Farfalle with Chicken, Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Goat Cheese

It's been a while since I posted a new recipe here, let alone a new recipe that blew me away.

At least, I think this is a new recipe. D* says we've had it before. I don't remember if we did. In any case, I haven't blogged it, so it's probably been at least two years since I made it, if I did.

I wish I knew why this dish was so entirely awesome. Was it the basil, even hydroponically grown? The goat cheese, which melted all creamily into the nooks of the pasta? The fact that I was really, really hungry? I have no idea. But it was good.

Farfalle with Chicken, Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, and Goat Cheese

I made it pretty much as written, except for using grape tomatoes. I left them whole, and even though I don't generally care for tomatoes, I loved their sweet bursts of flavor in this. I am looking forward to making this again in the summer, when fresh ingredients should make it even better.

Barefoot Contessa Seafood Gratin

For this week's "cook from a book" goal recipe, I turned once again to the Barefoot Contessa and somehow landed on this as something that would be different from my usual cooking, and somewhat fun to make. I was planning to work from home that day, so I would have the extra time to fuss in the kitchen.

I suspect that for most people, this is one of those "use every pot you own" type recipes--I certainly used most of mine, along with an army of prep bowls. The result, however, was probably the best thing I have made in months. This was, to my mind, restaurant-quality stuff. Maybe not the French Laundry, but a decent restaurant.

I made a fair number of changes. I don't like shrimp, and for only two of us 1 1/2 lbs would have been way too much anyway, so I used bay scallops and cod.  I wasn't about to go looking for fresh tarragon in January; instead, I sprinkled some herbes de Provence among the bread crumbs. And I don't own any gratin dishes, so I used a relatively small baking dish.

It was amazing. I took a picture, which I will add to this post at some point.

The only other thing I want to mention is that this is really, really, really rich. So if you're making it for a dinner party or something, make sure dessert is on the light side!


1 cup seafood stock or clam juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons good white wine, such as Chablis, divided
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
8 ounces raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half crosswise
8 ounces raw halibut, cut into1-inch chunks
8 ounces cooked lobster meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cups julienned leeks, white and light green parts (2 large)
1 1/2 cups julienned carrots (3 carrots)
1 cup panko (Japanese dried bread crumbs)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place 4 individual gratin dishes on sheet pans. (If recipe is doubled serve it in a 14 by 9 1/4-inch oval gratin dish.)
2. Combine the stock, cream, 1/2 cup of the wine, the tomato puree, and saffron in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and add the shrimp. After 3 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the shrimp to a bowl. Add the halibut to the stock for 3 minutes, until just cooked through, and remove to the same bowl. Add the cooked lobster to the bowl.
3. Continue to cook the sauce until reduced by half, about 12 minutes. Mash 1 tablespoon of the butter together with the flour. Whisk the butter mixture into the sauce along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
4. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saute pan. Add the leeks and carrots and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of wine, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Set aside.
5. Combine the panko, Parmesan, parsley, tarragon, and garlic. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and mix it into the crumbs until they're moistened.
6. Divide the seafood among the 4 gratin dishes. Strew the vegetables on top of each dish. Pour the sauce equally over the seafood and vegetables and spoon the crumbs evenly on top. Bake for 20 minutes, until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve hot.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

First truly stand-out recipe of the new year, these were amazingly good, and not much trouble at all to make. I am going to have to keep an eye out for excuses to have them again. Although everyone I asked for advice suggested salad, I served them with mugs of Roasted Butternut Squash Soup -- it's January, I wanted a fairly substantial mid-day meal, and just could not face the thought of serving something cold.

1 package puff pastry, defrosted
Olive oil
4 c thinly sliced yellow onions
3 large cloves garlic, cut into thin slivers
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp dry white wine
2 tsp minced fresh thyme
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan
4 oz garlic-and-herb goat cheese
1 large tomato, cut into 1/4-inch slices
3 Tbsp julienned basil leaves
2 oz Parmesan, shaved with a vegetable peeler

1. Unfold a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out to an 11x11 inch square. Using a six-inch saucer or other object as a guide, cut 2 circles from the sheet of pastry, discarding the excess. Repeat with the second pastry sheet to make 4 circles. Place the circles on 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until read to use. (NOTE: This sort of instruction cracks me up. How big of a refrigerator do you think I have?!)
2. Preheat the oven to 425F.
3. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic. Saute 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are limp and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, wine, and thyme, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from heat.
4. Using a sharp paring knife, score a 1/4 inch border around each pastry circle. Prick the pastry inside the score lines with a fork and sprinkle with a Tbsp of grated Parmesan, staying inside the scored border.
5. Place 1/4 of the onion mixture on each circle. Crumble 1 oz of the goat cheese atop the onions. Place a slice of tomato in the center of each tart. Brush the tomato lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with basil, salt, and pepper. Scatter 4 or 5 shards of Parmesan on each tart.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot or warm.

Serves 4 deliciously. 

I don't know why she always insists on fresh herbs. Dried thyme works perfectly well in this. I did get fresh basil, but in Massachusetts, in winter, it's pretty sorry-looking stuff, though the smell was a wistful reminder of summer. For the tomato I used those cherry tomatoes on the vine, which are picked at something resembling ripe, and piled four or five slices on each tart. Heavens, I am starting to sound like a food snob.

I need to get back into the picture-taking and -uploading habit.

Fennel-Rubbed Pork with Shallot-Pomegranate Reduction

This may be the first legitimate "OMG" recipe of the year. The unique zing of the fennel, the pungency of the cracked pepper, and the sweetness of the pomegranate all come together and you close your eyes and hum.

It's that good. And just to ice the cake, it's easy.

Fennel-Rubbed Pork with Shallot-Pomegranate Reduction

The only question is, what to serve with it. We had a spinach salad, which was fine, and a simple rice pilaf (I didn't make the walnut couscous the link suggests), which was "meh." Maybe the couscous would have been better.

The reduction does tend to run all over the plate, which makes presentation a tad tricky. I'd love to make this for a dinner party someday, and if I did, I think I'd serve in courses, give this the messy run of the plate and maybe have a little risotto or something separately (ooh, an excuse to make lemon risotto again!).

Chicken Biryani

Life has been unexpectedly hectic this week, with a lively meeting schedule, L's tummy bug, and D's newly-developed knee problem. Times like these I can't imagine not having a menu plan; getting off the highway at 5:30, getting home and having to decide then and there what to make for dinner would result in a much higher percentage of our food budget going to takeout food.

But this week I do have a plan, and I was even able to fit in a few minutes over the weekend to look through the latest issues of my cooking magazines and find a new recipe to try. Cooking Light's latest rendition of Chicken Biryani is my first four-star recipe of the year (I'm going to start putting star ratings in the labels so I can find them again later - not sure why I never thought of that!). It's almost no work at all, and though the result might not be quite what you'd get at a restaurant, it's surely good enough to make a standard at home.

I didn't have a jalapeno, but I upped the ginger, and the result was pleasantly warm without being overly spicy. It took just about the thirty minutes called for, making it quite doable on a weeknight--especially since only the first fifteen of that is "active time." I often have problems when making dishes where the rice cooks along with other ingredients, but it was perfectly done. It made for a very satisfying, warming meal on a cold night.

In other news, I've really been sort of hyperfocused on food lately. I think it's the cold weather, or the passage of the holidays, but all I want to do is burrow into a warm place full of good things to eat. I want to make bread and soups and braise things, I want to have warmth. It's not that I mind the weather, per se; I used to say that I hated winter, but now it seems to present an opportunity of sorts. I sit at my desk drinking tea all day, writing online help and dreaming of muffins, chocolate, stews. Unfortunately I can't spend all day cooking even on the weekends, so I've been doing a certain amount of vicarious living through the written word. I am thoroughly out of temper with Bon Appetit after their recent redesign of the magazine, so when my subscription there runs out I will not renew it. But I might replace it with Fine Cooking.