Penne With Zucchini and Basil

If there's one vegetable that we almost always have in our refrigerator in the summer, it's zucchini. We get zucchini or yellow squash in our CSA basket most weeks now, and we also got a few zucchini from a friend who has an abundance of them growing in her garden. I found this recipe for a quick weeknight dinner this week. I used penne because that's what I had on hand. I used three medium sized zucchini, but really should have used four. I also only used one cup of fresh basil, since that's all I had in my garden (my basil plants are still teeny). We just used Parmesan cheese in a bottle - cheap, and yes, not as good as the freshly grated stuff, but I am not that picky about the type of cheese we use and don't want to spend a lot of money on cheese.

This was a great, easy weeknight dinner. The fresh basil really makes this dish - it would have been nice to use more of it if I could!

Spaghetti with Sauteed Kale, Walnuts, and Garlic Scapes

In our last CSA basket we got two things I have never eaten or cooked before: kale and garlic scapes. I had never even heard of scapes before so I had no idea how to use them. Apparently they are the little green shoots that come up before the garlic bulb develops cloves, and you can chop them off and eat them. Kale is a dark leafy green vegetable (i.e., really really good for you). They all kind of sat in my fridge for a little while as I tried to find some recipe to try them in.

I just love the Web. I did a search on scapes to figure out how to use them, and not only did this recipe call for scapes, but wouldn't you know it, calls for kale too. Now, cooking a recipe off of a random blog is a little out of my comfort zone (no ratings, no comments by seasoned cooks... a little more of a gamble than cooking off of Epicurious or Food Network. Kind of like cooking from a cookbook.) (Did I just give away what generation I am from?). But sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind.

To my delight, this was actually quite delicious. I found the recipe a little hard to follow (starting on low heat, then going to medium, then going to low again seemed a little unnecessary). I ended up sauteing the scapes and garlic on medium heat, then I added the kale and left it on medium for a few minutes. When the kale started getting a little tender I decreased the heat to medium-low. I wasn't really sure when the kale was officially done, so I just let it get tender and tasted it. I would have never thought of adding toasted walnuts and leafy green vegetables to spaghetti, but the mix of flavors in this recipe complemented one another. I would happily make this again (and my husband would happily eat it). You could probably substitute shallots, garlic or scallions for the scapes if they are not available.

Spaghetti with Broccoli and Garlic

Sometimes you just want a simple meal. I lack simple meals in my culinary repertoire. I usually like a challenge in the kitchen and learning new things - but there are some nights when you just want something easy that is healthy and tastes good. There are also some nights when you have a head of broccoli in your fridge from your CSA and need to figure out some way to use it. Well, if you are in similar straits, I have just the thing for you - Spaghetti with Broccoli and Garlic. (Doesn't it seem fancier than it really is when you capitalize the nouns? I think so.)

I've never had broccoli rabe which is what the recipe calls for, but I think you can reasonably substitute regular broccoli (you will just have a milder flavor and more florets than leaves). Well even if you can't, we did, and it turned out just fine. I only used 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, because our tastebuds are wimpy. Next time I would use a 1/2 teaspoon. I also used less olive oil, as 1/2 cup just seemed excessive. This was a great, easy one-pot meal. My husband helped me, so it was on the table in about 20 minutes. (He boiled the water and put the spaghetti in the pot. I know that does not seem like a great amount of help, but I am terrible at measuring out spaghetti and never make enough - so I prefer to let him do that step and that way I don't get scolded when we don't have enough spaghetti.) I'll make this again when I don't have time to cook something more elaborate. I like having pasta recipes that don't require a tomato sauce - it's nice to have a little variety.

Penne with Garlicky Butternut Squash

I usually make soup or lasagna with butternut squash, but I didn't feel like dirtying up the food processor tonight. I tried this penne recipe - skipped the parsley, used ground sage, and only used half the amount of penne that it called for as that was all I had. I probably used 3/4 cups of water too. This was good - not great like some of other ways I have tried butternut, but good. If I made this with a whole pound of penne, I would double the amount of squash to eight cups for sure.

Spaghetti with Tomato and Roasted Pepper Sauce

Made this one up as I went along tonight. We got a boatload of tomatoes and bell peppers in our CSA basket this week, so I used a bunch of those. I sauteed a diced yellow onion and some minced garlic in olive oil, then threw in some fresh diced tomatoes (they looked like big red and yellow striped Romas... no idea what kind they were). I added some red wine vinegar, dried oregano, basil, marjoram, salt, and pepper and then let that simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes. In the meantime I cut up a few green and red peppers, tossed them in some olive oil, and then broiled them in the oven for a few minutes and then threw them in the sauce. I added a little bit of sugar just to see if it made any difference (I couldn't tell). This was pretty good, not outstanding but a quick weeknight meal - and it definitely beats using Walmart brand spaghetti sauce any day.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

We went to the Abingdon, Virginia Farmers Market yesterday and one of the vendors was selling butternut squash - the first local ones I have seen this season. I made this lasagna twice last fall, and it is one of my favorite dishes. It is very labor intensive so I don't make it that often, but it is so much better than the other ways I have made butternut squash. For the first ones of the season I decided to indulge. I used some organic basil from our weekly CSA basket, and also a few leaves from my own basil plants. I always skip the amaretti cookies and the lasagna is still outstanding. I also use low-fat mozzarella and it taste just fine. I think that about 3-4 pounds of squash is perfect - I think I used about 5 pounds this time and the squash overwhelmed the basil sauce. This is definitely a great dish for company, but only if you have a few hours to prepare it. And the best thing is, I still have half the lasagna in my fridge for leftovers!

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

I have made this one a few times and it is one of our favorites. It's not a quick meal, but not horribly labor intensive either. I usually use zucchini and/or summer squash instead of eggplant, and sometimes I just use green bell peppers instead of red and yellow to save money. I also skip the green onions and don't even notice a difference. The feta really makes the dish, so don't skimp on it!

I have been trying different olive oils in the past month to find a cheap one that tastes good. I bought some Colavita olive oil from the grocery store and it has a nice flavor - not too strong. I've tried the Walmart brand and it is a little off smelling. The Carapelli brand is okay. I have to start tasting the oil from now on and compare the flavors. We use olive oil all the time and I want to use a good one without breaking the bank.

Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta

I subscribe to Weeknight Kitchen, a weekly e-newsletter from The Splendid Table. I was planning on just making spaghetti tonight - and today's recipe was for pasta and fresh tomatoes, which was perfect! I had a few homegrown tomatoes that I needed to use today, which were great. Local tomatoes are so much better than store bought. I also have a basil plant at home and just plucked off a few leaves for the dish. This was easy and delicious. It was a nice departure from the usual spaghetti and Walmart pasta sauce combo. It actually made spaghetti feel fancy!

I picked up a couple of boxes of Barilla Plus spaghetti for this - it is a new multigrain pasta which was actually pretty good. I've tried whole wheat spaghetti and didn't like the texture, so this was a nice alternative that is a little more healthy than plain old spaghetti.


Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta
Copyright 2007 Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Serves 6 to 8 as a first course, 4 to 6 as a main dish

* 1 clove garlic, split
* 3 pounds richly flavored tomatoes (if possible, one-third cherry type, one-third mellow-tasting, and one-third low-acid), unpeeled, unseeded, cut into 1/2-inch dice
* 2 generous pinches hot red pepper flakes
* 1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
* 1 pound spaghetti, or linguine
* 6 quarts boiling salted water
* 1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, or to taste
* 3 tight-packed tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn
* 1 cup fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)

1. Vigorously rub a pasta serving bowl with the garlic and discard the clove. Add the tomatoes, red pepper, oil, and the salt. Gently combine. Let stand at room temperature from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

2. When ready to eat, cook the pasta in fiercely boiling salted water, stirring often, until tender yet firm to the bite. Drain in a colander and turn it into the pasta bowl. Quickly add the black pepper and basil, and toss everything together. Taste the pasta for seasoning and serve. If you like, pass cheese at the table

Penne with Basil-Seafood Sauce

Bay scallops were on sale at Kroger, so I did a search on Epicurious.com and found this recipe. I made it with a little more scallops (almost 3/4 pound). I also used canned tomatoes, which taste much better than fresh this time of year. I got this tip from the book How To Break An Egg: when using canned tomatoes, buy whole tomatoes instead of diced or sliced - I guess they're supposed to taste better - and just take a pair of kitchen shears and cut them up in the can. Voila! I listen to APM's Splendid Table and she recommends either Hunt's, Contadina, or Muir Glen canned tomatoes, so I bought Hunt's since that's what they have at Walmart (yes, I admit, I buy most of my groceries there. When the farmer's markets are in season, I'm all about those, but otherwise you just can't beat Walmart's prices!).

This is an easy, delicious dinner that looks fancy and like it took a lot of work to make. I love seafood and so I was very happy with this one. I actually liked the shrimp more than the scallops but they were both great. I'll definitely make this one again - I'll have to head to Kroger and buy some more scallops while they're still on sale. Best thing about it was that it's not that expensive to make - the ingredients cost about $11-12 to feed four people, and I still have about two servings worth of leftovers.