A quick trip with some delicious results!

Last month I grabbed my lady and off we went to Seattle, the glorious green city! It was a great romantic getaway but ohhhh the food! I had forgotten exactly how big and extensive pike place market really was! Booths covered in fish from all over the world, vegetable carts with every kind of produce, unique products like jams and jellies, honey, baking, kitchen tools, cheese, chocolate and other delicacies. My mind reeled! With the absence of a kitchen in our hotel room to experiment with my findings, I took a culinary tour and loaded my bags with produce and kitchen stuff to haul back to Canada.

The culinary tour was outstanding, taking us behind the scenes and booths of the market, throwing in history and of course lots of samples. We saw the famous flying fish, sampled fresh smoked salmon and cherries picked only a few miles away. There was fresh cheese curds from Beekers and crab cakes cooked in the famous Iron Chef Tom Douglas’ restaurant Etta’s. All in all a real treat!

As the tour went on I was on the lookout for things to take back home. I got bunches of garlic spears (First of the season, garlic spears are picked off the head of elephant garlic, a breed common in this part of the world. They are delicious steamed with butter or a quick sauté. They taste a bit like asparagus with some artichoke and garlic thrown in. Eaten raw they are extremely garlicky!), I picked up a fresh bag of lime cilantro linguine and even a little jar of green bell pepper jelly. I bought a new paring knife to add to my collection and my greatest find: spices. Oh the spices! In a little store right near the entrance to the market I found hundreds of spices! Spices from around the world. Some I had heard of spoken in cook books and magazines and some were completely new to me. I picked bag after bag of them until my carry on luggage smelled like a market in the middle east and the whole way home I stirred up the possibilities! Nothing like a little travel to create a little inspiration in the home kitchen!

Enjoy this quick pasta recipe using some of my market finds: Lime-Cilantro Linguine with leek and garlic spear béchamel.

Serves 2
Ingredients:
Bechamel
1 large leek, cleaned and chopped into ½” dice, blanched and refreshed in cold water
10 garlic spears, heads removed and chopped into ½” dice
½ tsp Garlic Powder
2 tbsp olive oil
6 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
Pasta
½ pound of linguine (in this case I used a lime-cilantro linguine but if flavored pasta isn’t available regular pasta works a treat, if y6u want the same flavor combo try adding chopped cilantro and a small amount of lime juice to your béchamel)
3 tbsp grated parmesan

Method:
- Start by heating the olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet.
- Add in your leeks and garlic spears and saute for about 3-4 minutes until the leeks begin to soften.
- Sprinkle the veg with the garlic powder and saute for a further 3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and place to the side as you ready two saucepans.
- Into one saucepan add the rest of the butter and melt over a medium high heat, into the second add the milk and bring to just below a boil.
- As soon as the butter is fully melted and bubbling, sprinkle in the flour and stir, making a roux.
- When the roux is smooth and slightly tan in color (which may take a few minutes), slowly add in the warm milk in batches, stirring as you go. The milk will thicken in a few minutes time and you have your béchamel!
- Drop your pasta into a big pot of salted, boiling water and cook as per the package instructions.
- Lower the heat on your béchamel and add to it all your lovely cooked leeks and garlic spears.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain in a colander (reserving some of the cooking water) and add back to the pot.
- Stir in an appropriate amount of your béchamel. If the sauce is too thick, loosen with some of the pasta water.
- Top off with parmesan and serve immediately! Perhaps with a copy of sleepless in seattle?