Spaghetti with Summer Vegetable Sauce

Borders is officially going out of business, which means one thing for me:

Run into the store and hope that they still have cooking magazines for 40% off.

I lucked out - I managed to grab Cooks Illustrated, Cooks Country and the Food Network mags.  SCORE!  I also managed to grab the Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook (in the bargain bin plus another 20% off) and the Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home book (also in the bargain bin!!) so overall, a good haul.  The books are still only at 20% off, so for books not in the bargain bin, it might be cheaper on Amazon.

Browsing the August/September issue of Cooks Country, I am immediately struck by the Spaghetti with Summer Vegetable Sauce recipe.  Not only does it use fresh, seasonal vegetables, it is extremely simple, and is listed as one of their 30 minute meals - due to the use of store-bought pesto.

This dish is extremely simple - cut up veggies, cook until softened, boil pasta in the meantime, combine in one pot, add pesto, serve.  It really is that easy, and that delicious!

Just a quick note on the vegetables - I peeled the squash and zucchini.  It's probably preferable that you don't, because the vegetables won't get mushy as quick, but since I didn't buy organic vegetables, I usually take the skin off.

Why does pasta photograph so weird?

Spaghetti with Summer Vegetable Sauce from Cooks Country, August/September 2011

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used 2 and 1 tablespoon olive oil)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
• 1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (I used one bag of Nature Sweet tomatoes - exactly 12 ounces and I had a coupon!)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti (I used campagnelle)
• 6 tablespoons basil pesto (about 3 ounces.  I bought a six ounce container, and used half of it.)

Directions:

1.  Bring water to in a boil in a large pot.

2.  Melt butter in a 12 inch skillet (believe me, you need a large skillet) over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook until softened, about five minutes.  

3.  Stir in squash and zucchini and stir until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

4.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

5.  Stir in tomatoes, wine (or broth), 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Cook until liquid is reduced, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6.  Meanwhile, add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water and cook, stirring often, until al dente.  Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water, and drain pasta.  Return pasta to pot.

7.  Toss vegetable mixer and pesto with pasta, adding reserved pasta water to thin the sauce as needed (I only needed a little splash of water.)

Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Pasta Primavera

It's SPRING!  The sun is shining (here at least), we had temps in the upper 70's and 80's last week, and the first trickle of vegetables on sale at the grocery store has finally begun.

This week I noticed:
Asparagus - $0.97/pound
Green beans - $0.99/pound
Zucchini - $1.00/pound

I even lucked out with the peas - I was scouring the frozen food aisle, and I was about to reach for the Green Giant peas for $2.00 a box, when I noticed the Safeway brand organic peas were also $2.00.  I have noticed I will go for the organic anything now when it's a good deal, so, for me, this was a great find!

These three, beautiful green vegetables are big parts of a pasta dish I found from Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen recently - pasta primavera!  (If you do not subscribe to ATK's Notes from the Test Kitchen, I highly recommend it!)

I didn't have any problems making this recipe - I just found it takes a lot of time.  I tried to do a lot of things at once - boiling water, prepping vegetables, boiling pasta, but I couldn't time everything together well.  I only made two major changes - I halved the recipe, and instead of heavy cream, I used half and half.  The flavor mavens may be angry at me, but it was what I had in the fridge, and I wanted to lighten the recipe a smidge.

The taste?  Loved it.  I love all the vegetables used in this dish (except maybe the peas, I bet I could have cut the amount of peas in half again) and I managed to season it perfectly during the salt additions.  Mr. Unoriginal Chef saw me plating the dish to photograph and he demanded it for his dinner.

Of course, he only ate it after I picked out all the icky green stuff he didn't like - meaning the peas, the green beans, and the asparagus.  Men.  I deliberately left some peas and green beans in there to make him eat something healthy.

Make this once you start getting your CSA boxes this summer!  Or when you find a great sale at the grocery store like me!

Pasta Primavera from Cook's Illustrated, August 2004

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces green beans, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 12 medium asparagus spears, tough ends snapped off (just bend the asparagus, it will break where it needs to be broken), halved lengthwise and cut diagonally into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 large plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), peeled, cored and chopped medium
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) (I did not add this)
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound dried egg fettucine (I used whole wheat linguini)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup shredded basil leaves (whoops, I forgot this)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used a whole lemon and squeezed until the proper taste)
• Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

1.  Boil water for pasta in large pot.  In a second pot, bring water to boil for green vegetables; add 1 tablespoon salt.  

2.  Fill a large bowl with ice water, set aside.

3.  Add green beans to boiling water in smaller pot, cook for 1 1/2 minutes.  Add asparagus, cook for 30 seconds.  Add zucchini, cook for 30 seconds.  Add peas, cook for 30 seconds.  Drain vegetables and dunk into ice water.  Let sit until chilled, about 3 minutes, and drain.  Set aside.

4.  Heat 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat until foamy in the same pot you used to boil the vegetables.  Add mushrooms, and saute until brown, about 8-10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes, if using.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer until tomatoes begin to lose their shape, about 7 minutes. Add cream and stir until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.

5.  Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the pasta water and cook pasta until al dente.

6.  While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan or skillet.  Heat until foamy.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly colored, about 1 minute.  Add blanched vegetables and cook until heated through and infused with garlic flavor, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt to taste, set aside.

7.  Bring mushroom/tomato sauce back to medium heat.

8.  Drain pasta and return to large pot.  (I didn't do this, since I had cooked my pasta way in advance.  I actually put the pasta into the large skillet with my vegetables.  It worked, just a lot of stirring.)  Add mushroom/tomato sauce, and stir to combine over low heat.  Squeeze lemon juice over pasta, and season with salt to taste.

Serve immediately with grated cheese on top.

Up close and personal with the vegetables!  Eat your veggies!  It should be easy with this dish!

Ratatouille... the dish, not the movie.

To save money, I shop based on the ads of the week - if I see a certain vegetable or protein on sale that week, I will plan my weekly cooking around that item.  It allows me to save money and keep expanding my repertoire of recipes.

Eggplant was on sale for $1.00 each, so I declared this week to be eggplant week!  I picked out the biggest honking eggplant out of the bunch, and brought it home to meet it's maker, aka my Santoku knife and my stainless steel pan.

After cooking with eggplant, I promtly declared eggplant week OVER!  I'm really tired of eating eggplant - that big honking eggplant provided a lot more servings than I anticipated!  

My first thought of cooking with eggplant was to make beef and eggplant lasagna.  I then remembered Ratatouille.

No, not the adorable Disney movie that I watch obsessively every time it's on TV like The Incredibles... the dish that was prepared in the movie for the critic Ego.  I don't cook with eggplant often (err ... ever) so I figured I would go for the gusto and find a dish that used eggplant prominently.

Today's recipe is courtesy of Everyday Food, October 2010, the issue with mac and cheese on the cover.  

It smells SO good when it cooks.

Ingredients: (Makes 3 quarts.  I halved this recipe.)

• 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large eggplant (1 pound), cut into 1-inch pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 large yellow onions (1 pound total), diced large
• 1 head garlic, cloves smashed and peeled
• 2 bell peppers (any color), seeded and diced large
• 2 large zucchini (1 pound total), diced large
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon fresh marjoram or oregano leaves (I used dried.  Don't hurt me.)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (I find this to be optional.  It doesn't add much to the flavor.)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place tomato and juices on a rimmed baking sheet.  Use your hands to break the tomato into smaller pieces.  Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Or, you can cheat like I did, because I forgot to buy whole canned tomatoes, and use a can of already diced tomatoes.  No one will judge you!

2.  In a colander, toss the eggplant with 1.5 teaspoons of salt.  Let sit for 20 minutes, then squeeze out excess liquid.  (I forgot to do this.  I didn't notice a difference.)  

3.  In a large Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with a lid, add 4 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, and cook until onions and garlic are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add peppers and cook, stirring, until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

4.  Add tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bay leaf, and marjoram or oregano (I used oregano) to the pot.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to simmer.  Reduce heat to medium low, partially cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy.  Season to taste with vinegar, salt and pepper.  

Remove the bay leaf before serving!

Serving suggestions include serving this as a side dish, over pasta, with baked eggs, or as phyllo wraps.  I highly recommend serving this over pasta:

I first tried it with rice, and the flavor was so bland, I couldn't bring myself to finish the serving.  I felt so disgusted eating the ratatouille, I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to finish the rest I had in my fridge.  

For dinner, I cooked some whole wheat pasta, heated up the ratatouille, poured it over the pasta, and heated up two Trader Joe's tenderloins to go with my pasta.  This version of dinner (I couldn't go full vegetarian, I can't do it!  I also went to the gym, so I needed protein!) was delicious beyond belief.  At first I wasn't a fan of this dish, which made me sad since I usually love everything out of Everyday Food, but over pasta, the dish was saved.

Yay!

And remember what Remy said:  "DON'T HORK IT DOWN!"  Happy vegetarian eating!