Pasta Primavera

We had an event at work on Friday, and we had tons of vegetables left from the crudite platters. I couldn't stand to see them go to waste, so I brought home a bag of veggies. Yesterday, we had beautiful sunny, warm weather that felt like Spring, and the weather inspired us to make a pasta primavera with the veggies.

Because we acquired the vegetables already cut up, this was a really quick meal. My husband even declared that is was "the simplest dinner ever." It was delicious too. The rich sauce balances nicely with the fresh vegetables, and a pinch of red pepper flakes adds just a big of heat.

We placed our bamboo steamer over the pasta pot, and loaded it up with the vegetables.

The whole dinner was ready in 15-20 minutes and was ready to enjoy. We chose farfalle pasta (bow ties) which seemed appropriate for Oscar night.

Pasta Primavera
serves 4

1 lb farfalle pasta
1 T butter
6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4 C vegetables, cut into bite size pieces
1 pint half and half
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Start the pasta water. Prepare vegetables. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet and add the garlic. Cook the garlic until soft. Add the pasta to the boiling water, and place bamboo steamer over the pot. Add vegetables and cover. Cook the vegetables until they are crisp but tender (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl. Once the garlic is tender, lower the heat and add cream, red pepper and Parmesan cheese. Cook over low heat, whisking regularly (to ensure the sauce doesn't break) until it thickens. The sauce and pasta should be done about the same time. Add everything to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. It's ready to serve.

Some other easy variations include adding artichoke hearts, pesto, or pureed roasted red pepper.

This week's menu:
Monday - out to eat after a prenatal appointment
Tuesday - Turkey breast stuffed with mushrooms, quinoa and broccoli
Wednesday - Fire chicken with salad
Thursday - Salmon with mustard glaze
Friday - leftovers

This post is part of My Meatless Mondays, Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist, Meatless Mondays at Midnight Maniac, and Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.

Jambalaya

I was inspired by Laura over at Cooking in Kenzo and her efforts to eat entirely out of her freezer, fridge and pantry. I decided it was time for us to undertake a similar effort. Now she has an enviable situation of being the proud owner of a chest freezer, and I can only dream of such food storage capacity, but it's still time to clean out some leftovers before they become freezer burned.

My husband made up a delicious batch of jambalaya out of our leftovers. We have both worked at restaurants in the past while we looked for "real" jobs- I usually worked in the front of house and he usually worked in the kitchen. At one restaurant, he made big batches of jambalaya in a convection oven. They threw all the ingredients in raw and cooked it all together. This time around he made it in a dutch oven. We didn't really have enough rice in the cupboard, so he supplemented it with some wild rice we had on hand. It turned out really well, but think of this recipe more as inspiration for cleaning out your own fridge.


Jambalaya
2 T coconut oil
1/2 lb andouille sausage, sliced
1 lb chicken, cut into chunks
1 red, yellow, and green pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
pinch of saffron
1 t salt
1 t garlic powder
1 t black pepper
1/2 t cayenne
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1 C Basmati rice
1 C wild rice
2 C water

Combine the oil, sausage, chicken, vegetables and spices and cook until the vegetables soften. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes. Add the water and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

This post is part of Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Dr. Laura's Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Tuesdays at the Table, Tasty Tuesday, Made from Scratch Tuesdays, Works-for-me-Wednesday, Frugal Fridays, and...