If you’d like to make a treat for a graduate, how about brownie mortarboards*?

These, from Sugar Bowl Bakery in Hayward, California, show you how to do it.

1. MAKE mini round brownies in a baba pan or cut circles with a cookie cutter from a regular pan of brownies.

2. FIND a rectangular cookie covered in chocolate. We used these, but you can bake your own shortbread or sugar cookies and dip them.

3. DECORATE with a jelly bean and a piece of licorice whip. Use a dab of chocolate frosting to afix the garnish to the cookie.

*A mortarboard is the square academic hat, or graduation cap, so named long ago because of its similarity in appearance to the plasterer’s tool used to hold mortar.

We order lasagna every time we see it on a menu, trying to find one that’s better than Mom’s (which has only been bested once). We find them with the mainstay tomato-meat sauce, southern Italian-style; and with béchamel, a white sauce preferred in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna (and preferred by us).

But in Liguria, the home* of basil, they use pesto for the sauce, creating a green lasagna.

While basil is available year-round, take advantage of the spring harvest and make a green lasagna with other spring treats: asparagus, fava beans, fiddleheads, morels, ramps, and of course, green lasagna noodles instead of the conventional white.

Here’s a recipe from chef Mario Batali, an owner of the Italian food experience that is Eataly.

In Italian the recipe is called Lasagne al Pesto con Asparagi: Lasagna with Asparagus and Pesto (and anything else you want to add).

*Basil may actually be native to India, where it has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years.
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RECIPE: ASPARAGUS & PESTO LASAGNA

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
For The Pesto Sauce

 
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†Pecorino sardo, also known as fiore sardo, is a firm cheese sheep’s milk cheese from the Italian island of Sardinia. It’s sold at Eataly; but if you can’t get it, use Pecorino Romano instead. Here are the main Italian grating cheeses.
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For The Besciamella

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the pesto. In a large stone mortar, combine the pine nuts, basil, garlic and salt and grind with a pestle until it forms a paste. Add the cheeses and drizzle in the olive oil, beating with a wooden spoon. This can be made in advance and stored in a tightly-capped jar in the fridge, topped off with a layer of extra virgin olive oil.

2. BRING 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Set up an ice bath next to the boiling water. Boil the asparagus for one minute. Remove the asparagus, retaining the water in the pot, and refresh in an ice bath. Remove the asparagus from the ice bath, drain well, cut into ½-inch to 1-inch pieces on a bias and set aside.

[2] Pesto lasagna is sold by the piece at Eataly. Photo courtesy Eataly | Chicago.

3. DROP the lasagna sheets into the same boiling water as the asparagus. Cook one minute until tender. (If using dried lasagna, cook according to package directions.) Remove and refresh in the ice bath. Drain on towels and set aside.

4. MAKE the besciamella. In a medium saucepan, heat the butter until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat until light golden brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile…

5. HEAT the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth and bring to a boil. Cook 30 seconds and remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg and set aside.

6. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

7. ASSEMBLE the lasagne. In a mixing bowl, stir the besciamella and pesto together until well combined. Butter 4 gratin dishes and place one piece of 5-inch pasta on the bottom of each one.

8. TOP the pasta with some pieces of asparagus, followed by 2 tablespoons of pesto, followed by another piece of pasta. Continue with this layering until you have 4 pieces of pasta and 4 layers of asparagus and pesto mixture. Lay one more piece of pasta on top, followed by a spoonful of pesto mixture and sprinkle each of the 4 gratin dishes with bread crumbs and the Pecorino Sardo.

9. PLACE all 4 dishes in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until bubbling and golden brown on top. Remove and serve immediately.
  

If you love broccoli and broccoli rabe (rapini), look for spigariello (variously spelled spigarello).

Related to both plants, spigariello is an Italian leaf broccoli that tastes like a cross between broccoli and kale. It’s popular in southern Italy, especially Puglia, where it’s called cima* di rape spigarello or cavolo [cabbage*] broccolo spigariello.

Spigariello is practically unknown in the U.S., but we discovered some grown in Southern California by Jimenez Family Farm in the Santa Ynez Valley, and sold at Good Eggs Los Angeles (and no doubt, at some farmers markets in the area). Internet research revealed a few other growers around the country.

Spigariello is very versatile, raw or cooked, alone or blended with other vegetables, substituted (or cooked along with) collards, kale and mustard greens, their botanical cousins. The leaf broccoli is sweeter yet more peppery than broccoli rabe (rapini), not bitter—a bit like broccoli sprouts.

The stems are tender and delicious, and the flowers are also edible. Use them as a garnish with pasta, fish, salads or anywhere you’d like some small white blossoms.

 
NUTRITION

Like all of the Brassicaceae, spigariello is very nutritious and full of anticarcinogens. Spigariello is a good source of amino acids, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and selenium. It’s a very good source of vitamins: A, B6, B complex, C, folate and riboflavin.

The Brassicaceae family of vegetables includes arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, mustard, radish, rapeseed/canola, rapini (broccoli rabe), rutabaga, tatsoi and turnips. Eat up!
 
GROW YOUR OWN

It’s easy to grow leaf broccoli. It’s an attractive, high-yield plant that’s grown like broccoli rabe. The leaves are large, like collards, and deep blue-green in color.

And it keeps on giving: You harvest the leaves as you need them, and the plant generates more leaves into the autumn.

Seeds for growing the plant, Spigariello liscia, are available from JohnnySeeds.com.

 
*Cima is the Italy word for broccoli rabe; however, spigariello is a true broccoli, not a cima (rape). It is harvested young, before the stems turn to stalks. Nor is spigariello cavolo, cabbage, although cabbage is a family member of broccoli.
 
  

Don’t put your julep cups away because the Kentucky Derby is over. Instead, think of what else you can serve in them, all year long.

BEVERAGES

Serve other cold beverages in these glamorous vessels. Kids won’t drink their milk? Let them drink it from the “special” silver julep cup.
 
BUFFETS

Use the julep cups to hold the forks, spoons and knives.
 
FROZEN & OTHER DESSERTS

Place julep cups in the freezer to chill them before adding ice cream, sorbet or other frozen dessert. The scoops will stay frozen much longer.

And pudding is even more welcome when served in a julep cup.
 
SALAD & VEGGIES

Get your family to eat more salad and veggies by serving them in a glam silver container.

Julep cups are also an impressive vessel for entertaining. Use them to serve anything to guests at a dinner party. They’ll also be impressed by your creativity.
 
SEAFOOD

Butter restaurant in New York City adds ice to the julep cup, but instead of bourbon and mint it adds shrimp and cocktail sauce. Can we take some creative license and call it a Shrimp Julep?
 
SNACKING

For fancy TV viewing, Oscar parties, Halloween and other occasions, fill the julep cups with snack food, from candy corn to popcorn.
 
WHAT’S A JULEP?

A julep is a sweet flavored drink made with sugar syrup, among other ingredients. A Mint Julep also adds bourbon, fresh mint and crushed or shaved ice.

Recently, we were invited to a cheese and saké tasting at the French Cheese Board in New York City. Think you should sip saké only with Japanese food? Think again.

While it doesn’t seem intuitive, the the traditional Japanese drink, brewed by fermenting rice, has a broad range of flavors and styles that pairs with various foods. Like wine, it’s a global beverage.

Saké is made from four ingredients: rice, water, yeast and koji, an enzyme. Saké is fermented and brewed like beer, but served like wine. It is also characterized as a wine because of its alcohol content is similar.

Think of saké as you’d think of white wine. A bolder saké can stand up to spicy cuisine, like Indian food. It can also pair well with French dishes. A milder sake is better with delicate flavors like sushi and sashimi.

Now for the cheeses: Another reason saké pairs well with cheese is that both contain lactic acid. Most aged cheeses go better with bolder sakés, fresh cheeses (like chèvre) with milder ones. With aged cheeses, we personally like:

 
As with white wine, serve saké semi-chilled, around 60°F.

The journey to knowledge includes trying what you can get, and seeing how you like it. That goes with both sakés and cheeses.

 
WHAT CHEESES SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Your favorites! We’re serving saké and cheese today, for Mother’s Day, with Truffle Tremor, a truffle cheese; Point Reyes Blue Cheese; Red Hawk, a strong, Muenster*-style cheese from Cowgirl Creamery; and a Brie. The first three cheeses are from Marin County, north of San Francisco; Brie is imported from France.

If you want to see what pairings others have done, check out the website TrueSake.com, written by a sommelier who recommends his top three cheese pairings with particular sakés; and look for similar content online.

If you’re not sure about taking this on by yourself, ask your local cheese store to set up a tasting. Here’s a report from CurdNerds on a tasting at Murray’s Cheese in New York City.

More to discover:

 
*That’s Alsatian Muenster, not the mild American “munster.”