With a half-forgotten bag of chickpea flour in the freezer and a bowl of rag-tag pesto in the fridge, I set out to make a (relatively) elegant vegetarian meal for next to nothing.

The chickpea flour went toward panelle—Sicilian fritters that I discovered last summer but hadn’t yet tried to replicate. Most panelle recipes are a simple combination of chickpea flour and water, cooked until thick, cooled, cut into squares, and fried until golden. My panelle recipe still needs tweaking (I had to contend with flour lumps), so you may want to try a version from Mario Batali or  Lidia Bastianich.

The pesto, along with sautéed spinach and a fried egg served as tasty concrete, holding together a stack of three panelle. The only thing that would have made this more delicious would have been a homemade garlicy mayo or maybe some melted cheese.

These panelle stacks are quite presentable, and they deliver big, satisfying mouthfuls of cheap, fried protein. But what I love most about this dish is its versatility. Depending on what’s in season or in your pantry, you could make any number of panelle stack combinations. More I want to try:

• Feta, fresh tomatoes, tapenade
• Roasted eggplant, pesto, wilted arugula
• Mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, basil, fried egg
• Curried vegetables, yogurt, chutney

They’ll be good no matter how you stack them.

Greens. Greens. Greens. My mother would be so proud to see her once-upon-a-time, lettuce-spurning daughter eat so many greens. And to eat all our greens before the next CSA box arrives, we have to turn to drastic measures of consumption. Forget side salads. Bring on the food processor and pesto.

Pesto is my favorite  CSA-survival technique (life is  hard, I know). Not only does it eat an entire bunch of greens or herbs in one fell swoop, but a pesto pasta meal only takes 20 minutes from start to plate.

This week’s mizuna pesto was a particular success. Less pungent than a basil or parsley pesto, the mizuna puree was sweet and fresh. I used nearly a full bunch, which packed our food processor to the brim and yielded enough pesto to coat a pound of spaghettini—more than enough for dinner and lunch leftovers. Although second-day pesto pasta tends to be dry, moisture from the mizuna stems kept the pasta from drying out. William ate not one but two portions of the pasta the next day.

This recipe is approximate, but, no doubt, yours will be delicious if you can find greens as lovely as mine (thanks Bee Heaven).

Mizuna Pesto
Combine a seven-cup food processorful of mizuna greens (stems and all), 1 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup grated Parmesan, 3 to 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup+ extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Chop, chop, chop in the food processor until it’s smooth. Taste and adjust salt and olive oil as needed. Toss with a pound of cooked pasta, and eat.

FYI: Our camera is on the fritz. We may have to replace it, in which case we’ll be photoless for another week.

I’ve made a broccoli pesto from thekitchn.com a few times this year. And while we enjoy it, it relies heavily on feta for a flavor boost. Many of the other broccoli pesto recipes I found online call for chicken stock (who needs it), and most some kind of dairy. While I’m usually not opposed to a handful of Parmesan, I wanted to make a dish that stood alone in its vegetable goodness. 

To achieve more complex flavors without my dairy vice, I roasted the broccoli along with red onions and garlic cloves, rather than blanching or sauteeing the vegetables. I love roasted broccoli. Period. And I assumed that it would make a solid foundation for the pesto. The other characters in the recipe are none too surprising: olive oil, lemon juice and zest, red pepper flakes, and pine nuts. (I added chopped tomato for garnish, but it’s not necessary.)

If the pesto lacked umph, I mentally reserved the right to add some cheese at the end of the preparation, but it wasn’t necessary. We have a new standard.

Roasted Broccoli Pesto
3 medium broccoli crowns with stems
1/2 red onion, cut into thick crescents
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/3 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
8 ounces pasta
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup water (preferably pasta cooking water)
 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts 
Salt and pepper to taste  

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°. Remove the broccoli stems from the crowns. Cut off the tough end of the stems, slice away the thick skin, and chop stems into 1/2-inch chunks. Cut the broccoli crowns into hefty spears. Combine broccoli, onion, and garlic in a large bowl, and toss to coat with 1/3 cup olive oil. Spread vegetables onto a greased baking sheet, add a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, and roast for 30 to 35 minutes. 

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. 

Remove broccoli from the oven. Transfer all of the onion and 3/4 of the broccoli to a food processor, reserving remaining broccoli. Remove skin from roasted garlic, and add garlic to the processor along with red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and reserved pasta water. Pulse until mixture is smooth and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Chop remaining broccoli into bite-size pieces, and combine with pasta and broccoli pesto. Top with toasted pine nuts. Serve immediately. 

Serves 4

William and I love pasta. And it’s a no-brainer for a mostly vegetarian diet. But as satisfying and filling as a pasta dishes can be, I sometimes worry we’re not getting the protein we need from a pasta main course.

With leftover navy beans (again, stashed away from posole), I searched online for a pasta and bean recipe to ease my fears and fill our bellies. And I found the specified combination at Cooking Books.

With a few modifications, our version came out quite macaroni-and-cheese-like. Creamy beans and ricotta clung to the pasta shells. Tomato and zucchini provided summer veggie love, and the pesto added umph.

This recipe will be fun to play with—different beans and vegetables, maybe a stronger cheese, nuts in the pesto. I’ll keep you updated when we try it again.

Navy Bean Pasta Bake
3 cups shell-shaped pasta
3 cups cooked/canned navy beans
1/2 cup bean liquid
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
4 plum tomatoes, chopped roughly
1 cup julienned zucchini
2 cups packed basil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°. Bring a pot of water to boil, salt, and cook pasta until al dente (or just before). Meanwhile, toss zucchini with a sprinkle of salt, and let it drain in a colander, at least 10 minutes. Drain pasta, and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Combine pasta, beans, bean liquid, tomatoes, zucchini and salt and pepper to taste. 

In a food processor, pulse basil, garlic, 1/2 cup parmesan, and olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. 

Pour pasta mixture into a greased, deep 9×13″ baking dish. Spoon basil pesto over top, pressing pesto into the pasta with clean fingers. Top dish with remaining 1/2 cup parmesan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden and bubbly. 

Serves 4 to 6