Spring Pasta with Artichokes, Mushrooms and Peas

This recipe hails from The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison. It's kind of an old-school vegetarian cookbook, some of the recipes are fussy, but more often than not, you get a delicious result. I think if I were to make this recipe again, I'd just use frozen artichoke hearts, rather than trying (and not terribly successfully) trimming the globes down to hearts quickly enough before they turn brown.

Also, I made my own pasta with herbs. While, there really isn't a replacement for fresh pasta, it is a step that could be skipped. I won't go into the details of pasta making here... I'll assume if you're ambitious enough to make pasta you have a recipe.



Spring Pasta with Artichokes, Mushrooms and Peas

Ingredients:

8 oz of fettuccine or linguine
1 lemon
2 large artichokes (or use a package of frozen artichokes)
5 T. butter, unsalted
3 T olive oil
4 shallots, sliced (about 2/3 c.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
6-8 oz. mushrooms cut into chunks (I used baby bellas)
2 stalks of celery, cut into small squares
1 10-oz. pkg frozen petit peas
1 T parsley, chopped
2 tsp. tarragon, chopped
parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Bring a large pot of water for the pasta to boil.

Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a bowl w/ about 2 c. of cold water. Trim the artichokes.. see this video on the how to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV7iU0NoYSs just be sure to dip in the lemon water as you go, otherwise you'll end up with a brown mess. Dice the heart cubes and keep in the lemon water.

In a large, wide skillet, melt the butter and olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, and drained artichokes and stew them together for 1 minute.

Add one cup of the water from the pasta pot, cover and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Raise the heat and add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the celery and the peas and more water (if the first cup has cooked off). Lower the heat again, cover and cook gently for 3-4 minutes or until mushrooms are done.

Cook the pasta, scoop it out when it's done and add to the skillet. Season with the fresh herbs. Toss with tongs to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with Parmesan.

A taste of Spring

After a long cold winter, it's nice to start to see the first signs of Spring. My very favorite part of Springtime is watching the flowers start to bud and the cherry blossoms and dogwoods start to bloom. In the market, peas, pineapples, and young greens start to appear.

Even though, when I made these dishes, peas hadn't quite appeared in the market yet, but frozen peas were a decent substitute... which means you can have spring green any time you want.

Pea soup

This isn't a recipe as such as I kind of just made it up as I went along.

Ingredients:

4 T butter, unsalted.

3/4 c. shallots minced

4 c. vegetable stock

1 10 oz package of petit peas, thawed--or similar amount of freshly shelled peas

2 T of fresh herbs (I used a combo of thyme, tarragon and mint)

1/2 c. cream

salt & pepper to taste

Method:

In a saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter and sweat the shallots. (You're looking for them to soften, not brown). Once the shallots are starting to appear translucent, add a healthy pinch of salt.

Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.

Add the peas and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until bright green.

Add the herbs.

Use a stick blender, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. (If you want it really smooth, put the soup through a strainer. I didn't really have the patience to do so.)

Stir in cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately, or chill and serve cold.