Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  I haven't been very good at participating in this group, but my good friend Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm was creating the HTML for the event and messaged me while I was on a hike. So, I threw out a title that fit the theme - Pasta & Greens - knowing what I had at home in the pantry. Done. Thanks for the nudge, my friend! Welcome to the June 2022  Improv Cooking Challenge .  And I haven't been very consistent, but I love the idea of the group, so I will try to be better in the coming months. The idea behind Improv Cooking Challenge: we are assigned two ingredients and are challenged to create a recipe with those two things. This month's items: pasta and greens. Here's what the crew is sharing with those ingredients...  Palatable Pastime: Beef Kimchi Noodles Sneha’s Recipe : Farfalle Pasta With Pesto Alfredo Sauce   Magical Ingredients : Paneer and Spinach Stuffed Shells With Malai  Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Pesto Orzo with Broccoli ...

Wednesday night is usually a fire-drill of some kind, especially with piano and mandolin lessons on the books for the boys. Quick and tasty is the name of the game. This dish fits the bill. It really only takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. Sweet. Ingredients 1 package of orzo 2 C purslane greens, chopped (click to read about purslane ) 1 C carrot top greens 3 T fresh herbs, chopped 1 C celery, diced 1 C carrots, shredded 1 C parmesan cheese olive oil 1 T tamari 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice Procedure Bring water to a boil in medium saucepan. While you cook the orzo according  to the package directions, rinse the purslane, carrot greens, and herbs. Place everything in a large mixing bowl. During the last minute of cooking, place the celery and carrots in the pasta water to blanch them quickly. Drain everything and place them in the bowl with the greens. Season with tamari and lemon juice. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Toss to coat with olive oil until...

I used to love finding baby octopus at the market in Rome. Polpi . I would blanch them, then marinate them in olive oil with chopped garlic and oregano. I would keep them in the fridge, then use them for a few days to top salads and pastas. So when I came across a package of octopus salad at WholeFoods, I swooped it up and made an octopus and orzo salad. Cook orzo according to package, drain, and toss with olive oil. Mix in raw, grated carrots, grated cheese, fresh minced oregano, and whole black olives. Season with pink Himalaya salt to taste. Top with octopus salad. Pronto al tavolo!