Pasta with Mushrooms, Mustard, and Chard

If I were a swanky recipe book, I would note that the combination of mushroom and shallot in this recipe provides a rich undertone to the interplay of sweet chard and spicy mustard.

If I were me, I'd just focus on typing up this recipe while repeating, under my breath, "you do not need to go make a new batch of this now. You do not need to go make a batch of this now."

At the moment, however, it has been at least 15 minutes since we ate the last bites on our plates. Possibly 16 minutes, even. Maybe we should go make a new batch of this now...

Ingredients
Home made fettuccine noodles for two
Olive oil
1/2 tbsp Pastured butter (optional)
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 medium shallots, halved and sliced
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Splash sherry
Slosh veggie broth
3-5 leaves rainbow chard, sliced into ribbons, or several handfuls baby chard
3-5 leaves mustard greens, sliced into ribbons, or several handfuls red mustard frisee
Handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Shaved goat gouda or other hard goat cheese (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil for the pasta.

Heat olive oil and butter in a wide pan with deep sides over medium high heat. When hot, add the garlic and press into the pan. Cook until lightly golden on one side, then push to the side of the pan, flip, and add the shallot. Turn the heat down to medium and saute until the shallot is very soft, adding a pinch of salt if needed to keep it from browning.

Add the mushrooms and toss with the olive oil and shallot to coat. Saute, stirring, for several minutes, adding salt and pepper as the mushrooms cook. (If the mushrooms end up seeming very dry, sprinkle them with a little more olive oil.) When the mushrooms have started to release their juices, add a slosh of sherry and stir until it mostly evaporates.

Fold in any big greens (the sliced chard and/or mustard greens), add a splash of vegetable broth and a little bit more sherry if desired, and cover the pan to let steam. After a minute or two, uncover and stir, then cover again to let simmer until the greens are tender (2-3 more minutes).

At this point, add the fresh pasta to the boiling water and boil for 2 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, add any baby greens (baby chard and/or red mustard frisee) to the mushrooms. Add a little more broth if necessary (you want there to be a little bit of liquid at the bottom, but not so much that it's soupy), cover, and steam for a minute. Turn off the heat.

Reserve 1-2 ladlefuls of pasta water, then drain the pasta into a colander and shake just a couple of times (so the pasta isn't too thoroughly drained). Add to the pasta to the pan with the mushrooms, ladle in a little of the reserved water, and toss with the sauce. Add more pasta water if necessary -- you want the mixture to be very moist but not soupy (the pasta will absorb some water between now and when you get it to the table, and you don't want it to dry out).

Sprinkle in the Parmesan cheese, toss, and serve onto plates. Top with a liberal scattering of parsley and a few shavings of goat gouda. Serve hot.

Serves 3, and pairs well with Syrah or another red with a bit of heft and complexity.

Pan-Fried Winter Squash

It's getting to be the time of year when even the most squash-enamored individual might be excused for wondering when the vegetable might pack up for the season and go home already. After baking it, stuffing it, mashing it, sauteing it, and pureeing it, I have to admit I sighed a little last week when I opened our CSA box to find a big piece of Guatamalan blue banana squash (although you have to admit it's a fabulous name, at least). But Suzanne Ashworth, the mastermind behind Del Rio Botanical, suggested pan-frying the squash in the insert she sends every week with our produce, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. Suddenly, we're re-addicted to winter squash and hoping there might be just a few more weeks of it.

 

Ingredients
Winter squash (butternut or similar texture), cut into rectangular slices about 1/3 inch thick
Pastured butter and/or olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper





Heat a pan that's wide enough to hold the squash slices in a single layer over medium heat. When hot, add a little butter and/or olive oil (about enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan). Add the squash slices and fry 2-4 minutes until lightly browned, then flip to brown the other side as well.

When both sides are golden, sprinkle with a little salt, add 1-2 tbsp water, and cover the pan to let steam, turning the heat down slightly. Steam 5-10 minutes until very tender, adding a little more water if necessary (the cooking time will depend on the thickness of the squash).

Sprinkle with white pepper, and serve.

Sauteed Beet Greens

Apparently, beet greens are a close relative to Swiss chard. Which means that if you happen to be a completely reasonable person with a still-not-fully-eradicated, deep-seated beet phobia, you can call them chard-like greens, which is obviously a much nicer and less fearsome sounding word. Chard-like greens have chard-like roots, which some of us will no doubt muster up the courage to try again someday soon, especially now that they have this nice, placid, appropriately appetizing name. In the meantime, we've been munching on their leafy green tops in this recipe.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
1 tomato, diced
Several handfuls young beet greens (if larger/older, chop before cooking and cook a little longer until tender)
Splash chicken or veggie broth
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Squeeze Meyer lemon juice


Saute shallot in a little olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add the tomato and continue cooking for a couple minutes until it softens and releases its juice. Add the beet greens and toss with the tomatoes to coat. Add a splash of broth, cover, and simmer until the greens are just wilted, stirring once or twice.

Turn off the heat, add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste, and serve hot.

Serves 2.

Broccoli with Garlic and Meyer Lemon

I always forget about broccoli. We make it, and I marvel at it, and then I go back to thinking of it as a bland side dish that tends to range from overcooked and mushy to generic and flavorless. Which it often is, if you boil or steam it, or get it out of the frozen food section. But fresh di Cicio broccoli from our produce box, sauteed in olive oil and then barely steamed for a few minutes until just tender? Not the same vegetable at all.


Ingredients
Olive oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 clove garlic, smashed
Broccolini or broccoli for two, sliced lengthwise into equal-width pieces
Salt
Splash or two veggie broth or water
Meyer lemon (pinch zest plus a little juice)


Heat a little olive oil in a pot over medium heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds and garlic. Stir, toasting, until garlic begins to lightly brown, turning down the heat a little if the seeds start to pop.

Add the broccoli and salt and stir to coat with the mustard seeds. Saute for a minute or two, then add a splash of broth and cover the pot. Steam for 1-2 minutes until the liquid evaporates, then add a splash more liquid, stir, and cover again. Steam another couple of minutes or until just tender (you want there to be just enough liquid to create a little steam, but not so much that the broccoli is sitting in liquid -- the idea is to get the bottom of the vegetable lightly caramelized as it sits against the hot pan, while steaming the rest of it).

Turn off the heat, add a pinch of lemon zest and a squeeze of juice, and serve hot.

Serves 2 (and goes particularly well with these).

Homemade Pasta with Garlic and Greens

Found in our CSA box: Arugula rapini.
Still obsessed with: Homemade pasta.
(Really, when you think about it, there was only one thing we could do....)

Ingredients
Homemade pasta (e.g., this fettuccine), cooked al dente

Olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed
3-5 big handfuls of greens (e.g., arugula, spinach, or baby mustard)
Generous glug or two white wine
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
Salt & black pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a wide pan with deep sides over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30-60 seconds until it softens but does not brown. Add the greens and a pinch of salt and saute, stirring, until the greens just start to wilt slightly at the edges. Add the wine and lemon zest and cover, turning the heat down slightly. Steam until the greens just begin to wilt for real, then uncover, stir again, and add salt and pepper to taste.

When the pasta is al dente, drain most but not all of the water and add to the pan with the sauce. Sprinkle with a little more olive oil and toss with the greens. Serve hot, topped with parsley and Parmesan.

Serves 2.

Mushrooms with Sherry

The first thing you need to know about Korbel Champagne Cellars is that their deli, of all things, is phenomenal. It has phenomenal pasta salads, and phenomenal sandwiches, but most of all it has a phenomenal lunchtime experience involving tri-tip, caramelized onions, and gorgonzola inside warm bread that you can devour while seated blissfully on a sunny patio with light filtering down through the trees.

The second thing you should know is that their sherry is good, and that it does happy things to mushrooms.


Ingredients
Olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, brushed clean, stemmed, and halved or quartered
(depending on whether they're small or large)
Salt & black pepper
A slosh or two of sherry
1 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Heat a glug of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat (make sure the pan is wide enough that the mushrooms won't be crowded -- 11" or so will do). Add the garlic slices and stir, letting them simmer in the oil, for 1-2 minutes (you may want to turn the heat down a little to prevent them from browning). Add the mushrooms, stir a couple times, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, and allow to brown on all sides.

When the mushrooms are golden, add a pinch or two of salt and some freshly ground black pepper, and cook for a moment longer.

Add a generous slosh of sherry (enough so that you can see a bit of liquid simmering in the bottom of the pan) and cook, stirring, until it's mostly but not completely evaporated. Stir in the parsley, and serve hot.

Serves 2 as a side dish or appetizer.

Starlitta Salad with Carrot and Radish

We found a bag full of springy, light, fresh-flavored greens in our CSA box labeled starlitta (although I haven't been able to track them down on the Google, so they may usually be called something else). But this light salad would work with other microgreens or a mix of mild baby greens, as well.

Ingredients
Two large handfuls of greens
2 carrots, grated
1 medium daikon (white radish), grated
Olive oil & balsamic vinegar

Whisk a generous couple glugs of olive oil and about a third as much balsamic vinegar in a small bowl to form an emulsion. Lightly coat the greens with the vinaigrette, but reserve 1-2 spoonfuls. Arrange greens in salad bowls or plates, sprinkle generously with carrot and radish, and drizzle a little of the remaining vinaigrette over the top.

Serves 2 .

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I can't quite figure out if purple sweet potatoes actually taste any different than orange ones, because it's entirely possible that I'm just madly in love with their color. Certainly they have a creamier texture than some orange varieties, although not necessarily all. But does it matter? They're purple. Can't really beat that.

Ingredients
Purple sweet potatoes (or sub orange ones, if you must)
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 375. Slice sweet potatoes lengthwise, then turn and cut again lengthwise into thick fries. Toss with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, spread 1-2 layers deep on a baking sheet, and bake for 25-35 minutes until tender, stirring every 15 minutes or so (the timing will depend on how thick the fries are, so just check them from time to time when you're stirring anyway).

Sprinkle with a little more salt, and serve hot. Unlike fried fries, these won't get soggy if they sit for a little while before serving. (But like fried fries, they're delicious).

White Beans and Rice

I got home one night last week at 8pm, walked into the kitchen, and went to gaze half-heartedly into the fridge to find something not too ridiculous to make myself for dinner ("not too ridiculous" has been known to include microwave popcorn, but ever since our cupboards got their whole food makeover, we haven't had any in the house). I noticed the leftover home-grown cannellini beans from our pasta and some dino kale in the vegetable drawer, and threw together an easy, all-in-one sort of dish in the vague hope that it would be mildly edible.

Apparently, the cooking gods owe me one from a certain roasted vegetable fiasco last week that I am choosing to pretend never happened, because this ended up being amazingly delicious. Serve it over black Forbidden rice or else regular brown rice, and top with some good-quality extra sharp white cheddar.

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 medium shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed
1/2 bunch dino kale, sliced crosswise into ribbons*
2-3 cups cooked cannellini beans (or sub canned)
1/2 cup cooking liquid and/or chicken broth*
1/4 tsp dried oregano or more to taste
Salt (unless your canned beans are already high in salt)
Sprinkling ñora pepper or crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp chopped parsley or more to taste
1/2 cup grated extra sharp white cheddar

Heat a glug of olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. When hot, add the shallot and saute for a couple of minutes until it just begins to soften, then add the smashed garlic clove, pressing it into the olive oil. Continue cooking for another minute or two until the garlic clove begins to brown and the shallots are soft.

Add the kale and saute, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until it wilts. Next, stir in the beans, and add the chicken broth, oregano, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down a little, and simmer for a few minutes. Add the dried pepper and parsley, cover, and simmer for 5-7 more minutes, adding a little extra broth if necessary (you want some liquid left at the end, like a sauce, but it shouldn't be soupy).

Serve over rice, lightly sprinkled with cheese.

Serves 2.

*Variation on a theme: Substitute chard for the kale, white wine for the chicken broth, and sprinkle with extra parsley at the end.

Sauteed Broccolini and Wilted Red Mustard Frisee

Our CSA box has been sending big bags of red frisee mustard that has the color of red mustard, the shape of frisee, and an aroma reminiscent of a baked potato. I suspect they're supposed to be salad greens, but they taste incredible when quickly sauteed in a little bit of olive oil. Meanwhile, we got a bouquet of blossoming broccolini this week, which involves excessive amounts of alliteration (there was no way around it -- the only other option was to call it a big bunch of blooming broccolini, and that's even worse), but it was also excessively pretty and excessively tasty, so I decided to forgive it.

You can turn this into a quick and easy dinner by pairing it with some good bread and cheese. (For a quick picnic in front of my laptop one night last week, I layered avocado, sharp white cheddar, and chopped arugula on slices of walnut levain* from Village Bakery and sprinkled with a little black pepper...who says fast food can't be gourmet?)

*If you live in the Sacramento/Davis area, I suggest finding Village Bakery bread (Taylor's and the Co-op both carry it), buying the walnut levain and/or the seeded batard, going home, grabbing a knife out of the kitchen, locking yourself in a room after reassuring anyone present that you are not about to do anything drastic, and eating it. Seriously. Because you have not really had bread until you have had this bread.

Ingredients
Olive oil
Several big handfuls of red frisee mustard (or sub arugula)
1 bunch broccolini, stems sliced into 1 inch pieces and tops separated
1 clove garlic, pressed
Splash chicken or veggie broth
Squeeze Meyer lemon juice

Heat a little olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the mustard and saute for a minute, pressing the leaves gently against the pan and then turning them. Cover the pan and cook for a minute or until just wilted (arugula will cook even faster, so saute only until it just begins to wilt and remove from heat). Decant into a bowl and set near the stove to keep warm.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan, then toss in the broccolini stems and stir a few times. Push them to the side of the pan and add the garlic and a little more olive oil, so the garlic can simmer in the oil for a few moments. After about 10 seconds and before it browns, stir it in with the broccolini. Sprinkle with a little salt, saute for a minute or so more, then add the chicken broth and cover the pan, turning the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 2 minutes, then uncover, turn the heat back to medium, and add the broccolini tops. Saute for a minute more, then turn off the heat, sprinkle with lemon juice and pepper, and serve next to or over the red mustard frisee.




Serves 2 as a side dish.