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!

As a fan of the egg you’re in good company. Historians have confirmed records of egg consumption (from a distant ancestor of today’s hen) as early as 1400, B.C. in China and Egypt. In addition to being delicious and relatively inexpensive, eggs are a good source of vitamins (A, D, and E), nutrients (riboflavin and choline), and protein.

However, for chefs, the egg’s nutritional content is perhaps less important than its amazing versatility in the kitchen. What other ingredient can be prepared in so many ways? In addition to the standard preparations (fried, scrambled, soft-boiled, hard-cooked), eggs are delicious in frittatas, omelets, stratas and quiches and are an important ingredient in baked goods (if you’ve ever inadvertently omitted them from a cookie recipe you’ll agree). Of course, the list of delicacies made with eggs would be incomplete without mentioning souffles, meringues, and custards.

While most of us probably use eggs almost every day, there’s still a lot we can learn about them, which is why this week is dedicated to the egg. Stay tuned for practical tips and interesting facts about this important ingredient.

There’s no question that fresh herbs are far and away one of the most important ingredients to have on hand. They also happen to be very easy to grow, which makes them an ideal choice for chefs living in even the smallest of apartments. If you have a windowsill that gets some sunlight, you can grow herbs.

Here’s a short list of what you’ll need to get started:

1. Seeds – Decide which herbs you use most frequently and purchase seeds. If you don’t have a sunny place to grow them, look for varieties (such as mint) that do well in low light environments. (If the idea of starting plants from seeds seems too intimidating, you can spend a bit more for a seedling, but keep in mind that you’ll still need to re-pot it.)
2. Soil – A small bag of potting soil is all you’ll need, available at most hardware stores. To avoid consuming the pesticides and chemical fertilizers found in some brands of soil, look for an organic soil blend.
3. Pots – No need to be fancy here. You can plant in almost anything, including old milk cartons or yogurt containers. Antique stores and yard sales are a great source of creative options for plant containers, but be sure to make a few small holes in the bottom of your planter to allow the soil to drain.
4. A sunny spot – A windowsill in your kitchen is ideal. Some herbs can do well outside, too, as long as the temperature stays above freezing. If you have space, consider moving your plants outside this summer.

More information about the needs of specific herbs is readily available online. Start now and in a matter of weeks you could be sampling your first flavor-packed harvest!

 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?

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!).

In professional kitchens mise en place is prepared in conjunction with equipment necessary to cook the dish.  This can include setting out specific kitchen utensils, knives, and setting oven temperature.  A chef will prepare the mise en place to last throughout the meal service. Preparing the mise en place ahead of time allows the chef to cook without having to stop and gather ingredients. So, in theory, a properly set up mise en place will keep a chef from getting behind on orders.

The concept of having everything in its place as applied to the work in a kitchen likely became a staple around the time of Auguste Escoffier, who is well known for his development of the brigade system of running a kitchen.

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.

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.