A few weeks ago my roommate’s friend hooked us up with free VIP tickets to The Treasure Island Music Festival. To thank him, I promised to cook dinner.

The menu looked like this:

Watercress Salad with Spring Carrots

Garganelli with heirloom tomato sauce & asparagus

Quesedilla of Vella’s Dry Jack, habenero peppers, & zucchini blossoms w/ avocado mash

Assorted Cheesecakes (Thanks Berkeley Bowl!)

We started with one of my favorites, stolen from Cafe Jacqueline in San Francisco. I’ve never been able to perfect the dressing, as the one at CJ tastes almost like butter (I suspect it’s her olive oil), but it’s live watercress (or “fancy” watercress) dressed simply in lemon juice, good olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced fresh garlic. This time I topped the salad with warm spring carrots, blanched for just a few minutes in boiling, salted water.

Garganelli (a ribbed, diagnoally rolled version of penne, often with higher protien dough and thinner) was served in an heirloom tomato sauce (see about two entries ago, when Peter made this for a dinner party), and I added fresh, blanched asparagus. It’s a simple recipe, just olive oil, a shallot, pepper flakes, salt, & heirloom tomatoes.

The quesedilla was by far the highlight–the combination of flavors came to me while in the grocery store. I’m always happy to see zucchini blossoms, and when I can find them, try to use them in everything. The spiciness of the peppers, the sweetness of the avocado, and the fresh aromatics of the blossoms worked fantastically. I’ll be making this for a long time.