Penne with Sausage, Mushrooms and Collard Greens

It's always exciting to watch the summer fruits transition to fall vegetables. Several farmers had shiitake mushrooms for sale this week. I combined them with a few leaves of collard greens and built a rich pasta sauce. It's a great recipe for this time of year because all the vegetable are in season and available locally.

Penne with Sausage, Mushrooms and Collard Greens

2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs butter
1 pound sausage, casing removed
4 cloves garlic, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
5 collard leaves, julienned
1 15-oz can of diced tomatoes or 3-4 fresh
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used sauvingon blanc)
1 tbs fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried
1/2 cup Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
1 box penne

1. In a saucepan add the oil, brown the sausage and remove it from the pan.

2. Fill a pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. Don't forget to add salt to the water. 

3. In the now-empty saucepan, melt the butter, then add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant but not brown, add the mushrooms.

4. When the mushrooms have released their water, add the collards and tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the wine and simmer for 5 more minutes. 

5. Add the sausage, parsley, pasta and cheese. Toss, garnish with additional oil, parsley, collards or cheese and serve.

Chef Challenge Recap

Three talented local chefs cubed, julienned, mashed, boiled, roasted, pickled and fried sweet potatoes, assembled three exceptional dishes and shared them with judges and market visitors at the fourth-annual Chef Challenge last Saturday morning.

Two-time defending champion Billy Cotter (Toast) returned to defend his locally-welded, hand-crafted trophy, but 2011 runner-up Andy Magowan (Geer Street Garden) and newcomer Christy Quirk (Bull Street Gourmet and Market) both had other ideas.

Emcee and local radio personality Frank Stasio revealed the secret ingredient at 8:30 and let them loose in the market to buy their ingredients and get to work.

Billy and his assistant got to work cubing and julienning sweet potatoes while a pot of pickling spices came to a boil. Andy, once again flying solo, threw cubes of sweet potatoes in a pan while he (jokingly) informed the judges that an envelope of cash awaited each of us under our chairs. This was a strategic shift from the one-dollar bribes he offered one year ago. Christy and her assistant lightly fried strips of sweet potatoes in oil. All three chefs shared a grill, where a slew of peppers roasted away.

The noise levels rose as the deadline approached. Excited to use a workspace larger than his restaurant's kitchen, Billy fired up his pasta roller, mixer and blender before assembling small, stuffed pasta and a brown butter sauce. Andy began shouting complaints about the noise coming from Billy's fancy machines as he rolled his pasta and mixed his ravioli fillings by hand and simmered a pork and butter sauce. Christy remained quiet and composed, keeping her workspace noticeably cleaner than her opponents and topping her completed dishes with foil.

As we neared the final minutes Billy and Andy shared a huge pot of boiling water to cook their pasta while Christy answered questions from the audience.

Christy's plate hit the judges table first. She prepared a Spanish-style tort with eggs and sweet potatoes (sort of like an omelette) with a spicy sweet potato and pepper sauce and and a salad of kale, red pepper and sweet potato tortilla strips.

Next, Andy presented ravioli filled with sweet potato, kale, ricotta and ginger with a sauce of caramelized onion, vinegar, butter and guanciale and a salad that featured both sweet potatoes and sweet potato greens.

Source: Kelly Alexander

Finally, Billy presented a smaller stuffed pasta filled with sweet potato and ricotta cheese with a brown butter sauce, chive oil and pine nuts. His plate also featured slender sweet potato fries and cubes of pickeled sweet potato.

Source: Kelly Alexander

As usual, eating the delicious food was hard work, but declaring a winner was even more challenging. Lex Alexander, Kelly Alexander and I agreed that we'd order any of the meals and hope they appear on the chef's menus this fall. Christy's spicy sauce was fantastic, Andy's generous dose of vinegar really made the sweet potatoes pop, and the complexity of Billy's flavors despite using just a handful of ingredients opened my eyes to what sweet potatoes are capable of.

After much deliberation we crowned Billy Cotter champion (again). All three plates had big flavors and utilized the secret ingredient in creative ways, but we couldn't deny that, once we had all three plates in front of us, we returned to Billy's plate to polish off whatever was left.

Thanks to Erin Kaufman, Durham Farmer's Market for allowing me to take part in the event. I encourage everyone to come out to support the market, it's farmers and great events like this one, which seem to happen nearly every week.

Campanelle with Broccoli, Sicilian Style

I bought a head of broccoli at the market this weekend and wanted it to last more than one meal. Recalling an old recipe for orecchiette with broccoli from a cookbook my dad brought home from Venice, I adjusted the ingredients to fit what I had on hand. The combination of pine nuts, raisins and chile flakes with pasta isn't for everyone, but I think it rocks.

Campanelle with Broccoli, Sicilian Style

1 large head of broccoli
1 box short pasta
4 anchovy fillets (about half a can)
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 small handful of pine nuts
1 even smaller handful of raisins
chile flakes, to taste
grated Pecorino Romano cheese, to taste (1/4-1/2 cup)
4 tbs olive oil
salt 

1. Fill a pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt and the broccoli. Remove when it's cooked but still firm and soak it in cold water to stop the cooking process. Use the same water to boil your pasta. Remove the pasta about two minutes before it's fully cooked.

2. heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant but not brown, add the anchovies and chile flakes. Let the anchovies cook until they dissolve. Add a little broccoli water if necessary to keep the pan from drying out. 

3.  Add the pine nuts, raisins, broccoli and simmer for 5 minutes. Then, add the pasta. Mix well and add enough pasta/broccoli water to cover the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the pasta's al dente, add the cheese, toss and serve immediately. 

Chef Challenge 2012

The Durham Farmer's Market will hold its fourth annual chef challenge Saturday, and I'll be one of the judges!


Chef Billy Cotter of Toast is back to defend his championship, and Geer Street Garden's Andy Magowan returns to challenge him. Chef Christy Quirk of Bull Street Market joins the field for her first challenge.

The secret ingredient will be unveiled at 8:30, and chefs will have two hours to get what they need from the market and cook. Judging begins at 10:30. Frank Stasio of WUNC will be hosting the event and the chefs will offer samples to the crowd.

Join us for great food at the market this Saturday!

Taming Fresh Ginger

Fresh ginger and turmeric are available at the market these days, but my family recipes have little need for either. The Indian recipes I know call for them in curries, but I wanted to try them in a more direct way.

Turmeric

 Once again I turned to Arati:

The best and healthiest way to use your fresh ginger or turmeric I think would be to julienne them after scraping off the outside skin, then soaking them in lime juice and salt to taste. Let them soak for 3-4 hours or even overnight - they should turn pink! You can then eat it like a garnish with a meal or put in a sandwich with any meat. 

You can use both in marinades too, but then you would have to grind them in a food processor or blender. A roast chicken or any piece of meat would taste wonderful.

Ginger