Greens & Grains

Wanted: 

Something tasty, quick, and hearty for dinner.

Start with:

Chopped onion, garlic & EVOO.

Saute while you search the fridge for veggies.

Cook Up

Some quinoa, farro, brown rice,

or use what you have leftover.

Add:

Everything green you've got, chopped (I used spinach, broccoli, zucchini).

Saute some more.

Throw In:

A can of chick peas, drained and rinsed

Some Calamata Olives

Some Feta Cheese

Serve

Cavatelli & Brocolli

Family Favorite and another quick supper. D. is practicing his cooking skills before leaving for graduate school. this is one of his favorite dishes. We had some broccoli in the share this week too.

Ingredients:

I large head of broccoli, cut into florets - size up to you - we like them about 1 inch

1-2 bags of frozen cavatelli

4-8 cloves of garlic (we used lovely fresh garlic from the farm market)

salt & pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

How to do it

1. Put a pot of water big enough to hold the broccoli up to boil

2. While the water is heating: peel and slice the garlic - or cut each clove into quarters

then put the garlic in a heavy saute pan with some olive oil - we use very little - 2 tablespoons or so - but you can use 1/4 cup or more - cook over medium heat until the garlic is soft and golden brown

3. While the garlic is cooking - cut up the broccoli - and when the water boils throw it in the pot for 3-4 minutes - until it is bright green and still a little crisp

4. scoop the broccoli out of the water with a slotted spoon and add it to the pan with the garlic and oil - turn off the heat on that pan - keep the water boiling

5. add the frozen cavatelli to the boiling water and cook 5-7 minutes. While it is cooking, grate the Parmesan cheese.

6.  Drain the pasta - but reserve 1 cup of cooking water - add cavetelli to the broccoli, garlic and oil

6. Stir in some cheese, add pasta water to moisten - especially if you are not using a lot of oil

We keep the cheese and grater on the table for a little extra on each dish.

Day 15: Cavatelli & Broccoli

Spent the day cleaning and shopping for Thanksgiving. Picked up the last of the CSA shares for this season. I made stock for the soup I usually make for Thanksgiving (Autumn Vegetable Soup from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu cookbook) and Cranberry Apple Chutney (tried a new recipe from the NYT Well website). Cavatelli & Broccoli is one of our favorite dishes and it is so easy to prepare - and there was broccoli in the CSA share. I sauteed a bunch of garlic cloves in oil (2 tsp oil per person). I cut up the broccoli and threw it in the pasta pot - before the pasta - for 3 minutes, then transferred it to the pan with the garlic & oil using a slotted spoon. I boiled the cavatelli in the same water - then transferred them to the broccoli - added salt & pepper and Parmesan cheese, with more on the side. We had that with some semolina bread and a salad. After dinner, we finished making the Thanksgiving soup - everyone helped chop the many, many vegetables that make it taste so wonderful (leeks, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, carrotts, celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes). I left the last few ingredients (tomatoes, swiss chard, red & yellow bell peppers, tamari, dill) to be added when we re-heat it on Thursday.

Day 8: Veggie Strata

On hand: red onion & broccoli from the CSA share, mushrooms, fresh eggs from a friend at work, stale ends of white & whole wheat Calandra sliced Lanella bread, various cheeses to choose from.

What to make?  Strata

How I did it:

• Diced the red onion, sliced the mushrooms, sauteed them in 1 tablespoon olive oil till starting to brown
• chopped the broccoli - smallish pieces. steamed it till bright green and still a little crisp and mixed it with the onions & mushrooms and added 1 tsp Annie's Organic Vegan Worcestershire sauce
• cut the bread into cubes
• grated 1 1/4 cups low fat cheddar and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• sprayed a large shallow casserole dish with Olive oil cooking spray, then layered: 1/2 bread, 1/2 veggies, 1/2 cheese - repeat
• Whisked 1 3/4 cups almond milk, 6 eggs, 1 1/2 tablespoons Annie's Organic Dijon mustard, and a little more  Worcestershire sauce, then poured that over the bread and veggies.
• Put in the fridge for about 5 hours, then baked at 350F for 1 hour

Result: "Tastes like dinner and dessert at the same time"

I don't know what that means - but the strata was good.