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main dish

Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes Main Dishes Vegetarian

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Cream Sauce

written by Ali

I have a long week ahead of me with lots of deadlines and thing that need to be done yesterday. However, I think the week will be just fine, thanks to this roasted cauliflower pasta with cream sauce. This particular recipe was inspired by Don’t Give a Fork – the beautiful blog from Payal Bhuptani. I was so happy to get this blog for the January Food Bloggers Recipe Swap. As I’ve mentioned before here, one of the best parts of blogging is getting to know more about other food bloggers. (If you want to check out recipes from past swaps, click here and here).

It was really hard for me to make up my mind which recipe I wanted to make from Don’t Give a Fork. I’d contemplated a beautiful roast chicken, an elegant looking apple galette, and several great looking egg recipes. In the end, I landed on Spinach and Pasta with Pan Roasted Cauliflower and Cream Sauce. I’m always looking for great ways to use up cauliflower and this recipe was perfect.

I did do a bit of adaptation. I left out the spinach, largely because I couldn’t find a good looking bunch of organic spinach at the store. I would definitely add the spinach back in next time I make this. I also oven roasted the cauliflower because, well, I’m a little lazy. Plus, Payal did say she would oven roast if she had an oven – it seemed a fair thing to do. And I tossed in a 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese in the cream sauce. There might have been a bit of fridge scavenging/cleaning going on this weekend.

The end result is scrumptious! (How I love that word to describe beautiful food!). The soaked almonds are an absolute must – they are a perfect counterpoint to the nuttiness of the roasted cauliflower.

I really encourage you to check out Don’t Give a Fork. I will be cooking many more recipes from this site this year. It’s all just so yummy looking!

Yum

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Cream Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 box or package of pasta (small shells, wheels, or penne)
1/4 cup whole almonds
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cut the cauliflower into thin slices (1/4 inch thick). Spread them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and drizzle with the olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt. Roast for 10 minutes. Stir. Return to the oven and roast for another 10 - 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is lightly browned.
While the cauliflower is roasting, cover the almonds in water and let them soak.
Boil water for the pasta in a medium sized saucepan. Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain.
Once the cauliflower is roasted and the pasta is cooked, start the cream sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour, a bit at a time, whisking constantly. Cook for 1 minute once all the flour is incorporated. Add the half and half slowly and continue to whisk. Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens. Take off the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
To plate, divide the pasta between three or four bowls. Divide the cauliflower. Chop the almonds into small bits and divide. Spoon the cream sauce over each and serve.
Serves three or four. Enjoy!

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January 30, 2018 0 comment

Freezer Meals Holiday Recipes Main Dishes Vegetarian

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

written by Ali

I’m back to blogging with this vegetarian shepherd’s pie. If you were wondering what happened to me, I got caught up in a combination of traveling for business and a box of the most beautiful red peppers. I spent most of Sunday afternoon last week roasting, peeling and freezing the peppers, in between packing for my work trip. This weekend, however, life is back to normal.

So, to get to it – this week’s CSA share brings us to week 23 of 28. Hard to believe that we will have CSA veggies through the end of November. This week, we received parsnips, carrots, onions, Hakurei turnips, lettuce, mustard greens, parsley, and Gold Nugget squash. I used the parsnips, carrots, onions, and squash in my vegetarian shepherd’s pie. The lettuce went into a chicken salad. The turnips and mustard greens are still hanging out in the fridge. I’m saving the parsley for chicken stock.

All and all, it was a satisfying cooking weekend. I loved seeing parsnips in my CSA share – I’m a fan of the starchy sweet root veggie. I don’t think I’d ever had a parsnip before I moved to Oregon. Prior to this recipe, I’d mostly just cut them up into strips and baked them like fries. However, I thought it might be interesting to use the parsnips as the topping for vegetarian shepherd’s pie. I boiled them with a potato and mashed them up with butter and milk. So incredibly yummy!

The golden nugget squash was a lovely little orange squash. I went a different route to chop it up than I usually do. I peeled it (with a regular veggie peeler) first and then cut it into slices. It was much easier to cut and deseed this way.

I used beluga lentils for this recipe because it was what was on hand. You could use any lentil for this recipe, though – I would imagine it would be both pretty and tasty with orange lentils. This is another recipe that freezes like a dream and could certainly be made in advance for a main dish for your vegetarian friends for Thanksgiving.

Yum

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

3 cups cooked lentils
4 small parsnips
1 medium potato
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small winter squash, cut into small chunks
2 carrots, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

Peel the parsnips and potato and dice into small chunks. Place in a small saucepan and cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or until the parsnips and potatoes are soft. Drain. Add the butter and milk and mash.
While the parsnips and potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and slightly brown, about 10 minutes. Add the squash, carrots, vegetable broth, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring the broth to a low boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Add the cooked lentils to the vegetables. Split the vegetables and lentils into four ramekins (or put them into a shallow baking dish). Spread the mashed parsnip/potato mixture over the top of each. Broil for 7 - 10 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.
Serves 4. Enjoy!

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November 6, 2017 1 comment

Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes Main Dishes Uncategorized Vegetarian

Beet Ravioli in Wonton Wrappers

written by Ali

This beet ravioli in wonton wrappers demonstrates my truce with beets. I know I’m not the only one who was forced to eat beets as a kid and found the absolutely revolting. It wasn’t until Clay and I joined a CSA when we lived in Southern Oregon that I even realized that beets come in more varieties than the boiled-to-death red kind. I also discovered through that experience that beets can be very versatile – they can be used in chocolate dishes (which masks the intense mineral flavor pretty well); they can be sliced thinly and eaten raw; and then can be baked into beet chips. They can also be part of many pasta dishes – from gnocchi to orecchiette to ravioli.

I used salt roasted beets with rosemary from Alexandra Cooks as the base for this recipe. The rosemary gives this a heavy hit of flavor. The recipe itself is fairly quick to put together, not counting the time it takes to roast the beets. I strongly advise cooking just a few of the ravioli at a time, as they can be a bit fragile and you don’t want to lose all of the beet filling. While the beet ravioli in wonton wrappers can be sauced with pesto or another pasta sauce, I’m fond of serving them with a drizzle of olive oil, a handful of walnuts, and some freshly grated parmesan.

Beet Ravioli in Wonton Wrappers
Serves 4

2 large beets, roasted or boiled (link to how to salt roast beets here)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
18 wonton wrappers

With a potato masher or fork, mash the beets until they become a smooth mix. Add the grated parmesan cheese and mix well.

Place 9 wonton wrappers on a flat surface. Place 1 tablespoon of the beet filling in the center of a wonton. Repeat with the remaining beet filling and wontons.

Place a small bowl of water next to your work area. Have 9 more wonton wrappers nearby. Using your finger, moisten a ¼ inch around the edge of a wonton. Take a second wonton wrapper and place it over the wonton/beet filling. Press around the edges to ensure a good seal. Continue with the remaining wontons/beet filling.

When you are done, you can either freeze the ravioli or cook immediately. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Drop each ravioli into the water gently – cook no more than four at a time to avoid them sticking together or leaking. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the boiling water.

These can be served with pesto or with other pasta sauces. I’m a fan of drizzling with a little olive oil, tossing on a few walnuts and grating a little bit of parmesan over the top.

August 24, 2016 0 comment