Fast food

By Kim Carlson

June 18, 2007

After a half-dozen years of happily subscribing to a CSA basket (a few years before I even knew that’s what it was called), for now, I’m a farmers’ market shopper. Who knows? Next year I may do both! Meanwhile, my market buddy Susan and I load up our granny carts most Saturday mornings and away we go.

The pickup: This week I bought spinach, red lettuce, garlic scapes, sugar snap peas, radishes, fava beans, and some of the garlic and chive pesto that I love but haven’t learned to replicate.

Simple late-spring pasta.

The results: Tuesday evening, I cut the garlic scapes into one-inch lengths and sautéed them in olive oil for about five minutes, then added a handful of sliced radishes and a sprinkle of salt; after five more minutes I added a generous spoonful of the fava beans we had prepared the day before and turned the heat way down. Meanwhile, I put fresh pasta up to boil, and warmed the pesto to room temp. When the pasta curls were done, I drained them, added about 3/4 cup pesto, and the vegetables. Paired with fresh sugar snap peas, this was definitely a less-than-30-minute meal. It was almost too pretty to eat — but only almost.