Rhubarb-Currant Mostarda

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Rhubarb & Dried Currant Mostarda

If you were to snoop around my house, through my mess of a purse, and in the depths of my pockets, you’d find a thousand little scraps of paper covered in scribbles about things I want to cook.  A few weeks ago, I jotted down one of these notes to myself with the heading “late spring/early summer”.  The list ended up looking like it should simply be titled “10 things to do with rhubarb”.

Well, we tackled the first thing on the list a couple of weeks back: a batch of ginger-rhubarb swirled ice cream that was awfully good.  Today, we’ll make a mostarda so we can eat our rhubarb with some savory dishes too.  

Mostarda, if you’re unfamiliar, is in Italian condiment made from simmering fresh and/or dried fruits with mustard seeds, vinegar, and sugar until it reaches a thick, jammy consistency.  This one is a sweet-tart mix of fresh rhubarb and dried currants with an assertive mustard pop.  It’s great used as an accompaniment to cheese or cured meats and I’d be willing to bet it would be pretty spectacular with a grilled pork chop.  If I have any left by the weekend, I’ll be sure to test the theory.

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Quick Pickled Fennel + A Few Ways To Put It To Use

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Quick Pickled FennelA few weeks back, I got off work late and stopped at the grocery store on my way home.  There I was, around eleven on a Wednesday night, walking through the store, absolutely stupid with hunger.  You know the kind of hungry where you can’t begin to make a decision and, before you know it, you end up in a trance in the pickle aisle?  You go home and end up having a dinner of sweet-hot pickles, eaten with your fingers, standing over the kitchen sink.

Yeah, these things happen.  At least to me.  And now you know, I really like pickles.

And what you’ve known for a long time is that I love fennel.  And pickled fennel?  Oh man, love is an understatement; it is so delicious!  It’s all of the flavors and textures I adore; it’s crisp and crunchy, briny and acidic, anise-y and just a tad sweet.  It’s unbelievably good with fish, excellent when added to a salad, and absolutely supreme on its own, late-night-fingers-in-the-jar style.  What can I say–old habits die hard.

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White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic & Eggplant

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Roasted Eggplant & White Bean DipI really hope I never come face to face with my recycling pick-up guy.  I fear his judgement. Every week my bin looks the same: the Sunday newspaper, obviously untouched, a couple too many empty wine bottles, and an absurd number of bean cans.  He probably imagines me to be some gassy, illiterate wino, bottle in one hand, can o’ beans in the other.

But you don’t need to hear about my irrational bout of self-consciousness.  You need to hear about how one of those many cans of beans and bottles of wine turned into something more, something better.  We’re talking a white bean and eggplant dip, loaded with roasted garlic and richened with fruity olive oil.  We’re talking way delicious, super easy, and, if paired with a wedge of cheese, a bottle of wine, and some olives or salami, the center of an awesome appetizer spread.

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Grilled Pork Chops with Rhubarb & Fig Compote

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Grilled Pork Chops with Rhubarb Fig CompoteGrilled Pork Chops with Rhubarb Fig Compote

This was an idea that started as a salad, grew butterfly wings, and transformed into something magical.

On the first go around, the idea was very vague–“hmm…pork would taste good with rhubarb and dried fruit”.  I pounded out  pieces of pork tenderloin, gave them a quick sear, and topped them with an arugula salad dressed with a rhubarb vinaigrette and a smattering of dried figs and pecans.  The flavors were good but it just didn’t pack as much punch as I’d imagined.  I wanted amazing, not meh.

Thankfully, I spotted a recipe on another food website that made me decide to give these ingredients a second shot together.  It was lamb chops with rhubarb-raisin agrodoloce.  Excellent, it was basically the flavors I had imagined working so well together made into a dish that made more sense.  I combined my ingredients list with the method used in the recipe and came out with a winner.  Meh?  No way!  I got the “amazing” I’d been after.

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Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

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Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

When you’re a kid,  spring and summer stretch out endlessly.  Each day is perfection, filled sunshine and free time.  But suddenly, you realize your childhood is long gone and perfect days like these have almost vanished with it.  I’m talking about days when the weather is gorgeous, there’s no where you absolutely have to be, and nothing you can’t put off doing until tomorrow.  When these gems of days (or even just an afternoon or evening) roll around, you’ve got to seize them–head to the backyard, grab a lawn chair, and fully soak up the perfection.

Now, obviously, we have to eat and days like this call for simplicity.  Delicious simplicity–nothing complicated and nothing that’s going to keep us standing in the kitchen when we should be kicking up our feet outside.  We want something inherently good, like a grilled steak.  We can dress it for perfection with a salsa verde that’ll be put together in less than 2 minutes.

Before we go on, I should remind you this an Italian salsa verde and not to be confused with a spicy Mexican green salsa.  No tomatillos or jalepeños, just a green sauce made with a bunch of fresh herbs, garlic, capers, and olive oil.  Think pesto with fewer rules.

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