whole wheat angel hair with basil pecan pesto

it is really embarassing how much i post about pasta dishes. pastaholics unanonymous right here. it's truly a love-hate relationship.

i often hear friends and family use "healthy" and "low calorie" or "dietetic" interchangeably. Although it's a safe bet that most healthful foods are not super calorie dense, healthful does not translate to low cal and low cal foods are certainly not always healthy. That being said, this is NOT a low calorie dish, however, it is healthy as it contains whole grains, good fats, protein, and fiber. (and it's bomb.com/flavortown)

traditional pesto is made with fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, and parmigiano cheese. (in that order in terms of quantity) I didn't have pine nuts so I used toasted pecans because it was all I had, and moving my tush to the store is rarely an option by 7:30 pm. I also added some spinach into my pesto both for color and for an extra boost of veggie super powers, and ultimately, because it allows me to justify the pasta in general.

I got beautiful local Texas spinach :) farm to table spinach is a totally different [better] breed of vegetable both in taste and in appearance.

Whatcha Need for 2 Servings...or for one ME size portion:
8-15 basil leaves, washed and DRIED
about 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/8 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese (more if desired)
whole wheat linguine, angel hair, or spaghetti
1/4 cup pine nuts, pecans, walnuts, whaaateva kinda nuts ya got (except peanuts...just trust me on this one)

DO IT:
put a pot of water up to boil.
wash the basil leaves, pat dry dry dry.

toast your nuts. in a dry saute pan over medium heat, flipping frequently for about three minutes.

Smash your garlic cloves.

Combine basil, garlic, nuts, parmesan cheese, a handful of spinach, half the olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper in the blender. If it doesn't blend that means you don't have enough oil in. once its moving in the blender, stream in a bit of olive oil so it thickens and emulsifies. 

Put the pasta into the SALTED boiling water. You know you've missed your salty friend, admit it, embrace it, and move along.

In the last minute of cooking the pasta, add in a handful of spinach and remove 1/3 cup of pasta water and set aside.

Strain the pasta. While the pasta and spinach are in the strainer, pour a dollop of the pesto into the hot pasta pot. 

Add the pasta back to the pot and mix. Add more pesto as desired/necessary (pesto is very necessary). If the pasta appears very thick add a few drops of pasta water at a time until the desired sauciness is reached. After all, you are your own sauuuce bosss. Adjust salt and pepps as needed.

FEAST!!!!!

pumpkin ravioli with pecans and sage brown butter

My heart beats for this type of dish. 

I want to make a list about this dish. Here it is:

1. I used pumpkin ravioli and butternut squash ravioli but I should have left out the butternut squash, it wasn't nearly as delicious and plump and flavorful as the pumpkin. 
2. I know that it doesn't look so beautiful because the two different raviolis don't match etc. The taste makes up for what the aesthetics lack. 
3. Pumpkin ravioli is widely available this time of year at your normal grocery store, if not, you can definitely find it at a specialty store like whole foods, balducci's etc. Or just buy a pasta roller and make it yourself if you're feeling motivated. 

The Shtuff:

pumpkin ravioli (approx 5 per person if you're normal, 9 if you're me)

2 T room temp butter

1 handful of pecan halves

a little less than 1/4 cup chiffonade-ed sage leaves, loosely packed (loosely packed means you're not packing it into the measuring cup)

salt

VAMANOSSSSSSS! : (i'm going to do this in list-ish form because list's are a good thing)

1. boil a large pot of water, LARGE, the ravioli request that you please don't crowd them in the jacquzzi. 
2. kind of chiffonade up some sage, just chop it relatively thinly and so it's not totally busted looking. Always remember to respect your food. Respect the sage, bro.

     3. Once the water is boiling, SALT it. See my Mountain Salty McSalterstein as an example:

        4. Heat a medium saute pan over medium high heat, add the ravioli to the water-it takes about 4 minutes    cook depending on the size. Once your pan is HOT HOT HOT Add the butter to the saute pan, it should kind of sizzle and immediately start to brown. Add the sage in and let it fry up for a minute. Drain the pasta.

Notice the butter is brown-ish looking, this is the key. Don't burn it! just get the pan hot enough so it immediately turns the butter a caramel color, not a mucky brown. You'll know by the smell :) 

     5. add the pecans to the sage butter, toast 2 minutes. 

       6.  Toss the pasta in the saute pan, add a small pinch of salt, garnish with a few sage ribbons. 

 and it's party rocker time!

Now for a quick photo montage of my pasta..

Enjoy with a nice mug of spiced whiskey cider :)  

(my mug is half full  because I sipped as I cooked)

low and slow lamb

with the holidays coming up I thought I'd provide an easy to prep and cook "holiday roast" type thang. 

What You Need:

a leg of lamb, bone in. I used a 3 lb leg since I am not having a holiday dinner today and did not need to feed anyone other than my hungry neighbors. Depending on how much your family/friends eat, 3.5 lbs is enough for about 5 people. (give or take)

a large bunch of rosemary sprigs (10-20)

a large bunch of thyme sprigs (10-20)

1 bay leaf

half a bottle of white wine 

1 cup of water

1 cup of low sodium chicken stock

1 garlic head with the root chopped off so all the bulbs are exposed

olive oil

lots of kosher or sea salt

ground black pepper

What You Do:

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. 

Heat a large pot over medium high heat.

Rub olive oil on the lamb, cover with lots of salt and some pepper

Using tongs, place the lamb in the hot pot. You should hear a VERY loud sizzle. 

Let sear on ALL sides about 7 minutes until a beautiful golden brown crust covers the lamb.

Remove the lamb to a plate or clean cutting board.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and pour the water, stock and white wine into the pot. Using a wooden spoon scrape up all the lovely brown goodness bits on the bottom of the pan.

Put the fresh herb sprigs and the garlic head into the pot.

Place the lamb back into the pot, cover with an oven safe lid or tinfoil and place into the oven. 

Cook until the lamb registers at 150 on a meat thermometer. (The carry over cooking will bring it to safe temp once it's out of the oven) Baste it ever 30 minutes with the liquid in the pot, checking the internal temperature every 30 minutes after the first hour. Should take about 4 hours for a 7 lb leg of lamb, 2 hours for the lamb that I did. 

Once finished, remove from the pot, cover with foil and let rest so that the juices distribute back into the meat. 

While the meat rests, strain the braising liquid into a small sauce pan, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and allow the liquid to reduce to a thick sauce. 

Alternatively, make a gravy. Make a roux by combining 1 T of butter and 1 T flour in the sauce pot over medium heat and then straining the braising liquid into the pot and whisking until thick. Adjust the seasonings and pour over the roast or serve on the side.

rosemary popcorn

What You Need:

3 rosemary sprigs, 2 minced, 1 left whole

1 t vegetable or canola oil

2 T popcorn kernels

1-2 T butter

salt and pepper to taste

How You Do It:

heat a medium size sauce pan over medium heat. once hot, add the oil and the rosemary sprig. add 1 kernel to the pot. once the kernel pops, its time to put all of the kernels in. 

while waiting for the pan/ oil to heat, mince up the remaining rosemary:

Combine butter and half of the minced rosemary in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until the butter is melted. Add in a pinch of salt.

Once the tester kernel pops, add the 2 T of kernels to the pot along with the rest of the minced rosemary. Cover the pot and shake over the heat until most of the kernels pop. (follow the instructions on the popcorn bag)

Once the kernels have all popped, pour the popcorn into a bowl and top with the melted rosemary butter, salt and pepper!

winner winner chicken dinner

I'm unsure as to why the chicken looks like a turtle in this picture. It is not a turtle. It is a chicken thigh. If you want to cook turtle you should reference epic meal time, because I, unfortunately, don't know anything about cooking turtles. 

So my dinner was braised rosemary thyme chicken sauteed kale and a panko roasted heirloom tomato. 

I found really delicious smelling tomatoes and herbs at the store, so I had to buy them. When you have ingredients this beautiful, you really don't need much else to make delicious food.

What You'll Need (yields 2 servings):

for the chicken:

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, bone in, skin on ensures a juicy, moist end product. 

6 whole fresh sage leaves

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced

3 sprigs of fresh thyme or lemon thyme, minced

4 sage leaves, minced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1-3 T olive oil and/or butter

1/4 c-1 c no sodium chicken stock depending on the size of your chicken thighs

salt, pepper

for the kale bell pepper saute:

1 bunch of kale, chopped into bite size pieces

1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 T olive oil

crushed red pepper

salt

1/8 c chicken stock

for the panko roasted tomato:

at least 1 medium-large tomato, I used 3

1 cup of panko bread crumbs

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T fresh basil, chopped

2 T parmesan cheese, grated 

1 T olive oil

salt and pepper

So, let us charge onward to the turtle chicken. 

Mince up the sage, rosemary and thyme. 

smash 2 garlic cloves with the back of your knife or the bottom of wine bottle or olive oil bottle.

Take out the chicken thighs and lightly rub oil or melted butter on them, not a lot, just enough so that the seasonings will stick. now, SALT AND PEPPER them. seasoning the meat before you cook it is crucial.  do not be afraid of salt. use about 4 pinches this size per chicken thigh. 

I know, it seems like a lot of salt. Let me tell you a secret. The reason that food tastes so delicious in restaurants is because these people are good buddies with salt. (and butter, but that's a tale for another day). Sorry to burst your bubble, but it was time for you to hear the terrible, salty truth. 

Once you've salt and peppered the chicken, lift up the skin on each and put 3 whole sage leaves under the skin (helloooo flavortown) then pat on the minced herbs to coat all sides of the thighs. 

Heat a wide pan with at least 1" sides over medium-high heat. Once hot, add olive oil, or a mixture of oil and butter and the 2 smashed garlic cloves. As soon as you can smell the garlic, use tongs to place the chicken thighs, skin side down into the pan. You should hear a really loud sizzle. Sizzle=brown and crispy skin=good time for your taste buds. Let the chicken brown, skin side down for 5-7 minutes, you want it to be really golden brown before flipping to brown the bottom side. 

Once the chicken is browned on both sides, pour in enough chicken broth to come up 1/3 of the way on the chicken thighs. The pan is going to make a loud noise, don't be scared, it's supposed to happen.

 Bring the heat to a lower temperature so that the stock is simmering (small bubbles hitting the surface, not a boil though) and cover for approx 10-20 minutes. Until your meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.

You can buy a digital meat thermometer at most grocery stores for around $10. It's worth it. 

So once your chicken registers at 165 degrees you are finished!!

So, let's back track. While the chicken is braising in the pan, you can make the kale and tomatoes.

For the tomatoes:

preheat the oven to 375

halve the tomato/es and drizzle with some olive oil, and some salt.

in a bowl combine the cup of panko bread crumbs, minced garlic, chopped basil, salt, pepper, parmesan.

pack the bread crumb mixture onto the tomato halves and pop in the oven until the tomatoes are softened and the topping is golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.

for the kale:

heat a medium size pot over medium heat and add 1 T of olive oil or butter, or both. Add in the smashed garlic clove.

add in the kale and bell pepper, stir to coat in the olive oil. cover with a lid and let steam for about 8-10 minutes until the kale is soft and the garlic has infused. season with salt and crushed red pepper, to taste. 

garnish with basil sage oil!! or don't if you just want to eat it and you are tired of cooking. Voila! Winner Winner Chicken Dinnaa