Weeknight Pasta with Winter Greens and Mushrooms

Props to Marulka for giving me the recipe and guiding me through the execution :)!

This pasta recipe is very easy to cook and extremely versatile. Marulka and I cooked it with different kind of veggies and the result was always delightful. You can substitute the vegetables with whatever you have available at the moment, and add sausage, sea food, or chicken.
 Ingredients:

• Veggies - I used chard, kale, and mushrooms.
• Pasta - Rigatoni, Penne, or Fettuccine.
• 2 strips bacon, cut into small pieces
• 2 garlic cloves and 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Cheese - Le Gruyere and Parmesan 
• Black pepper and salt to taste

STEP 1: First wash the greens and mushrooms. Roughly chop the greens and quarter the mushrooms.

STEP 2: Grind a cup of each Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses.

STEP 3: In a skillet cook the bacon in the olive oil. Save some of the fats for the mushrooms. Then saute the onions and the garlic.

STEP 4: Start to boil the pasta, following the instructions on the package.
STEP 5:Saute the greens.

 STEP 6: Use halve of the bacon fat to brown the mushrooms in a large pan.

STEP 7: Add the sauteed greens to the pan with the mushrooms. Add the pasta and stir. Add the cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

STEP 8: Serve the pasta with sprinkled Parmesan on top, pour a glass of wine and ENJOY!

Just out of the oven: Amazing multigrain dinner rolls

A picture is worth a thousand words

Light and silky leek quiche

As you may have noticed I like to treat my hubby to nice brunches on the weekend. This past Sunday was no exception. I had been planning on making a quiche for a long time as evidenced by the two organic whole wheat pie shells that had been gathering dust, I mean freezer burn, in my fridge for a while.

I had even scrutinized several recipes from Cooks Illustrated and put off making the quiche on several occasions because of  how rich and decadent the recipes seemed. However, knowing SM's love for eggs and bacon for breakfast and my fascination with leeks, I decided to get creative with the Cooks Illustrated Leek and Goat Cheese recipe and adapt it to my liking.

Step 1: Defrost and prebake pie shell for 10-15 minutes according to manufacturer's directions

Step 2: Chop and saute 2 slices of reduced fat bacon (from Whole Foods) along with 1 thinly sliced large leek a bit of oil and a touch of butter

Step 3: Prepare the custard by whisking 3/4 cups milk, 3/4 cups cream (I used only milk), 2 large eggs and 2 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp salt and some ground pepper to taste.

Step 4: Spread  4 oz cheese ( I used a mix of Queso Fresco, Romano, Parmesan but the Cooks Illustrated recipe calls for goat cheese) and leek mixture on the pre-baked shell and pour the custard mixture on top

Step 5: Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes, until lightly golden brown and the center is set but soft like gelatin and a knife inserted about 1 inches away from the edge comes out clean.

I made a simple side salad with a mustard apple cider vinegar dressing, which nicely complemented the creaminess of the quiche.

Marulka's organize your pantry challenge

Yesterday I decided that I had enough of  my messy pantry. For a while I was in denial that it needed any help whatsoever as the gradual increase in dried beans and rice varieties sort of crept up on me surreptitiously as I kept cooking more and more. I choose not to cook meat (but I do enjoy it when I eat out) so beans are the primary source of protein. I also don't make or buy bread often so rice or other whole grains are a must. All whole grains and flours are stored in the fridge and the beans and rice varieties enjoy two shelves in my pantry cabinet.

I typically buy everything in bulk from Whole Foods so those two shelves were overwhelmed with a multitude of zip lock bags (my preferred storage vehicle until yesterday) and it was very hard to tell if I had any chickpeas left or the hidden zip lock in the back had some remnants from the pinto beans I bought on sale a while back.

A trip to Ikea was the remedy to my pantry woes - SM took all the requisite measurements and recommended the perfect stackable containers which have multiple dividers:

Bottom shelf:

• White rice
• Short grain brown rice & forbidden black rice in the second compartment
• Chickpeas
• Black eyed peas
• Split green peas & mung beans into the second compartment
• Farro
• Pinto beans
• Split channa dal

Top shelf:

• Canellini beans
• Korean red beans
• Quinoa
• French green lentils
• Brown basmati and brown jasmine rice
• Assorted beans 
• Long grain wild rice

Would any of my fellow bloggers dare to reveal their pantries?

P.S. What was our cat up to amidst all the pantry frenzy?

Chilling on her new cat bed from Ikea

Sugar Rush: Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies With Dried Cherries

Oh well, I know, these cookies are extremely unhealthy and we should never ever eat them. For me it is one of those days when the craving for something chocolaty, sweet, and chewy wins. Fighting my weakness, guilt and shame, I present you the cookies, I baked today

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup pecans, toasted
• 1 cup dried sour cherries or cranberries
• 4 oz semi-sweet or bitter sweet chocolate
• 12 tbsp softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

 Step 1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt together in a medium bowl. Combine the oats, pecans, cherries, and the chocolate in a second bowl.

Step2. In a large bowl, whisk together with electric mixer the butter and the sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla until incorporated.

Step 3. Slowly add the flour and the oat-chocolate mixes.

 

Step 4: Using an 1/4 cup spoon, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the baking sheets, lined with parchment paper. Flatten the cookies to 1-inch thickness.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the cookie sheets on the upper-middle and low-middle racks. Bake the cookies  for 20- 25 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes.

The recipe is from "The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book".
 And it is getting even better :)

 and better ...

Green Beans Stew, or "Zelen Fasul"

This is one of my top 10 favorite dishes. I have had it so many times and in so many different places, cooked by so many different people, that I feel a special attachment to it. The interesting part is that it is really easy to cook and calls for very simple ingredients and anyone can make it and it always tastes great!

Ingredients:

• 2 lb green beans, cleaned and cut into 2" pieces
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• celery, chopped
• garlic, chopped (I used fresh green garlic, but garlic cloves work just as fine)
• can of diced tomatoes, no salt added
• salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, savory, spearmint, "rogata chubritsa"

Saute the onions in some olive oil for ~ 5 min.

Then add the chopped carrots, onion, celery, garlic and spices and continue cooking for another 5 min.











Add the green beans and the can of tomatoes and cover with water (~6 cups) and bring to a boil.











Once boiling, adjust the heat and let simmer for ~ 40 min.

Serve with a spoon of Bulgarian plain yogurt and enjoy!

Tired of breakfast cereal? How 'bout some scrambled Eggs or omelet!

Very easy recipe for scrambled eggs or omelet. If you grab the wrong sized pan, you will end up with a delicious scramble. Alternatively, with the correct size pan you will make a great omelet. Regardless of your choice of frying pan, the important thing to is to first cook the vegetables so that when you add the eggs your scramble/omelet will have perfectly cooked ingredients.

Here are the materials that yielded two hearty servings:

• 6 eggs
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 1/3 lb mushrooms, chopped
• 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• ~1/4 cup milk

Sautee the leeks with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and black pepper. Then put aside and in the same pan saute the mushrooms and season again with some salt, black and cayenne pepper.



In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs + 6 table spoons of milk. Pour the eggs into an appropriate size frying pan with some olive oil that has been pre-heated. Then gently stir the eggs (2-3 seconds) and let them settle. If you are lucky and the eggs don't stick to your chosen pan (i found the second time around that a 9" teflon pan worked), proceed with making them into an omelet. Let the eggs cook for ~ 5 min and then put half of the cheese and half of the mushrooms and leeks on top and cook until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the omelet is nicely cooked. Then transfer to a plate and add the tomatoes.



However, if the eggs end up sticking to the pan (my first attempt was to use an 11" cast iron pan), just start stirring the eggs and make a scramble. Add the cheese, mushrooms, leeks and tomatoes and stir for ~ 5 min and then enjoy!

Destiniation: Healdsburg, Sonoma ...

I haven't been cooking these days. We spent the weekend in Sonoma. The weather was sunny and warm and made our trip even more pleasant. We stayed for a night at Healdsburg's Dry Creek Inn. Since most of the hotels in Napa and Sonoma are B&B, we were surprised by the nice room we got at this place. We stayed in the newer Tuscany building. Rooms were clean and nicely decorated with luxury bedding and a fire place.
We had a dinner at Scopa, a small authentic Italian in a cozy setting restaurant, downtown Healdsburg. Reasonably priced for the quality of the food. It is really a very small place, accommodating no more than 30 diners, with intentionally under-the-radar signage. Regardless, they make the best of their limited space. The food was delicious, and the staff was extremely attentive .
We tried a variety of appetizers and shared them. First we had wild mushrooms with cheese. It looks like a very simple dish but when you try it your eyes roll up and you sigh .... Delicate, fresh ... yet simple.

 Then we had grilled lamb’s tongues, over sauteed potatoes and artichoke. The lamb was amazing, cooked to perfection. It just melted in our mouths!!!

 The last was the grilled sardines stuffed with breadcrumbs served on a bed of greens. I was not very excited about this one, too fishy for may taste.
 For a main course we shared, polenta with braised pork shoulder, cabbage and sausage….the ultimate comfort food. It was very well executed, but we were already full, and were not able to appreciate it :). As expected, we soaked the food in a lot of vino.

 On the next day we went for wine tasting. We got a VIP treatment for our food and wine pairing at Kendall-Jackson Wine Center. Our best wine tasting experience so far.

 Everything was served in tiny portions, like gourmet tapas, and accompanied with a different Kendall-Jackson wine.
#1 Plate:

• Pickled vegetables from their garden
• Pumpkin Johnny Cake with Tsar Nicoulai Trout Roe and Creme Fraiche
• House Smoked Bacon and Fulton Farms Chicken Terrine

#2 Plate:

• Sweet Tea Brined Kurobuta Pork Belly Slider with Syrah BBQ Sause
• Korean Style Kobe Beef Lettuce Wrap

#3 Desert:

• Fresh Bay Leaf and Honey Custard
• Mama Frischkorn's Caramel Corn 

The food-wine pairing was delightfully guided by Chef Ryan. We ended up liking very much and therefore purchasing couple of bottles of 2007 Camelot Highlands Chardonnay and 2006 Highland Estates Alisos Hills Syrah.

And of course what a Valentine's Day is, without chocolates

and flowers!!!!  :)

**Belated** Marulka's Weekly Produce Report: Farm Fresh to You (I mean ME)

The furry inspector just turned in this belated weekly produce delivery report.

Small fruit box:

	4	cnt	Orange Cove	Navel Orange
	4	cnt	Washington	Red D'Anjou Pear
	3	cnt	Washington	Fuji Apple
	2	cnt	Washington	Cameo Apple
	2	lb	Equador	Regular Banana
	1	cnt	Mexico	Kent Mango
	1	lb	Corona College	Minneola Tangelo Orange

Regular veggie box

	8	oz	Monterey	Crimini Mushroom
	2	lb	Washington	French Fingerling Potato
	1	cnt	Our Farm	Lacinato / Dino Kale
	1	cnt	Watsonville	Bunched Broccoli
	1	lb	Our Farm	Loose Leeks
	1	cnt	Mexico	Green Onion
	1	cnt	Our Farm	Butter, green Lettuce
	1	cnt	Our Farm	Red Leaf Lettuce
	1	cnt	Watonsville	Fresh Celery
	1	bu	Watsonville	Bunched Carrot
	1	lb	Washington	Yellow Onion
	1	cnt	Our Farm	Fresh Cilantro