Courgette, Mint, and Feta Pasta

With all the courgettes that summer brings (that’s zucchini for you Americans!), it’s worthwhile coming up with a variety of recipes to use them in. I like the way the vegetables tastes against the sharpness of feta cheese and the sweet hint of mint. This can be served warm or cold.

Ingredients:
1 courgette
olive oil
pasta
water
2 tbsp fresh mint
pine nuts
75 g feta cheese

Instructions:
1. Wash and slice the courgette. Brown it in olive oil.
2. Boil the pasta in the water.
3. Add the mint and the pine nuts to the courgette.
4. Drain the pasta and mix the courgette with it.
5. Crumble the feta cheese on top and serve.

Ratatouille

No, this is not a post about the Pixar film, cute though that was. Instead, this is the actual recipe for ratatouille, or at least ratatouille how I made it recently. It’s good on its own or over rice or with garlic bread. And if you have leftovers, they’re fantastic because the flavours have extra time to meld. I love the vegetal smell of aubergine and it works so well to combine it with other vegetables.

When I was out of town recently, M made this recipe a number of times. That suggests that it’s pretty tasty!

Ingredients:
1 onion
olive oil (you need quite a bit for this recipe, so don’t make this when you’ve just got dregs left in the bottle)
1 tsp sugar
1 aubergine
2 peppers (I used red and yellow to get a nice colour to the ratatouille)
1 courgette
2-3 tomatoes or a handful of cherry tomatoes
3-5 garlic cloves (depends on how garlicky you like it)
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and sauté it in olive oil in a large pot for about 5 minutes. Then add the sugar and sauté for a few more minutes.
2. Wash and chop the aubergine into small cubes and add it to the pot. Wash and dice the peppers and add them as well. Sauté for about 30 minutes.
3. Wash and slice the courgette and add it. After a few moments, wash, chop, and add the tomatoes. Thinly slice the garlic and add the pieces.
4. Thinly slice the garlic and add the pieces. Sauté another 10 or so minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Soba Noodles with Creamy Vegetable Sauce

Soba noodles can be made with buckwheat, which makes them high in fibre and gluten-free. They have a nutty, heavy flavour and an almost chewy consistency. I made a simple creamy vegetable sauce to serve over them.

Ingredients:
100 g vegetables (I used a combination of broccoli, cauliflower, broad beans, and spinach)
herbs and spices (I used parsley and garlic)
3-4 tbsp tomato puree
sun-dried tomatoes
100 ml cream
100 g soba noodles
water

Instructions:
1. If using frozen vegetables, defrost them. If fresh, wash and chop as needed and boil lightly.
2. Mix the herbs, spices, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, and cream into the vegetables and warm thoroughly.
3. Boil the soba noodles in the water for 5-8 minutes.
4. Serve the noodles with the vegetables on top.

Heartbeats

I went to see Heartbeats, a new queer film, a couple of months ago, and I was pretty impressed. The director, Xavier Dolan, is only in his early 20s and I thought he did a good job of making an artistic, engaging film. Okay, sometimes it was a bit overly artsy, as though he really, really, really wanted it to be beautiful and cool. But it was a really attractive film, so I didn’t begrudge him his flounces (or the fact that the character that he played was stronger and got more screen time than the female character).

Basically, I liked the story of the two friends who both fall for the same guy, and I liked the twist at the end (which I won’t spoil for you). The music Dolan included was great too. I especially enjoyed Bang Bang by Dalida.

This was one of the better LGBT films that I’ve seen in recent months, so I’d recommend it.

Goat Cheese Sauce

Someone brought M’s mum lemon pasta from Italy, so I wanted to make a simple sauce to go with the light noodles. This sauce can also be used on a pizza.

Ingredients:
1 tin/package crushed tomatoes
10 or so cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
100 g goat cheese
1 pinch sea salt
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Warm the crushed tomatoes over low heat. Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes and add them and the oil to the crushed tomatoes. Cook for 18-10 minutes.
2. Crumble in the goat cheese and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook another 5 or so minutes, stirring well, and then serve over pasta.

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