Manicotti w/ Primavera Sauce

Manicotti filled with Spinach & Ricotta topped with white wine/butter primavera sauce.

Manicotti:

8-10 Manicotti Shells

ricotta cheese (1 container)

parmesan (3-4 tbs)

spinach (2/3 bag)

mushrooms (6-8 diced)

salt 

pepper

Saute the spinach and mushrooms for 1-2 minutes.  Remove from pan and chop coarsely.  Pat the spinach mushroom mixture with a towel to remove excess moisture.  Stir spinach/mushroom mixture into ricotta cheese; stir in parmesan and season with salt and pepper.  Put filling into manicotti.  Bake Manicotti at 350 for 10-15 mins or until manicotti is warmed through.  During baking top manicotti with 4-5 tbs of parmesan cheese 5 minutes before removing from oven.

Primavera Sauce:

1 yellow squash (med. dice)

10-12 cherry tomatoes (halved)

6-8 mushrooms (sliced) 

spinach (other 1/3 of bag)

garlic (2 cloves chopped)

1 shallot (fine dice)

1 cup white wine

2 tbs butter

Saute the squash, mushrooms, garlic and shallot in butter for 2-3 mins.  Deglaze with white wine and reduce until only a small amount of liquid is left.  Add spinach and tomatoes and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Top baked manicotti with the sauce 

Swiss Chard & Cannellini Beans

Roasted Pork Loin with Swiss Chard & Cannellini Beans.

The Swiss chard is first cooked for about 2-3 minutes in a hot pan to wilt.  During the cooking I add just a little liquid to help it steam.

Next the cannellini beans are sauteed with shallot for 3-4 mins.  A little tomato paste is added; then diced tomatoes and the chard are added in, just cook to warm through.

Pork Loin was rubbed with herb salt, then sauteed and finished by roasting in the oven.

Halibut with Peach Salsa

I've just finished reading Eric Ripert's latest book and in it, I ran across this secret he uses when pan sauteing fish.  He uses Wondra; this stuff is normally reserved for thickening sauces or gravies but in this case it replaces the flour that the fish is dredged in.

The fish is just lightly dredged in Wondra, then sauteed in Olive Oil.  The Wondra gives it a little extra crunch.

It's topped with a fresh peach salsa; I'm partial to the fresh Georgia peaches but use whatever you can get ahold of:

2 peaches (skinned and diced)

1 shallot (finely diced)

1/2 poblano pepper (finely diced)

few sprigs of cilantro (chopped)

olive oil (1-2 tbs)

pinch of kosher salt

Garbanzo Salad

Garbanzo Beans are one of my most favorite things but outside of hummus there just isn't a lot of uses for them.  Here is a Garbanzo salad I put together with other fresh summer veg.

2 cans garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)

1/3 Bell Pepper (thin slices)

Zuchinni (halfed and thin sliced)

Cherry tomatoes (halved)

Fresh lemon juice (2-3 tbs)

good Olive Oil (6-8 tbs)

shaved Parmesan (not grated; shaved and chopped a bit)

sprinkle of Parsley

Served with a NY strip covered in Port Wine sauce.