CARAMELIZED ONION & EGGPLANT PASTA

May 21, 2018

In my early days as a homemaker, I made this recipe the night I hosted six people for dinner – the largest group I had ever single-handedly entertained in my young cook’s life. My friend Elysia and I strategized for 20 minutes on the phone of what I should make. Pasta can feed a lot of people, which made it our winner. With many italian entrees, you could assign guests to bring along a salad or side, if you want to go potluck style gathering.

One more tip, since eggplant can be controversial I do it in large pieces so it is easy to eat around, if desired.

Caramelized Onion & Eggplant Pasta
Serves five to six

1 eggplant, cubed
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1 onion, sliced
1 pound pasta (I use gemelli)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 cups tomato pasta sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (optional)
Basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange eggplant in an even layer on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes.

Place onions in a skillet over low heat with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Heat for 40 minutes, stirring frequently, until caramelized.

Prepare pasta al dente, according to package instructions.

Add garlic to onions. Deglaze pan with red wine vinegar.

Toss onion mixture with tomato pasta sauce, pasta and chicken (optional). Top with red pepper flake and basil.

CARAMELIZED ONION & EGGPLANT PASTA

Author: Rachel Schultz

Ingredients

1 eggplant, cubed
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1 onion, sliced
1 pound pasta (I use gemelli)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 cups tomato pasta sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (optional)
Basil leaves

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange eggplant in an even layer on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes.
Place onions in a skillet over low heat with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Heat for 40 minutes, stirring frequently, until caramelized.
Prepare pasta al dente, according to package instructions.
Add garlic to onions. Deglaze pan with red wine vinegar.
Toss onion mixture with tomato pasta sauce, pasta and chicken (optional). Top with red pepper flake and basil.

Adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Caramelized Onion and Eggplant Gemelli in Skillet

(Really Inexpensive!) Greenery Garland

May 17, 2018

Rachel Schultz

From observing what I am drawn to in my pinning tendencies, I can hardly resist a full garland of greenery as a table runner. It feels full and beautiful and classic. I like it with a lot of color palettes, but greenery plus black and white might be my favorite and I think it is a scheme that’s hard to mess up. I was recently wanting the lush green garland look for a big party I was helping host. I quickly found that this look is usually expensive. THEN I found the trick lays with a plant called salal.

Those are the generic green leaves that are usually just used as the default leaf in bouquets. They are cheap, but when they are strung together in pretty garland form, they are an inexpensive way to get a full feel of lots of gorgeous greenery.

Really it looked so good I didn’t even miss ruscus or silver dollar eucalyptus.

My greenhouse sold salal in bundles. One bundle was about $15 and included 15 stems. So for your quantity buying purposes, 1 bundle = 15 stems = 12 feet finished garland.

The only other supplies needed are wire and wire cutters. For the wire, I bought some nice thin kind for floral arranging at the same place I got my greenery. It was only like $3 for a spool. Nothing heavy duty is needed on the cutters because the wire is so thin.

Then you just make your garland by wiring pieces together, covering the stem of the previous piece with the leaves of the next one. Then to finish attach a couple reverse pieces to cover the last stem. The process is very forgiving and you can easily make tweaks and fill in as needed.

If pieces come apart, (which they definitely can if your garland is long) it is no problem because they would be easy to reassemble on site (if you are transporting).

The greenery naturally curves on its own during assembly and looks lovely and sculptural. Making my twelve bundles for about 144 feet of garland took 2-3 hours. And maybe best of all, salal lasts so long. You can do it in advance. Even if you aren’t having a big occasion, you could make a garland for your summer table in an instant.

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

March 15, 2018

Rachel Schultz

Making these gives me automatic warm, cozy feelings. I make a roast vegetable for a side all the time, but making a batch with a mix of different ones (instead of just making a bigger serving of one type of vegetable) makes the meal feel grander. These are one for holiday dinners and potlucks, ok and also just those winter nights in. So simple and tasty, FULL COMFORT FOOD MODE. And if it weren’t enough here’s a recipe for transporting them on to a very lovely pizza.

Roasted Root Vegetables
Serves five to six

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
8 red potatoes, quartered
1 red onions, quartered
8 carrots, quartered
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
4 rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Toss vegetables with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary sprigs.

Arrange vegetables on a lined baking sheet.

Roast for 50 minutes, tossing halfway.