Don’t throw away the green leaves of the root vegetables, they’re completely eatable and delicious. Beets are a zero waste vegetable. You can prepare the beet leaves like any other greens. Saute it, raw in salads, pesto, soups, etc…

The pasta is a mixture of buckwheat flour and wholewheat flour. Buckwheat has no gluten so you need to mix it with some other flour in order to make a pasta that will not break. I have always disliked broken tagliatelle. When I was a child, I would refuse to eat spaghetti or any type of long pasta if it was broken, and up to these days, I really don’t like broken pasta. It’s very important that the pasta keeps its original shape. You can play around with the flours ratio like 2/3 buckwheat 1/3 wholewheat, brown rice flour, etc…but the more flour with gluten you use, the better the texture. I used brown rice flour in this recipe to try out the texture. Also, you can add parmesan in the pesto, I did not add any cheese this time, I wanted to keep it more simple.

Ingredients for 3-4

for the pasta

• 200 g buckwheat pasta
• 100 g brown rice flour (or wholewheat flour)
• 2 eggs

For the pesto

• 2 bunches of beet leaves
• juice of one lemon juice
• 2 tbs toasted walnuts
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbs parmesan (optional)

For the beets

• 1/2 lb golden baby beets, peeled and quartered
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pasta

Mix both flours in a large container. Add eggs and mix well to obtain an homogeneous texture. Knead dough until soft and smooth, make a round ball with dough and let it rest for 30 min under a cloth. Using a long rolling pin, start rolling the dough until thin (1mm). Let it rest a few minutes. Add extra flour if needed, and fold dough bringing two sides toward center. Cut into strips about 3/4 cm thick. Let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta, stir carefully and make sure not to break pasta. When the pasta comes at the surface (a few minutes later), drain pasta. Add beets and a few tbs of pesto. Mix well and serve hot.

For the pesto

Mix all ingredients together in a mixer to form a paste. Adjust with oil if too thick

For the beets

Place beets on a tray. Add salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and coat the beets. Roast in a pre heated oven at 390F until tender.

I found those high protein, low carbs spaghetti. They’re made with black bean flour and water. I was very intrigued by those and obviously needed to try them. The same brand also sells edamame noodles, with the same concept, using edamame flour and water, which are as good with a little more chewy texture. The world of pasta has evolved a lot in this last 10 years, using all different kinds of nutritious flours.

This dish is vegan and gluten free, I am neither vegan nor gluten free, but sometimes I like to eat light nutritious vegan meals with lots of flavors and delicious that make me happy and energized, so here is one.

Besides I love the contrast of the black spaghetti combined with the light green of the pesto. Aside from the fact, that this is a beautiful dish to look at, it’s packed with nutrition.

You can play around with its texture, adding more broth, or make it more creamy by adding more almonds.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 180 g black bean spaghetti
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, finely sliced
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbs silvered almonds
• 1 meyer lemon (juice and zest)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan. Add onion and let soften. Add Brussels sprouts and broth. Cover with lid and let cook for a few minutes. The sprouts need to be still vibrant green and still a bit crunchy. Remove from heat.

Divide the sprouts in two equal portions. Let the portion to be used for the pesto to cool.

In a mixer, mix half the sprouts, mint, almonds, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix until obtained a smooth consistency. If too thick add some broth. Add lemon zest at the end.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti stirring regularly and cook for about 6 minutes and still al dente. When cooked, drain and rinse under cold water.

In a large bowl, mix spaghetti with pesto, and add the cooked Brussels sprouts left aside.

Mix well and eat cold or lukewarm.

This will be my last post before I fly to France, for my bi-yearly trip to visit the family.

I discovered this pasta while looking for an alternative for a gluten-free client. It’s basically pasta made with quinoa, amaranth and brown rice flour. At first I was curious as to what its texture and taste would be. I know brown rice pasta tends to be chewy, so this flour mixture intrigued me. I have to say that I loved it right away, at the first bite. I rinsed it with cold water after when I drained it, to avoid any stickiness. Then I prepared it like regular wheat pasta. I love its texture, a bit chewy but firm.

I had tons of baby spinach so being a leafy green, I thought to use them for pesto. Then to add more green, a few zucchini ended up in there too. I have to say that I adore this dish combination…and the color is so vibrant, it’s a simple dish to lift your spirit. When I eat clean, fresh food, I feel energized and happy. I did not add nuts in the pesto, simply because I ate almonds in the morning, so I did not want to add extra. You can certainly add some walnuts, pine nuts, or even pistachios.

Ingredients for 2

• 200 g rotini
• 3 zucchini (cut lengthwise then crosswise)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1-2 tbs vegetable broth

For the pesto

• 1.5 cups baby spinach
• 2 tbs olive oil
• juice and zest of 1 meyer lemon
• 1 tbs nuts (optional)
• 1 tbs parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the spinach pesto

Mix all ingredients in a blender except for lemon zest. At the end, when the pesto is done and homogenous, add lemon zest.

For the remaining of the recipe

Heat olive oil in a pan, add zucchini and a few tbs broth. Cover at medium temperature and let cook until zucchini are tender but not mushy (about 5-7 minutes). Adjust with salt and pepper.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta, cook for about 7 minutes and drain. In a mixing bowl, mix pasta with zucchini and pesto.

It’s been ages I haven’t made soup for myself, I’ve had no desire for soups whatsoever. Maybe with winter coming this way and cooler weather, this will change.

Simple traditional minestrone is delicious, hearty, filled with vegetables, colors, etc… but as any dish, it can be modified a bit switching some ingredients and give it a little modern twist.

Some people might wonder why I used the provencal pistou instead of the Italian (Genovese) pesto since minestrone is originally from Italy. Pistou and pesto are probably related since Provence region and Genoa are not too far from each other, besides the ingredients are similar (but not the same!).

In France we have la soupe au pistou, a very famous soup from Provence made with lots of vegetables, that could be a relative of the Italian minestrone. Now let’s not argue on which one came first.

In this recipe, I decided to use a pistou whose ingredients are basil, garlic and olive oil  instead of a pesto which has those three ingredients in addition to pine nuts and parmesan cheese because of the shrimps. I have been taught by my mom to never use cheese with fish or seafood, so here I am, still following her strict rules. If you decide not to use shrimps, then a basic pesto will work fine….and if you want to use a traditional pesto to go with the shrimps, do so. My kitchen is not a dictatorship kind of regime! It’s just an idea box…so are you pistou or a pesto?

I substituted pasta with quinoa, but you could also use farro, wheat, barley, etc…I love the little grains of the quinoa, they keep me light for the day.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 3.52 oz (or 100 gr) cauliflower, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 potato diced
• 1 celery stick, diced
• 3.52 oz (or 100 gr) peas
• 1 leek, diced
• 1 cup kale, chopped (optional)
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 5.30 oz (or 150 gr) quinoa
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3.52 oz (or 200 gr) cooked cannellini beans or garbanzo beans
• 12 large shrimps
• salt and pepper

For the pistou

• 1 bunch basil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 150 ml olive oil
• 3 tbs parmesan (optional)

Preparation

In a large pan, heat olive oil, then add onion and soften. Add all the diced vegetables, quinoa crushed garlic. Cover with water and let cook until all the vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes.

In the meantime, saute shrimps in a pan.

Serve minestrone in bowls, divide shrimps on each bowl, and add one tbs of pistou on top. Stir and enjoy.

For the pistou

In a mortar crush garlic and salt until it turns into a cream, then add basil and keep crushing. Add oil progressively to obtain a smooth paste.

Crushing these gorgeous baby artichokes into a pesto broke my heart. I have always wanted to make artichoke pesto but never really managed to turn the artichokes into a paste. They’re so cute and delicious as hearts that really putting them through a mixer, is something I hate to do. Today, I got the courage to do it. Here, we got something different and quite delicious. Honestly, I am not sure I will have the courage to to this again. I simply love to bite into an artichoke heart, I love the crunchy bite, it’s that simple. You could use this pesto on pasta of course, or as a sauce for grilled meats…or even to spread it on some country bread.

When you’re eating spaghetti squash prepared this way, you almost forgot, it’s not pasta. I undercooked the squash to get a crunchy bite, to get the “al dente” feeling. I loved this pesto. Now for the vegan crowd, you can omit the parmesan and add more walnuts. I use very little parmesan to enhance this pesto a tiny bit. You don’t want to add too much cheese either and overpower the natural delicious flavor of the artichokes.

This pesto tends to be lighter than regular basil/pine nuts pesto, its texture is more dense too, so I added a few tablespoons of water to make it creamier.

I am flying tomorrow for France, to go see my father who had a stroke last December, so I will try to post a few local recipes, in the meantime, have a nice and colorful June.

Ingredients for 2 as a main course

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 lb artichokes, trimmed and cleaned
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1/2 cup basil
• 2 tbs raw unsalted walnuts
• 1 garlic clove, crushed + 1 chopped
• 2 tbs parmesan (optional)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• water
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut the squash lengthwise, wrap in parchment paper and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove seeds first, then the spaghetti pulp. Set aside and keep warm. Save eight artichokes quarters for decoration

Heat up a pan, add the crushed garlic, stir and add baby artichokes cut in quarters. Adjust with salt and pepper, add 2 tbs white wine, and cover, decrease heat and let cook until tender. Let it cool.

For the pesto, mix  artichokes with all other ingredients a mixer. Adjust with water if the pesto is too thick.

Add pesto to the spaghetti squash and mix well using your hands, to coat the squash with the pesto. Serve with an extra tablespoon of pesto on top and four artichokes quarters on each plate.

Yes, this is definitely a dish for one of those lazy days, not lazy “like sitting on the sofa”, but lazy “like not feeling to cook” but with a desire to eat something good.

After waiting for a while after for people all day, first to come check out some windows for replacement (and not showing up), for phone calls unreturned, you get into a strange mood and wondering what is wrong. Is it the muggy weather? Is there something up in the air that makes people unreliable? I have no idea. I guess some days are just like that. Well so for one of those days, this is the perfect little thing to do, that will not leave your kitchen messy.

Verrines have been quite popular in France, you just fill them with whatever you like for a fun presentation. Basically, the glass is filled with layers of quinoa, pesto, goat cheese. It can be served lukewarm or cold as a salad or appetizer.

Ingredients for 4

• 250 g quinoa
• vegetable broth
• 6 tbs chick peas (soaked in water or canned)
• 3 zucchini, sliced crosswise
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 4 tbs goat cheese

For the pesto

• 70 g peeled almonds
• 1 garlic clove
• 40 g parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 50 g basil
• zest of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Steam quinoa in vegetable broth by adding enough broth to cover the quinoa by 1/2 inch. Bring broth to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to the minimum. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. The other and quicker alternative is to cook quinoa in a rice cooker. When quinoa is cooked remove pot from the heat and let it cool a little.

Add chick peas to the quinoa and mix well. Grill zucchini in a grill pan and add to the quinoa-chick pea mixture. Add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil and adjust with salt and pepper.

For the pesto, combine all ingredients together in a mixer to obtain a semi fine paste.

In a glass, add one layer of quinoa, add a layer of pesto, then a layer of goat cheese. Start over with a layer of quinoa. Top it off with some goat cheese, a slice of grilled zucchini and a basil leaf.

Thanks so much for all your kinds words on my previous post, you guys are really wonderful, kind and generous of your time. I do appreciate it a lot.

I think this dish is perfect for a tête à tête dinner (according to the dictionary, tête à tête is also used in English) to share with someone you care. I have been alone for about two weeks now, due to business trips of TP so I decided to have a tête à tête dinner with myself and I was quite happy about it.

Well, I think no matter what, you need to treat yourself as often as you can (that’s my theory on life) and enjoy anything even if you are by yourself.

My dog and bird are keeping me company…so temporarily being alone has some good sides and bad sides. You tend to enjoy the whole bed, no daily laundry, no mess around but then when you find a half mouse dead in your patio with just the tale and  legs, you have to figure out a way to clean it…I suspect the neighbors cats left it as a present.

After one hour of thinking how to remove it, I was embarrassed to ask my neighbor (the most adorable neighbors you can dream of) but I didn’t want to leave this mess in the patio and lacked courage to pick it up, so I had to tell them that Mr. Cat must have played too hard with a mouse again, so Gary cleaned it up for me. Thanks Gary!

We do use cilantro and coconut in French cuisine, even though it’s not really something you would use on a daily basis, and parsley is more frequently used than cilantro, those two ingredients are not unfamiliar to our cuisine. This fragrant pesto is delicious, the raw coconut adds a smooth finish to the dish. Oeuf cocotte is such a versatile dish and so much fun to eat. You can also use fava beans instead of the asparagus and white fish instead of the salmon, just play with it.

This combination is truly a harmonious blend of flavors, and a perfect little dish for a light diner en amoureux… or a diner for treating yourself!

Ingredients for 4

• 2 salmon fillet or 7 oz (or 200 g), diced
• 6 asparagus, cut in one inch pieces
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3 tbs dry white wine
• 3 tbs crème fraîche
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper

For the cilantro-coconut pesto

• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 0.70 oz (or 20 g) raw unsweetened coconut shredded
• 4 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the cilantro-coconut pesto

Mix all ingredients in a blender.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add asparagus, wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until asparagus are cooked but still crunchy. Add salmon and cook for a few minutes. Add 2 tbs of pesto and stir for 30 seconds. Add cream and let it reduce a little.

Divide teh mixture into ramequins. Break on egg on top, add salt and pepper. Cook in a pre-heated oven until the yolks are runny and the whites still a little transparent. Serve with extra pesto on the side.

You can really tell someone is Italian by the quantity of pasta they eat…my family eats pasta almost every day…unlike me…I eat it once in a while, which can be a good reason to question my Italian nationality, let’s hope they don’t come and take away my Italian passport!! Oh well, I guess I am not much of a habit type of a person and that habits somehow disturb me and can give me anxiety. Some people find comfort in habits, in my case it’s the opposite.

Everyone knows pesto which a famous paste made out with raw ingredients, that traveled beyond many borders. Of course there are many recipes for pesto using different ingredients and herbs. This particular pesto is called alla Trapanese, meaning Trapano style, after Trapano, a city in Sicily. This pesto is made with almonds and raw tomatoes ; you get a very fresh and light sauce which makes it so delicious.

To transform the pasta and make it into a fun and original mixture, I love to flavor the dough with vegetables or herbs. You can add anything you want, saffron, mushrooms, tomato paste, broccoli, etc…and  color your plate and pleasure your eyes and palate!

If you want to keep this dish vegan don’t add the yolk in the pasta, it will turn out fine, and don’t add pecorino, and you’ll get an absolutely delicious vegan pasta dish.

Ingredients for 2

For the pasta

• 100 g semolina flour
• 100 g farro flour
• 100 g spinach, cooked (about one bunch spinach raw)
• 1 egg yolk

For the pesto

• 3 well ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• about 20 basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tbs almonds
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 4 tbs pecorino
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pesto

Pat dry peeled and seedless tomatoes to remove excess water. Using a mortar, blend all together together (except for pecorino) into a fine paste. Set aside. You can use a mixer but make sure not to blend the mixture into extra fine paste, you want some texture.

For the pasta

Combine all flours together in a mixing container. Add purée spinach and yolk, and start kneading the dough thoroughly for about 20-30 minutes. At this point, the dough will be elastic and smooth.

On a large wooden board (spianatoia), with a pasta rolling pin, make a thin sheet. You can use a pasta machine if you have one and not used to rolling pasta sheets.

Cook pasta in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and toss with pesto. Add pecorino and serve hot.

Lately, I have been too busy and hundred things to take care of, which in my world means no sleep and no time for anything including cooking and of course, deep under eye circles. Those cernes how we call them in French make me look like a zombie, it’s amazing how lack of sleep can make you look like ten years older. Even make up doesn’t seem to work. Quelle horreur!!

When I have no time to cook, pasta is always my favorite number one solution, and the one that comes into my mind. It’s fast, nutritious and delicious.  It certainly will not make my cernes go away, but at least, my other part of the body will feel rested and happy.

Pesto is a very versatile and can be made with many vegetables. Of course, the original pesto is from Liguria region and made with pine nuts, basil parmesan, olive oil and garlic. When I think of pesto, I think of Genoa, therefore of Cristoforo Colombo, our dear explorer who somehow “discovered” America. He might have not “discovered” anything but his statue is erected at Coit Tower in San Francisco. The first time my parents came visit, I had to take my dad see Cristoforo statue and the jail cell of Al Capone in Alcatraz and I could see my dad’s excitement, 12 years later he still talks about this.

This pesto has everything Pesto alla Genovese has except for cheese, then broccoli rabe is the main ingredient. I don’t like to mix cheese and shrimps in general in pasta dishes so I omitted the cheese because parmesan being quite strong and shrimps being quite strong too, the mixture of both can be too overwhelming. The broccoli rabe is not really cooked just boiled for 30 seconds so you get a beautiful greenish color and fragrant fresh flavor.

Ingredients for 4

• 11.28 oz (or 320 g) penne
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 bunch basil leaves
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs sliced almond
• about 10 shrimps, deveined
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Boil 2 cups of water, when the water boil, add broccoli rabe and let cook for about 30 seconds, remove from stove and drain.

In a mixer proceed like you would for regular pesto, combining all ingredients together, and blend until a semi-thin consistency, not like a smooth paste.

Remove shells and devein shrimps. Cut them in 3 small pieces. Saute in olive oil until cooked.

Cook pasta al dente, drain and place in a mixing pasta bowl. Add pesto and shrimps, mix well and serve.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/02/more-pesto-stories-penne-with-broccoli-rabe-almond-pesto-and-shrimps/feed/ 6 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/08/vegetables-inside-and-out-carrot-tagliolini-with-zucchini-walnut-pesto/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vegetables-inside-and-out-carrot-tagliolini-with-zucchini-walnut-pesto http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/08/vegetables-inside-and-out-carrot-tagliolini-with-zucchini-walnut-pesto/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:51:43 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=3357 Verdura fuori e dentro – Tagliolini di carote con pesto alle zucchine e noci

More on the homemade vegetable pasta chapter… I am in my Italian cooking phase, I left French food aside and going back to my roots. Playing with pasta is a lot of fun. I love making homemade pasta, and having my hands in flour. Kneading the dough, relaxes me, it’s like a therapeutic anti-anxiety session. So I guess it’s better than taking Xanax!

I Found my pasta machine after searching for an hour, it was stuck at the bottom of a drawer, hidden with hundred of other kitchen utensils. I did not feel like using rolling pin (mattarello) this time, the beet tagliatelle were quite time consuming and I did not have time. Making those carrot tagliolini took a lot longer than when making regular pasta with plain flour and no vegetable, because the dough was somehow soft, due to the carrots and the water they contain. So I had to add flour constantly to prevent dough from sticking.

I’m not sure how to translate tagliolini in English, maybe angel hair? I think angel hair are thinner than those. My grandma used to make tagliolini in a tomato broth and we would eat them in a soup-based consistency. Tagliolini are a typical traditional pasta, larger than capellini but narrower than tagliatelle. When made fresh, they cook fast and usually they’re served with light sauces.

If you have a regular pasta machine (I have an Imperia one), it comes with that particular cut, it’s the thinner one (the other one is the tagliatelle cut). If you make the pasta with rolling pin, it needs to be about 2mm large

Zucchini pesto is quite tasty with a lighter texture than regular pesto since it mostly contains zucchini, you can slightly taste the flavor of zucchini which tends to be bland, but enhanced with basil, and parmesan.

Ingredients for 4

For the pasta

• 3 cups white flour + more flour
• 2 eggs
• 200g pureed carrots

For the pesto

• 2 zucchini
• 3 tbs walnuts, chopped
• 3 tbs freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
• 2 garlic cloves
• 10 basil leaves
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pasta

Cook carrots in water until well cooked all the way through. Drain, let cool and puré with a potato masher, or a mixer so that you get a smooth and thin cream.  Place in a mixing bowl, add flour, egg and mix to get a homogeneous dough. Remove from bowl and start kneading on a flat surface. At this point, you might need to constantly add flour, so that dough does not stick to the working surface. Proceed like you would make regular pasta sheets with your pasta machine.

For the pesto

Cut zucchini in medium size pieces. Place in a blender with the other ingredients and blend to a medium consistency. Adjust with some additional olive oil if the pesto is a little thick and blend a little more.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water for one minute and drain. Toss with pesto and serve hot.