[1] Spring salad with sugar snap peas, arugula and burrata (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Sugar snap peas. The pod can be eaten whole (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Burrata, a thin mozzarella shell filled with creamy, ricotta-like cheese. The piece in photo #1 is torn by hand, but if you’re more comfortable, cut it with a knife (photo © Murray’s Cheese).

[4] Golden balsamic vinegar. You can get it from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo).

The third spring greens recipe this series is a spring salad, snap pea and arugula salad with a pesto vinaigrette.

It joins:

 
Loaded with crispy snap peas, arugula and fresh basil leaves, the salad is topped off with creamy burrata cheese and a pesto golden balsamic vinaigrette.

It’s a taste of spring! Thanks to DeLallo for the recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: SPRING SALAD WITH BURRATA

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

For The Salad

 
For The Salad

 
Preparation

1. SLICE the pea pods in half lengthwise, leaving some peas on each side of pods.

2. COMBINE the peas, arugula and basil leaves in a large bowl.

3. MAKE the dressing: Whisk together the vinegar and pesto in a small bowl. Once combined, whisk in the olive oil in a slow steady stream. Continue to whisk for an additional 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

4. POUR the dressing on the salad and toss to coat. Distribute onto individual plates and top with torn burrata, salt and pepper.
 

GOLDEN (WHITE) BALSAMIC & TRADITIONAL BALSAMIC VINEGAR: THE DIFFERENCE

Traditional balsamic vinegar, a dark and slightly sweet syrupy vinegar (here’s more about it).

The authentic balsamics come from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and can be aged for 12 to 150 years. They are costly.

The older the bottle, the costlier. A 12-year-old bottle on the shelf can be $40; the vinegars over 75 years old can cost hundreds of dollars. That’s because the older, more intense and more syrupy/concentrated balsamics get so by evaporating over time, so there is a longer holding cost and less vinegar to sell.

Not surprisingly, counterfeit balsamics abound. Here’s the scoop on fake balsamic vinegar).

Supermarket balsamics that cost $5-$10 a bottle are regular wine vinegar colored a deep dark brown with caramel. They’re not magnificent like authentic ones, but can be fine for salad dressings.

The one problem with dark balsamic vinegar is that, whether in a dressing or a sauce, it can turn light-colored ingredients—fish, chicken breast, white cheeses like feta—a bit brownish.

Thus, golden balsamic vinegar was born. It’s also called white balsamic.

Golden balsamic vinegar originates from the same region of Italy as traditional balsamic vinegar.

Instead of being made from an assortment of local grapes, it is made only from trebbiano grapes. It is cooked for many hours into a caramelized syrup, which is then aged to create the vinegar.

The result is sweeter and simpler than traditional balsamic, but welcome when you don’t want your light ingredients to take on color—or when you want a naturally sweet vinegar for drizzles, fruit salads and other dishes.
 
 
> CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VINEGAR <

We love Katie’s Mustard Slaw so much, that we’re reprising our 2013 article in order to introduce it to every NIBBLE reader.

Prior to the beginning of Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day cookout events, we want everyone to experience it. At $4.99 a jar, you can even give it as party favors and stocking stuffers, down the road.

It’s longer name is Katie’s Home Style, Old-Fashioned, Pool-Room Mustard Slaw, but that’s a mouthful.

Speaking of mouthfuls, we eat it from the jar before we get to slather it on our favorite mustard-friendly foods.

We taste a lot of products, and this blend of mustard with bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, onions and vinegar, spices, jalapeños and a bit of salt and sugar is a winner (and very low-calorie to eat from the jar).

Katie’s mustard slaw a complex layering of flavors, with a beautiful texture and a spicy kick. It’s a riff on chow-chow*, a Nova Scotian and American pickle relish made from a combination of vegetables; and a relative of British piccalilli (which has a cauliflower base).

In Alabama and Tennessee, the condiment is called chow-chow, mustard slaw or pool room slaw. It has been made and sold by southern Tennessee Amish for some 100 years (source).

Get yours here. You’ll be very happy! (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)
 
 
HOW TO ENJOY KATIE’S MUSTARD SLAW

It’s a wonderfully versatile condiment, zingy and satisfying. Use it:

 
…and with countless other foods. Don’t hesitate to dip a spoon into the jar for a mini snack.

[1] Katie’s Original Mustard Slaw (all photos © Katie’s).

[2] Jalapeño Mustard Slaw.

[3] Hot dogs are just the beginning.

A tablespoon is just 10 calories, with zero calories from fat, 40mg sodium and 1 mg sugar. It’s a caloric bargain, waiting to add great flavor to your meals. All of the vegetables that Katie’s uses are bought fresh from a local farmers market.

Now the challenge: How to get it. Distribution is limited.

To order, head to KatiesSlaw.comand scroll to the bottom of the page.

If you have to order a case, don’t worry: You’ll go through it quickly, and be happy to have jars for house gifts and stocking stuffers.

Katie is Katie Kilburn of Florence, Alabama. She began to make slaw and relish products for her family and the local high school football concession stand, using her mother-in-law’s recipe.

With the help of the Shoals Commercial Culinary Center, fortuitously located in her hometown, she was able to tap into resources to make more slaw and relish for commercial sale.

The business is now owned by Katie’s daughter Teresa and husband Derek.

Anyone who tastes it will love it. Hand this review to your favorite retailer and ask that they bring in a few cases—and watch them fly off the shelves.

________________
*According to Wikipedia, chow-chow is “regionally associated” with the Southern United States, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, the Appalachian Mountains and soul food. The recipes vary greatly; some are sweeter, others more savory. The name is said to derive from the French word for cabbage, chou (pronounced “shoe”). It was popular with the Acadians of Nova Scotia, descendants of the 17th-century French colonists, who emigrated to Louisiana.

Cooking dinner every day during quarantine, we’ve found spring pasta and pizza recipes that are a delightful break between the standards.

We’ve been making “Spring Pizza”” once a week. It has spring peas and tendrils, sugar snap peas and watercress.

When we have them in the fridge, we add asparagus, too.

Now for a tandem recipe from Delallo: Fettuccine Alfredo “primavera.”

Although it isn’t part of the original Fettuccine Alfredo recipe, we add green peas and garnish with snipped chives or parsley to add a bit of color and flavor to the super-rich sauce.

(Fettuccine Alfredo was created by a restaurateur to give his pregnant-and-not-hungry wife a bland dish that she could eat. Here’s the story)

> The year’s 20+ pasta holidays.

> The history of Fettuccine Alfredo.

> The history of pasta.

> The different types of pasta: a photo glossary.
 
 
ABOUT GEMELLI

DeLallo chose gemelli, the Italian word for twins, for this twisted pasta short cut.

However, gemelli are not twin tubular strands twisted together. Look closely: You’ll see that they are a single S-shaped strand twisted into a spiral.

The shape allows sauces to better attach to the entwined pasta’s crannies—as opposed to sliding off flat fettuccine—increasing the flavor in each bite.

There are approximately 350 pasta shapes in Italy and more than four times the different names for them (source).

Each region had its own dialect; and while flat cuts like spaghetti and linguine were pretty universal, different regions developed some unique cuts as well.

In the days before mass communication, few people knew what other regions were making.

Gemelli are are related to fusilli as another complex helix. In this case, always with two blades, but the blades are curved until they almost enclose themselves to make tubes – somewhat like twisted casarecce.

Gemelli pairs nicely with light tomato sauces, dairy-based sauces, oil-based sauces, and in pasta salads (source).

Similar shapes are caserecce, rotini, strozzapreti and trofie.
 
 
RECIPE: PASTA ALFREDO WITH ANY TYPE OF PASTA

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. BRING a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Meanwhile…

2. HEAT the Alfredo sauce in a medium saucepan over low heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes.

3. PREPARE 2 bowls with ice baths. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the asparagus in the boiling water for 2 minutes; then transfer to an ice bath using a slotted spoon. Add the sugar snap peas to the water and cook for 2 minutes; then transfer to the other ice bath using a slotted spoon.

4 COMBINE the pasta, asparagus, sugar snap peas, artichokes and sauce in a large bowl. Toss well to combine and season with salt and pepper.

5. DIVIDE the mixture among the plates and top with the lemon zest and pine nuts.

[1] Pasta Primavera Alfredo, made with gemelli pasta twists, below (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Gemelli (“twins”) pasta: One strand twisted into an S-shape (photo © J. Irkaejc | iStock Photo).

[3] Alfredo sauce ((photo © DeLallo).

[4] Pine nuts are a popular ingredient in Italy. If you prefer, you can substitute walnuts (photo © Good Eggs).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Fresh strawberries (photo © InHarvest).

[2] Strawberry lemonade (photo © La Cocina Color Lila).

[3] Strawberry milkshake (photo © Friendship Dairies).

[4] A flowering strawberry plant. The fruit grows from the flower (photo © John-Mark Smith | UnsplashUnsplash).

[5] Strawberry plant (photo © Chris Yang | UnsplashUnsplash).

May is National Strawberry Month. Is there anything more delightful than a sweet, low-calorie strawberry (4 calories per medium strawberry)?

California and Florida are the principal U.S. strawberry-growing regions: Florida for winter berries, California for spring, summer and fall fruit.

Florida strawberry growers began hand-harvesting the first fruit of the winter strawberry season in late November; and while there are imports, Florida is the major supplier of strawberries in the U.S. from November through early spring.

Today, the strawberry is the leading small fruit crop in the U.S.

But where did the strawberries come from?

They’re originally from Europe, but wild strawberries grow in many locations, including the United States.

The fruit dates back to the Roman Empire, and possibly to the Greeks before that. Fast forward a couple of millennia: The first American species of strawberry was cultivated about 1835.

The strawberry got its name from the common practice of growing the berries under straw to protect them from frost.
 
 
A RELATIVE OF THE ROSE

The strawberry is a member of the rose order and family*, which is why the strawberry plant sometimes gives off a rose-like aroma.

A greenish-white fruit (see photos #4 and #5) grows from the flower and eventually ripens into a deep red berry.

Before modern refrigeration, the fruits were picked and consumed in short order; as fresh fruit, in pies, tarts and shortcake.

The berries were preserved as jam, jelly, sauce, strawberry vinegar and strawberry tonic, a medicinal drink.

And to enjoy them year-round, the fruits were dried on flat rocks for several days, to be used throughout the fall and winter in breads, cakes and puddings.

Today, many different varieties of strawberries are cultivated. Each has a specific color, flavor and texture (firm flesh is needed to ship long distances, for example).

The particular climate and soil dictate which variety of strawberry will grow best; and different varieties were bred to thrive in different soils.

Some varieties grow early in the season, some later.

Strawberries must be picked at the peak of ripeness for optimum flavor, as they do not continue to ripen after they’re picked.
 
 
STRAWBERRY TRIVIA

The strawberry is the only fruit to carry its seeds on the outside. There are 200 seeds on the average strawberry.

Each of these seeds has the genetic potential to become a new variety of strawberry since no two seeds are the same. This is how plant breeders develop new varieties of strawberries.
 
 
HOW TO BUY STRAWBERRIES

 
 
USING STRAWBERRIES

 
 
STRAWBERRY NUTRITION

Strawberries are rich in antioxidants. Studies have found that the berries inhibited the development of oral, esophageal and colon cancers.

Strawberries are nutritious.

________________

*Order Rosales, Family Rosaceae, Genus Fragaria, Species F. × ananassa.
 
  

We prefer French toast to pancakes and waffles. The texture and the flavor of good bread, as opposed to the wheatiness of the latter.

For Mother’s Day, we’re making this recipe from DeLallo: Raspberry Mascarpone Stuffed French Toast with Balsamic Glaze.

That’s a mouthful, and so is the three-decker French toast napoleon or sundae.

The triple-decker stuffed French toast is layered with creamy mascarpone and fresh berries, drizzled with a rich balsamic glaze.
 
 
RECIPE: RASPBERRY MASCARPONE STUFFED FRENCH TOAST WITH BALSAMIC GLAZE

Ingredients For 5-6 Servings
 
 
For The Filling

 
For The Creamy Balsamic Glaze

 
For The French Toast

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the filling. Combine the mascarpone, crushed raspberries, honey and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

2. MAKE the finishing glaze: Mix mascarpone, half and half, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

3. MAKE the French Toast: Whisk together eggs, cream, vanilla and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Using a paring knife (we used a large serrated knife), cut a pocket into each thick slice of bread. Start on one side of bread and cut 3/4 of the way through. Evenly distribute the filling between slices, carefully filling bread pockets.

4. MELT a spoonful of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and coat the pan. Dip the filled slices of bread into the egg mixture and place them in the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, until brown and crisp. Repeat this process with remaining slices.

5. DUST with confectioner’s sugar, drizzled with the balsamic glaze, and serve immediately.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF FRENCH TOAST <

[1] A French toast napoleon or sundae, a new way to serve stuffed French toast (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Mascarpone and raspberries (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Confectioner’s sugar, also called 10x and powdered sugar (photo by Katherine Pollak, © The Nibble).