Kitchen Sink Pasta

Thank god for leftovers.

This is one of the house favorites, Kitchen Sink Pasta. We also make Kitchen Sink Soup, Kitchen Sink Salad, etc.

Leftover pasta with Stuff

To make this particular dish I dry-fried some onions cauliflower and carrots. When they were slightly burned I added the asparagus, diced smoked pork and a bit of olive oil and orange zest. I let it cook for a few minutes then turned the heat off and threw in the leftover campanelle and some toasted almonds.


On top is some shaved fennel and dried apricots.I squeezed the juice of half the orange over the whole thing.


You can make this kind of dish in just a few minutes. I try to include different textures and colors and cooling foods like the fennel and rich savory tastes like the almonds. This dish improves if you let it sit a while.

You can easily make it vegetarian by leaving out the pork. You could add shredded tofu or smoked tofu. You could substitute fish for the pork or bbq chicken or whatever you have. If it's dull add some flavors and colors and crunch or juice or something!

Pack a Great Lunch

A crunchy, flavorful, satisfying meal

Some people are embarrassed to take lunch with them to work. If you don't want to be embarrassed don't bring embarrassing food! Your food should be your bling! Bring a steak! Bring these salads!


This is a lunch you can take anywhere and it will pack a lot of flavor and crunch. I will admit that when I sat down to eat this I really wanted something hot and filling but I changed my mind after a couple of bites. This is an outrageous meal.

The idea behind this lunch was to have a good number of different flavors and textures and colors. I went to a new market in the neighborhood that I had been meaning to check out and I approve!

Here are the flavors and textures: romaine lettuce, carrots, kalamata olives, boiled potato, 2 different cheeses I picked up at the market, toasted almonds, fresh flat leaf parsley, smoked herring, satsuma tangerines and a vinaigrette made with olive oil and fig balsamic vinegar.

I know what many of you are thinking - smoked herring? Isn't that really strong and fishy? Yes, but with the combination of the bland potato, crunchy lettuce and the sweet and sour dressing it tastes fairly mild, sort of like a smoked salmon but admittedly stronger. I love it and talk about cheap! Cheap!

The cheese I bought was an aged white cheddar and a cheese that was simply marked 'Italian table cheese' but it was made here in Silicon Valley so I had to try it. Funnily it tastes just like the cheddar!

I made the dressing with fig balsamic vinegar which, while sort of stuck in the 1980s, can be a very tasty food.  It is rather sweet so I cut it in the dressing with the juice of an unripe orange from my tree.

This looks pretty good but it tasted way better than that

I was lucky to have this leftover pasta, too. It's mini bow ties that I dressed with onions, walnut pieces and corn sauteed in walnut oil the night before. Perfect for a picnic it doesn't contain any ingredients that will go bad quickly.

The combination of the pasta and vegetables with the crunchy nutty almonds and the salty olives was very tasty.

To make this meal vegetarian you could substitute smoked tofu for the fish. If you did that and left out the cheese it would be vegan.

This is a relatively low fat, low sodium meal and there is a lot of nutrition here. Total cost: about $2.50. What you would pay in a restaurant for this? Ten, fifteen, twenty bucks?

Another Classic - Pork Chops with Apples

What's a chop? What's a steak?

A bone in beef rib-eye is a steak. A pork loin cut is a chop.  A beef T-bone is a steak, a lamb T-bone is a chop. Huh?

The pork in this recipe is a sirloin chop. Or steak. Who knows. It depends on what the butcher thinks he can get more money for.

Another great, fast, inexpensive meal

Here we have a great lunch, spicy pork chops with apple and yellow beet salad.

The pork is seasoned simply with olive oil, chipotle powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper then grilled in a cast iron pan.

The salad is dressed with walnut oil and this great French cider vinegar. Each of these is expensive but the amounts used  on this plate costs pennies.

The bread is a ciabatta toasted over a gas burner. It stays soft in the middle but the outside gets crusty and smokey.

The beets are raw yellow beets that I sliced so thin you can see through them.

The pork is easy to make if you have a heavy bottomed frying pan. You can use a non-stick pan too if the bottom is not too thin.

You want to take the pork chops out of the fridge at least ten minutes before you cook them. If you take them right from the fridge they won't be as tender.  Cook them over medium heat so they brown and take them out just as they firm up. Let them rest for a couple of minutes before you eat them.

A hunk of meat, crusty bread and a flavor salad in about 15 minutes. Total cost for the meal: about two bucks!

Family Favorite - Orange Chicken

We have this huge Valencia orange tree in our backyard, which means lots of free food to a cheapskate like me.

We juice them. we eat them, we use the zest. I throw them into sautes and the things I brown on the stove then finish in the oven.

This is not a difficult dish to make although it might take some practice to get the timing down.

Orange chicken, brown rice risotto and dry fried asparagus

I put some of my spice rub in a big mixing bowl and added a couple of tablespoons of the old extra virgin. I had bone in, skin on chicken breasts. You can use boneless and skinless if you want.

The chicken pieces were large so I cut them in half with a big knife. Then I used one of them to mix up the spice rub and olive oil. I got my big cast iron pan hot on the stove and turned the oven on to 350°.



I rubbed all the chicken in the spice mix then laid the pieces skin side down in the pan.

After they had browned a few minutes I tossed a couple of oranges in the spice oil and threw them in the pan.

While the chicken was cooking I made dry fried asparagus. Dry frying is using a hot cast iron pan with no oil, butter or fats to cook vegetables. They cook in a few minutes, steaming in their own juice.

As soon as they are just done they are seasoned with salt, pepper and (optional) a tiny bit of butter.

Dry frying works great with many vegetables like green beans, squash, carrots, etc. It imparts a slightly smoky flavor.

Along with the chicken and asparagus I had leftover brown rice risotto and one of the cooked oranges, which I squoze over the chicken and rice.

Low in fat (especially if you remove the chicken skin) high in nutrition and cost about $2.50 for the whole shebang.

Brown Rice Risotto

If you are an Italian grandma please sit down and clutch your heart. I made risotto with brown rice. No expensive little packages of special rice from the north of Italy. I actually like this best made with brown basmati rice but I didn't have any.

Rachel and I had a California Pops rehearsal. All big band music for this show, which is sold out. I made this risotto right before we left I just had a bite of it and left it for my snack after rehearsal.

Brown rice risotto, onion and potato soup

This is an unusual recipe for me.  It takes over and hour. Although there isn't much work to do you do have to be close by. Every few minutes you have to stir the rice and add liquid when it needs it.

The process is the same as making a traditional risotto. I started by sauteing an onion in olive oil, then I added the brown rice and some thyme and sauteed them too.



I boiled some water and added an ounce of dried mushrooms.  When the rice had changed color I added a enough of the mushroom stock to cover the rice, a clove of garlic and stirred like mad.

So for the next 50 minutes or so I alternated between practicing and stirring and adding stock.

At the end I added some sliced water chestnuts, salt and pepper.

Tonight after rehearsal I sat down and heated up some of my leftover onion and potato soup, added a bunch of the now rehydrated wild mushrooms, a dash of Madeira and seasoned it. I reheated some of the risotto and added it to the soup.

Easy, Fast, Tasty Pea Soup

Scarf!

This is a great soup, easy and CHEAP to make. It's half an onion, half a carrot, a bag of frozen peas and some garnishes. It takes about ten minutes to make. The color is bright, bright green. It's low in fat, high in fiber and vitamins and is filling enough for lunch. Get the recipe here.

Pea soup. Ten minutes to make. Tastes great!

Off to the theater to play a matinee. This is a perfect lunch before a concert. Not too heavy but a lot of slow release energy. It can be completely vegan, though I did put a dot of butter in it to finish.

The garnishes I used here are bits of home cured ham (yes, I do throw that on just about everything), walnuts and chunks of Meyer lemon.

Ravioli in the Garage

Teaching, practicing, playing Brahms and going to the dog park doesn't leave a lot of time to make lunch. I ate in the garage today taking bites in between doing other stuff.

Apples and walnuts with walnut oil, ravioli with home smoked pork and peas

I had a box of locally made ravioli so I poached them and in another pan I sauteed some onions and tomatoes in olive oil, threw in some peas, rosemary from the garden and some thin slices of home cured and smoked pork. The salad is just apple and walnuts with a little walnut oil and lemon juice and black pepper. Dash of salt on the salad but the ravioli didn't need it.

My wife loved it. I scarfed it. Cost per serving: about four bucks, mostly for the ravioli.  Time to make it: about 20 minutes.

One of the World's Best $2.50 Lunches

Beautiful, cheap and delicious. Just like me!

Oh yes, here it is. The chicken is really high quality fresh chicken I bought at my favorite Chinese Market.


I poured some olive oil in a bowl and mixed in some of my spice rub. I rolled the chicken around in it and rubbed it into the skin. I put it on a foil lined tray and into a 425° oven for five minutes, then I turned the heat off.


When they just firm and done all the way through I took them out. Simple and delicious.

Cost: at $.89 a pound they were a real bargain. The two cost about $.60. Let's add a tablespoon of olive oil and some spices and call it $.70.

Lettuce is really expensive right now and quality is difficult to find. But I found these little gem lettuces for $1.59 each. It's dressed with hazelnut oil and a 10 year old balsamic vinegar. Not trendy right now but very tasty. On top for a quirky garnish is some enoki mushrooms and below is a few sliced almonds to add some depth.

Cost including the few drops of expensive oil and expensive vinegar and the mushrooms and almonds: about $.85

The sourdough was toasted over a flame and topped with onions and peppers and boquerones, those fishy little fish from Spain.

Cost: about $1.

Yum factor is very high for this meal. Cost is really low. I made a big pile of this chicken since the whole family is here all of a sudden. While the chicken was in the oven I made the onions and peppers.  When the chicken was done I cooked the Branzino I had for lunch yesterday. There were a lot of good textures in this meal too. The chicken skin was cruncy and flesh nice and moist. The bread was really crunchy and had a flame-toasted flavor. The lettuce was cruncy too and the little bit of hazelnut oil on it make the almonds taste really nutty.

Good stuff all around. Glad I got to eat it.

Lamb Flank Steaks!

Hi everyone! Today I had a real actual meal; the first one I've had since last Tuesday. Lamb flank steaks, potatoes, onions and parsnips and a raw asparagus and red pepper salad.

If you're market doesn't carry them you might have to have your butcher order lamb flank steaks.  There is practically no waste and they can be elegent and served on fancy menus or used for a quick sandwich.
They cook in a minute and are very lean.


The asparagus and red pepper salad  was dressed with toasted sesame oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. So simple. So delicious!


I love to mix two starches like the potatoes and parsnips. They and the onions were sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with a little of my spice rub mixture, which is mainly paprika, smoked peppers and cumin.

Total cost of this meal: about $3.25. There are only 11 total ingredients in all of this: asparagus, red pepper, a potato, half a parsnip, a small onion, lamb, olive oil, sesame oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and some of my spice mix.

Thank (whatever you pray to) for artichokes!

Soon my pretty friend will be overloaded with thistles!

I grew up a 45 minute drive from Castroville, a picturesque farm town of rolling hills covered with artichokes. Driving along Highway 1 towards Monterey you see miles and miles of artichokes between the highway and the sea.


I heard Alton Brown on the Food Network say that 100 percent of artichokes grown in the US are from Castroville. Not quite; our two plants may not equal one percent of the nation's product but it seems like it.

By the way the first Castroville Artichoke Queen was a young actress named Norma Jean Mortenson, soon to be known as Marilyn Monroe.

Artichokes are amazing plants. Once the season is over you cut them back to practically nothing. The first time my wife did it I was sure she killed them but they come back vigorously.

Artichokes are nutritional powerhouses! One large artichoke has 25 calories, 6 grams of fiber (more than a cup of prunes) and lots of nutrients.

I was shocked the first time I saw a cook on TV describe how to deal with artichokes. He cut off the outer leaves, chopped the top off, peeled the base and wound up with the heart, some stem and a bit of the leaves. Heresy!

In my house growing up you cooked artichokes by dropping them whole into boiling acidulated water. The leaves were the best part! For a kid what better food could there be than something you picked up with you hands, dipped in butter and lemon juice then scrape the meat off the leaves with your teeth. You get to the bottom and easily scrape out the choke and eat the heart and as much of the stem as you can smoosh with your teeth.

How to cook artichokes
1) Get the freshest, best artichokes you can. If you pick it up and squeeze on it should squeak. Now they sell 'frost kissed' artichokes and claim they are the best ones. Nice try, artichoke marketing people. Look for nice firm green heads.

2) Start a big pot of water boiling. When it is boiling squeeze the juice of a lemon in there but do not drop the whole lemon into the pot which makes the artichokes bitter.

3) Sometimes artichokes house insects. While the water is heating up get a big bowl of cold water and add a handful of salt. Put the artichokes in and weight them down for 5 minutes. Take them out, rinse them well and check between the leaves for insects.

4) Have a cut lemon ready and wipe it against any surface that you cut. Cut off the end of the stem to get rid of the brown part. If you want take a large serrated knife and cut the top off to get rid of the spines. If I am cooking for myself I don't bother.

5) Drop the artichokes into the boiling water and cover. The cooking time will vary but it's not hard to tell when they are done. As soon as you can easily pull one of the leaves out it is done. Don't over cook them or they will be soft and tasteless.

If  you are going to eat them later cool them immediately in an ice bath or cold running water.

We like to eat them with lemon juice or melted butter. I like a good vinaigrette with them.

You know you have done it right if everybody produces a big pile of leaves.

If you get the tiny artichokes that grow lower down on the plant they are good stuffed. The choke hasn't developed and if you cut the tops off frequently you can eat them whole. I used to stuff them with bread crumbs, garlic (we are close to Gilroy, too), mushrooms and pine nuts.

And I leave this for last, the bad news. They are so much better right off the plant and cooked right away it is like a different food. And I mean right away. Cooked ten minutes later they don't taste the same and the texture is not as good. We are so spoiled...

Oh man oh man oh man

Looks so simple. Tastes fantastic. Costs pennies.

I took my squeeze to the airport late this morning as she went to concertize in Prague and Dresden. I had to teach soon after but I managed to squeeze a pretty tasty lunch in there. Simple and delicious.

The chicken is stuffed under the skin with home-made hot almond wood smoked bacon and dipped into olive oil laced with my spice rub. Then it's cooked in a cast iron pan to brown and roasted in a hot oven for a short while. The lemons were also tossed in the oil and roasted along with the chicken.

Some of the juice in the lemons carmelizes so after cooking it's sweet and sour. I squeezed them right over the chicken. The skin is crisp and the bacon adds a smoky flavor. The sweet and sour lemon really brings it all together and makes it taste clean.  If I had been a good boy I would have removed the skin but, well, I guess I'll confess. I made two of them. I have no leftovers. I picked them clean.

Along with the chicken I had one of those weird generational foods I grew up with. My dad likes mashed potatoes with peas and so do I. Today I cooked a couple of parsnips with the potatoes and whipped them.

It took 45 minutes for me to make this lunch but a lot of it was spent waiting so I got other things done like practicing and playing with the dog.

If you enjoyed the recipe or have any comments I'd love to hear them.

Lamb and clams!

It was a busy day, with teaching in the morning, a trip to the dog park and general running around. Still I managed to produce a pretty tasty lunch.

I cooked up a batch of red pepper and onion oil. The peppers and onions get really sweet and I used them on a flame toasted piece of bread.

The meat is a lamb sirloin steak, tied in a circle. I let it rest, coated it with olive oil and seasoned it with salt then browned it in a cast iron pan. I finished it in the oven and served it with my intense sour cream dressing.

While the lamb was resting I quickly cooked the green beans in the same pan. They were fantastic.

I also made Clams with Celery and Vermouth.

In case you can't tell from the picture, it was fabulous! All of it.

When tri-tip roast is on sale

I make steaks. Not as tender as a rib eye or NY,  but a lot of flavor and nice to eat. Today I rubbed it with my spice rub, cooked it in a hot cast iron pan on top of the stove and while it was resting grilled some veggies in the pan. I took them out and made coffee gravy in the pan and poured it over the steaks.

The sweetness of corn, the beefiness of beef...

You thought pasta salad was boring, didn't you?

I got to eat this!

Today's blog (smack) is about (nom nom nom) pasta (gorge) salad. On days when I have a rehearsal or concert in the evening I frequently skip dinner so I like to have a good lunch. I've got a rehearsal at Stanford Chamber Choir this evening in Memorial Church. This is a 12" serving bowl and there are about three cups of pasta salad. Those are four large, juicy shrimp.

I started making this salad when my kids were small and I wanted a way to get green things in their tummies. This worked!

The shrimp were coated with olive oil and curry powder then grilled in a hot cast iron skillet. I deglazed the pan with orange juice (from the tree) and kept that aside. Hmm, got one shrimp left. Must..type..

The pasta is acini di pepe (pickle seeds!) shaped like little pencil erasers. I added olive oil and red wine vinegar, a bunch of cilantro, most of an English cucumber cut into dice, the zests of two oranges and a lemon and the juice from all three, celery seeds, ground cumin, black pepper and salt.  I have garnished it with the shrimp, some peeled cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives. I poured the deglazing liquid over the shrimp.

Total cost for my meal today including the shrimp is about $3.25. And I have about a gallon of pasta salad left over.  No more shrimpies though. Sigh.

Since pasta is bland and the basic recipe is just pasta, oil and vinegar you can do just about anything with this. Maybe next time I'll make it with cider vinegar and chopped green apples.  Maybe ham and pineapple.

Can't..type..must eat..pasta salad..

Grow your own garlic, bay leaves and rosemary!!

So many things we can grow and enjoy. Edible plants look beautiful and taste glorious.

We love to grow our own garlic. Once you have used it right out of the garden you'll realize what you have been missing  We love to use immature plants that have not developed a bulb yet. They look like scallions but are a little tougher and have a mildly garlickly flavor. They are great pureed into a black bean dip or soup.

Just break the cloves apart

 If you harvest them after they have developed a bulb but are not quite mature they will have a water chestnut type of texture and a mild garlic flavor. They will not have the dry papery cover they develop later.

It's easy to grow.  You can use store bought garlic to get started as long as it hasn't been irradiated or totally dried out.


Just take the cloves, paper and all and plant 1/4" deep. Just push them in the ground. Push the flat end into the soil and leave the pointy end up, just below the surface.

We use old plastic containers.

You just fill the container with fairly rich soil and plunk the cloves in there. The green tops are tougher than scallions but they have a nice light garlicky flavor.

Mediterranean bay leaves have a wonderful fragrance

We like real Mediterranean bay leaves which are not the same as the bay laurel we get from California.

The California laurel has a eucalyptus aroma but the Mediterranean ones are mild and flowery.

Rosemary is really pretty when the little blue flowers show up!

Trip to Gayle's

I played two concerts in Watsonville this morning and convinced my carpool to let me stop in Capitola to get some food from Gayle's Bakery. I got an oak-roasted chicken, a beet and endive salad, Kalamata olives and boquerones, those fishly little fish from Spain.

Simple and delicious

I tore up some olives and added them to the salad with some shredded orange peel and juice, a splash of cider vinegar and some boquerones.

Some dry toasted rye bread, fresh fruit and pickled tobasco peppers filled out the meal.

How many things are there that are wrong with this presentation? Ow, quite a few. Notice that there is just too much food for this plate. Also the lack of a real shape makes it difficult to look at.


It looks difficult to eat. Plates should look inviting!

An elegant little appetizer

I like to use a big sharp knife!

Today's blog is about presentation. If you know a few rules you can make plates that would make a 3 star restaurant proud.

First here is how to cut cucumbers so thin you can see through them, without losing any fingers!

Notice how the knife rests against my fingers. 

Using a big sharp knife means all you have to do is guide the knife. The weight of the knife and the sharp blade do the cutting for you. Since you don't have to press you have more control.



If you are more comfortable with a smaller knife use it. In any case try to make the cut in one sweep of the knife to get a clean cut. Going back and forth creates an uneven surface.

One rule to remember in knife work is that no sharp part of the knife, the tip or the blade, should ever be pointed at a part of your body! If you keep that in mind you will never get cut.

Here we have a very simple geometric pattern.  It will showcase whatever we put in the middle.

This is a zester, which removes the zest or outer layer of a citrus fruit. The side you see has sharp ridges and the other side is smooth.

I like this kind of zester because it makes strips and I can cut them into the size and shape I want.

Here I have cut up a single Kalamata olive and put some long shreds of orange peel on top. You see how you hardly notice the cucumber or the plate now? They frame the olive.

Major faux pas here, enough to get you detention in cooking school. When your food extends beyond the rim it looks sloppy and casual.

 Here is the finished dish. You can add whatever goodies you have, from a little chunk of left over steak or pork or chicken to a fine cheese or an oyster. All I have here is a tiny chunk of orange, an almond roasted in walnut oil, a small piece of mozzarella and a piece of Italian sausage. The olive and orange mixture has a touch of olive oil and the specks you see are black pepper. Good eating, nice looking and it probably cost a quarter for all the food.