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Baked Orecchiette with Broccolini

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We got some new neighbors last year, with two bouncy little boys, and The Child decided that maybe, since she’d outgrown the trampoline in our backyard, the new neighbors might want it. They did, and the father happily came to remove it, leaving a giant mud pit where it once stood. The Departed had put a layer of weed-preventing cloth under and around the trampoline, and lots of water had collected on top of it each winter, and once this was all removed, what was left was a crater of compacted mud.

I’d had ideas about putting a garden in that spot, but when I saw that crater, I thought, well, it’s back to the Farmer’s Market for me.

Lucky for me I have a wonderful lawn guy, and I showed him the pit, and asked, What do I do? He offered to build me some raised planting beds and fill them with good soil for gardening. All of this would simply go on top of the existing mess. So he built the boxes and filled them when they were done, the weather turned warm and sunny, and so The Child and I excitedly drove up to a Woodinville gardening store and loaded up on herb plants and heirloom tomato plants and zucchini seeds and beets and strawberries and you name it.  Everything we could think of to grow and eat – whether or not it was something we wanted to eat was besides the point. It would be amazing when it came out of our garden. We would like tomatoes if we grew them.

Things started off well enough – the plants all seemed happy enough at first, and the seeds sprouted nicely, and I got a composting system and gave myself a gardening education via youtube videos and Amazon product reviews. Things grew in ways I didn’t expect but I just rolled with it. Bean plants are climbers, apparently. I should probably have realized this before planting one, but instead I built it something to climb on, out of two stakes and some twine.

But then, Seattle changed its mind about spring, and the clouds rolled in, accompanied by a constant drizzle and chill. My basil plant turned yellow, and curled up to keep warm. My heirloom tomato plants bowed down in defeat.  I abandoned my dream of a freezer filled with a bounty of marinara sauce.

I started talking to the plants, mostly to apologize.

One plant held on gamely, though – thrived even: a rosemary plant. It hasn’t grown much but it still seems to be quite solid, and even better, fragrant. So I snipped two sprigs from it and made one of my favorite pasta recipes, Baked Orecchiette from the Lottie + Doof blog.

I’m ashamed to admit that though I’ve made this recipe many times, I’ve never used fresh rosemary in it, only dried. I hate paying all kinds of money for fresh herbs in the grocery store, and then only using a small bit and, usually, throwing the rest away. But now, I have fresh rosemary, whenever I want it. And after tasting this recipe, finally, the way it is meant to taste – well, if all I get out of my garden beds is rosemary, it still will have been worth the trouble.

This pasta dish is wonderful for being loaded with everything except meat: Cheese, veggies, and pasta make a hearty meal baked together. But I love it for the seasonings: the fennel, rosemary, and pepper, immediately call to mind Italian sausage – fresh and flavorful, and cooked this way, guilt-free. It re-heats well, too, so it makes a great lunch the day after you make it.

It’s more of a winter dish than summer – but at the moment, Seattle is a little more winter than summer, too.

 

Baked Oriecchette

 

Baked Orecchiette with Broccolini
 
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I love this pasta dish because it has the flavors of Italian sausage without having any meat. It is a flavorful and satisfying meal.
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound orecchiette
  • 1½ pounds broccolini, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • Olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • Salt
  • ½ pound fresh ricotta
  • Grated parmesan
Instructions
  1. Cook 1 pound of pasta in salted water until extremely al dente, about 8 minutes. Lift the pasta from the water and drain.
  2. Using the boiling water, blanch the broccolini for a minute or so. Drain in a colander.
  3. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Warm the garlic in the oil, but don’t let it brown. Add the broccolini, rosemary, fennel seeds and red pepper. Lightly salt the greens, stir them around the pan, and turn off the heat.
  4. To assemble the dish, put the cooked pasta and cooked greens in a large bowl and mix gently. Add the ricotta and mix again.
  5. Butter a shallow gratin dish. Put the pasta mixture in dish and sprinkle generously with grated parmesan. Cover and keep at room temperature for up to several hours.
  6. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Shortly before serving time, bake the pasta for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes more. Serve immediately.
Notes
The original recipe calls for broccolini, kale, or chard; I like the broccolini which picks up the spices nicely and has a sweeter flavor against the red pepper. I also cut the amount of red pepper flakes down from one full teaspoon - I didn't find it too spicy, but The Child did. A half teaspoon is still on the spicy side, but The Child will actually eat it. Finally, I swapped out the pecorino for some parmesan, mostly because I always have a big wedge of parmesan on hand. Both work fine, but the pecorino is a bit stronger, of course.
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Red Pepper, Spinach, and Cheddar Frittata

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On Friday, I dropped The Child off at school, drove home – and then almost immediately drove back to school to retrieve her when it turned out that she really didn’t feel good. She couldn’t keep anything down for a few days, even Gatorade.  She slept on the sofa, mostly, while I did things around the house and in the yard, until it started raining hard, and I headed indoors and joined her in front of the TV.

There wasn’t much food in the house, and by dinnertime, I had no desire to head back out to the store. What I had on hand would have to do.

Happily, though, I had some eggs, so I was able to pull together one of my fallback, quick meals: A frittata. I use Mark Bittman’s basic recipe from How to Cook Everything, and then simply toss in whatever cheese and vegetables I have on hand. In my house, it’s usually Gruyere cheese, except Costco stopped selling my favorite variety, and since I haven’t found anything that comes close to it, I’ve been forced to start looking for a new standby cheese. I had some aged Cheddar from Trader Joe’s, which was marvelous, and paired well with the spinach and red pepper that I bought to make a salad with and … well, didn’t.

I know a frittata – unlike it’s cousin, the omelette – can be, and often is, served at room temperature, but I like to serve these hot, puffy eggs immediately so that they’re hot from the oven. Since they cook fairly quickly using the broiler method, I like to get my plates prepared before  I start cooking, so everything is ready to go when the frittata is done. I usually serve them with just a bit of crusty bread alongside.  In warmer weather, though, a frittata at room temperature is a nice brunch or lunch meal when served with a bit of salad. It’s simple and satisfying. Frittatas are versatile, too, because you can throw in pretty much whatever you like – so you can use up your leftovers. Play around with combinations and see what you like. There’s no hard-and-fast rule to them: Just keep the proportions the same, and have fun experimenting.

Note that the recipe below serves four: I cut the quantities in half and used a smaller (eight-inch) pan.

Red Pepper, Spinach, and Cheddar Frittata

 

Red Pepper, Spinach, and Cheddar Frittata
 
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One key difference between a frittata and an omelet is that in a frittata, all the ingredients are added to the eggs, and then everything is cooked together. You can add any combination of ingredients that you like, as long as the additions are cooked if needed beforehand (and cooled briefly before adding to the eggs).
Author:
Ingredients
  • ½ cup chopped fresh spinach
  • ½ cup diced red pepper
  • olive oil
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 oz aged cheddar cheese, grated
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Saute the peppers and spinach briefly in olive oil, then remove and let cool.
  2. Beat together the eggs and grated cheese, and mix in the spinach and peppers.
  3. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large oven-safe skillet (a 12 inch skillet is good). Pour in the egg mixture.
  4. Let cook undisturbed for about 10 minutes, until the bottom has set. While the eggs are cooking, turn on your broiler.
  5. Transfer the pan to the broiler, and cook until the top is golden and puffy. This will only take a minute or so, so keep a very close eye.
  6. Remove from the oven, cut into wedges, and serve.
Notes
I like to finish my frittata under the broiler, because I'm usually pretty hungry by the time they are done. But if you prefer, you can bake them in the final step. If you do this, preheat the oven to 350 degrees before the first step, and at the end, bake the frittata until completely set and not runny, about 10-20 minutes.
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Sloppy Lentils

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Everything changes, it’s true, but in my world lately everything re-arranges.

It’s been only a few months since much of the furniture in the house was turned over to The Departed, and I began the process of making the house – finally – my own. I thought I would just go slowly: Paint a couple of rooms that only I see, then slowly work my way up to bigger projects.  I could never quite figure out how to arrange things anyway – nothing in this house ever seemed to look right.

But the ideas start coming – quickly, and often, impulsively. I look at the large wall unit that houses my TV one day, and realize that if I get rid of that one thing, I can completely re-arrange the room in a way that makes sense and is much more cozy. I mention this to The Child, who proceeds  to re-arrange all the furniture in that room after I go to sleep one night. And though I woke up the next morning and found myself completely disoriented – not to mention almost losing a cup of coffee tripping over an unexpected sofa – I also was sure I was on the right track.

It feels much less like a house, and much more like a home.

We give The Child’s outgrown trampoline to our new neighbors, who have two bouncy little boys. The new neighbors return the favor in the form of five rose bushes from their yard. We start having friendly visits, and chat about gardeners and handymen.

It feels much less like the street we live on, and much more like a neighborhood.

With all of the projects and re-arranging, everything is in chaos at the moment, and I frequently can’t find a kitchen counter or a clean dish when I need it. So, I find it’s easier to make a large vat of something that I can just heat up when I don’t have time to cook. One of my favorites is sloppy lentils, a recipe given to me by a vegetarian friend – whose child, unlike mine, will eat it – but originally from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

The recipe is basically Sloppy Joes, which I used to love as a child. I didn’t have a recipe, I had cans of Manwich and I loved every artery-clogging bit of it. Instead of meat, though, lentils are used, turning an unhealthy indulgence into a guilt-free nutritious meal that oddly enough, doesn’t feel like a poor substitute for the original. After several hours in the slow cooker, the lentils and sauce meld together into a savory, almost-meaty, warm and filling sandwich. I love to eat it on squishy hamburger buns, just like a regular sloppy joe.

It makes enough to please a crowd, and also can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten slowly over a few days by just one person, as it reheats beautifully.

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Sloppy Lentils
 
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Author:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 T Olive Oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 small red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 T Chili Powder
  • 1½ c dried brown lentils
  • One 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 3 c. water
  • 2T tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 T prepared mustard
  • 1 T packed light brown sugar or natural sweetener
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat oil is skillet over medium heat. Add onions and peppers, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, stirring to coat.
  2. Transfer onion mixture to a 3½ - 4 quart slow cooker. Add lentils, tomatoes, water, tamari, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Notes
The original recipe calls for cooking onions and peppers first in a pan, then adding it to the slow cooker. I just toss it all in. If there's a difference, I can't tell.
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