Inspired

I love food.  I can't be as adventurous as I would like to be with 2 kids under 10 in the house (in my experience, that way leads to tears and misery), but I put a great deal of thought into the food I buy and the meals Phil and I prepare for our family.  Preparing a meal I know my family enjoys, making something special for the kids' snacks, spending endless hours canning tomatoes in August... it's one of the ways I tell my family I love them.   

I don't know whether I'd go so far as to call myself a Foodie or anything, but there you have it.  I spend a good part of each day preparing/planning/thinking about food.  And yet, in the almost 6 years I've been blogging, I don't think I've posted a single recipe here. 

That ends today.

 Last time I wrote about how the garden had gone nuclear and I had more garlic scapes than I knew what to do with.  On Friday morning I harvested a bunch and put them in the fridge before I went to work, thinking inspiration would hit and I'd figure something out during the day.  I HATE not using things comes from the garden. 

Later that morning while scrolling through my Instagram feed (you can find me under DearKnits!), I came upon a picture of a pasta dish with red onions, garlic scapes, pistachios, cream and parmesan.  And inspiration hit. 

I used my scapes in a pasta dish, but added sauteed mushrooms and substituted pine nuts instead of pistachios.  I also cut out the cream and added some cherry tomatoes for colour.


And holy JEEZ was it good.  So, SO good.  Even the kids loved it.  And Phil, who isn't overly fond of pasta dishes that are too "noodle-ey" liked it too. 

I made it again tonight, just so I could snarf it down photograph it and share the recipe.  You're welcome.

Pasta with sauteed mushrooms, garlic scapes and red onions

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 8oz (227 g) package of mushrooms (I used a blend of oyster, shitake and enoki mushroms), chopped.
1/4 cup of red onions, sliced
1/3 cup garlic scapes, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 5 scapes)
1 tbsp  freshly grated ginger
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
250 g pasta (I used a mix of fusilli and penne rigate)
5-6 slices smoked salmon (optional)

Instructions:

- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over med-high heat.  Melt 2 tbsp butter and add mushrooms.  Sautee for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms have softened and have begun to brown.  Add red onions and sautee until softened.

- Reduce heat to medium.  Add garlic scapes, ginger and thyme and continue to sautee 5-10 minutes.

- Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted water until al dente (about 7 minutes).  Drain, and return the pasta to the pot. 

- Add remaining olive oil to pasta and stir to coat evenly.  Add the mushroom/red onion/scapes mixture to the pasta and mix well.  Add the grated parmesan and halved cherry tomatoes and stir.

- If vegetarian dishes aren't your thing, or if you want to add a bit more protein to this dish, throw in a few slices of smoked salmon before serving. 


Personally, I found this dish to be absolutely delicious, and I hope you will too!  If you give it a try, do let me know what you thought of it! :)

Happy Cooking, Everyone!