nom nom foody.

For the first time, I wrote down some new year's resolutions for 2010. Some of them were pretty generic, others weren't. More importantly, my food-related resolutions included cooking more adventurously and more vegetables, less meat.

In the spirit of things, we made this recipe tonight, and it was delicious. Fennel is a vegetable that I've been experimenting with recently, and it's been one of my more surprising discoveries. It's subtle but flavourful, and tastes pretty darn good!

Spicy Spaghetti with Fennel and Herbs (serves 3-4)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces bacon, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large red jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 large fennel bulb, stalks and fronds removed, base thinly sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 pound spaghetti
3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
Salt and pepper

Procedure
1. Add the bacon to a large skillet set over medium heat. Cook until browned. Remove the bacon with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Add 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil to the bacon fat and toss in the garlic and chiles. Cook for 1 minute and then add the fennel. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

2. Pour in broth, lemon juice, half the parsley, and fennel seeds. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low, cover the skillet, and cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. With about 5 minutes left in the timer for the fennel, cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the box. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and then drain the pasta in a colander.

4. Remove the cover from the skillet with the fennel. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to high and cook until most of the liquid has been evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add the pasta to the skillet along with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, 1/4 cup of cheese, the cooked bacon, and 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Toss well and cook for 1 minute. If mixture is too dry add the other 1/4 cup of pasta cooking liquid. Otherwise, plate the pasta.

5. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pesto is really easy to make if you have a food processor and a spare half-hour. We get our pine nuts in the nut aisle, or from the bulk section. The fresh basil we get is often in little pots meant to be cultivated for later, though now that the fall is approaching I'm not sure how long they'll last.

Ingredients:
1 + 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
one large clove of garlic
sea salt
pepper
olive oil

Assembly:
Take a small frying pan and turn heat to low-medium. Toss the pine nuts in the pan and use a bit of olive oil to coat the nuts, just enough that the nuts are lubricated. Season with sea salt and pepper. Gently stir occasionally, until nuts turn golden-brown.

Rinse basil in a colander, then take some paper towels and pat down any excess water from the leaves. Toss basil, pine nuts, and garlic into food processor, and blend. Until the pesto reaches a creamy consistency, add small amounts of olive oil.

Use sparingly! (I'm talking about that phrase - a little goes a long way.) This should be good for at least four servings of linguine pasta - I suggest serving this with shrimp to round out your meal. If you're saving this for later, you can cover the pesto with olive oil to prevent oxidization.

note: for my relatively small audience, do you have any suggestions, questions or other topics for my next blog entry? Please feel free to drop a comment and let me know. :)