Another reason this is a hit is because this recipe gives restaurant quality flare. I’ve been to several restaurants where they have a burrata appetizer with an assortment of veggies or fruits. This one is different and something guests probably aren’t expecting at a home cookout! The fennel and onion because sweet, charred and tender on the grill and it’s truly the most delicious combination with the creamy, tangy burrata. Pair it with sweet cherry tomatoes, balsamic glaze and salty capers and you have a flavorful masterpiece.

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I initially tested this with brown butter int he filling, but I’ve learned that brown butter is 10000x more potent when it’s drizzled as a finishing touch instead of incorporated into a filing. And yes, you can absolutely make this traditional lasagna style. I just think roll ups are so cute and fun!! You must use a baking dish that is tall enough to support the noodles. If you don’t, they will fall over and flop. If you don’t have one, I recommend just making this a traditional lasagna ENJOY.

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If you haven’t seen my caramelized onion tutorial yet, I’m putting the video below so you can make them in a big batch and enjoy lots of fun fall recipes with them (or just throw them on a cheeseburger – yum.)

For this recipe, I used pre-made pizza dough from Whole Foods. If you’re buying pre-made pizza dough, going for the dough ball in a bag and not the one in a can is a better choice. You can also easily make your own pizza dough with flour, water, salt, yeast and olive oil! If you google there are tons of recipes.

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The gnudi is so delicate, I highly recommend just pouring whatever sauce you decide to make right on top. This creamy shallot and artichoke sauce is my pride and joy, but if you want something simple, go with brown butter sage. You can’t go wrong with that! Enjoy this delicious recipe!

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Not going to lie, I was surprised when I did a poll on what recipes you guys wanted to kick off Fall (even though it was still 90 degrees outside…) and the majority of you wanted soup. Soup was the last thing I wanted during the hot September (I call it leftover August) transition period, but alas, I made some hot delicious soup. And guys,… you were right. Soup was the move. 

Here’s the thing: if you don’t like onion/garlic/leek things, you won’t like this soup! It’s an allium party with some cauliflower.

Something else I want to note is that this soup can be *thick.* The thickness depends on how much cauliflower you get in your head of cauliflower. If you feel like you have a small head of cauliflower, only use 4 cups of stock. If you have a larger one, have 5 cups prepared. Most boxes of stock come with 4 cups, so to avoid buying 2 and leaving one opened but still full, I recommend using a chicken bouillon and dissolving it into 5 cups of water.

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Now, this salad isn’t necessary a “fall” salad, but instead, it represents the “late September-early October” season before it starts to really cool down. I mean, you could also eat this year-round as well.

For my dressing, I am using my herby honey lemon vinaigrette. You can make this up to a week ahead (I always like to keep some in the fridge for snacking)  to make your life as easy as possible.  OR, you can use another salad dressing of your choice. Simple oil and white wine vinegar or lemon juice is totally fine.

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What is a Galette?

A galette is a French style free-formed crust with sweet or savory filling. It’s basically pie and tart’s wayyyy more chill, easy going cousin. Some differences: First, a tart uses a straight up & down crust, and is baked in a baking dish of some kind (think spring-form pan or sheet pan) while a galette is baked right on a baking dish, and usually has a more rustic edge and a little flatter, depending on what it’s filled with. That’s actually the real beauty of a galette- since it’s free-form, you don’t need any special equipment, and the rustic look it’s meant to have means it’s great for amateurs. In simple terms: you really can’t f*ck it up. In this version, I am using puff pastry not traditional dough so it’s going to come out flakier and lighter, compared to a traditional galette that would be a little more dense and crunchy. Either way you want to make this it’s going to come out amazing!

Now for the filling … you can follow this recipe to a tee, OR make it your own. There’s really so much room for personal expression here, everything from the herbs to the cheese to the fruit to the honey is interchangeable. I’m using a nice brie here, but camembert or any kind of creamy goat or sheep’s milk brie works great as well. For the fruit on top, I went with blackberries because I love the color and the tartness they add to the creamy cheese, but you could substitute blueberries, strawberries… even peaches! Feel free to get creative with the fruit/cheese/herb combo here. The only thing I want to note is that you’ve got to use fresh fruit- frozen will make the dough too soggy.  You could even make a fruit compote with a few different types and a little sugar if that’s what you’re feeling. Have leftover pie filling? This is a great use for that. If you are going straight up dessert, that might be the way to go if you want it a little on the sweeter side. 

What’s up with this Homemade Lavender Honey?

Obviously this sounds pretty intense, but let’s be real, I made it, so it’s not. Traditionally, you’d take sprigs of culinary lavender and let it soak in some good quality honey for like a month…. but I don’t have time for that and I doubt you do either. So instead, I’m infusing lavender with water and reducing that in some honey so that it picks up the flavor. You can also buy store bought lavender honey. Or, you can use regular honey and the dish won’t suffer at all.  I just love lavender so that was a personal choice.

This galette is a real stunner and I recommend bringing it as an appetizer or dessert to share- it’s sort of like a sweet and savory and SUPER rich pizza, so eating this solo might take its toll. Either way, you’ll be whipping up an incredibly beautiful and delicious final product that looks like something only a pro could create!

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Homemade dough is a labor of love, whether it’s croissant dough or puff pastry, which I use for this recipe. I’m not a professional pastry chef, so I am leaving the dough to the professionals for this recipe. All you need is some thawed puff pastry sheets- I used DuFour Puff Pastry, you can find it on Amazon or at Whole Foods! You also need a mason jar, drinking glass or biscuit cutter to cut the dough into circles, an air fryer or oven (anything you can do in an air fryer, you can do in an oven!), powdered sugar, and some raspberry jam. The whole process takes 30 minutes or less and you’ll be enjoying warm, flaky cronuts. If you’re a visual learner like me, feel free to check out the reel I posted on Instagram for a quick 30 second tutorial on how to make these!! 

 

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Here are just a few occasions where cronuts will absolutely slay. Showing up with a plate of cronuts is a sure fire way to make friends (speaking from experience!) Breakfast with friends. Neighborhood BBQ or gathering. Baby shower. Bridal shower. Birthday party. Self soothing Sunday morning where you need something sweet and delicious. Literally any time that you’re craving something easy and delicious – you can just make one at a time!

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For reference, here is the original Carbone spicy rigatoni vodka! Not trying to toot my own horn, but it looks almost identical to mine.

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You know I love to drop some history about these dishes that we all know and love, so here’s my little vodka sauce spiel. Pasta with vodka sauce is an Italian-American invention. Alcohol (vodka) is used to release the flavors from tomatoes, but in Italy, the alcohol is usually wine. Mario Carbone is the inventor of the spicy rigatoni vodka which is most likely a spin on penne alla vodka. The latter was first seen in 1974 in a cookbook by actor Ugo Tognazzi and the dish was called “pasta all’infuriata. In other words, “furious pasta,” which I find interesting because vodka sauce makes me anything but furious. It’s kind of the key to my soul and makes me super happy. I would have called it “pasta that opens the soul,” but that’s just me.

In all seriousness, the “furious” term is probably used to describe the heat of the Calabrian chiles used in spicy rigatoni vodka. These peppers are medium-hot and named after the Italian region of their origin, Calabria. Their flavor is unique and distinguished with their smoky, fruity, and slightly salty notes. In this dish, I used whole Calabrian chili peppers that I hand chopped. You can buy them pre-chopped or as chili paste, but for a nice texture, they are best hand-chopped. If you can’t find Calabrian chiles, I think you can use pepperoncinis as well. These peppers are pickled, green, and contain a little bit of heat, and sweetness. I added some to my sauce and they add a bit of tanginess and less heat. I thought it was delicious! By the way, if you can’t handle the heat, skip the peppers all together!

The sauce for spicy rigatoni vodka is a classic vodka sauce. This is a tomato-based sauce with heavy cream. The pan is glazed with vodka, picking up the golden brown bits on the bottom of the pan. So you have this bitter, intense alcohol adding flavor to your sauce and complementing the acidity of the tomatoes. It’s perfect alchemy.

In Carbone’s original version of this dish, a classic rigatoni is used. This is a large type of pasta. For my version though I chose to use conchiglie pasta. The name derives from “conchiglia”, the Italian word for seashell. This is also what the pasta looks like and its curved shape is excellent for holding sauce. But you can also go with any type of rigatoni — a rigatoni mezze for example. 

Here’s one step that you can’t miss!!! For my recipe, I include a step where we “toast” the tomato paste in the pan, causing it to impart browned bits onto the pan. Brown bits = flavor. This is where you get this sweet, intensified, caramelized tomato taste. I also recommend grating or finely mincing the garlic to avoid chunks and so that it just melts away in the sauce. I made this recipe in around 30-40 minutes so it’s a quick and easy yet impressive dish to make.

Is there a vegan version of this dish?

Yes, I have a recipe for vegan gluten-free spicy rigatoni vodka which has a dairy-free, vegan version of the sauce. And to make it gluten-free you can use chickpea pasta or gluten-free rigatoni. 

Do you have a non-spicy version?

If you don’t like heat, you can skip the peppers. You can chop up sun-dried tomatoes and add 1-2 teaspoons into the sauce for a deep caramelized flavor. 

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