Lobster Macaroni and Cheese: Decadence Defined

If you know me well, you will probably be astonished to even see this recipe on my blog. It is just so completely the opposite of how I normally eat or prepare food, that you may question my motives and/or my sanity. But rest assured - my healthy eating habits haven't given up the ghost, but sometimes you just have to give in to the temptation of something so completely decadent that you're willing to pay the price (lots of extra time at the gym!). I fell in love with the concept of lobster mac-n-cheese at a wine industry event Randall and I attended some years ago in Lake Tahoe. One of the chefs at the event had prepared his version of this dish - I was hooked at the first bite. So, I came home and recreated it, and dust it off every now again when the occasion dictates.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

• 3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni pasta
  
• 12 ounces lobster tail pieces, fully cooked
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk, room temperature
• 4+ cups white cheese, shredded (For this recipe, I like to use a combination of white cheeses. I use 1 heaping cup each of New Zealand sharp white cheddar, French Comte, a Swiss Emmental from France, and a Swiss Gruyere. I like the combination of sharpness/nuttiness/creaminess of the various cheeses, but if you just want to pick one white cheese and stick with it, that would work ok too. I'd recommend a gruyere.)
• 1/4 cup white truffle oil (optional - but why the hell not?)
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the macaroni according to package directions; drain. Start the cheese sauce by making a roux: Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. When melted and foamy, add the flour and whisk together to form a paste. Add 1 cup of milk; continue to whisk until mixture is blended and creamy. Start adding the cheese 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly. As the cheese melts, continue to add remaining milk and cheese in 1-cup increments. If the cheese sauce seems too thick for your liking, you can add in more milk as desired - just use small increments and keep stirring. Add the white truffle oil once all the cheese and milk have been incorporated. Once the cheese sauce is fully melted and blended, add the pasta and the lobster; stir well to coat. Pour mixture into a casserole dish (or in individually-sized ramekins - a great way to manage portion size... as if it matters!). Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake in a 400-degree oven until topping is browned and the mac-and-cheese is bubbling, approximately 30 minutes.

Art of the Chokes

I love artichokes - don't get me wrong - but I'm not always a fan of the traditional method of eating them. Translation: artichoke leaf as a conduit for melted butter or a big scoop of aioli. Oh who am I kidding? I love that method too! But my waistline and my conscience don't, so I shy away from that preparation in lieu of this flavorful and much more healthful adaptation. When grilling artichokes, I often prefer to use small globe or even baby artichokes so that you can eat the whole darn thing - not just the bitty nub of goodness at the end of the more mature artichoke leaves. And the beauty of this recipe? No butter or mayo in sight - the artichokes are delicious all on their own.

Grilled Artichokes

• Small globe or baby artichokes, stems and leaves trimmed
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
  
• Grill seasoning of your choice; McCormick brand makes several readily-available tasty combinations in its Grill Mates line of products (I make my own with a combination of dried minced garlic, gray sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, red pepper flakes, a dash of smoked paprika and a dash of chili powder)
• Parmesan cheese, grated

Start by steaming the artichokes until they are soft at the base of the leaves (you can easily stick a fork in to the choke), and the leaves pull away easily. Don't overcook them at this stage - they still have to stand up to the grill. Once they are finished steaming, slice them in half lengthwise when they are cool enough to handle.

With a teaspoon, gently remove and discard any of the bristly choke that sits atop the artichoke heart. Liberally squeeze lemon juice on the face of the artichokes, as well as in between the leaves (spread the leaves apart gently with your fingers to get the lemon juice down into its base). Coat each artichoke with olive oil. Dust the face of the artichoke with a mixture of grill seasoning and Parmesan cheese; also sprinkle the mixture down among the leaves using the same gentle spreading action employed for the lemon juice.

Place the artichokes on a hot oiled grill. Cook for 3-5 minutes per side, or until artichokes are nicely charred.

Pumpkin Risotto: How Very Stirring

There's nothing quite like risotto in terms of versatility. You can serve it as either a side dish or a main dish, and is just as delicious classically prepared or all gussied up. The creamy texture of perfectly cooked arborio rice makes a fabulous base for just about a million different variations; this pumpkin version is super easy, and is not laden with cheese and butter as the majority of risotto recipes are! The key to making perfect risotto is in the constant stirring. The starch in the arborio rice gets released as it cooks, and if you're not constantly stirring and adding liquid, it very quickly can turn to sticky mush. But it doesn't take long, so it's worth every loving turn of the spatula.

Pumpkin Risotto

• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice (and yes, it has to be arborio)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (straight out of the can is good, unless you really want to make your own!)
  
• 1 cup dry white wine (room temperature); I recommend a chardonnay that has gone through a secondary malolactic fermentation so it has a rich, buttery taste - as opposed to a fruit-forward style of wine (for this recipe, I used a La Crema 2006 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay)
• 3 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken stock (warmed) - use vegetable stock for a vegetarian version
  
• Salt, to taste
• Parmesan cheese, grated
  

In a heavy saucepan, saute the shallot and garlic in the olive oil over medium-low heat; cook until the shallots and garlic are clear and tender. Add the arborio rice and saute in the oil for about 2 minutes. Maintain a medium-low temperature as you introduce the liquid ingredients. Add the white wine; stir constantly. Once the wine has been absorbed, start adding the hot stock 1 cup at a time as it is absorbed. Continue to stir constantly. Add the pumpkin in 1/2 cup increments as you add the 2nd and 3rd cup of stock. Once all of the stock has been added, season to taste with salt and continue to stir until the risotto reaches a creamy texture and the rice is al dente. Serve garnished with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Leaf it to the Grill

I had a grilled Caesar salad recently at Sonoma's El Dorado Kitchen restaurant. The warm grilled romaine reminded me of just how much I love grilled lettuces, and jogged in my brain a dish I like to make this time of year when endive and radicchio are abundant at the farmers market. Grilling these leafy bundles mellows out their bitterness, and makes for a delicious winter salad. The dish as I make it was something I learned when I first moved to the Bay Area and was on a date (with whom? I don't exactly remember....) at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach Italian neighborhood. The restaurant no longer exists, but thankfully, the execution of this dish is so simple that it was easy to recreate. The key to its tastiness is in the finish: a drizzle of balsamic reduction on top of the charred, wilted leaves - voila! Taste explosion.

Grilled Endive and Radicchio with Balsamic Reduction

• Heads of Belgian endive, split lengthwise*
• Heads of radicchio, quartered*
  
• Olive oil
• Salt, to taste
• Balsamic vinegar
  

*Note: When slicing the heads of the endive and radicchio, be sure to leave the stem end intact so that the leaves don't dismantle themselves.

Brush the sliced endive and radicchio with a light coat of olive oil; season with salt. Place face down on a very hot oiled grill (or grill pan on the stove top). Cook approximately 2-3 minutes per side, or until the face is properly charred and the leaves have started to wilt. Drizzle with balsamic reduction and serve while warm.

To make a balsamic reduction, slowly simmer balsamic vinegar in a sucepan until it has reduced by half, thickens and becomes a sweet syrup. For this recipe, you don't need much - start with perhaps 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and increase/decrease depending on the amount of endive and radicchio you are preparing.

Soup's On!

You know those ginormous, firelog-sized burritos that are delicious staples of any taqueria in San Francisco's Mission District? Well - those oversized burritos are the inspiration for this soup. I love - underscore love - the burritos, and figured that the flavors would undoubtedly make for a great soup on a cold winter day. Sure enough - this is one soup that will get put in rotation at my house! This recipe is a vegetarian version; you certainly could add chicken, steak or pork to bump up the protein quotient, but it's more than satisfying without.

Black Bean Burrito Soup

• 6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1 cup orange juice, no pulp
• 2 15-ouce cans of black beans, drained
• 1 cup long-grained rice (not instant)
• 1 7-ounce can of diced greed chilies (or equivalent of fresh, fire-roasted green chilies)
• 2-3 chipotle peppers; more if you like it spicy! (Buy chipotle peppers in the can from the Mexican section of the supermarket; the peppers come in a chipotle sauce, which is crucial to the flavor of this soup.)
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced (or 1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes)
• Kosher salt, to taste

Toppings:

• Tortilla chips, crumbled
• Cilantro, chopped
• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream (or I like plain Greek yogurt instead)

Combine 4 cups of stock, orange juice, black beans, rice, green chilies and chipotle peppers in a stock pot; bring to a simmer. Cook until rice becomes tender and absorbes the liquid by half, about 25-30 minutes. Add remaining two cups of stock along with the diced tomatoes; return to a fast simmer and reduce until desired soup consistency (rice will continue to absorb liquid and thicken the soup). Serve with your choice of toppings.

Salty and Sweet

I'm such a sucker for salted caramel. A complete and utter sucker. Which is strange - I really can walk away from most sweets, but there's something about the flavor combination of salted caramel that gets me every time. So, I resurrected a super-simple caramel popcorn recipe that I've literally been making since I was a kid, and finished it off with a decidedly 2008 flourish: gray fleur de sel. It's caramel popcorn - all grown up! You can blame me if you get addicted as well, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Salted Caramel Popcorn

• 1 cube of butter (1/2 cup)
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• Course gray sea salt (French fleur de sel is my go-to)
  

Combine all caramel ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to melt and blend all ingredients together. Reduce heat to low and continue a slow boil; stir constantly to avoid the caramel from burning. Caramel is done when it reaches the soft ball candy stage (approximately 5 minutes at slow boil). While still hot, pour caramel over a big bowl of popcorn, mixing well to coat. Sprinkle liberally with the sea salt, again, mixing well for even coverage throughout the batch.

Muffin Mania

Here's a couple of muffin recipes, submitted by my mom. Actually, one was a banana bread recipe that I made into muffins instead (just my preference, since I can eat one and freeze the others for later... but a loaf of banana bread? No control.). But you - make either of these recipes as you please - loaves, muffins - whatever! For the banana bread recipe, my mom uses the tried-and-true recipe from the 1967 edition of the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book" - which she purchased while she was in college simply because it included this "exotic" banana bread recipe ("When I started making it," she said, "bananas were scare in this Utah desert. You actually had to buy and store them on purpose if you were going to make the bread!"). As for the lemon poppy seed muffin recipe, I'm not sure where that recipe originated, but it's a semi-homemade recipe that my mom has perfected. The muffins are delicious and moist and lemony and fantastic. Sorry I don't have a picture, but I'd about had my quota of baking with the banana bread recipe!

Banana Bread Muffins
Submitted by Judy Angell

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream together shortening and sugar; add eggs and beat well. Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with banana, blending well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Pour into well-buttered loaf pan or lined muffing tins. Bake at 350 degrees; for loaves: 40-45 minutes, for muffins: 15-20 minutes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Submitted by Judy Angell

• One pre-packaged lemon poppyseed muffin mix, available in the boxed cake mix section of the supermarket.
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 ounces lemon yogurt
• Zest of 1 fresh lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar

Combine boxed muffin mix with remainder of ingredients; mix well. Batter will be very thick. Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins; bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 18-20 minutes. Once muffins are golden, remove from tins and place on a cooling rack. Drizzle with glaze while muffins are still warm.