However, Italy isn’t the only place where pasta is consumed. While not every culture has a version of this dietary staple, you can find noodle-like foods in countries all around the world. Here’s a sampling:

• Couscous – probably the smallest form of pasta, made with Semolina and traditionally used in North African cuisine.
• Cellophane noodles (along with wheat and rice flour noodles) – widely used throughout China where noodles have been eaten for as many as 2000 years!
• Spaetzle – German egg noodles which are often served with butter, gravy, or added to soups.
• Fideos – Mexico’s take on this succulent starch is also the base for sopa seca (dry soup).

Looking for some pasta inspiration? Ruth, food blogger at Once Upon a Feast has created the tradition of Presto Pasta Nights, calling on foodies the world over to submit their favorite pasta dishes for inclusion in her weekly tribute to this highly versatile and oh-so scrumptious ingredient. 

If you’re not inspired to cook pasta, take a gander at the most recent installment of PPN (as Ruth calls it). The twenty-eight photos of dishes ranging from stuffed shells with lamb, feta and spinach to soba noodles in tahini sauce with pork floss, are sure to have your mouth watering in no time.

Clotilde Dusoulier, cookbook author and food blogger extraordinaire (of Chocolate and Zucchini fame) has some great suggestions on the best way to store fresh greens, timely tips for the beginning of salad season. Even if you haven’t started your window-box herb garden or sprout center, there may still be hope for finding fresh edible leaves this spring. Take a look at Local Harvest’s directory of local growers to find a farmer near you who might have early greens.

Once you’ve found the goods and followed Clotilde’s advice, what next? After months of stews, soups, and hearty winter fare, what could be more delicious than a light, fresh salad? Here are a few ideas for dressing up your greens:

• Dried fruit (currants, cranberries, or diced apricots) add texture and a delightfully sweet flavor.
• Toasted seeds and nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower or sesame seeds) pack a crunchy, protein-filled punch.
• Grated root vegetables (beets, carrots, turnip or rutabaga) can dress things up with a burst of color.
• A bit of crumbled or shredded high-quality cheese is always welcome – just keep it light to avoid overpowering the delicate greens.

Let your creativity guide you as you make a salad to remember!

 The artichoke’s latest press takes the form of food writer Russ Parsons’ new book, How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table. Parsons, the food and wine columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is an acclaimed food journalist whose first book, How to Read a French Fry, was well-received by critics.

Although Parsons focuses on many fruits and vegetables in How to Pick a Peach, his treatment of the artichoke is of interest this month, because March marks the beginning of peak artichoke season in Monterey County, California, where 80% of the nation’s artichokes are grown, according to the California Artichoke Advisory Board. For nearly fifty years, the town of Castroville has celebrated artichokes with an annual festival each May, which includes a parade, agricultural art displays, and, of course, everything artichoke.

Even if you can’t make it to Castroville this spring, that’s no reason to miss out on this delicious vegetable. Parsons suggests buying baby artichokes (usually more reasonably-priced than their larger counterparts) and braising them, yet these small, tender specimens are also tasty when sautéed with garlic, olive oil and red pepper and served atop fresh linguine.  Is your mouth watering yet?

1. Kate on Quail -The movie’s opening monologue, delivered by perfectionist chef Kate(Catherine Zeta-Jones) details her favorite ways to prepare quail. The fact that this speech is directed at Kate’s new therapist adds humor to an already mouth-watering soliloquy.

2. Restaurant Life- From the numerous scenes in the kitchen to the meals shared by the staff of 22 Bleecker, “No Reservations” offers an interesting window into life in a successful fine-dining establishment, complete with the complex relationships that come with the territory.

3. Truffles - It’s nice to see these fungi steal a few scenes, most notably when Zoe (Kate’s orphaned niece, played by Abigail Breslin) mistakes them for garbage and tosses them out.

4.Bonding Over Food - Anyone who enjoys cooking and eating will appreciate this first date: Kate, Zoe, and Nick (Kate’s love interest and opera-singing sous chef) make homemade pizza and then eat it together on the living room floor.

5.A Sexy Dessert If you ever doubted that Tiramisu could be an aphrodisiac, check out the romantic encounter between Kate and Nick over a Tupperware container of Nick’s signature dessert. It may just inspire you to whip up a batch for your next date…

6. Fish Sticks?! -While most chefs tend to be food snobs, Kate’s reaction to her therapist’s suggestion that she feed Zoe fish sticks will hit home with most foodies.

7. Great Advice - Therapy finally pays off for Kate when therapist Bob Balaban gives her a mantra that could apply to anyone’s life :”The best recipes are the ones you create yourself”. Her interpretation of this suggestion is sure to make you smile.

There are plenty of websites devoted to cooking with citrus. Here are a few ways to incorporate fresh grapefruit, orange, lemons and limes into your menu this month.

• Soups - Combine the flavors of orange, red lentils, and Middle-Eastern spices in what is termed “Liquid Sunshine Soup”(just what you need on a cold winter night). Alternatively you can try the “Spicy Soup of Mandarin and Coconut”, from Ethel and Georgeann Brennan’s book Citrus.
• Salads - Grapefruit and avocado are an unlikely, yet delicious pair and can be highlights in a lettuce or spinach-based salad. Orange sections are a great addition to Mexican or Caribbean salsas, offering a combination of color and flavor that just might have you seeing palm trees.
• Entrees - Citrus-based sauces and marinades are a flavorful way to brighten chicken, fish, pork, or shellfish. Your taste-buds will thank you for taking the time to juice fresh fruit (rather than using concentrate).
• Desserts -There’s nothing like a little grapefruit sorbet to remind you of summertime. Citrus tart, also refreshing light, combines lemon curd with fresh oranges and grapefruit. For the ultimate in decadence try a key lime cheesecake, which tastes best when made with freshly-squeezed lime juice.
• Drinks - A glass of fresh juice is sure to have your brunch guests raving (making it worth the extra preparation time). Or end the day by livening up cocktail hour with a special beverage (try the Floridita Daiquiri while wearing Hawaiian shirts!).

Dulse, kombu, wakame, nori — no, they aren’t the new hip baby names for 2009 (although they’d certainly make for a uniquely-titled tot). These are varieties of edible sea vegetables (seaweed) that are increasingly gaining popularity among American diners.

In addition to being tasty, plants from the sea are full of iodine and minerals, making them a nutritious meal addition – and a great option this time of year, when most supermarket produce is anything but fresh.

Dried seaweed can be purchased at many natural food stores, Asian groceries, or from any number of online distributors. Because its flavor (and mineral content are concentrated), a little goes a long way.

While most of us probably associate seaweed with Japanese cuisine, there’s no need to limit your sea vegetable consumption to sushi or miso soup. Cookbooks (such as last year’s The New Seaweed Cookbook by Crystal June Maderia) offer more than enough inspiration for the amateur seaweed chef. Recipes such as Chrysanthemum Blossom Soup, Roast Lamb with Mint, Arame and Kumquat Jam, and Lavender Lemon Pots of Cream are sure to challenge your preconception of the sorts of foods that can include seaweed.

Go out and buy yourself a package of seaweed, choose a recipe and see how it comes out. You (and your culinary guinea pigs) may be surprised at the results. Even if you don’t enjoy the outcome, for the chef-in-training any new cooking experience is a chance to learn something new.

Sadly, most broccoli-haters haven’t had the opportunity to try this flavorful veggie in its freshest and most delicious form. Overcooked and soggy broccoli is all-too-often thrown onto a dinner plate as a garnish or token vegetable. However, when prepared with care, broccoli can be downright delicious.

As the article’s author, Amy Albert points out, finding the freshest specimens is key to a tasty broccoli experience. Fortunately, winter is the time to source the sweetest broccoli, so now’s the time to try your hand at a few recipes featuring this super-veggie.

Broccoli’s flavor goes well with flavors from Southeast Asia (sesame oil, tamari, ginger and garlic) and it’s uniquely shaped florets are a delicious vehicle for sauces of any kind. If you can find a freshly-picked stalk, however, a light steaming and a drizzle of olive oil and salt is all you’ll need for a stellar side.

Although most of us prefer to know exactly what we’re eating, there is a group of diners who are often better off left in the dark when it comes to what’s on their dinner plate –children. Long-heralded for their picky eating habits kids are tough to please, and can be particularly unadventurous when it comes to what they’ll ingest.

Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, is geared precisely for this population, and, as the title suggests, is all about deceit. Seinfeld, the mother of three (and married to comedian Jerry), explains that to avoid battles at mealtimes she began sneaking fruits and vegetables into her children’s favorite foods. Each of the recipes in her easy-to-read manual contain one or more fruit or vegetable purees, in quantities that she contends will not significantly alter the dish’s flavor.

With selections ranging from mouth-watering comfort foods such as macaroni and cheese (with butternut squash) to unique combinations such as chocolate cupcakes (with avocado and cauliflower), Seinfeld’s book certainly offers inspiration for any chef who needs to cook for a young audience.

What many amateur chefs don’t know is that curry is actually a mixture of various spices, which means that its flavor and quality can vary greatly from one brand to the next. As with most ingredients, the best way to ensure that your curry powder is top notch is to make it yourself.

While it may sound like a daunting task, creating a homemade garam masala is not difficult and only requires a few basic kitchen tools: a spice grinder (or coffee grinder), a heavy skillet, and a jar with a tight-fitting lid to store the finished product (in a sealed container curry powder will keep for several months). Most importantly, you’ll need the spices themselves. Most curry mixes include some or all of the following:

• Cumin seeds
• Coriander
• Cardamom pods
• Black peppercorns
• Cinnamon
• Mustard seeds
• Fenugreek
• Turmeric

There are plenty of recipes for garam masala on the Internet. Look at a few and you’ll quickly notice that they are all different. Once you begin making spice blends you should be able to identify the subtle differences that can come from omitting or adding certain spices.

The real fun begins when you have a curry powder to work with. Of course traditional Indian curries are a delicious addition to any cook’s repertoire, but why stop there? Throw your signature spice blend into deviled eggs, chicken salad, or use it to season roasted seeds and nuts. Once you start experimenting with this versatile ingredient, you’ll find that the options are endless.

I recently received an email from Hotel boutique about a hot new restaurant in Montreal. Here are the details.

Bringing a well-established reputation for excellence from Quebec to Montreal
Restaurant Laurie Raphaël at Hotel Le Germain Montreal is attracting a sophisticated crowd these days, so naturally Trend G wanted to let you know all about it.

From the moment you arrive, you’ll find yourself in an environment that’s “made in Quebec” – from the dishes to the decor. The highly contemporary setting, created by designer Jean-Pierre Viau, is imbued with Quebecois charm.

Local flavour
The restaurant offers a warm, relaxed ambience, attentive service, an exceptional wine list and, above all, authentic dishes from Daniel Vézina’s kitchen. To make the most of the menu during one meal, guests can sample a selection of Quebec regional specialties in appetizer format.

Homemade products and exclusive handicrafts
And proving that good things come in twos, there’s also the Laurie Raphaël boutique! You can obtain a huge range of homemade Quebecois products, as well as a variety of exclusive dishes created by local artisans.

Laurie Raphaël Montréal
2050, rue Mansfield | Montréal (Québec) | Canada | H3A 1Y9
Tél. : 514 985-6072 | Téléc. : 514 985-6070