Spaghetti Primavera with Pine Nuts & Sumac

Spring is a short season so you must act accordingly and spring into action (!). Fresh veggies and herbs are, on one hand, easily available and plentiful, and on the other hand, healthy and packed with vitamins and nutrients that we lacked in during the winter months.

I haven't blogged as much as I have cooked (obviously), otherwise you would have discovered a sudden OCD streak in me this season: all green stuff... (and I'm not talking about money)  :)
I have cooked many Italian lunches/dinners lately... I have a love/hate relationship with pasta. I hate Carbonara, Bolognese, canelloni, lasagna, and other way of cooking pasta using minced meat, heavy cream, bechamel sauce and extra hard cheese. :/
However, the dish I love the most is Spaghetti Primavera- or it could also be Spaghettoni, Fusilli, Penne, Rigatoni, or Bow Ties in a light dressing made with olive oil, herbs and lemon, and with fresh, almost-raw stir-fried veggies.

My Spaghetti Primavera with Toasted Pine Nuts and Sumac

Type of cuisine: Italian/Vegetarian/Low-Fat

Difficulty: easy

Cooking time: 15 -20 min preparation time/10 minutes cooking time

250 gr of pasta

2 carrots

1 zucchini 

a small bunch of orach

2-3 spring onions

10 wild garlic (aka ramson) leaves

a small bunch of spinach

2 cloves of garlic

a small branch of rosemary

a handful of pine nuts 

basil 

sumac

freshly ground black pepper

salt

extra virgin olive oil

freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation

Boil the pasta in salty water with a dash of olive oil and a handful of basil. 

Boil the spinach in salty water, drain (and chop roughly).

Boil the orach and drain.

Peel the carrots as if you were making vegan-style raw carrot spaghetti. Do the same with the zucchini.

Chop the spring onions and the wild garlic leaves.

Toast the pine kernels. 

Method

Once you have everything chopped up and at hand, you can almost start calling that dinner's ready.

Fry the garlic and the rosemary in olive oil. Stir-fry the zucchini and the carrots for a minute or two until they become soft. Add the pasta and toss. Squeeze some lemon juice and add the spinach and the orach. I like to separate the leaves individually (even though it's time-consuming and a bit boring) so that they won't bunch up and turn into big lumps. Toss.
Finally add the spring onions and the wild garlic. I like them raw.

To decorate grind some black pepper over the plate, sprinkle some sumac and top with toasted pine nuts. You could also use pumpkin seeds, toasted sunflower seeds, walnuts- the sky is the limit.. though be discerning and sample before embarking on anything fancy :)

The beauty of Spaghetti Primavera is that this dish is so versatile and easy to make. Don't be deterred by how many ingredients you will need. The list is open. If you don't have wild garlic, maybe you can use sweet peas instead, and so on. Let your creative juices flow and make the most of what these beautiful spring months have to offer. I am sure you will love this dish: it has many textures and it is the perfect candidate for a light lunch or a guilt-free dinner.

a view from above

Red Marmite with Orach, Lovage & Wild Garlic

I have started paying heed to the weather forecast, constantly hoping that "next week will be better". There is nothing wrong in hoping, but lately the sun has been playing hide and seek with me. In the meantime, I am making the most of what I can (feebly) call a spring: everything is brand new, green, and fresh.

Anyway, this is my first spring in three years. Saudi Arabia doesn't have a spring in European terms, strictly speaking. March/April marks the sandstorm season, with sudden showers, and temperature is quite high at this time of year. I was pining for spring when I was living in Riyadh. 

So I am still eagerly waiting for the perfect spring to come. I love the (normally) mild weather of April with its sunny days, when happy kids ride their bikes in the park, and beautiful cherry trees are in bloom.

As you know by now, my beloved blog is bursting at the seams with these wonderful seasonal plants: wild garlic (ramson), parsley, nettle, spinach, orach, spring onions... Mixed and combined, they offer an explosion of tastes and textures. Over the weekend I was made to drool over a traditional Romanian soup that I stumbled upon in foodie.ro. I discovered a Transylvanian Orach Broth, soured with vinegar. And so I went down memory lane and suddenly remembered my mother's Orach soup with cream. Oh, memories! Funnily enough, as I was making my own marmite, my mother called me to ask us over for dinner. She was making orach soup as well :)

 Marmite with Orach, Lovage, Wild Garlic and Beef Cubes

a big piece of beef bone with some meat on it (to make the stock)

1 carrot

2 small red onions

..........................................

2 small bunches of orach

2 bunches of ramson (wild garlic)

1 small bunch of lovage

1 small tomato (diced) or 2 tsb of diced canned tomato

1 extra cube of beef stock (optional) or salt

the juice of 1/4 of a lemon 

Type of cuisine: (new) Romanian

Preparation time: 2 hours (blame it on the beef stock)

Difficulty: easy

Preparation

To make the stock, boil the bone for at least 1 hr 45 mins. Drain and discard the veggies. By now they should have become a mush. Scoop the lean meat off the bone and cut it in small cubes. 

Wash the orach, lovage and wild garlic. For nice layers, chop the wild garlic Asian style, tear the orach leaves off their stem leaf by leaf, and cut the lovage finely. (Lovage is vaguely similar to parsley, but has a distinctive taste.)

          tomato, beef & spring yummies

Method

Once you drain the soup in a separate pot, work on your marmite. Add the beef cubes and the diced tomato, season with salt or, for a richer taste, a cube of beef stock. Work in the orach, lovage and wild garlic and let simmer for 10 minutes before serving. Sour the soup with some lemon juice. 

The combination of lovage and lemon juice is a killer :) - it wowed me and Mike, who thought at first that he was tasting miso. 

The orach will turn the soup dark pink bordering on crimson. It's a delicious and appetizing colour.

In Romania people make orach borscht with single cream. My version is much lighter so I didn't pour it over the simmering marmite. 

It was such a great dish that I hope that tomorrow when I go to the farmer's market, I'll be able to find more lovage and ramson, and that their season isn't over. (Isn't spring wonderful?)

                                                                                                                          xoxo

beautiful cherry tree in bloom

Veggie's Delight: Creamy Nettles with Wild Garlic, Saffron & Mustard Seeds

My mother recently gave me a tray of boiled frozen nettles and, since I have never cooked nettles before (though I lived on this minty plant in spring as a child), I decided to give it a shot. Romanian-style nettle recipes include flour and/or oil, so going traditional was not an option. Some weeks ago I found an appetizing recipe by Nigel Slater in The Guardian, and because it had been on my mind ever since, it was now a good excuse to try his version.

Creamy Nettles with Ramson, Saffron, Mustard Seeds and Parmesan

adapted from Nigel Slater, The Guardian

In Romania you know spring has arrived when the farmers' market is abundant in the first produce of the year: radishes, spinach, ramson, nettles. It is nature's way to tell us that winter is over.

Type of cuisine: European/Vegetarian, low fat

Cooking time: less than 15 minutes

Difficulty: very easy :)

400 gr of nettles

2 bunches of fresh ramson leaves (approx 100 leaves)

3 tsp crushed mustard seeds

1 tsp freshly crushed coriander seeds

1 small diced tomato (or 2 tbs of diced canned tomatoes)

1/2 glass of single cream (low-fat, 15%)

saffron

.........................

ciabatta (toasted in the oven)

parmesan

extra mustard seeds for decoration

sumac 

Method

Boil the nettles in salty water. Chop the ramson leaves finely. Dice the tomato. 

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in the wok and fry the coriander (1 spoon) & mustard seeds (2 spoons) till they pop. Cover - unless you want to spend the rest of the evening rubbing & polishing the cooker shiny! Add the ramson leaves and let them simmer until they reduce. Add the nettles and tomato and toss. 

In a separate bowl, pour the single cream (I always use light, low-fat cream) and mix with the saffron and the remaining tsp of mustard seeds. The cream will turn yellow. 

Pour the cream over the nettles and cook over a low flame for 5 minutes. 

In the meantime, toast some ciabatta in the oven. Serve the nettle & ramson stew on the toasted bread. Grate some parmesan - you could broil it as well.  I didn't, because I didn't have the patience :) Decorate the plate with parmesan, sumac and extra mustard seeds. 

The refined taste & crunchy texture of the ciabatta were blending to perfection.  What a great combination! I couldn't get enough of it. It was a delicious vegetarian meal that I loved to the last bite. 

In lieu of conclusion

Because ramson is also known as wild garlic, I did without proper garlic and I also skipped the salt (it proved to be a naturally salty dish). If you use full-fat cream (30% fat or more), you can mix it with warm water to thin it a little.

Nettles on toasted ciabatta & grated parmesan 

Sumac, mustard seeds & parmesan

Late Night Snack: Salmon & Grilled Courgette Baguette w Ramson Raita

Breaking diet rules and regulations doesn't have to leave you with a guilt complex, right? :) I don't believe in what is commonly accepted that "rules are meant to be broken", but what is there to do when you are just hungry in the dead of night?

It only took 10 minutes to prepare this delicious snack, including the photos, so this bite is not only easy, but it's ridiculously quick to fix.

Salmon & Courgette Baguette

a baguette (though I used only half)

1 courgette

strips of Norwegian smoked salmon

20-30 leaves of ramson

2 radishes- chopped finely

lemon juice

onion seeds & pepper (to decorate)

chutney

Raita

yoghurt

ramson 

lemon juice

a pinch of fleur de sel

pepper

a dash of extra virgin olive oil

crushed almonds

Method

Cut the baguette halfway and spread chutney on each slice. I used home made mango chutney, made by Mike. (He is chutney proficient, his chutney is the best thing ever since the invention of the wheel :) Truly delicious.)

Cut the courgette in thin slices and grill them.

Wash the ramson leaves, keep 5 or 6 leaves for the raita.

Put the salmon on the bread, squeeze some lemon juice on top. Add the slices of grilled courgette and the ramson leaves.

Decorate with freshly ground pepper, onion seeds and tiny cubes of radishes.

To make the raita, just blend the ramson leaves with the yoghurt using a vertical blender, add fleur de sel, ground pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of olive oil.
With the blade of the knife, crush some almonds and add them at the end.

Ramson leaves taste garlic-y and peppery, I must say they are my favourite aromatic plants of the season. I have been using ramson obsessively these days, so expect more recipes and postings with this kitchen diva. 

Cooked or raw, ramson, aka wild garlic or bear's garlic, doesn't lose its peculiar taste and gives dishes a wow  factor. You can read more about it here.

Perfect Sunday Roast: Stuffed Citrus Chicken with Rosemary & Sumac

I love Sunday afternoons because my father comes for lunch or linner :) (late lunch, early dinner) and Mike and I cook a full meal: starter, main course, and dessert.

Today I decided to try my luck with a fresh spinach & beet salad, roast free-range chicken stuffed with some goodies that I will write about in a nick (be patient!), accompanied by roast carrots with thyme, roast potatoes with ramson & mint raita, and a scrumptious lemon sponge with rosemary. Mike did the extra stuffing for the chicken, which consists of bread crumbs, wheat grain, garlic, onion, chopped almonds, sage, and thyme. In Romania we rarely eat bread stuffing with chicken, and I was a bit apprehensive at first, but I must say, it's a delicious combination and it enhances the taste of the chicken.

Stuffed Citrus Chicken with Rosemary & Sumac

Yesterday evening I bought a free-range chicken from Carrefour and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to roast it. My father loves roast-anything, so roast chicken is a fixture. :)

I roasted it gently for the best part of two hours at 200 degrees Celsius, giving it time to 'golden' and ripen. 

Have I ever told you how much I love lemons? Hence, the name of my blog: Lemon Love Notes, though I have never attempted to make Lemon Love Notes...which is kind of weird. I have used lemon to its fullest today, though making sure things wouldn't get sour. Lemon imbues food with a fresh scent to which I'm addicted. 

For this recipe it is preferable that you buy a free-range, organic chicken. You'll recognize them because of their skin - it is golden in colour, and goose-bumpy - thanks to actual feathers, which have been plucked. It is unfortunately more expensive, but it is worth it because roast chicken should taste like roast chicken, and free-range chicken does! 

You will need the following herbs, fruits and spices

the fresh orange rind from 1 orange

Camargue salt or any fleur de sel

the skin of a thick slice of lemon (supper finely diced)

3 cloves of garlic

a handful of coriander seeds (half of them crushed)

half a stick of cinnamon- crushed

fresh rosemary

a shake of sumac to sprinkle over the chicken

extra virgin olive oil with which to brush the chicken

To stuff the chicken, use

3 extra cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

20-ish pumpkin seeds

a small branch of rosemary

the remainder of the peeled slice of lemon

the remainder of the orange rind

4 or 5 ramson leaves, finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c while you are dealing with the bird. 

Trim the chicken, rinse it with cold water, and tap it with a kitchen towel to dry it up.

Brush the chicken with olive oil, fleur de sel, and orange rind. Use a very sharp knife to pierce through the skin and the meat in order to insert the rosemary, garlic, cinnamon, and lemon skin cubes. 

Sprinkle the sumac and the coriander seeds over. My advice is that you do not squeeze any lemon juice over the uncooked chicken. Do it just before you serve it hot. The sumac is lemony enough. 

Wrap the chicken in aluminium foil and roast it for 2 full hours. Ten minutes before taking it out of the oven, unwrap the chicken and switch the oven to the fan setting to accelerate the roasting process and make the skin super crunchy. 

This chicken is super-easy to make; basically, all you need to do is to have the herbs and spices at hand and then you let the oven do the rest. 

Mixed Spring Salad with Lavender & Duck Eggs

This week, because I have started to feel much better, I went to the market and I bought a bunch of goodies, most of them being fresh, crisp and very green. And I started rinsing, chopping, cutting, combining, creating, playing. All boasting aside, when it comes to low-fat, healthy food, I have green fingers :)

I have created a great variety of salads with the same ingredients: spinach, orach, celandine, spring onions, parsley, just to name a few. Spring is such a blessing after a long winter. 

Here is the latest, which I had for breakfast: Mixed Salad with Lavender and Duck Eggs. Sometimes, if I have a late breakfast, aka Brunch :) I like to have something more savoury. 

Type of cuisine: Raw, Vegetarian, Low-Fat, Fusion/ Romanian, French

Preparation time: 20 minutes 

Before you make this delicious salad, go to the farmers' market, armed with the following shopping list :)

a bunch of spinach  (you'll only use around 20 leaves)

radishes (you'll need a handful)

orach 

celandine

ramson

Warning- make sure that you wash all the vegetables thoroughly, in cold water, until the water is clean and with no sediments.

Drain the vegetables and cut the bigger leaves in chunks and prepare a simple lemon dressing: extra virgin olive oil, the juice of a slice of lemon and a pinch of salt. Mix and toss. Sprinkle some lavender on top and you will have a stunning salad.

I boiled two free-range duck eggs, I sprinkled over some Camargue salt, freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice and topped them with sprouts and linseeds.

So you might ask, why lavender? - I don't know... I had an intuition that it might work. I had read about biscuits with lavender, but since I don't know how to make biscuits (yet!), I thought that it may work if I used lavender in salads as well. The taste and flavour of lavender will certainly blow you away.
I love lavender to bits. I love Provence. It's where I spent my honeymoon: 21 days in beautiful Provence, visiting the lavender museum, getting lost in lavender fields and making plans for the future. * (I love you, baby).   :)

zoom of my jar of lavender

Springtime

the picture of happiness 

This is probably my favourite time of the year- days are longer, warmer, and meals are so much more interesting. A trip to the farmers' market is a real pleasure and everything around is green, green, green. Yes, I am happy. :) I want to make the most of it and eat better, leaner and healthier. Now it's the time to have most things raw and fresh, amazing salads with vinaigrette or lemon dressing. To combine exotic and local fruit with spinach, rucola, or celandine. To exercise more often and to shed the weight, the worries & the gloom. Winter is over and remember, No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.

Love, xx

spinach and beetroot

celandine

ramson and orach