Red Pesto

And speaking of pasta, a topping for pasta made of olive oil, Calamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, fragrant rosemary, and crushed red peppers can't be beat. I came across the recipe for red pesto (along with several other gems) in the cookbook, Trattoria by Patricia Wells. I like this topping served on angel hair pasta for a simple one-dish supper, or as a pasta side dish for special meals, and it is pretty amazing when spread on a slice of good Italian-style bread. Tonight, I am using it as the base ingredient for a pizza: red pesto, mushrooms, caramelized onions, red pepper and Canadian bacon. Red pesto is a snap to make with a food processor, it stores well, and with its bold flavors, a tiny bit adds a lot of taste. The admittedly somewhat costly ingredients in red pesto are a definite splurge, but this recipe yields a quantity sufficient for several (nearly instant) meals -and that, my friend, is priceless.



Red Pesto

Adapted from Trattoria by Patricia Wells
10-20 (or an 8 oz. jar) oil-packed, sun-dried tomatoes
4-8 cloves garlic, minced
20-30 pitted Calamata olives (or 6 oz jar), drained
1 T. fresh rosemary, finely minced (I had to make do with dried)
optional: crushed red peppers to taste
1/3 - 1/2 c. olive oil

Process all in a food processor to make a chunky paste with a bit of texture. Makes almost a pint, which will store well for several weeks -if it lasts that long.

A Plate of Pasta and Meatballs

Did you see this article in the paper on Sunday? I was thinking about making meatballs and pasta for this week's meatball recipe, and so it immediately caught my attention. After reading this, I measured out plates -our small ones are 8-inch plates, and the ones we normally use for dinner are 10-inch plates. According to this article then, my serving of meatballs and pasta that I had for dinner last night (about 1 1/2 c. pasta, 1 1/2 c. sauce, and 3-4 meatballs) was between 700-800 calories. I will say, that when I diet (or overeat), I know its simple math -if you are losing (or gaining) weight, then you are eating less (or more) calories than your body needs to maintain. It's not complicated -though it's not necessarily easy or fun to reduce oneself in size. I have found counting calories to be the only way to keep myself honest -and to be successful with weight loss or for maintaining a healthy weight. Watching portion sizes and using a modest sized plate are excellent tools when watching your calories. I eat everything I want -and I love to eat just about everything- I just try and not eat too much of it!


Remember the meatballs I froze when I made the meatball sandwiches last week? Well, there the little bag of them was waiting in our freezer just waiting to be meatballs and pasta. Meatballs and spaghetti is the classic (remember Lady and the Tramp?), but when I went to the pasta drawer, there was only a 1/3 of a pound of spaghetti in the box (which I promptly spilled into the drawer), so I used a box of mini penne instead.


I sauteed garlic, onion, celery (with some leaf attached), grated carrot, and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, before adding a can each of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes to a can of commercial spaghetti sauce, and a good sprinkle of Italian Seasoning. I added the meatballs to the sauce and served it forth. My husband and daughter (with their Italian genes) are always happy to be served any type of pasta. With meatballs and tomato sauce, it just makes it that much more cheerful.

Phat Thai

Is she here yet? Is that her? With our hay?



YES, HURRAH -It's her, it's hay time! Everybody in the barn! Go, Go, Go!



The sheep are absolutely overjoyed every morning when I feed them. They are quite happy to eat the exact same alfalfa hay, every single day for six months. Our dog is also SO EXCITED to be fed the exact same food, day after day after day. Every evening, after we lock up the poultry, I feed her, and every time she responds the same way -OH BOY, I GET KIBBLES AGAIN!!!! The people living here, on the other hand, would balk at the same old thing put before them every single day, though they do respond rather cheerfully to homemade pizza once a week, and they'll happily eat pasta several times a week -if it's not the exact same recipe. This is the something-with-noodles-that's-different-recipe I'm making tonight. It isn't an Italian-style pasta recipe, but rather an Asian-style noodle recipe, and I swear, this is the very best Phat Thai recipe. It is actually very easy to make at home, and there have been long periods of time when I've made this almost every single week.

Our chickens have recently woken up from their winter funk and are laying in earnest once again, and I can use quite a few eggs when making this Phat Thai. When I first learned to make this, it required a special trip to an Asian market, but now most grocery stores (at least here in the Puget Sound area) carry the basic ingredients for cooking Southeast Asian foods. After the necessity of making a shopping trip (unless you have a particularly well-stocked kitchen), the key here is to prep everything first, and then it all cooks up rather quickly. Substitute what you have (tofu or chicken, instead of shrimp), leave out what you don't like (one of my kids hates peanuts put in this), use more or less (or no) eggs as preferred, and the vegetables used can be varied, though when I added Savoy cabbage my kids were all rather cranky about it.




Phat Thai
Soak 1 lb. rice sticks in warm water for 20-30 minutes.

Have ready:
3 T. garlic, chopped
2 lbs large shrimp, cleaned (or sliced chicken breast, or whatever you want to use)
4 (or more) eggs, beaten in a bowl
1/3 c. honey dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
2-3 c. bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
14 oz can cut baby corn (and/or straw mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, etc.) opened and drained
3 limes, juiced
1/2 - 1 c. fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
1-2 limes, cut into eighths and put into bowl to serve with Phat Thai
3 T. fish sauce
2 T. sugar

Heat a large skillet or wok. Add 1-2 T. oil and heat. If adding any fresh vegetables, saute them first until until tender-crisp, and remove them to a large serving bowl. Add 1-2 T. more oil to skillet or wok. Add garlic and when it browns, add shrimp. When shrimp is no longer pink, transfer to the large serving bowl.

Add 1 T. oil to pan, add eggs and tilt to spread evenly. Scramble, or cook in a sheet (or cook eggs in a separate pan, if preferred). Remove when just cooked (cut if in a sheet), adding to cooked shrimp in large bowl.

Drain rice sticks, and add 1- 2 T. more oil to pan. Add rice sticks to hot oil, then using two spoons, chopsticks or spatulas (or any combination of) pull apart and turn, or clump and turn and spread, to evenly coat with oil and cook. Add sugar and fish sauce as the noodles cook. Add bean sprouts and peanuts (if your kids will let you add them) when the noodles appear cooked, and keep turning until the bean sprouts are cooked to just tender-crisp. Add canned vegetables and when warmed, transfer all to the large bowl, pour lime juice over all -and sprinkle with fresh cilantro leaves, if available and everybody at the table likes cilantro.

Serve with lime wedges, soy sauce and hot chili-garlic sauce. This makes four generous servings, but almost everybody really likes this, so I double the recipe for more than five at the table. This truly makes the very best Phat Thai ever -any night of the week.

Spaghetti Carbonnara

Spaghetti alla Carbonnara is pasta with bacon and eggs, but it is so, so much more. Though it is spaghetti, bacon and eggs, some Parmesan cheese and a bit of black pepper -AND THAT'S ALL, the total effect is infinitely beyond the sum of these ingredients. Granted, this is not the sort of thing I want to eat more than once (or twice) a year, but now is the season when I like to make this pasta dish. The daylight hours are increasing and our chickens are beginning to lay again, and this seems to me a fitting way to celebrate farm eggs. We still have bacon from last fall in the freezer, and our almost-spring damp and cool weather means filling and comforting foods like this are welcomed at the table. Our almost-spring weather also means I'm beginning to work outside more, and this dish takes no more time to make than the time needed to cook the pasta. To make this, I put on a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, for each person (there was three of us last night), I dice 2 slices of bacon and set out a large pasta serving bowl. In a small bowl, I beat 1 egg, with a bit of black pepper and 2 T. Parmesan cheese. When the water comes to a boil, I add 1/4 lb. pasta per person. I cook the cut bacon separately in a caste-iron skillet, and try to time it so the bacon is done just as the pasta is, and not too crispy. I either leave the bacon in the skillet, or remove it to large bowl with 1-2 T. of the bacon fat (or drain and use olive oil). When the pasta is done al dente, I drain it and immediately put it into the large pasta serving bowl with the bacon and oil, pour in the beaten egg-cheese mix, tossing it well so the hot pasta and bacon just barely cook the eggs, melt the cheese, and coat the pasta. I let it set just a couple minutes, and then serve it with French bread.

Heavenly Fava

Fava beans, also called broad beans, are the Arnold Schwarzenegger of beans. They are huge! The first time my husband grew them, I wasn't impressed, but I have since come to adore the heavenly fava.



The key is to pick them young and tender. What seems like an enormous pile in the pod will yield a relatively small quantity of beans.



The beans look so cute nestled in the pod -like little baby beans!



Young and tender like this, they are delicious. If older, you will want to slip them out of their skins as they become bitter later in their season. This is a time consuming task, slitting each individual skin and popping the bean out, so harvesting early is my goal.



A small quantity of bean is filling -two quarts of shelled beans is enough for three or four meals. I blanch them in boiling water for three or four minutes, cool quickly in cold water, and package for freezing.




The simplest way to cook them, fresh or frozen, is to heat 2-4 T. olive oil, add 2-4 minced garlic cloves. When garlic begins to brown, add 2 c. fava beans and cook until tender. Often I add 3-4 minced anchovy fillets with the fava beans. The anchovies here do not 'taste fishy' but really make this delicious. This makes a tasty vegetable side dish or for a complete meal I make:

Fava Beans, Orzo and Quail Eggs
Hard boil, cool and peel 8 quail eggs, if you can get them, 4 chicken eggs if not. Cook 8 oz. orzo pasta, or any other pasta shape, al dente and drain. Toss all with fava beans -cooked as above just till tender with olive oil, garlic and anchovies. Serve with black pepper and parmesan -and salt if you didn't use the anchovies, though I seriously suggest you do.