Stuffing with Ciabatta, Pancetta and Apples

As you might know, I have a deep affection for pancetta and all Italian ingredients. So why not combine my favorite Italian flavors into a Thanksgiving stuffing? I adapted this recipe from Giada DeLaurentiis and honored American tradition by adding an apple, sage, thyme, and a hint of cinnamon for a sweet, subtle kick. I also substituted shallot for onion to complement the apple's sweetness. This flavorful stuffing is an excellent mate to Thanksgiving turkey, roasted chicken or even beef tenderloin. Feel free to ad lib on the bread -- sourdough or focaccia come to mind.

Editor's note: This dish was named an Editor's Pick on food52.com.

Stuffing with Ciabatta, Pancetta and Apples

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
8 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice (freeze for 10-15 minutes before for easy slicing)
2 cups shallots, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 honeycrisp apple, diced (or apple of your choice)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups wild mushrooms, finely chopped (I used baby bellas)
1 pound day-old ciabatta, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2/3 cups freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
1 cup (or more) chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 large eggs, beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 15 by 10 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium flame.

Add the pancetta and saute about 10-12 minutes, until crisp. Transfer pancetta to large bowl with a slotted spoon.

Melt remaining butter in the skillet and add the shallot, carrots, celery, salt and pepper. Turn heat up to medium-high. After a few minutes, add the mushrooms, rosemary, thyme, sage and garlic.

Sprinkle cinnamon on the chopped apple and add to the pan. Saute until the shallots are tender, at least 12 minutes. Stir gently occasionally.

Transfer the onion mixture to bowl with pancetta, stir to incorporate.

Add the ciabatta and parmesan and toss. Pour in enough stock to lightly coat the bread, then mix in the eggs.

Combine thoroughly, then transfer stuffing to buttered dish. Cover with buttered foil, buttered side down, then bake for about 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake about 15 minutes, until stuffing is crisp and golden.

Leftovers: Party of One

Every so often, you throw together a dish with the bits and pieces pulled from your fridge and you create something dinner-party worthy.

Last night was one of those nights. And, go figure, I was all alone.  

I peered in the fridge, with no plan or preconceived notions, and pulled out all the leftovers: a bit of leftover farfalle, some prosciutto, a small chunk of seared filet mignon and mixed wild mushrooms with shallot and garlic. Not a bad start.

First, I thinly sliced another shallot and sauteed it in olive oil a large skillet with a clove of minced garlic until lightly browned. Next, I added the cold pasta and cooked it for a few minutes. Tossed in a slice of chopped prosciutto, then the wild mushroom and shallot mixture and cooked for a few minutes. Finally, I cubed the filet, tossed it in and heated it until barely warm. Then, I deglazed with a bit of chicken stock (or wine if you like) to bring up all of the lovely browned bits, and serve. Fifteen minutes later, I sat to a satisfying, savory meal.

The salty prosciutto mingles with the succulent beef morsels, the woodsy, earthy mushrooms and the sweet shallot to create a luscious, comforting fall dish. Yet, it's fleeting... a meal I could attempt to recreate over and over, yet never duplicate. Such is the paradox of leftovers - much maligned, yet full of flavor waiting to be unleashed.

Savory Wild Mushroom Soup

I've been obsessed with wild mushrooms lately. They are sturdy and substantial enough to stand alone in most cold-weather dishes, but also willingly slip into the background as a supporting player. They add a rustic complexity that can't be duplicated.

When food52 ran a contest recently for "best mushroom soup," I set out to create a recipe and submit it for consideration. 

Now, if you regularly read this blog, you'll see I tend to cook by instinct. I appreciate precise ratios and proper proportion, and I do follow recipes, but I often improvise and ad lib in the kitchen. And I never write anything down. So this posed an intriguing challenge. 

Building a recipe requires a unique set of artistic and scientific skill: one that I hope to have years ahead to develop. I brainstormed flavor combinations, studied other recipes, and devoted a place in my mind to work through the equation while I went about my daily life. I sketched it out on paper, then took to the kitchen and refined and revised as I went along.

The result? A light-bodied, yet substantial soup that blends shallot, garlic, white wine, fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, four varieties of wild mushrooms, white beans and a touch of cream, pureed into a silky brew. My friend Jordana at Menu Maniac served as a tester, and I was excited and gratified to see that food52 named it an Editor's Pick (click to see recipe)!

California Cruisin'

We're back from California, where we attended the annual Pebble Beach classic car extravaganza. The event offers an extraordinary array of beautiful cars and disposable wealth, but it's also a food festival in its own right. For whatever reason, car people tend to be food people, and Pebble never disappoints.

We attended the show courtesy of our friends at Mazda, who plan a smashing trip. We flew into Orange County and stayed at the fabulous Montage resort, above, where we lunched on a lovely plate of fruit, cheeses and nuts that awaited us in our room, then enjoyed an afternoon snack of icy fresh gazpacho with dungeness crab and meyer lemon oil, paired with a glass of crisp champagne. We followed that with an oceanside dinner at Studio, below, with friends Eddie and Kari.

I chose roasted Monterey calamari with baby arugula, parmesan and garlic aioli to start, and for my entree, John Dory fish with artichokes, english peas, mussels nage and semolina gnocchi, atop a velvety beurre blanc style sauce. Perfection. Dessert was pear tart in caramel paired with a pillow of rich mascapone ice cream.

Wes and Eddie had seared Maine diver sea scallops with spinach risotto, chanterelle mushrooms and port truffle sauce. Kari, a vegetarian, was presented a beautiful chef's special of onion tart with fennel, white bean puree wrapped in swiss chard and other delightful morsels. The photos, unfortunately, were a sad rendering of this fine meal, so won't be shown here. What can I say, I'm still learning.

The following day, we rose at dawn to drive Mazdaspeed 3s up to Monterey, stopping at Encino State Park for an alfresco meal of bean and veggie breakfast burritos, fruit and pastries. Then, we continued on to Villa Creek in charming, historic Paso Robles, where the focus is local, sustainable food prepared in a simple, rustic fashion.

Here, we dined on a sumptious prix fixe menu, starting with an amuse bouche of gazpacho shots, and family-style entrees of grilled salmon with strawberry salsa, string bean and sauteed mushrooms, as well as succulent spicy grilled flat iron steak, and an amazing heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad with basil and olive oil. This mixed salad was the star of this meal and the epitome of summer.

Lovely, slightly sweet and tart gazpacho shots.

Medium rare salmon fillets with the sweet bite of strawberry salsa, a unique pairing,
atop crisp green beans and trumpet mushrooms.

Savory, rich steak with heirloom tomato salsa.

Caprese, California style, featuring the best heirloom tomatoes I've had this season.

We ended this mid-day feast with the best dessert of the week: a mixed berry crisp with whipped cream. Fresh tart berries, lightly sweet cream and buttery, nutty crunchy bits. Homespun, yet sublime.

Once we arrived in Monterey, the feast continued. Highlights include a scallop and shrimp salad at Porta Bella's in Carmel, and, at the Clement hotel, chopped green salad with dungeness crab over greens, lemon zest, cornichons, sweet pea shoots, farm fresh egg and a romanesco style dressing. The perfect lunch for sitting by the bay and watching the dolphins.

Finally, in what's become an annual event and one of the hottest tickets of the weekend, our group walked to the Culinary Center of Monterey for a night of cooking and eating. Mazda hosts this terrific evening, and Chef Mary Pagan puts on an amazing spread for her amateur cooks. The evening came complete with a wine tasting, all local vintages paired specially with the cuisine.

We prepared a variety of dishes, including pork and lemongrass potstickers, deconstructed chicken wontons, tomato and goat cheese risotto cakes with tomato and cilantro chutney, Salinas Valley greens in a tomato vase with Asiago doilies, paella Valenciana, Korean BBQ ribeye on sugar cane skewers, homemade pizzas and handmade truffles.

Deconstructed chicken wontons.

Me and a fabulous chef skewering steak onto sugar cane.

It was all delicious, fun, enlightening and a little frenetic. The center's talented chefs set up multiple stations in their very well-equipped kitchens and we did as much or as little cooking as we wanted. We sauteed, rolled, stuffed, dredged, and skewered, then ate the results. I finally learned to shape and make a decent dumpling, wrap a spring roll properly and stuff a risotto cake. For me, it was a little slice of heaven, with a side of bliss.

The main kitchen. One of several.

Doling out rice noodles into spring rolls. Apparently it requires intense concentration.

Shaping the perfect spring roll. This is sticky business.

Rolling the potsticker dough. Fun!

If all this weren't enough, the evening also featured a guest appearance from Mazda racecar driver Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy. Funny, charming and yes, as dreamy in person. Plus, willing to cook pizza.

Patrick shapes the dough with Chef Mary Pagan. Below, with Wes.

Finally, on our last day, our tastebuds sated and tired, we met friends Heather, Jeremy, Thom and Patti for breakfast at the hotel. Preparing to order standard eggs and bacon, Heather instead turned me onto a fantastic new favorite: egg white scramble with sliced chicken-apple sausage, fresh spinach, diced tomato and local artichokes, topped with melted cheddar cheese, with a side of whole wheat and mixed berries. So good, and it kept me satisfied through a long day of travel. Can't wait to make this again and again in my own kitchen.

So we're back, exhausted and full of memories of great food with great people. Oh yeah, and the cars weren't so bad, either.

Sunday Supper

We usually eat Sunday supper with my family. This weekend, for a variety of reasons, we found ourselves alone on Sunday evening, opening up a whole new world of culinary opportunity.

Frankly, we were tempted to order pizza. Busy weekend and all. But I needed to hit the corner food market for a few items, and saw some beautiful rib-eye steaks on special. A few minutes later, I had a plan.

Steak is rarely part of our repertoire but it felt right on a crisp, sunny spring evening.

Sunday Supper Menu:

Grilled rib-eyes

Roasted local asparagus with extra virgin olive oil, parmesan shavings and lemon zest

Roasted baby sweet potatoes

Roasted cipollini onions

Sautéed portabellas and shittake mushrooms with shallot and local garlic

I dusted it all with a bit of fresh rosemary. We split one steak and saved the other for sandwiches or a salad later this week. Quick, easy and satisfying.