Pasta with radicchio, pork, and peas
A dish for when you're waiting for spring.
Last week, New Yorkers went on an emotional roller coaster. As we rounded out the weekend and started the week, the weather rose above 60 degrees and on Monday and Tuesday it was mid-60s and sunny. Glorious by anyone’s standards. By Wednesday, the weather started to cool a tad, then on Thursday we had almost all the weather possible: rain, snow, and wind. To say that people were less than pleased is an understatement.
On Friday, the weather leveled out a bit to sunny and cool, and it was a perfect day to visit the farmers’ market to seek out my favorite shoulder season produce: chicories. These beautiful bitter greens are the stars of this time of year: they show up to the markets before other traditional spring produce like asparagus and ramps, and their bright pink and green hues give me the jolt of life I need to carry me to warmer weather.
Normally I just toss them in salads, but I wanted to force myself to do literally anything else with them. A spring-y pasta with peas came to mind, and the peas balance out the bitterness of the greens. Peas aren’t in season yet here, but fresh or frozen from the store work just fine.
Now that chicories are starting to show up at local markets, I hope that means more spring produce is on the way. The temp has dropped back down to the 30s again, so I’ll have to keep my sweaters at the ready for a few more weeks. But when peas, ramps, and asparagus show up, know that relief from the cold is on its way.
