Pinzimonio: Play with your food!

Play with your food!

Leave it to the Italians to turn produce into whimsical fun.  Pinzimonio is a raw vegetable antipasto that can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like to make it.  In this version, long skinny vegetables are bundled, ready for dipping in olive oil seasoned with lemon juice and salt.  Serve with plenty of napkins.
  
Prep time:  20 minutes
Serves  4 as an appetizer or side dish.

INGREDIENTS
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Green Bell Pepper
2-3 Carrots, scraped, ends removed
1/2 pound long, slender green beans
1 bunch scallions, leaves separated and reserved.
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt

DIRECTIONS
Slice peppers and carrots into long thin spears (about 1/8 to 1/4" wide).  Bundle a variety of spears and gently tie with scallion leaves.  Assemble these packets on a tray.

Distribute the oil and lemon juice between 4 ramekins or small bowls.  Dip a bundle into the oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and crunch.

Tip:  Scallion leaves are easier to tie if you leave them out on the counter for an hour so that the leaves lose some of their water and soften.  (This is the only recipe I can think of where I recommend a vegetable less than fresh!)

Photo and recipe by  Tod Dimmick

Watercress Pesto

Photo:
Tod Dimmick










This pungent, spicy, chunky green elixir is tasty whether spread on crackers or endives, or tossed with pasta.

Prep time: 5 minutes

2 cloves garlic
2 cups coarsely chopped watercress
3 TB pine nuts
3 TB shredded Parmesan
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
Olive oil to facilitate processing (2-4 TB)

Crush or coarsely chop the garlic. Add the garlic, watercress, pine nuts, Parmesan, salt, ad pepper to the bowl of a food processor equipped with the cutting blade. Add 2 TB oil, and pulse to process to a chunky consistency, adding more oil, a little at a time, if necessary to facilitate processing.

Serve as a spread with almost anything, from endive and carrot sticks to toast points.

Served up by Tod Dimmick