Pasta with Braised Broccolini and Bacon

This is an easy and delicious dinner for one, or double it for 2-3 people (keep in mind that the time it takes something to brown in a pan will increase when you double a recipe because the ingredients crowd together more...using a wider pan will help with this).

Ingredients (per person)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat fusilli

Olive oil

1 strip Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, diced

1 bunch broccolini, cut into bite-sized pieces (or sub broccoli)

2-3 cloves garlic, slivered

1/4 cup chicken or veggie broth

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 oz. Stilton, crumbled

Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water, then follow package directions to cook the pasta. Drain when al dente, reserving a ladleful of pasta water in case it's needed.

Meanwhile (this part takes about 10-15 minutes), heat a wide pan over medium heat. Saute the bacon for 2-3 minutes and then pour off the excess grease. Add a glug of olive oil and the broccolini, and saute for 1-2 minutes more. Stir in the garlic and a pinch of salt, cover the pan, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir, add the broth, and replace the cover, turning the heat down to medium-low. Let simmer for 5 minutes or until the broccolini is tender, stirring once or twice.

Toss everything together, adjusting salt and olive oil to taste, and adding a little pasta water if the mixture is too dry. Sprinkle liberally with black pepper, crumble just a bit of blue cheese over the top, and serve immediately.

Serves 1.

Orzo with Chickpeas and Broccoli

This recipe involves...are you sitting down? It involves white, processed, supermarket variety pasta. You can go ahead and kick me out of the whole food club now.

The thing is, we have these small, random pockets of processed in our cupboards still, from before our kitchen's whole food makeover. And sometimes, when you're teaching two two-hour lectures back to back and wading through hours upon hours of meetings, you just want something easy to make for dinner. Besides, there are chickpeas in this. And green stuff. So it's really quite decent, in the grand scheme of things, and totally delicious.

You could make this with whole wheat orzo, and adjust the liquid and cooking times accordingly, and feel up to 11% less skeptical about the foodiness of its contents.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 medium to large shallot, quartered lengthwise and sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 scant cup orzo pasta
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 bunch broccolini or broccoli, sliced at an angle
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Liberal sprinkling of Parmesan cheese
Lemon wedges (optional)

Heat a glug of olive oil in a pot over medium heat. When hot, add the shallot and one of the garlic cloves, and saute for a few minutes until the shallot is soft and the garlic is lightly browned. Add the orzo and stir to coat evenly. After about a minute, add the broth, cover, and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and cook 9-10 minutes, or according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat a wide saute pan over medium heat. Add a generous glug of olive oil and the other clove of garlic, and simmer in the oil until both sides are golden. Add the broccoli and saute, stirring, for a couple of minutes, then add the chickpeas and saute for a moment more. Add the salt and pepper, and cover the pan, turning the heat down slightly. Steam for a couple minutes until the broccoli is just tender, then add the parsley.

When the orzo is al dente, add the broccoli mixture. Stir, add a splash more broth if needed, and cook for a minute more. Turn off the heat, stir in the cheese, and serve hot, garnished with a lemon wedge if desired.

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).

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.