Recipes

Continuing my recipe contest participation, I recently won the above dried ground hot pepper of Calabria from The Foodie Blogroll. The pepper is medium-hot, about the same level as Gephardt's chili powder, but has a hint of smokiness about it kind of like Aleppo Pepper.  I have no idea how I'll use 1/2 a kilogram; I've already given 8oz away.

I also adore the phonetic italenglish spelling of the label.  Shows you what the Italian on many American brands looks like to someone who actually speaks it.

As part of the victory, I had to promise to post a recipe to go with it, so here goes. What else would you do with pepperoncini di Calabria?  Pasta fra Diavolo, of course!  This is an easy-weeknight version. Click through for recipe.

I made the above tart because last week two things showed up at our local grocer's: $1.49 delta asparagus, and green garlic.  And it was a warm spring day for which I wanted cooler food.

This tart recipe is nice because it's designed to be made on a weeknight when you don't have much time.  To "tart it up", make your own short-crust tart dough instead of using frozen.  More for recipe ...