This is super simple pasta. I first came across the recipe in like, 1997 or 1998 on, of all places, the 4AD mailing list. I know, wacky! I couldn’t find the original recipe when I set out to recreate it but what I could remember was: cottage cheese, milk, diced tomatoes, hazelnuts and tarragon. And I remembered thinking, huh, cottage cheese and pasta? But, it was quite tasty. You could also, of course, probably use ricotta.

So, here’s how I have been recreating this around the house lately. This dish also works excellently as a work lunch. In fact, that has been its purpose for us. I just pop it into containers and when it’s reheated in the microwave at work, the sauce is all creamy and good.

To eat right away, you probably want to toss the cottage cheese and everything in the hot pan, after you’ve drained the pasta, and then all the pasta back in. Heat gently over low heat.

Oh and if you see this and this was basically your idea and you posted the recipe to 4AD-L about 10 years ago, let me know and I’ll give you credit! So, everyone dig out your Cocteau Twins 12-inches and make some pasta!

Rigatoni with Hazelnuts, Tarragon and Tomatoes
1 lb rigatoni (more than rigatoni will work here)
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped roughly (I add to a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin)
1 container (16 oz) cottage cheese (either low fat or regular fat — no fat free)
1/2 cup low fat milk (I have used both fat-free and 2% here)
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
1/3 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 shakes green Tabasco sauce
Salt & Pepper

Combine the hazelnuts through the Tabasco. Mix to combine. Add salt & pepper to taste. Cook your pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain and combine with the sauce. Pack up for lunches during the week, or warm gently on the stovetop for supper.

Awesome!

I have been lazy. No other excuse. With that out of the way — Oh, little big head. You have such big teeth but you usually have such tasty recipes. Coincidence? I dunno.

If you can score some salmon, this is what you should do with it. I picked some up on sale! at Whole Foods. It was Alaskan salmon that was frozen on the boat and only $10.99 a pound. And it was very good here. I added pasta to the recipe to make it more of a one bowl meal. Also, I like pasta.

Salmon in Lemon Brodetto with Pea Puree
Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Lemon Brodetto:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, diced (you can also use a green onion, if you don’t have a shallot)
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 lemon, zested (use the lemon you’ll be juicing — so you only need one lemon total)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

Pea Puree:
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tbsp fresh mint leaves
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste

Salmon:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 (6 - 8 ounce) salmon filets
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 lb pasta of your choice (orecchiette, rigatoni and penne would all work great)

To make the Lemon Brodetto, warm the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the lemon juice, zest, and broth. Bring to a simmer, and keep warm, covered, over low heat. You can also easily make this ahead of time and just refrigerate until needed. Then rewarm.

To make the Pea Puree, combine the peas, mint, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor and puree. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a steady drizzle. Transfer the pea puree to a small bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Set aside. You will want to warm this before you put it on top of the salmon. In the Spring, you may want to warm this before serving. Not hot, just warm. What I did was pop it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. When it’s all hot and Summery out, I can see using this room temperature or slightly chilled.

To make the Salmon, warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Season the salmon pieces with salt and pepper. Sear the salmon until a golden crust forms, about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side. This is also a good point to add your pasta to your boiling water and get that cooked.

Flip the fish and continue cooking for about 4 more minutes more depending on the thickness of the fish, and how you like it cooked. Remove fish from pan and cover with foil until you are ready for it.

To assemble the dish, add the tablespoon chopped mint to the Lemon Brodetto and divide between 2 shallow dishes.

Add some pasta to each dish. Don’t pile it on like a big bowl of pasta but more like the little pasta - broth bed for the salmon that it will be. Place a salmon piece in each bowl and add a generous spoonful of pea puree. A mint leaf makes a great garnish. Serve immediately.

So, so good.

This is a great winter meal! It’s still Winter, right? The brussels sprouts are plentiful and the pasta is, well, always a good idea when it’s cold out. I found this recipe on Epicurious a couple of months ago and we just got around to trying it recently. I changed a few things — added garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes.

Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts and Pine Nuts
Recipe adapted from Gourmet Magazine

3/4 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1/2 lb dried egg fettuccine
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 tbsp pine nuts
1-3 cloves garlic, minced (if they’re huge, use 1 or 2, normal sized, use 2 or 3 — of course, adjust this to your taste, we love garlic, we used 3)
Zest from 1 lemon
Grated Parmesan cheese
Optional: red pepper flakes

Slice Brussels sprouts in a food processor fitted with slicing disk. Or, just slice them manually, with a knife and a cutting board. I opted for that technique. Mostly because I was too lazy to find my slicer disc.

Cook fettuccine in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat butter and oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook pine nuts, stirring, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add Brussels sprouts, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, then sauté over medium-high heat until tender and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.

Reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta and add to skillet, tossing with enough reserved water to moisten. Sprinkle with some Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and adjust any seasonings. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese on the side.

***

I think I like Jamie Oliver’s new show. I saw the winter vegetables one the other day and although I am not a big cabbage fan, I wanted to make everything, even though two of the three dishes were mainly cabbage-based. But he’s very, uh, rustic on this one. The first time I caught it (a couple of weeks ago), he seemed like a cooking woodchuck, dressed like Adam from Northern Exposure… and I like his little theme song at the end too!

And then, right afterwards…it’s Sandra Lee. How is that back-to-back combination even possible without the world imploding upon itself?

Okay, I am turning over a new leaf. I am going to try really, really hard to get back into posting at least 3 times per week. Really!

Here’s a super-good pasta recipe. When we were in Ashland last October, I caught some of Lidia’s Family Table on PBS and fell in love with the recipe. I made it almost immediately when we got back. I loved it. jwa thought the flavors were a little strong, but still liked it. So, this is one of those recipes where half the people think it’s the cat’s pajamas and the other half thing it’s good but not pajama-worthy. Of course, this was a sample size of two, so you know…ymmv.

Linguine with Black Olives, Pine Nuts and Raisins
Recipe from From Lidia’s Family Table,’ by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich
1 pound uncooked capellini OR other thin dry pasta such as spaghettini or linguine (I used wheat linguine)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 plump garlic cloves, sliced (about 1/3 cup)
1 1/2 cups oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup golden raisins
3 tbsp fine long threads of orange zest
2/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 cup pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan
Hot water from pasta cooking pot
Salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
Optional: chopped arugula for a garnish — my addition

Heat a large pot of salted water to boiling. Five minutes before starting sauce, plunge pasta into boiling water. Pour 1/3 cup olive oil into a large skillet, add garlic slices and place over medium-high heat. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes, shaking pan, until garlic starts to color.

Add olives and stir with garlic. Cook another 1 1/2 minutes, shaking pan occasionally, as olives sizzle and caramelize. Add raisins and cook, stirring, 1/2 minute. Stir in orange zest, and cook, stirring, 30 seconds or more, until sizzling.

Carefully pour in orange juice (it will sizzle). Stir to moisten everything. After 20 seconds or so, stir in toasted pine nuts; stir to moisten. When orange juice has nearly evaporated, ladle in 2 cups boiling pasta water. Boil and stir sauce 3 minutes or more (while pasta is cooking). When sauce is reduced by half, stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt. Taste; add more salt if necessary. Stir in another tablespoon olive oil. Reduce heat to keep sauce hot until pasta is ready.

When the pasta is just shy of done, pull it out and add it to the pan with the sauce. Finish the sauce and pasta together in skillet, adding a little more pasta water or reducing it as necessary. Stir in parsley. Remove from heat; toss in a final tablespoon of olive oil. Makes 3 to 4 servings. Top with a little arugula if desired. I liked the green color on top and thought the greens helped lighten the flavor up a bit.

Okay. Coming up next week: Fruitcake update, December’s WCC post and lima bean-tarragon soup.

This is really, really easy and super good. Who doesn’t have a bag or half bag of frozen peas in the house? With that and a few more items you could have an excellent dinner and even a lunch or two for later in the week. What a deal!

Aside from that, we had a great time in Ashland. The leaves were changing — it was very pretty and scenic. We ate at Dragonfly, Morning Glory and the Winchester Inn. More on that later in the week. For now — let’s get to the pasta!

Rustic Green Pea Pesto with Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Adapted from a recipe on the Whole Foods Market Web site
1 pound whole wheat linguine
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup packed basil leaves (you could also use mint — that sounds great for a Spring version of this dish)
1 tbsp capers, drained
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta-cooking water. Drain the pasta, then transfer it to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, combine the peas, parsley, basil, Parmesan, capers, garlic and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the oil in a steady stream while pulsing. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning.

Toss the hot pasta with the reserved pasta-cooking water and pesto. Top with toasted walnuts and serve immediately. Oh fine. Add some more Parmesan cheese to the top as well.

Over Labor Day Weekend, jwa and I headed to the coast to celebrate his birthday. We had a really nice time and a dinner that was so good I’m pretty positive that I’ll be making it again soon. It’s always a little challenging working in an unfamiliar kitchen but this worked out pretty well.

I put the marinade together at home and brought it to the beach in a cooler and we picked up some halibut in Cannon Beach at the Ecola Fish Market. The original recipe was for tuna (on epicurious.com) but it was great with the halibut. Plus my new favorite thing to do is toss avocado with fish (salmon, tuna, halibut, etc…) and this fit that bill perfectly.

Marinade:
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 serrano chile, seeded, minced (or a pinch red pepper flakes or a few dashes chili oil)

Along with…
halibut (about a pound for two)
Pasta (linguine, fettucine, etc…)
1 avocado
1 lime
sesame seeds
more cilantro
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots
1 medium zucchini
red pepper flakes
salt

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the halibut for about an hour. Meanwhile, clean the carrots and use a vegetable peeler to make very thin strips.

Do the same with the zucchini. Add a little olive oil to a pan and saute the vegetables with a little salt until tender and starting to get a little color.

When the fish is ready, heat a little olive oil in a pan and grill on the stove top for a few minutes on each side until done to your liking. You can bring the marinade to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes to mix in with the pasta and serve with the fish. You can also double the marinade recipe and use half for the fish and half for the pasta/serving.

Dice the avocado and toss with the juice of a lime, chili flakes, salt, sesame seeds and extra cilantro.

To serve, pile the pasta in a big bowl and top with the halibut and avocado.

The Lighthhouse
Manzanita, OR

As if the meal wasn’t enough, we also found a pretty nice place to stay in Manzanita. It’s a 1/4 of a block off the ocean and has a balcony with a great view. It’s also cheaper than Coast Cabins, has a nice kitchen and (imho) is in a better location.

\
View of the couch, kitchen and dining area

Sleeping alcove

“living room” area and balcony

View from the balcony

Pros: nice atmosphere/interior, great location, full kitchen (microwave, stove/oven, fridge, sink), balcony with ocean view, cozy, good comparative price

Cons: couch smelled a little like dog (pets are allowed), have to light burners with a match, uh, that’s all I can think of!

For Weekend Cookbook Challenge #19 the theme is dinner and a DVD and is being hosted by Chef Girl. For this WCC, I pulled out my brand new copy of The Joy of Cooking and thumbed through the seafood section as one of the movies we had at the house via netflix, was, “Lady in the Water.” It’s a little bit odd, unexpected, it makes you wonder if it’ll be any good or not. Then there’s the movie. Hahahahaha. Just kidding.

And, if I hadn’t just started a new job, I would have picked a well-loved and favorite movie for this and not just used the most recent netflix option but, hell, I am tired — Lady in the Water it is. Although, we are at some point planning a Rushmore / The Royal Tenenbaums dinner film festival soon. It just didn’t happen for this WCC event.

Anyway, vanilla bean in a coconut-y, somewhat Asian-inspired shrimp dish — could it work? Let’s find out!

Vanilla Coconut Shrimp
Based on a recipe in The Joy of Cooking, although, I added the garlic, shitake and red bell pepper
1/ 4 cup olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
12 shitake mushrooms, sliced, stems removed
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 14 1/2 oz coconut milk
2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I had a bit under this amount — 10 large shrimp total — worked fine)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
cooked rice or pasta

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, mushrooms and belle pepper (it’s a lady pepper!). Cook about 5 minutes and then add the wine and vanilla bean. Bring to a simmer ad reduce the wine by half — about 7-8 minutes.

Next, add the broth, coconut milk, ginger, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer again and reduce sauce by half — about 8-10 minutes.

Th shrimp goes in next. Turn it once while cooking, for a total of about 8 minutes.

Also, don’t forget to cook your pasta or rice. Hey — what’s this in my pasta water? Oh, it’s a Stash lemon & ginger herbal tea bag for a little extra flavor.

Serve the shrimp and coconut-vanilla sauce over the pasta (or rice) and top with the basil. Pop your movie in and pour some wine.

We found that yelling out, “I’m not drinking any fucking merlot,” periodically throughout the movie (especially during suspenseful moments) is much fun — and we were drinking a sauvignon blanc so it was factual as well.

Both jwa and I were pleasantly surprised by how well the vanilla and coconut milk came together. This was a very good meal made even better by a simple yet delightful dessert of vanilla frozen yogurt, peaches and port. Did that have anything to do with the movie? Not really, it was just tasty.

As for the movie, I thought it was okay. It was definitely missing that creepy in the ordinary, atmospheric vibe that I expected but Paul Giamatti carried it the best he could.

Thanks again to Chef Girl for such a great theme!

Too hot outside? Yep. I agree. If you can suffer through the boiling water and the grill pan (if you choose to add the tuna), this is a great meal. I just serve it room temperature. It’s delicious. I usually use frozen albacore tuna from Trader Joe’s — just defrost it the night before in the refrigerator and it’s ready to go.

Instead of the basil and dill, you could also use different herbs — really whatever you like. Plus, with all the veggies and white beans, this is very healthy. Hooray!

Summer Spaghetti
1/2 lb spaghetti
1/4 cup green or black olives (I used green, stuffed with feta)
1 bell pepper, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Englished cucumber, diced
1/4 tsp dried oregano (or more fresh if you have some)
1/2 cup feta (or more)
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Splash of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Fresh Dill, chopped (about a tablespoon)
salt and pepper
Optional: Grilled albacore tuna, lemon

Add all the veggies and beans in a big bowl. Add the herbs, garlic, some salt and pepper and a little olive oil.

Cook the pasta. Toss with the veggies. Let come to room temperature and if you are using, grill the tuna (salt and pepper first). When it’s done, give it a squirt of lemon juice.

When the pasta and veggies have cooled a bit, add a bit more oil if desired, a bit of red wine vinegar and the feta. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. I typically slice the tuna up and then add to the top.

The leftovers also travel very well for the next day’s lunch.

Coming soon: WCC19, ricotta gelato and possibly even a pie. Now, as part of my new lifestyle, I will be going to bed soon so I can drag myself out of bed by 6:15AM. But, it is totally worth it as I love Stash Tea.

I was in New Seasons the other day buying some halibut and as I was walking through the produce sections I saw the cutest thing — garlic tops.

“Oh!” I thought to myself, “need to buy! Cuuute!”

Then I got home and realized I had no idea what to do with them. I did a little online searching and found this page — Mary Jane’s Farm about garlic scapes, which I think are slightly younger versions of my tops but I figured it was close enough.

I made the pesto, using half parm and half feta. I also added some pine nuts. Wow! The garlic! It burns! (But in a good way). I mixed about a tablespoon into a big bowl of hot pasta with some olive oil to start, as it did seem a little strong. But — by the middle of the meal, jwa and I were spreading the extra pesto on bread and mixing more of it into the pasta. So, so good. Just make sure you really like garlic.

Garlic Tops Pesto
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4 lb scapes (garlic tops)
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Puree the garlic tops and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Add the Parmesan, feta, lemon juice and pine nuts and process it all until nice and smooth.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on bread, crackers or with pasta (or all of the above).

So what else did we have with our garlic top pesto and pasta? Grilled halibut with this awesome marinade.

Awesome & Simple Halibut Marinade
4 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Let fish marinate in the fridge for about an hour. Salt and pepper liberally, then grill in the ol’ grill pan.

It turned out really nice and moist and was excellent with the side of pasta, tossed with cherry tomatoes, spinach and garlic top pesto.

I even brought out the balsamic glaze and drizzled a little over the fish and pasta to make it all look pretty.

See? Pretty!

***
In wedding news, I made the lodging reservations for most of the honeymoon in Victoria here. It’ll be nice to have a kitchen while we’re there. We’re also going to rent a car and drive up to Tofino for 3-4 days. We’re going to splurge and stay here. So very excited!

Also, I finished making the save the date cards and I should be able to get them in the mail in early/mid June (waiting on vellum envelopes and nifty return address stamp).

Ah, Spring. Rainy pasta weather (well, sometimes). A week or so ago we were had a lovely pasta meal while the wind and storms raged outside. The dilemma — jwa likes spaghetti best whereas I prefer rigatoni or a pasta more like that. Needless to say, we really rarely have spaghetti.

I think it was the meatballs that convinced me to make this spaghetti and meatballs dish. Forming meatballs is fun. So, he got a spaghetti dinner and I got to make a bunch of little meatballs with currants and pine nuts (oh and pork, too). Everyone wins. Actually, the meal was very tasty and I may just have become a spaghetti convert after this one.

I came across this recipe (and now, I can’t remember where. I’m 90% sure it was at www.foodnetwork.com, so it’s probably one of the usual suspects there). I added a few extras to the sauce (olives, red wine and a pinch of sugar) and fennel to the meatballs.

Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup chopped black olives
1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch of sugar

Meatballs
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 tbsp milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 large egg
2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp dried currants

1 pound spaghetti

For the Sauce
Heat the oil in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir about for 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juices, 2 tablespoons of the basil, the olives and the red wine. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat the heat and simmer until sauce thickens, breaking up tomatoes with fork, about 1 hour. Mix in 2 tablespoons basil and a pinch of sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Set sauce aside.

For the Meatballs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil baking sheet. Mix crumbs and milk in medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Mix in Parmesan, onion, basil, egg, garlic and pepper. Add sausage, pine nuts, fennel and currants and blend well.

Using wet hands, form mixture into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on baking sheet.

Bake until meatballs are light brown and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Add to sauce and barely simmer until the pasta is done.

Cook spaghetti in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain and mound on yoru plates. Spoon some sauce and meatballs over the spaghetti. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Dig in.

I even made an antipasto platter to go with out meal — marinated artichokes, salami, peppers, black & green olives, parsley and garlic braided mozzarella and those big Italian beans I like. On the side, we also had steamed broccoli because, seriously, a whole plate of pork meatballs and pasta? You really need some steamed broccoli on the side.

***
Man, what was I thinking? A pasta meal when I have only 6-8 months to get into shape before my wedding dress comes in? Ha! Yeah, I found a dress at Tres Fabu (across the street from Caprials — see? It’s food related). I ordered it and now I just wait for the factory to make it and ship it. And, the one I picked was only 50% of the budget I had allotted for the dress. Awesome — now I can get that tiara I’ve had my eye on. Joking!