Cooking Without Blue Apron- Gemelli pasta with lemon ricotta & veggies

After a month of Blue Apron, I was feeling a little adventurous and decided to give a go at making a Blue Apron inspired meal. I’ve had such a struggle figuring out what to make on the days that I don’t have Blue Apron!

I really enjoyed the pasta dishes that I’ve made so far with Blue Apron, and with it being in the mid 50’s and completely dreary and rainy today I was feeling in the mood for pasta, but also wanted to get some veggies in too. I took a trip to whole foods and picked up some snap peas, broccoli, scallions, shittake mushrooms, fresh garlic, ricotta and parmesan, a lemon (because every good Blue Apron knockoff needs some lemon zest) and some gemelli pasta.

The result was delicious – creamy garlicky gemelli pasta with crunchy broccoli, snap peas and mushrooms with a yummy lemon ricotta. I topped it with a sprinkle of parm cheese and some scallions.

My version. The only version. 

Day 12: Sugar Snap Pea & Farro Salad

I’ve been really enjoying these interesting grain salads from Blue Apron, and this one was quite good. Cooking Farro (a grain) was quite easy – just boiled in salted water for about 15 minutes, similar to the way we cooked barley & lentils last week. After the normal prepping of the ingredients (which included smashing and de-pitting kalamata olives!) and getting the farro cooking, the first thing that I did was quick pickle the onions. After this, the snap peas were quickly cooked, and everything was added to a pot with the farro and mixed together.

I’m becoming an expert at zesting lemon.

I thought that this recipe was definitely enough for 2 people, though I think it was a little onion heavy. In fairness, I love pickled anything so I added ALL of the onion when the recipe called to add the onion to taste. I also enjoyed the mint, but this had a lot of mint. I’d maybe half the mint in the recipe if I made it again.

This recipe was pretty healthy- only 13 weight watchers ppv’s per serving. It’s great for a night where you want to make a quick meal on a hot day.

Their version: 

My version: 

I think that mine looks even better than theirs does, don’t you?

Day 11: Three Cheese Calzones

As I mentioned in my last post, I was SO excited about this week’s menu. I love Salmon, I love Calzones, and I love summer salads. Today, I made three cheese calzones. I was a little nervous about this one. Jamie is the “dough guy” at our house. Anytime a recipe involves dough (pizza, calzones, whatnot) Jamie makes it for us and I happily let him. I feel like anytime I work with dough, it’s either really sticky or it rips.

This recipe also called for a simple homemade tomato sauce, which was made up of olive oil, S&P, garlic and crushed tomatoes. it was so simple and so delicious and fresh tasting. Once I have basil ready in my garden I look forward to making this with some basil.

I started off by making the tomato sauce, and then by sauteeing 2 big bunches of kale – 2 different kinds (lacinto and green kale) with Garlic and salt and pepper, and then squeezing it out so it was dry. Mixed that with a half cup of part skim ricotta and 8 oz of broken-apart high-quality mozzarella, about 1/3 of the tomato sauce, and some fresh grated parm cheese to make the filling. Then it was time to work the dough.

I took a 1lb dough ball and broke it into 3 parts. I washed and dried my counter to use as a work space, and then dusted it with semolina flour which was a nice coarse flour that really made the dough easy to work with. I then stretched the 3 dough balls out to about 8 inches in sort of an oval shape, divided the filling between the 3 and then sealed the edges tight with my fingers and then with a fork. I dusted the pan with the flour and then brushed a bit of the olive oil on the top. Baked them for 16 minutes in a 475 degree oven and they came out absolutely perfect. Since there were 3, there was enough for lunch the next day too! If you are counting Weight watchers points, you’ll want to plan for this as it was about 25ppv’s per serving (1/3 of the recipe). It seemed high to me as the calorie count on this was only 680 per the recipe, but I think it is high in ppv’s because it’s a dough and cheese heavy recipe vs. being a protien heavy dish.

I paired my dinner with a beer from Fiddlehead brewing up in Vermont called second fiddle. It’s a citrusy, vermont style double IPA with a 99 rating on beeradvocate.com!  You actually generally can’t get it here in MA, but Redstone liquors was lucky enough to get a shipment recently so we picked up a few cans, and our neighbor Matt also brought us back a 4 pack from his trip to VT. Beer and calzones- perfect meal!

Their version:

My version: 

Day 10: Salmon Burgers with Creme Fraiche Potato Salad

I really was so excited about this week’s Blue Apron menu. I love salmon and salmon burgers are right up my alley. It has been pretty hot this week, so today I took a different approach and did most of the prep work during my lunch break so that when we were ready for dinner I could just pop the burgers and the potatoes on the stove and have dinner ready quickly.

I had a little bit of trouble with this rccipe. I’ve made Salmon burgers before, but usually when I’ve made them, I’ve done them in a food processor while the salmon is still raw so that they hold together, and I’ve even used egg to help hold them together before. I was pretty skeptical of this because you cook the salmon first, flake it, and then basically squeeze out all of the water before you add the other ingredients and form patties. The patties, even when squashed together, seemed like they could fall apart at any second.

If I were to make these again, I think I’d go with a tried & true technique of forming them raw. The flavoring of the whole dish was very good. The burgers had lemon zest (surprise!) and mint and breadcrumbs, and the capers in the creme fraiche potato salad gave it a nice zing. Overall, probably a 7 out of 10 recipe. If you’re counting Weight watchers points, you’re going to want to plan for this one as it’s 20ppv’s per serving.

Their version:

My version:

Day 9: Beluga Lentil & Asparagus Salad

Day 9 of Blue Apron may have been one of my favorites yet – Beluga Lentil & Asparagus salad, with Piave cheese and a soft boiled egg.

This week, I did 3 things that I haven’t ever done before!

1. I soft boiled an egg! This wasn’t actually very hard, you just don’t boil it for so long. I just hadn’t ever done it before!
2. Blanche asparagus. This was a new technique for me but I liked the result. It’s just a fancy word for quickly boiling produce and then putting immediately in a bath of iced water. The result was asparagus that was crispy on the outside, bright gree, and nice and softer in the middle.
3. I cooked lentils! Again, not hard, but I had never done it before. I always just buy them pre-cooked!

As I’ve mentioned before, Blue Apron loves to use lemons. This salad was tossed in a lemon-dijon vinegarette which gave it just a tiny kick. The egg was split open on top and added some substance to it, and the Piave cheese was nice too – a bit nutty, semi-hard, and slightly tangy. It’s actually a cow’s milk cheese from Italy, named after the Piave river.

Their version: 

My version: 

Overall, this is a recipe that I’d be excited to make again. It’s 14 Weight Watchers ppv’s (you could get it under 10 by cutting down the cheese – it has a LOT of cheese!).

Day 8: Fresh Fettuccine Pasta

Today’s recipe made me want to learn how to make fresh pasta! I can’t believe it’s something I’ve never done. It just looks like so… much… work! Maybe someday. The fresh pasta was heavenly though, and really soaked up the flavors of the dish.

As I mentioned in my last post, Blue Apron loves lemon and loves peas and this recipe followed trend. I started by prepping the veggies – minimal work tonight, just taking the ends and tough string off of the snap peas, slicing and peeling garlic and shallots, zesting, seeding and quartering a lemon, and then very finely chopping arugula for a pesto.

The arugula pesto was a surprising highlight for me. It was made fairly traditionally with lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper, finely chopped arugula and parmesan cheese, but without pine nuts. It was fantastic. Next, I chopped and toasted pistacios. I’ve never done that before, but after about 3 minutes of tossing them in a dry pan on med-high heat they were toasted and it really gave them a nice flavor. Next I cooked the garlic &  shallot in some butter, added the peas for only about 30 seconds before they were bright green and tender. Finally I cooked the pasta. Fresh pasta cooks in about 3 minutes. Once it was ready I popped it into the pan with about a half cup of the water that I cooked it in, topped it with the pesto and topped it, then plated it with some parm and the pistacios. It was a big hit with both me and the hubby and was 14ppv’s (if you’re counting Weight Watchers points). You can find the recipe here.

Their version:  

My version:

Day 7: Pan Seared Cod

Day 7 of my Blue Apron adventure brought pan-seared cod loins with a curried basmati rice with snow peas and mint. A few things I’ve learned this week:

1. Blue Apron loves peas. English peas. Snap peas. Snow peas. Have used them all!
2. Blue Apron loves lemon and lime, and zest! Every box I’ve received so far has had multiple limes & lemons. I’m not complaining, it definitely makes these dishes flavorful.
3. I suck at making rice. I’m getting better, but my rice always comes out goopy and not fluffy. I really don’t know what I’m doing wrong (anyone??)

I was really impressed with the quality of the fish. My dad is a fisherman and we frequently go deep sea fishing out of Seabrook, NH with Eastman’s Fleet (highly recommend, they are awesome), so I grew up having fresh cod, haddock, etc. a few nights a week. This fish tasted like it had just been caught, very fresh, even though I even ate it on the second day after I received my box. Kudos to whoever is packing up these boxes.

The seared cod came out great – flaky, and it had lime zest cooked into it. My rice came out ok. If I were to make it again, I think I’d add more salt & pepper, and maybe some golden raisins. It was also a little mushier than I like my rice to be. I need to learn how to cook rice. I had a lot of cilantro left over, so if I were to make this again I’d chop up some of the cilantro and throw it in the peas or rice while cooking. The mint was a nice touch; I don’t usually love mint but it worked well here and was not overpowering.

Their version:

My version: 

You can find the recipe here. If you’re counting weight watchers points, this one clocked in at 15ppv’s per serving

Day 6: Spring Barley Soup

The last day of our second week with Blue Apron brought us a yummy spring barley soup. I’m glad that I saved this for Sunday cooking. A nice hearty soup is always delicious on a cold, rainy sunday. Boston is getting a stretch of cooler weather this week with a lot of rain, so Sunday felt like the perfect day for soup.

This soup was rather simple to make, and if you’ve ever made soup before the teqnique is really the same. I started by washing/drying/prepping all of the veggies. One thing I’ve realized with Blue Apron is that if you’re going to cook with Blue Apron you should really invest in some nice glass nesting bowls for prep. This recipe used 8 prep bowls and I had to use a combo of tupperware, regular bowls and the few small prep bowls that I have. I just ordered these nesting glass prep bowls from Luminarc on Amazon. If you are an Amazon customer, remember to start at Smile.Amazon.com which will allow a percentage of your purchase to be donated to charity!

One of the new techniques I learned with this recipe is making raw asparagus ribbons. Mine came out great, though I think I probably had too much asparagus left over (I just chopped it and added it to the rest of the chopped asparagus). Everything else was pretty simple and the soup came out really flavorful. I served it with some crusty garlic ciabatta to sop up every last bit.

Their version: 

My version:

If you’d like to try this one yourself, you can find the recipe here. If you’re counting Weight watchers, this recipe is only 10ppv’s per serving!

Day 5: Seared Salmon with Sorrel Salad and Creamy Barley

Day 5 with Blue Apron brought us seared salmon filets over a creamy barley (almost like a risotto) with sorrel “salad” (not really a salad per-se, but more like a garnish). This dish was another winner for me, and we loved the tangy lemon in the barley.

The one thing I enjoyed most about this recipe was actually learning how to sear salmon. I eat salmon a LOT but I usually go the easy route of seasoning and baking a filet in the oven at 450 until ready. The technique used in this was to dry the filets first – I had never done that before and it made a huge difference in being able to get the filets seared and crispy on the outside while still staying tender in the middle. I seasoned them with a little salt & pepper and then finished them with butter, spooning it over the filets as they cooked. Came out absolutely perfect.

I had never made barley from scratch before either, and have learned that it’s a grain that I really like and it’s super easy to make  – just boil it in a pot of water with some salt for about 18 minutes, drain and you’re done. Once cooked, you put it aside while you finish the salmon, and then go back to finish the barley by adding some dill, lemon zest and lemon, olive oil, S&P, cooked spinach with garlic, and some sour cream to make it creamy. I’ve been impressed that the “creamy” dishes have been able to achieve that level of creaminess with so little dairy. This recipe was maybe 1/4 C of sour cream, and last week I made pasta with ricotta and it used maybe a half cup of ricotta but added so much flavor.

Their version:

My version: 

You can find the recipe here. Y’all know I’m a craft beer fan. I paired this with a Maine Beer Company Lunch , not necessarily because I thought it would pair well but because I had a fresh one and really wanted to drink it! I think this would pair well with a nice saison that would pick up some of the lemon and earthy notes from the sorrel. Aeronaut brewing in Somerville is putting out some nice saisons lately if you want to try something local to MA.

If you’re counting weight watchers points, this one is 17ppv’s per serving.

Day 4: Stir Fried Noodles with Peanut Sauce, Gai Lan & Snow Peas

Day 4 was the start of my second week of Blue Apron. The first week went so well that I want to keep things going and I was excited to see what was in store for this week.

I’m not complaining after the god awful winter we just had, but this week has been REALLY hot… in the 90’s some days! When the weather gets so hot, cooking in a hot kitchen, on a hot stove, away from my air conditioner, is absolutely not what I wanted to be doing. This recipe had a prep/cook time of under 30 minutes, the least of all of the recipes this week, so I decided to give it a go.

There were some new-t0-me ingredients in this week’s recipe. I’ve had coconut milk, but never coconut milk powder. It was basically just a powder that you mix with 1/4 C of water to make a thin sauce. I also used sweet soy sauce which has the consistency of molasses, and sriracha which is generally too hot for me on its own but I found that it had gave a great progressive heat to this recipe- not too spicy. I also tried Gai Lan which is a green that I’ve never worked with for; it reminded me of baby bok choy a lot.

The recipe came out great, but surprisingly wasn’t my favorite of all of the Blue Apron meals I had so far, and hubby also agreed- his comment as we were eating dinner was “It’s really good, but it just feels like we’re eating Pad Thai, not anything special”. We eat Pad Thai a lot. Too much, haha. I felt like this recipe could have used a bit more salt, and maybe more scallions or something to give it more zing. But it sure was pretty to look at. If I made it again, I’d try adding more peanut butter, more sriracha, more scallions, and some shrimp. More of everything! Portions were large though and I was super full after my meal. I drank a Reingeist Truth IPA with it, which was a nice compliment to the spice in the dish.

Their Version: 

My Version: 

Looks better with a beer, right??? If you’d like to try it, you can find the recipe here. If you’re counting weight watchers points, this one was 17ppv’s per serving – kind of high for dinner, but planning will go a long way! Cheers!