Warm pasta salad with rainbow chard, pomegranate and pistachio sauce

I don't like pasta. There. I said it. I basically overdosed on it while I was playing ultimate, and the last straw was when I lived in Bologna--please don't tell the Bolognese about this. As it turns out, one can live without pasta, and I've found that I actually live much better without it. My problem is, the Slovak loves it, and not only did he learn how to cook it while in Bologna, that's still almost the only thing he can cook (we are working on correcting this). There are days I end up so tired I can't even lift a wooden spoon, so he'll offer to cook, and I just have to hang my head and resign myself because I know what's coming.

On the other hand, I'm passionate about legumes. It's in my genes, to me they are as essential as brushing my teeth. All sizes and shapes and colours, there a sure value for the money and prepared properly (soaked overnight with wine vinegar, cooked with garlic and herbs and a piece of kombu), they are delicious, nutritious and reliable. I'll put the pressure cooker on at least twice a week with those little pearls. The Slovak, however, does not share my enthusiasm for beans; sometimes he'll even-gasp!-boycott them altogether.

Tonight we weren't our usual tired, and we'd had a big lunch (it's goose and young wine season here in Slovakia), so we had some time and energy to get into a not-too-big dinner, but something special nevertheless. I was in the mood to be conciliatory. I offered the Slovak to meet halfway, and to prepare a dish that would include beans and pasta. He agreed with a silent nod, not lifting his eyes off his Blackberry.

I went to my usual source of inspiration, 101 Cookbooks, and just plugged into the search bar 'pasta'. I'd tried none of the recipes that came up, of course. But this one caught my attention, because it had kale (a vegetable impossible to find in Bratislava--kale, if you read this, come by for a visit) and pomegranate. Yesterday I had indulged and bought one at the market, right after I'd bought some rainbow chard. See where I'm going with this?

I was all set to follow the recipe, substituting rainbow chard for kale, but halfway through decided to throw in some tahini which I hadn't used in a while, and the adzuki beans I'd cooked in the afternoon (adzuki beans tend to have barely any flavour, so they're a good 'background' bean to have, you can add them to almost any dish and they're bonus without altering the flavour). In the end this is what happened:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces
• 2/3 cup pistachios, chopped coarsely by a Slovak if one is available
• about 2-3 cups rainbow chard, with stems, choped into half-inch strips, not dried from the rinse
• 1 and 1/2 Tbsp tahini (organic and dark, that's all I had)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 large garlic clove, smashed and chopped
• 2/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• About a cup of cooked adzuki beans
• fine sea salt to taste

Procedure

• Toast the pistachios, about 3-4 min.
• In a food processor, puree the pistachios, tahini, and garlic as much as you can/like (I still had pieces of pistachio). Slowly add the lemon juice and puree some more. Place into the serving bowl, and mix with the beans. It's okay if the beans still have some water, it'll make the pistachio-tahini sauce less like a chunky paste and more like a sauce.
• Put the pasta to cook, as per packaging instructions. Place the Swiss chard still dripping with water in a non-stick pan, and cook it for about 5 minutes, preferably covered, stirring often so it cooks evenly. Strain in a mesh colander to get some of the juice out, and mix in with the beans and sauce.
• When the pasta is done, strain in the same mesh colander, and rinse out with cold water to cool it down. Add to the bowl and mix so the sauce is evenly covering the other ingredients. Taste to adjust the salt.
• Add the pomegranate seeds, mix without crushing the seeds and you're ready.

Verdict

Really good warm salad with appealing colours. It was our luck that the garlic clove we chose was very pungent, and so much so, it made the dish spicy. (I'll have to think of an ingredient that will step up to the plate when the garlic doesn't...). The pomegranate seeds were tangy and not sweet at all, but I think the dish could be fine with either--I certainly wouldn't skip those, they are too beautiful, tasty, and crunchy to be left out. The pistachios weren't too present, but that's probably because those I used were not the freshest. I think what did it for me is that I buried the pasta under that web of flavours (tahini, pistachios, garlic, pomegranate), and got my full meal out of that one dish. It was a bit of work with quite a few steps (prying out the pomegranate seeds, toasting the pistachios, timing the Swiss chard and the pasta cooking times), but nothing too horrible, just perfect for a Sunday dinner after a day of running around trying to optimize the hours of unexpected excellent sunny weather...

Winter Parsley-and-Walnut Pesto

Had a bunch of leftover parsley, so decided – winter pesto!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. walnut halves 
• 1 c. parsley leaves
• 1 cu. freshly grated Parmesan cheese 
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
  1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
  Salt and freshly ground pepper
  2 tbs. butter, room temperature
  
• water to mix pasta
  

1 lb. pasta of choice  

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Toast the walnuts in a pie plate for 7 minutes, or until golden; let cool. 
3. Coarsely chop walnuts and transfer to a bowl
4. In a food processor, pulse the walnuts, garlic and parsley until finely chopped 
5. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and the olive oil and process to a coarse puree
6. Season the pesto with salt and pepper. 
7. Cook pasta 
8. In large bowl, add butter and combine with pesto
   
9. Off the heat, add the pasta to the pesto pesto and toss until combined
10. Enjoy!

Scallops and Asparagus on Capellini

A big success this evening, using one of Marcella Hazan's recipes and one of my own devising.

Sautéed Scallops with Rosemary and Lemon

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. scallops (bay, or sliced small if sea scallops)
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thin
• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary
• salt
• black pepper
• 2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Procedure

1. Wash scallops and pat dry with a towel
2. Put oil and garlic in skillet large enough to accommodate all scallops in one layer; turn on heat to medium
3. When garlic turns a pale gold, add rosemary
4. Stir quickly, add scallops, salt and grindings of pepper, and turn up heat to medium-high
5. Cook, stirring frequently, for ~2 min. until scallops turn from translucent to flat white
6. Add lemon juice, turn heat to highest setting, stir once or twice and serve

Verdict

Just fantastic. Make sure you serve over a pasta that will take the sauce well. Parmesan a good addition on top.

Asparagus with Shallots and Garlic in White Wine Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 lb. asparagus, tips trimmed and cut into 2" pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium shallot, diced
• salt
• pepper
• 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs. butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbs. lemon juice

Procedure

1. Heat butter on medium, until melted, in large sautée pan with lid
2. Add garlic, cook until fragrant
3. Add shallots, cook until translucent
4. Add olive oil and cover all of pan
5. Add salt and pepper grindings, and then half of the wine
6. When wine is cooked halfway down, add asparagus and stir thoroughly
7. Add remainder wine and lemon juice
8. When sauce begins to simmer, cover pan and steam for 2-3 min.
9. Transfer to serving dish, serve and enjoy!

Verdict

Again, great. Also make sure you use the sauce, it's killer, and combines well with the above. I used capellini and that worked excellently. Parmesan on top is good, too.

Fresh Summer Dinner: Baked Cod with Basil, Tomato and Garlic on Pesto Pasta

Cod was incredibly on special this week at the Teet ($4.99/lb.!) so I stocked up. A day of tropical-style rainstorms had the world smelling green and my front yard smelling of basil, so it needed to be eaten. And it was, in two ways.

Roasted Cod and Tomatoes with Basil and White Wine

Ingredients

• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 thick cod fillets, about 4 to 6 ounces each
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 tbs. fresh, chopped basil
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Place the tomatoes in a large baking dish (large enough to eventually accomodate the cod fillets in a single layer). Drizzle the tomatoes with 1/2 of the olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast the tomatoes in the oven until they are very soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and turn the oven down to 350°F. Transfer the tomatoes to a small bowl, add the garlic and basil, toss to combine and set aside.
4. Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper, drizzle them with the remaining olive oil and place them in the baking dish.
5. Pour the tomato mixture and wine over the fish. Cover the dish with foil and place it in the oven.
6. Cook until the fish is just cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Pesto was the family fave, Marcella Hazan's food processor pesto (I did a half-batch on whole wheat pasta).

Marcella's Pesto

Ingredients

2 c. packed basil leaves
1/2 c. olive oil
3 tbsp. pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before processing
salt to taste

after processing above:

1/2 c. grated parmigiano
2 tbsp. grated romano
3 tbsp. softened, room temp butter (add last and hand mix in)

when adding pasta:

use a couple tbsp. of the hot water to dilute and soften the pesto before putting pasta into bowl with pesto.

Verdict

Incredibly delicious. A winner of a recipe on the cod.

Wine

J.W. Morris California Gewürtztraminer 2007: Well, fine. Not terrible but definitely pretty sweet and none of the dry finish of an actually good Gewürtztraminer. But it's $4 and as a sweet wine on a hot day, totally fine.

Four-Onion Pasta with Peas

It being spring, onions are in great abundance. Or maybe it's not that it's spring, I just had a lot of onions in the house. Regardless, I was inspired to make an onion-based pasta dish in a cream sauce and it turned out quite well.

Ingredients:

• one pound farfalle (bowtie) pasta, cooked
• one can peas (or, you know, just a lot of fresh peas)
  
• 1/2 large sweet onion
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 4-6 spring onions
• 1/2 cup shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
• liberal dose butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Boil water for pasta; cook pasta; drain and set aside
2. Chop yellow and sweet onion into 1/2" sections
3. Dice spring onions into 1/4" sections
4. Dice garlic and shallots
5. Heat generous amount of butter in large, high-sided skillet
6. Add garlic and shallots; cook for 1-2 min.
7. Add sweet and yellow onions; cook for several minutes until onions soften
8. Add half of white wine and milk; stir well and cover, simmer for several minutes
9. Add peas and remaining white wine and milk; stir well and cook for 1-2 min.
10. Add pasta; stir until all ingredients are combined
11. Turn off heat, add cheese and sitr until all pasta is coated
12. Serve and enjoy!

Verdict:

Very nice, and equally good cold and nicely congealed out of the fridge

Rainbow Chard and Caramelized Onion Pasta

The Rainbow Chard looked good yesterday at Weaver Street Market, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I have limited experience with the more exotic (to me, anyhow) greens but am generally a fan, so with the housemates all being out of town it seemed like a good opportunity to try something that might fall entirely flat on its face. That's not quite what happened, but... well, I'll explain.

Recipe: Cursory Google search turned up several intriguing possibilities, and I went with this one because I'm generally a sucker for anything that says "caramelized" and I already had the requisite pasta (though a spaghetti-linguine blend, which would prove a bit problematic) in the fridge. The recipe:

Rainbow Chard and Carmelized Onion Pasta

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 C. chard stems, chopped finely
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2-3 large yellow onions, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sugar
2 C. torn chard leaves
2 Tbs. port
12 oz. egg noodles or fettuccine
2 C. veggie or chicken stock


Heat the oil and butter in large skillet over med. heat. Add the onions and sauté them for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the onions with the sugar, reduce heat to medium-low and sauté the onions, stirring occasionally, until translucent in the center and browned at the edges, about 15 min. Pour the port over the onions and stir. Remove from heat. Remove onions with slotted spoon to a plate. Do not rinse or wash skillet.

Bring large pot of water to boil. Return skillet to the stove when water almost boils. Add the stock and chard stems to skillet and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 min. Stir in salt and pepper, and keep warm over low heat.

Add noodles to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and add noodles to skillet with stock. Add chard leaves and onions and cook for 5 min. until chard is wilted and pasta is heated through.

Modifications: So, several caveats. I sliced up three (3) onions but, after another look at my pan, decided to use only about two of them. I considered using more port - and should've - but didn't. I also added a (small) head of roasted garlic to the stock-and-chard-stems stage of the recipe. And, as it later occurred to me, I should've about halved the stock, since I wasn't going to be taking the pasta from al dente to cooked but instead just mixing in everything with it.

Results: In retrospect, the substitution of my cooked pasta for the proscribed semi-cooked pasta was one of two things that undid the recipe - I also didn't sauteé the chard quite long enough, and it overwhelmed everything a bit with its semi-rawness. As per usual, I didn't add salt or pepper, and again probably should've. A bit.

To accompany, I had parmigianno reggiano, several slices of a loaf of potato bread with onion and rosemary (also from the Weave, on clearance) and the balance of a bottle of Dr. Beckermann's Liebraumilch Qualitatswein (a Trader Joe's 4$-a-bottle stalwart). The wine is... very sweet, but somehow not saccharine. And not a chardonnay. It was very hot today, and the wine went down easily (esp. at only 9.5% ABV). The cheese was fine but not quite the right call with the pasta. But the bread was an excellent, excellent addition - good enough that I'll probably be fishing through the leftovers of the pasta for the chard and onions to pile on a few slices of the bread for a sandwich tomorrow.

Conclusions: I overreached with this recipe and the audibles. For now, chard and the various other tougher greens move back into the "as a simple side-dish only" category until I can figure out their mysterious ways more reliably.