Red Pepper Sauce (fresher than roasted)

Developed Summer 2019

About 30 years ago, I first learned about spaghetti squash, and though it was fun, thought it was a horrible substitution for pasta with a traditional marinara. Everyone raved about it as a “healthier” substitute, and I thought I was crazy. Then, about 10 years ago, I had zucchini squash thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler and topped with roasted red pepper sauce and thought, “Ah, that is good and would be good with all kinds of mild squash.” 

Last summer I was inundated with squashes from my community farm share and decided to do some research on good red pepper sauces, borrowed from many, and finally settled on this. It is very forgiving and quite delicious. I’ve used it as a sauce for squash and regular pastas, drizzled on homemade hummus, as a base for red pepper soup, and with curries.  My favorite pasta with red pepper sauce combination follows the recipe. 

This recipe is very forgiving and can be modified without loss of deliciousness.

EQUIPMENT

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

Measuring cup

Zester, such as a microplane

Food Processor (or blender)

Rubber spatula or spoon

INGREDIENTS

3-4 roasted red peppers (about 2 cups) 

2-3 non-roasted jarred red peppers (about 1.5 cups)

1 fresh red pepper, seeded and cored

2T shallot or mild white onion

2 cloves garlic

1T capers

1 lemon, zest and juice

2T fresh basil or ½ T dried basil

½ t sea salt; ¼ t black pepper

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¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

 RECIPE

1.    Shake off the brine from the roasted and regular red peppers, rough chop them and toss them in the blender or food processor. (Rough chopping the ingredients helps ensure they are evenly distributed in your sauce.) 

2.    Peel and rough chop the onion and garlic then add to the peppers. 

3.    If you are using dried herbs, pulverize them by rubbing them between your palms as you add them to the peppers. This helps release their essential oils. 

4.    Add the remaining ingredients aside from the olive oil to the food processor. Blend until smooth. You may need to open the blender and scrape ingredients off the side of the container with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
Once the ingredients are fairly smooth, turn on the processor again and slowly blend in the olive oil.
The sauce is ready for use. It keeps well refrigerated in a tightly sealed container for 5 days or longer. 

My favorite pasta for this sauce:

Rigatoni with red pepper sauce and garlic, parsley, zucchini, mushrooms, capers, green olives, feta cheese. Any or all of these ingredients are optional; any hearty pasta will work. 

(serves 4-6 people)

·      Prepare the rigatoni as the package indicates while you make the sauce.

·      Quarter 8 oz (the standard package) of button mushrooms, cut the zucchini into ½ inch rounds and then in half-moons, mince ¼ cup of parsley leaves, and thinly slice 2-3 cloves of peeled garlic. 

·      Bring a sauté pan to temperature over medium heat. Once, it is hot, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Then pop in 2-3 thinly sliced cloves of garlic. 

·      When the garlic begins to slightly brown, add the mushrooms and zucchini, a pinch of salt, and bring the temperature to low, stirring frequently until mushrooms and zucchini are cooked, about 5 minutes. 

·      Pour about 3 cups of the roasted red pepper sauce into the pot with the veggies and increase the heat to medium. Use more sauce if you feel like you need it. Add about a tablespoon of capers and ½ cup of olives sliced in half. If they have pimento, you can leave it – that is actually red pepper. The feta cheese can be crumbled and added now which will make the sauce creamy or as a garnish later.  Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes, then take it off the heat. 

Pomodoro Puttanesca Pasta with Peas

Last night I made a delicious light pasta last night inspired by the quart of pea pods I got at my CSA.  The sauce is a hybrid between a pomodoro and a puttanesca sauce.  I found it to be creamy and delicious with all of the flavors complementing the tuna so much that you hardly notice it.  For a vegetarian option, you could leave out the tuna entirely or replace the tuna with seitan. I also think this would be fabulous with high quality chicken.

This would also be great with freshly grilled tuna, in which case I would slice the tuna and serve it on top of the pasta.

SAUCE
• 4-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 quart cherry tomatoes (fresh or frozen-fresh)
• 1/2 cup sliced green olives
• 1/4 cup chopped capers
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 oz canned tuna (in water well-drained) or high qualityItalian tuna in olive oil***always use chunk light due to the mercury content of albacore
• up to 1/2 cup of water to thin sauce if needed
• freshly ground black pepper

PASTA
• 1 lb of a short cut pasta like fusilli or oriccheti
• large pinch of sea salt
• 1 quart of peas in pod (trimmed and halved) or shucked peas

GARNISH -- ALL OPTIONAL
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped parsley (Italian or curly is fine)
• 1/2 cup grated asiago cheese (optional)

Chop and mince all of your ingredients before you start the heat.  This one cooks fairly quickly.

Start a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once hot, add the olive oil.  When the olive begins to shimmer add the garlic, stirring frequently and watching them carefully.  Cook the garlic until the slices are all beginning to brown. Add the rest of your sauce ingredients, reduce heat to low, and simmer the sauce partially covered while you cook the pasta. Keep an eye heck to make sure it doesn't need a bit of water added.

Bring a stock pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Once boiling add a large pinch of salt to the water.  Stir briefly, allow the water to return to a boil and then cook your pasta according to the package directions until it is el dente. As the pasta is reaching el dente, dump in your peas.  Bring to a boil or until the peas turn bright green (which ever comes first) and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta and peas with the sauce, adding up to another tablespoon of olive oil if needed.  Allow everything to cool for 5 minutes or so and then toss in the parsley and asiago cheese.

Enjoy!

Garlic and Lemon Shrimp with Braised Brussels Sprouts and Angel Hair Pasta

This is one of my favorite light dishes -- anytime I can cook with garlic, parsley and lemon, I am a happy camper.  This dish is easy to make as a vegetarian dish or substitute other vegetables for the sprouts.  It's very simple to make as it is mostly chopping.

Ingredients:

20 -25 fresh Brussels Sprouts, cleaned and sliced lengthwise in half
1/2 pound of raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 bunch of Italian parsley, approx. 1 cup cleaned and coursely chopped (curly parsley is fine)
10 cloves fresh garlic, minced (maybe 3T)
4T fresh lemon zest (1.5-2 lemons)
1/3 cup white wine or lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
heavy pinch (~ 1/8 c) sea salt for pasta water

angel hair pasta (I particularly like angel hair made from whole wheat or Jerusalem artichoke flour)

RECIPE
Thaw, peel and gently press water out of the shrimp and place them in a bowl.  Add about 1.5 T minced garlic and 1 T lemon zest,  a healthy grind of black pepper and cover lightly with extra virgin olive oil.  Mix thoroughly to evenly cover the shrimp and refrigerate to marinate.

Heat a large, heavy sautee pan to medium-high.  Once hot, add a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil.  Add the brussels sprouts to the hot oil cut-side down, leaving about an inch between pieces to avoid over crowding. Allow them to cook without moving them until the edges look slightly browned and crisp.  Remove the braised sprouts from the heat and set aside on a large heat-proof dish.  You will probably need to do this in a couple of batches.  Don't worry about the browned bits on the pan -- you will deglaze after cooking the shrimp.  Once you have braised all of the sprouts and removed them from the pan, turn the heat off.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of lemon zest and quarter cup of chopped parsley over the top and mix gently.  You will finish cooking them as you finish the shrimp.

Now, you will make the gremolata, which is a traditional Italian topping.  It is minced garlic, parsley and lemon zest.  Finely chop the remainder of the parsley and place in a mixing bowl.  Add the remainder of your garlic and lemon zest.  Mix together until well-combined.  Some people will add a little extra virgin olive oil to this topping; I generally don't.

Bring a large stock pot of water to a rolling boil.  Once boiling hard add a nice handful of sea salt to the water (note, do not add the salt in when the water is cold or you will just get salty pasta).  Use sea salt if you have it and don't be afraid -- the salt raises the boiling temperature of the water to ensure cooking the pasta without making it become gummy.  It doesn't make it salty.

Once the water comes back to a rolling boil after adding the salt, you are ready to cook your pasta according to package directions.  I generally let it boil until I am cooking the shrimp and then add the pasta to cook in the boiling water.  If you don't like to multi task, cook and then strain the water from the pasta and sprinkle with olive oil to keep it from sticking together while you wait for the rest to finish.

Now that your pasta water is boiling, return to your sautee pan.  Add about 1T olive oil and turn the heat to medium high.  Once hot, add the shrimp and all of the marinade, spacing the shrimp evenly in the pan and leaving them alone until they begin to brown on one side. While you are waiting, add the pasta to the boiling water. Flip them over using tongs.  Add your wine or lemon juice -- use enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Using a wooden spoon or your tongs, quickly scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan into the simmering liquid.  Add a bit of water if necessary to keep a little liquid in the pan.  Once scraped, add the sprouts back to the pan, turn the heat to medium low and cover, steaming everything for about 2 minutes.

Drain the pasta and coat lightly with olive oil.  Serve over angel hair pasta and top with gremolata.  You may also add a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese if you like.

Enjoy!

pasta with artichoke-walnut pesto

This pasta was served with a variation of a wedge salad: very crisp iceberg lettuce cut into large chunks, 1 cup of flat leaf parsely, coarsely chopped tomato, a sprinkling of gorgonzola all tossed with your favorite viniagrette dressing.

(note: cheese can be left out of each step, making a great vegan dish)

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A fun holiday meal for two:

THE PESTO (this will give you left-overs)
1 jar or can of artichoke hearts, packed in water and drained well (it's 1 1/2 cups if you are so lucky to find frozen)
1/4 - 1/3 cup parsley
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, skinned
salt, pepper (to taste)
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 - 3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated asiago cheese

If you haven't made fresh pesto before, it is generally rather thick.  It is best tossed through hot pasta or spread with a knife. Place the artichoke hearts, parsley, walnuts, garlic, salt and freshly ground pepper in a food processor or blender until well mixed.  Add lemon juice and vinegar and blend further.  Stream in olive oil until preferred consistency and add asiago, blending well.  The sauce should have a thickness of a heavy salad dressing.  If it is too thick, add a little more of both lemon juice or vinegar and olive oil and blend. Set aside at room temperature.

THE PROTEIN
1/2 cup cannelli beans (1 cup if you don't include shrimp)
1/2 cup edamame (1 cup if you don't include shrimp)
16 50-count shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
3-4 sliced garlic cloves
pinch salt; pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Mix ingredients together. Set aside to marinate.  Refrigerate if you include shrimp.

THE PASTA
A nice flavored fresh pasta is great with this.   We made homemade pasta with lemon zest and parsley, but any kind would do.  This recipe calls for about 2 cups of fresh pasta.

THE DISH
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.  Add a hefty pinch of salt to bring the water to an even higher temperature.  Allow to return to a boil.  Add pasta.  If you are using fresh pasta, you know it's done when it floats.  If you are using dried pasta, cook according to package instructions.  Once done, remove from heat, drain, and mix with enough pesto to lightly cover the pasta.

Bring a sautee pan to heat with a tiny bit of olive oil in it (medium high; allow the oil just to begin to smoke).  Add the shrimp (if you are using it).  Once shrimp is seared on one side (about 2 minutes), turn it and add the rest of the beans and garlic, cooking another two minutes.

Plate the pesto covered pasta and place the beans and shrimp on top.  This recipe is terrific topped with a gremolata of finely chopped garlic, parsley and parmesan.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Delectable Artichoke Pasta

2 cups whole wheat pasta
1 cup spinach, frozen
1 cup peas, frozen
garlic powder, to taste
3 tsp. artichoke antipasto, from Trader Joes
1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese, to taste
1 cup garbanzo beans

Cook the pasta as directed. Add spinach and peas. Cook until tender. Drain. Sprinkle garlic powder to taste. Add artichoke antipasto, mix evenly` Return to heat and warm. Add cheese, to taste, and add garbanzo beans and heat. Serve warm.

This would also be delicious with olive tapenade, if this suits your tastes.

Thanks to my cousins for this delicious meal!

Quick & Simple Marinara Sauce

This marinara sauce is so easy that it can be finished by the time you boil water for pasta. It keeps well in the refrigerator and is a great homemade choice for lasagna, eggplant parmesan or anything similar.

Ingredients:

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sweet yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 28-0z can of whole tomatoes

1 6-oz can of tomato paste

1T dried basil

1T raw sugar

1T balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup sliced black olives (optional)

crushed red pepper to taste

Add the olive oil to a saucepan on medium low heat. Add the chopped onions and allow to slowly cook, stirring often enough to keep them from browning. Once the onions have cooked through, add the garlic. Quickly crush the tomatoes (I like to do it with my hands) and add them to the pot. Add the remaining ingredients and stir between each addition.

When the sauce begins to simmer, it is finished. If it is too thick for your liking, you may add a bit of the pasta water.

Cauliflower with fennel and mustard seeds

Cauliflower has long been one of my favorite vegetables and it is very good for people with stomach issues. One of the most important things about cooking good cauliflower is the preparation of it:

Preparation & Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower head
5 T extra virgin oil (you can use safflower or canola)
2 teaspoons mustard seed (I prefer dark, but either will work)
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1T garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon madras curry powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 - 1/3 cup water

Cut the cauliflower head into bite sized florets and soak in cold water for a minimum of 1/2 hour. This removes the gasses and prepares it for crisp cooking. Drain the cauliflower and set aside.

Cooking Instructions

In a large skillet, fry pan or sautee pan (preferably one for which you have a lid) add the oil over medium heat.

Once hot, toss the seeds into the oil. As soon as the seeds begin to pop, add the garlic, stirring fairly constantly. As the garlic begins to brown on the edges, add the tumeric, curry powder, and cayenne pepper. Mix through and add the cauliflower, water and a pinch of salt.

Stir the ingredients to mix thoroughly and cook for about 8 minutes. The cauliflower may be slightly browned, but should be crisp yet cooked through. Add small amounts of water if needed. If your dish is not cooked thoroughly enough for your taste, leave the pot covered during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking and another 2-3 minutes of cooking after you turn the heat off.

Variations

You might enjoy adding garam masala rather than curry powder. You may leave both out altogether.

Italian variation: Omit the mustard seed, tumeric, curry powder and cayenne. Increase the amount of garlic. Instead, add about 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano. Consider adding a bit of chopped fennel root with the cauliflower. Steam in about a cup and a half of diced tomatoes (I use canned for all cooked application except when the tomatoes are freshly picked because they are generally better quality and higher in nutrients than out of season fresh).

Casserole variation: Add 2-3 egg yolks to a cup of heavy cream to make a custard. Stir thoroughly. Place cooked cauliflower in a casserole dish and cover with the custard mixture. Mix throoughly and top with a sprinkling of cheese mixed with bread crumbs or panko (parmesan, cheddar, swiss, whatever you like). Bake in a 350 oven for 1/2 hour.

Ciopinno, (Italian fish stew) from the beautiful Italian cook, JackZen

Dear Lainey,

Here is my recipe.

Heat olive oil to cover the bottom of a medium pot

When it's just hot, add chopped onion, garlic and parsley [plenty of Italian flat-leaf parsley] and cook gently until the partially everything is soft

Add any kind of potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces

Add clear vegetable broth, a little white wine and canned crushed tomatoes

Add crushed fennel, some crushed red pepper, and a bay leaf

Let everything cook until the potatoes are done then add bite-sized pieces of any kind of fresh/thawed white fish

When the fish is done (flaky), everything is ready to serve

Top with grated hard cheese and season with pepper.

The approach to ingredient portions is sheer portion intuition and taste. Start with the amount of fish you think you'll be serving, cut it up in pieces and imagine the dish being more of a fish stew than soup. Plan on putting in about a third as much potato as fish and half as much tomato as potato. Start each herb and spice with a little, taste it and decide whether you'd like to have more in it, making sure you stir the whole stew well after you introduce each new ingredient. Plan on learning from each time you do it and expect each time to be a little better and different.

With gratitude, Jack

[editorial note: If you've never cooked with fresh parsley, you will have a new respect for the power of the herb after cooking this recipe] visit Jack at www.jackzen.com

Whole Wheat Pasta with Artichoke, Fennel & Tomato Sauce

SAUCE PREPARATION
Fresh Ingredients
½ medium fennel bulb, finely chopped
½ medium sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
3-4 good sized garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon lemon zest (about ½ to full lemon)
juice from ½ lemon (fresh DO NOT use that nasty squeezy bitter stuff)
***yes, this is a good time to invest in a Microplane zester (about $15 but great for zesting, parm cheese, ginger, etc) & a reamer

Herbs & Spices
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Canned Ingredients
1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (I like the organic fire roasted kind)
6-8 UNMARINATED artichoke hearts, quartered (frozen, thawed, are even better)
optional: ½ 14 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
optional: ½ 14 oz can of black olives, drained and sliced
1-2 T tomato paste to thicken, needbe

Protein (Optional)
I like an Italian veggie sausage (veggie, turkey, meat…) for this…use your judgment as to how much you need. Cook the sausage fully in the following to make it extra flavorful.
1-2 ladles full of your sauce blended with 1 T tomato past
½ t crushed fennel seed (yes, a mortar and pestle or leave it out)
½ t crushed red pepper

PASTA PREPARATION
I strongly prefer whole wheat fettuccine or penne with this sauce. Cook it hard: bring lots of water to a rolling boil, add a healthy pinch of salt to raise the boiling temp (it helps the pasta cook without getting gummy). Once the water is salted and boiling hard, add your pasta and immediately stir. Watch the time, you want it el dente.

If your pots are not really heavy, you might find you can’t hold the kind of heat you need to cook whole wheat pasta so it tastes good and has good texture. No worries – use traditional semolina.