ina garten Archives | butter loves company

rigatoni with sausage and fennel

February 16, 2017 by Butter Loves Company

This Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel is just the hearty meal you need to comfort you after a long day. I recently made this dish as part of Tasting Table’s cookbook club (Thanks to the lovely Evi of Ev’s Eats for inspiring me to join!). The January book—which I got this recipe from—was Ina Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey: a compilation of great recipes inspired by cooking for the ones you love.

This is an adaptation of what became one of the most popular recipes for the group to make. I ended up making a few ingredient swaps based on what we had in the pantry at the time and loved the results. Whenever I see a recipe using Italian sausage, I pretty much always include hot Italian sausage just because my personal “Jeffrey” loves spice. As do I. Not feeling sausage? This would be great with mushrooms as a ‘meaty’ vegetarian alternative.

The tenderness and light licorice essence of the fennel balances the creamy sauce, acidic tomatoes, and meatiness, heat, saltiness of the sausage. Of course, there’s also the crispy cheesy bits you get on the tops of the baked pasta—swoon!

While you could substitute any pasta for the rigatoni, I’d highly recommend the little tubes as they perfectly capture little chunks of sausage in their centers resulting in extra-delicious bites. Supergreg doesn’t care for fennel and cleaned his bowl(s) so if you’re hesitant about the fennel, I urge you not to let it stop you!

This makes a lot of pasta, which was fine because you’ll want to heat up leftovers throughout the week when you just can’t think about cooking dinner.

peach blueberry pie

July 21, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

Let’s continue to highlight summer’s fruit bounty between two buttery pastry layers, cool? Sweet, fresh peaches and juicy blueberries star in this easy, summer pie that is perfect for your next summer gathering. You want to know how we get the great blueberry flavor into the pie?

Just kidding, but how adorable is that commercial?? Makes me laugh every time.

As always, you can use a frozen pie crust if you’d like, but I do think it’s worth making one from scratch. If you have a food processor, it’s simple: mix the dry, add the fat, ‘glue’ together. I usually go for an all-butter crust but this time we’re switching it up with the addition of shortening. I’ve heard many times that when it comes to pie crust, butter adds the flavor and shortening adds the flakiness. While my heart still belongs to all-butter crust, this recipe from Ina Garten is excellent and yields a light and tender crust that is very easy to work with (Yay Ina!).

Did you know you can easily customize your pie crust simply by using a regular cookie cutter? I was feeling a little tropical when I rolled out the crust so I grabbed a palm tree-shaped one from my collection and got started on my tropical vacation pie! I also carved out the insides of a pineapple and filled it with a frozen pina colada to enjoy while the pie was in the oven. Kidding, but that does sound fun. Let’s do that next time!

ina garten’s perfect pie crust
recipe from food network

prep time: 10 minutes
makes enough for one double-crusted pie

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Instructions:

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to combine.
Add the butter and shortening and pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter chunks are the size of peas.
With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out onto a floured board and gather it into a ball. Divide in half and shape each ball into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (preferably 1 to 2 hours). While the dough is chilling, proceed with pie recipe below.

peach blueberry pie
adapted from joy the baker

prep time: 30 minutes
cook time: 60 minutes
total time: about 2 hours
makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

one recipe Ina Garten pie crust (above)
about 3 pounds ripe peaches, washed, peeled, and sliced into 1/2-inch thin pieces (about 5–6 medium peaches)
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1–2 tablespoons cornstarch (if your peaches are super juicy, use 2)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
2 tablespoons sparkling sugar, for sprinkling before baking

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine peach slices and blueberries. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, spices, flour, and cornstarch. Pour the sugar mixture over the fruit, and gently toss together to coat the fruit. Stir in the lemon juice. Place bowl of fruit in the fridge to rest while you roll the crust out.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and place a baking sheet on the lower rack, just below where you’re going to place the pie (to catch any fruit juices that may bubble over).
Remove one of the chilled pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round, making sure to lift each side up off the surface every once in a while to make sure it is not sticking. Gently lift the 13-inch round from the floured surface and center in the 9-inch baking dish. (Tip to help transport the dough: Fold the crust in half and then in half again. Place the dough in the pan with the pointed side of the folded dough in the center. Unfold.) Place in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.
Roll out the top crust into a roughly 13-inch circle just like you did with the bottom crust (here is when you could use cookie cutters to design the crust if you’d like). Remove the bottom crust and fruit filling from the fridge. Gently pour the fruit filling into the pie dish. Carefully lift the top crust from the work surface and lay it over the fruit in the pie dish. If necessary, trim the crust, leaving about 3/4-inch overhang around each side. Press the top and bottom crusts together to seal and then fold the crust edges under. Crimp the edges of the dough with your hands or a fork. If you did not make cut outs in the top crust, make sure to use a knife to add a few small slits to the crust (for air ventilation while it is cooking). Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
Place pie in the oven and bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375°F and bake for 45 to 55 more minutes. Remove from the oven when crust is browned and golden, and the juices are bubbling. Allow to cool for at least 2 hours before serving. Store in the fridge for 3 to 4 days covered with plastic wrap.

fresh peach coffee cake

July 15, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

Summer time and the livin’s easy…scratch that, the livin’ is peachy!

It’s stone fruit season, which means it’s time to pick up all those fruits with large, “stone-like” seeds or pits. Think peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and even cherries. I recently purchased a few perfectly ripe, fresh peaches with the best intentions of using them for nutrient-rich smoothies or to top light summer salads. Within moments, I accidentally reached for the butter and cinnamon and forget all about my original plans. When your hands are baking supply magnets, there is just no controlling them. As a result, today we are making this fresh peach coffee cake!

This easy recipe for fresh peach coffee cake has tang from sour cream, sweetness from juicy peaches, warmth from cinnamon, and crunch from double streusel. It is quick to prepare which is essential for those summer days when you don’t want to break a sweat in the kitchen. Its crumb is dense yet moist so it holds its structure when sliced while its center remains tender to the bite. I always like to double my streusel, which is reflected in the proportions below. The more sweet, nutty clusters, the better, as far as I’m concerned. Feel free to serve this cake for breakfast or add a dollop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of honey for a sweet dessert.*

Like most coffee cakes and quick breads, this can be made ahead, but because of the fresh peach slices in this one, it is best eaten within a couple of days. Because it only calls for three fresh peaches, it is also the perfect option when you don’t have enough peaches to make a pie (another one of my peach favorites).

*I plan on making this for a Rihanna-themed dinner party. I shall call it Peach Better Have My Honey. It’ll accompany items like Love the Way You Pie, Where Have You Bean, Shut Up and Chive…I need to be stopped.

fresh peach coffee cake
adapted from Ina Garten

prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 45–55 minutes
total time: about 1 hour and 30 minutes
makes one 9-Inch Square Cake

Notes: To be sure your cake doesn’t spill over during baking, try to use a pan with at least 2-inch edges. For mine, I used an 8-inch pan with 2.2-inch edges.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream or full fat Greek yogurt, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large, ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced

Streusel:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (you can toast them in the oven while it preheats)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350° Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or an 8-inch pan with high edges), and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes on medium speed, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla, and mix until the batter is smooth.
In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined.
In a medium bowl (or the now-empty bowl you used for the flour mixture), prepare the streusel by combining the flour, light brown sugar, salt, butter and pecans. Using your hands, break the butter pieces into the flour. It is ready when most of the flour/sugar mixture sticks to the butter and forms little clumps.
Spread half of the cake batter evenly in the pan. Top with half of the peaches, then sprinkle with half of the streusel. Spread the remaining batter on top and then arrange the remaining peaches on top of the batter, followed by the remaining streusel.
Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

If you like coffee cake, you should also check out this Brown Butter Banana Bread, with Crumble!