I made a single serving of pasta salad for lunch today, with veggies courtesy of Novella's Ghosttown Farm. Now I didn't make a forage-specific trip to West Oakland, but was in the area already, and stopped by on my way home.Today Susan Mernit interviewed Brahm Ahmadi, the executive director of The People's Grocery, a non-profit organization dedicated to "develop[ing] creative solutions to the health problems in our community that stem from lack of access to and knowledge about
healthy, fresh foods."
Susan asked me to come along and film highlights of the interview, which we will post on Oakland Local later this week. Brahm will leave the organization soon, once they find a new executive director. They are about to begin a for-profit retail location in the neighborhood--but check Oakland Local for details on that. This is exciting because West Oakland is a notorious food
desert--dozens of liquor stores but no actual grocery stores for several square miles. (Read Brahm's blog post about why he doesn't use this term.)
After the interview, Susan and I stopped by a nearby cafe for a drink and to load footage onto her computer. We parted ways and I headed toward Novella's farm to see what--if anything--I could scavenge for lunch or dinner. With the fall equinox more than a month past, Ghosttown Farm was in transition, compared to how it looked when I saw it a couple months ago. A few ripe tomatoes dangle from vines and many more green ones dot the long, prickly stems. Its hard to say how many of these will actually turn red, especially with less sunlight and the absence of the summer heat.
I grabbed a handful of cherry tomatoes, one cucumber whose vine had dried up and died, a few mixed salad greens and three leaves of rainbow chard. I also found a bit of basil hiding beneath the leafy pumpkin vines, and snapped a few stems too. It had already flowered and most of the leaves had been nibbled by a garden creature, but there are enough to make a tiny, tiny bit of pesto. (Which might turn out to be the dressing for a single salad, or a yummy addition to pizza sauce).
With just a few of these goodies, I made myself lunch in
less than 15 minutes using one small sauce pot and leftover ingredients that were in the fridge and pantry. Unless I'm making myself a bowl of cereal in the morning, I don't like making single serving dishes. Sometimes its out of laziness; if I have to spend time cooking and cleaning the dishes, I want more than a single meal out of the deal. But in this case, it was perfect.
One good thing about Recession Cooking is that it has made me very conscious about portion size. I have a chart inside the door of my pantry I printed from WebMD that I use as a guide. A portion of pasta: a little less than a handful of dry pasta, or 1/2 cup cooked. A serving of veggies is about what you can fit in your hand as well, but ideally you should eat 5 to 7 servings a day (at least!), according to the USDA. Even though it might not seem like a lot of food, I've also discovered eating the right portion size is the best place to begin if you're having trouble feeling satiated. Too many times I've eaten more than I should simply because I've filled my plate and I don't want to waste it.
Eat a portion, then see how you feel. Drink a full glass of water. Are you still hungry? My sister's rule for snacking is the same. If you are still hungry after drinking a full glass of water, then its okay eat a bit more or grab a healthy snack.
Ingredients:
1/4 c. dried pasta (or 1/2 cup cooked)
red onion
green and red bell peppers
cucumber, peeled and sliced
cherry tomatoes
nuts
feta cheese or parmesan cheese
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
lemon juice (optional)
dill (optional)
Pasta salad is great because so many of these ingredients are completely substitutable! Orange for red bell peppers, carrots for cucumbers, chopped tomatoes for cherry tomatoes, you decide. I used pine nuts here because that's what I had, but walnuts or pecans would be fine too. If you have real bacon bits and prefer real meat, it works, you still get protein but more saturated fat and cholesterol.
Cook the pasta according to package directions. I used Trader Joe's fusili pasta, which takes about 9 minutes. If you don't have cholesterol or hypertension problems, add a pinch of salt to your water and it will boil faster. While the water heats and pasta boils, I prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Add the chopped cucumber to your bowl and add a splash of balsamic vinegar, a bit of red onion (about 1 t. if you're into measuring,) and a pinch of dried or fresh dill. Using a fork, mix the cukes and onions around in the vinegar so they are evenly coated. I used frozen, chopped bell peppers, (leftovers from last week!) so I put them in the boiling water one minute before the pasta was done. If you have fresh ones, go ahead and add them to the "pickles" you've got started in the bowl.
Once the pasta is done, drain and rinse under cold water. This stops the cooking process and keeps the pasta from going mushy (especially important if you are making a large batch to take for lunch tomorrow!) Then add your pasta, (peppers), feta cheese (about 2 T), nuts, bacos and anything else you'd like to throw in. I used less feta cheese than a serving, but the great thing about aged cheeses is that they have twice the protein that regular milk products do. Then drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and stir with a fork. And you're done! (Not to mention, I actually feel full after eating it!)
What is your favorite thing to put in pasta salad? Do you cook single serving dishes? Let me know! And check back later to see what I did with the rainbow chard and the other veggies from Novella's.
Enjoy!
