Pasta wow

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Oh my goodness, readers, this dinner was beyond. In Florence last week, my last supper included a wildly indulgent ravioli in a cream sauce flecked with speck, an Italian bacon. My sister and I were to share this plate, and we did so, but grudgingly. In honor of that meal, I made some fresh pasta tonight and stuffed it with a mixture of mushroom duxelles, shallots, pancetta, parsley and Parm. Just look at the color of those yolks!

Then, I sauced it with a cream-blue cheese-Parm-pancetta sauce (no, not good for you, but simultaneously, good for you!). Oh.My.God. I will work out this recipe and then post it because it was amazing.

I also had some leftover leek confit so made some ravioli stuffed with that and Bûcheron. Not as good but still good, you know?!

Fig-caramelized onion tart comes to fruition beautifully

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I am super-excited about jumping into this tart tonight. It's got 2 minutes left in the oven, and my mouth is watering. Also, I didn't really eat lunch so am starving. In any case, I caramelized one large yellow onion and one shallot slowly in olive oil and salt; near the end, I stirred in some good quality balsamic. Then I put most of them into a puff pastry which I'd laid out in a rectangular baking sheet, sprinkled some crumbled bacon and then some crumbled Valdeon (spanish blue cheese) on that and then layered on sliced figs and the last of the onions. Buzzer. More in a bit!

 

Friends, this tart is unreal, a 5-star keeper if ever there was one. Sweet, salty, savory, bacon'y. Mamma mia!! And I served it with an arugula/tomato/balsamic vinaigrette salad. AAH!