Somehow winter escaped us without one single post to the blog. So just imagine we put up some posts about just how we spent our culinary lives this winter: cleaning out the bounty of preserved veggies from the freezer, mastering an Asian quinoa-inspired millet hot dish, and producing always-delicious (but never once the same) brownies for the masses. Oh and then there’s the Black Magic Cake, which will now steal the show more often in any Demmel dessert contest.
We’re sorry to inform you that over the course of the last 4 months, both Lindsey and Laura’s computers CRASHED! Thus, months of documentation of our culinary work has disappeared! Maybe it’s for your benefit (no jealousy or good-information-too-late that left you furious). Our resiliency has been tested this winter, but we’re on the up and up… Spring is here!!! (And hopefully winter won’t come back until after we’re gone!)
This early spring weather brings the earliest spring produce. My favorite are these little green leaves that, at first glance, can be mistaken for spinach leaves. If only they were so! Instead, they are what I will call “Padure (paw-doo-ray) greens”. Handpicked from the “padure” (or forest in Romanian), a small bunch of these cost just 4 lei ($.0.30) from the kind, local market salesman! They have a bite to them, much like an onion, but with the consistency of fine spinach.
Here’s one simple dish I made that was tasty and healthy.
Sauteed chickpeas and padure greens:
- Cooked Chickpeas
- Garlic, salt, oil (for sauteeing)
- Spices (try cayenne, thyme, oregano… you name it)
- Padure greens
Sautee the garlic, salt, and oil with the chickpeas. Roast them until the pan is almost clean of oil. Then add the padure greens for only a brief minute. I added just a touch of olive oil for taste and to not leave the dish dried out. Tada!
Sauteed Chickpeas with Padure Greens
The second dish I made with padure greens was a “padure pesto”. Here I used nothing you would find in a traditional Italian pesto, but my dinner guest approved (although he’s not hard at all to please).
Padure pesto:
- Padure greens
- Chickpeas, cooked
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper
- Water
- Parmigiano (Luckily, I just returned from Italy!- I dare you to go hardcore Moldovan and try it with brânza!)
This probably requires some type of blender (sorry for those lacking!). Chop the greens and garlic. Combine and blend all of the above but for the shredded parmigianno (at least half of my Magic Bullet was full of padure greens). After mostly blended, add the cheese and continue to blend until it’s a rather smooth consistency.
Making some “Padure pesto”
Cook some pasta, and a minute before it’s done, drain most (but not quite all) of the water. Add the pesto, stir until warm, and serve! Bon apetit!
Pasta with Padure Pesto and Parmigiano
Sfecla & Spice 