Squash Ribbons with Tomatoes, Peanuts, Basil, Mint, and Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce

Now that I’ve officially lived in Austin longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, I’m getting used to the growing seasons here. And, I get excited every time a vegetable comes into season. It’s like I’ve never eaten a tomato before when I walk into a farm stand and find heirloom beauties for the first time this year. I get just as excited when the first broccoli shows up in the late fall and for every other vegetable too. The start of each season is special, and the flavor of those first-of-season, freshly harvested vegetables is unmatched. So, I felt like I was reading the thoughts of a kindred spirit when I dove into my review copy of Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden. He clearly has true respect for vegetables, their seasons, and the subtle differences among early-season, mid-season, and late-season versions. After presenting some building block recipes for flavored butters, sauces, vinaigrettes, breads, grains, and pickles, the book is divided into Spring, Early Summer, Midsummer, Late Summer, Fall, and Winter. When each vegetable actually appears will, of course, depend on where you live, but you’ll find delicious ways to use the vegetables from the first harvest through the last. A lot of the recipes incorporate breadcrumbs or croutons or nuts for added texture and flavor. And, the Brined and Roasted Almonds recipe is one that’s already become a favorite for me. It works with any nut, and it’s a simple matter of soaking raw nuts in a salty brine, draining them after 30 minutes, and then roasting them in the oven. I can’t stop making and eating these nuts and telling everyone to do this. Also, a lot of the recipes are perfectly paired with toasted bread slices or flatbread to be used as vehicles for the combinations. Some examples are the Fava Beans, Cilantro, New Potatoes, and Baked Eggs; Potato and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Olives, Feta, and Arugula; and Israeli-Spiced Tomatoes, Yogurt Sauce, and Chickpeas. Another one on my short-list of things to try is the Carta di Musica paper-thin flatbreads with Roasted Eggplant Spread, Herbs, and Ricotta Salad. This isn’t an entirely meat-free book, but the focus stays squarely on the vegetables. Since our “summer” vegetables arrive early, I’ve already been enjoying summer squash and tomatoes, and I loved the idea of using them in a salad with Asian flavors and lots of herbs. 

I did make one little change to the suggested process. The recipe was intended to make use of thinly-sliced, raw ribbons of summer squash and zucchini. But, I was using the grill that day anyway and liked the idea of adding a slightly smoky flavor to the dish. I gave the ribbons just a minute on each side over the coals before proceeding with the salad. The sauce was a mix of minced hot chiles, minced garlic cloves, fish sauce, water, and white wine vinegar, and it will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. The rest of the salad components included havled cherry tomatoes, I added some larger tomatoes cut into wedges, thinly sliced green onions, basil leaves, mint leaves, chopped peanuts, and olive oil. Everything was tossed with the Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce and olive oil and placed on a platter. 

The fresh herbs and crunchy nuts mixed well with the vegetables and the spicy sauce, and the salad was great alongside grilled shrimp. This book was a welcome read thanks to the care with and interest in vegetables at their very best, and the layers of flavor worked into each dish will keep me coming back to try more things. 

Squash Ribbons with Tomatoes, Peanuts, Basil, Mint, and Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce  
Excerpted from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2017. Photographs by Laura Dart and A.J. Meeker. 

Serves 4 

4 firm medium zucchini or a mix of zucchini and yellow summer squash 
Kosher salt 
1 pint cherry tomatoes (a mix of colors is nice), halved
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped 
1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including 1/2 inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well 
1 small handful basil leaves 
1 small handful mint leaves 
1/4 cup Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce (see below) 
Extra-virgin olive oil 

Using a mandoline, carefully slice the zucchini from the bottom to the top to create very thin ribbons of squash. (If you don’t have a mandoline, just cut the zucchini into very thin crosswise slices, to create rounds.) Toss the squash with 1 teaspoon salt and put in a colander so the salt can draw out excess moisture. Let them sit for 30 minutes. Blot the squash on paper towels to remove the moisture and excess salt. Pile into a large bowl. 

Add the tomatoes, peanuts, scallions, basil, and mint. Pour in the spicy fish-sauce sauce and toss again. Taste and decide whether the salad needs more salt. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and toss again. Do a final taste and toss, arrange on plates, and serve right away. 

Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce
Makes about 1 1/4 cups 

1/4 cup seeded, deribbed, and minced fresh hot chiles (use a mix of colors) 
4 large garlic cloves, minced 
1/2 cup fish sauce 
1/4 cup water 
1/4 white wine vinegar 
2 tablespoons sugar 

Stir everything together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust so you have an intense sweet-salty-sour-hot balance. Ideally, make this a day ahead, then taste and readjust the seasonings on the second day. The chile heat is likely to get stronger. The sauce will keep for a month or two in the fridge. 

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Fried Eggplant with Parmigiano-Reggiano, Tomato, and Basil

I had heard great things about Franny’s restaurant in Brooklyn and about the new book Franny's: Simple Seasonal Italian. So, my curiosity was piqued when I heard the founders were coming to Central Market Cooking School to teach a class a few weeks ago. I attended the class with a media pass and received a copy of the book. I have to admit, I wondered if there would be anything new to learn here. I do cook a lot of Italian food and already have a quite a few books that cover that topic. What I discovered was that although the dishes were familiar, the approach and attention to detail were the real focus here. First and foremost, the recipes are all about the in-season ingredients. At the restaurant, the menu changes throughout the year to make use of what’s fresh and at its best. Peppers are pickled and fruit is frozen to extend the seasons, but the vegetables in the starring roles are just-harvested. Then, those ingredients are allowed to shine with straightforward, uncomplicated uses of them. As I read the book, I found page after page of food that I want to eat every day. There’s a chapter full of ideas for crostini like Ricotta with Olives and Pistachios and Hard-Boiled Eggs with Bottarga di Muggine with suggestions for the best kind of olive oil to pair with different toppings. Next comes the chapter of Fritti with tempting, crispy, fried things like various, savory zeppole and Fried Zucchini with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Lemon which I tried and found delightful with its tempura-like coating. I’m going to have to cook my way through the Pasta chapter so I can taste every single dish. And, although the recipes aren’t difficult, there are good reminders about choosing really well-made pasta for the best texture and cooking it to the proper doneness so it can finish in the sauce. Taking a moment to consider those little details makes all the difference. There are also Salads, Soups, Franny’s famous Pizzas of course, and Fish. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly think about dessert after all of the other fabulous food, the Desserts chapter got me. The Chocolate Sorbetto and Pistachio Cake are on my shortlist of things to try. 

At the class, Francine and Andrew started by demonstrating Whipped Eggplant and Anchovy Crostini which was a smooth and light puree of grilled eggplant drizzled with olive oil and topped with an anchovy fillet. The next course was a fresh mix of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn in a red rice salad, and I learned that a type of red rice grows in Italy. The Sauteed Squid with Salsa Verde dish is usually made with lovage, parsley, and mint. Since lovage wasn’t available here, celery leaves were used as a substitute. The pasta dish of the evening was light and herby with chopped parsley, basil, and mint stirred into the melted ricotta than sauced the strands of spaghetti. Dessert was a rich and fragrant Vanilla Panna Cotta. Photos from the class are posted on my Facebook page. 

With a nice, plump eggplant that had just arrived from my CSA, I decided my first stop in the book would be at the Fried Eggplant with Parmigiano-Reggiano, Tomato, and Basil dish. Yes, it’s fried, but with the oil at the proper temperature and the breading properly applied, the eggplant slices become crispy and golden without absorbing the oil. And, unlike a mozzarella-filled, traditional eggplant parmesan dish, this is light by comparison. The eggplant slices were sprinkled with salt and left to drain in a colander for an hour before being patted dry, dusted with flour, dipped in egg, and coated with breadcrumbs. They were fried in 375 degree F oil for a few minutes and then drained on paper towels and seasoned with salt. I took a small liberty with the sauce. Rather than peeling and dicing large tomatoes, I used pretty, little cherry tomatoes which were cooked in olive oil with garlic. I pulsed the cooked tomatoes in the food processor to make a slightly chunky sauce. The sauce was spooned onto plates and sprinkled with torn basil and shaved parmigiano. It was topped with slices of fried eggplant and more basil and parmigiano. It was a dish of simplicity at its very best like everything else in the book promises to be. 

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Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper

Food and art collide intentionally in the new book from Alain Passard. In The Art of Cooking with Vegetables, of which I received a review copy, he has created a collage to accompany each recipe. He explains that although the food usually inspires the collage, there have been times when creating the collage led to different combinations on the plate. The collages are abstract, colorful, and beautiful. I’d love to have them framed and lined up on a wall. The book was created in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his restaurant L’Arpege with vegetable recipes for each season. The recipes all have simple, straightforward titles in contrast to the complexity of the flavors in the dishes. For instance, Herb-Filled Peppers on Warm Crusty Bread is made with a filling of finely chopped, blanched fava beans, sauteed garlic and onion, and sorrel, cilantro, chervil, basil, and chives. The roasted, stuffed peppers are then served on toasted bread and topped with shaved parmesan. Ratatouille Brittany-Style in Butter is an interesting mix of cooked and raw vegetables with an eggplant and butter sauce served on the side. A recipe I can’t wait to try is the Avocado Souffles with Dark Chocolate. A souffle of mashed avocado, pistachio marzipan, vanilla, and egg whites, of course, is baked in the halved and hallowed avocado skins. A square of dark chocolate is set into each souffle before baking. Puffed, green domes baked in dark, black avocado containers is something I want to see and taste. From the section of the book focused on summer, the first recipe I had to try was the Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper. It’s a colorful, sweet-savory, fork-and-knife kind of salad made with fourme d’Ambert which is Kurt’s favorite cheese.

I actually planned ahead for this recipe. One of the ingredients is purple basil although green basil would have been fine instead. I had planted purple basil seeds and waited until some leaves appeared to make this. I wish the leaves had been more completely purple, but I went with what I had. The salad also includes sorrel, and red sorrel would have been pretty. Sadly, I was only able to locate green sorrel, but its lemony flavor was great. The colors, textures, sweetness, saltiness, and herbiness were all important here, and one more twist for this salad was the mix of hot and cold. The melon slices were actually stewed in a little olive oil. The melon became just slightly more tender and was the only warm element on the plate. To finish, the plate was drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar, and flaked sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper were added. I had a few walnuts on hand and decided to use them for garnish to add a crunchy item to the mix.

The sweet, warm, orange melon with the savory, big flavor of the blue-veined cheese was well-matched for looks and taste, and the bright mix of herbs cut the richness nicely. It was a surprisingly filling salad with the wedge of melon and chunk of fourme d’Ambert. Now, I’m flipping to the late summer pages of the book to decide which food as art piece to recreate next.

Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper

Recipe courtesy of Alain Passard, L'Arpege, and Frances Lincoln Publishers, Ltd. Copyright 2012. Excerpted from The Art of Cooking with Vegetables. All rights reserved.

Serves 4, 40 minutes

1 large, ripe melon

150-200 g (5-7 oz) fourme d’Ambert or Stilton
3-4 tablespoons virgin olive oil
several handfuls of red or green sorrel, washed, and tough ribs removed
leaves from a bunch of purple or green basil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
fleur de sel
1 tablespoon black peppercorns crushed or coarsely ground

Drink with A Pineau de Charentes or a Floc de Gascogne

Slice the cheese into four equal-sized portions and leave them at room temperature for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, cut the melon into quarters, and scoop out and discard the seeds. Thinly cover the bottom of a saute pan with about one tablespoon of the olive oil, holding back the rest; arrange the melon quarters, flat on their sides, in a single layer, in the pan. Partially cover with a lid and stew the melon quarters gently over low heat for 25 minutes, turning them over from time to time.

While the melon is stewing gently, put the leaves of sorrel and basil in a salad bowl and dress them gently with the remaining oil.

To serve, arrange a quarter of melon, a portion of cheese and a helping of the salad on four individual plates. Season to taste with salt and crushed or coarsely ground black pepper. Sign each plate with a trail of balsamic vinegar.

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Steamed Clams and Basil Pesto

I don't eat red meat for several reasons including environmental ones, but I do eat seafood. I always try to make good, environmentally-sound and healthy decisions about which seafood to choose. It's not always easy, and the news about which type of fish is a sustainable choice seems to change daily. So, I was thrilled to see this new book from Washington, D.C. chef Barton Seaver, For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking, and I received a review copy. It acts as a guide to all the issues surrounding how to choose fish, and then it provides great ideas for turning those fish into meals. Seaver explains that the best way to work towards restoration of marine ecosystems is to support the fisheries that are working responsibly and enjoy the best choices we have with lots of seasonal vegetables. And, the book assists with just that. You won't find recipes for overfished species like bluefin and yellowfin tuna, but there are several ideas for other, sustainably caught species of fish. Since some fish are seasonal, the book is organized in sections from spring to winter with side dishes and sauces made from vegetables and herbs available at each time of year. There's also an additional section for all the types of seafood that are available year round. So far, I've tried the mussels with IPA and roasted garlic and the grilled okra with charred onion dip. Both were simple dishes with big flavors. Others I look forward to trying are warm poached salmon in red wine sauce, smoked sardines with mixed greens and fig-olive dressing, pumpkin and pear panzanella with pumpkin-seed vinaigrette, and the smoked salmon and goat cheese sandwich to name a few.

Since clams, as well as mussels and oysters, are a sustainably farmed option and are always available, and since my basil plants are still going strong, I couldn't wait to try the clams with basil pesto dish. Seaver prefers the sweetness in walnuts to the flavor of pine nuts for his basil pesto. So, walnuts were toasted, and then they were tossed in a colander to remove some of the skins. Another difference with this pesto was the choice of mostly canola oil with just a little added extra virgin olive oil. The two oils and some garlic were placed in a blender and pureed, and then basil leaves and walnuts were added and blended until smooth. Then, littleneck clams were steamed in white wine. When open, the clams were transferred to a serving bowl, the cooking broth was poured into a mixing bowl while leaving any sand in the pot, and the basil pesto and some butter were stirred into the broth to form a sauce. The sauce was poured over the clams, and toasted bread was served on the side. The flavors were bright and fresh, and we used the bread to capture every bit of the sauce.

The book includes plenty of information about understanding fishing methods and how to choose fish wisely and substitute better choices for those that are overfished. But mostly, Seaver's enthusiasm for sustainable seafood, healthy portion sizes, avoiding toxins in seafood, pairing seafood with seasonal vegetables, and just plain, old, delicious cooking, make this book all about truly enjoying the best of seafood.

See my review of For Cod and Country: Simple, Delicious, Sustainable Cooking and get this clams with basil pesto recipe at Project Foodie.

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Grilled Portobello Pizzas

While I was in the desert, Austin received a whole lot of rain, and since I’ve returned home, we’ve had a few more rainy days. All this rain means my basil plants couldn’t be happier. Happy basil means pesto. I found a slightly different approach to basil pesto in Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook. That version uses roasted garlic and rough-cut basil leaves with very little olive oil. I went that route, sort of, for a lighter style of pesto. Rather than rough cutting, I tossed everything into a food processor, and I had some pine nuts on hand, so I added them as well. Also in that book, this light pesto is used on grilled portobellos topped with a cherry tomato salad with more roasted garlic and shavings of parmigiano reggiano. I’ve made a few versions of portobello pizzas before, and one of my favorites involved hummus and a thick slab of feta. The portobello pizzas shown here were much lighter but just as flavorful. It’s amazing how substantial a portobello seems although it’s all vegetable, and roasted garlic and parmigiano add great depth and interest.

Because this book is devoted to healthy dishes, very little oil is used in the recipes. Now, ordinarily, when I roast garlic, I cut off the tops of the bulbs, pour olive oil over them, and add salt and pepper. This time, I skipped the oil on the garlic and just added a small pinch of salt and some crushed red pepper flakes. I wrapped the garlic in parchment and foil and roasted it for about 40 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, I squeezed the soft garlic from the bulbs. It’s just as delicious without the oil. Some of that was used in the basil pesto, and the rest was used in the cherry tomato salad. Thyme leaves and chopped cherry tomatoes were added to the mashed, roasted garlic and a scant tablespoon of olive oil, and it was tossed to combine. I used some locally grown portobellos that were lightly brushed with oil and seasoned before being grilled for four minutes per side. They were then topped with the cherry tomato and roasted garlic salad, they got a drizzle of basil pesto, and shaved parmigiano reggiano was set on top of each.

Admittedly, I don’t always cook with light and healthy in mind, but a dish like this is a great reminder than you don’t always need as much oil in a recipe as you might think. This certainly didn’t taste like diet food. It was also a reminder that with ingredients like homegrown basil, fresh, local tomatoes and portobellos, and great cheese, you don’t need to embellish them much. And, with this way of cooking, my bottle of olive oil will last a little longer.

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Israeli Couscous with Saffron, Olives, and Summer Vegetables

The problem with ignoring my ever-growing stack of new recipes to try is that eventually some of those recipes fall out of season. I can either wait until next year, or I can convert the dish into whatever works right now. This couscous dish is from the April issue of Vegetarian Times, and it was originally called Israeli couscous with saffron, olives, and spring vegetables. A simple swapping of eggplant and zucchini for the suggested peas and fennel made it all about late summer. The great flavor in the dish comes from finely chopped leek, wine, and saffron. This was a rare occasion in which I found myself with pasta and no cheese in sight, but I realized that’s perfectly fine when saffron is involved. The kalamata olives and fresh basil garnish gave it an added boost that also kept me from missing any cheese. Although I definitely didn’t serve the leftovers in stacks formed by a ring mold, I copied that presentation from the magazine photo for our first meal with this dish.

Once all the vegetables are chopped, this dish comes together very easily. While chopping, the water can be coming to a boil for the couscous. Leek, eggplant, zucchini, and garlic were sauteed in a large skillet as the couscous boiled. White wine was added followed by the cooked and drained couscous, diced fresh tomatoes, and saffron. Last, arugula leaves were added, seasoning was adjusted, and it was covered and left to sit for a few minutes. I formed stacks, but it could have been served in bowls, and it was topped with halved olives, basil chiffonade, and a drizzle of olive oil.

The saffron perfumed the dish well, and the fresh, seasonal vegetables were at their best. The chewy couscous was just a tad smaller than the diced pieces of vegetables, and the wilted arugula wound its way throughout the pasta. The olives were a great touch on top, and you should use your favorite kind here, and that goes for the olive oil that’s drizzled at the end too. Simple but fresh and flavorful, this is a dish I’ll keep modifying from one season to the next.

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Gnocchi with Pesto

There are some things that I am completely afraid to attempt to cook, but as of last week, there is one less of those things. Since forever, I was terrified of gnocchi, and it had nothing to do with the process of making the dough and cutting the pieces. I was afraid of the result. I remember an episode of Top Chef in which someone, and now I can’t remember who it was, made gnocchi. One of the judges, can’t remember which judge either, held one little dumpling on a fork above his plate and let it drop. It thudded to the plate like a heavy ball of paste. That’s what frightened me. If I was going to cook potatoes, rice them, make dough, cut it into little pieces, boil them, and make some kind of sauce for them, I wanted them to be light and pillowy and delicious. So, for my first foray into gnocchidom, I gathered several sources of information and learned that every cook seems to have a different opinion about what makes perfect gnocchi. Marcella, in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, recommends boiling potatoes, and she boils them, skins them, and purees them in a food mill. Mario, in Malto Italiano, uses russet potatoes instead, but he also boils them, skins them, and purees them in a food mill. Anne Burrell, who calls her recipe "Light as a Cloud Gnocchi," uses russet potatoes, bakes them, skins them, and purees them in a food mill. Last, I had the good fortune to watch David Bull make gnocchi right in front of me at a Central Market cooking class that I attended earlier this summer, and his potato choice and cooking method were the same as Anne Burrell’s. So, three of them used russet potatoes, and it was split two to two for boiling vs baking. I nervously looked from one recipe to the next, comparing notes, biting my nails, and finally jumped in and made my first batch of gnocchi.

It killed me a little to ignore Marcella’s advice, but russet potatoes seemed like the fluffier choice, so that’s what I used. And, again, since baking seems to produce a fluffier cooked potato than boiling, I ignored Marcella and Mario and baked rather than boiled. I don’t own a food mill, so I used a ricer to smoosh the cooked potatoes. Then there are the eggs, if you’re adding eggs that is. Marcella recommends that you don’t, but everyone else was for eggs. Marcella explains that gnocchi from the Veneto are cloud-light and are made with no eggs. She goes on to say that gnocchi dough with eggs is easier to handle but can easily become rubbery. For my first time with this, I felt like I needed eggs if this was going to become a dough, so to the four big, riced potatoes, I added two eggs. David Bull used semolina flour while everyone else added all-purpose flour. I used all-purpose. You should start with half the suggested flour and work in the rest as needed. Two other last ingredients were parmigiano which Anne Burell added and I didn't and chopped chives which David Bull added to his dough and so did I. Everyone says to knead the dough gently and don’t over mix it. Anne Burrell leaves all the ingredients on a board and folds in the eggs and flour with a bench scraper. That seemed like a good idea, so I did that. Last, when you have a cohesive dough, you break off pieces, roll them into ropes, and cut the ropes into gnocchi. You can leave them like that or roll them on the back of a fork or along a cute gnocchi board to make grooves in them. You press with your finger as you roll so each piece has a dent one side and ridges on the other. I have to explain that I bought the cute gnocchi board months ago as a way of convincing myself to make gnocchi. It worked eventually. Once you have your finished gnocchi, you can cook them immediately or freeze them. I left mine in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before boiling, draining, and adding sauce.

For the sauce, I went back to Marcella and followed her instructions precisely for basil pesto. It’s pretty much what you would expect for pesto except that she adds three tablespoons of softened butter after she stirs in the cheese. It was a lovely pesto. She recommends it as one of the best sauces for potato gnocchi, and I’m a believer now too. In an attempt at balancing the meal, I sauteed some sliced summer squash and mixed that with the boiled gnocchi before topping it all with pesto. After all of that, was there a thud when a piece was dropped onto a plate? No, believe it or not, they were truly tender and delicate although not quite perfectly formed. I actually wondered if I didn’t knead the dough quite enough. I’ll work on that next time, since there will definitely be a next time, and I might even try boiling the potatoes and not adding eggs.

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Nectarine and Tomato Salad with Proscuitto and Buffalo Mozzarella

I waited and waited for perfect tomatoes and juicy, ripe nectarines to arrive and for my own basil to grow. All those things came to be last weekend, and I was able to put together this lovely, summer salad. Once again, this is from the book My Favorite Ingredients. I wasn’t kidding when I said I marked several pages. As you see in the title, this salad is intended to include prosciutto, and Kurt’s portion did indeed have some in it. I don’t eat red meat, so I left it off my plate, but Kurt commented that having a little prosciutto is never a bad thing. For the cheese, I was torn between a very nice buffalo mozzarella and burrata. In the end, I used a little of both in the salads. The tomatoes, nectarines, and cheeses were drizzled with basil oil with garlic, and then everything was dotted with aged balsamic. Just the other day, I brought home an eighteen year aged balsamic from Con’Olio which is a locally-owned olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop with incredible varieties of both, and this was a perfect use for it. This is exactly the kind of dish in which quantities and exact ingredients don’t matter so much, but the quality of each item on the plate is everything.

I’ve made basil oil before, but this version was a little different. The basil wasn’t blanched this time, and the raw leaves were pureed with chopped garlic. Once they were minced, olive oil was added. For the salad, I used nectarines and an heirloom tomato which were simply cut into wedges, and I added yellow cherry tomatoes which were cut in half. The nectarines and tomatoes were tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. The mozzarella and burrata were cut into big pieces and plated, the nectarine and tomatoes were spooned on and around the cheeses, the basil oil was spilled on top of it all, and the aged balsamic was dribbled here and there. I added a few basil leaves, and Kurt’s salad was adorned with prosciutto.

It is really just a caprese salad with added hits of sweet and salty from fruit and cured meat. But, when the ingredients are as good as they can be, it’s a salad that’s perfection. I couldn’t decide which cheese I preferred. Both were excellent with the mix of things on the plate. I did decide that this could be my dinner day in and day out for the rest of the summer.

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Linguine with Frenched Green Beans and Pesto

This fall, my CSA has switched from having a pick-up every other week to a pick-up every week. I collect my share at our Wednesday farmers’ market, and I’m always tempted by the goods I see at all the other tables at the market too. What this means is that each week I bring home a big supply of fresh, beautiful vegetables and get to think up ways to use them all within the next seven days. Last week, my haul included incredibly fresh and crisp green beans and a bunch of basil, and I remembered this pasta dish from On Top of Spaghetti. I’ve mentioned this book a few times before, and it’s one of my favorites. Once again, it delivered a great meal. Now, the interesting thing about this dish is the cut of the green beans. By frenching them, or cutting them into long, slender strips, the pieces become very tender when cooked and can be twirled on your fork with the pasta. This was the second time in my life that I french-cut some green beans by hand, and for this quantity it’s not such a daunting task. However, if I were preparing this for a crowd, or if I should decide that I need to french beans for every meal, I’m going to have to get a tool to speed up the process.

So, begin by carefully slicing green beans lengthwise into thin pieces. Then, cook them in boiling water until tender enough to twirl on a fork, and drain them, rinse with cool water, and leave them in the colander. While you bring a large pot of water to a boil for the linguine, you can make a pesto from parsley leaves, basil leaves, a garlic clove, a pinch of cayenne, and olive oil. Once the pesto is pureed, add some grated pecorino romano. Cook the linguine, and then drain it into the colander with the beans so as to re-warm the beans. Place the pasta and beans in a large serving bowl, toss with the pesto, and serve with extra grated pecorino.

This pasta dish is all about the fresh flavors of the green beans and the herbs in the pesto while the cayenne perks things up without being assertive, and the pecorino adds richness. I loved that the beans curled into the pasta on the plate and their texture was just barely firmer than the linguine. It’s a simple pasta dish and a delicious way to use fresh green beans.

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Red and Yellow Pepper Sauce with Fettuccine

I thought it would be fun to whip up some fresh pasta for dinner the other night, and I’ve made fresh pasta plenty of times. On one occasion, I even made beet pasta which was as delicious as it was pretty. Then, I realized I had never made fresh pasta into ribbons of any kind. Those rollers on my pasta machine that cut a sheet into long strands had never been used. The injustice. They’d been ignored for years. As I almost always do when making fresh pasta, I grabbed Marcella’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Making the pasta dough gets easier every time I do it. Mix eggs into flour, knead, divide, flatten, and then make whatever shape you want. For a sauce for this first-ever ribbon-cut pasta of mine, I chose Marcella’s roasted red and yellow pepper sauce with garlic and basil. It includes an interesting technique of peeling the raw peppers before cooking them rather than roasting them and then removing the charred skin. The reason for this was so that the peppers would still be firm when added to the saute pan.

I should back up just a bit and explain what I learned about fresh pasta this time around. To make ribbons, you first have to roll the dough into sheets. Then, it’s important to let the sheets sit and dry for a few minutes before rolling them through the cutter. The sheets should be just starting to dry but not yet brittle. I could blame it on the humidity, but I probably just rushed it with my first couple of sheets. The fettuccine strands came out a little sticky and were difficult to place on a towel for further drying. Since the last sheet had sat a little longer, it went through the cutter much better and was easier to handle. The cut fettuccine was left to dry for a couple of hours before dinner. I started the sauce before boiling the pasta because everyone knows the sauce can wait but nothing and no one should wait for the pasta. Red and yellow bell peppers were peeled and then cut into large chunks. Olive oil was warmed in a large saute pan, and peeled garlic cloves were added. Marcella suggests only flavoring the oil with the garlic and removing it before adding the peppers. My love of garlic made discarding it impossible so I left it right there in the pan. The chopped peppers were added, and it all cooked together for 15 minutes or so. The peppers should become tender but not mushy. Salt and pepper were added. Meanwhile a large pot of salted water was brought to a boil, and during the last few minutes of cooking the peppers, the pasta was boiled. The fettuccine was drained and added directly to the saute pan along with torn basil leaves, butter, and shredded parmigiano.

Even though I defied Marcella by leaving in the garlic, I thought its nuttiness was delicious with the sweet and slightly caramelized bell peppers. The freshly made fettuccine which I left in nice, long lengths was a delight with this chunky, fresh sauce. A penne or rigatoni shape would have been very good with this sauce too, and that just made me realize I haven’t made a homemade, tube-shaped pasta yet.

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Basil Limeade Slushies

There was an article in the August issue of Food and Wine (Farm-Fresh French Recipes) with several great-looking recipes I intended to try. Among those recipes were chilled zucchini soup with purslane, brown rice pilaf with green olives and lemon, oven-roasted tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese, and basil limeade slushies. Unfortunately, I was having the kind of day during which everything that could go wrong did. I had brought home some heirloom tomatoes that were real beauties, and I had procured some goat cheese, and my own basil plants are still going strong. I made the goat cheese stuffing, placed it in the tomatoes, and roasted them. No problems there. However, when I reached into the oven to remove the baking dish, it slipped out of my hands, and the tomatoes and goat cheese stuffing landed upside down and smooshed all over the oven door and the floor. By some miracle, the dish didn’t break, but brunch was ruined. Later that night, I had much better luck with these slushies before dinner. As for the name, I previously made watermelon margarita ‘slushes’ while these are named ‘slushies.’ Tomayto tomahto. I’ve just gone with the name that was printed with each recipe.

There’s a note at the beginning of the recipe stating that by adding rum these would make great cocktails. So, of course, especially after my unfortunate morning, I made them into rum cocktails. Ice, water, lime juice, basil leaves, sugar, and rum were blended. That mixture was poured into glasses and was topped with sparkling water.

I actually used a bit less sugar than suggested which made our slushies nice and tart. The basil and lime together was a delicious combination that mixed very well with rum. I was certain this would be a concoction that only I would enjoy, but Kurt actually gave it a big thumbs-up. Regardless of how your day is going, these slushies would be a nice part of it, and I’m sure they’d be just as good even if you left out the rum.




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Spaghetti alla Trapanese and Funghi Ripieni di Ricotta

The other day, I mentioned cooking a few things from Jamie's Italy and then went on to mention a black bean mango salad and a meal in San Antonio before finishing the story. After making the farro salad, I found a couple of other items to try. The funghi al forno ripieni di ricotta became the first course before the spaghetti alla trapanese. The stuffed mushrooms were filled with ricotta mixed with oregano, lemon zest, parmigianno reggiano, and finely chopped red chile. It was so simple but a little different than a usual stuffed mushroom. The lemon and chile were great accents to the smooth, mild ricotta.

The spaghetti couldn’t have been easier to prepare, and if you have homegrown or locally grown tomatoes, this dish highlights them perfectly. The sauce is a raw pesto of sorts to which chopped tomatoes are added. Because they’re not cooked at all, the dish is really all about the freshness and flavor of the tomatoes. This was a fun meal to make, and as noted in the recipe, the prep work can easily be finished while the pasta water boils. Jamie also notes that he prefers cherry tomatoes for this, but any good, ripe tomatoes will work fine.

I used a food processor, but a mortar and pestle are recommended. I’ve always heard resulting textures are better with a mortar and pestle, but I’ve never had the patience to try it. So, while the pasta water was brought up to a boil, almonds were chopped to a coarse, powdery consistency in a food processor. That was placed in a large mixing bowl, and then garlic and basil were chopped in the food processor and added to the ground almonds. Parmigiano reggiano was grated and added to the other ingredients, and olive oil and salt and pepper joined all of that. Last, one and a half pounds of tomatoes were chopped, placed in the bowl, and then they were squished and smooshed to break them up and release their juices. The pasta was cooked, drained, and placed in the bowl. While stirring the sauce into the pasta, a little more olive oil was added.

The ingredients don’t actually form a proper pesto. The amount of olive oil was not as much as that needed for pesto, and the tomatoes provided most of the sauce liquid. Instead, the ground almonds added mild, nutty flavor and substance to a basil- and garlic-inflected sauce that was really a vehicle for juicy, ripe summer tomatoes. I pulled this out of the refrigerator for lunch the next day and was faced with a dilemma. I didn’t think the sauce on cold pasta would be as good but I also knew that heating the tomatoes and basil would be disappointing. I went with a half-way approach to re-heating. I got it just warm enough to loosen the olive oil on the pasta but not so much that the tomatoes would start to cook. It was still good, enjoyable, certainly not a bad lunch. However, it simply could not compare to the range of textures and bursting-forth tomato flavor it had when first made.




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