Ricotta Macaroni and Cheese with Asparagus and Leeks

First I cooked up a large leek in some olive oil and after about 3-4 minutes I added in the asparagus. These only took a few minutes to cook, and it's best to under-cook them a bit so they don't get too mushy when the whole casserole gets baked.

I made a béchamel sauce with 2 tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of flour and 2 cups of milk. I chopped up a large clove of garlic and threw that in. Once the mixture thickened, I added in about 2 ounces of cheddar that I had in the fridge, along with a bit of feta that I had left over from the eggplant caponata toast that I made a few nights ago. I stirred in about 3/4 of a container of ricotta, grated in some nutmeg and added in a large pinch each of cayenne pepper, mustard powder (both of these are always good in mac and cheese) and dried tarragon.

When the pasta was cooked (I used orecchiette) I stirred everything together in a nice glass baking dish. I sprinkled on some chopped up parsley and chives and topped that off with panko breadcrumbs and a few drizzles of olive oil. The whole thing baked in the oven at about 375 degrees until the top was golden! I served it with another little sprinkling of fresh chives. This was delicious!

P.S. I picked up some chives at the farmer's market yesterday and I've been using them in everything! This morning I made the best scrambled eggs ever with a fresh red chili, shallots and tons of chives! YUM

Miso Salmon, Broccoli+Leeks, Coconut Rice

This was a pretty good meal. Asian foods in general are not my strength, but it's fun to play around with the flavors sometimes. There were a lot of processes involved, but none of them were too complicated! First, I made the marinade/glaze for the salmon. This included a large spoonful of red miso, some lime juice, maple syrup, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and this really great sweet chili sauce that they sell at whole foods. I added in a bit of chopped garlic and ginger and let that sit for a minute before spreading it onto the fish. Next I sautéed some finely diced up serrano chili and ginger in a bit of oil for the rice. After about 2-3 minutes, I added in about a cup of rice, along with a cup each of vegetable broth and coconut milk. In another pan, I sautéed about half of a leek and a clove of garlic in some butter and sesame oil. I heated the oven to 400 degrees and popped in the salmon. This cooked for about 10 minutes (of course the length of time depends on how much fish you have). In the meantime, I threw the broccoli in with the leeks and poured in about 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. This only took a few minutes to cook. Finally, I took the fish out of the oven, chopped up some cilantro, basil and mint, and plated everything together with a final squeeze of lime over the top. yum yum yum!

Zucchini, Leek, Tomato, Ricotta and Basil Calzones

I've made these calzones about a million times but tonight I was finally ready to deviate from the regular calzone routine. I sautéed thinly sliced garlic and leeks in some olive oil with a sprinkling of chili flakes. Then, I added in thinly sliced zucchini and let them cook on pretty high heat until they were juuust cooked (add salt and pepper to taste). Roll out your pizza dough and pile on some of the zucchini/leek/garlic mixture. Next, Layer on a few slices of tomato, some torn up basil leaves and dollop on as much ricotta as you'd like. Bake at 450-500 degrees until golden! Finally, I drizzled on a little bit of balsamic vinegar! This was a good meal to accompany the new episode of top chef masters!