Sugar snap pea salad with oranges and radishes

sugar snap pea salad with oranges and radishes

Oh this is good:  nice and crunchy, fresh and green with a nice crunch of prochiutto.  I love sugar snap peas and they are one of the first vegetables to plant here in the Spring and one of the great spring vegetables  I watched Valerie Bertinelli make this on her food channel network show last weekend and thought I would try it.  I tweeked the original recipe https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/valerie-bertinelli/snap-pea-orange-and-radish-salad-3679199

The mint and tarragon are essentials to this salad's unique flavor.  Don't forget them.

Here's the recipe:

Sugar snap pea salad with oranges and radishes:

Sugar snap peas - 1 pound

olive oil - 3 TBS

prosciutto - 3 slices or 1 1/2 oz

goat cheese - 1/2 cup

red onion - 1 spring onion or about 2 Tbs of regular red onion

navel oranges - 2 supremed  (peel and pith removed then cut into segments) and 1 for more juice if needed

orange juice, 1/4 cup - use from squeezing extra juice from orange membranes

radishes 6 small, sliced thin.

mint, fresh, 2 Tbs.

tarragon, fresh, 1 Tbs

salt and pepper

The salad dressing is the juice from the orange, olive oil, salt and pepper and the herbs.  

Method:

Briefly cook the sugar snap peas in salted boiling water for 2 minutes.  Then strain and place in an ice bath to cool completely.  The peas will be this bright green and a little softer than raw but still crispy. Remove from the ice bath and place them on an absorbent towel to dry.

blanched sugar snap peas

Heat 1 Tbs of the olive oil in a fry pan and add the prosciutto slices.  Cook 1-2 minutes on each side until crispy.

prosciutto

Now for "supreming" an orange:

Cut the top and bottom ends off of the orange.  Then use the knife to remove the side peel leaving no pith.  Cut on either side of each membrane and remove segment.....each segment is called a supreme

navel orange to supreme

Place the orange juice in a large bowl and add the onion slices and orange supremes while you finish the rest of the preparation.  The orange juice will slightly "cook" the onion and take that raw taste out a bit.

supremes and red onion slice in orange juice

Now for the remaining ingredients:

what's left

Add the sugar snap peas, the remaining 2 Tbs of olive oil the radishes, prosciutto and the herbs to the bowl and toss. 

Salt and pepper to taste.

Add the goat cheese right before serving.

ready to serve

This salad is fresh and crispy and very satisfying.  I love the goat cheese addition but when I helped myself to a serving the next day the goat cheese and dissolved into the salad and lost its zip.  If you plan on having this for left overs keep the goat cheese and the prosciutto on the side and add before you serve it....even the next day.

Thank you Valerie!
Buon Apetito!

Restorante Zepplin, Orvieto, Italy, revisited

Chef Lorenzo and me

Eight years ago I was in Orvieto, Italy on a week long watercolor workshop.  One afternoon as part of an excursion our group went to Restorante Zepplin https://www.ristorantezeppelin.com/ristorante-zeppelin to "cook" the dinner menu.   Well that was right up my alley and I was not shy to jump in.  First assignment: "gnocchi"  That was my first time at making gnocchi from scratch.  And now  I have been asked to teach a cooking class that would include this Italian comfort food dish.  I had to dust off my old notes to find my recipe.  This morning I jumped right in again to see if I could be successful before I reported to my requester that I could do it.

Here is my culinary journey for the day:

gnocchi with kale pesto 

Gnocchi recipe:

1 2/3- lb  that's  1 lb, 11 oz russet potatoes - don't substitute for a less starchy potato

2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

Place unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan and cover with 1 inch of salted water.

Bring to boil then reduce temperature and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a knife.

Drain the potatoes and rinse with cool water until they are cool enough to handle.

Peel the potatoes and return them to the saucepan.

Cook over medium low heat, taking the pan often to evaporate the excess moisture. About 2 minutes.

Press the warm potatoes through a ricer or a course mesh sieve into a bowl.

potato through the ricer

Stir in the eggs and the 2 tsps of salt.

add 2 delicious eggs

Gradually stir in enough of the flour to make a soft dough, taking care not to add too much.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently a few times until it is smooth, adding just enough flour to prevent sticking.

Divide dough into 4 equal portions.

add flour until a perfect dough consistency has been reached

Lightly four a rimmed baking sheet.  Using floured hands, transfer 1 portion of the dough to a lightly floured work surface.

Using your palms, roll the dough to make a rope about 3/4" in diameter.

Cut the rope into 1-inch lengths and roll each piece against a wooded gnocchi roller or make design with a the tines of a fork.

Place on the baking sheet until all are made

roll out into 3/4 inch rope

use gnocchi roller to add those adorable recognizable marks

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add half of the gnocchi and simmer until they rise to the surface, then cook 1 minute more.

place in salted boiling water until the gnocchi starts to pop up to the top

now that they are all floating boil for one more minute

Using a skimmer or birds nest carefully transfer the gnocchi to a warmed serving bowl and cover to keep warm.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water

Add the pesto and about 1/4 cup of the cooking water.  Add more water if needed to make a creamy sauce.

Serve immediately

Top with extra cheese

Now the pesto sauce  X 2

Classic basil pesto:

1-2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil-- I love my new oil from Katz farms in California https://store.katzfarm.com/katz-chefs-pick-extra-virgin-olive-harvest-p-62.html

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese

salt and fresh pepper to taste:

pesto mise en place

To make the pesto:  With a food processor running, drop the garlic through the feed tube and process until minced.

Turn off the processor, add the pine nuts and purse a few times to chop.

Add the basil and pulse a few times to chop coarsely.

Then with the food processor running...add the 1/2 cup olive oil through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream and process until a smooth, moderately thick paste forms, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese.

Season with salt and pepper.

finished basil pesto

gnocchi with basil pesto

This was really fresh and tangy.  But wait there's more:

Brad suggested a pesto that he had liked from Sur La Table https://www.surlatable.com/product/REC-163536/Fusilli+with+Winter+Pesto and then I changed it a bit.

Kale and goat cheese pesto:

1/2 lb Tuscan kale, ribs removed

1/2 cup walnut pieces (California walnuts are the best) toasted

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup goat cheese (fresh chèvre)- Thank you CoCo!

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Asiago cheese, grated, more for serving

fresh sea salt and ground pepper to taste

kale pesto mise en place

Cook the kale in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then blanch them in ice water.  This will soften the kale and make it more palatable.  

Dry thoroughly or use a salad spinner to dry then:

The method is the same as for the classic:

In a food processor:

first the garlic

then the walnuts

then the kale

and the goat cheese

then the olive oil through the feeding tube drip

add the cheese and salt and pepper to taste

kale pesto complete

gnocchi with kale pesto 

This pesto is a great choice when you can get kale and not fresh basil.  It is a little more mild but really very little difference in taste.

Try them both!!!!

Buon Apetito!!!

Time to get out in the garden

It's time to plant peas!!!!!  Sugar snap, snow or shelling.  St. Patrick's day is the rule of thumb whether in California, Washington or Denver.  It's predicted to snow tomorrow but today was a good day to get the peas in to the ground.  My five year old chicken, Zinnia, was right at my pitchfork's edge.  I had forgotten that she is my garden helper.  Why?  There are juicy worms in each turn of the fork.  Zinnia has a full chicken belly tonight and my peas are planted.

Zinnia

Hotel silver- old and shiny

partial collection

I have been on an early Spring cleaning marathon.  Maybe I just wish it were Spring and get this Winter over with.  These last two weeks I have spent in the kitchen cleaning out and organizing the pantry, pulling out the stove and cleaning behind it followed by a fresh coat of paint on the walls and most recently going through my buffet and sifting through the treasures I have collected through my years knowing that it is time to part with some of this stuff.  I came across my collection of hotel silver and decided to give it some love and use it again.  Hotel silver was used in the 19th century in hotels.  The flatware is silver plated and was often marked with the hotel logos.

simple to elaborate

Sheffield, England

Most of the pieces were made in Sheffield, England but not all of them.

German stamping

Here is one from the Jefferson Hotel in St. Louis and one for Louise:

Louise, St. Louis- Jefferson

A couple of years ago I did a watercolor of these beauties:

watercolor

Even the backs are beautifully designed:

backs

I love the horse on this handle:

horse

and a few more.  One with the letter "K"  I bet this one finds its way to my Kate.

"K" for Kate

beautiful design

No  I'm not letting go of any of these today.  I have about 50 more to polish and tidy up and then I plan on using them for every meal.   I'm happy with washing them by hand.

Hotel silver