Garlic & Greens Spaghetti - Because Garlic Fest is just around the corner

GARLIC!!!!!!GARLIC!!!!!!!!GARLIC!!!!!!!!

Last year, by virtue of a glitch is the cosmos, I was asked to fill in as a guest judge at the Delray Beach Garlic Festival.  I suspect is was the universe pointing to one of the true lovers of all things garlic because clearly it was not pointing to a public speaker.  This year, another judge must have fallen into a black hole, as I was asked, again. to participate as a Judge.  (Someone seriously needs to do a better vetting process if I'm asked to speak with a microphone in hand)

In any event, to ready myself for the challenge I have re-invented Garlic & Greens Spaghetti from the Food Network Magazine Cookbook, Great Easy Meals. (Page 277 for those who want the original recipe)

This dish has everything my husband and I love.  GARLIC in abundance.  Fresh greens.  And, Pasta.

The modifications to this recipe were minimal.  We, of course, added more garlic than required and less EVOO.  We found adding two onions to the dish made it too sweet and lessened the recipe it to just one.  If you have followed us before, the standard pasta is replaced with brown rice pasta. (An FYI, we also tried it with linguine but much preferred the spaghetti version)

We attempted this recipe twice.  Once with grilled pork and the second time with blackened shrimp on top.  Both were delicious.  Both would be made again.

The original recipe suggests par boiling the greens, however we omitted that step.  I preferred to saute the greens in the onion/EVOO.  I hate to lose any nutritional value in the water bath and we both love sauted greens.

Ingredients
20 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onions, halved and sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
Kosher salt
12 cups torn winter greens, such as kale, chard, escarole or mustard greens (about 2 1/2 pounds)
12 ounces brown rice spaghetti 
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese


Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. (Be careful not to over-brown the garlic or it will taste bitter.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic chips to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil into a small bowl to use as a dip for crusty bread, if desired. 

Is there any better smell than a saute pan full of garlic?

When the water is boiling, Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.  Our brand of pasta takes about 15 min.

Brown Rice Pasta has a different cooking method than traditional pasta.  Be sure to follow the instructions

Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the oil in the pan; cook, stirring, until the onions are light brown, about 10 minutes. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt. When the onions are almost done, add the greens and cook, uncovered, until just tender,stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Greens and onion mixture with Garlic waiting in the background.

When the pasta is done, remove and reserve about 1 cup cooking water; drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cheese and toss. Add the greens and some of the reserved pasta water and toss, adding more water as necessary to keep the pasta from clumping. Top with the garlic chips and protein of choice.

Almost ready to serve

Garlic & Greens with Blackened Shrimp

Garlic & Greens with grilled pork

CSA Stuffed Bell Peppers

Most every Wednesday a magical thing happens while I'm at work.  A basket of fresh grown, fresh picked vegetables and fruits arrive.  Its magical in a number of ways for me.  First, its magical that someone, for a nominal fee, will deliver a large basket of fresh vegetables to me each week.  Next, its always a surprise as to what is in the basket.  Sometimes squash or grapefruit.  Sometimes green beans and assorted tomatoes.  Sometimes exotic things that I must question. (And with the exotics, there is always an answer/suggestion from my delivery person on how to prepare the mystery ingredient)

This week our bountiful basket arrived and contained inside (among many other goodies)  five lovely bell peppers.  My husband declared it should be stuffed pepper night.

Usually this blog is reserved for me transforming other recipes into our gluten free versions. However, growing up that dish was a family favorite made without a written recipe (as far as I know) and I want to share what we made.

Below is our version of Stuffed Bell Peppers and we want to thank The Fancy Chicken and Solace Farms for providing almost ALL of the ingredients.  (The meat, garlic, wine and wild rice were store bought)

Please enjoy our version of Stuffed Bell Peppers by Felicia Marquart.  (Hope I was close in guessing this mom)

Ingredients
Filling:
1 lb ground meat of your choice (we used a mix of beef and pork)
5 Bell Peppers, tops sliced off. (save tops which will be chopped and added to the meat mixture)
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 C chopped tomato
1 C Wild Rice
Salt  Pepper

Sauce:
6 C grape or cherry tomatoes chopped (any tomato variety will do)
1 box crushed tomatoes
2 Tbs coconut sugar
1/2 C white wine
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
Prepare one cup of wild rice according to package directions.  (it will probably need to cook for about 50 min)

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat cook the 6 cups of chopped tomatoes along with boxed tomatoes.  This will need to cook down significantly.  If you have an immersion blender, even better for breaking down the tomatoes for sauce consistency.  For the record, I didn't remove the seeds, everything into the pool.  After the sauce has cooked down and thickened, add the coconut sugar and wine and continue to simmer.

For the filling: Saute onions, pepper tops until soft.  Add garlic and one cup tomatoes and cook down. Add ground meat and cook until meat is browned.  While this is browning, blanch the peppers (with tops and seed pods removed) for about 5 min and then remove from boiling water and immerse in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

After the meat has browned, add about 1 cup of the sauce and mix.  Next, stand the peppers upright in a dutch oven or oven safe pan.  Fill the peppers with the meat mixture until full.  Pour sauce over peppers and into dish until about 1/2 full.  Bake the pepper at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  We topped the peppers with a wee bit of Pecorino Romano. (Yeah, I know we are trying to be dairy free but I'm from Wisconsin.  I can't give up cheese completely)

Enjoy!