So, springtime and the first real weekend sunny weekend of the Spring and I decided to go for a picnic. But instead of making a sandwich, I decided to go with these hand pies and a bunch of salads. I really like hand pies, as they are an “enclosed” sandwich of sort. Or a mini-pot pie without a serving dish. Either way, delicious.
Browsing Tag
Italian
Here is a little bit of an odd-ball recipe for you: Rigatoni Pie. OK, in this case, it is actually Paccheri Pie, because that is the kind of pasta that I used, but most people would use rigatoni. Any tubular pasta will do though. I had found the paccheri a while back at Eataly, so figured that I could use them with this.
So what is a pasta pie? Essentially, a lasagna with the noddles standing upright. All the ingredients are the same. I just think this turns out to be a bit of a fun presentation. And perfect comfort food as well.
The other evening, we went out to a restaurant that had a Wild Boar Ragu special. It was phenomenal and inspired me to “reverse engineer” it and try to make it myself. This is the recipe that I came up with, and I am proud to say that I think that my version is even better than the one served at the restaurant. It was seriously delicious.
Appetizers/Starters, Savory Snacks, Sides
Sweet and Savory Rosemary and Spiced Fig Thumbprint “Cookies”
Ok, this is a bit of a random flavor profile, but run with it, shall we? Last weekend, when I went to Eataly, they had a huge section of Italian jams, mustards and chutneys. I was intrigued, and picked out a savory jam with figs and a little bit of onion and mustard seed. Not, it doesn’t taste mustardy, just savory. Anyway, what to do with said concoction? Well, one thing certainly would have been to eat it along with cheese and crackers, but I thought that I would make my own “crackers” (aka savory cookies) and ended up with rosemary and chili flakes in them. Fantastic! These are definitely an “eat with cheese” (or salami or olives) type of “cookie” but very tasty. Experiment successful? I’d say yes!
Here is a quick main dish inspired by my trip to the newly opened Eataly here in Boston yesterday. A quick, one pot, done in under an hour, weeknight friendly (provided you like mushrooms) Triple Mushroom pasta. Neat trick: you cook the pasta in with the mushrooms, which saves a step (and an additional pot). This might have to go on my go-to rotation too as I think that I’ll be able to eat from this at least 3x meals (being the singleton that I am).