Spaghetti Vongole

Because clams. They are happy. Hence, you know, the expression.

Ingredients
2 servings of your favorite whole wheat or multigrain spaghetti
Olive oil
1 medium shallot, finely chopped (about 2 tbsp)
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 can chopped clams in clam juice
1-2 sloshes of the white wine you're having for dinner
2-3 handfuls baby arugula or baby spinach
2 tbsp chopped parsley
12-15 leaves fresh basil, chiffonade
Pinch cayenne or half spoonful of Aleppo pepper
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions, except minus 30 seconds (it will cook a little more later, in the sauce).

Meanwhile, heat a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat. When hot, add a glug of olive oil, then add the shallot and sauté for about a minute until it softens slightly. Add the garlic and sauté a minute more. Next, the peas, again for about a minute. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt, and turn the heat up to medium.

Drain the juice of the clams into the pan, leaving the clams for now. Stir and let simmer for a minute or two until the liquid reduces a bit, then add a glug or two of white wine and again pause for a minute to let some of the liquid boil off.

Add the clams themselves, stir, then fold in the baby greens, most but not all of the parsley, and most but not all of the basil. In just a moment, the greens will start to wilt. Sprinkle in the hot pepper, stir, and turn off the heat. Pour the pasta into the pan and toss well to distribute the sauce.

Serve hot, sprinkled with Parmesan, plenty of black pepper, and a bit of the remaining parsley and basil.

Serves 2.

Spring Pea Risotto with Pancetta and Lemon

Next to fresh fava beans, peas are a cinch. Shell a few handfuls for this light and flavorful risotto that pairs them with pancetta and a hint of lemon for a perfect complement to a warm, summery evening.

Ingredients

26 oz chicken and/or veggie broth

Pinch or two saffron threads, crumbled

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic: 2 chopped, 1 lightly smashed

2-2.5 oz pancetta, sliced into short strips or cubes
(or sub good-quality, thick-cut bacon)

1 rounded cup Arborio rice

1 cup fresh shelled green peas

1/3 cup dry white wine

2 handfuls baby spinach or baby arugula, coarsely chopped

Zest of one Meyer lemon

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley, plus a little extra for garnish

1/2-2/3 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat broth and smashed garlic clove in a covered pot until it simmers. Add the saffron, stir once, cover, and turn off the heat.

Heat a large pot over medium heat. When hot, turn the heat down just a bit and add the pancetta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until some of the pieces begin to show a lightly golden sheen. Remove the pieces from the pan with a slotted spatula and place to the side on a plate lined with a paper towel. Remove some of the bacon grease from the pot, but leave about a tablespoon to cook with.

Add a glug of olive oil to the pot and let heat for a moment. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and saute, stirring, until translucent, then add the garlic and saute about 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat to halfway between medium and medium-low.

Stir in the rice and saute in the onion-garlic mixture for a minute or two longer, then add the white wine and continue to saute, stirring, until liquid is absorbed. Add half the pancetta back into the pot, and save the rest for later.

Begin adding broth by the ladleful, stirring the rice regularly until the liquid is absorbed and then adding more. Adjust the heat up or down as needed—you want the liquid to come to a gentle simmer when you stop stirring for a few seconds.

When there is about a cup of broth left, add the peas to the risotto and cook, stirring and adding broth when the rice dries out, as before. When there is one ladleful of broth left, add the chopped greens, 1/2 of the lemon zest, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine, then add the last ladleful of broth and the cheese, and turn off the heat.

Let sit 3-5 minutes for flavors to blend, then adjust lemon zest, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve into preheated soup plates, and garnish with chopped parsley.

 Serves 2-3.

Pasta with Pea Pesto and Bacon

There are approximately ten billion varieties of basil now growing in our garden. Or four, if you like precision, but you know what I say? I say precision is for bakers. Bakers can have four varieties of basil. I have ten billion. Ten billion basils basking in the sun, reminding me incessantly of pesto. I'm like the greedy cartoon characters with dollar signs in their eyes, only mine are full of pasta.

The thing is, though, they are small, fledgling basils. Not yet fully grown. And when you have only ten billion (four) fledgling basils, you can't really make pesto. You need, by my hyperbolic calculations, approximately six gazillion fledgling basils to make pesto. What's a slightly unhinged, grant-deadline-racing, pesto-obsessed cook to do?

Answer: Peas. (Other possible acceptable answers include: 42, and get some sleep for goodness sakes.)

Seriously, make this. It's delightful. If you have fresh peas, use them, and I'm thinking that some asparagus thinly sliced at an angle would make it even better.

Ingredients
Fresh linguine or tagliolini for two
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, blanched and drained
1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves
(use a bit more if it's regular sweet basil, or a bit less if it's a stronger variety like fino verde)
2-3 tbsp lightly toasted pine nuts
2 large cloves garlic, one whole and one slivered
Olive oil
2 slices Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, sliced crosswise into thin strips*
Dry white cooking wine
Several handfuls baby arugula and/or coarsely chopped amaranth greens (1/3 lb or a bit less)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus a few shavings for garnish
Freshly ground white pepper

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Combine the peas, basil, whole clove of garlic, and pine nuts in a Cuisinart and blend until smooth.

Heat a wide saute pan over medium heat. When very hot, add just a bit of olive oil, followed by the bacon. Cook until it starts to turn golden (you can remove some of the bacon grease at this point, if you want, and add a bit more olive oil in its place), then lower the heat and toss in the slivered garlic. Cook for another minute or so until the garlic is tender.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, add the pesto to the bacon and stir to combine. Allow it to warm through, then add a slosh of wine to help thin. Turn off the heat, and add the greens.

Reserve a ladleful or two of pasta water, then drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the sauce. Toss to combine, adding pasta water as needed to thin the sauce (add just a little bit more than you think you need if the pasta is homemade, since it will soak up a bit more liquid on the way to the table). Stir in the grated parmesan.

Serve hot, with a little freshly ground white pepper and some shaved Parmesan over the top.

Serves 2.

*If you double the recipe, you only need three strips of bacon (rather than four).

Smoked Salmon Risotto with Kale

Ha! Take that, kale. I have cooked you, and you are delicious.

As risottos go, this one is fairly simple to prepare (as in, there aren't too many ingredients, and they don't need to be cooked separately or cut in intricate ways), but the resulting flavor is complex enough to keep things interesting. 

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 rounded cup of Arborio rice
About 4 cups of broth*
Dry white cooking wine
1 bunch dino kale, sliced into ribbons, rinsed, and dried in a salad spinner
6 oz smoked wild salmon, sliced crosswise into strips (and separated into individual pieces if necessary, so they don't clump together when you add them to the risotto) 
1 Meyer lemon, zested and halved
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

And any of the following that strike your fancy:
Some asparagus, thinly sliced at an angle (diagonally across the stem)
A scattering of frozen peas
A handful of baby arugula


Heat the broth in a small pot until it simmers, then turn off heat. Leave covered on the stove.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a big pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Next, add the rice, stirring to coat the grains. After a minute or so, add 1-2 ladles full of white wine and cook, stirring, until it evaporates. Add a ladle full of broth, and again simmer, stirring, until the excess liquid is gone. Continue adding broth and stirring until rice is just tender and most of the broth is used up.

Then, add the kale and any other vegetables you'd like along with another ladle full of broth. Cook for a few minutes until wilted or tender (asparagus will take the longest, so add it first if you're including it. Kale and peas seem to need about 2-3 minutes, and baby arugula barely needs any time at all). Next, add the smoked salmon, lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, and parsley, and turn off the heat right away. Stir everything together gently, adding a bit of the remaining broth if it seems at all dry. Pepper liberally, stir in the grated Parmesan, and serve. Garnish with a half-slice of Meyer lemon and a sprig of parsley, or sprinkle a little chopped parsley over the top.

Serves 4, or two for dinner and two for lunch the next day.


*Half chicken and half veggie works well.

Black Rice "Risotto" with Wild Clams and Peas

There's nothing like 102 degree weather to make venturing outside long enough to restock on fresh produce seem like a crazy, over-zealous, obsessive sort of notion. Any sane person (said my rapidly baking afternoon self, after hauling a 3-gallon watering can back and forth across the garden to water the new moss roses, which were a better idea when it was pleasantly cool several mornings ago) would stay at home and sit in front of the air conditioning vent and meditate on the virtues of icebergs. So I did. This, however, left me with mostly just cupboard and freezer ingredients to raid in search of a whole food, mostly-plants-especially-leaves dinner. Right.

So here's what we've got:
- Half a bag of organic black Forbidden rice.
- A can of clams, from the Coop, that says sustainably harvested and wild. These seem like good things.
- In the fridge: Garlic, white wine, yogurt. Nix the yogurt.
- In the freezer: Frozen spinach, frozen peas, leftover vegetable broth, leftover chopped onion.
- Outside: Assorted herbs.

Here goes...

Ingredients
Scant 1 cup Forbidden rice
1 cup vegetable broth
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can chopped clams
About 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
About 1/2 cup frozen peas
Splash dry white wine
Aleppo pepper and/or freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
6-8 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced1/4 cup grated parmesan

Saute about a third of the onion in olive oil in a small pot over medium heat until soft. Add the rice, stirring for a minute, then the broth. Cover, bring to a boil, and turn down heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add the juice from the can of clams and continue to simmer for another few minutes (I turned the heat up a little and left the cap off at this point, to let some of the liquid boil off).

Meanwhile, when the rice has been cooking for about 10 minutes, heat a little olive oil over medium-high heat in a separate pot. Add the rest of the onion and saute until translucent, then add the garlic and turn heat down to medium. After another minute, add the spinach, and then the peas. When the peas have thawed, add the cooked rice, then the wine, parsley, basil, and pepper. Cook for a couple more minutes, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated (the rice should still be very moist). Add the parmesan, stir, cross your fingers, and serve.




Definitely edible. Serves 2, but you might want something on the side or a large fruit course afterward.