3) Summer Harvest Pasta with Crispy Prosciutto

I have looked forward to this day for quite some time: the first CSA produce delivery. Short for Community-Supported Agriculture, CSA is basically a partnership with a local farmer, whereby one purchases a share and receives a box of freshly-picked produce each week. After being disappointed with the farm my wife and I supported last year, I chose Earth Dance Farms this year after researching every CSA in the state. EDF stood out in that they grow not only vegetables, but also herbs and fruits, in addition to keeping bees. If today's share is any indication, I and the other shareholders are in for quite a treat.

Today's bounty included honey, strawberries, arugula, cilantro, rainbow chard, dill, broccoli raab, spinach, and romaine lettuce. I love cooking with ingredients I have on hand, so each CSA delivery provides a unique culinary challenge, like being on an episode of "Chopped." I wanted to highlight the chard and broccoli raab, and once I decided to use Italian ingredients, the recipe evolved quickly.  From past experience, I knew chard and broccoli raab to be quite bitter, so I set out to counteract some of that bitterness with saltiness, while highlighting their texture and gentle flavor of my greens. I served this dish with a salad of arugula tossed with an orange vinaigrette (1 tablespoon of orange juice concentrate, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar), crumbled crispy prosciutto, and persimmon slices. It was good.

Ingredients:

-6 slices of prosciutto (or bacon, although it's worth seeking the cured ham)
-16 ounces of penne pasta (or any type of pasta you have on hand)
-4 tablespoons olive oil
-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 cups of broccoli raab, chopped (leaves, stems, and florets)
-1 cup of chard, chopped (leaves and stems)
-1/4 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
-1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed (15 ounces)
-1 lemon, zested and juiced
-4 tablespoons of butter
-1/3 cup of stock (vegetable, chicken, etc.)
-1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional, although the spicy kick is great in this dish)
-salt and pepper, to taste
-1/4 cup pine nuts

Cooking Instructions:

1) Preheat the to 450 degrees. Meanwhile, place the prosciutto slices on a cooling rack, and then place that on a baking sheet. Once the oven's warm, bake for seven minutes, until crispy. Set aside. 
2) Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Once al dente texture is achieved, strain and run under cold water to arrest the cooking process. Keep in strainer.
3) In a large flat-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the minced garlic and cook for two minutes to flavor the oil. 
4) Add the chard and broccoli raab, and saute for about three or four minutes. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes, garbanzos, stock, lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. Cook for another three or four minutes.
5) While those ingredients are cooking, run hot water over the pasta. When it is warmed through, shake off excess water and place back in pot you used to cook the pasta. 
6) Add the ingredients from the pan into the pot with the pasta and cook over medium-low heat. Crumble crispy prosciutto slices into pasta and stir to incorporate.
7) While the pasta is heating up, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until fragrant. Add to pasta pot. 
8) Top with shredded Parmesan, eat and enjoy. 

Till next time.  
  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6) Curried Waldorf Salad

On this Black Friday, I'm most thankful for one thing: that I'm not waiting on irritable, blood-thirsty, deal-crazed customers at some retail job. I've served tours of duty in a variety of theaters: from posh Michigan Avenue in Chicago to the less posh environs of the Albertville Outlet Center. I count myself fortunate having survived to tell the tale (which I don't tell, because it's not very interesting).  Instead, I'm contentedly sitting here at my computer, eating a bowl of my Curried Waldorf Salad for breakfast, which tastes all the better being so far removed from the retail war zone. A note on the apples: life is too short to skimp on produce. I can assure you, there is a HUGE difference between buying and using $.99/lb Fuji apples and $1.99/lb Honeycrisp apples in this recipe. In apples, as in life, you get what you pay for. If you're a little short, give me a call and I'll see if I can cover you. And remember: friends don't let friends eat
Read more

1) Kicked-Up Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Barbecue Sauce & Mango-Apple Relish

Pork is quickly gaining on beef in the race to be known as my favorite land-based protein (wild arctic char rules my heart). Even my wife, a self-proclaimed pork-hater, loved eating this tasty sandwich. I was inspired by my mother's similarly prepared pork dish, though she kept the spare ribs intact. When pressed about her cooking methods, she told me that she boiled the ribs for an hour before putting them in the slow cooker, though she didn't know exactly what that accomplished. This intrigued me, so I decided to experiment. Of the ten ribs that went into the slow cooker, five had been boiled for an hour and five were raw. In the end, the boiled slow ribs were denser, darker in color, and seemed to absorb more flavor from the braising liquid than the raw ribs, which themselves had the virtue of being much more tender. This isn't to say that I preferred one method over the other, and in my opinion the combination of the two cooking approaches offered a final product with p
Read more

5) "Bon Voyage" Appetizer Trio

As penance for not posting lately, I'm offering a three-fer. I hope this squares us. Last Sunday my wife and I hosted a surprise going-away party for my brother-in-law Bryan. The sad reality of his departure was set aside as friends and family gathered for an evening of conversing, reminiscing, and general merriment. Despite being told by my wife to take the night off culinarily, I sprang into action upon seeing the speed with which the food brought and/or bought by others disappeared, and whipped up three dishes. A word on the first dish: I've made this one many times, and it's always a crowd-pleaser. My friends Casey and Kamila introduced me to a version of the first dish, so I can't claim much credit, but since many people have asked about it, this seems like a good forum to share the recipe. As for the preserves, I've used blueberry, raspberry, apricot, and lingonberry. They were all delicious, though blueberry is still my favorite. Feel free to use any fru
Read more