skip to main |
skip to sidebar
when my husband was in law school we spent the majority of our time together on the weekends and almost always stayed home. our time together during the week was interrupted by my job and his studies, so we concentrated our weekends into just "us" time. we often cooked together, mainly breakfast, and one year his sister bought us a sweet little cookbook called a taste for love: a romantic cookbook for two. it was chock full of romantic meal ideas which ranged from inexpensive roasted chickens to elaborate lobster dinners.
we fell in love with one dish in particular and made it a lot the first few years of our marriage. it was called angel hair pasta with braised garlic, and it was divine. in this dish i've attempted (successfully, i believe) to recreate the sauce. i've added a few additional flavors to break up the slightly cloying flavor of the reduced sauce, and i believe they set it off perfectly. cook this for your loved one and you are sure to have a romantic night in.
ingredients:
12 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup of light brown sugar, packed
1 cup of chicken stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound angel hair pasta
5 ounces goat cheese
1/2 a package (or about 1/2 cup) of pine nuts
directions:
bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
toast the pine nuts in a large pan over high heat. be sure to toss them frequenly and keep an eye on them, they burn quickly. remove from the pan once they have a nice golden color and you can smell them.
heat the olive oil in the same pan over medium high heat. saute the garlic for a few moments - 45 seconds tops - and then add the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. mix these two together to form a viscous liquid, and then gently stir in the chicken stock (it will take a while to combine). reduce the heat to medium and let this simmer until it is reduced by half and significantly thicker, stirring occasionally.
when the sauce is close to being thick enough, cook the pasta and then drain it and add it back to the pot. add in the pine nuts, and then about half the sauce and stir. crumble in half of the goat cheese and stir again. plate the pasta and then top with more crumbled goat cheese and drizzle on more sauce. enjoy!
notes:
simple and delicious, this dish is a crowd pleaser. you can add in roasted vegetables or even sliced or shredded chicken, these flavors pair well with anything.
on the eve of thanksgiving the last thing I want to think about is cooking a large complicated meal. simplicity is the key for nights like tonight...when i have prep work for tomorrows long day of cooking weighing heavily on my mind.
this recipe has been gently simmering in my imagination for a while, but it wasn't until i was at my mom's a few weeks ago when the final ingredient made its appearance in her refrigerator door: dalmatia fig spread.
now, i'm admittedly a huge fan of the fig, but i've got to tell you...this stuff is good. i'm also serving it tomorrow alongside a meat and cheese platter for pre-turkey noshing. it's sticky sweet and studded with those perfect fig seeds that get caught in your teeth. it takes me back to childhood and memories of eating dozens of fig newtons in my grandmother's kitchen in michigan.
the recipe below won't have precise measurements because, let's be honest, i didn't measure the bread before i cut it, nor did i count the paper thin slices of pancetta...but i'm sure you can figure it out.
ingredients:
dalmatia fig spread
paper thin slices of pancetta
goat cheese
one large sweet (i used a mayan) onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
salt
french bread (or ciabatta if you are feeling authentic)
special equipment:
panini press or
aluminum foil and a tea kettle (see below)
directions:
heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, then add the onions and some salt (a good sized pinch) to help them sweat. cook the onions slowly until they begin to brown and caramelize, then remove from heat and wipe out pan.
slice the bread in half lengthwise, and then spread the insides with the dalmatia. on the bottom half layer on the goat cheese, then the pancetta, and finally the onions. top with the...well, top of the bread.
i don't own a panini press, and though i think they are lovely machines my baltimore rowhome kitchen doesn't have the room for storing such luxuries, so i improvise when i make paninis. if you have a press, this will be a no brainer, but if not, read on. heat the same skillet with some olive oil (not a ton, but i do like the fresh flavor it imparts...so i use about a tablespoon - but these are your sandwiches.) when it's medium high place the sandwich in the pan. fill your tea kettle with water and rip off a sheet of aluminum foil. cover the top of the sandwich with the foil and then balance the kettle on the sandwich. cook for about 3 minutes, then remove kettle and foil and flip sandwich (see it flattened it, right!?) repeat on the other side, remove from pan and marvel at how the flavors come together. enjoy.
notes:
this one is a no-brainer.
take bread, an amazing cured ham from italy, goat cheese, caramelized onions and add in fig spread and you are bound to have a success. this literally takes about 12 minutes, and as you can see i served it with salad...which makes me feel less guilty about the indulgent ingredients in the panini.
