Fried Rice

 

Pasta Primavera

Saute onions, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, peppers, grape tomatoes, sugarsnap peas, or whatever else looks good. Throw in a few ounces of white wine at the end, with some extra oil. Season to taste. Serve over stringy pasta of choice, with grated parmesan.

One way that works to saute eggplant is to cut it into french-fry-sized slices, throw in a lot of oil, and cover the pan. You can do this with the onions in there, too. Covering the pan will keep them from drying out as you cook, and reduces the amount of oil you need.

For authentic "restaurant style" flavor, use more oil and triple the salt.

Pesto Pasta

Cook up your pasta. Saute your veggies--diced or sliced peppers, onions, zucchini, pea pods, summer squash, and baby tomatoes are all great.

Prepare your pesto. I don't know exact measurements so you'll have to experiment until it tastes right to you. Here is what I do:

I start out with about 4 cups of packed basil leaves, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, 1/4-1/2 cup pine nuts, and 1 cup+ grated parmesan. Start blending together in a cuisnart while slowly pouring olive oil in until a smooth sauce is created. Taste it. Does it need to be richer? Add more nuts and cheese. Is it too thick? Add more olive oil. Too runny? Add more cheese, nuts, and basil if you have any. Does it need more garlic? It should be thick enough to scoop a spoonful and hold the spoon upside down without it all running off the spoon. It will thicken as it sits, so if it is close to this consistency, you've probably got it just right.

Throw everything together. You can add chopped olives too. This is great the next day as a cold pasta salad!

Depending on the amount of pasta, you may have pesto left over. Put it on bread, pizza, fish, chicken...

Pasta with Broiled Eggplant

Cut an eggplant into french-fry sized strips. Oil both sides of each strip. Don't skimp on the EVOO. Array them on a pan and broil each side for five minutes, and not a minute longer. You will not eat a tastier eggplant. Throw in some pine nuts near the end of the broil.

Saute onions, garlic, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini. Add olives, eggplant/pine nuts, pea pods, fresh basil, grated parmesan.

We put this on top of linguine.