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Hi there, I'm Rose. I love to cook food - and eat it. If you have any questions concerning any of my recipes, drop me a line at:
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rose [at] avocadobravado.net
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I recently discovered the treasure trove of frozen seafood delights at my local Asian market. I don’t cook with seafood very often and I only make pasta dishes a couple times a month, so I wanted to combine the two. Though the tomato sauce is relatively simple, the fresh herbs and mixed seafood make it an elegant and budget-friendly dish. I didn’t have any cheese on hand, but this dish would be great with parmigiano reggiano or even a handful of crumbled feta.
Mixed Seafood Pasta
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1 lb frozen & cooked mixed seafood (mine was a mix of baby octopus, squid rings, shrimp, mussel meat, and imitation crab meat)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 cup white wine
32-oz can of tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 lb spaghetti or bucatini
Place seafood in a large bowl. Cover with water for 20 minutes and drain.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain, rinse, and set aside.
Add oil to a large stockpot over medium heat. When hot, add the shallots and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another or so seconds, until fragrant. Add the white wine to the pan, scraping up any brown bits, continue cooking until most of the white wine has been cooked off. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes or cayenne, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Season the sauce according to taste, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary. Stir in the basil, most of the parsley, and the seafood. Gently toss in the pasta and simmer for another 5-7 minutes, or until heated through. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the remaining parsley.
Serves 6
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I love fava beans. A lot. So much so, I had them both for breakfast and dinner yesterday. My birthday was on Saturday and after a day of french fries, boba tea, and Eritrean food, I was ready to eat something a lot more simple. Though shucking fava beans is a time consuming process, it is truly a labor of love. Did you know fava beans were the only beans Europeans ate until the discovery of the New World? Fresh fava beans are so cheap and I don’t buy them as often as I’d like since it can take up to an hour to prepare them, but it is well-worth the effort. I wanted to create a non-tomato based pasta sauce, so I tweaked my pesto recipe to incorporate fava beans. This sauce was slightly nutty, simple, and absolutely comforting. If only I had the time to prepare fava beans every week…
Spaghetti with Fava Bean Sauce
(inspired by the fava bean puree from this NPR article)
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2.5 cups shelled fava beans (that’s roughly 2.5 pounds in the pod)
butter and olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped
red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
salt & pepper
1.5-2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 lb spaghetti or bucatini
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, remove the beans from the pod and listen to an episode of This American Life to make time go by much quicker. By now, the water should be boiling. Blanch the beans for about 2 minutes and drain in a colander. Rinse thoroughly with cold water. Peel off and discard the outer shell. Set the bright-green beans aside.
Heat oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, some salt, pepper, and cook for about 30 seconds. Add a cup of broth and the fava beans to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Add salt, pepper, parmigiano reggiano, parsley, olive oil, a half cup of broth, and the fava bean and onion mixture to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. If the mixture is still too thick, add the remaining half cup of broth to the mixture and blend again. Add more salt and pepper, if necessary.
Serves 3-4
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This pasta dish is in many ways similar to the pasta with bacon, red cabbage, walnuts, and rosemary I posted a couple months ago, but with a few less ingredients and a lot less time consuming to prepare. This dish makes for great leftovers and it’s delicious served warm or cold.
Ham and Walnut Pasta
(adapted from Hapa Bento)
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8 oz spaghetti
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 lb ham, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped toasted
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper (optional, to taste)
- Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile, cook hamsteak according to package directions. Cool until it’s easy enough to handle, cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. When hot, garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Add the walnuts and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant. Add ham and cook until heated through.
- Drain pasta and mix in the ham mixture. Stir in parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. Add salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.
Serves 2-4, or one Ponyo.
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I came across this recipe while flipping through The Joy of Cooking a couple months ago. I really enjoy cooking with wine and I hadn’t ever cooked with vodka, so I was intrigued by this dish. The end result is a slightly orange, velvety, rich sauce with a hint of vodka and basil. I more or less stayed true to The Joy of Cooking’s original recipe, but I added five fresh tomatoes and a pound of ground meat.
Tip: If you’re going to make a meatless version, I suggest you reduce the vodka and cream to 1/3 cup and leave out the fresh tomatoes unless you want a lot of sauce.
Penne with Vodka Sauce and Meat
(adapted from The Joy of Cooking)
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1 pound penne
1 onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground meat
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 28 oz can tomatoes, with their juices
1/2 c vodka
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1/2 c heavy cream
12 leaves basil, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
freshly grated parmesan
- In a large sauce pan, boil pasta in salted water according to package directions. Rinse, drain, and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add onions and meat. Cook until the meat is no longer pink and drain most of the fat.
- Return the saucepan to the stove. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, vodka, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Give the sauce a taste. If the alcohol is too strong, cook a few minutes more. Stir in heavy cream, chopped basil, and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Toss sauce with pasta and serve with freshly grated parmesan.
Serves 6
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For Cory and I, Sundays mean pretty much two things: groceries and cooking. We throw on our backpacks and catch a bus west to a small market and procure our weight’s worth in produce (slight exaggeration). This is usually followed by a trip to Trader Joe’s, where we stock up on dairy, coffee, and wine. Which is followed by a final trip to yet another grocery store to buy meat and other odds and ends. Then after a short walk up hill, we finally arrive home. In these winter months, by the time we come home it’s close to dark and the day already feels over. We relax for awhile and then we cook. I take care of dinner and Cory prepares what he’ll eat for lunch that week. By the time we’re done cleaning up, it’s close to midnight and the weekend is already gone.
San Francisco, being the fickle mistress that she is, can be particularly cruel. It rained all day yesterday, which made our grocery trip miserable. It was a harsh chill-to-the-bone cold sort of rain. Even after we got home and changed into comfortable dry clothing, I couldn’t shake off that just-rained-on feeling. It wasn’t until we sat down for dinner that I was able to forget about the cold and the rain. This dish has all my favorite things to cook with: nuts, rosemary, bacon, garlic, wine, cream, cheese, and pasta. I realize this leaves out a hefty amount of the world’s population for various dietary reasons, and for that, I apologize… well, mostly. Because this was really, really good. It’s quite rich, so I suggest serving it with a small salad.
Pasta with Bacon, Red Cabbage, Toasted Walnuts, and Rosemary
(adapted from Olives and Oranges by Sara Jenkins)
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1 T unsalted butter
1 c walnuts, chopped and toasted
2 T fresh rosemary, chopped
2 T olive oil
4 slices bacon, cut into 1″ pieces
1 1/2 pounds red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 t salt
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/4 c white wine
3/4 c water
1 c heavy cream
2 c freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 pound spaghetti or bucatini
parsley, for garnish
salt & pepper to taste
- Melt butter in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add chopped walnuts and fresh rosemary and cook and stir until the walnuts are toasted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Fill a large pot with water and boil spaghetti or bucatini according to package directions. Rinse and set aside.
- In a large stockpot, cook bacon over medium-low heat. Once cooked, transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and drain. Once bacon has cooled, cut into 1″ pieces and set aside.
- Over medium heat, add cabbage and salt to the stockpot. Cook until the cabbage has wilted, about 8-10 minutes. Once wilted, add garlic and stir for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add wine, cream, and walnut mixture to the cabbage and cook for a minute. Add 1/4 c water and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining 1/2 c water and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the sauce has thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in bacon and most of the cheese, then add the pasta and toss until thoroughly incorporated and warm. Season generously with salt and pepper. Garnish with cheese and parsley and serve immediately.
Serves 6
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