Pasta with Béchamel and Peas

Fancy name, eh? My daughter hangs out with Grandma, Grandpa, and her favorite cousin every week. One of their favorite dinners on "Grandma Days" is Grandpa's pasta with white sauce and peas. He keeps jars of Alfredo sauce on hand, just for this dish, and the kids eat it up!

Today was a really long day, and the kids were total troopers. (We hit up the aquarium after school. Coming home, I made a few wrong turns, and ended up stretching a 20 minute drive into nearly 90 minutes. Ouch.) I decided to make something I knew the kids would love, but it had to be QUICK. Quicker than frozen pizza. I already had some leftover (plain) pasta in the fridge, so this came together in about 5 minutes. Easy peasy! (Heh. See what I did there?)

(Oh, and about that name? My daughter asked me to please add this to our dinner rotation...so I told her she had to learn the proper name if she wanted me to remember what I made. No doubt this isn't a real béchamel, but...whatevs. It's cute to see a 6 year old asking for béchamel!)

I learned the recipe for this white sauce from my father when I was about 12. He, in turn, learned it from his grandmother. It's fool-proof, and easily customizable. Add cream cheese and rock shrimp, and you have an incredible dip. More cheese, and it's a great mac and cheese. Less cheese, and it could be a simple topping for poached eggs. This can also be used in white lasagnas, or over vegetables. Oh, and a classic béchamel would also have nutmeg in it, just a pinch.

LoLo's Pasta with Béchamel and Peas
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 pound pasta (cooked, drained and set aside)
4 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup flour
approximately 2 cups milk (I use skim, but nearly anything will work. Even evaporated, from a can!)
1 cup shredded cheese
3 cups frozen peas
Salt, Pepper to Taste


In a sauce pan, combine your knob of butter and flour over medium low heat. Whisk it as the butter melts - you need it to be lump free. It should be runny enough to not just clump up in your whisk. Add more butter if necessary.

Let your butter and flour cook for about 1 minute, until it starts to get slightly golden brown, and slowly whisk in your milk. Just a bit at a time, then let it cook. You want the consistency to be like melted ice cream, or just a bit thicker. The flour thickens as it cooks, so make sure you take your time, and keep whisking!

When the sauce is the right consistency, whisk in your shredded cheddar cheese and stir until melted. Add your frozen peas, heat through, and taste. Depending on your cheese, you may or may not need the salt, pepper, nutmeg, etc. (This is where you can make the sauce your own - White pepper is nice here, because it won't put black flecks in your sauce. Cayenne pepper would surprise people, too!) Pour all of your sauce over your pasta and fold to combine.

Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Crimini and Red Onion, Citrus Vinaigrette

I made this salad for a Sunday dinner with friends- it was very well received!  The vinaigrette is balanced, with sweet, salty, spicy, and acid.  Feel free to adjust seasonings to your tastes.  The salad portion is classic spinach salad, but I left out the proteins you'd find in a deli salad (sliced egg, cheese, and bacon.)

Serves 6-8 people

Salad
4 good handfuls baby spinach, washed and dried (enough to fill your salad spinner)
6 crimini mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 of a red onion, sliced into very thin rounds, and then chopped
2 cans mandarin orange segments, drained

This is a basic vinaigrette, with a 1:1 ratio of oil to acid, not including seasonings.
Citrus Vinaigrette
2 oz mild oil (I used vegetable oil)
2 oz strawberry vinegar
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp stone ground mustard
a few shakes of hot sauce (I used Tapatio)
1 good pinch kosher salt
Honey to taste

Tomato Pepper Carrot Puree (Raw Spaghetti Sauce)

Staring down a pile of ripe tomatoes, I knew I wanted pasta sauce for my freezer.  I knew that I wanted to make a huge batch, eat some for dinner, and freeze the rest.  I knew that dinner was in 30 minutes.  So, I punted (which is a luxury I can afford, when I don't intend on preserving the final product in a jar, on the shelf.)

After finding this recipe and taking stock of what I had, I scoffed at the suggested three tomatoes, grabbed as many things from my fridge as I dared, and came up with this.

Technically, I'm going to call it a tomato-carrot-bell pepper puree.  Eat it cold and plain, it's gazpacho.  Warm it up and thin it down with some chicken stock, it's a nice warm soup base.  Cook it down thicker, and it would make an excellent spread for crackers or little toast points or crusty baguette rounds.  Use it as a pizza sauce.  Do what I did, and spoon some into a hot pot of drained pasta, add back some of the starchy pasta water, and stir it over low heat till the sauce is thick and clingy on the noodles.  The main thing to remember is it's raw, it's delicious, and it's fast.  Oh, and it's smooth.  Very, VERY important to my kids.

Tomato Pepper Carrot Puree
Makes about 5 Cups


1/4 cup olive oil
10 medium sized tomatoes, halved (I used Early Girls and very, very fat Romas from the garden)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 small onion, halved
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp dried basil (use fresh if you have it- I made ALL of my basil into pesto yesterday)
2 Tbsp white vinegar (for a little kick, and to keep it bright looking)
2 red bell peppers, topped and seeded, then torn into quarters
2 good-sized carrots, chopped into 1" cubes
Pepper

Start with the first eight ingredients, but only put in two or three halved tomatoes.  Blend well- as you can, add the rest of the ingredients.  I have a workhorse of a vintage VitaMix, you might need to adjust things or use a food processor at home.  Grating the carrots would also help in smaller blenders.  Taste test, and add more basil or salt or pepper or garlic or red pepper, or whatever you fancy.

As a pasta sauce, I'd say this made enough for about 5 pounds of pasta.

Miso Ginger Dressing

One of my favorite parts of a meal in a sushi joint is the ubiquitous salad that comes while I'm waiting for the main event. My go-to sushi place has an amazing miso dressing that is totally crave-able. This comes pretty close! Best part? Because it's Mark Bittman, the dressing comes together in about 5 minutes, thanks to my food processor. 


Miso Ginger Dressing
Adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe here, in the NYT. 



1/4 cup olive oil (the original recipe called for peanut, grapeseed or rapeseed)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
scant 1/4 cup miso paste (or less, as your taste dictates. Start with a few Tbsp. and work up.)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 inchlong piece fresh ginger, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Pop all the ingredients, except for the salt and pepper, into the bowl of your food processor. Blend until well combined and the carrots are in little bits. Season with salt and pepper, and you're done! 

I keep mine stored in the refrigerator, in a mason jar. Be sure to put a layer of plastic wrap under the lid so that the vinegar doesn't react with your metal ring. 

Pico de Gallo with Wheat (Pico de Gallo con Trigo)

The cooked wheat berries add a nice heft to this salad/topping.  And...because this class was taught to latinas, the point was more that you could add wheat, because everyone already knew how to make a basic pico de gallo, so no amounts are given in our handout!

Pico de Gallo
Onion
Tomato
Cilantro
Avocado
Serrano chile peppers
Cooked wheat berries
Salt
Lime Juice

Combine first five ingredients, then add the cooked wheat berries and add salt and lime juice to taste.

(To prepare wheat berries, soak overnight and let drain 24 hours.  Cook in boiling water 15 minutes.)

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Made a quick tomato sauce for dinner tonight from our blemished tomatoes- it was done by the time the pasta was pulled out of the pot, and killed a big pile of ugly roma and early girl tomaters. PLUS, it was delicious, if a bit runny. My dried spices are getting a bit low- I would have added basil if it were available, but neither cupboard nor garden is abundant in basil right now!

The amounts are approximate.

2 pounds slicing tomatoes (10-15 small tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano

Heat oil in a skillet, and add minced garlic. Cook until fragrant, and add chopped tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients, cover, and let simmer. Taste for seasoning. Smash a bit if you like.

Plum Mustard Dipping Sauce

I love to dip ham and cheese turnovers in this or sweet potato fries.  It's fantastic on ham sandwiches as well!  You can use any jam or mustard, but my favorite combo is plum jam from our italian prune tree in the backyard and honey mustard.  The first person that can give me a honey mustard recipe that tastes like French's honey mustard wins my gratitude!  It would probably be phenomenal with a good stone-ground, course mustard.

Fruit and Mustard Dipping Sauce
Jam
Mustard

Stir to combine.  Yes, that's it!  I normally just mix it on my plate because NO ONE else in my family will eat mustard, and I don't eat meat often enough to make up a larger batch.  If anyone tries to store it in the fridge, let us know how that works?  I imagine it would be just fine.

Creamy Lemon Pasta

Creamy Lemon Pasta
Paraphrased From Moosewood Restaurant: Simple Suppers


In a small skillet on low heat, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Add 1 cup of cream, and heat slowly.  Stir in 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and set aside.

Stir sauce into 1 pound of cooked pasta, with a cup of grated parmesan cheese.  Thin with reserved pasta water if needed.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (We didn't need any salt, but everyone peppered theirs lightly at the table.) 

Balsamic Parmesan Vinaigrette

Balsamic Parmesan Vinaigrette
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (white or red is good)
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon mustard (all I have is yellow, but dijon would be amazing)
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or smashed
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil

Dump everything into a screwtop jar and shake shake!  It's best if it gets to sit for a while.  This is exceptionally garlicy- dial it back if you don't want it so strong.

Spicy Mayo Sauce

I mix this with canned tuna for a kid-friendly pantry version of "spicy tuna roll" sushi.

Spicy Mayo Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons sriracha sauce (to taste- you'll be surprised how much you can use before this gets spicy)
2 or 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar

Mix mayonnaise and sriracha sauce in a bowl, and add enough vinegar to make a sauce.  It shouldn't be runny, but more like the consistency of salad dressing.  Decant leftovers into a squeeze bottle and use to garnish the top of your sushi rolls- this stores well in the refrigerator.