Recipe: Amaranth and Portabello Fettucine

I didn't take any measurements but I suspect this is a very forgiving recipe. I used green amaranth leaves which taste more like spinach than the purple ones. I'm glad my farm is overrun with 7 foot stalks of amaranth! The leaves are tasty, I'll be trying them in more recipes.



Amaranth leaves, stems removed and cut in about 1-inch pieces
portabello mushrooms, diced
garlic, chopped
butter
flour
milk
Parmesan cheese
fettucine
salt

Saute mushrooms and garlic in butter. Add amaranth, stir until wilted. Set aside.

In the same pan, add flour and equal amount of butter to make a roux (approximately 1/2 tablespoon each for a sauce serving 2 persons). Slowly add some warmed milk and whisk until thickened. Add amaranth mixture.

Boil fettucine in salted water. Add pasta to creamy amaranth mixture and heat until very hot, mixing constantly. Stir in some cheese. At this point the sauce may get too thick, thin pasta sauce by adding some of the salted water.

*Cooked amaranth leaves contain about 8% protein, 4% carbohydrates and are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins B and C in higher concentrations that spinach. For example, only 47 g of cooked leaves contains 100% of the minimum daily requirement of Vitamin C.

Amaranth: From the Farm to the Frying Pan

Amaranth plants just sproated everywhere right after a few days of heavy rain, coming from plants I uprooted a few months ago. The variety I'm using has reddish purple and green leaves. I've never tried eating these so I wanted to try it in its simplest form. I adapted a recipe for Sichuan Stir-Fried Amaranth Leaves with Garlic.

Amaranth has a very interesting history and has many food uses as the entire plant is edible, including the stalk. It also has an impressive amount of nutritional value.


Steamed Amaranth Leaves with Garlic
It taste amazingly like alugbati, a native edible vine, whose leaves are also of the same color as the amaranth. It has an intense smoky sweet spinach flavor and can therefore be substituted for any spinach dish.

300 g bunch of fresh amaranth leaves
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
salt to tast

Place leaves in a steamer for 2 minutes or until leaves wilt and shrink to about a fourth of its original quantity.

Heat butter, salt and garlic in a saucepan on low heat, just until garlic starts to sizzle and salt dissolves. Garlic should not change color.

You may either remove garlic from the oil or leave it in (I leave it in), then add the steamed amaranth.

*The cooked leaves contain about 8% protein, 4% carbohydrates and are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins B and C in higher concentrations that spinach. For example, only 47 g of cooked leaves contains 100% of the minimum daily requirement of Vitamin C.

Recipe: Arugula Salad

arugula leaves, washed and dried
cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
extra-virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
parmesan cheese

Toss arugula with oil until leaves are lightly coated. Add tomatoes and drizzle with vinegar (oil to vinegar ratio 3:1), toss to combine. Top with shavings of parmesan cheese or toss in several teaspoons of grated parmesan cheese.

* To make parmesan shavings: Use a vegetable peeler and "shave" cheese like you would peel a vegetable.

Recipe: Mussel & Arugula Brown Rice Salad

I purchased a bottle of cooked mussels in oil from my supplier of natural and organic processed products. The mussels come in 3 flavors - garlic, hot & spicy, and plain. All the mussels have a sweetish flavor due to the sugar used in cooking it. I thought it went perfectly with the arugula and Kalinga rice mix which I had in hand to make a quick lunch. I've used brown rice and the rice mix in making this salad and they're both delicious. The nutty rice, sweet mussels and spicy arugula turned out to be a good combination of flavors.

Take equal amounts of torn arugula and cooked brown rice or Kalinga rice (or you may make your own combination of 3 different kinds of rice varieties to make a rice mix). Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and toss. Top with mussels.

A good substitute for the mussels would be a sweet chili or sweet garlic shrimp saute. Hmmm, I'll try that next time...