pasta primavera

those who think ahead are rewarded: so the next time your carnivorous friends are doing a little saturday barbeque, and not wanting to inconvenience anybody, you bring your own veggie burgers… snatch a zucchini and asian eggplant, too—for a sunday pasta primavera. once they’re sufficiently blackened, throw ‘em in foil and hide ‘em away. then, the next day:

1) add crushed garlic, half a yellow onion (chopped coarsely), marjoram, oregano, and a glug of olive oil to a medium pan. simmer until the onions are a little browned and almost cooked through.

2) add one red tomato and a handful of yellow baby tomatoes to the mix and cook until their skins begin falling off.

3) take out those grilled veggies. slice and dice the eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes, and grate the zucchini. add to the pan with salt and pepper (to taste).

4) add just enough pre-cooked pasta for the sauce and veg to evenly coat it. lower the heat. fresh basil. lots of it. wash and chop and add it a few minutes before serving.

enjoy!

this is a start…

From the NYT: ”The Obama administration announced Monday that it would seek to ban many routine uses of antibiotics in farm animals in hopes of reducing the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans.” It looks like the only way to pass this is to hitch it to the health reform wagon… fine by me. michelle obama, can you please be the face and voice of food reform? (you’re already walkin’ the walk with your organic garden)

beet pancakes

what you’ll need: 10″ pan, butter, 1 large beet, grater, lemon, thyme, sea salt, flour, two small plates.

what you do: 1) wash, peel, and grate the beet into a medium mixing bowl. there will be beet juice. everywhere. 2) start heating your pan. add 1/4 cup flour and lemon skin grating into the beet shreddings. mix. 3) add sea salt, thyme. add enough extra flour for massive clumping to occur. split the mix in two. 4) add a thin slice of butter to the pan, and swirl until almond-y brown. add half of the mix to the pan and flatten to a pancake shape. 5) cook for 5 on one side. plate the ‘cake. put the other plate on top. flip. add another slice of butter to the pan. return ‘cake to pan. cook for 3-5. 6) repeat step 5 for the other ‘cake.

yum.

quinoa taco filling

even my carnivore father enjoyed this…makes: ~4-5 tacos

what you’ll need: 1/2 cup dry quinoa; small red onion, chopped; 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped; anaheim chile, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; olive oil; one tomato; vegetable stock and water (tbd); cumin seeds; paprika; cayenne; ground ginger; salt n peppah, to taste.

what you do: 1) in a small bowl, soak the quinoa with 1 cup of water for 20-30 minutes, 2) add onion to a medium (and deep) skillet with a couple glugs of olive oil; smash the garlic cloves and break them up in the skillet as well (they’ll taste almost sweet this way), 3) add pepper and chile and cumin seeds, saute the bunch, 4) add diced tomato (yellow while it’s summer!), and let the mix simmer for 3-4 minutes, 5) while you’re waiting, drain the quinoa, refill with another cup of water, and then add the quinoa + water to the pan, 6) keep the mix on a medium simmer, adding water or stock periodically as the base boils away; when the quinoa grains unfold and begin clumping like cous cous, you’re probably there.

sweet potato hash browns

secret ingredient: crack rock.

so it’s officially summer potluck season, which means it’s time to perfect a dish that’s (relatively) healthy, but (more importantly) is facebook-level addictive… so you only have to learn to cook one side for the entire summer bbq schedule. i made this the other day:

what you need: *sweet potatoes, rinsed, peeled (2 taters = 4 servings)* *olive oil* *sea salt* *peppah* *grated orange skin* *big ol’ frying pan* *cheese grater*

what you do: 1) grate (over the large holes) the taters into a large mixing bowl–they should resemble carrot gratings, 2) spread the gratings evenly along the bottom of the pan, so you have a 1/8-in thick layer (*you usually have to cook the taters in shifts, so have an extra bowl ready to put the finished product in; you can always add it all back to the pan for a quick reheat), 3) heavy peppering and salting, plus 7 or 8 grating thrusts with an orange over the small holes of your grater, 4) pour a couple o glugs of olive oil evenly over your taters, 5) cook on med-hi and taste until you’re doing more tasting than cooking (8-10 min usually–i like them a little blackened)

fava beans

favas were at my local farmer’s market yesterday. they are ugly as sin and about as fun to extract as wax globules from your ears. still–so worth it. here’s a simple recipe:

1) you’ll want a couple of handfuls per person. pop the individual beans out, throw ‘em into a large pot with SALTY water, and boil them for 3 minutes. get a bowl of ice water ready while you wait.

2) dump the hot beans into a colander, drain, and deposit into the ice water. now comes the fun part. if you gently squeeze the flesh of the bean (moving your thumb and middle finger in the motion normally used for a snap), out pops a wonderful bright green nugget of goodness. 

3) add olive oil, salt, peppah, grated orange skin, 1-2 smashed garlic cloves (garlic becomes nice and sweet when you cook it as a smashed whole), and a dash of vegetable broth to a skillet with the favas. I added spinach, b/c i’m iron-depleted, but feel free to keep it simple. shake and shimmy for 5-7 minutes. serve.

spinach and eggplant tortellini

I made this last night for din din.

1) cut up half of an eggplant into 1/4 x 1/2 x 1/2 inch cubes, unleash a couple of glugs of olive oil over the cubes in a pan, add salt, peppah, basil. Cook until evenly browned, throw onto a paper towel to soak up extra oil.

2) spring onion, whole garlic (2 cloves, smashed), and spinach–toss em in the pan and cook until the onion gets translucent. pour marinara sauce over the bunch. add the eggplant, simmer.

3) boil tortellini for 5, drain, add to the sauce. turn up the heat for 3, plate, add feta.

oatmeal chocolate death cookies

 

oatmeal chocolate death cookie

what you need: 

*1.5 sticks of butter*    

*2 1/2 cups of original quaker oats*    

*3/4 cup flour*

*2 tablespoons of vanilla

*2 eggs*    

*cinnamon*      

*4 ghirardelli choc. squares* 

 *1 1/2 cups packed brown sugah*    

 *1 cup of semisweet mini morsels*    

*big ol’ bowl*    

*2 ungreased cookie sheets*

what you do:

preheat oven to 350 F.

give the butter 15 sec in the microwave, mix in bowl with sugar until most of the butter magma blobs disappear.

add eggs one at a time; dump in the vanilla. whip up goo until its fluffy.

add flour, cinnamon, oats and mix until your arm is about fall off. then mix some more.

shave chocolate squares (dark or semisweet works best) over the bowl. when you’re about to lose a finger, break up the remaining chocolate into chunks and add to the dough.

add the morsels, stir. add some more cinnamon or vanilla to taste.

place small (the smaller, the better–you don’t feel guilty when you eat a dozen of these guys in one sitting, and it maximizes the chocolate-to-oatmeal ratio), messy looking balls onto the ungreased sheets. bake 8-10 minutes.