Check out the new hardware!

It has been an exciting weekend here in NYC for the two cooks.  Z took a four day weekend and kicked it off with good wine, good food… and a diamond ring for A.  The dinner was in the cellar of one of our favorite places in the city — the New York Vintners, a wine shop that specializes in wine education and damn good food.  We had a menu designed around Z’s description of our food loves (we bet you can guess what we each had).  We had life-changing-ly-good wine by candlelight and a playlist that Z created.

The pasta below is an homage to the pasta that was made for us.  The chef, who heard that A loved cheese, topped the pasta he made with a smoked goat cheese — a first for both of us.  We decided to create a pasta around that for ourselves since the memories are so good… and after a trip to the union square farmer’s market and to Murray’s Cheese, we ended up with the recipe below.  Oh, and as if this wasn’t already beshert, the cheese special of the day was “Up in Smoke” — a smoked goat cheese.

Cheese of the Day at Murray’s Cheese Shop — Up in Smoke

Up In Smoke — smoked goat cheese

Smoked Goat Cheese and Tomato Rigatoni 

(Serves 3)

1 pt cherry tomatoes

1/2 lb penne rigate

5 tbsp garlic chives

3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

fresh black pepper to taste

smoked goat cheese (we got Up In Flames)

Set a pot of water (with salt and olive oil) to boil.  In the mean time, halve the tomatoes and chop the garlic chives.  Cook the pasta just shy of al dente.

cherry tomatoes, halved

chopped garlic chives

smoked goat cheese (originally wrapped in smoked maple leaves)

Put the 3 tbsp of olive oil in a sautee pan.  Sautee the tomatoes with the sea salt for about 2 min.  Drain the pasta and add to the sautee pan.  Toss with the tomatoes and continue cooking for about 1 min.  Turn off the heat, add the chives and combine fully.  Plate the pasta mixture and then top with small globs of the smoked goat cheese.  We probably used about a tbsp per person, but we didn’t measure.  Top with a little freshly grated black pepper and serve.

rigatoni with smoked goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, and garlic chives

Incidentally (and coincidentally), we’re going to be releasing this post with a makeover on the site — so here’s to good food, new beginnings, and not going up in smoke!

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