I’m pretty convinced that adding prosciutto (and/or truffle oil) to a dish guarantees that it will be spectacular. That was definitely the case for this recipe (no truffle oil involved this time though). Prosciutto-wrapped chicken breast topped with Fontina cheese, crushed tomatoes, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in a white wine tomato cream sauce.

Are you still with me? I can continue describing the braised lentils served alongside the chicken, but I don’t want to make you drool too much.

I went home again this weekend and made my mom and brother, Matt, this meal for dinner. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Matt eat a meal that fast–and that’s saying a lot. We all gave this dish four forks…plus a few more.

Kristy, I think Miss A and Mr. N would give it four forks as well. :)

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I spent last weekend at home with my family, as I hadn’t seen them in a while. We relaxed, watched football, drank wine and of course, cooked. Since my brother, Andy, was visiting home from Atlanta, we joined forces in the kitchen.

As usual, Andy was in charge of dinner and I was in charge of dessert. We purchased black figs at Whole Foods, without any idea of what we wanted to make with them. But alas, Andy found this light, yet decadent dessert recipe.

The gingered mascarpone filling and confectioner’s sugar were the perfect contrast to the black figs, since they’re not as sweet as other fig types. Serve the napoleons chilled or at room temperature.

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Ever since my last attempt at baked macaroni and cheese, I’ve wanted to give the dish another go. Though I was satisfied with the result, I knew I could do better. I was finally inspired to create a different recipe after tasting the white truffle oil and mushroom mac & cheese from Taste on Melrose (aka the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever eaten). I had to recreate the pasta.

The conchiglie shells and truffle oil transform the average macaroni and cheese into a gourmet, grown-up dish. The shells guarantee gooey cheese upon every bite and the truffle oil adds a delicious dimension of flavor.

If you’ve gathered from previous posts, truffle oil is my current obsession. So, in my eyes, there’s no way this dish wouldn’t be a hit–and a hit it was. :)

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Ever since my friend, Heidi, introduced me to Moscow mule at one of our favorite bars in LA, The Hudson, I’ve been hooked. It only seemed fitting that my roommate and I recreate the drink for her sister’s birthday party. But before finalizing our beverage choice, we had to hunt down the essential ingredient–mason jars. We were finally successful at Cost Plus World Market.

The tartness of the lime and sweetness of the ginger beer (which doesn’t contain alcohol) mask the flavor of the vodka–almost completely. So beware and don’t gulp these down too quickly!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend…oh, it’s not Friday yet?

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I was recently approached by Swanson Health Products to write a review on some of the company’s products, which range from oils to spices to supplements. Swanson sells high-quality, reasonably priced and primarily organic products.

I reviewed BIJA Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Swanson EFAs 100% Natural Macadamia Nut Oil and Swanson Organic Poultry Spice Blend (Swanson sent the products free of charge).

We celebrated my roommate’s sister’s birthday over the weekend with appetizers, drinks and dinner at our apartment. The menu: this bell pepper and onion crostini with pesto, caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes, orzo salad with garbanzo beans, tri-tip, apple and gouda chicken sausage and peanut butter blondies for dessert.

I used the BIJA Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil for the crostini, and was pleasantly surprised by its depth of flavor. The oil is rich and smooth, with a beautiful dark green hue. (I’ll feature the macadamia nut oil and poultry spice blend in a separate post).

The crostini was a hit and not a crumb was left on the plate. I will definitely make these again soon.

Are you interested in getting some free Swanson Health Products goodies to review on your own blog? Then check out the Swanson Health Blog for all the details.

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The lovely Mandy over at The Complete Cook Book invited me to participate in the seven links challenge. The purpose? First, I’m supposed to share seven different posts from these categories: most beautiful post, most popular post, most controversial post, most helpful post, most surprisingly successful post, most under rated post and most proud of post.

Next, I’m supposed to list five bloggers to pass the challenge to. Though I can barely keep track of all the blogs I follow, from food to travel to fashion to lifestyle, here’s a few food blogs that I’d like to share.

One Perfect Bite

With Milk & Flour

From the Little Yellow Kitchen

Rosa’s Yummy Yums

Elephant Eats

The Most Beautiful Post: I had a difficult time choosing a post for this category, primarily because I’m extremely indecisive, but I decided on this strawberry and blueberry lime mousse tart. My grilled chicken sliders with roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, bacon and basil aioli were also a contender. Oh, and this peanut butter banana cream pie with peanut brittle too.

‘Continue Reading’ to view my six other links.

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I was finally able to catch up on some Bon Appetit reading over the weekend. Though I bookmarked multiple recipes, this blackberry buttermilk cake really stood out–I had to make it immediately. I ran to the market to stock up on blackberries and a springform pan (believe it or not, I didn’t have one before), and got to work.

The cake turned out moist and fluffy, with a rich buttermilk taste and hint of orange. The sweet blackberries perfectly complimented the otherwise plain cake, but I still felt as though something was missing. Since I had leftover blackberries, I whipped up a blackberry compote to spoon over the cake. The compote sealed the deal, providing more moisture and flavor.

Now I have to get the cake out of my apartment as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will eat it all. Yes, the entire cake. It’s that delicious, my friends.

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First good news of the day: FoodPornDaily featured my vanilla custard ice cream cake  on the homepage today! Go check it out. :)

Now on to today’s post. My mom lent me her can of white truffle oil last week (you can tell I’m a foodie when I got overly excited about this), and I couldn’t wait to use it. I didn’t have time to run to the market, so I whipped up this rigatoni pasta with a truffle oil cream sauce and ingredients already in the fridge–zucchini, tomatoes and goat cheese.

I normally would have chosen farfalle or penne, but since I was using what I already had, rigatoni it was. The pasta turned out absolutely delicious–but really, how can any recipe with truffle oil as an ingredient taste bad?

Happy Friday!

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My trip to New York went by way too quickly, as vacations typically do, but I had a wonderful time with my mom, my best friend and her mom. We spent the week shopping until we dropped, exploring the streets and most importantly, eating our way through the city.

Below are some photos of the best food I ate on the trip. We chose some of the restaurants/dishes primarily because Food Network featured them on The Best Thing I Ever Ate–the homemade barbecue chips with blue cheese and bacon dip from Blue Smoke, and the french onion soup dumplings from The Stanton Social (I’m still dreaming about these).

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to check off all the restaurants on my list, but I’ll save them for my next visit. Thank you so much, Kay from Pure Complex, for sending me your suggestions!

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Here’s another simple, delicious and fool-proof summer side dish–the ever famous caprese salad. The key ingredient to this particular caprese? Heirloom tomatoes, of course.

If you’ve ever tasted a slice of a juicy, ripe, melt-in-your-mouth heirloom, you can understand the difference they make in this salad. Not only do heirloom tomatoes taste better, but they also make for a more colorful and visually appealing dish.

I’m hopping on a plane to New York tonight, so I won’t be back until early next week. I can’t wait to share all of the delicious food I plan on eating during my visit. Ciao for now!

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