Pasta with Pistachios and Mint Recipe

It had been a long week. The warm weather we were supposed to be enjoying after what had been 8 months of cold, still had not appeared and I was running out of creativity and mostly patience in the area of entertaining my child. I was in a parenting rut.

The Professor decided at the spur of the moment to drive one of his sculpture to Bozeman, Montana instead of shipping it for an upcoming show. This meant not only would I have to find endless ways to maintain my sanity during the day, but also in the long evening hours which can turn into an eternity if it is cold and windy and raining. Granted he was only gone one night, which seems pretty pathetic on my part now that I'm writing this all down, but it felt like a month.

In the afternoon of the second day of his impromptu road trip he called to say he would be home in time for dinner—oh thank God! So I searched my pantry for inspiration. I spotted a bag of pistachios which I had bought a couple weeks before to make this rich, nutty pasta recipe I had found on chow.com.

I felt my mood lifting as I chopped and stirred. There are very few ingredients here, but the nuts are so toasty and bold that this dish is way more filling than you would ever expect. The professor arrived home just as I poured the pasta in the boiling water. That evening we decided to forgo our dining room table for the toddler-sized table in the kitchen. Sitting on an amalgam of tiny chairs and stools we tucked into our steaming bowls of pasta and found it's not so hard to carry on after all.

Pasta with Pistachios and Mint
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Adapted from chow.com


Makes 4 servings

1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely shredded mint leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound pasta

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat.

2. Meanwhile, combine pistachios, oil, mint, and garlic in a medium bowl and season with salt and black pepper.

3. Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook according to package instructions. When pasta is ready reserve 1 cup cooking liquid then drain pasta. Return drained pasta to the pot along with pistachio mixture and half of the reserved cooking liquid. Toss until well coated, if pasta seems dry add more cooking liquid. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Baked Penne with Zucchini and Kalamata Olives Recipe

I love burnt cheese. The little pieces that fall out of grilled cheese sandwiches and stick to the pan? Oh yeah, I'll eat that. I think that's called frico in Italy—they are culinary geniuses.

Burnt cheese is what I love most about baked pasta dishes. The crisp little bits that tuck themselves into the corners and tips of pasta, giving crunch to an otherwise soft and chewy dish are the stuff heaven's made of.

Unfortunately for me, we don't have much of that around these parts. But, panko is not a bad substitute. It gives a more subtle crunch, but a crunch nonetheless, good enough to calm burnt cheese cravings.

Now I understand in the lower half of this country it's been hot? Is that true? Well, to all of you—forget this recipe. This one is for the Canada-bordering states where we have barely seen 80 degrees, oh, and San Francisco too, where you never see 80 degrees in the summer months. Crank up your ovens and make this bubbly baked pasta dish on those cold summer nights.

Baked Penne with Zucchini and Kalamata Olives
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Makes 4-6 servings
1 pound dried penne pasta
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini, diced
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup panko

1. Heat oven to 350°F, oil a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and set aside. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook according to package instructions, drain and rinse under cold water. Return to pasta pot and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and season with salt and black pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, then add garlic and zucchini. Season again with salt and pepper and continue cooking until vegetables are tender and just starting to brown. Add tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken. Stir in olives and parsley and add more salt and pepper as needed.

3. Combine panko and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl. Pour tomato sauce over pasta and stir to combine. Transfer pasta to baking dish and top with panko. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until pasta is heated through and bread crumbs start to brown.

Basic Pickled Vegetables Recipe

My grandmother was not a fantastic cook. She was a solid cook who made food in a very traditional 50's housewife in the Midwest sort of way. She could crank out a tasty pie, potato salad, orange cookies, and banana bread. She was also a fan of convenience. She made a particularly interesting casserole she called Goop with at least three kinds of canned soup and Lord knows what else.

But her pickled beets were stellar and I have called her on many occasions to get the recipe. I have it written on the back of envelopes, in notebooks and postcards all of which I seem to lose at the exact moment I want to use them.

In an attempt to write it down one last time, I've decided to share it with you all. I will say I have taken liberties with her recipe (I'm pretty sure she never used red chili flakes on anything), but this is more or less the same.

I am a huge fan of pickled vegetables, so I have tried the pickling brine with many varieties and they all have come out beautifully. They are especially exquisite if you pickle them with a few beets, the garnet beets turn white cauliflower and fennel into a lovely deep fuchsia.

Serve these all summer long with burgers, at picnics, on a relish tray, or chopped up and mixed into creamy cottage cheese with some herbs.

Basic Pickled Vegetables
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Makes about 10 cups

2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
3 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

3-4 pounds dense, crisp vegetables peeled, if necessary and cut into bite-sized pieces. Such as, cauliflower, beets, carrots, radishes, fennel, asparagus, okra, or green beans.

1. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, mustard seed, and chile flakes in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, transfer to a large, heat-proof bowl and cool about 30 minutes.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Have ready a large bowl of ice water. Add one type of vegetables at a time to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the bowl of ice water. Once cool, spread out on a baking sheet and repeat with remaining vegetables, adding more ice to the water if necessary.

3. Add cooked vegetables to the pickling liquid and weigh down with a plate to keep submerged. Refrigerate, covered for 1 day before eating. Pickled vegetables will last 1 month, covered and chilled.

Black-Eyed Pea and Spinach Salad Recipe

Black-eyed pea salad, I high-five you. You are a catch-all for any season as well as my refrigerator's crisper. So versatile in fact, you welcome an overflowing garden's bounty in the summer and a depleted produce shelf in the winter, yes, you even make celery and carrots seem exciting in your presence.

I have been making this salad lately as a side dish to the much celebrated return of my grill and all the perfectly charred meats coming from it. I was psyched this weekend to see Bloomsdale spinach at our Farmer's market and threw some of that into the mix, although I have made this salad with several other greens including escarole and arugula.

I like the meaty texture of dried black-eyed peas, but frozen black-eyed peas are widely available if you are running short on time. Boil the frozen ones as directed below but only for about 5-10 minutes.

Black-Eyed Pea and Spinach Salad
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Makes 4 servings

1 yellow onion, quartered
1/2 pound dried black-eyed peas, rinsed, picked over for stones and soaked overnight
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 red bell pepper, chopped
the juice of 1/2 a Meyer lemon or lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups spinach
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

1. Combine onion, peas, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, skimming off any foam from the surface. Cook until beans are tender, but not falling apart, about 30 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons of the salt and continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Drain, remove onion pieces and bay leaf and transfer to a salad bowl.

2. Meanwhile place cumin seeds in a small, dry frying pan and cook, shaking the pan frequently until toasted and fragrant.

3. Add remaining salt, bell pepper, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, cumin, and olive oil to the beans and toss to combine. Let cool to room temperature, or chill in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to serve, taste and season with more lemon juice and salt as needed. Toss with spinach and cilantro and serve.

Tomatoey Polenta and Shrimp Recipe

Grits and polenta and all the creamy iterations of corn have a soft spot in my heart. A steaming bowl of either is deeply satisfying, and typically up there with other cheesy food items that are banned from my dinner table.

That is, until I came across this recipe from Marcus Samuelsson that had the juicy addition of tomatoes in  place of the more traditional filler of grated cheese. The polenta took on an beautiful orange hue and the tomatoes, wine and spices lent such flavor and body. The shrimp and garlic-infused sauce enhanced the velvety texture.

Tomatoey Polenta and Shrimp
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Adapted from Marcus Samuelsson


Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup polenta or coarse-ground cornmeal
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1. Combine 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon chile powder, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and shrimp in a medium bowl and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature while you cook the polenta.

2. Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, half the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the chile powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the paprika. Season with salt and black pepper and cook until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, 1/4 cup of the wine and 3 cups water. Bring to a simmer and slowly pour in the polenta while whisking continuously with a wire whisk. Add bay leaf and turn heat to low.

3. Cook polenta, stirring frequently, until polenta is creamy and grains are tender, about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover and remove from heat until shrimp is done.

4. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add remaining garlic and shrimp. Cook until shrimp are just pink, about 2 minutes. Add remaining wine, lemon juice, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, and parsley. Bring to a simmer and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

5. Give polenta a stir and spoon into shallow bowls. Top with shrimp and sauce and serve.