Fresh cilantro pesto brightens up this easy pasta salad. Vary the vegetables as you like or substitute toasted walnuts for the pepitas. Spring asparagus or pea shoots would be a nice addition. Look for Israeli couscous at high-end and specialty markets such as Whole Foods or Gene’s in Saratoga. In a pinch substitute jarred pesto for the fresh. You may not find ready-made cilantro pesto, and if not, basil pesto will do. Add as much as you need to moisten the salad and give it plenty of flavor.
Calling all fresh food enthusiasts and writers—experienced or just beginning. Four Cooking Together is once again looking for a few guest bloggers to contribute a recipe or short article during the summer months. Our most recent guests were a group of eleven and twelve-year-olds with little cooking OR writing experience—just a love of food.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to write a food blog, cookbook or memoir? Perhaps you already have a blog, but would like to reach a different audience. Then again you might simply love to cook and share favorite recipes. Whatever your passion, this could be the perfect summer project: a chance to try something new, have fun and get your feet wet (or wetter) within the supportive community of Freshness Farms and Four Cooking Together. I know there are a few of you already mulling over the idea. Go for it!
Anyone who’s prepared meals for a picky eater knows the challenge. All the more so when the cook involved possesses an adventurous palate, at odds with the hesitance. We cherish our children (and spouses) and want them to experience food they love, but when even basics like onions and tomatoes are vetoed, mustering patience, let alone tender feelings, can be difficult. Many parents simply cave under pressure, morphing dinner at home into a short order dining experience in which everyone counts on a personalized meal. Or give in to mac and cheese on a regular basis, while forsaking artichokes and asparagus entirely. This, is not my style. I’m not running a restaurant here. And complaints don’t fly far in my kitchen as I plate up something new—an event that occurs nearly nightly. At the same time I remember all too well the terror of soggy spinach and soft-boiled eggs, so I don’t mind the lonely pile of carrots or capers, picked out and moved quietly to the edge of the plate. Just as long as everyone tries everything. There’s no need to hide the rejects under a napkin—I store the feedback for future reference. Admittedly I’m happiest when there’s excitement around the dinner table, so I’m always in search of creative tricks to present edgy (according to some) food in enticing ways. Enticing to all.
This dish was inspired by my friend, Jane’s trick of puréeing sun-dried tomatoes with oil and vinegar for a bold, flavor-packed dressing that livens up simple lentils. Even those who dislike the chewy texture of the dried fruit will love this zippy salad. Vary the vegetables as you like. Add chopped celery, fennel or radishes, or a handful of fresh herbs such as parsley, basil or dill. Omit the feta for a vegan option. Use brown or green lentils that remain whole with cooking, such as Spanish Pardina lentils or French lentilles Du Puy.
These days we’re well-versed in frozen peas. That’s how they come—in look-alike plastic sacks, stacked, with a blast of frosty air, behind glass freezer-case doors—perfectly prepped for kitchen duty on a busy weekday, as if this were the only way a pea would ever want to be. Why bother fussing with a pile of pods when the labor is done for us, and at a reasonable price, too? I’ve been known to rip open a bag. Who hasn’t? But in spring it’s worth rolling up our sleeves and taking a step backward in time, to experience peas in their natural state, fresh off the vine. Just as grandma did in her gingham-curtained, Depression-era kitchen. Any other time of year we might as well open a bag; frozen peas are tough to beat. But in spring, fresh ones are something special. Sweet, firm, bright pops of flavor, all nestled neatly in Mother Nature’s most perfect package.