Eating the 4 P’s

If you work up an appetite contemplating The 4 P's, here's a quick, easy solution where you can have your 4P's and eat them too! Bon apetit ~

The Four Ps: Peas, Parsley, Parmesan, Pasta

Photo credit: Everyday Food

Julia Bainbridge Food Editor May 9, 2014

Three Ps—peas, parsley, and Parmesan—can make another P: Pesto. Mix the pesto with pasta (P!), and you’ve got…a promising dinner. Alright, that was a stretch.
But peas! They’re in season now at their sweetest and overall best, so sub in fresh ones for frozen in this recipe. Instead of cooking them according the package instructions, as the recipe says, either blanch the fresh peas in boiling water or hit them with some quick heat in the sauté pan before pulsing them. Presto! (Okay, we’ll really stop now.)

Pea and Parsley Pesto with Linguine
by Everyday Food, serves 4

2 cups frozen peas (from a 10-ounce bag)
1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
2/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces linguine

Cook 1 cup peas according to package instructions.

In a food processor, combine cooked peas, parsley, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, and 1 tablespoon water. Pulse until a paste forms. With machine running, slowly add oil, processing until blended; season with salt and pepper.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions, adding 1 cup peas 30 seconds before end of cooking.

Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and peas. Return pasta and peas to pot; toss with 3/4 cup pesto (reserve remainder for another use), adding enough pasta water to create a sauce that coats pasta. Serve pasta with more Parmesan.

4P Chutney (Pomegranate, Pineapple, Papaya, Pecan)

seeds from 2 whole pomegranates
sarcotesta from 2 whole pomegranates
1 whole unripe papaya
seeds from 1 whole unripe papaya
12 oz unsweetened pineapple (finely chopped)
4 oz roasted pecans (finely chopped)
1 whole vidalia onion (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 oz dried candied ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon garam masala
pinch of salt
2 oz cider vinegar

Separate seeds and sarcotesta from two whole pomegranates. Separate seeds from one whole papaya. Freeze pomegranate sarcotesta and papaya. Clean pomegranate and papaya seeds and dry for ten days. Roast and coarsely grind seeds. Or, buy pre-dried seeds (then, no reason to freeze/thaw).

Thaw sarcotesta and papaya. Mix together and chop finely.

Finely chop pineapple, mix with sarcotesta and papaya.

Warm oil and mix in garam masala. Add onions, sarcotesta, papaya, and pineapple. Simmer for a few minutes, adding in ginger, candied ginger, salt, and roasted seeds. Reduce to low simmer.

Mix brown sugar, vinegar, curry, and pecans and stir into pan. Continue heating for 20-30 minutes.

Refrigerate and serve chilled

Hi James, can you please tell me exactly what "sarcotesta" is? Is that the white pithy part of a pomegranate? Is this a sweet? A nibbly hors'deurve? What? Any pictures? Thanks pal!

Here's a pretty interesting article:

http://botanistinthekitchen.wordpress.com/tag/sarcotesta/

What I am calling the sarcotesta is the red pulp surrounding the pomegranate seeds.