Tag: pasta

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squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce

There is nothing like crisp fall weather to make making squash ravioli from scratch seem like a better idea, except maybe David Tanis’ book The Heart of the Artichoke. David Tanis was a chef at Chez Panisse and is a beautiful writer. His recipes are simple, but coax the best flavor out of every ingredient he adds. His writing is just as wonderful—simple and heartfelt. This storybook-style cookbook easily convinces you to try every recipe inside. And the photos are just gorgeous. I just read the book cover to cover so be prepared for a string of beautiful David Tanis recipes.

It was a Sunday and Sundays are for cooking adventures here at Chez Jojonoodle. We had a few beautiful squash from our CSA sitting on the table and I had some time to kill before Jordan got home from work. I put on an episode of This American Life and got down to business.

While making ravioli from scratch is time-consuming, you can make this dish from start to finish in about three hours. If you relax and accept that your ravioli are going to look very, very rustic, it will be even easier.

You begin by making the pasta dough. While the dough is resting, you’ll roast the squash. After the squash is roasted and dough rested, you’ll roll out the dough and fill your pasta. Cooking the pasta and making the sauce takes only 10 minutes, which you should do immediately before sitting down to eat.

Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis

For the pasta dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2 T olive oil

For the filling
2 lbs of squash (We used carnival and golden nugget. Butternut would be great)
salt and pepper
2 T olive oil
1/2 cup pecorino, grated
zest of one lemon
1/2 t red pepper flakes
nutmeg, for grating

For the sauce
4 T butter
a small handful of sage leaves
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, mashed
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees.

Place the flour in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs with the salt. Make a well in the flour and pour in the eggs. Mix well with a spoon. Pour the dough onto a floured counter and knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for at least one hour.

Cut the squashes in half and scrape out the seeds. Put them skin side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until fork tender.

Scrape the flesh out of the squash skins and put in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, pecorino, lemon zest and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Grate in a bit of nutmeg and stir well. Set aside.

Using your pasta machine, roll out the dough into thin sheets.  To make the process manageable, I cut the dough into eighths and then rolled each of those pieces out and filled them one by one. I recommend that you coat the dough ball with flour to reduce stickiness and roll out the dough until you’ve reached the second to last setting.

Lay this piece of thin dough on a baking sheet and cut into squares—mine were about 4 by 4 inches. Put a dollop of filling in the center of each square. Wet the edges with a little water. Fold one side over the other and press firmly around the edges to make a seal. Set aside on a flour-coated baking sheet. Keep at it until you’ve finished with all of the dough and filling. I made about 40 ravioli.

When you are ready to eat, put two pots of water to boil. Salt them well. Add the ravioli gently and boil for 4 – 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sage and garlic, stirring occasionally as the butter browns. Once the butter has browned, season with salt and pepper and turn of the heat. Add the lemon juice. Spoon the sauce over the raviolis, top with a little parmesan and then enjoy the fruits of your labor!

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Recipes

pasta with roasted tomato sauce and bacon

In the past few weeks, I’ve made three variations on this recipe. The first was great but time-consuming, the second was delicious and will become my fallback recipe, and the third was our ultra-budget version that turned out better than expected. Here is how it all went down …

A few weekends ago, I was reading cookbooks and drinking coffee while Jordan slept in and Willow took up too much space in the bed. (It’s hard to kick something this cute out from under your covers, trust us).

I stumbled across a variation on Pasta Amatriciana—pasta with braised bacon and roasted tomato sauce—in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. When Jordan woke up, I shared just the recipe title and he was sold. I set out to make this magical pasta. The recipe calls for slab bacon, which you then braise with a variety of vegetables and spices. Well, slab bacon is really hard to find, even at a fine market like Whole Foods. In a stroke of genius, I tied the cut bacon together so it re-formed a slab. Sadly, this does not work. My braised bacon was so bland; all of the smokey, salty flavor had leached into the broth and left the bacon beyond dull. There are few things sadder than flavorless bacon.

Fortunately, Jordan saved the dish by bringing home the back-up bacon. We sautéed that bacon and added it into the roasted tomato sauce, plus some of the braised bacon for texture. It worked well, but was slightly disappointing. The time-energy input did not match the deliciousness output.

The second time I made this recipe, I skipped right to adding sautéed bacon to the roasted tomato sauce. It is so good and so easy.

The last time I made this recipe, we had no bacon at all. We did however have some rendered bacon fat in our fridge. I sautéed the onions for the sauce in that bacon fat, and  like magic, delicious bacon flavor infused the whole sauce. It was unexpected and amazing and so inexpensive. The next time you cook bacon, pour the fat into a small bowl. Fill with the bowl some water to separate the fat from the burnt bits.  Refrigerate this mixture until the fat forms a solid mass on top of the water and carefully scoop the fat off the top. Sauté away, adding delicious bacon essence to whatever you cook!

Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce and Bacon, adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook
1 16 oz jar of whole tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 T sugar
2 T olive oil or bacon fat
salt, pepper, chili flake
1/4 lb bacon, cut into lardon
1 lb pasta (we used ziti and penne).

*A is a beautiful photo of a technique that I don’t recommend you subject your bacon to.

Heat an oven to 475 degrees. Strain the tomatoes of their juice and reserve that juice. In an oven safe dish, add the strained tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast the tomatoes for 20 – 30 minutes, until browned.

In a saute pan, saute the bacon until just cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside. Pour off the excess fat, leaving a tablespoon or two. Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté two minutes more. Add the roasted tomatoes and reserved juice. Add sugar, salt, pepper and a pinch of chili flakes. Cook for 20 minutes and test for seasoning.

Meanwhile, put a pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. When the pasta is nearly done, add the bacon back into the sauce. Toss the sauce with the cooked pasta and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan.

-Emily

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Chez Jojonoodle/Chez Panisse Project Recipes

saffron pasta with grilled squid

Jordan and I have a new plan. We’ll call it Chez Jojonoodle just to keep things simple around here … craving details yet?

The goal: to challenge ourselves culinarily and bring new recipes to you. The method: download the weekly menus from the famed Chez Panisse and make at least one dish from that week’s menu going off nothing more than the title of the dish. What fun!

Our first foray into the Chez Panisse/Chez Jojonoodle challenge was from the menu on Thursday, July 7th: Hand Cut Saffron Pasta with Monterey Bay Calamari. We had invited our adventurous eater friends Matt and Alexa over for dinner and dove right in. I made the saffron pasta, making a few adjustments from the egg pasta recipe I explained here and Jordan took on the squid.

Saffron Egg Pasta with Grilled Squid
1 batch egg pasta
1 lb whole squid
lemon juice, olive oil, salt,  pepper and chili flake
fresh herbs, chopped (we used basil, parsley and chives)

For the pasta
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 T olive oil
1 T water
1 pinch saffron

I followed the same egg pasta recipe I’ve used in the past but with one small tweak.  For a saffron pasta, infuse one pinch of saffron threads in the 1T olive oil and 1T warm water mixture. It will dissolve some, but use a pestle to crush the threads a bit to encourage the infusion before adding it to the eggs. Follow the rest of the pasta recipe as directed here.

One additional note: I would highly recommend dusting each sheet of pasta with flour before cutting into strands. This will save you a lot of time pulling sticky pasta strands apart or prying them off a baking sheet before cooking.

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for 4 – 6 minutes and toss with olive oil.

For the squid

Remove the beaks and spines of the squid. Rinse them off and refrigerate until ready to grill.

Make a marinade with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chili flake. Heat your grill (or grill pan in our case) to medium high. Just before grilling, toss the squid in the marinade. Grill them for just 1 – 2 minutes per side. If you overcook the squid, they will be tough and nobody wants that!

To serve, top the olive-oil-dressed pasta with the squid. Squeeze a good amount of lemon over the squid and sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Before I made the pasta, I thought the saffron might have just been a throwaway – something that makes a dish sound appealing, but doesn’t actually contribute any flavor. I was wrong. The floral flavor of the saffron really came through in the pasta. Also surprisingly, the squid had a lot more flavor than expected. Calamari usually just taste like the breading they are fried in, but these grilled squid had a noticeable ocean flavor. Maybe it was because of the simple preparation, or maybe because they were young and very fresh. Another plus: squid are an inexpensive and sustainable seafood. Overall, this was a very fun dish to prepare and tastier than expected! I’m looking forward to our next interpretation.

-Emily

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Recipes

homemade fettucini with basil pesto

Encouraged by my mushroom pasta victory last weekend,  I decided that I just had to make pasta again when Jordan’s sister Liz and her boyfriend Kyle came to visit. While the boys napped, Liz and I dove into some serious fettucini-making. I rolled and cut the pasta and Liz meticulously separated each strand and found places to dry it in our tinsy kitchen. It was a smooth and successful operation.

We tossed the fresh pasta with a basil pesto that Jordan made earlier in the week and little mozzarella balls. It was light, fresh and satisfying.  Now, after two homemade pasta adventures, I fully appreciate the premium that you pay for fresh pasta at the grocery store. Fresh pasta is a lot of work!

Homemade Fettucini with Basil Pesto
1 lb fresh pasta
1 cup fresh mozzarella, we used bocconcini
1/4 cup basil pesto
salt, pepper, chili flake

For the pasta
I used the same egg pasta recipe that I used last weekend for the mushroom pasta because it was easy (albeit time intensive) and turned out well.
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 T olive oil
1 T water

Mix the flour and salt together.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, olive oil and water. On a work surface, pour out the flour mixture and make a well in the center. Pour the eggs into the well. With a fork, stir the eggs in a circular motion slowly bringing more flour into the eggs. Once the flour has soaked up the eggs and it is not in danger of running all over or when you accidentally break through the well and egg is rushing towards the edge of your counter, use a bench scraper to mix the flour and eggs together. It will be crumbly. Knead the dough into a ball using a squeezing motion. Once it has combined, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes. While the dough is resting, make the pesto.

Divide the dough into two balls. Dust one with flour and roll it out into a flat pancake. Open your pasta maker to the largest setting and pass the dough through. Double the dough on itself and pass it though again. Continue to pass the dough through at the largest setting, until it is smooth. Cut the kneaded dough into several smaller pieces. Wrap the pieces you aren’t currently stretching with plastic wrap. Gradually stretch the dough, passing it though progressively thinner settings. Cut the fettuccini using the cutter attachment on your pasta maker or cut into strips with a thin sharp knife. Drape over rolling pins, broom handles and lay into parchment-lined baking sheets until you are ready to cook.

For the pesto
1 bunch basil
1 clove of garlic
2 T untoasted pine nuts
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup plus 2 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
pepper, chili flake

Combine all of the ingredients plus 2 T of olive oil in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Drizzle in the remaining 1/3 cup olive oil with the food processor running. Add more salt and pepper if needed. This pesto is so fresh and delicious and will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top before refrigerating so it keeps its vibrant green color.

Put a pot of salted water to boil. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook for about 6 minutes. Drain and toss with the basil pesto and mozzarella.

-Emily

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Recipes

mushroom pasta handkerchiefs

Jordan and I have some really wonderful friends. Our friend Ralph, who occasionally walks Miss Willow and knows how much we love to cook, gave us one of those nifty hand-crank pasta makers! A friend of his was moving, her nearly-new pasta maker was unable to make the trip and Ralph set it aside for us. Isn’t that grand!

Mushroom Pasta Handkerchiefs, adapted from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

I noticed this recipe in the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook a few weeks ago and I added it to my list. I thought it would be a long while before I could make it (sadly, I am not a hardcore Italian grandmother who rolls her pasta with a sawed-off broom handle), but when fate brought a pasta maker into our lives, I knew it was meant to be. The pasta turned out beautifully. While it is not the easiest dish since you make the pasta from scratch, it is well worth the effort. The dish is balanced, showcases the few ingredients that make it up and is supremely comforting – everything you expect from an Alice Waters recipe.

For the egg pasta dough (makes 1 pound of pasta) 
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 T olive oil
1 T water

Mix the flour and salt together.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, olive oil and water. On a work surface, pour out the flour mixture and make a well in the center. Pour the eggs into the well. With a fork, stir the eggs in a circular motion slowly bringing more flour into the eggs.

Once the flour has soaked up the eggs and it is not in danger of running all over or when you accidentally break through the well and egg is rushing towards the edge of your counter, use a bench scraper to mix the flour and eggs together. It will be crumbly. Knead the dough into a ball using a squeezing motion. Once it has combined, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Divide the dough into two balls. Dust one with flour and roll it out into a flat pancake. Open your pasta maker to the largest setting and pass the dough through. Double the dough on itself and pass it though again. Continue to pass the dough through at the largest setting, until it is smooth. Cut the kneaded dough into several smaller pieces. Wrap the pieces you aren’t currently stretching with plastic wrap.

Gradually stretch the dough, passing it though progressively thinner settings. You want pieces that are about 4 inches wide by 12 inches long- you’ll cut these into 4 inch by 4 inch squares. Don’t worry if your dough is not uniform in width or length – this is a rustic pasta dish! When it has reached your desired thickness, put it onto a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Take care to put parchment paper in between the layers of the dough, it will stick to itself like crazy. Continue this method with the rest of dough. You’ll get a decent arm workout and feel quite accomplished. After you’ve rolled out all of the dough, cut the dough into 4 inch squares and put a pot of salted water on to boil.

For the pasta (serves 4, we doubled this recipe to serve 6 as a main course)
1/2 lb mixed mushrooms (we used creminis, shitakes and morels)
4 T butter
salt and pepper
1 medium onion, diced fine
1/2 t thyme, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced fine
1/2 cup creme fraiche
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 lb pasta dough
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
a few handfuls of arrugula
lemon juice
olive oil

Clean the mushrooms of their grit. Cut them into quarters. Dice the onion, thyme and garlic. In a saute pan, melt 1 T butter. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium heat until lightly browned. The mushrooms will lose a lot of their liquid; you should wait for this to evaporate before setting them aside. Set the mushrooms aside. Melt another tablespoon of butter and saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for another two minutes. Add the mushrooms, creme fraiche and chicken stock. Turn the heat to high and reduce until it is a thick saucy consistency.  Check for seasoning, turn of the heat, and set the filling aside.

Preheat an oven to 500 degrees. Butter a large baking dish. In the pot of boiling water, cook the pasta sheets several at a time for about 3 minutes each.  Put the pasta sheets side by side in the baking dish. Spoon a few tablespoons of the mushroom mixture into the center of each pasta sheet and fold the corners up around the filling. Alice makes this step seem really simple, but it is a bit trickier than she makes it out to be. The pasta will flop all over the place and doesn’t really stick to itself like you’d hope. Just try your best to seal the little pasta pouches – they will taste amazing regardless of how they look.

Cover the entire dish with the grated parmesan cheese. Put in the oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes, until the parmesan is melted and browned. Meanwhile, toss the arrugula with lemon juice and olive oil.  Using a spatula, place several pasta pouches on each plate and tuck the dressed arrugula around the pasta. Enjoy and bask the fruits of your hard work!

-Emily

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fava beans, four ways

How do I love thee fava bean? Let me count the ways. Sauteed, over pasta with parmesan, on pizza with onions and cream, pureed into a soup and chilled.

Jordan first introduced me to fava beans last spring with one of his favorite pasta dishes. He raved about the buttery and fresh quality of these beans. After trying his pasta, I was also hooked. This spring we’ve received several bunches of fava beans in our CSA and we’ve experimented with new recipes from a chilled soup to pizza.

Fava beans are available only in spring. They come in a large, green, slightly fuzzy pod. You need to first remove the individual beans from the pod and then remove their tough exterior skin. It is a fair amount of work to shell fava beans, but they are worth the effort. When purchasing the beans keep in mind that you should buy more than you think you’ll need since the actual size of the bean is small compared to the size of its pod. Now for the recipes!

Sauteed Fava Beans with Parmesan 

1 lb fava beans
1 clove garlic, sliced
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flake
shaved parmesan cheese (we like to shave slivers with a vegetable peeler)

Shell the beans. In a saute pan, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chili flake. Saute briefly. Add the fava beans. Saute until the beans are crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes and add lemon zest. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with slivers of parmesan and lemon juice.

This dish is good as a side or as main course with some bread and salad.

Pasta with Fava Beans, Parmesan and Fresh Herbs
1/2 lb dried or fresh pasta
1 lb fava beans
1 clove garlic
zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flake
grated parmesean
chopped fresh herbs (we like parsley)

Boil a pot of salted water. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. If using fresh pasta, saute the fava beans first. Saute the fava beans following the recipe above. Drain the pasta, reserving a little bit of the pasta water. Add the pasta and parmesan to the saute pan. Toss to melt the cheese and distribute the beans. Top with fresh herbs to serve.

Pizza with Fava Beans, Spring Onions and Creme Fraiche 
1 ball fresh pizza dough (Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s sell fresh pizza dough that is pretty darn good and saves you an hour)
1/2 lb fava beans
1/2 spring onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup creme fraiche (you could also use marscapone or ricotta)
salt, pepper, olive oil


Heat an oven to 425 – 450 degrees. We have a pizza stone in the bottom of our oven that we cook our pizzas directly on top of, but if you don’t have a pizza stone use a baking sheet dusted with corn meal. Roll out your pizza dough. Spread the creme fraiche in a even layer, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Sprinkle evenly with onions, fava beans and salt. Bake for 8-12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Top with fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

We had our first pizza with cream at Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission. It was a life-changing experience. The creme fraiche offers subtle tanginess and richness without overpowering the flavors of the vegetables. If you’ve never had a pizza sans cheese, I recommend you give it a go. This pizza is amazing, and wouldn’t be half bad with a bit of prosciutto on top as well.

Chilled Fava Bean Soup
2 lbs fava beans
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
¼ cup olive oil
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper
creme fraiche and lemon juice, for serving

Shell and peel the beans. Peel and dice the onion. Thinly slice the garlic. In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil until quite soft, 10 – 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook for two more minutes. Season with salt. Add the fava beans and cook for two more minutes. Add just enough stock to cover the beans. Chill the remaining stock. Cook the beans until tender. Puree in a blender until smooth, adding the leftover chilled stock until the desired consistency is reached. You might not use all of the stock. Check for seasoning. Chill and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This soup is really simple, healthy and easy to make. We served it at our cooking demonstration a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit. We got more compliments on this soup than any other dish we prepared. In my mind, it means a lot when a chilled soup is the star of the show. This soup is not the heartiest of dishes and so it would be the perfect accompaniment to any grilled meat or fish.

Just in case it’s not totally obvious, we love fava beans in pretty much any incarnation. They are delicious and only around for a short time so go out and enjoy some while you can! I’m still brainstorming a fava bean dessert …

-Emily

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Recipes

linguini with fresh ricotta, leeks and mushrooms

What do you do when you’ve got several cups of fresh, homemade ricotta? Make a delightful pasta! This dish is quick, delicious and reheats amazing well (for pasta, at least).

Linguini with Fresh Ricotta, Leeks and Mushrooms

2 leeks, sliced and rinsed of their grit
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (We used button mushrooms and shitakes)
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T cream
salt and pepper
1/2 lb linguini or other dry pasta
a few generous dollops of fresh ricotta per serving

Preheat an over to 350 degrees. Put on a pot of water to boil.

Slice the mushrooms and arrange them into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake the mushrooms until they are shriveled, about 15 minutes. This makes them extra flavorful.

Meanwhile, gently saute the leeks in the butter and oil over medium low heat. After the leeks are soft, add the cream. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Reduce the leek and cream mixture just slightly. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. After the pasta is al dente, add it to the sauce. Toss to coat. Plate the sauced pasta and top with a few generous dollops of ricotta. Not gorgeous, but delicious!

-Emily

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Recipes

nothing says love like lamb ragu

Jordan and I had a low key Valentine’s day. In fact, the day of love kind of snuck up on us. But, because I am a lucky girl with a talented cook of a boyfriend, our Valentine’s day meal at home was just perfect.

Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu

1 lamb shank

1/2 c red wine

1/2 c stock

salt, pepper, chili flake

1 cup tomato sauce

1 lb fresh pappardelle pasta (It is worth springing for the fresh stuff for this dish. The thick noodles and the sauce just go great together)

Salt and pepper your lamb shank. Sear all sides in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven. Add a little red wine, broth and part of the tomato sauce. Braise in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours, until tender and falling off the bone. Remove shank from braising liquid to cool. Reduce braising liquid until the consistency of watery ketchup (Jordan’s description). Shred meat from bone and return to sauce.

Boil a pot of salted water. Add the remaining tomato sauce to the meat mixture and warm. Cook fresh pappardelle for 3 minutes. Add to sauce mixture and toss. Serve with grated parmesan, a little dab of ricotta, chives and a splash of olive oil. Jordan served it with blanched and broiled romanesco on the side.

Yummmmm! Delicious, comforting and balanced. A perfect winter dish!

-Emily

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Recipes

pasta with kale, parmesan, and portobello

I used to have a phobia of cooked greens. I thought they were gross, mushy and sea-gunky and so I religiously avoided them for years. And then I moved in with Jordan, who happens to like cooked greens. And then we joined a CSA. And now I have winter greens up to my eyebrows!

Guess what dear friends … I’ve embraced cooked greens. I actually like them now. Yep! Amazing! My fear has dissipated because I have learned the secret to cooking greens so that they are edible (delightful even) and the exact opposite of the greens I once feared.

The secret: Blanche them quickly in boiling, salted water. They cook, yet they retain their texture and don’t become a gloppy indistinguishable mess.

Pasta with kale, parmesan, and portobello

Put a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add a hefty handful of salt and your kale. Boil the kale for 3 minutes. Pull it out with a slotted spoon and set aside (it will continue to cook a bit while it sits). Add your pasta. Cook according to package directions. Meanwhile, sauté a little garlic in olive oil. Crack an egg in the serving bowl, set aside. Grate a little parmesan or pecorino, lemon zest and chop any herbs you have lying around.

Turn on the broiler. Broil your portobello, 7 minutes per side. Slice.

After the pasta is al dente, add to your sauteed garlic. Toss. Pour this into your serving bowl and toss with egg, cheese, zest, herbs and kale. The egg and cheese combine with a little of the residual pasta water to make this awesome, super easy sauce. Top with portobello and more cheese and serve.

Note: You can easily omit the portobello or replace it with another protein. We didn’t really think it’s flavor melded with the other ingredients. But, don’t forget that kale! Turning icky greens into a delicious dinner is the whole point!

-Emily

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Recipes

pasta with ricotta and heirloom tomatoes

This pasta dish was another of our quick, fresh, light dinners from the week. I wanted to celebrate the last of the tomatoes of the season!

Pasta with Ricotta and Heirloom Tomatoes
2 lbs heirloom tomatoes, sliced
1/2 c mixed herbs, chopped (I used parsley, basil and chives)
1 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
salt, pepper, chili flakes to taste
12 oz dry pasta (I used conchiglie – cute snail shell shaped pastas)
1/2 – 3/4 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c finely grate parmesan cheese

Slice tomatoes and toss them with the chopped herbs, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain. Return pasta to the pot, add ricotta, parmesan, and pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Top with tomato and herb mixture and enjoy!

Conclusions: A direct quote from Jordan: “This is the best thing I’ve had since …  since I can remember. Except for Lobster Day”. And from me: “the easiest ‘mac and cheese’ you’ll ever make that doesn’t come from a box”.

-Emily