for about 2-3 minutes.

Season with salt.

Next I added a splash of white wine, some prosciutto cubetti, sliced sun-dried tomatoes (marinated in garlic, herbs, and olive oil), and some fresh basil ribbons.

Cook another 3-4 minutes to combine and the white wine has cooked away.

I was using the Giovanni Rana fresh lasagna sheets, so I could just lay it out to fill without any pre-boiling messing about.  Spread some fresh ricotta in a line, top that with everything from the pan, and give it a roll.

Sauce in the bottom of the pan before placing rolled manicotti.

Top with a bit more tomato sauce (just marinara from the fridge) some sliced mozzarella, a sprinkle of grated cheese and basil, and it's ready to bake in a 350º oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is melted and the inside is bubbly and hot.

If your finished product doesn't look aesthetically pleasing enough, at the 20 minute mark turn on the broiler and cook another 2-4 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Allow to set before serving or cutting into  the manicotti.

Who knew manicotti was just an answer to leftover lasagna ingredients?!

Sun-dried Tomato & Asparagus Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna?

Well, maybe people who aren't big fans of asparagus, but this is a lovely change-up from the average layers of meat sauce and bechamel.

And it's still asparagus season, so take advantage of it!

This is based off a Giada di Laurentiis recipe, which calls for pancetta in the base of sautéing the asparagus, which would be delicious, but as I was trying to make a vegetarian dish I skipped that step.

I also didn't sauté the asparagus, as you will see below, because there was just far too much for any one pan.

As I was making 4 lasagnas, I stretched the sun-dried tomato sauce with a little fresh homemade marinara. Just your standard onion, garlic, large can of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, pinch of dried oregano, salt, and fresh basil.

For the sun-dried tomatoes, I used marinated Turkish-style tomatoes (rather than dried Italian) which are already plumped up from being in their olive oil with garlic and herbs.

Simply drop them with their oil in a food processor and let it go until smooth. Add more olive oil if you need to break them up a bit more.

Combine the two types of tomato sauce and set aside for layering.

For this much asparagus (3-4 bunches) I washed and sliced them all first and then laid them on a baking sheet, drizzled with salt and olive oil and a few pats of butter (white spots you see) and put each tray under the broiler for about 4-5 minutes. This way they get a bit cooked and flavorful, but they're not mush. 

You want them to still have some bite after baking.

Lightly sauce the bottom of your pan and then begin layering: pasta, sauce, asparagus, ricotta, grated parmigiano, repeat.

You could also just combine the ricotta and asparagus and spread them on together. I just didn't know how much ricotta I was going to need for 4 lasagnas (turns out, roughly five 14 oz containers. I really like ricotta.) so did it all separately.

Cover the top layer of pasta with a bit more sauce and then lay some low-moisture (read: deli sliced) mozzarella and bake at 350º for 20-30 minutes, depending on whether you are using no-boil lasagna or pre-boiled lasagna.

Note: for this dish, I would recommend either pre-boiled lasagna or fresh lasagna sheets (Giovanni Rana makes a very delicate kind) as there is not as much moisture in the sauce to cook the noodles.

Also, be cautious when salting your various stages of cooking, as sun-dried tomatoes can be quite salty. But I also avoided that excessive salt by using the marinated Turkish tomatoes.

A tasty twist on a comfort classic.

Clams + Ramps + Prosciutto = Delicious

Yes, I made this once before last Spring, but when you make something delicious, it bears repeating.

Also, better photography this time around.

Cook clams in a covered pot with stock and white wine and a pinch of dried oregano, 5-6 minutes or until the clams open.

Strain the liquid VERY well if you want to use it as a sauce, as there will be small amounts of grit that the clams have released when they opened.

In a separate pan, sauté some pancetta or prosciutto in a bit of olive oil.

Add the sliced whites and necks of the ramps and cook on medium-low heat until fragrant. Mere moments really.

Add the (washed and dried) sliced greens of the ramps, and cook until they just wilt.

Remember, you want the ramps to be the star of this dish, complemented by the clams, prosciutto and pasta.

I went with angel hair this time as it made it easier to pick up all the small bits of the dish, but also because I could cook it IN the (well strained) liquid from cooking the clams in just 2-3 minutes, making it super flavorful pasta.

Combine everything in a hot pan, stir, and serve.

I absolutely love this dish. It's ready in minutes and packed with flavor.

Too bad it's only available for a few weeks in Spring.

Mushroom Mac n' Cheese Cups

6 boxes of elbow macaroni later...

Mushrooms, both baby bellas and porcini, sautéed in butter and sherry with dried thyme.

Lots and lots of rounds of cupcake pans and muffin cups.

Note: environmentally friendly muffin cups to not stand up well to moisture buildup or reheating...

Whoops.

For the actual mixture I used 1/2 cup of butter, 2/3 cup of flour to make the roux. Then add 6 cups of milk and stir until thickening.

Add 3 cups of your favorite cheese. I used a mixture of sharp cheddar and gruyere.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, add 1 TBSP of truffle oil, and add cooked pasta (about 2 boxes).

Toss in the mushrooms and stir to encorporate.

If you're lucky, you'll have a friend to help you ladle out each portion of mac n' cheese into the muffin cups. Then bake them at 350º for 15-20 minutes.

If you have the patience, add a smidge of butter and bread crumbs on top of each cup before baking to create more of a crust.

Repeat the process three more times if you're feeding over 100 people...

I could easily have gone a much fancier route with this mac and cheese,  maybe combining goat cheese and herbed alouette for a more grown-up palate, but fancy cheese costs a lot more than standard sharp cheddar, so I just used the mushrooms and truffle oil to step it up a bit.

But it was tasty!