Rigatoni with Spicy Sicilian Pesto

Pesto usually leaves me feeling a little... blah.  I like it on a sandwich or as the sauce on a pizza, but there has to be more stuff going on.  A plain pasta tossed in pesto has always struck me as being a little boring.  This pesto is far from boring.  The combination of basil, mint and fennel seeds (who puts fennel seeds in pesto?) makes things a lot more interesting.  And I really like the addition of serrano chilis and dried chili flakes - they give the pesto great kick.  You don't want to make this pesto if you are afraid of a little heat.  The post on Serious Eats suggests that the sauce has "gorgeous hints of subtle spice" but this isn't a gentle hint of background heat.  It should also be said that this pasta doesn't have the level of spice you would expect from a Sichuan dish either.  All things considered, this was a pretty interesting take on a simple pasta tossed in pesto that is relatively easy to throw together.  There are other pasta dishes that would make my easy mid-week pasta repertoire before this one (including this Pasta with Caramelized Cabbage, Anchovies and Bread Crumbs, this Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes or this Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil).  But I could see myself making this variation of pesto again.  And this pesto might make me reconsider pesto as a delivery method for any number of different seasonings and ingredients.  Overall I consider that a win.

Recipe after the jump!

Spaghetti with Crab, Lemon and Chili

For some reason on our last trip to Cost Co I decided to pick up a can of jumbo crab.  I say "for some reason" because I am not actually a huge fan of crab meat in things.  I love crabs.  But I think that, at least for me, the whole experience of cracking and picking apart crabs smothered in Old Bay and drinking a beer is what makes crab worthwhile.  It should be messy and un-refined.  I also really enjoy a good Dungeness crab from time to time, but again it's the experience of eating the whole crab that I really enjoy.  I will also occasionally eat crab cake, but I am very picky about my crab cakes.  Growing up in Maryland can turn people into total crab cake snobs.  I also love soft shell crabs in a number of different preparations (fried Asian soft shell crabs rock my world).  But crab on pasta just didn't do it for me.  I have wanted to try a pasta with chilis and crab for a long time.  And maybe we just didn't do a very good job with it.  But I thought the flavor of the chilis totally overpowered the flavor of the crab and the basil.  It was fine (and we both cleared our plates), but I wouldn't make it again.  Luckily we have just under a pound of crab meat leftover so I think we are going to make some crab cakes for dinner.  Here's hoping that the crab cakes turn out better than our pasta...

Recipe after the jump!

Farro Pasta with Roasted Beets, Beet Greens and Pine Nuts

We got the idea for this pasta as a combination of two recipes that I found on Epicurious - Farfalle with Golden Beets, Beet Greens and Pine Nuts and Farro Spaghetti, Beets, Brown Butter, Poppy Seeds.   I wanted to make an easy vegetarian dish that would take advantage of the beet greens on the cute little beets that I picked up at the farmers' market today.  Usually the greens on beets from the super market look a little pathetic.  But these were bright green and lovely.  I had another beet recipe for Maple Horseradish Glazed Beets that I really wanted to make, but we ended up going for this one because the other one didn't use the greens.

The thing I liked most about the recipe was that all of the ingredients had a purpose.  Every element was a crucial component - nothing felt gratuitous.  As we were eating I mentioned to Alex that toasted pine nuts often feel gratuitous to me, but in this dish the texture and buttery, rich flavor they added were just what the dish needed to elevate itself.  The sweetness of the carameliontrzed onions and the roasted beets contrasts nicely with the salty, nutty cheese and the slightly nutty farro spaghetti.  The beet greens lend a little volume (plus some vitamins) and have a very mild flavor similar to Swiss chard.  I thought they might be a bit more bitter, but I'm glad that they weren't.  Another plus with this recipe is how easy it is to prepare.  It is a little time-intensive since you have to roast the beets and caramelize the onions and both of those things always take forever, but it doesn't require a ton of effort or ingredients to produce.  And if you use red beets, the pasta ends up looking all beautifully pink and delicious.  In my opinion that's another reason to make the dish.

Recipe after the jump!

Penne with Spinach and Ricotta

I love fresh ricotta.  And the fresh ricotta we have in the fridge has been begging for another use.  I had various ideas about what to make with the ricotta, but I settled on a simple pasta recipe.  I thought about making gnocchi or gnudi, but then decided to go with a simpler recipe.  I also thought about making some sort of baked pasta with ricotta, but it's too warm to bake pasta right now.  In the end I picked a recipe on Food & Wine from Lidia Bastianich because it looked easy and we had everything we needed, except the spinach and the sage, in the fridge.  I was originally thinking of making up my own pasta recipe using spinach and ricotta with lemon zest, but I decided to try this recipe instead.  The recipe actually called for pappardelle, but we had penne in the cupboard.  So we went with that instead.  

This pasta isn't going to win any awards for being new and original, or unbelievably delicious.  And if all you have is grocery store ricotta I would steer clear.  But with the wonderful fresh ricotta we picked up from the farmer's market it was actually quite good!  The fresh ricotta gave it a very pleasant creaminess and richness and the Parm-Reg gave it some more robust, salty flavor.  I never would have thought to pair fresh sage with baby spinach, scallions and fresh ricotta.  When I think sage I think Thanksgiving or butternut squash.  I don't think fresh ricotta and spinach.  But it worked.  The only problem was that the ricotta didn't cling to the pasta very well so some bites were essentially plain pasta, whereas others were full of spinach and ricotta.  Oh well. 

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Caramelized Cabbage, Anchovies and Bread Crumbs

First things first - I have some friends to thank for this recipe.  I didn't find this recipe on my own.  Usually I am in charge of tracking down recipes, but this one was emailed to me by my friends Jay and Verna.  Thanks guys!  They told me it was a really hearty/homey recipe.  And they were right.  Those are exactly the words that I would use to describe it.  I feel like cabbage is inherently hearty and homey.  I'm not sure I can picture an elegant or refined dish that is cabbage-based (which isn't to say that cabbage isn't delicious).  If you think about it, cabbage usually features in dishes like sauerkraut and coleslaw, not fine dining.  But I'm not usually aiming for fine dining on a random Thursday night.  What I really want during the week (for the most part) is to come home from work and cook a nice, not too complicated, tasty meal.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  And this pasta isn't fancy.  It is comforting and homey, but it has great flavor.  You get to experience the sweet cabbage, the salty/nutty bread crumbs, the spice from the red pepper flakes, the rich fruity taste of the evoo and the bite of the cheese.  Yum.  Alex says it reminded him of a pasta dish his mom used to make him with caramelized onions, only with more flavor (red pepper flakes and anchovies pack a wallop, one that neither of our parents experimented with regularly but one that we both enjoy).  I was actually sad that Alex claimed the rest of the pasta for lunch today because I wanted it.  And you know a dish is good when I go to the trouble of fighting Alex for the leftovers.

As a side note, I'm going to go ahead and call this recipe vegetarian, even though it contains anchovies.  If you don't want anchovies you can leave them out, but I really like the salty, nutty flavor they impart.  Speaking of anchovies, we are on a real anchovy kick this week because we used them in our Simple Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic, Onion and Anchovies earlier in the week.

Recipe after the jump!

Faux Turkish Manti

I know I mentioned Alex's challenge to make a week's worth of original recipes months ago.  And I also know that we're midway through our annual week's worth of Chinese New Year recipes.  But I have been conceptualizing this recipe for some time now - since before he even mentioned that challenge.  And if I were to publish an actual week's worth of original recipes I would want this to be one of them.  But I don't know if I am ever going to get around to doing it.  However, I will try to make more original recipes of our own from here on out.

We have been buying pre-made Turkish manti (both frozen and dried) from Kalustyan's and making it for years now.  It is one of my favorite quick and easy pre-made meals.  Another favorite is the tarte flambee from Trader Joe's.  I'm not sure when and how I first discovered manti, but I think it was from a tiny whole in the wall Turkish place near my first apartment.  Since moving uptown it has become much harder for us to get our semi-regular manti fix.  The last few times I have gone to Kalustyan's they haven't sold or stocked manti.  It was a huge disappointment.  And it is something of a trek to get down there now.  So I decided that we should make some manti of our own.  Only instead of making traditional manti (which involves making dough and then folding lots of teensy little dumplings), we could make a play on manti - all of the same flavors, but a simpler method.  So instead of making dumplings stuffed with a beef and onion mixture, I picked up some fresh pappardelle and topped it with some sauteed beef and onions.  And then I used the traditional yogurt and butter sauces (or at least what I consider the traditional sauces).  I thought this was a very satisfying play on manti.  The flavors were all there, but it was so easy to put together.  I was incredibly happy with it.  The best part is that from now on, we can make these faux manti at home whenever we want them.  Go us!

Recipe after the jump!

Penne with Cauliflower and Bacon

Sorry everyone.  I know I have been a little delinquent.  Again.  But in my defense, last week was a very busy week at work (although we did find time to cook a few meals that I am finally getting around to posting now).  So I'm hoping to get three posts up today - this pasta, some skirt steak tacos, and a yummy quinoa, spinach and mushroom dish.  If you have the time, stay tuned for more posts!

I'm posting this pasta recipe first because I think of the dishes we have made in the few weeks, this one made me the happiest.  It was a combination of items in our fridge/pantry - leftover homemade Italian-Style Bread Crumbs, pasta, bacon, parsley and cauliflower.  And have I mentioned that I have been obsessed with cauliflower lately?  No?  Well I totally am.  It's delicious.  And I am equally obsessed with those Italian-Style Bread Crumbs.  They are fairly easy to make and make such a difference in your cooking.  Anyway, this pasta was quite tasty and easy to put together, which made me very happy.  We just threw together a bunch of ingredients in the fridge/pantry and voila!  The combination of flavors really worked together nicely.  In each bite you got a little heat from the red pepper flakes, some salty bite from the cheese and the bacon, the wonderful porky flavor of the bacon, and a punch of flavor and texture from the bread crumbs.  Yum.  It was a fantastically hearty, yet delicious dish, one that I will definitely make again in the future. 

Recipes after the jump!

St John's Eve Pasta

 

As you can see, there has been something of a blog post backlog of late.  I only managed a paltry 11 posts in December (which I believe is a new all-time low).  Work was insane and with the holidays and everything it was hard to find the time.  So I am now on a pace to post 4 recipes in one day, some of which we made yesterday or Friday and some of which we made today.  This pasta for instance was today's lunch.  For some reason I have been wanting to make this recipe for a long time.  I'm not sure what drew me to the recipe - it's a fairly basic recipe with tomato sauce and an anchovy-breadcrumb-almond topping.  Actually, I know exactly what drew me to this recipe - it's a Batali.  The man knows his pasta.  When I decided that I wanted pasta for lunch I immediately thought of this recipe.  The name just sounds festive, which seemed appropriate for New Year's Day.  According to my research the dish is traditionally eaten on June 24 - St. John's Eve, but since when has tradition ever stopped me?

Sometimes a single element really makes a dish.  In this case, the anchovy-breadcrumb-almond topping was it.  If gave the dish amazing texture and a lot of salty, nutty flavor.  I know that the process of toasting the breadcrumbs and almonds is a little tiresome, but the end result is more than worth it.  Without the breadcrumb mixture I'm sure the pasta would have been fine (if perhaps a little boring), but with the topping it was a total revelation.  I had no idea that almonds and pasta went together so well. 

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta al Limone: Pasta with Lemon Sauce

This dish was one that Alex pulled out of a hat (or off the internet) a few nights ago for dinner.  We had been planning on making something else, until we realized that we had run out of one of the major ingredients.  So this was something of a last second substitution.  And as far as last second substitutions go, it wasn't bad.  It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't think it would be.  And maybe that's beside the point.  It was a perfectly fine and better yet, it was very easy to make.  I think I might have preferred basil to the parsley (or maybe a combination of the two).  My one complaint is that once it cooled down a little it tasted a little oily/greasy.  But overall, not a bad dish.  Not an exciting dish, but not a bad one.  I think if I were to make it again I would throw in some fresh asparagus (when it's in season) for some extra freshness and sweetness.

Recipe after the jump!

Butternut Squash and Radicchio Pasta

I wasn't going to post about this recipe because I didn't think it was particularly successful, but Alex told me that I should go ahead and post it anyway.  So here I am posting about a recipe with very little to say.  My biggest complaint with this pasta was the radicchio.  Its bitterness is totally overpowering.  In every bite that contained even the smallest speck of radicchio I couldn't taste the sweetness of the butternut squash, the saltiness of the cheese or the buttery toasted pine nuts.  Nor could I taste the sage, which I think is the perfect herb accompaniment to butternut squash.  It was just bitter.  If I were a bigger fan of radicchio I would be a much bigger fan of the dish.  If you are a fan of radicchio then you will (probably) be a bigger fan of this dish than I was.  And that's all I really have to say about that...

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta e Fagioli

After New Hampshire I craved salad - big mounts of leafy greens topped with all sorts of delicious things.  Alex craved soup with a bunch of veggies.  Clearly we were on the same page with the veggie cravings but had very different ideas on how to fulfill those cravings.  So this was a soup I came up with in honor of his request.  I guess I can't say that there were a ton of veggies in here - there was kale, carrots and celery.  That should count for something, right?  And I have been wanting a soup with cannellini beans since it started getting cooler so I wanted those to be in the soup as well.  And since Alex is a huge fan of bacon, I threw that in too.  As a side note, I can't claim credit for this recipe entirely.  I stumbled across the base recipe online somewhere and then played with it a bit (but now I can't seem to find it online so I can't give a shout out to the source of the original base recipe).  Then we made ourselves some soup.  Really good soup.  Some might say it was the ideal soup for the winter - filling and satisfying, with lots of different (but complimentary) flavors and textures.  Or at least the ideal soup for those who don't particularly like most chili recipes.  It was nice to have bites composed of different ingredients that all worked together so well.  I liked the subtle bacon flavor (as well as the texture of the crunchy bacon in the soup) and the creamy, starchy quality of the beans contrasted with the toothsome quality of the al dente orecchiette pasta.  I also really liked the drizzle of evoo on top to give the soup an extra layer of fruity evoo flavor.  It sounds like a really strange thing to add, but if you use nice high-quality evoo it's a delicious addition.  We served the soup with some nice hearty pane pugliese from Sullivan Street Bakery.  I figured some nice crusty bread, toasted and drizzled with more of that evoo, would be the perfect accompaniment to this soup.  If you wanted to, this batch of soup could easily serve a family of four for dinner.  Throw in a small salad and some toasted bread and you have yourself a meal.  For just Alex and I a salad seemed like overkill so we just did the bread and it was more than enough.  We have enough soup left for lunch later in the weekend sitting in the fridge.  I love fall - such perfect soup weather!


Recipe after the jump!

Broccoli Rabe Orecchiette

I must admit that I am not a very inventive vegetarian cook.  When I start thinking about making a vegetarian entree the first thing that comes to mind is pasta.  Pasta is the best vehicle for vegetarian meals ever.  After pasta I default to soups or a random assortment of items together (for instance, Monday night Alex and I had Momofuku Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette with the leftover vinaigrette from our Momofuku Roasted Cauliflower with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette and scrambled eggs for dinner).  I was pretty proud of myself for the vegetarian meal I put together last month of Spinach Salad with Walnuts and Grilled Eggplant with Lebneh.  The meal had a theme and I actually thought it through.  Usually it comes down to what we have in the fridge when I decide that I need to give my system a much needed dose of veggies.  And what we have in the fridge tends to be a little unpredictable at best because I'm a spastic grocery shopper - particularly when you let me loose at a farmers' market.  But this time I had a goal for my vegetarian meal.  I was trying to use up the broccoli rabe I bought at the farmers' market AND use up some of our overabundance of pasta.  Our pasta has started exploding out of our kitchen cabinets again because I keep thinking we are out or seeing a new fun type and buying more.  Oops.  So this one time I didn't just default back to a vegetarian pasta meal - I was specifically aiming to make a vegetarian pasta meal.  Only I decided to throw in some anchovies at the last second, so I guess it's not technically a vegetarian dish, but you can easily omit the anchovies.  I did say they were optional afterall.

This pasta isn't going to win any beauty contests.  Nor is it going to win any accolades for being new and inventive.  And if you don't like broccoli rabe, don't bother with it altogether.  It's a very homey and simple pasta that is easy to throw together.  But I didn't have the time or the energy to put something more complicated together.  It was exactly what I knew it would be.  And yet I have to admit that I spent a lot of the time wishing there was just a little Italian sausage mixed in with the pasta.  I really love broccoli rabe with Italian sausage.  But that would defeat the purpose of making a vegetarian meal.  Granted, anchovies probably defeat that purpose too, but somehow they didn't in my mind when I was conceiving of the dish...

Recipe after the jump!

Summertime Lasagna

Lasagna is not something that I make very often.  It is just far too time consuming.  I think I have only made two lasagnas in all of the years that I have been cooking - a Wild Mushroom Lasagna from Gourmet that I made for Thanksgiving a few years back (it was totally fabulous btw so I highly recommend making it) and this "summertime lasagna," which was only a lasagna in that lasagna noodles were layered with veggies and ricotta.  It makes a great summertime version of lasagna because you don't have to bake it in the oven and heat up the whole house.  Plus it just feels so much lighter.  The traditional balance of noodle to filling is turned upside down and this becomes a celebration of fresh ricotta, tomatoes and zucchini than a gooey, cheesy lasagna.  I really liked it and Alex did too.  In the future I might try drizzling the burst cherry tomatoes with a little aged balsamic for a little more acidity and sweetness.  If you are going to make this dish I would recommend picking up some local fresh ricotta (or making your own) because it's so much richer and more flavorful than the ricotta you pick up from the grocery store.  I also recommend using fresh cherry tomatoes (we used a mix of sun golds and traditional red cherry tomatoes) and zucchinis (we used Italian striped zucchini) from the farmers' market.  Since this dish is so simple and lacks the cheese and tomato sauce or bechamel of a baked lasagna, you really need to make sure your individual ingredients are as fresh and delicious as possible.  If you do that you will end up with a really nice dish.  If you use out of season cherry tomatoes and a tub of ricotta from the grocery store, it might end up being a little blah.  So I guess it's a summertime dish in more than name.

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Let-My-Eggplant-Go-Free Puree

So I was blog-stalking awhile ago (I think it was last summer, which is kind of amazing and depressing all at the same time) and found a whole bunch of interesting vegetarian recipes that I want to try.  First I saw the Vegetable Pie with Zucchini Crust on For the Love of Cooking.  Zucchini crust?  Sign me up!  I love zucchini.  Then I saw the Summertime Lasagna on Steamy Kitchen on TLC.  Fresh ricotta, basil and tomatoes in a pasta dish that doesn't need to bake for hours and heat up the apartment.  I'm sold.  Last, but certainly not least, I came across Francis Lam's Let-My-Eggplant-Go-Free! Spaghetti on The Wednesday Chef.  I have to admit that I clicked on it more out of rampant curiosity because of the strange name, rather than out of any desire to make it.  And then I read the recipe (plus Francis Lam's post on the Gourmet website) and realized that I do in fact want to make the recipe.  Granted, it took me an entire year to get around to actually doing that, but such is life.  I had some eggplants from my CSA so I remembered about this recipe and decided that we should make it.  Seeing as both Alex and I made it home for a late lunch today (hurray for holiday weekends because no one bothers to come into the office), it was a perfect dish for a late light lunch.  The eggplant sauce had a ton of flavor, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't as much of a "sauce" as I was expecting.  The spaghetti kind of soaked up all of the eggplant juju and it definitely needed the extra drizzle of evoo and a little pasta water to loosen it all back up.  All in all, I thought it was a really nice vegetarian lunch when served with a simple arugula salad.  Have we made better vegetarian pastas?  Yes.  Just last month we made a vegetarian Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes that was absolutely delicious.  But was this pasta totally worthwhile?  Absolutely.

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes

Prior to seeing this recipe by Mario Batali in Bon Appetit, I had never heard of a sun gold tomato and I was fairly certain that it would be close to impossible to find some.  I was determined to find sun golds so I could try this recipe because I love Batali, but I figured it would take me all summer to do so.  And then on Friday when I was walking around the farmers' market at Rockefeller Center there they were.  I couldn't believe it!  Suddenly I see them everywhere.  And not only do I see the tomatoes everywhere, I see recipes for them everywhere - pasta with sun gold tomatoes, sun gold tomato gazpacho, sun gold tomato salsa...  I can't wait to try more of them now that I know how amazing those little yellow/orange cherry tomatoes really are.  They are really sweet and just gorgeous.  I love how great the tomatoes are in mid to late summer.  The next time I run to the farmers' market I'm going to pick up a few more pints of sun golds so I can play with them a little more.  One pint is going to be set aside so I can make this recipe again.  Because this pasta is just as gorgeous as the little tomatoes themselves.  The best thing about many of Mario Batali's pasta recipes are so simple, and yet so delicious.  His Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil is the perfect example.  You don't need a ton of ingredients because the ingredients play off each other so harmoniously.  His pastas are far more than the sum of their parts.  In this pasta dish you have the ideal amount of sauce and toppings to coat the pasta while ensuring that the pasta itself can shine.  In each bite you can taste the sweet acidity of the tomatoes, the sweet basil, the heat of the crushed red pepper flakes and the salty Pecorino Romano cheese.  It's a perfect summery dish that really shows off the tomatoes, the basil and the pasta, all at the same time and all in perfect balance.
 

Recipe after the jump!

Pappardelle with Corn, Summer Squash and Basil

After a weekend of dining out at restaurants, it was nice to have something homemade and on the lighter side.  The corn and the squash came from a CSA I just joined called Holton Farms.  I picked up a huge bag full of produce from the CSA today, including zucchini, squash, corn, beets, radishes, and green tomatoes.  I have some serious plans for the green tomatoes (fried green tomatoes anyone?), but I decided that since we had a lot of pasta and zucchini goes with pasta, why not make some sort of pasta with zucchini mixed in.  My first candidate was this Fried-Zucchini Spaghetti, but we didn't have any spaghetti in the apartment.  My next thought was to make a No-Bake Summertime Lasagna from Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen.  But we didn't have lasagna noodles or fresh ricotta.  Then I started thinking about making some sort of pasta primavera with a variety of different fresh veggies from the CSA.  Seeing as I have never had a pasta primavera before I have no idea what veggies are usually in the dish, but for some reason I picture zucchini, bell peppers and carrots.  But I decided to use fresh corn and zucchini.  And out of the random pastas in our cupboard I decided to use pappardelle.

Alex liked the pasta because in his words it was "fresh and light."  I liked it because it let some very amazing produce take center stage. I wasn't in love with the recipe, but I thought it was pretty nice.  It was light and fresh.  And unlike a lot of heavier meat pasta sauces, it doesn't leave you feeling bloated and gross after you eat a serving.

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Tuna Bottarga and Bread Crumbs

Last weekend when Alex and I went to Chelsea Market we ended up buying a little thing of tuna bottarga (Italian dried tuna or mullet roe).  I knew that there were a few Batali recipes picked out that I wanted to make if we ever happened to buy some bottarga at Buon Italia.  And now that we bought bottarga, we just had to figure out which recipe to make.  I got it down to two recipes - this recipe for Chitarra with Tuna Bottarga and Bread Crumbs from our Esca cookbook, and a recipe for Linguine with Zucchini and Bottarga in Molto Gusto.  In the end we decided to make this recipe because it didn't require another trip to the grocery store and it was easier.  After gorging ourselves on meat at Big Apple BBQ this morning we were both in the mood for a simple meal.  We also really needed to use up some of the pasta we have stocked up on recently.  Somehow we have gone from having almost no pasta in the house to having dried pastas of all sorts - tagliatelle, pappardelle, orzo, farro spaghetti...  Since our cabinet space is at a premium here in NYC, we really need to clear out the cupboards a little bit.  So don't be surprised if we go on a bit of a pasta binge in the coming weeks.

I would put this recipe on my solid like list.  It was easy to throw together and tasty.  It wasn't the most amazing pasta that I have every made or eaten, but it was a fun departure from our usual recipes.  I'm not certain that I have ever had bottarga before, but it was rich, salty and funky.  It's a little fishy, but not as fishy as I thought it would be.  The homemade bread crumbs provided a really nice touch.  I'm currently trying to come up with more recipes to use the bread crumbs because once you make a batch you end up with a TON of really nice bread crumbs.  Hurry for good food!

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Lemon, Hot Peppers and Pecorino Romano

To take advantage of the fresh pasta we picked up today from Eataly I decided to make a recipe from one of my Batali cookbooks that I have been wanting to make for awhile now.  There are several Batali pasta recipes and pasta dishes at his restaurants that include jalapenos (or other chilis) - including some that call for lobster and crab that I have been very intrigued by for some time.  This is the first time that we have attempted one of those recipes.  The dish was intended to be made with fresh fettuccine, but since we picked up fresh maccheroni alla chitarra (a spaghetti-like fresh pasta that is forced through a device that looks like a loom or a harp that cuts the pasta into square shapes) we used that instead.

I really liked this pasta.  I thought that the lemon sauce was bright and lemony without being overbearing or too acidic and the sauteed onions were nice and sweet.  The last time we made a pasta with a lemon sauce (Lemon Fettucine with Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes) I thought that the lemon was too acidic and harsh.  Here it was nice and mellow, lemon tempered by the wonderful richness from all that butter.  Alex and I were surprised by how little heat the jalapenos and chili flakes lent the pasta, but I guess our jalapeno wasn't very hot to begin with and once we took out all the seeds it lost any heat that it might have originally had.  Instead of heat from the jalapeno you got a nice mild chili flavor, which I thought was nice.  In the future I might add an extra dash of red chili flakes for just a little more heat, but overall I thought this was a really nice dish.  I liked how the flavors were so distinct from all of the other pastas we have made in the past.

Recipe after the jump!

Pea Ravioli

Somehow the vegetarian meals we put together often end up being pasta.  And this meal is no exception.  I got the idea for a pea ravioli from an old recipe from Gourmet that I saw years ago, along with the fact that peas are in season now.  Granted, I used frozen peas instead of fresh, but it's almost impossible to find (and deal with) fresh peas.  Instead of making homemade pasta dough to make our ravioli I copped out as usual and used wonton wrappers.  Making homemade pasta is a huge pain.  Peas have always been one of the vegetables that I understood the least.  Growing up the only time I really had peas was when I had the canned/frozen peas that my grandmother used in the casserole she always served us when we came to visit.  To this day I am not a big fan of casserole, although it really doesn't reflect on her cooking abilities so much as the fact that casseroles are gloopy unappetizing messes.  Anyway, this is one of the few times that I have voluntarily cooked peas as an adult.  I am almost certain this is the first time that peas have been the integral component of a meal that I have cooked.  But every once in awhile you have to mix it up a little and cook something completely outside of your normal repertoire.  What fun is cooking if you cook the same ingredients and the same dishes all the time?

I have to admit that I liked these ravioli.  Maybe peas aren't so bad after all!  When cooked in these ravioli the peas were sweet and fresh.  The Parmigiano-Reggiano in the filling gave the peas a nutty, salty flavor to balance out the sweetness of the peas.  I was thinking that some fresh ricotta would also be a delicious component of the ravioli, only it would accentuate, rather than counterbalance, the sweet flavor of the peas.  It would also give the pea filling a creamier, smoother texture.  I can't say that I have ever tasted peas with fresh mint in them (even though the combination is a classic one), but the mint really went wonderfully with the peas.  All of the flavors are fresh and bright - perfect springtime fare.

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Lentils and Kale

I know this meal sounds totally lame.  Pasta with Lentils and Kale?  I mean really?  But I promise it's good.  Yes, I did pick it because I wanted a simple vegetarian meal and the recipe was both vegetarian and only included 9 ingredients (10 if you include the water).  And most of the ingredients, with the exception of the kale, are ingredients we always keep in our pantry or fridge.  We always have dried pasta of various shapes, Parmigiano-Reggiano, evoo, whole-grain bread to make into homemade bread crumbs...  Anyway, yes I know the dish sounds lame and too healthy for its own good.  But the pasta is actually really good.  I loved the caramelized onions - they are deliciously tender and savory-sweet.  And I actually quite enjoyed the lentils because they added a different texture and some earthiness.  I also think that without the lentils the pasta wouldn't have been quite as satisfying.  The homemade toasted bread crumbs are key for some buttery flavor and some texture.  They are really easy to make, and they really do make a world of difference in a dish as simple as this one.  I think that the Parm-Reg added less, although if you have it on hand I would recommend freshly grating a little onto the dish for another level of flavor. 

Recipe after the jump!