Artichokes, Found!

After visiting a couple different supermarkets, and getting all kinds of responses to our inquiries like, they're not in yet, not in season, just out... artichokes were finally found! I was bound and determined to have them for Easter, as Spring is when they're in season and they've always been a favorite family snack, going back to when I was little, and I wanted to revisit that bit of nostalgia. My parents would steam one, then place on the table with just a simple scoop of mayo to the side and we'd dig in. It was always a treat to divide up the heart too at the end, with 3 little girls usually fighting for a piece.

This being my first Easter back home in a while, and never knowing where I'll be next year I wanted to recreate this simple dish to share with my family. But then I read this article and got more ideas. And in my quest to find just one, any artichokes at all, my idea expanded and when I finally did find them (thank you SA Whole Foods), I took home 3.

Easter Greens: Truffled Almond Green Beans

Technically I did 2 different "green" sides, the almond green beans and then my favorite quickly sauteed collards with garlic which I've already done here. I love green beans, especially when they're in season in the spring because they really don't need much and you don't need to mess with the integrity at all. But this being a holiday I wanted them kicked up a little from just freshly steamed, or with a simple vinaigrette, so when I saw this recipe from Simply Recipes I couldn't resist, with my own little tweaks of course.

We also had 1 egg that didn't hard boil enough to be deviled, almost soft boiled. So instead of discarding an otherwise perfectly good egg we decided to incorporate it, as it is Easter after all and the pretty white and yellow added color as well as creaminess to the dish.

L'oeuf

So again, Happy Easter! Or Passover weekend, or just Happy Spring! I could write a post about how Easter, and spring, is all about rebirth, re-emergence into the world after the dark of winter, but I'd rather just talk about my favorite part of Easter, espcially the most notable, the Easter Egg. Egg hunts, cascarones, painting eggs, even the word, Easter and Egg just go hand in hand. So long after we've outgrown the hunts and the painting (or at least should've outgrown them... Mom) what remains is the best part, the edible Easter Egg which for my family is in the form of deviled eggs.

Sriracha deviled eggs with the pickled swiss chard stems

Growing up, I always thought of deviled eggs as something bland, like egg salad that is only half done, but one Easter one of my Mom's friends, a French woman, stopped by to drop off some Easter goodies and with them she included her interpretation of Texas deviled eggs. The yolk was mashed with mayo, but all similarities to typical eggs ended there. There was chili powder, a bite of Dijon mustard, cilantro, and tiny chopped shallots throughout that provided a nice bite. And from then on I was sold.

Happy Easter

A little slideshow of our spread. We tried to keep it fairly light as lamb can be rich, with lots of vegetables, virtually no cream, butter or cheese, relying on good olive oil and fresh herbs to jazz up the meal, which they did perfectly.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

There were wasabi deviled eggs, the big spread with the lamb and all side dishes, the stuffed artichoke, delicious truffled almond green beans with a soft boiled egg, and my co-chef in the kitchen, right before working off our meal with an egg hunt.

This is my first Easter home with my family in a few years and it's been wonderful. I usually spend it with my sister and friends in DC, which has always been lovely... but as they say, there's no place like home.

Pebre, the Fasting Food

This is great for whether you fast or not, whether you're looking for something low in calories to snack on or a great topping for seared tuna or grilled chicken. I personally love it with some crispy flatbread, scooped straight from the bowl and the combination is so sweetly savory that the juice from the tomato combined with the onion, cilantro and chilies makes for a delicious shot, almost like leche de tigre.

My fasting sized portion of pebre

Technically, with the tomatoes in it, it is chancho en piedra and in Chile, where the recipe originates, it's spread on bread in lieu of butter. All I know is that it's delicious, refreshing, and a damn better way of eating all your vegetables than drinking a V8. Very similar to the Mexican version of pico de gallo, it's just got that added kick with the vinegar and the aji.

Lazy Summer Days

While all my favorite Northern blogs are finally experiencing the bounty of spring and blog posts abound on ramps, artichokes, fiddlehead ferns, etc, spring has long since come and gone in South Texas. For Easter I had such lofty ambitions of using the above ingredients to create light and delicious seasonal and locavore sides to compliment my Mom's annual leg of lamb, but it has proven a more difficult task than expected.

Because it's summer here. It may be April still but we're in full blown summer mode. It's in the mid 90's, I've shed all my jeans and long pants in favor of shorts and sundresses, and even the nonstop in me is having a hard time tearing myself off the couch. If only my parents had a porch, with a wicker rocking chair and if only I had made that split second decision to pack my adorable floppy straw hat,  I'd be happily lazying away the summer afternoon, chatting with my folks, making sun tea and of course, indulging in my Dad's perfected mint julep.

Counting Down

And catching up. It's been an amazing past week, that has been all part of an amazing month so I figured I'd brush up on my Flickr skills and share a little slideshow of what I've been up to, mostly food, drink, music and sports oriented.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

So you got my highly coveted LCD Soundsystem ticket (thank you B) with a delicious Johnny Mack's cheeseburger in the background. Once of my nicer shots from TV on the Radio part 1 at Radio City. Having a pretty decent glass of Pinot Noir at the Yankees Game. Very delicious siracha deviled eggs with pickled swiss chard stems I nabbed from Luisa's link love last Friday for the perfect (clearly non-vegan) dinner party appetizer and ending the night with a homemade blueberry crumble pie. Then it was off to Boston and hitting up some blueberry beer before TV on the Radio part 2. Brunch the next day was a Sinatra Sunday at Lucky's Lounge and then catching a last minute Red Sox game. April... I'm exhausted, and that isn't even the 1/2 of it.