Happy New Year!

O had a long night celebrating his first of many New Years! He was so tired, he tipped over during his photo shoot...How cute is his little 2011 outfit?? Alternatively, he was up all night because he is beginning the teething process - not because he was drinking champagne and playing Wii with his parents...

The days of ringing in the New Year at a big bash are gone - actually, I don't think I've ever really gone to a big New Year's bash - overrated. I think in the six years the J man and I've been together, we've only had one fancy shmancy New Year's. One of his college friends got married on New Year's Eve and had a right fabulous party. The rest of our New Year's we've either been alseep before the ball dropped or in Tahoe with the fam. This year, we rang in the New Year with champagne and Wii :) As parents of a 4 1/2 month old, I cannot believe we made it to midnight. But we did, and then watched an episode of the "Office" - best New Year's yet.

So the real reason for this post is to discuss the amazing meal I made for my hubby. My happy little monkey was my kitchen helper as I prepared our best meal yet! Who says everything changes with a baby?? It may have taken 4x the amount of time to make, but we still ate like kings. Little man actually made it to bed early and we *almost* ate a meal uninterrupted. He, of course, woke up in the middle of our romantic meal. Sigh.

So my sweet sister-in-law called me this past month to rave about three recipes in "Back to Basics" that she made for her girlfriends. So I decided to be wholly unoriginal, and make the same menu for our New Year's feast. To start we had Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad, followed by Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter and Garlic Ciabatta Bread. All three are DELISH and super easy - it would have taken no time at all if it weren't for our little miracle of life :)

The first and most important ingredient you will need is White Truffle Butter. I live in the smaller, lesser known, Manhattan and thus truffle butter, white or otherwise, is virtually nonexistent. In fact, I couldn't even find it in Kansas City at the Whole Foods. I found it at the Whole Foods in Boulder - yes, I traveled 8 hours for white truffle butter. And to visit with long time friends and family :) You can also order it online.


Yummy. For the Caprese, you roast the toms for 2 hours at *275, SO DELISH. And the best part is that you can use crummy roma tomatoes that are about all you can get in the winter. The pan on the left is the deliciousness for the ciabatta - garlic, parsley, oregano and oil. Yummy!


Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad
Serves 6 ~ Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed (I used roma because we didn't have plum in the Little Apple)
1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for the drizzling
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
12 fresh basil leaves julienned

Preheat oven to 275*.

Arrange tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. (I just kind of dropped lumps of garlic onto the tomatoes - I highly recommend spreading it like butter instead...) Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2 inch thick. (My little trick is to freeze the mozzarella for about 30 minutes before you are ready to cut it - makes it SO MUCH EASIER.) If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.


Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter
Serves 2-3 for dinner, 4-5 for a side dish or appetizer ~ Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

Kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 ounces white truffle butter
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (8.82 ounce) package Cipriani tagliarelle dried pasta or other egg fettuccine (Um, none of the above exists in the Little Apple - we settled on egg noodles made by the Amish...)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved thin with a veggie peeler

1) Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.

2) Meanwhile, in a large (12 inch) saute pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, lower the heat to very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over very low heat.

3) Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, exactly. (If you're not using Cipriani pasta, follow the directions on the package.) When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the drained pasta to the saute pan and toss with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserved cooking water as necessary to keep the pasta very creamy.

4) Serve the pasta in shallow bowls and garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Not a bad start to the New Year - eh?

Bon Appetit!