Shaun Cooks! Penne with Shrimp, Fresh Tomato and Chorizo

A new seller at the St. Norbert Farmers Market is making pasta this year and I found penne flavoured with keylime and chili.  I left it up to Shaun to create a sauce to marry with this unusually flavoured pasta!  He cooked fresh tomato, sweet white onion and chorizo down with a spash of white wine to create a base for shrimp.  The light sauce lets the subtly flavoured pasta shine through!

Butter Basted Baby Carrots

I was lucky enough to find these multicoloured baby carrots at this farmers market this weekend.  Sweet and tender in purple and orange.  These are so fast and easy to cook and they require little prep - I don't even peel them before tossing them in a hot frying pan with a little butter.  No brown sugar glaze required here, these baby's are super sweet and tasty.  If you can find them, snatch them up - they are great like this, served raw in crudités or salad or simply blanched - a great early summer treat.

Peas, Pesto and Pasta

The basil plants on the balcony are going a bit crazy. I've been plucking off their flowers and have been rewarded with an abundance of leaves! I really love pesto in moderation but there is something very strong about the bottled stuff and on a bowl of pasta I find it over whelming so I thought I'd try making my own with basil, lemon, parmesan and of course garlic!

I used substantially less oil than traditional pesto in this recipe.  I have also added a few tbsp of vegetable broth to the mixture to make up for the lack of oil.  If you prefer a more traditional consistency, feel free to up to oil amount as you blend.

This recipe makes enough pesto for one generous plate of pasta for one as a meal, however, you could easily serve this as a side dish with a light protein like fish or chicken if you wish!

St. Norbert Farmers Market

Mom and I spent the morning at the farmers market in St. Norbert today. It's early in the season so not a ton of veggies to be had but plenty of lettuce, herbs, onions, fresh baby potatoes and the odd bunch of early baby beets. Not to mention the various food and craft vendors...especially the spring roll vendor...mmm...Shaun, though he can't for any money be dragged from bed to the market itself, is happy to put away a to-go container of these hot, crispy treats!

One surprize this year was the organic free range eggs, by the dozen or the flat which mom and I snapped up...splitting a flat of mixed brown and white beauties....$7.50 for 30 eggs.

I also came across something else I hadn't seen at the market before...garlic flowers...or scapes I've heard them called. These slim greens are the curling stalk and flower of the garlic plant. Generally, or so I've heard, these are removed to focus more of the garlic plants production into the the bulb below the soil. The scapes have a milk garlic flavour without the puncent heat of the bulbs. They can be served sauteed, grilled, picked...or try this recipe for pesto!

Here is a look at my farmers market treasures!

Eggs:




Potatoes:


Spring Onions:




Scapes!




Spring Rolls!


THIS is what an egg should look like! Look at that bright yellow yolk for chickens eating what chickens are supposed to eat! ...whatever that is...