Part of The Reluctant Gourmet Cookbook Challenge

This weekend we had friends over for dinner and Meg & I served this pasta dish as an appetizer along with incredible roast pork tenderloin and apple sage sauce that was delicious – moist with plenty of flavor. Might even register as a “Good As It Gets” recipe. I’ll post the recipe for the pork dish in the next week or so plus tell you where you can watch it being prepared via video.

As part of my Reluctant Gourmet Cookbook Challenge, I suggested looking for recipes from cookbooks you haven’t used in a while, but I just purchased the new Chef Marc Vetri cookbook, Rustic Italian Food, and couldn’t wait to give it a spin. This recipe for Rigatoni with Chicken Livers is served at Marc’s Osteria restaurant here in Philadelphia, and I have been told it’s their most popular request. I know I order it as a table appetizer every time we dine there.

I’m Not Eating Chicken Livers

I understand some of you may be turning up your noses with the idea of cooking and eating chicken livers, and I understand where you are coming from but this one is really worth a try. If you like liverwurst, liver pate (be sure to check out my Chicken Liver Pate Recipe also from Vetri), foie gras or any organ meat dishes, you are going to love this.

And if you don’t think you are going to like it because of the chicken livers, give it a try anyway to broaden your culinary repertoire.  Maybe start with a little liverwurst, muenster cheese and spicy mustard on a hard roll and go from there.

We doubled up Marc’s recipe since we had 7 adults to serve, and it was great. Everyone enjoyed it, but the dish was not as creamy as I remembered it at Osteria. Next time I would add a little more pasta water and Parmesan cheese at the end to make the sauce creamier as Chef Marc suggests.

What’s really amazing is how affordable a dish like this is. Chicken livers sell for less than $2 per pound and Marc’s recipe calls for ½ pound. Yeah, the cipollini onions are more expensive, but you could easily substitute yellow onions. Be sure to buy quality Parmesan cheese and grate it yourself to assure freshness. And of course you want to use fresh sage, not dried.

So for this Recipe Challenge, I offer you

Cipollini Onions - Great for roasting and very sweet

Cipollini Onions Sliced

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese and Fresh Sage

Chicken Livers - Not much to look at but very tasty when prepared right

Ok, now it’s starting to look very delicious!

Rigatoni with Chicken Livers, Cipollini Onions and Sage
from Marc Vetri’s Rustic Italian Food
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 14 ounces dry rigatoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus some extra for the sauce
• 8 small cipollini onions, peeled and thinly sliced into rings (I had a terrible time trying to peel the onions and did my best but because the skin was so thin, I didn’t get crazy trying to remove it all. See below for an onion peeling trick I just learned.)
• 12 fresh sage leaves
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 8 ounces chicken livers, minced
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese with extra to serve at table

How to Prepare at Home

Start by bringing a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta. Many home cooks, including myself, underestimate how long it takes to (1) bring the water to boil and (2) cook the pasta. We end up with a finished sauce waiting for the pasta to cook.

Get the water boiling before you need to throw in the pasta. And don’t forget to season the water with a little salt.Add the pasta and bring the water back to a boil and cook until al dente (tender yet firm).

While the pasta is cooking, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large fry pan (sauté pan) big enough to hold both the sauce and the pasta over medium-high heat. Now add the cipollini onions and sage and cook until the onions are lightly brown. This should take 3 to 4 minutes.

Season the onions and sage with salt and pepper and add the minced chicken livers. These cook quickly, about a minute or two. Add a ladle full of the pasta water using it to deglaze, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen up anything stuck to it.

When it’s time to drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, be sure to reserve a cup of the pasta water in case you need it when making the sauce. Pasta water, full of starch from the pasta, is a great way to help the sauce stick to the pasta.

Add the pasta to the saucepan and toss with the Parmesan cheese, some of the reserved pasta water and additional butter.  Judgment time. If you think you need more sauce or it is not creamy enough, add a little more of the pasta water.

You can also add more butter but don’t overdo it. I think restaurants are using way too much butter in their sauces, but that is another topic for discussion.

Serve in a large bowl family style or divide among individual bowls and serve with the extra Parmesan cheese as a garnish. It is also a great idea to warm the bowls before adding the pasta to keep everything warm.

I hope you give this one a try even if you are not a big fan of liver. There is tons of flavor and the chicken livers do not overpower the dish.  And of course, be sure to check out Chef Vetri’s new cookbook Rustic Italian Food.

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Cipollini Onion Peeling Tip

To peel cipollini onions, which can be a bit of a royal pain sometimes, cut an X on the bottom of each one and blanch for about a minute in boiling water. Shock in an ice bath. The skins will slip right off.

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Don’t forget to post what you are cooking as part of The Reluctant Gourmet Cookbook Challenge.

Flounder Fillets à la Moutarde - Cookbook Challenge #1

Moussaka - Cookbook Challenge #2

I love to try new recipes, but I get frustrated when I don’t write about them right away on my blog. I take a bunch of photos, some better than others, download them to my computer and tell myself that I’m going to write about the recipe tomorrow. Then I cook another meal, take some more pictures, download them to my computer before writing about previous recipe. Not today.

Friday night I made this quick and easy and very delicious recipe for pasta with sausage and cherry tomatoes that was so good, I wasn’t going to wait a week or two before posting for you to check out and try it yourselves.

I found this recipe while browsing the latest food and wine edition on my iPad. That’s right, I am now checking out some of my favorite cooking magazines on an electronic device and guess what? I like the new technology. I like that I will be able to store future cooking magazines electronically so I don’t end up with more boxes of partially read cooking mags that I can’t seem to throw out.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe was created by one of my favorite Philadelphia chefs, Marc Vetri. I have written about Marc many times on my website, mostly about his involvement with Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a charity that I support that raises money to find a cure for childhood cancer, one cup at a time.

I’m guessing this recipe is in this month’s Food & Wine to promote Chef Vetri’s new cookbook, Rustic Italian Food, due to come out in November.  I can’t wait to buy a copy if only for his recipe for one of my favorite all-time pasta dishes, chicken liver rigatoni with cipolline onions and sage. Last time I spoke with Marc he told me it would be in this cookbook. If all the recipes in Rustic Italian Food are as good as the four that he offers up in Food & Wine, this cookbook may turn out to be one of my favorite Italian cookbooks.

My youngest daughter Maddie had two of her friends sleepover last night so we weren’t sure what kind of eaters they were.  I adapted Chef Marc’s recipe a little bit to make sure everyone would enjoy it. We started them off with the pasta alone with a little sauce on the side but all the girls eventually wanted more with the sauce.

I chose this recipe because we had most of the ingredients in-house including the orecchiette pasta, sausage and cherry tomatoes. We didn’t have any aged provolone cheese so I substituted freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I also didn’t add the crushed red pepper but put it on the table for anyone who cared for it and the turned out to be only me and my wife.

This recipe takes a total of 30 min. to prepare so it’s great for a weeknight meal or any time you need to put something together in a hurry. Using sausage instead of ground meat saves time because the sausage already is fully seasoned. Chef Mark uses the shredded cheese in the dish to give it a salty, creamy finish.

Pasta cooking tip - Mark says,” I always save the pasta water for thickening sauces. It should be a little cloudy from the starch.”
I like to add a little of the pasta water to my sauces too to help the sauce stick to the pasta.

Orecchiette Pasta

Orecchio is the Italian word for ear and the suffix etto means small so translated, orecchietta means small ear because someone thought that’s what these small pasta from southern Italy look like.  One of my favorite recipes featuring orecchiette is from Chef Ricco DeLuca called Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe. Check it out!

Orecchiette with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes
Adapted from Marc Vetri’s new cookbook Rustic Italian Food
Time 30 minutes    4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound orecchiette
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¾ pound sweet Italian sausage, without casing
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 2 ounces aged provolone cheese, shredded ( I used Parmesan)

How to Make Orecchiette with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes at Home

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the orecchiette pasta until al dente, but be sure to reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta water to help make the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté or frying pan large enough to hold the pasta and sauce. When the oil is hot, add the sausage in 1 inch pieces and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through. This should take about 8 to 10 min. Transfer the sausage to the plate lined with paper towel.

Add another 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan, raise the heat to medium high and as soon as it gets hot, add the tomatoes and crushed red pepper. While the tomatoes are cooking, use the back of a slotted spoon to press down on them until they are slightly softened. This should take about 4 to 6 min.

Now add the reserved pasta water, scrape up any brown bits of sausage and cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by half. Keep using the back of a slotted spoon to crush the tomatoes. This should all take about 5 to 7 min.

Add the pasta back to the pan along with the reserved sausage and the remaining tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix this all-together using your slotted spoon until the pasta is coated with sauce and olive oil.

Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the cheese and serve right away in warm pasta bowls along with any side dishes. We served steamed broccoli and a nice green salad. I also had some extra grated Parmesan cheese on the table in case anybody wanted more.
This recipe will be added to my list of quick and easy recipes that I would serve again to my family or to a group of friends.

Next week, I hope to try Chef Marc’s Bucatini with Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts especially since I have all the ingredients in the fridge already. Enjoy and let me know how y

My neighbor Marlee is back with a new (old) recipe she tried at home from one of her parent’s old Bon Appétit cooking magazines.  Marlee is new to cooking and has been working on her techniques and repertoire. I asked her to really spell out what she did and why and I think you are going to enjoy her results. I can’t wait to prepare this myself. Here’s what Marlee had to say:

This dish is particularly special to me because it has been in my family for decades now. It comes from the June 1989 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. My family has subscribed to Bon Appétit for as long as I can remember, and they save every issue they get, making notes of their favorite recipes on the inside.

My parents have been cooking this recipe for my whole life and last week I decided to try and make it myself for the first time. I cooked it for two family members and myself. I decided to share this recipe with you today because not only is it super easy to make, but it’s so delicious. How can you go wrong with green onions and cream?

While I found this recipe to be a huge success, I do have a few things I would have done differently:

• The original recipe says to sauté the chicken breasts whole and slice them afterwards, which I followed. My parents later told me that it’s faster and easier to cut the chicken first and then sauté it. It took me up to 25 minutes to thoroughly cook the chicken and get it to an internal temperature close to 165°F (the recommended temperature of doneness for chicken), because I had chicken breasts that were very thick.

• I forgot to season my chicken with salt and pepper before sautéing, and remembered half way through. I immediately seasoned, but don’t make the same mistake, season before you cook. The salt needs time to dissolve and mingle with the juices from the chicken.

• Make sure to plan out your cooking so that everything finishes at the same time. I started cooking the pasta while my chicken was still cooking because I thought my chicken would have been done faster than it was. I had my pasta finished a few minutes before everything else, and although it wasn’t a huge deal, it’s not preferred.

• If you are making this dish for less people and would like to cut the portions down, be careful. I decided to cut the servings in half and it turned out well, but I did notice that my sauce was a little heavier than I would have liked. I should have added a little bit more broth to the mixture. Either taste test your sauce before turning off the heat, or make sure to measure out properly. A taste test will probably be your best option though.

• This recipe calls for ¾ cup pasta, which if you’re cooking for 4 people may be enough, or maybe not. It all depends on personal preference. For three Italians who love pasta, we nearly finished the entire bowl. If you like leftovers, go for the whole box of pasta (usually 1 pound). But this means you may have to add a little bit more of some ingredients here and there.

• The original recipe in the magazine used green pasta (most likely some sort of spinach pasta) as an eye-catcher as well as to make the dish more colorful. Cream, cheese, chicken and plain pasta are all a similar color. Still tastes good regardless!

Ingredients:

• 5-6 chicken breast halves, skinned and cut into chunks
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
• 2 large shallots or Scallions (green onions), minced
• ½ cup chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
• 2 cups light cream
• 1¼ cups freshly grated Romano cheese
• 1 bunch Scallions (green onions), chopped
• ¾ pound green linguine or fettuccine
• Freshly grated Romano cheese
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

How to Make:

Always get your mise en place before beginning any of the following steps. Things are going to be cooking and added very quickly and you don’t want to waste time measuring things out.

Preheat oven to 200°F and stick an oven-safe plate in it.

Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil, getting ready to cook the pasta. This should take 5-10 minutes, giving you time to cook the chicken and ensure that everything finishes around the same time.

Over medium-low heat get a 10-inch skillet hot and then melt 2 tablespoons of butter.

Season all sides of your chicken with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken to the skillet and sauté until cooked, flipping occasionally. This should take a few minutes on each side.

When your chicken is done, remove your plate from the oven and place the chicken on it. Tent the chicken with aluminum foil to keep warm and set aside.

Toss the linguine or fettuccine in the boiling salted water. I used linguine, but both pastas will be al dente between 7-10 minutes. I usually take 1-2 minutes off the time the box tells me to make sure I get that perfect al dente texture.

Place large oven-safe serving bowl into the oven to warm.

Add shallots, or green onions to the skillet you were just cooking the chicken in and stir around for 1 minute. If you find that your chicken soaked up most of the butter from before, you can add a tablespoon or less of butter to the pan at this step. I used shallots in this step, to mix it up.

Add chicken stock or broth to the skillet and raise the heat to a boil. Reduce this down to a glaze, takes around 4-5 minutes. I used commercial canned chicken broth.

Add cream to the glaze and boil until a thicker consistency, stirring occasionally. The sauce will be ideal thickness after about 5 minutes.  I may have added a little extra cream at this step, just for the fun of it. The recipe called for whipping cream, but I went on the light side.

Add your freshly grated Romano cheese and green onions to the mixture and stir until the cheese melts and everything blends and thickens. Also, for some added flavor, add the juices that have gathered on your chicken plate. Season all of this with a little pepper.

Once your pasta has finished cooking, transfer it to your heated large serving bowl. Add your remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and mix around until the butter fully melts.

Place your chicken on top of the pasta and finally pour your sauce mixture over both the chicken and pasta.

Serve immediately with freshly grated Romano cheese on the side.

Hope you enjoy this rendition of this recipe. Comments welcome.

Contributing Writer Marlee