Two Tasty Pastas with Fresh Peas

Fresh peas are becoming such a problem. My farmer growers don't like to grow them-no one wants to put the work of shelling them into their routine. These peas came from a grower already shelled. Although they were fresh, they were disappointing to me because they were a bit mature and starchy-not the tiny sweet orbs I wanted-nonetheless they were still tasty mixed with some additional ingredients and noodles.

Very simple and delicious. The first is linguini tossed with shrimp and grilled salmon. The sauce was Vodka Tomato cream-we reduced cream, added some of our red sauce and 1/4 cup vodka and cooked it briefly before tossing in the shrimp and salmon to cook in the sauce, then we added the already cooked peas and noodles. We finished the dish with fresh dill.

The second is from the cookbook author Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking". It is titled Paglia e Fieno. The translation means "hay and straw"-you use both egg and spinach noodles, so it whimsically looks like a mixture of hay and straw. This time the noodles are sauced with reduced cream, wine, wild mushrooms, peas, and parmesan. Before serving I topped the noodles with some thinly sliced Proscuitto, which makes it essentially noodles with ham and peas-the Italian sounds exotic, while the American sounds mundane-in any case, to paraphrase (badly) Shakespeare "a pasta by any other name would taste just as sweet"-so call it what ever you want.

New Year's Day

It has been so busy that I pretty much gave up on trying to keep this blog current. The restaurant was literally non-stop the last couple of weeks before Christmas. It has been lovely. We sold a boatload of seafood (please forgive the pun), lots of steaks and Prime Rib Roasts, over the top sauces, glazes, and garnishes, spreads, dips, and appetizers-ENOUGH ALREADY! And still today I could not control myself and made just a couple of things to nosh on while I tried in vain to connect my new Sirius Satelite Radio.

Black Eyed peas of course. I pickle them like Helen Corbett recommends. Helen Corbett was an influential foodie in the 1950's. She was cooking at a country club in Houston and was faced with the Southern tradition of serving the peas on New Year's day, when she did not care for them at all. She came up with the idea of pickling them and making a salad of them and I think I prefer them prepared this way as well. She went on to even greater fame as the creator of the Zodiac Room and menus for the Neiman Marcus Corporation.

Oysters with two toppings one bacon, leek, and hot sauce, and a second of my nephew's Mother-in-law's home preserved green tomato relish. We call them Oysters Lalette after the lady herself. It is also delicious as part of a cheese tray.

And last I made a lobster curry. I think I'll experiment with alot of Indian food in the new year. I got an antique apothecary mortar and pestle as a gift and it is perfect for grinding the spices and herbs to make curry pastes. I just split the tails and threw everything in the wok with some coconut milk, some vegetables, and diced pears. It was fantastic, but difficult to eat. Even with the shells split, the lobster meat was difficult to extract.