Lemon Caper Pasta

It is a cold rainy evening here in Maine. Weather like this makes me want to curl up at home with a good book, a glass of wine, and comfort food. Tonight I was craving this amazing macaroni and cheese I have made before with capers. It is macaroni and cheese all grown up, with earthy mushrooms and salty capers and a mixture of cheddar and a hard sheep's milk cheese I discovered at my local Italian market. I will make it again sometime so that I can share the recipe with you. And by recipe, I mean that I will write down what I put in it that day. I rarely actually cook from a recipe. And when I post my recipes, I typically have only made them once or twice. I would like to think that eventually readers will get a feel for what they like and do not like in the way of ingredients, spices, and flavors so that they can adjust any recipe I post to their own personal tastes.

So, back to my craving (which is usually what drives my dinners). I was craving macaroni and cheese, but I decided to try something a little healthier. I hope what I created is, but I honestly have not estimated the nutritional value of it. In the end, I ruled out the cheese. Wandering into the grocery store, I was deciding what would complement the capers. I thought I would try my hand at making a lemony sauce, Lemons are like sunshine for your palate and I definitely needed some sun today. So, I grabbed some lemons. The garlic was right next to them, so I picked up a head. I made my way to the pastas and decided on what looked like a more rustic pasta (rustichella d'abruzzo's orecchiette del prete). When I got home, I started to pull the capers out of the refrigerator and noticed a package of baby portabella mushrooms I purchased a week ago and grabbed those too. In the end, I ended up with a tart, flavorful, and slightly spicy pasta that definitely satisfied me. I hope you enjoy it just as much.

Lemon Caper Pasta

water
250 g pasta of your choice (I used orecchiette del prete)
4 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed, and roughly chopped
10 oz baby portabella mushrooms, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
pinch of salt
1 tsp chicken Better than Bouillon
juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 - 1 tsp sugar (to your taste, to cut the tartness of the lemon)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Tabasco pepper sauce
4 tbsp capers
baby spinach

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, add the pasta and cook as directed on the package.
While that is cooking, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat.
Add the garlic and saute until fragrant and just starting to brown.
Add the mushrooms and pinch of salt, stir and let cook for about a minute.
Carefully ladle out about a 1/2 cup of water from the boiling pasta and pour over the mushrooms.
Add the bouillon and lemon juice and stir.
Put the cornstarch in a measuring cup and add a few teaspoons of the liquid in the skillet. Stir until smooth and then slowly pour into the skillet and stir.
Add the sugar, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and capers and simmer for a couple minutes. If this is done before the pasta, just turn it off and let it sit while the pasta finishes.
When the pasta is done cooking, drain it well and then pour it into the skillet. Stir well.
To serve, put about 1 cup of baby spinach in a bowl and then ladle your desired amount of pasta over it. It will wilt the spinach a bit while allowing it to keep some texture.

Edamame Hummus

I discovered edamame hummus at Trader Joe's. It is so good, I can eat it with a spoon. And there is something so appealing about its bright green color. It is sort of like spring in food form - bright, flavorful, and you cannot get enough of it after a long, cold winter. Since I have made hummus before, I decided to apply the same techniques to the edamame. I am happy with the results, but if you do not like a slightly strong garlic and onion flavor, I would reduce the garlic and shallot in this. Enjoy!

Edamame Hummus
(makes about 3 cups)

1 1lb package frozen shelled edamame
hot water
1 large clove garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 a large shallot, peeled and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp tahini
about 3 oz cool water

Place edamame in a bowl and cover with hot water.
Once thawed, drain and then transfer to a food processor.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the water.
Start processing, slowly adding the water until you have a smooth paste. You may need to stop occasionally to clean the sides of the bowl.
Once smooth, transfer to a container to either serve or store.

Lemon and Capers Hummus

Here is another recipe that I posted on my social networking profile, a Lemon and Caper Hummus that I put together when I had a craving for all three items. :)

2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp capers
5 caperberries
Juice of 1 meyer lemon
1/2 clove garlic
salt to taste
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
water

Put all ingredients, except water, in a food processor and start blending. Once it's partially blended, start adding cool water, 1 tbsp at a time, until it forms a cohesive paste and is your desired consistency (allow it to blend a little while between additions of water).

Savory Citrus Cornish Hens with Mashed (Sweet) Potatoes and Leek Butter

I am continually amazed by how opening yourself to new people can be so rewarding. A woman who volunteers for my employer asked me to show her daughter around while they were in town this weekend. I had met the mother during a work trip and found out that we had a common home town. We had a great conversation, so when she asked me to spend some time with her daughter, I didn't hesitate to say yes. I was not disappointed. Her daughter was outgoing and full of surprises. I love people like that. She was honestly sweet and open, too. As a close friend's mother has put it, "Wisconsin people are good people," this girl included. As an end to the weekend, I invited her and my close friend over for dinner. Not knowing her likes and dislikes, but knowing that she had ordered chicken when we went out earlier in the weekend, I decided on Cornish Hens (well, the store only had huge chickens that were not going to cook fast enough). I made this up as I went, not to say it's original, the flavor combination is common, I think. The entire meal included individual Cornish Hens stuffed with lemon, garlic, rosemary, and capers, mashed sweet potatoes and potatoes with leek butter, cooked carrots, and asparagus.

Savory Citrus Cornish Hens

4 Cornish Hens, rinsed and patted dry
1 lemon, sliced thin
8 cloves garlic, sliced in half lengthwise
2 tbsp capers
2 long sprigs rosemary
4 tsp oil
freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Separate skin on breasts of hens from the flesh.
Slice four lemon slices in half and slide half a lemon slice between the skin and flesh of each breast.
Divide remaining lemon slices between the cavities of each bird.
Divide garlic, capers, and rosemary between each bird, stuffing into the cavity.
Rub the breast of the birds with oil, then rub with black pepper and salt.
Bake until done, between 1 hour and 1 1/2 hours.

Mashed (Sweet) Potatoes and Leek Butter
2 large yams, peeled and cubed
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 leek, white only, sliced in half, then thinly sliced into half moons
1/4 c butter

Place yams and potatoes into a pot, cover with water.
Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook until tender.
Rinse leeks well and set to drain.
When potatoes are nearly done, heat small skillet and melt butter.
Add leeks and cook until tender.
Drain potatoes and return to pot.
Pour in leeks and butter and mash to desired consistency.
Serve hot.