Well??  Did yah?

You can tell where this is going, right?

I…did such a thing.   And I’m not proud of it.  But I can ‘splain!

My friend Sarah gave away this amazing granola last month for Christmas.  And I didn’t share a lick of it with anyone.  Nope, sure didn’t.  I took my pretty little bag and hoarded it and rationed it and finally ran out of it two weeks ago, at which point I began stalking Sarah by emailing, texting, and voicemailing her until she finally made me a copy of the recipe so that I would get off her back.

I’m certain she had no idea I could be so persistent.

I’m happy to say that I now have a very large quantity of this fantastic granola, and the only trouble is that I can’t stop eating it.  It’s crunchy, not overly sweet, and so versatile.  This morning I used it to top cottage cheese, while the rest of the DamFam had it spooned over yogurt.  I’ve mixed it into Kashi oatmeal and eaten it by the handful directly out of the bag.  It’s a winner.  I pinky swear!

I’ll give you the original recipe here, but I made a few changes for my own batch.  First of all, I halved it.  I also left out the pecans and sunflower seeds, ‘cause my punks don’t like ‘em.  For the dried fruit I used dried cranberries and banana chips only.  Feel free to play around with the recipe; it’s as forgiving as it is outstanding!

Whether you share or not is entirely up to you.  I’ll never judge!

SARAH’S MAPLE GRANOLA

Yield:  16 cups  (this is a lot; again, I halved mine)

• 7 c. old-fashioned rolled oats (McCann’s boxed are on sale)
• 1 c. flaked coconut
• 1 c. wheat germ (find this in the cereal aisle near the oatmeal)
• 1 c. almonds, sliced
• 1 c. pecans, chopped
• 1 c. sunflower seeds, raw or toasted
• ½ t. salt
• 1 c. pure maple syrup (yes, pure – none of that pancake stuff, sorry!)
• ¾ c. vegetable oil
• 1 c. golden raisins
• 1 c. dried cranberries
• 1 c. chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 250.  Combine the oats, coconut, wheat germ, nuts, seeds and salt in a very large bowl.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil, and vanilla.  Pour the syrup mixture over the dry mixture, stirring and tossing till everything is very well combined.

Make the cleanup easy on yourself by lining 2 large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.  Spread the granola over the baking sheets.  Bake for 2 hours, stirring mixture after an hour or so.  Remove the pans from the oven and let cool completely.  Transfer the granola to a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit.  Store granola in an airtight container at room temperature.

When I made this dish for the first time back in June, I have to admit that I had low expectations.  I wasn’t quite sure how blending up a bunch of grape tomatoes with toasted almonds could ever turn in to one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time, but it did.  Wow, did it ever.  In fact, immediately after the dishes were washed and the kitchen was put back in order, I sat down at my computer and fired off the recipe (along with a glowing review) to a handful of the foodies in my life.  Several days later I heard back from them with comments that ranged from “delicious and amazing” to “heavenly and life changing!”.  Yes, one friend even said it changed her life.  I trust these girls – if they tried a recipe and hated it, they would absolutely tell me to go jump in the lake.

The point is, you simply cannot go wrong with this recipe.

I’ve served it as a main dish with sliced grilled chicken on top, or as a vegetarian meal with a simple green salad.  I’ve doubled it with no trouble and frozen some for a rainy day.  Now, please go to the Store immediately and gather the minimal ingredients required for this dish!  You will not be sorry!

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

PASTA WITH TOMATO & ALMOND PESTO (PESTO ALLA TRAPANESE)

Serves 4-6

Source:  Cooks Illustrated Magazine, June/July 2009

• ¼ c. slivered almonds
• 12 oz. grape tomatoes (about 2 ½ cups), on sale this week
• ½ c. packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced finely or pressed
• 1 small pepperoncini (hot peppers in vinegar), stemmed, seeded, and minced (find these by the olives, capers, and roasted peppers at the Store)
• Salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/3 c. good quality olive oil – repeat, good quality olive oil, thank you.
• 1 lb. pasta
• 1 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated, plus extra for serving – again, use a good quality Parm’ and kindly do not resort to the green-canned variety, let’s maintain some standards here if you please.

Toast the almonds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until pale golden and fragrant, 2-4 minutes.  Cool almonds to room temperature.

Process cooled almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, pepperoncini, 1 t. salt, and red pepper flakes in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute.  Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula.  With machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil, about 30 seconds.  Adjust seasonings.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add the pasta and 1 T. salt and cook according to directions on package.  Reserve ½ c. cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to cooking pot.

Add pesto and ½ c. Parmesan to cooked pasta, adjusting consistency with the reserved pasta water so that the pesto coats the pasta.  Serve in shallow bowls, passing additional Parmesan at the table.