Tales of an Italian grocery, Austrian wine, Polish sausage, and chard.

Today I headed down to the local farmers' market to pick up some eggs, a basil plant, and to get a knife sharpened by a man who claims to be one of only two knife-sharpeners in town (and he says he often gets dissatisfied customers from the other guy!).  After acquiring said items and achieving said knife-sharpness, I ventured across the street to a small grocery that I'd frequently passed and always written off as a small store that probably didn't carry much and overall was probably not great.  You see, contrary to my expectations, I'd seen it referenced online as a great little Italian shop.  And indeed it is.  This place is immaculate inside, and carries all kinds of imported goods as well as the basics.  Shelf after shelf of cheeses and wines, pastas and sauces.  Organic dairy and meat products.  I discovered that they carried two different Grüner Veltliners, an Austrian wine that I'd recently heard about and was eager to try. (It lived up to my expectations, especially in pairing well with a variety of foods.  See this interesting article on the wine.)  I only wonder now if biking to the farmers' market (and this grocery) is out of the question, seeing as I'll probably be returning with more than in the past.

Thus armed with a 2009 Laurenz Singing Grüner Veltliner, parmesan, and pasta, and knowing that CSA chard and garlic scapes awaited me in my refrigerator, I set off on the seas of the internet in search of a recipe.  I wound up making Pasta with Kielbasa and Swiss Chard, and it turned out quite well.  Below is the recipe with my adaptations.



Pasta with Kielbasa and Swiss Chard

adapted from Gourmet

• 3/4 pound Swiss chard (1 bunch)
• 1/2 pound kielbasa, quartered lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (or 3 garlic scapes, chopped; if using scapes, cook them with the chard stems)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound penne
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Begin boiling salted water for pasta.  Wash chard leaves.  Cut out center ribs and stems and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Chop leaves coarsely.  Begin cooking pasta, being sure to reserve 1/4 cup cooking water before draining.

Cook kielbasa in oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Cook chard ribs and stems with salt in fat remaining in pot (add a bit more olive oil if necessary) over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chard leaves, water, and red-pepper flakes and simmer, partially covered, until chard stems are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove lid and stir in kielbasa. 

Add pasta to chard mixture with cheese, wine, and salt to taste and toss until combined well. Thin with some of reserved pasta water if necessary.  Serve with extra cheese.

Remember Those Radishes?

Remember those radishes I got from my CSA?  Well I ate one raw, and was again reminded that I really don't like to eat radishes.  I discovered that you can cook them in various ways (sauté, boil, steam, roast, etc.) and it removes their characteristic bite.  Some folks might think this removes the reason to eat a radish in the first place, but I'm glad to have found a way I can eat them.  It's better than a slow death by rotting in the vegetable bin!  You'll find the first recipe I tried below.  If my farmer shows up with more radishes on Thursday there's another recipe I have in mind.  This one worked out pretty well, though.

Butter-Braised Radishes with Their Greens

Adapted from The Flexitarian Table

1 large bunch of radishes
3 T butter
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 T white wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg.

Cut leaves from radishes, leaving about a 1/2 inch of greens on the radishes.  Wash greens and chop very coarsely. (I accidentally neglected the latter part of that! I do think it would bet better with the greens chopped slightly, otherwise they come out rather stringy).  Cut larger radishes in half or even quarters, if necessary, to achieve uniform size.

In a medium saucepan (I think I used about a 7-inch one, after first starting with something way too big [see photo]) melt the butter, brown sugar and salt over medium heat, then add the water and radishes and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until radishes are slightly cooked (so they can be pierced with little pressure with a knife but not mushy), about 3-5 minutes.

Place greens over the radishes, cover pan, and simmer gently until greens are emerald color and tender, about 5 minutes.  Remove greens and radishes and transfer to a bowl.  (It's good to get as much liquid out of the greens if possible, placing them on paper towels or draining them in a colander.  Just don't discard the liquid!)

Add vinegar, pepper, and nutmeg to the pan liquid and boil uncovered until it becomes syrupy, about 5 minutes (They originally said two minutes, but that was certainly not long enough.  I was never pleased with the consistency and might even use some cornstarch next time to artificially thicken it). Season to taste with salt and/or sugar.  Coat the radishes and greens with the sauce and serve.

Update

It's summer now for me, which, though I have plenty of work, means more time to make things and update this blog!  Our community garden is unfortunately going to be late, but should be getting started soon, as well.

Yesterday one of my friends came over and we tackled homemade ravioli.  We started around 5:30 and finished around 8:30 (though that included a run to the grocery store for some forgotten ingredients).  It took a good bit of elbow grease as we didn't have a pasta machine, but it worked nonetheless!

We followed a great pasta-making tutorial from here and here, and filled the ravioli with this delicious butternut squash-goat cheese puree.  The only things I'd do differently from the recipes are a) use less salt when roasting the squash, leaving room to season the filling later and b) use half semolina flour in the pasta.  We used 100% all-purpose (which she says is allowable), but the texture was not terribly firm and made it harder to control the shape of the pasta.  Semolina flour is supposed to be sturdier.

The ravioli was accompanied by roasted purple asparagus I picked up on a trip to the farmers' market on Saturday.  I couldn't resist the tables piled high with local asparagus--both green and purple--and stopped to ask the owner of one stand what the difference between them was.  He told me to find out for myself, and proceeded to slice off part of a stalk and hand it over.  In general it tasted like--you guessed it--asparagus, though perhaps a little milder.  According to Wikipedia, the purple cultivar was developed in the region around Albenga, Italy, and is higher in sugar and lower in fiber than its green counterpart.  Sadly, it turns green after prolonged cooking, though apparently a quick sauté will not affect the color.