Bachelor Roast

This is what happens when your wife and kid split. For vacation that is; I should have clarified.

I had plenty to cook with, having again received a massive infusion of fresh my farm veggies from the parental garden. But unaccustomed to the empty quiet of a baby-less house, I was scattered and unthoughtful of my order and ate the eggplant much later than anticipated. This worked out for the better as I was able to savor every little nuance of the roasted vegetables untouched by anything else. Absolutely delectable. The taste of garden fresh roasted eggplant is one of the most amazing flavors. It is melt in your mouth earthy goodness surrounded by chewy caramelized savory skin, crackly in some spots. The course salt & pepper still in place from where it landed, roasted and somehow melded with the flesh. The pasta was unrelated but still tasty. Could of used one more ingredient..but I don't know what that is. The simple salad is one of my all time favorites and should be a post all on its own.

• Japanese eggplant, split lengthwise,
• bell peppers, split in half, de-seeded
• rotilli pasta
• Roma tomatoes, cut in chunks
• handful of shallots, sliced
• sherry

Brush both eggplant and peppers with olive oil and s+p - place on baking pan in 400º oven.
Cook for about 45 min - 1 hour. Should look like this:

In fact, I was so hungry by the time these were ready that forgot to snap a photo right away. These were near perfect. I was watching Blade Runner and left them in about 10 min too long. They were still super soft inside and crispy roasted on the outside. The pepper was so caramelized it was chewy.

Simple salad will have to be it's own post.

Here's the pasta recipe - ridiculously easy, make it in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
Saute shallots in olive oil. add tomatoes. cook. add sherry. s+p.
drain pasta & save a cup of water.
add tomato mixture to pasta...add water as needed. hit with bit of evoo.

done. bed.

Old Tomato Meets Young Tomato Pasta

I accidentally put too much cayenne in this one, but we still ate the hell out of it. The contrast of that heat with a cool crisp salad was absolutely perfect. The toddler was out of the house so I decided to make something hot as shit, because I usually can't. The cayenne has an interesting way of creeping up slow and burning deep and low in the throat, so it actually helps to just keep eating it...almost like a boa constrictor killing its prey. Awesome.

• 6 - 7 cloves of garlic, rough chop
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese, cubed
• 1/3 cup dry sherry
• large handful of fresh basil (from your own garden, come on)
• olive oil & butter
• chopped chives
• simple greens or bitter, for salad
• large handful of fresh cilantro (from same garden)
• ground cayenne pepper, to taste
• nutmeg, a few good dashes
• white pepper, same
• sugar, 2 teaspoons
• s & p

Add some light & extra virgin olive oil in a steel pan together, once heated (4) add garlic and toast them nice and golden...but don't burn! Add onion when color looks like above. If too hot add half the sherry and let it become translucent. Add the sun-dried tomatoes first, then the raw after a few minutes when the pan is nice and dry. Drop in 3 pats of butter & let them melt. Add the rest of the sherry and all the spices: sugar, cayenne, nutmeg, white pepper, and s&p.

Once water is boiling, add salt and the pasta. Pick something bite size, we had O's and that seemed perfect. The sauce should be starting to get sticky, keep it stirred every once in while to scrape the bottom...don't burn it, keep it riding the evaporation/reduction wave.

Once pasta is al dente, drop in a cup to a cup and a half of pasta water into your sauce. Stir well & scrape up ovalit.  Put in the pasta and then the basil, coat well. Place in bowl and fold in feta. Serve ASAP with the simple greens tossed with rough chopped cilantro. Coat the salad with plain ol' olive oil, red wine vinegar, s & fresh ground p.

Oy, just writing this makes me want to go raid the fridge for some more.

Rustic Portabello Vermicelli

This is exactly what happens when things just come together. I scavenged, scrambled and scrounged through the multitude of deliciousness my wife always stocks. The leftovers that usually & inevitably get tossed were instead exactly the thing that tied it all together.

This dish was savory and warm and so goddamn satisfying. Sylvie, even with her stuffed pretzel/milk belly, climbed up on the dining bench and started stuffing her face. I think the deep earthy flavors of the sauce were well balanced by the fine light texture of the vermicelli. Would also make a great lunch, maybe with a squeeze of lemon and an iced tea. (actually just had it for lunch with Jess...perfect.)


Ingredients:

• 4 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 1 med onion - halved & sliced
• 8 - 10 mini peppers (raw) - sliced
• 2 portobello caps - halved & sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped oil-infused sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 tbsp sun dried tomato pesto (this was the leftovers from a larger container of pesto - most likely destined for the trash since 4 tbsp of pesto won't really get a meal, but enhances the flavors of the created sauce)
• large handful of fresh basil
• 1 lb micro thin rice vermicelli
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Once all veggies are prepped, start by turning on pasta water.

In a large steel pan, saute the onions with a good amount of olive oil, medium to medium/high (Jess, set the dial to 6). You don't want them to just sweat, but also not to caramelize too much. No salt yet, this is my secret...I add salt at the end to prevent the veggies from bleeding their liquids right away. When the onions are good and translucent, add the peppers. These should be in little bite-sized rings and add sweetness. When they are slightly carmelized, drop the shrooms in and drizzle them with olive oil before mixing it all up. Let saute for 1 - 2 min, stirring once or twice, then add sherry and sun dried tomatoes. Cook until mushrooms are tender.

Turn heat down slightly and add garlic, basil, ground pepper & pesto. Add 1/2 - 1 cup pasta water if dry. Taste, add salt as needed.

When pasta water boils, add vermicelli and remove from heat and cover for 3 minutes. When tender, use pasta spoon to add vermicelli directly to vegetables. Mix well and serve immediately with fresh grated reggiano parmesan.

Double Spinach Pasta and Roasted Brussel Meat Balls

My take on spaghetti & meatballs, with roasted brussel sprouts as the "meatballs." They work really well with the light savory spinach pasta.

This recipe feeds 2.5 people.

Ingredients:

spinach linguini (fresh)
brussel sprouts - whole
3 large handfuls of spinach
1 medium onion - sliced
3 garlic cloves - minced
half of a lemon - juiced
half a green pepper - sliced thin (optional, I think it might have been better without it)
1 cup of sliced olives & their juice
olive oil
salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese - shredded or shaved

Wash & trim the brussel sprouts and toss well in olive oil and s&p. Put them on a sheet pan and roast on 400º for 20 min, shaking the pan every 5 min. They should look like this when done:

Meanwhile, set up a pot of water for pasta, heat on high.
Heat some olive oil in a steel pan and add garlic - 30 sec.
Add onions - 2 min.
Add peppers - 2 min.
Add spinach, lemon juice, olive juice & olives - cook until spinach wilts fully then remove from heat.

When water boils, add salt & pasta.  Cook to package instructions; fresh pasta needs 4-5 min tops.
When pasta is almost ready, add 1 cup of pasta water to pan with veggies & return to heat.
Use pasta spoon to remove pasta from water directly into sauce pan.

Cook for a minute or two until sauce thickens up. Add a few tbsp of good quality olive oil & serve immediately with tongs and top with Parmesan. Serve with roasted brussels on the side in a large bowl.

Sausage Sauced Turkey Fettucini

This was a last minute thing...kind of like this blog.
We were all hungry and already had some ground turkey; I knew I wanted pasta (little Cyan asked for pasta earlier). Pretty simple dish, hella satisfying. This is one of those pantry meals, as long as you have some ground turkey and some veggies in the fridge, you're golden. The fennel and red pepper adds a nice sweetness and a reminiscence of sausage. The 2.5 year old stuffed herself silly with this and it's packed with all kinds of veggies and good stuff. Hope you like it...

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
5 cloves garlic - minced
1 medium onion - diced
1 pack of shrooms - crimini is good - diced
1 red bell pepper - diced - this was hanging out in our fridge along with the opened box of shrooms, feel free to substitute here: shredded carrot, green pepper, artichoke...
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sage
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp paprika
sugar
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1lb your favorite pasta, we used fettuccine
olive oil (light & extra virgin)
shredded or shaved Parmesan

1. Start by filling a large pot with water and having it on standby. Heat up a large skillet on medium, add about 3 tbsp extra virgin, drop in the garlic. 30 sec, add onion. 1 min, add shrooms. 1 min, add red pepper. Add 1/2 spices, s+p and cook until tender & caramelized. Remove from pan, set aside.
2. Return pan to heat, increase temp to med high, add 3 tbsp light olive oil. Add meat & brown. Make sure you chop it up fine as it cooks and break up any clumps - this helps it mix well & absorb the sauce. when it's almost cooked, add remaining spices and season with s+p well.
3. Turn on pasta water heat.
4. Add veggie mix to meat and stir well. Add can of tomatoes & 1 tbsp of extra virgin. Stir, heat through and taste - make sure it's seasoned well. Add 1 tbsp - 2 tbsp of sugar to help cut the acidity of the mater sauce - it helps, trust me, but taste it as you add.
5. Let sauce simmer on low in pan uncovered. Add nice toss of salt to pasta water once boiling and add pasta. When almost cooked, add 1 cup of pasta water to sauce. Drain pasta & serve with sauce & parm on top.

enjoy.
dk