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Going Green for St. Patrick’s Day: Fettuccine with Arugula-Walnut Pesto and Shaved Asiago Recipe

Chicago celebrates with a green river, Seattle paints its roads green, and San Franciscans will be searching for green beer in pubs all over the city.  St. Patrick’s Day is coming up and if you haven’t found your “something green” or if green just doesn’t look good on you but you still want to be festive, here’s an idea — eat your green!

Join the green theme and put together an all-green meal for a St. Patty’s Day party or for the family.  This may be the one time of year when you don’t have to try too hard to get your kids to eat their veggies.  We’ll get you started with our GREEN Fettuccine with Arugula-Walnut Pesto and Shaved Asiago recipe.  Use spinach or any other green-colored fettuccine and you will have a wonderful belly full of green ready to absorb all that green beer to follow!

Fettuccine with Arugula Walnut Pesto and Shaved Asiago

Ingredients:

Pesto:
2 gloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 packed cups arugula
1/2 packed cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup freshly grated Asiago cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice (+ plus more for seasoning)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

Pasta:

1 pound dried fettuccine
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt for pasta cooking water

Garnish:
1/3 cup (3 ounces) shaves Asiago
Basil leaves, cut into thin strips
Chopped walnuts

Methods/Steps:

Make Pesto: Place the garlic, arugula, basil, walnuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Asiago, lemon zest/juice and salt in a food processor.  Process until a rough paste is formed.  Add the olive oil and process until the paste is smooth.

Cooking Pasta:
Meanwhile, in a large stockpot of heavily salted boiling water, cook and stir pasta until tender but firm to the bite, about 10 minutes.  Drain pasta well, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid.  Transfer to a bowl and toss gently with the pesto.  Add pasta water as needed to loosen up the pasta.  Season with additional salt and lemon juice.

Serve:
Spoon pasta onto a pasta plate.  Garnish with shaved Asiago, basil and walnuts. Serve immediately.  Serves 8 as first course.

Sumptuous Super Bowl Plates: Great Recipes for Your Super Bowl Party

With the Super Bowl looming, the Vikings sulking back to the Dome, and New Orleans finally getting the celebration they deserve, it is time for us to give you some great recipes to bring to your Super Bowl party.

A football favorite is guacamole. How do I know this? Well other than it being a fact of life, 50 million tons of avocados are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, this is more than Cinco De Mayo! Now if your team loses, you’ll still be able to impress your friends with your avocado knowledge!

Chef and founder of Parties That Cook, Bibby Gignilliat, shows you in this video how to make a delicious chunky guacamole, which is perfect for Super Bowl Sunday!

Another great option if you feel like offering something different for your Super Bowl party is our Tortilla-Crab Soup with Cilantro-Lime Crème Fraiche. This has some great flavors and is even a great dish to serve alongside your guacamole.

Soup:
6 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 medium sweet onion (about 2 cups), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 large jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
4 large scallions, separated: white parts finely chopped, green parts thinly sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon coriander, toasted and ground
4 cups bottled clam juice
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups frozen baby peas, thawed
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
Juice of 1 1/2 limes
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup of cilantro chopped

Creme Fraiche:
1/2 pound tomatillos – husked, rinsed and quartered
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup plus
2 Tablespoons creme fraiche
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Tortillas:
Canola Oil for frying
3 6-inch yellow or white corn tortillas, julienned, about 1 cup
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked through

Methods/Steps:

Cook Bacon: Place cut bacon into a large stock pot over medium heat and cook until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel lined sheet pan. Set aside. Drain half of the fat from the pot and discard. 

Make soup: In the same stockpot, reheat the reserved bacon fat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno and scallion whites to the stock pot and cook over medium heat until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Whisk in flour, cumin and coriander and cook 1 minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in clam juice and water; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer soup for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add peas, corn and scallion greens. Bring soup to simmer over medium heat. Add lime zest, juice, kosher salt and cooked bacon.   

Creme Fraiche: In a blender, puree tomatillos with 1/2 cup of cilantro. Pour into a bowl and add creme fraiche, lime juice and salt.

Tortilla Strips: In a medium skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil until simmering. Add tortilla strips in several batches and fry over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, about 2 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer tortilla strips to a paper towel lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Serve: Reheat soup. Add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. Mound crabmeat in center of soup bowl and ladle soup over crab. Garnish with the tomatillos, creme fraiche, cilantro leaf, and tortilla strips. Serve immediately.