Going back to my favorite cuisine, vegetarian…I just love the vibrant colors of vegetables and their versatility, they’re too good to keep aside. In this dish, the bitterness of rapini and sweetness of yams and carrots complement each other very well.

I wanted to make the equivalent of rösti but using yams and carrots. Rösti are a specialty from Switzerland and Alsace region, made with potatoes, sometimes bacon and sometimes onions, there are many variations. Growing up close to Alsace and the Swiss border, I got to eat those growing up at my friends’ house. I have to say that those rösti are delicious, they’re not as crunchy as they would be using regular potatoes, so if you are expecting something firm and croustillant, you will be disappointed but they taste so good especially with the yogurt sauce, so you will definitely forget the lack of crunchiness.

I used plain regular Greek yogurt which taste much better than the nonfat. Sometimes I use nonfat, but lately I have been using the regular kind of dairy with a little fat content. Make sure you are using Greek yogurt, I was looking at the ingredients of some yogurt brands (I don’t remember which brands) and I was shocked to find pectin in the list of ingredients. Usually you use pectin in jams to thicken them. How terrible is that to find in yogurt!

As for the rapini, what to say…they’re green and bitter, one of my favorite greens, very easy to prepare and delicious. You can use spinach, chards, kale, dandelions, etc…or any other greens. This dish is very filling, it will keep you satisfied for a long time, so a great meal to avoid snacking!

Ingredients for 2-3 (about 8-10 rösti)

For the rösti

• 1 small yam (about 200 grams, a little less than 1/2 lb), grated
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 2 tbs Japanese chives or regular chives, chopped
• 1/4 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 tsp coriander powder
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt sauce

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• cilantro
• juice of one lemon
• salt and pepper

For the rapini

• 1 bunch rapini
• 2 tbs oil
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Grate carrots and yams and using your hands or a towel squeeze extra liquid. You need to remove as much liquid as you can from carrots and yams to avoid moisture when cooking. Add all the ingredients together, and adjust with salt and and a nice amount of pepper. Heat oil in a pan, place 1.5 tbs of carrot mixture in the pan until you have used all of it. Cook both sides until golden brown.

For the yogurt sauce, mix all ingredients together.

Serve rösti hot with yogurt sauce on the side.

For the rapini, heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic until fragrant but not burnt. Add rapini, salt and pepper and cover with a lid at medium heat. Cook until wilted.

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.

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