I tweaked and reposted my nut loaf entry at the end of the day last Thursday with the hope of reminding you all about it being such a perfect dish to make at this time of year but the attacks on Paris rendered me quite useless and I never did muster the energy to make the nut loaf hence drawing your attention to the most current post on recipes4survival.
What I made instead for lunch late in the day on Dark Day Saturday, November 14th, was fusilli in a vegetarian style carbonara sauce w/ chopped spinach. I ate this so fast I never stopped to even snapped a picture of it. Then late on Sunday, for dinner I whipped up a creamy cheddar polenta topped with garlic spinach & Parmesan.
Let me give you an idea how to make this vegetarian not vegan style Carbonara sauce with the spinach.
INGREDIENTS
2 Cs dry pasta, fusilli was great
1C frozen chopped spinach
1 egg
3 Ts – olive oil
2 lg garlic dents – minced or sliced
1/2 C grated Parmesan
WHAT TO DO:
Bring a good sized pot of well salted water to a boil – to cook your pasta in.
Infuse the olive oil & garlic in a pan over a medium flame or heat just until just before the garlic begins to turn brown. You’ll sense this by the light garlic arOMa if you gently waft the air over the pan towards you. Turn the flame off and swirl around.
Cook the spinach off with just a bit of water and a pinch of salt.
In a good bowl beat the egg well. Temper the oil & garlic into the beaten egg. Mix well. You’ll see it begin to emulsify. Add the grated Parmesan, Mix well.
When the pasta is cooked, after 9 – 10 minutes in the boiling salted water, retain some of the cooking liquid, maybe a 1/2C or so & drain well.
Pour the pasta into the serving bowl with the egg, oil & cheese and stir to coat all the pasta well. Now toss the spinach in and mix well again to incorporate the spinach throughout. Serve hot and top with a bit more Parmesan if you will. I had a cold Riesling which I don’t often like but it went well with this dish.
Now, if you’re interested to make the polenta, here’s the trick. Polenta is prepared in a 1:3 ration. What I do is: bring 2 Cups of milk, or 1C milk & 1 C water w/ a few smashed garlic dents, & a teaspoon of peppercorns, & a few bay leaves to a simmer, stirring well. Just before the milk will scald, turn the heat off and let it continue to infuse. While this is cooking hydrate the polenta in a bowl with the 3rd, 1 Cup of water.
Drain the milk or milk & water mixture of the garlic, peppercorns & bay leaves.
Bring the liquid up to temperature again, just before a boiling point and slowly mix the polenta into the liquid. Continue mixing. The polenta will erupt like small volcanoes. Cook it well, stirring all the time for about 10 minutes. The last minute or so stir in a knob of butter, turn off the heat and put the top on the pot. Pour into bowls and top with your favorite topping. Mine was garlic sauteed spinach. I’ve also had it with a chunky tomato sauce.
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