Lemony Ricotta Salata Pasta with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Pea Shoots

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Mainely Eating

As the days get lighter, I find my cooking does too. During the cold dark days of winter, I can be found hunkering down in the kitchen, braising short ribs, simmering rich ragu, making hearty stews and soups and eating indulgent creamy pasta dishes. With the warmer weather and lighter evenings, I’m less inclined to spend hours in the kitchen and I want to take advantage of the colorful spring vegetables that appear at the farmers market.
I spotted these delightful still-on-the-vine cherry tomatoes and started thinking about a light pasta dish with fresh spring/summer flavors. I saw ricotta salata on the cheese counter and that reminded me of Amanda Hesser’s lemony pasta recipe. I picked up fresh basil and pea shoots and headed home excited to see how they’d all come together.

The cherry tomatoes were carefully roasted in a blistering hot oven and as soon as they were cool enough to handle I slipped the skins off (you don’t have to do this but they’ll melt into the sauce easier and taste juicier). Chicken stock was bubbled to reduce down with a couple of smashed garlic cloves and lemon juice and a knob of butter swirled in to make a light and refreshing sauce. The pea shoots didn’t even see the inside of a pan, the heat of the pasta wilted them (arugula would also work well here) and the whole dish was showered with wafer thin slices of ricotta salata.

If you’ve never had ricotta salata you’re missing out. Ricotta salata is a hard white cured and pressed version of fresh ricotta with and a mild salty, nutty and milky flavor. It can be shaved or grated over salads, pastas and vegetable dishes.

Light summer pasta with blistered cherry tomatoes, pea shoots and ricotta salata

Servings: two
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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Very loosely adapted from Amanda Hesser

Ingredients:

2 servings of your favorite pasta, I used Cipriani tagliatelle, it’s so light and thin
3 cups unsalted chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic – squished but not minced or completely crushed
Wedge of ricotta salata 2-4 oz
8-12 Cherry tomatoes, ideally on the vine
Splash of olive oil
1 large lemon or 2 small lemons
Bunch of basil – finely chopped (chiffonade) or torn
Pea shoots (can substitute in fresh peas or arugula or even baby spinach)
1 tbsp butter
Optional; thinly sliced radish for a crunchy garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet (ideally rimmed as the tomatoes can leak juice while cooking) with foil or parchment paper for easier clean up. Place cherry tomatoes on baking sheet, drizzle over a little olive oil and season.
2. Bake cherry tomatoes until blistered and skins are just starting to turn black. 10-20 minutes. Optional – once cool, gently slip the blistered skins off for a more elegant presentation.
3. While tomatoes are baking, over a high heat, bubble the unsalted chicken stock with the garlic until reduced by half. Reduce heat to lowest setting.
4. Put pan of salted water on to boil for pasta.
5. With a sharp knife or mandolin, slice the ricotta salata into paper thin slices (or crumble)
6. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and add to the reduced chicken broth. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and the butter. Add the basil. Toss vigorously. Taste and add as much or as little salt and pepper as you like. I season this dish fairly agressively as it’ll really bring out the lemony flavors.
7. Line the warmed bowls with the pea shoots, add the pasta/pea shoots and add a couple of spoons of the broth. Add the ricotta salata, the cherry tomatoes and the sliced radish if using.. Enjoy!

Helpful info:

It’s a quick and easy swap of chicken stock to vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian.

You don’t have to serve the cherry tomatoes on the vine, I just thought they looked prettier this way! Once I’d taken the picture, I popped them off the vine and smushed them into the sauce. Yum.

If you can’t find ricotta salata you could substitute parmigiano regiano or pecorino but it would be a completely different dish with much more cheese flavor.

If pea shoots aren’t in season you could add frozen peas to the pasta water for the last minute and then drain them with the pasta.

If you’d like a little more protein, add grilled shrimp (especially good with the lemony broth) or grilled chicken.

What do you enjoy eating to signal the start of summer?

Riffs on avocado toast

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Mainely Eating

What can possibly be written about avocado toast that hasn’t already been written elsewhere? Along with smoothie bowls, poke, cupcakes and pizza, it’s one of the most popular foods on Instagram. Avocado toast also been named the most annoying food in Instagram 😉

At it’s most basic, you just mash or slice half an avocado onto a slice of toast. Boom. To prevent the avocado browning too quickly and to brighten up the flavor I like to squeeze in the juice of half a lime, Maldon sea salt, pepper and a tiny splash of good olive oil. Maybe some red pepper flakes if I’m feeling spicy.

basic avocado toast

Servings: 1 piece of toast
Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: ridiculously easy
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Ingredients:
Your choice of toasted bread
1/2 ripe avocado
1 lime
1 tsp good olive oil
Salt (preferably Maldon sea salt) & Pepper (preferably fresh ground black pepper)

Directions:
1. Scoop the avocado flesh out of the skin (remove the pit)
2. Squeeze in as much or as little lime juice as you like, I like mine fairly citrusy so I usually use the juice of half a lime
3. Add the olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper
4. Mash the avocado with a fork – as smooth or as chunky as you like
5. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed
6. Spread on hot toast (or bread or crackers)
7. Add additional toppings – see topping ideas below

Different ideas for avocado toast toppings

If you’re an avocado toast aficionado, here are a few topping suggestions to take your toast to the next level. And of course, you can easily combine toppings – red onion, tomato and cayenne and you’re almost at guacamole toast!

Avocado toast topping ideas (from left to right by row):
1. Slices of red fresno chili
2. Sprinkle of cayenne pepper
3. Sliver of jalapeno
4. Diced red onion
5. Sweet cherry tomato
6. Maldon sea salt and pink peppercorns
7. Drops of sriracha
8. Extra lime juice
9. Crunchy red radish

Did I mention avocado is good for you? Half an avocado contains around 150 calories but most of that is made up of heart-healthy, cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fat.

And….because it’s Cinco de Mayo tomorrow and maybe you’ll have a few avocados laying around after making your toast, here’s a bonus recipe – my favorite chunky guacamole recipe:

Think of this as a loose starting point. If you’re a huge onion fan, add more! If you can’t stand cilantro (me!), then skip it. If you like a mild guacamole, skip the fresh chile or maybe just add a little mild anaheim chile. If you like it hot then graduate to a jalapeno or even habanero. Check out the range of heat in various chiles here.

Quick and Chunky Guacamole

Servings: 4 as a snack
Time: 10-15 mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:
2 perfectly ripe avocados
2 limes (ideally at room temperature for more juice)
1-2 garlic cloves – crushed in garlic press or finely sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely diced red onion
1 tomato diced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Your choice of fresh chile – anaheim, serrano, jalapeno, habanero
Small bunch of cilantro (if you like it) – washed and finely chopped

If you want a more authentic approach then you’d want to get your hands on a molcajete (a large pestle and mortar made of volcanic rock) to grind your garlic, salt and onion into a paste, but this is the quick and easy version so…

Directions:
1. With the palm of your hands, roll the limes back and forth on the counter a few times, this will give you more juice. Cut the limes in half and squeeze all the juice into a bowl.
2. Cut the avocado in half lengthways, remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado flesh and add it to the lime juice. You’ll have giant chunks of avocado at this point. Toss in the lime juice to prevent browning.
3. Add the minced garlic, diced tomato, red onion, cayenne pepper, salt, and cilantro (reserve a little cilantro for garnish)
4. Finely chop the fresh chile if using. Use gloves if you have them or even a fork to hold your chile while you chop it (if you have chile oils on your fingers and then touch your eyes or mouth you will be in pain!), remove the seeds (unless you REALLY like heat) and add to bowl.
5. Toss ingredients and then use a sharp knife to loosely chop the avocado while in the mix, I like fairly big chunks, if you want a smoother guacamole you can use a fork to mash.
6. Taste the guacamole and adjust to your taste – more salt? more cayenne? Transfer into serving dish and sprinkle with extra cilantro.

Serve with warm corn tortilla chips. Ideally you’ll want to eat the guacamole immediately. If you need to eat it a little later you can cover the surface tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge. Note that the heat from the chile will intensify the longer you leave it. You can also save one of the avocado pits and add it to the guacamole to (allegedly) reduce browning, remember to remove it before serving!

Quick and easy chunky guacamole with warm corn tortilla chips

Perfect with a cold cerveza or margarita!

Fragrant Lamb Shanks

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Mainely Eating

I recently read that the average American consumes just 1lb of lamb vs. a whopping 61lb of beef each year and up to 50% of Americans have never even tried lamb! I guess if I was a member of the sheep family I’d let out a grateful bleet at this news.

Growing up in the UK, we would quite often have roast lamb for Sunday lunch and my home-town dish of scouse wouldn’t exist without lamb. Here in Maine, we have fabulous local lamb available to us and when I saw the lamb shanks from North Star Sheep Farm I couldn’t resist buying them to make this flavorful Morrocan-inspired Fragrant Lamb Shank Braise.

Lamb is super tasty, rich in iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin B-12 and niacin, AND grass-fed lamb is loaded with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, an important omega-3 fatty acids), in fact lamb contains 5 times as much healthy ALA as beef!

Lamb shanks are one of my favorite cuts of lamb, braise them slowly (similar to beef short ribs), and they’ll transform into fork-tender, melt-in-your-mouth shreds of juicy meat. Lamb also holds up well to bold flavors so I decided to look to the countries bordering the Mediterranean sea – Greece, Turkey, Morocco and North Africa.

Za’atar (Zahtar) is Middle Eastern mix of up to 90% toasted sesame seeds and dried sumac with the remaining made up of a mix of other herbs including thyme, oregano, marjoram, cumin. Great to mix with olive oil for a tasty dip with fresh bread or coat a chicken before roasting.

Ras El Hanout is a North African spice mix of ginger, paprika, cassia, coriander, cumin, sugar, salt, tumeric, chili, black pepper, cardamom, coriander, rose petals, nigella, allspice, nutmeg, galangal.

I generally like to make this fragrant lamb shank braise the day before I want to eat it, the flavors improve overnight and I can chill, defat and then reduce down the braising liquid but most lamb shanks aren’t too fatty so in a pinch you could make and serve it on the same day. The last time I made these I ended up with ~6 cups of braising liquid (this includes the onions, tomatoes, eggplant etc) which I reduced down to about 3 1/2 cups the next day. Here’s the lamb and the braising liquid after a night in the fridge – you just scrape off the layer of yellow fat:

Cliff notes for the experienced cook: Just brown the lamb shanks for extra flavor, add in all of the vegetables, herbs and spices, and cook until the lamb is falling off the bone. Chill and defat the braising liquid, reduce it for a thicker sauce, add back the lamb and brighten with a little lemon juice. Great to make ahead when entertaining, also freeze well!

Fragrant Lamb Shank Braise

Servings: 4
Time: 30 minutes active, 3+ hours cooking
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

4 lamb shanks (~3lbs)
1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 large onion, half-moon slices
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely sliced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp each cayenne, ras el hanout, za’atar, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, pink peppercorns.
~3oz medjool dates, chopped
Cinnamon stick
1 large eggplant or 2 small. Peel skin and chop into 1 inch squares
14.5 oz can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes
32 fl oz chicken or vegetable stock (low sodium)
1/2 lemon
Fresh cilantro (or flat leaf parsley if you’re not a cilantro fan!)
Salt and pepper.

DIrections

In an oven-safe casserole dish over a medium high heat, sear lamb shanks in the butter and oil, remove from dish and set aside
Add a little more oil if dish is dry, over medium heat, add chopped onion, crushed garlic and grated ginger and stir well to combine.
Add 1/2 teaspoon each cayenne, ras el hanout, zaatar, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, pink peppercorns, stir well to combine, cook 5 minutes, your kitchen will start to smell amazing.
Add chopped dates and the cinnamon stick, diced eggplant/aubergine and the can of fire-roasted tomatoes and stir well to combine.
Nestle lamb shanks back in and pour over just enough stock to just cover. If your carton of stock doesn’t cover the lamb, add water.
Cover and pop in a 325 degree oven for about 3-4 hours. Gently turn the lamb shanks every hour or so. The exact time will depend on the size of the shanks and your oven. Check them after 30 minutes, you want a simmering/little bubbling but not frantic boil. Adjust the oven temperature as necessary. If the shanks are particularly large, you might need to cook for up to 4 hours. They’re done when a little poke with a fork makes the meat just flake off.
Take out of oven and put shanks in a shallow dish (handle them carefully, the meat will fall off the bone), pour over a little cooking liquid to keep them moist, cover tightly and pop in fridge. Remove the cinnamon stick. Cool cooking liquid overnight in fridge.
The next morning, remove the thin layer of yellow fat that’s collected on the top of the braising liquid. Put the braising liquid back in the oven (uncovered) at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until it has more of a sauce-like consistency. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon to brighten the flavors.
Reduce oven to 350 and gently add back lamb shanks, cook until piping hot.

To serve, you can take the meat off the bone if you think bones will freak out your guests but I like to serve a whole shank per person on a bed of lemon couscous (cook couscous according to directions, replacing liquid with juice of 1 lemon and unsalted chicken stock, stir in lemon zest and a spoon of butter) or quinoa. Sprinkle over the fresh cilantro or parsley.

This is a very forgiving dish. If you skipped all the herbs and spices it would still be a tasty meaty dish, just not with the same fragrant depth. Although I’d try to at least get your hands on the Za’atar (because you’ll definitely use it again with a little olive oil as a dip).

You can also really make it your own recipe. If you want to add a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas in the last 30 minutes of cooking, go for it! Throw in a bunch of chopped carrots in the last hour – why not? Feel free to substitute zucchini/courgette instead of eggplant/aubergine – try it! It also adapts well for the slow cooker, just reduce the amount of stock as it won’t reduce down as much.

The cooked lamb shanks and sauce will freeze well so I usually make 4-6 servings and freeze half. Just defrost thoroughly and heat in the oven at 325-350 degrees until piping hot.

Mainely Eating – A Maine Food Blog

English girl, home cooking and fine dining her way through the great state of Maine

Lemony Ricotta Salata Pasta with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Pea Shoots

Light summer pasta with blistered cherry tomatoes, pea shoots and ricotta salata

Ingredients:

Directions: