PASTA WITH ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, CHORIZO + WINTER PESTO

She told me about what she thinks about her body; that people at her table are talking about getting married. She listens to my feedback about her effort at soccer practice and asks me to speak in a more calm voice (I wasn’t yelling for the record, but I do get passionate when I want to make a point. That point being: please act like you want to be there). He wants me to listen to the fart joke in his audio book or the techno song that he likes, even though it “feels stressful” (it does). He tears up over feeling like everyone at school just argues over football rules everyday and remarks he wants to live with us forever. I get so much from them at bed time, like everyone is ready to unload, and maybe this is a season, and one I’ll miss if it is, but when did they become people? Messy ones who still need to be reminded to put their clothes away 385798410 times, but these complicated feelings over friendship and motivation and little and big questions are pretty remarkable. I am planning some travel for a few book events, and it struck me how much I really love the ages of our kids. It’s so much easier now - they’re more flexible to take along, their thoughts are interesting and funny. I’d want to be both of their friends if I got to go back to elementary school. Curran is turning 10, I’m turning 40, a book that feels like it took forever to make it finally coming out this Spring and in a good way, it feels more like New Years than January did. At a glance, zooming out, asking questions and reorienting perspective. Here we are, and isn’t that just amazing.

All those memes about how people hate that bloggers write musings instead of just post recipes. It’s not always for you, dearest recipe searcher, sometimes the writing is just as much the connection as the food is, so you’re going to have to bear with me. Many people I know who connect through making people food, are also writers and thinkers and communicators, so it’s a package deal, folks. It’s pillow talk and pasta over here.

Speaking of the cookbook! Most every recipe in there has a photo except for, maybe 4? There are factors that contribute like page count and price etc. so a few final shots just didn’t make it in. Unfortunately, no photo usually means less intrigue and the recipe can get overlooked, so I’m going to highlight one of my favorites here. I love pasta with lots of bits in it and this one is heavy on the bits. My kids will eat this, picking around the extra kale and Cleo won’t actually like it, but they eat it. Either way, I do think you should put this one on your list soon.

I also wanted to post a few dates for some cookbook events coming up around the time of publishing. If you live in any of these areas, I would really love to meet you! If more get added, I will include them here as a landing page.

April 30th - Kitchen Lingo in Long Beach, CA 6pm
May 3rd - Vivienne’s in Portland, OR 5pm
May 5th - IG with Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille
May 6th - Book Larder in Seattle with Ashley Rodriguez, WA 6:30 pm
May 9th - HOM in Dana Point, CA 6pm
May 15th - Preorder Incentive Class at 12pm PST with Laura of The First Mess
(sign up!)

June 21st - Olivia and Daisy in Carmel, CA 4pm

Potentially an NYC date in June so stay tuned!

PASTA with ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, CHORIZO + WINTER PESTO

Serves 4

A dish that has excellent ROI with your cooking time, it is filling and textured and has lots of vegetables. You may end up with more kale pesto than you need for this recipe, but it has lots of other uses, such as with eggs, atop roast potatoes, or as a veggie sandwich spread. We don’t want the fresh sausage-like chorizo in tube form; instead, look for a dry chorizo, typically from Spain, not Mexico, that you will find in a well stocked cheese and deli section. It looks like salami.
I do think sucessful dinner prep takes a bit of planning. The pesto can be made a few days in advance to save time. Vegetarian? Replace the chorizo with some chopped, sun dried tomatoes.

Printed from Around Our Table by Sara Forte

FOR THE WINTER PESTO
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup cilantro or parsley
1 packed cup lacinato kale, deribbed and chopped
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

FOR THE CAULIFLOWER
1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
sea salt and fresh ground pepper

2 oz. dried chorizo, cut in 1” ribbons
1 small bundle lacinato kale, deribbed and cut in ribbons

12 oz. any short pasta
half of one lemon

grated parmesan, red pepper flakes, fresh parsley, for garnish

Make the kale pesto. In a food processor, pulse the garlic, pine nuts and lemon juice together. Add the cilantro and/or parsley, chopped kale, salt and pepper, and run it again until well chopped. With the motor going, drizzle in the olive oil and parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Preheat the oven to 425’. On a rimmed baking sheet, pile the cauliflower, and drizzle it with the olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Toss well to coat and roast for 30 minutes until the edges are toasty. To the baking sheet, add the chorizo and kale ribbons, toss everything to coat. If the sheet looks dry, add another drizzle of oil. Roast an additional 3 minutes to warm. Set aside.

Cook your pasta according to instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot with a few heaping spoonfuls of the pesto and a giant splash of the pasta water. Stir to mix, we want it generously sauced. Add the contents of the baking sheet, squeeze of fresh lemon and stir again. Add more pesto if you’d like or more pasta water to loosen things up.

Serve portions with a generous sprinkling of parmesan, red pepper flakes, a grind of pepper and some fresh parsley.

BROCCOLI MUSHROOM ORZO BAKE

She was sitting on the edge of the pool, waiting for her turn at swim lessons and was completely sausaged into her swimsuit. Her longer body stretching the length of the bathing suit so that the chest of it was too low and the straps looked stressed. Beautiful, tender, winter skin against that mustard yellow daisy print. Cleo waves at me, looking like such a… girl.

She turned six a few weeks ago and while we are dancing in the kitchen to the Encanto soundtrack and mixing up our “b’s” and “d’s” , our conversations are about friendships at school and what happens when you die. She is both little and big to me. Motherhood is a wild whiplash. Each one of those days, while the bathing suit became too small, felt like nothing, but is also the compilation of so many small moments. I’m having a bit of a time with my own insecurities and watching them find their way at school and with people. My kids growth, tangled up and digested through my own. It’s just like the moms before me said, the challenges never go away, they just change. I see this girl of mine growing, still needing me, but also moving towards my role as support, instead of the lead. Yessss, I know she’s young, but I can see it. A small shift, the ones you can miss if you’re not paying attention.

January used to be a month of goals all organized on paper - less sugar and new tennis shoes to get moving but this one felt… observant. Curious. Asking what I want, and what my family needs, as opposed to the more/better mentality that a new year sells you. I want to take a few classes, read books to learn things - parts of history that didn’t stick through school, or Spanish so I can help my kids with homework without so much google translation. We need a vacation that feels different, exciting. I learned from our covid quarantine week that we need more time just playing and hanging, as opposed to schedules and sports and social plans that I naturally tend towards. That includes me, stopping, not wiping down counters when I can afford to sit and compose some legos, or bead for a bit instead. I can feel and see a different season with my kids and while I definitely prefer it to toddlerhood (preach!), it feels like things are moving quickly and I’ll have to stay connected to myself, to see these simple, magical moments with my family.

With that said, let me share this casserole that went over really well with my Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club folks. It’s two pans and veggies that can be swapped and kid friendly because who doesn’t love orzo? I delivered one to a friend who said it stretched for two meals, so keep this in your back pocket for delivery.

Anyway. From my tender heart to yours this month, hope you are healthy and well and feeling hopeful about this next year. Cheers.

BROCCOLI + MUSHROOM ORZO BAKE // Serves 6

It’s like a mac n cheese-ish pasta bake but with some vegetables in it. My kids like broccoli, but you could get away with whatever your people like in similar volume, and cooked before adding it in. So long as the mushrooms are super small, I can squeeze those by them. Sub in peas or hunks of cooked butternut squash or add in 1/2 lb. of browned Italian sausage if you prefer an animal protein in there.

If you’re making this to deliver or freeze, assemble everything through the panko parm topper, and wrap it in foil. Pass along directions to bring it to room temperature before baking.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil or butter
1 small yellow onion - chopped small
8 oz. of mushrooms - wiped clean, super well chopped
3 cloves of garlic - minced
sea salt
pepper
2/3 cup of white wine
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tsp. of fresh thyme leaves
3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 lb. of orzo (about 1 heaping cup)
10 oz. of broccoli florets - steamed & chopped
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 lemon - zested
4 oz. of grated fontina or Italian cheese blend

1 cup of panko
1/4 cup of parmesean
extra virgin olive oil
fresh parsley - chopped

Directions

Grease an 8” pan or 10” oven-proof skillet. Preheat the oven to 400’.

In a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium, heat your oil or butter. Add the onion, and sauté a few minutes until tender. Add the mushrooms, garlic, big pinches of salt and pepper and sauté another 5 minutes, until the liquid is released and you get some browning. Stir in the wine and cook another 5 minutes to cook down. Stir in the pepper flakes, thyme, and turn off the heat.

In another pot, heat the broth to a gentle boil. Add the orzo and cook for about 7 minutes until just tender. Yes, it will absorb most of the moisture.

Transfer the orzo and any residual broth to the pot with the mushrooms. Add the steamed broccoli, cream, lemon zest, cheese and another pinch of salt and pepper. Fold everything to combine. It should be loose.

Transfer the mixture to your prepared pan. Sprinkle the panko and parm on top, and drizzle it with olive oil (it can be refrigerated for a day or frozen at this point. Bring the refrigerated one to room temperature before baking. Cook the frozen one, covered for 25 then uncovered for 20). Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered, until the top is golden brown.

Garnish with fresh herbs.

Tips

Make Ahead

The entire casserole can be assembled up to a day in advance and baked just before serving. It can be frozen pre-bake as well.

Use It Twice

This makes a lot of food, would be a great one to double and gift or freeze for later.

Kid Friendly

So long as you get your mushrooms and broccoli small, mine loved it!

Gluten Free

Jovial makes a cassava-based orzo. It can get gummy, but I think it will still work here. It’s possible a long-grain brown rice would work here, too. I would just steam it before assembling, and add two eggs in there if you can to help it hold some shape.

GLUTEN FREE CRANBERRY TEA CAKE

Fa la la la la! It’s baking season and this cake was a hit. Of course we all love cookies, and I have plenty of those on the list. My people love a breakfast sweet, and this has stood in for a simple dinner dessert on occasion as well. I know you all love to have a spread planned for holiday mornings, so hope this works for those of you gluten free folks. We always have sweet rolls, but I may double up this year since everyone liked this cake so much. I’ll say it again, like we do with the lemon loaf or banana bread, toasted for a few minutes for a bit of a crisp edge is lovely.

I have made many dense gf baked goods, but I’m starting to figure out the ratios. Eggs are important for strength, going all almond flour turns out pretty dense, so I cut it with superfine brown rice flour like I learned from Aran of Canelle et Vanille. Hugh is the gluten free one in the family, but I have found the kids don’t question a thing when it looks like cookies and cake and sugar. I added some swap suggestions in the headnote.

GLUTEN FREE CRANBERRY TEA CAKE

Serves 6-8

This could be part of a breakfast spread or a dessert. It is sweet and seasonal but we nibbled at it most in the afternoon with a second (er, third) cup of coffee or tea. It has a good amount of moisture, so it sits well at room temperature for a day or two, then should be kept covered in the fridge. Great served with a dollop of plain yogurt in the morning or sweetened creme fraiche for dessert.

Dairy-free option is to replace the buttermilk with non-dairy milk with a squeeze of lemon juice - oat or almond both great, coconut is a bit heavy. You don’t need it gluten free, replace the almond and rice flours with 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour.

Not cranberry season? try lemon blueberry or almond raspberry (replace the vanilla with almond extract).

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (vegan butter works great!), room temperature
3/4 cup cane sugar
2 Tbsp. avocado or coconut oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (or non-dairy milk with a squeeze of lemon juice)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of one orange
1 cup almond flour
1 cup superfine brown rice flour (I buy this one)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups (8 oz.) fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped

turbinado sugar, for finishing

sweetened yogurt, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350’ and parchment line and butter a 8-9” cake pan.

In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. At least 3 minutes. Add the oil, eggs, buttermilk, maple, vanilla, orange zest and beat again to incorporate. Add the almond and rice flours, baking powder, salt and fold it a few times. Add half the cranberries and fold again. Transfer it to your prepared pan, sprinkle the remaining cranberries over top, swipe it down to an even layer, and sprinkle the top generously with turbinado sugar.

Bake on the middle rack for about 50 minutes, until tested in the center and only a few crumbs (no batter!) come out with it. If the top starts to get to brown, cover it with a piece of parchment or foil. Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Serve with yogurt or sweetened creme fraiche.