I’ve recently made a new friend, Lucienne, and our conversations, more and more, have delved into the many fine taste sensations of Italian cuisine.
Last weekend she introduced me to something new: Spring Parmagiano. (there is Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Parmagiano) I’d never heard of it and to my knowledge, have never tasted it. Now, you can see from the recipes on my blog, I cook a lot of Italian food. I use Parmagiano cheese often and I buy the best I can find in this area. But I’ve never tasted anything like the Spring Parmagiano she brought back for me from Di Palo’s on Grand Street in NYC. The Spring Parmagiano is sweeter and less likely to crumble than the Parmagiano I’m used to. Throughout the cheese there are crunchy little crystals. It is, as Lucienne says, divine! She suggested tasting the cheese with a sliced pear, which I did and, she’s right. Divine is the word to use when describing this cheese.
Find some of this cheese and give it a try….. but I must issue this warning: you might not ever go back to the grocery store version of Parmagiano again. Enjoy!

As all of you avid gardeners know, this time of year brings in baskets of cucumbers. You pick them all one day and a new healthy batch of full grown vegetables seem to replace them the following morning. You give them to friends and neighbors, you take them to co-workers, you put them into salads, sandwiches and soups, but there are plenty left over.
However… we would never leave them out of our garden.
Instead, we make pickles.
Beautiful, sweet, tangy pickles!
One of the photographs shows Sandy making use of an overgrown dill plant we had growing in the garden. She cut the seeds and herb off the stem and added it to the pickle jars.
As you can see, we have different size jars that we collected, but we put the same amount of seasoning in each jar.

Ingredients (we doubled the recipe)
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp. sea salt
2 cups white sugar
6 cups sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onion
1 1/2 cup wax beans
1 generous Tbsp. pickling spice in each jar
A few sprigs of dill in each jar

Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil. Boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes.
Place the cucumbers, onions, beans, dill and pickling spice in each jar. Pack the jars tight.
Pour the hot liquid into each jar so that it covers the vegetables.
Cover, and put into the refrigerator for 3 weeks before eating.

Like I said when I started this blog, we will pass along to you, only recipes that we think are above and beyond others. We cook many more recipes than this blog would suggest, but only the strong survive!
So, with that in mind, here is a recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentis and prepared by Sandy.
What a wonderful job Sandy did!
And how proud we are of our fruitful herb garden!
Enjoy!

12 ounces penne pasta
1 (8.5 ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 garlic cloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.
Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.

Serve this dish as a hearty, satisfying main course. Serves 4

1 15 ounce can cannellini beans with their liquid
3/4 pound chorizo, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a small saucepan, heat the beans in their liquid. In a large skillet, cook the chorizo over high heat until it is lightly browned, cooked through and most of the fat is rendered.
2. In a medium serving bowl, whisk the oil and vinegar. Stir in the tomatoes, onion and parsley. Drain the beans and chorizo and add them to the prepared bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Serve warm.

I know there are many claims towards a barbecue sauce being the best you’ll ever taste…..but you have to believe me when I say this is the best barbecue sauce you’re ever going to taste! This amount of sauce is good for one side of baby back ribs. We sometimes double the recipe and put half of it in the fridge for later use. This sauce works well on ribs, chicken or steak. Enjoy!

Law School Sauce

1 cup vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup catsup
1 Tsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. salt
dash paprika
dash Tabasco sauce

1. Put vinegar into saucepan and add all other ingredients. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Cool.
2. Cut sides of ribs into 4-5 rib sections and wrap, meaty side down, in foil that has been sprayed with Pam. Crimp top and sides of foil to seal so that juices don’t run out.
3. Put ribs on grill with setting on medium to low, close the grill lid, and let cook for about 20 minutes.
4. Remove foil packets to a large bowl and open carefully. Place ribs, with rib side down, on grill with low heat. Baste with law school sauce, dabbing it on the ribs. Sauce will appear thin, but thicken as it cooks onto the ribs.
5. Slice rib sections into single ribs; drizzle any remaining sauce over cut ribs and serve.

Serve with: Ice cold beer!

We went to an extraordinary vegan dinner last night so I sliced up potatoes on the mandolin, boiled them for a few minutes and threw them in the wok with some extra virgin olive oil. I then topped them with Onions For Saor from The Harry’s Bar Cookbook. These onions can be served on other vegetables or fish. I could have fried the potatoes a little longer, making them crispier and more golden, but all in all it’s a lovely combination.
They were great with my eggs over easy this morning!

Onions For Saor

1/4 cup olive oil (60ml)
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 bay leaves
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and the bay leaves and saute’, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and have just begun to turn golden, 15-20 minutes. Add the vinegar, stir to combine well, and remove the pan from the heat.