Farm Market Finds: Pasta Primavera

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Quick! Make Pasta Primavera before it's too late!

Okay, if you don't live in Michigan or another northern state, you may not understand. Heck, even in Michigan, you can pretty much get whatever produce you want, any time of year. 

But if you're like me, you appreciate vegetables that weren't trucked in across 8-10 states. It's worth the wait to get the freshest, best-tasting seasonal produce that money can buy (unless you're a better gardener than I am). It just tastes better.

Now, back to Michigan, I would say that the most prized season is spring, just because it is so stinking short. It's beautiful around here, with all the flowering trees and shrubs, new leaves and grass, and (finally!) sunny, blue skies. Along with the brief spring, we have an all-too-brief season for spring produce. I like to make the most of it, finding as many ways as possible to use asparagus before it disappears from the markets, snacking on sugar snap peas, making enough strawberry jam to fill a whole basket in my freezer, and experimenting with rhubarb in the vain hope that I will someday discover that I like it, after all.

There's hardly a better way to experience the flavors of spring than with a dish that has the season in its name. So pop a Vivaldi CD in, and let's make pasta primavera.

First off, I have to say that I don't get primavera recipes with peppers in it. Since when did peppers start ripening in May? NO PEPPERS!

My favorite recipe comes from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, so this is a modified version of their recipe.

I like lots of green in pasta primavera. When I think spring, I think green. One of the sweetest sights in late April/early May around here is the first few clumps of green grass, which slowly overtake the yellow and brown that have covered the landscape ever since the white stuff FINALLY melted. Soon, the green leaves start to pop out. It's definitely the most hopeful color of the season. So I start out by trimming a bunch (a little less than a pound) of asparagus. I like the skinny ones here.

How do you trim asparagus? I hate biting into a piece of it and finding myself chewing and chewing, finally trying to figure out how to get this twig out of my mouth without appearing too impolite. So I trim asparagus by bending it. If you grab the very base of a stalk with the fingers of one hand, and hold it right around the middle with the other hand, you can bend it and it will tend to snap right where the woody part of the stalk ends, and the tender part begins. Sometimes it will take more than you think, but you can always save the woody ends for stock.

Once trimmed, you can just cut the tender parts into bite-sized pieces and give them a quick rinse.

Next, get some sugar snap peas. Snap off the tips and pull any strings that come loose. Snap or cut them into 2-3 pieces, or small bite-sized.

Next, quarter a small zucchini lengthwise, then slice. Well, yeah.....I know zucchini isn't really a spring veggie, either. But at least it has a mild flavor that will sit in the background, whereas peppers will steal the show from the asparagus and peas.

Now it's time to cook. Put a big pot of water on to boil. While you wait, put a skillet over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon or butter. Once the butter is melted, add the asparagus and cook, tossing occasionally, for 3-4 minutes. Once tender, move the asparagus into a bowl, add another tablespoon of butter to the pan, and cook the zucchini for a couple of minutes. Remove to the same bowl, then add more butter and some mushrooms. I just use the pre-sliced white button mushrooms, but if you can find some at the farmer's markets (and can afford them!), by all means, go for it. Add a bit of salt to the mushrooms to help draw the liquid out, then toss to coat with the butter and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid, it has evaporated, and the mushrooms are just starting to brown. Now add a few cloves of minced garlic and a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes. Just make sure, before you shake, that you make sure that you have opened the correct side of the container. Because a couple of shakes out of the spoon side looks a lot different than a few shakes from the sprinkle side. Mine might have been a little spicier than I had intended.

Next, add a quart of last year's canned tomatoes (or a 29 oz can from the store). Bring them to a boil and use a spoon or spatula to break up the tomatoes, Allow them to come to a boil, and then reduce to simmer about 5 minutes.

Next, add some cream and let it heat back up, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, once the pot of water is boiling, add a good amount of salt, then cook the pasta. You can use whatever you like. Bowties work well, as does penne. I like long noodles here, so I used thin spaghetti. Set your timer for 2 minutes short of the package instructions for al dente pasta. Once the timer goes off, add the peas to the water, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Reserve a little pasta water, then drain the pasta and peas and add to the bowl with the cooked veggies. Pour the warm sauce over it all, and squeeze in a few tablespoons of lemon juice to brighten it all up. Toss well, and add some shaved parmesan. Serve warm, passing more parmesan at the table. Give it a try soon, before the crossover of asparagus and sugar snap peas ends!

Farm Market Finds: Ratatouille Pasta

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I was never much of a vegetable fan. I was okay with salads, and potatoes, of course.  Canned corn and green beans were always good. But I hated peas, carrots, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peppers, onions (unless they were cooked and in something), and the list could go on.  I didn't even want to think about eggplant or beets.  Of course, for the most part, veggies came to the table boiled, and that's just the way it was.  Fresh, local produce from the farmers' market just wasn't something that was available often. But my dad grew up on a farm, so he had developed a taste for enough vegetables that we had a fair variety, even if they came from a can.  I still don't like most canned vegetables (exceptions still being corn and green beans), but I have become a big fan of many vegetables if they are prepared in a way that allows their natural sugars to shine through. Usually, that means a lot of heat, and a lack of moisture, such as you get by sauteing, roasting, and grilling.

It doesn't get much better than a big sheet pan full of Brussels sprouts, tossed with a bit of olive oil, coarse salt and pepper, and well-browned with some crispy bits (unless you happened to have a little bacon grease fall into the pan, totally by accident--that could make it a little better). But even cubed up carrots, beets, potatoes and winter squash benefit from a bit of time in a hot, dry oven.  Broccoli, with some garlic and olive oil before roasting, finished with a little lemon zest and parmesan cheese after coming out of the oven, is delicious.  Zucchini and asparagus are, in my opinion, best sauteed until there is some nice browning and a bit of shriveling.  Even fresh green beans on the grill until they shrivel are a fantastic alternative to the usual boiled.  

So I have learned to appreciate vegetables for what they bring to the table, and that has led to some fantastic discoveries.  Ten years ago, I probably wouldn't have given a thought to ratatouille, even after watching the cute movie by the same name.  However, having learned how to cook in that time, watching the movie made me want to give it a try.  

I think that the first time ratatouille made a blip on my radar was when I was watching Food Network Star several years ago.  Melissa D'Arabian, who ended up winning that year, prepared ratatouille for a panel of guest judges.  They absolutely loved it.  She explained that her mother-in-law taught her a trick to remember what is essential to ratatouille.  EZ-POT.

Eggplant

Zucchini

Peppers

Onions

Tomatoes

That stuck with me, and I always remember it at the market when I am mentally going through my grocery list with ratatouille on the menu.

The first time I actually made it, I sort of, kind of followed a recipe.  But, as will happen when you're not that organized, I had the wrong amount of some ingredients, didn't have the right herbs, and accidentally used too much broth.  And it was delicious!  So I kept the mistakes, and haven't looked back.  It's a pretty traditional version of ratatouille, except that I serve it with pasta.  For kids, and honestly, for me, too, the veggies just needed something to break them up.  It can be somewhat texturally monotone.  Al dente pasta gives you something to chew on, and it also just serves as a background for the bright flavors of the peppers, onions and herbs.  The flavor is all still there, but it's not quite so in your face.  

So let's get started.

This is a dish that involves a fair amount of prep, and it's a good idea to get everything ready to go before you turn the stove on.  First up: tomatoes.

I've been canning tomatoes lately, so I am in the groove.  Boil some water, cut an x in the bottom of each tomato, dunk it in the boiling water for 45 seconds, then use a spider to lift it out, and dunk it into a bowl of ice water.  Then the peel slips right off.  However, I am at a point where I have several ripe tomatoes, lots of under-ripe tomatoes, and a few over-ripe tomatoes.  So I pretty much went at the over-ripe ones with no mercy, cutting the soft spots, the burst seams, and anything that seemed the least bit gross, away.  Down the disposal they went.  So I had lots of little pieces and halves to use up today, and that's what I did.  

Once I had the tomatoes peeled, I broke them apart enough to scoop the seeds out over a sieve set over a bowl.  Doing this catches the juice in the bowl, and keeps the seeds separate.  Discard the seeds, but save the juice.

Now it's time to start the eggplant.  You can keep the skin, or lose it.  The skin is such a lovely color, but I can't take the texture of cooked eggplant skin, so I peel.  Then I slice it into thick discs, between 1/2" and 3/4".  Place them on a cooling rack set over a sheet pan with 4 sides. Sprinkle heavily with coarse salt, and let them sit for about 10 minutes, or until you see several drops of liquid on the surface of each slice. Then turn the discs over and salt the other side. Let them sit like that while you prep all the other veggies.

Peel and large dice a couple of onions, and mince about 4 cloves of garlic.

Remove the stem, seeds and ribs of 4-5 sweet peppers.  I like to use lots of colors here, and I happened to have some orange, yellow and red around, so that is what I used,  Cut these in a large dice, as well, and set aside.  

Finally, cut 3-4 medium large zucchini (or equivalent of smaller zucchini, about 3 1/2 cups) into large dice, 

And now, it's time to cook.

Heat up a large skillet (not Teflon), and lube it up with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once the oil is shimmering and very hot, add the onions.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and toss to coat lightly with the oil.  Let the onions cook, stirring occasionally, until you see a bit of nice golden color, but don't let them burn.  Place another large skillet, or better yet, a heavy Dutch oven, over low heat on another burner.  Once you have nice color on the onions, scrape them into the Dutch oven.  They will sit there, over low heat, while you saute all of the other veggies, and will become somewhat caramelized.  Yum.

Bring the pan back to screaming hot, add a little more oil, and then add half of the peppers.  At this point, I do not add any more salt.  This is because I want the peppers to brown a bit, and if I add salt, it will pull some of the juice out, and they will end up simmering.  They will have plenty of time to get soft and release their juices later.  Right now, I want to concentrate the sugars and get some color on them.  Once they look right, stir the onions a bit and scrape the peppers on top of the onions. Repeat with the other half of the peppers.  Once all the peppers are in the Dutch oven, you can season them with salt.

At this point, you may need to deglaze the pan.  If you haven't done this before, you may be freaking out, thinking that you burned something, and your pan is ruined.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  All that burnt-looking stuff is actually quite delicious, but it has to be liquified to take advantage of it.  Fortunately, that's easy.  Place the empty pan back over high heat and let it get quite hot and dry.  Now pour some water into the pan and immediately begin scraping the brown away with a wooden spoon.  It will come up surprisingly easily, and turn the water a lovely deep brown color.  Once you have most of the brown off of the pan, pour the liquid into a measuring cup.  You shouldn't need more than half a cup of water for each deglazing.  Save this liquid for a little later.

Now, move on to the zucchini and the eggplant, which you can shake off and dice while the zucchini cooks.  Just add a bit of oil as needed between batches, and let them cook long enough to get some color before moving them over to the Dutch oven.  I actually do the zucchini and eggplant in three batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, which can also lead to steaming.  I also deglaze again after the zucchini is all done. Remember to add some salt to each layer as you move it over to the Dutch oven.  

After the eggplant is done, I deglaze again, but this time, since there's not a lot of flavor, I am really just doing it to make cleanup easy later.  I just discard this water.

Now just tear the tomato pieces into smaller bits, using your fingers.  Add the flesh to the Dutch oven, and add any juice to the measuring cup. Now give it all a stir and appreciate the gorgeous colors of the dish that you are creating.  Really, appreciate it, because it's not going to look like that much longer.

Now, you can use vegetable broth here, but I happened to have lots of juice left from canning tomatoes, and I have plenty year-round because I can the leftover juice, as well.  So I just use the juice to measure up to 3 cups of liquid, combined with the deglazing liquid.  Add this to the Dutch oven, and turn the heat up to medium.  

When I first made this, I was supposed to use fresh thyme and rosemary.  I didn't have any. I was even out of dried thyme.  But while digging through the spice rack, willing the thyme to appear, I noticed a little jar that I had bought for fun while on a Penzey's run, and decided that this was as good a time as any to give it a try.

Herbes de Provence is an herb blend.  Think a French version of "Italian seasoning".  It usually includes thyme, savory, marjoram, fennel seed, and rosemary.  It has a pleasant floral aroma, and for good reason, because it also often uses lavender.  It's wonderful.  I add nearly a tablespoon, but you can add less to start, and add more later, if you decide that you love it as much as I do.

Once the liquids start to simmer, turn the heat down a bit and put the cover on the pot.  Now you get to walk away.  It can stay there for an hour or so.  Or, if you are uncomfortable leaving the house with a pot on the stove, place an oven-safe pot into a 375 degree oven.  

Once I got home from picking the kids up from school, this is what I found.  And the smell.....mmm.

The final step is an idea that I saw on simplyrecipes.com.  Place a colander inside of a large bowl, and pour the ratatouille into the colander. Stir it around a bit to help the juices drain.  Lift up the colander, and pour the juices into the pot. Put the colander back into the bowl, because the juice will continue to drain for some time yet. Every once in a while, add whatever juice has collected in the bowl, into the pot. Bring the juice to a boil, and then turn the heat to medium and let it simmer hard until reduced by half and you have a slightly thickened, rich-looking sauce.  Finally, add the veggies back to the reduced sauce and stir to coat.

Now usually, I serve this with rigatoni, which is a nice, sturdy, large pasta that stands up to the chunky veggies.  I had planned to run out and buy some after school, while the juice was reducing. But I got caught up with helping my 7 year old son with his convoluted math homework (courtesy of Common Core), so I had to settle for the penne from the pantry.

And here it is. It's delicious, comforting, homey, and nutritious.  Give it a try sometime, and if necessary, pop the movie in to get the kids to give it a try.  It worked for us! 

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Caprese -- My Favorite Meal

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Have you heard of Insalata Caprese? If you have been in a decent Italian restaurant, you have probably seen it on the menu.  It consists of fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese, and usually some good olive oil, maybe a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, and salt.  It can be prepared in a variety of ways.  I've seen it diced and tossed together.  I've often sliced the tomatoes and cheese to roughly the same size, and layered them with a whole basil leaf tucked between.  You can use a beefsteak tomato slice and a large ball of mozzarella, and serve a single stack with tiny ribbons of basil scattered over the top, as a first course or lunch in the summer.  Or you can make a platter full, alternating tomato, basil and cheese in rows.  I once even made little hors d'oeuvres by skewering a grape tomato, basil leaf and bocconcini (the little balls of fresh mozzarella that you can buy in a tub or on the olive bar) on a toothpick.  Any way you serve it, it is the most perfect combination of flavors, textures and colors that I can think of.  In fact, pizza Margherita uses these same basic ingredients.  Supposedly, it was first made for the queen, and the colors were a nod to the Italian flag.  Being the corndog that I am, that story makes it even better.

Well, I love pasta.  And years ago, I made a pasta sauce from fresh garden tomatoes.  It was a process, but delicious.  So I figured, why not bring some mozzarella to the party?  The results are fantastic, and this is absolutely my favorite meal ever.  That's saying something, because I loves me some beef, and there is no meat to be found here.  But the freshness of the ingredients, the simplicity of it, and the pure pleasure of the process of creating it, make this my number one.

I should note that this dish, in its simplicity, relies heavily on the quality of its ingredients.  Especially the tomatoes.  Fresh tomatoes from your garden or the farmers market are the best.  However, it is November in Michigan, and there is not a decent tomato to be found, right? Well, I discovered campari tomatoes a few years ago, and they get me through the long, dreary, tomatoless winter.  They come in a clamshell package, and you can get them at Meijer or Sam's Club, at least.  They are not cheap, and they are small, which means a little more work. But they at least taste like tomatoes, which is a far cry from the pallid, rock hard balls with frosty white flesh inside that they label as tomatoes at the supermarket.  Of course, Sam's Club has the better price, but I found them on sale at Meijer this week, and I snatched up a couple of boxes.  As for cheese, I've heard that freshly made mozzarella is the best. Alas, I have never had the pleasure of eating mozzarella that is house-made, so I don't know what I am missing.  Therefore, the stuff you get at Aldi or Meijer or any other supermarket, is just fine. Once again, though, Sam's Club has a great price on a large package.

Alright, let's get started! 

This is all you need, plus some olive oil.  Tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and spaghetti.  Get everything together, because this moves pretty quickly.

First, get a large pot of water on to boil.  While you are waiting for that to happen, rinse your tomatoes off.  I use the same pot for the tomatoes and the pasta, so you just want to make sure that there is no dirt or dust on the tomatoes.

Fill a large bowl with cold water, about halfway, and drop in a few ice cubes. Then get a smaller bowl and put a mesh strainer in it.  I've got this down to a science.  I used to use about 5 bowls, but now I only use these two.

Now prep your rinsed tomatoes by cutting a shallow X in the bottom of each with the tip of a sharp paring knife.  You only need to go just through the skin.

I don't know how your stove works, but I was still waiting for the water to boil, so I went ahead and prepared my garlic.  I use a whole head of garlic, and I chop it roughly...no need to really mince it here.  Just no bigger than you mind biting into.

Finally, my water boiled, so I turned it down to a simmer and dropped in some tomatoes, using my handy spider.  You don't want to add too many tomatoes at one time, because it will bring down the temperature of the water too much.  Plus, the timing works out perfectly.  These tomatoes are small, so I did four at a time.  For larger garden tomatoes, do about two, maybe three at a time.

There....see the crack in the skin?  That means that it is done....well, more than done.  It took me a few tries to get a decent picture.  Once you see the X getting longer, you can get them out.  It doesn't take long--maybe 30 seconds, so don't walk away.

Now you can plunge them into the ice water.  Immediately put another batch of tomatoes into the simmering water.  Then get a tomato out of the ice water and pull the skin away.  It comes right off.

Like that.  Of course, if you have ever canned tomatoes, you are familiar with this process.  It's as simple as can be.  The only thing I do differently is to do a few at a time instead of all at once.  I find that the peel comes off more easily if the tomato is still just a little warm.  The longer they sit in the ice bath, the more the skin wants to adhere.  And as soon as you get the peel off of one batch, the next one is ready to come out of the hot water and into the ice bath, so there really isn't any extra time involved.  

As I peel each tomato, I set it into the strainer inside the bowl.  This is just so that any extra water can drip off.

Once all the tomatoes are peeled, you might need to add some water to the pot in order to have enough to cook the pasta.  Once you add the water, you can put the pot on a back burner and turn it back up to high.  Then add enough good olive oil to a skillet to cover the bottom.  I like green, fruity olive oils, but that's just my taste.  In this recipe, the oil is adding flavor, not just lubricating the pan, so use what you like.  Put the pan over medium-low heat and add the garlic.  This will slowly heat up together, and the flavor of the garlic will infuse into the oil.  Your house will smell wonderful, and you will be happy.  If the oil gets above a low simmer, turn it down a little.  You want to hear a mild sizzle, but not much more than that.  

Now finish prepping the tomatoes.  Empty the ice water bath.  Now empty any water from the small bowl, and then drop the tomatoes into the bowl.  Then put the strainer into the larger bowl.  It's like musical chairs, except with bowls instead of chairs, and no music.  You will need to work over the strainer, because the tomatoes are going to drip as you cut them, and you want to catch all the juices in the bowl.  The strainer is to catch the seeds.  Of course, if you don't mind seeds, you can skip all of this and just core the tomatoes, then tear them up.  I don't like tomato seeds, especially in my pasta sauce.  Use the tip of your paring knife to cut a v-shaped circle around the core of the tomato (the stem end).  You want the cut to be shaped like a cone, I guess.  Then reach in with your fingers and grab the little cone and pull it out, taking as little flesh as you can.  Drop the cone into the strainer.  Now just dig your thumbs into the hole and pull the tomato apart.  Slide your fingers along the inside of the tomato wall to push most of the seeds out.  That jelly-like stuff around the seeds will come with them.  That's okay...we'll deal with that in a minute.  The picture above shows what it will look like when you are done.  The empty shell of a tomato goes into the bowl under the strainer.  The seeds have all been captured by the strainer, and much of the juice is collecting in the large bowl underneath.  When all of the tomatoes have been emptied, use your spider to transfer the tomato flesh back to the smaller bowl.  The spider will allow the juice to drain away from the flesh, but you don't have to go crazy.  Now reach into the strainer and grab fistfuls of seeds/gel and squeeze to break up the gel.  Do this for a minute or so, over the strainer, and then you can just swish your hand around to push most of the liquid out into the bowl.  At this point, the strainer should be rinsed off.  Dry seeds will stick, and that's a mess you don't want to deal with. Plus, you can use the strainer to drain the pasta later, and you'll want it clean.

By this time, the garlic should just barely be turning golden around the edges. If that starts to happen earlier, just turn the heat down until you are ready.  Keep an eye on it, because you don't want burnt garlic.  If, on the other hand, you see no sign of golden color and there is no sizzle at all, just turn the heat up for a minute or two, until you see some.  

Then turn the heat up to high and drop in the red pepper flakes.  If you have never used red pepper flakes, I highly recommend that you buy the mild version.  These little puppies pack some heat!  The thing that I have found with pepper flakes is that they seem to get milder as they sit in your pantry.  But you kind of play roulette every time you use them.  If you are sensitive to heat, just use a pinch, or use a bit of black pepper instead.  But I like a punch, so I used about 1/2 teaspoon here.  It was bracing.  

After only about 10 seconds, add the tomato flesh.  Sprinkle well with coarse salt and then toss around, and press the tomatoes to the bottom of the pan.  The combination of salt (which draws moisture out) and heat breaks down the tomatoes pretty quickly.  

At this point, your water should be boiling again.  Salt the water well, and put the pasta in, and don't forget to stir it around well to keep it from sticking to itself.  

After only a few minutes, the tomatoes have broken down to this.  You can help the progress along at this point by pressing on them with your tongs or a spoon.  They are pretty soft, so they will break apart easily.  Don't go crazy, though.  A few chunks are good, and well, I think they make the dish prettier.  Yes, that matters.

When the tomatoes are broken down to this, you can go ahead and add the reserved juice.

Then just stir it around and let it keep cooking away over high heat.  This is a thin sauce, and you want some of the moisture to evaporate, but you want the body and flavor from the juice, so don't skip it.

Somewhere in here you will need to drain your pasta.  I like to pour the pasta into the strainer, and then immediately place the pot underneath the strainer.  It will catch around 1 cup of water as it drains, and you might need that later.

Now it's time to prepare the basil.  Don't do this ahead of time.  It only takes a minute, and the basil will start to discolor if cut and exposed to air for too long.  Tear all of the leaves off of the stems.  Discard the stems, and place the largest leaf you have underneath a stack of all the rest.

This package had an enormous leaf, which was very convenient.  Now just roll up the outer leaf, wrapping it around the rest of the basil, and slice thinly across the roll.

Here's what you end up with.  For what it's worth, this is a chiffonade of basil.  Oooh, French!

Turn the heat off and toss the basil chiffonade into the sauce.  You don't want to cook the basil.  The residual heat is enough to pull the flavor into the sauce without turning the basil to mush.  Seriously, isn't this pretty?

Now add the pasta and toss it around.  I go slowly when adding my pasta.  If I have a little leftover, I can throw it in the fridge and use it for something later.  But I don't want to be left with dry pasta without enough sauce.  If you accidentally add more pasta than you need, go ahead and drizzle in a bit of pasta cooking water.  It will help to loosen the pasta up, while the starch in the water keeps the sauce from becoming too thin.  I realize that this doesn't look as red and saucy as you may be used to.  Again, this is a thin sauce, unlike the stuff you find in a jar.  It hasn't been cooked down to near paste.  But it is more than saucy enough to coat the pasta, and the freshness makes up for the lack of redness.  

Now just cube up the cheese and scatter it over the spaghetti.  Toss with your tongs, and get the cheese kind of covered up.  The residual heat of the pasta will soften the cheese, so that when you serve and eat it......

........this will happen!  Oh, yum.......

Give yourself a little taste of summer!  Get your hands on some campari tomatoes and pretend that we're not on the cusp of snowfall.  I always have fun making this, and I hope you will, too!