[2] Spring peas fresh from the field (photo courtesy The Chef’s Garden).

[3] Fresh mint (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[4] Fresh spinach (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[5] Garlic, to infuse the olive oil (photo courtesy Domain Image).

With their beautiful color and fresh sweetness, they should be substituted for the ubiquitous avocado toast during their limited spring run. Simply mash them into a chunky spread with bright mint and lemon accents, and spread the mixture on your toast.

Our colleague Hannah Kaminsky went one step further and created a more sophisticated tartine (French for an open-face sandwich, photo #1). Her recipe is below.

While we might call it a mash, she calls the recipe pistou, after the French condiment that uses the same ingredients.
 
 
WHAT IS PISTOU

Pistou (pee-STEW) is a cold sauce that originated in Provence, the southeast region of France that borders Italy. However, recipes by other names have a much longer history.

The Roman poet Virgil described a sauce made by crushing herbs in a mortar with garlic, salt and olive oil. He was not specific about the herbs. Over time, the sauce evolved into the basil-based Genovese pesto and pistou in Nice—both areas rich in basil.

Pistou is the Provençal word for “pounded,” after the traditional method of pounding the ingredients using a mortar and pestle (Virgil’s cook did it the same way).

And like Virgil’s recipe, the original Provençal pistou sauce has just three ingredients: fresh herbs (basil), cloves of garlic and olive oil.

Is Pistou The Same As Pesto?

Some people think pistou is the same as Italian pesto, which originated in Genoa, the capital of the region of Liguria. But it is different: There are no pine nuts or grated pecorino/parmesan in classic Provençal pistou.

Over time, every recipe gets enhanced by creative cooks. Today, some pistou recipe variations include grated cheese, chili flakes or lemon juice. Some cooks add mint or sage. Some add tomatoes. Some even add nuts, which creates a vegan pesto (no cheese).

As long as it contains herbs, garlic and olive oil, it’s pistou. Hannah Kaminsky has taken an even different direction, substituting mint for the basil and adding and spinach and fresh peas.

How To Use Pistou

Pistou is most popularly used in the Provençal dish soupe au pistou, a soup similar to minestrone that can include white beans, string beans, tomatoes, potatoes, summer squash, pasta and herbs. Other vegetable-rich soups can also get the pistou treatment, to enliven the flavors of the soup. The pistou is incorporated into the soup just before serving.

Like pesto, pistou is very versatile: added to bean salad; atop crostini or bruschetta (the difference), toast or plain bread; with grilled meats (Argentine chimichurri is a similar sauce made with parsley); or used, like pesto, as a pasta sauce. Try it as a condiment with eggs.
 
 
RECIPE: CROSTINI WITH MINT & SPRING PEA PISTOU

Crostini sounds exotic, but it’s just Italian for toasted bread. The bread used is an Italian loaf, so it’s different from large, flat American slices.

With bruschetta, the bread is grilled, not toasted. Here are more differences.

The pistou can be prepared in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

For The Minted Pea Pistou

 
Plus

1. MAKE the pistou. Place the mint, spinach, garlic oil, and lemon juice in the food processor and blend until the leaves are broken down and the mixture is fairly smooth. Pause to scrape down the sides of the container as needed.

2. ADD the peas, salt and pepper, and pulse until spreadable but still slightly coarse.

3. TOAST the bread and add a thick layer of ricotta to each slice. Follow with the pea pistou and garnish with fresh peas, pea shoots, and edible flowers. Savor a taste of spring, no matter the weather outside!

________________

*We buy garlic-infused olive oil, but you can infuse your own. Place the 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a small pan with a peeled, crushed garlic clove; the extra tablespoon is to allow for loss during the cooking process. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for three to five minutes. The garlic should sizzle, but not cook. Lower the heat if it starts to brown around the edge. Turn the heat off and let the oil cool. Remove the garlic and use the oil. The reason for cooking the oil is to avoid any botulism present in the garlic. It’s a small risk, but still possible.

Looking for Mother’s Day gifts? Here are some tasty items that won’t break the bank.
 
 
1. CHUAO CHOCOLATE BARS

Chuao (chew-WOW) chocolate is one of the leaders in America’s artisan chocolate bars. We’ve been fans for a long time.

Give a gift set of these gourmet chocolate bars for to a chocolate aficionado, or give single bars as small gifts or party favors.

These delicious, creative chocolate bars are sure to please and are made in a broad spectrum of flavors: caramel, floral, fruity, nutty, salty, savory, spicy.

You can get a fun milk chocolate bar gift set filled with snack favorites (potato chips, popcorn…), a dark chocolate bar gift set, with flavors from spicy and pop rocks to salted almond crunch.

There are more than two dozen flavors in dark, milk and organic chocolate. The chocolatier specializes in artful flavors, including fun options that incorporate popcorn, popping candy and potato chips.

These are some of our favorites, but you can’t go wrong with any of these super-premium chocolate bars:

 
The 2.8-ounce bars are $6.00, and certified kosher by OU. Some flavors are available in .38 mini bars. The chocolate is Fair Trade Certified.

Get yours at ChuaoChocolatier.com.
 
 
2. GOLDEN DOOR FARMS FLAVORED HONEY

You may not be able to send Mom for a week at the Golden Door resort and spa, but you can send her one of their popular products, like artisan honey.

Honey is a 100% natural gift and one of the healthiest sweeteners.

For a special taste of honey in tea (or for basting, or whatever), we like the Delightful Honey Collection, which includes:

 
Three 2.6-ounce jars of honey in a gift box is $36.95. One hundred percent of Golden Door’s net profits go to help end child abuse and transform young lives.

Get yours here.
 
 
3. TABASCO DIAMOND RESERVE SAUCE

TABASCO calls its new, limited-edition TABASCO Diamond Reserve Sauce the “champagne of pepper sauce.” The premium, small-batch release created by the McIlhenny family celebrates the 150th anniversary of the iconic hot sauce brand.

The bottle is designed in the style of Champagne bottles; the sauce is made from a selection of the finest tabasco peppers on Avery Island, chosen for their superior color, texture and robustness.

These peppers are mashed with a small amount of salt and then aged—some for up to 15 years! They’re then blended with sparkling white wine vinegar.

The resulting pepper sauce has exceptional complexity, while maintaining the signature flavor and vibrancy for which TABASCO Sauce is celebrated around the world.

The six-ounce bottle is priced at $34.95. It is available exclusively at TABASCO.com and on Avery Island, Louisiana (the home of TABASCO Sauce).
 
 
4. TAY TEA

[2] and [3] The Delightful Honey Collection, flavored honey from Golden Door Farms.

[4] Tabasco’s Diamond Reserve Sauce, its 150th anniversary limited edition.

[4] Black tea with Persian rose petals from Tay Tea.

Instead of a bouquet of roses, consider a gift of Tay Tea Persian Rose Tea, black tea with rose petals.
You can give something as small as a $5 packet for a few cups of tea, to an $18 tin of tea that makes between 35-50 cups.

For your favorite hot mama, the company’s most popular tea blend is called Better Than Sex. An herbal rooibos tea blended with peppermint and dark chocolate, is also delicious as a hot toddy (add your spirit of choice).

Explore all the options at TayTea.com.

[2] White Chocolate Cashew Toffee.

Sometimes that tingle pays off on the palate, sometimes not. When you’re a food writer who has tasted thousands of products a year for 15 years, you acquire a deep perspective on what is good, great, and just O.K.

We hasten to add that, like the beauty in the eye of the beholder, individual tastes vary. We always use the chocolate chip cookie analogy. Even with a very good cookie, you have your preferences:

Chewy or crunchy, milk or dark, chips or chunks, nuts or no nuts, normal or densely-packed with chips and nuts, etc. Every chocolate chip connoisseur knows what his/her ideal cookie tastes like.

So how do you evaluate toffee? For us:

 
Fowler’s Toffee is a winner.

The family business has been making toffee for more than 20 years. It began as many artisan products do: batches given as gifts to friends and family.

The word got out, people came clamoring, and Fowler’s Toffee was born. It is available in:

 
The packaging is handsome: chocolate-brown boxes with grosgrain ribbon and a teal label. Custom labels are available for corporate gifts and special occasions.

If you like toffee as much as we do, click over to FowlersToffee.com and send yourself a treat.

Don’t forget Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts!
  

April 24th is National Pigs In Blankets Day. Some people call the food Pigs In A Blanket, but there’s only one pig per blanket. So, it’s Pig In A Blanket or Pigs In Blankets; and since no one has ever eaten just one, go for the plural.

But across the U.S., what caterers declare to be the most popular hors d’oeuvre is a cocktail frankfurter in a pastry blanket. Don’t forget the mustard.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIGS IN BLANKETS

Culinary historians have tracked the first recipes for modern pigs in blankets—small cocktail franks baked in a flaky crust—to 1950. According to FoodTimeline.org, these pastry-wrapped piggies are likely direct descendants of Victorian-era canapés.

The earliest recipe found in cookbooks that’s called “pigs in blankets” was published in the 1930. But there was no frankfurter or other sausage: It comprised oysters wrapped with bacon (strange, but perhaps plump oysters were seen as the “pigs”).

FOOD TRIVIA: Ask for Pigs In Blankets in the U.K., and you’ll get a cocktail sausage wrapped in bacon (a pig in a pig).
 
 
RECIPE: BLUE CHEESE PIGS IN BLANKETS

The recipe was created by Chef David Burke for Samuel Adams, incorporating Samuel Adams Boston Lager in the barbecue sauce,

Chef Burke calls the is recipe Bacon Blue Cheese Dogs, a more sophisticated term, perhaps, then pigs in blankets. He uses Kobe beef cocktail franks, but any high-quality cocktail frank will do.

Chef Burke also opts to trade the mustard for a beer-infused barbecue sauce.
 
Ingredients For Approximately 32 Pieces

 
For The Barbecue Sauce

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the barbecue sauce. You can do this the day before. In a heavy-bottomed pot, toast all of the dry spices (cumin, coriander seed, celery seed, paprika, chili powder) over medium-low heat. Once the spices are toasted (you’ll begin to smell their aroma), add the honey and brown sugar, and cook until the mixture begins to caramelize. Then add the vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, chili sauce, beer, lemon juice and zest, orange juice and zest.

REDUCE until the mixture thickens. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and cilantro. Let it stand for two hours, then strain through a fine-mesh, conical sieve. Place in a serving bowl and serve room temperature or warm, as a dipping sauce.

[1] David Burke’s take on blue cheese pigs in blankets, which he calls Bacon Blue Cheese Dogs. The sauce uses Samuel Adams Boston Lager (photo courtesy Samuel Adams).

[2] You can get fancy with the pastry, following this variation that limits carbs by putting just a strip of puff pastry around the center of the cocktail frank (photo courtesy Hillshire Farms | Facebook).

[3] Another fancy variation (photo courtesy Pepperidge Farm—try this recipe from Life Is Sweet By Design).

[4] Samuel Adams Boston Lager (photo courtesy Samuel Adams).

3. BEAT the eggs for the egg wash, with 2 tablespoons of water (1 tablespoon per egg).

4. MASH together the blue cheese and minced jalapeños. Crumble onto the puff pastry. Cut the puff pastry into 1½-inch wide strips, wide enough to roll a cocktail frank and leave a ½ inch overlap per frank. Place a piece of cooled bacon on top.

5. BEGIN rolling the first cocktail frank, leaving enough puff pastry to fold over and seal it. Brush the ends of the puff pastry strip with egg wash to seal over the cocktail frank. Continue rolling the cocktail franks in the puff pastry, cutting and sealing as you go. Repeat until finished.

6. PLACE the pigs in blankets, seam side down on a parchment-lined sheet tray and brush with the egg wash. Bake at 375°F for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Place on a platter and serve with the sauce and cocktail napkins.

[2] The different shades of rosé wines depend on the types of grapes and length of skin contact (photo courtesy JotDot).

[3] Ditto! (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[4] Riedel’s new Fatto A Mano pink-stemmed rosé glass (photo courtesy Riedel).

The wine has been growing and growing in popularity, replacing that “glass of white wine” in the hearts and hands of people who used to always sip on chardonnay or pinot grigio.

In fact, rosé outsells white wine in France!

Some sources claim that rosé may be the oldest known type of wine, dating to around 600 B.C.E. The theory is that it has the most straightforward wine-making technique, leaving the crushed skins of red grapes in contact with the white juice for a short period.

(WINE TRIVIA: Rosé wines are made from red grapes. The darker color of red wines comes from a longer period of skin contact with the pressed juice.)

Rosé can be made from just about any red grape, and there are many styles of rose: drier, sweeter, lighter, fuller, pale in color, deep in color, still, sparkling.

And, there are many shades of rosé, based on the grapes used, the length of skin contact and other winemaking factors. Take a look at photos #2 and #3.

Here’s more about rosé, including food pairings.
 
 
ROSÉ IDEAS FOR MOTHER’S DAY

1. Have A Rosé Tasting

If Mom is a rosé fangirl, pick up different brands and styles from a wine store (the staff will gladly assist) and have a tasting. Participants will learn more about the different styles of rose wines, and their preferences.
 
2. Give A Sparkling Rosé Wine

Some rosé drinkers aren’t even aware that there are sparkling rosés: in champagne, cava, prosecco and other types of sparkling wine.

In terms of looks, there’s no lovelier bottle for gifting than Pata Negra Brut Rosé Cava (photo #1). The label design was inspired by the gates of Gaudi’s Casa Milà in Barcelona.

Pata Negra Brut Rosé Cava is a sparkling rosé from Penedes, Spain. Made from top grapes in the traditional method, it gets high scores from wine rating magazines and websites. And at $14.99, it’s very affordable.

The grapes are 80% trepat, a local grape, and 20% pinot noir. The blend yields aromas of red berries and pomegranate. One reviewer wrote: “Very fine elegant bubbles tickle the palate offering fruity flavors of strawberry and raspberry with a long elegant finish.”

Another reviewer pairs it with a particular pink food, ham; although rosé is so versatile it pairs with everything from chicken to Asian food (see the chart below).

For casual sipping, serve it with nuts, cheeses and strawberries.
 
3. Give A Bottle With Rosé Stemware

Riedel, world-renowned for engineering glassware that shows off the qualities of particular types of wine, has added a rosé glass to its collection.

Riedel is adding a pink-stemmed rosé glass to its popular Fatto a Mano (made by hand)series.

It’s a luxury gift: $100/glass, $540/set of six, available on Amazon and at RiedelUSA.net).

Alternatively, Riedel’s excellent Extreme Rose Champagne/Rose Wine glasses are just $45.00 a pair.

As with all Riedel glasses, they are perfectly engineered to reveal the bouquet and flavor of a particular grape varietal; in this case, rosé still and sparkling wines.

By the way: We always tell naysayers to pour a glass of wine into a regular wine glass and into the specific Riedel wine glass. You’ll smell and taste the difference.