Pea and Mint Pesto

With spring less than a month away I decided to get an early start with this pea and mint pesto courtesy of the frozen food aisle. After defrosting your peas combine in a food processor with a peeled clove of garlic, half a cup of grated parmesan, half a dozen sprigs of fresh mint, and a teaspoon of kosher salt.

With the machine running slowly add about a third of a cup of extra virgin olive oil until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste then toss with pasta, serve on a crostini, or as a dip with toasted pita chips. It tastes better if you close your eyes, clap your heels together three times and repeat to yourself, there’s no place like spring; there’s no place like spring; there’s no place like spring.

Blueberry Ginger Sauce

This is a sauce I used to make cooking for a high-end catering company in Boston, it just goes to show how amazing easy can be. And the complimentary sweet and salty flavors are perfect on lamb, chicken, pork, or turkey.

It’s all about the blueberry jam, the better the jam the better the sauce. In a small sauce pot simmer two parts jam to one part soy sauce along with some fresh minced ginger. Reduce slowly for about a half an hour or until it’s a syrupy consistency then serve. Substituting garlic for ginger works just as well.

Baked Feta Tomatoes and Olives

Once in a while you stumble upon something that’s so easy and delicious it instantaneously becomes part of the rotation; this baked feta is one of those. I discovered it on Smitten Kitchen and it would be a great starter to any meal…romantic or otherwise.

Preheat your oven to 400. In a large bowl combine a heaping handful of halved grape tomatoes, some chopped Kalamata olives, a minced shallot, a minced garlic clove, a little chopped parsley, a few splashes of extra virgin olive oil as well as some kosher salt and black pepper.

Place a whole block of feta, preferably Maplebrook, in the center of an oven proof dish then top with your tomato mixture and bake for 20 minutes. The feta should be soft enough to easily schmear on crackers or a sliced baguette.