Zucchini Pasta with Dill Pesto

I am growing an apartment porch garden this summer for the first time. This means that I am continuing to learn new things, something I always dedicate my summers to. I am finding that gardening is fun, but a little challenging because there are so many judgment calls. The beautiful thing about my situation, is that I have friends who garden and are gracious to give me tips.

The other day I posted some pictures about my garden growing. My friend and colleague Lindsay mentioned that I should trim my dill because it was beginning to seed. This way, the more I prune, the more it will grow. After watching a video on how to prune dill on Youtube, I went outside to my porch and I pruned. 

Taking my beautiful green dill back to the kitchen, I stared at my trash can and thought that I could not throw it away. After a quick brainstorm and a look at my produce, I decided to make a pesto using dill. This was a risky decision because I have not even made basil pesto before and am saving it for a summer bucket list moment.

Pesto needs a significant amount of at least one herb, nuts, and some liquid. In a rummage through the pantry, I found almonds, a lemon, olive oil, and chicken broth. My inner Italian said, “Bada bing!”

Texture was a big test while I was making my pesto experiment. After my first run with the food processor, I found that the almonds made it too much like putty. So I added more lemon juice, which made it too citrusy. In the end, I used more chicken broth to get the desired balanced texture and taste.

Recipe for Zucchini Pasta with Dill Pesto
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
1/8 cup whole almonds
1 Tbsp garlic, divided
1 cup fresh dill
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons olive oil
1/3 cup chicken broth (or more to depending on desired texture)
Juice of one lemon
2 zuchinni, sliced in thin rounds
Parmesan Cheese to taste
4 cups cooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta (I used half a box of Barilla)

Method

1. Using a food processor, grind the almonds to a thick dust.

2. Add 1 teaspoon of garlic, the dill, ground black pepper, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and chicken broth to the mixture. Blend the mixture, adding more chicken broth if needed to achieve desired paste thickness. 

3. When pesto is finished, heat teaspoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and heat until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the zucchini rounds and cook just until soft, about 3-4 minutes. 

4. Place pasta in a large bowl and use a slotted spoon to transfer the zucchini to the pasta. Then, pour the pesto over the pasta mixture and gently mix the ingredients together. If the pasta gets too sticky, add a little olive oil to loosen. 

5. Serve the pasta with parmesan cheese, black pepper, and salt. 

Braised Sweet Red Cabbage

I love it when I have leftover vegetables and I get to play around and make a new dish. I had made some BBQ chicken in the crockpot to eat on with my school closing schedule and my husband’s erratic police schedule. I had some leftover red cabbage in the crisping drawer in the fridge that I needed to use. So I thought about making a side out of the cabbage to go with the BBQ. 

The BBQ sauce is sweet, so I wanted to do a tangy sweet cabbage. Originally, I wanted to use it and make a slaw. I looked up some inspirational recipes online and settled for Red Cabbage Slaw by the Food Network Kitchens. When I tasted the dressing to go on the slaw, I didn’t like it. The vinegar was too heavy for my taste. But, I had this otherwise beautiful dressing and I chose to braise the cabbage with it instead, and rendering the vinegar to a more mild state.

As the cabbage cooked, I snuck pieces from the pan and tasted a tart sweetness, inspiring me to add some fennel seed and craisins. The end result ended up being a warm cabbage, similar to pickled German cabbage, with a touch more sugar and crispy texture.



Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sugar
½ head Red Cabbage, chopped to 1/2 inch thick pieces
1 Tablespoon fennel seed
½ cup Craisins
Salt to taste

Method

1. To make the sauce, whisk together the oil, vinegar, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and oil and vinegar no longer separate.

2. Heat 2 Tablespoons of sauce in a skillet on medium high heat.

3. Add the cabbage, then carefully pour the rest of the sauce over the cabbage. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 7-8 minutes.

4. Add the fennel, Craisins, and salt and continue cooking until cabbage reaches the desired tenderness and the sauce has evaporated into the cabbage. 

Smoky Potatoes

I haven’t posted anything in so long because we moved! Moving is an exercise that sucks all time and motivation from the soul by squeezing it to death with uncertainty and problems. Really, our move went just fine, but I had to find my way around town and learn to cook in a kitchen made for one person and not seven.

One awesome thing about moving away from the middle of nowhere is that we now have cable. I can watch the Food Network (among other channels of course)! It has been inspiring the past few weeks to be cooking along with episodes of Chopped reruns and Iron Chef playing in the background.

Our recipe today was actually influenced by Chopped. In one episode, they were using the stems of herbs as an ingredient that they had to use. My husband decided to include our cilantro stems in our potato recipe today!

Also influencing our recipe is the farmer’s market that is just down the street. We are getting some great produce, and I am excited to try and incorporate these healthier, organic items into my daily lifestyle. 

When I returned from the market today, I had these awesome baby potatoes. My husband and I scrounged around for some ideas to be served as a side with a Cilantro Chipotle Hamburger, and Smoky Potatoes is what we came up with.

Smoky Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients

lb baby potatoes, quartered

1 onion, chopped into petals

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika

2 Tbsp Red Chili Flakes

1 tsp Cumin

Left over cilantro stems (optional)

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Place the potatoes and onions on a flat baking pan in a single layer. Drizzle the olive oil over the mixture.

3. Combine the smoked paprika, chili flakes, and cumin in a small bowl.

4. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the pan, and toss the mixtures so that the potatoes and onions are coated with spice.

5. Bake the potatoes and onions for 40-45 minutes, or until browned on the outside and the potatoes are soft. 

Bombolini Pasta

I was so excited to try Bombolini Pasta that I placed on my Bucket List for this summer. In order to prepare for my excursion, I checked out their website (http://www.bombolinipasta.com/) and read the biographies of the couple who founded it. I looked at the products and created some ideas of what to purchase. Then, I called my grandma and asked her if she wanted to have an Italian fest the next day. It was pizza and Bombolini Day!

When we drove up, I cheered because they had a mini parking lot. YAY! Next, walking in, I saw that two people who were working behind the counter were the owners. Immediately as we walked in, they greeted us with a large welcome and began telling us about the shop after asking if we had been there before. John Kreckman, one of the owners, even offered us a sample of a red wine he was selling.

Bombolini Pasta has fresh pasta that comes with different flavors and cuts. You can purchase the long cuts in the store by choice, and they will cut it there for you! The smaller cuts, such as the ravioli and penne, come prepackaged. I ended up purchasing Sausage Ravioli and Black Pepper Fettuccine.

Since we are preparing to move, we used these purchases to help clean out our fridge. We made our Sausage Ravioli just from things we had in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. The Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine was more of a masterpiece that was created from many thoughts and careful planning. The recipes are below.

Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine Recipe

Ingredients

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 large Portobello Mushroom Caps, thickly sliced

½ yellow onion, diced

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

¼ cup butter

3 Tbsp cooking sherry

Juice from ½ lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 lb Black Pepper Fettuccine, cooked (or any cooked pasta)

Method

1. Heat olive oil and garlic in a large frying pan

2. When oil is hot, add the mushrooms and onion and cook on medium low heat until the mushrooms reduce in size and become soft

3. Add the sherry and lemon. Continue cooking until flavors have combined, about an additional three minutes

4. Serve mushroom mixture and sauce over cooked pasta

Clean out the Pantry Sausage Ravioli Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 lb Diced Canned Tomatoes (Redpack Preferred)

1 jar Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce (I used Classico)

1 lb cooked sausage ravioli

Method

1. In a large frying pan, cook the sausage, then drain the fat.

2. Add the sausage back to the pan. Add the tomatoes and sauce. Heat the mixture until desired warmth.

3. Spoon sausage and sauce mixture over ravioli. 

Mushroom Feta Mini Quiche Recipe

Preparing to move means cleaning out the freezer. Cleaning out the freezer means facing ingredients that I have put off using. Phyllo dough is one of those ingredients.

I sat down holding the box of phyllo. What do I do with it? My first idea was to make baklava, but I am trying hard no to gain any more weight than is necessary while cleaning out the freezer, so I quickly ruled that idea out. So illogically, my brain jumps automatically from dessert to quiche. How it did that, I have no idea.

This is a recipe I made 100 percent with my own knowledge of cooking. I am actually quite proud of myself. From using a new ingredient, to putting ingredients that taste well together, and projecting baking temperatures and times, I figured this out on my own. I usually take a base recipe and adjust it as necessary, but not this time!

Now that I have applauded myself, I need to add the “but.” I am very proud of myself, BUT the quiche didn’t taste exactly how I had conceived once it was out of the oven. The baking process squashed the strength of the feta, garlic, and onion. However, the tarragon was just fine, so it turned out to taste like a tarragon quiche! It was not bad, but I think I am going to toy around with the fillings for the next set of phyllo mini quiches.

So now that I just admitted that it wasn’t my favorite recipe in the world, you may wonder why I am posting the recipe below. The answer is simple. I am going to use this as a base and change the filling. Plus, it would be rotten to have taken the pictures for nothing!

Mushroom Feta Mini Quiche Recipe

Recipe yields 12 mini quiches.

Special Equipment

12 cup muffin tin

Container with a 4 inch rim (used to cut dough)

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

½ medium yellow, diced

4 oz mushrooms, diced

1 tsp garlic, minced

¼ tsp dried tarragon

1 roll of premade frozen phyllo dough (two rolls come in standard package)

5 oz feta cheese

5 eggs

¼ cup half and half or whole milk

Ground Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Spray cooking spray into a small skillet. Add the onion, mushrooms, garlic, and tarragon. Cook the mixture until the onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

3. Spray cooking spray to thoroughly coat the cups of the muffin tin. Stack five sheets of phyllo on a clean work surface (I placed them on a silicone work pad). If they are dry and cracking, moisten them with water. Press the rim of a 4 inch container into the dough to cut circles. I was able to get at least 5 cups filled per stack.

4. Place the circles inside the muffin tin (overlapping is OK). Repeat process until all muffin cups are filled.

5. Put a rough teaspoon of feta cheese into the bottom of each cup.

6. Evenly distribute the mushroom and onion mixture into the cups. Use care not to disturb the phyllo layers if they are jagged and sticking up.

7. Top phyllo cups with one last rough teaspoon of feta cheese.

8. Measure half and half or milk into a liquid measure cup. Add the eggs and whisk until the ingredients are blended.

9. Pour egg mixture gently into each cup, filling them until they are 2/3 to ¾ full. Use care to keep the mixture from spilling over the sides. It is OK for small touches of the filling to be sticking out above the egg.

10. Grind a touch of pepper onto the top of each mini quiche.

11. Bake the quiches in the preheated oven for 20 -22 minutes, turning once halfway though.

The quiches can be served hot, room temperature, or cold.