Pasta Puttanesca

This is a nice quick pasta dish for any time of year as the only fresh ingredients are garlic and parsley. As long as the prep work is complete, the sauce can be cooked in the time it takes to cook the pasta (as long as you aren't using super fresh quick cooking pasta!). And you can try and time the steamed broccoli and the garlic to be finished at the same time too, which I accomplished tonight! I made a green salad ahead of time with a beautiful watermelon radish from our farm share. Check out the picture!

This recipe is based on a Cooks Illustrated recipe from 2002.

While cooking 1 lb. spaghetti, heat 2T olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic minced, 1t hot pepper flakes, and 1 tin of anchovies minced over medium heat until fragrant but not browning. Drain 1 28-oz. can of diced tomatoes, but keep the liquid.

Add the tomatoes and simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes.

Drain the pasta and add about 1/2C of the tomato liquid and toss to fully coat the pasta.

Add 1/3C minced fresh parsley, 3/4C black olives (like Kalamata or oil cured) pitted and chopped, and 3T capers to the sauce. Pour this over the pasta and add more tomato liquid as necessary.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Antipasto Orzo Salad

Finally, a recipe! So I haven't tried the garlic scape pesto yet, but it is next on my list for the day. I have been anxious to get an actual recipe up so I am going to post this salad, which I made on Monday and we finished the leftovers yesterday.

This is cold pasta salad that combines the flavors common on a traditional antipasto plate. And it tastes delicious the next day for lunch too!

1C orzo, cooked and cooled

2T salami, diced

2T ricotta salata, crumbled (I am sure parmesan, asiago, or fresh mozzarella would be tasty too!)

1/4C olives, diced (I used a combination of Greek green, kalamata, and nicoise.)

1T fresh basil, chopped

1/2T fresh oregano, chopped

½ to 1T olive oil (My husband recently introduced me to Trader Joe’s Kalamata oil, which is delicious!)

black pepper

Served with pepperoncini

I cooked the orzo according to the instructions on the box, while preparing the other ingredients. Once cooked, I strained the orzo and ran it under cold water to stop it from overcooking and to chill it for the salad. I then tossed all the ingredients together and added enough olive oil to keep the orzo from clumping and pepper to taste.

This was tasty with a few pepperoncini peppers on the side!