Spaghetti with pecorino, tomatoes, and spinach

The best variant of the “simple pasta with cheese” trend yet!  I think the fresh pecorino was clutch (as opposed to parmigiano), as were the specific ratios posted below.  The flavors mixed perfectly.

Calorie Estimate: 750

Ingredients

• 1 box serving of spaghetti
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/4 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 big handful of baby spinach
• 1 oz of pecorino romano, shaved/grated
• fresh basil (8-10 leaves)
• salt and pepper to taste (about 1 t, 1.5 t respectively)
• dollop of ricotta (or some fresh mozzarella)

Preparation

1. Boil pasta water and salt when boiling.  Cook pasta for recommended time.
2. While the pasta is cooking, in a skillet, heat 2 T of olive oil over medium high heat.
3. When the oil is warm, add onion and garlic and cook for a minute or so.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until they get close to popping.  Stir often.  Add salt and black pepper to taste.
5. With about 2 minutes left on the pasta, add in the spinach.  It should look like way too much, but toss it with the hot oil and it’ll cook down really fast.
6. With about 30 seconds left, add in the pecorino and torn up basil leaves.
7. Drain the pasta.  Then, toss it with the sauce, and plate.  Put a dollop of ricotta in.  With long noodles, stir the dollop through for the best effect–a wonderful, flavorful, rich coating.

Lentil Soup

Since it seems to be popular with my friends to attempt this recipe, if somewhat unsuccessfully, I’ve decided to post it today.  Granted, I should be going to work right now, seeing as I’m making progress on my “elliptical chicken problem” (after having solved the spherical cow last week), but anyway, it’s a holiday. Non-sequiturly, this is an easy recipe to make vegan, if that’s your affliction.

I usually serve this over some sort of rice, steamed while the soup is cooking.  I don’t suggest mixing the rice in because, even if it’s long-cooking rice and it works for the first night, the rice will be mush when reheated.  To reheat, I usually drop some rice in a pot with the soup, add 1/2 cup of water and reheat on the stove top (7 minutes on high heat, constantly stirring, 30 minutes with a lid on medium-low heat, paying no attention).

This recipe makes 4 meals of food for me if I add a cup of cooked rice at each meal.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Almost-Neglected Cooking Time: 40-50 more minutes

Calorie Estimate for the batch: 1800

Tools:

• knife
• cutting board
• big pot with tight-fitting lid
• wooden spoon or ladel

Ingredients: (as always, all spice amounts are “-ish”)

• 1 large (yellow) onion, coarsely diced
• few cloves garlic
• a splash of olive oil
• carrot and celery, diced in equal amounts to the onion (usually 3 or 4 each of carrots and celery stalks)
• 1.5 pounds red lentils (the red cook up much quicker and are pleasantly fragrant)
• 1 can chopped (or petite cut) tomatoes (be careful to never buy pre-seasoned canned tomatoes!)
• 3 cans chicken or veggie broth (+ about 1 can water to finish)
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T coriander
• 1.5 T black pepper
• 2 T red pepper flakes (a touch of heat is always nice)
• possibly salt to taste

Note: it really should be red lentils.  The red ones have the tough outer hulls removed and they take 40 minutes to cook instead of hours.

Variant ingredients (inspired by this recipe, 10/25/09)

• as above except
• 2 oz bacon or pancetta
• 1 cup red or french lentils
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1/4-1/2 cup white wine (or vermouth or sherry)
• 1 T thyme, dried
• 1 t tarragon, dried
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 t balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Coarsely dice one onion and mince as small as you’re patient a few (3-7, mood-dependent) cloves of garlic.  Wash enough carrot and celery to have about equal amounts to the onion (or buy a frozen mirepoix mix).  Don’t bother to peel the carrots, unless they’re really filthy, even after washing (and if they’re a mess, why did you buy them?).  Coarsely dice the carrot and celery.  In the bottom of the soup pot, over medium-high heat, splash in a little olive oil and soften the veggies for a few minutes.
2. Rinse the lentils in cold water.  You really should do this, I hear.  I never do it.  Haven’t found a rock in my lentils yet, and they don’t seem too dusty.  Probably should do this though.
3. Toss the lentils into the pot and stir to distribute the softened veggies.  Then add the can of tomatoes and the broth.  I stir between each addition, but there’s probably no good reason for that.  Later, we’ll talk about adding water.
4. After all the liquid is added and everything is nicely stirred, add the spices.  I start with the amounts above and then leave it alone.  You probably won’t need salt if you’re using canned broth (even low-sodium, which I usually use), but keep it in mind.
5. With the lid on from hear on out, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer (2-2.5 on my stovetop for this much liquid).
6. After it’s been simmering with the lid on for 5-10 minutes so the lentils start to swell, check to see if it needs more liquid.  It probably does, so add water by the 1/2 can until you’re happy.  Thicker is better than thin in my opinion, as you can always cut it later.  I end up adding about a can of water, if I remember correctly.
7. After 40 minutes, give it a taste.  If  the lentils are softened to your satisfaction, it’s done.  If it’s too thick, add a little water and give a stir.  If it needs a little more of any spice, add it in, stir thoroughly, give it a minute for the spices to hydrate, and taste again.
8. When your happy, add in 1-2 balsamic vinegar if you’re making the variant.  Regardless, enjoy!

Wilted greens with balsamic eggs

Taken from Chow.com.  This is a very fast, healthy dish that can make a good breakfast or light dinner.  The richness of loosely cooked eggs goes nicely with the greens, and balsamic vinegar is always tasty.  Serve with a bit of crusty bread, either as a base to the eggs or just to mop up the plate.

Calorie Estimate: 500 (w/o bread)

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil (or 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic glove minced
• onion, little bit, diced, (or some green onion)
• 6-8 ounces of greens (swiss chard, spinach, arugula, dandelion, etc)
• 3 large eggs
• balsamic vinegar (2T cheap stuff, drizzle of good stuff)

Preparation

1. Remove any large or tough stems from the greens. Slice greens into 1/2 inch ribbons.
2. Over medium heat, warm 1 T olive oil in a skillet until it shimmers. Add onion and garlic, cook for about 30 seconds.
3. Add greens to skillet, season with a little salt and pepper.   Fold them around to coat with the oil.  Cook for about a minute until they wilt.  Remove the greens from the skillet and plate them.
4. Wipe out skillet.  Return it to the heat and add 1 T of oil (or butter).  Fry eggs sunnyside-up until the edges brown, the pan gets pretty dry, and the edges pull away from the pan, about 5 minutes.
5. If you’re using cheap balsamic, add 2 T to the eggs in the pan with about 2 minutes left on the cooking time.  Reduce and pour the remainder over the finished eggs.  If using the good stuff, just drizzle some on the eggs when they’re done.

Carrot, Spinach, and Rice stew

Based on this recipe by Mark Bittman.  A tasty, cuminy, very nutritious stew.

Calorie Estimate: 1900

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 3/4 pound carrots (1/8-inch medallions)
• 1 pound spinach (chopped or baby)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 C long grain rice
• 6-8 cups water/chicken broth
• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 T cumin
• 1 T coriander
• 1 T black pepper
• 1-2 T butter
• salt to taste (1-2 t)
• optional: 3/4 pound chicken thighs or lamb, 1/2 inch pieces

Preparation

1. Place sliced carrots into 6-8 cups of water/broth.  Bring everything to a boil.  Put in a generous pinch of salt.  Add in 1 pound of spinach, diced onion, chick peas, rice, and any meat you’re including. Add pepper, cumin, and coriander.  Reduce to a simmer.
2. Stir occasionally for next 40 minutes.  Spinach should get silky and the mix should set up into more of a stew than a soup.
3. Add garlic and butter.  Check the seasoning.  Cook for 5 more minutes.   Let it sit for as long as you have patience, and enjoy.

Salmon with brown butter cucumbers

Care of Melissa Clark, NYTimes.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a dish with warm cucumbers prior to this, but the brown butter cucumbers are a nice touch.

Calorie Estimate: 400-500

Ingredients

• 1 T butter
• 1 fillet of salmon (6-8 oz)
• salt (~1 t) and pepper (~ 2 t)
• 1/2 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced (1/4 inch)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 t dried dill (0r 1 T fresh)
• lemon juice to taste

Preparation

1. In a heavy skillet, melt butter over medium high heat (6.5 on my ceramic flat-top stove) until the foam subsides and it browns (about 3 minutes).
2. Season salmon with salt and pepper.  Place in the pan, skin side up.  Cook without moving for about 3 minutes.
3. Add in cucumber pieces,  move salmon around a bit and mix cucumbers into butter, moving them often.   Cook for about 1-2 more minutes.  Be careful not to burn the top of the salmon.
4. Flip salmon over, cook skin side down without moving much for 3 more minutes.
5. Take salmon out of the pan, add dill and lemon juice to cucumbers.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Stir around about 10 seconds, and then serve over the fish.

This goes well with some bread to mop up the skillet and the plate, perhaps with a small, lightly-dressed side salad.

Potato and Rice Soup

Based on this recipe from The Wednesday Chef.

Calorie estimate for the batch: 2400

Ingredients

• 4 T olive oil
• 2 large baking potatoes, 1/3 inch dice
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, sliced thin
• 2 stalks celery, sliced thin (or 1 green bell pepper, diced)
• 2-3 T tomato paste
• 10 C chicken broth
• parmigiano rind
• 1 C long grain rice
• 2 bay leaves
• salt
• 1 T black pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh basil/parsley (or 1 T dried)
• dash of red pepper flakes (optional)

Preparation

1. Rinse potatoes really well.  If you’re making this for company, peel the potatoes.  Otherwise, leave the skins on–they taste good, but they will fall off the potatoes and just kinda be conspicuous in the soup.
2. In a deep soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Add in diced potatoes. Cook for 5-8 minutes.  Try to brown some of the potatoes a bit and get them all started.
3. Add in the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery (or bell pepper).  Stir together and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Add in tomato paste.  Stir around until a bit of red coats all the veggies.
5. Add in 10 C of chicken broth (or, 10 C of water and enough Better Than Bouillon to make the broth).  Add in the bay leaves and black pepper and bring to a boil.
6. Turn the boil to a simmer.  Leave the lid off the pot so things stew down a bit.
7. You don’t have to stand their stirring, but give it a good stir every so often.  The potatoes will break down and thicken the soup.
8. Add the rice in whenever you need to so it cooks through when the dish is ready.  For wild long grain, about 40 minutes before the cooking is done.  Add dried herbs at this time if you’re using them.
9. The total simmering time should be 60 minutes or so.  If it starts to get  too thick, put the lid on.
10. When finished, add fresh herbs and salt to taste.  Fish out the bay leaves too of course.

This dish will go well with a little pepperoni in the mix too if you want.  Maybe a small salad along side and you’ve got a filling, tasty dinner.

Risotto

Prep time: 1 hour

Risotto is not lazy-man friendly, but it’s very satisfying and much more decadent than its reasonable calorie count suggests.  Once every couple months, in exchange for stirring a pot for 40 minutes, you get to eat something that very few restaurants have the patience to do a decent job of.  You can make it as a side or as a meal in itself, and the character can easily be modified by featuring different ingredients.  It’s worth the work.  On the other hand, it’s apparently so much work that I was too exhausted to take a picture…

Tools

• knife and cutting board
• big pot
• wooden spoon

Calorie Estimate for the base: 1900

Ingredients

• 2 C arborio rice (necessary for maximum creaminess)
• 6 C chicken broth (+ water to finish)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 1 C grated parmesan (or pecorino)
• olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan
• 1 C wine (I prefer white, but there’s no real rule other than nothing too tannic)

Extras, depending on the day and purpose:

• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (I prefer crimini to white)
• 2 oz dried mushrooms (lobster, porcini, etc) (reconstituted for about an hour, mix the liquid in with the broth)
• truffle oil (at most 1 t per pot)
• sausage, partially-cooked and sliced
• roasted red peppers, slivered
• eggplant, cubed
• spinach, shredded
• tomato paste
• etc…

Method

1. Dice the onion and garlic.  With a little olive oil in the bottom of a pot big enough to hold everything comfortably, soften the onion and garlic over medium heat for a few minutes.
2. Toss in the rice, mix and toast for a couple minutes.  Then pour in the cooking wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan.  Stir until wine is taken up by the rice.
3. Now, the work begins. Over medium-low heat, add about a 1 C of broth to the mix.  Keep stirring.  After the broth is taken up, add another cup.  Keep stirring.  Keep adding broth cup by cup, each time waiting until it’s mostly taken up before adding another, and stir always.  The stirring helps draw starch out of the rice, and adding broth cup by cup ensures you don’t put in too much liquid.  If the rice is still a little crunchy after the 6 cups of broth have been added, finish it with water, using the same method.During this stage, add in other base ingredients, depending on their cooking time. I usually add sausage with about 20 minutes left.  Reconstituted dried mushrooms, I add as I take up the liquid/broth mixture.  Light veggies like spinach or green onions get added at the very end of cooking.
4. Before serving, mix in the parmesan cheese and any ready-to-eat veggies if you’re using them.  Serve hot and enjoy.

Even without the cheese, the risotto is creamy from the starch.  That’s the big secret: it’s rich as if it was loaded with cream, but there’s none.

Polenta

Calorie Estimate: 800 per batch

Ingredients

• 1 C polenta
• 4 C water (or 1/2 water, 1/2 broth)
• 1-3 t salt
• 1.5 T butter
• 1/4 C parmesan

Preparation

1. Boil water and salt it.  Add in polenta.  Cook for 10-20 minutes until reaches desired consistency.  Eat with anything–tomato sauce, ratatouille, etc.

Ratatouille

Taken from Cooking for Engineers.  This is hearty and delicious while also being very healthy and low calorie for the flavor and volume of food.

Calorie Estimate for the batch: 1500

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 T tomato paste
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 C chicken broth
• 1 large zucchini, 1/4 inch dice
• 1 large eggplant, 1/4 inch dice
• 1 large green pepper, 1/4 inch dice
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, 1/4 inch dice
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 T (+) Herbs de Provence
• fresh basil if you’ve got it
• salt (1T ish) and pepper (1-2 T)

Preparation

1. Heat oil in large soup pot.  Add garlic and simmer for 1 minute.
2. Add onions and simmer for 4-6 minutes
3. Add tomato paste, stir around until it coats onions.  Toast until paste starts to darken, 2-5 minutes.
4. Pour in broth.  Stir well. Bring to a simmer.
5. Stir in eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and mushrooms.  Simmer for 12 or so minutes, stirring often.  Eggplant will release a lot of tasty moisture.
6. Add can of tomatos.  Add in seasonings at this point.  Stir in and cook for a minute or three more until it looks like you want it to.

Piselli al Prosciutto

Peas and prosciutto

Calorie Estimate: 750

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1-2 oz diced prosciutto (ends work and are cheaper)
• 2 cloves garlic
• twice as much chopped shallot as garlic
• 1 T butter
• 1 label servings pasta (bowtie/spaghetti)
• salt and pepper to taste
• possible extras: dollop of ricotta, grape tomatoes, parmigiano

Prep

1. Boil pasta water and place pasta in.
2. When you start the pasta, start a hot pan.  Melt 1/2 T of butter.  Add in garlic and shallot for a minute or two.
3. Add in prosciutto (small dice) for a minute or two.
4. Add in peas, turn down heat to medium.  Cook for a few minutes.
5. Drain pasta.
6. Toss everything together and add 1/2 T more of butter.  Salt (maybe) and pepper to taste.

I like this type of dish with a dollop of ricotta in the center of the bowl.  The savory dish goes great with the cool cheese.