Recipe: Pasta and Prosciutto in a Creamy Leek Sauce

It's been pretty rainy and dreary so far this week, and the grey skies and cool temperatures definitely make me crave comfort foods—mac&cheese, pancakes, hot tea—and this rich and creamy pasta dish certainly fits the bill. With sweet and oniony leeks and shallots, fresh garlic, salty prosciutto, and buttery cream, this pasta dish has it all—it's rich, flavorful, and definitely the perfect comfort food.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
• Olive oil (enough to lightly coat the bottom of a large pan)
• 4 oz. prosciutto, roughly chopped (about 1-2 inch pieces)
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced (leeks are notorious for being sandy and dirty, so be sure to soak and clean them thoroughly, and only use the white part for the dish)
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1&1/2 to 2 cups heavy cream
• Milk (preferably 2%), as needed
• 8 oz. angel hair pasta, or other long pasta (spaghetti, linguine, etc.)
• 4-6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade cut
• Dried thyme, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Grated Italian cheese, as desired

Directions

Heat the 4 tbsp. butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pieces of prosciutto and cook until just starting to brown and crisp, then add the leeks and shallots. Once the leeks and shallots have started to soften (about 5 minutes), add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the chicken stock and slowly stir in the heavy cream, then add salt, pepper, and thyme. Let the sauce bubble and thicken over medium-low heat—add milk if needed to add a little volume to the sauce, and be sure to taste test to make sure the flavor is good. While the sauce is bubbling away, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions (about 4-5 minutes). Drain the pasta and return it to the pot, then pour the thickened sauce over it, add fresh basil, and toss to combine. Serve topped with Italian cheese.

This sauce is incredibly flavorful—it's sweet, salty, oniony, buttery—and the heavy cream and splash of milk make it so creamy and rich. Fresh basil helps cut through the richness and a sprinkling of Italian cheese blends perfectly into the dish. Prosciutto is a nice change from chicken or no meat at all, and its salty flavor works well with the other flavors in the sauce. It's perfect for a cool evening, yet easily made into a warm weather dish with the addition of a garden salad and a glass of white wine.

Recipe: Lobster Ravioli in a Vodka Cream Sauce

I got the chance to spend this past week with Sara, my best friend from college—she found a reasonably-priced flight and flew up to my home in Pennsylvania for a visit. We spent time in Pittsburgh, visiting museums and eating some fantastic meals, and we also spent time at home, watching movies (including a guilty pleasure, You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks) and even doing a little cooking. I showed her some basics, like mincing garlic and cutting basil in chiffonade, and hopefully didn't drive her nuts by hovering over her while she performed said basics. One thing she said she really wanted to try was making homemade pasta with my pasta rolling machine, so I got the bright idea to make ravioli, because that's the one attachment (for raviolini, actually) on the pasta machine that I hadn't tried out yet. That idea turned into Lobster Ravioli in a Vodka Cream Sauce (with a little inspiration from here and here) that took at least three hours to make and resulted in some not-so-attractive but oh-so-tasty raviolini (basically, miniature ravioli). Now, if you want to go the easy route, buy pre-made lobster ravioli and skip ahead to the vodka cream sauce part of the recipe. If you want to go for the glory and make the ravioli by hand, I recommend looking up methods for cutting them by hand, because I've tried that way before and I'm betting it's a lot faster and less messy than the machine (though, keep in mind, this was our first time using this attachment, so it was bound to take a little longer than if I'd tried to do it before).

By the time we finally finished cooking, I was too hungry to go find my "plating" plate, so the "Poppies in Blue" will have to do

Serves: 4-6 (depends on the size and amount of ravioli/raviolini)
Prep. time: 10 minutes for the sauce; anywhere from 1-3 hours to make the ravioli (dough comes together in 10 minutes, and 30 minutes to rest, then the ravioli will take at least an hour to roll out and form)
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes for the sauce; 5 minutes for each batch of ravioli
Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients
For the sauce

• Extra virgin olive oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan
• Approx. 1 tbsp. butter
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup vodka (you don't need to use the good stuff, since you're cooking it)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-32 oz.)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Fresh basil, chiffonade cut, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Italian seasoning, to taste

For the ravioli

• 1/2 stick (2 oz.) unsalted butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. shallots, minced
• Approx. 16 oz. pre-cooked lobster meat (I used frozen, pre-cooked langostino lobster)
• 4 oz. cooked crab meat (I used the crab meat you can find on the same shelf as canned tuna)
• 2 oz. Cognac 
• 1/2-1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp. chives, chopped
• 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Pasta dough, double batch, rested for 30 minutes (see recipe here; double the recipe)

Directions
Heat the butter for the ravioli in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes, until fragrant. Add the lobster, crab meat, and chives and cook for a few minutes, then add the Cognac and cook until it's been reduced by about 1/2 to 3/4 (you only want a little liquid in the pan). Pour the mixture into a food processor and pulse to chop the mixture (only pulse a few times—you just want to break up the pieces of lobster, but you don't want to turn the mixture into a puree). Pour the mixture back into the bowl and set aside to cool. Once cool, add in the desired amount of ricotta and season with salt and pepper. Now, the tricky part...if you're using a pasta machine with a ravioli attachment, follow the instructions for use (it'll likely involve threading dough into the attachment, adding filling, rolling out sheets of ravioli, then pulling apart the ravioli sheets into squares). If you're cutting them by hand, look up instructions (they'll likely say to lay out rolled-out dough on a flat surface, place a dollop of filling a few inches apart in straight lines down the dough, then lay a sheet of dough on top, press around each filling mound, and cut into ravioli shapes). Either way, you will need to make sure you have large, rolled out pieces of dough before you start forming and cutting. (I apologize for not offering more information, but I was using a machine and followed its instructions to make my ravioli). Once the ravioli are formed and cut, spread them out on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with a clean towel to keep them from getting dried out.
In a large, deep pan, heat the olive oil and butter for the vodka sauce over medium heat. Add in garlic and shallots and cook for a few minutes, until lightly fragrant. Add the vodka and cook until it's been reduced by half, then add the chicken stock and tomatoes. Turn up the heat and cook until it just starts to boil, then reduce heat to low. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream, and continue to keep the sauce warm.
Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Cook the ravioli in batches, for 5 minutes each. Rather than drain the pot, refill, and wait for it to boil all over again, just pull the ravioli out with a slotted spoon and continue to use the same batch of boiling water. Transfer the cooked ravioli from the spoon into the sauce. Once all of the ravioli is cooked and added to the sauce, it's finished. Serve with grated Italian cheese and a sprinkling of fresh basil.

Despite being labor-intensive (if you make the ravioli from scratch), this really is a delicious and surprisingly light dish. The ravioli are flavorful little pouches of meaty lobster and creamy ricotta and the vodka sauce, with the fresh taste of tomatoes and just a hint of the vodka, is the perfect choice for the pasta.

Recipe: Chicken and Polenta with Arugula, Sun-dried Tomatoes, and Goat Cheese

I chose tonight's recipe partly because I had leftover arugula that I needed to use and partly because I hadn't made it in a few years and wanted to try it again. I had a late night cooking session tonight because my mother is out of town and my dad has been working late for the past few nights, but despite my uncertainty about how long it was going to take to cook and whether it would still be hot (and not overcooked) when my dad got home, everything worked out and the dish was a success (and much better than I remember it being the first time I made it). This chicken dish combines parmesan-and-garlic-seasoned polenta, wilted arugula, sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and tangy goat cheese, with a splash of balsamic vinegar to create a vibrant, flavorful dish.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: Approx. 1 hour to prepare and chill the polenta, and 20 minutes to do everything else
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy - Moderate

Ingredients

• Polenta, chilled and cut into cubes
• 2 cups chicken broth/stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup polenta (I use a quick-cooking boxed brand)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced (I cut the slices in half so the pieces are more bite-size)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil 
• 2 shallots, chopped (I used green onions, but shallots are preferable)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 lb. arugula (I use 3 or 4 big handfuls of baby arugula)
• 2 to 4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• Fresh or dried basil, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Crumbled goat cheese (soft and mild)

Directions
For the polenta: In a medium pot, combine 2 cups chicken stock and 3 minced garlic cloves, and bring the mixture to a boil. Slowly stir in the polenta and stir until the mixture is thick (follow package instructions; should take 3-5 minutes). Add the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Spread the mixture out in a greased, rimmed baking sheet or pan and set aside in the fridge to cool for about 1 hour. Once the polenta is chilled, cut it into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

To assemble the dish: Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and, once hot, add the chicken slices and sear them on both sides until they are mostly cooked through. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer to reduce (I reduced by about half—about 5 minutes—and spooned out some of the excess stock so the chicken mixture wasn't swimming in it. Make sure you keep it about 1/2-inch deep in the pan—it helps cook the chicken, while keeping it moist). Add the sun-dried tomatoes and cook the mixture for about 2 minutes. Add the polenta cubes and toss the mixture, letting the polenta soften a bit in the remaining chicken stock for about 2-3 minutes. Reduce to medium-low heat and add the arugula, tossing to mix it with the rest of the ingredients (the chicken stock should be completely gone by now). Add balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper; toss the mixture again. Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes, allowing the arugula to wilt a little more. Serve sprinkled with goat cheese and an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar if desired.

This dish is tangy, sweet, and complex. The chicken broth helps soften the chilled polenta and keeps the chicken pieces moist as they cook. The sun-dried tomatoes add a sweet bite to the dish and they're complemented by the creamy, tangy goat cheese. Slightly wilted arugula adds color and a peppery taste that marries with the sharp, flavorful balsamic vinegar that so nicely soaks into the polenta and chicken. This dish is packed with strong flavors, but they balance each other and create a rich, yet still light, meal.