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Posts Tagged pesto

Soba Noodle Salad with Miso Chard Pesto and Honey Roasted Carrots

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen last week, prepping and preserving in anticipation for the PDX Food Swap. Truth be told, I haven’t been spending a ton of time in the kitchen as of late. Life has been busy and chaotic and I just haven’t had a lot of time or energy for creative kitchen projects. But, the PDX Food swap was looming in the distance and I just couldn’t stomach the idea of going to the swap empty-handed.

So, I carved out some time in my week and forced myself to get into the kitchen. Over the course of a couple days, I cooked and created and canned and preserved. I made a giant mess of my kitchen, but it was totally worth it.

I felt accomplished and inspired…and strangely relaxed. Cooking has that effect on me, I suppose.

roasted rainbow carrots

Of all the things I cooked this past week, I think this soba salad is my favorite. The chard and miso pesto is earthy and savory, dark and uniquely delicious. (Truthfully, it isn’t really a pesto at all. I just wasn’t sure what else to call it.) The savory pesto paired beautifully with the natural sweetness of the roasted carrots, and let me tell you, it made for a damn good soba noodle salad.

(Also: I begrudgingly brought a couple of jars of the chard and miso ‘pesto’ to the PDX Food Swap, but I selfishly wanted to keep it all to myself. It’s too good.)

Soba Salad with Swiss Chard and Miso Pesto

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Soba Salad with Miso Chard Pesto and Honey Roasted Carrots

Serving Size: 3 as an entree, 6 as a side

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch swiss chard
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1/4 cup red miso paste
  • 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 package soba noodles
  • 1 bunch rainbow carrots (or 5-6 regular carrots)
  • 1.5 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
  • Green onions, ends trimmed and sliced thinly (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Roast the carrots (can be done ahead of time): Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and trim carrots (do not peel). If your carrots are very thin/small, you may leave them whole. If the carrots are thick, slice in half (or quarters) lengthwise. Pat the carrots dry and place in a bowl. Toss with sesame oil, honey, red chili flakes, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Lay the carrots in a single layer on a lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until browned and fork tender. When cooked to your liking, remove from the oven and set aside until use.
  2. Place a large pot of salted water on the stove over high heat. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, wash the chard and trim off the stems. Set stems aside. Roughly chop the chard leaves. When the water is boiling, add the chard leaves into the water and stir to combine. Blanch chard in the water for 2-3 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove chard and transfer to a bowl. Reserve the pot water.
  3. Using a food processor (or blender), blend the blanched chard, garlic, miso paste, and rice vinegar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally, and blend until a smooth paste forms. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Taste, and adjust seasonings if needed.
  4. Bring the pot of reserved blanching water to a boil. Cook the soba noodles in the water, according to package directions. Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
  5. In a large bowl, toss the soba noodles with the chard pesto. Add a few teaspoons of the pesto at a time, until the noodles are evenly coated. (Extra pesto can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge) Taste, and season with salt, pepper, or red chili flakes as needed. Serve at room temperature and garnish with roasted carrots and sliced green onions.
  6. Note: I adapted this recipe from Chow, and they chose to sauté the chard stems in oil before tossing them in the soba salad. I chose to go another route with the stems, and quick-pickled them in a mixture of rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. I was pretty pleased with my pickled chard stems, and thought they made a crunchy, bright, and briny addition to the salad.

http://rosemarried.co/2014/01/28/soba-noodle-salad-miso-chard-pesto-honey-roasted-carrots/

This Time Last Year: My Favorite Summer Recipes

It seems especially cruel to post a roundup of summer recipes on a muggy, cloudy day in Portland, Oregon. My heart knows that it’s summer, but my eyes tell me otherwise. It’s all doom and gloom today, folks.

But, whether or not it actually feels like summer in Portland, the truth is that it is summer. We’re coming upon the 4th of July weekend, and (fingers crossed!) the forecast looks downright delightful. I couldn’t be happier. I plan on spending a lot of time in the sunshine, eating bratwurst, grilling asparagus, drinking sangria, and having a darn good time. That’s what freedom is all about, right?

So, then, since I’m getting into the spirit of things I thought I’d post a few of my favorite summertime recipes. These are recipes that I keep going back to, again and again (and again). I discovered each of these recipes last summer, and I will admit that I’ve been thinking about them ever since. It was a long and dreary winter, and I am so excited that summer – and all of the seasonal produce that comes with – has arrived. It’s been a long wait, but it’s worth it.

So, happy summer everyone!

My Favorite Summertime Recipes
(Listed Clockwise from the Top Left)
1. Slow Cooker Carnitas
2. 24 Hour Dill Pickles
3. Cabbage Slaw with Fennel, Apple, and Jalapeno
4. Potato Salad with Yogurt, Arugula and Dill
5. Strawberry and Goat Cheese Hand Pies
6. Smashed Pea and Mint Pesto

Happy 4th of July!
-Lindsay

Radish Leaf Pesto Pasta Salad

For whatever reason, I’ve had a really hard time writing this post.

It definitely isn’t due to lack of effort. Quite the contrary, I’ve sat down to write this post many, many times. But every time I turn on my computer and attempt to write about this radish leaf pesto…I simply draw a blank. I try to will my brain to come up with the words, but my brain keeps telling me that it would rather look at pretty things on Pinterest. Apparently, I can’t will my own brain into submission.

All that to say, it would appear that I’ve got a case of writer’s block. It happens to the best of us. I think that I’ve had a hard time writing this recipe because, well, it isn’t really a recipe. Pesto is one of my favorite things to make, for this very reason. There isn’t any one right way to make it, and there are no hard and fast rules for pesto-making. Pesto can take on many different forms, depending on the mood and ingredients at hand. The very freedom I feel in making pesto is the very thing that makes it so hard to write about.

Since I’m having trouble finding the words, I’ll just say this: pesto = greens + garlic + hard cheese + nuts.

It’s as simple as that. To be clear, pesto is traditionally made with basil and pine nuts. But by no means am I traditional, and therefore my pesto tends to skew the same way. Depending upon what I find in my fridge, I’ll make pesto with any combination of the following ingredients: parmesan, pine nuts, hazelnuts, arugula, cilantro, asiago, beet greens, basil, mint, parsley, pecorino romano, almonds, walnuts, and more. There are countless ways to make pesto, it all just depends on what you like (or what you have on hand).

Seeing as this is the season for all things green, I find myself making pesto all the time. My garden and fridge are currently overflowing with leafy greens, and as much as my bunny would love to devour all my extra greens, I usually break his little heart and make a giant batch of pesto instead. Pesto is a fantastic way to reduce waste and use greens before they go bad, and pesto can easily be frozen and then thawed for later use. It just might be the perfect food.

However, in all of my years of pesto-making, it had never dawned on me to use radish leaves. In fact, I’m rather embarassed to admit that it had never occurred to me that you can eat radish leaves (On the same note, I recently saw a recipe for pesto using carrot greens. Genius!). I give all credit for this idea to Portland’s own Chef Vitaly Paley, who recently competed against Chef Garces on Iron Chef America’s “Battle Radish”. During the battle, Chef Paley whipped up many amazing things, including a radish leaf pesto. Even the usually unflappable Iron Chef judges were amazed by his use of radish leaf. It was such an inventive way to use the entire vegetable, as opposed to just throwing the greens away. Chef Paley made all us Portlanders proud! (Note: Chef Paley also won Battle Radish)

It goes without saying that the next time I bought radishes from the farmer’s market, I came straight home and made a batch of radish leaf pesto. It was everything I hoped it would be! The radish leaves lend a little kick of spice to the pesto, and they give it an especially vibrant bright green color. Honestly, I’ll never look at radishes (or their leaves) the same way again. They are a versatile and delicious little vegetable.

(And would you look at that? I see a lot of words on this here page. Maybe I don’t have writer’s block after all!)

RADISH LEAF AND HAZELNUT PESTO PASTA SALAD

Note: When I make pesto, I don’t measure anything. I usually start by throwing a few cloves of garlic in the food processor. Then, I’ll add greens and nuts. Then olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a few red pepper flakes. I keep blending and adding olive oil and/or lemon juice, until the pesto looks right to me. I happen to like a nice, thick pesto that isn’t too heavy on the olive oil. The following measurements are a set of rough guidelines, so feel free to alter the amounts in any way you see fit.

For the radish leaf pesto:
1 large bunch of radish leaves, washed and patted dry (radishes set aside for use in pasta salad)
3 heads of green garlic (or 3 cloves of normal garlic)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 – 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Dash of red chili flakes
1 large handful of fresh basil leaves* (or any other leafy green you have on hand)

*Note: I was making a rather large batch of pesto, so one bunch of radish leaves wasn’t going to cut it, hence why I added in basil. You could easily double the amount of radish leaves for a larger batch, but I only had the one bunch on hand.

Method: Mince garlic using a food processor. Add in nuts, radish leaves, basil, and lemon juice. Blend until combined. Add olive oil in small amounts, until you reach desired consistency. Season with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and extra lemon juice (if so desired). If not using immediately, refrigerate until use.

For the pasta salad:
1 small bunch of asparagus
1/4 cup freshly shaved parmesan cheese
1 lb fresh pasta of your choosing
1/2 cup low fat Greek yogurt
1/2 – 1 cup radish leaf pesto
1 cup baby arugula
Radishes, washed and sliced thinly

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta water and set pasta aside to cool.

Snap the ends off the asparagus. Bring a small pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath. When the pot of water is boiling, add asparagus. Allow the asparagus to cook for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, remove the asparagus from the boiling water and immediately plunge into the ice bath. Once the asparagus has cooled (a few minutes), remove it from the ice bath and cut into 1″ pieces.

Toss cooled pasta with a drizzle of olive oil. Stir together pesto and Greek yogurt, then toss yogurt and pesto mixture with the pasta. Gently stir in parmesan cheese, sliced radishes, asparagus and arugula. Allow to chill at least 20 minutes before serving, as this will allow the flavors to meld.