Item Number two for Filled Pasta / Dumpling Week in this week’s Ingredient of the Week. I made something pretty over-the-top decadent yet comfort food at the same time. This riff on Lobster Mac & Cheese uses tortellini, a creamy cheese sauce and a healthy portion of Maine Lobster — you can swap out your favorite crustacean for crab meat or even shrimp/prawns of you don’t have lobster handy. Very rich, but also very yummy. Maybe the perfect thing for the seafood lover in your life for Valentine’s Day.
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We’re on to week 4 of the Ingredient Game Challenge. Up this week, filled pastas/noodles and dumplings. I guess that isn’t really an ingredient per se, but a theme or topic, but nevertheless, lots of ideas to choose from — Italian (ravioli, manacotti), central and eastern European (maultaschen, pierogi) and Asian (dumplings, wonton, gyoza, shumai, har gow), Just to name a few! And I purposefully picked this as the week where dumplings could play a roll, given Lunar New Year. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.
First up for me: Hazelnut-Nutella Ravioli, Chocolate Sauce! Surpised? Yes, I thought that I would throw in an odd-ball right at the beginning. Dessert Ravioli! Totally decadent lunch actually. I might need a sugar-coma nap later, or at least some energy to go for a decent walk!
More on the Farmer’s Market side-dish theme… bean last time, peas this time. I am calling this one “Peas + Pears” — peas for the freshly shucked, perfectly “pearl” sized peas from the farmer’s market this morning and pearls for the pearled couscous and the perlini mozzarella. It’s sweet and savory, got a variety of textures and I think would go great with a seafood dish — salmon or scallops come to mind. This is super easy and quick to make, so it didn’t heat up the kitchen too much!
I love seafood. Most any kind of seafood really, but shrimp are actually one of those super-easy things to make, and because they are mostly IQF on the boats (Individually Quick Frozen), they are fresh when they are frozen and great to keep on hand. This is a garlic and saffron recipe that comes together very quickly. There are two things to be careful of though — be careful not to overcook the shrimp (less than 10 minutes will do) and the sauce can split if you aren’t careful. Paying attention and doing everything expeditiously certainly helps.
Today was just a day that I needed Mac & Cheese. And not just any Mac & Cheese, I went for this Mushroom Spinach and Boursin Baked Mac & Cheese. Hearty, garlicky, cheesy, delicious. Now I am going to fall into a food coma on the sofa in front of a hockey game. Because that is about all the effort that I have left. Ahhh, comfort food!