I’m over winter and ready for spring and all of its flavors. On the bright side, only four more days until spring. March 19th is the spring equinox. Yahoo! I’ve been busy starting my seeds for the growing season. How about you? Decided to dive into spring a bit early with an artichoke-inspired dish. Artichokes … Continue Reading
For the longest time, artichokes intimidated me. Not really sure why? Just a bit of the unknown I suspect. But I’ve come to learn that artichokes aren’t really all that difficult to prep and prepare. I especially love baby artichokes. Baby artichokes are not a different variety than the larger globe artichokes, just a smaller … Continue Reading
Pane cunzatu/cunzato is a traditional Sicilian, piled high, open-faced sandwich. You can layer it with anything from fresh and/or sun dried tomatoes; capers; olives; dried and/or fresh herbs; grilled vegetables, such as eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and/or artichokes; fresh cheese, such as mozzarella or ricotta al forno (a speciality of Sicily), to canned sardines, tuna, or … Continue Reading
The inspiration for today’s dish started with some fiddlehead ferns and a bunch of [the first of the season] asparagus. I get excited when I cross paths with an unusual vegetable such as the fiddlehead fern. Fiddleheads are the furled (coiled) fronds of the young [ostrich] fern. They have a mild flavor and tender … Continue Reading
Baby artichokes also take a little prepping, but as with the fava beans, they are not difficult to prepare. First, remove the tough outer leaves until you get to the light-green-yellow tender inner leaves. Second, cut off and discard the dark and medium green tops of remaining leaves. Third, cut off and discard the stem. … Continue Reading
