eggs on sunday

I have a quick post for you tonight about a pasta dish I’ve been making recently. I’d been experimenting with some different recipes using ricotta cheese, and this one has risen to the top as one of our new favorite dinners (though leftovers are equally good for lunch!) It was loosely inspired by a penne with spinach sauce recipe in Giada De Laurentiis’s Giada’s Family Dinners, though hers doesn’t have ricotta cheese in it.

The lovely green, garlicky sauce is blended in the food processor while you cook the pasta, so the dish comes together really quickly. I usually use whole wheat penne, and serve it with some grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. This is a dish Popeye would have loved — there’s spinach in the sauce, and more spinach tossed with the hot pasta! In these bleak midwinter days (we just got another 7 inches of snow), I guess you could say that an emerald-green plate of pasta is a form of color therapy, right?

We’ve been eating it just as is, with the spinach that’s tossed with the hot pasta and sauce only slightly wilted. If you like your spinach a little more wilted, I would saute it briefly in a large pan, with just the water clinging to its leaves, until it just starts to wilt - then add the cooked drained pasta and the spinach sauce.

And one more note - I think it would be really terrific with some fresh, diced tomatoes on top. How much I’m looking forward to those days of ripe tomatoes again!

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Penne with Spinach and Ricotta

Ingredients
3/4 cup ricotta cheese (fresh would be the best, but if you can’t find that, I really like Organic Valley’s whole milk ricotta)
2 oz goat cheese
6 oz organic baby spinach (about 6 lightly packed cups)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 oz whole wheat penne (or other pasta of your choice)

Directions
Boil the penne in a large pot of salted water until al dente.

While the pasta cooks, rinse the spinach. Place half the spinach (3 oz, or about 3 lightly packed cups) in the bowl of a food processor, along with the ricotta, goat cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Puree until very smooth. Taste and season with more salt or pepper, as you like.

Place the other half of the spinach in either a large bowl (if you want it only slightly wilted) or a large saucepan — see the note in my post above if you’re going to wilt it a little in the saucepan before adding the pasta. Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and add it while hot to the spinach, and add the ricotta-spinach sauce. Toss to combine well, and divide among 3-4 plates. Serve with grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Serves 3-4.

So, any guesses on what that vegetable was? Now in your grocery stores, it’s leafy, it’s healthy, it’s pleasantly pungent, it’s…rapini!

Rapini, also known as broccoli rabe, is in season now and is a pretty interesting vegetable. For one, you use the entire plant — stalks, leaves, and florets — and all parts of the plant have the same flavor. It’s loaded with Vitamins A, C, and K, and like broccoli, also has calcium, iron, potassium, folate and fiber.

If you’ve never tried rapini, you should at least know what to expect before you taste it — I’m speaking from personal experience! The first time I tried it, I was expecting it to taste just like broccoli…so you can imagine my surprise when I got a mouthful of peppery, slightly mustardy greens. That’s not to say that rapini isn’t good — it’s delicious! You just have to know what to expect. Plus, isn’t it fun to try a new green vegetable every once in awhile?

I find rapini a bit strong solo, but it’s beautiful paired with sausage. Sausage and rapini are, in fact, a classic Italian combination. Something about the sweetness of the sausage tones down the assertive flavor of the rapini, and the rapini’s mild peppery bite also livens up the sausage. It’s a great pair!

This is a quick weeknight pasta recipe that comes together in about 30 minutes. I like to use a chunky pasta that roughly matches the size of the rapini and sausage — in the picture above, I used rombi, which are like little miniature pieces of lasagna noodles (made by Bionaturae Organic). Orrecchiette is terrific, and farfalle would be pretty good too. While you’re boiling the water for the pasta, you can prep and saute the rapini and garlic. While the pasta is in the water, you can cook the sausage in the same pan you cooked the rapini in (everything’s going to go back in there at the end anyway.) Once the pasta is done and drained, you just toss it in the pan with the sausage, add back in the sauteed rapini along with some Parmaiggiano-Reggiano cheese, crushed red pepper, and a bit of pasta water, give it a quick stir, and plate it up with more shaved cheese on top. A nice, warm, pasta dish on a cold winter’s night!

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Pasta with Rapini and Sausage

Ingredients
8 oz chunky pasta (orrecchiette, rombi, farfalle, etc.)
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 bunch rapini, bottom 2 inches discarded and the remaining stalks, florets and leaves cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tbsp minced garlic (about 3-4 cloves)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmaiggiano-Reggiano cheese
1 cup pasta cooking water

coarse salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring water to a boil in a large stockpot, and season it generously with salt (I use about 4 tbsp coarse salt to a large pasta pot filled with water — it’s important to salt the water so the pasta is properly seasoned; since there isn’t a real “sauce” on this pasta, you’ll want your pasta to have the proper seasoning.) Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package, then drain and reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the chopped rapini and the garlic and saute until the rapini is bright green, about 3-4 minutes. If the skillet gets too dry and the rapini looks like it’s starting to stick, spoon a little bit of pasta water into the skillet. Season to taste with coarse salt and pepper, and then scoop the cooked rapini out of the skillet into a bowl and set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in the skillet and add the sausage. Cook until browned and no longer pink, breaking up into chunks with a fork.

Into the skillet with the sausage add the cooked rapini and the drained pasta, along with 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, and 1/2 cup grated Parmaiggiano-Reggiano cheese. Toss to combine, and taste — season with more coarse salt and/or pepper if it needs it.

Serve topped with more grated or shaved cheese.

Serves 4.

I love the bright green colors and textures in this dish, and the tanginess of the pesto from the capers and a squeeze of lemon. Don’t worry about tasting any “fishiness” from the anchovy paste; it’s one of those flavors that adds a nice richness and depth of flavor to a dish without being discernable in and of itself.

Adapted from Bon Appetit, February 2008.

Ingredients

1/2 lb whole-wheat or multigrain linguine
3/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons drained capers
2 tsp anchovy paste
3 garlic cloves, chopped, divided
juice from 1/2 lemon
6 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage
6 oz haricots verts (slender green beans), or regular green beans halved lengthwise
3/4 grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Directions

In a blender or food processor, combine the parsley, 4 tbsp olive oil, capers, anchovy paste, 1 garlic clove, and lemon juice. Pulse to blend into pesto consistency and set aside.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Just before you drain it, reserve 1 cup of the cooking water for later. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage and saute it until it wilts, 5-7 minutes. Add in the haricots verts or halved green beans, along with the remaining 2 tbsp chopped garlic, and saute 1-2 minutes, until the green beans are bright green and crisp-tender. Add the pasta to the skillet, along with the pesto, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 2/3 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Turn off the heat and mix everything until well-coated, adding the remaining pasta water if you need to thin it out a bit.

Serve with additional grated parmesan cheese on top.

Serves 4.

Adapted from the original recipe from Ellie Krieger. I love this recipe for the addition of greens into the puttanesca sauce — it’s not traditional, but it sure is tasty (and healthy.)

Ingredients

1 lb pasta
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup pitted chopped Spanish or Greek olives (I like Kalamata)
4 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (you can usually find this with the other Italian ingredients)
2 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, preferably “no salt added”
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh arugula
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to the directions on the package.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium flame. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the parsley, olives, capers, anchovy paste, oregano and crushed red pepper to the skillet, and saute for 2 minutes more. Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in the arugula and simmer for 1 minute more, until the greens wilt slightly.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the skillet, tossing it with the sauce to combine. Top with grated cheese.

This is a great weeknight dinner; it comes together in a snap and uses ingredients I usually have in the pantry. Serve with a nice salad alongside.

Ingredients

1 pound pasta (I like linguine or fettuccine)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, pressed
3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans organic diced tomatoes in juice, drained
1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh herbs - whatever you like; basil, Italian parsley, etc.
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

Directions

Heat 3 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute 15 seconds. Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cream, herbs, and 1/2 cup cheese. Bring to boil; season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Add pasta to sauce in skillet (or, return pasta to the pot it boiled in and add the sauce); toss to coat. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.

Serves 4-6.

We love having kale mixed with pasta and some spicy sausage! This recipe is adapted from one in Gourmet magazine, March 2006.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb hot turkey or pork sausage, casings discarded and sausage crumbled
1 bunch kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped
1 lb whole-wheat linguine
2/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup finely grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano plus additional for serving

Directions

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook sausage, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch kale in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove kale with a large sieve and drain. Return cooking water in pot to a boil, then cook pasta in boiling water, uncovered, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander.

While pasta cooks, add kale to sausage in skillet and saute, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add broth, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of skillet, then add pasta and 1/2 cup reserved cooking water to skillet, tossing until combined. Stir in cheese and thin with additional cooking water if desired.

Serve immediately, with additional cheese on the side.

Makes 4 to 6 main-course servings.