Week 4

What I Made: Linguine with Peas and Red Onion

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What do you call the act of removing peas from their pod?  I have always called this “shelling peas” but recently came across this recipe that calls it “shucking” peas!  Do you use one of these words or another altogether?  Leave your answer in the comments below! Whatever it’s called, it’s a sure sign of summer. The full recipe for linguine with peas and red onion is after the jump.

For this recipe, you’ll need 2 cups of peas.  I only got about a cup out of my CSA’s peas, so I made up the rest with frozen ones I had on hand.

 

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The beginning of the job.

Next, heat 1 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.  Add a thinly sliced red onion and a little water.

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Cook the onions until they are softened.
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Then, add the peas and cook 1-2 minutes.  The fresh peas will turn a bright shade of green.

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Beautiful, fresh colors!

 

Finally, add cooked linguine (about a half pound dry)

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Toss linguine, onions and peas with a quarter cup of basil (I didn’t have quite that much on hand) and 2 tablespoons of butter.peas6

 

Unlike some previous recipes, this makes a really pretty plate!

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What I Made: Cheesy Fettuccine with Escarole

/ CSA in the City / 5 Comments

 

Oh Food & Wine, can you do wrong in a recipe?  This recipe for fettuccine with escarole in a brie sauce was one of my favorites thus far.  Not too heavy, but with a decadent touch of creamy brie that makes a simple but sophisticated sauce.  Check out the photos and recipe below.

 

Behold! A pound of escarole.  This was about half of my very large head of beautiful leafy goodness.
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The original recipe calls for 2 ounces of bacon or pancetta, but in hindsight, I would have added about 4 ounces of chopped cooked ham, cut into a much coarser dice.  The meat taste was faint to nonexistent! EscaCheese2

I rolled up the escarole and cut it into roughly 1 inch ribbons.  You can see at the top right that I trimmed the leaf base a bit to get rid of some of the tougher stalk material.

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Cooking up the shallot with the bacon.

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The escarole goes in light green and fluffy.

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 And cooks down to a glossy dark green after about

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Add the cooked fettuccine, some pasta water, and the brie.  The sauce will thicken as it sit.

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Fettuccine with Escarole and Brie via Grace Parsi/Food & Wine

3/4 pound fettuccine
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta or bacon, coarsely chopped (see above, I would add 4 oz chopped ham)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 pound escarole, cut into 1-inch ribbons
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound Brie (preferably a wedge), rind removed

  1. In a large pot of generously salted boiling water, cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 1/4 cups of the cooking water.
  2. Meanwhile, in a very large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the pancetta and cook over high heat, stirring, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the escarole, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, just until wilted.
  3. Add the pasta to the skillet along with 1 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Cut the Brie into 1-inch pieces and add to the skillet. Cook the pasta over moderate heat, tossing, until the Brie is melted and the sauce is thick and creamy, about 4 minutes; add more of the pasta cooking water if the sauce is dry. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta to bowls and serve immediately.

What I Made: Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb Sauce

/ CSA in the City / 1 Comment

Happy July 4!  I hope you’re enjoying the holiday with some good eats.

This recipe showed up the same day I got my rhubarb so I figured it was meant to be! Not that there was anything wrong with the scones or crisp I had made with the rhubarb before, but I was intrigued by the use of rhubarb in a savory dish.

 

And… well, it’s hard to beat a scone.  Let me take you through the recipe below

 

 

Rhubarb has got to be one of the prettiest veggies!  I started by cutting it into a rough dice while the chicken was browning. chicken2

 

Take out the chicken, deglaze with some white wine, then cook down the rhubarb.

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The chicken goes back in to simmer in the sauce for about 20-30 minutes.

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The final product is below. chicken5

An important note: the rhubarb sauce is not the most attractive thing you’ve ever seen.  It resembles something along the lines of slop for hogs or homemade baby food (or lots of more disgusting comparisons I will not post on the same page as picture of food). Honestly, I thought I had done something terribly wrong until I went back and checked the video that accompanied the original recipe. Lo and behold, it showed the same pinkish goo as my sauce, just served under the chicken, not on top.

Skillet Chicken With Rhubarb, via Melissa Clark/The New York Times

  • 1 (5 1/2-pound) whole chicken, cut into eight pieces
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, more as needed
  • 5 sprigs thyme, preferably lemon thyme
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 bunch spring onions or scallions, white and light green stalks thinly sliced (slice and reserve greens for garnish)
  • 2 stalks green garlic, thinly sliced, or 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 3/4 pound fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice (3 cups)
  • 1 tablespoon honey, or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1. Pat chicken dry and season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Place in a bowl with the thyme sprigs and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove thyme from bowl with chicken, reserving thyme. Add chicken pieces to skillet and sear, turning occasionally, until golden brown all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer pieces to a platter.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in onion (white and light green parts) and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and reserved thyme; cook 1 minute more. Stir in wine and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits in the bottom of pan. Add rhubarb, honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper.
4. Return chicken pieces to pot in a single layer. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes for breasts and 20 to 25 minutes for legs and thighs, transferring chicken pieces to a platter as they finish cooking.
5. Whisk butter into rhubarb sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon sauce over chicken and garnish with sliced onion greens.

 

Final verdict?  The chicken is moist, the sauce is really flavorful, with a tangy bite that’s unlike anything I’ve ever tried.  I would have rinsed the chicken to cut down on some of the salt. And ultimately, I cannot get over the nasty look of that sauce. It is so unappetizing looking, I could not imagine serving it to company!