sage

Asiago Mac and Cheese Pie with Truffled Potato Crust or Timballo di Maccheroni

27 Jan 2012
Asiago Mac and Cheese with Truffled Potato Crust

 

I have a not-so-classic Asiago Mac and Cheese Pie with Truffled Potato Crust for you today that could pass for a geography lesson, or maybe even a life lesson. It may seem like a simple but comforting baked pasta, but unique ingredients and an international pedigree make it something more too.

This "pie" is dense with penne pasta, creamy Wisconsin Asiago cheese and Tuscan kale. I have given it an Idaho potato crust that is scented with truffle oil. I call it a non-traditional pie, but it's really a variation on timballo di maccheroni, a traditional drum-shaped baked pasta dish from Naples and the surrounding Campania region of Italy. Some few years ago, in a movie called "Big Night," the preparation of a timballo di maccheroni was featured in a big way. It made a big impression on audiences. Me included. Recipes for timballi proliferated and suddenly the dish came to the attention of Americans. Since then I have made some variation many, many times. But the more I make it the more it becomes (at least in my mind) another great take on good ole Mac & Cheese. Another example of cross-cultural culinary calisthenics.

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Real Men Eat Watercress (Soup!)

10 Jan 2012
watercress soup with sage

Move aside quiche there a a new super food in town and men love it.

Real men like Napoleon Bonaparte and (yep) Sippity Sup! And we're not the only super-dudes in love with this peppery green bite. It’s said that Hippocrates, the father of medicine, built an entire hospital next to a patch of the stuff because he recognized early on the health benefits it could provide to his patients. Gruff Greek soldiers ate watercress to increase their masculine vigor. Even Roman Emperors said it enabled them to make “bold decisions”. I can vouch for that. I ate Creamy Watercress Soup with Sage and decided to write this super-charged tribute.

In Victorian times elegant ladies jumped on the watercress bandwagon too. It could be purchased in parks and street corners, gathered into posey-style bundles. These daintly little nosegays could be nibbled upon, like an ice cream cone while strolling.

And what a nibble watercress seems to be. It's said to have more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more folate than bananas, and more iron than spinach.

But its real attribute is that manly men like it. The Romans even believed it could prevent baldness. Now I ask you what man wouldn't eat watercress with that kind of information available to him? Still, even if you have a full head of hair (or are in fact a lady) eating watercress still has delicious benefits. Most notably it has a peppery crunch that elivens this vibrantly colored creamy soup made with leeks, and potatoes called potage au cresson. My version is a simple (but manly) take on the classic. GREG

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Creamy Watercress Soup with Sage

watercress soup
By jgreghenry Published January 9, 2012
Prep time: 30
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 2 leeks, halved lengthwise, cleaned, white and light greeen parts roughly chopped
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 clv garlic, peeled & minced
  • 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • 3 c chicken stock
  • 2 bn watercress (about 1 pound), leaves only, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • 6 leaves of fresh sage, rinsed and chopped
  • 0.5 c heavy cream
  • 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 1 pn each, salt and white pepper, to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan set over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery and garlic, stirring to coat. Lower the heat and cover the pan, cooking the leeks until softened somewhat, but not yet colored, about 4 minutes. Add the potato and chicken stock. Simmer, uncovered until the potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove the pot from the pan and stir in the watercress and sage. Set the pan aside to cool somewhat.

Meanwhile mix the cream and egg yolks together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until very smooth. The strain the soup with a fine meshed sieve discarding any solids. Return the soup to the pan, setting it over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the cream and egg yolk mixture. Season with salt and white pepper. Garnish with watercress (optional). Serve warm.

Asiago Mac and Cheese with Truffled Potato Crust

Asiago Mac and Cheese with Truffled Potato Crust (timballo di maccheroni)
By jgreghenry Published December 26, 2011
Prep time: 90
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb dried penne pasta
  • 1.5 lb idaho russet potatoes
  • 1 T unsalted butter
  • 1 t white truffle oil
  • 2 scallions, white & light green parts, minced
  • 1 pn each, kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, plus more as needed
  • 2 c half and half
  • 0.25 t crushed red pepper flakes
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 c asiago cheese, grated
  • 0.25 t freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 1 shallot, peeled & minced
  • 3 c lightly packed shredded tuscan kale
  • 4 oz sliced prosciutto
  • 12 sage leaves, minced
  • 0.25 c parmesan cheese, grated, plus more for passing

Directions

Cook the penne according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside to cool.

Heat oven to 375°F. Bake potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then peel the potatoes with your hands. The peels should come off easily. Discard the skins. Push the potatoes through a ricer into a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the butter, truffle oil and scallions until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, press the potato mixture evenly across the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake until lightly browned on the edges, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Bring the half-and-half to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan set over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the red pepper flakes. Let the mixture cool slightly, then briskly whisk in eggs, egg yolks, Asiago, and nutmeg. Season with more salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stir the cooked penne, Asiago mixture, kale mixture, prosciutto, and sage into a large bowl until well combined. Scrape this mixture over the potato crust and spread evenly. Top with the Parmesan cheese and bake until well-browned on the tips of the penne, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on a rack before releasing the springform pan. Slice into wedges and serve warm with additional Parmesan passed at the table.

Cooking Shirley Balboa's Christmas Goose- A Holiday Tale

24 Dec 2011
goose in the oven

I can be an old softie when it comes to holiday traditions. One tradition I like to keep is the sharing of stories. Last year I presented this story Cooking Shirley Balboa's Christmas Goose. I had intended to write another new piece of holiday short fiction for this space this year. But in the end I decided that part of the allure of the Christmas story is the tradition of telling the same stories year after year.

So I am bringing back my personal holiday heroine for another year of Christmas Goose. I hope you will read, enjoy and share this story. Merry Christmas to you. GREG


Cooking Shirley Balboa's Christmas Goose

Go straight to recipe or read the story here:

Shirley Balboa lays on the bright, freshly waxed linoleum floor looking straight up, past the pitted chrome handles of her old gas stove and directly at the ceiling stained with the grease of Christmases long past. She wonders what she should do. The goose she had just placed in the oven is nowhere near done. Normally her thoughts would have gone to the Christmas goose first. But until you can smell it, there is no reason to think about it. She never, ever bastes until she gets that first fatty fragrance. No aroma means Shirley is free to think about the problem at hand. The problem of course being that she has fallen and cannot get up.

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