Pesto pasta salad Renal/Kidney Diet

This is a basic pasta salad I made for a superbowl party and forgot to post up.

The creation is relatively simple.

1. I cooked 1lb bowtie/fafarelle pasta in unsalted water until al-dente
2. I thinly sliced 5 zucchini and 2 onions, sauteing them together in 1 tbspn olive oil
3. I placed 6oz. basil leaves, 1/2 cup minced garlic and 1/2 cup olive oil in a food processor to make the "pesto" (no pine nuts as they are high in potassium)
4. I then tossed all this together with 1/2 tspn salt, pepper to taste, and 3 ounces shaved romano (which is more than you think)

Overall it was pretty yummy, especially when warm, though I definitely felt it needed a bit more salt and maybe more pepper.  Maybe next time I'll add lemon juice or another 1/2 tspn salt.

Here are some leftovers:

This makes a very large amount of pasta so I listed it as 10 servings.

Nutrient	Unit	1lb pasta	6ounces basil	½ cup garlic	½ tspn salt	½ cup olive oil	3 oz romano	5 med. Zucchini	2 small onion	TOTAL	Serving (10)
Energy	kcal	1692	39	101	0	955	329	167	56	3339	333.9
Protein	g	59.46	5.35	4.32	0	0	27.05	11.86	1.54	109.58	10.958
Total lipid (fat)	g	6.89	1.09	0.34	0	108	22.91	3.14	0.14	142.51	14.251
Carbohydrate, by difference	g	340.5	4.5	22.48	0	0	3.09	30.48	13.08	414.13	41.413
Fiber, total dietary	g	14.6	2.7	1.4	0	0	0	9.8	2.4	30.9	3.09
Sugars, total	g	12.18	0.51	0.68	0	0	0.62	24.5	5.94	44.43	4.443
Minerals										0	0
Calcium, Ca	mg	96	301	123	1	1	905	157	32	1616	161.6
Iron, Fe	mg	5.93	5.39	1.16	0.01	0.6	0.65	3.63	0.29	17.66	1.766
Magnesium, Mg	mg	242	109	17	0	0	35	176	14	593	59.3
Phosphorus, P	mg	862	95	104	0	0	646	372	41	2120	212
Potassium, K	mg	1017	502	273	0	1	73	2558	204	4628	462.8
Sodium, Na	mg	27	7	12	1163	2	1219	78	6	2514	251.4
Zinc, Zn	mg	6.43	1.38	0.79	0	0	2.19	3.14	0.24	14.17	1.417
Vitamins										0	0
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	mg	0	30.6	21.2	0	0	0	175.4	10.4	237.6	23.76
Thiamin	mg	0.41	0.058	0.136	0	0	0.031	0.441	0.064	1.14	0.114
Riboflavin	mg	0.274	0.129	0.075	0	0	0.315	0.921	0.038	1.752	0.1752
Niacin	mg	7.752	1.533	0.476	0	0	0.065	4.42	0.162	14.408	1.4408
Vitamin B-6	mg	0.648	0.264	0.84	0	0	0.072	1.597	0.168	3.589	0.3589
Folate, DFE	µg	82	116	2	0	0	6	235	27	468	46.8
Vitamin B-12	µg	0	0	0	0	0	0.95	0	0	0.95	0.095
Vitamin A, RAE	µg	0	449	0	0	0	82	98	0	629	62.9
Vitamin A, IU	IU	0	8968	6	0	0	353	1960	3	11290	1129
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	mg	0.5	1.36	0.05	0	15.5	0.2	1.18	0.03	18.82	1.882
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)	µg	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	0	0	0.4	0.04
Vitamin D	IU	0	0	0	0	0	17	0	0	17	1.7
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	µg	0.5	705.2	1.2	0	65	1.9	42.1	0.6	816.5	81.65
Lipids										0	0
Fatty acids, total saturated	g	1.263	0.07	0.061	0	14.913	14.556	0.823	0.059	31.745	3.1745
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	g	0.78	0.15	0.007	0	78.798	6.666	0.108	0.018	86.527	8.6527
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	g	2.572	0.661	0.169	0	11.365	0.504	0.892	0.024	16.187	1.6187

(almost vegetarian) Lasagna

I used my second batch of Fresh Pasta to make Lasagna.  First let me say that my "brilliant" plan to try and make a more "authentic" fresh pasta using 1/2 bread flour instead of 100% semolina flour resulted in me losing 2 hours of my life.  The dough had this extra spring that meant it took the length of an entire film to roll it out, and the process involved me pushing down with my entire weight on the rolling pin.  So from this point on, it's 100% semolina flour for me.

3 eggs of pasta yielded enough for a 2 layer lasagna.  The process is exactly the same as the other page, but I stored it in a bag in the freezer with extra semolina flour in-between each layer at the end, and never boiled it.

The rest of this recipe is very un-exact. . .

I took 3 yellow onions and a bag of mushrooms (this is a very technical term for something like 1.5-2lbs, aka what I shoved in a bag at Whole Foods).  Dropped them in my food processor on slice and then cooked them down with butter, salt, and pepper.

Next I sliced and cooked 6 zucchini and ~8 carrots, in the same fashion, but for less time.

At this point I added the sliced meat of 4 boned chicken thighs, which ended up being a completely irrelevant amount of meat.  Finding the chicken in this lasagna is like hunting for the baby in a King Cake.

Everything was mixed together in a bowl, with 1.5 jars of tomato sauce and dried oregano and basil.

Finally in my roasting pan I layered noodles (uncooked), skim milk ricotta (a thin layer -- I used 1 container in my 2 layer lasagna), and ~1inch of the veggie/sauce/meat mix.  Atop the last layer of noodles I put a thin film of sauce (i had been scooping the veggie mix with a slotted spoon) and then covered it with Ramano cheese before baking at 375 for 1 hour.

Why Romano you ask?  Because you can buy something like 3lbs of Romano cheese for $10 at Costco in a big block and I was out of mozzarella.  Handy kitchen tip:  When refrigerated Romano is put through the shredder on a food processor you get shredded cheese, but when frozen Romano is put through the same shredder you get finely ground cheese.  In this way you can imitate both types of high-end Parmesan at like 1/10th the price.

Here is a photo:

P.S. this feels like my most surly post to date.

Fresh Pasta

I bought semolina flour to make fresh pasta.  This is somewhat ironic because traditionally fresh pasta is made with bread flour in Italy, and semolina is only used for dried pasta, but whatever. . .

I started with a basic recipe I found online:
100g semolina
1 egg
pinch of salt

From there I basically focused on getting the feel of well-developed dough. (smooth and elastic).  To add some color I threw in 1/8 cup powdered spinach (made by putting frozen spinach in my coffee grinder).  Which necessitated adding a lot more flour.  After about 2 minutes of kneading I let it set under a damp towel for 30 min, then I kneaded it another 5min and started rolling it out.

Rolling pasta is a pain in the ass.  It seems like no matter home much you roll, you can always divide it in 2 and roll it thinner.  Even after going as thin as I could imagine I still ended up with rather chunky pasta that took abnormally long to cook.  Then when I cut it into fettuccine-like strips, they were uneven and it stuck to itself.  This became a huge project.  Eventually I got it all into a container with some semolina flour to keep it from sticking, and that evening boiled it.  I thought it would be 2 people's worth of pasta, but it was easily 4 people's worth.  The green color was beautiful, and I really liked the consistency, which reminded me of what I used to buy at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley.

I am going to try this again to make uncolored lasagna pieces (which should be easier and less time consuming) and then to make ravioli colored by beet juice.  If I still enjoy the process at that point I will be investing in a $25 hand crank pasta machine before I do noodles again.

I am sorry that this post has less info about the details of the cooking process, but all the times (kneading, setting, boiling) seemed very subjective and specific to my case.  My advice for anyone making pasta at home is this:

1. Don't buy semolina at the grocery store.  it is a ripoff.  I got 6 lbs. of Bob's Red Mill semolina for $12 off Amazon
2. Mix the egg, salt, and other wet ingredients with a form in the middle of the flour and then gently incorporate bits of flour at a time.  Whole mixing and kneading try for a smoother, not tacky, but not dry mix.  Achieve this by adding water and flour in small amounts to correct.
3. When rolling the pasta use LIBERAL: amounts of flour on the pin and the surface.  Don't worry about using too much.
4. Boil the pasta in a lot of water, and check the taste every minute or so, till you are happy with the result.

Here is a photo of the finished product after being sauteed in a little butter and Parmesan with leftover brussels sprouts: