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As I mentioned in my last post, large, curly spinach leaves with fat stems are in local markets, and they are the best and tastiest kind of spinach.

We’ve all gotten a bit used to the varieties of spinach that come pre-washed, such as baby spinach, or even the larger spinach leaves that are packaged and triple-washed.

These pre-washed varieties pale in comparison to the large curly-leafed variety of spinach with stems and even some tiny roots (and lots of soil) attached.  The light green stems are part of the reason–they are the sweetest, most delicate part of the spinach plant.  I’m always perplexed when I see spinach recipes that direct you to strip the leaves from the stems and discard the stems–it’s nothing short of a gastronomic crime.

In addition, many spinach recipes direct the cook to place the raw leaves in a skillet and saute in hot oil or butter.  Although this results in a nice bright green vegetable, I feel it’s better to boil the spinach first, then squeeze thoroughly in small bunches to remove the bitter iron flavor.  This is admittedly much more time-consuming than simply sauteing the raw leaves, but produces a much more elegant dish.

This time of year when spinach and peas are coming into season, I celebrate them in a pasta dish that’s as much vegetable as pasta.  The spinach is first boiled, squeezed, chopped, then sauteed with a bit of butter and broth, then combined with pasta and blanched peas.  A touch of pesto is added for herbal flavor, but not so much as to overpower the star of the dish–spinach.

Tonight, as a second course, I made breaded chicken cutlets, topped with a salad of baby greens and grape tomatoes–crispy, salty and lemony.

Pasta with Spinach, Pesto and Peas

serves 4

1 lb dried fettucine

1 lb fresh spinach (about 2 bundles of large curly leaves with stems)

1/4 c basil pesto (see Pasta with Shrimp and Pesto)

4 tbls butter

1 c peas, fresh or frozen

1/2 c chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

plenty of grated parmigiano for sprinkling

Wash spinach in 3 or 4 changes of water in a deep bowl, large enough to allow the leaves to float on the surface of the water while the soil falls to the bottom.  The number of washes is determined by whether there is still soil remaining on the bottom of the bowl when you empty the water after each successive wash.  My spinach took 5 full washes until there was no soil left in the bottom of the bowl.

Drop into boiling salted water only long enough for the water to return to the boil.

Drain, refresh in cold water, then squeeze in small bundles until there is no more liquid left.

Spread the bundles with fingers, so that the leaves are free, loose, and no longer in clumps.  Then give it a rough chop in both directions, to break down any extra-large leaves or stems.

While pasta boils, Melt butter in large skillet and add spinach.  Saute for 2 or 3 minutes on high heat.

Add broth and reduce heat until pasta is cooked.

30 seconds before pasta is cooked, add peas to the boiling water.  Remove pasta and peas from boiling water and place in the skillet with spinach.

Turn off heat and add pesto.

Mix and place in heated pasta bowls.  Sprinkle with plenty of grated parmigiano.

Yesterday I made a special trip to a farm stand about a half-hour away which is always first to open and the last to close every year (closing day is New Years’ Eve).  I was planning dinner for guests and I needed some inspiration.

I bought whatever was local and looked good.  Spinach, asparagus, leeks and fava beans (not local) looked terrific–all were oversized and bursting with green goodness. I decided to plan my meal around these four items.

I didn’t have any time to prepare a stew or a braise the day before, so as a main course, I decided to serve simple grilled lamb loin chops (see Perfect Grilled Lamb Loin Chops), accompanied by sauteed spinach and fava beans.

As a first course, I toyed with the idea of making goat cheese and asparagus ravioli–a very involved affair which would have been fun but taken all afternoon to accomplish.  Instead, I decided on an abbreviated, deconstructed version of the same ravioli–fresh egg fettucine, tossed with asparagus, sage butter, and topped with a dollop of fresh goat cheese blended with chives.

This shortcut allowed me to enjoy my afternoon and prep the entire meal at (relatively) the last minute (about 2 hours prior to the arrival of guests).   At that time, I blanched, squeezed and chopped the spinach, cleaned and sliced the leeks, blanched and diced the asparagus, and shucked and peeled the fava beans (with the aid of a willing helper).

That provided me with the mise en place to finish preparing the meal when my guests arrived.  When they arrived, I simply boiled and assembled the pasta, and seared the lamb chops on the grill.  When the lamb chops were finished searing, they went into the oven, at which time we sat down and enjoyed our pasta.  When we were finished the pasta, the chops came out of the oven to rest.

While they rested, I prepared the vegetables.  The spinach was sauteed in some butter and chicken broth.  The fava beans were sauteed with some diced Italian speck (pancetta or bacon would do just fine) and leeks.

The meal was beautiful and fairly effortless, thanks to advanced planning of the exact timing and sequence of preparation.

Tonight I had a table of very sophisticated palettes and they were truly appreciative of every detail–the ultimate pleasure for a cook!

Pasta wth Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Sage Butter

serves 6

1 1/2 lbs fresh egg fettucine

2 lbs. asparagus

12 tbls butter

6 sage leave, torn in half

8 oz. fresh goat cheese

2 tbls fresh chives

1 c chicken broth

plenty of grated parmigiano for sprinkling

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot of boiling salted water, drop in asparagus spears and blanch for 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove and shock in cold water.  Cut into 1″ pieces and set aside.

In a bowl, combine goat cheese and chives and set aside.

While pasta boils, gently steep the sage leaves in butter on lowest of heat for about 2 minutes.  Turn heat to high and saute asparagus.

When pasta is cooked (fresh pasta only takes 2 – 3 minutes to cook),  add pasta, along with the broth and some pasta cooking liquid.  Toss and add salt and pepper, if necessary.

Serve in warmed bowls with plenty of grated parmigiano on the side.

Every once in a while, I like to mix shellfish with pork–a combination more common in Spanish cooking than Italian (e.g. paella).  In fact, these two flavors complement each other beautifully and are both enhanced by the earthy richness of fava beans.

Although fava beans are a labor to prepare, they remind me of Spring and the rebirth of all the local produce in our area.  Therefore, I consider their preparation a welcome ritual and something of a celebration–I make them every opportunity I can find the time to.

Like other legumes, fave have a natural affinity for earthy, smokey flavors, like bacon, pancetta and onions.  Sharp cheeses like pecorino, pair well with them as well.

This is a good one-dish weeknight meal–it contains protein, vegetables and pasta all on one plate.  The only thing necessary might be a salad.

In addition to our pasta tonight, I’ve made a colorful salad of arugula and oranges, dressed with red wine vinegar, agave and olive oil–the perfect sharp flavors to cleanse the palette and balance the richness of the pasta.

Pasta with Fava Beans, Shrimp and Pancetta

serves 2

1/2 lb fettucine or linguine

2 lbs fava beans, shucked and peeled, to yield about 1/2 lb of beans (for shucking and peeling technique, see Fava Beans with Leeks, Arugula and Mint)

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled, de-veined and cut into bite-size chunks

2 oz. pancetta, thinly sliced, then diced crosswise into 1/4″ strips

1 small shallot, finely diced

1/2 c white wine

1/4 – 1/2 c chicken broth

4 tbls olive oil + 1 teaspoon for drizzling

2 tbls fresh chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

grated pecorino romano for sprinkling

While pasta boils, in a large skillet on low heat, combine shallots, pancetta and oil and bring to a sizzle, as pancetta renders and shallots become golden.

Add fava beans and white wine and reduce for another minute.

Add half the broth.  Turn heat to the lowest simmer and add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper.

Allow shrimp to rest on top of the mixture until pasta is a minute shy of done.  At that point, add parsley and toss shrimp to combine with sauce.

When pasta is done, drain and add to skillet, with a little more broth, if necessary to loosen the sauce.  Sprinkle on more black pepper and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Serve with plenty of grated pecorino romano at the table.

It’s springtime on Long Island and, although I’ve only been back in New York for a week, my winter getaway in Florida seems like a distant memory.  I’m enjoying the Spring weather and the early profusion of flowering bulbs and trees.  It’s still a bit early for local asparagus or artichokes, but my produce market has an abundance of both of them (from California), and I couldn’t resist the baby artichokes.

Artichokes can be truly challenging to find and prepare (properly).  I’m not a fan of serving artichokes whole on a plate, because I feel they’re a  lot of show and no substance.  I don’t really enjoy picking off leaf after leaf and sucking on the tiny bottom portion, then discarding the rest of the leaf.

Similarly, stuffed artichokes look beautiful on the plate, but what you end up with is a pile of tough, inedible leaves and some leaden bread crumbs and cheese, that might as well have been eaten without ever having touched an artichoke.

This dish is a brilliant combination of pasta and stuffed artichokes.  Pasta with artichokes is a great combination, provided you clean and cook artichokes properly.

The big question is whether to use large globe artichokes or baby ones.  The globe artichokes at my market were very black around the edges, with loose-feeling leaves, noticeably dried out around the edges.  When you hold a globe artichoke, it should feel heavy and tight.  If you squeeze it,  it should feel solid and compact.  If it feels hollow, it’s probably old and dessicated.

Today, the baby artichokes looked better than the large ones.  Baby artichokes are only marginally less work to prepare than large ones, and, contrary to what most recipes say about baby artichokes, they produce almost as much waste as large ones.  Most recipes say that virtually the entire baby artichoke is edible–no choke and not much to peel.  If you follow these instructions, I promise, you’ll still have piles of inedible leaves on your plate.  Furthermore, depending on how large your “baby” artichokes are, you might find some chokes in them as well.

The most important thing to realize about artichokes–whether they’re the baby variety or the large globe variety–is that they are generally about 80 percent waste.  You MUST, as Marcella Hazan once said, clean them “without mercy.”

As you clean each one, it must immediately be cut in half and dropped into acidulated water, face-down (otherwise the cut halves will sit above the surface of the water and blacken) until you’re ready to cook them all.  The reason to cut them in half is to check for chokes–if there’s a fuzzy choke in any of them, it must be cut out with a paring knife.

Next, I boil the artichokes prior to sauteing.  This gives you the added benefit of being able to clean and prepare the artichokes entirely in advance (even a day or two), without worry of them blackening.  Once the artichokes are cleaned and boiled, you’ll have the makings of a quick and impressive dish which can be prepared in the time it takes for the pasta to boil.

Because this dish is reminiscent of a stuffed artichoke, seasoned breadcrumbs are necessary for its topping.  I love to use mint, parsley and pecorino to dress artichokes, so I’ve infused my crumbs (in this case, Progresso Seasoned Panko crumbs) with lots of chopped mint and parsley as I toasted them in a skillet.  The pecorino simply gets sprinkled on the finished dish.

Tonight, as a main course for our meal, I made a frittata of broccoli di rapa and a salad of local (probably hothouse-grown) baby oak leaf lettuce, dressed with lemon and olive oil.

Pasta with Baby Artichokes, Mint Breadcrumbs and Chili Flakes

serves 4

1 lb dried spaghetti or linguini

4 lbs baby artichokes

4 cloves garlic, split

1 large shallot

6 tbls olive oil

1 tsp chili flakes

3/4 c white wine

12 mint leaves

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste (be generous with the pepper)

1 c mint breadcrumbs (see below)

grated pecorino for sprinkling

To clean the artichokes, slice off the top 1/2″ crosswise and the stem and discard.  Peel off enough of the outer leaves until the remaining leaves are very pale green (almost white) and tender to the touch.

Slice in half lengthwise to make sure there’s no choke in the center.

Place each half cut-side down, in a large bowl of water containing the juice of a lemon.

Drop the cleaned artichokes into boiling salted water and blanch until tender–about 10 minutes.  Drain and set aside (or refrigerate for up to two days).

While the pasta boils, in a large skillet, place the shallots, garlic and artichokes on high heat with all but 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Saute until all begins to turn golden (about 3 minutes, depending on the strength of your burner).  Add in the wine and reduce for another 2 or 3 minutes.  Add 2 more tablespoons of oil and chili flakes and reduce heat to low, stirring and shaking until pasta is cooked.  Just before pasta is cooked, add in mint leaves and parsley.

Add pasta to the skillet, along with about a half-cup of the pasta cooking water.

Serve topped with plenty of crumbs and grated pecorino.

Mint Breadcrumbs

1 c Progresso seasoned Panko crumbs

1/4 c chopped mint leaves

2 tbls chopped parsley

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbls olive oil

Place all ingredients in a small, nonstick skillet and toast on medium heat, stirring and turning often, for about 5 minutes (do not scorch!).

Remove from hot skillet and set aside.

I’ve been cleaning out my Florida freezer in preparation for my departure for the season–can’t believe three months have passed so quickly!

I had a bag of beautifully cleaned and chopped swiss chard stems from the farmers’ market one week during the winter.  I must have used the leaves in something and forgotten about the stems.

These stems are actually much more delicate than the leaves, and have none of that iron-y aftertaste that the leaves sometimes do.  Normally, I would make a frittata with these, but tonight I’m in the mood for pasta.

I also had some cooked chicken sausage in the freezer.  When I buy it, I immediately boil it and freeze it, then occasionally slice up a link and add it to some pasta or stew.  Add to that a ripe Florida tomato and some shallots, and I had a dish that I would definitely serve to guests.

The swiss chard stems (already par-boiled before I froze them) get drained and sauteed with the shallot for a good while, until they begin to caramelize–about 10 minutes.  They take on a wonderfully nutty flavor at this point.  The pre-cooked chicken sausage pieces then get added to heat them (no need to sear them in oil–they’re dry enough already).  The tomato gets dipped in boiling water, then peeled and diced.  All is brought together with a bit of chicken stock and some raw extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this dish makes an absolute superstar out of the stems–after you try this, you’ll never discard them again.

Pasta with Swiss Chard Stems and Sausage

serves 4

1 lb. spaghetti

stems from 2 lbs. swiss chard, chopped into 1/2″ pieces, blanched for 5 minutes

2 medium shallots

2 ripe tomatoes

1/2 c chicken broth

4 tbls olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

grated pecorino romano for sprinkling

Allow swiss chard stems to drain in a strainer, then squeeze lightly to remove extra water.  In a broad skillet, saute the shallots in 3 tablespoons of oil for about 2 minutes.  Add swiss chard stems and saute on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until slightly caramelized.

Add in the pieces of diced chicken sausage as well as the broth, and reduce heat.

Dip tomato in boiling water for about 20 seconds.  Remove and peel.

Dice into 1/2″ cubes and add to skillet.

Simmer mixture in skillet on low heat until pasta is cooked.

Add pasta, along with 1/2 cup cooking liquid.  Toss and saute for a minute to incorporate.  Turn off heat and drizzle with remaining tablespoon olive oil.  Add salt and black pepper and serve with plenty of grated pecorino romano.