Neighborhood Foodie

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Archive for the 'brie' Category

01
May

Make this. Very very soon.

People, file this one away under the “absolutely must try” column. I just finished eating five minutes ago, and I’m already here telling you about it, that’s how good it was. It’s terrible for you and not inexpensive to prepare, but worth every calorie and every penny. I got it in my head somehow that there was going to be escarole in this week’s FMB (nope, endive – not the same, despite the “e”), so I went hunting for any escarole recipe not involving canelinni beans. It took a while, but I finally found one from Food & Wine Magazine that sounded absolutely incredible. Boil some fettuccine. Crisp up some bacon or pancetta, saute garlic and shallots, wilt escarole, toss pasta with a huge hunk of brie cheese and some pasta water. That’s it.

Unfortunately, upon rooting around in the bag after work today, I realized my mistake. No escarole. There was however, this beauitful bunch of big leafy spinach from Sage Family Farms.

When in doubt, wing it! Right? That’s how it works around here, anyway. I’ve got a pretty good track record, and this was no exception. I was a little worried for about 30 seconds that I’d dumped too much water in the pan, and had ruined my huge chunk of brie cheese. In case you’re curious, it was fromager d’affinois from Venissimo. It’s pronounced froh-MAJ d-ah-FEEN-wah, and is a double creme brie. Use it instead of butter! Great with dessert! Pair it with champagne, Godiva, or Beaujolais wine! Do you know how I know all that? Because it’s on the receipt. The receipt people! There’s an entire lesson about your cheese, right there on the scrap of paper that you shove in your pocket and immediately forget about. This is yet another reason that I heart Venissimo.
In any case, the sauce started out looking like this:
But wound up looking like this:
It’s smooth, silky, luscious, salty, delicious, with just a hint of grassy bitterness from the spinach. The sauce just sort of slips and slides all over the pasta, and marries everything in a gorgeous cheesy bowl of heavenly goodness.
Make this. Soon. Feed it to your your family, your friends, you frenemies, hoard it all for yourself, doesn’t matter. Guys, I’d be willing to bet that if you made this for a lady friend that you were hoping to be more than friends with, this would do the trick in a spectacular sort of fashion. Unless she’s one of those prissy girls who refuses to eat anything the slightest bit fattening, or remotely resembling a carb. If that’s the case, politely walk her out the front door, shut it in her face, then go enjoy your stupidly delicious dinner all by yourself.

Fettuccine with Escarole (or spinach, whatevs) and Brie
Grace Parisi via Food & Wine Magazine

Ingredients
3/4 pound fettuccine

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta or bacon, coarsely chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 pound escarole (or spinach), cut into 1-inch ribbons

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 pound Brie (preferably a wedge), rind removed

Directions

In a large pot of generously salted boiling water, cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 1/4 cups of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, in a very large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the pancetta and cook over high heat, stirring, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the escarole (or spinach), season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, just until wilted.

Add the pasta to the skillet along with 1 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Cut the Brie into 1-inch pieces and add to the skillet. Cook the pasta over moderate heat, tossing, until the Brie is melted and the sauce is thick and creamy, about 4 minutes; add more of the pasta cooking water if the sauce is dry. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta to bowls and serve immediately.

posted by jeorge in FMB,brie,fettucini,spinach and have Comments (2)
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