Pasta with White Bean Ragout

A few years ago I had a delicious pasta topped with white beans.  Unfortunately, I was never able to track down the recipe and have found myself craving that pasta ever since with no way to make it.  I searched high and low for a comparable recipe, but none quite lived up to the flavors in that original dish.

Luckily for me, my sister sent me a recipe a few weeks ago for a white bean ragout.  It turns out that she had become obsessed with a similar dish at a Greek restaurant that served white beans over pita bread.  Just like me she had been trying tons of recipes and this was the first one that came close.  Now I'm sharing the recipe with you with the modifications that I made so that you too can enjoy it!  My sister served her version over chicken, I decided to go with pasta, but I think that you could serve this ragout over anything from rice to bread (or if you added some extra broth you could even serve it as a soup) and I am sure that it would still taste just as delicious.

Pasta with White Bean Ragout

4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz tomato paste
1 15 oz can of white kidney (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups of vegetable stock
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
freshly grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb penne (or other tubular) pasta

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Dice onion and add to skillet.  Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent and begins to slightly brown, like so:

 Add garlic and tomato paste.  Stir to mix and cook for about 3 minutes:

Add beans and stir to mix well.  Cook until beans are just heated through, about 2 minutes:

Add two cups of stock.  Increase heat to medium high.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer rapidly until mixture reduces by about half:

Add remaining cup of stock, diced tomatoes, and parmesan to taste.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until tomatoes are heated through (about 5 minutes).

Ladle mixture over pasta.  Top with grated parmesan (if desired) and enjoy!

Pasta alla Carbonara

Bacon.  Eggs.  Cheese.  They're three of my favorite ingredients.  And let's be honest - it's pretty difficult to think of a way to improve upon that classic combo.

Unless, of course, you decide to combine bacon, eggs, and cheese with pasta.  Then all bets are off.

Traditional pasta alla carbonara is made with guanciale (pork jowl) and tossed with raw egg.  But I thought I'd make a more weeknight friendly version of the recipe by substituting bacon for the guanciale and topping the finished pasta with a poached egg.

Pasta alla Carbonara

6 oz applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 lb rigatoni
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp freshly ground pepper

Poached Eggs

1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 eggs

Cook bacon until crispy in a large frying pan over medium-low heat.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate and allow to drain.  Set the pan with the bacon fat aside to cool slightly.

In the mean time, cook pasta in a large saucepan until al dente.  Using pasta server, remove cooked pasta from water and transfer to a large bowl.  Set 1/3 cup of pasta cooking water aside in a bowl, and then reduce heat on the remaining water in the pan to medium-low (simmering). 

Add 1/2 cup vinegar to two small bowls.  Crack one egg into each bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.

Gently drop one egg (and vinegar) into the still boiling pasta water and allow to cook for 2 to 3 minutes (the whites should be firm but the yolk should be runny).  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the poached egg to a paper towel lined plate.  Repeat with the second egg.

Melt butter with freshly ground pepper (I used the pepper blend pictured below) in the frying pan with reserved bacon fat over medium heat.  Add pasta, parmesan, and reserved pasta cooking water and cook until the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened.

Transfer pasta to bowls.  Top with cooked bacon and poached eggs.

Cut into poached egg and allow the yolk to coat pasta.  Toss to distribute and enjoy!

Salmon Cakes with Dijon Aioli

This month Bon Appetit ran an article entitled The Incredible Egg where they had chefs from around the country share delicious and varied ways to use eggs.  One of first recipes in this article to catch my eye was the one for The Creamiest Aioli which they dubbed "World's Greatest Mayo": 

Creamy and light with just a hint of garlic, aioli is that perfect sauce that can go with just about anything from potatoes to bread to meat and fish.  The Bon Appetit recipe got me thinking - what if I added some grainy dijon mustard to the sauce and served it with salmon?  I have been wanting to try my hand at salmon cakes for some time because although I absolutely adore crab cakes, Paul has an aversion to all things shellfish.  I figured swapping the crab for salmon would be the perfect way to get my crab cake fix without making him suffer.

This recipe did the trick.  He said it was quite possibly the best dish that I have ever made.  (Now that's not a compliment I receive everyday!)  Give these a try.  I am sure that they will satisfy all of the food critics in your household as well.  

Dijon Aioli

(This recipe calls for raw egg yolk.  If you will be serving this recipe to pregnant women, small children, the elderly, or people with compromised immune systems, skip the aioli and simply whisk 2 Tbsp of dijon mustard together with store bought mayonnaise.)

2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp water
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of cayenne pepper
fresh squeezed lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk mustard, egg yolk, garlic, salt, and water in a small bowl to blend.

Whisking constantly, drizzle grapeseed oil into the bowl in a slow steady stream, until sauce begins to thicken.  Once all of the grapeseed oil has been incorporated, drizzle olive oil into bowl in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly.  After all oils have been incorporated, season with cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and black pepper to taste.

Salmon Cakes

1 lb salmon

3/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp chopped chives

1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

Remove the skin from the salmon filet(s) and cut salmon into approximately 1/2 inch chunks:

Mix salmon, panko, mayo, egg, cayenne pepper, chives, and lemon zest until all ingredients have been  incorporated:

Form the salmon mixture into small patties (as though you were making hamburgers):

Coat a large frying pan with non-stick spray and heat over medium-high heat.  Add salmon cakes and cook until golden brown on the outside and cooked through in the center (about 3 to 4 minutes per side).

I served these as an appetizer with aioli on the side, but these would also be fantastic served as a burger for a main course.

Sunday Brunch: Easter Edition

Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter this year!

My all time favorite Easter treat is Cadbury Mini Eggs (pictured above).  Of course, as much as I often try, a girl simply cannot subsist on chocolate eggs alone.  So on Easter morning I decided to whip up the next best thing: open faced smoked salmon sandwiches with scrambled eggs and chives.  I did two variations on this recipe: one with brie for me and one with mashed avocado for Paul.   

To give these tasty breakfast sandwiches a try for yourself, follow these steps:

Finely chop a handful of chives and place in a small bowl:

Add four eggs and whisk to scramble:

Heat skillet coated with non-stick spray over medium heat.  Add egg-chive mixture and cook, stirring infrequently (you want fluffy, pillowy eggs to form, as pictured below):

Cut several large pieces of bread from a French baguette.  Toast until browned and crispy:

For the brie topped toasts, spread brie on warm bread (I used the rindless Creme de Brie product pictured below).  Top with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.

For the avocado topped toasts, slice an avocado in half.  Scoop the filling out of one half of the avocado into a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, then dice (or mash) the avocado.  Spoon onto toasts and top with eggs, then smoked salmon.

And of course, don't forget the most important part of brunch - the mimosas!