I don’t know what it is about fireworks, but they always make me cry.
These are never tears of sadness; let me be clear about that. There’s just something so beautiful, and American, and generally fantastic about them that just gets me every time. They rank right up there with fighter-jet flyovers at the beginning of sporting events. Ah.
Every year my city hosts a free outdoor concert sometime around the 4th of July at our largest public park. This year was an especially packed year, with over 80,000 people planting their picnic blanket and lawn chair islands on the green sea of grass. Most everyone brings a picnic dinner and this year was particularly delicious over at our camp.
I made two parts of the communal meal: Turkey and Arugula Pita Pockets and Penne with Radicchio and Goat Cheese. I can’t go on without admitting that this wasn’t entirely my brilliant idea. The Food Network actually organized these two together in a show, presenting them as a great combination for a picnic. So I took their advice.
I adapted the pita pockets a bit from the original recipe, opting to use turkey instead of chicken. I didn’t alter anything else and the flavor was fantastic. Toasting the pitas just slightly adds a nice dimension, complimenting the peppery arugula and serving as a great canvas for the gorgeously creamy arugula pesto. I’ve been disappointed before when I’ve substituted a green other than basil in a pesto, but arugula is not a disappointment. When I’ve made spinach pesto before, I was left feeling lonesome without much of the customary herbal kick I love so much about pesto. But arugula has enough lemon peppery taste on its own, that no extra garlic is needed. And when you’re crammed into a park with thousands of others nearby, extra garlic probably won’t further advance the bonding with your blanket neighbors as seems so popularly patriotic surrounding holidays that celebrate America.
The first few whirls of the food processor stirred up such an amazing aroma from the arugula pesto that I nearly boiled a pot of pasta and kept it all for myself. But I resisted, settling to make this quick pasta dish some other time very soon. Preferably at a time when I don’t have to share.
Once you’ve finished the arugula pesto, add a little mayonnaise and chopped turkey and you are ready to fill your pita pockets. So simple. The green of the pesto is particularly vibrant, and looks fantastic against the toasted tan of the pitas. Add a little cherry tomato and leftover arugula leaves and you start working the tricolore, a wonderful combination of colors. The best thing about these, besides how wonderful they taste and how healthy they make you feel, is that they just travel so darn well. I wrapped them in foil and used my insulated Whole Foods bag to keep them nice and cool.
Preparing the penne dish takes just about as long as the water needs time to boil. Begin to sauté the radicchio along with some spinach and red pepper flakes in some fruity olive oil, allow the leaves to wilt as long as the penne takes to reach glorious al dente status, add the pasta to the radicchio and spinach, transfer to a bowl and add the goat cheese and you’re set to go.
Goat cheese, like most cheeses, constantly competes for the top of my favorite things list. There is no dish that has not become a better one after having met goat cheese. It’s sort of the undercover Gandhi of dairy products, inspiring greatness with a single churn of the soul. Also like most cheeses, goat cheese skyrockets in appeal when it melts. You add the goat cheese right at the end to the hot pasta and sautéed radicchio and it becomes your sauce. No need for anything more.
The only thing I would change about my preparation would be using the originally-called-for treviso instead of radicchio. Treviso, radicchio’s milder cousin, would have given the dish the more subdued tang I was looking for, I think. Since I was unable to track any treviso down, the radicchio filled in quite well. So don’t be afraid to make the same substitution. And lucky for you picnic-packers out there, this pasta dish is perfect at room temperature.
The herbal and creamy notes of these two dishes combined served as the perfect soundtrack to the concert in the park. And there’s something so wonderful about seeing people reliving their youth by tapping their feet to the music of their glory days; this time around it was Styx, Kansas, and Foreigner. Topping the night off with fireworks set to a blaring stereo of songs about America reminded me of why I love summer so much: it’s a season full of excuses to let loose into happiness and celebrate that joy with toe-tapping music, fireworks resounding in your chest, and picnics worth the tears. Just be careful, no one likes soggy pita pockets.
You can find the recipes online at the Food Network, both courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis.
Chicken and Arugula Pita Pockets, here.
Penne with Treviso and Goat Cheese, here.
[...] every kick of the bass drum in your chest and in your jaw. And it’s even better than the boom of fireworks you feel in your chest because this resonates through all of you, from the ground up, and not [...]