Tomato-Pesto Pasta

Okay I admit it; I absolutely love pasta- I don’t quite know what it is (that’s a lie Mags and I spent several months in Italy in the old days and love affair began there). I love that it is so easy and you can throw anything together with it and make it a meal. Part of my difficulty in this blog has not been writing 20 entries just about pasta with vegetables. But some are really better than others. When these winter months come around – I sometimes miss the taste of summer. My husband makes pesto in the summer when basil is all around – (see the lemon pesto chicken entry only I prefer it with heaps more garlic), and then we freeze it in ice cube trays and it lasts like that for months.

This week I spotted some beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes at the market and couldn’t resist.

I rinsed and cut up the fresh tomatoes into quarters.

Boiled the pasta and mixed in the frozen pesto cubes while it was still warm, added the raw tomatoes and Voila! Taste of summer.

Super easy and quick and you really only have to dirty the pot you make the pasta in, which is the type of thing that really sweeps me off my feet.

Lemon Blackberry Coffee Cake- definitely not the healthy part of the diet

Okay so this recipe isn’t exactly diet appropriate but it was delicious and I felt obliged to pass it on. I had some left over sour cream from Hanukkah - which inspired the decision to make this cake.

Cake Recipe:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

pinch of salt

10 tbsp. unsalted butter @ room temperature (about 1¼ sticks)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1¼ cup sour cream

2 cups blackberries (but I think 3 cups would add to deliciousness)

Topping:

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

9x9 inch pan- plus a little pan in case you have extra batter (very likely)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x9 baking pan.

In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt

Use an electric mixer with the attachment to cream butter and sugar until light fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, until blended well.

Add vanilla and lemon zest.

Add flour mixture and sour cream and beat just until combined.

Fold in blackberries and spoon into buttered pan and sprinkle topping over top of cake.

Bake until golden brown and a knife comes out clean about 50-60 minutes.

I have rationalized that I could consider this part of the Farmer's Market diet by eating much more responsible portions that I might have otherwise done. Plus this was super delicious so I really needed a good reason to be able to eat it.

"Lebanese-ish" Red Lentil Soup

Towards the end of each week I seem to be left with a strange variety of produce in the fridge. I find myself resorting to a dinner made entirely of things from my pantry because I’m not quite sure what to do with my Farmer’s Market Leftovers. I hate throwing any food out because it has gone bad, so I have made it my quest to start putting in the time to finding recipes that contain my random scraps or can be adjusted to what I’ve got around.

This week when I came down to the final produce selection this is what I had:

Several lemons with no rind (I had already used the zest for another meal)

Cilantro- 1 bunch

Brown Onions

Lots of options but not so much substance… I don’t think my hubby would be super satisfied eating pickled onions for dinner and not quite the hearty winter meal I was hoping for.

I ended up making a “Lebenese-ish” Red Lentil Soup that I adapted from allrecipes.com

Recipe:

6 cups stock (you can use chicken or veggie)

2 1/3cups dry red lentils

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic

1tbsp. cumin

½ tsp cayenne pepper (you could also use red chili flake and I think it would be similar)

½ bunch chopped cilantro

¾ cup lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the lentils and stock to a boil and then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. In a separate frying pan sauté onions and garlic until clear and then add the onions mixture and cumin and cayenne to the simmering lentils. Simmer until the lentils are tender (~10-15 minutes).

At this stage you can puree the soup – but I prefer the more rustic version.

Stir in lemon juice right before serving and top with a hearty portion of cilantro. I found this really brightens up the flavor. Serve as a soup or make it a meal by adding some brown rice to amp up protein and hearty-ness.

Veggie Rice

It's been exactly a month since Sheesh's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and the most fun I've had (past 10 pm) in a long while. Also, the food was amazing. My favorite things were the delicious short ribs and the "veggie paella" (which was basically veggies and rice). It was so delicious and the kicker was that it was vegan, so no chicken stock, no butter! I have no idea how they did it. But I set out to make a non-vegan version of the dish. It came out good, nowhere near as yummy as the original, but good. And I of course had to resort to my old flavor standbys of chicken stock and a little butter.

Here's the recipe:

Veggie Rice

tblsp. olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

1 cup white rice

2 cups chicken stock

1-2 cups diced veggies (I used red pepper and carrot and was going to use mushrooms, but forgot and left them sitting in the fridge)

1-2 tblsp butter

kosher salt to taste

In a medium pan heat olive oil, onions, and other veggies on medium heat for about 6-8 minutes.

Add rice and stir into the veggies until everything is combined. Let the rice cook like this for about 5 minutes to get a little bit toasty.

Add chicken stock, throw in the butter and a pinch of kosher salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes.

I serve the rice with salmon which was seasoned with Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joes and broiled for about 7 minutes and kale that was cooked a la salty chard, but with less salt. Overall it was a good meal!

Not All Markets Are Created Equal

So, I went to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. I usually don't, because it's not close to where I live. But my friend was in town, so I met her there. There are pony rides and there's live music. It's a fun Sunday morning activity for sure.

However, when it came to the actual buying of produce, that's where it got a little suspect. My first stop was at a stand that sold fruit. I got three peaches and a couple bunches of grapes. When I went to pay the man said that it would be $11. $11?!? For three peaches and some grapes? WTF? I looked at him in shock for a second and then begrudgingly pulled out my cash.

At the markets that I normally go to, these items would have been half as much. I guess, like everything else, if you're in a high-rent district, you're going to pay more.

Lesson learned: Go to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market for the pony rides, not for the peaches.

What's In Season- Early Autumn?

This applies to California. We Californians are so lucky because we pretty much grow everything here! It might apply to other states too, I'm not sure. I hope this color-coded list is helpful.

Fruit

Apples
Citrus:

Grapefruits,

Lemons,

Tangelos/Tangerines,

Valencia Oranges
Grapes

Pears, Asian

Persimmons
Pomegranates
Raspberries

Vegetables

Asparagus
Avocados
Basil
Beans, Green
Beets
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard

Collards
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant

Peas, Black-eyed

Potatoes

Turnips
Yams

Lemon Pesto Chicken & Roasted Vegetables

This is an easy and delicious and farmer's market-tastic meal:

Pesto is delicious and so easy to make. I never actually measure anything and it always comes out great!

PESTO

1 bunch basil

1-2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup walnuts or pine nuts

pinch of Kosher salt

some good olive oil

some good parmesan cheese, grated

Blend basil, garlic, nuts, salt in food processor until well-pulverized. Then drizzle in olive oil until you reach the desired consistency.

Remove from food processor and stir in parmesan cheese.

(*Pesto freezes well, but if you are going to freeze some, leave the cheese out and add it once you have defrosted it)

CHICKEN

Marinate chicken in good olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a tblsp.

of the pesto

Grill or pan fry until cooked through (about 6-8 minutes per side, depending on thickness of the chicken)

ROASTED VEGETABLES

Pre-heat oven to 375

Clean, peel (if necessary) and chop vegetables into similar sized chunks (root vegetables work well- potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips. Pretty much anything in season will be delicious!)

Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread out on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and roasty!

Sprinkle with dried parsley flakes, for a little color and pizzaz.

Side note: My husband complimented me on the roasted vegetables (score one for me!)