Conchiglie with Roasted Cauliflower, Arugula, and Prosciutto

Everybody knows that vegetables and fruits are good for you. They give us a wide range of important and valuable substances, like vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals. From a young age one is always encouraged to eat your vegetables and Michael Pollan, who in recent years really helped to shape awareness in the US about the interplay of food, diet and environment, summed it up best with “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.

We eat out in restaurants quite frequently and even though we hardly have any limitations on what we eat and often prefer vegetable-focused dishes it still means that we eat quite a lot of meat at those dinners. As a consequence we tend to balance it by often cooking vegetarian dishes or dishes with hardly any meat at home. There are many vegetables which have a unique flavor and can stand at their own in a dish but on the other side there are also vegetables which have only a very subtle and easily missed own flavor, like cauliflower. Those vegetables could either be used in a dish with strong spices where they act more in the background or one could find a way to amplify the once subtle flavor of the vegetable so that it now can stand in the limelight. One way we often use to accomplish that is by roasting vegetables. The key for a successful roasting is the use of dry heat which is necessary to start the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction describes the reaction between a carbohydrate molecule and an amino acid. This reaction forms an unstable intermediate which after undergoing further changes produces myriads of diverse products. These products result in the browning and the characteristic flavor of roasted vegetables. The Maillard reaction can only start to occur at temperatures above 120 °C/250 °F which is above the boiling point of water and explains why boiled or steamed vegetables can’t produce this intense flavor. In addition, roasting also is responsible for the evaporation of water within the vegetables which will help to concentrate and again intensify the flavors. This dish of conchiglie with roasted cauliflower, arugula, and prosciutto is a nice example of the how roasting can accentuate the flavors of cauliflowers so that it has no problem to hold up against strong tasting ingredients as sage, arugula or prosciutto.

This seemingly simple pasta dish combines a surprising wide array of flavors. The roasting gave the cauliflower its characteristic “caramelized” yet slightly sweet flavor. Roasting grape tomatoes help to lower their acidity and boost their natural sweetness which worked in concert with the cauliflower. This sweetness is balanced by the peppery taste of arugula and the saltiness of the prosciutto. What really made this dish special was the inclusion of sage. Sage has a very unique and complex flavor profile combining hints of bitterness with savory and minty tones which can often dominate dishes and overshadow other ingredients. In this dish it is clearly discernible but at the same time supports the flavors of the other ingredients. A light red wine would accompany this dish perfectly.

Pulse sage and garlic in a food processor until minced. Add prosciutto and pulse until chopped. Preheat oven to 220 °C/425 °F.

Mix cauliflower, grape tomatoes, olive oil, ¾ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper and spread vegetables in a single layer on baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 15 minutes stirring twice.

Add prosciutto-sage mixture to cauliflower and roast for 8 minutes.

Cook conchiglie until al dente. Reserve one cup of pasta-cooking water. Drain pasta and return to pot. Mix pasta with roasted vegetable mixture, arugula, cheese and some pasta water. Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe adapted from “Fine Cooking”

Serves 4

Medium-sized cauliflower, cored and cut into ¾-inch florets

500 g (1 pint) grape tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

9 large sage leaves

4 large garlic cloves, peeled

120 g (4 oz) prosciutto

150 g (5 oz) arugula

340 g (12 oz) dried conchiglie pasta

80 g (3 oz) Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème – Enjoying Local Produce

Most people associate the warm weather and the laid-back life style of San Diego and California in general as one of the main perks to live here. There is no doubt that before we moved to San Diego we mainly associated these attributes with California and are still enjoying them daily. But over the years we also more and more savor the sheer abundance of outstanding local produce. The climate of California allows farmers to grow many different types of produce year-round, and San Diego itself is one of the best places to live for outstanding local produce. According to the San Diego County Farm Bureau San Diego had in 2009 more than 6680(!) farms with most of them between just 1-9 acres which is more than any other county in the US. San Diego County is also the largest community of organic growers in the nation with 374 organic farms. Some of the well known farms have also gained a high reputation outside of San Diego, like Be Wise Ranch, Suzie’s Farms and most prominently Chino Farms.

Many restaurants started to use more and more local ingredients and to cook seasonally. Over the last few years this whole movement took off, and now pretty much every relevant restaurant claims to follow this locavore trend of using local and sustainable ingredients. When we cook at home we try to use fresh produce as much as possible but it’s not always easy to also use local ingredients. We often don’t have the time to go to one of the farmer’s markets which are the best option for local produce. Fortunately some of the local markets like WholeFoods started to include a section dedicated to local produce. On a recent visit the selection included fresh local produce from places like Be Wise Ranch, Sun Grown Organics, Aviara Farms, Stehly Farms, Suzie’s Farms and Sage Mountain Farms. Seeing this great variety of local produce we decided to use it in one dish– Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème. Besides the pasta and Parmesan cheese all ingredients were local or at least came from somewhere in California.

Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème

Cooking with local produce

Ratatouille is always a good choice to showcase outstanding fresh produce but since it is mainly used as a side dish we wanted to make it more substantial by including it into a lasagna dish. What really made this dish special was the béchamel sauce which was based on celery root. Celery root is one of these vegetables which are underappreciated and most people only know it, if at all, raw in a salad. But celery root is a versatile ingredient which is can also be used in soups, purees, casseroles or sauces. Its taste reminds of celery but has a more subtle, round flavor which stays more in the background. We served the lasagna with a salad of local heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers.

Clean celery root, peel and cut in small pieces. Steam for 15 minutes, cool and dice.



Heat butter at medium heat and cook onions for two minutes. Add flour and cook for two minutes with continuous stirring.



Slowly add milk and cream and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat.



Add diced celery root and puree with immersion blender until creamy. Season to taste with lemon juice and salt.



Cook lasagna sheets al dente, rinse with cold water and drain the pasta.



Heat oil at medium heat, add shallots and garlic and cook for two minutes. Add zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper and chili and cook for 4 minutes until vegetables start to soften. Season with salt and pepper and remove vegetables from pot.



Add diced tomatoes with juices to empty pot and thicken by cooking for 6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and some sugar and mix with vegetables.



Coat the bottom of an oiled casserole with celery root crème, cover with a layer of lasagna sheets, add some celery root creme and add half of the vegetables.



Repeat everything starting with the second layer of lasagna sheets and finish with some celery root crème. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C/400F for 25 minutes.



Mix parmesan with lime zest and sprinkle over lasagna. Bake lasagna for 10 minutes until golden yellow.

Recipe adapted from “Essen & Trinken”

Serves 4-6

250 g (9 oz) celery root

1 small onion

2 tbsp butter

30 g (1 oz) fluor

300 ml (1.25 cups) milk

150 ml (2/3 cups) whipping cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

8 lasagna sheets

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes

300 g (11 oz) zucchini, diced

300 g (11 oz) eggplants, diced

1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, diced

2 shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 red chili, minced

6 stems basil, minced

4 tbsp olive oil

Sugar

30 g (1 oz) Parmesan, freshly grated

Lime zest, from 2 limes

Homemade Orecchiette with rabbit ragu from Puglia (Italy)

Puglia is often known as the heel of Italy occupying the south-eastern part of Italy. Interestingly it is also sometimes called the “California of Italy” according to some sources because of its long stretched shape or because of its comparable climate. Puglia is mainly known for wheat, olive oil and wine. It produces about 40% of all extra virgin olive oil in Italy and about 14% of the entire world’s production. It is also one of the largest wine producing regions of Italy even though most of the wines produced in Puglia aren’t well known outside of the region and are sometimes even shipped to the north to improve the wines of the cooler regions. Beside winegrowing wheat fields are prominent in Puglia especially durum wheat which is milled to semolina. Semolina is one of the most used flours in Italy to make pasta.

The cuisine of Puglia is sometimes described as “La cucina pugliese nasce come cucina povera” – The cuisine of Puglia was born as the cuisine of poverty. This is also noticeable from the region’s most famous pasta – orecchiette. In contrast to many other pasta varieties in Italy orecchiette are made without any eggs.

Pasta is one of these ingredients which you can buy in the supermarket and it will give you good results but if you make it fresh at home it will really bring any dish to the next level. Pasta-making can be quite time consuming and we don’t make it as often as we would like and normally only with dough which includes eggs. When we saw this recipe for eggless orecchiette with rabbit ragu we were intrigued to try it and compare it to our standard dough. It turned out that the eggless dough is easier to work with and creates some outstanding pasta.

Orecchiette with rabbit ragu

In Puglia you will get orecchiette often served either with vegetables or some rabbit. Rabbit is often characterized as tasting like chicken but we think it is oversimplified. Rabbit has a slight gaminess which makes it distinctively different from chicken. This ragu was a good way to accentuate this taste and we really liked how the flavors melded in this dish to give a light but still substantial ragu. But the star of the dish were the orecchiette – perfectly al dente with the right thickness and shape to carry the rabbit ragu. One of the best pasta we made so far.

Homemade orecchiette

Mix semolina flour, flour and salt in bowl and make well in center and add lukewarm water. Slowly stir in flour using a fork until a dough forms. (Not all flour will be incorporated).

Transfer dough to work surface. Sift remaining flour mixture through sieve into another bowl and discard all clumps.

Knead dough for about eight minutes until it becomes smooth.

Divide dough into eight pieces and wrap each piece in plastic wrap and let stand for one hour at room temperature.

Take one unwrapped piece of dough and roll under palms on work surface into a ½ inch thick rope about 2-3 feet long. Cut rope into 1/3 inch pieces. Lightly toss with some of the remaining flour mixture.

Put one piece of dough cut side down on work surface. Dust thumb with flour mixture and press down on dough, pushing away from you and twisting thumb to form a curled shape. Transfer to tray lined with clean kitchen towels, dust with some additional flour.

Repeat previous step with remaining cut pieces and all seven remaining dough balls to get many trays of fresh orecchiette.

Bring pot of well salted water to boil and drop orecchiette carefully into boiling water. Cook until al dente for about 4-5 minutes. Orecchiette will start to float when they start to become al dente.

Recipe adapted from “Gourmet Today”

Serves 4-6

Pasta dough:

350 g (12.5 oz.) semolina flour

280 g (10 oz.) all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

240 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water

Season rabbit pieces with salt and black pepper. Heat 4 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat and brown rabbit in two batches for four minutes on each side. Transfer pieces to platter.

Add three more tbsp olive oil and sauté onions, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary and ¼ tsp salt for about 10 minutes until vegetables are starting to brown.

Add wine, bring to a boil and, while scraping off any brown bits, let nearly all liquid evaporate.

Add tomatoes, broth and ½ tsp salt and bring to boil. Return rabbit pieces with all accumulated juices and try to cover the rabbit pieces as good as possible with the cooking liquid. Cook for about 20 minutes and turn occasionally.

Transfer saddle pieces to platter and cook remaining rabbit pieces for ten more minutes before also transferring to platter. Remove cooking pot from heat. Remove all meat from bones and cut into small pieces.

Return meat with all juices to pot, bring carefully to boil and adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper. Discard bay leaves. When orecchiette are al dente combine ragu with pasta. Serve with Parmigiano Reggiano.

Rabbit ragu

1.5 kg (3 lbs) rabbit, cut into 8 pieces

7 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced

2 celery ribs, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, finely diced

2 bay leaves

1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 cup dry white wine

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in juice, drained and chopped

240 ml (1 cup) chicken broth

Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

Spaghetti Carbonara with Homemade Bacon

The cuisine of most countries is often associated with a certain style/focus, like French cuisine is mostly linked to elaborate, complex dishes, German to heavily meat based dishes with hardly any vegetables besides potatoes or Italian to simple dishes with few ingredients. Most of these generalizations are based on stereotypes and don’t even take into account that most countries have many diverse regional cuisines. But even though you have to take these stereotypes with a grain of salt they still have some relevance often related to some of the most well known dishes of a cuisine. Many risottos and pasta dishes in Italy for example tend to focus on the quality of one or two main ingredients. One of the best known pasta dishes falling under this category is Spaghetti Carbonara – just pasta, pancetta/guanciale, eggs and Parmigiano-Reggiano define this dish.

The origin of Spaghetti Carbonara is quite controversial. It seems that most people can agree that the dish originated at the end of the Second World War somewhere in the area of Lazio. Everything beyond this – does the name (carbonara means charcoal in Italy) come from a restaurant name carbonara or was this dish popular with charcoal workers – is still part of many discussions.

Since we recently started to dive into the world of charcuterie, and our first successful attempt was a nice homemade bacon, we decided to deviate a little bit from the classical use of pancetta/guanciale and were very happy with the results.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add bacon and ½ tsp. black pepper. Cook bacon for about 5 minutes until it starts to crisp.

Add onion and cook for 5 minutes until onions are soft. At the same time cook pasta until al dente. Reserve a ¼ cup of the cooking water and drain the spaghetti. Beat the eggs until smooth and set aside.

Remove pan from heat and add 1-2 tbsp water and scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Heat pan to medium heat and add pasta to pan. Toss pasta to coat the spaghetti with the fat for about a minute. Make sure that the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. If the pasta is too dry and starts sticking to the bottom add 1-2 tbsp of pasta water.

Remove skillet from heat and add eggs to the pasta and start immediately tossing pasta for about a minute until eggs thicken and sauce has the consistency of a thin custard. Season with black pepper.

Recipe adapted from “Fine Cooking”

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil

220 g (½ lb) bacon, sliced ¼ inch thick and cut into 1 ½ x ½ inch rectangles

½ small red onion, finely diced

2 large eggs, chilled

220 g (1/2 lb) dried spaghetti

35 g (1.5 oz) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano