We are snow over this weather! We are buried again. We are 0.5” from a record that has stood since the 1800’s and only 5” behind Buffalo, NY! The wind is blowing creating blizzard conditions. Jim is not even shoveling as the wind will just blow it back. I did some work on my painting and read a book.


Tonight’s dinner was chosen as it has my favorite foods in it, baby artichokes and fava beens. I really missed these when we moved out of CA. When Jim would go back on business, I’d have him go to the store to see if there were any to bring back. Wegman’s had baby artichokes this week, so I am making Fettuccine with fava beans, artichokes and asparagus. Finding fresh fava beens is next to impossible here. I use canned, which is a poor substitute. This is from a Williams-Sonoma Eating by Color Cookbook. Our color tonight is green.

1 lemon

1 ¼ # baby artichokes (My box said 2#, but by the time you remove the dead stems and the hard leaves I am sure it was back to this weight)

1# fresh fava beans, shelled (We can only get canned here. If you buy canned, notice that they show the “red” bean on front. This is the shell. The canned will shell without steaming.) Fava beans would be a lot more popular if you could get them shelled and fresh.

8 thin spears asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut into 2” pieces. (I used ½ #)

3T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced lengthwise

¾# whole-wheat fettuccine (Actually I used Penne as Jim does not like to roll up the pasta when there are big chunks in the sauce. I also just used ½#)

¼ C grated pecorino cheese

First put on the pasta water, be sure and salt it. Next squeeze the lemon into a large bowl and add the halves of the lemon and 2 cups of water. Cut the top off of each artichoke and stems if dry. Take all the outer leaves until light green and trim the base. As you finish each add to the lemon water. Drain and peel the fava beans. When all the artichokes are trimmed put the lemon water in a steamer and steam with the asparagus on a rack about 6 minutes, mine did not look good until 12 minutes. After all is steamed and drained, cut the artichokes in half. Jim felt they should have been in quarters. Heat oil in a large skillet and start the pasta cooking in the boiling water. Add the garlic to the oil and sauté about 4 minutes. Next add the artichokes for 3 minutes and finally add the fava beans and asparagus for 3 minutes.

Put the pasta in a large shallow bowl, add the vegetables on top, and sprinkle with the cheese.

How was this meal? Boring! If I were to make it again, I would boil the artichokes and asparagus in salted boiling water. I think because they were steamed they absorbed too much of the olive oil and you felt like there was no sauce. We added more olive oil, salt and cheese.

Jim served a wonderful Chardonnay. He thinks he got it through the Opera House Gourmet in Manassas. It is VINTJS, from Mendocino County, 2007. It was the best part of the meal.