Winter Dinner Party

After the hectic holiday months pass, it's nice to stay in on a Saturday night and cook a knockout meal at home. It's been FREEZING here in NYC and all over the East Coast so I welcomed the excuse to hibernate and cook all day.
Last weekend, we had our dear friends Jackie and John over for dinner. We met while we were all living in London in 2008. We love getting together for dinner at our favorite local restaurant, Antonucci, so it seemed only fitting that I make a version of the roasted beet salad and a comfort dish of Turkey Ragu over Rigatoni. It was a big hit. This is a recipe I discovered on GOOP over a year ago so, "Grazie, Gwyneth." As she promised, the guys didn't miss the meat at all and Jackie and I were happy with the more figure-friendly version of bolognese. This is a great dish to cook for guests because it makes your kitchen smell great and goes relatively unattended for a couple hours. the leftover ragu tasted even better the next 2 days:)
Next week I'll be sending out recipes for a 7 day Cleanse to jump start your health and trim in your waistline in 2011. Get ready to look and feel AMAZING.
To your health,
xox
Leigh

I put out a plate of vegetarian antipasti while we sipped our wine and I assembled the salad: Leigh's Favorite Antipasti
3-4 large roasted and marinated artichokes (with stems), sliced lengthwise into quarters
1 pint mixed marinated olives
Parmesan Crips (sorry, we ate all these before I could snap a picture!)

Click here to get Giada's recipe for Parmesan Crisps.
Other ideas: Roasted red and yellow peppers drizzled with Olive Oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, grape tomatoes or marinated Bocconcini (bite-sized mozarella balls).

Arugula Salad with Beets, Shaved Fennel, Marcona Almonds and Coach Farms Goat Cheese
Serves: 4 Time: 10 min

1 bunch baby arugula, washed and dried well
1 bunch frisee, washed, stemmed and roughly chopped
1 bulb fennel, shaved on a Mandolin or thinly sliced
4 medium beets, pre-roasted and vacuum sealed, sliced into discs
(Sometimes I roast my own, but these are great if you're short on time)
1/4 cup Marcona Almonds (or Caramelized Pecans or Walnuts)
4-6 ounces goats cheese, at room temperature
(Coach Farm makes incredible award-winning cheeses. This is my favorite goat cheese in the world and from a local NY farm too!)

Balsamic Dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons shallots, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Whisk together the vinegar, shallots, and honey in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Divide the sliced beets among the four salad plates and drizzle with a bit of vinegar and olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss together the arugula and frisee with as much of the dressing as you like. Place a bunch of the greens on top of the beets on each plate. Put a few small spoons of the goat cheese around the plate, top with shaved fennel and almonds.

Turkey Ragu
Serves: 4 Time: 30 min plus 3 hours simmer time

Ingredients:
1 lb ground organic free range light and dark or all-dark turkey meat, room temperature*
2 15 oz cans Italian plum tomatoes
2 15 oz cans Italian chopped tomatoes
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 medium or 3 small brown onions, peeled and diced
2 sprigs rosemary
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed/smashed
sea salt & pepper
1 cup red wine (don't use anything you wouldn't drink)
pinch of red pepper flakes
olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1. Put a big glug of olive oil on a big saucepan over medium low heat.
2. Add carrots, onions, garlic and let cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Add red pepper flakes and bashed up fennel seeds (Jamie Oliver makes a great spice basher, incidentally)
4. Meanwhile, in a frying pan over medium heat, add olive oil and the ground turkey and throw in the rosemary. Really let it get a lovely deep brown on all sides and then add it to the soffrito scraping all the bits from the pan in.
5. Season with sea salt and pepper
6. Add the tomatoes and bring the sauce to a boil and then add 1 cup of red wine
7. Let it boil away for a few minutes. Turn the heat down to low and partially cover the saucepan. Let it blip away slowly and gently for a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring often.
Serve with rigatoni (or spaghetti- I love Tinkyada brown rice pasta because it's gluten-free)
and freshly grated Reggiano Parmesan.

*Important tip from Gwyneth:
"I read in Giorgio Locatelli's cookbook that meat sears and browns when you fry it at room temperature, whereas it boils in its own juice when it's cold. He is absolutely right (obviously), the turkey browns quickly and deeply, giving it lots of flavor"
My important tip: If you're doubling this recipe, sear the turkey in 2 batches so you don't crowd the pan. Otherwise, it will boil in it's own juice even at room temperature!