Cooking Inspiration

It's been an eventful few weeks. Made brownies for my team at work that were a huge success. 

But, most importantly, I was able to meet Chef Jacques Pepin when he came to visit our Facebook office. 

Without a doubt one of the coolest moments - I was pretty star-struck.

 

Italian Sausage & Radicchio Orecchiette

Here is my favorite pasta dish. Spaghetti and meatballs is still near the top of my list but this dish is special. It's got a full, spicy flavor, some crunch, and is simple. Now, here it is, Italian Sausage & Radicchio Orecchiette.

Italian Sausage & Radicchio Orecchiette

      serves 6+ (original recipe from Extra Virgin)

Ingredients
olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
4-6 (6 oz.) spicy Italian sausages, removed from casings
3/4 cup white wine
2 handfuls walnuts, slightly crushed
1 package of orecchiette pasta
1/2 head radicchio, thinly sliced or shredded
plenty of Parmesan cheese

With heat on medium-high, heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onion and sausages to the pan once hot , breaking up the sausage with a spoon. As you brown the sausage add the bay leaves and let sausage cook until golden brown.

Add in the wine and stir, the alcohol will evaporate, and once it does lower the heat, season with salt & pepper, and add the walnuts. Let this simmer slowly for 5-10 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta. For orecchiette it's about 10 minutes but read the instructions on the packet.

Once the sauce has simmered for less than 10 minutes, cover and turn off heat. In a large, shallow serving dish stir the sauce in over the pasta. Just before serving, stir in the radicchio and Parmesan. Work quickly so as not to let the sauce or pasta cool.

Garnish each serving with more cheese and serve.

Strawberry & Cream Cheese Tart

Looks like I'm 2 for 2 in the pie/tart division. The next post wont be one, I promise.
This wonderful tart comes from the blog Annie's Eats and I made some adjustments to best suit my audience: my aunt's birthday guests. The tart crust is very good, I'm going to hold on to that recipe, however, the crust did get too dark for my liking so I suggest after blind baking the crust with weights only return the crust back into the oven for a few moments, not even 5 min.

Strawberry & Cream Cheese Tart

For the crust

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp heavy cream

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup powdered sugar

¼ tsp salt

8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

For the tart shell, whisk the liquid ingredients together and set aside.

In a food processor, combined the flour, sugar, and salt then sprinkle the cubes of butter into the processor and pulse together until the mixture resembled course meal – don’t over mix, there should be some small chunks of butter. Slowly add in the egg, cream, and vanilla into the processor as it runs, stopping the machine as soon as the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out, form a disk, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper, and refrigerate for an hour or more.

Once chilled, remove the dough, once it’s soften and workable roll it out on a prepared surface – lightly floured work area OR a handy trick is to roll out dough between two sheets of plastic wrap – to form a nice 12 inch circle. Transfer to your 9 inch tart or pie pan, cover in plastic wrap or put into a plastic bag and freeze for 30 minutes. Prior to removing your shell from the ice-a-machine, preheat the oven to 375° F. Remove the plastic wrap and line the shell with tin foil and weigh it down with beans or pie weights. Now, bake for 30 minutes, checking mid way through to see if any edges are too dark. (If they are, rotate your crust.) Remove shell from the oven, lose the foil and weights, and return shell to oven for a short while – no longer than 5 minutes – to complete baking. Your crust should be a lovely golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Now, reward yourself with a strawberry!

The filling 
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
8 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Simple and de-lish.

Beat together the sugar and cream cheese on medium-high until smooth. Slowly add in the vanilla and cream. Once all combined pour into your cooled tart shell and chill until set. The filling will not be firm like a cheesecake but will be soft and creamy.

For the strawberry topping all you need to do is wash and dry your berries, cut the strawberries into relatively thin slices, lengthwise, and arrange in a circle. Start from the middle and work your way to the edges. If you goof up, who cares? Seriously, you could make any pattern, or lack thereof, with the berries. Return the completed tart to the frig until it’s time to serve.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Bon appetite!