Penne with Basil and Heirloom Tomatoes

In trying to refine and improve my postings, I am going to start posting the ingredients and prep on top, which should make the recipes a little more user friendly.  I'm also going to continue using my better camera and actually editing the photos, which should result in better depictions of the finished product:

This recipe features a lot of farm share ingredients: tomatoes, basil, onions, and garlic.  Here is what you'll need for this recipe:

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 2-3 small onions, or 1 large onion, slivered
• 4-6 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped (i used 4 small to medium sized, with about 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes)
• 1 cup green olives, rinsed and coursely chopped
• 1/3 cup grated parm
• 2-4 mild italian chicken sausages, cooked (optional - omit to make this vegetarian)
• 1 pound whole wheat penne, just slightly undercooked
• 1/2 cup of fresh basil, torn

Get everything prepared and ready to go before you start cooking - it will make the process go much smoother. Think of the 7 P's: proper prep prevents piss-poor performance.  That being said, you can cook the pasta as you make the sauce (just get the water boiling as you chop everything up).

The farm share tomatoes are gorgeous - the assorted cherry tomatoes are very, very sweet and I think the orange ones have a ton of flavor with less acidity than their red brethren.  Anyway, heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and add the garlic.  Cook for about 10 seconds on medium high, then add the onion.  Add about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper.

Cook until onions are softened, but not mushy.  Then add the olives and the sausage (if using).

Saute until sausage is warmed, then add the tomatoes.

Cook until the tomatoes release some liquid, and a little of that liquid cooks off.  Turn the heat down to medium low, and add the penne and stir to combine (you use a large pan/skillet for this).

Add the parm and stir it in - this will thicken the sauce and help the tomato flavor stick to the noodles.  Finally, turn off the heat and stir in the basil.  It should wilt down a good amount.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.  I held back on the salt because of the salt in the sausage and olives, but it was rather flat initially.  A little more salt and pepper really made the flavors of the tomatoes and basil jump out.  I really wouldn't change anything about this, I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I think it would be just as good w/out the sausage.  This would be great with an earthy pinot noir or a chianti.  Enjoy!

Using Eggplant - Eggplant Parm!

If you can't tell by now, way too many of my recipes come from Saveur.  This is true of this entry, eggplant parmesan.  I more or less followed the recipe.  I'm really not a big eggplant fan, but breaded fried, and covered in tomato sauce loaded with fresh mint and basil?  Yes, please.  For the record, this recipe uses CSA eggplant, mint, basil, and garlic.

Starting with a medium to large eggplant, peel and cut into 1/3 to 1/2 inch slices.  Prepare a flour/eggwash/breadcrumbs station - it is good to have some room to spread out here.

I'm pretty glad to have moved into a new apartment a week ago with a much larger kitchen... We'll see if my postings get more ambitious accordingly.  Flour --> eggwash --> breadcrumb all of the eggplant slices.  I used panko breadcrumbs, which worked nicely.  Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking, and cook the eggplant in batches, not crowding the skillet.  Give it about 2.5-3 minutes per side.

Cool on a cooling rack over paper towel.  While this is going on, cook the sauce as specified in the recipe.  I made the sauce as called for, but with a small handful of fresh CSA basil and mint added in at the end, stirred in right before it comes off the head.  Put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a large pyrex baking dish, then  layer the browned eggplant slices on top of the sauce.  Cover the eggplant with more sauce, then some greated parmesan-reggiano, and finally with grated provolone or mozzarella, whichever you like \

Bake for 20 minutes at 375 or until cheese is melted and a little browned and sauce is bubbling, let cool for a couple minutes, and serve with pasta and a salad.

Bluefish with Basil Sauce and Japanese Eggplant with Green Beans and Thai Red Curry

The weekly haul from the CSA has really picked up in the past few weeks.  Combine that with me being out of town, and that means a backlog of veggies that need to be cooked.  I was very happy to find a few heads of fresh garlic waiting for me; I think fresh garlic has a sweetness that is not even closed to matched by most store-bought.  We also had a few bunches of basil, about a pint of mixed beans (green, wax, and some purple kind I've never seen before), and a lot of Japanese eggplant that needed to be used sooner rather than later.

I'm not a huge eggplant fan generally, but I think I now prefer the Japanese to conventional.  The long, slender shape allows it to simply be cut into quarters and stir fried, as in this recipe for Japanese Eggplant with Haricot Verts and Thai Red Curry.  To adapt this for farm share ingredients, specifically normal sized beans and not haricot verts, I just added the beans about 30 seconds after the eggplant and not the whole 2-3 minutes.  Here are the eggplant, beans, garlic, and ginger pre-prep:

I was in the mood for seafood, and wild caught bluefish for $9 a pound jumped out at me.  This is not the most delicate of fishes, but it holds up to high heat for quick cooking, and works with with a sauce.  It is also wild caught, which I like, and not at risk of being overfished anytime soon.  I've seen it on the menu at Tackle Box and Blue Ridge in DC, both affordable seafood spots that emphasize sustainability.

Anyway, I used a big clove of fresh CSA garlic and a head of CSA basil to make Broiled Bluefish with Basil Sauce.  The sauce couldn't be easier - just throw everything in a blender.

While this isn't necessarily in the same vein as miso/curry eggplant and green beans, the both worked well together.  I think some ginger could've been added to the basil sauce to bring them together a little more, but both were very fresh and delicious.  The miso/curry prep was great, and I want to use it again for other veggies.