No doubt, you’ve dined in many Italian restaurants or perused enough cookbooks and food magazines to know what to expect when you order or see a recipe for pasta primavera.  A lovely pasta dish filled with fresh seasonal vegetables, primavera means spring in Italian, so freshness is what it’s all about.  But did you know that there was no such thing as pasta primavera on menus and in cookbooks until after 1975?

Although the dish is derived from centuries old genuine Italian dishes, its name and widespread popularity was created by two culinary icons, Sirio Maccioni, the owner of Le Cirque in New York City and Craig Claiborne, the legendary New York Times food editor and restaurant critic.

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Marissa gave me two valuable gifts for Mother’s Day last month. The first, guest blogging for me for two days, you’ve already seen.  The second, a mother/daughter night out, I cashed in on last night. It became urgent to spend my gift ASAP because we just learned, the day before, that Marissa received a long sought after internship at San Francisco Magazine. Ironically she already has a 10-day trip for the wedding of one of her college roommates to San Francisco planned, she leaves for that today. Then she’ll be home for only 6 days before she needs to go back and report for her new position! It is a whirlwind (actually more like a tornado) around here right now!

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Remember last weekend when I told you we’d been to a graduation party for Megan, who is my BFF Laura’s daughter? What I didn’t tell you is that Laura’s husband and Megan’s dad, Jack, is a fabulous cook, especially when it comes to BBQ and smoked meats.  Jack made the most delicious smoked brisket and sausages for the party. But there was something that actually rivaled Jack’s main course – Megan’s appetizer.  She put out these “out of this world” jalapeno poppers. Turns out the recipe is from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond. I had heard of Ree before, and of the cookbook, but I hadn’t made anything of hers. Big mistake!  After tasting and now making those poppers and looking over her blog, I am a fan!  And I’m not the only one, Gourmet Live (the recently shuttered Gourmet Magazine’s reincarnation) just named Ree as one of the “50 Women Game-Changers” of the food world. She is #21, well ahead of some big names you will recognize (Paula Deen, Ina Garten, Cat Cora, and Nigella Lawson).

So, thank you Megan, for turning me on to the Pioneer Woman and these poppers!

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If you have recently eaten out at chef-driven independent restaurants, instead of chains, then you already know that it is squash blossom season. Every chef I know in this town has them on his/her menu, and luckily for me Barbara Fenzl was at an event a couple nights ago where Duncan Family Farms had a whole extra case of squash blossoms. He gave them to Barb and she in turn gave some of the bounty to me. Thank you dear friend!

Summer squash is one thing I don’t plant in my small garden. It would just overtake the entire space and I’d be “one of those people”.  You know who I’m talking about, akin to the homeless person on the street, peddling my cart around and begging people. Not begging for your spare change, begging you to take some of this squash off my hands, “Please sir, please take some of this damned squash before it goes bad!”  So if nothing else, plucking the blossoms during their brief blooming window is a hugely effective form of squash birth control.

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It was cold (well, it was 69 degrees, which is cold for us in March) windy and rainy yesterday, the perfect day for baking!

These savory little muffins came to be after Matt McLinn, Executive Chef at The Grind, taught at Les Gourmettes and left behind a batch of his candied jalapeños. This particular batch had gone past the point where Matt usually cooks them at the restaurant and had dried out to the real “candied” stage. Usually they are still juicy and dripping with syrup.  The recipe below makes them that way, if you want them to be more dried out, like they are pictured here, just cook them longer after the vinegar is added, to dry them out. I prefer them still juicy though and they will work perfectly in this recipe either way. Matt uses them on his “to-die-for” burgers. You’ll want to use them on and in just about everything you can imagine… trust me, they are an addiction!

Along with that new vice, you should know that the muffin recipe make a whole heck of a lot of mini muffins … how many?  Nearly 100!

Don’t try to count the muffins in the picture above. Before it was taken, I’d already delivered 2  1/2 dozen of the little gems to my sweet neighbor, Lori, who lent me 2 of the eggs I needed to make them.

I have four mini-muffin pans, so I had to make them in two batches. You can easily cut the recipe in half, but they freeze great and make the most wonderful party-size appetizer sandwiches.  Just cut in half, spread with a little jalapeño butter or jalapeño jelly and fill with shaved deli ham or turkey.  So Amazingly Good!

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OK, I found the most wonderful thing while surfing through food blogs yesterday. Hey, don’t judge – I was specifically instructed, by my doctor, to stay in bed all weekend. Which, or course, I did not do, but a little surfing is kinda like staying in bed.  So why the bed rest? As you know I was up in Flagstaff two weekends ago taking care of my sick boy. A word to the wise – if you spend 60+ hours cooped up in a hotel room with a really sick person, you will probably  get sick!  I honestly didn’t think it would happen, I’ve taken care of my sick children for the past 23 years, and never have gotten sick myself.  But taking care of your sick kid while living in a big house and taking care of your sick kid in a small hotel room – completely different!  I came home with a sore throat.  That developed into bronchitis (mild- thankfully) and a wicked ear infection, laryngitis, and possibly pneumonia. I say possibly because I am still waiting for the x-ray results, one lung looked cloudy, but I really don’t believe I have pneumonia, because I have had it twice before in my life, and I know that pain. I do not have that sort of pain.

Wowser, that was a lot of excuse making and explaining about why I was wasting time surfing the web! Point is, it wasn’t a waste at all, I found something I just adore. Check this out!!! Isn’t that the greatest thing ever? What would you think if I did something like that? I know it would be totally stealing someone’s fabulous idea, but I just love it too much to let it go.  There is a downside, my least favorite part of doing this blog is the photos. Taking them, correcting them (and they always need help!) in Photoshop, and then downloading them into the posts.  But maybe if it was something as creative and wonderful as that… let me know what you think!  The other thing I am really loving is this…

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Last week, I spoke about my love for the mussels at Tarbell’s Restaurant. Well, I haven’t been able to get them off my mind since, so that means only one thing… make some!This recipe is adapted very slightly from Mark Tarbell’s recipe on his website.

There can be one little itty bitty problem with mussels (bivalvia mollusca) and their cousin, clams. The grit and sand sometimes found inside can ruin an otherwise perfect meal. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a easy way to get the mussels to give up their sand.

You just dissolve about 1/4 cup salt in a large bowl or pot filled with cold tap water and add the mussels and enough cold water to cover them. Then sprinkle with cornmeal. Soak for 2 hours or overnight, uncovered, in the refrigerator. The mussels will actually take in the cornmeal and expel the grit or sand. Before using, rinse the mussels and scrub if scruffy-looking and snip off the “beards” (dark threads) with scissors. If mussels have opened slightly before cooking, tap the shell. They should snap shut. Discard any mussels that don’t pass the tap test, as well as any that fail to open during cooking. And be sure to have plenty of warm and toasty bread to soak up all the delicious juices!

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Before we dive into our citruspalooza (citruspalooza is defined by days upon days of citrus related recipes) I have to give a huge shout-out, muchas gracias, kisses and hugs, and a big bowl of thanks to Tarbell’s Restaurant. Mark Tarbell and I have been friends for the last 20 years, and he is a wonderful friend to have! I first got to know and love Mark when he hosted an incredible trip to Napa Valley when we were both board members of the now defunct American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF). Way back then, Mark was the F&B Manager of The Boulder’s in Carefree, AZ.   In 1994 he ventured out and opened is namesake restaurant at 32nd Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix. He also now has three additional restaurants in Colorado.
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We shall begin with “a dollar short” – Do you ever buy something that you want to keep all to yourself, even though it really needs to be shared? Oh, you say that do it all the time? Yup, me too! Last week, I discovered another one of “those” things! As silly as it sounds, “that” thing is a box of crackers. Not just any box of crackers, but really expensive and amazingly decadent crackers. How expensive? How about $6.99 (at Whole Foods) for a 6-ounce box! That is about $1.17 an ounce or about $18.50 a pound! How many food items are you willing to pay $18 a pound for? Maybe something like jumbo shrimp, prime rib or beef tenderloin. But crackers? Yup, I did, and I will again.

Raincoast Crisps are the most amazing crackers on earth. I have to thank, and then loudly curse, Gwen Ashley Walters for turning me on to them. And when I say, me, I mean that I shall be purchasing these ridiculously expensive crackers and hiding them from family and friends while carefully rationing them out for myself.

Next, let’s address, “a day late” – Two days ago, I posted a recipe in which I used a smokey marinade from Gwen. At the end of that post, I said that the next day I’d put up another recipe of Gwen’s, that I adore. Well, I forgot and put up a lentil recipe yesterday instead. Sorry, here is Gwen’s scrumptious and “easy-breezy” party spread recipe that she made last week for the Les Gourmettes cooking class and served atop the Raincoast Crisps.

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