Yes, I’ve been cooking for my clients. Yes, I’ve been busy catering. I think you all know this. But what you might not be aware of is that one the the primary reasons I’ve been a little remiss in my recipe posting is because I’ve been working happily and industriously testing recipes for someone else. Someone who is writing a cookbook. Someone who is a rockstar awesome human being. Someone who is a chef. Someone who is a super chef. Uber chef. No, make that someone who is an Iron Chef! But, more about that teaser for another day :-)! Oh, the mystery, oh the intrigue. And how does this smidge of info fit into my dishy dish of pasta? Only just a wee little bit. But I needed to snitch. And write in non-sequiturs.

I stopped at Mini Milkers Farm yesterday to visit the goats. Not only are the folks raising goats at the farm, but they also grow plentiful vegetables and fruits. I picked an assortment of beautiful lettuces, tender English peas, juicy strawberries and sweet-tart cherries. Lunch was literally in the bag.

Once home, I filled the kitchen sink with water to wash my lettuces and cherries, gave the berries a quick rinse and put a pot of water on to boil for some whole wheat spaghettini. While the pasta cooked, I shucked the little peas and blanched them in a strainer I had set into the salted pasta water. Once the pasta was cooked very al dente and drained, I turned it back into the pot, set the heat on medium and tipped in a little homemade chicken stock (use water if you’d like to make this vegetarian) and added a few tablespoons of a delicious chunky marinara sauce I had left in the fridge from a recipe I had tested for the cookbook (there’s my segue). The pasta finished cooking in the now tomato-tinged stock, and that was it. I topped the pasta with a tumble of the peas, torn leaves of parsley and few shavings of pecorino. Served alongside my just-picked farm lettuce salad vinaigrette, cherries, strawberries, and glass of chilled Triennes rose, a finer impromptu lunch I could not have imagined. Cheers. Gratitude in spades. Wish you all could have joined me.

My next post will feature a *HOT* *SCOOP* recipe from the forthcoming cookbook…….hold on to your toques everybody…..