Linguine with Clams and Tomato Fennel Salsa

I'm ashamed to say this is directly from Epicurious.com. But it is so delicious and wonderful that I must share it with as many folks as possible. The recipe can also be found here. Please try it.

Ingredients
2 cups chopped seeded tomatoes (about 4 large)
1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel bulb
1/4 cup chopped red onion
3 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
1/2 teaspoon (packed) grated orange peel
2 cups dry white wine
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 large garlic clove, crushed
30 littleneck clams (or 15 cherry stone clams) scrubbed
12 ounces linguine

Directions
Combine tomatoes, chopped fennel, red onion, basil, olive oil and orange peel in medium bowl. Season salsa with salt and pepper.

Bring wine, fennel seeds, salt and garlic to boil in very large pot. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Add clams. Increase heat to high, cover and cook until clams open, about 7 minutes (discard any clams that do not open. Using slotted spoon, transfer clams to bowl. Strain clam cooking liquid through fine strainer; return to same pot. Boil until liquid is reduced to 1 2/3 cups, about 7 minutes. Add tomato salsa and bring to simmer. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook linguine in large pot with tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper; toss to blend. Add clams; stir over medium heat until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Roasted Beet Salad with Bleu Cheese and Pine Nuts

I love beets! And this is a great way to prepare them. It takes time to roast the beets, but assembly is a snap.

Ingredients
--Salad--
4 medium beets (~4 oz. each) washed, trimmed, and wrapped in foil
1/2 bunch spinach or arugula or watercress, washed and trimmed
1/4 c. pine nuts
2 oz. or more bleu cheese, crumbled
Additional toppings could include minced red onion, minced fresh herbs, diced apple -- according to your taste. You could also replace pine nuts with toasted or candied walnuts. Bleu cheese could be replaced with goat cheese crumbles.

--Dressing--
1 minced garlic clove
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Dash of sugar
1/2 tsp. whole grain mustard
Salt and pepper
I like to go light on dressing, but if you like more dressing on your salad, double the recipe.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place beets wrapped in foil in oven, and roast for ~1 hour. Remove and let cool. Remove foil and slip off beet skins. Cut beets into quarters or eighths, as you prefer.

While beets are roasting, toast pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium low heat. Stir occasionally and remove from heat once pine nuts are fragrant and a light golden brown.

Also while beets are roasting, combine ingredients for dressing in jar with screw-top lid. Shake to blend and let sit for flavors to infuse.

Once beets are ready, combine greens, beets, nuts and any other ingredients you like (except cheese). Drizzle dressing over top and toss to coat. Add cheese crumbles and toss gently to mix.

Serves 4.

Jessica

Kefta: When things don't work out ...

This past weekend I tried making kefta. It was my first effort, and I looked at a dozen recipes, salivating at the thought of spicy ground lamb with a hint of mint or cilantro, served with a tasty cucumber yogurt sauce. Oh, the dreams I had! Things began to go down hill when the grocery didn't have ground lamb, so I bought lean ground beef. Not the same, I'm afraid. Also, the recipe called for shredding the onion. Well, to preserve my eyes, I will never shred onions without a food processor (and I am without a food processor). No matter how small you mince the onions, it really didn't seem to work very well -- getting it all stuck together in little egg-shaped balls was a nightmare. And then, there wasn't enough salt! Here's the recipe, which has some merit, but could use improvement ...

1.25-1.5 # ground beef (should use lamb)
1 onion minced
3 Tbsp. each, chopped fresh cilantro and chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. each ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon (should go lighter on the cinnamon), and cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste (be liberal)

Blend all together and shape into 12-16 egg shaped balls of meat. Place on broiler pan and broil 4-5 minutes on each side.

So there's the kefta. I brought it to a party, and people did eat it after I salted it some more. I was disappointed that there were leftovers, however. I brought them home and delayed eating them for a day or two. Leftover meat doesn't sound appetizing to me! But I am on a new mission to stop wasting food, so I knew I had to eat them.

Step 1: Buy some pita.
Step 2: Impromptu feta-yogurt-dill dressing (1/3 c. plain yogurt, 1/4 c. crumbled feta, 1/4-1/2 tsp. dried dill, salt and pepper)
Step 3: Slice some fresh tomato and cucumber
Step 4: Heat the kefta, slice it, and load into pita with veggies and liberal amounts of dressing

Hmmm ... a surprise! It was a damn tasty sandwich, and tastier the more dressing I added. Nice to know you can make lemonade from some no-so-exciting lemons...