One of my favorite things when the garden is growing is planning dinner based on what’s ready to eat. Tonight that was broccoli, sugar snap peas, arugula and radish. I actually incorporated all them into a delicious dinner.
Arugula and Radish Salad
Ingredients
- 1 – 2 cups arugula leaves
- a few radishes trimmed and sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
- 1 Tbs or so of olive oil toss until everything has a light coat
- salt and pepper to taste
- vinegar or lemon juice to taste toss and taste
Instructions
- Pick the arugula leaves off. Slice up the radishes and add to the arugula. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and either lemon juice or vinegar.
Sugar Snap Peas in Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 Tbs butter
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of pepper
Instructions
- String the peas if needed. I am growing sugar snap peas so you can eat the whole pod and all if you pick them at the right time. I just pulled off the blossom ends, although you could probably eat those too.
- Heat some butter (1-2 Tbs ) until it’s melted, throw in some sugar snap pea pods (1 cup or so for me tonight), sprinkle with some salt and pepper, stir, cook, maybe cover for a few minutes. That’s it.
Fettuccine with Broccoli and Cream
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound of fettuccine
- 1 head of broccoli, blanched and drained
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- a pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup or less of cream
- grated Parmesan or Romano cheese at the table
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil while you cut up the broccoli. I used one head. Cut the florets off, the slice the stems into 1/2″ pieces. If the stems are really thick, you can peel them but in the spring mine are generally quite tender.
- Blanch the broccoli for 4-5 minutes, until just tender, then scoop out (leaving the water in the pan for the pasta) and drain and rinse with cold water. Plop a few ice cubes on top to cool them off and help retain the nice bright green color.
- Put the fettuccine in to cook, about 12 minutes for mine.
- Meanwhile… Heat a 1/4 cup or so of olive oil in a saucepan and add a couple cloves of minced garlic. Add some crushed red pepper flakes if you’d like. Cook a few minutes.
- Add the broccoli and stir and cook a minute. Now, you could stop here and just pour this over the pasta.
- Optionally, add some cream. I added some cream and cook a few minutes to thicken. Pour the sauce and broccoli over the cooked and drained pasta and serve with some grated Parmesan at the table.
It’s just started to warm up here. All I’ve got right now is a small amount of chives, my first harbinger of what is to come.
Your dinner looks delicous.