Spring will be a little late this year.
- Frank Loesser
That gorgeous and poignant Frank Loesser song really epitomizes what this winter has felt like. It's been long, it's been hard, and it's been too cold. A few weeks back I was talking with a fellow food-loving friend and we came up with the idea to throw a potluck. The sort of old-fashioned kind where you get together a bunch of friends, organize into categories of courses, and spend a night eating eachother's favorite dishes and drinking a whole lot of wine.
I had a lot of ideas for theme - a type of cuisine maybe? Thai? Brazilian? (the Brazilian will be coming soon though...), or a common ingredient - everyone make something with basil? Finally, I decided the theme should just be spring - a focus, but broad enough to provide options for everyone. After the winter we've been through, a heavy dose seemed like a good idea.
The whole thing turned out amazing and way too much fun :) Full menu below, with recipes for my contributions below.
Mint Caprese Salad
Farro Spring Salad
Pesto and Zucchini Pasta Salad (recipe below)
Orechiette with Peas and Ricotta
Mustard Roast Pork
Lemon Chicken and Artichokes (recipe below)
Green Beans
Fiddlehead Fern Potato Hash
Dessert: Macarons, Raspberry Ice Cream, Berries, and some truly awesome dessert empanadas made by friend Aaron.
Pesto and Zucchini Pasta Salad
1 lb pasta - shells (my favorite is DeCecco)
2 zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
Juice of 1 lemon
Bunch of fresh basil, washed and trimmed
Handful of flat italian parsley, washed and trimmed
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
For this dish, I wanted something I could fully cook at home and and just combine onsite. I first made this at a barbecue party I had at my place a few summers ago and it's really delicious and as pesto as one of my favorite things of all time... it was a no-brainer for the party:)
First step here was putting the water on to boil, and dropping the zucchini pieces in a pan with evoo over medium heat. Cooked them, shaking up the pan to flip them periodically for about 10 minutes. Once the pasta was cooked, I tossed it with the zucchini and let is cool down - about an hour to fully get to room temp.
For the pesto - toss the garlic, pine nuts, and lemon juice in a food processor with a little salt and olive oil and combine. (The lemon juice is important because it keeps the basil looking green and vibrant). After these are a smooth paste, add the basil and parsley. Process until all ingredients are combined.
Mix the pesto with the cooled pasta and zucchini, mix in the parmesan and serve.
Lemon Chicken with Artichokes
1 whole kosher chicken cut into pieces
Juice of 3 lemons
Remaining lemons quartered
1 package of frozen artichokes
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Handful of chopped flat italian parsley
Disclaimer: I inherited my love of both cooking and sharing what I cook from my mom and her mom. But when I lived in Florence and took a cooking class - I learned one of the italian rules that has informed the majority of my dishes: You can basically never use too much olive oil. I tend to always cook with extra virgin and it really makes absolutely everything better. So for this recipe I use a generous amount. You might want less:)
This recipe is simple and delicious - throw all the above ingredients in a ziplock back in the fridge for an hour to marinate. Pre-heat oven to 400. Dump the whole thing into a roasting pan and cook for 30 minutes. Take out, flip the chicken pieces, mix everything up a bit, cook for another 30 minutes. Serve.
Depending on your oven, you may need a little longer, the chicken should be golden brown on top and juicy throughout.
A couple of notes on the ingredients: It's no secret that i LOVE roast chicken and that is likely the main reason I have a hard time fully committing to an all-time vegan diet. I always cook with kosher chicken. Once you start cooking that, you'll never go back. The other note is that you could do this with real artichokes - which I'm usually too lazy to prepare. I started cooking with frozen ones about a year ago and they have changed my life. They really retain the flavor and basically save you a million years of carving out the prickly center and trimming the rough, tough leaves off fresh artichokes...
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