woodland primavera, a walk and a recipe

there is something really lovely about rain soaked trees.

as you mostly know, i live in a wood. this has its pluses and minuses like everyplace. pluses like incredible overnight transformation from gray to leafy green every spring (what a show!). and minuses like more spiders and bugs as well as lots and lots of crazy (really crazy) squirrels. but living in a wood can sometimes be inspirational and lead me to create a new recipe for dinner. i was walking around after a recent rain and stumbled on some lovely ferns just emerging. remembering the fiddleheads i'd seen at whole foods market the day before, a recipe popped into my head. a rustic woodland-inspired pasta primavera. with shiitake mushrooms and sliced asparagus. pasta primavera is an italian-american dish (inspired by italian cuisine, yet cooked in america) which means spring pasta. usually it is a cream sauce with lots of vegetables tucked here and there, like carrots, peas and broccoli, in the 80s and 90s it was on nearly every menu at italian restaurants in new york. it was all the rage and written up by craig claiborne in the ny times as a brilliant innovation. i ordered it a lot back then and it included a slightly different mix of vegetables each time.

anyway, i rarely see it now, maybe because i no longer have a generous expense account as at my former employers in nyc, or maybe because it has fallen out of favor, pushed aside by fresh combinations.

but now it is back, at my house anyway, and with an earthy woodland twist. the whole wheat fettucini is rustic and a nice complement to this dish.

woodland pasta primavera

17 oz fresh whole wheat pasta (bought mine at whole foods)

1/4 cup organic heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 lb fresh fiddleheads

1/2 lb asparagus stalks, sliced into 2 inch lengths

4 large shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, slice

2 stalks parsley (optional)

1 TBSP salt

optional

2 TBSP chopped parsley

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, for garnish

set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. set another medium size pot of water to boil for the vegetables. i find it works best if you blanch the vegetables in salted water before tossing with the pasta. wash and trim the vegetables. if using, place the parsley in the medium pot to flavor the vegetables slightly. adds a nice fresh taste. add 1 TBSP salt to the medium pot.

start with the fiddleheads. once the water comes to a boil. blanch the fiddleheads for about 2 or 3 minutes until they are just tender. remove with a slotted spoon. set in a bowl. next add the sliced shiitake mushrooms. remove after 1 to 2 minutes. and add to the same bowl as the fiddleheads. next add the asparagus. blanch for 2 - 5 minutes based on stalk thickness, this time i used fairly chubby stalks, so i blanched them for 4 minutes. drain and remove.

okay. pasta water should be ready now. add a glug of olive oil to the pasta water. salt too. cook the fresh whole wheat fettuccine for 4 - 5 minutes. until just cooked through. drain pasta. set the pan back on the heat. add the cream and the cheese and then the vegetables. stir around to coat and let it bubble briefly. add in the pasta. reduce heat to medium and toss and cook so the flavors all mesh together for a minute or two. serve at once. sprinkle with chopped parsley and additional freshly grated parmesan cheese. serve at once.

p.s. my kids loved this. so much that i was a little disappointed. disappointed that i didn't get more of the fiddleheads for myself. they were so fresh and tender and bright. i was so sure they would eye them suspiciously and refuse them. instead they thought they were cool. next time i will buy more. one thing i can count on is not being able to predict their whims in advance. lesson learned.

spinach garlic pasta

taking time for dinner even with busy schedules this month is especially nice. loved the piece in NYT yesterday about the joys of a pot of water boiling on the stove. you can read it here. good things come from a pot of water boiling on the stove. you can make a whole dinner out of one pot of boiling water. like this breathtakingly simple spinach garlic pasta recipe. so ridiculously easy, light, tasty, unfussy. here are the ingredients: pasta, spinach, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, water. molly's latest recipe on orangette reminded me to make this, hers has a similar rustic, simplistic spirit, but with prosciutto and butter, not spinach and olive oil. either way, cozy weeknight family dinner. grazie mille.

spinach garlic pasta

serves 4

1 lb dried or fresh pasta

12-16 oz fresh spinach

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

1 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

2 glugs (TBSPs) extra virgin olive oil

a bit of salt for the pasta water

set the giant pot of water to boil. meanwhile smash a peel the cloves of garlic. salt the water. once the water is boiling furiously, place the fresh spinach in the pot. just for a second. scoop it out with a strainer. continue to drain spinach. add one glug of olive oil and then the pasta to the same pot of water, as long as it is boiling furiously again. it will of course be slightly green this water, perhaps if we are lucky, infusing your pasta with extra vitamins and minerals or perhaps a certain complexity of taste only spinach water can bring to the noodles. i notice no difference in taste, only a difference in the amount of pots i must clean and amount of water i must boil. i find it agreeable this dual pot use. while the pasta is cooking, chop the drained spinach. reserve. when the pasta is done, but still quite al dente, maybe even a little more al dente than usual, drain the pasta into a colander, reserve one to two cups of the twice used water, and and discard the rest. set the same pan on high heat, add the smashed garlic. let it roll around and sizzle in the pan for a minute or two, turn down the heat a bit so it doesn't burn. add in the spinach now. a bit of salt to taste. cook another minute. now add the drained pasta and the reserved water. cook for one minute. add in the cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. serve immediately.

tomato cream sauce

can't decide between tomato or cream sauce for your pasta? constituents noisily lobbying against each other for one or the other? embrace the and. tomato cream sauce. i made this last night. you see i had to drive carpool for an hour in the late afternoon, come home for 45 minutes and head back out to high school curriculum night having fixed and eaten dinner during those same 45 minutes. sound familiar? the all too familiar school year rush. tomato cream sauce and freshly made cheese tortellini to the rescue. i am happy to report our dinner was ready in less than 30 minutes and at least 15 of that was water boiling, another 5 for parmesan cheese grating. phew. i even had time to brush my hair and change my clothes.

tomato cream sauce

3 TBSP olive oil

1 cup chopped fresh tomato (juicy heirlooms work great here, but so do cherry tomaotes)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 TBSP organic heavy cream 

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

start pasta water pot boiling. chop tomatoes. (seed or don't seed, it's up to you, i let the clock decide). place in bowl. add salt and olive oil. stir. let rest while you prep grated cheese and vegetables. cook veg. set table. heat saucepan to medium. add salted tomatoes. swirl around for a few minutes. start fresh pasta. add cream. swirl again. sprinkle in parmesan cheese. swirl and sprinkle until all set. allow to simmer another minute or two. drain pasta. pour sauce over pasta. put back on stove for a minute in the warm pan. stir gently. serve. my kids are crazy for this sauce. really nice to have some fresh italian bread to mop up the remaining sauce. tart, creamy, salty, richly satisfying. 

garlic scapes

oh my. every food blog in the universe has done a post on garlic scapes this year. the it ingredient of 2009, it seems. at first, intrigued, i read with great interest, fascination, curiosity. after all, i love garlic. and people were raving about them, smart foodies everywhere. an underutilized product of the garlic plant.  of course they are not new and have always been around, as long as well, garlic. but after a time, i grew weary, tired of the hearing about the trend. (it was starting to seem like the fennel craze of the early 90s). until, of course, one day, in a whimsical mood, i spied them for sale at the organic stand at my town's farmers market. and so expensive. $10/pound. they looked so gorgeous all green and curled. tempting, very tempting. on an impulse i bought them. i figured i would figure out what to do with them later. why not find out what everyone was talking about?

well, once i got them home, i liked them even more. something appealed. i had read somewhere that they cooked up a little like asparagus. i thought they might go well with pasta. so i chopped them up with some cremini mushrooms i had on hand and seared them. then tossed them with the pasta, a few tablespooons of cream and some freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano. they really were delicious and despite their price, worth raving about. i loved them. so did both my kids and my husband. sharp and bitter raw. when sauteed, they sweeten and have a juicy delicious yet fresh tasting mild sort of crunch.

a fresh garden salad, and some farmers market sweet corn rounded out the meal. really nice. i should have known they'd be great. so i give you fair warning, you may love them too, if you don't already.

pasta with lemon garlic sauce

we eat what has come to seem like an endless string of pasta dinners. once a week usually. sometimes more at certain times of year (when tomatoes are in season for example, or now when there isn't much exciting going on in the produce aisle in new england). but i don't mind, and i never seem to tire of it. one thing that keeps it interesting is to vary the sauces and types of noodles. lemon garlic sauce is one of our favorites. and really it is no trouble at all. a great pantry dinner staple.

pasta with lemon garlic sauce

1 lb pasta 

angel hair or capellini works well with this one since the sauce is rather thin, but so does spaghetti (pictured above) or linguine. 

4 cloves garlic, sliced thin or minced

3 cups good quality chicken stock

juice of 2 lemons

1/4 cup parmesan cheese plus more to serve at table

optional are a cup of cherry tomatoes, halved and seeded

and or a handful of chopped parsley (this particular night i used neither)

first off, i make the salad. i know there isnt even salad in this recipe, but it goes awfully well with it. a nice caesar salad would be good here, or a garden salad. then i ask the kids to set the table. then i slice the garlic. set the chicken stock in a sauce pan to boil, add the garlic to the pot and let boil rapidly for a good long while, 15 minutes or more, until the stock is reduced by half. as soon as the garlic is in the stock, i set a large pan of water to boil for the pasta.

i am from the school of thought that advocates adding a goodly amount of salt and olive oil to the pasta water to add essential flavor to the pasta. but i don't add it in until just before i add the pasta, after the water is at a full boil.

as soon as the sauce is reduced by half, add in the juice from the lemons, i use 1 and a half to 2 lemons here depending on how juicy they are. keep the sauce simmering away until the pasta is done cooking, it will continue to reduce, about a cup of sauce at the end is great, give or take. 

cook the pasta according to package directions. a great tip is to add the noodles in slowly, so that the water continues to boil all the while. when al dente, drain. return the pasta to the pan and pour in the lemon garlic sauce. put the heat on medium and stir around for a minute or two so the pasta absorbs a bit of the sauce. add the tomatoes and or parsley now, if you are using. turn off the heat. add in the 1/4 freshly grated paremsan cheese and serve. my family loves this and it is light, refereshing and noodley.

roasted vegetable gratin and broccoflower pasta

i love roasted veg. this recipe is so easy. 30 minutes for the whole recipe start to finish. i served it with broccoflower pasta, which my family loves. really simple recipes. oh and yes a bit of garlic bread on the side.

roasted eggplant, zucchini, tomato gratin

1 medium eggplant, sliced into thin rounds

2 medium zucchin, sliced into thin rounds

8 smallish tomatoes, seeded and sliced 

1 clove garlic

olive oil

salt pepper

preheat oven to 450 degrees farenheit. rub garlic clove all over oval baking dish, really smash it as you go. put sliced eggplant and zucchini in a medium bowl. toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. now arrange veg in pan. i did waves this time. drizzle with a bit more olive oil and salt and pepper. pop the whole thing into the oven. roast for 25 minutes or so. (if you don't overpack your veg into the pan like i did it may be done in 20). ready to serve. now, if you like you can sprinkle with breadcrumbs or parmesan, or parmesan and breadcrumbs and put the whole thing back in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes until nicely browned. easy.

broccoflower pasta

1 head broccoflower, tough stems removed, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces

1 medim onion, chopped

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

olive oil

1 lb linguini, fettucini or penne

set large pan of water to boil for your pasta noodles and cook according to package directions. i usually use rustichella d'abruzzo spaghetti for this dish. i really like italian pastas. anwyay, set medium pan of water to boil for broccoflower. cook broccoflower in salted water until just tender. drain and reserve. saute chopped onion in a medium pan on medium high until tender (about 4 minutes). add broccoflower and stir around for a minute. add about 3 tablespoons heavy cream. allow to simmer for about 4 more minutes. add parmesan. simmer another 2 minutes. pour over drained pasta and mix around a bit in the pan before serving. this is a rich pasta, but something about the flavors and the way they join in the cooking is really special. broccoli or caulifower would also work quite well here. even savoy cabbage. this meal has a lot of parmesan cheese. really good supply of calcium.