Penne with Escarole and Pancetta

Escarole is one of those interesting greens that I have yet to cook. It is a member of the endive family but is less bitter than its cousins. Mark Bittman blogged about using it in a rice soup here and I thought it was high time I tried it out for myself.

I followed Bittman's lead and used some pancetta since he generally is right about flavor pairings. Adding some red onion and garlic and tossing it with pasta made it a divine lunch: creamy almost buttery escarole with slow cooked garlic, onion and pancetta, what was not to love!

Tuscan Tuna Salad

Tuna salad is one of those childhood staples that many people either write off once they develop a more adult palate or eat in secret, slightly embarrassed by their craving for tinned tuna. Since I didn't eat mayonnaise as a kid, tuna doesn't fall into that category for me. Instead I learned to love it as a starving graduate student, making a very piquant version with mustard, fresh garlic, and green onions.

Miracle Marinade

I am not one for sauces - it is part of the reason that I find fancy French cooking unappealing (sorry Julia Child!) I have always thought of them as too "chefy" and I never want to worry that much about how I am cooking. But once I started cooking traditional Chinese dishes and found that marinades were essential for those dishes, I eased up on my fussiness. I even started creating my own marinades, like this one which was originally created for pork chops. It was so incredible that it pushed me out of my comfort zone to wonder if it might make a great sauce, just by reducing it (similar to what I recently did with my first wine reduction sauce)

It was amazing, mind altering. I wanted to eat it on everything, all the time, everyday.

Tangy Sweet Cabbage Salad with Almonds

This is a deceptively simple looking salad that packs a wallop of flavor. At first glance it looks like regular ole coleslaw with some nuts and a few sesame seeds sprinkled on for garnish.

But beware, it is seriously addictive.

Shredded cabbage is mixed with almonds, sesame oil, honey and rice vinegar to create a smoky, sweet and tangy dressing that will have you forking this salad into your mouth on a near continuous basis. I always make double this batch because it gets eaten up faster than you can imagine. I haven't tested it on kids' palates, but I wonder if those families who feed their children a broader range of cuisines would find this a winner with kids. Let me know if you find any answers!

Baby Zucchini and Green Garlic Saute

Several weeks ago the Farmers' Market began selling zucchini blossoms and the price finally dropped to a reasonable one last week so I bought them. Being ignorant of how to prepare them I bought the blossoms still attached to the baby zucchini, which are apparently the female blossoms, and are less desirable for stuffing. In addition, I was a little too experimental in my making of the stuffed blossoms and while I was successful in stuffing, breading and frying these delicate items, the breading I used (polenta) totally overpowered the blossom. So look for a later post with a more successful attempt at frying them.

All that is to say I had some gorgeous baby zucchini on my hands and I was very excited to make a simple saute to enjoy their delicate flavor. I had a few green garlic left and knew that they would be the perfect foil for these zucchini.

Fusilli with Roasted Spring Vegetables

Spring, no matter where you live, is the greening of the earth. In terms of fresh local produce, nothing heralds Spring like asparagus. For me, it is one of those vegetables that really should only be eaten during this season. Or maybe that is simply my excuse for gorging on it at this time of year. No matter the reasoning, enjoying asparagus truly is a Spring rite of passage for me.

Most of the time I steam them in a pan, adding olive oil and salt and pepper so that their green goodness is unvarnished. But I also love roasting them to create a crisp outside as a foil to their tender buttery inside. Grilling them is also a great choice as I did in my last post!