Spring Pasta

For my weekly installment of Things to do with Pasta and Cherry Tomatoes, I borrowed the idea for this spring pasta from the current issue of Cooking Light (Penne with Asparagus, Spinach and Bacon), however I changed it so much that it really bares little resemblance to the original, except for the vegetables used. The method for cooking is closer to this recipe, where I usually start with this type of pasta dish. Here I added spinach, asparagus and bacon from the Cooking Light recipe. This pasta turned out lovely. There is spicy pepper flakes in the oil that really come through, plus the bacon and the green vegetables made it very satifying and beautiful. Even dear husband, at first shocked by the idea of not one, but two green vegetables to contend with, enjoyed it very much. The best way to tell a good pasta dish is if it gets better down toward the bottom of the bowl and you scrape the last bits of sauce as we did with this one.

Saturday morning Farmers Market

This past Saturday was Evanston's second farmers market of the season. Sadly, I wasn't able to make it to opening day but I made up for it this week by buying extra stuff. (wink) I really love the market on a spring morning when there is still a chill in the air. Each farmer had a small selection of vegetables but everything looked wonderful and full of promise. There were lots of greens and many varieties of spring onions and radishes, but no strawberries yet. Everyone had some asparagus and herbs. You can't help but be inspired to cook a spring dish. The most exciting find of the day was definitely these morel mushrooms. They were priced at 44.99/lb. But I bought $6 worth and it was enough for two small portions. We used them to make a chicken with morel cream sauce and served it with some organic leaf spinach (so fresh, like they have just pulled it out of the ground) sauteed with garlic.

I also got these fat purple asparagus, and some french breakfast radishes.
There were also some sweet young chioggia beets with really fresh green tops that I couldn't pass up. As soon as I got home, I cut off those tops and put them in a vase of water. I need to see what Deborah Madison thinks I should do with them. I guess I'll be browsing her books this evening. As for the beets themselves, they got roasted, peeled, and then served in a salad of frisee, bacon, goat cheese and a tart vinaigrette. We ate this salad with some steaks on Memorial Day.

Thanks Martha

Ms. Martha has always appealed to me for her crafts, collecting and gardening, but I've never really been drawn to her recipes. The one exception is this parfait, which is really not a recipe, but more of a lovely concoction of goodness. I got this one from her former MSL show, where she was more Martha and less talk show host. The beautiful yogurt parfait is made from lowfat, plain yogurt, a drizzle of real maple syrup and fresh berries. Two layers are heaped together and the parfait is topped with granola, homemade or not, and more berries. With this as your breakfast, you will be "living" the good life. It is elegant and healthful. Thanks, Martha Stewart.

Pasta with cherry tomatoes AGAIN

Here's one from the current issue of Fine Cooking magazine, issue no. 86. It's another pasta dish with cherry tomatoes which we seem to have some incarnation of at least once a week in our household. Grape tomatoes are so reliable, they're always good and sweet. This one incorporates them with shrimp, garlic, herbs and some hot pepper flakes and then is garnished with toasted breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs add a lot to the dish. They stick to the shrimp and pasta and give them some crunchy texture. The recipe suggests mint for the herb, but I went with basil, not being a huge mint fan. The only other change I would make would be to add the shrimp after the tomatoes have cooked down a little, so that the shrimp don't get overcooked and the tomatoes have time to give up some juice.

Halibut with Orange Gremolata

I tried this recipe from a great food blog, Beyond Salmon, and was quite happy with the results. A gremolata is just a fresh garlic, zest and herb relish that you dot over the fish. When you eat it you just spread it over the fillet and have a little in each bite. I really like fresh orange paired with cilantro and with the fish it just seemed like it would be good and fresh tasting (and it was.) You could also do parsley. The halibut that I've been getting at Whole Foods has just been beautiful. This piece was a thin, from the tail end, and it worked fine in this preparation. As you will see in her recipe, she instructs you to segment the orange and arrange it under the fish. The orange slices are given a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar to bring out their flavor. Beyond Salmon does a whole lot better in the picture-taking department, but here you get the idea.

Beautiful raw asparagus

These were really nice. We grilled them along with the first pork chops of the season. I used a chile honey glaze, which was only so-so. Dear husband did a great job grilling the chops.