Pappardelle Pasta with Sausage, Kale and Mozzarella

We have made lots of different versions of this and will continue to vary it depending on what is available. Tonight I have started to record them.


1. Start the Water for the Pasta and add some salt.
2. In a separate heavy pot, heat some olive oil. (Probably about 2 tbl.)
3. Break up Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage into the hot olive oil and allow to brown. Stirring as required to get all sides.
4. As Sausage is browning, dice up 1 leek, 2 carrots and 1 clove garlic. (Sometimes the leeks will be super sandy and you will need to wash them once cut).
5. Once sausage has browned, remove from pan with slotted spoon into a bowl and add a little extra olive oil to the pot.
6. Add Leeks and Carrots to the pot and saute until desired softness and color is achieved. (I usually error on the side of browned and soft). While carrots and leeks are cooking, chop up Fresh Rosemary. (We are lucky enough to have this growing in our yard, so I use it a lot).
7. Once Leeks and Carrots are done, add minced garlic, Rosemary and dried Mexican Oregano. Stir until fragrant, about a minute or so.
8. Add enough Pernod to the pot to deglaze and simmer the veggies for about 2 minutes. (You could use almost anything here. I chose Pernod cuz it was in my cupboard).
9. Add enough Beef Stock (prob. about 1/3 cup) so that you can throw the sausage and slivered kale back in and cook it down into almost a sauce. (I slivered about 1/2 a head of beautiful black kale).
10. Add a smidge of the adobo sauce from a can of chipotles. Add Good Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper.
11. Put the wide egg noodle Pappardelle into the salted boiling water.
12. By the time the pasta is done, about 6 minutes, your 'sauce' is ready.
13. Drain Pasta and mix with sauce. Add some butter to bring flavors forward.
14. To serve, scoop into shallow pasta bowls. Add a bit of lemon zest. Chopped fresh mozzarella and toasted almond slivers.

Asapargus and Spinich Salad with Toasted Pecans, Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Figs

Making dinner from what is already in your house can be a good way to stimulate creativity.

Toast the Pecans, set aside

Saute up and caramelize a thinly sliced shallot
Barely Saute Asparagus
Put Shallots and Asparagus in Salad Bowl

Barely Saute the Fresh Spinach
Add to Asparagus and Shallots
Toss with some Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil

Divide Salad onto to two plates or bowls
Scatter toasted pecans, blue cheese shavings and chopped dried Turkish Figs

Salt and Fresh ground pepper.

Roast Chicken and Veggies

Eric and I make this a lot.
Here is how we do it.

1 Organic Free Range Chicken
2 Medium Size Red Potatoes
2 or 3 Carrots dep. on size
1 to 3 Parsnips dep. on size
2 yellow onions
1/2 head of garlic cloves
1 lemon
Fresh Rosemary
1/3 Stick Butter
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper


I use a cookie sheet with sides instead of a roasting pan, cuz more of the chicken can crisp up.
Oven at 400 degrees.

Prepare the Chicken
Remove all the included innards.
Rinse and pat dry.
Put in middle of baking sheet. The direction you face it depends on your oven. Give the chicken a "massage." Rubbing the skin and flesh. (This feels totally weird).

Prepare the Vegetables.
Potatoes
Cut the potatoes lengthwise in half. Then cut into wedges, with point ends.
Toss with Olivie oil. Herb of choice, fresh chopped rosemary or dried tarragon or other. Salt and pepper. Scatter on baking tray around Chicken.

Onions
Cut Onions in Half lengthwise. Cut into Wedges. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Scatter on baking tray around Chicken.

Carrots
Peal and cut so pieces are about equal. So some pieces you will leave whole, some you will halve, and some you will quarter. Toss with Olive Oil and mix with rest of vegetables.

Parnsips
Treat like Carrots.

Garlic
Leave cloves whole and with peal still on. Toss with Olive Oil. Stuff at least 4 in the chicken cavity and scatter the rest around vegetables.

Lemon
Cut into quarters and put in chicken cavity.

Rosemary
Stuff into chicken cavity.

Melt butter and pour all over chicken. Liberally grind fresh pepper and sprinkle good salt all over bird.

Put in Oven and set timer for 20 to 25 minutes.
At half way mark, turn Pan around so opposite side of chicken is facing the back wall and reset timer for 20 to 25 minutes.
At end of time, check thigh.

I have recently been turned onto the meat thermometer method. Very cool and usually works, Thigh should register 170 degrees or so. In the past I would stick a knife into the thigh and wonder if it was clear or pink.

Eric and I like our meat as moist as possible, so we push it a little. Let the thermometer read 175 to 180 if you feel otherwise.

After you have taken it out of the oven, scoop the vegetables into the serving bowls and let the bird rest at least 5 minutes before carving. A pair of good strong scissors are great for removing the parts, esp. for two people.

old skool italian phase

Sunday night for dinner, Eric requested an old skool Italian pasta sauce. Having not yet on my own arrived at a recipe I felt met his request, I scanned the binders of my cooking magazines and found and old Fine Cooking from November 200 with "Italian Ragus". It turned out so delicious, I made it again the next night and used it for Lasagna. This morning looking at my belly proves that eating beef ragu chiantigiana two nights in a row takes some practice.

This is the original recipe from the magazine with my notes indicating deviation

4 lb packaged ground chuck
(I used one pound of the Niman Ranch grass fed ground beef)
2 to 3 TBL Olive Oil
1tsp. salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
1 large carrot finely chopped
2 ribs celery finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 Tbl. minced garlic
(Even though i was using 1/4 of the suggested meat, i used the same amount of celery and carrot, 1/2 an onion and only a clove of garlic).
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbs chopped fresh sage
2 tsp. dried majoram
(The first night I made the sauce, I did not have fresh sage. It still turned out great.)
2 cups Chianti or other light dry red wine
(I used a shy one cup)
2 cups canned pureed tomatoes
(I used one can those whole Muir Fire Roasted ones and chopped them up)
2 cups low salt beef stock
(I used one cup)

Unsalted butter
Wide Pasta
Parmesan

1. Tear the ground beef into one inch pieces.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy based pot. When oil is hot, add just enough beef to cover one layer. Season with salt and pepper and brown, stirring occasionally. (About 5 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and finish cooking the rest of the meat.

3. In same pot, saute the carrots, onion and celery until soft and lightly browned. (About 10 minutes)

4. Return the seared meat to the pot. Add the garlic and herbs and saute briefly until fragrant. Add 1.75 cups of the wine and stir scraping the bottom to loosen any brown bits. Let wine reduce till it's almost gone. (About 8 minutes).

5. Reduce heat to low, add the tomato puree and simmer the ragu uncovered for about 1.5 to 2 hours. As it cooks, juices will evaporate, add 1/3 cup of beef stock periodically letting it reduce after each addition.

6. After the long simmer, the flavors have melded, taste and tweak to your liking. (I added salt and pepper). Just before serving, whisk 1/2 Tbl of butter oer serving into the sauce, toss with pasta, sprinkle on Parmesan.

Lulu's 5th Birthday Party Menu

Menu totally inspired by the beautiful collective community of Lulu's and Farmer and the Cook and the amazing vegetables that Steve grows.

Kale Bruschetta
Rosemary Potato Onion Frittata with Salsa Verde (see post on 2/16/07)
Roasted Red and Golden Beets with Feta, Kalamata Olives and Arugula
Cheeses and Crackers

Venetian Golden Sea Bass
Oven Baked Polenta
Slow Roasted Leeks (see post on 2/16/07)
Beet Greens Stuffed with Root Vegetables with Tahini Sauce

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon, Toasted Almonds and Parmesan
Endive, Fennel, Blood Orange and Avocado Salad

Almond Cake with Strawberries and Guava by Olivia

Recipes Below. Some posted earlier, see dates.

Kale Bruschetta

1. Thinly slice that beautiful dark kale from Farmer and the Cook and Wash.
2. Mince up some garlic
3. Heat too much olive oil and when hot, throw in Kale and stir, adding garlic a few minutes later. Fry until the kale feels sort of dry, about 15 minutes. Add enough water to almost cover and cook partially covered for about 30 minutes until soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Meanwhile, slice some country style wheat bread into shy 1/3 inch slices.
5. When ready to assemble, use broiler to toast one side of bread, flip over, brush with olive oil and toast other. Rub with sliced garlic, spread green mixture on top and cover with shaved Romano.

Note: The next day I toasted some bread with left over Romano cheese and left over sliced almonds. Then i put the greens on top. This was also yummy.

Roasted Golden and Red Beets with Feta, Olives and Arugula

We cooked way too many beets. They were so beautiful, we just had to use them all. If I did it again, I would estimate no more than a medium beet a person.

1. Oven at 400 degrees.
2. Cut off stems and scrub beets.
3. You will want to roast Golden and Red beets on two separate baking sheets. Put tinfoil down on bottom unless you love to scrub pans.
4. Roast until you can easily stick a fork into the beet. The time ranges depending on the size. Most of them were done in 45 minutes, the bigger ones took an hour. I did this first thing in the morning.

5. Once cool, Alana used a knife to cut away the skin. You can also peel them, but I like the look of the smooth cut beet skin. Again, keep the golden and red beets separate as you do this.
6. Cut them in half and then slice into "sun ray wedges".
7. Store in Fridge until ready to use.

8. Wash Arugula.
9. I recommend buying pitted olives and using them whole. We could only find ones with pits the other day and Alana had to carve them. (A huge pain).
10. Make a light dressing of minced shallots, lemon and Ojai Olive oil.
11. Cut Feta into small slices

Again, you could assemble this many different ways. If it was a small dinner party, I would probably compose individual salad plates. I started the platter and Uschi came in and fixed it aesthetically.

When ready to assemble, toss the arugula with the dressing. On a large platter spread out the arugula. Arrange the beets and Feta as you like. Scatter with the Olives.

I meant to make a balsamic vinegar dressing to pour over the arrangement. I forgot, but no one seemed to notice.