Dinner and a Movie

I love when Sunday rolls around because it often means Meg and Drew come over for dinner and a movie. It’s a chance for Meg and I to try out new recipes and compare notes on the outcome. The guys are the lucky recipients of food lavished upon them, from appetizers to yummy desserts.

Usually by mid-week, Meg and I e-mail each other about recipes we’d like to try (always seasonal fare), and we “divide and conquer” on the menu. It’s a special time for us because it demonstrates what this blog is about…a mother and daughter learning from each other, sharing cooking secrets, and enjoying a good meal with the family. Of course, seeing a great movie doesn’t hurt either.

Take this past Sunday, for example. I wanted to experiment with the idea of a noodle kugel done in individual 4” springform pans so that, not only would the edges be golden crisp and the interior creamy, but each person would have their own.

Individual Noodle, Chard and Fontina Tortes

1/8 cup olive oil
1 lb. Swiss chard, stems and ribs discarded (spinach would probably work well too!)
1 medium onion, in ¼” slices, halved
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ lb. dried egg fettucine, broken in half
4 large eggs
½ cup half and half
2/3 cup mascarpone
¼ lb. Fontina cheese, rind discarded and cheese cut into ½” cubes

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease 4 individual (4 ½” dia.) springform pans with 1-2 tsp. (total) olive oil and wrap exterior of pans with foil (to prevent seeping). Cook chard in pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until just tender, about 3 min. Transfer to sieve, reserving cooking water in pot. Press hard on chard to extract as much water as possible, then transfer to cutting board and chop.

Cook onion in 3 tbl. oil in heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden brown, about 15 min. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 min. Stir in chard, ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper and remove from heat. Cool chard mixture to warm. While chard cools, return cooking water to a boil and cook fettucine, uncovered until al dente. Drain pasta in a colander, then transfer to a large bowl and toss with remaining oil. Blend together eggs, half and half, mascarpone and remaining salt and pepper in blender until smooth. Stir chard and fontina into pasta mixture, then stir in egg mixture. Pour into greased pans sets in shallow baking dish. Pat down slightly to level, if needed.

Bake until just set and top is golden brown, 35-45 min. Remove pans to cooling rack for 10 min, then run a small sharp knife around inside edge of pan to loosen tortes. Remove sides of pans and serve torte hot or warm.

These looked really nice plated, and came out with the desired crisp exterior/oozy interior. Because the noodles were “self-contained” in shape, it allows for other food to be placed alongside…in this case, we had a simple tossed Caesar with seared scallops and a crusty piece of French bread. We finished off the chardonnay from Scribe they’d picked up on their picnic the previous weekend to go with it.

Then Meg delighted us with a brown sugar chocolate chip cake with maple espresso glaze. I made her do dessert because she “claims” she can’t do them. Nonsense. It was extra yummy. Do share, Meg, pretty please.

--The Mom