#astorwines

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Very fittingly, I made Japanese and Korean flavor inspired pasta last night. Thanks to my buddies at Quinciple for supplying the recipe and the AMAZING (I’m OBsesseddd) Sfoglini pasta that came tucked in my Quiciple box on Monday. I had a goal to use all of the produce on our fridge last night so as not to waste anything. I have also been dabbling with baking a tiny bit. I won’t supply you with the recipes, but will add the links. Enjoy!

  Buckwheat Radiators with Burdock, Crispy Shitakes and Asparagus

I also used some of the extra Pasta and Asparagus to make a small spin-off Pasta- Buckwheat Radiators (from now will be referred to as BWR’s) with asparagus, EVOO and Créme Fraîche

BWR w/ Burdock, Shitake and Asparagus

BWR w/ Asparagus, EVOO and Creme Fraiche

Ingredients:

3/4 lb Buckwheat Radiators (1/2 lb for burdock shitake pasta; 1/4 lb for Créme Fraîche) *Save Pasta water after boiling!!*

2 pieces Burdock peeled and cut into thin discs

1/3 lb Shitake Muchrooms, de-stemmed and sliced medium-thin. Do not wash. Just brush dirt away with moist paper towel.

1 Bunch Asparagus with the ends cut off and discarded.

3-4 TBSP green garlic minced (2 TBSP for burdock shitake pasta; 2 TBSP for Asparagus prep)

1-2 TBSP Bonji (to taste. Bonji is similar to Soy Sauce but not as salty tasting and has a very in depth flavor)

3 leave Shiso cut into thin ribbons (to taste; I LOVE shiso, it tastes like a mint leave but more mild) 1/4 cup EVOO plus extra if needed

1 TBSP Sugar

1 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar

1 whopping TBSP of Créme Fraîche

Salt & Peppa

Sake Pairing: Sayuri Unfiltered Sake (Sayuri mean “a little lilly” in Japanese! And the Bottle is PINK! STOP IT! How cute?!)

Sayuri

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prep ingredients.

Green Onion, Burdock and Shitake

Shiso

Place Asparagus in baking dish, drizzle EVOO and season with 2 TBSP green garlic, salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Heat up a non-stick 12 inch skillet with 2 TBSP EVOO and add Burdock. Cook for about 2 minutes, add 2 TBSP water to pan and cover with lid to allow the burdock to steam until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Remove lid and let all of the water cook off.  Add green Garlic, and cook another minute longer, until garlic is fragrant. Remove from pan and set aside.

Steam Burdock

Add Green Garlic

Set aside

Using the same pan, add another TBSP or so of EVOO, and add Shitakes. At this point, begin to boil 3 Qt of salted water in a pot for the Pasta. Cook Shitake’s until tender, then add Bonji, vinegar and sugar. Be sure to incorporate all ingredients thoroughly. Let the mushrooms cook until they begin to caramelize and become crispy (about 10 minutes). Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, saving pasta water for sauce. When the Asparagus is finished, remove from oven and cut into 1 inch pieces being very careful since it is HOT! Add  2/3 of the pasta and 3/4 of the asparagus and the burdock mixture to the shitakes in the pan. Drizzle 1/4 EVOO to pasta. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of pasta water and mix. Taste, and add more Bonji if needed. Sprinkle Shiso over top.  Seperate into warmed serving bowls.

For the second pasta: PLace the remining 1/3 pasta into a medium bowl with remaing asparahus. Mixx in Créme Fraîche, salt and peppa, some EVOO. you may add some Shiso on top of this as well if you desire.  

BWR Créme Fraîche

BWR

Shiso

Mangia!

  Here is a pic of some of my recent baking experiments. The first is Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling (my mouth just watered) and Vanilla Butter Cream Meringue Frosting thanks to Cook’s Illustrated Online. They turned out Uh-Mazing! And were actually really easy. Most of the ingredients any chef would have. Just buy some fancy chocolate bars and some Hershey Cocoa and Voila! Easy-Peasy cupcakes!

Last night I made Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze Frosting and HOLY YUM! I just used a recipe I found online from Giada on Food Network. They turned out INCREDIBLE. One hint- I used fresh Ricotta, not that crap they try to pawn of as Ricotta in the dairy isle of the grocery store. Ricotta cheese is fairly easy to make, but a lot of grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Fairway Market make it fresh to buy. I will add cookie pics tomorrow  :)

Mixing the Batch ;)

xoxo MCN

It’s that time of the year! My favorite time- when the flowers are starting to bloom (in NYC they are sprouting up everywhere!) and the weather is warm enough to lose your jacket. Ahhhh… feel the weight off your shoulders from this extremely cold (or what some people say is closer to “normal”) NYC winter.

I discovered this versatile salad when trying to decide what to do with the fennel, and an array of other greens that were sitting in my fridge from a couple weeks worth of Quinciple boxes (don’t judge me! I have a hard time using the greens and potatoes some weeks). So I of course typed in the key word, “fennel” into my online Cook’s Illustrated magazine. A wonderful recipe titled, “Radicchio and Watercress Salad with Warm Fennel and Walnut Dressing” popped up in the search window. Umm… YUM?! I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit because  hate anchovies {{GASP!}} and I had other greens that I wanted to use. So this recipe is the very first cousin to Cook’s Illustrated online magazine’s recipe. (I also own their giant text book which I use all the time! I cross reference other recipe directions with this book. It’s basically my cooking bible). I love this recipe because there is a ton of depth in the flavors. It is both citrusy and nutty, and the warmed dressing turns out just right. Not too vinegary or sour like some vinegar based dressings can (easily) be. I used Capirete Sherry Vinegar, which is delicious! It also pairs wonderfully with a crisp white Rioja (yes- WHITE RIOJA!) which I sipped as I moseyed around my kitchen last week making this salad. This Rioja in particular is Alberti 154 Torrentes Salta La Rioja 2011, compliments of Astor Wines delivery. You will not be upset with this wine. It is crisp and fresh, and will get you in the mood for spring! And salads! Win Win!

Side note: If you are interested, I have discussed the 12 (bottles of wine) under $12 home delivery from Astor Wines in a previous post.

2011 Rioja

2011 Rioja

Side note (I know… a lot of these today): Seriously, if you love home cooking… SUBSCRIBE to Cook’s Illustrated online magazine! It’s UHH-MAZING! #notpaid 

ANYWAYSSSS… This wonderfully diverse salad can be eaten as an appetizer, used as a side, or as the main dish. AND, because of the ingredients, it’s a salad that stays crunchy even after the dressing has been on for a day. Don’t get me wrong- it is definitely best when eaten right away, but I had left overs at work the next day, and I was pretty happy eating my lunch.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

1 Garlic clove (or 3 cloves if you’re Italian or LOVE garlic!)

1 lemon juiced

1 TBSP sherry vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

4-6 turns peppa mill

1/3 cup EVOO plus extra

1 cup red walnuts couresely chopped

1 medium bulb fennel. Watch this video how to trim and cut fennel if you’re not sure.

2 anchovy fillets minced (optional. You can use an extra pinch of salt if you omit these creatures)

1 medium head radicchio

2 cups leafy broccoli Rabe (the CI recipe calls for Watercress)

1 cup mixed greens or spinach

1 grapefruit cut into wedges

Shaved Pecorino Romano from Food Matters Again via Quinciple

Prep all ingredients. Wash all leafy greens and fennel.

Lemon Juice

Grapefruit

Radicchio

Fennel

Walnuts

Dressing: Briskly whisk together garlic, lemon juice,sherry vinegar, salt and peppa. Set aside.

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Action Shot

Action Shot

Dressing

In a non stick sauce pot, on medium heat, add 1 TBSP EVOO and walnuts. Cook for about 3 minutes, until fragrant. Add fennel and cook until slightly softened and browned, another 3 minutes. Add a tsp salt and a few cranks of peppa (to taste). Grab the bowl of dressing. Give it a stir to re-blend. Slowly pour dressing over walnut fennel mixture and turn off heat. Stir with a rubber spatula to evenly coat the walnuts and fennel.

Pour Dressing Over Warm Fennel

Stif to coat evenly

Mmmmmmm!!!

In a large bowl, toss together warm fennel walnut mixture, leafy greens and  radicchio. Divide salad into bowls. Sprinkle shaved pecorino romano over top. Decorate with 2-4 wedges of grapefruit (depending on if it is an appetizer size salad or main course size salad)  Serve immediately.

Mangia!

xoxo MCN