Spring Vegetable Pasta Carbonara

After a cold winter, we all look forward to what Spring and Summer bring.  As a blogger, about mid February I get the itch to start planting summer crops, but in our climate, that’s a little early.  So I settle for some grocery store finds.  I was inspired to make this dish by all the colors and fresh flavors.  It is something that not only can be made in Spring, but all Summer as well.

Spring Vegetable Pasta Carbonara

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces pancetta cut into a small dice (I omitted)
• Olive oil
• 10 ounces pasta fettuccine or linguine (I used penne)
• 1 lb fresh English peas (frozen as ok as well!)
• 1/2 zucchini, cut into half moons
• 1 carrot, julienned (I use pre cut)
• 1/2 lb green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 8 oz mushrooms, quartered
• 3 scallions thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 egg whisked
• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan
• ½ cup freshly grated pecorino romano
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• Fresh basil for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Cook the pasta according to the package directions until al dente. If using fresh peas, add the peas, carrots and green beans about 2 minutes before the pasta is done. (If using frozen, add 30 seconds before the pasta is done). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta and the peas.
3. In a large heavy bottom dutch oven skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until browned, about 8-10 minutes. Season with pepper and remove from skillet.  Use the drippings to quickly sauté the mushrooms and zucchini, remove from skillet and add back in the pancetta to skillet, turn off heat.
4. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the skillet with the oil and the pancetta and whisk to combine and emulsify the fat with the water. Add the whisked egg to the skillet making sure not to scramble it. Add the pasta, vegetables and scallions into the pancetta and egg mixture. Toss to combine. Add the cheeses and toss to combine again. Add more pasta water as needed to thin. Season with salt, pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice. Serve with plenty of fresh basil on top. 

(Small florets of broccoli can be added along with the peas, if you’d like)

Skillet Corn, Edamame, and Tomatoes with Basil Oil

Every summer, when all the great vegetables are popping up and ready for the picking, this is our go to side dish at least once a week.  We also add diced zucchini and yellow squash to it to change it up.

Skillet Corn, Edamame, and Tomatoes with Basil Oil

Ingredients

  1 cup fresh basil leaves

  ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

  1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt, divided

  ¼ cup finely sliced scallions (from 4 scallions)

  1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic (from 3 small garlic cloves)

  3 ¼ cups corn kernels (from 3 ears)

  2/3 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed

  ½ pound cherry tomatoes, halved (1 3/4 cups)

  2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add basil; cook 10 seconds. Transfer basil to a bowl of ice water, then drain, and squeeze dry. Puree basil, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor until smooth.

2. Heat remaining oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add corn, edamame, and remaining salt. Cook, stirring, until starting to caramelize, about 10 minutes (reduce heat to medium if overbrowning). Add tomatoes and vinegar; cook until tomatoes start to collapse, about 8 minutes.

3. Drizzle basil oil on vegetables, and stir. Serve immediately.

OSU Pop up Dinner

My husband, Craig, is known for finding some of the most unique things (but I’ll get back to this later). 

 

Quite a few years ago we were introduced to CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and quickly became spoiled!!  A CSA project is a system that connects local producers/farmers with consumers (that’s me), allowing the consumers to subscribe to the harvest of a farm or group of farms.  Generally, you buy a share of that year’s crop, which then gets delivered on a regular schedule (usually once a week).  Some CSA’s even include farm events throughout the growing season. By attending these CSA farm events, Craig and I have expanded our knowledge of chickens, farming and canning as well as having the opportunity to try “new to us” produce items we would have not probably tried (Kohlrabi and  Broccoli Rabe, just to name a couple).  

 

Now, back to Craig and his ability to find unique opportunities, He found a seafood CSA. What?  Mind blown!  Soon after signing up, we received a pound (plus) of fish every Tuesday. The fish we received was absolutely the freshest fish I’ve ever tasted, straight out of the waters of Juan de Fuca. Black Cod, Striped Salmon, Coho. I’m drooling just thinking about it. 

 

Since moving to Portland, we’ve tried a few different CSA options.  We even tried an egg CSA. Nothing ever really seemed to fit our needs. 

 

So that brings me to today (remember those unique abilities of Craig?).  He asked me if I was interested in signing up for a Pop up Dinner.  Okay, that peaked my curiosity.  OSU was offering a vegetarian dinner (for two).  I’m game, let’s do it!  

A bit of background information about me, in our house I plan every meal down to the pepper grains. Seriously.  And I don’t like to divert my meal plans either. I quickly catch myself from being offended if someone spontaneously invites us for dinner. I’m like, what the hell, now I have to shift the menu. With this new adventure, I shifted Taco Tuesday to accommodate our Pop up Dinner, as well as added some fresh salmon as a side (our neighbor had just returned home from fishing and offered us a HUGE salmon fillet).  

The OSU Pop up Dinner box included items to prepare Baked Ratatouille, Nectarine Radish Fennel Salad and Apple Pear Blueberry Crisp. All of these recipes are vegetarian and gluten free. 

Baked Ratatouille 

12oz tomato sauce 

1 eggplant, thinly sliced 

1 zucchini, thinly sliced 

1 yellow squash, thinly sliced 

3 heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced 

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced 

 

Herb topping: 

1 T basil, minced 

1 T thyme, minced 

1 T parsley, minced 

1 clove garlic , minced 

olive oil 

salt and pepper to taste 

 

Directions:

Mix herb topping together. Set aside. 

Preheat oven to 375°. 

Place the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 10 inch round pan. 

Stack 1 slice each of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, yellow squash and onion. Repeat this step until all vegetables have been used, Then place vegetable stacks around the pan, on top of the tomato sauce. 

Lightly salt and pepper. Top the vegetable stacks with the herb mixture.

​Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. 

 

Nectarine Radish and Fennel Salad

 

Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup olive oil 

3 T white balsamic 

1 T honey 

1 t dijon mustard 

2 T lemon juice 

4 T mixed chopped fresh herbs (mint, tarragon, thyme) 

Salt to taste 

 

Salad:

2 nectarines, diced 

1 bunch small radishes, very thinly sliced 

1 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced 

1 shallot, very thinly slice and separated 

2 green onions, thinly sliced 

 

In a medium bowl, combine all the vinaigrette ingredients.  Mix to blend.  Set aside. 

 

Place all the sliced vegetables and fruit into the bowl and toss to coat, making sure to separate the radishes and shallots, so they don’t stick together.

 

Pear, Apple & Blueberry Crisp 

 

Filling:

2 pears, peeled, cored and diced 

2 green apples, peeled, cored and diced 

1 cup frozen blueberries 

1 t cinnamon 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 t lemon juice 

2 t cornstarch 

 

Topping:

1 cup oatmeal (I used 2 Bob’s Red Mill Blueberry Oatmeal Cups) 

1/2 cup butter, melted 

 

Combine apples, pears and blueberries in a bowl.  Add lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Toss to coat. 

 

In a separate bowl, mix together the oatmeal and butter until combined. 

 

Preheat oven to 350°. 

 

I divided the fruit filling between 6 greased ramikins, but you can place the fruit filling into a greased glass 

bakeware.

 

Bake for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Teriyaki Chicken and Broccoli

Teriyaki Chicken and Broccoli

 

One of my favorite quick go to dinners is Teriyaki Chicken. It's quick, so easy and customizable to your taste. Living in he Seattle area, you can get Teriyaki anywhere. It's almost like the Starbucks of Asian food. Some are good, others are great, everyone has their favorite. What I find is that all are way too salty for me. 

Here are some interesting facts about soy sauce:

Soy sauce is arguably the most used condiment in the world. 

Soy sauce is the product of fermented boiled soy beans. 

Soy sauce was originally a way to stretch salt and fermented with fish. Fish was separated from the process, and created fish sauce as a separate ingredient. 

Soy sauce was first introduced to the Webster culture in the Netherlands, decades before Asian foods were introduced, and the Europeans couldn't reproduce it, as they didn't understand the fermentation process, developed by the Chinese. 

Light soy sauce traditionally has no reference to lower salt, as we know it today. It refers to it being fresh, or the first brewing. And lighter in color. (This is my favorite!!)

Dark refers to a thicker darker style. This is more common in the US. 

There is a different style for almost every Asian region. From Chinese (where soy originated) to Burmese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai, & Vietnamese. And multiple styles within each region. 

And a little bit on Teriyaki:

The word teriyaki derives from the word "Teri" which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the sauce, and yaki, which refers to the cooking method of grilling or broiling.

Traditionally the meat is dipped in or brushed with sauce several times during cooking. This popular dish was originally created by Japanese cooks of the seventeenth century, when urbanization, changes in agricultural methods and exposure to new ingredients from abroad gave rise to new, innovative cooking styles.

So here is my version of:

Teriyaki Chicken, with Broccoli

Mix together:

1/2 c Soy sauce (use low sodium, you won't miss the salt!)1/2 c Rice wine vinegar 

2 T Garlic, diced (or use the prediced kind you can buy)

1/2 t Red pepper flakes, adjust according to your taste)

1/4 c Brown sugar

2-3 T Oil

2 boneless Chicken breasts, roughly chopped (boneless thighs would be great in this too)

1 Onion, chopped

12 oz fresh Mushrooms, sliced

1 head fresh Broccoli, chopped into florets 

6-8 oz fresh Snow peas

1 can Water chestnuts, sliced, and drained

Prepare pan by heating oil.  Carefully add chicken and onions.  Once the chicken is cooked and onions are translucent, add Mushrooms and Broccoli. Cook 3-4 minutes, constantly stirring. Add in sauce mixture and stir. Before serving, add water chestnuts and snow peas. Serve over rice.