turning a lemon into lemonade

tonight we had green garlic and potato ravioli in an onion cream sauce. the pasta was actually leftover from a batch i made a couple weeks ago that i stored in the freezer for a weeknight, which made dinner prep literally a "20 minuter," as my friend larry likes to say.

the night i actually made the ravioli (using green garlic from tairwa farms that i got from the sf farmers' market), i served it "in brodo" - just a simple chicken broth with fresh mushrooms and asparagus tips. to be honest, it was only so-so; not enough flavor. no, i didn't say there wasn't enough salt; i'm saying there wasn't enough FLAVOR. the green garlic-potato filling was so light, and the broth was so light... bleh. the whole thing was just so disappointing that i almost threw out the rest of the ravioli. but, i'm kind of a pack rat, so away i froze them, hoping i could figure out what to do with them another day.

fast forward to this past sunday when i was on the plane back from arizona, trying to come up with the weekly grocery list for lunch and dinner. i realized i could make my life easier by using the ravioli one night. i thought over what kind of sauce i could make, and that's when it dawned on me: why not make a creamy sauce to round out the lightness of the ravioli? i couldn't do anything to make the *filling* any richer, so if the mountain wouldn't come to mooner, then mooner could go to the mountain. i was pretty sure because the ravioli were so light that the cream sauce wouldn't overwhelm.

well, turns out i was right. (but hey, when am i ever wrong?;) the sauce made a HUGE difference. this time, the ravioli was AMAZING. i happily ate every single one of them, and so did kevin. (the first time we had them, i had to force the last few down.) now i feel good about sharing the ravioli recipe, because i know you'll enjoy these also as much as we did tonight.

btw - if you really prefer to serve the ravioli in a broth, i would very much recommend that you add cheese to the filling. i think something like a soft goat cheese (i absolutely LOVE laura chenel's chevre) would work really well.

the ravioli recipe is adapted from alice waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook. for the onion & cream sauce, you should feel free to add additional ingredients to it: a little pancetta would taste great (ease up on the salt and butter, and even the parmesan cheese if you do add it, though), as would some fresh wild mushrooms (porcini, shitake, chanterelle... any of those would be awesome).

enjoy!


Green Garlic & Potato Ravioli

8 green garlic, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb russet potato, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh marjoram
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lb fresh pasta sheets
1 medium egg, lightly beaten with 2 tsps water

Cook green garlic with 1 tsp salt and just enough water to cover the green garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat until very soft. Remove from heat and cool.

Meanwhile, bring salted water to boil in a large pot and cook potatoes until they're fork tender. Drain potatoes, then pass with green garlic through a food mill. Add herbs, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.

Unroll a little less than half the pasta on lightly floured surface. Mound 2 tsps of filling at about 1" intervals (the width of the pasta I use made two rows). Brush egg wash on pasta around the filling. Lay the other half of the pasta on top of bottom layer, making sure to ease pasta along the mounds of filling and patting down edges. Use a knife and cut raviolis into squares; use tines of fork to seal ravioli edges shut. Allow ravioli to dry slightly.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. (Now is the time to start the sauce, recipe is below.) When water comes to boil, add about 6 ravioli at a time and cook until they rise to surface. Remove using slotted spoon and transfer to colander to drain. Makes enough ravioli for 4.

Note: If you have any filling leftover (you probably will), you can either fry up some mashed potato pancakes for another meal, or use it as topping for shepherd's pie (just add a little milk and butter to it first).


Onion & Cream Sauce

4 tbsps unsalted butter
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Finely chopped chives for garnish

Green garlic and potato ravioli

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until edges begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, half & half, and cheese, and bring to boil. Boil until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add ravioli to skillet and stir until just coated with sauce. Divide pasta and sauce among 4 pasta dishes. Sprinkle tops with chives. Serves 4.

peas 'n carrots

you know how there are allegedly 5 food groups? well, until the end of february, we only ate really 4 of them: meat, potatoes, bread, and cheese. ...hmmm, maybe most of those aren't actually food "groups." (cheese *should* be a food group, though, don't you think?) ok, so we only SORT OF ate from 4 of those 5 food groups. anyway, that was then. now since i make dinner almost every night, i've been trying to work a variety of fruits and vegetables into our meals.

we're fully into the swing of spring, so more and more fruits and vegetables are appearing at the saturday farmers' market. over the last few weeks, two vegetables in particular we've enjoyed quite a bit are sugar snap peas and baby carrots. i usually get the snap peas from iacopi farms and baby carrots from star route farms (who also has the BEST lettuce ever: little gems, which are heirloom baby romaines.)

[btw, by "baby carrots," i mean actual baby carrots, not those cut and reshaped-into-small-nib normal carrots that are sold in bags as "baby carrots" at the grocery store.]

we had both snap peas and carrots tonight with our ny strip steaks from marin sun farms. for the snap peas, i blanched then sauteed them with a little lime zest and extra virgin olive oil; as for the carrots, i glazed them with some raw honey from marshall farms and a little bit of straus creamery butter. recipes below. enjoy!


Sugar Snap Peas with Citrus-Zest Olive Oil
1 pound sugar snap peas, ends trimmed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated zest from 1/2 lime or lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Have ready a large bowl of ice water. In a large saucepan, bring salted water to boil. Blanch snap peas for 1 minute, then drain and immerse in ice water. Drain peas again. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat with zest, then add snap peas and stir until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.


Raw-Honey Glazed Baby Carrots
1 lb baby carrots, carrot greens trimmed to 1/4"
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp raw honey

Preheat oven to 375 deg. On stovetop, melt butter with honey in a baking dish until butter is melted; stir to combine. Add carrots, toss to coat evenly, then place in oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until carrots are just tender. Serves 4.

the happy couple

this weekend, kevin and i went to prescott, az, to visit his mom. she took a picture of us, which i think came out really well. let me know if you agree.

what's that? you didn't know kevin is taller than i am? well, he is - i'm 5'5" and he's 5'10". you can clearly see he's about a head taller than i am in the pic. and you know what they say: "pictures don't lie." btw, i think kevin is pretty photogenic; don't you?

strawberry fields forever...

strawberries are one of my favorite fruits. so, even if you haven't noticed, i did in a big way when they started to become available at the farmers' market about 3 weeks ago. one of the best things about my strawberry lovin' is kevin isn't really a big fan of them, so i get to eat pretty much every single one that i can get my grubby little paws on.

this last weekend, the line at the strawberry stand to buy a single pint was so freakin' long you would have thought the farm was giving something away (these people realized they had to PAY for those, right?). i noticed the line to buy whole cartons of strawberries (3 pints) was pretty much nonexistent, so i did what anyone who hates lines but loves strawberries would do. i bought a whole carton. i was in and out in about 30 seconds. [contented *sigh*]

now, i don't know how familiar you are with strawberries, but 3 pints is a *lot* for one person to eat all by herself. and they don't keep very well for very long, so i was in a major quandary. what the fudge was i going to do with all of them strawberries? that's when i had a rare stroke of brilliance and realized i could puree a bunch of them and make a strawberry champagne vinaigrette for the salad at our passover seder that night. i decided then to switch up my plan and make a very simple mixed green salad with chunks of pink lady apples and crumbled buttermilk blue cheese with the strawberry champagne vinaigrette.

there's a stand at the farmers' market that sells all sorts of greens (endives, radicchio, dandelion, stinging nettles, spinach, fava greens, etc. etc.) so i walked over to it like i had a purpose (which i did), elbowed a little old lady out of my way, and filled to the brim an entire produce bag with mesclun. ...ok so maybe i'm exaggerating a little... i didn't *actually* fill the produce bag all the way to the very top. i left enough room so i could tie it shut. sheesh, you guys know me tooooo well. can't get away with anything. (hunh? what about the little old lady?)

so a slight tangent before i post the strawberry champagne vinaigrette recipe: ever since i decided to eat as little food as possible that contains chemicals and/or corn derivatives (used as preservatives and artificial flavorings), i take the time to actually read the food labels before i buy anything. things like xantham gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, and high-fructose corn syrup are examples of corn products used to stabilize, flavor, and preserve processed foods (for a more comprehensive list, you can look here). xantham gum seems to be in EVERYTHING, btw. crazy, who knew.

anyway, if you start to read ingredient labels, you'll probably feel as though you've been sucked back in time to chem lab (to some of you, this may be a nostalgic, pleasant memory. not for mwah, however. ;) seriously, you'll be surprised to see how prevalent these corn derivatives are in anything you buy from the shelf of a supermarket. most stuff in a safeway is now ineligible for entry into the house of froon b/c of these substances. to be honest, even the crunchy-granola vegetarian grocery co-op i go to has a lot of food that i won't eat.

anyway, what's the long-winded point i'm trying to make tonight? well, what i'm getting at is that if you look at the ingredients in a bottle of salad dressing, almost all of them are corn derivatives. even "organic" dressings like annie's contain this stuff. so, i've pretty much been forced to make my own from scratch. the good news is that they're very easy to make, easily modifiable to suit the ingredients you have on hand or the # of servings you need to make. as you'll now see. :)


Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette

1 pint hulled strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (if necessary, I left it out, the strawberries were so perfect)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup good-quality extra virgin olive oil (I like Stonehouse)

Combine first four ingredients and puree either in a blender or using a stick blender. Slowly blend in olive oil until emulsified. Chill, covered, if not using immediately. Makes enough dressing to serve 10-12 people.


Mixed Green Salad

8 cups mesclun salad mix, rinsed and spun dry
1 large Pink Lady apple, cored and cut into chunks (you can use Granny Smith if you can't find any Pink Ladies ...i'm pretty sure there's a joke in there somewhere...)
1 cup crumbled buttermilk blue cheese
1 cup cinnamon almonds
Strawberry champagne vinaigrette

Place all ingredients into a HUGE bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Plate and serve immediately. Serves 10.

is this burning an eternal flame?

i used my slow cooker to make tonight's dinner, which was indian vegetable curry with brown basmati rice.

i may have mentioned in an earlier post that i'm in love my slow cooker... well, i'm *still* in luv with him. ooops, i mean "it." IT, not him! haha, wow, that was a funny freudian slip, hunh?

well so what if i do love my slow cooker? what's NOT to love? you stick a bunch of ingredients in it in the morning, push its buttons (!!), and when you come back from a hard day's work of bringin' home the bacon, it's waiting for you with a piping hot dinner of goodness. AND, it's never upset with you if you come home later than you told it that morning.

yeah, mhmm, that's what i THOUGHT: you're thinking to yourself that not many *people* would even do that for you. aren't you? AREN'T YOU!!!

anyhoo, while you try to come up with a (pitiful) excuse as to why you, too, do not own a totally amazing slow cooker, i'll leave you with tonight's dinner recipe. enjoy!


Indian Vegetable Curry with Brown Basmati Rice

Curry
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 tsps yellow curry powder
1 1/2 tsps salt, plus more to taste
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed and chopped
2 tbsps chopped fresh cilantro (or not...yuck!)

Rice
1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water or stock

Curry
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and saute garlic and onions until onions begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add curry powder and salt, and saute for another minute. Deglaze pan with vegetable stock, making sure to scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan. Once mixture comes to a boil, remove pan from heat. Place potatoes, cauliflower, and green beans in slow cooker and then pour onion mixture over vegetables. Cover and cook for either 4 hours on high heat or 8 hours on low. If necessary, season to taste with salt.

Rice
Rinse rice a few times in cold water. In a medium saucepan, add rice and water (or stock) and bring to a boil. Cover and then simmer for about 40 minutes, or until water is completely absorbed.

Serve curry over rice and sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 4.

can you spare a square?!

apparently, there's a matzoh shortage in the entire bay area! you can check out the (very brief) story here.

while it didn't help that trader joe's and costco both didn't carry matzoh this year, supposedly, the largest supplier of matzoh (hello, manischewitz) pulled a move that's reminiscent of apple computer (back in the day): it decided to heavy up on some new equipment that led to...well, *engineering delays* so they couldn't make enough matzoh for passover.

kevin and i spent some time on sunday driving to a couple stores, and then wising up and calling around for matzoh. that's when the dude at mollie stone's told me that there was no matzoh to be had in all of san francisco (me: "are you serious?!" mollie stone's dude: "as serious as a heart attack!").

so, if any of you have any "squares to spare" please let me know - kevin is running out of matzoh - he only has one square left!!!

in the meanwhile, here's the brisket recipe (you need to start it the night before) that i use every year for our seders. this time, i used grass-raised meat from marin sun farms served with potato latkes, and honey-glazed baby carrots, sugar snap peas, and roasted asparagus as sides. (i'm getting a little better at this "seasonal cooking" thing, fo' shizzle) yummy!


Passover Brisket
6 lbs beef brisket
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
4-5 lbs yellow onions, chopped into 1" pieces
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsps Hungarian paprika
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp ground pepper, plus more to taste

Preheat oven to 375°F. Rinse and pat brisket dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in a Dutch oven for about 10 minutes. Roast brisket in pan, uncovered, 30 minutes, turning over halfway through.

Meanwhile, using a very large skillet (or use 2 normal ones if you can't fit all the onions in one pan), heat remaining 2 tbsps olive oil over medium-high heat and cook onions until they start to caramelize (about 10 minutes). Reduce heat to medium-low / low and continue cooking onions until they turn deep golden, stirring occasionally (about 20 minutes). Stir in garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute, then stir in 3 cups water and bring to a boil.

Spoon onion mixture over brisket and bake, covered, with lid slightly cracked, 4 hours, or until brisket is tender. Check every hour and add more water if necessary to keep meat covered. Remove from oven and let brisket cool in cooking liquid for 1 hour, then remove from pan and wrap in foil overnight. Pour onion gravy into a bowl and chill, covered, overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon off fat from onion gravy, add enough water to measure 3 1/2 cups total, and using a stick blender, blend gravy until smooth; add salt and pepper to taste. Slice brisket against the grain (break out the meat slicer if you have one!) and place slices (slightly overlapped) in a large baking dish. Pour gravy over brisket, heat in oven for 30 minutes, or until hot. Serves 8-10.

"i'm a shepherd."

it's been a while since i've written about a "quick weeknight dinner," so i thought i'd post the shepherd's pie recipe from tonight (posted below). took about 30 minutes to prep it, another 30 to bake.

...hmmm, ok, so maybe this one isn't as quick as i thought... [awwwkward] well, you could, uhhh, definitely make it the night before (cover and refrigerate) and then just pop it in a 375°F oven the next night; just add about 10 more minutes to the original baking time.

yeah, that's the ticket...it's fast if you make it the night before!!! let's, um, just ignore the fact that prepping it the night before makes this a little less than ideal as a really quick dinner. but never mind, never mind. let's move on, people; nothing to see here.

in all seriousness, trust me when i say this dinner is *really easy* to make. yes, FINE, ok, it takes an hour from prep start to table, but it's only a half hour of actual work and it's very tasty. this is a great dinner to make when it's a little cool/chilly outside. the potato top becomes deliciously golden and crispy (oooh, especially the edges.... *sigh* edges.... yummy edges.... hunh, what?! oh sorry, got distracted.) and underneath, the beef filling is wonderfully rich and piping hot! neither kevin nor i thought we'd finish our portions, but we did. and with even a little room to spare for some dessert! [oink oink oink!]

p.s. points to anyone who knows whom i'm quoting in the title.


Shepherd's Pie

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 cup beef stock
2 tsps tomato paste
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup fresh peas
salt and pepper to taste

1 lb yukon gold or yellow finn potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsps unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring pot of salted water to a boil; add potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes. While potatoes are cooking, over medium-high heat, heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onion, carrot, and ground beef, and cook until meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain liquid from pan, then add broth, tomato paste, and herbs. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas and then spoon beef mixture into 2 individual-sized gratin dishes.

Force potatoes through a ricer (or use potato masher), then stir in garlic, butter, and then milk. Add salt to taste. Spread potatoes on top of beef. Using a fork, create crosshatch in potatoes. Bake in oven until potatoes are golden brown, about 35-40 minutes. Serves 2.