Two meals this week

I last left off talking about Easter weekend and everything we had to eat and drink... well, not everything. I made dinner Sunday night. I don't know what to call it. It's was a baked rigatoni in bechamel with lots of vegetables.

To start out, I had chopped, blanched and shocked a whole head of broccoli, including the stems (trimmed and peeled the woody parts off first) and a bunch of asparagus. I put a box of frozen chopped spinach in the microwave for a couple minutes and cooked half a box of rigatoni. Once all that was prepped, I started a bechamel in a large pan. Bechamel is basically a roux with milk or cream. I livened mine up with a finely minced onion and some pasted garlic (used the mortar and pestle for this), made golden in the butter (about 1/2 stick) before adding the flour (about 1 1/2 Tbsp). After the flour is incorporated and absorbed well by the butter, no longer raw, add milk or cream (about 2 cups maybe?) until it thickens over med-low heat. I made mine not too thick by using little flour because, once off the heat, I added fresh ricotta cheese, which really thickens it up. To the sauce, I tossed in the broccoli, asparagus, spinach, pasta, and a hearty handful of frozen peas, salt and pepper, and mixed it all up with a wooden spoon. Put the whole mixture into a sprayed baking dish, and topped with a blend of freshly toasted bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. I put that into a hot oven for about 35 minutes and served it piping hot. And while I would normally think of pasta and bechamel as heavy and rich, it didn't seem so with all the veggies that were in it. This makes enough for 6-8 generous plenty portions. But think about that -- 1/2 a box of pasta for 8 portions and the rest is veggies.

Yesterday I knew I needed to cook but didn't really know what to make. I needed something super quick and easy because I was going to the gym in between work and home. I found a recipe on Everyday Food and, as I usually do, I adapted it.

Mediterranean Pita Pizza
4 six-inch pitas, split open
store bought hummous (or make your own; I used a roasted garlic flavor, store bought container)
3/4 lb ground lamb, browned and drained
12 kalamata olives, pitted
1-2 yellow bell pepper, sliced
couple handfuls of chopped flat-leaf parsley
feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 425 and spray two cookie sheets with spray oil. Lay the pitas cut side up on the cookie sheets. Spread each pita half with hummous, scatter on the bell pepper slices, kalamatas, lamb, parsley and cheese. Pop into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the pitas are crisp and the toppings are warmed through. Don't go by whether the cheese has melted or not because feta doesn't really melt. Makes 4 servings.

A good addition (or substitute for another item, such as the parsley) to this would be a box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed with all the water squeezed out. If you don't like lamb, you could use lean ground beef, turkey or chicken. If you like eggplant, substituting babaganoush for the hummous would be another good version of this. Adapt it. Make it your own.