8:12 PM Pasta with Mushrooms and Lima Beans

Tonight was a new dish made of items I needed to use out of the fridge. My portions are for one and I didn't measure anything, so you'll need to adjust for how many you are feeding.

2 slices of red onion
2 mushrooms, sliced
handful of frozen Lima beans
one clove of garlic, chopped
tablespoon of pesto
1/2 teaspoon of tomato paste
olive oil
salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese
small handful of whole wheat spaghetti

Prepare spaghetti noodles as directed on the package. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in skillet. divide slices of onion into quarters and begin saute. Salt onions to sweat. Once onions are beginning to go clear, add sliced mushrooms. Stir and salt again to sweat. Add Lima beans and saute until mushrooms are carmelized and lima beans are cooked. Add garlic and stir. Cook for about 30 seconds and turn heat off of burner. Garlic will continue to cook, but won't burn.


Once pasta is cooked al dente, drain and place in skillet with saute. Stir until noodles are coated. If skillet has cooled down, bring back up to low until finished stirring noodles.

Transfer noodle and veggies to a plate and add pesto and tomato paste.

Stir until coated. Season with pepper and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


This dish was extremely satisfying. It was a nice easy comfort meal. I accompanied the dish with Meridian Chardonnay and some green olives. The whole dish can be made Vegan with the omission of Parmesan and subbing a Vegan Pesto.

8:23 PM Chickpea, Cannellini Bean, and Wheatberry Soup

This is one of my favorite recipes from the magazine La Cucina Italiana. It is Incredibly Cheap to make and also just as easy. It's one of those soups that you really don't need to use measurements for and while cooking can walk away from and return just to check on things. It also freezes well and since it has zero meat or fat product in it, it keeps safely as a leftover for quite a while. Thus it's my Favorite kind of soup!

Chickpea, Cannellini Bean, and Wheatberry Soup

Start out with dried chickpeas, wheatberries, and cannellini beans (navy or great norther are also good). Soak cannellini beans in water overnight or for 8 hours. Soak chickpeas and wheatberries together in water and 1/8 tsp baking powder for the same length of time.


After soaking, bring water to boil and cook each pot around 30 min. You want the beans starting to soften, but stop before they are al dente.

See the froth in this chickpea/wheatberry pot? You want to skim All of that off the top. That's the stuff that causes a good portion of the infamous Bean Gas. Get Rid of it! So keep checking both pots to skim. You can stir after you've skimmed, don't stir before you skim. That reincorporates the gasiness into the liquid.

Once the beans are starting to soften a little, remember don't cook to al dente yet, combine both contents in the larger pot and continue to allow to boil until beans are desired softness.

Serve in in a bowl piping hot and drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pepper, and dried herbs (I like a good Italian mix).

8:40 PM Stuffed Squash

Tonight I decided to finally make that quiche I was planning on making for Christmas and just didn't have time to make. I'll blog on the quiche later, but in the process of making the quiche, I had more squash than I needed as well as more leeks and I also needed to use up the baby bella mushrooms sitting in my fridge. So I experimented with a Stuffed Squash.

The part of the Butternut Squash I had leftover from the quiche was the perfect little bell part. The part that is hollowed out and gives us those Glorious little squash seeds which I like to roast. So I hollowed out the bell just like I normally do, and I placed the bell in a little dish and drizzled it with olive oil. I then placed it in a pre-heated oven of 400 degrees until the squash was a little soft.

While the squash was roasting, I boiled some water and made some Taboule as directed on the package, except for the "put in the refridgerator for 30 minutes part, I just let the grain steam on the counter.


After I had the Taboule started, I then sauteed my leeks, baby bella mushrooms, and some frozen peas.


Once the Squash was a little soft, I then removed the squash from the oven and began to stuff the bell in layers. 1st layer was the saute mix, then the 2nd layer was Taboule. I layered in this fashion until a final layer of Taboule was level with the top and then I garnished with the saute layer.




I then placed the Squash back in the oven to finish roasting. I served the squash right in its little baking dish.


So what's the verdict on the taste??

Well, it was ok. It wasn't Great, but it has promise. Firstly, my squash was a bit dry. Next time I will add more olive oil and I will cover the squash with foil to keep the moisture in. Also, it was missing something. I think it needed a small element of sweet. It may be that the butternut squash will be better once it's able to retain its moisture. But actually I think the recipe would benefit from the addition of some golden raisins at the time of layering just before the final roast. I think I will do that next time as this is a rather healthy dish and I feel I ought to work on it until I get it right. Plus it is relatively easy and has a nice presentation for dinner parties.