Pickled veggie pasta salad

This pasta salad requires a tiny bit of forethought so that you can let the veggies pickle for a few hours, but it’s well worth the effort for a crowd-pleasing, tangy and bright salad that complements any other BBQ dishes. #meandthemoose #pastasalad #pastarecipes #summerbbq #pickles #pickledveggies

This is my platonic ideal of pasta salad: Tangy, bright, and crunchy, but also a little creamy and, frankly, oily. You can’t help but smell a smoky grill, hear kids laughing, and feel the sun in your face with this salad on your plate.

Just the pasta, please.

This pasta salad requires a tiny bit of forethought so that you can let the veggies pickle for a few hours, but it’s well worth the effort for a crowd-pleasing, tangy and bright salad that complements any other BBQ dishes. #meandthemoose #pastasalad #pastarecipes #summerbbq #pickles #pickledveggies

So, pasta salad is often an underwhelming affair. It feels necessary at BBQs and is easy to produce in huge quantities. And sans eggs or mayo, it keeps in the sun for hours without risking a side of salmonella. But what a waste when it’s totally boring!

This recipe uses a huge quantity of quick-pickled seasonal vegetables and aromatics, which takes a little pre-planning, but is very worth it. My kid also happens to love pickles, which is a pretty good way to get him to eat veggies. And when you do the pickling, you control the salt, sugar, and other junk that enters the mix.

This pasta salad requires a tiny bit of forethought so that you can let the veggies pickle for a few hours, but it’s well worth the effort for a crowd-pleasing, tangy and bright salad that complements any other BBQ dishes. #meandthemoose #pastasalad #pastarecipes #summerbbq #pickles #pickledveggies

The recipe I’ve developed here is best when left overnight, but the veggies can be eaten after about 3 hours and definitely taste pickled. Leaving them overnight helps the garlic to mellow, which can be considered a kindness to your guests, no? But also feel free to omit the garlic if you must.

And while I haven’t included anything but the pasta, dressing, and veggies in this recipe, you can customize this dish in whatever way suits your family. I make this for the three of us with mozzarella balls or feta. I’ve also thought about searing some salmon and flaking it in there or just opening a can of tuna and dumping that in. Also, the pickled veggies remind me of gardiniera, so I’m sure a salami or other Italian cured meat would be amazing in there. Experiment! Go crazy!

This pasta salad requires a tiny bit of forethought so that you can let the veggies pickle for a few hours, but it’s well worth the effort for a crowd-pleasing, tangy and bright salad that complements any other BBQ dishes. #meandthemoose #pastasalad #pastarecipes #summerbbq #pickles #pickledveggies

A couple of notes:

• I’ve made this salad by putting all of the veggies into one jar and I’ve made them by separating the different veggies into their own jars. If you do the veggies separately, you might need to increase the amount of pickling liquid. Just double or triple the amount of vinegar, sugar, and salt that you mix together and spread it among the different containers.

• I opted for scallions because, though I LOVE a pickled red onion, they turn the pickling liquid (and everything else that’s being soaked) a bit pink.

• I also used fresh corn because it’s in season and is so sweet and perfect right off of the cob that I can’t imagine not using it. But I’m sure frozen would do the trick too.

• I give a range of oil and a range of pasta to use here. Some fancier pasta comes in smaller amounts (12-14 oz is a popular weight), but you can definitely use a whole pound of that’s the amount you have. Obviously, the more pasta you use, the less prominent the veggies will be and the more sauce you’ll need and vice versa.

• I’ve also made this with chickpea pasta and, dare I say it, I might PREFER the bean pasta to regular white pasta. Shocking, I know.

This pasta salad requires a tiny bit of forethought so that you can let the veggies pickle for a few hours, but it’s well worth the effort for a crowd-pleasing, tangy and bright salad that complements any other BBQ dishes. #meandthemoose #pastasalad #pastarecipes #summerbbq #pickles #pickledveggies

Pickled veggie pasta salad

Active time: About 30 minutes, mostly spent chopping and mixing
Total time: Anywhere from 3 hours to 1 week, depending on how much you let the pickles sit
Yield: About 9-10 cups of salad

¾ cup white vinegar
1½ Tbsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
½ large bunch scallions (about 4-5 large), trimmed and roughly chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved  
½ large orange bell pepper, roughly chopped
2-3 large ears corn, with kernels removed (or about 1½-2 cups)
12-16 oz dried pasta (depending on the ratio of vegetables to pasta that you prefer)
1/2- 3/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp fresh pepper
½ tsp dried or 1 tsp fresh oregano, well minced if using fresh
¼- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn

For the pickled vegetables:
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt and stir until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes. (You won’t hear any more crunching on the bottom of the container.)

In a large container or several smaller containers with a tight fitting lid (see note above about the amount of pickling liquid if making the pickles in separate jars), add the smashed garlic, chopped scallions, and chopped vegetables. Pour in the vinegar mixture, seal the container, and shake a few times.

Place in the refrigerator and leave for 3 hours or up to 1 week.

For the salad:
Cook your pasta according to package directions in well-salted water.

While your pasta cooks, combine the oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and oregano in a small container.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to a very large bowl. Add half of the olive oil mixture and stir well.

With a large fork or slotted spoon, remove the vegetables from the pickling liquid, transferring as little of the brine as possible (though don’t go crazy). Set aside the garlic cloves and mince the pickled cloves. Add everything to the pasta and stir well.

Add more of the olive oil mixture to taste until you feel that the pasta salad is wet enough.

Mix in and top with the torn basil before serving.

Rainbow Chard Galette

This Rainbow Chard Galette is so good (I mean, there’s cheese and puff pastry, what’s not to love) and a serious show stopper for your Easter feast (or any day, really).

Take me to the recipe!

OVENS, amiright? It recently occurred to me that the real secret to successful baking is knowing your oven well. I mean, measuring and experience and bringing things to room temperature and patience are also important, but seriously, if you know that your oven runs hot or cool or that it has uneven spots, you can really up your baking game.

As you can tell, I’m still adjusting to our oven even though we’ve lived in our current house for almost two years.

Luckily, I’ve found that store-bought puff pastry is fairly forgiving. As long as your filling isn’t too wet and the oven is at least 400 degrees, you’re pretty safe.

Which makes this easy galette a reliable option for your holiday table.

A couple of notes:

• I like to rip the greens off of the stems and then arrange the stems in a way that flexes my OCD muscles. HOWEVER, you can opt to chop everything together to save time and that’s perfectly acceptable.

• Roasting garlic makes the flavor mellow and mild, which I like here because it lets the chard sing. But if you like a stronger garlic flavor, chop the cloves and saute them with the spring onions and greens instead of roasting. Or you can do half and half.

• This galette really needs salt. I salt at the beginning and end of wilting the greens and then finish with some more salt. I like salt. If you don’t, I urge you to salt at the beginning and end of wilting (and taste test to make sure it’s not too much) and then skip the final salting rather than waiting to add salt at the end.

Rainbow chard galette

Time: 50-60 minutes (about 30 minutes active time, depending on how intense you get about arranging the chard stems)
Yield: 9 medium pieces

4 large garlic cloves
2 Tbsp olive oil + more for roasting the garlic (about ½ cup)
2 large spring onions (white/purple and green parts), chopped (about 1 heaping cup) sub scallions if necessary
10 cups chard leaves, measured after chopping, lightly packed (about 2 medium bundles)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp kosher salt (a few big pinches)
A few cracks of black pepper
1 cup ricotta
3/4 cup nutty cheese like gruyere or aged Gouda, shredded
1 puff pastry sheet
1 Tbsp roasted garlic oil (from earlier roasted garlic)
1 egg, whisked

Preheat oven to 425.

Smash four garlic cloves (no need to remove the skin) and place in an oven-safe ramekin. Add enough olive oil to cover the garlic. Cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until you start to smell garlic and the cloves are fork tender.

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a very large skillet. Add the spring onions and sauté until translucent and fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the greens and a large pinch of salt. Cook until wilted, about 8-10 minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar, another large pinch of salt, and a few cracks of fresh black pepper and stir a few times.

Once wilted, place the onions and greens into a large bowl. Add the cheeses and roasted garlic. Mix well.

On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry dough to a thickness of 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch (about 1/3 bigger than original packaging). Move the dough to your sheet pan.

Spread the greens and cheese on the puff pastry, leaving a 1-inch frame. Fold the bare edges over onto the greens and cheese mixture.  

Arrange the chard stems in your desired pattern.

Brush the chard stems with 1 Tbsp roasted garlic oil.

Brush the lightly beaten egg over the visible parts of the pastry crust.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the bottom and the edges are golden brown.

Healthier apricot carrot cake

Cake with vegetables sounds healthy, but is usually far from it. This version lightens up the traditional recipe with dried apricots, applesauce, and coconut sugar; reduces the fat and swaps in coconut oil; and swaps out half of the white flour for whole wheat. Add in walnuts for Omega-3s (or leave them out to make this school safe) and you have a healthier option for your Easter table that’s equally delicious and showstopping.

Take me to the cake!

I’m still struggling with the eternal question: Is it worth it to healthify desserts? If my kid factors into the equation, then yes. He’s often satisfied with a “healthy” sweet. I, on the other hand, really wanted a doughnut for breakfast and no amount of healthy treats was going to cut it.

However! If there’s a recipe ripe for healthifying, a dessert starring a vegetable is it.

I started recipe testing this cake by dumping everything into a bowl and calling it a day. The results were delicious, but dense, so I decided to do as others have done and whip the eggs and sugar at the start to make the crumb a bit lighter. Often, cake directions tell you to cream butter and sugar / butter and eggs / sugar and eggs (as in this case) until they’re “light and fluffy.” Unfortunately, the coconut sugar is so dark that you’ll never really achieve this. What you want instead is just to aerate the eggs, sugar, and other liquids. Don’t worry about it too much, just make sure that you see lots of bubbles once all of the liquid is combined.

Alone, this cake is delicious, but tastes like a muffin or a quick bread, not a cake. But slathered in cream cheese frosting, this is a CAKE.

Can I tell you a secret about making the frosting? I don’t measure the sugar. You heard that: I don’t measure the sugar. I mix in a couple of large spoonfuls and then add more to taste. I like a frosting that isn’t too sweet and the beauty of cream cheese frosting is the tang, which gets totally masked by too much sugar.

Apricot carrot cake

Adapted from Bake from Scratch and Natasha’s Kitchen

Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (about 45 minutes of active time, including frosting the cake)
Yield: 8 GIANT slices, 10-12 normal slices

1 cup apricots, chopped
1 Tbsp flour (AP or Whole Wheat)
4 eggs
1 cup coconut sugar
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour (pastry or white whole wheat are also great)
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp fine sea salt
12 oz carrots; trimmed, peeled, and shredded (about 3 cups, lightly packed shredded carrots)
1 cup walnuts, toasted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375.

Grease two 9-inch cake pans, or a 12-cup muffin tin liberally with melted coconut oil or cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a small bowl, chop the apricots and toss with 1 Tbsp of flour (either AP or whole wheat). Set aside.

Toast your walnuts in the preheating oven, keeping an eye to ensure that they don’t burn while you continue prepping your other ingredients. Set aside.

Trim, peel, and shred your carrots. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together the eggs and sugar for about 3 minutes on a medium high setting (or on high if your hand mixer isn’t very strong). The eggs won’t get lighter in color because the coconut sugar is quite dark, but you will see lots of little air bubbles formed and the volume of the liquid should increase.

Reduce the speed of your mixer to low (medium-low for a hand mixer) and slowly add the oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract.

Sift the dry ingredients together into the wet ingredients. Fold until just combined and no lumps remain.

Fold in the carrots, apricots, and toasted walnuts (if using).

Pour half of the mixture into each cake pan (or, fill each muffin cup until about 2/3 full).

Bake, rotating halfway through, for 20-23 minutes for the cakes or 15-18 minutes for the muffins. You want the cakes to be springy when touched and for a tester to come out with a few crumbs or clean.

Let the cake cool entirely before icing.

Cream cheese frosting
2 blocks cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter (1 cup), softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more to taste

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment on your mixer or your hand mixer, combine and whip the butter and cream cheese on high for 3-4 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt and whip on medium to combine.

Add the powdered sugar a few Tbsp at a time and SLOWLY whip the sugar into the rest of the mixture on low (otherwise you’ll have powdered sugar all over your kitchen). Once the initial amount of powdered sugar is incorporated, add more, a few Tbsp at a time, to taste. When all of the sugar you want is incorporated, turn the mixer back to high and whip for 3-4 more minutes.

Cacio e pepe cauliflower and chickpeas

Take me to the recipe!

So, I have to confess something: I’m not sold on the pretend-cauliflower-is-the-same-as-carbs trend. I’ve had the Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi and it’s good, but it’s not gnocchi. I’ve resisted cauliflower pizza crust because…I just…can’t. I like cauliflower rice, but only with other strong flavors.

However, I do like cauliflower, especially when it’s covered in cheese, garlic, and breadcrumbs.

Cacio e pepe purists may hate this recipe, but hear me out. The best part of cacio e pepe is the creamy sauce that’s achieved by mixing the starchy pasta water with cheese. But when you roast cauliflower, the stalks and larger pieces actually do get a little creamy.

And my kiddo likes things with a crunch more than things that are soft and creamy, so throwing in a little panko is a nice textural counterpoint to the softer cheese and veggies.

Add a drained can of chickpeas and you have an actually filling vegetarian meal or a hearty side.

Cacio e pepe cauliflower and chickpeas

1 large head of cauliflower
1 can chick peas; drained, rinsed, and dried
3 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
5-6 grinds of freshly ground pepper
¾ cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (3 oz)
2 large cloves garlic
¼ cup panko
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 425.

Drain and dry one can of chickpeas. Set aside.

Remove the leaves from your cauliflower, but leave the central core intact. Chop into 1-inch slices. You’ll probably get between 2 and 4 intact steaks and the rest will fall into florets, which is fine.

Place the cauliflower steaks and chickpeas onto your sheet pan and then fill in with cauliflower florets.

Brush the steaks, florets, and beans with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast for 15-20 minutes, until the steaks are just fork tender. (You don’t want mushy cauliflower, but this is the majority of the cooking the steaks will do, so use your best judgment about how cooked you like your veggies.)

While the veggies and beans are roasting, pulse the cheese in a food processor until it’s in coarse crumbles (if not using pre-grated). Add the garlic, panko, salt, and pepper and pulse until the garlic is minced and everything is mixed together. Set aside.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven. 

Spread a thin layer of mayo over the steaks and any of the larger florets of cauliflower. Top liberally with the cheese, panko, salt, and pepper mixture. Press lightly into the steaks to get the cheese to stick.

Return to the oven and roast for another 10-12 minutes until the cheese is brown and crunchy. Keep an eye out that the cheese doesn’t burn.

Yield: 4-6 side dishes, 2-3 main dishes

Sesame roasted brussels sprouts

OMG Halloween hangover. The ten pounds of candy I ate between opening the bags at 11 am (why? WHY?) and going to bed at 9 pm (which felt like midnight), have done a number on my body. I guess it’s a good sign that I feel like shit? Maybe it shows that I don’t normally eat 10,000 grams of sugar in 10 hours?

Anyhoo, we started the day with a small fit because I wouldn’t let someone eat candy for breakfast, so…that was fun.

One key to weaning my little back to veggies after a sugar binge is to make them extra unctuous and delicious. These brussels fit the bill. High heat makes them mellow and crispy while the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil add layers of salt and fat that lead to really big flavor.

A couple of notes:

• It’s important to work fast after getting the roasted sprouts out of the oven. Their heat will cook the garlic a bit and without it, the taste can be pretty strong.

• If you think you’ll have leftovers, sprinkle the sesame seeds on the individual portions, or just the part you’ll eat right away. The seeds can burn when you recrisp the leftovers.

Serve them with a piece of fish, some tofu, some rotisserie chicken, or accompanying any other protein. I also like them next to these noodles for a double dose of veggies. You could actually slap some chicken thighs on another sheet pan and roast them all together if your oven is big enough.

Sesame roasted Brussels sprouts  

1 ¼ lb brussels sprouts, halved (or two 10 oz bags)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp grated fresh ginger (about a 1-inch piece)
2 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari, divided
1 small garlic clove, minced 
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1½- 2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 425.

In a large bowl, combine the veggies, olive oil, 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, and the grated ginger. Mix well. If you see any clumps of ginger, separate them the best you can.

Spread onto a baking sheet and roast for 15-17 minutes (or until you’ve reached peak crispyness, since oven temps vary), stirring once in the middle of cooking.

While the veggies are roasting, mince your garlic and combine it with the remaining 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey.

When the sprouts are roasted, quickly spoon them back into your original bowl. Add the garlic mixture and stir well. Serve immediately.

If reheating this, place the servings you’ll need back into a 425 oven for about 5 minutes (or as long as needed) to re-crisp.

Yield: about 3 cups of sprouts, or 4 servings.