Comfort Food for Cold Nights

Happy Saturday beauties! My “Saturday” started yesterday when everything was closed due to the 6 inches of snow we got the day before. I spent the morning shoveling snow off of my driveway so we’d be able to get out and go places again! The second I saw the slightest glimpse of asphalt I smiled a sigh of relief. A few hours later, I was on my way to the store to pick up the comfort food I was going to make for dinner. After a long day outside in the cold, you need things like this!

I found this recipe from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, on Food Network the other day and have been excited to make it since then. Its a heavy dish; perfect for cold nights!

For full instructions, visit the link above! Ina explains everything much better than I could!

Ingredients
-Kosher salt
-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
-4 ounces prosciutto, cut crosswise in 1/2-inch-thick matchsticks
-1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 large)
-1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
-1 1/2 cups heavy cream
-4 ounces Italian Gorgonzola dolce, crumbled
-1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
-8 to 10 ounces tagliatelle or fettucine, such as Cipriani
-2 cups frozen peas, defrosted (8 ounces)
-1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
-1/4 cup julienned fresh basil leaves

This dish is called Straw and Hay with Gorgonzola and it’s pretty darn good. I’m not much of a cook and even I could make it. However, I would suggest a few changes to it. The recipe calls for prosciutto to be lightly cooked in a sauce pan in 2 tablespoons of butter. Prosciutto is a rather salty cut of meat (and expensive). I recommend substituting it with either turkey bacon or even thinly sliced, pre-baked chicken. Ina also adds quite a bit of salt into the pasta sauce. If you’re using prosciutto, then only use a half teaspoon of salt when you’re making the sauce.

Doesn’t that look amazing? At this point, I’ve added the onions (I only used half of what the recipe suggests), the cream, the Gorgonzola, spices, and the pasta. I’m supposed to add in frozen peas for the beautiful green color but I really detest those little green spheres. I didn’t end up adding anything green to this dish. Next time, I’ll try some spinach with it.

*Tip before serving: Strain some of the butter out of the sauce pan to minimize the greasiness. It gets to be too much when you’re eating it.

Ta da! Here’s the finished product! It tasted marvelous and I’m certainly adding it to my growing list of recipes I can make. I served it with garlic bread but next time I’d do something with less garlic involved. Or none at all. Maybe some walnuts, pecans, and water crackers would be nice to even out the flavors? Add some wine or sparkling cider and you’ll have a delectable meal for a chilly night!