It was actually my dad and step-mom that introduced me to this recipe last summer. Super-simple chicken fajita meat that can be made on the grill or in the house, along with grilled peppers and onions, all doused in a bit of the cilantro-laced marinade that makes the meat oh-so-juicy and the peppers and onions full of flavor. The great thing is this dish can be pulled off as a fairly light-feeling summer dinner or a filling fall dish just depending on how much meat you want to stuff in your tortilla. Ba-dum-bum!

Similar to taco night, the great thing about this meal is letting everyone loose on the ingredients so they end up with a fajita made their way. You can even keep the chicken and veggies separated to cater to any non-meat or non-chicken eaters in the bunch. Serve this up with a bit of Spanish rice or beans, and you’ve got a meal!

Chicken Fajitas
Adapted from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
Serves 6
1/4 cup vegetable oil + 2 tablespoons
juice of 3 limes (about 1/3 cup)
1 jalapeno chile, minced (remove seeds if you can’t take the heat)
1/3 cup cilantro
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
Salt & pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large red onion, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds (do not separate into rings)
2 large bell peppers, quartered, stemmed, and seeded (I prefer red, orange, and yellow to green)
Flour tortillas
Salsa
Guacamole

Whisk together the 1/4 cup of oil, lime juice, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, Worcestershire, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade and set aside. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the remaining marinade, and add chicken, tossing to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, stirring once to make sure all pieces of chicken get to marinate.

On a separate plate, brush two sides of onions and peppers with oil and season with salt and pepper.

The fun part – fire up your grill! Charcoal, gas, or even a grill pan on top of the oven will work. If working with charcoal, make a hot area and cool(er) area by placing 2/3 of the coals to one side, and 1/3 of coals to the other. For gas or grill pan, get the grill good and hot (high heat, until heated) and then reduce heat to a medium to medium high heat.

Place the chicken and the vegetables on the hotter part of the grill. Grill the chicken until well browned on each side, about 4 to 6 minutes on each side. As the chicken approaches done, move it toward the cooler side of the grill. Follow the same procedure with the grilled vegetables, cooking them until they are tender with char marks on each side (you’ll be cooking these at the same time as the chicken).

Have a plate or bowl (or two if you want to keep your chicken and vegetables separated) sitting to the side of the grill with aluminum foil. As the chicken and vegetables are done, pull them from the grill and keep them warm with the aluminum foil tent. When all the chicken and vegetables are done, turn off the grill, and don’t forget to clean it!

Warm the tortillas. Slice the onion rounds in half, and separate the half-rings. Slice the peppers into 1/4 inch strips. Cut the chicken on the bias into 1/2 inch strips. Pour the reserved marinade over the vegetables and chicken and toss.

To serve, set out the tortillas, chicken & vegetables, guacamole, salsa. My preferred method of assembly is a slather of guacamole on my tortilla, topped with chicken and vegetables, and finished off with fresh salsa.

Bolognese sauce is one of those foods that is always very similar from recipe to recipe, but with slight differences that seem starkly different. A while back I posted my recipe for Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese, whose recipe was meat heavy and included a bit of prosciutto in addition to the beef, pork and pancetta. It was made with red wine and tomato paste for a rich flavor.

This recipe goes a bit toward the lighter route. White wine, tinned tomatoes, and a bit lighter on the meat portions. Lighter doesn’t mean less flavor, though. It leans on the richness of chicken livers and milk to bring this pasta dish to life. The result is a nuanced sauce that allows the tagliatelle to shine through.

Bolognese Sauce with Tagliatelle
Adapted slightly from Food of Italy
Serves 4

4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 ounces pancetta, cubed
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
2 sprigs fresh oregano, stemmed and chopped
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
4 ounces chicken livers, trimmed and finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup milk
14 ounce San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
1 cup beef stock
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound fresh tagliatelle (the recipe for fresh pasta dough can be found here)
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the onion, celery, carrot, and pancetta. Cook over moderate heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the beef, pork, and oregano to the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper and the nutmeg. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the meats have changed color but not browned. Add the chicken liver and cook until it changes color.

Pour in the wine, increase the heat and boil over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the wine has been absorbed. Stir in 1/2 cup of the milk, and reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and half the stock, partially cover the pan and leave to simmer gently over very low heat for 3 hours. Add more of the stock as it is needed to keep the sauce moist.

Meanwhile, cook bring a pot of water to a boil for the tagliatelle. Stir the remaining milk into the sauce 5 minutes before serving. Add the fresh pasta to the boiling water at this time. When pasta is al dente (around 2 – 3 minutes), drain and toss with the sauce. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmigiano.

One of the best things about my Morocco trip was the breakfast my husband and I enjoyed every morning. Of course, it was the posh riad breakfast, and probably not indicative of the everyday person’s breakfast in Morocco, but it was lovely. Breakfast started most mornings with a fruit salad and yogurt, with coffee and hot milk also brought along in separate carafes and a glass of fresh squeeze orange juice. The sugar cubes were shaped like bees and hearts, which spoke to my whimsical side. The fruit salad is something I will have to try recreating. It consisted of strawberries, apples, and bananas, which were all covered in sweet, sweet Moroccan orange juice. When we get back to the States I definitely plan on starting my own batch of yogurt culture again as well, because the homemade yogurt is so much more mild than what can be found at the store (yes, even better than my beloved Fage).

Next up was my favorite part, and it usually came quickly behind the fruit salad. A plate of various breads and pancakes, served with, again, the sweetest orange marmalade I’ve ever tasted, the most concentrated strawberry jam, fresh-from-the-bees honey, and butter. I know this summer I will have to add my semolina yeast pancakes to this blog, as they are one of my Moroccan favorites. Maybe by then I’ll also figure out what the little sesame buns are that were served, and dig up a light pound cake recipe for a Moroccan-themed brunch with friends.

When I say the honey was fresh, I’m assuming it came from these bees, because they certainly seemed to want their honey back. They dunked themselves in the honey so much they had trouble flying.

I never captured a picture of the finale, which consisted of eggs, fried, poached, or scrambled with bits of cilantro, grilled tomato, and toast. This was the part of the meal that put you over-the-top full.

Of course, probably the best part of all of this was enjoying the sunshine while dining al fresco on the terrace, overlooking the rooftops of Marrakech and enjoying the views of the Atlas Mountains in the distance. While my brunch can’t be on the terrace, I’m certain I can do a wonderful al fresco meal in our backyard once it warms up.

I just got back from visiting the lands of one of my favorite cuisines, Morocco. I love the wealth of spices nearly every Moroccan dish contains, so of course I fell in love with my Food of Morocco cookbook long ago. I was very excited to find that the foods I ate there proved the recipes I had cooked over the years true to the cuisine. Of course, it was a bit better there (an understatement!), with the super-fresh spices abounding from shop after shop after shop.

Moroccan meatballs are something I had cooked previous to owning my cookbook, however, and have long been a favorite of mine. I’ve tried the addition of egg on occasion, and it makes for an über-rich and decadent dinner. This was hands down my favorite meal the entire time we were in Morocco.

We stayed in the beautiful Riad Kaïss in the heart of Marrakech, just inside the old medina and near the main square. The riad had a very relaxed vibe, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner wherever your heart desired – a gorgeously decorated dining room with a crackling fire and lounging couches, or the terraces of the building, under the warm sun, with views of the Atlas Mountains and the rooftops of Marrakech. February in Marrakech can get a bit chilly, so we opted to dine in the living room at night, enjoying the scent and warmth of the fire.

My company couldn’t be better!

Dinner this night started with a lentil salad, which was flavored with a bit of mint, parsley, olive oil, and I’m certain some other hints of spice. It was very mild, letting the taste of the olive oil and lentil shine through.

After the main course, we finished with a rich chocolate mousse, which had the slightest hint of Moroccan orange flavor shining through. The mousse was thick, yet still stayed light on the tongue.

Now that I’m back in London, I’m dreaming of the wonderful flavors and spices we experienced in Marrakech, drooling over the food photos I’ve yet to post. These meatballs might need to be made soon. As you can see, I quite enjoyed the meatballs… not much was left on the plate!

Check out the other goodies I discovered while in Morocco on the Daily Nosh, tag Morocco.

Moroccan Meatballs, Courtney-style
Serves 2 to 3 as a meal, or 4 to 6 as an appetizer

1 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 teaspoon each ground cumin, paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper, dried parsley, and sea salt
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 cans crushed tomatoes (or fresh, if in season)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt to taste
French bread for serving

In a bowl, mix together the onion, parsley, spices, and ground beef. Make 1 inch balls with your hands.

Pour olive oil in the bottom of a pan and brown the meatballs in batches, setting them to the side on a plate as you finish the batches.

After the last meatballs have been browned, add the tomatoes with their juices to the pan and bring to a low boil. Add the meatballs back to the pan, cover, and cook until the tomatoes have absorbed some of the seasoning and the meatballs have cooked through. Taste tomato, and add salt & pepper if needed.

Serve hot in a shared bowl, with crusty French bread on the side to sop up the tomato sauce and the meatballs.

Note: If you want to add the eggs, you can simply create little holes in the tomato and meatball mixture about 10 minutes after adding the meatballs. Drop the egg into the hole, sprinkle with a little salt, recover the pan, and let the eggs cook as the meatballs finish. The yolks should still be nice and runny, similar to a fried or poached egg.

This edition of Sunday Suppers comes a bit late, and it’s a bit different from the previous wine & amazzzzing food pairings I usually do. There’s still amazing food, but it’s more about the different lifestyle I’m experiencing here in London.

The grocery shopping scene has been more of a shock than I thought it would be. Gone are my behemoth grocery stores that I take the car to, pushing the cart back out and filling up the trunk with whatever my heart desired. In its place are small groceries, for the most part stocked with the bare bones basics, and I get to lug the groceries back to my flat, walking or catching the train if I’ve gone very far. I’m slowly understanding why the concept of online ordering and grocery delivery exists, but I haven’t quite given in and tried it yet. You see, grocery shopping is one of my favorite activities. Wandering about, figuring out what looks good, what’s freshest, what new products are in store – that’s my happy time.

However, grocery shopping woes aside, one of the bright sides of this city living is having a plethora of restaurants at my doorstep, including the public houses. And one thing these public houses have in common? The concept of a Sunday roast.

It’s kind of like going to grandma’s house, only with a good selection of beer. Sundays mean special menus, with roasts, generally a few varieties, served with potatoes, veggies, gravy, and pudding, of the Yorkshire variety. Our local pub has chicken, lamb, and beef roast, available starting at noon until it runs out, served with goose fat-roasted potatoes. Could I possibly drool more? Oh, and the gravy, and root vegetables, and yorkshire pudding (which I believe should have the gravy served in it, not around it, but that’s my humble opinion). I have only had the fortune of trying this Sunday supper once, but I fully plan on tasting quite a few more around the city before I leave.

The other plus – it’s a bar. Meaning you get the chance to watch whatever sport is on the TV, that large choice of beverage I mentioned earlier. Ales are divine, but a wine would be fine, too! And being Europe, there’s always a puppy or two that shows up in the pub. So it’s just like a slice of home!

To follow more of the Madd Hatter’s London travels, check out the Daily Nosh, tags: london.

Last week I made an amazingly tasty salad from arugula, butternut squash, and roquefort cheese. While the meal was missing just a little bit of crunch, there was no denying that the flavors were a great combination of sweet, pungent, peppery, and creamy. Since I had only used half the butternut squash and a little of the roquefort and arugula, I set out to make something else from this medley of flavors. Given the cold weather, I was really craving something warm and comforting. I was debating between a polenta dish or a pizza dish. Since the grocery store I stopped by on my way home didn’t have polenta or pizza crust, I was forced to improvise.

I picked up some pita bread at the Marks & Spencer, along with a bit of cream-cheese-style cheese spread, as I had decided to go with the pizza route. One of my favorite ways to have a roasted butternut squash is tossed with a bit of pancetta and spicy chili, so I picked up a bit of pancetta as well. Home I went to pull together a meal I wasn’t too certain about.

I turned on the oven at about 400 degrees, and laid out 4 pitas on a cookie sheet. I topped each pita with a good tablespoon or two of the cream cheese (neufchatel cheese would probably be the closest in taste to this cheese), and then I sprinkled a little sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil over the cheese.

Next up, I pulled out a skillet to cook my diced pancetta. About 4 ounces of pancetta went into the skillet, along with a tiny bit of crushed dried Thai chilis (by all means, use regular crushed red chili flakes if you have them – this was one blazing pizza!). As the fat rendered and the pancetta crisped, I added the leftover half of the roasted butternut squash, cubed, to the skillet to warm it up. Once the squash was warm and coated with chilis and pancetta, I spooned it out over each of the pitas.

Next up was the roquefort. I diced small cubes of roquefort, about a quarter of an inch cube, and placed 5 to 7 cubes on each pita (the pitas were maybe 4 x 6 inches, so not huge). Into the oven these creations went, until the roquefort began to melt. Then I pulled the cookie sheet out, topped each pizza with a generous handful of arugula, and popped it back into the oven for another 20 seconds or so, just so the greens were a bit warm.

Out of the oven, I gave another small drizzle of olive oil for the greens, and a sprinkle of sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper on top. No need to let any part of this become bland!

My husband and I set down to eat, and I really wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’m not generally one to take the shortcut of subbing another bread for a pizza crust. However, it turned out to be a rather marvelous creation, if not a bit hot from the Thai chilis! However, we both polished off the first one in no time and went back for seconds. Reserved as I may have been about this meal to start, I’m certain it is one I will be revisiting, and not just during my time in London.

To see what other fun meals I throw together while I’m living in London and outside of the comfort of my kitchen, not to mention my grocery stores, check out the Daily Nosh!

Continuing to build on the list of cool weather foods I intended to make this winter, I finally decided to tackle lasagne verdi, made with fresh spinach pasta and Bolognese and bechamel sauces. For many years I’ve drooled over the recipe in my Food of Italy cookbook, but it was an article in an issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine that propelled me to figure out the perfect recipe for this dish.

If I had a recipe, why the quest, you ask? Well, funny thing about the recipe in the Food of cookbook. While you could obviously see that the pasta was a spinach pasta, there was no recipe for spinach pasta in the book! A slight oversight. Then, the article in La Cucina came along, and went on and on about the quest for what makes lasagne verdi perfect, but there was no recipe at the end of the article! I flipped furiously through the magazine, reading and re-reading the index of recipes, but alas, no lasagne verdi recipe.

Then once day it dawned on me to check their website, and there, in all it’s glory, was a complete recipe for lasagne verdi! Cue the angels singing down from the heavens! I immediately started to plan a dinner party so I would have no excuse to put off making the lasagne.

The recipe below is adapted from their site, as my lasagne pan is much larger than their called-for rectangular baker. After doubling the recipe, I figured out that the pasta portions would have sufficed for my pan, but I needed at least 1.5 – 2 times the amount of sauces (maybe it’s my heavy-handed American ways, but the filling was quite thin with the focus still being on the pasta in my version of the recipe below, so I’m sticking with this ratio).

I have to say, this was quite the bit of work, compared to the red sauce & sausage & ricotta version I’ve made all my life, but it was well worth it. The noodles felt almost silky with the bechamel sauce, and the richness of the Bolognese makes the tangy red sauce pale in comparison. If the work is broken up (making pasta and Bolognese ahead of time) then this is much more manageable, but it’s a great weekend recipe to tackle, especially in the cold winter months.

To serve, I paired the lasagne with a Barbera wine. The hint of berry and plum and slight acidity of the wine match well with the richness of the Bolognese and bechamel sauces.

Lasagne Verdi Alla Bolognese
Adapted from La Cucina Italiana
Serves 6

Bolognese sauce
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 celery rib, peeled and finely diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 ounces chopped pancetta
12 ounces ground beef
12 ounces ground pork
8 ounces prosciutto, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
Generous pinch ground nutmeg
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Spinach pasta
1 bunch spinach, stems trimmed
Fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups “00″ flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Bechamel sauce
7 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 1/4 cups whole milk
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

For sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery and pancetta and cook, stirring, until vegetables are lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef, ground pork and prosciutto and cook until beef is no loner pink. Stir in the tomato paste, broth, and wine and bring to a simmer. Partially cover the pan, and cook the sauce at a low simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. (The sauce may be made up to 2 days ahead; cover and refrigerate it, and bring the sauce to room temperature before assembling the lasagne.)

For pasta: Rinse spinach leaves in several changes of cold water; do not dry. Put leaves in a medium saucepan with pinch salt, and cook, covered, over medium heat until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain spinach and let cool, then gently squeeze out excess liquid and very finely chop (easiest to do in a food processor).

On a clean work surface, mound the flour and form a well in the center. Add the egg, olive oil, a pinch of salt and the spinach to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolk and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed. When the dough gets to stiff to work with a fork, knead the dough by hand until the dough is no longer sticky, adding additional flour in 1 tablespoon increments as necessary. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 2 pieces. Flatten 1 piece of dough so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine. Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine. Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick. Cut sheet into rectangles the width of the pasta roller and 7 inches long. Lay the lasagna noodles on a lightly floured baking sheet in a single layer until ready to use. (Lay noodles that don’t fit on another layer separated by lightly floured wax paper or kitchen parchment.) Do the same with the second piece of pasta dough.

For bechamel: Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring, until golden. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring the mixture to just under a boil. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat, add the remaining 1.5 tablespoons of the butter and stir to combine. If not using the bechamel immediately, let it cool, cover it with plastic wrap and set aside.

To assemble and cook: Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil and have ready a large bowl of ice water. Add the lasagna sheets, a few at a time, to the boiling water. Cook until the noodles float to the top of the surface, about 15 seconds. Immediately remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the ice water to keep from overcooking. Drain well and lightly pat dry with a kitchen towel.

Spray rectangular baking dish with olive oil or non-stick spray, and cover with an initial layer of lasagna, overlapping the noodles slightly and letting any excess hang over the sides.

Cover with about one-fifth of each: the Bolognese sauce, the bechamel, and the Parmagiano cheese. Cover with another layer of pasta, trimming the noodles if necessary so they fit snug in the dish. Top with another layer of Bolognese, bechamel, and cheese. Repeat this step two more times for a total of four layers, saving some Bolognese, bechamel, and cheese for the top.

To finish, fold any overflowing lasagna pasta over the dish. Top with the remaining Bolognese, bechamel, and cheese.

Bake until the top is brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let the lasagne rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

For the next few months, my husband and I are lucky enough to have the chance to live in London. While there’s a great many restaurants and pubs to eat at, coming off of a 3 week vacation has me hankering for a bit of my own cooking. So one of the first nights here, I decided to whip up a simple pasta meal. Simple, because the place we are staying in had tea, sugar, and a bit of iodized salt, and I needn’t go broke procuring the staples I would need to make a meal. No longer did I have my 80+ spices at hand or condiments galore.

On my first pass through the grocery stores, I had noticed the brussels sprouts looked amazingly good, so I decided to make a simple saute of those with some pancetta and toss it with pasta. I was really craving a homemade pasta, and since the store didn’t have any, I decided just to pick up the flour and eggs and make it myself (plus, bonus, I could have scrambled eggs for breakfast).

All was well until I arrived back at our apartment and discovered there were absolutely no measuring utensils whatsoever. I had the foresight to pack three things from my kitchen: a pastry mat, a wooden rolling pin, and a zester. I had briefly thought of measuring spoons, cups, and spices, but decided due to space, I would forgo these. I wish I hadn’t.

I haven’t made pasta so much that I know how to do everything by feel, so I started looking around to see what I could use to measure, so I would at least start out with approximately the ratios I needed. The bowls looked to be about 2 cups, so using an empty beer bottle, I poured water from bottle to bowl to see what the volume was. Confirmation! Two cups (or close to it)!

So I doled out a cup of flour, made a well in the center of it, and started adding the other ingredients. Eyeballing a 1/4 and 1/2 of a teaspoon was much easier for me than the 1 cup of flour, which I never measure by cup, but use a scale to weigh at home, making this even more difficult in my mind. I began to knead, and the dough came together with no problems. One small step towards my dinner, but a giant leap in my faith in my abilities!

The rest of the meal went quickly – a bit of sauteing, my usual sauce of vegetables in olive oil, a quick finish of the pasta in the sauce, a grating of cheese, and we were ready to eat! After lots of restaurant meals over the past month, a bit of home cooking was heavenly.

Plus, we were able to enjoy a nice bottle of wine with dinner that made us laugh at the name: Chateau Gillet, which is one of the characters last names in the spy comedy Archer. And if you’ve seen the West Virginia episode, you might find it just as funny as we did!

While I’m in London, I will keep up with the posts here on Madd Hatter’s Kitchen, but there should also be lots of lovely posts on the Daily Nosh of not only the homemade meals, but the tasty things I discover around town.

Fresh Pasta Dough
2-3 servings
5 ounces white all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons water, if needed

Place the flour in an extremely large bowl or on a pastry mat, creating a well in the center. To the well, add the sea salt, egg, and olive oil. Whisk the egg mixture, breaking up the yolk and combining with the white and other ingredients, and gradually begin to pull in the flour. Once the wet ingredients are mixed with the flour, begin using your hands to further mix and knead the dough.

If the dough is sticky, add more flour. If the dough feels to dry and the flour is not all incorporated, add a bit of water. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, then pat into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough with a pasta machine or by hand with a rolling pin (highly recommended if by hand you do this on a pastry mat), lightly flouring the surface, to about 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch thick. Cut the pasta into thin or thick strands (thick for pappardelle – 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch), dusting with semolina if you are bundling the strands into stacks. Cover with a semi-wet paper towel until ready to use (don’t leave out more than 20 minutes).

Fresh Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta
Serves 2 – 3
4 ounces pancetta, cubed
1 clove garlic, minced
Red chile flakes, to taste
10 ounces brussels sprouts, sliced thinly
1 recipe fresh pappardelle
1/4 cup fresh-grated pecorino romano
Olive oil
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat with the pancetta. Cook for a minute or two to allow the pancetta to start rendering a bit of its fat. Add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes, until just softening. Add the chile flakes and saute until the garlic is beginning to brown. Add the brussels sprouts, season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook until the leaves are just wilting.

Meanwhile, add salt to the water, and cook the pasta for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta and 1/4 cup of the water to the brussels sprouts mixture. If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the pan to keep the noodles from sticking to each other.

Add the pecorino romano, and a teaspoon or two more of the pasta water if needed (again, if the noodles look too dry or sticky). Stir to combine. Plate and serve immediately.

Back when the weather started to turn cool, I made a list of the various cool-weather foods I couldn’t wait to make, my comfort foods for winter 2012-2013. I promised to post a few new recipes this season, and finally, I’ve gotten around to making a few of my favorites and documenting them. The first is this terribly simple chicken cacciatore served over a creamy, parmesan-cheese-laced polenta that screams comfort food.

Cacciatore is Italian for hunter, thus this is the hunter’s chicken. The preparation is simple, with just a few items that need chopping and sauteing before you let the chicken braise in a tomato-wine sauce. Traditionally, cacciatore is served with bread or pasta, but I love to serve it over polenta, which I think pairs perfectly with a tangy tomato sauce. If you want to add a little green to your meal, try sauteing a bit of broccolini with garlic and olive oil to serve on the side.

Chicken Cacciatore with Polenta
Serves 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
6 ounces pancetta, cubed
4 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
8 chicken thighs, bone in with skin, or 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1/3 cup dry white wine
28 ounces San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
1 sprig oregano
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
Sugar, optional

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion is golden.

Add the pancetta and the mushrooms, and increase the heat to medium. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon onto a plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.

If needed, add the additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the Dutch oven. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then lightly brown the chicken pieces in batches, sitting aside browned pieces on a spare plate.

Remove the Dutch oven from heat and carefully add the wine, taking care not to let any grease splash you. Return to heat, scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze it, and add the chicken pieces back in. Cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the tomatoes, oregano, rosemary, and bay leaf, along with 1/3 cup cold water. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil, then add the reserved pancetta mixture back to the pot. Taste, and add sugar if needed (depends on if your tomatoes are sweet enough, add 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon) and season with salt and pepper (amount of salt will depend on how much salt the pancetta mixture adds). Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

If the liquid is too thin, remove the chicken from the pot, increase the heat, and boil until the sauce is thickened. Discard the herb sprigs and bay leaf, season again if needed, and serve over polenta (recipe follows).

Polenta
3 1/4 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup polenta

Bring milk, salt, and oil to a slow boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add polenta, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring often, until thickened and tender, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan. Drizzle with oil, and season with pepper. Serve immediately.

It’s one of those tips that it seems everyone knows, until you hear from that one person who doesn’t. And to them it’s mind-blowing, earth-shattering… okay, maybe not. But it’s super-neat and cool! Or, maybe just really handy.

So with that in mind, I share the flavor-enhancer-in-an-ice-cube-tray trick. When you have bits of liquid or semi-liquid things left over (or if you just want to perfectly portion a huge batch of something), pour into an ice cube tray and freeze. Each cube usually yields 1 to 2 tablespoons of whatever. You could do this with stocks for those recipes that call for 1 tablespoon here or there, leftover wine, citrus juices, or, as I’ve done here, my pesto. These are perfect for a serving of pasta or tossing into a baked egg.

For heavier substances, like the pesto, or chipotle chilis in adobo, I first line the ice cube tray with saran wrap before filling each cube with a tablespoon of the ingredient. Then I top it off with another layer of saran wrap. After the ingredient is frozen, I pop these out, trim the plastic wrap so the cubes are individually-wrapped single servings, and ensure they are tightly wrapped before tossing into a ziploc bag that is noted with ingredient and amount per cube. This ensures the cubes don’t stick together in the freezer, and it makes cleanup of the tray easy.