Pasta, Pancetta and Prepping

Tonight's supper was another recipe from the  Pollan Family Table: creamy spinach pasta alfredo with crispy pancetta.  Oh my-  it was very, very tasty! I  forgot to take a pic, but here's the recipe page from the cookbook.   Our supper looked almost just like   the picture.

The recipe called for  frozen chopped spinach but I have a "thing" about frozen spinach.  It  is chopped with stems and all and I much prefer to by fresh spinach and remove the stems.  With older spinach I also like to remove the   hard spine and even when  we buy baby spinach there  always seems to be a fair amount of older larger  leaves with  tough spines.  Stemming  the spinach takes longer  but in my opinion is well worth the effort. Blanching  the leaves, squeezing out the  moisture and chopping the spinach takes only a few minutes and to me just tastes better than frozen spinach.

I also much prefer to  grate my own Parmesan cheese and  nutmeg because they taste so much fresher and better to me. But one  time and work saver I did use tonight was  already  diced pancetta.  I saw it   last time we were in Publix and thought I'd try it.  I'm glad I did, it was excellent and seemed to brown much better and faster than  when  I've hacked at it myself in an attempt to dice it.  Did I tell you I am  hopeless with a knife?  It's one of those skills like  swimming or riding a bike  that I was never able to master despite the efforts of some very dedicated instructors.  The poor souls tried everything they knew to help me get past my clumsiness before finally throwing their hands up in desperation and giving up.  So I am a hacker with a knife rather than a slicer,  dicer, chopper or a mincer, and the pancetta was spared from a torturous end on my cutting board, thanks to Publix.

I used another trick to peel the garlic called for in the recipe:  put the cloves in a  jar ( I used a plastic smoothie  glass with a lid that came with my blender)  with a lid and shake vigorously.  The  skin falls off and  the garlic is peeled with little or no effort on your part and no garlic smell on your hands!  You're welcome! 

The dish came together  quite nicely.  It was quick, delicious, and   called for a minimal number of pots, pans and utensils. The latter alone is enough to elicit a five star rating from Mr. G., who has taken over  dish washing duties. He frequently mutters under his breath about how, based on the number of  dirty dishes confronting him,  anybody would think I was  cooking for an army instead of two people. He just doesn't  appreciate the concept of mis en place and all the extra  little bowls that hold the prepped ingredients. Tonight,  there were only three little bowls, one saucepan, one skillet, a spatula, wooden spoon, colander for draining both the spinach and pasta, two plates and  knives and forks. We were both happy and there was a minimum of muttering, thank goodness! 

More Adventures in Cooking

We've been picking summer squash from the garden for a couple of weeks now, and the bush beans are coming in, too! Not very many at a time, but enough to make a meal for the two of us. This is today's harvest:



I used some of our yellow squash last Sunday in a recipe from Tables of Content, the newest cookbook from the Junior league of Birmingham. It's a lovely book; not only are the recipes very good, but the book contains photographs of the "tables" of food in landmark settings in and around Birmingham such as Sloss Furnaces, the zoo and botanical gardens, with information about the landmarks. The squash casserole was quite delicious, as are most of the recipes I've tried from the book. This recipe serves 6 to 8; I halved it for us and adjusted the cooking time accordingly.

Best Squash Casserole

10 yellow squash

2 eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded mild cheddar cheese

1/3 cup chopped green onions (optional)

12 butter crackers, finely crushed

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Shredded mild cheddar cheese to taste(optional)

8 butter crackers, finely crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the squash with enough water to generously cover in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes or until tender and drain. Let stand until cool and slice. Drain the sliced squash in a colander, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract any remaining moisture. The cooked squash should measure 5 cups.

Beat the eggs in a bowl until blended. Stir in the mayonnaise and salad dressing mix. Fold in the squash, 1 cup cheese, the green onions, 12 crushed crackers, the garlic salt and pepper. Spoon the squash mixture into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle with additional cheese and 8 crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes.

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The beets from Saturday's trip to the farmers market provided roasted beets using a recipe from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook another of my favorite cook books that gets a lot of use. Growing up, I never cared much for beets . We always had them either boiled or pickled, but since discovering roasted beets, I love them. They have an entirely different, deep flavor, and this recipe really brings out the delicious beet taste:

Roasted Beets with Warm Dijon Vinaigrette

3 pounds medium beets with greens

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup sliced green onions

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

Leave root and 1-inch stem on beets; reserve greens. Scrub beets with a vegetable brush. Drizzle beets with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast beets in a small roasing pan at 400 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender.

Meanwhile, process green onions, vinegar and mustard in a food processor until smooth, stopping once to scrape down sides. Pour 1/3 cup olive oil through food chute with processor running, processing until smooth. Place vinegar mixture in a small saucepan; cook over low heat until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.

Wash beet greens thoroughly; pat dry with paper towels. Cut greens into thin strips. Place beet greens in a medium saucepan; cover with water, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered 10 minutes. Drain well. Set aside; keep warm.

Cool roasted beets. Trim off roots and stems, and rub off skins. Cut beets into 1/4 inch slices.

Place greens and beets on individual serving plates; top evenly with vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper and dill. Serve immediately. Yield: 6 servings.

Note: I halved this recipe, too, but won't do that again because the small amount of vinaigrette dressing was hard to process and heat properly.

Adventures in cooking

I just rediscovered one of my herb books- The Herb Garden Cookbook: The Complete Gardening and Gourmet Guide, by Lucinda Hutson. It is chock full of information on growing and using herbs, and the recipes sound wonderful. So I decided to try a couple. Night before last, we had Garlicky Rosemary Shrimp, with rosemary and bay leaves fresh from the garden. Last night I decided to try the recipe for Texas Goat Cheese Tart. Of course, I had no Texas goat cheese in the fridge, but I did have some goat cheese. Not as much as the recipe called for, though- so I began substituting. My tendency to substitute stuff in recipes worries Mr. G.

He'll wander into the kitchen while I'm perusing a recipe, look over my shoulder and say, "That sounds good- is that what we're having for supper?"

I often reply, "Well, sort of... I don't have any ____ so I'm using ____ instead."

Mr. G generally groans and mutters stuff under his breath at that point.

Sometimes the substitutions work- sometimes they're a disaster. And sometimes I get carried away and the final product has little in common with the original recipe. Fortunately, this turned out to be quite good, and I plan to try several more of Hutson's recipes- I may even follow some to the letter! The book has been relocated from my garden book shelf to the cookbook shelf in the kitchen.
Here's the recipe- if you decide to try it, let me know how it turns out!

Goat Cheese & Ricotta Tart

1 9 inch pre-baked pie crust
¼ cup loosely packed parsley
2 T fresh rosemary
¼ cup fresh basil
1 small clove garlic, mashed
6oz. Goat Cheese
6 oz Ricotta Cheese
4 oz Sour Cream
2 ounces unsalted butter
1T flour
2 eggs
Salt & Pepper to taste

Bring cheeses, sour cream, butter to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375F. Place herbs and garlic in food processor to mince, add cheeses, butter, sour cream, eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Pour mixture into pre-baked pie crust. Bake until puffed and golden on top (about 25-30 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes: This would probably taste better with crème fraîche instead of sour cream, but I couldn’t find any cream that wasn’t ultra-pasteurized, so wasn’t able to make crème fraîche. The original recipe also calls for 12 ounces of goat cheese and 4 ounces of ricotta- but I used what I had. You could also use another combination of herbs, more garlic, etc.

Also, while the instructions call for a food processor, I have a very small one, so minced the herbs, added about half the amount of the cheeses, the butter and the eggs, then turned it all into a mixing bowl, added the rest of the cheeses and the flour and blended with a mixer until smooth.