Zucchini Pasta Primavera with Creamy Basil Pesto

Yesterday it was 80 degrees in Colorado.

Tomorrow it'll be in the low 30's and snowing.  Again.

See if I care! I'm making summer meals- fresh and light- snow or not. 

Take that.

One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is make zucchini pasta.  In fact, I posted a Zucchini Spaghetti recipe last year that's pretty darn close to this one.  

But this one is tossed in a creamy basil pesto.  

Yum!

This is a 15 minute quick and easy recipe, no fuss required.

This just so happens to be a vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free, paleo recipe. 

It's so good, and so good for you.  You get some protein from the pine nuts in the pesto. I used what veggies I had on hand, though you could add pretty much anything.  I would've liked to add some spinach or kale, but it was quite filling as is.

If you want a more traditional primavera (aside from using actual pasta, lol) add parmigiana to the pesto- about 1/4 cup) and top the primavera with added parmigiana.  

I'll be honest, I didn't miss the cheese, and I thought I was going to.  

The basil pesto gives it tons of flavor.  I had extra pesto leftover- froze it in ice cube trays, and then removed to a ziploc bag in the freezer.  Now I can add basil pesto to pasta dishes in the future, or top some grilled fish or chicken with it. 

You will need a julienne peeler to make the zucchini spaghetti.  If you don't have one, they can be found at any kitchen store, or even Walmart and Target.  They're great to have, I peel carrots and other vegetables with them for a pretty look.

Zucchini Pasta Primavera with Creamy Basil Pesto

Serves 2

4 Zucchini

5 ounces grape tomatoes (about 1/2 of a 10 ounce container)

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup coconut milk

For the pesto:

3 cups packed fresh basil

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and cooled

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Prepare the veggies.  Peel and julienne the zucchini. Place in a colander, sprinkle with a tsp of salt, and toss.  Let sit in sink (this draws the moisture out so zucchini spaghetti stays crisp and doesn't get all soggy). 

2. Heat a few swirls of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion. Saute until the onion is beginning to soften, turn translucent. Add the peppers. Saute until peppers are almost done and soft (about 10 minutes).  Add the grape tomatoes. Cook for a minute or so, and add the zucchini. Toss to incorporate, and cook until zucchini is just barely softening, about 5 minutes. 

2. While cooking the onion and peppers, prepare the pesto. Simply add the basil, pine nuts, garlic, and about half of the oil to a food processor. Pulse to combine.  With the food processor running, drizzle in the remaining oil until the desired consistency is achieved. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. 

3. Add a cup of the pesto to the cooking zucchini and vegetables.  Toss to combine.  Cook about 2 minutes to get the zucchini to soak up the pesto, and add the coconut milk.  Stir, and cook another 2 or 3 minutes.  

Plate and enjoy!

A couple more posts to enjoy:
Sweet Summer Squash Pudding
Molasses Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pineapple-Papaya Salsa
Gorgonzola Sage Popovers

Red Chili Honey Butter Shrimp on Crispy Polenta Cakes

Red. Chili. Honey. Butter. Shrimp. 

Yum. 

This recipe was created very much by ingredients I happened to have on hand, which is the case of most of my recipes.  

The Boyfriend rated this meal 'pretty good,' which may not sound like a compliment but is actually the highest ranking on his scale, depending on the tone of his voice and facial expressions when he says it.  

The base of the dish is a simple roasted red pepper puree, topped with a spinach and basil salad. Crispy polenta cakes are placed on top, still hot, warming the spinach salad below, and it's all topped off with shrimp drizzled with the red chili honey butter sauce.  

I tried to get a bit of each flavor in every bite.  It's one of those dishes where you're mixing a bite of polenta in the red pepper puree, grabbing a piece of spinach soaked in the slightly spicy butter sauce.  And the shrimp.  Don't forget the shrimp!

This recipe was easy to make, and pretty fast (if you don't count the refrigeration time needed for the polenta- if you're looking to make this tonight, read through whole recipe!)

It's something I sort of whipped together  and when finished and I saw it on a plate, I thought to myself that this dish is worthy of a special occasion dinner. I thought I'd hurry up and share it with you, with Valentine's Day being tomorrow!  If you don't have a dinner planned yet, and you'll be working and want something you don't have to slave over but is still impressive.. here you go.  This is it. 

The list of ingredients seems long, but it's really just redundant since I've split up the four components of the dish.  You'll probably find most of these ingredients in your house already (as I did!).  

Red Chili Honey Butter Shrimp on 

Crispy Polenta Cakes

For the Shrimp:
24 shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsl chopped parsley
1/2 cup white wine
3 tbls unsalted butter
salt and pepper

For the Spinach Salad:
Fresh spinach, tough stems removed
Fresh basil, leaves only
1 piece of cooked thick sliced bacon, diced (or use pancetta or prosciutto)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

For Basic Polenta:
2 cups water
3/4 cup polenta (yellow cornmeal) **Make sure it's gluten free if needed
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

For the Roasted Red Pepper Puree:
1 Red pepper
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:


Spinach Salad:
Rough chop the spinach and basil together.  Toss together and add bacon.  In a separate bowl, combine olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Pour over salad and toss when ready to serve. 

Roasted Red Pepper Puree:
Broil the red pepper until all sides are black and charred.  Let cool until easy to handle, and peel the black skin off the pepper.  Remove the seeds and stem, and place pepper in a blender or food processor.  Puree.  Gradually drizzle a but of olive oil in and puree again.  Continue until puree reaches your desired consistency. I usually keep mine pretty thick.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

Polenta:
In a saucepot, heat water until boiling.  Add the salt, and gradually the polenta. Reduce heat to low, whisking often, and cook until polenta is tender (about 15 minutes). Turn off heat, add butter, and stir until melted.  

Polenta is ready to eat!  To continue on for crispy polenta, spread the polenta flat in a small pan or tray.  For this amount of polenta, I spread mine into a loaf pan (about 4 x 12).  Refrigerate until firm.  Once firm, remove from fridge and cut out desired sized circles with a cookie cutter.

Heat oil in a saute pan, and sauce the polenta cakes until golden crispy on all sides. 

Shrimp:
Toss the shrimp in a bit of salt and pepper.  Heat a few drizzles of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Add the shrimp.  Saute for a minute and add 1 tbsp of the butter.  Saute for a few minutes longer until shrimp is golden on both sides.  Reduce heat to medium and add the red pepper flakes, parsley, and garlic. Stir to coat. Pour in the wine and allow to reduce by half.  Remove the shrimp to serving platter, leaving the sauce in pan. Add the remaining 2 tbsp butter to the pan and the honey.  Stir until butter is melted.  Pour sauce over shrimp, allowing it to drizzle a bit on the polenta and spinach. 

To Assemble:
Spread roasted red pepper puree on base of plate.  Place handfuls of spinach salad in the middle, allowing the puree to hold the spinach in place. Place polenta cakes directly on top of spinach, and top with shrimp and Red Chili Honey Butter Sauce.  Enjoy!

A couple other favorite recipes:
Chicken Salad with Pecans, Grape, and Green Pepper

Wensleydale Apple Cranberry Tartlets with Thyme Shortbread Crust and Bourbon Glaze

Caprese Quiche

I recently spent the weekend with The Boyfriend's family, and his mom served up 2 beautiful quiches, and it got me to thinking- considering how much I love quiche, why do I never make it??

And then I remembered that The Boyfriend must eat as soon as he arises, or the world will feel his wrath.  I do not exaggerate. He knows it, I know it, and anyone else that knows him.. knows it.  Consequently, there is never time to prepare a quiche. Really, who has an hour and a half to prepare breakfast?

Well I took matters into my own hands last week.  I made pie crust, and froze half so I can whip up another quiche at any given moment.  The remaining crust I used for Caprese Quiche, and had it for lunch, and breakfast for the next two days (The Boyfriend had some for breakfast too- by the miracle of the microwave).

The caprese flavors- tomato, basil, and mozzarella- work beautifully in a quiche.  Because the flavors are more delicate, I made a lighter, fluffier quiche to not overpower the simple ingredients.  The taste though, is anything BUT simple.

Make sure you use the freshest ingredients for this quiche.  Do not commit the Ultimate Sin of buying a bag of pre-shredded mozzarella! Just don't do it!  Those bags say low moisture for a reason- they will make for a dryer, less elastic quiche (think about having a pizza- some pizza when you pick up a slice the mozzarella cheese stretches for miles before you can get it to tear- that's REAL, more elastic cheese... some pizza you can pick it right up, no long strings of cheese- that cheese is a little dryer, and what you will get with pre-shredded cheese).

So for best results, buy fresh mozzarella near the deli, NOT mozzarella from the refrigerated section. You'll thank me later.

Caprese Quiche

For the Quiche:
3 eggs (room temp)
2 egg whites (separated while cold, egg whites at room temp)
1 tomato, sliced into 6 slices, placed on a paper towel to absorb excess moisture
1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
3 basil leaves (for garnish)
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella, cut into thin, round slices. Reserve 3 of the most perfect round slices.
1 cup milk
salt and white pepper to taste (I added about 1/4 tsp salt and a 1/4 tsp white pepper)
1/4 cup flour
extra virgin olive oil

A 9 inch pie crust (Purchase one, or for best results, make the crust below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sprinkle tomato slices with a little flour on each side. 
3. In a saute pan, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil in pan over med-high heat.
4. Add the floured tomato slices, and cook until just turning golden, about 2 minutes each side.
5. Transfer to dry paper towels to drain (same way you drain bacon on paper towels. 
6. Use a whisk (or fork) to beat the 3 whole eggs together.  Add the milk, chopped basil leaves, salt and white pepper.  Add the egg whites and SHREDDED mozzarella cheese.  Whisk to combine.
7. Add 3 tomatoes to the pie crust so they are not overlapping. Add the SLICED  mozzarella on top of the tomato (making sure you reserve 3 of your prettiest slices)
8. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the tomato and mozzarella.  
9. Place the remaining 3 tomatoes gently on top of the egg mixture. Top each tomato with a basil leaf, and top the basil leaf with the 3 reserved slices of mozzarella.
10. Bake in preheated oven 45-55 minutes, or until cheese is melted and quiche is golden on top.

For the Crust:
Recipe from The Joy of Pastry by David Munn

Makes two 9-inch pie crusts

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
10 tbsp cold butter
1 large egg
2 tbsp ice water

1. If you have a food processor, add the flour, sugar, and salt to the processor.  Cut the butter into small cubes, and add them to the processor gradually, pulsing to combine.  Continue pulsing until butter is distributed and you have a very crumbly dough.
2. If you do not have a food processor, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes, and cut it into the dough.  When cutting into the dough, I use a sharp knife, and literally keep cutting the dough on the sides of the bowl.  The butter gets broken up into smaller pieces, making a crumbly dough. 
3. Remove dough from food processor if using, and add to a large bowl. Now the dough is in a large bowl for everybody.  
4. Using your hands, grab handfuls of dough and squeeze together slightly (don't squeeze super hard!).  You must do this fast, because you don't want the warmth from your hands to melt the butter. Continue squeezing until butter chunks are about the size of raisins.
5. In a separate bowl, mix together the water and egg, and add to the flour mixture.  Knead it through the flour mixture until the liquid is dispersed, but do NOT over-knead it. It will still be a very crumbly dough.  You'll be tempted to add more water.. don't.  A crumbly dough means a flaky pie crust.
6. Form the dough into a ball.  You;ll have to squeeze it a bit to get the crumbs to form a ball.
7. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

When rolling out the dough:

1. Remove dough from fridge. On a lightly floured surface, begin to gently roll out the dough.  Make sure you also flour your rolling pin, and dust some flour on top of the dough as well.
2. If dough begins to crack, use your hands to lightly press it back together.  
3. Keep checking to make sure the dough is not sticking to the surface.  If it is, peel it up with a spatula, and add more flour to the countertop. 
4. Roll the dough out to about a 9 inch round circle.  
5. Carefully lift it with a large spatula and place it in the 9 inch glass pie pan.
6. Press down the sides so the crust is even with the baking dish. Place the whole dish in the fridge to let the dough relax for about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Remove crust from fridge and bake for 12 minutes.  Prebaking the crust without the quiche filling will keep the crust from getting soggy.
8. Let cool for about a half hour before filling it with the quiche ingredients.

A few other fave summertime recipes:

Strawberry Salad with Halloumi and Cucumber

Gougeres (French Cheese Puffs)