fagiolini con pomodoro, aglio, e basilico (green beans with tomato)

SUPER healthy, vegan, fast, easy, affordable. No fancy techniques here – and yet, the best green beans I’ve had in as long as I can remember. This is the kind of simple recipe you want to use when you have delicious, fresh ingredients, and you want the flavor of the ingredients to be the star of the dish.

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I got this recipe from the Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens, but this is actually a Marcella Hazan recipe from her 1986 book Marcella’s Italian Kitchen.

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“The proportions Hazan recommends are one pound of fresh ripe tomatoes, a pound-and-a-half of green beans, a half-cup olive (ed: oil), two teaspoons of chopped garlic, salt, pepper and one cup of fresh basil leaves.  For pasta sauce, increase the tomatoes to a pound-and-a-half and the garlic to three teaspoons.

In a skillet large enough to hold everything, sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it’s golden, add the peeled, roughly chopped tomatoes, and cook at high heat for about five minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium, add salt and pepper to taste and the beans, whole or sliced and cook until the beans are tender.  If, when the beans are done, there’s still some watery tomato juice in the skillet, remove the beans and turn up the heat to reduce the extra liquid.  When the sauce has reduced, return the beans to the skillet, add the basil and serve either as a side dish or on pasta.”

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recipe created by Marcella Hazan, from her 1986 book Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, discovered thanks to the Lopez Island Kitchen Gardens

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I got some musica pole beans and a huge tomato from the farmer’s market. Never tried those flat green beans before, and was worried about how thick and fibrous they seemed when raw, but this recipe was beyond delicious. This would work just as well with round green beans as thick flat green beans.

For (cough) some of us (Americans), it can be hard to get used to cooking with delicious, fresh ingredients, because we are accustomed to cooking with the flavorless veggies we can actually afford. We use the most flavorful techniques, like sprucing up a $2 head of broccoli with cheese or a ton of lemon, so that they are edible.

This is the polar opposite. You’re not creating a sauce or a tadka to camouflage the flavorless veg. You’re creating a symphony of flavors where the lead singer (I hate this metaphor) is the green bean (why would a symphony have a lead singer?)

I really can’t speak highly enough of this recipe. This tastes nothing like what you’re picturing, with bits of flavorless green bean floating in a tomato-paste-based tomato sauce from a jar. This tastes so sweet and fresh and perfect. You’ll eat the whole thing. If you are fortunate enough to have the space for a garden, this recipe is extremely affordable, too!

Just make sure you’re using garden (or farmers market) ingredients for this one. If you’re using industrially produced tomatoes and beans, or if it’s off-season, can I recommend Sichuan blistered green beans or green bean salad with olive and sun-dried tomato?

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polpette (Italian vegetarian “meat”balls)

Got a lot of stale bread? These are… food.

Zucchini 280 g
Stale bread 250 g
Eggs (about 1 medium) 50 g
Whole milk 60 g
Breadcrumbs 120 g
Basil to taste
Tomato pulp 150 g
Garlic 1 clove
Mozzarella 90 g
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
(edit: please add oregano or really anything)

– break up the bread and soak it in milk
– slice zucchini into “rather large slices,” heat up some oil in a pan, then fry them over medium heat for about 10 min or until cooked
– using a “robot” (I love Google translate; I am guessing you want to use a food processor) or a fork, mix zucchini with breadcrumbs, salt, bread, and pepper (and basil if using)
– add egg after blending, and blend until homogenous
– form balls of about 30-33 g in weight
– refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up so they don’t fall apart
– in a separate pan, start garlic (“or shirt if you prefer,” according to Google translate,) and add crushed tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper
– when tomato sauce tastes great, add balls and melt mozzarella over the the top. cover with lid.

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original recipe from giallo zafferano in Italian and here it is in English, run through a translator

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Okay, these are edible. If you have a bunch of stale bread, this is definitely a way to use it. It isn’t a GOOD way; it’s just a way. Being on a soft food diet, it’s nice having something shaped like a meatball, but you know what else is soft? Good vegan meatballs. I mean, vegetarian buffalo “meatballs” made with white beans are soft. Meatless wild rice and mushroom “meatballs” are soft. These are just straight-up BLAND! The texture is a bit gloopy on day one, and by day three mellow to a sort of gluey, gummy mess. So, the taste is bad. The texture? Also bad.

The only way I can recommend these is if you have a LOT of dumpstered bread to use. PLEASE add sautéed onions or garlic to flavor the polpette. Tagged “waste not,” because this might keep some bread out of the landfill. Tagged “soft food” because I ate these with a temporary crown, and it didn’t hurt. Ecstatic to use the “nope” tag for the first time in a year. This recipe could be adjusted to be more flavorful, but right now, these polpette are a solid nope.

This is solid proof that everyone creates a nightmare in the kitchen sometimes. Everyone occasionally ends up with a week’s worth of glue-balls. Jump in, try something new, and if it turns into paste, make something better next week!

tuscan white bean and tuna salad

Want a lunch that costs less than a frozen meal, takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, requires no cooking, is impossible to mess up, and tastes great?

This is an adaptation of a northern Italian recipe.

– 1 can tuna
– 1 can drained and rinsed white beans, or leftover cooked white beans (cannellini, great northern, or similar)
– olive oil and red wine vinegar, to taste
– minced raw garlic and/or onions
salt and black pepper, to taste
optional: capers or minced pickles
optional: sliced olives
optional: fresh lemon juice
optional: tiny bit of mayo or plain yogurt for creaminess
optional: salad greens

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Finally posting this, although it’s been a go-to for me for years for a quick and lazy lunch. This is packed with protein. Eat a clump of it on a big green salad with an Italian vinaigrette, pile it on a slice of whole-grain bread with a mustardy vinaigrette and fresh tomatoes and greens, or just scoop it up with crackers.

For a similar northern Italian salad, try this roasted eggplant and tuna salad, or this springtime niçoise style salad.

lemon muffins

this is my new go-to recipe to bake little cakes to celebrate for a picky crowd. check out the original on the blog “my recipe confessions”.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used home-cultured kefir)

1/2 cup of sour cream

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tsp. of fresh ginger, minced

Zest of 2 lemons ( about 2 tbsps.)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

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mix flour, baking soda, and salt in one bowl. set aside.

in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

beat in the eggs one at a time.

add the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, ginger, and lemon zest.

mix half of the flour into the butter mixture. add buttermilk/kefir. add remaining flour and mix only until flour disappears.

pour mixture into greased cupcake trays for small cakes, or a bundt pan for a big cake.

bake at 325 for about 25 minutes for muffins, about 70 minutes for a cake, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without crumbs.

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made these for my last day of poetry workshop, as a treat. they came out great. they came up when i searched for a “lemon bread recipe,” but it’s definitely more like cake. i added extra zest, which is inadvisable – they were super sour, but definitely still great. everyone loved them. i recommend a dark colored muffin tin, because the caramelized sides were much crispier in that pan than in the light colored pan, and those crispy edges were the best part. fill up the tins three-quarters full. lemon muffins – easy way to impress.

thanks to my recipe confessions for this recipe for “italian lemon pound cake”

eggplant tonnato (roasted eggplant and tuna salad)

i modified this significantly, but here’s the original:

2 (6-ounce) cans light tuna packed in olive oil (preferably Italian), drained, divided
1 large anchovy fillet
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
2 teaspoons drained capers (or anything pickled)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 (11 1/2- to 13-ounce) jars or containers grilled eggplant, drained
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/3 cup coarsely chopped mint
2 cups (1/2-inch) bread cubes from a country loaf, toasted
Equipment: 4 (16-ounces) wide jars or containers with lids

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Blend 1/4 cup tuna, anchovy, mayonnaise, oil, capers, and lemon juice in a blender until smooth to make tonnato sauce.
Pulse eggplant, garlic, parsley, zest, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a food processor until combined but not smooth.
Toss tomatoes with mint, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Divide eggplant mixture among jars and layer remaining tuna (broken up into large chunks), tonnato sauce, croutons, and tomatoes (including juices) on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

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from epicurious

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surprisingly, not bad. a very strange combination of flavors. i never imagined i would puree tuna. i left out half the ingredients due to my budget – left out the anchovies, the croutons, and even the tomatoes. it’s still pretty okay. if, like me, all you have in the house is a can of tuna and a few eggplants, you can go pick up some mint and give this a try. instead of capers, i used some pickles. you could use pickled anything.

plus, once you have fresh mint in the house, you can make radish, butter, and mint sandwiches (don’t knock it ’til you try it,) as well as cucumber salad with mint, cold cucumber soup, fattoush, or a mint dressing with rice wine vinegar!

not a bad healthy choice for a quick lunch – if the eggplants are roasted already, you can put this together in just a few minutes! roast a few eggplants on a day off and keep them in your fridge just in case you need a quick meal!

amaretti di Saronno (gluten-free almond cookies)

2 1/4 cups blanched whole almonds (about 12 ounces), plus 15 for garnishing
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
15 glacéed cherries

Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets, then line with parchment paper.

In food processor, combine 2 1/4 cups almonds and 1/3 cup sugar. Process until finely ground, scraping down sides once or twice. Set aside.

In electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt at high speed until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to medium and gradually sprinkle in remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Return speed to high and beat mixture until stiff, shiny peaks form. Gently fold in ground almond mixture and almond and vanilla extracts.

Roll mixture into 1-inch balls, place 2 inches apart on baking sheets, and flatten slightly. Top each with glacéed cherry or almond. Bake until cookies are golden, switching positions of pans halfway through, about 25 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Cookies keep, wrapped, several days, or frozen, several weeks. Recrisp in warm oven.

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from epicurious

raw tomato sauce

1 very large red or yellow bell pepper, deseeded
¾ cup cherry or roma tomatoes
¼ cup sundried tomatoes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
a sprig of fresh oregano
a few sprigs of fresh basil
2 dates or honey to taste

blend

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adapted from here

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EDIT:

today’s fantastic herbed tomato-“cream” raw pasta sauce:

a fistful of sundried tomatoes, soaked for four or six hours
a fistful of cashews, soaked for four or six hours
a huge pinch of fresh oregano
a fistful of fresh basil
a few cloves of garlic
a few turnip greens
a fistful of other assorted fresh herbs
three big locally grown heirloom tomatoes
two locally grown red peppers
a squeeze of lime juice
two pinches of salt
a dash of oil (olive, nut oils, whatever)

chicken liver pate

my first pate

fry a little slice of pork belly, add chunks of onion, add chicken livers
i seasoned it with some cajun seasoning, sage, parsley, marjoram, tarragon, chives, salt

fried til livers were cooked through.

then blended it up with a little cooking marsala and two cooked potatoes
(i only added the potatoes because they were left over and i wanted to use them.)

IT’S VERY GOOD.

next time, i’ll do it tuscan (toscana) style by cooking the livers in olive oil and add capers.

never make gnocchi with self-rising flour

gnocchi recipe – i followed this tried-and-true recipe for delicious vegan gnocchi. the only substitution? self-rising flour.

BAD IDEA!

they became soupy, barely-held-together clumps of what can only be described as a toddler’s art project. practically inedible.

after one boiled-up batch, my wonderful friend s decided to investigate a way to fix them.

three batches.

one were boiled, then baked.
one were boiled, then fried.
one were just baked.

boiled, then baked – exactly identical consistency to the way they were before they were baked – gluey and inedible.

boiled, then fried – more similar to gnocchi consistency, but not too similar – actually, they were crunchy outside and liquidy inside – edible, but not good.

just baked – AAGH! THEY TURNED INTO PASTABREADS, sort of pretzely, dense orange puffs.

amazed, we twisted the rest of the dough into small pretzels and tiny rolls – definitely bread-like. not delicious bread, but much better than the creepy boiled ones.

we’d already discovered that frying gnocchi after boiling them is the easiest way to firm them up a bit, but this isn’t true with goopy gnocchi.

if this ever happens to you, my condolences, but they can be saved!

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also, did you know that gnocchi comes from a phrase meaning “a knot in wood”?

crema di limoncello

a lemon-creamsicle liqueur? whoa! my mom’s homemade irish cream, with whiskey, eggs, and a mess of other strange things, was completely magickal. this sounds easier: just infuse, heat milk, and combine? i’m in!

5 lemons
2 cups Everclear (You could substitute vodka in this recipe, but Everclear has a higher alcohol content than other vodkas. If you use another vodka, reduce the amount of milk used)
4 cups of whole milk
1.5 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (or half a a vanilla bean)
Cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer

Zest the lemons (using a grater, or by peeling strips off with a knife/peeler). Place Everclear and lemon zest into a jar and seal. Store in a cool, dry place for one week (or more. I let mine steep for two weeks). Strain using cheesecloth or strainer to remove zest.

In a small pot or saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat. Add in the sugar and the vanilla, and cook (stirring frequently) until the sugar has dissolved. Remove milk mixture from heat and allow to cool.

Once cool, mix milk and infused Everclear together in a large bowl or pitcher. Funnel into bottles, jars, or other tightly sealed containers. Store in the fridge or freezer. Serve chilled.

Note: Limoncello is usually served as an after dinner cocktail. I like to serve it in small glasses, poured straight out of the freezer. The colder the better!