Hokumpoke Creamy Corn Pasta with Peas and Basil

This past week I made my way over to Hancock, New Hampshire to a start-up CSA called Hokumpoke Farm. Isn't that an awesome name ? First of all, it's just plain fun to say and second it is not a name to be forgotten, so it's easy to toot it to my friends. Anyway, I was drawn there because Colleen had the brilliant idea to market the CSA to more folks by offering a weekly opt in/opt out share program. Now, SB and I have our own vegetable garden, but we also are pretty basic in what we grow. My herbs are sketchy this year, we never grow leeks or kohlrabi or fennel or heirloom tomatoes or cabbage ... and guess what? Hokumpoke Farm does! You can guess what weeks I'll be trotting over to pick up a bag of produce!

Greens and Pasta Salad

Yes, this salad has pasta in it, but the stars of the dish are the peas, asparagus, and arugula that really turn it into something much healthier and more complex than the typical summer pasta salad! The recipe comes from the a Food & Wine magazine that was kicking around the house. I'm so glad I browsed it one last time before passing it on! Not only did I get a great new pasta dish for summer picnics, but the dressing used would be terrific on mixed greens or used as a dipping sauce for crab or salmon cakes.

Spring Green Vegetables

Last week's rain and grey have given way to this week's bright sunshine and the greening of the back yard! There are violets and wild strawberry blossoms, soft velvety grey pussytoes, and yes, the first dandelions blossoming out back! And the grass has greened up !

Spring Garden Green Tart

Here's another tart from Eric Lanlard's Tart It Up ! collection of eye popping pies and tarts. It's almost asparagus season here in New England and the beginnings of the spears are starting to come to market. They're still from further south of here, but I always have to jump the gun at this time of year.
In another few weeks, this tart will be able to be made with fresh and local produce right from the Farmer's Market or back yard beds.

Pan-Seared Lemon Pepper Swordfish With Orecchiette and Peas

The dog days of summer are here and it seems they're here to stay for a good while.  All the cool smoothies, iced tea, cold salads, popsicles, chilled pies, and cold cocktails certainly help keep us comfortable, but one still needs a hot meal now and then. Standing over a hot stove, though, holds little appeal!  I have fallen to the strategy of doing some prep work on dinner early in the morning while the house is cool and then lounging through the heat of the day. Once the sun goes down and the house cools off a bit, I am ready to tackle dinners. They still need to be fast and easy, though.

Yesterday, we shucked peas and marinated swordfish early in the day. Then, in the time it took to boil pasta water and cook orecchiette, we seared the fish, sauteed onions and mushrooms, steamed green beans for a side and put together a nice platter of warm sustenance ... all the while sipping on chilled Sauvignon blanc. My kitchen timer allows me to put things in the pan, crank up the heat and walk away from the hot stove ...when the little dinger dings,  I dash in and away after tossing things, flipping fish, and only stand in the steam for the final plating ... one gets cagey when it's this hot!

Spicy Peanut Sauce ... and a Dish to Go With

the random cookbook and the middle recipe in the book ... what might it be?

Pasta Fix ... Curried Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Peas

Well, hey now! Don't know about you, but I am smack dab in the middle of the January funk. This year, I think it's worse than usual because we have no snow and no chittering birds by the feeder. Really, no snow. That means that the yard and forest look grey ... and blah ... and depressing. The birds are all still out in the meadows feeding on seeds and such and not flitting around our backyard feeders making us smile. No sliding, no brushing soft white stuff off the walkways, no twinkling sunrises, nothin'. This is not a good thing for a part of the US that relies on winter ski tourism ... talk about economic disaster. I'm shouting out to all who are the prayin' kind ... it's time to send up some prayers for a return to more winter-like weather for New Hampshire and the Northeastern US. In the meantime, I'm in a funk ... and I'm eating pasta.

50 Woman Game-Changers ... and Betty Fussell's Risi e Bisi

When I got out of college, I didn't want to read anything that was required ever again. I didn't want to read anything at all, in fact, for a good while. When I finally settled down to a job and an apartment, I didn't have a lot of disposable cash for outside entertainment. No more partying on my parent's dollar ... no more eating out. So, I stayed in and I started reading again. I joined a book club, but I only read what I wanted ... and one of the first freebie cookbooks that I got when I joined the book club was Betty Fussell's Eating In.

It's a neat and narrow little paperback, designed to fit nicely in your purse or the top drawer of your desk at work ... perfect for referring to when you want to shop for something good on the way home from work. Most of the recipes are pretty basic and easy to accomplish with fresh basic meats and vegetables. Plus, good old Betty gives advice on what to serve with the dish and what wine to sip alongside. It was pretty perfect inspiration for this girl!

Fettuccine and Peas in Curried Cream Sauce

No apologies ... this is such a warm, spicy, gooey, creamy, rich pasta fix that it should probably be against the law. To boot, this batch is made with the freshest of garden peas that are like little sweet bullets of flavour. This is what we knoshed for dinner last evening... this and glasses of crisp Sauvignon Blanc. My goodness, it just doesn't get any better. But wait ... as I was cleaning up and pouring a second glass of wine, Silent Bob hollered, "Rainbow alert!"

Peas and New Potatoes ... and MFK Fisher

She writes so beautifully ... that, and her approach toward the fresh and local foods around her are her legacy. Enough said.

“ Once on Long Island I saw jewel-like tiny potatoes lying in a newly plowed field, in late August, and I pulled off my shoes and plunged out into the soft sandy dust and culled enough for a fine lunch. A car slowed down on the road, and I thought it might be the workers back from a break, or the police, but there was a great laugh and it drove on. Later I learned that I had embarrassed my hosts (who enjoyed the nut-like little culls before they felt any qualms). But the next August came an air-mailed box of ‘more of the same’, and I have always wondered how and when other people got knee-deep dirty to pick them for me, out in that elegant banlieue.”

- M.F.K. Fisher from With Bold Knife and Fork

Orecchiette and Peas ...

Pasta and I have an easy relationship ... we're always there for each other. We bond over all sorts of occasions. Don't feel like cooking? No problem. Just boil some water and make a plate of linguine fini and herbs. Need an easy salad for a picnic ... use that light tangy rotini and crispy veg in vinaigrette salad! Feeling blue? Tortellini with four gooey cheeses wil drag you out of that funk! Feeling sniffles and chills?  Need a warm soup fix? Make that chicken noodle soup! I always say that I am the 'queen of pasta' ... just put it on my gravestone, folks!

'Veggible Molebake' ... Kid Friendly Veggies!

A comment a while ago made me think of all the fun foods served to the creatures of Redwall Abbey in Brian Jacques' Mossflower and Redwall series. In looking through his little vegetarian cookbook published for young  fans of the Redwall series, I found a nice casserole worthy of a chilly day. I must admit, this little book is a masterful bit of marketing and it sends a good message to kids about enjoying their vegetables! The original recipe serves 6, but I halved it for Silent Bob and I. We're having it as a side dish with some schnitzel this evening ... whatever is for dinner at your house, I hope you're eating your vegetables!