Simple veggie frittata

The first week of second year flew by, leaving me one week behind despite my good-faith efforts to keep up. No, I don't remember anything about the autonomic nervous system, but thanks for picking up where we left off last January. Last night, I showed up to a potluck empty-handed (save for a six-pack), unable to scrounge together even something simple. How embarrassing!

In an effort to stay sane, a few friends and I had an impromptu dinner a couple of nights ago. Once again spoils from the CSA ensured that we were well fed. Plus, I've now used up my zucchini for the week, which feels like an accomplishment! Onto more challenging items, like adrenergic antagonists.

Zucchini frittata with pesto (looks moderately fancy, tastes delicious, feeds many):

• 1 medium or large zucchini (or any vegetable you like)
• 1/2 red onion
• 2-3 tablespoons pesto, to taste, or a handful of chopped herbs
• 6-10 eggs (~2 eggs per person)
• 1-2 tablespoons butter and/or olive oil
• grated parmesan or other cheese, optional
• salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a cast-iron or other oven-proof skillet on high heat, melt the butter into the olive oil. Slice or chop the onion and add to hot oil, stirring now and then. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Slice the zucchini into very thin rounds. Add the zucchini to the pan and saute until soft (again, softer than if you were eating the zucchini plain). Add the pesto, salt, and pepper to taste.

Beat the eggs together in a bowl. Pour over the zucchini, still on the stove at high heat. Cook without stirring for 3-5 minutes. Grate parmesan over the top and place the entire skillet in the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are set throughout the pan (slice a knife in to check that the eggs are not liquid).

Serve with a salad and/or fresh bread.

Spring is in the air

All the food blogs are talking about ramps today (ramp pasta, ramp pizza, more ramp pizza) and I'm stuck in the library studying endocrine hormone synthesis. 1) I can't even find ramps 2) I can't even afford ramps 3) you probably haven't even heard of ramps. Happily, we learned about erections and orgasms this morning, which is more exciting than ramps any day of the week.

But I still want to celebrate spring, so here's what I'm making for dinner:

Pasta with asparagus and pesto (amounts for 1 serving):

• 1/4 bunch of asparagus
• 3-4 tbsp basil pesto*
• 1/4 box of pasta
• parmesan

Prep the asparagus as you boil the pasta water: wash, chop off the last inch at the bottom, and then chop into 1-inch pieces. There are a few ways you could cook the asparagus: you could steam it above the pasta water, saute it in a drop of olive oil in a pan, or microwave it for a minute or two it in a bowl with some water at the bottom. Cook until it no longer tastes like raw grass, but still retains its crunch (overcooked asparagus is soggy and a yellower green).

Toss your cooked pasta, asparagus, and pesto together in a bowl or frying pan, then serve with parmesan.

Doesn't that look like spring?

*About the pesto: I make my own in large batches and freeze it into single servings using an ice cube tray (tricks for keeping food from going bad!). The internet is flooded with pesto recipes so I won't include one here.

Mulling on lipids

I'm guessing that not many of you have had the privilege of feeling an atherosclerotic vessel (calcified due to cholesterol plaque buildup) between your own fingers. It provides a visceral understanding of cholesterol that, stronger than any biochemistry or randomized control trials, makes me want to run in the other direction towards fiber and vegetables. Instead of rubbery like most arteries, the vessel feels hard: forgive the metaphor, but it is like old plumbing with years of grime collected on the inside. If you press down, you can feel the calcification crack and crumble between your fingers.

So, what are we going to do to avoid cholesterol? I recently learned what everybody else already knew: the first thing to do is attempt for control with diet and exercise, and if that's still not working, then to use drugs to bring levels down. For those of us in our 20s, it's diet and exercise. I also just learned that signs of future high cholesterol can be seen even in adolescents!

Hearty and healthy barley and beet-green salad:

• Beet greens from the tops of ~3 beets (beets are sold in bundles of three at my grocery store); or any green vegetable such as chard, spinach, kale, or even broccoli
• 1 other vegetable, such as sliced mushrooms, carrots, etc.
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 cup pearled barley, cooked in a rice cooker
• 2 tbsp pesto
• olive oil

Cook the beet greens as you would spinach: blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, then drain and chop finely. Saute onion in the olive oil, then add the mushrooms and cook to your liking. Add beet greens, barley, pesto, and some water, and cook for 1-2 minutes longer, until the mix becomes creamy. Makes about two servings. I pack it as my school lunch!