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Rapini, Pea, and Tomato Pasta

May 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Rapini, Pea and Tomato pasta

I made homemade pasta noodles the other night with a great vegetarian sauce of vegetables straight from our CSA share. It was one of those dishes where you just keep throwing veggies in that you have on hand and then are pleasantly surprised when it comes out great! I used Rapini greens, freshly shelled english peas, and leeks from the CSA. You could easily substitute with onion and frozen peas if that's what you have on hand. I'm sure it would be great with other cooking greens as well: kale, chard or spinach would probably all work. I was in the mood to make fresh pasta that night but store bought will work just as well. Mine is Bucatini shaped. Penne, Rigatoni or macaroni would all work. Rapini, Pea & Tomato Pasta 2 medium leeks, chopped 1 bunch Rapini greens, chopped 1 1/2 cups english peas, freshly shelled 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp italian seasoning pinch red pepper flakes 28 oz can diced tomatoes 1/2 cup white white (water or broth would … [Read more...]

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Green Garlic Dressing

March 1, 2011 by · 2 Comments
green_garlic

It's green garlic season! Have  you ever tried green garlic? I had never even heard of green garlic until I started getting it in my CSA box. I love garlic and it's appalling I was missing out on something so amazing as green garlic. What is it? Green garlic is simply immature garlic and looks similar to a scallion or green onion with a purple tinge near the root end. It tastes like garlic but with a much milder flavor. It is usually only available in the spring and is all over the farmer's markets at this time of year. I did see it at Whole Foods the other day when I was there as well. I use green garlic in all sort of things at this time of year but my favorite is Green Garlic Dressing. It is simple to whip up in a food processor. I love it in a green salad or better yet a pasta salad. So good!  Isn't it a lovely light green color? Green Garlic Dressing: 1-3 stems of green garlic (Depends on how strong you want the garlic flavor to be. I use 3 for pasta salad, 2 … [Read more...]

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Italian Vegetable Soup

October 22, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
italiansoup

Fall seems to have arrived  in San Francisco. A couple of weeks ago we had a record breaking heat wave and now it's cool, foggy and rainy. What to do? Make soup! A pot of soup bubbling away on the stove seems so warm and comforting to me. I just love it! Some would argue it's always soup season in San Francisco because of the foggy weather we so frequently have, but it just seems weird to me to make hot soup in the summertime. Soup is just Fall and Winter food to me. Don't even get me started on cold summer soups, I can't stand them. Eww! The other night I made a big pot of vegetable soup with Italian flavors. It turned out so great! It's one of those things that you can't believe is healthy because it tastes so darn good. I wanted to stick to a vegetarian soup this time as we are trying to each vegetarian at least one night a week. You could easily add some chicken or sausage to it but it doesn't really need it. I used fresh herbs because I had them on hand. You can … [Read more...]

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Ratatouille

September 8, 2010 by · 2 Comments
ratatouille

This past Christmas I put Mastering the Art of French Cooking on my wish list. I really enjoyed the movie Julie & Julia and thought it would be fun to try my hand at some of the French techniques. I LOVE this cookbook. Everything I've made in it so far is unbelievably fussy and taken forever to cook. Everything I've cooked in it has also been unbelievably delicious and worth the effort. This year we've been having a Julia night once a month or so. It's been fun to try my hand at making fancy food. We've had friends over a few times to enjoy a recipe or two from the cookbook and watch the movie. Don't be surprised to see more Julia recipes popping up over time. For a while now I've been eyeing the Ratatouille recipe and planning to make it when I received eggplant from my CSA share. Well, this week's share seemed made to order for ratatouille! I used the tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini from this week and the parsley from last week. I only needed a few other ingredients and I had … [Read more...]

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Green Chile

August 25, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Green Chile

Growing up in Colorado I loved green chile and all things smothered in green chile. Good spicy green chile is pretty hard to find in San Francisco. California style Mexican food is more the taqueria and taco truck variety. I like it too but still long for my green chile. Last night (yes on a Tuesday!) I hosted a going away dinner party for my friend Jane who is moving back home to England. She and her family will be sorely missed! Some of the guests are following a gluten free diet so I had to put my thinking cap on to come up with some yummy food that would please everyone, kids and adults. Mexican food is easy to make gluten free. Corn doesn't have gluten and you can find hard taco shells, corn tortillas and tortilla chips without gluten. Just be sure to check the label for hidden wheat flour. The first brand of tortilla chips I picked up had wheat flour listed as an ingredient which surprised me. For the party menu I decided on a taco bar with ground turkey taco meat, … [Read more...]

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