kale and chevre pesto.

After a few days of false springtime, we're back to woolly layers and high winds. So this evening, for a cozy dinner, I made this simple recipe that I noticed on 101 Cookbooks back in the fall. It couldn't be much easier; plus, it's a great basil-pesto alternative as well as a wonderful option for using kale. I made very few changes to the original here: adjusted the oil, added a little lemon zest, topped with pine nuts; I might also add a handful of pine nuts to the sauce before pureeing it next time, just for fun. Accompanied by a few slices of baguette and followed by a rich stout (excellent choice, J.), this kept the chill away.

[And, let's be honest, I was looking an excuse to break out my brand new pasta bowls! I just retired the plates I bought for my senior year dorm apartment and made the switch to all-white dinnerware. Glorious. These bowls are restaurant-sized - in other words, so huge that they fit in neither my cabinets nor my dishwasher. I love them.]


Kale and Chevre Pesto
from 101 Cookbooks

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and trimmed
2 large or 4 small shallots, peeled and trimmed
1 small bunch of kale (1/2 lb. or 8 oz.), stalks removed, washed well
1/4 c. olive oil (*the original calls for 1/3 c. - I liked a slightly thicker consistency)
1/3 c. (2 oz.) chevre
~2 tbsp. cooking water
lemon zest/juice
fresh thyme

1. Bring large pot of water to boil. Salt generously, then add garlic and shallots. Boil for 2-3 mins., then stir in kale and cook for another 10 secs. (Don't overcook!) Quickly fish the kale, garlic, and shallots out of the water and into food processor.

2. Puree the kale mixture and chevre, then with motor running, add oil and water (1 tbsp. at a time, to thin the sauce if necessary). Season with salt and pepper and the zest of 1/2 a lemon, if you wish. (I liked this for brightening the flavor. The original recommends a squeeze of lemon juice, which works too.)

3. Cook pasta according to instructions, then drain and toss with sauce. Add a few pinches of fresh thyme (about 4 stalks, stripped) and a sprinkling of pine nuts to serve.

Serves 4-6.

comfort pasta.

I've been on a baking kick recently - following minute directions with the belief that doing so will lead to something delicious is soothing to me. But there's been some cooking too, like this pasta that is well-suited to plentiful farmers' market greens and crisp fall evenings. I loved the combination of the chard, olives, feta, and garlic; it also made great leftovers because the flavors had a chance to meld.


I used French feta at the suggestion of the Nice Cheese Man (or rather, one of the Nice Cheese Men) at DiBruno's; it's creamier than Greek feta and melted into the pasta beautifully. Because I was having such fun at the cheese counter, I also got some Cabra La Mancha (a semi-firm goat's milk cheese from Firefly Farms with, according to its label, a "tart flavor up front and a lightly meaty, savory finish") to go with sourdough bread and a mammoth Asian pear, sliced thinly, to start with. All in all, a very satisfying meal for three very tired grad students.




Spaghetti with Chard and Olives
from Gourmet (Nov. 2008), via SmittenKitchen

1/3 c. olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 lb. Swiss chard, stems and center ribs finely chopped and leaves coarsely chopped separately (*The original calls for green chard; I used rainbow and loved the color and taste.)
1/2 c. water
1 lb. spaghetti
1/2 c. Kalamata olives, slivered
6 oz. feta, crumbled (1 1/2 c.)

[Serves 4-6]


1. Heat oil in heavy skillet until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden - about 3 mins. (I got sidetracked and let my garlic chips get a bit too brown. Oops.) Use slotted spoon to transfer garlic to plate lined with paper towels.

2. In oil that remains in skillet, cook onion until softened, stirring occasionally, 3-5 mins.

3. Stir chard stems and water into onions; add salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over med. heat about 5 mins., until almost tender. Stir in chard leaves, cover, and cook about 5 mins. more, until stems and leaves are tender. (*I find a pair of tongs very helpful for stirring bulky greens like this.)

4. Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 c. cooking water and drain spaghetti. (*I forgot this step. The greens mixture created its own liquid, though, so it didn't seem to matter that much.)

5. Toss spaghetti with chard mixture, olives [and 1/2 c. cooking water]. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve topped with garlic chips and feta.

fig crostata.

In addition to my hand-picked batch of apples and peaches from our morning at the orchard, I ended up with a pint of beautiful fresh figs from the farmstand there. I admired them every time I opened the fridge, nibbled a few...and then realized that this leisurely approach meant I needed to use the rest of them quickly. This realization coincided with our weekly Mad Men viewing - perfect, I thought. I'll share them. I'll make a fig tart!

Well, sort of. After Epicurious turned up rather disappointing selections, I settled on this Giada De Laurentiis recipe for a fig and almond tart. I don't often remember to try her recipes, and this is really more a crostata than a tart, but it looked like an appealing experiment.

Appealing indeed! This turned out quite well. I did make some changes, including swapping out Giada's crust for the Orangette recipe that has become my standby. The result was very pretty to look at - much like Jon Hamm.


Fig Crostata
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis; crust from Orangette

Crust:
4 tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed
3/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
9 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Filling:
3 1/2 oz. almond paste
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. honey
around 10-12 small fresh figs, stems and bases trimmed off, sliced into 3 discs each
scant 1/4 c. apricot jam (*I warmed mine with some water to thin it, then strained it to make it smooth)


Make crust:
1. In small bowl, combine ice water and vinegar.

2. In food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter larger than a small pea.

3. With the processor running, slowly add water-vinegar mixture, processing just until moist clumps form. If you pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it, it should hold together. If the dough seems dry, add more ice water by the teaspoon, pulsing each time.

4. Turn out the dough onto a board or clean countertop, gathering and pressing it into a disk about 1 1/2" thick. Wrap in plastic and then press a bit more, massaging away any cracks around the edges so that you have a smooth disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (Dough can be kept in refrigerator for 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.)

Make filling:
5. In food processor, combine almond paste, mascarpone, vanilla, and honey. Blend until smooth.

Assemble crostata:
6. On parchment or wax paper, roll out dough into an 11" circle. (You may need to let the dough sit at room temperature a few minutes so that it's soft enough to work with.) Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.

7. Spread the almond/mascarpone filling over the dough, leaving a 2"-3" border. Arrange sliced figs on top of almond filling, overlapping slightly. Spread/drizzle a light layer of jam on top. (I didn't use the entire amount.)

8. Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8" round, pleating the edges gently and pinching any cracks in the dough.

9. Bake until golden, about 40 mins. Cool on baking sheet for 10 more mins., then remove tart and finish cooling on wire rack.

Viola looks disdainfully at our dessert spread: fig crostata, apple cake (C.), and lemon thyme shortbread (M.).