Pasta with Snap Peas and Sage

This recipe is early summer simplicity in a pan. I found it in Local Flavors by Deborah Madison (I plunder the library copy a couple times a year), and really wanted to taste the combination of peas and sage. I also became a believer in toasty, buttery breadcrumbs sprinkled on pasta dishes back in the winter. For some reason I didn’t post that recipe, probably because of poor photos, but this one is going in the books, and going on my table whenever possible.

The original recipe called for shell peas. I almost never use fresh shell peas in a big, cooked recipe because they’re a little too hard to come by and too much work. I prefer to just eat them if I can get them (or grow them and save them from the rabbits), or use them raw in a recipe like this pea and fresh mint salad. I was going to use frozen peas when I remembered that I had plenty of sugar snap peas from the farmer’s market in the refrigerator. Hooray!

I buy sugar snap peas every time I see them at the farmer’s market, beginning in mid-spring. If I don’t have a recipe like this salad, or this salad, or this salad, or this salad in mind, I’ll just eat them like M&M’s (they don’t melt in your hand!). Their sweetness and slight crunch turned out to be wonderful in this simple pasta dish.

Of course, the sage and garlic were delicious, too. I always buy a sage plant for my patio herb garden. It always does well, and I love it in these beans and this bread. Now I have another great use for those dusty-green leaves. And speaking of multi-use ingredients: breadcrumbs. Yum! I made fresh ones by blitzing some of this homemade bread in the food processor. I tossed those crumbs with melted butter and let them toast, then sprinkled them on each serving of pasta and peas.

Buttery, sweet, a little crisp, herby, garlicky, and comfortingly delicious. This recipe is definitely a keeper for the quick summer pasta files. And like all those other simple pasta dishes, it can be varied based on what’s available. But don’t forget about peas and sage!

Pasta with Snap Peas, Sage, and Breadcrumbs

Adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

You could replace the wine with additional pasta cooking water if you do not have some on hand.

2 tablespoon butter

½ cup fresh breadcrumbs

8 ounces small pasta shells (or other small, curly pasta)

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup diced onion

2 minced garlic cloves

½ pound sugar snap peas, strings removed, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

½ teaspoon coarse salt, or to taste

½ cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toss them to coat in the butter. Continue to cook and stir until the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. Drain, reserving about a cup of cooking water.

3. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook until soft but not yet brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and stir about 1 minute more.

4. Add the sugar snap peas, sage and salt. Add about ½ cup pasta water and the wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half and the peas are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest.

5. Add the pasta and toss the mixture together to mix well. Cook until heated through. Add more pasta water if the mixture seems too dry. Stir in the parsley. Taste for seasoning, especially salt, and adjust as needed. Sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs over each serving.

Makes about 4 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Pasta with Asparagus, Snap Peas, and Lemon; Pasta with Zucchini, Corn and Fresh Mint

One year ago: Berry and Rhubarb Galette

Archive Recipe: White Beans with Sage and Garlic

I don’t gush much on these pages. I mean really gush with true excitement and glee. They’d probably be more popular if I did. After all, how are you supposed to know what’s worth trying to get excited about if I don’t even offer any suggestions? Well, here you are: white beans. Yup, start trying to get excited about white beans. With sage and garlic. Yum! I love, love, LOVE this recipe.

Okay, so when I make it I don’t rely so much on a recipe. I more or less gather up some cooked (or canned) white beans, fresh sage (that I grow in a pot on my patio), garlic, olive oil, and some flavorful cooking liquid, such as broth or white wine. I gently fry the garlic and sage in a good amount of that olive oil until the garlic is just a bit browned and the sage is crisp, then I remove them, leaving a nicely flavored oil behind. I then add the beans to that oil along with the broth or wine and cook them until the liquid is a thick and luscious emulsion. I add salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle the fried sage and garlic on the beans to serve. Again, can I say it? YUM!

When I posted this recipe before, I was beginning a trip through my cookbooks, trying to test and report on at least one recipe from each book. Um, ahem. That project didn’t go so well. Somehow my enthusiasm and commitment to what sounded like such a delicious idea (not to mention a way to weed out cookbooks I would probably never actually use) fizzled.

But my enthusiasm and commitment to serving White Beans with Sage and Garlic has never failed. It hasn’t even waned. Not one little bit. I buy a sage plant at a garden center every spring, so I can make these beans. I cook up extra white beans whenever I need them for a recipe, so I’ll have enough to make this dish. I’ve been making this for years and I won’t stop eating it anytime soon.

I usually serve this as a main dish with some bread and often a salad or other vegetable. (I really like this bread with it.) It also makes a good side dish for something like chicken or pork chops. It’s simple but wonderfully delicious and satisfying. As of right now, I implore you to join me in getting really, really excited about White Beans with Sage and Garlic! Yum!

White Beans with Sage and Garlic

Adapted from A New Way to Cook  by Sally Schneider

5-6 medium to large garlic cloves

about 10 large sage leaves (or up to 20 very small ones)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 16-ounce cans) drained and rinsed

¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

coarse salt and black pepper to taste

1. Peel the garlic and thinly slice it.  Cut the sage leaves into ¼-inch slices.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic slices and cook a few minutes, just until they begin to brown slightly.  Remove the lightly-browned garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3.  Add the sage to the oil.  Cook for about 1 minute or until the leaves look darker and somewhat crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside with the garlic.

4.  Add the beans and wine or broth to the oil along with some salt and pepper to taste.  Increase the heat to medium.  Cook, stirring gently, until only a little thickened liquid remains in the pan. Tasted and adjust seasonings if desired.  Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the cooked garlic and sage.

Makes about 2-3 main dish or 4-6 side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs, Pasta with White Beans and Pesto, White Beans with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives

Sage and Onion Bread with Cornmeal

 

Baking through all the hot days of summer may qualify as a relevant definition of insanity, but this has been a fairly cool summer here and there’s a day once in a while when having the oven on isn’t so bad. Besides, you can’t expect me to eat home-grown tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches on store-bought bread, can you?

Even more than the lovely tomatoes coming at this time of year, the sage that I plant in pots on my patio inspired the ending of my procrastination in trying this flavorful bread recipe. Sure, I’m happy to use up most of that sage on this fabulously delicious white bean concoction, but sometimes you have to venture outward and share the sage.

I got this bread recipe from The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking from Better Homes and Gardens, but took it out of the bread machine (I haven’t had one for years) and rearranged the procedure for mixing and kneading in a heavy-duty stand mixer or by hand. I used pretty much the same techniques I usually do when making yeast bread, namely making a mini-starter with the liquid and some of the flour and allowing that to stand for at least 15 minutes to encourage yeast growth and develop flavor. I also did not bake this in a loaf pan, opting to make a long loaf instead. You could bake this in a pan to make a sandwich loaf, but I would add about 5 minutes to the baking time.

The flavor of this bread is fantastic, and its herb and onion aroma is a gift that keeps on giving. You get it when cooking the onions, when kneading the loaf, when shaping the loaf, when baking the loaf, every time the bread is sliced, and, possibly most of all, when it is toasted. Although the sage and onion combination may seem like something you’d expect in late fall and winter holiday roasting, this bread manages to smell and taste like summer.

 

Which is great, because, lightly toasted and smeared with mayonnaise, this soft loaf crackling with cornmeal is in fact a fabulous vehicle for my summer staple: tomato sandwiches. Although I suppose a grilled cheese wouldn't be too shabby on this bread, either. Yum!

Sage and Onion Bread with Cornmeal

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens: The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking

¼ cup warm water (about 100 F)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

¾ cup warm milk (about 100 F)

2 ½ cups bread flour, divided

½ cup cornmeal

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer (or another large bowl if you are mixing your bread by hand), combine the water, yeast and sugar. Stir together and let stand for about 5 minutes or until the yeast appears foamy.

2. Add the milk, 1 ½ cups bread flour, and cornmeal. Stir, using the paddle attachment, to make a loose batter. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let the mixture stand for at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and beginning to brown, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

4. Fit the mixer with the dough hook. (Or continue the next step stirring by hand.) Add about half the remaining bread flour to the yeast mixture, along with the onion mixture (including as much of the butter as you can), sage, salt and pepper. Stir together on low speed until the flour is incorporated.

5. Continue kneading, increasing the speed if desired (or turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand), and adding as much of the remaining bread flour as you can. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is elastic. (The dough won’t be especially smooth because of the texture of the cornmeal.)

6. Grease a large bowl or spray it with cooking spray. Shape the dough into a smooth ball. Place it in the prepared bowl and spray the top of the dough. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough. Cover with a towel. Let stand until the dough has roughly doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Gently deflate the risen dough and form into a new ball. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Prepare a baking sheet by greasing it or lining it with a silicone baking mat. Shape the dough into a long loaf about 10 inches long. Cover with a towel and let stand until roughly double in size, about 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F.

8. Cut a few diagonal slashes in the top of the dough. Bake at 375 F for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Or, use a more accurate test for doneness by inserting a probe thermometer into the bread. It should be about 200 F.

Makes a 1 ½ pound loaf. Store in a zip top bag at room temperature or freeze for a month or so.

Other recipes like this one: Whole Wheat Cornmeal Bread with Basil, Rosemary Raisin Rye Bread