We had a full house last night for dinner and results watching. My favorite person, Adrienne made some awesome donkey cookies to celebrate. There was much champagne and cheesy pasta - plenty for 6 people. This is an easy dish for a night like this - comfy celebratory food you can eat while watching the tube for electoral results. My mom has made this recipe for years and everytime it tastes better and better. The blue cheese is great - even if you’re not a fan, don’t leave it out - it’s not super strong but balances the saltiness nicely. Here’s how to make it:

Serves 6

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk (try to use whole, but skim works also)

28 oz can of whole Italian tomatoes, drained, reserving 1 1/4 cup juice, chopped fine

1 lb bow-tie pasta

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese (about 6oz)

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 2 oz)

1/2 cup diced Italian Fontina cheese (about 2 oz)
1 1/3 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (about 4 oz)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Butter a 3-4 quart gratin dish or a 13×9 baking dish

2. In a heavy saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk and reserved tomato juice in a stream, whisking, and bring to a boil, whisking. Stir in tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes.

3. In a large pot bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions, until just al dente.

4. In a bowl stir together pasta, sauce, mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Fontina, 1 cup Romano, and parsley and transfer to prepared dish. Sprinkle pasta with remaining 1/3 cup Romano. Bake bow ties in middle of oven 30-35 minutes, or until golden and bubbling, let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Winning Donkey Cookies

The Belgian Leek recipe I was going to use called for a specialty pan, and pie weights? I’m not even sure what those are, and should have read ahead and realized this was a bit beyond my realm. Someday. I was really excited about using leeks this week, as I’d never cooked with them before. So, I went to my go-to guy - Jamie Oliver. And he didn’t fail me. I made a Chicken and sweet leek pie with a flaky pastry. I had puff pastry in the freezer, carrots, leeks, milk, and chicken, also in the freezer. So I went over budget and bought the $5.00 of mild Italian sausages to complete the dish. It was great and homey, and it was finally cool enough yesterday to justify a warm casserole/stew. Make sure you simmer the stew long enough and let it get thick - ours was a bit runny. The crust isn’t crunchy reheated, but it still made a great lunch. Cheers!

Serves 4

Olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

2lb boned and skinned chicken legs, cut into pieces

2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

3 sticks celery, finely sliced

small handful of thyme, leaves picked

2 tablespoons flour

1 wineglass of white wine

1.25 cups milk

9oz pork sausges

1lb package of all-butter puff pastry

1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Take a large casserole pot and add a lug of olive oil and your butter. Add the chicken, leeks, carrots, celery and thyme and cook slowly on the stove for 15 minutes. Turn the heat right up, add the flour, and keep stirring for a couple minutes before adding the wine, a wineglass of water and the milk. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer very slowly on the stove for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir it every so often so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it’s a little too liquid, just continue to simmer it with the lid off until it thickens slightly.

2. Pour the chicken mixture into an appropriately sized pie dish. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into little balls, brown them in a little oil and sprinkle them over the stew. Roll out your pastry to about 1/4 inch thick. Egg-wash the rim of the dish and drape over the pastry, using a knife to trim the edge of the dish. Egg-wash the top of the pastry to make it go golden while cooking, then pinch it to crimp it round the edges. Use the back of a knife to lightly criss-cross the tip= this allows the pastry to go crisp and flaky. Cook the pie in the center of the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until golden on top.