brown butter cream ravioli with greens

Wondering what to do with the tasty brown butter crumbs I told you all about last week? Just tossing them with some buttery, cheesy pasta would be amazing, but if you really want to take it up a notch, stir them into a garlicky cream sauce and toss that with butternut ravioli and layer all that over some fresh greens, to (slightly) offset all that buttery, creamy richness.

Use the leftover brown butter from making the brown butter crumbs in the sauce if you have it. Otherwise regular butter will do.

Butternut ravioli on kale with brown butter sauce:

• 1 package butternut ravioli, or any cheese filled stuffed pasta

• 6 cups greens, I used arugula and finely shredded kale

• 3 tbs pine nuts

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 1 cup chicken stock

• 2 tbs brown butter

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 pinch crushed chili flakes

• 4 tbs brown butter crumbs, divided

• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan over medium-low heat, shaking the pan frequently, until light brown.

Saute the garlic in butter until translucent and just starting to colour. Add chili flakes and cook about one more minute. Add cream and broth; simmer on medium low frequently stirring, until the sauce thickens. Sprinkle half of the brown butter crumbs into the sauce.

While the sauce thickens, cook pasta according to package instructions. Pile up greens on a big platter. When the pasta is tender, drain and toss in cream sauce. Spoon the pasta over the greens. Dress with parmesan, pine nuts and the remaining brown butter crumbs, very finely crumbled

The secret to the brown butter crumb? Powdered milk! You'll be sprinkling them on just about everything. 

big shells with artichokes and arugula

Pasta names are the best. Conchiglie are shells, every type from the teeny tiny ones that can just cup a pea, up to the giant ones that can be stuffed full of some exciting filling and baked with oozy, bubbly cheesy sauce. And the giant ones look just like the conch shells they are named after If you hold a giant conchiglie to your ear you don’t hear the ocean though, you hear that scene from Lady and the Tramp when they slurp up the spaghetti noodle until they kiss.  

I have been thinking about doing a baked pasta shell dish along these lines for ages, actually since I bought the first Smitten Kitchen cookbook. And while Deb Perelman is an undisputed genius, her stance on putting cheese in the shells is hard for me to get on board with. Why would anyone want to limit the cheesiness of baked pasta?

The shells don't have to be all cheese, I put some vegetables in there too. There is cheese in the sauce and cheese on top. To balance all this cheese I have pumped up the vegetables, with a generous helping of arugula and artichokes and some grape tomatoes tucked in the spaces between the shells.

adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

shells & filling:

• around 20 extra large conchiglie shells
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 can artichokes, drained and roughly chopped
• 3 cups arugula, roughly chopped
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ½ cup ricotta
• ⅓ cup grated parmesan
• ⅓ cup grated romano cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• salt and pepper
•  

In well-salted boiling water and cook shells until just tender. Lay cooked shells out in a baking dish drizzled with olive oil.

Combine all remaining ingredients and spoon into the shells.

sauce:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbs very finely chopped preserved lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• black pepper

Melt butter in a medium sized pan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smoothly combined. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well after each addition. When all the milk is incorporated add the garlic and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When the mixture begins to thicken, reduce heat and simmer for a couple more minutes. Add ricotta, lemon, salt and pepper.

assembly:

• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• ½ cup parmesan & romano cheese
• parsley, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Tuck tomatoes into the spots between the shells. Pour sauce over the shells, giving them some little pokes to distribute the sauce well. Sprinkle cheese over everything and bake, covered with tinfoil for about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15-20 minutes longer, or until cheese is golden and bubbling. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve right away.

crispy giant beans

I think that novelly sized things are always compelling. Miniature or giant versions of familiar objects are oddly captivating, as many a roadside tourist attraction can testify. There's nothing quite like a giant shrimp, banana, ball of twine. Australia seems to have particular expertise in creating these large scale models. I also enjoy small things, and I heartily recommend Victoria's wonderful, if slightly odd and not always perfectly to scale, Miniature World. If you have a rainy day in Victoria, there are worse ways to spend it than this sweet and strange little attraction. All these big and small things have new interest once resized, ordinary and strange at the same time. 

These giant beans hold the same appeal for me. They are sometimes called gigantes beans, or corona beans and they are huge, about 1.5 inches long. I have been thinking about making these them for about 7 years, ever since I first saw them on the excellent 101 Cookbooks. I hunted around Victoria for them, either dry or canned, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I looked online, willing to pay a bit extra for shipping for these huge , unusual beans. How much could dried beans cost, right? Apparently a lot. I did find them online, but the shipping cost to Canada was so high I couldn't justify it. 

I finally found some in a Greek deli when I was out of town for a friend's wedding. I wanted to buy up a few cans for various giant bean experiments, but I was travelling extremely light so I only got one. Only one chance to see if the huge beans would be tasty enough to live up to my rather overly built-up expectations. But they totally did, they were great. Super crispy outside and creamy on the inside. If you can't find the giant beans, you can always use cannellini or similar small white beans. It will still be delicious. But if you spot the giant ones, they are worth it. And maybe send some my way, since I have now used my entire stockpile. 

crispy giant beans:

inspired by 101 Cookbooks

• about 2 cups giant white beans, canned or dry, soaked and cooked until tender

• 6 cups arugula & spinach

• 1 tin artichokes, quartered

• 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped

• grapeseed or other neutral oil

In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. Add the beans in an even layer, making sure all the beans are touching the bottom of the pan. Fry until the beans are crispy on the bottom, 2-3 minutes. Flip all the beans over and continue to fry until all the beans are golden brown on both sides. Canned beans might be a little more crumbly, so flip gently. 

While the beans fry, assemble the salad on a plate. Sprinkle hot, crispy beans on top and drizzle with preserved lemon dressing. 

preserved lemon dressing:

• 2 tbs preserved lemon, chopped finely

• 1 clove garlic

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 3 tbs red wine vinegar

• 2 tbs lemon juice

• black pepper

Combine all ingredients and blend until well combined. 

Kabocha, goat cheese and arugula pizza

Kabocha is a type of pumpkin. I like it for its mild sweetness, fluffy and slightly powdery quality. I especially like to cube it and roast it until it's chewy and caramelized on the outside and tender on the inside. Lately I have been roasting up a whole squash on weekends and then popping the crispy little cubes into salads, over rice and onto pizzas all week. It pairs really well with sharp greens like arugula and a bit of salty, tangy cheese. 

I'm not sure if the saucelessness of this pizza means it's maybe actually focaccia masquerading as pizza? It has no traditional sauce base, just some spicy, garlicky oil and a whole lot of arugula, which cooks down into a tasty goo underneath the cheese and squash. Anyway, maybe it's not a true pizza, but I feel weird saying I'm having focaccia for dinner, like eating an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner or something. Which I would never do. But this is more substantial than a typical focaccia and has a deceptively large load of vegetables that make it a totally appropriate thing to eat for dinner. So it's a pizza I guess. 

kabocha, goat cheese and arugula pizza:

• 1 batch pizza dough (below) 
• 1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup mozzarella, sliced or shredded
• 1/2 a medium kabocha squash, peeled (if you want), cubed and roasted until golden brown
• a few big handfuls arugula, use more than you think you should
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• big pinch chili flakes
• 2 tbs olive oil 
• 3 tbs pine nuts, toasted

Preheat oven to the hottest setting, 500°  or higher. 

In a small bowl combine oil, garlic and chilli flakes. Set aside. 

Stretch pizza to fit in a cookie sheet or onto a pizza stone if you have it. Brush with the garlic oil and top with the arugula in a big mound. It'll cook down a lot so use plenty. Sprinkle kabocha , cheeses and pine nuts on top and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over it all. 

Cook pizza in hot oven until the cheese is blistered and brown, and bottom of crust is dark brown. 

pizza dough

adapted from smitten kitchen

• 1 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon  salt
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Put flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and add water and oil. Stir until everything mostly comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a couple minutes. Lightly oil a bowl and place dough in the bowl, turning to coat dough with oil on all sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.