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Pasta with Broccoli, Tomato, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Garlic and Cream

September 19, 2011 By 4 Comments

 

So, I haven’t been feeling great lately and I really wanted some comfort food.  I hadn’t done much cooking this weekend and when I went into the kitchen I realized that I had all kinds of ingredients that needed to be used. I pulled it all out of the fridge and created this:

  • 2 lbs. whole wheat rotelle (or whatever pasta you prefer)
  • 2 heads of broccoli (florets only)
  • olive oil
  • a pinch each of red pepper flake, dried parsley and dried basil
  • 6 cloves of garlic finely minced
  • about 16 oz. goat cheese
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 4 small tomatoes chopped
  • 2 cups of vegetable broth
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 bunch baby spinach

Put a pot of salted water up to boil.  Cook the pasta according to package directions – about 2 minutes before it’s done, add the broccoli florets.  When the pasta is done, drain the broccoli and pasta and set aside (I needed two colindars)

pasta broccoli spinach 1 300x202 Pasta with Broccoli, Tomato, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Garlic and Cream

Put the pot back on the heat (med/high) and add the oil and the dried herbs.  Stir and then add the garlic.  Saute for a couple of minute until you can really smell it.

Lower the heat and add the goat cheese

pasta broccoli spinach 2 300x225 Pasta with Broccoli, Tomato, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Garlic and Cream

and stir till it’s melted completely into the oil, then add the cream, vegetable stock, lemon zest and juice.  Bring it to a boil and let it reduce just a little.  Add the pasta and broccoli back in in batches, tossing to coat with the sauce.  When it’s all combined add the spinach and cover.  Let it sit over very low heat till it wilts, or toss it in to wilt it (I was running out of room in the pot!)

pasta broccoli spinach 3 300x225 Pasta with Broccoli, Tomato, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Garlic and Cream

Plate and add salt and pepper to taste.  Maybe even a little locatelli or parmesan cheese.

pasta broccoli spinach 4 300x229 Pasta with Broccoli, Tomato, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Garlic and Cream

The cheese and the cream and the lemon with the broccoli, spinach and pasta is so good. It was exactly the comfort food I was looking for.



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Edamame, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

September 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

This is so satisfying and delicious that you’ll feel like you’re doing something very bad, when in fact you’re doing something very, very good.

asparagus edamame salad3 300x225 Edamame, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

  • 1 package shelled edamame
  • 1 bunch asparagus, rinsed and trimmed and cut into thirds
  • 1 bunch sugar snap peas, rinsed and trimmed
  • 1 cucumber peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • a big squeeze of local, raw honey
  • a big pinch of sea salt
  • a couple of grinds of white pepper

Put up a small pot of water to boil.

asparagus edamame salad1 300x172 Edamame, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

When it’s boiling add the sugar snaps and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the asparagus for the last 30-45 seconds (mine were very tiny and very skinny, if yours are larger, add more cooking time. Drain, cool and set aside. For the cooling, I just put some ice cubes in a bowl underneath the strainer and let some cold water run through till it fills, add more ice if needed.

Cook the edamame (I nuke ‘em) according to package directions, drain, cool and set aside.

Peel and chop the cucumber.

asparagus edamame salad2 300x197 Edamame, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

Combine all the veggies in a bowl with a sealing lid.

In a bowl, add the oil, lemon, honey, salt and pepper, whisk till it’s combined and pour over the vegetables. Toss gently but thoroughly, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

asparagus edamame salad3 300x225 Edamame, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

 



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Tomato Paste

August 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Remember when I was talking about not using cans anymore? And how happy I was to have found a tomato product packed in boxes without the threat of BPAs leaching into the tomatoes?  Well. The other day I realized that tomato paste as far as I have found ONLY comes in cans and while I don’t use it very often, there are some dishes that really need it. So, I thought about it for a little while and figured – what is tomato paste?  It’s cooked down, concentrated tomato sauce, right? So I had the idea that I could, in fact, just cook down the Pomi tomato sauce and you know what?  It’s perfect.

I took one container of tomato sauce and emptied it into a sauce pan set to med/high heat.

tomatopaste4 300x203 Tomato Paste

Then I just let it cook, watching it pretty closely and stirring often to prevent it from burning and also, I think that occasionally stirring helps the evaporation process.  After a while I lowered the heat because I was afraid it was going to burn and just kept watching it and stirring.

tomatopaste3 300x227 Tomato Paste

I don’t know if you can really see, but it’s definitely cooking down and concentrating and getting lovely and thick.

tomatopaste2 300x244 Tomato Paste

When it’s reached the desired consistency, take off the burner and allow to cool.

Transfer to a lidded jar and refrigerate.  Remember there are no preservatives, and this isn’t actually “canned” so this will not last for months and months. I think two weeks is probably your safest bet.  But it’s so good, I’m finding myself adding it lots of things and I don’t think it will last two weeks anyway.

tomatopaste 300x266 Tomato Paste

This jar actually belongs to a friend of mine and I was supposed to return it, but it was the perfect size, so I used it.  Maybe I’ll make her some tomato paste and put it in this jar when I return it.  I know she won’t mind.



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Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

August 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I think the carbohydrate police are going to be showing up to my house pretty soon. I’m really trying hard not to buy anything but organic meats, grass fed beef and wild caught sustainable fish, but my schedule has not been cooperating on the subject of driving up to get those products (it’s about 40 minutes to get to the beef place, and the seafood place isn’t open the day we travel to that town for guitar lessons) – so whole wheat pasta it is (salads too- I promise!)

We switched this one up a little bit with some old school ingredients.

tomatosaucewithbalsamic5 300x220 Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

  • 2 packages Pomi Tomato and Basil
  • 1 package Pomi Tomato Sauce
  • 2 packages whole wheat linguine
  • 1 med onion chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic chopped
  • a big pinch red pepper flake
  • a big pinch oregano
  • a big pinch basil
  • a big pinch parsley
  • olive oil
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • fresh mozzarella pearls

tomatosaucewithbalsamic1 300x225 Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

Put up the salted water for pasta, cook pasta according to packaged directions and heat a large dutch oven to med/high heat.  Pour olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and when it ribbons add your red pepper flake and dried herbs.  Let them sizzle for a couple of minutes till they get really aromatic.

tomatosaucewithbalsamic2 300x225 Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

Add the garlic and onion and saute, stirring frequently until they’re shiny and translucent.

tomatosaucewithbalsamic3 300x225 Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

Lower the heat and add all your tomatoes, making sure that you stir it frequently while the temperature lowers, you don’t want burnt tomatoes on the bottom of your pan. When the tomatoes are heated up, add the balsamic vinegar.

tomatosaucewithbalsamic4 300x249 Linguine in Tomato Sauce, with Basil, Balsamic Vinegar and Fresh Mozzarella

Drain your pasta.

Because we make so much of this, we can’t put the pasta into the sauce, so what I do is after I drain the pasta, I run the pasta pot under cold water, just till it’s no longer scalding hot.  I put it back on the stove with no heat under it, ladle a bit of sauce to cover the bottom of the pot, add the pasta back in and then pour the rest of the sauce on top.  Toss with tongs to get everything combined.

If you’re using firm mozzarella, add it now, but since I used fresh which would disintegrate in that big, hot pot, I plate each serving and then put a few pearls on top.  When you toss them in, they’ll melt beautifully, maintaining that delicate fresh mozzarella taste.

Full disclosure: I received the product at no cost to me.



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Guacukeamole

August 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Yeah, I made that word up.

But this simple addition to chunky guacamole was so simple, fast and good that I had to share it!

guacukamole 300x225 Guacukeamole

  • 2 avocados peeled, pitted and cubed
  • 2 plum tomatoes cubed
  • 2 kirby cucumbers cubed
  • juice of one lemon
  • hot sauce to taste – I used Crystal
  • salt
  • white pepper

Combine the avocado, cucumber and tomato in a bowl, squeeze lemon juice over the top.  Add the hot sauce, salt and pepper and toss well.  You could eat this with chips, put it on tacos, add lettuce and make a salad – use your imagination – or just get a fork.  Your choice.



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