Mission Pappardelle

 Mission: perfect the Girl and the Goat's Sugo with Pappardelle, which they have recently changed to cavatelli! Why?! Pappardelle has replaced my lasagna craze ever since Pappardelle and I met way back in college at Osteria via Stato, who also for a limited time, took it off their menu. Quit playing games with my heart! I'm glad they came to their senses, and brought it back. 

Speaking of my once insatiable appetite for lasagna, I used to pride myself in my lasagna baking skills, until The Great Dane and I decided to have a lasagna bake off. The votes swung my way, and I won by one or two votes; all thanks to the hard working sailors of America who miss home cooked meals. But I couldn't accept the victory. After tasting TGD's lasagna, I gave him the victory, and swore to never make my lasagna again. TGD's was just that good.

Now that I've banned myself from ever making lasagna, and the Girl and the Goat has messed with my sugo, I had to learn a new pasta skill... the Girl and the Goat sugo, O.G. style...with pappardelle. I got the recipe here:

INGREDIENTS:

½ pound goat meat

½ pound goat sausage

½ pound goat meat, braised

½ pound onion (¼ pound, diced and ¼ pound, small diced)

½ ounce garlic, minced plus 1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

⅛ cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon aji amarillo purée

1 apple, cored and sliced

1½ cups dark stock

Looking at the recipe, I knew goat would be hard to come by so I substituted with beef. 

I decided to skip pre-braising the the cubed meat. Julia Child, I am not! I just went ahead and browned it to give it that caramelized flavor.  I used the same pot to brown the onions in. I have great difficulty dicing onions as I could not keep my eyes open, but have no fear my  friends, I discovered as I progressed into the cooking directions that all the onions were going to be placed in the food processor to be turned into mush!!! I wish I knew that before I cried my eyes out!  Now what the deuce is an aji amarillo puree you say? I found out that that it's reminiscent of cayenne pepper. So instead of going aji hunting, I grabbed my trusty cayenne pepper and used that. 

Now that all the components are prepped as logically close to what the instructions said, I dumped all of it in a slow cooker and kicked my feet up! 

And finito! I topped it off with mornay sauce and a pinch of parsley. I'm missing some caper gooseberries to make this look like the perfect pre-cavatelli Girl and the Goat sugo doppleganger; we eat with our eyes first after all. 

Pictured above the is the original Girl and the Goat sugo. What do you think? twinning? Twinning or not, the dish turned out a success for reasons like not burning my place down, not inflicting food poisoning on to the brave TGD, and most importantly TGD's tastes buds liking it so much, the pot was cleaned out!

Now that I've gone through the adventure of this recipe, and found the little shortcuts, I found this beyond easy to make, easier than lasagna! 

If you're wondering where one would find pappardelle noodles, your local Trader Joe's and QFC now carries it. I got mine from Eataly. Based on experience, I prefer the Garofalo brand from Eataly vs TJ, as it was thinner, but wider than the TJ brand. I have two more bags of pappardelle to use, so off to more cooking I go!

                                   

What?! We're Eating at The Mall?! @e+o

Wanting something out of the ordinary and close to "Chiburbia" ( Chicago suburbs), I recalled hearing that Chef Rodelio Aglibot, who is responsible for everything delicious at Sunda , has brought his culinary genius to Randhurst Mall in Mt. Prospect called E+O. Knowing what this guy can do to food, I did not even flinch at the thought of eating at the mall...and they have pappardelle!

House made pappardelle, short rib, sour cream:

Of course! What did you expect? Well, I actually expected the typical Italian tomato sauce as the short rib ragu. Oh no no! The ragu had an earthy beef stew nature, with a hint of sweetness. It reminded me of a really good pulled pork sauce. Swirling the sour cream around turned the sauce into one creamy slurp of heaven! Oh yeah...clean plate club.

My noshing partner for this adventure is my friend Dr. Cracker (D.C.) He had the steak, but I don't recall what it was called, but I remember it having a roasted fenel bulb. Prior to this experience, I did not know what a fenel bulb looks like or tastes like. It had a meaty but celery crunch, and it seems that it would take on seasonings very well. D.C. is a big steak snob, often stating that his fillet mignon trumps most steak houses out there...he actually liked this.

The Chiburbia culinary adventure was too good not to do again...so I did! This time, I dragged Karla Fantastic. She was filled with doubt as I nonchalantly said "We're going to eat at the mall." I can't believe she agreed to this idea.

 She had the Kale Salad with bulgur, parsley, lemon, pecorino, currants,pine nuts, sweet onions, and olive oil. Holy medley of flavor and textures! There were different types of crunches that I experienced in one bite, and I swear there was lobster in there, although it wasn't mentioned. I heard that the next day leftovers of this dish was even better!

Another dish was the Double or Nothing Sushi with shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, mango, albacore, salmon, tuna, escolar, sesame sauce, tobiko, and nori. This did not need to swim in the pool of soy sauce and wasabi. I think if I had access to that, I most likely would've ruined the flavor masterpiece.

My insatiable craving for carbs won again, and I ended up with the Smoked Chicken Carbonara with fusilli pasta,duck skin, peas, pecorino, and duck skin! Just put a bird on it!...bird egg, bird, bird skin. Everything is indeed better with an egg on top. The egg made a creamy sauce that enveloped the spiral noodles. The peaceful zen as my teeth digs into the carbs is shaken by the crunchy duck skin. Shake me some more!!!  Oh I have news goose...I had left overs! I popped this in the microwave the next day, waiting to eat pasta in a a pool of oil as most carbonara dishes suffer from. To my delight, there was no sign of an oil pool. It tasted like it did when it was first served! 

                                                     

E+O number 3! In celebration of being born, a little catering stumbled on my office. The smorgasbord included chicken sandwiches with lemon aioli, garden ciabatta sandwich for the vegetarians, turkey sandwiches and crab cake sandwiches with avocado and lemon remoulade. Being that it was my birthday, I felt adventurous, and put my mild seafood allergy to the test. I picked the crab cake sandwich. No benadryl needed. That my noshers is the true test of freshness. I somehow only itch when it's not fresh. The crab cake was real crab cake, and not just filler cake, and the avocado and lemon remoulade joined forces to create a creamy and tangy medley in my mouth! 

For dessert, were donut hole looking things, but it tasted like carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies, and thumbprint cookies. To take these sweet things to the next level, it came with chocolate and creme anglaise type dipping sauces. Oh was it hard to leave the lunch room.

No cocktails were served during lunch, but they do serve strong but amazing craft cocktails. Call me a lightweight, but one was enough. Remember you still have to drive out of Chiburbia! 

This place is definitely worth breaking out of the city bubble for! Multiple experiences of this place has proven it! Oh and their outdoor patio makes you forget you're within mall limits. Breathe in the fresh Chiburban air. Now hop in your rental car, eat at E+O before you head on over to Ikea...yes it's close to Ikea.

The inside looks like this...