Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

My husband is the seafood cook in our house.  He is always suprising me with the quality of the dishes he turns out.  I usually try to stay out of his way while he is in the kitchen because it is hard for me to turn over the job to him without commenting on the way he is doing things.  I am a control freak in that way.  So I let him get creative and then I clean up the mess when he is finished.  It is always worth it.

Shrimp scampi is so delightful and so rich.  It is even better when that richness is tempered with angel hair pasta which soaks up all of the buttery goodness.  He found a recipe on Epicurious and adapted it to his liking.  We are both big fans of lemon flavors and capers so he added them to the recipe.  This was such a refreshing pasta dish.  I could have eaten the whole bowl.  It was also very simple to make and didn’t require a whole lot of clean up by the sous chef.

I read the New York Times online every Wednesday. Specifically, I read the Food and Wine section. Mark Bittman always has interesting recipes. They are healthy, consciously raised, and real foodstuff. Many of us are trying to eat sanely. We are trying to avoid overly processed and chemically altered food. I try on my blog to offer recipes that use ingredients that are fresh, seasonal and as local as possible. But I usually try not to state the obvious so as not to come off as preachy. But starting next Tuesday I am joining a group of fellow bloggers who are spreading the word about real food. This was brought to my attention by Girlichef. This is how she explains it.

“This Tuesday marks the start of the Two for Tuesdays! Blog Hop Carnival. Two for Tuesdays is the brainchild of Alex from A Moderate Life. It began on her site as a day to link up one (or two) of your blog posts that featured REAL FOOD. Recipes, anecdotes, stories, photos, reviews…anything your blogged about featuring REAL food. What is REAL food, you ask? Think: slow food, traditional food, hand-prepared food, nourishing food…food that is NOT processed….food that doesn’t come from a package…food that your great-grandmother would have made &/or eaten. REAL food is homemade. REAL food is from scratch. REAL food has recognizable ingredients. REAL food is made from traditional ingredients. REAL food is food you make with your own hands…from food grown, milled, raised by you or by people (not machines). Think family farmer. Think farmer’s market. Think garden. Think local grain mill. Think REAL.”

So, although this is not Tuesday, I wanted to join the group. My first recipe is this wonderful pasta dish from Mark Bittman. It is serendipitous that this recipe appeared this Wednesday in the New York Times because my garden was producing the first of the snow peas we planted and it is overrun with lettuce. I have fixed so many salads that I was looking for something different to do with it. What better way to use piles of lettuce than to wilt it into a pasta dish! So I present to you a recipe fresh from my garden using an artisanal pasta and Prosciutto. Even if you don’t have a garden, Farmer’s Markets now have fresh lettuce and snow peas or peas in the pod. This was an excellent dish using very few ingredients, but using only the best.

PASTA WITH PEAS, PROSCIUTTO AND LETTUCE

There is a wonderful tailgate market in the historic town of Flat Rock not far from our home. Local farmers, herbalists, flower vendors, wild mushroom collectors and meat and seafood purveyors convene in a picturesque shady dell behind the local bakery and antique shop to sell their specialities. The market is held every Thursday from 3:00 to 6:00. This early in the season it is prudent to get there by 3:00.

All of the Spring vegetables go quickly. Unfortunately we did not arrive until after 4:00 and there was very little left. But what we did find were beautiful shrimp caught off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. The seafood vendor said that he normally gets his fresh seafood from the Carolina coast, but that it was too early for that. The shrimp were beautiful and very large. We decided to do a simple pasta dish with them. I love lemon with my seafood pasta dishes. It lightens and brightens the heaviness of the pasta. And since I used whole wheat spaghetti in this recipe it was necessary. The recipe does not call for mushrooms, but I already had some sauteed mushrooms from another meal, so feel free to add them if you like. We loved this so much that it will be repeated often.

Printable recipe

Spring has arrived in Florida. It is nice to be able to walk out the door in sandles and summer clothes. The birds are singing and soon the manatees will be returning to the canals in our area with their pups. Last year I was down on our dock when a huge manatee appeared. I had heard that they like to drink fresh water, so I turned on the hose. Slowly he made his way over to me and lifted his huge head up out of the water and drank his fill. He then turned over on his back and let me spray his belly with the fresh water. I was in awe of this beautiful creature.

A friend and I went to the Farmer’s Market on Friday and loaded up on fresh produce. The Florida strawberries were beautiful and the asparagus was refreshingly crisp and green. I had leftover red pepper pesto from my last post so I incorporated it into a spring pasta dish full of fresh vegetables and chicken. I highly recommend this pesto. It was great on the appetizer, wonderful added to a pizza and now in this pasta dish.

We are returning to Lake Lure March 31st. Friends have told us that the weather has been lovely there, so I am looking forward to the soft greens of the budding trees and the pinks and whites of the dogwoods in bloom. All of us have endured a long winter. It is good to anticipate the spring season.

RED PEPPER PESTO PASTA PRIMAVERA

2 boneless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 pound asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into thirds, blanched and put into ice water to set color and stop the cooking
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 green pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cut into thin strips
1 cup red pepper pesto (see previous post)
12 ounces tri-colored linguini
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, brown chicken in olive oil until no longer pink. Remove from pan. Add more olive oil if necessary and saute, red and green pepper, onion, and carrots until crisp tender. Return chicken and asparagus to skillet. Add red pepper pesto and a little water. Stir to combine ingredients.

Cook pasta according to package directions. When done scoop out some of the pasta water. Drain pasta and add to skillet with chicken and vegetables. Add some of the pasta water if it is too dry. Toss to combine. Season to taste and serve.

Printable recipe

It occured to me the other day that I have not included many pasta recipes on my blog. Pasta is always what I choose when I need something quickly or don’t want to deal with multiple dishes. Sometimes it is as simple as spaghetti with meat sauce, but most of the time I like more complicated dishes. This Giada De Laurentiis recipe is one of my favorites. It is full of flavor from the hot sausage and sun-dried tomatoes and it uses frozen artichokes which makes it easy. It also has a generous addition of fresh basil and with the coming colder weather I am trying to use as much of it as possible before the herb garden goes into it’s winter mode.

We will be returning to Florida in a few weeks. It has been a wonderful Summer on Lake Lure and we have much to do to close up the house. Next week we are hosting a Meet the Candidates get together from 5:00 to 7:00. If any of you have an interesting appetizer that you think I should include please email me at pennyklett@gmail.com. If you have posted it on your blog you can just supply me with the link. I love being a part of the blogging community.

Giada’s recipe is very adaptable. You can make it with whole wheat pasta and substitute any sausage that you prefer.

PENNE WITH SAUSAGE, ARTICHOKES, AND SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

3/4 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced, 2 Tablespoons of oil, reserved
1 pound Italian hot sausages, casings removed
2 (8 ounce) packages frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 3/4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt
12 ounces Penne
1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped frsh flat-leaf parsley
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, drained and cubed (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil reserved from the tomatoes in a large, heavy frying pan over a medium-high flame. Add the sausage and cook until brown, breaking up the meat into bite-size pieces with a fork, about 8 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a bowl. Add the artichokes and garlic to the same skillet, and saute over medium heat until the garlic is tender, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces slightly, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, until tender but still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta. Add the pasta, sausage, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the basil, and parsley to the artickoke mixture. Toss until the sauce is almost absorbed by the pasta. Stir in the mozzarella, if using. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve, passing additional Parmesan cheese alongside.

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