Blue Cayenne

Yields Six to eight servings

White Bean Stew with Carrots, Fennel and Peas

2 hr, 30 Total Time

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Ingredients

• 2 C. dried white beans (about 1 pound)
• 1 medium onion (peeled and halved and stuck with two cloves)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 small sprig rosemary
• Salt and pepper
• 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large white onion (medium diced--about 1 1/2 C.)
• 3 celery stalks (medium diced, about 1 C.)
• 6 orange carrots (medium diced, about 1 1/2 C.)
• 1 or 2 fennel bulbs (medium diced, about 1 1/2 C.)
• 1 t. crushed fennel seed
• 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 t. minced garlic
• 1 bunch small yellow carrots (peeled and left whole or halved lengthwise)
• 1 C. fresh or frozen peas
• 3 T. roughly-chopped parsley
• 2 T. roughly-chopped mint
• 1/2 t. grated lemon zest
• 1/2 serrano chile (seeds removed and finely chopped)
• 4 large eggs (boiled 9 minutes, chilled in ice water, peeled and halved)

Instructions

1. Put beans in a large pot with onion halves, bay leaf and rosemary. Add enough cold water to cover the ingredients by about two inches. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat, shift the lid on the pot until it is slightly ajar, and simmer the beans. Check the beans regularly to be sure that you maintain about one inch of water above the beans. After approximately forty minutes of simmering, stir 2 t. salt into the beans and continue to cook until the beans are tender. This will take approximately one and a half hours depending upon the age of the dried beans. Alternatively (and more quickly), you could cook the beans in your Instant Pot. When beans are cooked, set aside to cool.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté diced onion, celery, carrots, and fennel. Season with salt and pepper and add fennel seed, red pepper flakes and garlic to the mixture. Continue to cook this mixture until the vegetables are softened. This takes approximately ten minutes. Lower your heat as necessary. Be careful not to burn the garlic or otherwise brown the vegetables. Set aside.
3. Simmer yellow carrots in a pan of salted water until they are tender but firm. This will take about five minutes. Remove carrots from water, drain, pat dry and cool. Set aside.
4. Put peas into a pan of salted water and simmer for about two minutes (or less if you are using frozen peas). Drain the peas and add them to the sautéed vegetables.
5. To assemble the dish, heat the vegetable mixture over medium high heat. Add drained beans. (Discard the onions but reserve a cup of the cooking liquid from the beans.) Continue cooking until the mixture is evenly heated. As you are heating the vegetable mixture, add reserved cooking liquid to keep the mixture moist. Add salt to taste. Add cooked yellow carrots and let them heat in the mixture.
6. To serve, either serve this dish spread on a platter and garnished with the mint/parsley/chile mixture and the halved boiled eggs or serve over rice in a pretty rice bowl. Just before serving, drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

Notes

Nutrition

Calories

300 cal

Fat

13 g

Carbs

44 g

Protein

8 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Yields 1 Cake

Lovely Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake

30 minPrep Time

1 hrCook Time

1 hr, 30 Total Time

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Ingredients

• For the Cake
• 16 T. (1 Cup) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 2 C. granulated sugar
• 1 t. salt
• 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 2 t. baking powder
• 3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 C. milk
• Finely grated rind of 2 medium lemons
• For the glaze
• 1/3 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• For the icing
• 1 1/2 C. confectioners' sugar (sifted)
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

1. To Prepare the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine butter, sugar and salt and beat to combine. Continue beating until the butter mixture is fluffy and lightened in color.
3. Add eggs (one at a time) and beat after you add each egg. Be sure to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl once you have added all the eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk baking powder into flour. Then, add the flour and the milk to the batter. (Add one third of the flour then one third of the milk until you have added all of those ingredients.) Continue to mix until everything is well combined. You should not have any lumps in your batter but it should look rough.
5. Add grated lemon rind.
6. Carefully grease and flour your bundt pan.(This is very important, particularly if you have a bundt/cake pan with an intricate design.) Pour batter into the prepared pan. Level the batter with a spatula.
7. Bake the cake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 60 minutes. Insert a a cake tester or toothpick into the center of the cake to test for doneness.
8. Remove the cake from the oven. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert on a cooling rack.
9. To prepare the glaze: Mix lemon juice and sugar together in a small pan. Heat briefly to combine and dissolve the sugar. Be careful just to get the mixture warm to maintain the fresh taste of the lemon juice. Brush this glaze over the cake while the cake is still hot. Don't apply glaze all at once. Let the glaze absorb into the cake before you add the next layer of glaze.
10. To prepare the icing: Mix sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add 2-3 T. lemon juice and stir until you have a thick glaze that is just barely pourable. Drizzle the icing over the completely cool cake.

Nutrition

Calories

380 cal

Fat

2 g

Carbs

77 g

Protein

12 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Serves 4

Ravioli

Homemade ravioli with ricotta and basil filling

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Ingredients

• Pasta Dough
• 2 1/2 C. "OO" flour
• 1 t. fine sea salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
• Semolina flour (for dusting pasta and surfaces)
• For Filling
• Sea salt
• 6 ounces (about 4 cups) fresh spinach
• 2 ounces mozzarella (shredded)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 T. thinly-sliced basil leaves
• 1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• For Sauce
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 medium shallot (finely minced)
• 1 medium clove of minced garlic
• 1 twenty-eight ounce can of peeled plum tomatoes with juice (coarsely chopped)
• 1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 T. minced thyme leaves
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped parsley and shaved parmesan for garnish

Instructions

1. For Dough
2. Place flour, salt, eggs and oil in the bowl of a large mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer. Mix for 30 seconds until ingredients are incorporated. (Use the paddle attachment for this purpose.) Alternatively, you can make a well in the center of your mound of flour, add the other ingredients and mix your dough by hand.
3. When the ingredients are fully incorporated, change your mixer attachment to the dough hook. Process for several minutes with the dough hook until the dough forms a ball in the mixer bowl.
4. Move dough onto a solid surface and knead it for approximately ten minutes until the cough becomes smooth. Wrap dough in saran wrap and let it rest for a half hour.
5. Run your dough through your pasta machine following the manufacturer's directions for ravioli dough.
6. Here is a good link from Serious Eats about how to make homemade ravioli:
7. http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/how-to-make-homemade-ravioli-recipe.html
8. To make the ravioli filling, briefly (30 seconds) boil fresh spinach in salted water. Then, quickly move the spinach to an ice bath. Remove spinach from ice water and squeeze out as much of the water as you can. Coarsely chop the spinach and set aside. Add mozzarella, ricotta, basil, nutmeg and black pepper to a bowl. Add the chopped spinach and stir the mixture to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
9. To make the sauce, heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add shallot and garlic to the hot oil and sauté for about two minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Stir in the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and thyme. Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to season.
10. To cook the ravioli, add prepared ravioli to salted boiling water. Boil for approximately four minutes. When the ravioli float to the top, they are almost done. Use a spider or a slotted spoon to remove the ravioli from the pan. Blot with a paper towel. Plate and dollop a bit of sauce on top of the ravioli. Garnish with chopped parsley and parmesan.

Notes