Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

When asked what is my favourite vegetable sometimes I reply that it is a  fresh  porcino  mushroom ( boletus edulis ) , and I say this knowing very well that mushrooms do not classify as vegetables... they are fungi, neither fruit nor vegetable. But no one in New Zealand ever asks me what is my favourite fungi (they do in my village in Italy, for sure), only what is my favourite vegetable, and mushrooms are usually defined as a side vegetable (even eaten at breakfast! This thing still puzzles me).   The fact is that to me mushrooms rarely take the place of a side vegetable, but they tend to be the main player: pasta with mushrooms, risotto with mushrooms, polenta with mushrooms, mushroom fritters, mushroom burgers, mushroom dumplings, stuffed mushrooms...  For a vegetarian they substitute meat, and in the old days in my mountains in Italy they used to be called  carne di bosco  'meat of the woods'. We never bought mushrooms when I was ...

I have been cleaning the garden for planting and picked a few onion weeds with some nice juicy bulbs, plus some little potatoes and cavolo nero, so I put everything into a soup, with the addition of some asparagus, and vegetable stock. I blended everything (but left our a few whole steamed asparagus tips to add later) and used some onion weed and pansy flowers for decoration. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

The weather has been strange, one moment sunny and then rainy again, and I needed a colourful salad to keep me happy! So here is a Caprese with bocconcini, and I used cherry tomatoes, beef tomatoes and yellow tomatoes, plus green basil and purple basil. And a few very young leaves of cavolo nero from the garden :-). Drizzle with olive oil, add a pinch of salt, and the sun is shining! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I find frozen peas a bit boring, but I love the colour, plus the frozen ones are so cheap, and if you add some  onion weeds , which are free, and a little butter and salt, you have a quick and delicious side veggie. Plus you can use the leftovers to make a low cost dip just by adding a little feta.  For the peas, just clean and chop the onion weed (bulbs, stem and leaves, leave the flowers aside for decorations, they can be eaten too!). Melt a dollop of butter and add the chopped  onion weeds , then add the frozen peas (don't boil the first, it is not necessary) and a little salt. Stir, cover and simmer (add a tiny bit of water when needed, but never too much). Enjoy!!  With the leftover peas, just blend them with some feta and some of the brine from the feta (if you feta has no brine use a little water). Add more raw onion weed if you like a stronger taste. Super yummy on bread and crostini, with chips, eggs, salads or as a spread. Photos and Recip...