G is for Green Pasta

Now that I've learned to make fresh pasta, it's getting much easier to whip up a batch.  Homemade pasta is truly delicious and I enjoy making it, but I need to figure out a better way to store it because my go-to recipe from Epicurious makes so much.  I'm still surprised by the sheer quantity of pasta I get when I decide to roll out some pasta sheets, so I need to work on halving the recipe or find an alternative.

My most recent adventure with pasta included a bit of spinach.  I know green pasta makes some people a bit wary, but I love it!  I took about half a bag of baby spinach and pureed it in the food processor.  Then I added my regular pasta ingredients and used the food processor's pulse function to mix everything to a kneadable consistency.  It turned out great!  

Peter and I bought some clams and mussels and made a wine sauce to steam them in from Smitten Kitchen.  We served the mussels and clams over my spinach pasta and enjoyed our meal out on the porch.  Delicious!  

Spinach Fettucini

adapted from Epicurious

1/2 bag baby spinach leaves

3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
4 large eggs
1 tsp. salt
2-3 Tbsp. water
A pasta machine 

Puree the spinach leaves in a food processor, scraping the sides of the work bowl with a spatula to ensure all the leaves are evenly chopped.  Add the flour, eggs, and salt and pulse several times to mix.  Add water 1 Tbsp. at a time through the feeder tube until it begins to form a ball.  If the dough is too dry, add water a little bit at a time and stop when it is firm and not sticky.  Process the dough for about 15 seconds more to knead it and then transfer it to a floured surface to let it rest.  Cover the dough with an inverted bowl for about 1 hour so the gluten can relax and rolling will be easier.  

To roll the pasta, divide your dough into 8 equally-sized pieces.  Flatten each piece into a rectangle and cover the remaining pasta pieces while you work with one at a time to flatten it.  You do not want them to dry out.  Lightly dust 1 rectangle with flour and feed it through the rollers of your pasta machine.  On my Kitchenaid mixer attachment, I set it to 1 (the thickest setting) first and took it through several times to make long, even rectangles.  The mixer speed was set on the lowest speed and I thought that was as fast as I would really want to work.  I ran each pasta sheet through on setting 1 about 5-8 times, sometimes folding it in half length-wise to avoid getting sheets that were excessively wide.  Turn the dial to the next narrower setting and feed the dough through the rollers without folding.  Continue to feed the dough through each level once without folding until you reach your desired thickness.  I took my pasta through each setting and stopped at 5 or 6.  Don't skip levels of rolling because the pasta will crumble out into your hand instead of sticking together and thinning out.  Your pasta sheets should end up being about 3 feet long and roughly 4 inches wide.  Cut the sheets shorter if you like and lay them on a lightly floured surface to dry while you roll the remaining rectangles.  You can also lightly dust them with flour and hang them over the backs of chairs, a broomstick, a pasta tree, or a drying rack.  When your pasta sheets are leathery but still pliable, it's time to cut them.

To cut the pasta, I changed the attachment on the mixer from the roller to the fettucini cutting tool.  I carefully led each pasta sheet through the cutter and caught the fettucini underneath with my hands.  I put the cut pasta on a rod to dry overnight.

Mussels in White Wine Sauce

from Smitten Kitchen

2 c. white wine

1/2 c. minced shallots

handful of parsley, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. pepper

6 Tbsp. butter

2-3 lbs. mussels, scrubbed 

2 lbs. clams, scrubbed 

Add all the ingredients to boil in a dutch oven or large pot.  Boil for 2-3 minutes and then add the clams. Let the clams steam with the lid on for about 3 minutes and then add the mussels to the pot.  Cover and boil for 4-5 more minutes.  The shells will open up when the mussels and clams are done.  Ladle the clams, mussels, and broth into soup bowls and sprinkle with parsley.  You can serve this over pasta or with hearty bread to soak up the delicious broth.     

R is for Rhubarb

When Rhubarb arrived in the farm box, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I know that rhubarb is quintessentially spring and that my grandma used to grow rhubarb at the edge of her garden.  I also know that rhubarb is frequently paired with strawberries, but I wasn't sure how to prepare any rhubarb dishes or baked goods.  Now I do.  And now I love rhubarb!  

After reading an informative ode to rhubarb at Simple Bites, I decided to make a honey rhubarb compote and use it a few different ways.  I created a rhubarb vinaigrette dressing and served it with a salad and chicken sausage.  I baked some soft meringues and topped them with the compote and strawberry slices pavlova style.  I also swirled a spoonful of rhubarb compote into the top of some strawberry ginger muffins and topped them with oatmeal for my students to enjoy on one of our testing days.  A few kids loved them, but perhaps I was asking a bit too much with the combination of candied ginger and rhubarb.  Most third graders are more accustomed to chicken nuggets, pizza, and pop tarts.  My muffins were a bit too...um...mature?  Real?  

Honey Rhubarb Compote

adapted from Simple Bites

5-6 cups fresh rhubarb

1/2 c. orange juice

1/4 c. honey

Rinse and cut rhubarb into one-inch pieces.  In a saucepan, bring orange juice to a boil and then add rhubarb and honey.  Lower the heat to medium and cook slowly for about 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool completely.  The compote will thicken over time.  Store it in a jar in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.  

Rhubarb Vinaigrette 

by Rachel

2 Tbsp. rhubarb compote

4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

pinch of sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and then use an immersion blender to smooth out the dressing.  Try serving this with mixed greens, sugar snap peas, strawberries, goat cheese, and chicken sausage.  Delicious!  

Strawberry Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

by Rachel

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

6 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. oats

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 c. milk

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 c. chopped fresh strawberries

3/4 c. tart apple, cubed 

2 Tbsp. candied ginger bits

1/2 c. rhubarb compote 

Topping

1/2 c. oats

1 Tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Line two muffin tins with 24 liners and spray lightly with nonstick spray.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir in the oats.  In a mixer on the lowest speed, lightly beat the eggs, milk, and oil until just combined.  Slowly add the dry ingredients until moist.  Stir in strawberries, apple pieces, and ginger.  Pour the muffin batter into muffin cups.  With a teaspoon, put a dollop of rhubarb compote on top of each muffin.  Using a knife, stir the compote into the batter just enough to create a swirl, but not enough to turn your muffins pink.  In a small microwavable bowl, melt 1 Tbsp. butter.  Stir in 1/2 c. oats and then top each of the muffins with some of the oatmeal crumble.  Bake for about 15 minutes.  

  

    

C is for Cantaloupe Sorbet

I recently read a blog post at thekitchn.com about freezing bananas and dropping them in the food processor for nearly instant (and wonderfully healthy!) ice cream.  Can't you just imagine a bowl of smooth banana ice cream with chocolate chips sprinkled on top?  I am totally intrigued by the idea of puréeing frozen fruit into a sorbet or ice cream texture.  It'd be a low calorie dessert, but still satisfying, and I'm loving that combination because I'm a girl with a sweet tooth.

I didn't have any bananas around this week, but I did have a cantaloupe that smelled amazing.  When Peter cut into it, we both thought it was a bit overripe.  I put the pieces of slightly mushy fruit onto a cookie sheet and popped it into the freezer with the hopes that frozen cantaloupe would behave the same way that bananas did in my inspiration post.  Good news!  Frozen cantaloupe will turn into a sorbet texture when you put it in the food processor!

Cantaloupe Sorbet
by Rachel

1 cantaloupe, cut into cubes
juice from 1 orange
1 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt

Put the cantaloupe cubes on a cookie sheet in the freezer for several hours or up to a few days.  When you're ready to create the sorbet, let the cookie sheet sit out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, so the cantaloupe won't stick to the cookie sheet.  Drop the fruit into the food processor and pulse to chop and blend it.  Add the juice from one orange as the cantaloupe is blending.  Sprinkle in the sugar and salt and continue to pulse until the fruit takes the consistency of a sorbet.  Scoop the sorbet into a freezer-safe container and let it harden in the freezer for about an hour before serving.  Enjoy!

S is for Summer Rolls

I am an enormous fan of egg rolls.  Each time Peter has ordered Chinese take-out over the past five years, he has saved me his egg roll.  It's a wonderful arrangement.  I have never made egg rolls, but I was recently inspired to make summer rolls (the egg roll's rather nutritious cousin) after reading a recipe in Health magazine.  

My summer roll adventure involved a trip to several grocery stores and then eventually the Asian market to find rice paper.  Rice paper is a little hard to come by around here, but I found some.  It comes in a disc shape and it's translucent; you dip the rounds into warm water to soften them and then fill them up with your favorite sweet or savory ingredients.  

I also had a little trouble finding cellophane noodles, or bean threads.  You may also know of these by the name of "glass noodles" or Chinese vermicelli.  The cellophane noodles serve as a nice texture in the summer rolls and generally don't have much flavor.  I boiled some water and covered the noodles for a few minutes until they became soft and completely translucent.  Then I drained the water and patted the noodles dry with paper towels.  

This recipe sounded a lot better to me than it actually tasted.  I think if my mango had been more ripe and if I had used less mint, I may have enjoyed the summer rolls a bit more.  Actually, maybe if it were summer I would have enjoyed the summer rolls a bit more.  They'd be a wonderful appetizer at a dinner party or a cookout.  They sure looked appetizing!  I treated the summer rolls as a quick dinner and after Peter and I shared a plate of them, we were both still hungry.  I don't think this needs to be said, but don't serve these as an entrée; they're not as satisfying as sushi.  

Mango Shrimp Summer Rolls

adapted from Health magazine

Rice paper 

1 tsp. butter or oil  

1 lb. shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 mango, sliced into matchsticks 

1 c. cellophane noodles

2 c. red leaf lettuce, torn into small pieces

10 basil leaves

10 mint leaves

1/4 c. sweet chili sauce

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar 

1 scallion, diced 

soy sauce (optional)

Heat a tsp. of butter or oil in a skillet and toss the shrimp in to cook for a few minutes on medium heat.  When they turn pink, take them off the heat and cut each shrimp into two or three bite-sized pieces.  Sprinkle the shrimp with a bit of salt.  Peel and slice the mango into matchsticks.  Boil a few cups of water and pour it over the cellophane noodles in a bowl so they can soften.  After a couple minutes, drain the water and then pat the noodles dry.  Wash and tear the red leaf lettuce into 2 or 3 inch pieces.  Wash and pat dry the basil and mint leaves.  

Combine the chili sauce, vinegar, and scallion in a small bowl.  Add a splash of soy sauce if you'd like a more savory dipping sauce.  Set this aside.

Spread out a damp kitchen towel to use as a work space for creating your summer rolls.  Make sure all your ingredients are close by so that you can build the rolls quickly.  Fill a shallow pan with warm water and drop in a sheet of rice paper.  It only takes about 10-30 seconds for it to soften and become clear.  Carefully remove the rice paper disc and put it on the damp kitchen towel.  Top with a piece of basil, a few mango matchsticks, several pieces of shrimp, 2 Tbsp. of cellophane noodles, a handful of red leaf lettuce, and a spearmint leaf.  Position this pile neatly and then pull the left side of the rice paper over the top of your pile.  Fold in the top and the bottom like an envelope, and then roll up the rest of the roll carefully.  You should be able to see through the rice paper whatever topping you put down first, so choose something "pretty" to show through when you're layering.  Set the summer roll on a plate and repeat each step until you've run out of filling.  

I made about 8 rolls and then cut each in half before serving with the dipping sauce.