garlicky mediterranean pasta

Interestingly, eliminating a number of food groups (I'm on day 6 of a 4-week cleanse, which in a nutshell, means I've cut dairy, meat, and anything including wheat or sugar from my diet) has manifested in me eating a greater variety of food. Peculiar, right?

I think because I'm restricting my intake to primarily fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, I'm getting more creative with the combinations. Particularly at evening meals, I find I'm combining many more vegetables in a single dish than I typically would. The blooming garden and recent trips to the farmers' markets have definitely played into this. At the farmers' market, I go without a list and pick up anything that catches my eye (which is typically a lot of different things - so much is in season locally right now!). Back home in the kitchen, it becomes a sort of exciting puzzle to figure out how to put it all together. The following is one of the palate-pleasing culinary adventures I found myself on earlier this week. Here's what I did:

Garlicky Mediterranean Pasta

Serves 2

4 oz. penne pasta*

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. yellow onion, chopped

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped

1 tsp. red chili flakes

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 handful cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 handful mushrooms, quartered

1 handful spinach

1/4 c. kalamata olives, pitted & halved

1/4 c. artichoke hearts marinated in olive oil, drained

pine nuts

*I used rice pasta, since I'm avoiding gluten at the moment.

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; saute until just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add oregano and chili flakes. Stir and cook 1 minute. Add pepper and cook until crisp tender. Add tomatoes and mushrooms. Cook 1 minute. Add pasta, spinach, olives, and artichoke hearts stir and cook until heated through and spinach is beginning to welt. Serve topped with pine nuts.

One year ago: veggie fajitas

grilled artichokes

My mother has been in town the past few days, visiting from Washington state. We spent the majority of her visit relaxing and enjoying the sunshine, but squeezed in time for a couple of semi-touristy adventures as well: a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park and a mini-road trip to Monterey.

In addition to beautiful beaches, the trip down the coast from the San Francisco peninsula to Monterey included acres and acres of farmland. I found myself wishing for roadside signs to help me identify the various fruits and veggies growing in the fields. One crop was impossible to misidentify: artichokes.

The artichoke plant is a perennial thistle, and the part we eat is the edible bud of the flower. As we neared Castroville, artichokes became the primary roadside crop. They are clearly a big thing in this town: along with the requisite vegetable stands selling artichokes (10 for $1!), there were signs for fried artichokes and the annual Artichoke Festival.

After lunching at a seafood restaurant on Cannery Row in Monterey, we stopped at one of the veggie stands in Castroville on our drive north. I came away with 10 baby artichokes, 6 avocados, and an orange-fleshed honeydew melon (all for only $5!).

At the time of purchase, I wasn't sure what exactly I would do with the baby artichokes. But when it came time to eat them yesterday, the hot day made it clear: grill them. We've been grilling a lot during the past week since the weather has been warm. The patio behind our home is getting so much use our first summer here that I'm starting to wonder how we ever lived without it. Last night, we enjoyed glasses of white wine in the sunshine while JR cooked the artichokes on the grill.

The little veggies turned out quite tasty. We did find them to be a bit of work for little yield, however. Though precious, the little chokes didn't have much meat on their leaves. The next time I make this, I will try it with regular-sized artichokes, where the big heart will make the effort seem more worthwhile.

We enjoyed our artichokes with Meyer Lemon Risotto. It was a great last-nigh-of-mom's-visit meal. Mom, I had a fantastic few days with you! See you in a few weeks on my next trip to Seattle. In the meantime, it's back to work for me.

Grilled Artichokes

Serves 4

4 large or 12 baby artichokes

3 lemons

1/2 c. orange juice

1/4 c. olive oil

1 tsp. fresh thyme

sea salt

white pepper

Fill a large bowl with cold water. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into the water. Working with one artichoke at a time, snap off a few of the rough outer leaves until you reach the pale green inner leaves. Cut off a small piece from the stem end. Trim the thorny leaf tops with a serrated knife. Cut the artichokes in half lengthwise. With a small spoon, scoop out the fuzzy choke. As each artichoke is trimmed, drop it into the water to prevent discoloration.

Bring a saucepan 3/4 fill of water to a boil. Add the artichokes and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Whisk together orange juice, olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Arrange artichokes in a single layer in a large glass baking dish. Pour orange juice mixture over the top. Allow to marinate at room temperature for about an hour, turning a couple of times.

Cut remaining two lemons in half. Heat grill to medium-high heat. Arrange the artichokes and lemons directly over the hottest part of the fire. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning once or twice.

Arrange artichokes on a serving platter. Squeeze the juice of the grilled lemons over the top.

lemon marinated artichoke salad

Salads are becoming one of my favorite springtime meal starters. This is probably at least partially due to the fact that I've been getting fresh greens from my backyard container garden. In general, great lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens are still plentiful this time of year (though I must say, I've been very sad since the last of my arugula bolted in the warm weather a few weeks ago). Whereas I used to think of salad as lettuce, tomato, and dressing, I'm now realizing there are pretty much endless combinations, making salads much more exciting than I had thought in my early days in the kitch.

As you may have noticed, I'm on a cooking from cookbooks spree. For awhile, my posts were new creations from the kitchen. But our dinner guests from the past two weekends have prompted me to turn back to tested recipes that I have greater confidence will turn out well than my kitchen experiments.

Tonight's salad is from one of my favorite cookbooks of late: The Instant Cook by Donna Hay. I've actually had the cookbook for a few years - I made a couple of things out of it when I first got it and then retired it to the shelf. I'm finding now that I look at it again (through my new California lens), different recipes are jumping off the page, screaming to be made. Marinated artichokes would have sounded exotic (and maybe a little scary) to me in Seattle (not because they don't exist there, but rather because my time spent in the kitchen at that point was little), and I'm not even going to talk about what we ate when we lived in Texas!

This is the first time I've made this salad, and it will definitely go into the "make again" pile. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

Lemon Marinated Artichoke Salad

Serves 4

8 marinated artichoke hearts, drained and halved

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 zucchinis, sliced

olive oil for brushing

sea salt & cracked black pepper

3 1/2 oz. baby spinach leaves

8 oz. yellow pear tomatoes, halved

4 slices feta cheese

1/4 c. flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

Combine the artichokes, lemon juice, and olive oil in a bowl. Set aside.

Brush the zucchini slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a preheated broiler about 1 minute per side (note: I think I might have cut ours a little thick, so ended up broiling it about 3 minutes per side).

Drain the artichokes, reserving the lemon juice and olive oil. Place spinach, tomatoes, and zucchinis on plates and top with feta, artichokes, and parsley. Spoon the reserved lemon juice and olive oil over the salads.