Nasturtium Pesto

 

Nasturtiums are one of my favorite things to grow. I just love their vibrance and how full they grow as the summer progresses. Their flowers are lovely and the round lilly-pad-like leaves are unique in the garden.  I regularly plant nasturtiums around my vegetables because they attract polinators and keep harmful pests from the veggies. I have always knows that the flowers were edible, and I have been known to throw a couple on a salad every once in a while. But this year I have been experimenting with using the whole plant more. I found this recipe for nasturtium pesto and it is really tasty! It did not last more than a week in the refrigerator, so I am going to try freezing another batch. 

We used this with pasta and grilled veggies and it was delightful. The Nasturtium pesto has a slightly earthy and more peppery taste than basil-only pesto but it deliveres the same bright fresh addition to any recipe.

Nasturtium Pesto

Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed nasturtium leaves
• 1 cup nasturtium flowers
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 3/4 cup quality olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2/3 cup nuts (I used Brazil nuts, Walnuts or Almonds work well too)
• 3/4 cup shredded  Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients in a food processor or or blender. I usually process the garlic nuts and cheese first, then add the leafy greens, lemon and oil.  Add more oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency. Salt to taste.

2. Store in the refrigerator (or freezer) for up to one week. Use as you would any other pesto.

Summer Vegetable Pesto Risotto

Our CSA box this week included a large beautiful bunch of Basil.

 We made delicious bruschetta with some of it, and then this amazing risotto tonight. This recipe is super easy and if you are faint hearted about risotto try it. It does not require hours of stirring and slaving. It is a pretty straightforward recipe and is finished off in the oven. All you need is an oven proof stock pot or dutch oven. This recipe is gluten free and vegan.

Summer Vegetable Pesto Risotto

1 bunch fresh basil
1/2 cup walnuts
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp of coconut oil (or veggie oil if you prefer)
1 young fresh onion with greens (or one medium onion) diced
3 garlic cloves diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
Salt & Pepper
4 cups veggie stock
3 carrots chopped
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/2 lb fresh green beans chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1. preheat your oven to 400 degrees

2. In a blender or food processor combine basil, walnuts and olive oil to form a thick pesto paste. Set aside.

3. In a large ovenproof stockpot heat coconut oil over medium/high heat. When the oil is hot add onion and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the rice. Season with salt and pepper then stir frequently until the edges of the rice are opaque (3 min).

4. Add the wine to the rice and stir until the wine is absorbed into the rice. (2min).

5. Add the veggie stock, carrots, peas, green beans and pesto paste to the pot. Stir and bring to a boil. When the broth/rice mixture is boiling, cover, remove from heat and place in the oven. Bake until most of the liquid is absorbed (20 min).

Arugula Pesto

I got a ton of Arugula the other day and I decided to use a lot of it to make pesto. I used this recipe and then I froze the sauce in ice cube trays. When it was frozen I popped out the sauce cubes and stored them in a freezer bag. Now I can easily use them as pesto sauce or to season stewed tomatoes. I used walnuts instead of pine nuts and it worked just fine.

 Ingredients

• 4 cups packed fresh arugula
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup pure olive oil
• 2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted, plus 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl, and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Put the arugula in a large sieve and plunge it into the boiling water. Immediately immerse all the arugula and stir so that it blanches evenly. Blanch for about 15 seconds. Remove, shake off the excess water, then plunge the arugula into the ice water bath and stir again so it cools as fast as possible. Drain well.

Squeeze the water out of the arugula with your hands until very dry. Roughly chop the arugula and put in a blender. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to taste, olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the pine nuts, and the vitamin C, if using. Blend for at least 30 seconds. In this way the green of the arugula will thoroughly color the oil. Add the cheese and pulse to combine. The pesto will keep several days in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
Pull out before dinner to get to room temperature. Before serving, add the remaining 1 tablespoon toasted pinenuts.

Grilled Brioche with Mediterranean Layer Spread

 

My son Joseph works in a fantiastic little restaurant in Dorchester. This weekend the baker was on vacation and Joe got to make all the bread for the weekend. He brought home a beautiful braided brioche to share. 

This is my cute chef who got to bake this weekend

Naturally, we grilled it up with a fancy spread for dinner. The Mediterranean spread is a combination of things easily found in our refrigerator. Simply layer, spread and enjoy. It was delicious. We served it with spicy grilled chicken and grilled summer squash.

Grilled Brioche with Mediterranean Layer Spread

Ingredients:

10 slices of brioche bread

1/2 cup pesto (we made homemade pesto with celantro from our garden, but you can use store bought too)

1 cup of hummus

1/2 cup smoky spiced yogurt (season the yogurt with 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, salt & pepper)

1/3 cup muffaletta (you can make a mix of olives, capers and banana peppers)

1/2 tomato diced

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. On a medium plate, layer the pesto first, then hummus. Gently drop tablespoons of the yogurt on the hummus and smooth gently. Spoon the muffaletta over the hummus. Sprinkle diced tomato over the top and season with salt and pepper.

2. Grill the brioche lightly on both sides. Be sure to scoop through each layer when you spread it on the toast. 

Enjoy!

There were also beautiful flowers on the table tonight

Spinach Artichoke Pesto

Last night I was not feeling like cooking anything exciting, but my lazy day turned up something pretty amazing. I decided to boil up some wheat pasta, but I didn't have any of the old standby canned tomatoes. I did however have some spinach and a can of artichokes, so I decided to throw it into the Vitamix and see what ensued. The result was a bright green creamy and deliciously flavorful pesto sauce. The nuts and spinach are still raw so all of the vitamins and essential oils are still in tact. Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Pesto Sauce

4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup whole raw walnuts
3 - 1/2 inch cubes of Parmesan cheese
1 generous cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup drained artichoke hearts
Salt and pepper to taste

-place all ingredients in a good blender or food processor in the order listed. Turn the machine on low to begin chopping the bottom ingredients (about 20 seconds), then turn your machine on high and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Continue to blend and add up to 1/2 cup of water to thin sauce to a consistency you are pleased with. Ours looked like a bright green smoothie, and it worked beautifully on the pasta.

Stuffed Collard Rolls

 

Growing collards is super easy, but sometimes we get tired of just eating them cooked as a side. This recipe is also great when you dont have a huge bunch of greens to cook. It works with one leaf per roll, so you can use up a smaller harvest.

Stuffed Collard Rolls

Ingredients:

Collard Leaves

Farrow (cooked)

1 egg

sundried tomatoes

zucchini (chopped)

onion (chopped)

bell pepper (chopped)

Feta cheese

Pesto

1 tablespoon garlic

Tomato Sauce

Directions:

1. Cook your farrow & prepare your collards. You need to remove the thick stem from the leaves. The best way to do this is fold the leaf in half with the stem at the fold seam.  Run your knife along the inside edge of the stem.

2. Blanch the greens: In a large shallow pan bring about 1/2 inch of water to a boil. Add one leaf at a time to the boiling water, turn the leaf after about 30 seconds,  place immediately in a prepared ice water bath, then pat dry with a towel. Repeat with all collard leaves. 

3. Prepare the filling: I am pretty loose with the filling ingredients. This is a great way to use up smaller quantities of grilled veggies, leftover sauce etc... This recipe used leftover homemade roasted tomato sauce  and pesto Joseph had made. So for the filling...chop up all veggies to a fine dice. mix veggies, farrow, egg, pesto and feta cheese. Season with salt & pepper and mix well. 

4. Prepare your pan: you can bake these in a casserole pan in the oven or, like we did, you can wrap them in a foil pack and throw them on the grill. Pan or pack, get it ready and spread half your sauce in the bottom of your pan.

5. Roll it up: take one of your prepared leaves, put a scoop of your filling near the base of where you trimmed the stem, fold the leaf sides in on either side, fold up the end closest to you and then roll it up to the other end. Place the roll in your baking dish on the sauce. Repeat with all your leaves. If you have extra filling, you can add it in between your rolls. Cover the rolls with the rest of the sauce and cover the pan or close up the wrapping of your foil pack. 

6. Cook: if you are grilling, the rolls take 10-15 minutes per side. For baking in the oven, bake at 400 for 30 - 40 minutes.

I had a great helper with this recipe. Tim did all the blanching and most of the rolling.

Stella was more impressed with the chicken sausages fresh off the grill 

Fast and Healthy : Day 4 Never Fails Pizza Dough

I have sound that it is much better, especially where we live in Boston, to make pizza at home. We can make pizza that tastes better and is better for us, and this recipe is very easy and fast. I got this recipe from my best friend's mom in high school. (Mrs, Dunham made awesome pizza) and I have used it ever since. I am going to post the basic recipe but there are lots of ways that you can upgrade it to create a healthful option. This dough is very versatile and still bakes up great if you substitute 1 cup of flour with wheat or barley flour. You can also substitute up to 1/4 cup with wheat germ or flax bran.

Never Fails Pizza Dough

2 1/2 cups flour
1 package yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Place yeast and sugar in water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate. In a medium bowl combine flour and salt. When the yeast is ready add yeast/water mix and oil. Knead with your hands or in a mixer with a bread hook until the dough is soft and pliable. (add a bit more flour if it is too sticky) Roll the dough out to fit your pan. Prick it all over with a fork to reduce bubbling. Cover with sauce, cheese and desired toppings. Bake at 425 for 15 min.

Some healthy pizza upgrades:
-use tomato paste or crushed tomatoes for your base instead of jarred sauce, you will cut a lot of salt, sugar, fat and preservatives
-make a home made pesto to use as the base http://sarahsfreshlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/arugula-pesto.html
-top your pizza with veggies and lean meats like chicken and shrimp
-try a low fat cheese
-make a Margarita pizza with low fat ricotta, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil and some sliced mozzarella

Product Review: Mung Bean Fetuccini

Mung Bean Fettuccine 

I know, I know...all of you Italians out there are horrified. :) Mung Beans? My only knowledge of mung beans until very recently was that Creed from the office sprouts them in his desk and in his words. "they smell like death." Not very good press for mung beans.

For the past year though I have been gluten free, and one of the things that I miss the most is PASTA!!! Growing up in NJ pasta had its own section of the food store and its own table at pot lucks. I always especially liked spinach fettuccine. Yesterday we popped into Whole Foods to get a few things, and I spied these noodles. They looked just like the noodles from my childhood! I thought I would take a chance. Sooooooo glad I did.

These noodles cook up really well. They are a bit thinner than the traditional spinach fettuccine but they taste pretty much the same. GLORY! The big +...they have 25g of protein per serving, two ingredients (mung beans & water), they are vegan, gluten free, and oh yeah, did I mention delicious? I am excited!

I had some of these for lunch simply with salt, pepper, a drizzle of EVOO and some nutritional yeast flakes. They would be fabulous with a home-made pesto. If you are looking for a good recipe try this one: http://sarahsfreshlife.blogspot.com/search?q=pesto

Eggplant Roulades

This Saturday my parents were visiting and I made them dinner. Mom wanted the recipe (which I made up, so I needed to write it anyway) so I am posting it here.  :) Enjoy!

Eggplant Roulades

1 Eggplant
1 large tomato diced
1/2 onion diced
2 cloves garlic diced
1 medium zucchini diced
1/4 cup roasted red peppers diced
1 tablespoon pesto
1 cup cooked white rice
1/4 cup white wine
1 carrot grated
2 chicken fillets
crumbled feta cheese
tomato sauce

Set oven at 350. First poach the chicken fillets in white wine with salt and pepper. (Poaching is easy...just heat about 1/2 inch of liquid in a frying pan to boiling, add the meat, cover, reduce the heat and cook until the meat is done)

Next: Saute the onion, add garlic, and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Add the rest of the diced veggies until they are starting to get soft. Add the wine, rice, pesto and roasted peppers. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Turn off the heat. Shred the chicken and add it to the pan. Remove the top and bottom rounded ends of the eggplant. Cut it lengthwise into thin sheets. When you are ready to roll the roulades add 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese to the veggie/rice mix. Prepare a 9x13 pan by coating the bottom with tomato sauce. Take one sheet of eggplant place about 3/4 cup of filling in the middle of the eggplant and gently fold the ends into the middle to make a roll. Place the roll crease side down in the pan. Continue until you run out of filling. Spoon sauce on top of the roulades, and sprinkle with some feta. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min or until the eggplant is soft.

Tofu Gnocchi

 

Recently we have been experimenting with adding more non-meat protien to our diet. I saw this recipe for tofu gnocchi, which uses tofu, chickpea flour & nutritional yeast, all great sources of protien, and thought we would try it. My expectations were low. I love gnocchi and I doubted that this recipe could replicate the texture of the original potato gnocchi. So I was SUPER surprised when these tofu gnocchi turned out fantastic!! The texture is spot on. They are tasty, and easier to make than boiling and ricing potatoes like the traditional version. (plus, way more protien)

We used the tofu gnocchi in a veggie pesto sauce with ricotta, and broied it to brown the ricotta. (also a great source of non-meat protien) You could use any of your favorite pasta sauces. The recipe makes a lot of gnocchi! We used about 2/3 of the recipe and froze the rest for later. Just a note...frozen gnocchi can be put directly into the pot of boiling water and cooked as normal.

This recipe was tried by my budding professional chef. Keep an eye out...you may see this recipe on the menu of a local restaurant soon!

Tofu Gnocchi

Ingredients:

330 gr firm tofu

170 gr chickpea flour

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt

Directions:

1. In a blender or food processor fitted with the blade attachement, process the tofu until it forms a smooth paste. 

3. In a medium bowl, combine the tofu paste, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, olive oil and salt. Start incorporating  with a fork. When the dough is coming together, turn the dough out onto a floured surface andknead  gently until the dough comes together and is smooth.

4. Shape your gnocchi. Shaping gnicchi isn't hard, it just takes practice. It really helps to have someone show you and explain it step by step. Please check out this VIDEO with all the info you need.

5. While you are shaping your dough, bring a large stockpot of water to boil. Also, have your sauce prepared before you start cooking your gnocchi. You will want to put the cooked gnocchi directly into the pan of sauce. Cooked gnocchi will stick together into a large gluey mess if they don't go directly into a sauce. 

6. Cook your gnocchi. When your dough is shaped, and your water is boiling and your sauce is ready, gently drop a handful of gnocchi into biling water. You will know the gnocchi are cooked when they rise up to the surface. This usually only takes about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, remove cooked, floating gnocchi and place them in the awaiting sauce. Cook whatever gnocchi you need and freeze the rest. Enjoy!