Entrees

This is a recipe from one of my favorite old cookbooks, Johanne Killeen and George Germon's Cucina Simpatica: Robust Trattoria Cooking From Al Forno .  Johanne and George are the chefs behind one of our region's finest restaurants, Al Forno in Providence R.I..  Famous for their grilled pizzas and hearty braises, they have also made a name for themselves as masters of baked pastas.  One of our favorite dishes here at Oui, Chef (in fact, its Muppet's favorite pasta of all-time) is their baked pasta with lemon, asparagus and prosciutto, a light and flavorful dish bright with lemon and herbs.  Sadly, light is not an adjective I'd use to describe this dish so if you are still in the middle of your spring cleanse, then you best click elsewhere and save yourself some suffering.  

As heart attacks go, this one is damned tasty, super flexible and oh so easy to put together.  So, if you're not yet on your bikini-season diet, let's carry-on shall we.  

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"Baby….it's the other, other white meat!"  "Baby…. it's what's for dinner!"

Sorry, I couldn't resist tossing out these classic Austin Powers lines, do forgive me.

As much as I love BBQ ribs, I've never made them at home from scratch before as they always seemed like a lot of work to me.  Most recipes you come across require that you smoke the ribs first, then cook them low and slow before finishing them over a hot flame.  Steps 2 and 3 of that process don't scare me, but given that I don't own a smoker, step 1 always gave me a great deal of pause.

You see, if you don't have a dedicated smoker and have to McGyver one out of a charcoal or gas grill, smoking becomes a $#!% load of work.  I've done it a few times when crafting some home made charcuterie, and I found the amount of effort required to maintain not only the right temperature (whether cold or hot smoking), but also regulating for the appropriate amount of smoke, made the whole exercise a rather large pain in my behind.

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This is another adaptation of a Ming Tsai dish that we tried recently and absolutely loved.  It's easy enough to whip up for a weeknight family meal, but if served up on a platter, pretty enough for company.  This recipe highlights two of my favorite techniques for taking a tender but otherwise ho-hum piece of meat, the pork tenderloin, and making it a crave worthy star.

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This recipe is a riff on one I saw recently in Fine Cooking magazine, and represents such a classic combination of Italian flavors I knew I had to try it right away.  I made it with a great gluten-free pasta  made by a company called Ancient Harvest.  They make it with quinoa and corn flours, hence the beautiful golden color you see in the photo.  This was originally supposed to be our Meatless Monday meal this week, but as we had so much roast pork tenderloin left-over form the weekend, we ended up eating that on Monday instead.  Meatless Tuesday doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but there you go.

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One of the things I love most about risotto is how it feels right at home in any season.  In the fall and winter you can load it full of hearty meats and chunks of root vegetables for a warming feast on a chilly day.  In the spring and summer it takes well to a lighter hand, and shines when used with spring veggies and herbs.  Given that we're just getting started with spring here in the northeast, this risotto straddles these two styles by combining a richness brought by roasted garlic and pancetta along with a lightness enhanced by the use of peas and baby spinach.

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