Spring for spring pasta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just this morning showed again how rapidly fast nature starts to blossom and bloom and spring back into life. The surrounding fields are a carpet of furrowed rich brown earth, lush green wheat and bright yellow rapeseed while the apple trees are dressed in clouds of white blossom. Buttercups have appeared overnight, red poppies are dotting the green and whispy grasses sway on wonderful sunlit meadows. I’ve seen a pheasant this morning and the first butterfly of the season – I am overflowing with joy & gratitude & general happiness (while engaging a little sporting activity).

Overwhelming bliss caused by everything spring – or La Primavera if you speak Botticelli – is mirrored in this delightful pasta dish where indecisiveness and immoderation are a good thing.

Green mango salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you believe it, until a few months ago I never had a proper green mango salad! A botched version once made from a fruit caught in limbo between unripe and tasteless was quite off-putting but let’s just forget the sad & sorry thing. This Thai classic is glorious, a revelation, it’s like a refreshing bath in a cold mountain pool or the ice-bucket challenge, it wakes all those slumbering taste buds and is an absolutely wonderful companion to seafood. 

Mexican Green Goddess dressing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the phrase Lightning never strikes twice only would be true, then we might be safe for all eternity (unfortunately, that’s a myth). A few things got fried: phone & router & AirPort & the likes and it took a while to replace them as well as to get everything back up and running. But… I actually found being cut off quite a soothing state of (temporary) splendid isolation. Which brings me to this:

You can say about Gwyneth Paltrow’s cooking what you like but better try this dressing first: once you modify it and substitute a fresh goat yoghurt for the vegan mayonnaise, it is fabulous. A Mexican riff on the Green Goddess dressing takes the creamy (mayonnaise) green herb salad sauce to a bright & fresh Spa version, which is not only highly addictive, but even more beneficial than the original, it might need a CA zip code. Good bacteria (yoghurt) are all the rage…again & the green zingy freshness (lime! coriander! Spring onions!) a true Californian, if you ask me and I can’t get enough of it.