Kitchen Garden Journal

Last week the New York Times printed a recipe in their food section for a spring vegetable-inspired version of puttanesca. While the recipe sounded pretty good to me, the fresh, seasonal ingredients seemed an insult to the character of puttanesca. 

Puttanesca, named for the Neapolitan prostitutes who supposedly made pasta this way, is traditionally spaghetti with a sauce of tomatoes, chilies, anchovies, capers and olives. Its beauty lies in the fact that it can be made from what you already have in the pantry. Apparently, the prostitutes worked at night and slept too late to get to the market before the produce stalls had been packed up. But that didn’t stop their creativity in the kitchen.

So why put all those fresh flavors of spring in there, straight from the farmers’ market? 

Why not put them into a carbonara? After all, carbonara (named for charcoal makers who work in the winter and early spring in the forests) is an egg emulsion. And egg emulsions are classically employed to dress up springtime delicacies. 

Asparagus and hollandaise anyone? How about some spinach on those Eggs Benedict? So why not spring garlic (or spinach or asparagus, for that matter) in your carbonara? I love spring garlic with eggs! 

And it seems to me that if those Apennine wood cutters found a way to keep some pigs and chickens around, they most certainly would have planted themselves a little patch of garlic, too. 

A quick perusal of the internet turned up this recipe for a garlic scape-based carbonara from the very nice Italian cooking blog Sarah’s Cucina Bella:

Garlic Scape Carbonara

• 1/2 lb campanella pasta, or shape of your choosing
• 4 slices bacon (about 3 1/4 ounces), chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped garlic scapes (or spring garlic)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

Set a pot of water to boiling on the stove and cook the campanella pasta (or desired shape).

While it’s cooking, cook the bacon over medium heat until browned. Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and add the garlic scapes. Cook until soft (2-3 minutes). Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. (Drain both the bacon and the garlic scapes on a paper towel).

Whisk together the eggs, salt and red pepper flakes.

When the pasta is done, quickly remove it from the stove and set a different burner to low heat. Drain the pasta and add it back to the pot, on the burner set to low. Stir in the garlic scapes and bacon. Add the egg mixture and stir feverishly for 3-4 minutes until sauce is thick and creamy. Don’t let it overcook or it will be gloppy. Sprinkle the romano cheese in, a little at a time, and stir to combine. Don’t add it all at once or it won’t mix throughout the pasta as well (since it will clump).

Serve immediately.

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Since the hurricane blew over there has been a sharp chill in the air and it’s got us thinking about soup. And eating a lot of it, too.

There are so many wonderful soups that one can create so simply from the colorful palette of autumn vegetables.  We love soups with beans. They are incredibly easy, and there are few better ways to enjoy the coarser greens like kale and escarole than tossing them into a rich bean soup. Just throw some onion and garlic in a pan, sauté for a bit and add some tomato puree and the soaked beans. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and away you go. No need to use stock because the beans make their own broth. Add the greens in the last 20 minutes so they don’t overcook.

Recently we’ve “discovered” a whole class of pureed soups that are based on water, sautéed onion, and potato. Add any vegetable you like to these three ingredients and you’ve got a simple soup that brings out its very essence. All you need is a few ingredients and an immersion blender and you can whip up an incredible variety of these soups in about a half an hour.

Perhaps the simplest of these is potato-leek soup. Just sauté the onion and leeks together, add cubes of peeled potato and water to cover, simmer until cooked, blend and finish with cream. Sprinkle a little chives or parsley and voila! Done.

Take this soup and substitute carrots for the leeks. Add a few slices of ginger if you like. Cauliflower makes the silkiest cream soup of them all. So easy. What about broccoli? Throw in some grated cheddar cheese after pureeing for the best cheddar-broccoli soup ever. Spinach? You bet. Go out and grab the last of the season’s sweet corn and use that, too. You can add some bacon at the beginning and leave it chunky if you like for delicious corn chowder.

Once you get the basic concept, it’s like a whole world is open to you.

It reminds me a lot of the recent Häagen-Dazs ice cream ad campaign. They have this new product line called “5” of ice creams made with just 5 ingredient s: milk, cream, sugar, eggs and fill in the blank. It’s a great concept. Less is more. Purity, simplicity, and variety.

For those of you who prefer written out recipes to descriptive ones, here’s a link to a classic Moosewood carrot soup with lots of variations.

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• Fresh egg pasta:
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 5 eggs

Pour out the flour directly on your countertop or a very large pastry board, making a well in the center like a volcano.  Crack the eggs into the center of this well and begin to beat with a fork.  Little by little, incorporate flour from the walls of the volcano.  Try not to let the egg mixture break through the walls and go spilling everywhere.  Patience is the secret to fresh pasta: beat it with the fork until you can't bear it anymore. When the dough ball is ready to be worked by hand, relinquish the fork.  If you proceed to hand kneading too soon, though, you will make a sticky, eggy mess of your hands.  Knead the dough by hand, incorporating as much of the remaining flour as possible.  Next, the dough needs to rest.  Wrap your precious golden ball in plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 30 minutes.

After the dough rests, it's time to roll.  (If you don't have a pasta rolling machine, now would be too late to go buy one.)  Have some extra flour ready.  Cut off about a quarter of the dough ball and roll it out using the machine.  My method is to make a round disc by hand, coat it with flour, and roll it through stage 1.  Dust again, fold the piece in half, and send it though 1 again.  Now dust, proceed to 3, dust again, and proceed to 5.  I usually stop at the second to last stage because if you go all the way, the dough gets really thin and tears easily. You will find, through practice, your own method that works in your kitchen.

• Spinach-Ricotta filling:
• 1 lb spinach, blanched, cooled, squeezed, and chopped
• 1 quart ricotta
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until incorporated.

• Simple tomato sauce:
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste 

Saute the garlic in the oil until just beginning to brown. Add the tomatoes and their juice and simmer until reduced, about 15 minutes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon along the way.  Season with the salt and pepper and toss in a few basil leaves if you have them.

Manicotti are the simplest type of filled pasta.  Just cut your pasta sheets into large rectangles, boil them until they float, and then drain.  Roll them with the filling, slather with sauce and some additional parmesan cheese, and bake for 25 minutes at 350.  Buonissimo!

Shortcut: use no-boil lasagna sheets and either just make it into a lasagna, or cut the sheets in half and boil them for a few minutes until soft enough to be rolled.

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• 2-3 large leeks, cleaned
• 1 large bulb fennel
• 1 pound spinach or chard
• 2 cloves garlic
• 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 eggs
• Smattering of herbs like parsley, dill, and mint
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Small pinch cayenne powder
• Salt & pepper
• 1 package frozen phyllo dough or puff pastry
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil

Thinly slice the leeks and fennel across the grain.  Heat 1/4 cup of the oil over medium heat in your most capacious frying pan or wok, or in a large saucepan. Add the sliced vegetables and sauté until thoroughly softened, about 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and chop the greens and blanch in boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Drain, chill in cold water, wring out and reserve.  Chop the garlic very finely and add to the sautéing vegetables.  When they are ready, remove from heat and add the greens, crumbled feta, herbs, lemon juice, and eggs. Mix thoroughly and season with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. 

Defrost dough according to package directions.  If using phyllo, place one sheet at a time on a large cookie sheet, brushing with the remaining oil between the layers until half the package is used.  Pour on the filling and spread it out evenly.  Cover with remaining dough, brushing each layer with oil, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes to an hour, until the top is golden brown.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.  Serve at room temperature the following day for lunch.

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Spinach has the goods and she knows it.  She plays hard to get.  She is very particular about her needs: cool temperatures, lots of moisture, and abundant fertility.  Without just the right combination she simply sits there and pouts, goes to bed early, or doesn't even bother to show up. 

That's why spring is the ideal time to savor the unique gifts of spinach: the earthy succulence of its leaves in salads; its melting tenderness when sauteed; the chalky taste it leaves in your mouth; its natural marriage to tangy feta and smooth milky ricotta, not to mention good old heavy cream.  Now is the time to roll up your sleeves, roll out some fresh pasta, and elevate spinach to its highest potential: lasagna, manicotti, ravioli.

It's also time to put some away for later, because spinach doesn't stick around long.  It's here just for a brief time in the spring and again in the fall.  Freezing spinach couldn't be simpler.  Just dip it in boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking. 

Drain it and form the leaves into baseball-sized balls, squeezing all the moisture out.  Here's the trick: when you put the balls in the freezer, make sure they aren't touching one another.  That way you can easily retrieve as many portion-sized balls as your recipe requires, and not be left trying to saw apart a massive block.

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