Recipes
The greatest five-minute tomato pasta on earth
Serves 2-4, depending on how serious you are about tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds of the ripest tomatoes you can find (a mix of varieties is really nice)
- 2 loose handfuls of tender young arugula or flavorful greens of your choice (about 2 cups, but whatever)
- ¼ cup shaved red onion or shallot, as thin as you can cut it
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguine
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Red wine vinegar, to taste (optional)
- Parmigiano cheese, to taste (optional)
Directions
- Boil a gallon of water in a large pot, and make it taste salty (not unpleasantly salty, but distinctly salty). When the water comes to a full boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
- While the water is heating, cut half of the tomatoes into roughly ½-inch chunks and put in a large salad bowl. Coarsely chop the rest, and don’t forget to tip the cutting board to get all the juice in the bowl too.
- Season the tomatoes generously with salt and pepper, and pour in a few glugs of olive oil. Taste them. Hey, save some for the pasta! If they’re sweet and delicious but could use a little tartness, give them a little lick of vinegar.
- Lay arugula and then onion or shallots on top of the tomatoes, spreading out the onions so they’re as close to lying in one layer as possible. Now wait for your pasta to finish cooking. You can’t steal any more tastes of the tomato, because the layering is important — the heat from the pasta that you’ll dump on top will wilt the greens and just barely cook the onions, mellowing them out. Right about now is when I start really failing at the art of anticipation and scream obscenities at the pasta to finish cooking.
- When the pasta is finally done (You son of a #@&$!), drain it well in a colander and immediately dump it in the bowl, spreading it out so it covers the vegetables evenly. Bite your lip and let it sit undisturbed for two whole minutes and try to distract yourself by shaving Parmigiano on top. Mix it together well — really stir it up to stretch the melting cheese and coat the pasta in juice and oil. Give it a taste, adjust with salt, pepper, vinegar or olive oil if you’d like more richness, and serve immediately.
Francis Lam is Features Editor at Gilt Taste, provides color commentary for the Cooking Channel show Food(ography), and tweets at @francis_lam. More Francis Lam.
Kale-filled crepes recipe
Ingredients
Kale filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red onion (chopped)
- ⅔ cup stock
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 cup kale (chopped)
- 1 cup turnip greens (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- 2 petite summer squash (chopped)
- Salt to taste
- 8-10 nasturtium blossoms
Salal Raspberry Syrup
- ½ cup wild black raspberries
- ½ cup salal berries
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoons raw sugar
Crepes
- 1 cup sifted white flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter (melted)
- Bacon grease
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Thimbleberry rosemary simple syrup
Ingredients
- ½ cup of honey
- ½ cup of water
- 1 cup of thimbleberries
- 1 lime
- Three sprigs of fresh rosemary (chopped)
Directions
- In a small saucepan, heat honey and water. When liquid comes to a boil, add berries. Stir. Remove from heat.
- Add lime juice and rosemary. Leave to steep for 3-4 hours.
- Strain. If necessary, press berry mash against strainer to release liquid.
- Chill and serve.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Wild berry champagne barbecue sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
- 1 cup fresh huckleberries
- 1 cup fresh salmonberries (thimbleberries or raspberries also work)
- ¼ cup spumante champagne
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 2 tablespoons of ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- dash of Worcestershire
Directions
- In a saucepan, sauté garlic in olive oil.
- Add remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick.
- Remove from heat; cool.
- Place mixture in a blender; process until smooth.
- Use as sauce over pork, steaks or poultry.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Pasta with mussels and cream sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. fettuccini (cooked al dente)
- Parmesan cheese and pepper
-
Group 1
- 30-40 mussels
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup white wine
Group 2
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 green onions
- 3 tablespoon white wine
- Mussels (sans shell)
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
Group 3
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1½ tablespoons flour
- ½ cup half and half
- ¼ cup stock
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ lemon
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Dolmas with tzatziki sauce recipe
Michelle’s Dolmas
Ingredients
- Cooked rice
- Olive oil
- Garlic (minced)
- Carrot (grated)
- Zucchini (diced)
- Fresh dill or fennel (diced)
- Salt
- Feta cheese (optional)
- Water
- Lemon juice
Directions
- Cook rice.
- Sauté onion, garlic, grated carrot, little pieces of zucchini and little pieces of fresh fennel. Add dill or fennel, more olive oil, and feta cheese. Turn off heat.
- Remove a grape leaf from your jar and spread it flat on a cutting board. Take a spoonful of the rice and vegetables and plop it in the center of the grape leaf. Fold up the bottom of the leaf first, then fold the sides in and roll.
- Put the dolmas in a big saucepan. (You want to fill up the bottom of the saucepan with dolmas.) Add water until the water level is about halfway up the dolmas. Add lemon juice.
- Set a kitchen plate on top of the dolmas to hold them down during the steaming process. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil.
- Minimize heat, and steam the dolmas for 30 minutes on the stove top. Keep an eye — the dolmas should be ready when the liquid is gone.
- Drizzle with olive oil and serve with tzatziki sauce.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
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