Pasta with Chèvre, Arugula, and Walnuts by @MysteryMacRae

 

This is a quick, delicious dish with a creamy sauce. It uses an easy trick to keep the sauce smooth—mix the goat cheese with oil before mixing it with a splash of water. This keeps the cheese from breaking down into a stringy or chalky mess.  

Finding arugula in the grocery store, regularly, is new to me. New in the past five or ten years, anyway. I love it’s biting, strong flavor. But if you don’t love arugula, or don’t have it in your store, spinach or other greens will make a fine substitute. The recipe calls for gemelli pasta, but again, any interesting shape that you have or can get will work.

Pasta with Chèvre, Arugula, and Walnuts 

(adapted from The Milk Street Cookbook by Christopher Kimball)

 

Ingredients 

12 ounces pasta (we used rotini)

Kosher salt

4 ounces chèvre (fresh goat cheese)

5 tablespoons olive oil

Red pepper flakes

4 ounces baby arugula (about 4 cups loosely packed)

¾ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

⅓ cup finely chopped fresh chives

 

Directions

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente. (Every time I type ‘al dente’ I think of the first book in Leslie Budewitz’s Food Lovers’ Village Mystery series – Death Al Dente. Such a clever title.) While the pasta cooks, mix the cheese, oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a pinch or more red pepper flakes in a medium bowl, stirring and mashing with a fork until smooth.

 

Drain the pasta, reserving ¾ cup of the water, and return pasta to the pot. Add the arugula, goat cheese mixture, and reserved water to the pot with the cooked pasta. Toss until the cheese mixture is evenly distributed and the argula begins to wilt.

 

Stir in the walnuts and chives. Season with additional salt and red pepper flakes as desired and serve.

 

 

Uh oh, I almost forgot to get a picture of it plated before we ate it all up!

Did you know that I also write as Margaret Welch? 

Margaret is a character in my short stories that have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. In the stories, Margaret runs a bookstore and loves books as much as I do, so I figure she'd probably like to write them, too. And now she does! She (well, I) write books for some of the series published by Annie's Fiction. The books are sold through a subscription book club, which you can find here. 

The most recent book is Quartzing Trouble, book 11 in the Museum of Mysteries series. It's a story about lost mines, lost treasure, a lost houseguest, and a true story about Robert Louis Stevenson. 

"Wait. Did you hear that?" Scarlett McCormick put her hand on Winnie Varma's arm. They stopped walking toward the special exhibits gallery and listened. From other parts of the museum, visitors' voices filtered to them. Footsteps echoed on the marble floors. "There it is again," Scarlett said. "There's a bird making noises in the gallery." 

"Something's in the gallery," Winnie said, "but it doesn't sound like any bird I've ever heard." 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

 

 

PEA SHOOT AND HAZELNUT SALAD WITH MUSTARD-HONEY VINAIGRETTE

by Sheila Connolly

I was going to give you a recipe for how to cook a weed, but that didn’t sound quite right for the Fourth of July (even though it is a native species of weed!), so you may see that one in coming weeks.

Happy Independence Day! 

Between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, I’ve been spending a lot of time (in my head, at least) with the Revolutionary War recently. Maybe it was the early influence of Johnny Tremain (written by Esther Forbes and published in 1943; Walt Disney made a movie of it in 1957), which was required reading for my sixth grade English class, but I’ve always found the whole thing romantic—those ill-equipped farmers without uniforms or decent weapons standing up to the might of the well-trained, well-supplied British Empire in defense of their homes and livelihoods and maybe even some ideals. It’s a great story with a happy ending, isn’t it?

Back to the food. Summer has finally arrived around here, and there are parties and fireworks to watch this week (plus that annoying Hurricane Arthur), and mosquitoes to swat, so I’m going to keep it simple. Here’s a nice recipe for a salad with a few little twists.

Pea Shoot and Hazelnut Salad with Mustard-Honey Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:

1-1/2 Tblsp balsamic vinegar (flavored if you like)

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp honey

1 small shallot, minced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Salad:

1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

5 oz. baby arugula (or any other small greens you prefer)

3-4 oz. pea shoots (available in packages at your market!)

4 large radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced (the white part only)

Right up front, I’ll give you a choice: you can prepare your own hazelnuts:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and toast until they are fragrant and the skins blister (12-15 minutes).   Transfer them to a kitchen towel and let cool slightly, then rub the nuts together vigorously to remove the skins. Chop the nuts coarsely.

Or you can just buy a package at your market--much simpler! Although the toasting is a good idea because it brings out the nuts’ flavor.

In a large bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey and shallot. Add the olive oil and whisk until blended. Season with salt and pepper.

Arugula--looks like oak leaves, doesn't it?

I

Pea greens

n another bowl, toss the arugula, pea shoots, sliced radishes, sliced fennel, and chopped hazelnuts. Add the vinaigrette and toss again to cover. Serve.

As with any salad, you can add whatever greens are fresh and available. Can’t find pea shoots? Try thin slices of sugar snap peas.

Razing the Dead involves a body (or two or three) found near the site of the Paoli Massacre, a notorious battle from the Revolutionary War, fought outside of Philadelphia. The monument shown on the cover is based on the real one, in Paoli, and is the second-oldest military monument in the country (after the one at Concord, MA, naturally).

Julie's Fish Delish!

Wow, it's great to be back! I missed everyone here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen during my sabbatical. Thank you, Sheila Connolly, for stepping in for me and thank you all for making Sheila feel welcome. I was lucky enough to read her new release, Fundraising the Dead, while it was in production and I think Sheila's got another hit on her hands with Nell Pratt.

As for me, I found out that my next Manor House Mystery will come out in June, 2011 under the title Grace Interrupted. Berkley came up with that one and I really like it. I'm still being far behind schedule writing the next White House Chef Mystery, but I intend to meet my deadlines one way or another. On top of all the other book-related busy-ness going on, I got my galleys for Buffalo West Wing (comes out in January) and those are due back to Berkley as we speak. Almost done... about two more chapters to proof and then I can turn them in. Nothing like waiting to the last minute, huh?

While I was out, I did manage to take a lovely trip with my husband and I *know* I'll be sharing tidbits, pictures, and food stories about that trip in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, however, I want to share a brand-new recipe. Just came up with it. You may remember that last March my husband and I headed down to Disney with two of our daughters. One of my favorite things about vacation is the food and we were able to visit a couple of Disney restaurants we hadn't tried before. One of them, in Epcot, is the Coral Reef restaurant where Robyn ordered the trout. I had a taste and... Holey Moley! Was it fabulous! Although my dinner was great, hers was spectacular. To this day she says it was the best meal she's ever had.

She tried recreating the dish here at home, but didn't have too much luck. I listened to how she'd prepared it, and decided to try again myself. Instead of trout, however, I substituted tilapia. Why? Well, because I had it on hand.

But the bigger question is - does it measure up?

I think it does. Robyn thinks it does. My husband who doesn't care for fish asked for seconds - twice. Whether it exactly matches the flavors of Disney's creation, I can't say. But this is one recipe we will use again and again. It's pretty darned fabulous. And easy.

Julie's Fish Delish

5 or 6 Tilapia filets

Olive Oil

6 (or so) cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano (My brother-in-law, Mitch, gave me fresh-dried from his garden)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

Small handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (I prefer grape tomatoes)

2 cans of cannellini beans, drained (Italian white kidney beans)

Handful of washed, dried arugula

Butter

Drop a couple of glugs of olive oil (I didn't measure, exactly) into a large frying pan over medium heat. Add 3 - 4 of the minced garlic cloves and heat until they're golden. Add the chopped onion. Also heat until golden.

Now, add the tilapia filets and cook over medium, turning carefully and repeatedly until these are gently cooked, but not cooked through. You can put the burner on low and cover if you like. Just keep an eye on them and don't overcook.

Ready a baking dish and preheat oven to 300. I used a cookie sheet lined with foil turned up at the sides and it worked fine. The tilapias don't take up a lot of room and I thought they'd be lost in a 9 x 13 pan.

Anyway, once they're mostly done, remove the filets to your baking dish (don't discard the flavored oil in the frying pan - we'll use that in a minute) and top the filets with butter. I like butter so I used about three tbsp, maybe even a bit more. Dot butter atop fish and place in oven.

Head back to your frying pan. Add the rest of the minced garlic and maybe a little more olive oil, if you think it needs it. Get that garlic nice and hot, then add the drained cannellini beans. Cover and allow to simmer until the beans are soft and a little smooshy. Add the halved tomatoes, cover and allow the flavors to blend.

(NOTE: when I experimented I only used one can of beans, hence the picture isn't quite accurate. I doubled the recipe above to account for two cans.)

Check your filets in the oven. Cooked through? Hot enough? Great!

Rip up the arugula. Add it to the frying pan, warm it for a few minutes then spoon out the mixture onto your dinner plates. Top the mixture with a tilapia filet and serve.

Truly delicious! I can't wait to make this one again.

Experimenting is always fun. Especially when things turn out this well.

Have fun, and enjoy!

Julie

Grace Under Pressure, first in the Manor House Mystery series

Buffalo West Wing, fourth in the White House Chef series (coming January, 2011)

Do you love spaghetti?

Ah, summer.

Minutes away from its official start.

And isn't it lovely?

Birds are a-plenty.

Flowers are springing up everywhere.

The scent of barbecue is in the air.

And in just a couple of weeks, when The Long Quiche Goodbye comes out... [Yep, just a couple of weeks], I'll share a special barbecue dry rub by Charlotte's grandfather, Pépère. It's mentioned in the book, as are a number of other recipes that I'll be bringing to the blog in future weeks.

In the meantime, I tried an experiment this week. That's what has been such fun about our year-long blog. [Can you believe it? MLK's almost ready to celebrate its anniversary, thanks to all of you who are reading it and spurring us on!]

But over the past year, I've dallied with new recipes every week. Each with cheese in them. And I have to say, I've never had so much fun in the kitchen. This week, I wanted to use a vegetable that I adore and make it really sizzle. Do you love spaghetti???

Spaghetti Squash. It's an ugly thing, oblong and yellow, and hard to cut in half, but that's what you have to do in order to cook it properly.

Once you've done that, the magic begins. Spaghetti squash is exactly what it says it is. A squash that, when cooked properly, turns into spaghetti-like strands of yummy, buttery-tasting squash that can fool you into believe it's spaghetti. Fool you! Add butter and Parmessan and you'll think you're eating spaghetti and it's really a vegetable. No starch! How wonderful is that? So...be careful, use a sharp knife, and go slowly to split this gourd lengthwise down the middle.

In addition, spaghetti squash can be a main course or a salad, which is how I prepared it this week. Both ways! As a main course AND a salad, using the same ingredients in both, except I added arugula to the salad. My husband tells me the entree is one of the best things I've ever cooked.

That drew a frowning eye from me, of course, because there are lots of things I cook well. What he meant was...back-pedaling quickly...I cook lots of things well and this fell onto his favorites list. Okay, I'd accept that. He loved it. What's not to love about Italian sausage, garlic, and a squash that tastes like spaghetti?

I do this experimenting all in the name of cheese. What fun!

No, it wasn't barbecue, but we enjoyed our meal al fresco, served with a crisp Pinot Grigio, listening to the birds sing their praise of another beautiful day.

SAUSAGE AND PARMESSAN SPAGHETTI SQUASH ENTREE

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 cups cooked spaghetti squash

½ cup shredded Parmessan plus 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup zucchini, diced

¼ cup snow peas, diced

2 tablespoons shallots, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

2 tablespoons oil

1 roma tomato, diced

4 sausages – Italian

1 more tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:

Slice open a spaghetti squash lengthwise, taking care because it’s a tough gourd and wiggles. Once open, place each half face down in a tupperware filled with one inch water. “Bake” in microwave 10 minutes. Remove from oven and scoop out the seeds. Then using a hard spoon, scoop out the meat of the squash, which will form strands like spaghetti. Set aside. * If using an oven, set both squash face down in an inch of water in a baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. [May be made a day ahead and reheated.

]

Next, in a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil and add diced zucchini, snow peas, shallots, garlic, and roma tomato. Stir fry until browned on both sides.

In a second saute pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 2 Italian sausages. Stir fry, until browned on both sides.

While they are cooking, toss warm spaghetti squash with 1 tablespoon butter and ½ cup shredded Parmessan cheese.

Set 1 cup of spaghetti squash on each plate, top with the stir-fried vegetables. Adorn with two of the sausages. Sprinkle each plate with another tablespoon of Parmessan and adorn with basil.

And now for the salad - the only difference is in presentation and the addition of ARUGULA.

SAUSAGE AND PARMESSAN SPAGHETTI SQUASH SALAD

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 cups cooke

d spaghetti squash

½ cup shredded Parmessan plus 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup zucchini, diced

¼ cup snow peas, diced

2 tablespoons shallots, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

2 tablespoons oil

1 roma tomato, diced

2 sausages – Italian

1 more tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 cup arugula

Directions:

Slice open a spaghetti squash lengthwise, taking care because it’s a tough gourd and wiggles.

Once open, place each half face down in a tupperware filled with one inch water. “Bake” in microwave 10 minutes. Remove from oven and scoop out the seeds. Then using a hard spoon, scoop out the meat of the squash, which will form strands like spaghetti. Set aside. * If using an oven, set both squash face down in an inch of water in a baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. [May be made a day ahead and reheated.]

Next, in a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil and add diced zucchini, snow peas, shallots, garlic, and roma tomato. Stir fry until browned on both sides.

In a second saute pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 2 Italian sausages. Stir fry, until browned on both sides.

While they are cooking, toss warm spaghetti squash with 1 tablespoon butter and ½ cup shredded Parmessan cheese.

Set ½ cup of argula on each plate. Top with 1 cup of spaghetti squash, then top with the stir-fried vegetables. Adorn with 1 of the sausages, diced into bites. Sprinkle each plate with another tablespoon of Parmessan and adorn with basil.

Lest I forget, I'm running a contest and lots of people have entered, but there are lots of prizes, so if you haven't, join in the fun!

"You Be The Sleuth" Contest!

As I said above, my first book in A Cheese Shop Mystery series, The Long Quiche Goodbye, debuts July 6. To celebrate its release, I'm running a contest from June 9 to July 6! You be the sleuth! Track down the recipe on my website that includes eggs, Edam, and white pepper. Enter your answer by clicking on this link: CONTEST ENTRY FORM.

One of you will win a $25 gift certificate at your favorite bookstore. Two of you will win signed copies of The Long Quiche Goodbye. Three of you will win a Long Quiche Goodbye magnet. You can ask friends for help. Spread the word and share the fun. And while you're there, consider pre-ordering a book on my booksellers page.

Here is the link to my website to help get you started.

Open-faced sandwich appetizer

I don't know about you, but I always like to try something new when I'm entertaining. Changing things up - just a little - makes it fun for me.

Easter Sunday meant dinner for 17 and although I prepared the usual ham, sausage, kraut, potatoes, and vegetables, I decided to have a little fun and try out a few new recipes. My guests have learned that they risk encountering a "Julie's Surprise" when they visit. I've had plenty of disasters - which is how the term "Julie's Surprise" originally came to be. But over the years I like to think I've improved a bit and maybe even gotten a little bit smarter.

This year, for example, I dispensed with the tried-and-true broccoli casserole, and included a tasty Brussels Sprouts dish, and another featuring fresh green beans. I'll share those recipes in the coming weeks.

But today I'll start with an appetizer.

This month's MORE Magazine (April, 2010) has a whole section on sandwiches. Some of them sounded wonderful and I'm eager to try them out. When I was trying to come up with my Easter menu, I knew I needed something new on my appetizer table, and I remembered the MORE article. I pulled it up and realized, belatedly, that although the PLT Sandwich was photographed open-faced, the recipe called for it to be a traditional - 2 bread - sandwich. No problem, I decided. I'd just have to adapt.

I did. And the results were terrific!

I made two versions. One all vegetarian, one with pancetta (the "P" in MORE's PLT). The tomatoes are wonderful when roasted, so do take the time to prepare these. I roasted tomatoes and my mixed vegetables the day before Easter and spread them cold over the toasted bread.

Open Faced Sandwich Appetizers

1 double-pack of fresh mini-loaves, sliced. (Buying fresh-baked bread from the grocery store makes things super-easy. I buy the two-loaf pack and ask the bakers to slice it for me. As you can tell, I got these two loaves at the fabulous price of 99 cents. You can't beat that.)

12 (give or take) plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 yellow pepper, sliced and cut into bite-size pieces

1 green pepper, same

1 red pepper, same

6 large white mushrooms, sliced into bite-sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 purple onion, sliced

2 healthy handfuls of arugula

mayo

I roasted my tomatoes separately - drizzling a little olive oil on them, sprinkling them with salt and then baking in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half until the tomatoes shriveled and turned a little brown. I used parchment paper to keep them from sticking and this was a really good move (MORE suggested it).

I placed the other, sliced veggies in a shallow roasting pan and drizzled these with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt, as well. I actually use this maneuver fairly often. We love roasted veggies in this house and use them on everything. This time for an appetizer, but sometimes we use them as an easy and delicious side dish. Roast these in the same oven for about an hour and a half as well. They may take a bit longer. When the peppers are soft and the onions begin to brown, they're done.

Toast your bread by placing it in a single layer and baking it in the oven. Here's where I would change my method in the future. I baked these until slightly brown - about 12 minutes. Going forward, I think I would toast them for only about 4 - 6 minutes. Mine were *crispy* - and although that wasn't a bad thing, I think I'd like them a bit better with a little less crunch.

When the bread is toasted, coat with mayo, rip up some arugula, pat into place. Follow up with the roasted tomatoes and vegetables. Return the open-faced sandwiches to the oven and bake for about 6 - 8 minutes (see why I shouldn't have toasted so vigorously earlier?) and when hot, remove from oven and serve immediately.

I made a meat version with pancetta as well. I baked the pancetta separately for about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and also chilled it before using. On the pancetta sandwiches, I didn't use the mixed veggies. I just topped the arugula/tomato sandwich with that tiny piece of "Italian bacon."

These were absolutely great. My guests enjoyed them and my kids told me to definitely make them again!

More next time!

Julie

Author of the White House Chef Mysteries and, coming soon, the Manor of Murder Mysteries. First book - GRACE UNDER PRESSURE. Pre-order now for a June 1st release!

www.juliehyzy.com

New April Contest!!!!

Are you interested in winning Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate Grilling Rub Collection? It’s easy to enter! Just send an email to MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com with

“Contest” in the subject line.

Really, really want to up your chances?You’ll get one extra entry if you follow us on Twitter, one extra if you subscribe to our posts (in the right hand sidebar under “Subscribe”), and one extra for becoming a follower (by clicking the “follow” button in the right hand column under our book covers and blog roll.) Just send us an extra email at MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com and let us know what you’ve signed up for. If you’re already a follower or subscriber, let us know that, too!