TRECCE DI GIULIETTA (the braids of Juliet) WITH ARUGULA PESTO ** PEASHOOT & ARUGULA SALAD WITH MEYER’S LEMON DRESSING ** CHICKEN STUFFED WITH ROASTED LEEKS & TURNIPS

Saturday’s class featured four ingredients – arugula, pea shoots, baby turnips and leeks.  (If you were to visit Italy this month, on every local menu you would find: arugula salad, pasta with arugula or arugula stuffed seafood.  No tomatoes!)  The intelligence, of course, is to use what is fresh and seasonal.   For class this week, with the exception of a lemon, all the produce was grown by Missy Huger and Chris Sawyer at Jake’s Farm located in Candler.  They are a certified organic farm, with whom I have been doing business for many years.  (Note on your calendar, tailgate markets open April 17.)

The theme of SATURDAY’S KITCHEN – go to market, come home and prepare the basics for the remainder of the week.  In 3 hours, we prepared the “foundation” for all the recipes featured this week.  My approach is not to teach “recipes” – instead it is to demonstrate techniques and provide a road map of how to get from a starting point (buying at market) to some destination (a meal or menu).  I think I even said “recipes are crutches!”  Ouch.  Demonstrated in a few hours of concentrated work is how to provide many easy, delicious meals for the entire week.  To eat well, you must cook, a little mess in unavoidable, however, do it all at once, the rest is easy.

Here are recipes featuring the first of Spring’s seasonal ingredients.  Later this week, I will post up the cooking “logic” of turning basic ideas into many dishes.

TRECCE DI GIULIETTA (the braids of Juliet) WITH ARUGULA PESTO

4 portions

Preparation time: 3 minutes  Cooking time 10 minutes (once the pot of water boils)  Cut scallion, chop garlic, grate cheese, cook pasta, sauté scallion & garlic

Note:  I often have  a large pot of water on the stove to boil, before I actually get started in the kitchen, I never know if I am going to cook pasta, blanch vegetables or whatever else I might need to cook.  It is a time saver, and something you should do when you first get home.

• 1/2 # Trecce di Giuletta pasta or other
• 2 green scallions, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 3 ounces Reggiano-Parmigiano, grated
• 6 tablespoons of Arugula pesto

Method:  Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water for 10 minutes.  While the pasta is cooking, chop the scallion, dice the garlic.  In a saucepan over medium heat,  heat the olive oil, cook the scallions and the garlic for a few minutes, just until the garlic begins to take on a little color.  Remove from the heat.  When the pasta is cooked, drain completely.  Add the Arugula pesto to the scallions and the garlic, return the saucepan to the stove, toss in the drained pasta, stir a few times with a wooden spoon, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on a warm plate and place a mound of grated cheese to the side.  Serve.

ARUGULA  PESTO

makes 1/2 cup

• 1 packed cup of arugula
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup English walnuts (or black walnuts for a more bitter finish)

note: in class we did not add salt & pepper

Method:  In a food processor, place the arugula, walnuts, salt and pepper.  “Pulse” chop the ingredients a few times, then, with the motor running, slowly blend in the oil until a smooth paste is formed.

Use immediately or store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

PEASHOOT & ARUGULA SALAD WITH MEYER’S LEMON DRESSING

4 portions

• 1 Meyer’s lemon, cut in half, seeds removed
• Virgin Olive oil
• pepper
• 2 hands-full fresh pea shoots
• 2 hands-full fresh arugula
• Reggiano-Parmigiano cheese
• coarse sea salt

Method:  Squeeze the lemon into a mixing bowl.  However much juice there is, add twice that amount of olive oil, adjust to taste.  Season with a dash of pepper, but no salt.  Whisk vigorously.  Toss in the two salad greens, mix well.   Then season with the coarse sea salt.  Portion on salad plates.  Using a vegetable peeler, make some cheese curls to garnish the salad.   Serve.

CHICKEN STUFFED WITH ROASTED LEEKS & TURNIPS

I like  this recipe because of the utility of the cut of chicken.  If you plan wisely, you can achieve a very good yield from one chicken – read this to mean, buying a locally raised chicken can be economical, in spite of it’s higher cost per pound.

For this recipe, I bone the the leg and thigh in one piece, forming a ‘pocket’ which can be stuffed.  There are many ways to keep the stuffing in place – tying with a piece of butcher’s twine, wrapping the leg in a piece of caul fat, wrapping in plastic food film (to poach it) or in this case, wrapping in a piece of aluminum foil to roast it.

4 portions/ as an appetizer, lunch or light dinner entrée

• 2 boneless leg & thigh, attached by the skin
• 6 tablespoons chopped leeks & turnips, roasted
• 3 tablespoons Arugula pesto
• salt, pepper
• olive oil
• 2 pieces aluminum foil, approximately 5″ x 8″

To accompany: Baby turnip greens & a potato galette.

Method: Bone the leg and thigh, leaving them held together by the skin.  Season with salt and pepper.  Chop the vegetables well, season with salt and pepper and mix with one tablespoon of the arugula pesto.  Stuff each leg with 3 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture.  Lightly oil the two aluminum foil pieces, place each stuffed leg on one piece of foil and roll into a “sausage” shape, twisting the ends tightly.  Roast in a moderate oven (350° F) for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and firm.  Remove from the oven.  Keep warm and  rolled in the foil until ready to serve.

Heat the cooked turnip greens, portion the potato galette, arrange both on a 4 warm plates.  Unwrap the chicken, being careful to not spill the juices from cooking.  Slice each leg into four pieces, serve two pieces per portion.  Garnish the plates with the remaining arugula pesto and drizzle the cooking juices over the chicken.  Serve.

…ahhh, delicious

-Mark Rosenstein