sundried tomato zucchini pasta

a dish as bright as the day outside. thankfully, most of the snow has melted, and though it's not warm, it's sunny, and the heavy clouds that were forcing lassitude on me have cleared the sky. i'm starting my tomatoes today. i found some great heirloom tomato seeds, and decided to give them a shot. i don't much like to use seeds for tomatoes, i always buy small plants that i can put directly in the ground. seeds are fussy, they need at least six weeks inside, but i'm determined to follow through. ever had cream of heirloom tomato soup? it's worth every bit of impatient gardening i can muster. at least until those hang on the vine i have sundried tomatoes, the next best thing. they can brighten up the blandest of dishes, plus i love the color they give to sauces. this is a 15 minute lunch for zhara. let's just breeze over the inordinate quantity i consumed, it's not healthy to dwell in the past.

1 lb pasta

2 large zucchini, grated

8 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, finely sliced

2 large roasted red peppers, finely sliced

4 oz bulgarian feta cheese, crumbled

a few parmesan shavings, optional

boil the pasta according to package instructions. prep the vegetables while that's happening. drain the pasta but reserve 1 cup of the water. stir in all the veggies at once, and let it cook together for a few minutes. the zucchini will give off their juices, as will the peppers and tomatoes. add the cheese and mix well. the cheese will melt to form a wonderful sauce, and everything will take on a pale golden colour from the tomatoes. you may need a bit of pasta water, it all depends on how much juice the zucchini gives off. thin it to your preffered consistency, season with salt and pepper, plate and garnish with parmesan. enjoy at once.

lemon veggie orzo

ever since she managed to land a sprinkle on a cookie and not on the floor, zhara has become very interested in what goes on in the kitchen. at first it was just about decorating, then also the making of cookies. after a while she demaned to attend the preparation of all desserts. now it's simply understood that we cook together. whenever i announce i'll be making lunch, or dinner, she pushes up a chair by the counter and gathers her plastic cutlery. then she asks what we're making and immitates my every gesture on her set of pans (aka spare measuring cups).

today we made this orzo, it's one of her favourite dishes and i'm sorry i don't have an extra hand to photograph her while she's working. she gets very focused, narrates everything she does and when she's pleased she smiles and her eyebrows go up in wonder of what she has achieved. i write off the state of my kitchen as collateral, and enjoy her having fun. plus she's more inclined to eat something she helped prepare.

i make this more than one way, sometime with pancetta or sausage, or maybe corn instead of zucchini. the method stays the same, the meat would be pan-fried first and the rest is the same. first sautee the onion and when it's soft add 3/4 cup orzo and cook, stirring often, until it's starting to color. add finely chopped red bell pepper, just a half if it's huge, and sautee a couple minutes. add 2 cups water, bring to boil and throw in 3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame. bring to boil again, cover and simmer 6 minutes. add one grated zucchini and cook another 2 minutes. the water should be almost absorbed, only a couple tablespoons left. add 1/3 cup grated parmesan, the zest of one lemon very finely grated and mix well to combine. correct seasoning. turn off the heat, cover and let it sit five minutes. serves 2 as an entree or 4 as a side.

zhara loves everything lemony, and while you can always add a squeeze of lemon juice to give it a more enhanced flavour, i like it with zest only. there's not a sour note, only wonderful perfume, a subtitle, an afterthought. and it's creamy, but not overly cheesy, and the orzo spends 10 minutes in the pan. sold.

cauliflower mac and cheese

picky eaters or not, children have such an instinctive distaste for this vegetable and its relatives, it's like an international conspiracy is imbeded in their genetic code. i am one of the few spared. as i kid i loved it fried, in a light batter of egg and flour, and my mother's cauliflower gratin qualified as holiday. i tried them all, plus soups and stews for zhara, but i can beg till the cows come home. she just says no, in a voice very much prophesizing the teenager she'll be. well, she may be stubborn, but i have decades of practice on her.

the ideea is to make a fine cauliflower puree which then goes in your kid's favourite pasta sauce. i've made this a few times to get it right, and for zhara it only works if i use a sauce mornay made with munchee - it's the only cheese she'll eat. we also use miniature pasta, she's just more amenable especially if they have cute shapes, like animal or letters. 

i don't know if you can tell looking at the picture, but it's all bite size, the penne are less than 1 inch, and the meatballs are barely the size of a quarter. so first you break the cauliflower into small florets and you boil it until easily pierced with a fork. while it boils, prep your sauce and boil the pasta. you can either do a bechamel, by making a roux out 2 tb each butter and flour and then streaming in 1 cup milk, or you can use jarred alfredo sauce. either way, add to it 1/2 cup packed grated cheese. when it's melted add the cauliflower puree, season with salt and pepper and pinch of italian seasoning. i have to use equal quatities of sauce and cauliflower puree, any less sauce and she won't eat it. one cup sauce plus one cup puree is sufficient for 3/4 lb pasta. 

zhara enjoys it very much. she ate so much of it for lunch that she couldn't touch her usual second course of fresh fruit. the meatballs didn't fly, but i don't care, this is still such progress for her!

red pepper pesto

my daughter's infatuation with red peppers continues, and i'm scrambling to find new recipes for them. i've stuffed them twice, with meat and with orzo, and i made sauces, for pasta and meatballs. yesterday i was going to do a sundried tomato-roasted garlic pesto, until i realized it was too late to start roasting garlic. so i went this way instead.

1 12 oz jar (450 gr) roasted red peppers

1/2 cup (4 lg) toasted sliced almonds

2 small zucchini

1 cup parmesan

1 large garlic clove

1/2 ts salt

1/2 ts pepper

2-3 tb olive oil

we love pesto in any variety. and we like zucchini, but you can sub 3 cups basil leaves for a more traditional approach. you may need to add more salt and pepper, i try to use the bare minimum. this pesto does not require as much oil to emulsify, as the peppers are packed with moisture. so once you've toasted the almonds you just put everything in the processor and give it a whirr. yields 2 1/4 cups.

when i make pasta using this i like to add a good glug of heavy cream and more cheese on top. i also like this on bruschette, as a spread on sandwiches, over polenta or even as a base on pizza. it's nutty and sweet, but with a nice acidic punch.

i asked her if she liked it, and she made this face and said, mmm-hmmm:

The maiden voyage

      I first sat down to write this months ago. I'm not really the self-doubting-dig-your-own-hole kind of gal, but this voice in the back of my mind kept saying, this is stupid. and ridiculous. and sooo stupid. And maybe it really is, but I'm going to do it anyway. This will help me organize my thoughts and my recipes. It will be great to have them all in one place. And if someone else will benefit somehow, that'll be great.
     I have a two year old girl, Zhara. She is amazing. And so she only likes amazing food. Am I likely to produce amazing food for every single meal? Pfffft. But at least I'm trying. When I was young and my mother was trying to teach me stuff I could care less about cooking. When I finally wanted her expertise, we had the Atlantic in between, so I mostly learned on my own, watching tv and simply reading cookbooks. Whenever I get a new one, I read it cover to cover, as I would a novel [insert puzzled husband thinking I've lost it here]. Fact is, I'm entirely obsessed with food now. And lately, with dough. It seems anything I want to eat comes on top of, wrapped in or around some dough or pastry.

    Anyhoo, my daughter is a very picky eater, but thankfully she loves pasta, rice dishes and soups, so we do ok. I still cannot get her to eat eggs or potatoes or most meats, but that will come too, in time.

   A simple, simple pasta dish that Zhara loves, to begin this then:

   

   Carrot Zucchini Pasta

Boil water to cook  8 oz favourite pasta to al dente. We like to use miniature shapes, they're just easier for toddlers. Cube 2-3 oz smoked bacon and pan fry for a few minutes, then add 1 small onion and cook 5 min more. Grate 1 medium carrot and 1 medium zucchini on coarse grater and add them to the pan. After a couple minutes add a ladle of pasta water and put a lid on it, and cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add about 6 oz tomato sauce, season if needed and toss the pasta.

Zhara enjoys this pasta tremendously. And I kinda like it too :)).