Summer Vegetable Pasta with Creamy Ricotta Sauce

My parents are overflowing with green summer vegetables and they look so pretty in this summer pasta dish, covered in a creamy cheese sauce. Green beans, peas, zucchini and onions are cooked quickly with a little white wine and then tossed in an herby, ricotta and parmesan sauce that coats everything just beautifully. Serve over whole grain pasta and your whole family will be eating a fulfilling and healthy homemade meal in just minutes! You can use any combination of vegetables that your family loves, I just went and picked whatever was ready in my parent's garden so this combination cost me very little and was so delicious together. The peas are creamy, the green beans are crunchy and the zucchini adds a subtle sweetness, what more could you want!

I used to subscribe to Everyday Living and this recipe was inspired by a pasta recipe that I found in one of the monthly subscriptions. The ricotta sauce in that recipe was a little bland and lacked something. This recipe I feel has a lot more flavor and personality that the original, I hope you agree!

This pasta serves 6.
Adapted from Everyday Living, Herbed ricotta pasta with corn and zucchini.

Ingredients

1 lb whole grain pasta, I used Barilla ziti.

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Pasture raised butter

1 Medium organic zucchini, chopped.

1 Small organic onion, chopped.

Organic green beans, chopped in half, I just used a large handful, about 2 cups when cut.

1 Cup fresh, organic peas

1/4 Cup dry white wine, I used Pinot Grigio.

14 oz Ricotta cheese, I used Maplebrook Farm hand-dipped ricotta.

1/3 Cup parmesan cheese, grated, more for serving (optional).

10 Fresh, organic basil leaves, chopped finely.

1 Sprig fresh, organic oregano, leaves only, chopped finely.

1 Bunch organic chives, chopped finely.

Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste.


Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and blanch the green beans and peas (quick cooking them) for 2 minutes, remove from the water with a slotted spoon and set aside. Bring the water back to a boil and cook pasta based on the package directions, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.

In a saute pan heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat add in the onion and zucchini, season with a bit of salt and pepper and cook till soft and slightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add in the peas and green beans and cook for another 2 minutes. Add in the white wine and cook till the wine has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, parmesan, herbs and the vegetables. Add in the pasta water and the pasta and stir everything to combine well. Taste for seasoning and salt and pepper as needed. Serve with an additional sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Zucchini & Caramelized Onion Lasagna

My husband's absolute favorite meal is lasagna, and this recipe is a keeper for sure! Zucchini is a crop that produces insane amounts of veggies and its so economical and so delicious. Both the zucchini and the onions are sweet and they go so well with the tangy tomato sauce and creamy ricotta and herb filling. I like to saute my zucchini before I add it to the lasagna because it has high water content, sauteing gives it lots of flavor as well as reducing the water, this ensures that you will get a lasagna that won't be watery. In my book watery lasagna = no flavor and falling apart, no bueno! We love a meat sauce with our lasagna and I recently made an awesome beef shank crock pot sauce that was amazing, I used the leftovers on this lasagna and it was perfection!! The sauce cooks all day and makes a ton that can be used over pasta or in this lasagna. Feel free to use your favorite meat sauce or plain marinara instead, its all about the veggies in this recipe anyway!

This recipe serves 8-10.

Ingredients

1 (12oz) box organic lasagna noodles, cooked according to box directions.

3 Cups meat sauce, I used my beef shank crock pot sauce, but any meat sauce is fine.

2 Cups pasture raised mozzarella cheese, grated.

1 Medium, organic zucchini, sliced into thin long strips the size of lasagna noodles.

2 Medium, organic spring onions, sliced.

1 Pint organic, cherry tomatoes

1 Sprig organic, fresh thyme

1 (15oz) tub ricotta, I used Maplebrook Farm hand dipped.

1/2 Cup parmesan cheese, grated.

2 Tbsp organic, dried Italian herb mixture

10 Fresh, organic basil leaves, roughly chopped.

2 Large, farm raised eggs

Extra virgin olive oil, for sauteing, about 3 Tbsp.

Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl mix together the ricotta, 1/4 cup of the parmesan, dried Italian herbs, basil, some salt, pepper and the eggs. Mix well to combine, set aside.

In a saute pan over medium high heat, add 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and saute the zucchini in batches till browned on all sides, about 3 minutes a side. In the same pan, turn down the heat to medium add in the rest of the olive oil and saute the onions with some salt, pepper and the thyme till the onions are deeply browned, it takes about 20-25 minutes. You may need to add water to the pan during the cooking process, I add about 1/4 cup at a time just to keep them moist and keep them from burning. When the onions are caramelized add in the tomatoes and cook till they soften and burst, about 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce on the bottom of a large, deep baking dish. Start with a layer of noodles, overlapping them and cutting them to fit. Don't discard the cut scraps, I use these to fill in gaps. Layer some zucchini next, spread with the ricotta mixture, some of the onions and tomatoes and finish with some parmesan and mozzarella, just to cover, make sure to reserve some cheese for the top, top with noodles. Continue layering till you are out of ingredients, ending with noodles. I ended up with 3 layers, top the last noodle layer with lots of sauce, making sure to cover completely so that it stays moist and doesn't burn. Do not put cheese on the top of the lasagna yet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until its hot and bubbly all the way through. Top with the remaining cheeses and bake for a few more minutes to melt the cheese and brown the top. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

To serve, cut carefully with a sharp knife serve with extra sauce and parmesan. Enjoy!

Chunky Tomato Puttanesca

This was the first thing my husband cooked for me, his version taken out of the Rachel Ray cookbook, had shrimp and a bit more kick to it. Puttanesca is one of my favorite sauces, its super salty and a little bit tangy because of the anchovies and capers. Don't let that scare you away, anchovies are not at all fishy or overpowering, they offer a nice, subtle nuttiness and saltiness to the dish. The capers are a fresh burst of tang each time you bite into them and they go so well with the fresh tomatoes and my home grown herbs. The sauce comes together in about 15 minutes and is a great, fresh, super easy weeknight meal all summer long. If you are making this dish when tomatoes are not in season I recommend using canned, I don't buy or use fresh tomatoes in the winter unless they are grown hydroponically. They just don't have the flavor you need and are so watery. You will have to peel the skins from the tomatoes because they separate during the cooking process and are unappetizing and bitter. I just cut an x in the bottom of each tomato, boil them for about 2 minutes, let them cool and the skin comes right off. This sauce is super chunky, loaded with spring onions that are slightly sweet, the fresh tomatoes, fresh garlic and lots of oregano and basil. I just love sauces like this where you can see all the ingredients, its so satisfying and beautiful.

This recipe serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil
5 Organic spring onions, purple scallions or shallots, any of these will work you just want a sweet, young onion that is not sharp, sliced thinly.
4 Organic garlic cloves, minced.
5 Organic tomatoes, fresh, I used on the vine but any that look gorgeous will do.
1 Sprig fresh organic oregano, leaves only, roughly torn.
1/3 Cup fresh organic basil, leaves only, roughly torn.
3 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp caper juice
2 Tbsp anchovy paste or 4 anchovy fillets.
1 tsp Red pepper flakes
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste.
1 lb your favorite pasta, I used an organic, semolina fussili because the chunky sauce clings to it nicely.
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over top, optional.

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cut an x in the bottom of each tomato. Boil for 2 minutes and remove to a bowl. Once they have cooled enough to work with, peel off the skins and discard them. Add more water to the pot and bring back to a boil, salt and cook pasta based on box directions.

In a deep saute pan, over medium heat put in the olive oil. Once it is hot melt the anchovy paste till it smells nutty, about 2 minutes. Add in the onions, garlic and some salt and pepper. Cook till the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Squeeze the tomatoes over the pot with your hands, breaking them up and discarding the hard stem in the middle, you will feel it. With a wooden spoon break up the tomatoes a bit. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the tomato softens and it starts to look thick like a sauce. Add in the basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, capers and caper juice. Cook for another 2 minutes to reduce. Add in about 1/4 cup of pasta water, drain pasta and pour the pasta into the pan with the sauce. Cook for one minute to coat the pasta and remove from heat.

Serve topped with parmesan cheese, additional fresh basil and enjoy!

Homemade Pasta with Peas, Bacon & Onion

Peas are finally here in NY, its late June. I just love fresh, garden peas, they are so wonderful raw or cooked. My daughter loves to help shuck them and she eats about a cup while doing it so we always have to buy extra. This recipe is so simple and so delicious, its beautiful with a intensely flavored grilled chicken thigh or pesto encrusted, pasture raised pork chop (which is what we served it with). The sauce is a mixture of grass-fed butter and salty bacon fat. This coats the homemade semolina pasta just beautifully and goes so well with the fresh, sweet peas and sharp onions. I love the combination of herbs too, thyme, sage and chives are all earthy and make for such a flavorful pasta. A small squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the final dish bumps up all the flavors and makes a most refreshing and delicious dish! So easy to whip up any day of the week, even with the homemade pasta! Get my recipe and tips here on making pasta at home, its incredibly easy and so worth the effort.

This recipe makes 8 side dish servings, or 6 main dish servings.

Ingredients

Homemade pasta, click the link for my recipe.
1 Cup fresh organic peas, blanched.*
1 Small organic onion, diced.
3 Cloves organic garlic, minced or grated.
3 Pieces pasture raised bacon, chopped.
1 Tbsp pasture raised bacon fat
2 Tbsp grass-fed butter
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste.
Few sprigs fresh, organic thyme, leaves only, chopped.
4 Fresh, organic sage leaves, chopped.
Small bunch fresh, organic chives, left whole.
1 Lemon, sliced into wedges, optional.
1/2 Cup parmesan cheese, grated, any hard, salty cheese can be used.

Directions

Make the pasta and set aside on a wax paper lined baking sheet, make sure to flour the pasta strands well to keep them dry and separated. Cover with a towel while waiting for the water to boil. Bring a large stock pot to boil with salted water.

While waiting for the water to boil heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add in the bacon fat and butter till melted. Add in bacon and cook till crisp. Once crisp, turn down the heat and add in the onions, peas, garlic, sea salt and pepper. Cook till the onions are soft, about 6 minutes. Add in the chopped thyme and sage, cook for an additional minute.

Once the water boils add in the fresh pasta and cook for 3 to 4 minutes just until soft and starts to float. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta. Add pasta water to the hot saute, sauce pan and scrape the bottom. Mix to create a sauce. Add cooked pasta into the sauce pan and mix to coat all pasta. Move to a large serving dish top with chives, I snip these with scissors over the top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

I like to serve with a wedge of lemon.

*I blanch the peas first by boiling them for 2 minutes and then placing them in an ice bath. This makes them tender and keeps them vibrantly green.

Homemade Pasta with Sausage, White Bean & Roasted Tomato Sauce

I was given a hand crank pasta machine recently by a good friend of mine and I absolutely adore making homemade pasta with my family. We do it the old school way by making a flour well on the counter and cracking the eggs into it and then rolling out small pieces that get hand cranked through our machine 7 times each, till they are almost see through.

It's so exciting and satisfying to make dough and every time I do it the result is always different and we learn something new. The dough can be too sticky and not want to crank through the machine, or it can be too soft, or too tough but never fear because it's also very forgiving and any mistakes can be corrected quite easily. We like to make a whole afternoon of pasta from scratch, my daughter loves helping and it's incredibly fun, like playing with playdough!

I don't consider myself a, follow the recipe kind of girl but there are some basic rules one must follow when making pasta dough. My rules are: 1. always make a bigger batch then you think you need because there is almost always never enough, 2. make your dough a little drier than the recipe calls for, it helps "virgin" pasta makers to get it through a machine so much easier without stress or tears, 3. use semolina in your pasta dough, it makes for a textured final product that just loves to grab the sauce, 4. Have fun with it, it's dough and it's not going to bite! My dough recipe is pretty basic, we haven't played around with it at all, but I assure you that will happen at some point. If you don't have a pasta machine, don't worry you can still make homemade pasta at home, you will just have to do a little more work but it's so worth it!

Now let's talk sauce! My favorite sauce for a homemade pasta is one that is fresh and light. My local co-op had bags and bags of hydroponic, locally grown tomatoes going bad that were discounted and I bought them all up. I decided to roast them with herbs and olive oil which intensifies their flavor. Winter tomatoes are not exactly at their peak so roasting is definitely the way to go when they aren't in season. I then made these deep, intensely flavored tomatoes into a sauce with local sausage, white beans, white wine and a whole mess of mixed greens. The result was a light tomato sauce that was chunky and satisfying. It coated every strand of tender pasta making for absolute perfection!

Ingredients

Pasta

2 Cups unbleached, organic, all purpose flour, more for work surface.

1 Cup semolina flour

4 Organic, farm raised eggs

Sauce

7 or 8 Large, organic tomatoes, any kind will work.

Olive oil, for roasting tomatoes.

2 Fresh sprigs organic oregano, leaves only, chopped.

4 Fresh sprigs organic thyme, leaves only, chopped.

4 Pasture raised sausage links, casings removed, I used 5 knives sweet Italian from Vermont Smoke & Cure, click the link to see their other products and pasture raised piggies! 

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Large onion, diced.

6 Organic cloves of garlic, minced or grated.

1 Tbsp organic, dry basil

1 Tbsp organic, dry oregano

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 Cup dry white wine, I used a dry riesling but any dry white wine will work.

4 Cups organic, mixed greens, I used Olivia's Organics.

1 Cup white beans, I used Divina giant white beans in vinaigrette, but regular cannellini beans are fine.

1 Tbsp fair trade, organic, raw cane sugar

Sea salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste.

Directions

Tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut tomatoes in half and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until soft and caramelized. Set aside.

Pasta

On a clean work surface make a mound with the flours. Make a well and crack 3 of the eggs into the well. With a fork mix eggs up and slowly work the flour into the eggs, pulling from the well walls a little at a time till you start to get crumbles of dough, with your hands work the flour and eggs into a ball of dough, if your

mixture is too dry add the 4th egg and work it in. Flour your board and knead the dough till you are satisfied with the consistency and it is no longer sticky, about 5 minutes. If your dough seems sticky add flour while you are working and kneading it. Form a ball and cut your dough into 6 pieces.

Take a piece of dough and roll it out slightly, if you have a hand crank or electric pasta machine follow manufacturers instructions for rolling out your strips of pasta. Once you have a thin sheet cut into your favorite shape, I did a fettuccine size because it grabs the sauce well. If you do not have a pasta machine roll the dough out as thin as you can and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Sprinkle pasta with flour and lay on a cookie sheet to dry while finishing the other pieces. Repeat this process with the remaining 5 pieces. 

Bring water to boil in a large pot, salt water and add pasta. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, fresh pasta does not need long. Drain and drizzle with olive oil, set aside.

Sauce

While waiting for your pasta to cook in a large sauce pan over medium high heat brown sausage in olive oil for 5 minutes. Remove, lower heat and add in onions, garlic, salt and pepper and saute till soft, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to let them brown. Add in dried oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, and white wine and cook till the wine has evaporated, about 7 minutes. Add sausage back in and greens and continue cooking till the greens have wilted into the sauce. Add in white beans, sugar and taste for salt and pepper, season to taste.  Cook for 6 minutes to meld flavors, add in pasta and remove from heat.

Place in a large serving dish and mix well to coat pasta with sauce. Serve with parmesan or pecorino romano cheese grated over top!

Buon appetito!