It’s a pretty easy recipe- I do the noodles and the broccoli in the same pot, and the sauce is just a food processor thing, so you can make this from start to finish in under 20 minutes. Of course, any vegetables of your liking will work. It’s a good dish to make for vegetarian company. Actually, I totally just realized this is VEGAN. I can’t believe I like something vegan! I think I just saw a pig fly. A delicious, delectable little pig. Mmmmm. Bacon.

Nutty Thai Noodle Salad
serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 3 inch piece of ginger, peeled
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup almond butter (or just use more peanut butter)
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tblsp sesame oil
• 2 Tblsp white wine vinegar
• 2 Tblsp honey
• 2 tsp dijon mustard (smooth, not grainy)
• 1 bunch broccoli or baby broccoli, trimmed and chopped
• 1 large or 2 small red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips
• 1 bunch scallions, white and light green parts finely chopped
• 12 oz. buckwheat soba noodles
• red pepper flakes or sriracha to taste
• sesame seeds to taste

Method:

• Put garlic and ginger in a food processor and pulse to chop. Add nut butters, hot water, soy sauce, oil, vinegar, honey and mustard and chop in the food processor until well mixed. Add red pepper flakes or sriracha to taste if desired and pulse again. Set aside.
• Heat a large pot of salted water on the stove. Add the broccoli and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, rinse with cool water, drain, and set aside.
• In the same pot of water, add the soba noodles and cook according to package. Drain and rinse with cool water.
• In a bowl, combine noodles, broccoli, scallions, bell peppers, and dressing. Toss everything together to coat evenly. Sprinkle with a small handful of sesame seeds if desired and toss again. Serve immediately.
• This keeps for about a day if you want to eat the leftovers, but after that the noodles start to get a bit broken down.

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Fettucine with Roasted Corn Cream & Crispy Portobellos

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
• 2 Tblsp olive oil, divided
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 portobello mushroom caps, cleaned and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 1/3 cup grated or shaved parmigiano
• 12 oz. fettucine noodles
• salt and pepper
• handful of chopped parsley, for garnish

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the corn kernels off the cob and put them into a roasting pan with 1 Tblsp olive oil and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Place in the oven to roast for about 20 minutes, until corn is cooked and starts to brown, stirring occasionally.
• While corn is roasting, put corn cobs, cream, and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off heat and leave to steep cobs in broth and cream.
• Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 Tblsp olive oil in a saute pan. Add portobellos and cook about 5-10 minutes, until crispy. Add shallots and cook another 1-2 minutes, until shallots are softened. Turn off heat.
• Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
• Put about 1/3 of the roasted corn into the portobello and shallot pan and set aside.
• Remove the cobs from the cream and broth mixture and discard. Pour the liquid into a blender with the remaining 2/3 of the roasted corn and most of the parmigiano (reserving a bit for garnish.) Puree until smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.
• Mix cooked fettucine, corn cream, and mushroom/shallot/corn mixture together with tongs. Garnish with a bit of parmigiano and serve immediately.

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You can do lots of things with this simple pesto. To serve, I made a warm pasta salad by tossing it with fusilli and some additional chopped arugula, green onions, and toasted pine nuts. Delicious!

Arugula Feta Pesto

Makes about a cup of pesto

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, with a bit of the oil
• 2 large handfuls arugula leaves
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta

Method:

• Put sundried tomatoes and arugula in blender or food processor to chop.
• Add remaining ingredients and pulse to desired texture. Taste and add salt if necessary. (Depending on how salty the feta is, you may not need any.)
• Serve over hot or cold pasta, or as a spread on crusty bread.

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So how did it get to be that color? Lots of artificial food coloring and FD&C red, of course! OK, not really. You just need to use a purple cabbage. Then, ShaZAM! (OK I might be over-Shazaming. That was the last one, I promise.)

I’ve mentioned before that Buddha said that if you want to be healthy, you should eat the rainbow. This recipe definitely fills that bill. I put some in a jar for Ross to take to work and the jar also looked beautiful.

SHAZAM!!! I lied earlier. I will never stop Shazaming this blog post. And now you probably think I’m drunk but I assure you I am not. Over-caffeinated, maybe. Excited by soup, definitely!

Wow. Excited by soup. That is pretty lame. I think I need to get out more.

Beautiful Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 large potato, grated
• 1/2 head purple cabbage, shredded
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 parmesan rind
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup parmigiano, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, until soft.
• Add carrot, potato, and cabbage and cook about 1 minute, stirring.
• Add broth, parmesan rind, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
• Add milk and stir to heat.
• Turn off heat and add grated parmesan. Taste and adjust seasoning.

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If done well, Tortellini in Brodo is like a super delicious, rich, hearty, filling version of chicken soup. It’s a classic Italian dish, but the way I make it is far simpler than other recipes I’ve seen. After describing it to Ross he decided he wanted some too, so tonight I made it for dinner. It’s just the thing after a long day at work! Plus, it’s so simple I’d bet even your kids will eat it. Since the recipe is so simple, the quality of ingredients is extra important.

• Put broth and oil in a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add tortellini and cook as directed. When cooked, remove tortellini to serving bowls with a slotted spoon.
• Continue cooking broth until reduced by 2/3 to 1/2 of volume. Pour over tortellini.
• Top with a few shavings of parmigiano and serve immediately.
• Note: if your chicken broth is not as flavorful as you wish, you can add 1-2 small packets of liquid chicken broth concentrate (you can get it at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.)

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Here’s the how to: Chop potatoes and steak (or chicken, pork chop, meat loaf, whatev) into roughly equal size cubes (1/2 inch-ish). Chop a couple shallots or onions finely. If you’re like me, then for some odd reason your leftovers also fortuitously include a ziploc containing 5 cooked bacon slices and you should definitely chop those up as well. If you’re lucky enough to own a vegetable, like a bell pepper or broccoli or something, well then your fridge is better stocked than mine. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back, then give that the chop chop as well.

Heat some butter (or lard, duck fat, olive oil, whatev) in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the potatoes- those should get crispy so they need to cook the longest. If you have some hard vegetable like broccoli then throw that in with the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss or stir to brown the potatoes on multiple sides. When you’ve got some nice browning on at least a couple of sides, add the shallots (and your softer vegetable if you’re using one: I’m talking bell pepper or zucchini-type stuff) and cook another couple minutes until the shallots soften but not so long that they brown. Add the meat(s) and cook just until heated through, tossing or stirring, a couple minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust. If you really want to clog your family’s arteries, fry some eggs and put ‘em over the top. What the hell. You only live once.

I like to eat this with some Greek yogurt mixed in, but then again, I’m weird like that.

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I used my new favorite thing, quinoa spaghetti from Whole Foods. It tastes almost exactly like regular spaghetti but imparts the nutritiousness of my favorite pseudocereal. One more note: the recipe combines many meats (3 to be exact) but you could just use all beef if you like. Although secretly, I would judge you from afar if you did that. Not really. OK maybe a little.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
This will serve 4-6 easily.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 slices bread (any kind) crust removed, torn into pieces
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 Tblsp roughly chopped Italian parsley leaves
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup parmigiano-reggiano
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil

for the sauce:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 20 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
• salt and pepper

Method:

Make the sauce:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook a couple minutes, until soft and opaque.
• Using your hands, pull the tomatoes out of the liquid in the can and crush them up with your hands a bit before adding them to the pot. Add about a cup of the liquid from the tomato can. Season with salt and pepper and cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, at which point the sauce should get thicker.
• Reduce heat to lowest possible setting and cook another 20-30 minutes. Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if necessary. If desired, add in some chopped fresh basil or oregano at the end and stir in.

While sauce is cooking, make the meatballs:

• Put milk in a large bowl and add torn bread pieces to soak. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and parsley and cook until soft and opaque, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add onion mixture and all meats into the large bowl with the bread and milk, along with the egg, parmigiano, and some salt and pepper, and mix with your hands until mixed together. (Reserve the onion pan for cooking the meatballs.)
• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Heat about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in the onion pan over medium high heat. Form meatballs that are between the size of a baseball and a golf ball. Brown them on all sides, about 15 minutes total.
• Put about 1/4 of the sauce in a 9×13 pan. Add meatballs. Put another 1/4 of the sauce over the meatballs. Put into the oven and cook for about 15-30 minutes, until they are cooked through.
• Meanwhile, cook your noodles as directed.
• When the meatballs are done, mix the drained noodles with the remaining 1/2 of the sauce. Spoon the meatballs on top of the noodles and sprinkle with extra parmigiano if desired.

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I cannot tell a lie: I did not come up with this concept. There’s a great little neighborhood restaurant here in SF called Q and they are known for topping their Mac with Tots. HOWEVER. While I have enjoyed Q’s Mac on several occasions, I have always felt that the Mac execution could be improved upon. Ergo, I Totted my own Mac, with diabolically delicious results.

So, here’s how it goes down: make some hella good homemade Mac N Cheese. You can really make it however you like it, as long as you PROMISE to make it hella good. Cook frozen tater tots according to their packaging. Cook your Mac N Cheese for 10 minutes less than you normally would. Cover top of hot Mac with hot Tots and cook for about 10 minutes. If you’re CRAZY LIKE ME which is to say LIKE A FOX  you can put crumbled crispy prosciutto or bacon on top of the Mac, but under the Tots.

So Tot your Mac today: it’s highly recommended for those who fancy the idea of double carbing your carbs while white trashing up your fancy Mac N Cheese!

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If you like pasta dishes which feature the noodles more than the other stuff- then this is not for you. If, however, you like pasta dishes in which the presence of noodles provides a vehicle to get giant chunks of salty pancetta, earthy vegetables, and fresh ricotta into your face, then you should give it a try. It’s like a bowl full of fall, and extremely satisfying on a chilly night.

A few notes about the ingredients: It’s best if you can get slab pancetta or slab bacon and cut it into cubes, but you could use regular thick-cut bacon if you have to. The ricotta must be fresh, not in the tub from the supermarket. (At the risk of sounding terribly haughty I had actually made my own ricotta, which I’ll talk about in a future post, as it’s actually pretty simple to make at home.) You can get fresh ricotta at an Italian market or a kind of fancy store like Whole Foods. You could also omit the ricotta if you want; it definitely rounds out the dish, but it would still be tasty without. As to the pasta, I used fresh pappardelle, but I wouldn’t recommend it- I think a smaller pasta shape would work much better. Finally, if the pancetta is very salty you may want to be conservative on salting the rest of the dish.

Autumn-Is-Here Pasta

serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh pasta
• 1/2 lb slab pancetta, cut in 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1/4-1/3 lb chanterelle mushrooms, chopped finely
• 2 leeks, sliced thinly and rinsed free of dirt
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes in oil, drained
• about 1/2 cup fresh ricotta

Method:

• Cook pasta according to directions.
• Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, cook pancetta in a single layer over medium low heat, until crisped and browned. Remove to paper towels.
• Pour out grease, leaving a light coating in the pan. Reserve remaining grease in a bowl.
• Raise heat to medium high and add carrots. Cook until soft and a bit caramelized. Remove to bowl.
• Add 1-2 teaspoons to reserved grease and cook mushrooms over medium high heat until browned and crunchy. Remove to carrot bowl.
• If you still have grease, add another 2 tsp to pan, or if you’re out of grease add 2 tsp olive oil. Add leeks and cook 2-3 minutes, until bright green. Add white wine and lower heat to low. Cook until wine has evaporated.
• Stir in mushrooms, carrots, bacon, and sundried tomatoes. Mix with pasta.
• Top each serving with about 2 Tblsp ricotta.

Method:

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For those of you who don’t read food blogs all day long, you may not know what the hell I’m talking about. Aged black garlic is newish on the culinary scene, and is just that: whole heads of garlic that have been heat-aged, producing a soft black clove inside. It’s nothing like raw garlic. It’s sweet, salty, soy-saucey, and I’m inclined to think it’s like natural MSG- add it to anything and it makes you want to keep eating more and more. If you’re tempted to try it, you can buy black garlic online at Earthy Delights. I got a whole box and I’m totally hooked on the stuff,  so you’ll be seeing it appear in future recipes.

As to the risotto- let’s just say that my family is not the type to praise something unless it’s good. In fact, they’re downright tactless. But the unanimous decision on this risotto was that it was out of this world. Thank you, black garlic.

Risotto with Black Garlic and Oyster Mushrooms

serves 8 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 4 T olive oil, divided
• 1 lb. oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• about 4 cups chicken or mushroom broth
• 4 cloves aged black garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cups grated or shredded parmigiano
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat 2 Tblsp olive oil in a large saucepan. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook over medium heat until browned and shrunken, about 15 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
• In the same pan, heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic, and rice. Cook, stirring often, to soften the shallot and garlic and to toast the rice a bit.
• Add wine and lower heat a bit. Stir. When wine has almost evaporated add about 1 cup of broth and the chopped black garlic. Add salt and pepper.
• Continue cooking, stirring often, adding broth 1 cup at a time and letting it cook off. If rice is still not cooked and you run out of broth, you can start adding water in 1/2 cup increments.
• When rice is creamy but not mushy, with all liquid absorbed, turn off heat and stir in cream and cheese. Taste and add salt and pepper. Pour into serving bowl and top with mushrooms. Serve immediately.

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