Our Favorite Pasta

When I went to school in England, my friends and I took a side trip to stay in Juan Les Pins, France, (near Nice). This is where this pasta dish started and I've changed and adapted it since. I called it my "Juan Les Pins Pasta" recipe and that's what I jotted down on note paper, brought back with me and is still in my recipe book to this day. One our friends that traveled with us was an aspiring chef and even had his own college cooking show so he would go out and buy great fresh ingredients to cook us wonderful meals in the apartment we rented. Now, it's a favorite of ours and when I ask my husband what he would like for a special meal, this is the usual request. It's an easy pasta dish with penne pasta (or sometimes rigatoni), a tomato sauce with Italian sausage and sprinkled with fresh grated parmigiana reggiano cheese. Last time I made steamed broccoli to have on the side and we always have some buttery garlic bread to dip in the sauce. It's fantastic with a glass of red wine and we enjoyed it with Cabernet last weekend.

Chocolate Ganache Tart

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If you receive Martha Stewart Living or have seen it on newstands, you may notice this tart on the cover of the February issue. This chocolate tart has a buttery chocolate crust and a creamy ganache filling. It is to die for if you love chocolate and my sister, her husband and I all agreed it was one of the best desserts we have had in a while. It is rich, but has a smooth texture and great flavor. The Martha recipe was for individual tarts, but we made one large tart in a regular round tart tin. The crust had to be kneaded a bit after refrigerating, but was easy to roll out and transfer to the tin. One tip is to roll out the dough on cocoa instead of flour so as to not discolor the crust. The filling was easy to make and it's highly recommended to use good chocolate. We used 65% cocoa bittersweet chocolate and along with the heavy cream and whole milk, it was a dreamy filling. We waited until all the kids were in bed and then enjoyed it topped with whipped cream and a meringue heart. It would also be great with strawberries or raspberries on the side. To drink? A glass of smooth red wine!

Filet Takeout

Everyday has its rewards. Mine today was a lovely filet dinner that my husband brought home to me from the golf club. After a full day at the office, a fun evening of reading and playing with my baby daughter, Audrey, and serving her a three course meal, it was a wonderful treat to enjoy a three course meal of our own after she was sleeping peacefully. This meal involved no waiting for a table, perusing a menu or entertaining the baby while we wait for our meal.

We enjoyed our gourmet takeout along with a bottle of red wine. We are short on the grocery store variety and ended up opening a bottle of red that we brought back from France a few years back. It was a 2001 Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone that was simple, smooth, tasty and perfect with my meal of filet, asparagus and fried croquettes of mashed potato. To start, I had a salad with tomato, cucumber, blue cheese and balsamic dressing. Yum!

I was also happy to find that we can restock the wine rack and buy this wine online for a mere $10 a bottle (www.wine.com).