Pan-Fried Spaghetti with Olives, Tomatoes, and Swiss Chard

I had a fabulous time at the Dixboro Farmers' Market's opening day this past Friday!  Vendors offered honey, both duck and chicken eggs, baked goods that disappeared so quickly I only got a sample of a pretzel despite arriving within the first hour, fresh greens, spring onions and potatoes, beeswax candles, organic nut butters, green garlic, and other lovely items.  Blessed by perfect sunny weather, crowds gathered, dogs greeted each other, people chatted and shopped, and a good time was had by all.

I bought Swiss chard with gorgeous, deep green leaves from Ferris Farm; I also bought organic green garlic from my friends Dick and Diana Dyer at Dick's Pretty Good Garlic stand.  Green garlic resembles scallions - long green stems, with a white bulb and stringy roots - and is young garlic harvested before cloves form; its flavor is milder than that of the mature form.  The Dyers have always sold their prized supply to restaurants, so to find them with several bunches was a surprise and a treat!  This would be the only week the treasure would be available, so I pounced.

After schmoozing, shopping, and sunburning a bit, I took my prizes home.  Needless to say, I put the bounty to use in my dinner that evening.

I took some cold spaghetti out of the refrigerator.  This could have been baked into a casserole; it could also have been rejuvenated with boiling water, which would make it a bit too soft for my liking, and served with a standard boring ol' sauce.  Instead, I turned it into a lovely, sophisticated dish.

Pan-frying the spaghetti slightly caramelizes the starches, and gives the pasta a wonderful toasted flavor.  Combining it with red pepper flakes, Kalamata olives, the beautiful Swiss chard, a sweet tomato, and the cherished green garlic transformed this basic leftover into a delicious meal to celebrate the end of the week.  A lovely glass of white wine was the perfect accompaniment.

The new market was wonderful, and it's off to an amazingly successful start!  I met old friends and new ones, and am looking so forward to this week's adventure, and the goodies I'll bring home to cook with next weekend.

Pan-Fried Spaghetti with Olives, Tomatoes, and Swiss Chard

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 stalks green garlic, chopped (or 2 large garlic cloves, minced)
3 cups pre-cooked whole wheat spaghetti, chilled, cut into 2" lengths
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
2 large leaves Swiss chard, cut into 3" strips
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
Parmesan cheese, for serving

Melt the oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When the mixture just starts to bubble, add red pepper flakes, garlic, spaghetti, salt and pepper; cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the chard, olives and tomato; cook for 1 minute.

Divide among 2 serving plates and sprinkle with cheese.

Serves 2 generously.

Pasta ca Sucu Fintu (Pasta with Fake Meat Sauce)

One of the most memorable books I've read is the late Vincent Schiavelli's Bruculinu, America, the actor's remembrances of growing up in Brooklyn with his extended Sicilian family.  The depictions of the scenes, the characters, and - especially - the elaborate dishes prepared by his grandfather, a retired master chef to a baron, are vivid and striking.  Vincent wrote beautifully and lovingly about it all.

So when he wrote a sequel, about his first visit to Polizzi Generosa, his family's hometown in Sicily, I had to read that, as well.

Both books contain many recipes, and the latter offers a dish with an inexpensive sauce designed to replicate one that contained costly meat.  As Vincent writes: "In Sicilian, pasta cu sucu means pasta with a hearty meat-tomato sauce.  In times past, this luxury was not available to poor farmers very often.  To compensate the palate, they devised their own fintu (false) version."

And so, Vincent offers a recipe for a beautiful, rich sauce which doesn't contain any of the newfangled soy-based products now available for vegetarian dishes, or even any mushrooms that are often utilized for their "meatiness."

Instead, this very traditional recipe uses hard-boiled eggs - coated in an egg wash and cheese before frying - as an inexpensive protein to imitate meat balls.  The golden, cheesy eggs are so unique!  And the simple tomato sauce is very fresh and wonderful.

I not only love cooking, but I particularly cherish opportunities to learn about international and ethnic cuisines - they fascinate me.  So much can be learned about people from their language and from their meals.  As Vincent notes in his first book: "In addition to providing sustenance, (food) served to nourish our heritage.  Food is, after all, edible culture."

Pasta ca Sucu Fintu
([PAH-stuh kah SOO-koo FEEN-too] = Pasta with Fake Meat Sauce.  Doesn't it sound better in Sicilian?)

(adapted from Vincent Schiavelli's Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa)

4 hard-boiled eggs
1 tablespoon + 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded Pecorino cheese, plus extra for serving
1/4 cup chopped parsley
12 ounces spaghetti, linguine or fettucine

Peel the hard-boiled eggs and halve them horizontally; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat the 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat; add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and sugar; cook until the sauce just starts to bubble

Place the 2 eggs in a small bowl and beat them.  Place the 1/2 cup cheese into a small bowl.

Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat.  One by one, take each hard-boiled egg half, dip it into the egg and then coat it with cheese.  (The cheese won't adhere everywhere.)  Place into the skillet, and repeat with remaining eggs.  Cook 2-3 minutes per side until the eggs are golden.

Add the fried eggs to the sauce; simmer while preparing pasta according to package directions.

Place the pasta onto a serving platter, then top with the sauce and sprinkle with more cheese.

"In the traditional style," according to Vincent, "eat the pasta as a first course, then the eggs out of the same bowl as a secondo."

Serves 2-4.

Room Service, But No Mints on the Pillows

I was asked yesterday, "Did you find crack in the parking structure???" since I was seemingly inappropriately tickled by some of my experiences at a local hospital as I offered support and diversion to a loved one. Giddy creature that I can sometimes be -- especially since there is significant improvement in the anonymous-by-choice patient's condition since Friday night's admit -- rather than bemoaning the loss of a planned trip and acting sullen with disappointment, I've been finding amusement where I can. It's the little things ....

For example, a very kind staff member stopped by before I left to offer bedtime snacks. Unfortunately he was out of chocolate pudding, but he had everything else from Lorna Doones to vanilla pudding to yogurt to granola bars. Our patient chose a Rice Krispies Treat, and then the very generous man asked lil' ol' moi whether *I* might like something as well ... how utterly charming! "Oh, that would be wonderful -- thank you so much!" I've been hearing the call of Fig Newtons for a week or so, and thus it seemed like divine intervention that they might be brought literally to my doorstep ... or, at least, to my chair in the hospital room.

I am also completely enthralled by the ice cream vending machine near the cafeteria, which offers the usual array of Strawberry Shortcakes and Fudge Bars and Creamsicles. But it also offers 4 kinds of ice cream sandwiches -- vanilla, chocolate, Neopolitan, and also one with strawberry-jam-swirled ice cream surrounded by vanilla-flavored cookies -- a veritable buffet! And it is a diversion that just begs to have kids witness its action:

1. Put in your money ($1.50 -- but it's a good-sized treat, longer and fatter than most ... and I was a captive audience).

2. Make your selection.

3. Watch through a window as the freezer door opens and a vacuum tube sucks up your treat and dumps it into the chute, much the way that the infamous claw machines work.





Far more entertaining than watching vital signs be taken or waiting for lab results, the ice cream machine is going to be the patient's field trip today, health and stamina permitting!

But the day wasn't all about sweets and treats. For lunch, "Room Service" brought our patient a tray filled with a slice of turkey with gravy, peas, wild rice, a roll, a cup of minestrone, and an apple; the person who'd occupied the bed the day before and filled out the meal request seems to have been fairly interested in substantial but nutritious food. And although hospital food has a -- shall we say? -- less-than-stellar reputation, this meal actually got a good review. The nurse, Tina, found this to be endlessly entertaining and kept giggling as the compliments were offered. I'm quite certain that she doesn't usually get to personally witness such an event ... and I'm equally certain that the event doesn't occur very often, either!

When other loved ones have been hospitalized, they've always made sure to order extra food to provide me with something to eat while I am entrenched in the room trying to be helpful (or at least distracting and/or comforting). But since our patient didn't get to place orders for lunch, I needed to meander through the labyrinth and find something to eat at the cafeteria. (Note that you don't need a gym membership if you spend any time at this hospital; the place is gargantuan!) It being the weekend -- when I guess there aren't any employees, patients or visitors in need of a full array of sustenance ... pffft! -- the options were fairly limited: pizza, sushi (which, as we can see in the banner, is not on my "nice" list), yogurt, bagels, an array of cake and pie slices. But then I found pre-packaged salads, and for a reasonable price, too: $4.29 for fattoush with chicken that could have fed two people.

The greens were in exceptionally good condition, and the other vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, onion, tomatoes) were plentiful. There were strips of toasted pita bread, and tender pieces of chicken breast. With the exception of the dressing, which was kinda lemony but lacking tartness or much flavor, the salad was very good. Considering that I found it at a hospital cafeteria, I am most impressed!

Our patient actually received a call from the dietician, who offered the opportunity to choose dinner rather than eating yet another meal that had been pre-selected by the room's predecessor. I don't remember what the other options were, but spaghetti and meat sauce -- which brightened the patient's face immensely in anticipation of the meal! -- was the winner. I neglected to capture its photogenic self, but it actually did look appetizing. Served with green beans and cole slaw, every bite was eaten and still more compliments were offered to the chef. If I hadn't heard the words myself, I'm not sure I would have believed it!

The prospect of an omelette with bacon is today's enticing breakfast option (after yesterday's Corn Flakes and banana bread, which had arrived before my camera and I did). Lunch is a deli sandwich, and I don't actually remember what the dinner option is. But your faithful reporter will be on task! Ya can't say I'm not thorough, after all -- when I promise to report on all of my food experiences, from cooking to baking to restaurants and now the hospital, I'm a woman of my word!