gift this: best ever nut brittle

Like a lot of people, I'm going to try and cut back on Christmas gift spending this year. One of the best ways to show people you love them without spending a fortune is to cook treats for them (you know, you don't really love someone unless you fatten them up a little - one more proof point that I'm of Italian descent). My dad used to bring home the best nut brittle about a week before Christmas, from some vendor who gave out tins of it to all their clients. This stuff was like eating a heath bar - if you hadn't seen food in a week. I'll work on a chocolate-sided version next time, but for now, my research led me to this recipe by Tina Ujlaki (adapted from famous pastry chef Karen DeMasco). I adapted it further by trying a combination of almonds and pine nuts. I knew it was a winner when my dad said he'd gladly eat 2 pounds of it in one sitting.

Grocery list: 2 cups sugar, 1 stick butter, 1/3 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 12 ounces nuts (slivered almonds and pine nuts were my choice, but you could use roasted salted cashews, peanuts, pistachios, pecans, or any combination), sea salt.



Mix the sugar, butter, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.



Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At first, it will be very light colored, but as the heat rises it will start to turn caramel-y. Using a candy thermometer is absolutely critical, because if you don't boil the caramel long enough (i.e. get it up to 300 degrees exactly), it will be chewy when it cools instead of snapping apart into pieces.



When it is finally 300 degrees (the original recipe said to boil for 10 minutes, but I think it took me at least 15 minutes to get the caramel to 300 degrees), turn off the heat and quickly stir in the 1/2 tsp baking soda.



Carefully stir in the baking soda; it will bubble for a few seconds.



I finally got to use my new kitchen scale - measure out 12 ounces of some combination of nuts.



Stir the nuts into the caramel mixture.



Spread the brittle onto a large rimmed nonstick baking sheet. This takes some muscle, since the mixture is thick and cooling quickly. Once it's evenly distributed, sprinkle sea salt over the top. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes, then break into big pieces. The original recipe notes that this brittle can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month - although I can't imagine this lasting for longer than 3 days once you've tasted a bite.

spaghetti squash with ricotta, sage & toasted pine nuts

I found this awesome recipe for spaghetti squash on The Kitchn (Apartment Therapy's cooking blog). It's so true - parmesan is good and all, but is that the *only* way to make spaghetti squash? This is definitely going in the rotation. I made it with a roast leg of lamb and some rainbow chard with garlic, the perfect autumnal dinner.

Grocery list: 2lb spaghetti squash, 2 cloves garlic, olive oil, 3/4 cup ricotta, handful of pinenuts (about half a cup), about 10 fresh sage leaves.



Start by cutting your squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 375 degrees for about an hour (obviously bigger squash take longer; you know it's done when a fork can pierce it easily). I also roasted some butternut squash while the oven was on - to be featured soon, promise :)



Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a small fry pan over medium-high heat. Fry the sage leaves for about a minute - they'll start to brown. When you remove them from the pan to a paper-lined plate, they actually get crispy. If you wait till they're crispy in the pan, they are actually burned on the plate (learned the hard way).



Smash a couple of garlic cloves, and mix in a large bowl with the ricotta. Toast the pinenuts over medium heat in a small fry pan, moving constantly so they don't burn in spots. Chop the crispy sage and stir it, along with the pine nuts, into the squash.



When the squash is done, hold each half down with tongs and, using your other hand, drag a fork across the inside of the squash. It will come up easily, looking like little spaghetti noodles. Transfer to the bowl with ricotta and stir well. Season with salt and pepper.

lemon ricotta pasta with pine nuts and roast chicken

This recipe meets several requirements for the "weekday rotation" in my house: fast (literally 30 minutes start to finish, less if you buy a rotisserie chicken), and lots of protein. If I'm making pasta, I've got to sneak in as much as possible -- did you know part-skim ricotta is a very lean form of protein? Combined with the chicken, this dish has at least 30 grams of protein per serving, meaning it passes my meat-head boyfriend's standards. This is much tastier than a chalky protein powder drink too.

Grocery list: chicken (either 1 pound of boneless skin-on chicken breast, or 1 rotisserie chicken), 1 pound of farfalle (bowtie) pasta, lemons, basil, pine nuts, 1 15-oz container of ricotta, plus garlic & thyme if you're roasting your own chicken.

I've covered roast chicken breast before (here's the full post), but to show how to prep all of this together in 30 minutes, I'll touch on a few points. While you preheat the oven to 400 degrees, mince a few garlic cloves and thyme leaves, pour some salt and a tsp of olive oil on it, and mash together with the flat side of your knife or with tines of a fork. Spread the paste under the skin of the chicken breast, slip a couple of thin slices of lemon under there too, and drizzle olive oil all over the chicken. Season with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes.



While the chicken roasts, bring your pasta water to boil and prep the other ingredients. Zest a couple of lemons, and chop 1-2 handfuls of basil leaves. Toast a handful of pine nuts in a small fry pan. Cook the pasta (usually 12 minutes for farfalle), drain quickly and return to the pot. When the chicken is done roasting, turn the oven off and let the chicken rest in the oven for another 5 minutes.



Stir in enough olive oil to coat the pasta -- 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Drop the ricotta in spoonfuls, and stir in the lemon zest and pine nuts. Shred the chicken (discard the skin and lemon slices, but keep all the good bits of garlic and thyme) and stir into the pasta. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

pappardelle with porcini mushrooms and garlic roast chicken

A recipe for "pappardelle with porcini and pistachios" was recently featured in Food & Wine magazine, from the chef at Cru restaurant in NYC. I decided I wanted to try it, but needed to add roast chicken (if I want to make pasta at home, it is absolutely mandatory that I find a way to include protein, or my boyfriend will insist on skipping dinner and just having a protein shake). I also substituted pine nuts for the pistachios, and used dried porcinis instead of fresh. The result? My sweet aforementioned boyfriend rated this dish one of his all-time favorites. The caramelized onions are a surprising sweet contrast to the garlicky chicken and earthy mushrooms.

Grocery list: 2 boneless chicken breasts WITH skin (about 1-1.5 pounds), garlic, lemon, thyme; pappardelle pasta (could substitute fettucine), large red onion, 1 pound fresh porcini or 2 packages dried porcini mushrooms, 1 shallot, chicken stock, parsley, pine nutes, lemon, dried red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese for serving.



I've covered roasted chicken before, but this variation involves stuffing a garlic and thyme paste and a few lemon slices up under the skin, so that the chicken is more flavorful. I saw this on the well fed food blog and it looked amazing -- it's perfect for this recipe. The picture above is a technique to easily get the peel off a clove of garlic -- is this something everyone does? I can't remember where I learned it but it's so useful. Chop off the hard end of the garlic, and lay the flat side of your knife blade down on the garlic. Whack it one time, in a quick motion. The garlic clove crushes on the inside, and the peel will fall right off.

Mince 3 garlic cloves, and mince a couple of stems of thyme. Pour some salt right on the garlic and thyme, and mash with the flat side of your knife blade slowly, massaging the garlic until it turns into paste.



Smear the garlic paste under the skin of the chicken, forming a little pocket, and insert a couple of lemon slices. Place skin-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil, and grind salt and pepper on top; bake 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Let the chicken rest.



When you remove it from the pan, it should easily separate from the skin (the skin will stay on the pan), and then you can shred it and set aside for later.



Let's cover the prep work for the mushroom sauce first. If you're using dried mushrooms, rinse them very well in cold water, then put into a bowl. Boil about a cup of water, and pour over the dried mushrooms. Let them sit for 20 minutes. Remove from the water and set aside. While they are sitting in the water, you can caramelize the red onion by sauteing it in 3T melted butter over medium heat for at least 15 minutes. Slice a couple of garlic cloves as thinly as you can, and mince 1-2 shallots.



The original recipe calls for fresh porcinis, so if you're using them instead, you would remove the onion from the pan and cook the fresh mushrooms in a few more tablespoons of butter for 8 minutes. I realized this step is unnecessary if you're using dehydrated mushrooms -- at this point in the process, just add the mushrooms to the onion in the pan. Season with salt and pepper, then add the garlic and shallot and cook for about 1 minute.



Next, add 2 cups of chicken stock and a handful of chopped parsley to the pan, and simmer over medium-high heat till it is reduced down to the consistency of a thick sauce (about 10 minutes). Stir in the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a handful of pine nuts, and the shredded roast chicken.



Cook the pappardelle according to the package directions, and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the pasta and the 1/2 cup of cooking water in with the mushroom sauce and chicken, and top with grated parmesan to serve.