Ravioli with Summer Tomato Sauce

After a long day of working and then running around battening, down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Irene I was hungry and feeling like pasta.  I picked up some fresh, cheese ravioli at a local market.  I wanted to make a quick summer vegetable sauce with great flavours in the broth.  I have no idea what impact this hurricane is going to have on us but we're prepared. And that includes having lots of non-perishable food so anticipating not a lot of cooking over the weekend I was pretty happy to make something with lots of fresh ingredients.  Even better every vegetable & the herb came from either the CSA or my garden!!

Ravioli with Summer Tomato Sauce
Fresh Cheese Ravioli
Olive Oil - a lot not just to coat the pan
Onion, half of a sweet one, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Good size pinch of crushed red pepper
Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half
Green Bell Peppers, diced in large pieces
White Wine - about 1/2 a cup
Handful of basil, chiffonade
Pecorino cheese, grated

Cook the ravioli for 6 minutes in salted, boiling water.  In a large saute pan, add the olive oil and onion and cook until onion starts to soften.  You are going to need lots of olive oil so the onion is almost swimming in it - the oil will be part of the sauce.  Add the garlic, red pepper and tomatoes and saute for several mins. Add the pepper and cook for 1-2 mins.  Add the wine and be sure it's wine you like to drink - cook it until the alcohol cooks out. 

Spoon the ravioli into the sauce and add some of the pasta water if you need more liquid.  Toss the ravioli and let it cook for a few minutes in the sauce.  Add the basil just before serving.

Grate the Pecorino cheese over each serving and enjoy!. 

Ravioli with Summer Tomato Sauce

I'm Back!!

I know it's been a while since I've posted but my niece was visiting from Alaska for the last two weeks so I've been spending as much time as possible with her.  I've been cooking lots but just haven't had the time to post. To make up for time I am going to make this post some catch up thoughts and then get back to posting more regularly.

- Over the weekend I made a lovely Summer Vegetable Saute. I started with some olive oil in a hot pan and add diced onion, diced summer squash, thin slices of fennel and kernels from two ears of corn.  Add a little salt and pepper and be sure not to cook too much - fabulous!! This was inspired by what was in the fridge because my niece had requested tacos and I felt the need to make some type of accompanying vegetable dish.

- If you haven't tried the Watermelon Feta Salad you really have to - my brother who isn't usually very effusive about food commented recently 'it's so good'. 

- I have been overloaded with tons of fresh tomatoes.  Yesterday I had to pull all the fruit off the branches of my plants since there were hardly any leaves left and they were folded over on top of each other.  Even before that I had so many I barely knew what to do with them all. I've made sauce, eaten tons of tomato salads, on bread with fresh mozzarella.  Luckily my basil has been just as abundant! 

- My lemon verbena plant was also folding over on top of itself so today I harvested all the fresh leaves. I made another batch of Lemon Verbena and Mint Iced Tea.  And I made a Lemon Verbena Sorbet which is so delightfully refreshing.  I bought an ice cream maker earlier this summer and have only made a few batches but this was one of my favorites.

- Last night I had bratwurst and Grilled Rosemary Potatoes - you have to try those potatoes especially with fresh, organic ones that really taste like potatoes.  So freaking good!!

- I tried Kale Chips again this past weekend and used less salt this time and they were delicious.  Even my 13 year old niece enjoyed them . . of course we made homemade mozzarella sticks to go with them and I think she was dipping the kale in the marinara sauce :)

- I froze a batch of my Spicy Gazpacho before I left on vacation and took it out last week for an appetizer and it was just as good!  It's a great way to get rid of tomatoes and so flavourful.


- Been eating lots and lots of fresh corn, be sure you are cooking it the right way to enjoy it this time of year. 

- There have been lots of fresh figs in the grocery store lately and I love them.  Try cutting the figs in half and filling with a little goat cheese & wrapping in prosciutto for an easy appetizer.  I also use them in a salad again with goat cheese and some type of nut over greens with a vinaigrette. 

- I picked up today's haul and this week we got: tomatoes, basil, fennel, green beans, purple carrots, baby bok choy and eggplant.Can't wait to get started!


- Oh one last thing, a friend of mine today told me that a way to use up green tomatoes is pulsing them into a pulp and mixing with a packet of raspberry jello and sugar. You come out with raspberry jam.  Sounds oddly strange to me but when I did some internet research there were lots of recipes using green tomatoes this way.  I guess the seeds of the tomatoes imitate what the a raspberry texture would be like.  Not sure yet if I'm going to give it a try but I may just do a small match since I am very curious. I'd be interested in anyone else has heard of this or more importantly tried it. 

 

Saffron Risotto with Summer Squash

I was in the mood for rice tonight so I decided to make risotto.  I love risotto but it is a labor of love and it requires time - there are no short cuts.  This started as a traditional risotto but I added saffron to the stock as well as some other seasoning to heighten the flavour.  Oh and I used the vegetable stock I made the week before I went on vacation. I added the summer squash very late in the cooking process so it kept a little crunch but still had time to absorb the stock and release it's juice into the rice.  This was another one of those make it up as you go along so I'll do my best with the recipe below.  To accompany the risotto I made a salad similar to last night but instead of walnuts I used pecans and instead of beets I added fresh figs - so tasty!

Saffron Risotto with Summer Squash
Olive Oil
Onion, diced
Garlic, minced
Arborio rice
Vegetable Sock
Good pinch of saffron
Black peppercorns
Fennel seeds
Bay leaf
Kosher  Salt
Summer squash, diced
Parmigiano Cheese, grated


In a pot, add the stock, saffron, peppercorns, fennel seeds, bay leaf and pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. 

Meanwhile saute the onion in olive oil with salt until softened and then add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the arborio rice and saute for a few minutes. Add 1 cup of strained stock at a time and simmer the mixture while stirring continuously.   Once the stock has cooked out add another cup and continue process for about 25 minutes.  After adding last cup of stock, add summer squash so it can cook as well.  Just before serving grate in some parmigiano cheese. 

The trick to this and any risotto is adding the stock a little at a time and stirring while it cooks out - this develops the starch in the rice and makes the risotto creamy.  And cooking it over a medium to low heat. 

SAFFRON RISOTTO WITH SUMMER SQUASH

Baby Spinach with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese

Well some of last week's vegetables were still in fridge when I got home including lovely beets!  Beets are one of those many vegetables that I despised as a child and even well into adulthood.  In most cases this was because the vegetables were not prepared correctly or to highlight their natural flavours.  Roasting beets is truly the best way to develop their sweetness. This salad happens to be my cousin Caroline's favorite dish - it was her wedding we attended last week - so with her on my mind it was an easy decision as to what I'd do with the beets in my fridge.  This is what I had for dinner with a piece of corn on the cob.

Baby Spinach with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese
Beets, roasted & diced
Baby Spinach
Goat Cheese crumbled
Walnuts, toasted
Vinaigrette

To roast beets - clean & trim them and put them into a aluminum foil pouch.  Season with salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Close up pouch and roast in oven at 375 for anywhere from 30-60 mins depending on size of beets.  Let the beets cool and then they are easy to handle and you can remove the skin and dice them.  HUGE TIP: use gloves when peeling & dicing the beets and do it over the foil. Beets stain any and everything they come in contact with!!

To assemble the salad put spinach at the bottom; sprinkle with beets, goat cheese and walnuts and then drizzle with the vinaigrette.  Be sure to toast the walnuts to bring out their flavours - you can do this my putting them in a dry saute pan over low heat and cook them until you can smell them and remove immediately. Feel free to use any other kind of nut here - pistachios are very good as well.

For the vinaigrette I used my standard olive oil, sherry vinegar and dried herbs.  But the salad my cousin loves uses a vinaigrette that is made with shallots and rice wine vinegar which I do love but I didn't have the shallots tonight. 

BABY SPINACH WITH ROASTED BEETS & GOAT CHEESE

Back from vacation . . to lots of tomatoes!

Well it's back to reality today and a bush loaded of fresh tomatoes.  Last night for dinner with no food in the house I just cut up some tomatoes and sprinkled with ribbons of fresh basil, salt & pepper and drizzle of olive oil.  Yummy!

For lunch today I made a tomato sandwich with fresh mozzarella and basil.  So simple and yet so delicious especially when half the ingredients come from your own garden.  I used two slices of an Tuscan Boule and drizzle each side with a little olive oil.   Then spread whole basil leaves on each slide and then loaded slices of fresh mozzarella over the basil.  Next is the slices of tomatoes which I then season with salt & pepper and little more olive oil.  Put the slices together and slice your sandwich down the middle. Today this was my lunch as you can see at my desk as I'm trying to catch up from being away.

 

"BMT" Sandwich