The Italian Spring Recipes
This week’s lineup combines a bevy of fresh spring produce—from verdant greens to vibrant red radishes—with the soulful flavors of Italy, also including smoky, nitrate-free bacon, fresh bucatini pasta, and silky duck eggs that are all begging to star in pasta carbonara for supper (see the enclosed recipe suggestions for that one!). Also including fun Italian-style pantry provisions such as pillowy focaccia bread, farmstead Caciotta cheese and soft amaretti cookies with chocolate, as well as spring daffodils, this box will transport you abroad, all without leaving your very own kitchen. Mangia!
Here are a few recipe ideas for the week:
Duck Egg Carbonara Pasta with Bacon
Creamy and indulgent, simple and satisfying, this classic-style carbonara dish gets an added boost from this week’s silky duck eggs.
Roasted Radishes with Brown Butter & Lemon
The sweet, nutty brown butter here lends a beautiful finishing touch.
Italian Parsley-Caper Vinaigrette
This adaptation of the pungent vinaigrette from Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables is magical drizzled over roasted vegetables or spring greens!
Sweet Onion Confit
This buttery-sweet topping is wonderful in sandwiches or even atop crackers.
Arugula Pesto
Stash this bright, zippy pesto in your freezer to add to the likes of pastas, soups or even roasted vegetables.
Arugula Pesto
Stash this bright, zippy pesto in your freezer to add to the likes of pastas, soups or even grilled vegetables.
Ingredients:
4 cups arugula
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1 cup olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Method:
1. In a food processor, combine the pine nuts, garlic, arugula, Parmesan, and about 1 teaspoon salt and pulse to blend. With the machine running, pour in the olive oil through the food tube in a slow, steady stream and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed.
Sweet Onion Confit
This buttery-sweet topping is wonderful in sandwiches or even atop crackers.
Ingredients:
2 Walla Wall sweet onions
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon balsamic or sherry vinegar (optional)
Method:
1. Peel and slice the sweet onions. Heat a bit of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add sweet onions, sprinkle with salt, reduce heat to medium low or low and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are extremely tender and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Keep heat low enough so onions are cooking but not browning; caramelizing will brown them inside-out rather than bits of browning on the outside first. Finish with a splash of balsamic or sherry vinegar, if you like.
Italian Parsley-Caper Vinaigrette
This adaptation of the pungent vinaigrette from Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables is magical drizzled over roasted cauliflower!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
⅓ cup golden raisins
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
1 cup lightly packed Italian parsley leaves
⅓ cup olive oil
Sea salt
Method:
1. Put the vinegar and raisins in a little bowl and let the raisins plump for about 30 minutes.
2. Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely minced, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the capers and pulse until you have a coarse paste. Add the parsley and pulse again until completely chopped.
3. Add in the raisins and vinegar and pulse until the mixture is blended, but still slightly coarse. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the olive oil to make a slightly chunky dressing. Taste and adjust with salt or more oil, if needed.
