Recipes
1. Boil beets with a halved orange until fork tender.
2. Peel, slice and cool
3. Boil water for pasta with 1/4 cup of salt
4. In a bowl, toss arugula with chopped beets, balsamic, olive oil, cherry tomatoes and flake sea salt (Maldon is the best)
5. In food processor, whip goat cheese with favorite herbs and 2 tablespoons of olive oil
6. Drop in 12 ounce package of pasta and cook until al dente
7. Drain pasta in colander and combine with goat cheese mixture in sauce pan until evenly distributed
8. Plate the pasta. Top with delicious salad mix and enjoy!
Shopping list
-10 ounces of cherry tomatoes halved
-3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar of great quality (Massimo Bottura’s Villa Manodori is excellent)!
-5 ounces of arugula
-6 ounces of goat cheese
1/2 pound of beets
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Val’s Pesto is an alternative to using goat cheese if preferred!
Chicken can also be incorporated for higher protein dish.
1. Boil water with 1/2 cup of salt for pasta.
2. Coat pan with olive oil and sauté assorted mushrooms in small bathes. Avoid overcrowding to achieve perfectly golden brown mushrooms.
3. Set cooked mushrooms aside.
4. Sautéed thinly sliced shallots in olive oil until translucent.
5. Add garlic and cook for 2 additional minutes.
6. Add wine and cook off for at least 5 minutes on medium high until evaporated.
7. Add heavy cream to reduced wine. Turn on low, add assorted mushrooms and fresh thyme.
8. Drain pasta through colander reserving 1 cup of starchy pasta water.
9. Toss pasta in mushroom cream sauce and use the pasta water sparingly to loosen up if required.
10. Garnish with fresh parsley and Enjoy!
Shopping list
⁃ 12 ounces of Val’s fresh Porcini pasta
⁃ 2 Shallots sliced thin
⁃ 4-5 garlic cloves minced or microplaned
⁃ Fresh thyme leaves picked off of a few sprigs
⁃ 1 pound of assorted mushrooms. A few favorites include maiitake, lions mane, shiitake, cremini, porcini
⁃ 1 cup Marsala or madeira wine
⁃ 1 cup of heavy cream
⁃ Freshly chopped parsley
– 3 Tablespoons olive oil
– Salt and pepper to taste
Spinach Pasta!
1. Boil water for pasta with 1/4 cup of salt
2. Boil water to cook veggies for 3 minutes asparagus, rapini, fava beans and peas
3. Drop pasta in boiling water and cook for a few minutes until al dente.
4. Drain pasta through colander and reserve one cup of pasta water to loosen up sauce if needed later.
5. Sauté fresh spinach in olive oil until wilted.
6. Turn spinach on low. Add blanched veggies, lemon juice and zest.
7. Add pasta and Val’s pesto sauce to the veggies.
8. Use starchy pasta water to loosen up the dish if required.
9. Top with fresh mozzarella balls and Enjoy!
Shopping list
-12 ounce package of Val’s spinach pasta
-4 ounces of Val’s Pesto sauce
-8 ounces fresh ciliegine mozzarella balls
-1 bunch of Fiddlehead ferns or Asparagus
-1/2 cup of peas
-1/2 cup of fava beans
-1 cup of rapini or broccoli
-2 cups of spinach
-1/2 of a lemons zest
-1/2 of a lemons juice
*Seared Salmon or Grilled chicken make an excellent addition to the dish
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Scrub the shells of your mollusks or have your fishmonger do this for you ahead of time.
3. Toss cherry tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil, white wine, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt.
4. Transfer to baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes have burst.
5. Boil water for pasta with 1/4 cup of salt.
6. Heat a pan on medium low heat with olive oil and thinly sliced fennel. Cook for 4 minutes. Add shallots and garlic until very soft for about 8 more minutes.
7. Add shrimp until cooked (3 minutes for 16-20 count).
8. Remove shrimp from heat, deshell and set aside to cool.
9. Add tomato mixture and clams to the same hot pan, cover and heat until the clams start to open.
10. Add mussels once clams start to open and cover again.
11. Once all of the shellfish has opened there may be a few that have not. Discard these!
12. Drop pasta into boiling water and cook for 3 minutes until al dente.
13. Drain pasta reserving a half cup of starchy water to loosen up dish if required.
14. Add pasta to cooked seafood. Combine well over heat.
15. Garnish with fennel fronds/pollen and enjoy.
Shopping List
⁃ 12 ounces of Val’s Saffron Pasta
⁃ 2-3 pounds of shellfish with natural salty marine juices to flavor pasta. Mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp, lobster and squid make great options. Weight depends on shells being heavy. This is at your own discretion.
⁃ 6-7 garlic cloves chopped
⁃ 10 ounces of cherry tomatoes
⁃ 1/2 cup of white wine
⁃ 1/4 cup olive oil, more throughout dish
⁃ 1 lemons zest
⁃ 1 lemons juice
⁃ 1 shallot sliced very thin
⁃ 1 fennel bulb sliced very thin. Reserve fennel fronds and pollen for garnish. Stalks will not be used in dish
⁃ Salt and pepper to taste
If there are allergies, restrictions, or dislikes regarding seafood, Mediterranean ingredients can be substituted instead. Baby artichokes, olives, capers roasted red peppers and eggplant will go well with the fennel and blistered tomatoes.
1. Coat large pan with olive oil and distribute onions evenly.
2. Cook on high heat tossing onions around until onions start to sweat and shrink in size. Turn heat down on medium low for first 30 minutes and low for another 30 minutes totaling an hour. Stir every 5 minutes ensuring the onions are cooking evenly and the heat is not too high.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Boil water for pasta with 1/4 cup of salt.
5. Bake prosciutto on parchment paper for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes.
6. Whisk two whole eggs and two egg yolk with a teaspoon of salt to break up the proteins
7. Drop pasta in boiling water boil until al dente, reserving 1/2 cup of water to loosen up dish if needed
8. Toss pasta and sweet caramelized onions into egg mixture until well combined.
9. Finish the dish with crispy prosciutto pieces, crumbled goat or Gorgonzola cheese and salt/pepper. Enjoy!
-12 ounce package of Val’s black garlic pasta
-1 small Vidalia onion sliced thinly -1/4 cup of olive oil -8-10 slices of prosciutto or jamon iberico
-4-6 ounces of crumbled goat or Gorgonzola cheese
-2 whole eggs
-2 egg yolks
-Salt and pepper
1. Lightly pound out chicken breasts and pat them dry
2. Dip chicken breasts in egg wash and then the flour
3. Boil water for pasta with 1/4 cup of salt
4. Sauté sliced oyster or lions mane mushrooms with olive oil in small batches making sure not to overcrowd.
5. Once all mushrooms are cooked, add heavy cream, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
6. In separate pan, heat olive oil and pan fry chicken breasts until cooked to 165 degrees
7. Drop pasta in boiling water cook until al dente. Drain pasta reserving 1/2 cup of starchy pasta water to loosen up sauce if needed
8. Toss pasta in light lemon oyster mushroom cream with some pasta water.
9. Slice chicken breast and serve over pasta. Garnish with parsley and enjoy! *Grilled chicken is optional to make a lighter meal.
Shopping list
-12 ounces of Val’s Lemon Thyme pasta
-1/2 cup Chardonnay -1 cup of heavy cream
-1/2-1 pound of mushrooms. Preferably milder tasting varieties such as oyster, lions mane or chanterelles -1 egg
– 1 cup of flour
-Chopped parsley
-Salt and Pepper to taste