fettucini with leeks, sunchokes, and kale

I have been a very bad blogger. I'm not really sure what happened . . . or rather, I'm not sure how I have been so lazy about blogging. I'm still cooking, still inventing, but just have not made the time to record things here, on the yumcoast. And last weekend, I decided it was time to remedy the situation, after realizing I had seemingly dozens of recipes - with pictures - just waiting to be shared with you.

On my way home from work, I stopped at Whole Foods. I did not have a plan for dinner, but knew I wanted to make something healthy. My days spent at the cupcakery need to be offset by veggies and other healthy goodies, so I wandered about the produce section, uncertain what to make. I saw kale - both green and purple. Every food magazine on earth extols the virtues of this leafy green, which I enjoy a whole lot more than its friend, Swiss chard. So I picked up a bunch of kale, and leeks were lying right there too, so I grabbed one of those. While I was looking at mushrooms, I saw local sunchokes - from Vermont - and plucked a few of those as well. If you are unfamiliar with the sunchoke - or Jerusalem artichoke - it is a tuber, a relative of the sunflower, with a flavor similar to artichokes. I enjoy their earthy sweetness, and they are rather easy to prepare.



I decided to combine the kale, leeks and sunchokes in a pasta with fettucini and a few white beans. The pasta was rather delicious, and exactly what I wanted. Flavorful, balanced, healthy. and easy!

Fettucini with leeks, sunchokes, and kale
Serves 2-3

1 leek, rinsed, halved, and thinly sliced
4 sunchokes, peeled, rinsed, and sliced
1/2 bunch kale, rinsed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup vegetable stock, preferably homemade
1/2 can cannellini beans
1/2 lb fettucini, cooked according to box directions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 4 quart saute pan (or 12 inch frying pan) over medium high heat. Add leeks and cook until softened, 5-10 minutes. Add in sliced sunchokes, season with salt and pepper, and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, bring a small pot of water to boil. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons salt. Add kale and boil for 2 minutes. Drain kale, remove any tough stems, and set aside.

Simmer the leek and sunchoke mixture until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add in white beans, stirring to combine. Add in kale, cooked fettucini. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan.

Enjoy!

- e

penne with hazelnut pesto and green beans

i loved this pasta because it was so bright and green for a winter dinner. green lemony pesto, fresh blanched green beans, little scallion slices....green green green! and yummy too! this is really as simple as cooking up some pasta and giving a few ingredients a whirl in the food processor. the original recipe called for some cheese but it honestly does not need it. kris and i both agreed that the recipe had plenty of flavor and wasn't begging for anything else.

penne with hazelnut pesto and green beans
(from bon appetit october 2009, with slight changes)
ingredients:
2 cups (packed) fresh Italian parsley
2/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 14.5-ounce box penne (or a similarly shaped noodle)
8-ounces green beans, trimmed
2 bunches green onions, sliced

blend first 5 ingredients and 1/3 cup oil in processor until nuts are finely chopped. season pesto with salt and pepper.

cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. add beans; cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.

heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. add onions; sauté until tender, 3 to 4 minutes.

drain pasta and beans; reserve 1 cup cooking liquid. return pasta and beans to pot. toss with pesto, onions, and 3/4 cup cooking liquid. season with salt and pepper.

-d

spiced chickpea sauce

the last page of gourmet this month features five no-cook pasta sauces perfect for when it's sweltering out and you don't want to hang around a hot stove. though it's not even remotely hot here and i have no excuse to avoid the stove but i do lovelovelove chickpeas and i suppose that is what drew me to want to make this. when i suggested it to kris he asked if i have a daily chickpea requirement...i didn't realize i was that bad! maybe i'll try to lay off 'em for a little bit.

we had the sauce over pasta as suggested and i added some zucchini just because. i think the sauce would also be good over a bowl of quinoa (or bulgar or whatever grain you're feeling) and vegetables or tofu. anyway, it comes together very quickly. if you start your pasta and make this as it cooks i bet your timing will be perfect. i crushed up the whole spices a little before putting them in the food processor, not necessary but maybe a good idea if you, too, sometimes question the power of your processor. oh also! if you have a hefty collection of spices at home this will be a really cheap dinner. i only spent $3.48 for dinner for two plus leftovers...can't complain about that!

spiced chickpea sauce
(gourmet, august 2009)
ingredients:
1 (19 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, divided*
1/3 cup olive oil
6 black peppercorns
3 whole allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 pound penne, cooked and drained, reserving 1 cup cooking water; lemon wedges

puree half of chickpeas with oil, spices, oregano, sugar, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until almost smooth.

transfer puree to a large bowl and stir in remaining chickpeas, onion, and herbs.

toss hot penne with sauce. thin with some of the reserved cooking water.

*i couldn't find a 19 ounce can of chickpeas so i used a 15 ounce can and just went a little scant on all the other measurements and everything worked out just fine. i also only cooked a half pound of pasta, plus a zucchini, and i think it was a good amount of sauce.

-d

vermicelli nests with chickpeas, spinach and tomato

there were a couple of factors working against us cooking a big dinner on sunday:

1. it was hot. really hot. the kind of hot that makes you really not want to hang out in a tiny kitchen with the stove and oven cranking along.

2. sunday morning was bay to breakers. as we made our way to the panhandle to watch the craziness, bloody marys and mimosas in tow, there was really no telling how much cooking we would be up for later in the day.

keeping this in mind saturday afternoon as i looked through my cookbooks i thought this simple, fast pasta recipe was a perfect fit....assuming we didn't cave in to take out (we didn't. obviously.).

i really enjoyed this dish. it's light and fresh and easy and tasty. it also uses white wine so pick one that's yummy and you can enjoy a nice chilled glass as you eat this on a hothot day.

vermicelli nests with chickpeas, spinach and tomato
(from the mediterranean vegan kitchen, makes 4-6 main course servings)
ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 (15-oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup dry white wine
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 pound fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
8 ounces fresh spinach, stemmed, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
pinch sugar
salt and black pepper to taste
12 ounces vermicelli, capellini, or spaghettini

in a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. add the garlic and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. add the chickpeas and toss to coat with the garlic and oil. add the wine and thyme. bring to a boil over high heat.

add the tomatoes, spinach, sugar, salt and pepper. toss well to thoroughly combine and remove the skillet from the heat. set aside until the tomatoes are just warm to the touch, about 5 minutes.

meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions until al dente; drain well.

arrange equal amounts of the pasta in small circular piles (like nests!) in the bottoms of bowls. divide the chickpea and tomato mixture evenly among the bowls. pour the remaining liquid from the skillet evenly over all and serve.

-d

ricotta pasta...summer style

well here we are back in san francisco after a fabulous weekend in boston! i heard it was in the 90s (!) here while we were gone, but summer has decided to stick around for us a little longer as it is still hothothot today. kris and i had a hankering for the cashew ricotta from veganomicon but this weather just doesn't scream baked ziti (our usual ricotta pasta). instead we went for something quicker, lighter and much more summery. light on the pasta with lots of bright green blanched broccoli and a sauce of barely cooked tomatoes and garlic topped with refreshing dollops of ricotta. this made four large servings so you could even cut down on the pasta a bit more.

summer ricotta pasta
ingredients:
1/2 pound pasta
1 large head of broccoli, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil
dollops of ricotta (recipe below)

while pasta is cooking, chop broccoli, leaving florets fairly large. add to the pasta pot for the last couple minutes of cooking to blanch. drain with the noodles.

heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. add garlic and cook a few minutes until fragrant. add tomato chunks and cook until heated through and just beginning to break down. season with a bit of salt and pepper. remove from heat and stir in the basil.

add tomato mixture to the noodles/broccoli and toss to combine. serve with several dollops of ricotta.

cashew ricotta
(from veganomicon)
ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 lb firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil*

combine first 4 ingredients in food processor. puree to thick paste.
add tofu and blend until smooth.
blend in salt and basil

*erin gave me a gigantic bag of herbs de provence (and the amount she passed on to me does not even compare to the enormous quantity hiding out in her cabinet...and i hear i was not even the first to receive some. seriously. she has a ton of herbs de provence), which i was very excited to use. we used it in place of the dried basil (and then added a little more basil for an herbier ricotta). experiment with your own herb combinations!

-d

super herby pasta

since kris gets home from work before me, i often come home to him concocting in the kitchen. i love it! we had a fridge full of fresh herbs leftover from various things and decided to make a pasta dish bursting with fresh herby flavors. kris's take was a whole wheat pasta tossed with a lemon dill sauce and topped with parsley and rosemary-broiled zucchini slices. we had some oil-braised garlic leftover from something as well that went into the sauce and added a wonderful soft buttery garlic note (if you don't have any on hand, you could just sautee some minced garlic in stead). here's a loose recipe to follow:

herby pasta
ingredients:
1/2 pound pasta of your choice
juice of 1 lemon
white wine vinegar
handful fresh dill, chopped
handful fresh parsley, chopped
several cloves oil braised garlic, chopped (recipe below)
margarine
1 zucchini
fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

cook pasta according to instructions.

slice zucchini and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet with a few fresh rosemary leaves. broil or bake until tender.

meanwhile, in a small saucepan add chopped garlic and sautee a few seconds to heat through. add lemon juice, a splash of vinegar, dill and a small amount of margarine. continue to add margarine in small quantities and cook until melted. adjust the flavor with salt and pepper and more vinegar/margarine. continue to cook over medium heat. you should end up with a nice sort of thick sauce.*

toss pasta and zucchini with sauce and parsley, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed, and enjoy!

oil-braised garlic
2 large bulbs garlic, whole cloves peeled
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 rosemary sprigs

preheat the oven to 350. place the garlic, oil and rosemary in a baking dish. cover with foil and bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until the garlic cloves are very soft and just starting to brown. (can be stored in an airtight container up to 2 weeks).

on a side note, kris and i leave for boston tonight! we're so excited to see old friends, new babies and eat some bagels already!!! erin and i will once again be reunited and should have another delicious foodie post coming soon.

*is that vague enough? sorry.

-d

talula's mac and cheese

Sometimes a single ingredient can really lift a dish, and such is the case with this mac and cheese. I am an unabashed lover of cheese, and if I ever found out I was lactose intolerant, I would probably die. Or just eat through the pain. And as an off-shoot of my love of cheese, I am equally obsessed with noodle and cheese dishes. I still think my mother makes the best mac and cheese - she uses ziti noodles and a fantastically creamy cheddar that is nearly impossible to find, and tops the whole shebang with wheat germ for a nicely nutty crust.

This recipe comes from a delightful little shop in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Talula's Table. The recipe ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and as my mother happened to be in Kennett one recent weekend, she stopped in to pick up the key ingredient in this mac and cheese - a subtley spicy pepperoncino penne pasta - and subsequently transported it to Boston for my pre-birthday festivities. The particular brand Talula's sells is Dalla Costa, but I am sure you could substitute another peppery noodle (but if you can get your hands on a bag, I recommend the Dalla Costa brand!)

And a little note - we skipped the garlic bread crumbs, and just sprinkled the top with the regular kind. The cheeses and pasta are quite flavorful and the garlic bread crumb addition seemed unnecessary. And if you wanted to veganize this, you could make this sauce, and use it with the peppery noodles!

Also, if you don't feel like buying loads of herbs that will languish in your refrigerator, Trader Joe's sells a "poultry mix" of fresh herbs that include the perfect amounts of parsley, oregano and thyme for this recipe!

Talula’s Slightly Spicy Macaroni and Cheese

5 cups milk

½ onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, smashed, skin left on

4 springs each parsley, oregano, thyme

2 to 3 fresh sage leaves

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

½ lb peperoncino penne

2 cups aged white cheddar and Gruyere cheese mix (Cabot, Grafton, Roth Kase), grated

2/3 cup Parmesan, grated

1 cup garlic breadcrumbs

1. Combine milk, onion, garlic and herb sprigs and leaves in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Set aside to steep for 15 minutes. Pour through a strainer and return to the pan.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk in the flour to make the roux, and cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly whisk 2 cups of the seasoned milk into the roux to make a paste. Add the remaining milk, 1 cup at a time, until all the milk has been incorporated. Continue to cool, still whisking, over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. The sauce will be just slightly thickened. Season with the Dijon, ¼ tsp salt and a pinch of pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 2-quart baking dish.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt lightly. Drop in the penne and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain the penne and place in a large bowl. Pour the sauce over and toss in the cheeses, reserving a handful of Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, making sure to include all of the sauce. Sprinkle with the garlic bread crumbs and remaining Parmesan and bake until golden and bubbling, about 40 minutes.
6. To make the bread crumbs, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut day-old bread into thin slices and place on a baking sheet; brush with garlic infused oil. Bake until golden and very crisp, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Break up the bread with your hands and pulse in a food processor, leaving the texture a little coarse.

- e