To reveal the second mystery from yesterday’s post is to reveal that what you saw were garlic “scapes” aka the ‘spring’ shoots of the garlic plant. Where garlic is commercially cultivated, these fine morsels are often just clipped and discarded and never see the market. The scape is the young stem and budding “flower” of…
Macaroni and Six-Cheeses … with pancetta crumble
If there was a food equivalent of original sin, I think I’ve discovered it. Long have I had the notion of creating a gourmet version of a childhood comfort food so many of us grew up on … create something very very adult. The inspiration for this comes from watching Gordon Ramsay several years ago challenge his…
Farfalloni with Grilled Chicken and Swiss Chard
My quest to find great ways to use chard that keeps showing up in my CSA shares has continued all summer. It’s produced a few excellent side dishes (see recipes: Chard with Bacon and Cranberries and Chard with Meyer Lemon) and an awesome minestrone soup with prosciutto. However, I wanted to see how far I…
Penne Arrabiata (Penne with Italian Sausage and Shishito Peppers)
Mmm, sausage. There are few things in life that make being a meat-eater more satisfying than sausage … and, by that, I mean good sausage. After a day of exploring Montreal and a Dale Chihuly exhibit (see previous post for pictures), we returned home late and hungry. Anne attended to the needs of the dogs and…
Fettuccine Carbonara with Sweet Peas
The sweet peas that arrived in my CSA share this past week have been screaming “do something different with us.” And really, who’s to argue with talking veggies? For some reason pasta came into my head and when I added the bacon and then the lemon zest in my brain, I had arrived at the…
Penne with Fava Bean and Fennel Purée (Pasta)
When this week’s CSA bin arrived, the thing I was most looking forward to was the fresh fava beans. This is an example of an idea that got into my head and has stuck 10 or 15 years. Over the years, I had read a number of recipes in my plethora of Italian cookbooks that…
Salmon Carbonara with Asparagus (Pasta)
The weather in Ottawa the past few months — indeed, dating back to last fall — has been akin to some kid flicking the weather “light switch” on and off repeatedly. On Monday, many people here still needed their furnaces — and a few days later summer suddenly has arrived and we are under a…