Not Quite Vegan

You'd think after all these years as a dedicated carnivore after 6 weeks on a vegan diet I'd be dreaming of grilled t-bones and super smokey ribs. But no, day in and day out the thing I missed most -- except of course for cheese which has been my go to snack, lunch, treat for decades -- were anchovies.
A fish I don't even particularly like on it's own, I found myself craving the briny tang and edible umami of anchovies.
Tonight for a subtle break from our daily vegetable diet I cooked up a batch of braised broccoli. First I sautéed 2 minced garlic cloves and 10 anchovies in olive oil along with a tiny sprinkle (James has been staying away from chiles much to my dismay) of red pepper flakes. Then I added in a couple pounds of trimmed blanched broccoli (I used the pasta water to blanch the vegetables) and let it braise almost fully covered for about 15 minutes until soft -- way softer than Americans normally eat vegetables but comforting somehow. Then I piled in the drained 100% whole wheat (in deference to our diet) pasta and a splash of the pasta cooking water and stirred around over low heat to make a quick sauce.
A treat with my tiny fishy favorite flavor friends.

Cleaning Out The Fridge

Not too far from us sits Bellweather Farms, a beautiful sheep dairy producing a variety of high quality cheeses (sheep and cow's milk). We love their pepato, a semi-soft sheep's cheese similar to a young pecorino with whole peppercorns and especially, when it's available, their sheep's milk basket drained ricotta. It's fresh and creamy and delicious and feels special in spreads, pasta sauces or just spread on toast with a drizzle of honey.

Heading out of town I just couldn't leave our precious ricotta to age past it's expiration date so I rolled up my sleeves and boldly strode where I rarely go -- gnocchi. 

I combined 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino cheese (I was on a sheep theme here), and zest of 1/2 lemon  with my hands to make sure the lemon was evenly distributed. Next I made a well in the center of my dry ingredients and put in 1 cup of ricotta and 1 egg. With as few strokes as possible I mixed all the ingredients together and spilled my dough onto a floured board. Cut into four equal pieces I rolled each quarter into a rope about 12" long and cut each rope into 3/4" lengths to form the tender little pillows that would be James' dinner. As the gnocchi were cut I put them on a parchment lined baking sheet with TB of flour and gave the tray a shimmy and shake to protect each pillow in a thin layer of flour. The gnocchi waited uncovered in the fridge until I was ready to make our dinner. Twenty minutes from almost expired ricotta to gnocchi for dinner.

A couple hours later I brought a pot of well salted water to a boil. I dropped in half the gnocchi and allowed the water to lightly bubble (too rapid a boil and the gnocchi may burst) as the dumplings rose to the top and then cooked through for about another 2 minutes. Meanwhile I melted butter in a skillet and allowed it to turn brown and nutty. In went the cooked through gnocchi (in two batches so some were more brown than others) and several leaves of fresh sage. The dumplings tossed in the brown butter and cooked long enough to lightly crisp on the outside. Pillowing soft fresh gnocchi with a tasty nutty brown butter crust. 

Restaurant quality dinner in no time at all. And no expired cheese :-).

Spring In A Bowl

I'm embarrassed to say it but I am proud of this dish.
For years I have shied away from homemade pasta. I'm not sure why. I make pie crusts and biscuits and breads but pasta seems out of reach. Maybe it's all that rolling. In any case, with a tub of beautiful sheep's milk ricotta nearing it's expiration date I pulled up a recipe I have been considering from Bon Appetit Magazine, Ricotta Gnocchi with Asparagus, Peas and Morels, boasting a technique for no knead gnocchi, little pillowy dumplings.
Now to be fair, across the internet and probably across Italy there seems to be debate as to what qualifies as gnocchi and what recipes should be classified as the gnoccho's (singular) Florentine cousin gnudi. Maybe this quick, wet dough with equal parts flour and parmesan cheese, and 4 parts fresh ricotta is more the naked ravioli filling described as gnudi than the more heavily floured potato dumplings we know as gnocchi. In any case these dumplings went together quickly and waited in the fridge until I was ready to cook them in simmering salted water. Pan fried in rich butter with peas and favas whatever you may call them, these little pillows made a special springtime dinner.
The recipe called for asparagus, morels and peas. Though asparagus are in season, oddly enough there was none at our local market which gave me the chance to improvise. Searching my brain for another springtime specialty I remembered the freezer bag full of fava beans waiting to be shelled. Perfect . . . and a great flavor combination with peas. Instead of morels I found beautiful local trumpet mushrooms which I sautéed with finely chopped red onion.
With the gnocchi cooked I followed the recipe's instructions tossing the dumplings, peas, favas, a splash of pasta cooking water and ample butter into the pan with the mushrooms and simmered until the vegetables were warmed through and creamy sauce coated the gnocchi. To complete our springtime dish I topped the warm dumplings with chopped chives, pea shoots, lemon zest, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
No knead or not, I still can't believe I made them myself.

An Old Favorite

I get tired of the same old dishes and so poor James has to wait or his favorites. Tonight I ended the prolonged absence of his beloved spaghetti and clam sauce. Funny, it's one of my favorites too.

Slow Cooked Sauce

I used to make a lot of slow cooking tomatoey sauces. I love the idea of dinner bubbling away on the stove for hours. Somehow over the years I got the idea that James didn't like these long simmering treats. So these days, despite my fondness for old-fashioned red sauces, I make them less and less.
This month's Bon Appetit magazine featured 7, what they called, great pasta dishes. One really caught my eye, a spicy Calabrian style pork ragu. Funny it's the kind of recipe I usually breeze right by, but for some reason the combination of slow cooked sausage and ground pork (I just happened to have both in the freezer from our meat CSA box) and a tasty use for my home canned tomatoes called to me. A super tasty, cold weather hearty pasta dish with no trip to the store? genius!
I sautéd the sausage and then added in the ground pork until no longer pink and set the meat aside. In the remaining fat I cooked down carrot, onion, dried red peppers, oregano and -- because I didn't have the parsley the recipe called for -- shredded zucchini frozen from our summer garden. The vegetables cook down and are joined by diluted tomato sauce and pureéd canned tomatoes and the reserved meat. A mere four hours later (okay maybe four and a half) James was sitting down to a hearty red tinged dinner.
"We never have sauce like this," he mused. "It's really good."

Gone So Long

I've been away so long. I am out of practice, to say the least. I left home just after Thanksgiving thinking it would be a day or maybe two. Work happens, life happens, family happens and here I am nearly a month later just venturing back into my little kitchen.
I decided to start small. A quick pasta.
Our "girls" have been working so we have plenty of eggs. Salami lasts quite a while so we have a bit to add for flavor into this make-shift carbonara. While the pasta boiled I sautéed chunks of salami, garlic and chili peppers in olive oil until the pork was just crisped and the oil flavored with the cured meat's spices. Next I beat a couple eggs and a small handful of grated parmesan cheese with plenty of cracked black pepper.
I poured the hot drained pasta back into the pot along with the salami mixture, eggs and a splash of pasta cooking water. With just a few minutes of vigorous stirring those separate ingredients came together to a creamy, cheesy sauce.
Dinner is back.

The Cupboard Is Bare

It might be the emptiest our kitchen has ever been. Coming back from my trip I opened the fridge. Echo . . . prosciutto, cheese, left over white wine, and a half bottle of heavy cream lingering from last week's dessert.
Prosciutto cream sauce. I started a pan with a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter and sautéed half an onion, finely chopped and a couple cloves of garlic. When the onions we just translucent I tossed in the prosciutto and gave that a few minutes to start to crisp up. Next I deglazed the pan with some of that white wine and then added the cream and let everything cook down to a sauce while the pasta boiled.
Pretty simple, but pretty delicious.
I've gotta go shopping.

Stuffed Pasta

Believe it or not. I was laying around the house reading a cooking magazine dreading the idea of making dinner. I didn't want to do the dishes, I didn't want to chop, I didn't want to defrost and find some meat main course. Suddenly an idea clicked. Cannelloni! Why hadn't I thought of it before? I had ricotta -- probably teetering close to it's expiration date, the end of a salami, parmesan, leeks pulled from the garden, and a bottle of milk nearly ready for retirement. Clearly that seemingly lack luster collection of ingredients -- along with ground turkey in the freezer -- could come together into meat stuffed pasta and bechamel sauce. Along with a jar of the tomato sauce I canned earlier this month and a box of no cook cannelloni tucked away in the pantry, I had dinner.
I sautéed the meat and finely chopped salami along with the leeks and garlic in olive oil until cooked through and almost crispy. Then I deglazed the pan with white wine -- the last of a bottle taking up space on the fridge door. That mixture from the skillet joined ricotta, parmesan and egg (S&P of course), to make a tasty filling. I stuffed the pasta tubes and laid them in a baking dish with a pool of tomato sauce on the bottom. I covered the single layer of cannelloni with parmesan flavored bechamel sauce and another drizzle of tomato sauce. After 40 minutes at 350º I had a fridge clearing dinner that still felt special to James. Double score!

Saved By Trader Joe's

My kitchen looks like hurricane Isaac came barreling through. I'm in the midst of several apple preserving projects (more on that later) and every surface is covered with juice draining, jars and lids, and fruit being washed. Doesn't leave much room for dinner. Mercifully I remembered a package of arugula and parmesan ravioli tucked away in the freezer. All I had to do was boil water and toss the pillowing pasta in a pan sauce of olive oil, garlic, butter, prosciutto, and -- because we harvested French fingerlings today, crisp mini quarters of savory potatoes.

Spaghetti With Bacon And Chard

I'm on my way out of town again. I scoured the fridge for bits that might not be at their prime by the time I get back and came up with the ends of a variety of fatty, porky, meats-- yum. Bacon, pancetta, Canadian bacon and even a little sausage. While the pasta water boiled I started the chopped bacons rendering in a hot pan and let them crisp up for about 10 minutes. I piled those into a waiting dish and then added sausage slices (it was a cooked Italian not fresh so it didn't really need more than to crisp up in the hot fat). I added the sausage to the dish and added a whole sliced onion (and a dash of chili peppers) to the fat remaining in the pan and let it sauté until just soft -- about 7 minutes. Meanwhile the spaghetti was in the pot and I added a good quantity of chopped chard (I cleared out the garden too) along with about 1/2 a cup of the pasta cooking water to the pan. While the chard wilted I drained the pasta and added it back into the pan along with the chard, bacons, sausage, about 3 TB of olive oil and a good splash (maybe 1- 1/2 TB) or balsamic vinegar. Everything got a good stir. I served James' garden fresh spaghetti topped with a heavy sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

I Had To Use Up The Milk

We are not milk drinkers. Last week we had a guest for dinner and I asked James to pick up the smallest container of milk he could -- I needed a cup and a half for our dessert cobbler. James brought home a half gallon and I knew there'd be at least a couple milk based recipes in his dinner future.  I've whipped up cornbread and cookies and polenta so far.
I can't bare to waste ingredients. You'd think I was a child of the depression they way I take an MK Fisher-like delight in making leftovers new and palatable (pork roast empanadas anyone?) or creating dinners from fridge odds and ends. Today I had to face the milk. Looking around for other ingredients to add to my "don't let food spoil" dinner I spied a bunch of swiss chard (from our garden, even more precious than usual), the mustard greens I didn't use in the other night's sausage pan fry, and odds and ends of several kinds of cheese. Bingo! Macaroni and cheese with greens and mushrooms (while digging around I found a box close to it's last legs). Okay, it's not exactly Sunday church supper mac n' cheese and certainly far from the dreaded blue box but this slightly upscale baked pasta is just what my fridge extras ordered.
I started a pot of water to boil and added in the pasta (no elbows but these fusilli will soak up the cheese sauce nicely). Two minutes before the pasta was cooked (I let it cook for about 2/3 of the stated cooking time so it would finish cooking in the oven in the rich sauce) I added in the chopped greens and drained the whole pot in a colander. Meanwhile in a saucepan I started a white sauce by melting butter (4TB) and then whisking in a couple TB (4 or so) of flour. I just read a NY Times article about cooks in Provence making béchamel sauce with olive oil so I gave it a splash of olive oil too. I know you are supposed to use warm milk and add it little by little. I suppose that's fine when you have one pot going and all day to wash dishes. I added in the milk -- all at once -- right out of the fridge -- about 3 1/2 - 4 cups. I didn't bother to measure. I let the sauce simmer and thicken while I sautéed the mushrooms, grated the cheese and mixed the pasta and vegetables together. I tossed the cheese into the sauce along with S&P and a dash of nutmeg and poured the whole pot over the waiting pasta mixture. Once tossed together, I ladled the pasta mixture into buttered baking dishes (one for tonight and one for the freezer) and topped our mac n' cheese with breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and a drizzle of melted butter.
After 30 minutes at 375º James' dinner was gooey, cheesy and warm with crispy delicious edges -- and we were out of milk. Mission accomplished.

Summer's Favorite Sauce

Stretching our backyard harvest into yet another meal I whipped up a batch of one of my favorite garden treats -- arugula pesto. I pulse together grated parmesan (1 cup -- or whatever sharp aged cheese I have in the fridge), arugula (4-5 cups), garlic (3-4 cloves), 3-4 TB lemon juice to taste, S&P, around a half cup of blanched almonds and about 3/4 cup olive oil into a hearty, still a bit chunky paste. An all purpose sauce that keeps well in the fridge or freezer, arugula pesto is great on sandwiches and stirred into soups . Tonight I topped a big bowl of spaghetti and broccoli (boiled with the pasta for the last 4 minutes of cooking time) with a good sized dollop of the piquant co cooking required sauce and a super fresh lightly olive oil fried egg (thanks Foggy).

Spring Spaghetti

Finally. Relief from the endless stream of winter vegetables. We love broccoli, cauliflower and kale but come this time of year I am anxious to see a glimpse of spring in the market -- tender fresh peas and finally crisp green asparagus.
I started with chopped onion sautéing in a good quantity of olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Next I tossed in the cut asparagus and about 1/2 tsp of crushed red chiles. After another 5 minutes the asparagus was barely tender and I added in the drained pasta, a splash of pasta cooking water,  a couple tablespoons of fresh goat cheese, and fresh thyme. After a few turns in the pan the cheese melted into a creamy, delicate sauce.
A simple dish to highlight the flavor of spring.

Thank You Trader Joe's

A long day in the garden. We are finally getting the new raised beds filled with our future vegetables (more on that later). I can hardly wait for summer dinners!

But today I was so tired I could hardly think about cooking. I reached into the fridge and pull out a package of Trader Joe's arugula and parmesan ravioli -- takes about 4 minutes to cook. Meanwhile I rendered some pancetta with chopped garlic, thyme and crushed red peppers. When the pancetta was crispy I added in fresh peas (already cooked  and waiting in the fridge), a knob of butter and a sprinkle of chopped parsley along with the drained ravioli. After a few quick turns in the pan James had a filling, flavorful pasta dinner in 10 minutes flat.

North Meets South Italian Style

I have trying to use up the myriad of fanciful pasta shapes around the house before buying more of James' favorite Rustichella D'Abruzzo spaghetti. Tonight I reached for a bag or delicate, beautiful croxetti, stamped pasta disks embellished with coats of arms and palm trees. sailboats and other decor that are a specialty of Liguria. Though often served with a pesto or walnut sauce, for our dinner I headed South and whipped up a sauce that is a Roman favorite, a hearty carbonara with prosciutto (I slipped that in instead of pancetta) eggs and parmesan. Italian fusion.

Pasta Again?

Now that I am well into my new life with no dishwasher and dare I say it no housekeeper I have a new found appreciation for the one pot meal. While I dread every evening's dishes I'm getting pretty creative with new combinations.

Tonight I started the water boiling and cooked the pasta --just before the noodles were fully cooked I added in broccoli florets and let both cook together. I drained the pot and reserved about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. While the pasta drained I quickly sautéed some red onion, garlic, crushed red peppers, chopped prosciutto and dried oregano -- it cooks up in just a flash since the pot is still warm from the pasta. I added the pasta and broccoli back into the pot along with a good sized dollop of ricotta cheese and a splash of the cooking water. A couple turns of the spoon and a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese (stirred in and just melted by the warm pasta ad the cooking liquid) and dinner was served. One pot to clean -- success.

Long Cooked Pasta Sauce

I felt like something old fashioned and hearty. Something that would bubble away on it's own while I went about my day. I started with pork spare ribs (cut into two inch pieces) and beef short ribs, cut in half. After seasoning the mat with slat and pepper I browned the pieces well in a pan with olive oil and garlic. I set the meat aside and added two chopped onions, more garlic (I took out the garlic that got very brown with the meat), and a good bit of chopped pancetta. When the onions were soft and translucent I poured in about 2 cups of red wine. When the wine had cooked down so there was very little liquid left in the pot, I put the meat back in, added two large cans of crushed tomatoes, diced oregano, fresh parsley and basil and let the sauce simmer. After about an hour and a half I added in whole links of hot Italian sausage and allowed it to poach in the sauce for another hour.

I served the sauce and the meats over pasta and topped each dish with a dollop of ricotta and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Old school meat sauce.

Pasta and Peas

A simple dinner.

Start with salted boiling water. Pour in pasta. Two minutes before the pasta is cooked pour a bag of fresh peas into the same water. Drain the noodles and vegetable saving about a cup of the cooking water. In the same pot heat some olive oil with lots of chopped garlic, crushed red peppers, and oregano. Dump the pasta and peas back in along with about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of cooking water and give it a few good turns in the oil. Toss in a handful or arugula and let it just barely wilt from the heat. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese. Easy one pot to clean twenty minute dinner.

Bacon Sauce

While flipping channels I stumbled onto "The Best Thing I Ever Ate (in this case Made)" on the food channel. Generally I consider it a very strange proposal that people would tune in to hear someone they don't know rattle on amorously about one dish they ate, but somehow this episode caught my attention. Well really one dish described by Beau MacMillan, a chef I generally don't think much about no matter how often The Food Network hauls him out and tries to make him a super star chef. But as MacMillan went on to describe the pasta made by an Italian American neighbor (a recipe he learned and made his own) I knew it was a dish James would love. Bucatini with Bacon Sauce and Meatballs is a rich tomato sauce flavored simply with bacon, garlic and onions accompanied by meatballs baked in a hot oven. Is it authentically Italian? No, not in the least. Is it warm and comforting and full of the flavors that start you imaging family dinners and red checkered tablecloths? Yes, indeed yes. And that's more than enough for us.

Spaghetti With Braised Kale

This time of year kale is one of the things at the farmers market that is truly beautiful not just a reminder of what spring vegetables can be. In the winter our little market thins out. Fewer ingredients and more options for a breakfast snack. But the kale, chard, arugula and broccoli still call out from the stands.

Tonight I took beautiful kale and braised it in olive oil. The dish started as many or most of my dishes do with olive oil in a hot pan. I stirred chopped garlic and shallots in the hot pan for just about 30 seconds. I added the shredded kale to the pan and sautéed five minutes. Next went in a cup of water and I covered the pan and let the kale simmer for about 10 minutes until it was nice and tender. Then I added the drained pasta and some of the cooking water to the pan, gave it a good stir and topped James' dinner with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan cheese.