Pasta with Chopping-Board Pistachio Pesto

This dish was a huge surprise in its short journey from cutting board to tabletop to fork. I was drawn to this because, as the authors point out in the recipe introduction, “You do it all with your trusty knife and one pot.” That’s an appealing proposition in and of itself, and then I looked at the ingredient list and was definitely in: you literally just chop up the pesto on the cutting board, mixing salt and pepper, garlic, scallion tops (or chives), basil, red onion and pistachios. Easy as can be. You even stir in the olive oil right there on the cutting board. I don’t know why, but this seemed somehow radical... no Cuisinart required? Cook some linguine (I used whole grain by Barilla for added nutritional punch) and stir in some pasta water and Asiago with the pesto and dinner is done. Probably took 30 minutes, tops.

So, where was the surprise? Once the pasta cooked, I sautéed a bit of red onion and then heated the pesto before tossing with the noodles and cheese. The pesto smelled phenomenal on the cutting board and was a beautiful, almost technicolor green. However, it seemed scant when tossed in with a pound of pasta, even after adding pasta water. As I carried it from the countertop to the table, and as I dished up plates, I was already rewriting the recipe for next time—double the pesto and stir in the Asiago gradually, so it doesn’t clump (I would actually do this next time). As I twirled, there was very little pesto clinging to the noodles, and I feared a mostly bland dinner.

First bite... wow! Huge flavor! It tastes as if each strand is gently coated in the essence of the pesto, with the occasional bite loaded with herbs and pistachio and cheese for greater intensity. Looks were very deceiving, and the dish was just wonderful, bursting with flavor despite the pesto to pasta ratio.

Next time, I’ll cut the garlic by half. Since the garlic is never cooked, it leaves that raw garlic taste in the mouth, which I can do without. Ben and I both thought it would be even better served with a little protein like roasted salmon or grilled chicken and shrimp. The pesto would actually make an incredible topping for roasted salmon.

I loved being so surprised by this dish, loved being wrong about how it would taste. This is a wonderful, inventive dinner that comes together quickly and easily, doesn't make a huge mess in the kitchen and would pair nicely with a range of simple proteins. This is definitely my new favorite cookbook!

Creamy Orzo II—Don’t Buy Cheap Tomatoes!

Quick note: always buy the good tomatoes! It wasn’t until I read The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper that I realized that the brand of canned tomatoes I bought even mattered. Since reading their wise words, I’ve generally been buying Muir Glen or Hunt’s Organic. Well, tonight I skimped and bought generic diced tomatoes and learned a valuable lesson. Not only was the flavor of the store-brand tomatoes less dynamic, but the cheap tomatoes were also poorly packaged. When I made this recipe the first time, I used Muir Glen diced tomatoes. The recipe says to drain them, and when I drained the Muir Glen, I was left with lovely little chunks of tomato. Period. When I tried to drain the cheap tomatoes, I realized they were packaged not in water, but in a thick purée, which was impossible to separate from the chunks. Ergo, my sauce was too runny. Yuck. Alas, lesson learned. The good tomatoes are worth it. Every time. Even for Monday night pasta.

Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices, Moghlai Spinach with Browned Shallots & Cucumber Mint Raita

Picture me, gently punching myself in the arm with pride à la Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club. I rarely wow myself in the kitchen, and do it even more rarely after several nights of poor sleep, but tonight’s dinner was impressive, delicious and remarkably easy, considering how many dishes I made. Actually, I should say considering how many dishes we made, because Sophia actually helped to prepare almost all of this meal.

After quickly re-shelving Alice Waters, I went back to The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. I’ve wanted to try their chicken curry since I got the book last year, but was intimidated for no reason other than the fact that it’s curry. The ingredient list isn’t unreasonably long and the recipe doesn’t involve a lot of steps. This week our family is on spring break, so Ben’s been doing most of the hands-on baby stuff while Sophia and I have adventures. This leaves extra time for tackling new recipes, so tackle we did.

For this recipe, you make your own curry paste in the Cuisinart, then sauté it for about 10 minutes before adding whole milk yogurt and reducing it further. I’ve never made curry paste before, and the process was incredibly simple. Just throw in big chunks of onion, garlic, fresh ginger, spices, tomatoes and jalapeño, puree, and you’ve got curry paste!

I was a little worried about how hot it would be as the curry paste sautéed, because the steam wafting above my Le Creuset smelled spicy, mostly of jalapeño. However, the process of really reducing the paste down with yogurt resulted in a curry sauce that was thick and rich with a warm, well-rounded flavor without being hot. Once the sauce had been reduced, I added more yogurt and organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The only change I made to the recipe was to add a few cubed, cooked Yukon gold potatoes right at the end. I used slightly less chicken than the recipe called for, and the potatoes stretched the dish quite a bit and were a wonderful vehicle for the curry sauce.

Because the curry doesn’t really have any vegetables in it, I also made Moghlai spinach with browned shallots, from Madhur Jaffrey’s Simple Indian Cookery. Indian is absolutely one of my favorite types of cuisine, particularly in restaurants, but always seems expensive for essentially comfort food. (I have fond memories of watching Sophia devour saag paneer before she was one).

In making this recipe, I omitted the hot dried red chilies and used prewashed baby spinach, significantly cutting down on the labor. The browned shallots and garam masala add so much flavor to the wilted spinach, and four tablespoons of cream at the end make the dish rich without being heavy. A perfect accompaniment.

Lastly, we made cucumber mint raita, also from Simple Indian Cookery. Oddly, I abhor yogurt but love raita. Jaffrey’s raita comes together in less than 10 minutes and provides a nice balance to the medium spice of the curry. All of this was served over fragrant jasmine rice (because I didn’t have basmati on hand).

A last-minute call to Eryc, who was joining us for dinner, and we also got to enjoy an Indian lager called Kingfisher with our meal. I didn’t realize there was such a thing, and certainly not available in Longmont! We must really be coming into our own here.

Everyone (Sophia included) had seconds, and this definitely goes down as my most successful attempt at homemade Indian food. Next time, if I’m feeling extremely brave, we may try to add parathas, a cumin-flavored Indian flatbread.

Rustic Jam Shortbread Tart

Last night, we delivered dinner to our dear friends, Nicole and Alex, to help celebrate the recent birth of their beautiful daughter, Madison. When our son, Joseph, was born, they did the same for us, and really threw down the gauntlet by making homemade Chicago-style deep dish pizza, salad and dessert. Of course, dinner is not a competition unless you aspire to be the next Food Network star chef, but I certainly wanted to reciprocate with something equally delicious.

This recipe is another simple yet elegant discovery from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. It’s a buttery shortbread crust, flavored with lemon zest and almond extract, that you make entirely in the Cuisinart and press into a tart pan. I am notoriously horrible (horrible!) at making pie crust, so a tart crust is my ideal... easy, delicious and no-stress. You bake the crust until it begins to brown, then top it with some sort of interesting jam and bake it again until the jam starts to bubble. Cool on a rack and serve. Yum!

I chose Bon Maman Wild Blueberry Preserves, perfect because they were flavorful but not too sugary sweet and the most beautiful rich color. Seconds were had by most and the recipe received 5 stars all around. I will absolutely make this again—it came together quickly, looked spectacular and was a crowd-pleaser.

In case you’re interested in the overall menu, I also made a salad of organic baby romaine with dried cranberries, cherry tomatoes and toasted walnuts, with a red wine vinegar and balsamic vinaigrette, cheese-gilded linguine with smoky tomatoes and garlic bread. Not quite as spectacular as homemade Chicago-style pizza, but a good showing nonetheless.

Flash Chicken Sauté with Cider and Almonds, Brussels Sprouts & Yukon Gold Potatoes

To encourage myself to introduce more variety into our meals, I’ve been keeping one cookbook I want to cook from more on the dining room table (along with the food dictionary, which is crucial for the inevitable food questions that arise, like what exactly is a tangelo?).

If you know me at all, you’ll understand that this is a huge personal challenge for me, because I like everything in its place, and books don’t live on the dining room table. Anyway... during meals, I flip through the chosen book as we chit chat, and together Sophia and I choose something new we’d like to try.

This is the most recent recipe selected by Sophia from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. I suspect she picked it because in the picture, the chicken is featured with fresh green beans. Green beans aren’t in season yet, so I instead served roasted Brussels sprouts (don’t knock ’em if you haven’t tried ’em) and roasted Yukon gold potatoes, which were delightfully crispy and perfect for soaking up extra pan sauce.

The recipe called for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but out of frugality I instead used organic boneless skinless thighs. This substitution necessitated additional cooking time, but otherwise the flavor was still excellent. The pan sauce, which you make from reduced chicken broth, cider vinegar and butter was simple yet delicious, and the final product was topped with a sprinkling of coarse chopped roasted, salted almonds. Yum! I declared after dinner that I now want everything with cider pan sauce and almonds! Actually, come to think of it, this is the second recipe I’ve written about featuring cider pan sauce. Perhaps this is becoming a thing?

The only reason the dish didn’t get five stars is that the sauce is still very thin, even after reduction. Next time, I'll either reduce the chicken broth more up front or let the finished sauce reduce further before adding the butter. Otherwise, this was flavorful, with a rich yet lively sauce. Seems kind of “fancy” for a weeknight dinner, but was actually quick and easy.

Cheese-gilded Linguine with Smoky Tomatoes & Spinach Sautéed with Garlic

This is the first recipe I’ve made from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award Winning Food Show (thank you Lorraine). I served it with baby spinach and slivered garlic sautéed in olive oil.

I used several of the authors’ tricks while making this recipe. First, I heavily salted the pasta water... the authors explain that pasta doesn’t absorb salt once it’s cooked. Your pasta water should actually taste like the sea (and then you need less salt in your sauce).

I also sprang for organic Muir Glen whole tomatoes, which they recommend earlier in the book, and which gave the sauce a more dynamic flavor. And, of course, we used real Parmigiano-Reggiano—crucial to the dish’s success.

The pasta bordered on phenomenal and is definitely company-worthy—very flavorful without being heavy and a refreshing change of pace from “regular-old” marinara (of which I’m not a huge fan, unless it accompanies Lorraine’s manicotti).

Overall assessment: easy, unique and doesn’t require a lot of (expensive) ingredients. Definitely make again, next time with Ben’s homemade pasta! Sophia wanted me to be sure and note that she really liked it (and she ate all of it!).