melted onion and caperberry pasta

this one is definitely not for the faint of heart (or palate).

the other night, i literally had nothing in the house for dinner (a monday after a weekend away), but i had just run 6 miles so i needed something and it had to be salty.

while the pasta was boiling, i melted some onions.

basically cooked them down until they were soft and getting brown. i would have taken them all the way to “caramelized” if i had been more patient or less hungry.

and added three sliced garlic cloves at the end, and a couple dashes of fish sauce to up the “umami” factor.

then i chopped up four or five caperberries

and tossed them with the onions, pasta, a little pasta water, some olive oil

and plenty of cheese.

quick, easy, salty… unfortunately lacking in leafy green vegetables… but not a bad dinner after all!

warm peach and pasta salad

how good does this look??!!

i boiled about half a cup dried pasta (any cut shape will do – that is, not long like spaghetti), and when it was done and drained, i tossed it immediately with a couple of big handfuls of arugula and one peach cut into bite-sized pieces.

the peach was actually a little on the under-ripe side, but that turned out to add nice crispness to the salad.

while everything’s still warm, top with crumbled goat cheese (which gets a little melted) and a garlicy champagne-pear vinaigrette. if you’re a nut-eater, pistachios or pecans would be a great addition, too.

makes a fresh, healthy, and filling dinner. i could eat this every day.

polenta skillet

this recipe… hmm… looks great, sounds great… didn’t execute exactly how i was hoping.

start by making a pot of polenta – one cup cornmeal with three cups water. add some salt, pepper, and a glug of olive oil. spread into a cast iron skillet.

i also stirred some frozen corn into the polenta. fresh would obviously have been better, but this had been in my freezer for ages and deserved to be eaten.

top with a quart of halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, minced garlic, dried rosemary, and crumbled goat cheese.

i also sprinkled on some breadcrumb-parmesan mixture i had in the fridge. i was hoping it would make a crispy little top.

bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, until brown. i wanted it to bubble, but it didn’t really…

of course, you could use basil instead of rosemary, mozzarella instead of parm.. there are so many options.

so as i was saying, it didn’t turn out exactly the way i wanted.

as you can see, it’s sort of a pile:

what i wanted was to be able to slice a big wedge of it, and that didn’t happen – at least at first (the polenta was too soft). by day two, it had “hardened” as it cooled, and i was able to slice away.

i also wanted it to come together a little more. by this i mean it definitely turned out as a layer of polenta topped with veggies, not one nice gooey, melty, integrated thing that i was hoping for. maybe this was the fault of my choice of cheese? or i should have pressed the veggies into the polenta before cooking?

and flavor-wise, next time i’ll add more salt. but OTHERWISE, it was lovely and i’ll probably make it again.

broccoli and cheddar pizza

much like a b-list celebrity, in my opinion broccoli and cheddar is a b-list flavor combination: popular enough, but still a little weird.

have you ever had broccoli and cheddar soup? i’m told the kind in the hannaford’s soup bar is even better than the one you get at applebee’s. (who are my sources, you may ask? i’ll never tell.)

anyway, i happened to have broccoli pistou, frozen broccoli (that i padded up with some frozen spinach), and some shredded cheddar. and a tj’s pizza crust.

it turned out really well. this really feels like “guilt free” pizza, because how could you go wrong eating that many veggies? even if they are sandwiched between cheese and bread?

have a mentioned my best pizza tip recently? for really crispy bottom crust (this is if you don’t have a pizza stone), preheat your oven to 450 degrees with the cookie sheet in it. build your pizza on a silpat and when the oven’s hot, slide the pizza/silpat on to the hot cookie sheet. voila – super crispy bottom crust. (just don’t cut the pizza on the silpat…)

loaded pasta salad

got enough pasta salad there, kid?

i love the idea of a big bowl of pasta salad with more veggies than pasta in it – for a quick, easy, healthy, tasty one-bowl lunch or dinner.

deciding what to put in is the easy part. i used:

shredded carrots
green onion
red pepper
brocoli florets
green beans
edamame
a can of black beans
some thinly sliced pepperoncinis

definitely colorful!

the hard part for me is the vinaigrette. i’m not good at vinaigrettes.

i was sort of going for a southwestern-type flavor, but for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to get there. so first it was white vinegar and champagne-pear vinegar, with oil, agave, salt, pepper, a little mustard… but that wasn’t kicky enough. so i added some more of everything, plus some pepperoncini juice.

still not flavorful enough. in went more green onions and about a 1/4 of grated parm i had in the fridge. then some lime juice… and salt. lots of salt.

really lame. my mom suggested using some chili spices (chili powder, cumin, cinnamon) but i was afraid i already had too many things going on…

it wasn’t bad, and i really like the concept, so we’ll be revisiting, i promise.

salade composee

one of my favorite, favorite things to eat in the spring and summer is a “salade composee.” basically that’s a fancy french term for a salad that is laid out prettily, rather than tossed like a house salad.

think salade nicoise.

first, i made vinaigrette with garlic oil and champagne-pear vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and tossed my baby greens in it, and put it in two bowls.

now go to town with whatever toppings you’d like!

for this one, i used hard boiled egg, avocado, tomato, three different colors of boiled potatoes, blanched green beans, blackened rounds of eggplant, and anchovy fillets. everything should be cold or at room temperature, but what you include is up to you.

i don’t add more dressing on top, but you can if you’d like. or serve some extra dressing on side.

it is so good – and so healthy.

tuscan pizza

i adapted (read: stole) this pizza idea from stone hearth pizza co. near my house. it is divine.

start by throwing three to five cloves of garlic (depending on how likely you are to be kissing anyone later in the evening…), some salt, pepper, one can of cannellini beans, and three-ish tablespoons of olive oil in a food processor.

blend until very smooth. you’ll probably need to add five-ish tablespoons of water (or bean juice if you saved that when you drained them) to get the right consistency. you’re going for more spreadable than hummus:

keep in mind, too, that it will dry out in the oven, so err on the side of wetter.

meanwhile, make some quick pickled onions by slicing about a quarter of a red onion very thinly and soaking it in some apple cider, champagne-pear, whatever sweet vinegar you have around, for the time it takes you to put together the rest of the pizza.

slice the rest of the onion thickly and sauté it until it starts getting soft and brown. add some rosemary – dried or fresh – if you have it around.

this time, i spread the bean puree on the pizza crust, then scattered the cooked onions.

and baked until brown and delicious.

because the bean paste dried out a little around the edges, next time i think i would half-bake the crust (8 minutes or so) then spread it with bean paste and onions, and finish it off.

either way, top your pizza with a salad of spinach and pickled onions (make a quick vinaigrette with the onion-soaking vinegar, olive oil, s&p) right away so the spinach wilts just a little.

a fun new twist on white pizza! and he liked it, too, despite the appalling lack of meat.

quick and easy taco dinner

i used to love taco night when i was growing up, because we didn’t do it very often and that made it special. i remember my mom putting out bowls (and bowls and bowls – many more in my memory than in real life, probably) of all different kinds of toppings. she always served the hard-shell kind.

so even to this day, taco night feels special. but it’s also quick, easy, and healthy way of spicing up a weeknight dinner.

(sorry for the terrible-quality picture) (i broke my shell into chips.)

everything came from trader joe’s and took like 10 minutes to pull together: one box taco shells, one can refried beans, shredded mozzarella, container of fresh salsa (tomatoes, onion, cilantro all in one place!), and bag of broccoli slaw.

ways to make it even more special:

1. toast the taco shells in a 250 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes.

2. definitely heat up the beans, too, in the microwave or a pan.

3. mix broccoli slaw with a little olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar, dried oregano, and a little mayo. adds great crunch and color!

4. fill shells with beans in the kitchen, but put all your toppings in bowls on the table. let people dress tacos as they go!

5. add more toppings: sour cream, jalapenos, olives, lettuce, avocado…

loaded veggie lasagna

the point of this was to try to get as many vegetables as possible into lasagna, and make sure that no one missed the missing meat.

so here’s pretty much everything that went in:

– yellow peppers
– orange peppers
– carrots
– mushrooms
– red onion
– ricotta with spinach in it (and one beaten egg)
– whole wheat noodles (cooked halfway)
– parmesan
– mozzarella
– and of course, tomato sauce (not pictured)

i cooked the peppers, mushrooms, carrot, and onion up first.

just like the noodles, you don’t want to overcook them because they will keep cooking in the lasagna.

then, you layer! there are lots of schools to how to layer. i do sauce first, noodles, veggies, ricotta, sauce, noodle, etc.

bake at 350 covered for about 30-40 minutes, then uncovered until brown and bubbling.

delicious and so healthy!

squash and chickpea roast

this is me trying to make hearty meals with even less meat than i already eat… and to use up some random ingredients in my fridge.

i had some dried chickpeas, half a butternut squash, and a little bit of kale (thanks, holly!). everything reminded me of this recipe, but i ended up doing things a little differently…

i started by soaking the dried chickpeas overnight in cold water. have you ever used dried chickpeas? i had not (only those from a can), and i didn’t realize that they aren’t cooked…? i don’t know why i didn’t know that. not too bright, this one.

so i cubed the squash and mixed it with the chickpeas in a baking dish.

to this i added two thinly sliced garlic cloves, some curry powder and garam masala (to taste), salt and pepper. it would be great with a few red pepper flakes, but i’m too much of a wuss.

i drizzled with olive oil and tossed to mix and coat, then i tented with foil

and put in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes (about the time it took me to go to the gym…)

if you’re using canned chickpeas, don’t put them in this early. drain them, and add when the squash is about 80 percent cooked (soft).

when i got back from the gym, i took the foil off the pan, turned the oven up to 400, and added some torn kale leaves to the mixture. toss well, again, and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

you should hear it sizzling, and things may even start to get a little brown. that means it’s done.

how healthy does that look?! and delicious, too.