Smoky Saturdays

Ahh, Melody, I can hear you already. Oh for pete's sake, Mother, whole wheat pasta! She hated the tofu and falafel years, and especially the whole wheat macaroni and cheese.. But today I went to the farmer's market and amidst the berries and peaches and tomatoes I found these amazing fennel bulbs. It's hot and smokey outside, a good day for cutting up produce for the week and cooking things that will keep me eating well while the working hours get long. I made some addictive quinoa salad that has a ton of fresh ginger, cilantro and garlic, with a thai chili and lime kind of dressing. It's great cold for lunch in the field, but I am probably the only one thinks it's addictive. For me, ever since going to thailand, put cilantro, lime, ginger and hot chili in something, and I'm hooked. Those flavors just get to me.
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But back to the fennel bulbs. I don't think I have ever actually cooked fennel. I love the smell of it, and I use fennel seed in my spaghetti sauce, a secret of Italian cooking that I read somewhere, but the bulbs were so pretty I had to buy a couple. Searching the internet yielded several recipes for braised fennel, but nothing looked like a summer dish so I just went for it. Sliced it up, sauteed some garlic in a really great olive oil and added the fennel. Put in some veggie broth from a can to braise it for 20 minutes or so, and hmmmm. It looked a bit boring. Ahah. Box in the cupboard. What if I added pasta, and healthy pasta at that. So I boiled up a cup of this stuff and added it to the fennel, added some pine nuts, ground in some pepper, sprinkled on some kosher salt, and voila. !!! Food for a goddess! I can't quite figure out how the fennel makes the pasta seem creamy when there is nothing creamy at all to be found. So, a couple of dinners for the week and a refrigerator full of fresh strawberries and a pot of really fresh blanched green beans and I am good to go. Smoky hot indoor days can be fun after all!