Well the holidays are over – and I can’t really say that it’s a bad thing. It’s probably been both one of the best and one of the worst holiday seasons ever for me. For the first time I was able to host a celebration with a large group of close friends for the Solstice, and I also got my techy-foodie bankai on with some friends for New Years. (Even if I did feel like a moron next to all the super smart people there)

However, it’s also been the last couple of months of the year, where Mr. Man has been working like crazy trying to meet a pushed up deadline. Sometimes pulling twelve or fourteen hour days at work and essentially pushing aside some of the other activities we might have wanted to do. We’ve spent much of the last couple of weeks decompressing from that – which would account for the (very) delayed holiday January cards… that I still haven’t sent out. Or written up. Or the family pictures that I still need to get done. Or presents that need to be sent out. I know, I suck. The fact that decompressing ended up involving Me, Mr. Man, the couch and us restarting Final fantasy XII from the beginning might also be a factor… Mr. Man and I both tend to get sucked in to video games, pretty much until we beat them. So I’ll try to get those cards out soon, loved ones. Maybe while Mr. Man is grinding for some phatz lootz. lol

So I’d like to claim that I haven’t been posting very much lately due to busy-ness, but the truth is that it’s just the opposite. I haven’t been posting much  because of supreme laziness. I made up a big ol’ batch of soup a few days back which we leftover’d on for couple of days, I dug some things from the freezer that I’d put aside over the summer and we had some quick and easy meals from there, etc… Truth be told there’s been a lot of “Let’s quickly make something easy to eat so we can go back to playing the video game” going on. lol

But I did want to start getting shtuff done, so yesterday I mustered up some gumption and got in the kitchen to try making spätzle. Originally I was thinking of making Gnocchi, but ultimately I decided that would probably be a better … ah… family… activity. Assuming Mr. Man and Miss Thing manage to clear up those ‘scheduling conflicts’ that occur whenever I bring up making gnocchi together. Strangely, they seem to become inexplicably busy and/or occupied whenever I mention it. It’s très bizzarre.

Spaetzle seemed like a simpler one-person project to try out – and I’d been promising Mr. Man that I would make him some homemade Spaetzle for ages. Whenever we go to our favorite German restaurant in the city we always get a big heaping plate of Spaetzle – it’s one of our favorites. Usually served up with a big slice of Schnitzel and some mushroom gravy. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to put pork or veal on my last Planet Organics order to make a themed meal of it, but I don’t think Mr. Man or Miss Thing will be complaining, because this dish really shined on it’s own merits – no Schnitzel required.

My original plan, to make gnocchi, had stemmed from a desire to use up some Pumpkin Puree that I had leftover from making the Pumpkin and Collard Pasta a while back. Squash gnocchi is particularly common in the fall, and it seemed like it should be a simple enough swap – squash for potatoes. And it’s still on my list, methinks. I’ve managed to develop quite a backlog of squash that needs to be eaten. I imagine Mr. Man and Miss Thing are going to probably get quite full up on it before too long. Somehow I’ve managed to stock pile 3 butternut squash, 1 kabocha squash, 1 spaghetti squash, and several smaller squash. I’m not sure how that happened. Fortunately, they don’t go bad quickly – but that really isn’t an excuse, and I want to use them up and enjoy them – it’s one of the reasons I’ve taken a little bit of a FFTY hiatus the last couple of weeks. I figured not having more perishable produce would motivate me to use up the squash.

When I made the switch to Spaetzle instead of gnocchi, I decided that I still wanted to use the pumpkin puree – so I started looking around to see if anyone else had ever made spaetzle with squash puree before. I came across this post over at Serious Eats for a Squash Spaetzle and used it as kind of a proof of concept. Yes, you can use squash in spaetzle. However, I didn’t really use their recipe – opting instead to make my own, since it didn’t really seem like a complex set of ingredients. I started out by seeing how much squash puree I had, and then working the other ingredients around it. Originally, I thought it would be more complex, but honestly, I think that as long as you don’t throw the entire bowl of batter in to the cooking water at once, it’d be pretty hard to mess these up.

For hardware, you probably already have everything you need – I didn’t use any specialized tools to make them. I used the steaming insert for one of my smaller pans as my colander, because I liked that it had larger holes, but a regular colander would do just as well. Although it was fine with the colander, next time I make spaetzle, I think I’m going to try using my potato ricer. Pushing the batter through the colander resulted in very short, small spaetzle. They were yummy, don’t get me wrong – but I think that if I were to use the ricer I might get something more resembling longer strands. A lot of the recipes I looked at specified using a wooden spoon to press through the colander – which you can use, don’t get me wrong – but I had a much easier time when I switched to my silicone, heat resistant spatula. The batter didn’t stick to it as much, and it was a little easier for me to use. But whatever you have on hand should be fine. In fact, if you don’t have a colander, I saw several posts where people would just flick little dollops of batter straight from a spoon. I don’t really think there’s a ‘wrong’ way to make spaetzle.

If it’s your first time making it, set aside about two hours to get the feel for it. Next time, I think it will go much faster for me since I know a little better what I should be doing, and it won’t take as long. But I also made a pretty big batch. I wanted to have enough for (atleast) two meals. Fresh from the cooking water, the spaetzle were delicious – tossed with a little butter and a light sprinkling of salt, I would say they were highly nom-worthy. However, they really went to the next level when I did a little pan-frying to brown them up a little bit for dinner. They were amazing, and I can see homemade spaetzle making it in to the regular rotation of meals around here, especially with a little practice to cut down on the preparation time. They will also keep for a couple of days in the fridge, so if you need to, you can make them up before hand and then trot them out for guests or something – they’ll be all impressed and give you lots of kudos. Just don’t tell them how easy it is – it’ll be our little secret.

I would also add a couple of things – the pumpkin puree I used was pretty liquidy. Many, if not all, of the spaetzle recipes I saw called for milk. I skipped the milk because I felt like there was enough liquid in my pumpkin puree. If your squash puree is thicker and harder to work with, feel free to add some milk back in a little bit at a time. My batter was like a very thick muffin batter – sticky, and viscous – but holding together well enough to stick to a spoon when lifted out and not terribly drippy. But remember, it’s pretty easy to make up a test batch and add more flour if you want to. It’s a little harder to try and take the flour out if you decide there’s too much.

Spaetzle Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups Pumpkin (or other Squash) Puree
• Appx 3 cups Flour
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• softened butter

Spaetzle Method:

• Whisk together the eggs and the Pumpkin Puree until well combined
• Stir in the kosher salt and a scant cup of the flour, whisk to combine
• Continue adding flour, a quarter to half a cup at a time until batter reaches a thick muffin batter consistency. (Sticky, viscous and holding together well when a spoon full is lifted out of the bowl)
• Set batter aside to rest for a few minutes while bringing a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil
• If using, place colander over the pot of boiling water
• Working in batches, press the spaetzle batter through the holes of the colander (if using – alternatively ‘flick’ drops of batter from a spoon in to the water or use a ricer) until the top of the water is full of bobbing spaetzles
• Allow to cook for 30-60 seconds (depending on size) then scoop out the spaetzles and place in a bowl.
• Repeat until all batter has been used up – refreshing cooking water as neccessary.
• When all the spaetzle has been cooked, drain again to remove any excess water, then toss with a little bit of butter
• Refrigerate until ready to use

After I made the spaetzle and chilled it – I had to decide on something to do with it. Bacon was of course, the obvious choice – since everything is better with bacon… Plus I had some thick slices of Fatted Calf bacon that I’d picked up last time I went to the Farmer’s Market. But if you’re anti-bacon, you could just sub the bacon grease for a little butter, and skip it. They’ll still be delicious, I promise. I was also thinking of tossing it with cheese and baking it, but to be honest – it didn’t end up needing it. In fact, it probably would have overwhelmed the spaetzle. Instead, I just did a light sprinkling of cheese on top and baked it just long enough to brown – and it was perfect. Both Mr. Man and Miss Thing also dubbed it a huge success. Miss Thing didn’t even realize it had <gasp> squash in it until I told her. At which point she kind of shrugged and said “So? I can’t taste it.” I think we’re making progress there. Of some kind. Not really sure if that response was on the positive or the negative side though. lol

Spaetzle with Bacon Ingredients:

• 1/2 a batch of Spaetzle (recipe above)
• 3 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 small onion; finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 sprig of Rosemary; finely minced
• 1/3 cup shredded Gouda

Spaetzle with Bacon Method:

• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy
• Remove bacon to a paper towel to cool
• Pour off all but a teeny bit of bacon grease
• Add the onions and saute until translucent
• Clear a space (or transfer onions to a bowl)  and add the garlic and rosemary
• Heat the garlic and rosemary until fragrant, then add to the onions
• Working in batches if neccessary, lightly brown the spaetzle in residual bacon grease (can add more if pan starts to dry up or spaetzle starts to stick)
• Cut the bacon in to thin ribbons
• Toss spaetzle, bacon, onions and garlic to combine
• Spread in to an oven safe baking dish and sprinkly lightly with shredded gouda
• Place under broiler for 2-5 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly
• Serve immediately

You’d think with all this vacation time, I’d have more time to blog than during ‘normal’ times – but unfortunately, that just hasn’t been’t the case. It’s been a super busy few weeks, and I just can’t even begin to wrap my head around the idea that we’re one day away from the 25th of December, a week from the end of the year! Fortunately, I’m hopeful that things will slow down here soon and I’ll be able to spend a little more time in the kitchen. I mean, although I’ve been cooking – I haven’t really had time to do an awful lot of playing around. There’s been more ‘okay, I know this works’ and a lot less ‘hmmmm… let’s try something new!’ Some of that might be due to the fact that I’m just not as inspired by winter leafy greens as I am by summer veggies and fruits, but that just means I’m going to have to work harder!

One upside to the busyness though, is that I’ve really been getting to spend more time with my friends and family. My sisters, particularly – and others too. It’s made realize how much they mean to me, and I’ve been trying to make it a point to spend more of that ‘we’ll get around to it’ time actually, you know… getting around to it. Sadly, I get the feeling that I’m going to have to do some bridge building again with some of my San Francisco friends. My last attempt to set up plans when going in to the city was a phenomenal bust. :-/ My tendency to be a homebody is directly in opposition with being a good friend… lol So I’m trying to be better.

At any rate, when I did have a little time last night to try playing around, I decided to take the opportunity to do something with the pumpkin that I’ve had sitting on my counter for the last month or two. I picked it up at the Farmer’s Market a while back, and kept wanting to do something with it, but didn’t really have the space in the fridge to store the leftover bits until yesterday. Yule had come and gone, and we were working through the remainder of the food from that – and it really seemed like a good time for it. It was a good size pumpkin, too – I probably should have weighed it, but I’d guestimate probably about seven pounds or so. I decided to take half of it, and roast it for puree – which, quite frankly is the easy part. The remaining half a pumpkin, I divided in to wedges and then peeled,  cut in to chunks and roasted. Peeling it was a pain, by the way. I highly recommend futzing around with peeling and stuff like that sometime when you don’t have a family waiting for dinner. It took me a lot longer to get it peeled than I had initially estimated, which made dinner take a little longer than I wanted.

The last time I made a Pasta with Roasted Pumpkin – for the Browned Butter and Lentil Pasta I made last month, I used pumpkin that was leftover from roasting the whole pumpkin, which ended up causing the pumpkin to kind of break down and coat the pasta – like a sauce. It was good, but I was hoping for something that held it’s integrity a little better, creating little morsels of squash goodness. I thought that roasting the pumpkin in chunks rather than whole might allow the pieces to hold together better. And it definitely worked out better, although some of the smaller pieces of pumpkin chunks ended up mushing a little bit, the majority of them held their shape a lot better when tossed with the pasta. I didn’t want an entire half a pumpkin in this pasta though – so for the remaining ¼ or so of roasted pumpkin chunks, I spread them out on to a cookie sheet, froze them, and then vacuum sealed them and saved them for next time.

I was originally thinking of using the collards to make another batch of stuffed collard leaves, but it was getting down towards the end of the week, and I still had a lot of veggies from my FFTY box, so I decided to chop them up and throw them in as well. Somehow, despite all the cooking we’ve been doing, I still had most of my box left. The cottage cheese was suppose to simply be used as snacks/breakfast/etc… However, when I received it in my most recent Planet Organics delivery, I found that the expiry date was for the very next day – so I really needed to use it quickly. I contacted Planet Organics, and they gave me a credit without any hassle – which made me happy, even if I wasn’t thrilled about needing to eat a bunch of cottage cheese right away… lol. Not that it was too great a hardship – we all love Cottage Cheese, however I can still only eat so much in one sitting, and mixing it up a little bit is always a good thing. I still have some left (post-expiry!) that I’m thinking of using in another Lasagna, so we’ll see how that goes. The experience has reminded me that I really do need to write up that post I’ve mentioned to Mr. Man a couple of times comparing Spud!/Planet Organics, I’ll try and write that up soon.

I suppose now that I’m starting to stick winter squash in the freezer though, I should consider pulling out some of my squirreled away summer bounty, such as the roasted tomatoes or the summer squash that I prepped a while back. I’m a little bit of a hoarder – even though I know that we live in a state where winters are blessedly short, I feel just a little bit better knowing that I have a few morsels of favorite summer foods tucked away.  Knowing me, I’ll probably end up pulling out the zucchini from the freezer the week before fresh zucchini ends up in my weekly veggie box. Of course, this leaves my freezer in a perpetually over-flowing state. Something of a vicious cycle. (Or maybe thats delicious cycle. lol!)  At any rate – the sooner we get that chest freezer we keep talking about, the happier a camper I shall be. Hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Peeled, seeded Pumpkin Cut in to 1″ chunk
• 1 lb Whole Wheat Spiral Pasta
• 1 bunch Collard Greens; stems removed and chopped in to thin strips
• 1 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 3 tbs Butter
• 1 Sprig of Thyme, finely minced
• 1 Sprig Savory, finely minced
• 6 (or so) Sage Leaves, finely minced
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Toss Pumpkin chunks with enough olive oil to coat, and sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt
• Spread in a single layer on a roasting pan and Roast for 30 minutes, or until tender
• In a large pot of Salted Water, cook the pasta to Al Dente, Drain and set aside
• Melt the Butter in the pot
• Add the onions and Saute over medium heat until translucent and fragrant
• Stir in the garlic, thyme, sage, and savory and heat for 30 seconds or so
• Add the Collard Greens and continue to saute until bright green and tender
• Remove from heat
• Return the Pasta to the pot, along with the roasted pumpkin chunks, cottage cheese, and cider vinegar
• Toss to combine
• Kosher Salt to taste

The weather turned cold today – I mean, it had been getting chilly for the last couple of weeks… but today it actually turned cold. I could even see snow off in the distance on Mt. Diablo, and a couple of my sisters reported having snow near their houses or on their way to work… Kinda trippy… I mean, it’s not supposed to snow in California, well – outside of Tahoe it isn’t, anyways – it’s allowed there. That’s far enough away to not be an issue.   You see, I like snow. I like to look at it outside of my window and say “awww… pretty”. But I hate driving in it, walking in it, or touching it in any way.

So enough on the weather – I suppose ya’ll might be wondering why posting has been so light. Well I don’t really have a good excuse for you… during and around thanksgiving, we were busy with that, and I kinda figured there was probably enough people out there blogging all their thanksgiving family recipes, so I decided to focus on just having a nice meal and not stress on getting perfect pictures… then afterwards… well, I guess for the last couple of weeks I just kinda got a little bit lazy and a little bit busy, and we ended up eating out a little more frequently than usual, but hopefully I’m turning the corner and getting back in to the swing of things. I’m starting to work on getting things done around the house – we had the drywall guys out here today, actually – patching up the cracked seams in the rest of the den.

We were kind of toying with the idea of jumping right in to painting and trim right after the patches had finished setting, but after thinking about it a little more, we decided to wait until after Yule. I’m hosting, and I’m not 100% sure that I can get everything done before then – and although I’m sure everyone would understand, I’m just not keen on the idea of having everyone show up and seeing my desk shoved in to the corner of the living room, furniture covered in sheets, in a corner of the den, etc.. know what I mean? Now I’m going to shoot for starting on the painting and trim on Christmas (shhhh… don’t tell Mr. Man). It’ll be a busy few days, but I think if we push hard, we can get the painting and trim done during that time.

Unfortunately, it looks like doing something about that hideous parquet might have to wait. We were discussing getting the floor done, but it looks like it might be out of the budget right now, unless we were willing to compromise a great deal, which I’m not really. I’m going to get a few more bids, and we’ll see where we end up. (cross your fingers for us!) I’d like to get some sort of eco-friendly carpet in there. We talked about hardwood or something a little longer lived – but to be honest, that room is one of the coldest in the house during the winter, and getting a nice warm carpet in there sounds pretty awesome, although I’m a little worried about it getting stained, since we have the coffee machine in the den/bar area by the fireplace… and my hobby area is (eventually) going to live in the den… Anyways, we have some decisions to make on the flooring still, so it might be best to sit on it for a while.

So back to the lasagna – since the weather has started to go colder, when I have been cooking I’ve been opting for more hearty, comfort food things. We had a lovely soup (similar to the Savoy Cannellini Stew) several days this week, since I ended up making a big batch of beans… lol. I thought I was making 1lb, since that was what I ordered from Planet Organics, but I wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t weigh it – so I think it was a lot more than a pound, because when all was said and done, I ended up with a HUGE pot of beans. Enough to pull off an entire quart to save for later, and STILL be eating beans for most of the week. (Thats what I get for not paying attention…)

The squash was actually leftover from when I made roasted squash puree for Pie on Thanksgiving – between having the beans already cooked in the fridge, and the squash on hand, it was by far one of the quickest lasagna’s I’ve ever put together, and using Fresh Pasta sheets made it go together even faster, since I didn’t need to pre-boil the sheets. Not that I do normally – if fresh pasta isn’t available, I usually cheat and get the no-boil lasagna noodles… pre-boiling lasagna noodles is just not something I’ve felt is worth the hassle. It was a nice little experiment, too – because honestly, I haven’t really explored the world of lasagna outside of the red sauce world, and I’m thinking that has been an oversight I definitely need to fix, because this lasagna was GOOD. If you don’t happen to have pre-cooked beans and squash on hand, you can substitute canned beans and pumpkin puree, it should work almost as well.

When I first started to make it – Miss Thing came over and asked about what I was making, and I told her Lasagna. At first she was all excited (lasagna is a treat), but then she saw me pulling squash and beans out of the fridge and she got… ah… a little unhappy with me. lol – “Ewwwww! You’re ruining it! Don’t put that in there!” etc… But anyways, long story short – she loved it, and had two helpings (and some leftovers again this afternoon for lunch). So there you go – even squash-haters like this lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt Roasted and Pureed Butternut Squash (or other type of squash)
• 1 qt Cooked Navy Beans (in liquid)
• 1 lb Lasagna Noodles (Fresh pasta recommended)
• 16 oz Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 12 oz Manchego Cheese; shredded
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1 sprig Rosemary;
• 1 large sprig Thyme
• 8 Sage Leaves (or so)
• 2 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger; peeled
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 350° and butter a 9″x13″ Baking Pan
• De-stem the thyme and rosemary
• Finely mince together the ginger, rosemary, garlic, sage, and thyme
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add the onions, and saute until beginning to turn golden
• Clear a spot in the the center of the pan and add the minced ginger-garlic mixture
• Stir and heat until fragrant (about 30 seconds)
• Clear a spot in the center of the pan again and add about 1/2 the Navy beans
• Smoosh the Navy beans a couple of times with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, then add remaining beans, bean liquid and the squash puree
• Reduce heat to low and stir
• Simmer for 3-5 minutes, then add the Cider Vinegar, White Wine, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• Place a layer of noodles in bottom of pan
• To assemble the lasagna, start with a noodle layer, then a sauce layer, then a cheese layer. Repeat. After the second or third layer (depending on how many layers you are going to have), spread the Cottage Cheese out evenly on top of a layer of noodles, then top with sauce and cheese and atleast one more layer. Cottage cheese layer should be situated as near as possible to the center of the lasagna, and the top should be sauce and shredded cheese
• Bake assembled lasagna in oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is golden and lasagna is heated through

So the last twenty-four haven’t been particularly fun – I had a bout of insomnia on Wednesday night, which is always super-fun… and just as I was beginning to recover, I find out that Miss Thing has Miss-placed her phone. Her iPhone. Her iPhone that she’s only had for about six months. Her iPhone that she didn’t tell us was missing until about 11PM. Four hours after the GPS tracking shows that the battery died. Needless to say we’re unhappy with her.

Anyways, as much as I could wax eloquent about how annoyed and frustrated and disappointed and everything else that I am right now – there isn’t much I can really do except wait, check the GPS occasionally and hope that a good samaritan turns it in. Of course, the longer it’s missing, the less likely that becomes. At any rate – a replacement phone will be coming out of Miss Thing’s allowance, should it come to that.

The one bright spot in yesterday evening, was this lovely pasta we enjoyed for dinner. I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas in my head for different winter squash recipes – and in particular, the flavors of sage, browned butter and pumpkin had been coming up frequently as something I really wanted to do. Unfortunately, something or other was always coming up and I kept putting it off. Well last night, I had cleared out everything else that was queued up ahead of it, and was finally able to put my ideas in motion.

I had leftover roasted pumpkin already prepared from when I made the Ginger Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies, and the lentils I made up as a background process earlier in the day, which made this dish simply fly together in about a half an hour. Although Miss Thing made her usual ‘winter squash blech’ face, she did eventually own up and say that it was pretty good, and Mr. Man enjoyed it as well. As for me, well – perhaps it was the anticipation… the week or so of kicking the idea around and planning for it, because I thought it was durn near one of my favorite pasta dishes evar. It was supah yum.

If you don’t have pumpkin – I’m sure you can use any other winter squash you like – butternut, acorn, delicata, etc… with equally yummy results. Because I was using pre-cooked pumpkin, I was slightly at the mercy of it’s texture – next time I would probably peel the pumpkin and roast it in chunks in the hopes of retaining some structure. When I tossed the pumpkin I had in with everything else, it kind of broke down and coated the pasta, almost like a sauce – which was good, but not quite what I had originally intended. In any case, I’m sure it would be good either way – although it might require further testing… in fact, I believe I have some butternut on my counter from my most recent FFTY box… I wouldn’t want to appear as if I’m not being thorough… Do you think Miss Thing will revolt if I make winter squash two nights in a row?

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Whole Wheat Pasta
• 1 qt Roasted Pumpkin; cut in to Chunks
• 1 and 1/2 cups Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1/2 cup Feta Cheese; crumbled
• 1 large Shallot; minced
• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 tbs peeled, finely minced ginger
• 2 tbs Finely minced Sage
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
• Add the pasta and cook until Al Dente
• Drain the pasta and set aside
• Return the pot to the stove over medium heat
• Add the butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden brown in color and begins to smell nutty
• Add the onions and shallots and saute until onions are cooked through
• Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the pasta, pumpkin, lentils, feta, sage and the Cider Vinegar
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

This has been a pretty rough week for me. Miss Thing went back to school on Monday (boo) – and then I subsequently had a doctor’s appointment, which resulted in stitches (don’t ask), and as if all that wasn’t bad enough – I’ve been feeling pretty run down and oogey overall… Oh – and I think that the gums around my recent root canal have become infected. Feel free to shoot me now. On the plus side though, so far this week, Miss Thing has taken to heart the lessons learned over the summer and has been putting forth a real effort to be responsible for both her chores and her homework without being asked (and with minimal arguing). We’ll see how long it lasts. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best – but realistically I have to remember that she’s a teenager.

The result of all my general oogy-ness and toothe achey-ness has been that we’ve had pasta atleast three nights the last week. My poor family. They’ve been pretty good sports about the whole thing – I mean, I’d put my I’m-feeling-oogy-Pasta up against any prepared food item at your favorite supermarket or fast food restaurant. Just the same, I’m sure they’ll be happy when I’m feeling better. I know – not exactly a rousing endorsement of this pasta recipe… but I’m getting to that. In spite of the “Pasta again?” place that I’d put Mr. Man & Miss Thing – they both said it was delicious. The Carmelized Onions and squash worked together as well as I’d hoped. I’d set aside the squash from this week’s FFTY box specifically because I wanted to try pairing it with the carmelized onions

Initially I had intended to do a creamy sauce. Some white wine, maybe a glug or two of cream… but the day that I went to make this. We were having 90+ degree weather and a heavier cream-based pasta dish didn’t sound nearly as appealing as something with a slightly lighter touch, so I tinkered around with my plan to be a little bit lighter. I also ended up being a little pressed for time when I made this – pulling it together just barely before Miss Thing’s practice that evening. Her and Mr. Man had been bugging me for a couple of hours to make dinner, but in addition to being oogey, I was also in the middle of working in photoshop, so I didn’t actually get started until about 45 minutes before Miss Thing needed to leave. Which wasn’t too terrible though – I finished the pasta in just over 30 minutes, leaving her about 10 minutes to eat and get out the door. Okay – so I won’t be winning any Donna Reed Mother of the Year awards – but hey, dinner in just 30 minutes. Rachel Ray would be so proud.

Like most dishes though – to pull this together on time required some pretty decent coordination. (If I do say so myself.) I was simultaneously carmelizing the onions, broiling the squash and boiling the pasta, all while chopping up basil, juicing a lemon … well, you get the idea. If you aren’t rushed or don’t feel as confident at multi-tasking, feel free to do the recipe in stages. It’s actually fairly simple and straight forward.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz Pasta (any shape will work – I used Whole Wheat Spaghetti)
• 2 lbs Squash; cut in to strips (for spaghetti) or chunks (About 3 cups)
• 2 Onions; sliced (about 1 cup)
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 lemon; juiced
• 4 tbs Butter
• 2 tbs Basil; finely chopped
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt
• 3-4 slices Proscuitto; minced (optional – omit for vegetarian version)

Method:

• Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil (for cooking the pasta) and begin preheating the broiler
• Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat
• Add the onions and saute until carmelized. Stir in the garlic and remove from heat.
• Drizzle the squash pieces lightly with olive oil and kosher salt, until evenly coated
• Spread out in to a single layer on a baking sheet and broil until tender and beginning to brown
• Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente
• Pasta should finish cooking just as the squash does (roughly)
• Drain pasta and toss with squash, carmelized onions, chopped basil, Lemon Juice and Kosher Salt to Taste. (Also add the Proscuitto if desired)
• Serve immediately

Well, Miss Thing went back to school this week. I know… I know… It’s only the second day and I’m already thinking “is it summer time yet?”. But back to school means that I’ve got to stop being lazy and sleeping in every morning, staying up late every night… mores the pity. I suppose it’s a good thing though. Mr. Man has recently had a whole spate of early morning meetings, so we should all probably be going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Will we do it? Who knows.

With Miss Thing going back to school now though, my available free time is taking a dive – so I’ve been doing a little more cooking-ahead, atleast – when I’ve been able to cook. Miss Thing had a big all-day affair on Sunday, and then I wasn’t feeling well yesterday after my doctor’s appointment, so we ordered pizza… and it’s been a pretty slow week for me in the kitchen. Fortunately, I used up a fair chunk of this week’s FFTY box making this dip. Well – actually, I’m calling it a dip – but honestly, it’s much more versatile than that. For dinner on Sunday, we tossed some with pasta and sliced sausage for a nice spicy pasta dish, it’s also great as a spread on sandwiches, served with chips or pita bread – I’ll bet it would even be good on Pizza. It was a big hit at last week’s DVP Meet & Greet, and it’s super easy to boot.

I’ve decided that during pepper season, I will probably be making this (or a similar style dish) fairly frequently – it’s a great, easy, flavorful way to use them up – and it’s versatile enough that I (probably) won’t get sick of them. Although I do have to find a decent source for the spicy peppers – unfortunately FFTY doesn’t grow them. I have recently become aware of two other services that I may use to supplement my local-tendencies (and my lazy ones, since they also deliver… yay!) A service called Spud and Planet Organics. Both have their pluses and minuses, and I haven’t placed an order with either yet… But I’m definitely getting close. It’d be a supplementary to my FFTY box though – not a replacement.

At any rate – there really isn’t an easy way to mess this recipe up. The proportions listed are approximate, and you can feel free to mix them up based on what you have available and how spicy or tangy you like it. This makes a fairly largish amount – but it’s versatile enough that I can’t imagine it going to waste. I ended up with 1 quart and 1 pint (each) mason jars full, and it’s already almost gone.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Eggplant; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1 lb Crookneck Squash; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1 lb Tomatoes; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1.5 lb Sweet Peppers; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 3 Jalapeno Peppers; whole
• 2 Serrano Peppers; whole
• 1 large onion; cut in to chunks
• 6 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/4 cup Fresh Basil
• 2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar (to taste)
• 2 tbs Lemon Juice (to taste)
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Liberally salt the eggplant chunks and allow to drain for several hours (or overnight) before roasting
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Rinse Eggplant to remove some of the excess salt
• Place all chopped veggies (except basil) in to a large roasting pan
• Drizzle liberally with Olive Oil, and sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt, stir to combine
• Place the whole Jalapeno and Serrano Peppers on top of chopped veggies, turning to coat with the residual olive oil and salt
• Roast in oven for 1 hour, or until veggies are tender and beginning to brown
• Allow veggies to cool to room temperature (for ease of handling – and so it doesn’t cook the basil)
• Take the Jalapeno and Serrano Peppers and set aside
• Puree remaining veggies along with the basil (working in batches if neccessary) in food processor
• Pour all but about 1/2 cup of the puree in to a bowl and set aside
• Remove the stems of the reserved peppers and add to food processor with reserved puree. Process until smooth.
• Add Kosher Salt, Lemon Juice, Red Wine Vinegar and Jalapeno/Serrano Puree to the remaining dip, a little at a time, to taste.

Last saturday, I took advantage of a sleep-in-less morning, and popped over to the Farmer’s Market. While I was there, I came across Still-in-the-pod Garbanzo beans, which of course, I had to buy. Until then, I’d never seen Fresh Garbanzo Beans before. When I got home, I did a little perusing in all my favorite inspiration haunts, but unfortunately – there wasn’t much to find. So I did a little fingerwalking with Google, and managed to get some ideas on how they should be prepped.

I had picked up – oh, I dunno, probably about two pounds. And after I had put away all my other farmer’s market goodies, I sat down with a big bowl, turned on an episode of House, and got to shelling. And Shelling. And Shelling. I did the full batch of Garbanzos, plus the couple pounds of fava beans I’d picked up, too. But don’t let those innocent looking shells on the Garbanzos fool you – those little buggers can be tough. But anyways, after all that effort, I was rewarded with about two cups of raw Garbanzo Beans. Of course, by this time it was pushing Midnight, and did I mention it was a sleep-in-less Saturday?

So I rinsed them off, snapped a couple of pictures, blanched them, and then stuck them in the fridge to use later in the week. I had some vague idea of maybe making a fresh garbanzo hummus or something, but eventually I opted for this quick and easy pasta dish. I hadn’t actually wanted to make Pasta again ( we’ve been eating a fair amount recently) but Miss Thing specifically requested pasta…. Well, actually, what she requested was a thick, hearty, beefy gravy (like stroganoff) and pasta. But I told her in no uncertain terms that 80 degree weather is far too hot for such a hearty dish. So this was my attempt to kind of meet her half-way – something creamy, but a little on the lighter side.

And she absolutely loved it – except for the garbanzo beans, of course. But thats just her for ya. Mr. Man and I loved the garbanzos. Next time I’d probably add another tomato – since I think it really could have used a little more tomato – but I wanted to focus on the garbanzo beans, so I didn’t want to add too many flavors to compete with it. If you don’t have fresh garbanzo beans, I would recommend using sweet shelled peas or something like that, as opposed to using canned garbanzos – the flavor of a fresh garbanzo is really quite different than the canned ones. In fact, I liked the fresh ones a whole heck of a lot more than I do the canned type. I’ve never been much of a bean fan, probably because all I’ve ever really been exposed to are the canned and dried varieties – but all these fresh beans I’ve been trying lately are making a bean-eater out of me.

I only blanched the garbanzo beans for a minute or so – because they’re so teeny. I also opted to use a leek from this week’s FFTY box instead of an onion. Although, if you haven’t noticed by now – I’m usually pretty happy to swap out onions for leeks for shallots for onions depending on what I have on hand. Although their flavors are a little different, they’re similar enough that I’ve never really noticed too much of a difference. This is another one of my almost-vegetarian specials. One of the ways that I’m trying to cut back on buying non-local items, (and is probably contributing to the whole pasta-overload lately) is by taking a really strong and flavorful meat and using it in small doses to add a little protein and a lot of flavor to a dish. It’s definitely an easy way to make a little luxury item go a long way.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shelled, blanched, fresh Garbanzo Beans
• 4 oz Smoked Salmon; cut in to thin ribbons
• 1 lb Pasta
• 1 leek; split lengthwise, cleaned, and thinly sliced
• 1 tomato; diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/2 cup Fresh Parsley; minced
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Romano Cheese
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 2 tbs White Wine
• 2 tbs Butter
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil (the goal is to have the pasta cooked to al dente just as the sauce ingredients are ready)
• While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat
• Add the leeks and saute until begining to carmelize
• Add the pasta to the pot of water to begin it cooking (Or atleast – this is when I started the pasta, YMMV depending on pasta shape)
• Increase the heat and add the Garbanzo beans
• Saute the garbanzo beans for a couple of minutes until beginning to brown
• Add the garlic and the white wine to the garbanzo beans, cover and reduce heat to medium-low until liquid is absorbed (about 2 minutes)
• Drain the pasta
• Return pasta to warm cooking pot
• Add the garbanzo beans, parsley, romano cheese, tomato, heavy cream and salmon to the pasta
• Add Kosher Salt to taste
• Toss to combine
• Serve immediately

The other night, Mr. Man was helping Miss Thing with her algebra homework, so I settled in to the kitchen and tackled the two and a half pounds of fava beans I’d picked up at whole foods the other day. Normally, I don’t need to buy veggies anymore – atleast, not since joining FFTY and receiving a weekly produce box. But they were on sale for $1.99 a pound – and since last time they came in my box I only received one pound – which yielded a pitiful cup or so of beans after shelling, I decided to pick up a couple of pounds to play with.

There is actually something mindlessly soothing about shelling fava beans – I mean, yes, they’re a bit of a hassle, but if you aren’t in a hurry, it’s really not hard. But anyways, once I had them shelled, blanched and jackets peeled – I decided to make this pasta with them, along with the pound of asparagus that I received in this week’s box. Ever since I read this article at the Kitchn I knew I wanted to try out slicing asparagus, and a pasta seemed like a good way to incorporate sliced aspragus. As an added bonus – it let me play hide the Asparagus for Miss Thing who, in addition to carrots, peas, artichokes, apples, and oranges – doesn’t like Asparagus. When did she become so picky? I have no idea. I’m atleast 98% positive that it’s simply adolescent contrariness and not a true dislike – but either way it’s unpleasant to deal with the whining.

When preparing asparagus before, I would generally snap the stems off, and then prepare – but I was always sad about how much asparagus went to waste with that method. It wasn’t a big deal, when the weather was cooler and I was making soup stock all the time, because I knew that I would still use them in stock – but with warmer weather, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to heat the entire house with a big pot of boiling stock for several hours, so I haven’t been making stock as often, and all those stalks (and other things) are ending up going to waste. Slicing the asparagus makes the tough, stringy, woody ends easier to eat – which made total sense once I thought about it. I mean – if you’ve ever tried cutting flank or skirt steak with the grain and eating it, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

We’ve had a lot of pasta lately – probably due (atleast in part) to the heat lately. I really don’t want to spend too much time heating up the kitchen when I’m stuck having to run the A/C,  and pasta is quick and delicious. I picked up some quinoa the other day though – so I think I’m going to give that a go as a little change of pace.

I had meant to get some pictures of the prep for this dish, but unfortunately – once I got the fava’s prepared, I realized that it was getting late and that I needed to start on the rest of dinner, so I kind of threw the rest of it together fairly quickly. The longest part of the prep was definitely getting the fava beans prepped – so if you don’t have fava beans, or the time to make them – feel free to sub them with some other sauteed veggie or bean. (Or simply skip) Once the fava beans are prepped though, this dish comes together in about the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta. It really is that easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 lbs Fava Beans
• 1 lb Asparagus; sliced in to 1/2″ discs
• 1 lb Penne Pasta (or other pasta)
• 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
• 8 oz Mushrooms; coarsely chopped (I used a mix of Crimini, Trumpet and Lion’s Mane)
• 1 onion; diced
• 4 cloves Garlic; minced
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 lemon; juiced
• 2 tbs Fresh Savory; minced

Method:

• Shell the Fava Beans, and then blanch them in boiling water for 3-4 minutes.
• Drain the Fava Beans and transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
• When cool enough to touch, peel the outer shell off the bean
• Set peeled, cooked beans aside
• Set salted water for pasta on to boil and beging
• Melt the butter in a large skillet
• Add the onions and saute until translucent and beginning to turn golden
• Begin cooking the Pasta to Al Dente *See Note
• Push the onions to one side of the pan and add the mushrooms
• Saute the mushrooms for a couple of minutes, and then mix in with the onions
• When the mushrooms are tender and cooked through, push the onion/mushroom mixture to the side and add the asparagus and garlic
• Saute the asparagus for 1-2 minutes, and then add the fava beans
• Stir to combine all the veggies
• Drain Pasta
• Add the Ricotta to the hot, empty pasta pot to begin melting
• Add the skillet full of veggies, the hot pasta, the lemon juice, and the fresh savory to the ricotta
• Toss to combine and Kosher Salt to taste

*Note: The goal is to have the pasta cooked to Al Dente just as the veggies are done

Given the amount of carrots that are in this pasta dish, I probably should call it Carrot, Shrimp and Avocado Pasta, however – in my continuing quest to play “hide the <insert veggie that Miss Thing doesn’t like this week>” It’s probably safer if I don’t. She might be watching. This week in our FFTY box, we received not one – but two(!) bunches of carrots, which had Miss Thing pulling out her frown face… well, actually it made her frown face just a little bit darker, since she nearly always has her frown face on. (Ah – the joys of being a teenager) Which led me to play a little game called “Hide The Carrot” this week.

The last couple of weeks that we’ve had Carrots (and peas, for that matter) we broiled them – which Mr. Man and I both like very, very much. However, the grumbling from Miss thing about them had grown louder and louder, so this week I decided to try something different. I went to Whole Foods early in the day on Thursday (before my box arrived), and while I was there I picked up a package of fresh pasta that they had available and a pound of of local(-ish… Mexico is kinda local, right?) Shrimp. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Fishmonger at Whole Foods, so my continuing goal of finding a local fishmonger hasn’t come to fruition, yet. But I’m getting sidetracked – what I was meaning to say was, that the container of pasta that I had purchased was smaller than the average package I usually purchase, so it seemed like a good carrier for adding the carrots to.

I was also wanting to make a ceviche, but the shrimp didn’t really seem to be high enough quality for something like that – so I settled for a sort of ceviche-inspired flavor, which I think came out really well. I also happened to have the greens from the small bunch of beets that I received this week, and the greens from the carrots – both of which I tossed in to the mix. For one, it’s nice not to have things go to waste, and for two – they add extra vitamins ‘n other healthy shtuff. If you don’t have any carrot greens or beet greens, you can substitute any other cooking greens, such as spinach, kale, chard, etc… They should all work equally well. There was a learning experience with this recipe, too. Namely, using a mandolin to slice teeny tiny nantes carrots is a pain in the you-know-what and that next time I should use the food processor if I want thin sliced baby carrots.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Raw Shrimp; shelled, rinsed and drained
• 3 small (or 1.5 large) Avocados; peeled and cut in to 1/2″ chunks
• 2 bunches Nantes Carrots; very thinly sliced
• 2 bunches Carrot Greens; chopped
• 1/2 cup Beet Greens; chopped
• 1 onion; diced
• 4 cloves Garlic; Minced
• 3 tbs Clarified Butter
• 1 Lemon; juiced
• 1 Lime; juiced
• 1/4 cup Cilantro; finely chopped
• 12 oz Whole Grain Fettuccini

Method:

• Toss the Avocados, shrimp, cilantro, lemon and lime juice together in a bowl. Set aside.
• Heat the clarified butter in a large skillet over Medium Heat
• Add the sliced carrots and the onion. Saute until carrots are tender and just beginning to carmelize
• Begin Cooking the pasta when the carrots are almost done, reducing the heat on the carrots and keeping them warm while the pasta cooks
• When the Pasta is nearly done (al dente), clear a space in the carrot pan to add the greens and the garlic to them. Saute the greens a little bit before mixing in with the carrots.
• Drain the pasta and remove the carrots from heat.
• Add the pasta and the shrimp/avocado mixture to the carrots, letting the residual heat of the carrots and pasta to cook the shrimp
• Kosher Salt to taste

In my recent trip to the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, I found multiple fun toys and tasties to try out – one of them was something called Guanciale that I picked up at Boccalone, a store that sells “Tasty Salted Pig Parts”, according to the sign. It wasn’t there last time I went to the Ferry Plaza – which, admittedly was over a year ago, and I can’t really recall what store they replaced, but whatever it is, can’t possibly have been more deserving, because this place totally rocks.

Mr. Man and Miss Thing were given a choice tonight of whether they wanted Pork Tenderloin or a Pasta/cured pork dish – and of course, Miss Thing and Mr. Man both wanted the pasta. I swear they would eat cured pork products for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let them. Although tomorrow, it’s definitely tenderloin. Both the tomatoes and the leek came in this weeks FFTY box, and turned out excellent with the Guanciale Pasta.

When I was slicing the leeks, I decided to try out my new Mandolin on them (that I used to make a delicious Mint Cucumber Apple Salad to go with it). Unfortunately, the leeks didn’t really hold together very well for slicing with the mandolin – mostly because I had to slice it down the center to clean in between the layers, which caused it to try and slide all apart on the mandolin. The mandolin did okay, but not great, and I gave up when it was about halfway and just finished it with the knife.

If you don’t happen to have Guanciale, you can use Pancetta, proscuitto, or even just regular ol’ bacon – but you do want a salted pork produce that will render a tablespoon or two of fat to form the basis of the flavor for the pasta. I used a whole wheat pasta, but regular pasta will work just as well, and if baby tomatoes aren’t available – just dice up one or two larger tomatoes. Also, if leeks aren’t available, an onion would probably work just fine.

Ingredients:

• 13 oz Thin Spaghetti; (I used Whole Wheat)
• 8 oz Guanciale; cut in to 1″ pieces
• 4 oz Baby tomatoes; cut in halves
• 1 leek; thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1/2 cup Fresh Basil; finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• Kosher Salt
• Water for cooking the Pasta

Method:

• Bring a large covered pot full of salted water to boil and heat a large skillet over medium-high heat
• Add the Pasta to the boiling water, cover and reduce heat – cook until al dente (I cooked the pasta while I cooked the Guanciale et al)
• Add the Guanciale to the Skillet and fry until golden brown and cooked thoroughly
• Add the Leeks and saute until tender
• Add the garlic and the tomatoes, and heat until tomatoes are just heated through
• Remove from heat
• Add the pasta and the basil to the skillet, toss to combine
• Serve immediately.