Showing posts with label kale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kale. Show all posts

Friday, November 5, 2010

best pasta concoction ever



i was walking on main street on wednesday, near king edward, and randomly walked into a deli store. maybe i was hungry (likely. i often am), maybe something caught my eye that made me think "i want some deli meat!" or maybe it was something else. anyway, i'm glad i did. i was greeted in a friendly manner, and immediately was offered to try some chorizo. i'm not a huge chorizo fan, and i don't buy/eat lots of meat. it was tasty, however. i bought some. i also bought some organic turkey deli meat, and a cute jar of maple mustard. to be honest, the guy was so friendly, and knew his product, and was passionate about it. if i stayed any longer than i did, i probably would have bought some of their handmade pastas, too, or some other condiment in a cute jar. luckily for my wallet, i left at some point before it was too late.

on my way home, i excitedly thought about my dinner plans. i wanted to incorporate chorizo somehow, meanwhile wanting to use up some kale in my produce drawer. i also had a weird craving for mushrooms. i stopped for a few quick groceries at donald's (i love donald's), and went home with a rough plan for my meal. it was to be a pasta dish.


"joey's best pasta concoction so far"
serves 2 big meals, or 4 small ones
measurements are roughly estimated - i don't measure things when i cook
cooking directions are also roughly estimated - i don't follow rules & half the time don't know if what i'm doing is actually the right way to do what i'm doing...

ingredients:
  • mushrooms (i used organic crimini mushrooms because i hadn't used them before and they looked tasty) - about 2 cups chopped mushrooms
  • garlic - 2 or 3 cloves, minced
  • onion - 1 medium sized onion, any kind you like baby
  • sage - 2 teaspoons chopped, fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried (use fresh, its so much better)
  • butter - lots
  • kale - de-stemmed, roughly 2 or 3 loose cups
  • cream, or coconut milk
  • parmesan cheese - lots. freshly grated
  • chorizo - 1 link, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • pasta noodles - 1 to 2 cups? i need to start measuring! i just poured out of my pasta jar until i was happy. i used emmer pasta, an ancient variety of wheat - tasty!
  • salt & pepper - "to taste," soo.... lots. :)
to do:

boil water with some salt for your pasta noodles. when water is boiled, add a tiny bit of olive oil to deter pasta sticking to the pot bottom. add pasta & cook according to package directions. don't drain them when they are cooked. if your pasta is ready WAY ahead of everything else, set a bit of the pasta water aside and then drain the noodles so they don't get soggy & icky.

in a large saucepan, or a wok (i used a wok), on low heat, melt a gob of butter, add your onions & saute until translucent. add half the garlic. turn heat up to medium & add them mushrooms & sage. until the mushrooms are browned and/or cooked to your liking. add the kale & cook for a few minutes. set aside mushroom concoction, in a bowl or something, and keep the wok/saucepan on the heat. you may want to turn your heat down a bit at this point, and add a larger gob of butter & the rest of the garlic. you don't want to burn the garlic. add a couple cups of cream (i used coconut milk, it seemed to work fine!), and cook until bubbly. add your grated parmesan, stir it around and cook for a bit. now add the noodles, a bit of the pasta water, and your chorizo. and everything else - including salt & pepper. cook for a bit longer, and make sure everything is coated in sauce. if not, add a bit more cream & cheese. serve, & garnish with more grated parmesan cheese & maybe a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley if you have it.

essentially, i made an alfredo sauce, but i'm not a cook who follows rules well, so i cook things the way i cook things, not necessarily how they are supposed to be done. so if you want, find a good alfredo sauce recipe & try that! (this recipe looks decent)


i preemptively did a photoshoot with my bowl of pasta before tasting it, assuming it would be decent enough to validate being hungry for a few more minutes. while eating my delicious pasta dinner, i decided it was the best pasta concoction i had thrown together yet. thus, it deserved a blog post dedicated to it.

and here it is. enjoy. :)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

kale and potato soup (and biscuits)


i made some pretty fantastic kale & potato soup today. and then i made biscuits for the 3rd time this week. however, i made them without butter, and used coconut oil instead. coconut oil is somewhat pretty much solid at room temp, and has a similar consistency as shortening, so it works pretty well. its just a bit more pricey. it gives a great taste to the biscuits though.

like usual, i don't really follow recipes well unless i'm baking, but i will still attempt to explain how i made the soup. into a large pot i threw in some celery stalks, some onion, some herbs (dill, parsley, rosemary), salt, peppercorns, chopped potatoes (around 5 medium sized). i covered the veggies in water and boiled it, then simmered for a long time. in another pot, i steamed the chopped up kale (i took the leaves off the stems) with some salt & dill. i did it separate so that i could puree the stock while leaving the kale leaves intact for texture. while waiting, i made these biscuits. after some amount of time had passed, i pureed the stock in a blender with some coconut milk and put it back in the large pot. then i added the kale & the water it was steaming/boiling in. i tasted the soup, added some more salt (if you are overly concerned about your sodium intake, this is where you wouldn't add more salt), added some more coconut milk, and let it simmer a bit longer before dishing out and eating.


oh yeah and my sister made a pumpkin tart for herself for dessert (she's selfish that way).