Horseradish

We made fresh Horseradish today. While we do have some growing in the garden:



these roots were from the produce box:



We peeled and chopped them:




Put them in the food proccesor along with vinegar, sugar and salt and got this:


Home Made Horseradish

My favorite pasta dish

is Broccoli Rabe and Sausage. I was thrilled when the produce box arrived with some broccoli rabe and I remembered that I had just bought some sweet Italian sausage and pasta at the Trader Joe's the other day. Chris grows broccoli rabe in the garden, and we've already had some this season, but this broccoli rabe was different - it was purple:



It actually turned that water I blanched it in purple.

Along with a salad of watercress and mache, dried cherries and candied walnuts:



We had this delish dish of Broccoli Rabe and Sausage with Taglietelli:

Baked Goods For Breakfast

What a splurge. We got a lemon blueberry brioche, a twice baked almond croissant and a pear danish to thank my mom and Terry for coming by and helping us with some household things. Chris got a chocolate croissant, but it was gone by the time I went to take these pics. He said it was just about the most delicious thing ever.



Close up of the adorable pear danish


Twice baking the croissant almost carmelizes the pastry. Oh God, so yum.

Fava Beans

The sleeper hit of spring, the seriously underrated: Fava bean. It takes some doing, but once you shell these mama's, you're rewarded with a verdant crisp bean, similar to edemame, with a slightly meaty undertone. Meaty, yes - and so yum. I got a new Chez Panisse cookbook Chez Panisse Cooking which happened to have a simple fava recipe in it - Sauteed Fava's with Garlic and Rosemary and so I made it with the organic fava's straight from the CSA. I loved it - the mister thought the rosemary was overpowering and a little bitter. Next time, I'll use a less intense herb, I think.

This is one big bean:




After shelling them they are a soft celandine color:



Parboiled and shelled again they turn a bright glossy green:



At this point, the beans are semi cooked - after about 15 minutes in the sautee pan, they're ready to eat.

Artichokes

I have always loved them and the mister loves them too, so we try to eat them whenever they're available. We got a bunch of baby ones in our CSA box and decided to shake things up a little and grill them, They turned out incredible. Chris steamed them for about 15 minutes, cut them in half and grilled them face down on the charcoal grill. We dipped the leaves in red chile mayo, speciality de la casa. Those along with grilled asparagus drizzled with miso dressing made for some delish spring veg sides.