Pasta, Veggies and Lemon Yogurt Sauce

This recipe has been making the rounds on cooking blogs. I read about it on The Gingered Whisk.



With the CSA, we tend to get a lot of Zucchini, and I am always looking for new things to do with it. This is a fairly healthy cream sauce that goes well with the sauteed vegetables.

Ingreients

8oz pasta
1 zucchini sliced (others have cut it up into ribbons. I cut it into half moons. Either way you want the slices to be kinda thin)
1 cup small tomatoes cut in half or quarters (I had pearl tomatoes which are about the size of cherry ones)
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup thick, plain yogurt (greek is best)
1/4 cup grated parm cheese
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (optional)

Cook pasta in salted water and then drain
sautee the zucchini in a pan with the olive oil until just softened
add garlic for a few minutes
add tomatoes and cook until soft
add thyme right at the end

in a bowl combine yogurt, cheese, salt, pepper and lemon zest
toss pasta, veggies and sauce and serve

Dandelion Green Pasta

Dandelion Green Pasta, a photo by kel h on Flickr.

Got some Dandelion Greens in last week's farmshare. They are mighty bitter, which is why I added the butter to the recipe.

From Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

Ingredients:
3 cups penne
1/4 c olive oil
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 small white onion chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
bunch dandelion greens with thick stems removed, cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese for serving

cook penne in salted water per instructions. reserve liquid

heat olive oil in pan, cook garlic and onion until just beginning to brown

stir in red pepper flakes until starts to sizzle.

cook dandelion greens 3 min until bright green

add butter and 1/3 cup pasta water and bring to boil in skillet. cook til reduced by half. salt and pepper to taste.

Toss to coat with sauce and serve with grated parmesan

Fiddlehead Pasta with Beurre Blanc

Fiddlehead Pasta with Beurre Blanc, a photo by kel h on Flickr.

this is the second time I've gotten fiddleheads in the CSA farmshare. They're interesting, with a mild, fresh, green taste and interesting texture. The important thing seems to be choosing something that doesn't overwhelm the flavor, which is why I chose Beurre Blanc sauce and angel hair pasta. If I had frozen peas I would have added some of those too. Could also work with a mild protien like shrimp.

Ingredients:
1 bag fiddleheads
1 box angelhair pasta
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon
1 small shallot grated
2-3 garlic cloves grated
handful parsley chopped
salt and pepper

Directions

Boil a pot of water

soak and gently rub fiddleheads with paper towel and cut off ends as needed

drop fiddleheads in for 3-5 min until "tender crisp", then put in cold water bath to keep from over cooking

add salt to water and boil pasta per instructions

zest lemon and set aside

in saucepan heat up wine, juice from lemon, shallot and garlic. simmer until sauce reduces by half.

add two sticks of butter and zest a tablespoon at a time.

once sauce thickens, add parsley, salt and pepper to taste and toss with pasta and fiddleheads

Buttercup Squash stuffed with Kale and Orzo

Buttercup Squash stuffed with Kale and Orzo
Originally uploaded by kel h

so, things like this make me feel like maybe instead of this mental health counseling crap, i should have my own cooking show. I mean, if Sandra Lee, of Kwanzaa Cake fame can have one, why not someone who actually COOKS once in a while?

It would be focused on local and seasonal food and would do things like go to farmers markets and farms, and guests would include local small batch food producers. Part of the goal would be to encourage people to eat more local and seasonal food, and shop at farmers markets or get farmshares.

In the farmshare we have been getting these tiny buttercup squash. I love them because they are so much fun to stuff. We also got some kale, so I thought making Kale with Orzo, and stuffing the squash with that would be fun.

Buttercup Squash stuffed with Kale with Orzo

Cut the squash in half and remove the fibers and seeds from the middle.

Put cut sides down in a baking dish with a quarter inch water and bake for 30-45 min or until soft at 400

While it's baking, make your Orzo and Kale

based on a recipe from AllRecipes (I omitted the tomato this time)

Ingredients:
1/2 box orzo
1 tsp tumeric
1 bunch Kale stems removed and cut into 1 inch strips
1 tomato chopped
1/2 onion chopped
4 garlic cloved minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Boil orzo in salted water with tumeric for 9 minutes

sautee onion and garlic for abt 2 minutes
add kale and tomato and sautee for 10 minutes
drain orzo, add to kale and tomato
add lemon juice and zest, nutmeg and cheese
season with salt and pepper to taste

Fill the cavity of the squash with the Kale and Orzo (it helps to cut a little bit off the side opposite the cut side so they sit flat) and then sprinkle with cheese. Put it under the broiler until the cheese gets brown and melty.

The last slice of butternut squash lasagna

The last slice of butternut squash lasagna
Originally uploaded by kel h

Me and a bunch of my friends like to play trivia at a local bar on Monday nights. I usually cook dinner for me and my roommate (since we share a farmshare from Enterprise Farms). Sometimes I invite another friend who has a longer distance to travel over to have dinner with us.

Well, it has been a lot of fun to have these dinners with a bottle of wine and friends, and so I figured I would expand the invite to the whole team. It was a blast. The six of us went through the entire lasagna, a whole bunch of roasted brussel sprouts (I made converts of my roommate and another friend who both hated them before) and three bottles of wine...AND came in FIRST!

Here is a recipe for the Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna. I reccomend using the ameretti cookies, even though it sounds odd. They taste good in the lasagna, add some body, and also...you have leftover cookies which everyone LOVED

Also, to roast brussel sprouts, cut them in half, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast at 400 for around half an hour until they carmelize and turn brown. If you don't think you like brussel sprouts, make them this way. If you still don't like them...it's official, you don't like brussel sprouts. Most people just don't like the way they are prepared traditionally

from the Runaway Spoon
Ingredients
1 stick butter plus two tablespoons
dried rubbed sage
1 large butternut squash
1 7-8 oz container marscapone cheese
8-12 ameretti cookies (crushed to make 3/4 cup crumbs)
2 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
no boil lasagne sheets
8-10 oz grated fontina
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. put your whole butternut squash in the oven and roast for 1 1/2 to hours until soft. Set aside for a smidge so it is cool enough to handle
In a saucepan brown a stick of butter and add a few pinches of sage. Set aside
Once your squash has cooled a bit, slice in half, remove the seeds and fibrous part and then spoon the roasted squash into a bowl (should be super easy)
combine with half to a quarter of the marscapone, salt, pepper, a pinch of sage and the amaretti cookie crumbs.

To make bechemel sauce melt 2 tbsp butter and then cook 2 tbsp flour in the butter. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. simmer until thickened. Then add all but 2 tbsp of the browned butter

to assemble
coat the bottom of the baking pan with the last 2 tbsp browned butter
1 layer noodles
squash mixture
noodles
fontina
noodles
squash
noodles
bechemel sauce
fontina

Bake at 400 for abt half an hour and let sit for 10 min

Reuben Mac and Cheese

Reuben Mac and Cheese
Originally uploaded by kel h

I saw this recipe on Rachel Ray, and it sounded like a good idea. I made the mac and cheese and then filled my soup cups, layering corned beef for my roommate, and fake steak strips for me. I've seen recipes for brined seitan, but I'm lazy :P

Salt
1 pound cavatappi, hallow corkscrew shaped pasta or, other short cut
2 slices rye bread
3 tablespoons butter plus some for buttering toast
A handful fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup spicy brown deli mustard (recommended: Gulden's)
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup shredded Gruyere
1 cup shredded yellow Cheddar
3/4 pound good quality deli corned beef, sliced as thick as bacon, chopped
1 pound sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente.

While pasta cooks, toast rye bread in toaster then butter hot bread. Coarsely chop bread and place in food processor. Add parsley and paprika to bread and process into bread crumbs, reserve.

Heat a sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter to pot and melt, whisk in flour 1 minute then milk. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, thicken sauce 5 to 6 minutes then stir in mustard. Melt 2/3 of the combined cheeses into the sauce.

Preheat broiler.

Drain pasta and return to hot pot. Toss hot pasta with chopped meat and sauerkraut to combine, stir in cheese sauce and coat. Transfer mac n cheese to casserole and top with bread crumbs and remaining cheese. Brown under broiler 3 to 4 minutes, serve.

Easy Braised Eggplant Dinner

Tonight I made dinner for me and G (my eminently quotable roommate). I'm headed off for vacation tomorrow, so I wanted to cook up as much of my farmshare produce as I could. I had an eggplant that was going to go south, and some green peppers. I really enjoyed the asian style braised eggplant with tofu I made not that long ago, and I figured it would be easy to do an italian version of it.

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant cubed

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 onion chopped

1 green pepper roughly chopped

3 tbsp olive oil divided

2 tbsp butter

8oz can of diced tomatoes with juice

1 tsp italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

heat up 2 tbsp oil and butter in a sauté pan. Sauté the onion, garlic, pepper and eggplant for about 10 minutes. Add the seasoning and diced tomatoes and juice and simmer until eggplant is soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta with cheese.

Roasted Tomato Pesto

Roasted Tomato Pesto
Originally uploaded by kel h

I had some tomatoes in my CSA share that were going to go bad, so I thought I would make this. It came out pretty tasty. It's a combo of two recipes. Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce from Earthbound Farms and Tomato Basil Pesto from Smitten Kitchen


Ingredients:
4 large tomatoes cut into quarters
1 large sweet onions cut into wedges
8 cloves garlic
1 bunch basil
1/2-1 cup toasted almond slivers
1 tbsp tomato paste
olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 475
pour tomatoes, onions and garlic into roasting pan and coat with olive oil
season with salt and pepper
Roast in oven for 10 min
reduce temp to 425 and continue roasting for 40-50 min
let cool and remove tomato skins

toast almond slivers in pan
grind in food processor for a few pulses
add tomatoes, onions and garlic along with leaves from 1 bunch basil and tomato paste. Run until it becomes a paste and drizzle olive oil to desired consistency. Season to taste.

Kale with Orzo

Got some Kale in my CSA farmshare, and got some Orzo from a friend who was moving.

Kale with Orzo

based on a recipe from AllRecipes

Ingredients:

1/2 box orzo

1 tsp tumeric

1 bunch Kale stems removed and cut into 1 inch strips

1 tomato chopped

1/2 onion chopped

4 garlic cloved minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

zest of 1/2 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Boil orzo in salted water with tumeric for 9 minutes

sautee onion and garlic for abt 2 minutes

add kale and tomato and sautee for 10 minutes

drain orzo, add to kale and tomato

add lemon juice and zest, nutmeg and cheese

season with salt and pepper to taste

Green Pea Pesto

Green Pea Pesto
Originally uploaded by kel h

you know how sometimes you buy something and its a let down, and sometimes when you buy something you wonder how you ever got along without it?

Yeah, my new food processor/blender is the second kind. I LOVE it! I can't stop making things with it. Today I made green pea pesto from the show Giada at Home

Ingredients
Pesto:
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted
2 cloves garlic smashed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
small handful parsley and three or four basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil

Put the cheese, peas, garlic, and herbs in a food processor until it forms a paste. Add seasoning and then gradually pour in the olive oil while processor is running.

Serve over pasta or on toast.

Simple Pasta a la Caprese

made my favorite pasta dish for lunch, and it is SUPER easy.

Boil two cups pasta of your choice (I like shells or twirly bits because they hold the sauce better)
heat up some olive oil in a pan with two cloves minced garlic and a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half and sprinkle a pinch of salt over it all.
When the tomatoes start to get wrinkly on the outside, squish them down with a spoon or fork.
Take four to five large basil leaves and slice them into thin strips.
Cube up a few slices of fresh mozzarella.
toss in the pasta, cheese and basil and stir until the cheese just starts to get melty.
drizzle a little more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Yum!

Onion, Tomato, Mushroom and Thyme Frittata

Onion, Tomato, Mushroom and Thyme Frittata
Originally uploaded by kel h

Mushroom Onion Tomato Thyme Frittata

Ingredients
2.5 c cooked pasta
1 sweet onion halved and sliced
1/2 pt cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 box mushrooms chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp dried thyme
6 eggs enough to cover the pasta
2/3 c milk
salt
pepper
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter

cook and cool the pasta
caramelize the onion with the butter on a low heat
take the onions out of the pan, cook the tomatoes mushrooms and garlic til mushrooms are browned
add thyme
remove from heat and add to cooled pasta along with onions

In separate bowl mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper and cheese

Pour egg mixture into pasta and veggies

Spray a non stick skillet with pam and pour egg and pasta mixture in.

Cook on one side for about 8 minutes, running a thin spatula around the edge periodically to make sure it isn't sticking

when the edges get brown, get a plate slightly smaller than the skillet and put it on top of the skillet upside down

Flip the frittata onto the plate, then slide back into the pan with the browned side up.

Cook for another 8 minutes or so, then flip it back onto the plate

let it sit for a bit and cool a smidge, then slice

The one pictured was made with 3 cups of pasta, and is somewhat structurally unsound because I added more veggies than the recipe I was jumping off from called for. I think reducing the pasta in the frittata will increase the stability as the egg to non egg ratio will be better allowing for more binding.

while structurally questionable, the frittata pictured is undeniably tasty

homemade sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and garlic sauce

homemade sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and garlic sauce
Originally uploaded by kel h

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) sweet potatoes
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake sweet potatoes for 30 to 60 minutes, or until soft to the touch ).

Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to work with, remove the peels, and mash them, or press them through a ricer into a large bowl.(if after you bake and peel them you realize they aren't soft to the center, pull the soft part off with forks and then steam the hard centers in the microwave for about five minutes until soft)

Blend in the garlic, salt, nutmeg, and egg. Mix in the flour a little at a time until you have soft dough. Use more or less flour as needed.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. While you wait for the water, make the gnocchi.



On a floured surface, roll the dough out in several long snakes, and cut into 1-inch sections.

Drop the pieces into the boiling water, and allow them to cook until they float to the surface. Remove the floating pieces with a slotted spoon (its like skimming a pool)

keep warm in a serving dish.

Serve with butter or cream sauce.

Also, if you have more than you need you can cut them and freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once frozen toss them in a zip lock bag and save for later

pasta puttanesca ala caprese

pasta puttanesca ala caprese
Originally uploaded by kel h

super simple pasta dish

1 box rotini pasta

2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
1/2 c kalmetta olives halved
1 tbsp capers
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 c fresh mozzerella, cut into small cubes
3-6 basil leaves chopped

Boil pasta in salted water

Put chopped garlic into hot pan with olive oil and stir until softened
add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Squish them with a fork or spoon after a minute or two
add the olives, capers and red pepper flakes and cook until warmed
add the mozzeralla and cook until just a bit melty (don't cook too long)
mix in drained pasta, and add the basil just before serving

Super easy and super tasty!

mushroom and eggplant strogonoff

mushroom and eggplant strogonoff
Originally uploaded by kel h

1 medium eggplant cubed
1-1/2 pounds mushrooms, cut into thick slices 1/3-1/2 inch
2 individual containers greek yogurt
4 cloves crushed garlic (or to taste)
1 tablespoon paprika or to taste
1 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup dry vermouth

In a cup, mix balsamic vinegar and white wine for sauteeing. Add crushed garlic to this mixture, and use this to saute eggplant until it is nice and soft (15-20 minutes at medium, and saute heat).

Add mushrooms to mixture and sautee until they release their juices. Then add yogurt, paprika, nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and cook 5-6 minutes until sauce has thickened and veggies are heated through. Add additional water if sauce is too thick, and do not overcook.

Serve over rice or noodles.

Makes plenty for 4-6 hungry people. Recipe can be halved.

Quick post, quick meal, Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp over pasta

This is something I make frequently when hungry and in a hurry
I'd show you a picture (since I made it for dinner, but I ated it)

Boil salted water and add...like half a box of spaghetti
Coat the bottom of a pan with olive oil and melt 2 tbsp butter
add 2 cloves chopped garlic
zest one lemon
cook as many shrimp as you feel like adding 3-5 per serving usually
Add greens (today I probably added about a cup or two of frozen kale. when I have it I add a bunch of arugala)
wilt the greens, add the juice of the lemon
drain the pasta and add to the pan with the shrimp and stuff
cook for a bit to combine everything, add a few table spoons of a cheese like romano or something.
serve it up