Pasta with seared olives and tomatoes

It's as if all I eat is pasta. Well, that makes sense, since we're moving in two weeks and are therefore trying very, very hard to get rid of as much stored food as possible. We're drowning in pulses, grains, and pasta, supplemented with tiny amounts of fresh ingredients bought sparingly.

So I could tell you about the beans, rice and salsa I had for dinner last night and lunch today, or I could tell you about some marginally more exciting pasta.

Pasta with seared olives and tomatoes

olive oil
garlic
serrano pepper
cherry tomatoes
green olives
salt, pepper
gemelli/other pasta
optional parsley and cheese

This is basically an aglio e olio with a few extra vegetables.

Put on a pot of pasta water; cook and drain pasta at an appropriate time.

Peel and mince a handful of garlic; soften it slowly in olive oil. Stem and finely mince a serrano or other hot pepper; soften it with the garlic.

I seared the tomatoes and olives in a separate pan, since I was the only one who wanted them. It also let me turn the heat up and really start to blacken them, which was excellent. You can cook them in the same pan with the garlic and pepper, though, if you want.

Chop tomatoes and olives into small pieces, and sear in olive oil on medium-high heat. It took mine about five or seven minutes to get appropriately dark.

When everything is done, toss the drained pasta with garlic and pepper. Salt and pepper if you want salt and pepper. Plate, then add big spoonfuls of tomato and olive. If you have any fresh parsley to use up, sprinkle some on top. Grate the bare remaining edge of a rind of parmesan on as well, if you want.

Eat it all. Try to figure out what you can make to next decimate your kitchen.

Ricotta pasta: lasagna without the lasagna

Just looking at this picture is making me so hungry.

Ok, so I like lasagna a LOT. It would probably fall into my top ten or fifteen of all potential dinners, ever. The problem is that lasagna noodles are more expensive than any other pasta. In my experience it's generally double the price for the same pound of pasta. Uh, no!

To combat this, I have devised a scheme.

Ricotta pasta

garlic
olive oil
tomato puree/sauce/etc
oregano, basil, cayenne or paprika
salt and pepper
fresh parsley
pasta
ricotta

We're essentially going to make decent marinara, mix it with ricotta, and use it to sauce any pasta you please. You can add some steamed spinach if you want the illusion of spinach lasagna. You can add a splash of vodka if you want the illusion of vodka cream sauce. POSSIBILITIES ABOUND.

Put water on to boil for the pasta; warm some olive oil for the sauce.

Peel and chop as much garlic as you like. Throw it into the olive oil, spice it with oregano, basil, and hot pepper of some type, and let it soften and get delicious. When the garlic is soft, add whatever form of tomatoes are available to you. I think I had crushed tomatoes in puree this time. If your business is too thick, add some water to thin it as well. Salt and pepper, bring the business to a simmer, and cook until things reach your desired consistency.

While the sauce is simmering, boil and drain your pasta. I used penne; any shape you have on hand should work fine. The pasta just needs to be robust enough to hold some weight.

Also, stem and tear/chop as much parsley as you want. I like a lot of parsley; you might like a little. Whichever is fine.

When the pasta is done and the sauce has simmered at least five minutes, take the sauce pan off the heat. Add several spoonfuls of ricotta and stir. The cheese and tomatoes will meld together into a salmon-colored creamy sauce. Add the pasta, stir again, and serve with parsley.

Eat it. Feel better.

LEFTOVER HEAVEN

No, seriously.

Pasta pizza

leftover pasta in marinara
pita bread
mozzarella cheese
herbs if you want them

Put a layer of leftover pasta onto a piece of pita bread. If you're feeling extra classy, rub some olive oil on the pita first. Add shredded mozzarella and a couple pinches of any herbs or spices you want: oregano, for instance. Put the whole business in the toaster (or regular) oven and toast or bake until the cheese is melty and the pita is crispy. Then cut the business in fourths.

Eat as is, or retain some semblance of nutrition by putting a handful of salad greens on top of each piece.

You guys, it was awesome. If you ever want to drown in a sea of carbohydrates, this is how you should do it. Be prepared to loll on the couch uncontrollably.

Transform old snacks into new with roasted cauliflower.

Roasting cauliflower is awesome, and not just because it tastes great, but because it turns a pile of highly vegetable cauliflower into a plate of salty, crispy snacks. Usually the only available snacky cauliflower is that pile of raw, too-huge clusters you find in a big plate of vegetables with french onion dip. These roasted dudes are totally different, which is fortunate, since everyone eats around the cauliflower on those spreads. So I guess this is the ultimate way to use up the lingering waste of a plate of maligned crudites.

Roasty cauliflower

a head/leftover chunks of cauliflower
olive oil
salt, pepper
garlic

First, preheat the oven to about 425F. For this to work, your oven needs to be hot.

Chop a head of cauliflower into small florets; mine were a little bigger in diameter than a quarter. Smaller pieces mean more delicious crusty crunchy bits, plus a shorter cooking time, so it's worth it to chop more. Make sure all your pieces are roughly the same size.

Toss the cauliflower with a slug of olive oil, plus lots of pepper and a couple pinches of salt. Spread the pieces out on a cookie sheet or in a casserole dish. Make sure they're all in one layer.

Stick the pan into the hot oven. Roast for about ten or twelve minutes, shaking the pan to stir up the cauliflower occasionally.

While the cauliflower is cooking, think about garlic. If you like garlic, smash and peel a handful of cloves. Strew them over the cauliflower about halfway through cooking, so the garlic gets about five minutes in the oven. The pieces will cook down quickly and become magical tangy bits that get good and stuck in your back molars. If you don't like garlic, just cook the cauliflower alone.

When the cauliflower bits are golden and have developed lots of dark brown crunchy bits, take them out of the oven and let them cool a little.

Eat them all with your fingers.

I guess you can also eat them with dinner if you really want to.

Tweakable vegan salads

I like customized food, especially since I barely ever have the full ingredients for anything on hand at once. This calls for tweaking.

Quinoa salad with vinaigrette

quinoa
red pepper
red onion
garlic
fresh parsley
olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt, pepper

Put on the quinoa before you do anything else. I used 1 cup of quinoa, which made some plentiful leftovers after two people ate. Rinse your quinoa in a fine mesh sieve, put it in a pot with 2x its volume of water, put the lid on the pot, and put it over medium heat to steam for 20 minutes. Or you can use the rice cooker. Whichever is fine. When it's done, fluff it up with a fork.

In the meantime, finely mince half a red pepper, a quarter of a red onion, and the leaves of as much parsley as you can possibly stand to chop. Half a bunch of parsley would be good.

Also make a vinaigrette. This one is going to be garlic vinaigrette, so peel and mince three or four cloves of garlic. This garlic is going to be raw, so be aware and use less if you're not that into raw garlic. Or if you happen to have roasted garlic lying around you could use that. Roasted garlic.

Ok! Anyway, put the garlic in a small bowl and add a big slug of olive oil and a little slug of white wine vinegar. Red wine vinegar will work too. The ratio of oil to vinegar should be about 6:1. Add a bunch of pepper and a couple pinches of salt, then mix it well with a fork. I ended up with maybe 1/4 cup dressing total.

When everything is done, toss the quinoa with the vegetables and dressing.

Tweaks:
- For quinoa, use rice, millet, barley, bulgur, spelt, or whatever.
- For alternate protein, add cooked garbanzo or white beans, or any nuts that sound good.
- For red onion, use finely minced shallot or even more garlic.
- For red pepper, use other peppers, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, green beans, fresh peas, or any other raw vegetable.
- For parsley, use any other herb that sounds good with your ingredients.
- For dressing, use roasted garlic, use no garlic, use dijon mustard, use a totally different creamy dressing.

Grain salads: so awesome. I'm so going to make a not-actually-tabbouleh this week.

Eat with


Beet, asian pear and cashew salad

half a beet
an asian pear (or a regular one, or a decent apple)
a handful of cashews (or pecans or walnuts)
juice of 1/2 grapefruit (or lemon or orange)
safflower/other tasteless oil

First, toast your cashews over medium or medium-low heat. I used an 8-inch frying pan and just put in enough cashews to loosely cover its bottom. Watch the nuts and toss them around frequently. After about five minutes, they should be pretty and toasted. Take them off the heat and let them cool.

Trim and peel a beet, then shred half of it with whatever shredding device you see fit. I used the microplane; using a food processor would be faster, but it would also mean you have to wash the food processor afterward. I am satisfied with the microplane.

Core an asian pear. Cut it into thin slices, then mince as finely as you want. I wouldn't shred one of these; mine tried its best to dissolve into juice.

Now make dressing. We juiced half a red grapefruit, added a couple teaspoons of safflower oil, and mixed it up with a fork. You could totally use lemon or orange juice if you're lacking a grapefruit. You could even use just juice and no oil, and squeeze the fruit right over the salad.

Toss the cashews, beet, and pear into a reasonable salad bowl. Make sure the bowl is big enough to contain all the beet juice even with vigorous stirring. Add the dressing and mix it all up.

Tweaks:
- For beet, use juicy carrots.
- For asian pear, use a regular pear or a decent apple, or consider fennel.
- For cashews, use pecans, walnuts, or almonds.
- For juice, use lemon or orange.

I find that this kind of dinner leaves me totally stuffed and unable to finish my plate. Fortunately, I am the queen of the leftover lunch. Tremble before me!