Goat Cheese Apple Walnut Pasta – Suspect Supper Turns into Super Side Dish

It sounded so good on paper. Yes, this creamy, tangy goat cheese sauce, spiked with sweet apples and walnuts was going to make quite the memorable winter pasta dinner. The only problem was, halfway through the bowl I suffered that most dreaded of all pasta eating afflictions…palate fatigue.

For whatever reason, after three or four ounces of this perfectly fine concoction, I got tired of eating it. It wasn’t that it started to taste bad; it just became a little tedious. This is not an uncommon phenomenon, especially with a bowl of macaroni.

However, instead of declaring my goat cheese, apple, walnut pasta entrée idea a failure, I decided to cleverly re-brand it as a tasty, seasonal side dish. The same exact recipe that fell a little flat as a main course, turned out to be a stellar side for some roast pork.

Of course, with taste being as subjective as it is, maybe you’ll have a different opinion as to this pasta’s worthiness as a headliner, but I wanted to be clear about my official recommendation. Even simply adding some slices of cooked chicken breast would have transformed the dish into something a little less “one-note.”

By the way, this isn’t something to make way ahead of time, as the walnuts react with the dairy in the sauce, and will turn your leftovers a fairly disturbing purple-blue color! If you’re not going to eat this immediately, then don’t mix in the nuts until service. I hope you give this great winter pasta…err, I mean side dish, a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
2 cups ditalini, or other small macaroni
1 tbsp butter
1 apple, diced
1 cup chicken broth
4 oz fresh creamy-style goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
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Goat Cheese Apple Walnut Pasta – Suspect Supper Turns into Super Side Dish

It sounded so good on paper. Yes, this creamy, tangy goat cheese sauce, spiked with sweet apples and walnuts was going to make quite the memorable winter pasta dinner. The only problem was, halfway through the bowl I suffered that most dreaded of all pasta eating afflictions…palate fatigue.

For whatever reason, after three or four ounces of this perfectly fine concoction, I got tired of eating it. It wasn’t that it started to taste bad; it just became a little tedious. This is not an uncommon phenomenon, especially with a bowl of macaroni.

However, instead of declaring my goat cheese, apple, walnut pasta entrée idea a failure, I decided to cleverly re-brand it as a tasty, seasonal side dish. The same exact recipe that fell a little flat as a main course, turned out to be a stellar side for some roast pork.

Of course, with taste being as subjective as it is, maybe you’ll have a different opinion as to this pasta’s worthiness as a headliner, but I wanted to be clear about my official recommendation. Even simply adding some slices of cooked chicken breast would have transformed the dish into something a little less “one-note.”

By the way, this isn’t something to make way ahead of time, as the walnuts react with the dairy in the sauce, and will turn your leftovers a fairly disturbing purple-blue color! If you’re not going to eat this immediately, then don’t mix in the nuts until service. I hope you give this great winter pasta…err, I mean side dish, a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
2 cups ditalini, or other small macaroni
1 tbsp butter
1 apple, diced
1 cup chicken broth
4 oz fresh creamy-style goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
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What I Had for Breakfast

It's been a while since I posted a, "What I Had for Breakfast," photo, but this Dungeness crab cake Benedict was just begging to be shown off. It's topped with an Old Bay hollandaise, spiked with capers and tarragon. Happy New Year!



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What I Had for Breakfast

It's been a while since I posted a, "What I Had for Breakfast," photo, but this Dungeness crab cake Benedict was just begging to be shown off. It's topped with an Old Bay hollandaise, spiked with capers and tarragon. Happy New Year!



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What Are Your Foodie New Year’s Resolutions?

Photo (c) Flickr user nImAdestiny.
I gave up on New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. Let’s face it, if you haven’t learned French by now, it’s not happening. Sure, that new elliptical machine would be a great way to get in shape, but what's more likely is you becoming the proud owner of a $1,200 coat rack that can read your pulse rate. The only people that actually keep New Year’s resolutions are the ones that don’t need to make them.

However, I do like to set a few food related goals for the upcoming year. I’m not sure when, but I will do a quinoa recipe in 2012. I’m going to make Italian sausage. I’m planning on filming a “how to turn corned beef into pastrami” video, which I’ve done for About.com, but not on Food Wishes. I want to show you how to make perfect hash brown potatoes.

Anyway, those are a few of my New Year’s foodie resolutions – what about you? Do you have any culinary accomplishments you want to achieve in 2012? If so, please share, and we can all have a toast tonight to every one of them coming true. Enjoy!
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What Are Your Foodie New Year’s Resolutions?

Photo (c) Flickr user nImAdestiny.
I gave up on New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. Let’s face it, if you haven’t learned French by now, it’s not happening. Sure, that new elliptical machine would be a great way to get in shape, but what's more likely is you becoming the proud owner of a $1,200 coat rack that can read your pulse rate. The only people that actually keep New Year’s resolutions are the ones that don’t need to make them.

However, I do like to set a few food related goals for the upcoming year. I’m not sure when, but I will do a quinoa recipe in 2012. I’m going to make Italian sausage. I’m planning on filming a “how to turn corned beef into pastrami” video, which I’ve done for About.com, but not on Food Wishes. I want to show you how to make perfect hash brown potatoes.

Anyway, those are a few of my New Year’s foodie resolutions – what about you? Do you have any culinary accomplishments you want to achieve in 2012? If so, please share, and we can all have a toast tonight to every one of them coming true. Enjoy!
Categories: Baca selengkapnya »

New Year’s Day Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing – Good Luck with That!

This spinach salad with black-eyed peas is a twist on one of my favorite American culinary traditions; the custom of serving beans and greens on New Year's Day. Supposedly eating "poor" on New Year’s Day brings much wealth and good luck throughout the year.

The greens, usually braised with ham or sausage, represents paper money, and the beans, usually black-eyed peas, symbolize coins. Here, we’re presenting those ingredients in salad form, which is a great delivery system for our hot bacon dressing– the true star in this video.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is, “Eat more bacon,” then here’s another delicious way to work it into your diet. This peppery, sweet and tangy sauce is fast to make, and shines on other things besides wealth-generating spinach salads.

Wouldn’t this be great in a warm potato and mushroom salad, as well as a sauce for a grilled chicken breast or pork chop? What about spooned over poached eggs, or slathered on sweet potato fries? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

If making and eating this salad on January 1st doesn’t really bring you prosperity in 2012, it will certainly bring you some tasty memories, and other pleasures money can’t buy. Happy New Year, and enjoy!


Hot Bacon Dressing Ingredients: (makes about 1 1/3 cup – or 6 servings)
1/2 pound bacon, sliced and cooked in 1/4 cup vegetable oil (reserve bacon pieces and bacon fat drippings)
1/2 cup minced onions
2 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup of the bacon fat drippings
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp cold water
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
For 6 Spinach Salads:
1 pound baby spinach, washed and dried
12 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
1 (15-oz) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
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Published by : Death Of Notes

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