{"id":3903,"date":"2015-04-01T05:51:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T05:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=3903"},"modified":"2015-04-01T05:51:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T05:51:05","slug":"pasta-radishes-lemon-pea-shoots-breadcrumbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=3903","title":{"rendered":"pasta, radishes, lemon, pea sprouts, breadcrumbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vesuvio_radishes_lemon_pea_shoots_breadcrumbs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I hope I’ve never given the impression in\u00a0this blog that\u00a0the simpler pasta meals\u00a0scattered among those which feature fish or meat are merely ‘palate cleansers’, but this meal should give the lie to any such thoughts. \u00a0Although it was almost totally an\u00a0improvisation, in which I\u00a0was able to take\u00a0advantage of some ingredients I had on hand which I wanted to use\u00a0while they were still fresh, the results were impressive, even if they might look pretty modest in any description, visual or written.<\/p>\n

It’s a great vegetarian meal, and, had I spared the tablespoon of butter I used to brown\u00a0the breadcrumbs, and instead used oil (very easily done),\u00a0it would have been vegan as well. \u00a0Also very wine friendly.<\/p>\n

I knew that I wanted to serve a pasta, but\u00a0only after imagining the combination of ingredients did I realize that I had\u00a0exactly the right pasta, and in exactly the right quantity, meaning a package of eight or so ounces of Afeltra ‘Vesuvio’<\/a> which I had\u00a0opened a month earlier, half of its contents used\u00a0for a\u00a0pasta e ceci<\/a>. <\/em>\u00a0 Any variety of this seriously-underappreciated root would do fine, but I had a bunch of tiny breakfast radishes whose greens\u00a0I had included as a contorni<\/em> in\u00a0a meal<\/a> served\u00a0a few days ago, and I couldn’t imagine how I might better enjoy these micro roots. \u00a0Then there was the last of the Long Island lemon we had been enjoying for over a week, also some pea sprouts I was anxious to see used in a way which would show off both their delicate freshness and their pungency, and finally, the homemade breadcrumbs stored in the cupboard above the counter are always waiting to be a part of\u00a0the right meal.<\/p>\n

The most tedious and time-consuming\u00a0assignment in the preparation of\u00a0this meal was the cleaning of the dwarf radishes; everything else was a lark.<\/p>\n