It Might as Well be Spring

Or so, the calendar says.   Could have fooled me.   The next line to "It might as well be Spring", is, "I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm".  That's it.   It seems as if we're just being blown around - teased beyond comprehension.  Basta.  I want the weather outside to be friendlier.  The reminder that Spring really and truly is about arrive is the appearance of green vegetables from sunnier, warmer climates: artichokes and fava beans.    I've had a thing for fresh fava beans ever since I ate them for the first time in Italy, decades ago, where they appeared, of all places, piled in a bowl alongside the fresh fruit that was served after dinner with cheese.  What a concept.   The nut-like, slightly farinaceous, fresh fava beans turned out to be just the right company for cheese - especially soft, fresh pecorino - sheep's milk cheese.  However you prepare fava beans - make sure that once they're removed from their plush pod you slip their pale green skin from the bright green bean.

INSALTA CON FAVE E PECORINO
Fava Beans with sheep's Milk Cheese

In the Italian regions; Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, the arrival of fave happily coincides with the arrival of fresh pecorino, a young sheep's milk cheese.   This simple combination can open or close a meal.

Serves 4

4 pounds fava beans, shelled
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 pound fresh pecorino cheese (not the aged pecorino used for grating)
 a baguette from Bonfiglio and Bread in Hudson - or a loaf of the best Mediterranean-style bread available

1.   In a large pot of boiling water, cook the fava beans for 2 minutes.  Immediately plunge them into ice water to halt the cooking.  Slip the skin off each bean .   Put the beans in a large bowl and add the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Toss together.
2.   Divide the fava beans equally among 4 plates.  Divide the cheese among the plates.  Serve at room temperature with the bread.

note:  If you can't find first-choice fresh favas, it's possible to find frozen ones in some Mediterranean and Middle Eastern grocery shops.  Follow package directions for cooking and removing skin.

FRITTELLA
Spring Vegetable Medley

I tasted frittella for the first time, in the early spring, in Sicily, when I was a guest at the agricultural estate, Regaleali.  In addition the  world-class wines that the estate produces, the land grows the food that supplies the large Tasca d'Almerita family, and the cooking school founded by the Marchesa Anna Tasca Lanza.   One day, Anna served frittella, made with the stars of the springtime harvest - artichokes, fava beans and peas.   The flavor - sweet, sour, and salty, and texture of the dish were instantly pleasurable.

Serves 6

2 artichokes, about 1 1/2 pounds total weight
1 lemon
1 1/2 cups shelled fava beans (about 2 1/2 pounds in their pods)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 pound peas, shelled, or 1 cup frozen petite pois
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

1.   Prepare the artichokes: cut the lemon in half.  Squeeze both halves into a large bowl filled with water.  Work with one artichoke at a time.  Remove the outside leaves from the artichoke by bending them backward and pulling down.  They will snap at the "meaty' point of the leaf.  Pull away the leaves until you see only pale green ones.  Cut away the remaining leaf tops.  Cut the artichoke in half and use a sharp paring knife to remove the fuzzy choke.  Place in the lemon water.   When both artichokes are prepared, thinly slice each half and return the pieces to the lemon water.
2.  In a large pot of boiling water, cook the fava beans for 2 minutes.  Immediately plunge them into ice water to halt the cooking.  Slip the skin off each bean.
3.  In a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the onion in the olive oil until translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add the fava beans and cook for 5 minutes.  Drain the artichokes and add to the pan.  Stir to combine and cook for 5 minutes.   Add the peas, water, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook, Stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are tender, 15 - 20 minutes.
4.   Add the vinegar and sugar, and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from the heat and serve hot or at room temperature.

SUSANSIMONSAYS:

Whenever you spot baby artichokes, grab a bunch. They are so easy to prepare - just pull off a few of the tough outside leaves, cut off the spiky ends of the leaves, and cut in half.  They shouldn't have a fuzzy choke, so they're ready to cook.  Braise them, steam them, cook them into a risotto or, my favorite, roast them.   Heat the oven to 350 degrees F., rub some olive oil and flaky sea salt on them and roast 'til crispy, about 15 minutes.   I recently enjoyed roasted artichokes crowded on top of fresh, creamy goat's milk cheese that was smeared on matza.  Oy, so good.

This Week (2nd weekend of June 2012) at the Farmer's Market

I gathered all my favorite late spring crops  from both the Friday night market at The Red Barn and the Saturday morning Hudson Farmer's Market;  strawberries, beets, shelling peas, and radishes and
turned them into food for various occasions - not to mention breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As you know from reading my last entry I've been concerned that my favorite strawberries are going to run out before I can get my fill.  To wit I froze some last week and this week I made what I call "refrigerator jam".  The jam is not processed to preserve.  I just put it in a jar and it should last for weeks, perhaps months in the refrigerator- but it won't.  Probably won't last 'til the 4th of July.  It's that tasty, and its applications are numerous.  I like it on toasted, and almond buttered quinoa bread from Loaf, with plain yogurt, and as you will see as I write on, with beets.
I add whole berries - if they're really huge, cut in half - to a non-reactive saucepan with fresh lemon juice and pure, unrefined cane sugar, like rapadura, and cook on low heat until the berries are soft and seemingly spreadable, about 30 - 40 minutes.  Remove the berries  with a slotted spoon to a glass or ceramic bowl and reserve.  Reduce the remaining syrup until it's as dense as grade B maple syrup. 
Pack the cooled strawberry jam in a glass jar and cover with some of the strawberry syrup.  Refrigerate it, and the syrup in a separate container.  The syrup itself will serve you well on ice cream or mixed with Prosecco to make a Tiepolo ,or with vodka to make a delightfully colored, and tasty warm weather cocktail.   NB - the jam, sweetened with unrefined sugar , will turn deep burgundy in color.  If you must have bright red jam use refined sugar - just not as good - to my palate.

Sweet, shelling peas have a fleeting season as well.   I like nothing better than a dish of risi e bisi - the Venetian classic pea and rice dish.  Technically this dish is not risotto.  But it tastes like it could be.  I cooked the shelled peas in salted water for about 15 minutes.   If I had been paying attention I would have discarded the few over-ripe peas before cooking because they're too mealy and are annoying - in a way.  I cooked the rice separately and used vialone nano - a short, chubby grain used for risotto - which gives the dish its risotto-like texture.   When the rice was tender I drained and added it back into the pot with a knob of best quality unsalted butter, a fistful of grated Parmigiano, and the cooked peas.   I stirred to combine all the ingredients.   If you like the flavor of peas and mint - as I did and swirl  some fresh mint sprigs through the still hot rice and then discard the sprigs. You want to add a soft scent of mint to the dish.  Mint leaves turn black when added to heat and would be most unattractive in an otherwise pristine dish.

I was invited to a party down in Red Hook and asked to bring a dish - What's needed, I asked.  Oh, something to nibble on before the main course.   Hmmmm, radishes, radishes, RADISHES.  Not just radishes, but radishes with butter. The sweet, creamy butter softens and tames the feisty radishes.  Finely chop up radishes, tightly wrap them in paper towels and let them sweat for 1/2 hour or so then add them to room-temperature-softened, highest quality, unsalted butter along with chopped chives, chopped flat leaf parsley and some flaky sea salt.  Serve with garlic toasts or as I did with black sesame crackers.  Because, wow, what a contrast.

Beets - be still my Russian heart.  I love their sweet, earthy flavor, and I love their vibrant color that turns to the most stunning shade of shocking pink when combined with sour cream or yogurt, or  anything white.   First remove the beetroots from their leaves - and reserve the leaves (later).  Rinse them and pat them dry, and salt them - I used pink Hawaiian salt for pure visual pleasure - and wrap them up in parchment paper and bake at 300 degrees F. until a tester easily, very easily passes through them 1 - 2 hours (depending on their size).   The skin comes off the cooled beets as simply as removing a glove from your hand.  Start the process at the root end with the tip of a paring knife.     You can make a tangy Russian-style salad by marinating chunks of peeled beet with whole cloves of smashed garlic, apple cider vinegar and pure honey.  Marinate for at least a few hours and up to overnight.   Drain and remove the garlic.  Add a blob of sour cream and chopped flat leaf parsley. Eat with hard cooked eggs for a simple meal or use as a side dish with any grilled meat or fish.  Would be sublime with caviar.   Keep the beets around to add, chopped into a green salad.  Or, eat, as I just did with plain yogurt and some of that aforementioned strawberry syrup.   Weird?  Maybe.  But the combination of flavor and color were hard to beat.  Pun absolutely intended.
NO NEED TO ADD SALT to anything where the beets are an ingredient.  The cooking salt has adequately salted them.

Remove the beet leaves from their stems and saute in olive olive and garlic as you would do with spinach or chard.  A wonderful cooked green with an ever-so-slight beet flavor.

And sweet cherries - just into the market for the first time this week.   I like to eat them until my stomach hurts.  They are divine.

SUSANSIMONSAYS:    SATURDAY, JUNE 16th - YARD SALE  at 112 Union Street in Hudson, NY - 9am - 3pm - NO earlybirds, please.  Collectibles and lots of interesting household items.  Buy them here first before they wind up in a shop on Warren Street