As a teenager, I spent what felt like entire summers babysitting for the kids across the street. There were three of them, aged 4-10, and they were a handful. But they also had a pool and they paid well, so it was a good job all in all. The kids used to love eating pastina, basically tiny little pasta stars, with masses of butter and that shakeable powdered parmesan cheese. I rarely had to cook anything for them (their mom was a great cook and there was always tons of food in their house), but I made pastina once or twice. It was perfect comfort food for kids, no spice, all warmth and simplicity.

Fast forward 15 years. Trevor and I just started a major kitchen renovation (!) and the house is full of dust. It’s still cold and snowy, and it’s that time of year where you’re just on the edge of being sick all the time. We’re ready for spring and it’s not here yet. Comfort food is in order pretty much every day. A few weeks back (before the renovation started!), in this late winter state of being, I was staring forlornly inside the fridge, hoping for inspiration to strike from a handful of leftovers. I was in a bad mood. I was tired. And there was really very little in the fridge since we’d been proactively cleaning it out. So I dumped half a container of homemade kitchen stock in a pot and boiled some Israeli couscous in it. I added a huge amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese and some cracked black pepper. I plopped it unceremoniously in a bowl and took a bite. And it turned out to be the most perfect thing – creamy, savory, comforting, cheesy – and just like pastina with butter, but all grown-up.

I’ve finessed this recipe a little bit to share with you, but it really is very simple. Use the best chicken stock you can as that’s where all the flavor comes from. Don’t be shy with the parmesan or the pepper or the parsley. Your reward for 10 minutes of effort will be a bowl of super delicious pasta to get you through these last few weeks of winter.

Israeli Couscous “Pastina”

A super simple, super comforting pasta, rich with the flavors of chicken broth and parmesan cheese.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

• 2 cups high quality chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 cup Israeli couscous (also sold as pearled couscous)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Add the chicken stock to a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, add the Israeli couscous (don’t wait as your stock will evaporate and there won’t be enough left to fully cook the couscous). Let stock return to a simmer. Simmer the couscous, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is tender and the chicken stock has been almost completely absorbed, about 7 to 8 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat. Don’t drain it – the couscous will continue to absorb the stock, and it should have a slightly loose, creamy texture. Add the 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, a generous amount of black pepper, and the chopped parsley. Stir until the cheese has melted into the couscous. Serve immediately, topped with additional parmesan and black pepper if desired.

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I know it’s the very tail end of ramp season, and most of you have moved on to stone fruits and strawberries, but I didn’t want to let another year slip by without posting this recipe for ramp carbonara. It’s nothing revolutionary, just a simple spaghetti carbonara dressed up for spring. Spaghetti carbonara is one of my favorite meals, rich with eggs and cheese. I probably make it more often than I should, given how indulgent it is, but I love it.

I’ve never seen a ramp growing. They have sort of a woodsy mystique about them, one of the first spring edibles to hit the markets, gathered in wild forests some unknown distance away. I picture them growing in quiet, verdant groves, their dark green leaves waving gently in filtered forest light. Perhaps they’ll be the next on the list of foolhardy things we are trying to grow in our little urban backyard. Although, like asparagus, they need several years to establish themselves. I’m not sure we have the patience.

I loved the idea of the long, thin ramp leaves winding through the pasta like noodles, so the first time I tried this, I left the ramp leaves whole. While it was beautiful to look at, it left me chewing (and chewing and chewing) big mouthfuls of ramp, which wasn’t particularly pleasant. So this time around, I treated the ramps with a bit more finesse. I sliced the leaves into thin strips and just barely cooked them, keeping their texture crisp. It worked out much better.

This came out lovely. While spaghetti covered in cheese is always good, there’s a big difference between a good carbonara and a great carbonara. This one was great. I thickened the sauce with a little bit of mascarpone so it was truly creamy. Instead of parmesan alone, I used a mix of parmesan and pecorino. Of course the ramps, swirled into the noodles, made it garlicky and a little special. And the finishing touch – a shower of meyer lemon zest – brought it all together.

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More Ramp recipes…

Ramp, Cheddar, and Bacon Buttermilk Biscuits

Polenta Pizza with Wild Mushrooms and Ramp Pesto

Quinoa, Cauliflower, and Ramp Cakes

Ramp Carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara with a spring twist – whole ramps, pecorino cheese, and meyer lemon zest.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 3-4

Ingredients

• 8 medium-sized ramps
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 oz. pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz. grated pecorino cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 2 oz. grated parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• zest from 1 Meyer lemon
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Prepare the ramps by washing thoroughly to rinse away any dirt, and gently patting the leaves dry. Separate the round white bulbs from the leaves. Trim any stringy white roots from the bulb and discard the roots, then finely dice the ramp bulb. Slice the ramp leaves into very thin strips, then set aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and saute until it is crispy and brown all over, which should take about 6-8 minutes. After 3-4 minutes, add the diced ramp bulb to the pan. Keep a close eye on the pancetta and stir frequently – pancetta takes a while to start browning but can go to under-cooked to burned in a very short period of time.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, and mascarpone until smooth. Stir in the black pepper, Meyer lemon zest, and the cooked pancetta. Set aside.
5. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to package directions, until just al dente. Drain, leaving just a few tablespoons of the cooking water in the bottom of the pot with the pasta. Add the hot pasta and reserved cooking water to the egg mixture and quickly toss with tongs to create a creamy sauce from the eggs and cheese. Do this immediately after adding the pasta to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Add the ramp leaves to the pasta and toss a few times just to wilt the leaves. Serve immediately.

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It’s time for the (slightly belated) final post for fava bean week. It’s another recipe inspired by Italy – homemade ravioli filled with a fava bean, mascarpone, and ricotta mixture and served in a two-ingredient truffle butter sauce. Because it turns out that when one of your ingredients is truffle butter, you don’t need much else.

While fava beans are abundant in Italy and Portugal, they aren’t particularly common in the US, even at the height of their season. They occasionally make an appearance at Wholefoods, and some people have found them frozen at Trader Joe’s, but I couldn’t find any near me. We are growing a long row of them, but they won’t be ready until late June, about the same time that Bostonians will be able to find them at local farmer’s markets.

So what’s a fava bean lover to do? I’ve basically been rabid for them in anticipation of the series, knowing it would be difficult to get my hands on enough for several recipes. I’ve started harassing the staff at Wholefoods, begging for them to go back into the stock room and bring me a few pounds. I made my friend Veronika walk through all of the Wholefoods in Cambridge with me – surprisingly, the little Wholefoods had some and the big one didn’t. It doesn’t help that you need about 1 pound of pods for every cup of beans, so what may look like a lot of beans disappears surprisingly quickly.

And then, unexpectedly, I found fava bean nirvana – Eataly. While out shopping for  wedding shoes with my mom, we stopped in at the new Eataly in Boston. I needed truffle butter for this recipe, and figured it made more sense to pay a little more at a store that I knew would carry it than to schlep all over looking for it. If you’ve never been, Eataly is like the Ikea of Italian food, except everything is expensive. You have to wind your way through the massive store in a certain order.  You’ll pass the gelato and pastry counters, a case full of beautiful seafood, a deli counter with dozens of prosciuttos, and rows of dry and canned goods. After weaving my way through the tempting rows filled with jars of fancy tomatoes and olive oils and capers,I found the produce section. There, next to a beautiful basket of morel mushrooms, were all the fava beans I could want. So now I know. And if you’re in Boston, New York, or Chicago, you know too.

Back to the ravioli. Every once in a while Trevor and I break out the pasta machine and make a batch of homemade pasta. I find it quite therapeutic to make, although our pasta is never quite as tender as I want. It’s fun to customize, though, and this filling is really lovely. The sweet mascarpone and ricotta really mellow out the fava flavor. We tossed the ravioli with a quick burro fuso – truffle butter melted and whisked with a bit of warm water. Simple, elegant, and springlike, a homemade pasta worth the effort.

More Fava Bean Recipes…

Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Prosciutto

Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Fava Bean Soup with Mascarpone, Mint, and Pancetta

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Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter Sauce

Homemade Ravioli with a Fava Bean, Mascarpone and Ricotta Filling. Served in a simple Truffle Butter burro fuso sauce.

Adapted from SPQR. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup blanched, peeled fava beans (from 1 pound of fresh beans)
• 1 TBS chopped fresh mint (from 10–12 leaves)
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 recipe homemade pasta dough
• 2 oz. truffle butter
• 3 TBS warm water (preferably the pasta cooking water).
• grated pecorino cheese, for serving

Instructions

1. Add the fava beans, mint, mascarpone, and ricotta to a food processor. Process until smooth and fluffy. Season to taste with sea salt. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
2. Use a pasta machine to roll out the pasta dough in thin sheets. Target the third or fourth thinnest setting as your ultimate thickness of the pasta.
3. Lay the pasta sheets flat on a lightly floured surface, covering the sheets you aren’t using with a piece of plastic wrap. Use a knife to score the pasta sheets into 2 inch squares. Place 2 teaspoons of the chilled filling in the center of half the squares. Wet your finger with water and run it along the edge of each square, then cover the squares with filling with another sheet of the pasta. Press the sheets firmly together around the edges of each filled square, forming ravioli. Use a ravioli cutter or knife to cut the ravioli apart, then firmly press the edges together again to ensure there are no air bubbles. Repeat until you have used all of the pasta dough, re-rolling any dough scraps as needed.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Gently place the ravioli in the boiling water and cook just until al dente, about 2-3 minutes. They should be floating at the surface of the water when they are ready. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and place them on a large plate. Drizzle the ravioli with just a little olive oil to keep them from sticking.
5. Add the 3 TBS of the pasta cooking water to a small frying pan, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Whisk in the truffle butter one piece at a time, allowing the butter to melt between additions. When you have incorporated all of the truffle butter, add the cooked ravioli to the frying pan and toss gently to coat with the butter sauce. Divide between plates, sprinkle with the grated pecorino, and serve immediately.

The post Ingredient of the Week: Fava Beans // Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

At this time of year I get so anxious for spring to arrive. The first few weeks of April are a special kind of torture for New Englanders. One moment it’s 70° and sunny and I’m sure that it’s time to plant the tomatoes, and the next day I’m wearing three layers while trodding through the rain. Every year I find myself scrolling back through my Instagram feed trying to find the moment when spring arrived. When did the apple trees bloom? When did the crocuses pop? It had to be earlier last year, didn’t it?

Slowly but surely, it’s coming. We had a weekend with a hint of sunburn, a beer on the porch in the afternoon, and a promise of more warm days to come. The peas have sprouted and we check on them three times a day, the only denizens of our garden so far. The trees are in that tentative green stage, and I find myself looking up every 10 minutes, as if they may somehow magically burst into blossom over the course of an afternoon. But that’s how it feels when it finally happens, isn’t it? One morning the gray branches and bare against the spring blue sky, practically bursting with anticipation, and the next somehow everything is green and lush.

But all this is the essence of spring, is it not? The uncertainty, the anticipation, the oscillation between summer and winter. So, thank you, spring, for showing up. For teasing us with sunshine and letting us plunge our hands into the soil. For the first signs of green and even for the cool nip in the wind. I promise to enjoy every moment of you, the most fleeting of seasons. I’ll enjoy the rainy days with fat raindrops pounding against the roof. I’ll enjoy every blossom you toss our way – first, the purple and yellow crocus tips, then the showy magnolia blooms, the showers of pink apple blossoms and the regal irises.

Because every season needs at least one or two go-to pasta recipes, I’ve been developing spring pastas. I’m trying to build a collection for each season, like this Creamy Mushroom Pasta and this Heirloom Tomato Spaghetti. And now, my latest for spring – Goat Cheese Stuffed Shells with Spring Vegetables. They have all the usual spring suspects – peas, asparagus, goat cheese, lemon – tucked inside thick pasta shells. The filling also includes ricotta, mozzarella, and chopped spinach. So much cheese! So many vegetables! The finishing touch is a quick bechamel sauce and just a little bit more cheese before baking.

A word of warning: these contain an almost lethal amount of cheese, as you might have guessed from the above. Pace yourself and remember that this batch should serve 8-10 people! Four or five shells is a good serving size, and it’s easy to wolf them down. Serve alongside a salad or some bright steamed asparagus for balance.

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Goat Cheese Stuffed Shells with Peas and Asparagus

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipes. Serves 8-10.

• One 12-oz. box of jumbo pasta shells
• 6 oz. soft goat cheese
• 1 lb. ricotta cheese
• 8 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated and divided
• 1 egg
• 1 cup (6 oz.) frozen spinach
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1 lb. asparagus, ends trimmed
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 TBS butter
• 3 TBS flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk, warmed in the microwave
• sea salt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta shells and cook for the amount of time specified on the packages. Err on the side of undercooking the pasta just a little bit – if you overcook the shells they are more likely to fall apart when stuffing. Drain the shells and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the goat cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the ricotta cheese and 6 oz of the mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. Reserve the remaining mozzarella cheese for topping the shells. Add the egg to the cheese mixture and beat slightly, stirring to combine evenly with the cheeses.
3. Add the frozen spinach to a microwaveable bowl with a little bit of water. Microwave until fully thawed, about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Use a spoon to press any excess liquid out of the spinach, draining the liquid out of the bowl. When the spinach is dry, add to the bowl with the cheeses and stir to combine. Now add the peas to the microwaveable bowl with a little water and microwave for 60-90 seconds to defrost the peas. Drain the liquid from the bowl and add the peas to the spinach and cheese mixture, stirring to combine.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer. When simmering, add the asparagus and blanch until bright green, about 90 seconds. Drain immediately and rinse the asparagus under cold running water to stop the cooking. Cut the asparagus into small pieces, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch long, and add to the cheese filling. Add the lemon zest and black pepper, stir to combine, and set aside.
5. To prepare the bechamel sauce, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and stir into the butter. Cook the flour and butter, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to color, about 2 minutes. Slowly pour in the warm milk, stirring as you do to incorporate the milk into the roux. Cook the bechamel, stirring the whole time, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon but still runs freely when lifted. This should only take 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste with sea salt.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread a little bit of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish (to help keep the shells in place as you fill them). Working one at a time, spoon the cheese and vegetable mixture inside the pasta shells, using about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of filling per shell. As you stuff them, line the shells up on the casserole dish in a single layer. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top of the shells, then sprinkle the reserved grated mozzarella over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve warm.

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I have the perfect recipe for your last heirloom tomato – I hope you’ve been saving it. When all of our beautiful, Striped German tomatoes ripened seemingly simultaneously at the end of September, I was sort of at a loss for what to do with them all. I like tomatoes but I don’t love tomatoes, at least the way some people do. You will probably never catch me eating a tomato like an apple. I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit it but you might actually find me picking the tomato out of a sandwich now and then, if it’s a particularly bad tomato. So I was a bit stressed by the idea of using up 12 pounds of beautiful homegrown tomatoes before they went bad.

I was flipping through my favorite cookbooks, looking for tomato-inspiration, when I came across a recipe for Spaghetti with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil and Bottarga Breadcrumbs in Sunday Suppers at Lucques, which is my very favorite cookbook, at least currently (all of Suzanne’s recipes are so spot on, and seemingly timeless, given that the flavors still sound incredible over 10 years after the book was published). While I wasn’t looking for anything as complicated as making homemade breadcrumbs flavored with cured tuna roe on this particular evening, the other flavors in the recipe sounded just right, so I made a few quick modifications and tried it. It was good, but not mind-blowing. But I loved the idea of the dish, and there were elements that were really strong – I loved the mellow sweetness of the onions melding with the tangy-sweet tomato, the way the rosemary fried in olive oil seemed to perfume the whole dish, and the process of cooking the spaghetti in the sauce so it would soak it up. It just needed more body and more salt. So I kept trying the recipe, adding a spoonful of capers here, toning down the chile heat, and finally, the move that sealed the deal, stirring in a generous spoonful of mascarpone cheese, which transformed the sauce into something silky and luxurious that coated every noodle.

Now that it’s perfect, I want to eat this spaghetti every day. Which is why, although I considered it, I couldn’t wait until next tomato season to share this with you. I want you to be able to try it now, with those last tomatoes. And after this I promise that it’s going to be all soups and roasts and dumplings and pumpkin-y things around here.

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Heirloom Tomato and Sweet Onion Spaghetti

Inspired by Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Serves 2-3.

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 small red chile, seeded and finely minced OR 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 large sweet onion, peeled, halved, and cut into very thin half-ring slices
• 2 large heirloom tomatoes (about 2 pounds total), cored and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 TBS capers
• 1/4 c. mascarpone cheese
• 10 leaves fresh basil, rolled and julienned
• 2 TBS chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 oz. parmesan cheese, shaved into flakes with a vegetable peeler

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the rosemary leaves and the minced chile or red pepper flakes. Saute until fragrant and sizzling, about 60 seconds. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the onion slices and saute, stirring frequently until very tender and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the tomato pieces and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes have softened into a sauce and the sauce has thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
3. When your sauce is almost ready, add the spaghetti to the boiling water. Cook until it is almost al dente – drain the pasta about 1-2 minutes before it is done (you are going to finish cooking it in the sauce). Transfer the hot pasta to the pan with the tomatoes and toss to coat. Add the butter and capers and toss with the pasta and sauce. Cook for 1-2 minutes longer then remove from the heat. Stir in the mascarpone cheese until it has coated all of the pasta. Sprinkle the sliced basil and parsley over the top of the pasta and stir to mix. Divide the pasta between 2 or 3 plates and top each serving with some of the flaked parmesan cheeese. Serve immediately.

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For the first 25 years of my life, I abhorred seafood. All of it. Yes, including lobster. Yes, including shrimp. I’ve written about it before so I won’t rehash it again. Suffice it to say, that through travel and the necessity of eating what’s available/local/good, I got over it. And in the past few months, the amount – and variety – of seafood that I eat has grown exponentially. I just got home from a week in Portugal where, not only did I eat some form of seafood every day, I ate, and loved, octopus, squid, and scallops. My mother wouldn’t recognize the girl who used to cry through meals when a “no thank you portion” of baked cod sat sadly on her plate.

This summer, I’ve been cooking lots of seafood at home, too – perhaps to make up for lost time, or perhaps because it just goes so well with a chilled glass of white wine. To celebrate my newfound love of seafood, I put together a little Italian seafood dinner paired with three La Crema wines. It’s the sort of meal that demands to be eaten outside at the end of a hot, sunny day, when the sun is just beginning to slip behind the trees and the breeze picks up again. It’s also the sort of meal that should be lingered over, with plenty of conversation and several bottles of wine on ice, within arm’s reach. It’s slow food.

The first course is a take on Mussels Bruschetta – sauté fennel and garlic until tender and fragrant, then steam the mussels just until they open. Add a splash of Chardonnay, a handful of tomatoes, and fresh basil and parsley, then serve on top of freshly-toasted bread. Set the toasts out on a tray and open a bottle of La Crema Monterey Chardonnay to kick off the evening. Next, a Salmon Carpaccio served on a salad of spicy greens, a light, refreshing, and elegant summer dish. The carpaccio – like an Italian-style ceviche – relies on juicy lemons and herbs like parsley and thyme to both flavor and “cook” the raw fish. Pair it with a crisp, bright La Crema Pinot Gris.

The main event is a Seafood Pasta with Squid, Clams, and Tomatoes – because in my mind, no Italian meal is complete without pasta. Wide rough-cut noodles of eggy pappardelle tossed with flash-fried squid, steamed clams, and fresh tomatoes make a simple and delicious main. If you have the time to make the fresh pasta yourself, do it. The ritual of making pasta at home – cracking the eggs into a well of flour; drawing the tines of a fork through the mixture until it is no longer eggs and flour but a dough; slowly kneading the dough until it’s soft and pliable; rolling the dough into thinner and thinner sheets; folding and pressing and re-rolling; cutting the sheets into thick noodles; hanging them to dry on wooden dowels – takes time and love but it’s so worth it. With the pasta, serve your last bottle of wine, a chilled, buttery La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

You can find recipes for all three dishes on the La Crema blog – Mussels and Fennel Bruschetta, Salmon Carpaccio and Spicy Greens Salad, and Seafood Pasta with Squid, Clams, and Tomatoes.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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I spent this past week in Hong Kong, on my first work trip in two months. This trip felt a lot easier than some of the others I’ve taken this year, for a number of reasons. For one, it was a lot easier to say goodbye after so much uninterrupted time at home, a much-needed break after the insanity of the first 8 months of this year. And Hong Kong is such an exciting city, with great food and a ton to see, it made the week fly by.

When I’m gone for more than a day or two, I have a tendency to cook up a bunch of different meals and then leave them in the fridge. I’m not consciously doing it to make sure Trevor stays fed while I’m gone, as he’s a very good cook (despite his tendency to eat primarily chips, salsa and hot dogs while I’m gone… I think that habit is more of a celebration of his brief freedom from bounty bowls and green vegetables). But maybe I’m subconsciously doing it out of guilt for leaving so often. Regardless of the reason, I haven’t heard any complaints. This time, I left him with not one but two big batch meals, a steak and ale pie (recipe coming soon!) and a tray of this lasagna.

Over the past few months I’ve been experimenting with lasagna recipes, which I’ll admit, is kind of a fattening thing to experiment with. The first one I tried was a classic lasagna Bolognese, adapted from the over-the-top Serious Eats version. It was delicious, but it took like 6 hours to make from start to finish and was also a little too soupy (probably because I lacked patience in cooking the ragu down to the right consistency and then letting it cool). Next I tried this Wild Mushroom Lasagnette, which was much faster and had great flavors, but was a little dry. So I came up with my own version, using tons of wild mushrooms, fresh fall herbs like sage and rosemary, a rich béchamel sauce, ricotta, and grated taleggio cheese. I won’t say that I’ve reached lasagna perfection, but I will say that when I got home from my trip last night the entire tray of lasagna was gone… so I know it was good.

Wild Mushroom Lasagna

Serves 6-8. Inspired by Bon Appetit and Serious Eats.

• 2 TBS butter
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 TBS chopped fresh sage
• 1  TBS chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 lb. oyster mushrooms, sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1 bunch Tuscan kale, leaves removed from stems and roughly chopped
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 TBS butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 TBS flour
• 2 c. whole milk
• 1/2 lb. taleggio cheese, grated
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1 lb. whole milk ricotta cheese

1. Finely chop the fresh herbs and mix together in a small bowl. Melt 1/3 of the butter and 1/3 of the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the oyster mushrooms to the pan in a single layer, and sprinkle with 1/3 of the chopped herbs and a pinch of sea salt. Let cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, then flip with a spatula and brown on the other side. Mushrooms should be golden brown all over and slightly crisp when finished. Transfer oyster mushrooms to a bowl and repeat the process with the shiitakes and criminis, cooking each type separately in a new batch of butter, olive oil, herbs, and sea salt.
2. Once all the mushrooms are cooked, return them all to the pan and add the wine and kale to the pan. Simmer the mixture until the kale is tender and the wine has mostly evaporated. Add the heavy cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes longer. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper, then remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Add the 3 TBS of butter to a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour all at once and stir into the butter to form a paste. Cook for 1 minute, until flour is lightly browned and nutty smelling. Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking as you do to incorporate the milk smoothly into the roux. Once you have added all the milk, cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the sauce from the heat. Reserve a small portion of the grated taleggio cheese to the side for topping the lasagna, then stir the rest of the cheese in a handful at a time, until it is fully melted. Stir in the nutmeg. Set the béchamel sauce to the side.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. To assemble the lasagna, place a thin layer of ricotta cheese on the bottom of a large casserole dish. Cover the ricotta with a layer of noodles. Top the noodles with a layer of mushroom filling, a thin layer of ricotta, and a layer of béchamel sauce, spreading each layer out thinly to cover the entire area. Repeat this layering – noodles, mushrooms, ricotta, béchamel – until you have used all of the filling and almost all of the noodles and béchamel. Your last layer should consist of noodles, topped with béchamel, and then sprinkled with the reserved taleggio cheese. I usually get between 3-5 layers out of this amount of filling. Place the lasagna on a baking sheet to catch any drips, and place in the oven. Bake until noodles are tender and cheese on top is browned, about 40 minutes.

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I’m home! It’s lovely to be here, truly. I have one more trip to Chile the last week of August and then it looks like I might be here for six weeks. Six weeks! After the year I’ve had, that is my idea of the ultimate luxury – it will be the longest stretch of time that I’ve had at home all year. Fingers crossed that nothing changes and it actually happens.

I needed this weekend. A weekend with no work, no house projects – just hanging out with Trevor and doing summery things. I think it might be the first weekend we’ve had like that all summer – June and July were consumed with packing and moving (and a long weekend in Colombia thrown in there), plus a few trips to Maine which is one of my favorite favorite things to do but is not the same as being at home, doing home things. We checked on the garden, spent a few hours at the beach, took a long Sunday afternoon nap, and ate plenty of good, summery food. It’s really nice just to be together, too – absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that stuff.

After visiting the garden, which is sort of in disarray since it hasn’t exactly been a priority this year, we used the handful of tomatoes we picked and the eggplant my dad brought us to make a quick caponata for lunch. Caponata is a lovely way to use up August produce – it’s easy, herbal, doesn’t require you to turn on the oven, and is as good cold as it is hot. It can be tossed with pasta, or simply slathered on a good piece of sourdough along with a dollop of creamy ricotta. We opted for the latter serving method and it was perfect.

Sicilian Eggplant Caponata

Adapted slightly from Green Kitchen Travels. Serves 4.

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 large eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 sweet red pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• sea salt
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 large handful basil leaves, torn into pieces
• 1 large handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 large handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 4 medium tomatoes, cut into large pieces
• 3 TBS capers, drained
• 16 green olives, cut in half
• 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1 loaf sourdough bread, for serving
• 1/2 c. ricotta cheese, for serving

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the eggplant, red pepper, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Season with sea salt. Saute until eggplant is beginning to brown, about 5-8 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, onion, basil, parsley, and mint to the pan. Saute until onion is soft and herbs are wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, capers, olives, and apple cider vinegar and cook until veggies are soft and saucy, about 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
3. Cut sourdough into thick slices, and spread each slice with a thick layer of ricotta. Top with a heaping spoonful of the caponata and serve. Caponata will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days.

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As you know, we are currently in transition mode. We’re fully moved into our new house, but it doesn’t quite feel like home, and there’s still a lot to be done to fix it up. The kitchen was completely unusable for the first few weeks we were there, but as of Monday, we’re starting to get back into the rhythms of cooking.

Earthbound Farm asked me to develop a recipe using their Kale Italia salad blend, and I decided that using the pre-mixed, pre-washed greens as the base for a simple recipe would be another good way to ease back into cooking. Given the state of our kitchen, I had very specific requirements for this recipe: use as few utensils as possible, be quick to make (with limited use of appliances that create heat in 90° weather), minimize leftovers so that they fit into the tiny fridge, and only use fresh ingredients that can be completely used up in one night. And really, apart from the leftover component, perhaps, isn’t this what many people want from a weeknight dinner?

Pesto is a great option when you want to turn a lot of fresh greens into a manageable volume of food. Of course, it’s the same amount of greens overall – it can just be consumed in fewer bites (and eating an entire box of greens in one sitting can be a rather daunting prospect.) I’ve been successful making pesto from kale, as well as from arugula. Mizuna, with it’s tangy, mustardy flavor didn’t feel like much of a stretch as a pesto candidate. That left radicchio as the only question mark from the Kale Italia blend, and I decided it would be a low risk experiment to give it a try.

The result was excellent – a bright, zingy pesto full of flavor. We tossed it with some gnocchi, fresh mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes for an easy, summery weeknight dinner. Next time you’re in the supermarket, keep your eye out for Earthbound Farm’s Kale Italia product – it’s a great way to easily get a lot of flavors (and nutrition) into your next meal. Here’s a quick coupon if you’re interested!

Kale Italia Pesto Gnocchi

Serves 4. A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe.

• 2 TBS pine nuts
• 4 oz. parmesan cheese, cut into chunks
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• One 5-oz. package of Earthbound Farm Kale Italia Salad Blend
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. gnocchi, prepared according to package directions
• 1 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
• 8 oz. fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces

1. To make the pesto, place the pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor and blend until a rough paste is formed. Add the Kale Italia a handful at a time, blending in between additions and scraping down the sides of the food processor if necessary, until you have blended all of the Kale Italia into the pesto. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste, and pulse a few times to incorporate into the pesto.
2. Toss the pesto with the gnocchi, cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella. Best served warm.

This conversation is sponsored by Earthbound Farm. The opinions and text are all mine.

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I’m back in Latin America this week, and headed out now to enjoy a day of wine tasting in Chile (work travel isn’t so bad…). But before I go, I wanted to share some other wine-related news: this summer, I’ll be developing four recipes for La Crema Wines featuring pairings of pork and Pinot Noir. Since I’ve been traveling so much and am always discovering new flavors and cooking styles, the series is going to have a global theme. The first stop on our Pork and Pinot tour – Italy.

This stuffed and rolled pork tenderloin may not be strictly traditional, but it takes all of its inspiration from Italian cuisine. The tenderloin is butterflied and filled with layers of sage and rosemary pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese and prosciutto, then rolled up and roasted to juicy perfection. Slicing into the finished tenderloin reveals a beautiful pink, white, and green spiral, and the herbal, salty flavors of the filling permeate each bite of pork. It’s an entrée that looks and tastes “fancy,” but really requires very little effort – the perfect dish for impressing dinner guests. Serve it alongside a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, and perhaps a platter of simply roasted vegetables, and your next dinner party menu is taken care of.

Stay tuned for more Pork and Pinot! Next up, Vietnam …

Find the recipe for the Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin over on the La Crema blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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There are pros and cons to a travel schedule like mine. On the one hand, I get to fly all over the world for work, experiencing new cultures, meeting new people, trying all kinds of different foods, and exploring major world cities. It’s an amazing opportunity and an incredibly cool part of my job. On the other hand, as anyone who travels a lot can tell you, it can be exhausting and make it difficult to maintain a routine at home. After a long trip like my most recent one, I’m all but brain-dead for the first few days that I’m home, sleeping way more than I normally would and mostly just focused on getting an enormous amount of laundry done. Travel as a lifestyle is a skill, and it’s one I’m still working on.

One challenge of going on longer trips is prepping all my blog posts beforehand – not a whole lot of opportunities to cook in hotel rooms. This can mean that the weekend before a trip is totally consumed by cooking and photographing and preparing posts for a two week period. Sometimes even my best intentions fall short though, and that’s when I turn to my archives – recipes I’ve made and photographed but have never written about. I’m actually home now – I arrived Thursday night – but I still haven’t found the wherewithal to think about cooking anything other than eggs, toast, or reheating leftovers from the freezer. so today’s post is one of those archive ones – my favorite spaghetti and meatballs recipe. It’s another one from Franny’s Simple Seasonal Italian, the same book that inspired my recent bolognese recipe. These meatballs are the best homemade ones that I’ve ever had, super-flavorful and tender. I don’t think there’s any one trick that makes these so good, it’s every element of the recipe added together that does it: the lemon zest, the generous amount of chopped parsley, the parmesan cheese, the mixture of beef and pork, and the crusty chunks of bread soaked in milk in the place of traditional bread crumbs. I like to make a big batch of these and pop half of them in the freezer for nights that I need a quick fix – like the day after arriving home from a long trip. Even if you have a favorite meatball recipe, please give these ones a try, too – they really are delicious.

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Perfect Spaghetti and Meatballs

Recipe adapted from Franny’s Simple Seasonal Italian. Serves 4-6.

• 4 oz. day-old country-style bread
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 c. finely grated parmesan chese
• 1/3 c. finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
• 1 TBS kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. pasta, prepared according to package directions
• your favorite tomato sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Cut the crusts off the bread and then cut the bread into 1/4-inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Pour the milk over the bread and toss to coat. Set aside and let soak for 10 minutes, or until the bread has absorbed all of the milk.
2. In a large bowl, gently fold the beef, pork, onion, cheese, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon zest together until evenly mixed. Stir in the soaked bread crumbs. Try not to over-mix the meat mixture, but to leave it relatively loosely combined.
3. Roll the meat into ping pong sized balls. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place the meatballs an inch apart on the sheet. Brush the meatballs lightly with olive oil and then bake, turning once or twice, until meatballs are golden brown on the outside and cooked through, about 12-15 minutes. Serve on top of the pasta and tomato sauce.

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I’m on the road again this week, back in Bogotá for work. While I won’t deny that I’m really enjoying the sunshine, flowers, and complete absence of snow, I would be lying if I said that there isn’t a part of me that is always missing Trevor when I’m away. I tend to stock up the fridge and cook a bunch of big meals right before I leave – I think feeding him is my way of loving him even when I’m not there to do it in person. This week however I didn’t have the chance to do my usual stock-up. I did leave a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but other than that the fridge situation was a little bleak. However, as I reminded him on the phone tonight, there is a generous amount of this bolognese sauce sitting in the freezer, and it’s about as comforting as comfort food can get.

This recipe is based on one I found in Franny’s: Simple Seasonal Italian. Franny’s is a book that came my way last summer, but was published almost two years ago (which somehow seems like forever in today’s cookbook-laden world). A publicist over at Artisan sent me a copy as a sort of bonus book when I was planning coverage of a current title, noting that although it wasn’t current, she thought I would like it and wanted to share a copy. I do try to keep my cookbook coverage focused on recently published books, so I didn’t plan to do much with Franny’s, but it slowly worked it’s way into my kitchen. First it was the meatballs, which were the most perfect meatballs I’d ever eaten. Then I tried a few hearty soups and pastas with equal success, and soon it had become my first point of research for any classic Italian cooking. So a few weeks back, in the middle of another snowstorm when nothing but a slow-simmering pot of meaty bolognese sauce would do, Franny’s was my first point of reference. I made a few significant changes to meet my tastes – doubling the amount of tomatoes and using a mixture of beef and pork – but the base recipe was just what I needed to make my own perfect pot of bolognese. And now it’s waiting at home to keep Trevor warm and well-fed when I can’t do it myself.

Rigatoni Bolognese

A slow-simmered bolognese sauce with beef, pork and bacon, delicious over pasta.

Recipe adapted from Franny’s Simple Seasonal Italian. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 TBS butter
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/4 lb. bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 2/3 c. dry red wine
• One 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 c. water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 lbs. rigatoni, cooked according to package directions

Instructions

1. In a heavy stockpot, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and pork, season with salt and chili flakes, and cook until browned all the way through. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat to a bowl and set aside. Add the sliced bacon and cook until crispy. Remove the cooked bacon to the bowl with the cooked beef and pork. Drain the fat from the pot, returning 3 TBS of the fat to the pot and discarding the rest.
2. Lower heat to medium-low. Add the minced garlic, onion, and carrot to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and carrot is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, then add the red wine and bring to a simmer.
3. Add the meat and bacon back to the pot, along with the tomatoes, water, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer then cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until ragu has reached desired consistency. Serve immediately on prepared rigatoni.

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We’re leaving for vacation in the morning and I still have about a million and one things to do before that, so I apologize in advance for the brevity and scatteredness of this post. If it illustrates the situation for you, let me just share that I’m sitting in a pile of laundry, eating leftovers of this penne alla vodka cold out of a plastic tupperware. Food blogging isn’t all rustic wooden tables and nice ceramics, guys. Sometimes it’s cold leftovers in tupperware.

Anyway, penne alla vodka. When I was in college, most likely in similar states of chaos, I used to order penne alla vodka from the local Italian place for late-night delivery. It came in a big aluminum container, was just spicy enough, and the sauce to pasta ratio meant I was always spooning sauce out of the container long after I’d eaten the last bite of penne. I hadn’t thought about those glorious containers of terrible-for-you noodles until this fall, when I suddenly started craving them, and since then I’ve whipped up a batch more times than I should probably admit. Let’s just say that I brought a bottle of nice vodka home from Russia last year, and about 90% of it was used in this recipe. That may sound like a waste of good vodka to some, but I don’t regret it one bit. It’s just the perfect thing for harried nights or after a particularly long day – it only takes 20 minutes to make, and hits all the tangy, salty, creamy, spicy notes I crave when I’m feeling less than motivated. I use the Serious Eats recipe as a base, but tone down the vodka and quadruple the red pepper flakes. If you have the time, blend the sauce for that smooth and thick consistency that coats penne so well, but if you’re in a hurry, or just don’t feel like washing your blender, I can attest to the fact that it’s just as good a little bit chunky.

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Penne Alla Vodka

Adapted from Serious Eats. Serves 6.

• 3 TBS butter
• 1 small white onion, peeled and finely diced
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• One 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 c. vodka
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. penne pasta, cooked to al dente

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is fragrant and translucent, but not browned, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes longer, stirring.
2. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the vodka and cook until the alcohol has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a blender, and blend on high until smooth. Return to the saucepan and stir in the heavy cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then toss with the penne and serve immediately.

The post Cravings: Penne Alla Vodka appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: Like many, I’m a long time fan of Green Kitchen Stories, the wonderfully vibrant blog written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. David and Luise are masters of inspired, healthy cooking, making fruits and vegetables shine in new ways with every post. I loved their first book, Vegetarian Everyday, which was released in the states last year (you can see my full write up here), and it quickly became a go-to book for me when I needed something fast and healthy, as evidenced by this baked pistachio falafel, these savory corn muffins and this baked blackberry oatmeal. When they announced that they were writing a second book, this one based on their travels around the world, I immediately knew I had to have a copy. And Green Kitchen Travels, now safely nestled into my cookbook shelf, does not disappoint.

This is one well-traveled family: together with their four year old daughter, Elsa, they have been everywhere from Spain to Mexico to Morocco to Thailand, picking up new flavors and inspiration in every corner of the globe. The recipes they’ve included to mark their travels are not meant to be recreations of authentic local dishes, but instead are healthy recipes in the unique GKS style influenced by the flavors, ingredients, and techniques they’ve found around the world. It’s fusion at its finest – adopting whatever works from each cuisine and blending it with an existing style to create something balanced and new. I was particularly taken by the chapter dedicated to soups: Vietnamese pho and Indian dal and Italian ribollita all in the same few pages! Of course, the pictures are stunning, as anyone who reads their blog already knows. The travel theme just gives the couple the green light to add to their colorful collection of food pictures with jawdropping landscapes from around the world, market scenes dripping with color and life, and of course, their adorable daughter in exotic locales worldwide. I do love the feeling that in a way, this book is a love letter to Elsa, as you see and hear her influence on their journeys and cooking style throughout the pages – this book is very much a family affair.

The Food: The day I left for my recent trip to Malaysia, I felt like cooking just because. Knowing that I wouldn’t be around to eat whatever I made, I flipped through the pages of Green Kitchen Travels looking for something that I could leave behind for Trevor. I quickly settled on this light Italian cake, which felt like the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon espresso on a warm fall day. The cake is gluten-free, made from a combination of polenta and almond flour, and uses only honey as a sweetener, so you can cut yourself a big slice without too much guilt. I’ve had hit or miss results with “healthy” cakes, and in particular cakes made with ricotta, but this one was very good. It was moist and not overly crumbly, with a delicate flavor of lemons, almonds, and honey. It’s not very sweet, so while I’m not sure I’d serve it for dessert, it’s the perfect thing for an afternoon break or an indulgent breakfast.

Recipe Shortlist: Mexican Breakfast Salad; Rye and Chocolate Croissants; Halloumi Veggie Burgers; Sweet Vietnamese Cucumber Salad; Harira Soup (Tomatoes, Chickpeas, and Dates); Baked Eggplant Rolls; Berber Tagine; Sweet Potato and Eggplant Moussaka; Turmeric Lassi

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Green Kitchen Travels from Hardie Grant, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Ricotta and Polenta Almond Cake (Torta di Ricotta e Polenta)

Recipe from Green Kitchen Travels. Serves 8.

• 1/2 c.(100g) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. clear honey
• finely grated zest of three small lemons
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 c. (5 oz) almond flour, or whole almonds, ground into flour in food processor
• 1 c. (4 1/2 oz) fine ground polenta
• 1 c. (9 oz) ricotta, preferably creamy
• 1/2 c. flaked almonds
• powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the base of an 8 inch springform tin with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place the butter, half of the honey, the lemon zest, and the vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until creamy, using an electric mixer if you have one. Add the egg yolks and continue to beat until fully incorporated and creamy. Add the almond flour, polenta, and ricotta and fold everything together using a spatula.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Still beating, drizzle in the remaining honey and continue to beat the egg whites until medium peaks hold and the honey is fully blended in. Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

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I could not be more ready for the weekend. I had one too many 7am meetings this week, each one followed by long days working frantically toward a major deadline Thursday afternoon. The minute the deadline passed, I felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me. I was spent. But now the weekend has arrived and I have two full days to sleep in, not think about insurance, and enjoy the beautiful weather we’re supposed to have. We’re going to head out to the garden to check for tomatoes and squash and blueberries, try and catch a showing of Chef, and hopefully head up to Maine to look for chanterelles with Trevor’s uncle.

One thing that helped me keep my head up during this hectic week was coming home to these delicious basil panna cottas in the fridge – I won’t lie, I had a few bites every night this week. When it comes to basil, my eyes are often bigger than my stomach. I find the scent of basil truly intoxicating, and am seemingly unable to walk by a box in the store or a patch in the garden without taking some home. But its shelf life is shorter than I think, and more often than not I use up a little right away and then end up with a bunch of slimy black leaves a week later, which feels like such a terrible waste. One solution is to mix up and freeze a big batch of pesto, but after a while, as delicious as pesto is, it feels boring.

On the ride home from our garden the other day, a bag of freshly picked basil sitting in my lap, I tried to think of things other than pesto that I might make to use up leaves on their last leg. When I got to basil ice cream, I moved backwards a few steps to basil-infused heavy cream, and then jumped forward again to settle on basil panna cotta. Since I had a few overly ripe apricots in the fridge that needed to be used up as well, I decided on rosé-poached apricots as a topping. I read up on my panna cotta theory in The Best International Recipe (a great resource for knowing how and why recipes work), then changed things up a little, and the result was sublime. Not too sweet, extremely light and smooth, and with delicate, floral flavors, it tasted like a restaurant quality dessert but was extremely simple to execute. It might be my new dinner party go to. If you also have an abundance of basil and quickly ripening stone-fruit sitting on your counter (’tis the season!) I encourage you to give this recipe a go – you won’t be disappointed, and you’ll have spared yourself the sadness of wasted produce.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Basil Panna Cotta with Rosé-Poached Apricots

Serves 4.

• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. basil leaves, washed and dried
• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
• 3/4 c. rosé wine
• 4 fresh apricots, halved and pits removed

1. Add the heavy cream, basil, and 1/4 cup of the sugar to a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out into the cream with a small spoon, then add the vanilla bean pod to the cream as well. Heat the cream over medium heat, stirring gently to dissolve the sugar, until the cream just comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes, then strain the cream through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until cold, at least 30 minutes. Discard the basil.
2. Add the milk to a small saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the milk. Stir gently to combine. Let the gelatin sit for 10 minutes to hydrate, then heat over medium-low heat just until the gelatin dissolves, which should take about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, whisk to combine, then pour into the chilled basil-infused cream. Whisk the mixture for 1 minute to fullly combine and to begin to chill the gelatin, then divide the mixture between four ramekins or glasses, cover each with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, at least two hours.
3. For the apricots: add the remaining 3/4 c. of sugar and the rosé to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then gently place the apricot halves into the pot, submerging in the simmering liquid. Let simmer until soft, about 3-4 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Continue simmering the liquid until it is reduced by half and slightly syrupy, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over the apricots. Cover the apricots and syrup and chill until cold.
4. Serve each panna cotta with one or two apricot halves and a few spoonfuls of syrup poured over the top. Serve cold.

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