Miso Pasta e Fagioli
Chef Jake White share’s his signature Miso Pasta e Fagioli recipe inspired by his Italian Great grandmother. Get the Cane Bay Kitchen Italian themed produce box to get started making the recipe!
Miso Pasta e Fagioli
Yield: 6-8 servings
I dedicate this recipe to Great Grandma Annie. For so many years, she made sure our big, crazy, Italian family made time for each other. We bonded over an inherited love of food and embellished storytelling, but most importantly - our love for one another. This is my version of a dish that is at the core of those memories, created by Grandma Annie. Mangia! Mangia!
Ingredients:
1.5 cups Ditalini pasta
2-3 cans (15.5 oz) cannellini beans, drained
3 medium tomatoes, diced
½ yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, peeled and diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
1 cup white wine
2 cups kale, chopped
32 oz. (1 box) vegetable broth
2 cups water
6 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tablespoon salt
½ tablespoon white miso
½ tablespoon black pepper
½ fresh lemon, juiced
Red pepper flakes to taste
Optional: Italian parsley and parmesan for garnish
Directions:
Heat oil in a deep pot.
Sauté onion until translucent. Add carrot and celery.
Once your vegetables begin to soften add garlic, oregano, chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
When spices are fragrant, add white wine and let reduce by HALF.
Add vegetable stock and diced tomato. Bring to a gentle boil.
Add ditalini pasta, return to simmer, and cook to HALF the manufacturer suggested cooking time.
PRO TIP: Instead of cooking the pasta in the stock, cook the pasta separately and add it to the dish when needed. This will ensure the pasta lasts longer and won’t absorb all the broth in your fridge.
Add kale and let wilt.
Add 2-3 cans of cannellini beans (based on preference) and let reduce to desired consistency.
Remove from heat. Garnish with lemon juice, parsley, and parmesan.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
For a limited time, Cane Bay Kitchen is teaming up with Rainbow Packaging to bring you an Italian themed produce box inspired by this recipe. Visit their website here to order the Cane Bay Kitchen box or other boxes like it.
5 Winter Food Hacks to Spice up the Season
Hey guys,
Chef JP gathered his top 5 favorite winter food hacks that help him get through the cold season. Do you have any of your own?
Save your leftover Red Wine
Don’t throw it out! First of all, it’s a darn tragedy to waste good wine. Second, if you don’t want to down the bottle just make sure to save it for the next time your braising some tough meats or feel like adding an extra acidic “zing” to your dish.
Lean into Oven Roasting and stews
If grilling is meant for the summer months than surely oven roasting is meant for the winter. Theres just something about cranking up the oven, throwing in a roast, and sitting back to enjoy the season that really conjures up some great memories of my mom making delicious balsamic glazed roasted brussel sprouts or airline chicken with a tangy cranberry orange relish.
Warm Spices & Greens with a bite
Reach for those warm spices in your cabinet. Cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon to name a few. They aren’t just great metabolism boosters. They also provide the body with nutrients while adding flavor to your seasonal dishes.
Additionally, Mustard greens, radish, kale, and other greens with a bit of a spicy bite to them are great for the winter. Start opening your mind when you enter the grocery store. What can you add to your cart that’ll bring variety to your dinner plate?
Freeze your herbs
Yup. Seems weird, but do it! Freezing herbs at their peak freshness does a great job at retaining those flavors when you need them. Don’t abandon your herb garden just because the weather is changing! Just switch up your approach.
Utilize leftovers
Let’s face it - when that cold weather swoops in sometimes you just don’t want to cook. The winter time is best for recharging the batteries anyway and you’ve been working so hard at being more conscious of what’s going in to your body. UTILIZE LEFTOVERS! you’re saving time and money AND treating yourself to delicious food. I call that a triple play.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
Chef Jake
Grinding your own Coffee Beans
Is your at-home coffee experience falling short? You’re morning Coffee should be YOU time!
Here are FOUR good reasons why you should start grinding your own coffee beans at home.
1) Better Finished Product
When you grind your own coffee beans, you aren’t just satisfying your inner Culinarian. You’re also keeping the beans in their natural state for longer, meaning when it’s time to grind, your coffee is at maximum freshness for your enjoyment.
2) Better Shelf Life
Believe it or not, coffee is capable of going stale. Luckily, there are a few things we can do to combat this. First and foremost, DO NOT PRE-GRIND YOUR BEANS! The reason why your coffee (or grounds, not judging) goes stale in the first place is due to oxygen and moisture exposure. Grinding your beans ahead of time increases the surface area of the bean that can be exposed to oxygen. This means your coffee will stale more quickly, and bacteria has a higher chance of growing on your beloved, “pick me up”. So only grind the amount you nee to use fresh each morning.
Additionally, storing your beans in the freezer is a good way to reduce moisture exposure.
3) Grind/Brew Only What You Need
By grinding only the amount of beans you intent to use per sitting guarantees that you’re getting the freshest cup each morning. Keeping the whole bean intact until ready to use is essential for preserving freshness.
4) Maximizing Health Benefits
One thing many people don’t think about is making sure to consume food at peak ripeness. Besides the obvious impact freshness has on quality and flavor, it also has a HUGE impact on the amount of nutrients present in the food being consumed.
To reap the full antioxidant benefits of coffee, you just have to follow these few steps and you’ll be off to the races!
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
D.B.
Tips for Pretty Plating
The Holiday season is fast approaching. That means lots of family gatherings, playing host, and entertaining people. You’ve gone the catering route already. Now you wan’t to make something homemade for your dinner guests and show them what you’ve got!
Hi Friends,
The Holiday season is fast approaching. That means lots of family gatherings, playing host, and entertaining people. You’ve gone the catering route already. Now you wan’t to make something homemade for your dinner guests and show them what you’ve got! Wether you’re a good cook or not, the final presentation of the plated food is very important in how the taste of the dish is perceived, believe it or not. Here are some tips and tricks to “wow” your guests with beautifully designed plates…….and hopefully the food is good too. heh
Build on your Starches
A typical balanced dinner meal will include a starch of some sort. “Build on your starches” means add it to the plate first. I usually will put it right in the center of the plate. For example, a big spoonful of rice or potatoes neatly mounded in the center of the plate.
Add a variety of Color
Be mindful of the different colors that will be in your dish. For this example plate, We’re building off a base of roasted diced potatoes and our main entree is roasted airline chicken. Those are two ingredients with very minimal color. If we presented these items on the plate by themselves, no one would be excited to eat it. So, We’re going to add a bright vegetable to the mix. It could be something green like broccoli. Red like beets. White like cauliflower. It really could be anything. For the example dish we’re building, we’re going to add broccoli and keep a fresh lemon, as well as some fresh chopped parsley handy for later.
Build “Up” on the Plate
Alright, so we’ve got our mound of diced potatoes in the middle of the plate and our steamed broccoli on the top right side of the potatoes in a nice neatly presented mound. Now we’re going to take our nicely caramelized airline chicken and lay it over the potatoes on an angle. Making sure we build the plate up high and not letting the potatoes flatten under the chicken. Building “up” on a plate with the focal point at the center is more of a southern style of plating. It creates for an interesting contrast of depth that catches the eye.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Garnishes
Alright, lets review this again. So now we have our neat mound of potatoes in the center of the plate stacked nice and high. Our bright green steamed broccoli in a neat mound to the top right of that. And we just added the chicken atop the potatoes in a visually interesting way. This plate is already quite pretty by itself but it is missing a little something. Take the fresh parsley you chopped earlier and sprinkle it on the plate - dusting the chicken, potatoes, broccoli, and exposed part of the plate. Now take your lemon and zest some of the lemon rind over the chicken and the broccoli. Once satisfied, slice the lemon in half and drizzle some of the juice over the food on the plate.
Finishing Touches
Alright, now my mouth is watering. The only thing left to do is get a damp paper towel and gently wipe around the edges of the plate where juices may have dripped or unwanted parsley or zest may have fallen. Finish with a little salt and pepper, take a step back, and be proud of the edible piece of art that lays before you.
pro tip: You could even take the presentation up a notch further by adding a quartered wedge of salted tomato or a very light sprinkling of some smoked paprika to give it an extra pop.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
D.B.
Stay Young with this SUPERFOOD!
Slow Down your aging skin by adding more of THIS to your diet!
What did the peanut say when an almond tried to pick a fight?
Cashew Outside! heh…….heheheh…..ok, fine. It’s still funny to me.
Corny food puns aside, your kids just brought home loads of candy on Saturday night. Yes, you want them to indulge but the incessant snacking of tasty ghoul-themed confectionaries has your kids bouncing off the walls almost as fast as your head is ping-ponging trying to keep up with them! While your unconditional love may have you spread thin, have some peace of mind knowing that those Almond Joys little Joey is munching on might actually contain some nutritional value. ALRIGHT FINE - I’m stretching this one a little bit but let’s talk about another quality superfood. You probably have it in your pantry, and if not you’ve almost definitely tried them before (sorry to you nut allergen folk out there). I’m talking about almonds. Almonds are a delectably tasty tree nut that is packed with essential nutrients. Enjoy this infographic below to learn about the nutritional power of almonds. At the very least, it’ll help you keep up with those crazy kids!
Learn about this HISTORICALLY CHEAP Breakfast Superfood: The Egg
I wanted to share a little graphic with you about the nutritional benefits of one the cheapest and most versatile breakfast food items money can buy.
Hey Foodies,
I wanted to share a little graphic with you about the nutritional benefits of one the cheapest and most versatile breakfast food items money can buy. I’m talking about the egg. I know, it sounds boring but try again. The egg is actually an extremely adaptable ingredient that can be used in so many kitchen applications like aioli’s, gribiche, or hollandaise. It’s used in sauces, cookies, and so many things in between. Soooo you might as well learn a little bit about what your putting in your body. Happy Munching!
