Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Squash

I've come across a few recipes lately that combine pasta with ingredients I wouldn't normally consider using. Cannellini beans, squash, breadcrumbs...weird, yet intriguing!

I had half a kabocha squash on hand so naturally I paired it with pasta.

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Squash

2 c kabocha squash, cut into bite sized pieces

3 leaves fresh sage

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

3 c broccoli rabe, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp chili garlic paste

1/4 c pasta water

3 c cooked pasta (I used brown rice penne)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss squash and sage with 1 tbsp oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Spread out onto a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes. Set aside.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Saute onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Add broccoli rabe and cook until greens start to wilt. Stir in fish sauce, chili paste and squash. 

Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta and pasta water and cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. 

March ingredients used: rapini/rabe, onions, garlic, herbs

Overall, it was a surprisingly delicious dish. Not as heavy as I thought it would be! The fish sauce adds a nice salty/briny flavor, but next time I might sub in some anchovies...I do love anchovies with garlic and broccoli rabe!

Artichokes with Sausage and Lemon

There's no denying my love of the following things: artichokes, sausage, and Tyler Florence. Unfortunately, I had a mediocre experience with all three the other night. 

I've had my eye on this recipe for Artichokes with Pork Sausage, Lemon and Sage for awhile now and I figured now would be the time to test it out since artichokes are in season! I made a couple minor modifications that I didn't think would make much of a difference and I just wasn't that impressed by the final product. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't horrible...it just wasn't as good as I had thought it would be. I ate dinner and all I could think was meh...all that work for this?

Seriously, the only recipes I follow all the way through are in all of Tyler Florence's cookbooks. He has never steered me wrong and the photos/descriptions are always pretty close to the real thing. That is why I was so shocked. Sadface.

Here are the modifications I made. Maybe I'll give this another go with no modifications. Agh. Still can't get over how blah this meal was.

My modifications:

Sausage - I used two turkey brats because I couldn't find a plain pork sausage and I was in a turkey sausage mood. I know pork is pork and it always lends more flavor to a dish than turkey, but I don't know how much saving the pork sausage would have done to the dish. Maybe a spicy pork sausage?

Onion - I didn't have a shallot on hand and I didn't have anything milder than an onion. I minced it up super tiny.

Potato - I had a handful of fingerlings leftover so I thought I'd throw them into the dish. They were pretty small so I figured they would cook fairly fast.

Bake - So the original recipe doesn't call for baking, but I wanted the tots to cook and soak up the flavor.  I browned the sausage instead of cooking it all the way through and placed it in the dish with all the ingredients. Baked it covered for 15-20 minutes and dinner was done.

March ingredients used: artichokes, herbs, lemons, onions, potatoes

This was also my first time cooking with whole artichokes. What an experience. It's a whole lot of effort and dinero for a whole lot of nothing. I have a new appreciation for prepared artichokes. 

I learned how to prepare them by watching a bunch of videos online and stuck with the original recipe for steaming. Exciting.

As those steamed, I enjoyed a glass of the wine I used to steam them.

O hello sauvignon blanc, long time no sip!

Stephen Vincent 2009 Sauvignon Blanc

Fantastic! Crisp, not too acidic and slightly fruity. I thought I tasted a hint of nectarine, but whenever I say that the tasting notes always say melon. Apparently my tastebuds confuse melon with nectarines. I picked this bottle up at Whole Foods mostly because it was the most reasonably priced bottle. What a pleasant surprise. At $12.99, this is definitely going on my list of bargain bottles! 

Red red wine

Sometimes red wine makes me think of UB40. You know, for no particular reason.

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I picked up a bottle of red (sometimes Billy Joel runs through my head as well) while running errands and planned on enjoying a glass or two with dinner. I can't really say I enjoyed it.

Chateau de Gaudou 2008 Cahors

Blend: 80% Malbec, 15% Merlot, 5% Tannat

The first sip felt a little slimy. Do you know what I mean when I say slimy? It's like it's too soft on the palate and just didn't have enough tannins. Then, after I let it sit for a little while, it tasted too acidic. It was weird and not for me. I was pretty disappointed since the last bottle of Cahors I had was pretty freaking good...now if only I can remember the name of it!

Now, I can't just leave you guys hanging with a bad wine experience! Here's a wine I tasted at dinner while cousin was in town.

Arrels Grenache 2004
Slightly acidic and pretty tannic at first. I sampled this as part of a 3 wine flight and found that the first wine was too acidic and the third wine was too tannic. This one was perfectly in between! Looking back at all the blends I love, they all use a little bit of Grenache...maybe I was just meant to enjoy this wine :) I'l post more information as I find it.

Have you sampled any must-try reds lately?

Chicken, Brussels Sprouts & Taters

All playing well together.

After Saturday's successful trip to the farmers' market, I created a pretty well balanced dinner with a bunch of ingredients currently in season. Some elements were more successful than others, but I've noted modifications in the recipes below. Hope you enjoy them!

To start things off...

Mixed Greens with Fennel and Roasted Beets
Mixed salad greens
1 beet, roasted and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/4 c fennel, shaved

Vinaigrette
1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp champagne vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp tarragon
salt
pepper

Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients and toss a small amount with the mixed greens (you don't want to douse them in dressing). Add fennel, beets and avocado on top. Toss before serving.

The main course...

Green Garlic Chicken Roulade

2 chicken breasts, butterflied

1 stalk green garlic

2 1/2 tbsp plain greek yogurt

3 tbsp parmesan cheese, shredded

1 tbsp hot sauce

salt

pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Puree green garlic, yogurt, hot sauce and parmesan cheese together. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Spread 1/4 of mixture on each breast half, roll chicken up tightly and secure with two toothpicks. 

Place chicken in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165. Let rest for a few minutes and slice before serving.

Caramelized Onion and Brussels Sprout Hash
3/4 lb brussels sprouts, shredded
1/3 c caramelized onions
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp canadian bacon, finely chopped
1/3 c fennel, shaved
1/4 tsp lemon zest
salt
pepper

Heat butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. Brown bacon, then add fennel. Cook for 2 minutes before stirring in brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes. Add onions and lemon zest, reduce heat to medium low and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
1-2 c fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp dill
freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 400. Toss ingredients together and spread out on a baking sheet. Roast for 20-25 minutes.

March ingredients used: avocado, beet, brussels sprouts, fennel, green garlic, lemon, onion, potato

For dessert, Jamie and I snacked on a variety of baked goods we picked up on our walk through Chinatown:

Sweet Melon Cake (texture was a little weird...sort of like a shredded vegetable meets spongy texture) and Mini Custard Bun (not what I thought it was going to be, but not bad...moist cake with a tiny little custard bit inside)

Coconut Tart (Jamie was into this one, but I did not care for the texture. It was a moist spongy cake with a whole lot of shredded coconut) and Lotus Moon Cake (the ratio of filling to cake was weird and there was a salty surprise in the middle).

Personally, I wasn't that into any of the baked goods so I ended up snacking on one of the many oranges I collected that morning. It needed to be done.

Crabby

It's crab season and what better way to celebrate than deep frying a huge dungeness crab and enjoying the tender and crispy goodness? Sounds like a perfect Friday night to me.

Jamie flew in for the weekend and first thing on our agenda: Salt and Pepper Crab at R&G Lounge.

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I was bummed that I forgot my camera, but apparently everyone snaps photos of this photogenic sucker. Thank you, Google images, for making my life easier.

So, the crab is taken apart, dipped in a delightfully light batter, fried and then sprinkled with salt, pepper and scallions. It arrives to your table with the pieces neatly arranged under the top half of the shell that is purely for show. Fantastic presentation.

Once it arrives, and you stop drooling long enough to grab a piece of the piping hot crab, the real work begins. O yes, you still have to pick the crab apart. Inside the crispy fried shell are super tender bits of crab meat...almost completely devoid of grease. Amazing.

Of course this crab picking experience is much messier and a smidge tougher than most since your hands get coated with grease and crispy bits. Totally worth it though, especially when you end up with a succulent crab lollipop. Ahhhh!

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Not a big crab eater? Well the above photo is the best I could find to depict said lollipop. Basically we're talking about those very rare moments when you crack open a crab claw or leg and find a big honking piece of crab meat. Heavenly.

As I've mentioned before, dungeness crab meat is slightly different from blue crab meat. Clearly they are easier to pick than blue crabs (more meat for less work) and I've noticed that the meat is slightly reminiscent of the texture of imitation crab meat or king crab legs. Blue crab meat tends to be a little less...dense? I don't know. Crab is just delicious.

To supplement the crab (there were 3 of us and I'd say the crab was a good starter), we also ordered the Three Treasures with Black Bean Sauce (bean curd, eggplant and hot peppers stuffed with shrimp meat in black bean sauce) and Sauteed Pea Shoots. The bean curd in the Three Treasures looked like it was your typical fried tofu, but no. Inside the lightly fried skin was a silken tofu stuffed with a little bit of shrimp. Not really a great texture combo, but I did enjoy the tofu before biting into the shrimp.

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I must say the pea shoots might have been one of my favorite dishes of the night. I've really only had wimpy pea shoots where the stems were thin, almost like sprouts. These were exceptionally beefy looking stalks of pea shoots and they were simply sauteed with some garlic and were absolutely delicious. Note: they don't list these on the menu, so definitely ask for green veg options!

Overall, R&G Lounge was a tasty adventure and I'd definitely return to try the Peking Duck (no wimpy flat pancakes here, they use puffy steamed buns) or Crab in Black Bean Sauce (essentially the same experience as the Salt & Pepper Crab, but goopier).

Are you a crab lover? What's your favorite - dungeness, king, blue, snow, soft shell?

Farmers' Market Finds

This past weekend, I wandered around the Ferry Building Farmers' Market instead of my usual local one. As you know, I'm not a big fan of the Ferry Building market because it's overwhelming, crowded, a little pricey and sucks me in for hours. This time around I set a time limit and had a general idea of what I wanted to pick up. In and out in 20 minutes.

Here's a sampling of fruits and veggies you'll see this week!

White Guavas (from Washington State) - I just wanted to open my bag and sniff these suckers all day long. AMAZING. I hope they taste as good as they smell!

Mandarins, Cara Caras, Minneolas and Navel Oranges - Yeah, that's a bag full of citrus and I already ate two in one sitting. I thought I'd give the mandarins and minneolas another chance and again, they were too tart for my taste. I prefer the Cara Cara. The end.

Brussels Sprouts - I've never met a brussels sprout I didn't like. I got about 3/4 lb for $4, plus a few extra thrown in from the farmer dude. You know, just for fun. 

Green Garlic - I saw this on my list of things in season, but I had no idea what it was or what to do about it. It was in abundance at the market and luckily there was a very informative vendor on hand to tell me that it can be used as you would use regular garlic, but the flavor will be milder. He had some samples of a green garlic fromage blanc spread over bread. Delish.

I also grabbed a perfectly ripe avocado...though, it was definitely more expensive than at Safeway. Odd.

Stay tuned to see what I do with this week's ingredients!

The Letter M

Today's post is brought to you by the letter M. M for Mandarin Orange.

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I'm really not sure why I'm on this random citrus post kick. I think it's because I've been in the dark for so long about all the different varieties? Eh. Whatevs. I'm into the knowledge sharing. 

From the Wiki page:

Satsuma, a seedless variety, of which there are over 200 cultivars, such as Owari and mikan; the source of most canned mandarins, and popular as a fresh fruit due to its ease of consumption.

I grabbed a couple Satsumas at the farmers' market and these are itty bitty suckers! I snacked on one for breakfast and couldn't even handle how small the segments were! So cute. Flavor, not so cute. Maybe I don't know how to pick mandarins, but mine was super tart. Then again, I've only had canned/jarred mandarins before. These will not be appearing on the blog ever again. The end.

I know some of you are thinking: 'WTF? She traded in running posts for citrus fruits?!'

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Do not fret. I'll update you guys soon on the running front. I've just been too busy trying to cross stuff off my training list! Want to know what I've been up to? Check out the Training tab. I've got two big races coming up in April and May, so keep any eye out for those pre-race rambles and recaps. 

Miss any other topics? Hate my random fruit posts (seriously, they will stop soon)? Want more wine? Crave recipes that use certain ingredients? Tell me what you want to hear about: runbeansrun@gmail.com