Garlic scapes, fennel and tomatoes over pasta

After I posted that I was eating garlic scapes for dinner, a friend asked me how I cooked them, so I wrote this up. It's not really a recipe, but more like my cooking methodology - if you can call it that.

This was very much a last minute, make-it-up-as-you-go dinner. That's what happens when you live alone and don't plan your meals in advance. It sounds horribly disorganized, but sometimes great things come from experiments like this. Many of my favorite dishes have resulted from me just throwing ingredients in with no plan.

I had garlic scapes* from the garden, and my fennel was getting bushy as well. I figured maybe I should cut the fronds on the fennel back a bit so that more energy would go into the bulb. (I love fennel, and have tried to grow it in the past, but never had any decent bulb, so I'm happy to report that it looks like it was a success this year.)

Several people had told me that garlic scapes can be eaten just like asparagus, so I thought I'd cut them up and saute them in butter, since butter always seems to improve garlic. The scapes looked a little lonely in the pan, and not much like a meal, so I decided maybe I should make a more varied veggie dish over pasta. I walked into the back yard and cut a big frond of fennel, chopped it up, and threw it in as well. Then, so pull it together and make it more sauce-like, I chopped up a few tomatoes and threw them in. Salt and pepper are often the only spices that are needed with veggies this flavorful, so that's all I added. OK, I actually also added a little bit of balsamic vinegar, which I find is like salt - it brings out the flavor in foods.

After the pasta was all cooked up, and I dumped the veggies in top, I decided that the parmesan cheese just wasn't rich enough, so first I added a bit of olive oil, and then a little cottage cheese to make it extra creamy.

Yup, that was just perfect.

The following day I made a similar dish, but this time just the veggies, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar in foil on the grill. Very tasty and quick addition to the burger and brats.

*More on garlic scapes.

Traveling: Fancy hotels? Eh, but yes, I'm a food snob

When I travel, for adventure, business, or just to get out of town for the weekend, I'm not particular about the sleeping accommodations. I don't spend a great deal of time in my room, so what do I care how pretty the room is, or who designed the lobby? I'm just going to go to sleep, take a shower, and leave the next day. If there is a TV I might watch the news or some drama. Wifi is a bonus, so I can check email and get info for the trip the next day, but not really necessary. Other than that, I just don't care.

I'm much pickier about my food and beverages, however.

Free food on Fridays - delivered by bike

Yummy fresh produce, courtesy of the folks at the F.H. King Student Farm, is delivered by bike and given away each Friday at 1 PM on Library Mall.

I think I heard about this, and then forgot until today. There I was, enjoying a little lunch from the food kiosks, and here comes a woman on a bike, with a long bed trailer and eight 18-gallon plastic totes full of fresh produce.

Within a couple of minutes, more people come by with more veggies, a table and banner.

I had just stopped to take a few photos of how much stuff can be carried by bike, and asked what was up. "Oh, we give away produce every Friday."

I grabbed some great big bulbs of garlic, since mine's not ready yet. And fennel, which in now making my backpack smell like anise.

Steel cut oats and apple compote on a snowy day

Today's blizzard seems the perfect time to write about my favorite winter breakfast: oatmeal with fruit and vanilla yogurt.

Pot roast: Comfort food and reflections on eating meat

Last night I made pot roast for the first time in my life. How can any omnivore get to middle age and never make pot roast?

Thanksgiving gallette: squash, apples, onions, and stilton cheese

Just a short note to post the recipe that I used for my requested appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner. It is called a "Butternut Squash, Apple and Onion Galette with Stilton."

Both when I was researching an appropriate pre-meal offering, and from those who tasted it, there were requests for the recipe. This one I can't take credit for, because unlike most of my cooking, I followed the recipe almost exactly.

Squash Enchiladas for the Squash Bash

Other recipes from the week past

I'm behind on my blogging - I thought I'd try to post every day, and maybe actually get out 4-5 per week - so I'm posting another short item about other dishes I made this week.

Apples, apples, apples!

The past week or so, I've been working my way through a huge bag of apples that I bought on a trip up north. For the past couple of years, I've been buying "deer apples" - apples that have flaws, holes, buises, or are just too small to sell. There really is nothing wrong with them, except that they don't quite fit the perfect, red, round, smooth image we have of apples.

There is no way I can eat all the apples I buy, nor would I want to. So I make dried apples slices and apple sauce. (Pies and other desserts are both too tempting and unlikely to be consumed in a timely manner.) In winter, or when I'm traveling, it's fun and healthy to have my dried apple slices to munch on. I also use them in oatmeal or other dishes. The apple sauce is sometimes given away to friends or added to yogurt or oatmeal.

This year I'm trying to be especially frugal and not waste anything. It's fun to see how much I can get out of the same batch of apples. This year, here's what I've produced: