Recipe: Green Noodles with Cauliflower, Broccoli and Mustard Butter

Oodles of Noodles

Um, yum!  There is a ridiculous amount of butter in this recipe, and yes, we ate the whole thing (serves 2 to 4 people).  There is also a ridiculous amount of broccoli and cauliflower in this recipe, which should counter the effects of the butter, one would hope.  From the Greens cookbook.  If you’re feeling super special, you can make this with Deborah Madison’s fresh herb pasta recipe, or if you’re looking for a quick weeknight recipe, some herbed linguine from Trader Joe’s does the trick.

Ingredients

• 1, 8 oz package spinach & chive pasta from Trader Joe’s
• 7 T soft butter (yes, this is 1 tablespoon short of an entire stick of butter, but let it hold you back!)
• 2 T dijon mustard (the stronger the better)
• 3 shallots, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 t balsamic vinegar
• 2 t parsley (optional – our parsley plant needed a break, so I omitted this with no ill effects.  Could have used arugula, but didn’t have any on hand)
• 1 cup breadcrumbs – I used my immersion blender to obliterate some leftover baguette
• 2 sun-dried tomatoes
• 3-4 cups broccoli & cauliflower florets, broken into tiny pieces (we used a whole head of cauliflower-though it was relatively small-to make up 2 cups of each vegetable)
• thin strip of lemon peel, very finely slivered
• S, P & Parmesan

Cream 4 T of the butter with the mustard, shallots, garlic, vinegar and parsley (if using) and set aside to let flavors mingle.

For the bread crumbs: melt the remaining butter, add the bread crumbs and fry until they are crisp and brown.  This makes a lot of breadcrumbs – we saved some to top soup later in the week.

Bring a large pot of water to bowl.  Melt the mustard butter in a wide skillet.  Throw the broccoli and cauliflower into the boiling water and cook for about 1 minute.  Scoop them out and add to the mustard butter.  Cook the pasta according to directions.  Add cooked pasta and lemon peel to the butter/ veg mix and toss well, season with S&P.  Serve topped with the crunchy breadcrumbs and some parmesan.  Do not think of how much butter you’re consuming and enjoy with some white wine!

Recipe: Pasta with Asparagus and Egg

OK – so technically this doesn’t have any CSA ingredients in it either – but the asparagus are from the Santa Monica farmers market, and the herbs are from our yard.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and sliced into 2-inch lengths
• Whole wheat linguine pasta for 2 people
• small handfull of chives, chopped
• small handfull of tarragon, chopped
• red pepper flakes to taste
• grated Parmesan cheese to taste
• 2 eggs, fried sunny side up (yolk should be runny)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and throw in the pasta.  About a minute before the pasta is done, throw the asparagus into the pot.  Drain and put back into the pot.  Combine pasta with herbs, olive oil, red pepper flakes and cheese plus S&P.  Toss to combine.  Put on plate and top with egg and more cheese if you like.  Beyond yummy!

Recipe: Pasta with Rapini

You can’t go wrong with this classic combo: nutty pasta, bitter rapini, spicy red pepper flakes and salty cheese.

Ingredients

• 1/2 package pasta
• 1 bunch rapini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green garlic, chopped
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• grated parmesan to taste

Boil the pasta according to the directions.  Set your steamer above the pasta water and steam the rapini for about 5 minutes until wilted.  Meanwhile, saute the garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil.  Add in the rapini and continue to sautee until toasty.  Add in the drained pasta and toss everything together with S&P and more olive oil.  Serve topped with cheese.  Yum!

Recipe: Pasta with Tatsoi and Brown Butter

Tired of Thursday night kitchen sink tofu stir fries?  Well so am I.  So I wanted to do something different with our tatsoi this week.  It was a little too cold for a salad, so I pretended the tatsoi was spinach (it’s so mild in flavor) and combined it with some turnip greens for an easy brown butter pasta dish.

Ingredients

• whole wheat pasta, preferably curved or with ridges
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• leaves from a bunch of tatsoi
• turnip greens, torn and washed
• 1/2 cup chopped sage
• Freshly grated parmesan
• Lemon wedges

Cook pasta to al dente in salted water.  When pasta almost done done, melt butter in a skillet. Swirl the butter in the pan as it foams. (At this point, remove pasta from the heat and drain well in a colander.) When butter begins to brown, toss in pasta and mix to coat with butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Add greens and sage and cook until slightly wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Plate and serve immediately with grated parmesan and lemon wedges on the side.  The lemon really makes this dish!

Recipe: Pasta with Chickpeas and lots of Parsley

Another winner from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers.  I’ve make this recipe several times and am always amazed at how easy and delicious it is.  We didn’t have sage, so I left that out and topped each serving with a fried egg for extra protein.  A great way to use up lots of parsley.

Ingredients

• 1 T olive oil, plus extra to finish the dish
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• a few pinches of red pepper flakes
• 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, liquid reserved
• 1 big bunch of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves stripped from the stems
• 3 large garlic cloves
• small handful of sage leaves
• sea salt and freshly ground peper
• 3/4 pound whole wheat pasta shells
• freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.  Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the onion or shallot and pepper flakes. Cook for a minute or two then add the chickpeas. As they warm, chop parsley, garlic and sage together so that they form a nice melange. Toss 1/3 of that mixture into the pan. Season with salt and pepper, add a little chickpea broth to the pan and cook on low heat. Add liquid as it cooks down.

Salt the pasta water and cook the pasta. When it is done, drain and toss it with the chickpeas, the rest of the parsley, garlic and sage mixture and the extra olive oil you were supposed to remember. Taste for salt and season with freshly ground pepper. Grate some Parmeson over the top and serve with additional pepper flakes.

Recipe: Baked Penne with Random Vegetables

I had wanted to make a baked ziti, but didn’t have the tomato sauce or enough cheese, so this is what we made instead – it was great.

Ingredients

• 1 package organic penne from Trader Joe’s
• 1 carrot, sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 1 head of broccoli (from last week’s basket), cut into small florets, cut the stalk into bite-sized pieces
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• half a package of mushrooms, sliced
• 2 veggie Italian sausage, sliced to resemble the carrots
• small handful of parsley, rustically chopped
• shredded Italian cheese mix from Trader Joe’s
• ricotta, a few dollops
• tomato sauce (we didn’t have any, so I made my own using some tomatoes from our garden that I had frozen last summer.  Freeze the whole tomatoes and to cook, just put them in a sauce pot and turn the heat up to high.  They will let out A LOT of water, but don’t worry, let everything boil and reduce for a while, add some salt, pepper, tomato paste and sugar, if the tomatoes need it and you have tomato sauce!  If you want to be picky, you can take out the skins, but i don’t mind them.)

Cook the pasta to al dente in salted water.  Add in the carrots about a minute after the pasta starts cooking.  Add the broccoli at the last minute, drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, saute the onion until golden in olive oil, remove from the pan.  Saute the mushrooms, veggies sausage and garlic until toasty.

Mix the pasta, veggies, onion, sausage and parsley together with a drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper.  Transfer mixture into a baking dish, spoon tomato sauce on top.  Dot the top with spoonfuls of ricotta and cover with a couple handfuls of cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

This recipe made enough for dinner plus at least 4 lunches.

We served this with a simple salad of torn red oak leaf lettuce in a sherry vinaigrette.