One thing I really hate is when I buy fancy produce from the farmer's market and it goes bad in the fridge. Somehow if regular produce goes bad I usually just shrug and throw it away, but seeing fancy produce all brown and rotten... it gets me. SO today we had a bunch of mustard greens that needed to be used up. I found this recipe from my pal Martha Stewart and decided to give it a try.

I don't believe I have ever caramelized onions before today. It isn't that difficult and the result is so delicious! This recipe tasted sort of like onion soup pasta. Next time I might try to add some kind of herb or something to it for a bit more complicated flavor. But definitely a recipe to save and try again.

Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Bitter Greens 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 medium onions, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rings
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 cups chicken broth, veggie broth, or water
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound fettuccine (I used farfalle and it was fine)
• 1 head chicory (curly endive), mustard greens, kale, or arugula, washed, with tough ribs removed and leaves torn into pieces
  
  

  Directions

• Step 1

  Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sugar and cook, stirring once or twice, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Turn heat to low; continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 10 minutes.

• Step 2

  Remove half the onions and set aside. Add broth or water to the pan and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat, scraping bottom of pan, for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  Step 3

  Cook pasta in boiling salted water until a little underdone, and drain. Add to broth; simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add greens; cook, covered, until wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in additional tablespoon of butter, if desired. Divide among 4 shallow bowls, garnish with reserved onions, and serve

Next time it might be nice to try adding in bay leaves and thyme....

How the Tropizenne turned out

I know all of my avid readers are waiting with baited breath to find out how the Tropizenne, the fancy French dessert I was planning to make for a dinner party a couple months ago turned out.

Well this is how I had imagined it would turn out:


Note the delicious brioche bread, perfectly luscious pastry cream, with chunky sugar on top. MMMM.


To make a long story short, this is how my tropizenne actually turned out:

Turns out I should have been way more worried about the pastry cream than about the brioche, but live and learn. I had the pastry cream leaking out all over the place, and I had a pot luck to attend in about 20 minutes! So what did I do?

Make trifle! What I did was demolish the tropizenne and added in layers of whip cream and raspberries. It tasted so good and I think everyone at the party loved it. I sure did!

Moral of the story: There's nothing a little whip cream and raspberries won't fix.