Creamy Fettuccine with Leeks, Mushrooms and Spinach

This week I have two things that I want to write about. The first is an event that Matt and I attended last Monday in Stowe, VT. The event was a benefit dinner, gala, and auction for the March of Dimes. It was called the Signature Chef Event. Thirteen of Central Vermont's best chefs were on hand, each at a station, cooking up some amazing sample size meals. There was also a silent auction and a live auction, but for the sake of this food-style blog I want to focus on the amazing food!

Before getting into the food I should explain that I was an amazingly picky eater as a child. I would literally only eat hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (never together). My relatives still like to point out this fact every time we get together (as do my highschool friends). This is relevant to the story because two of my relatives were also at this gala and we, of course, talked about how far I had come as an eater. I truly pushed the boundaries of food I'd try-- adding at least 4, and probably more, items.

Some of the really challenging things I tried at the event: pork belly, pork cheek, lamb, duck and fish.

The small element that I saw in one of the chef's dishes that was really interesting and I look forward to trying myself was fried garlic chips. Think of a potato chip, but made out of a slice of garlic. These were truly amazing and were served by Michael's on the Hill chef, Michael Kloeti as a garnish over lamb stew that was served atop a mound of amazing mashed potatoes. I loved the lamb stew flavor... unless I got too big of a chunk of lamb... Don't make fun! This was a challenging thing for me even to try!

The best overall food item I ate was a tie between the Fried Pork Cheek served over a creamy, garlicy tartar sauce and the cider braised pork with homemade pickled bell pepper served on a homemade thick-cut potato chip. This is truly amazing since usually I don't care for pork!

Honorable mentions in my mind went to Suzanna Keefer of Suzanna's Catering who made a delicious Cesar Salad that was wrapped in thin prosciutto (we were sure to take one of her cards!) and a duck tamale from Frida's Taqueria in Stowe.

I look forward to using the flavor combinations and techniques I saw at the event in later posts.

Now, onto the recipe!

This week I was lucky to cook dinner for Matt and a special guest, my dad! My mom was away for business in Connecticut (enjoying a company paid dinner at Ruth's Chris) so we took pity on my dad (who tends to eat his culinary specialty, a bowl of cereal, when my  mom is away) and invite him to dinner. I was trying to decide what to make while flipping through a binder of torn out magazine recipes and hand written recipe cards when I saw a recipe I pulled from Real Simple Magazine. It was titled Creamy Fettuccine with leeks, corn and arugula. I thought about the CSA items still in the fridge (one of which was leeks). I decided to make a variation of this recipe, using the local, fresh ingredients I had. When I looked at the other ingredients in the recipe I noticed heavy cream and thought... hmm... why add heavy cream when I can make just as creamy and delicious a sauce with a roux, skim milk, some neufchatel (fat free cream cheese) and some regular cheese... below is the adapted recipe (see real recipe here)

Creamy Spaghetti with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Spinach

3/4 box of spaghetti or other noodle pasta

1 tbs butter (I used the roasted garlic compote butter I had in the freezer from last week)
1 tbs flour
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup neufchatel (fat free cream cheese)
1/4 cup other cheese (I used some parmesan and some mozzarella)
salt and pepper

1 tbs olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts, cut into thin half-moons)
1/4 - 1/2 hot pepper, minced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup dry white wine

Boil pasta according to directions (or 1 minute shy if you like al dente because it will cook a bit in the skillet, too).

Meanwhile melt butter in a sauce pan, whisk in flour. Heat, stirring, over low-medium heat until smokey in color. Whisk in milk. When the milk starts to thicken add neufchatel and other cheese. Stir until all cheeses and melted and thoroughly combined. Season. Remove from heat.

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add leeks, garlic and hot pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (4 minutes). Add the mushrooms and wine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the wine has reduced by half. Add the spinach and white sauce to skillet (you may have to reheat the white sauce slightly so it pours easily). Stir until the spinach is wilted and mushrooms are cooked. Stir in the pasta and cook until heated through. Season.

Serve hot, with lots of bread and good cheese (we had brie and local chevre)


As often happens with meals I cook, this meal turned out a little spicy. There are two reasons as to why this may have occured: 1- When my dad comes for dinner I DO NOT hold back on the garlic. He has a motto, "There is no such thing as too much garlic!" or 2- the hot pepper I added may have been massively hot. My dad grew these peppers and the heat varies extremely from pepper to pepper. Since I like hot food I tried the pepper before putting it into the pasta and didn't think it was outrageously hot so I am inclined to think it was the garlic. I add the hot pepper more to enhance other flavors than to actually make the dish spicy because Matt is not a fan of hot food. This meal wasn't too hot, but it was definitely spicy. If you don't like spice feel free to leave out the hot pepper or reduce the garlic (just don't tell my dad).

The other interesting thing about the spice in this dish is that is complemented the leeks amazingly. The leeks added a sweet taste to the dish that would have been too much for me if it had not had a little spice.