Friday five

My first friday five. Second attempt. Thank you, nucleus, for eating the first one. Grr.

1 . What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.?

Refrigerated tap.

2. What are your favorite flavor of chips?

Cape cod brand regular-old salted potato chips. Or Del Rey tortilla chips.

3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most?

Wow, hard. I am a cooking nerd. I cook lots of things. But if I have to pick a favorite, I’ll pick macaroni and goat cheese—recipe below.

4. How do you have your eggs?

Omeletized.

5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out?

F. cooked some excellent roasted root vegetables with tempeh the other week, and it was, uh, excellent.

Macaroni and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

8oz soft goat cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup asiago cheese
8oz elbow pasta
1 small white onion, diced
2 or 3 small roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt and pepper

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat olive oil in heavy medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and fry until very lightly caramelized. Reduce heat to low and add cream and tomatoes. When cream is starting to warm up, add goat cheese and 1/2 asiago. Cook, stirring, until they are thoroughly melted in, and the sauce is somewhat reduced. It will have the viscosity of a yogurt drink, and be nice and shiny. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted water for about a minute or two less than the lowest number on the package—you want it very al dente, but not crunchy. Drain, and mix into sauce. Check seasoning.

Pour into baking vessel (I use corningware), bake for 15–20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix breadcrumbs with liberal amout of olive oil and remaining asiago cheese. Spread breadcrumb mixture onto macaroni. Increase oven temperature to 425 and bake for another 15–20 minutes, until the crumbs are brown and crunchy.

Serves 4 easily, 2 if you are pigs.

Filed under: cooking