Sara’s Gorgonzola Pasta

I often make dinner by throwing together whatever I have on hand, but a few years ago I set out to make a meal out of my favorite flavors: bleu cheese, mushrooms, fresh basil, and crushed red pepper. There are quite a few directions for these flavors, tossing them on a salad or making a rice dish. But since I’m working on week 2 of gluten-free living, I thought I could share a pasta dish with you and live vicariously while you all make and enjoy this dish.

Sara’s Gorgonzola Pasta

Prep time: 15 minutes
Serves 2-4 Depending on appetites

1/4 Red Onion – Minced
1 TBSP Garlic – Minced
2 C Mushrooms – Sliced
2 Small Zucchini – Sliced
4 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 lb Green Beans – Blanched
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1/4 Cup Fresh Basil – Chopped
1/2 lb Cooked Pasta (I like Penne!)
1/4 lb Gorgonzola Cheese – Crumbled
1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (You can use a pinch or none at all if you’re not up for the spice.)

Heat 2 TBSPs of OLIVE OIL over medium heat in a large pan and sauté ONIONS and CRUSHED RED PEPPER for 3-5 minutes. Add GARLIC and ZUCCHINI, sauté for another 2 minutes.

Push the veggies to the side of the pan, add additional 2 TBSPs of OLIVE OIL and sauté the MUSHROOMS until cooked. Add GREEN BEANS, SALT, and PEPPER, heat through.

Remove from heat, toss with PASTA, BASIL, and GORGONZOLA. Serve with an additional sprinkle of Gorgonzola and basil for garnish.

This dish is super easy, fast, and especially handy if you have left over pasta on hand. If you have to cook your pasta first, your prep time will bump up to 30 minutes, still very fast for a complete meal! I hope you enjoy this tasty pasta while I wallow away on my gluten-free regimen… Stay tuned for more about gluten-free eating. Next week, I’ll be blogging away over on An Army of Ermas and I’m sure I’ll be bringing some new recipes to my Hero Complex readers as well!

Thanks for reading,

~Sara

Psycho Babble

“I should be… I have to… I can’t…” go ahead, fill in the blank. We all say this sort of thing or think it. Our minds are split into tasks we have to complete or should be doing and things we want to do. I have some time “off,” finishing online classes, only working one part-time job, and packing to move in 2 weeks. This week, I assigned myself a single task: Cook. Every. Day. We ate out a lot last week, which is fine occasionally, but we ate out A LOT. Hey! Cooking in a half-packed kitchen is tough, but we are moving in two weeks and my new kitchen, it needs work. I’m determined to enjoy every last recipe in my spacious, modern, chef-friendly, fully equipped kitchen before plummeting into the depths of an early 80’s nightmare, complete with particle board cabinets. The nightmare will be short lived; we’re knocking down walls, gutting the kitchen, and remodeling within 6 months. But 6 months without my kitchen! So, I’m cooking while I can.

When I have time for creative pursuits, I make dessert. I’m not sure what that says about me. I have other interests. In another lifetime, I was a writer, an artist, a poet, and I still love those things. But dessert? When you make something delicious, you know it. People smile, they make yum-sounding noises, they ask for more. My egotistical little mind loves recognition. And when I channel Martha, instant gratification! Last night, I took a little trip on the ego train. Choo-choo! My voyage was a result of this beauty. Let me pause to marvel at my artistry….

Ha! The tart was tasty and is modified below from an EDF recipe that can be found here.

Crust:

3/4 cup raw almonds
1/3 cup granulated sugar
A Pinch of Coarse salt
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 stick of unsalted butter

Filling:

2 teaspoons plain powdered gelatin
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar


Directions:

In a food processor, pulse almonds, granulated sugar, and salt until finely ground. Add flour; pulse to combine. Cube cold butter, add to processor and pulse until mixture is crumbly and holds together when squeezed. Press crumbs in bottom and up side of an 8-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom or a cheesecake pan. Freeze 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust is golden brown and set, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes, then remove tart ring and let cool completely.

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons cold water and let stand 5 minutes. In a small saucepan, warm half-and-half over medium. When it begins to steam, add gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved, about 1 minute. In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, brown sugar, and pinch of salt. Stir warm half-and-half mixture into yogurt mixture. Pour filling into cooled tart shell and refrigerate until set, 2 hours (or up to 1 day).

Decorate with fruit of your choice. I used 1/2 a pint of organic strawberries, a kiwi, and a peach.

A few notes: I like more crust, so I modified the original to make it more robust. When heating the half and half, it might be nice to infuse a bit more flavor into the yogurt custard thingy. A vanilla bean? Lemon or orange zest? Oooo! Star anise? Can you think of any modifications? Let me know if you try it and how it turns out.


Tonight's menu: Pan seared rosemary pork tenderloin with polenta and garlicky kale.


Thanks for reading!



~Sara

Something Light

Figuratively and literally. My toddler has always been quite decisive about food. He knows he likes green beans. He’s positive he hates zucchini, unless I pull out my super sneaky mom skills and put it in chocolate chip bread. He loves broccoli, but only when it’s what he calls “spicy broccoli”: steamed with garlic, ginger, orange, sesame oil, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. He refuses to each potatoes when they’re mashed, but loves fries and tots. What kid doesn’t?

Lately, I’ve been searching for healthy snacks that he would love and I stumbled upon a granola bar recipe in the April Edition of Parents Magazine. This prompted me to come up with my own version of granola bars. They were a hit with the whole house, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you. You can use home made or store bought granola. I tried it both ways and liked my home made granola better, but don’t feel like you need to hippy out. The store-bought ones went over just as well. I don’t think my men noticed. Enjoy!

The Base Bar Recipe:

1 Cup of Granola
1 Cup of Rolled Oats
½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour


1 Egg
¼ Cup Honey
¼ Cup Olive Oil

1 ½ Cups of Any Combination of: Dried Chopped Apricots, Cherries, Cranberries, Blueberries, Dates, or Raisin; Chocolate Chips, Chopped Almonds, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, or anything else you like!

Preheat over @ 325°. Use an 8x8 pan, lined with parchment or foil, grease with oil spray. Allow an overhang on the parchment to pull the bars out later. Mix Granola, Oats, Add-ins, and Flour in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, egg, and honey. [Helpful hint: Measure out oil first, then the honey wont stick to the measuring cup.] Mix into Granola mixture.

Spray your hands with some cooking oil and pat the bar mixture into the pan. Bake @ 325° for 30 minutes. Cool in pan, on baking rack. Pull bars out of the pan with the overhanging parchment or foil. Cut into 8 or 16 bars, depending on your appetite. Eat!

One last reminder: While we may try to promote green living every day, April 22 is Earth Day. Since it’s my bloggiversary and Earth Day, I’m doing a give-away. Visit The Hero Complex on April 22, 2009 and use the Comment section to tell me how you’re teaching your kids about making the Earth a better place. I’ll pick my favorite and send you a pair of books from pbskids.org. World Tree Day and Mapping the World Tree, featuring characters from the show It’s a Big, Big World. Can’t wait to read your comments!


Thanks for reading,

Sara

Success!

When we last left our Hero, she was covered in flour and dead asleep at the kitchen table.




But, wait! What is that? She’s wielding the tongs! She’s alive! Cooking didn’t kill her.


Okay, enough of the silliness. Lunch was a success! 22 people attended while I was there, from 11 am - 1 pm. I heard that a few others were going to be filtering in after 1. Apparently, the food was wonderful. I’m saying that honestly, because I don’t eat chicken. And you thought I was just embarking on another ego trip.

Here are a few foodie pictures to titillate your taste buds. On the plate, clockwise from high noon: Thyme & Onion Focaccia, Baby greens with snap peas, tomatoes and Dijon vinaigrette, and Rosemary chicken breast.

Lemony Squash Muffins. The recipe, by Jamie Oliver, can be found here. I'm usually caught tinkering with every recipe I find or just creating my own. But this one was a winner right out of the gate. Try them!

In addition to raising more than 50 dollars for KW Cares, we were able to pull in a few extra donations for our local food bank food drive. Our office is hoping to win the coveted Macaroni Trophy. We’re accepting donations at our office until May 21st.

Here’s the info on the Habitat for Humanity work that we’ll be doing on Thursday. I’m going to bring my camera and click as many pictures as the day will allow. As of this morning, we had more than 15 people signed up, between day, morning, and afternoon shifts. It should be a great time!

I’ll be back a bit later with some interesting reading!