Roasted Tomato and Sausage Baked Ziti

Say what you want about Carmela Soprano, but the woman can cook. Re-watching The Sopranos recently gave me a major hankering for some of her baked ziti, a dish she trotted out with some frequency for family dinners and guests (she even dumped an entire batch into the garbage once, the horror!).

This is the sort of dish which you can make lots of different ways, although it's never going to be a truly "quick" meal. About the shortest way to do it is with a jarred meat-and-tomato sauce, although you're still looking at an hour-long dish, since you have to first boil the noodles before assembling and baking the dish (plus, you're using jarred sauce, which is frankly not very good compared to what you could whip up yourself is about the same amount of time). The longest route involves making Italian "Sunday gravy," a meat, vegetable and tomato sauce that bubbles on your stove all afternoon. Obviously, I'd rather have something like that than something from the jar, but cooking all afternoon can be tiring.

My version finds what I think is a happy medium. My sauce comes together quickly but is made with all fresh ingredients, including fresh tomatoes that roasted the previous afternoon. I used a mixture of hot and mild Italian sausage, but you could certainly use only one or the other, depending on your heat preference. A lot of recipes add egg to the ricotta, presumably to smooth it out so you can spread it more easily. I find gently heating it in the microwave to do the trick just fine.

I served this with a simple side salad of lettuce dressed with a mustard vinaigrette and a 2008 Plumpjack syrah, a nice choice, since it's slight sweetness, spicy flavor and mild tannins complemented the pasta perfectly.

Roasted Tomato and Sausage Baked Ziti

Makes 8 servings

Note: to soften ricotta that's just out of the refrigerator, transfer to a microwave-safe container and microwave on high for 10 seconds, stir and repeat until the ricotta is easily spreadable.

1 lb. dried ziti noodles (may use other tube-shaped noodles, such as penne)
Salt, to taste.
3/4 lb. hot or mild Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 recipe of simple roasted tomatoes (see recipe below)
1/2 cup dry white wine (may use dry vermouth if you have some on hand you're trying to use up)
Olive oil spray or additional olive oil
1 cup ricotta cheese, softened (see note above)
8 oz. part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (I recommend shredding it yourself)
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside.

3. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up as the sausage cooks through. Remove cooked sausage from pan and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Remove sausage drippings from pan. Transfer the sausage to a cutting board and chop to an even pebble-sized consistency.

4. Add olive oil and butter to the pan. When the butter is melted, add the onion and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked sausage, roasted tomatoes, white wine and 1 cup of water. Increase heat to bring mixture to a bubble, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the cooked ziti noodles.

5. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil (or brush with olive oil). Transfer half of the noodles-and-sauce mixture to the baking dish and smooth with a spatula. Spread the ricotta on top, then spread half of the shredded mozzarella over the ricotta. Add the remaining noodles-and-sauce on top in an even layer, then spread the remaining mozzarella on top of that. Sprinkle with the grated parmigano-reggiano cheese.

6. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in the hot oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and the cheese has melted. Remove from oven, allow to cool about 5 minutes and serve.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

3 lb. fresh tomatoes, stem end removed, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer in the baking dish.

3. Bake the tomatoes until they have reduced significantly in size, look shrived and are starting to brown around the edges, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stir every hour for the first couple hours, then more frequently, up to every 10 to 15 minutes when around the time you hit the 3-hour mark and most of the liquid has evaporated. This is to prevent the tomatoes from burning.

4. When done, the tomatoes should be shrived, lightly browned in places with little moisture remaining in the pan. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then transfer to a container to store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

The Best Simple Tomato Sauce for Pasta

As we exit summer, here's a simple sauce that's perfect for using some of those wonderfully vibrant and flavorful tomatoes. They need little adornment. This recipe uses no meat and just a scant amount of aromatics to underscore the tomatoes' flavor. Yes, the simmer time is pretty long, but it's worth it. This sauce is amazing. Finishing the pasta in the sauce helps it pick up the sauce's flavor.

The Best Simple Tomato Sauce for Pasta

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, cut into small dice
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 lb. fresh ripe summer tomatoes (use canned tomatoes out of season; I don't recommend using store-bought tomatoes from November until about mid-June as they lack flavor), cut into 1-inch pieces
4-6 sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together with string
Dash of nutmeg
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1 lb. dried penne rigate pasta
8-10 basil leaves, cut into ribbons
Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. When the butter has melted and warmed, add the onion and cook about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until they are softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes more.

2. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, nutmeg and red chili pepper flakes, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer (medium-low or lower). Simmer for 90 minutes, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes. The mixture should bubble just slightly.

3. Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions 1 minute shy of al dente (al dente pasta is cooked through but chewy, so this pasta will be too chewy, indicating it needs more cooking time, which I'll get to in a second). Drain pasta, then stir the pasta into the simmering tomato sauce. Continue cooking the pasta in the sauce for another minute or two until the pasta is al dente (i.e. cooked through but chewy).

4. Remove the pasta from the heat and serve in shallow bowls topped with fresh basil and grated parmigiano-reggiano. Pair with a robust but not overbearing Italian red wine, such as Sassotondo Ciliegiolo.

Lemon Chicken and Fresh Herb Pasta

This is a very simple summer pasta recipe. It's little more than noodles, chicken, garlic and fresh herbs--lots of fresh herbs. If you have an herb garden, it's probably producing at its peak right now, given you a bounty of basil, parsley, chives, mint, etc. You can use any combination of herbs you like here and it will probably be delicious. I used mint, Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, basil and chives. I'm sure chervil would be good here, as would thyme and rosemary. Want this to be vegetarian? Omit the chicken and maybe substitute some mushrooms.

Lemon Chicken and Fresh Herb Pasta

Salt, to taste
1 lb. dried linguine pasta
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 lb. chicken breast cutlets
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used a mixture of mint, Italian parsley, chives and basil--about 2 tbsp. of each)
1 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water, then drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a large deep-sided skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and pan-fry until the chicken is browned and cooked through, turning over after about 5 minutes. Remove chicken and transfer to a cutting board. After a couple minutes, chop the chicken into 3/4-inch pieces.

3. Add the garlic and lemon zest to the pan. When fragrant, add back the cooked chicken, reserved pasta cooking water and lemon juice. When the mixture simmers, reduce heat to medium-low and add the pasta, herbs and 1/2 cup of the grated cheese. Stir to combine all the ingredients.

4. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls with the rest of the grated cheese spooned over it.

Fresh Tomato Lasagna

Let's talk about lasagna for a minute. It's pretty amazing, right? Warm layers of chewy pasta alternating with layers of tomato sauce and gooey cheese. My mouth just started watering. It's a wonderfully versatile dish that can easily be adapted to include meat (or not), other vegetables (like squash) or not. You can definitely have it your way.

And it tastes good just about any time of year--except, perhaps, when the mercury rises up for those sweltering summer days like we're having right now. Do you want your kitchen oven to be on for hours this time of year? I didn't think so. It's enough to make you want to kiss lasagna goodbye (temporarily, of course).

Except it's such a shame, since lasagna is loaded with ingredients that are really good right now, principally tomatoes, which are reaching their peak. It lends itself well to lighter cheeses like mozzarella and ricotta, which are also summers staples. When you consider the fact that lots of other summer vegetables and herbs can play nice in a lasagna, I think it's time to find a compromise that lets us enjoy this wonderful dish even in 90-degree-plus weather.

So I did something novel: I made lasagna with the oven turned off. That's right. This lasagna is not baked. The noodles are cooked, but that's it. Consider it a cross between a pasta salad and a traditional lasagna. And the results were really quite good. The fresh ricotta "melts" into the fresh vegetable ingredients to make a delicious fresh uncooked sauce that's still sturdy enough to hold the layers of noodles together.

I conceived this dish as my entry for this year's Washington Post tomato recipe contest; however, unfortunately, the Food section staff revealed last week that there will be no contest this year. I hope it comes back. It's one of my favorite features they do (if it does, you can be sure I'll enter this next year).

Some tips: be sure to use regular lasagna noodles, not the "no boil" kind. Since you aren't baking this lasagna, the no-boil noodles will not work. You could probably use regular ricotta in place of fresh ricotta, but I haven't tried it. I find that fresh ricotta, which I get at Whole Foods, is a little firmer, so the consistency might be different, but I don't think it would be a deal-breaker. You can always make your own ricotta too.

Fresh Tomato Lasagna
Serves 12

15 lasagna noodles (13-14 oz)
3 large tomatoes (28 oz), diced
1 medium cucumber (9 oz), peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 cup minced red onion, minced
1/2 cup pitted kalamatta olives, chopped
1 oz fresh basil (about 32 leaves), most of the leaves cut into thin ribbons, with about 8-10 of the smaller leaves set aside
3/4 cup fresh ricotta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
16 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside. Lay the noodles flat on an oiled baking sheet until ready to use.

2. In a large bowl, combine the diced tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olive and basil ribbons. Add the ricotta, olive oil and vinegar and stir to combine until the ricotta is well mixed and the mixture is "saucy." Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

3. In a lightly oiled 9 X 13 baking dish, spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the dish, then lay 3 noodles on top, followed by about 3/4 cup of sauce, a second layer of noodles, another 3/4 cup of sauce, half of the sliced mozzarella, a third layer of noodles, another 3/4 cup of sauce, a fourth layer of noodles, another 3/4 cup of sauce, a final fifth layer of noodles, the last 3/4 cup of sauce (portion the sauce evenly, you may use a little more or a little less than 3/4 cup each time), and the remaining half of the sliced mozzarella. Spread the whole basil leaves on top, drizzle with a little olive oil and finish with a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.

4. Chill the lasagna in a refrigerator for about an hour. Serve cold cut into single-serving portions. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator--this is really good the next day too.

Related

Sliced Fresh Tomato Salad

Roasted Tomato Yaki Udon

Roasted Ratatouille Pasta with Garlic and White Wine Sauce

Flatbread with Tomatoes, Chickpeas and Yogurt Sauce

Roasted Tomato Risotto

Cocktail: Tipsy Gazpacho

Lasagna, Bolognese Style

Summer Vegetable Lasagna

Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese and Sausage Lasagna

Spinach-Tomato Lasagna with Sausage

Roasted Tomato and Kale Pasta

This is the other dish I made with the tomatoes I roasted the other weekend. With the cheese, it's vegetarian; without, it's vegan. Either way, it's delicious and simple to prepare if you've pre-roasted the tomatoes. This is an ideal dish to share with friends and family and eat outside on your patio.

Roasted Tomato and Kale Pasta

Salt, to taste
1 lb. whole-wheat pasta (I used gobbetti, which looks like it's identical to cavatappi)
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed and discarded, leaves cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch pieces (about 3 cups of leaves)
1 cup (or so) simple roasted tomatoes, from 3 lb. fresh tomatoes (see recipe below)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. Aleppo pepper flakes
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
Grated pecorino-romano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions for al dente (pasta will finish cooking in the sauce). Reserve 3/4 cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat (medium to medium-high). Add onion and garlic and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale wilts. Add the tomatoes, season with salt (to taste), pepper, Aleppo pepper and thyme, and stir to combine, then add the reserved pasta cooking water and stir. When the mixture boils, reduce heat to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and continue simmering another minute or two until the pasta is chewy but cooked through.

3. Serve pasta in shallow bowls with grated pecorino-romano cheese.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

3 lb. fresh tomatoes, stem end removed, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer in the baking dish.

3. Bake the tomatoes until they have reduced significantly in size, look shrived and are starting to brown around the edges, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stir every hour for the first couple hours, then more frequently, up to every 10 to 15 minutes when you hit the 3-hour mark, to prevent the tomatoes from burning.

4. When done, remove from the oven, allow to cool, then transfer to a container to store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Mexican Roasted Tomato and Chorizo Pasta

Summer tomatoes are starting to arrive, which means its finally time to switch from cooking with canned tomatoes and using the fresh ones.

My first use of this year's crop involved roasting tomatoes. I bought 6 lbs. of beautiful big red tomatoes from my farmers market and roasted them in two batches (so yes, there will be a second roasted-tomato recipe soon).

Roasted tomatoes have such incredible flavor, both sweeter and more savory than a fresh tomato, if that makes sense. Roasting concentrates a tomato's sweetness while also caramelizing it a bit. When roasting, you want to roast the tomatoes to the point that most of their moisture has evaporated, but you also have to be careful you don't burn them. Since the risk of doing this increases as they cook, I stir the tomatoes with increasing frequency, one per hour for the first couple hours, then every 30 minutes or so, and finally every 10 to 15 minutes until they are done. They're done when they are very shriveled looking and starting to brown around the edges. Any remaining liquid with be thicker and not particularly watery. It's amazing how much the tomatoes will reduce: 3 lb. of quartered tomatoes will fill a large mixing bowl, but the roasted end-result is about 1 cup of tomatoes. Some people skin their tomatoes before roasting them, but I don't mind the skins.

Roasting tomatoes takes hours, but the dishes you make from roasted tomatoes can cook up quickly, like this spicy Mexican take on a simple pasta dish. I like to roast the tomatoes on the weekend and freeze them in batches, so I have them on hand to use during the week. Defrost the night before and you're good to go.

Mexican Roasted Tomato and Chorizo Pasta

1 lb. penne or other dried pasta
1/2 lb. spicy chorizo sausage, removed from casings
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup or so of simple roasted tomatoes, from 3 lb. of tomatoes (see below)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Crumbed queso fresco
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions 1 minute less than needed for al dente (the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce). Drain the pasta and set aside.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until cooked through.

3. Shove the sausage to the edge of the pan and add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 6-8 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes and stir to combine with the other ingredients. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and cinnamon. As the mixture simmers, reduce heat to medium. Stir in the pasta and cook an additional minute or two until the pasta is coated with sauce and cooked through but still chewy.

4. Serve pasta in shallow bowls topped with crumbled queso fresco and fresh cilantro.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

3 lb. fresh tomatoes, stem end removed, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Add the tomatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with olive oil. Spread the tomatoes in an even layer in the baking dish.

3. Bake the tomatoes until they have reduced significantly in size, look shrived and are starting to brown around the edges, about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stir every hour for the first couple hours, then more frequently, up to every 10 to 15 minutes when you hit the 3-hour mark, to prevent the tomatoes from burning.

4. When done, remove from the oven, allow to cool, then transfer to a container to store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

Smoky Orzo and Vegetable Bowl with Pistachio Pesto

This pasta bowl was inspired by the fennel bowl I enjoyed at Shouk and wrote about earlier this week. That dish, which is vegan, contains brown rice, lentils, fennel, other vegetables and a wonderful pistachio pesto with a Middle Eastern spice profile. This dish is not vegan or even vegetarisn--it contains bacon (easily omitted if you want to make the dish vegan)--and it has a more Italian than Middle Eastern flavor. These kinds of bowls make a great dinner, ideal for breaking up a midweek routine.

Smoky Orzo and Vegetable Bowl with Pistachio Pesto
Inspired by the fennel rice bowl at Shouk in Washington, D.C.; pesto adapted from a recipe by Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo for Food & Wine.

16 oz. whole-grain orzo
1 large fennel bulb, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 cups)
2 large carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise and diced (about 1 cup)
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 lb. thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
2 cups baby spinach leaves

Pesto:
7 oz. roasted unsalted shelled pistachios
2 tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely shredded pecorino romano cheese (I used a microplane)

1. Cook orzo in salted boiling water according to package directions for al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water, drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine fennel and carrots in a large bowl. Drizzle with 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Toss to coat and season with salt and pepper. Spread vegetables on a baking sheet and roast until softened and lightly browned, about 40 minutes, stirring after the first 20 minutes. Set vegetables aside.

3. Make pesto while the vegetables roast: Add the pistachio nuts to a food processor and pulse a few times to coarsely chop. Add the mint and garlic, then turn on the processor and drizzle the olive oil through the feed tube, processing the mixture until it forms a paste. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in the pecorino romano cheese.

4. Cook bacon in a large saute pan over medium heat. Transfer cooked bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. When cooled, transfer to a cutting board and chop into bits. Pour off the excess fat from the saute pan, leaving about 1 tbsp. in pan. Return to medium heat and sauté the onion and red pepper until lightly browned and softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook a couple of minutes until it wilts, then stir in the cooked orzo, bacon and roasted vegetables. Moisten the mixture with some of the reserved pasta cooking water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls topped with a generous dollop of pesto.


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Cacio e Pepe Pasta

Is it just me or is "cacio e pepe," which is Italian for cheese and pepper, everywhere all of a sudden? While not a new dish, this simple combination of hard Italian cheeses--usually pecorino-romano but often also parmigiano-reggiano--combined with freshly ground pepper is really hot right now, popping up on recipe sites and restaurant menus. Mashable named it the "coolest pasta of 2016."

As simple as this dish sounds, there are some fundamentals to keep in mind to make it right. You're not just going to cook noodles and toss them with cheese, butter and pepper. There's a little more finesse involved. With cacio e pepe, you're actually making a cheese sauce, albeit a very simple one.

Although it's not listed in the ingredients for the recipe, the key ingredient in this dish is the pasta cooking water--hot (but no longer boiling) salty water saturated with starch sloughed off from the cooked pasta. In this dish, finely grated cheese is whisked into this hot water, which melts the cheese. The starch in the water acts as a stabilizing ingredient. According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking, starch coats the protein and fat components of the cheese and keeps them from coming back together. He also notes that when cheese are exposed to temperatures above their melting point, they tend to get clumpy. Since the melting point of pecorino and parmesan cheeses is about 180 F (and the boiling point of water is 212 F), you don't want to "cook" this sauce on a hot stove, but you also don't want that leftover pasta cooking water to sit around too long get cool, at which point it won't be warm enough to melt the cheese. That's what actually makes getting this dish just right a bit challenging--you want that sweet spot temperature that will make a the cheese melt into a smooth sauce. When I made it, I think my water may have been a bit too hot, as my sauce was a bit clumpy. This is the sort of dish that benefits from repeated experiences until you get it right.

Whether you put other ingredients in cacio e pepe pasta is up to you. Some insist that it needs nothing other than pasta, cheese and pepper (some even insist that it only be made with pecorino romano and not also parmesan). On the other hand, America's Test Kitchen's recipe includes cream and olive oil. I added some butter to my sauce to increase its richness and because butter and pasta just go together so well.

Cacio e Pepe Pasta
Adapted from multiple sources, particularly America's Test Kitchen

Note: I used a Microplane to finely grate the cheese. In addition to the ingredients below, you'll need to reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the hot pasta cooking water once the pasta is done cooking.

3 quarts water
1 tsp. salt (or more or less to taste)
1 lb. dried bucatini pasta
4 oz. finely grated pecorino-romano cheese
2 oz. finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1. Place 2 oz. of the pecorino-romano and all of the parmigiano-reggiano cheese in a medium-size bowl.

2. Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat until boiling. Add the pasta and cook, according to package directions, until al dente. Working quickly, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander and set aside in the large pot off the stove.

3. Slowly whisk 1 cup of the hot pasta cooking water into the medium-size bowl with the mixture of grated cheeses until they form a smooth sauce, then whisk in the butter and pepper. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls topped with additional grated pecorino cheese and, if desired, more freshly ground pepper.

8-2-Eat: 8 Restaurants with Great Pasta

8-2-Eat is my food-focused list series. A perfect Friday distraction. This week: a list of 8 of my favorite restaurants with excellent pastas, 6 in the D.C. area and 2 in New York.

D.C. Area

1. Fiola. This downtown Italian restaurant--the first of D.C.'s three restaurants from Chef Fabio Trabocchi and his wife Maria--is an elegant setting to enjoy a good bowl of pasta, like Fiola's famed lobster ravioli, a highlight of our 2012 dinner there. In a piece for First We Feast, Trabocchi named the lobster dish among the 10 dishes that made his career and said "having it on the menu will never change." I confirmed that the dish is currently on Fiola's menu.

2. Casa Luca. Speaking of the Trabocchis, their newer (and more affordable) restaurant, Casa Luca, also demonstrates wonderful skill with pasta. During our 2013 visit, we enjoyed agnolotti with squash, artichokes and brown butter, plus a divine smoked gnocchi with duck ragu. On the menu now: spinach pappardelle  with black pepper, burrito and sheep's milk cheese.

3. Aggio. Set aside any skepticism of a restaurant-within-a-restaurant and enjoy Bryan Voltaggio's Aggio, located within his sprawling Friendship Heights establishment, Range. The food and service at Aggio was fabulous. We loved the meatballs with chittara (a spaghetti-like pasta). On the menu now: buckwheat fusilli with pork sausage, rapini and ricotta salata.

4. Coppi's Organic. Coppi's, a long-time favorite of the U Street corridor, reopened last year in Cleveland Park much to my delight. The restaurant's strip steak béchamel lasagna (pictured above), a special the night we visited, tasted far lighter than it had any business being with those ingredients, making it one of the most enjoyable restaurant lasagnas I've ever had. One the menu now: vegetable lasagna, with red pepper, spinach, eggplant, zucchini, mixed mushrooms, and ricotta; topped with béchamel sauce.

5. Graffiato. Mike Isabella's first restaurant is still my favorite of his expanding set of great places to eat, and its sweet corn agnolotti--only available seasonally--has come to overshadow his Top Chef pepperoni sauce as the dish the restaurant is best known for. And for good reason--it's pasta perfection. On the menu: the agnolotti is currently listed, but I bet it isn't around much longer.

6. Tupelo Honey Cafe. I'm picky about restaurant mac & cheese because I rarely find an example I think is as good as what I can make at home. Arlington's outpost of Tupelo Honey Cafe changed my mind about restaurant mac & cheese, its dish boasts shrimp, fresh basil and wonderful cheese flavor. The dish is a staple of the Southern chain's menu.

New York

7. Lupa. Twice I've included Lupa on my year-end roundup of best restaurant experiences (in 2012 and 2014). It's become our favorite restaurant in New York for great pasta like tender ricotta gnocchi with a surprisingly light sausage and fennel sauce, and a summer special of pappardelle with chicken-tomato sauce. Or a wavy mafaldine pasta served with a hearty pork ragu. They run pasta specials all the time and they always sound delicious. On the menu now: sweet potato cappellacci with brown butter & sage.

8. Hearth. Our visit to Hearth was a highlight of our late 2014 trip to New York. We loved the macherroni with pork ragu in which oversized tube pasta were coated with just the right amount of meat sauce and served with rosemary and creamy whipped ricotta. On the menu now: the macherroni!

Pasta with Quick-Cooked Tomato Sauce

It's hard to believe Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukin's The New Basics Cookbook is over 26 years old. The number one song in America when this book came out was Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative," his first (and only) #1 hit. Back then an "app" was something you ate before an entree and a "tweet" was a sound a bird made. Nobody bought music from Apple (unless you count the record companies). Cell phones wouldn't find in your bag, let along your pocket.

Well, you'll be chirping with delight if you make this easy tomato sauce for pasta. After my mother's spaghetti recipe, this was the second pasta dish I learned to cook when I was in high school, and it's still a hit today.

I made a couple of minor alterations. The original recipe calls for a mix of fresh and canned tomatoes, but since it's summer, I went with all fresh. I also substituted fresh basil for the recipe's flat-leaf parsley and upped the volume of fresh herbs, since fresh basil is so wonderful with tomatoes and, after a failed first attempt earlier this summer, I have a beautiful basil plant growing on my balcony now.

Pasta with Quick-Cooked Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Quick Cooked Tomato Sauce from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

Salt, to taste
1 lb. dried fettuccine pasta
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 cups fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup tomato paste
Dash of grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 yellow onion, cut into thin slivers
1/2 cup fresh basil, cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade)
Grated pecorino-romano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Add the fresh tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to combine. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and increase heat to medium-high until the mixture bubbles, then decrease heat to medium. Simmer until the tomatoes are tender and falling apart, about 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Preheat oven broiler with rack about 4-5 inches from the broiler. In a medium bowl, toss the slivered onion with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread onion mixture on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet in an even layer. Broil about 5-7 minutes, stirring every couple minutes, until the onions are lightly golden brown (be sure to stir to prevent onions from burning--some will still be quite browned around the edges, which is fine). Set onions aside.

4. Stir the pasta and fresh basil into the pasta sauce and turn off the heat. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls topped with some of the broiled onions and grated pecorino-romano cheese at the table.

Roasted Ratatouille Pasta with Garlic and White Wine Sauce

Ratatouille is such a perfect summer dish. And easy too. Basically, you sauté a bunch of beautiful in-season summer vegetables like eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions and serve them with fresh herbs like thyme and basil. I've done a simple version before. This is a little more complicated, but I promise it's worth the extra work.

"I am the Ratatouille Man."

I love the combination of vegetables in ratatouille, and I thought they would work well as a basis for a pasta. It's not uncommon to serve ratatouille over pasta (or rice), but I wanted to do a little more with it, making a sauce that integrates the pasta and the vegetables.

I first roasted the vegetables for quite a long time, as they give off a lot of liquid. After about 80 minutes they were quite soft and just starting to turn a little brown around the edges. As that was finishing, I made a simple sauce of garlic cooked in butter to which I added first a little tomato paste and then some white wine. This formed the base of the sauce into which I folded the roasted vegetables.

If you love vegetable pastas, this summery version is sure to please. It was a real hit in our house. I recommend serving it with grated cheese. Parmigiano-reggiano or grana padano would do, but I think the brighter flavor of pecorino-romano works well here.

Roasted Ratatouille Pasta with Garlic and White Wine Sauce

1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb. dried pasta, such as fearful (I used tricolor)
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
3-4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. tomato paste
3/4 cup gruner veltliner wine (or other dry white wine)
Dash of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil ribbons (chiffonade)
Grated pecorino-romano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Combine eggplant, zucchini, onion, bell pepper and tomatoes in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste and stir to coat vegetables with the oil. Spread vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast vegetables until shriveled and the edges are lightly browned, about 60 to 80 minutes, turning vegetables every 20 minutes. Remove roasted vegetables from oven and set aside.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the dried pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.

4. Heat remaining tbsp. of olive oil and 2 tbsp. of butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute. Add the wine, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and increase heat slightly to bring to a bubble, stirring to combine the ingredients into a sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the roasted vegetables until combined. Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked pasta and basil. Serve in shallow bowls with grated pecorino-romano at the table.

Related

Basic Ratatouille

Fettuccine with Fresh Tomatoes, Zucchini and Sausage

If you shop farmers markets, you know that the most exciting time of the market-year has arrived. Summer is when farmers markets get into full-swing, flush with beautiful summer produce--greens, zucchini (of all colors), tomatoes, peppers, herbs and much, much more.

A simple pasta sauce is a wonderful way to savor these summer vegetables. For this dish, I've used tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper, onion and fresh oregano and basil, along with chicken sausage, for a satisfying fettuccine dish. It comes together quickly, making a great mid-week meal.

Fettuccine with Fresh Tomatoes, Zucchini and Sausage

1 lb. dried fettuccine noodles
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 zucchini, cut into coins
1 red bell pepper, diced
Seasoned salt, to taste
Generous pinch of red chili pepper flakes
3-4 large tomatoes, diced
6 oz. can tomato paste
3/4 cup dry white wine (Columbia Crest H3 chardonnay)
Dash of ground nutmeg
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup fresh copped basil
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, at table

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook according to package direction for al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned and cooked through, breaking up with a wooden spoon. When finished, transfer to a cutting board and chop the sausage a bit smaller. Set aside.

3. Add the onion, garlic, zucchini and red pepper to the skillet. Season with seasoned salt and a pinch of red chili pepper flakes. Sauté until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, nutmeg and water, and increase heat to medium-high to bring the mixture to a rigorous bubble. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in the fresh oregano and basil and freshly ground black pepper, then add the pasta and toss with the sauce to coat evenly.

4. Serve pasta in shallow bowls with grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table.

Pasta Primavera with Fresh Herbs and Garlic-Wine Sauce

June means two great things when it comes to fresh food at our house: 1) our neighborhood farmers market, New Morning Farm, resumes its Saturday morning market closed since March, and 2) the herbs I planted in May have grown enough that they are ready to be regularly "harvested" for whatever dish I can find to put them in.

Pasta Primavera is the perfect vehicle for celebrating the arrival of these fresh ingredients. The term refers generally to any type of pasta dish made from spring produce--vegetables like asparagus and sugar snap peas, plus herbs, strike me as perfect for this. Some people put tomatoes in pasta primavera, but as tomatoes are really a late summer vegetable, I don't think they are appropriate here. "Primavera," after all, means "spring."

I brought all those fresh flavors together with a simple garlic-wine sauce enhanced with the nuttiness of a little nutmeg and the kick of a little aleppo pepper.

Pasta Primavera with Fresh Herbs and Garlic-Wine Sauce

Salt, to taste
1 lb. dried fettuccine
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz. sugar snap peas, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed off, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeds and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper flakes
Dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc)
1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs (any desirable combination of herbs such as basil, spearmint, Italian parsley, oregano and chives)
Grated parmigiano reggiano, at table

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Drop in the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water, drain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add sugar snap peas and asparagus, season with salt and cook until tender, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from pan.

3. Add butter to pan. When butter melts, add onion, red pepper and garlic. Season with salt, aleppo pepper and nutmeg and cook until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add white wine and simmer for 5 minutes. Add reserved pasta cooking water, sugar snap peas, asparagus, pasta and chopped herbs and stir to combine. Cook until heated through. Serve in shallow bowls with grated parmigiano-reggiano.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini

This is a pasta dish that manages to be both hearty and spring-like. Rather than a thick tomato sauce, you use some of the pasta cooking water to make a lighter sauce that combines with the butter and pan juices. Yet the combination of whole wheat pasta, sausage and broccolini packs a lot of flavor.

Do you ever get broccolini and broccoli rabe confused? Broccoli rabe, also called rapini, is a bitter green with small buds that resemble broccoli florets. It's species is known as brassica rapa, which also includes turnips, napa cabbage and mizuna. Broccolini was created in 1993 as a hybrid between broccoli and kailan, a green also known as Chinese kale. Broccoli, kailan and broccolini are all subspecies of brassica oleracea, making broccolini a closer kin to broccoli than broccoli rabe.

To give this dish some heat, I used aleppo pepper, a spicy red pepper from the Mediterranean and Middle East. It's commonly sold as crushed flakes, making it similar to red chili pepper flakes but with less heat. So where you might use a generous pinch of red chili pepper flakes, you might want to use 1/2 tsp. or more of aleppo pepper.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini

1 bunch of broccolini
1 lb. whole wheat pasta, such as farfalle
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. Italian sausage (I use mild Italian chicken sausage)
2 medium shallots, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper flakes
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
Shaved grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano (use a vegetable peeler to make wide shavings of cheese), to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Remove the about 1/3 of the broccolini from the stem end and discard. Cut the remaining broccolini in half. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the broccolini in the boiling water for 1 minute, then remove.

2. Add salt to the boiling water. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta and set it aside.

3. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned. Remove sausage from pan.

4. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to the pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the aleppo pepper and broccolini and cook another 2 minutes. Add the pasta, sausage and reserved pasta cooking water. Stir to combine and cook a minutes or so until the ingredients are heated through. Turn off the heat and add the butter. Stir to combine as the butter melts.

5. Serve pasta in shallow bowls topped with shavings of grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta with Simple Sausage-Tomato Sauce

I make pasta a lot, and during any time except July-September, if it contains tomatoes they are canned.

The grocery store is acutely aware of the association between pasta and canned tomatoes. The dried pasta is located on the same aisle as the whole, diced, crushed, pureed and pasted (if that's a word) tomatoes. Your De Cicco and San Marzano and just a mere feet away, waiting for you to combine them into something wonderful.

There's another specter on this aisle though: the jarred pasta sauce. And it's a demon. I haven't bought this stuff for years, but checked up on them recently. I see they now sell them with cheese already mixed in--can't imagine that does great things for the cheese. Several also bill themselves as being "with meat," but don't specify which meat. According to the ingredients, it's beef, which is only slightly more descriptive--I'm going to assume we're talking ground beef. One such sauce also contains soybean oil (more of it than beef) and "natural flavor" whatever that is (based on what I've read, it could be just about anything cooked up in a lab somewhere). And many of them have added sugar, which good tomatoes just don't need.

If I'm sounding rather snooty about jarred pasta sauce, I don't apologize for it, and here's why: you can make something far better yourself using canned tomatoes. It's not hard to whip up a simple sauce. And you can do it in the time it takes to boil the noodles. After putting a pot of water on the stove to boil at 6:45 (which takes about 15 minutes), this dish was ready at 7:10. And it was good, really good. So next time you're in the mood for simple pasta with tomato sauce, pick up a few extra ingredients and skip the jarred stuff. You'll be much happier.

A word about grana padano, the cheese I used. I first learned about it last summer while reading Molly Wizenberg's memoir Delancey. It's one of the cheeses she said they use on their pizzas. I've been searching for it ever since. Although I've read that grana padano is more prevalent than parmigiano-reggiano, in my experience, it's harder to find in the United States. Our Whole Foods doesn't have it, and I once helped an employee of a specialty deli search through her cheese case looking for the grana padano they were supposed to have (we couldn't find it). Then one recent weekend at Giant, I came across a display of it at the end-cap of the specialty cheese case. Yes, sometimes the conventional grocery store does have things you can't find elsewhere.

This is a hard Italian cheese similar to parmigiano-reggiano, both of which are types of "grana" cheese (there is a third primary type, grana trentino, that I've ye to try). I tried slices of both cheeses side-by-side. Their flavor is very similar. Unless you're a real cheese expert, if someone fed you a spoonful of grana padano, you would probably say it was parmesan. The grana padano is a slightly milder flavor--you don't get quite that nutty taste of parmigiano-reggiano, and the texture is also a bit softer--there isn't any of that slight crunch you get with parmigiano. If grana padano does become easier to find, I might buy it more often, especially if it is less expensive.

Pasta with Simple Sausage-Tomato Sauce

1 lb. dried tube pasta (I used penne lisce, the kind of penne without ribbing)
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, removed from casings
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried thyme
Generous dash of ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Grated grana padano or parmigiano-reggiano cheese, served at table

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until no longer pink and lightly browned in places. Remove from the pan, transfer to a cutting board and chop fine.

3. Add the other tbsp. olive oil to the pot. Add the garlic and red chili pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and thin with about 1/2 cup of water. Season with oregano, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper. When the mixture begins to sputter, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer a few minutes (if you're doing this while pasta is cooking, give it about 10 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in the pasta to coat it with the sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls with the grated cheese at the table.

Two 1990s Food Trends: Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

When foods become popular, it's rarely because they're new. Think about the things that are food trends right now--kale, quinoa, bacon, Greek-style yogurt, gelato--these are not "new" foods. They've been enjoyed by people around the world for a very long time. But they are food trends, which come about for various reasons, which were fascinatingly explored by David Sax in his book The Tastemakers.

I remember Mediterranean foods, and particularly Italian foods, as being a real trend in the '90s. People discovered there were more ways to serve pasta than just spaghetti with meat sauce or & mac & cheese and more interesting ways to make pizza. In general, there was an epiphany that great Italian food can be made with ingredients other than tomatoes and lots of cheese. One such ingredient was pesto, the green sauce that is a mixture of olive oil, nuts, garlic, parmesan and herbs--generally basil but sometimes other things.

Simple basil pesto.

Pesto's roots trace back to ancient Rome, but began to resemble its familiar modern form in the 1600s around Genoa, Italy. Americans began to take notice of pesto in the 1940s with its popularity beginning to really take off in the 1980s until it was "ubiquitous," in the words of Epicurious, in the 1990s. Today it may seem commonplace, but 20 years ago, putting pesto instead of tomato sauce in your pasta or on your pizza seemed like a fresh, exciting thing to try. It heralded a comparatively "lighter" style of Italian cooking, is it was often paired with chicken and other vegetables.

Enthusiasm for pesto may have waned, but it certainly hasn't gone away. And yes, people are even making it with kale these days.

Another food trend from the '90s and one that pairs nicely with pesto was sundried tomatoes. Again, they are something that had been around for awhile, but achieved that special sweet-spot of popularity that made them a hot food trend during that decade. We all got a little carried away with them back then, using them as a pizza topping, a salad ingredient (like I did last week), a mayonnaise filler and a sandwich enhancer. I liked them best in pasta, and still include them from time-to-time. I actually would welcome their comeback, since I love tomatoes, and their concentrated flavor is a great way to add deep tomato flavor during any season.

This simple pasta recipe is classic '90s: throw together pesto, chicken, sundried tomatoes, a little cream and fettuccine and you have a dish certain to take you back 20 to 25 years that's still delicious today.

Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

Salt
1 lb. dried fettuccine
1/3 cup walnut halves
1 garlic clove, smashed
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3/4 lb. boneless-skinless chicken breast cutlets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the walnuts, 1 smashed garlic clove and basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine and chop up. With the processor running, slowly stream in the 1/3 cup olive oil and blend until the pesto has a consistent texture, scraping down the sides with a spatula if needed. Transfer the blended mixture to a small bowl and stir in the grated parmesan.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken breast cutlets dry and add them to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, turning over after about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer chicken breasts to a cutting board and cut into 1-inch pieces.

4. Add the garlic and red chili pepper flakes to the sauté pan and cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the pesto, cooked chicken, sundried tomatoes and heavy cream. Turn off the heat and add the cooked pasta, stirring to coat in the sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls.

Smoky Bacon Macaroni & Cheese

Let's just pause for a minute and think about the amazing goodness that warm melted cheese and thick smoky bacon can bring to a multitude of recipes. Mmm....

When I brought the two together for this smoky bacon mac & cheese, it was pretty much perfect. I love everything about this recipe. The combination of sharp cheddar and aged gruyere with a little parmigiano-reggiano is just the right mixture of cheeses. The bacon, which comes from Benton's Smoky Country Hams, is so smoky it will make you think someone built a campfire in your kitchen.

When making the béchamel, I've recently learned that it works better to add the milk in small increments rather than all at once. I've noticed that you don't end up with that "flour film" in the pan that I've experienced before. Otherwise, I think I can just let the pictures do the talking on this one (scroll all the way down for the recipe).

Smoky Bacon Macaroni & Cheese

8 oz. thick hickory-smoked bacon, cut into lardons (1/4- to 1/2-inch wide strips)--I strongly recommend using Benton's hickory smoked country bacon
Salt
1 lb. dried penne rigate pasta
1 tbsp. plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
Dash of grated nutmeg
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz. shredded aged gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano (parmesan) cheese

1. Cook bacon in a medium frying pan over medium heat until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper-towel-lined plate. Discard the bacon grease or save for another use.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to packaged directions for al dente. Drain and set aside in the pot.

3. Melt 1 tbsp. butter in a small nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add panko and stir to coat evenly with butter. Cook for about 2 minutes. Don't brown the breadcrumbs. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan (I recommend using a shallow saucepan) over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to combine. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes (do not brown), stirring frequently with the whisk to form a roux. Add 1/4 cup of milk and immediately whisk into the roux until smooth. Add another 1/4 cup milk and repeat. Keep adding the milk in 1/4 cup increments, whisking each time until the mixture is smooth, until all the milk is added. Increase the to medium heat to bring the mixture to a bubble, then reduce heat to medium low. Season with nutmeg and white pepper. This is white sauce, sometimes called béchamel.

5. Add the cheese by handfuls to the béchamel, whisking in each handful until smooth until all the cheese has been incorporated. Turn off the heat.

6. Preheat the oven broiler with the rack about 6 inches from the broiler.

7. Add the cooked bacon, grated parmigiano-reggiano and cheese sauce to the pot with the cooked pasta. Stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a 9 X 13 baking dish. Smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the buttered panko evenly over the top. Place the baking dish under the broiler and broil until the bread crumbs are lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes (watch carefully, do not do this unattended as it can burn very fast). Remove from oven and serve immediately in shallow bowls.

Related

Smoky Mac & Cheese

Mac & Cheese Fondue Bake

Modernist Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Roasted Cauliflower

Truffled Mushroom Mac & Cheese

Mac & Cheese: Lessons on Cheese Substitutions

Basic Macaroni & Cheese

Rotini with Blue Cheese, Squash and Sage