Baked Penne with Summer Squash, Tomatoes, and Basil

This was dinner last night. I have to say that it was pretty darn FABULOUS! Here's what a loved about this dinner: #1 It was deee-licious. #2 It used inexpensive seasonal ingredients. #3 My family liked it AND #4 it got my kids to eat a few veggies. Here's the downside: 1) It was time consuming to prepare 2) it's fairly high in fat and calories. Although, I did lighten this up a bit, using half and half instead of heavy whipping cream.

I found this recipe in Cover & Bake (Best Recipes)from Cook's Illustrated. No doubt, I am a big fan of Cook's Illustrated. This is the same cookbook where I discovered Skillet Cincinnati Chili back in February. I still dream about that stuff! But as I was preparing this recipe, I was sort of complaining to a friend over the phone, "Geez, these Cook's Illustrated recipes are SO detailed." This led us to a discussion about cookbooks and eventually my friend asked the question, "So what's your favorite cookbook to cook from right now?" To which I answered, "Anything from Cook's Illustrated." Why? Well, because the recipes are SO detailed. I love finding out the history behind the recipes that I am preparing and it's interesting to read all of the steps and trials that the Cook's Illustrated experts went through to come up the best possible end result. I mean, they test the heck out of the recipes that appear in their cookbooks! Which leads me to the final reason that I enjoy their recipes...almost every recipe that I have tried from their collections turns out pretty perfect (with the exception of one...and I can't remember which one it was now.)

This recipe uses 1 lb. of zucchini and 1 lb. of yellow squash. I sliced the zucchini in half first and then cut it into 1/2" slices, as recommended. I got two big beautiful zucchini from my local farmer's market last week for $1. Not too shabby. : )



Then I salted all of the chopped zucchini and yellow squash and set it aside in a colander to drain. (I used sea salt...kosher is fine too) The salt helps to draw out the moisture. I was surprised at how much water drained off of the squash.



While the squash drained, I set about preparing the bread crumb topping for my casserole. Fresh bread crumbs are really the best for this recipe, but I shuddered at the recommendation to use my food processor. First of all, I'd have to haul the whole thing out from the bottom of my pantry, then assemble it, and worst of all...clean it when I was finished. Yuck. I almost reached for the prepared bread crumb can in my pantry...and then inspiration hit and I grabbed my coffee grinder. After washing out all traces of coffee and slightly toasting my bread (I'd just purchased it that morning and I didn't want it to get all gummy in the grinder), I tore the bread into pieces and pulsed it in the coffee grinder.



It worked beautifully for making bread crumbs. Genius!



When the squash finished draining, I further dried it by patting with paper towels and then I transferred half into a skillet with a tablespoon of heated olive oil.



You want to cook the squash until it's golden brown...



and slightly charred. Then repeat with the remaining squash and another tablespoon of olive oil.




In between stirring the squash so that it evenly browned, I prepared the remaining ingredients. I chopped 6 medium shallots.



And a pint of grape tomatoes. The original recipe called for cherry tomatoes, but these grape tomatoes were on sale for 99 cents a pint at my local supermarket. I just cut them in half. I also chopped the basil and parsley for the sauce.



Once the squash is cooked to specifications, then wipe the skillet with a paper towel and add more olive oil, and saute the shallots until tender and slightly browned.

My oldest daughter arrived on the scene via the playroom while I was sauteing the shallots. "I want steak!" She announced as she breezed into the kitchen. This summer brought a new favorite meal into my daughter's life: Cowboy Steaks with Shallot Butter. Now whenever my kid sees steaks thawing on our kitchen counter, she asks, "Do you have any shallots, mommy? Will you PLEASE make the sauce! Puh-lease!" I've made shallot butter for our steaks at least 4 times this summer. The other day when I was chopping shallots for a batch of chili, she was watching. "Ooooh. Shallots. Do you want me to get some steak from the freezer?" She asked. She's possibly the only kid in her class that knows what a shallot looks like. Don't think that I'm not proud. Consequently, whenever she smells shallots sauteing, she assumes that we're having steak for dinner....and she's excited. (She inherited my carnivore gene). Unfortunately, tonight I had to burst her little bubble, "Oh honey. We're not having steak. I'm making pasta." Her face dropped for a minute and she gave me a disappointed, "Oh." But just as quickly, her face lit up and she asked, "Can I help?" To which I answered, "Of course!" I really do love our time in the kitchen together.

Once the shallots are tender, throw in 4 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, until fragrant. Then stir in 1/4 cup of flour. Cook for another minute or so, until golden. I ended up adding another tablespoon of olive oil here, as the mixture was really dry.



Whisk in chicken broth and then cream, and cook and stir while it bubbles and thickens slightly.



Then stir in the grated Parmesan.



And the fresh herbs.



Give it a stir and then taste to see if you need to add salt or pepper.



Here's my taste tester, already in her pajamas before dinner after a grueling 3rd day of gym class and story time at kindergarten. She gave the sauce and taste and then savored and pondered for a moment. "Hmm. Maybe a little sea salt and some freshly ground pepper would work nicely, Mom." I try my best to keep a straight face as I grab for the recommended ingredients. I mean, this kid can eat pizza rolls and Ramen noodles with the best of them, but she really is developing into quite a food snob.



As I tossed together the pasta (I used mostaccioli rather than penne as it was on sale for $1/box at the grocery this week)and the veggies, my daughter announced, "I am NOT eating that!" To which I answered, "Oh yes, you are. This is what's for dinner." Sometimes when I lay down the gauntlet like this she flies into a whining, pleading, negotiating frenzy. (Apparently her carnivorous tendencies are not the only trait she inherited from me.) But today she just requested, "Can't I just have a bowl of that gravy instead?" When I answered with a "No ma'am.", she dropped it. Surprisingly. Man, she must have been tired!

Sorry that the color in this shot is so yellow. I'm not sure why...



Pour "the gravy" over the pasta and veggies and toss until everything is coated.



Then, spread the mixture into a casserole dish.



Top it with the bread crumbs and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown and bubbly.



Then, dish it up!



The vegetables mingling with the pasta, coated with that delicious shallot-cream-herb sauce, and topped with the crunchy golden bread crumbs was amazing! I know that I said that one of the reasons I liked this recipe is that it got my kids to eat their veggies. Well, it wasn't just the fact that the squash and tomatoes were coated in this decadent sauce that did the trick. It still took some prompting. About halfway through this meal, I noticed that my toddler was devouring the pasta and pushing the veggies to the side. "Hey, lady!" I called her out. "You need to eat your veggies too." To which she answered, "No! Yucky. I not yike STUPID veggies." ("Stupid" is her favorite word right now. She says it with amazing clarity and I am trying desperately to banish it from her vocabulary.) I didn't let it go (I mean the veggie issue, not that fact that she described the veggies as stupid). "No veggies?! But veggies make you grow big...and STRONG!" I punctuated this statement with my best muscle-flexing impression of a body builder, complete with Hulk Hogan sound effects. Both girls collapsed into giggles. Then, my oldest popped a bite of zucchini into her mouth and copied my impersonation. More laughter. Not to be outdone, my toddler shoved a forkful of squash into her mouth and struck her own "muscle man" pose. Dinner continued on this way. Bites of vegetables and body builder sounds and poses. Unconventional table manners, no doubt, but when dinner was all said and done, both girls had cleaned their plates, and by my estimation, ingested a serving of vegetables. Yay!



Baked Penne with Summer Squash, Tomatoes, and Basil from Cook's Illustrated

Topping :

4 slices white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 lb zucchini, halved lengthwise, sliced ½” thick
1 lb yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise, ½” thick
Kosher salt
¾ lb penne
4 Tbsp olive oil
6 medium shallots, minced
4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
¼ c flour
2 ½ c low- sodium chicken broth
1 ½ c heavy cream (half and half or even milk would work here.)
2 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
¾ c chopped fresh basil leaves
¼ c chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
Salt and pepper, to taste

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 400.
Toss zucchini and squash with 2 Tbsp kosher salt and place in a colander and set inside a large bowl to drain, about 30 minutes. Bring 4 quarts water to boil over high heat. Stir in 2 Tbsp kosher salt and pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta and return to pot and toss with 1 Tbsp oil. Set aside.

Process the bread and butter in a food processor fitted with steel blade until coarsely ground, about six 1 seconds pulses. Set aside.

Spread salted squash evenly over a double layer of paper towels and pat dry with additional towels. Wipe off any residual salt. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add half the squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and slightly charred, 5-7 minutes. Transfer squash to plate. Add another 1 Tbsp oil to pan and repeat with remaining squash.

Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.
Add 1 Tbsp oil to skillet and return to medium-high heat until shimmering.
Add shallots and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in broth and cream. Bring to simmer and cook, whisking often, until lightly thickened, about 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in Parmesan, basil, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the sauce, tomatoes, and sauteed squash to pasta, stir gently to combine. Pour pasta into 9x13 baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumb topping. Bake until bubbling and crumbs are lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Posts from the Farm: Home Canned Salsa and Tomato Juice

Okay, so technically I'm not posting this one from the farm. After 16 days away, I'm finally home! However, all of the work and photos shown here occurred during my stay on my parent's farm. So, I'm counting this one as my final summer "Post from the Farm".



The downside of being away for so long is that I find myself with an abundance of laundry and a complete lack of food. Upon our return, we didn't even have (drinkable) milk in the fridge. This morning while my kiddos split the last 3 waffles from the freezer, I popped open a jar of freshly home-canned tomato juice and enjoyed a glass on the deck. I confess, I've never ever poured myself a glass of tomato juice before. It always sounded kind of gross to me...especially for breakfast. But it was good!

One of the advantages to being home on the farm is the abundance of produce. One of the growers for Red Gold also farms our land. I had their generous permission to pick what I wanted. Those ripe Roma tomatoes were so thick on the vine that with two of us picking, we had three big laundry baskets filled with tomatoes in about 45 minutes.



Roma tomatoes are a meaty, pear or egg-shaped variety of plum tomato. They are an excellent choice for canning whole, salsa, or sauce.



I decided to spread out my tomato canning over two days. On the first day I made salsa. Lots of salsa....54 pints of salsa to be exact. Someone recently asked what I planned to do with so much salsa. The truth is, I've already given away 18 jars to my family. I shared 2 jars over the weekend while camping with friends, and in the two days that we have been home, we've gone through another 2 jars on quesadillas, on scrambled eggs, and with chips while watching a Sunday night movie. We are salsa lovers! Chips and salsa are the perfect solution for an on-the-fly snack when company shows up. I use a lot of salsa in recipes too...like my chicken soft tacos or my baked chimichangas. I'm pretty sure that I'll be out of salsa by the time that canning season rolls around next year.



I think that it's kind of cool that my salsa is made out of the very same tomatoes as salsa that you can purchase in the grocery.



This year I made one batch of mild, 3 batches of medium, and 2 batches of hot. It's always important to label your home-canned goods, but with this salsa labelling was especially important so that I know the level of "heat" that I'm going to get with each jar. After 10 hours of salsa canning, I was a little slap happy and took some creative liberty with my salsa labelling.









For my completely detailed account about canning salsa and my recipe, you can check out the post from last summer HERE.

Today, I'm writing the "How To" all about tomato juice.

On the dawn of tomato juice day, my phone alarm sounded and I rolled right out of the bed. This was not the day to hit "snooze". My feet landed next to the clothes that I'd peeled off the previous night (it may have been closer to morning), a mere 5-1/2 hours before. As I picked them up, I noticed that they smelled like the local Hacienda restaurant. Seeing no point in ruining two outfits, I tossed them on again and headed downstairs for my pre-tomato canning beauty regimen: tooth brushing and deodorant. While I brushed my teeth, I noticed that my hands carried the same distinct Hacienda scent as my clothes. I jumped in the car and drove the short trip to my grandparent's house, where 2 more baskets of tomatoes awaited saucing. I had a lot of tomatoes to cook down into sauce before a planned 2:00 pm departure for a weekend of camping with my husband and a group of our college friends. I needed to get a move on it! I burst into my grandparent's house with my arms full of canning supplies and...Hello Hacienda! The salsa smell hit me like a wall. Sorry grandma and grandpa. Apparently, after being immersed in the salsa smell for 10 hours, I didn't notice it by the time I closed up shop the night before. Grandma's house is supposed to smell like cinnamon and fresh baked cookies and spring flowers...not a Mexican chain restaurant! A little damage control was in order. 15 minutes later with vents turned on, a window opened, candles burning, and coffee brewing, I finally dug into those tomatoes.

I start out by washing the tomatoes in a bath of cold water first.



Then I remove them to a colander and rinse em' again.



Most people remove the skins before canning their tomatoes whole or for sauce. We have a Squeezo Strainer which presses the tomatoes for sauce or juice and removes the skins and seeds as it passes through. So in my case, I just removed any bad spots and cut the tomatoes in half, then tossed them into a large pot (I used my water bath canner) to heat and soften.



Heat the tomatoes over medium heat, stirring often until they start to "mush". Sorry for my lack of precise technical information. I do follow recommended guidelines and rules of canning for the most part, especially on processing time, but after years of canning, some of this is just intuitive. I know...I'm sharing information with the masses...I should pay more attention! Well, here's a tip: Don't fill your pot too full, it makes it tricky to stir if you do. I usually fill my pot halfway full of tomatoes for this step. Make sure you stir the tomatoes often because they can burn and stick to the bottom. When the tomatoes are ready, they will look something like this:



Using a large liquid measuring cup, pour some of the tomatoes into the top of the Squeezo Strainer. These strainers are expensive, but the company boasts a lifetime warranty. We've been using this one for over 30 years, so I believe it! I use mine for grape juice, apple sauce, tomato juice and sauce, and lots more. You can see how I used the strainer to make applesauce last fall right HERE.

Once the tomatoes are in the strainer, just push them down with the plunger as needed, turn the crank, and let the strainer do it's work.



The skins and seeds drop into a bowl at the end (seen on the left).



And the sauce and juice are pressed through the strainer holes and then slide down the chute and into a bowl.



Roma tomatoes are not traditionally a juice tomato, but the product that we were getting from the strainer was pretty juicy. This was partly because the meaty Roma tomatoes were clogging up the strainer, allowing mostly juice to pass through. I played around with the attachments, trying one with larger holes, but then seeds were passing through into the sauce. Not good. I resolved to stick with the medium sized (sauce) strainer attachment and just take it apart and clean it out every batch or two as needed.

With such a thin, juicy sauce, I realized that what had passed through the strainer would need quite a bit of time to cook down into spaghetti sauce. Plus, chopping onions and garlic and adding herbs would be time consuming. Then there was the 45 minutes of processing time once every jar was filled. My youngest sister had arrived to help out right before we ran the first batch of tomatoes through the strainer. After a quick assessment, we made the executive decision to shift gears and can tomato juice, rather than spaghetti sauce. My little sister had wanted juice anyway, so it wasn't a difficult decision. In a few hours, I was going camping and she was going to have to finish processing all of the jars.



Once the juice is squeezed, heat at 190 degrees for 5 minutes. I also added a little salt, to taste. I went with a little less than 1/4 cup of salt per 4 gallons of tomato juice (roughly).



I was rushing to get all of that juice into jars and ready to water bath, so I didn't get many pictures of the next few steps. Using a funnel, I ladled the juice into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. I went through and added bottled lemon juice to each of the jars. The recommended amount is 2 tablespoons per quart. I cheat a little and add less for the sake of flavor. But that's just me. I know that a certain amount of ascorbic acid is recommended for perfect, safe, preservation. But before the recommendation changed, we used to can it without the lemon juice. These days, I have decided to compromise and use half. If you are nervous about home canned tomato juice and safety issues, then go ahead and use the full amount and feel good about it. Once the juice is in the jars, wipe down the tops to clean off any juice that sloshed over when pouring. Then apply a heated lid and tightly screw a rim over each jar.




When the jars are ready, arrange them in a water bath canner, covered with at least one inch of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and process for 40 minutes.



Remove the jars of juice from the canner to a flat surface (I prefer a towel-covered countertop) and allow the cans to cool and seal for 24 hours.



Check the seals on each jar and label before storing.

When every last jar was removed from the canner we had 35 quart of tomato juice. According to my research, it takes about 3 lbs. of tomatoes to yield a quart of tomato juice. This means that we canned about 105 pounds worth of tomatoes for juice...or one really full laundry basket.



I'm here to tell ya, home-canned tomato juice is da bomb! These Roma tomatoes made a really tasty, hearty juice. I am very pleased with the finished product. I'm convinced that home-canned tomato juice is the reason that my chili is head and shoulders above most that I have tasted. I'll use this juice through the winter in all of my tomato-based soups and now I know that it's great straight up out of the jar for breakfast too!

As I wrap this up, I want to point out my go-to resources when home canning. First, the Jarden Home Brands 21400 Ball Blue Book and also the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (Better Homes & Gardens Plaid). This year I had a new resource, Put 'em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook, from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling which came to me with a whole care package full of canning goodies courtesy of another food blog that happen to love, The Seventh Level of Boredom.

If you've always wanted to try home canning, but just never got around to it or you're nervous that you'll make a mistake, then pick up one of these books and get started! Canning your own food gives you a sense of accomplishment AND you'll have a great tasting, high quality, economical, better for the environment product! Happy Canning!



*On another note, I know that it's been a bit since my last post and I haven't posted a meal plan and grocery list in weeks. With this post I declare: I am back! I'll be cooking and posting all this week. Next week, I promise the usual weekly meal plan will return! Stay tuned....there's good stuff on the horizon!