Seared Corn and Pepper Salad with Ahi Tuna

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you will find fresh eggs and pastured chicken, beef, pork, and lamb from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm, as well as fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art Company. 

Camas Swale Farm will have plenty of summer produce including:
peppers and sweet corn (sear in a warm salad, below) 
celery (for these celery beef lettuce wraps)
leeks and tomatoes (try this leek and cherry tomato clafouti) 
delicata squash (make what my son calls "squash candy")

My husband and I got to celebrated our anniversary this year viewing the spectacular corona of the total solar eclipse. I even made some eclipse cookies for the event. A week later the stars aligned and we found ourselves kid-free with the chance to whip up a belated anniversary dinner. We seared ahi tuna, corn, and peppers, and served these with sauteed zucchini, cherry tomatoes, black lentils, and a lemon crème fraîche sauce. It was a lovely dinner and then the kids came rushing back into the house to remind us of a couple of the major accomplishments of our marriage. 

Seared Corn and Pepper Salad with Ahi Tuna

serves two

corn and pepper salad
1 ear corn
1 mildly hot pepper
salt to taste

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium high heat until very hot. Shuck the corn. Place the corn and whole pepper on the skillet and sear. Rotate and sear on all sides until the corn and pepper are partially charred but still a bit crisp. Remove from heat and when cool enough to handle, seed the pepper and cut it into small pieces and cut the corn kernels from the cob. Combine and season with salt to taste. Serve warm.

ahi tuna
1/2 pound ahi tuna steak, cut into in inch wide strips
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat a skillet over medium high heat until very hot. Season the tuna with salt and pepper. Add the oil to the pan and when hot, add the ahi strips. Let sear for about 30 seconds per side, turning with tongs. Remove from heat when the interior looks more raw than you like because it will continue to cook. Serve with lemon crème fraîche sauce.

lemon creme fraiche sauce
2 Tbsp crème fraîche
zest of 1 small lemon
juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 tsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Whisk together the crème fraîche, lemon, and honey. While continuing to whisk, add the olive oil slowly to emulsify. Taste and add salt, and more lemon or honey as needed.

Smoked Trout Spring Salad

Dark storm clouds may threaten, but don't let that deter you from visiting the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market tomorrow from 10 am - 2 pm. With last week's haul, we had a delicious spring salad with tender lettuce from Camas Swale Farm, bright orange eggs from Fair Valley Farm, and smoked trout. I was skeptical whether this would be a hit for dinner, but since one child likes eggs and the other decided he likes smoked trout, everyone was happy and they both suggested that we have this a lot during the summer.

Smoked Trout Spring Salad 

serves 4

1 head lettuce
16 small potatoes
2 handfuls green beans
4 hard boiled eggs
2 tins of smoked trout in olive oil

dressing
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
4 Tbsp olive oil

Wash and dry the lettuce and arrange on a large platter. Prepare the dressing by mixing together all the ingredients, tasting and adjusting to taste. Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft. Quarter and toss the warm potatoes with a tablespoon of dressing. Trim the beans and cook them in salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and toss with a tablespoon of dressing. Hard boil the eggs, immerse in cold water, peel, and quarter. Arrange the potatoes and green beans on the bed of lettuce. Drizzle over more dressing. Top with quartered hard boiled eggs and pieces of smoked trout, dust with freshly ground pepper, and drizzle over some of the olive oil from the trout tins. Serve with fresh bread.

Turnip and Millet Salad with Smoked Trout

This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art Company. Good Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
Gravenstein apples, Asian pears and bartlett pears from SLO farm (make apple sauce)
watermelon and cantaloupes
corn and tomatillos (make salsa) 
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of roams (make tomato soup)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds (roast some for romesco sauce)
green and yellow beans (make a green bean salad with almonds and apricots)
potatoes and baby beets (grill in bundles)
broccoli and eggplants (grill and top with tomato and feta)
fennel, cucumbers, kohlrabi, carrots, and radish (make sushi rolls)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (try Erica's recipe published in the RG)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (stir fry with seeds)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix (make a chard and bacon tart)
turnips and delicata squash (saute in a salad, below)
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill

Turnips are an old fashioned vegetable, but I think they are due for a revival, just as the names Matilda, Mabel, and Maxine are inching their way up the baby name rankings. 

One problem for root vegetables' image is their typical old fashioned preparation: boiled beyond recognition. More frequently today, one would find them roasted, but this involves the commitment of turning on your oven, which may discourage whipping them up for a quick lunch. I want to remind you that turnips (and other root vegetables like radishes) are delicious sautéed on the stovetop, taking no longer than their more familiar cousin, the carrot. Here I combined both tubers in a sauté with some leftover millet, that I layered on a bed of lettuce and topped with tinned smoked trout for a delicious and quick weekend lunch. 

Turnip and Millet Salad with Smoked Trout

for two

1 cup cooked millet
2 regular or up to 8 baby turnips
2 regular or 4 small carrots
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 large handfuls of lettuce
1 tin smoked trout in olive oil (110 g)

1. To prepared the millet, you could cook 1/3 cup millet grains with 2/3 cups water, simmered for about 15 minutes, yielding about 1 cup cooked millet. But you might as well cook up a larger volume (1 part millet to 2 parts water) and use in other dishes.

2. Scrub the turnips and carrots and trim their tops and tails. Cut the turnips into sixths or eighths to make bite-sized pieces. Halve the carrot lengthwise and cut into bite-sized chunks.

3. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Coat the pan with the olive oil and the add the turnips and carrots and a pinch of salt. Cook, tossing every so often, until they are cooked through and browned nicely on some sides, about ten minutes. Add the millet to the pan and stir to coat in the olive oil for one minute. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Turn of the heat and stir in the vinegar. You could serve this warm or at room temperature.

4. Arrange the lettuce on two plates. Top each with half of the turnip, carrot, and millet sauté. Layer on the smoked trout, and drizzle some of the olive oil from the tin over each salad. Enjoy.

Slow Roasted Romas and Olive Oil Poached Tuna Salad

This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm, handcrafted vegan hazelnut cheese from Avellana Creamery, and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art Company. Good Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
corn on the cob (make corn and tomato salsa for fish tacos)
cantaloupes, peaches, and Italian prune plums (for Zwetschgenkuchen)
Gravenstein apples from SLO farm (make some roasted apple sauce)
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of roams (slow roast, below)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds peppers (pick up some spicy ones for these lettuce wraps)
eggplants and broccoli (try this roasted eggplant and broccoli salad)
green and yellow beans and potatoes (make a Salade Nicoise, below)
tomatillos (try this slow cooker pork and beans) 
daikon radish, fennel, and cucumbers (make pickles)
baby beets, carrots, and kohlrabi (try grilled)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (grill with falafel)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (make this Chinese cabbage with vinegar)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix 
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill

Be sure to savor the end of summer this Labor Day weekend with a trip to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market for some pretty tomatoes and flowers, and perhaps a stop at Eugene City Bakery for coffee and treats. Labor Day weekend is also a good time to devote to preserving some of summer's bounty for the winter months ahead.

This past weekend I slow roasted about six pounds of Sweeter Farm roma tomatoes, a project that requires very little effort (halve the tomatoes) but lots of time (10 to 12 hours at 200 degrees C) and is best undertaken overnight, meaning that you awaken to intense tomato fumes and a craving for an English breakfast. These tomatoes can be frozen for addition to pasta sauces, bean or grain salads, pizza, and wintertime BLTs, but we already made major inroads into our stash before I could freeze any of them. They proved to be especially tasty as a bed on which to layer olive oil poached fresh Oregon albacore tuna for a fancy Salade Nicoise. You can't see the roasted tomatoes in the photo below, but they are doing their job infusing the fish with extra flavor from below. I'll be picking up another flat of roma tomatoes this weekend for additional Labor Day projects.

Slow Roasted Roma Tomatoes

about 6 pounds of tomatoes for two large baking sheets 

Wash the tomatoes and slice them in half. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet, spread out the oil over the bottom of the pan, and sprinkle on a generous pinch of salt. You could also scatter over some fresh herbs such as thyme or marjoram and a few whole cloves of garlic. Arrange the roma tomato halves snuggly on the sheet. I arranged them cut side down, which let them stew in the olive oil, but I've also seen recipes that put them cut side up, which would dry them out more and caramelize them a little. I fit about 3 lbs of tomatoes per large baking sheet. Slow roast them at 200 degrees for 10-12 hours. This works well if you do it overnight, although the delicious roasted tomato smells may wake you up early in the morning. Cool them and freeze them in freezer bags for use in salads, pasta dishes, pizzas, BLTs, etc.

Olive Oil Poached Tuna

fresh albacore tuna (about 4 ounces per person)

olive oil

salt and pepper

4 peeled garlic cloves

sprigs of fresh herbs such as thyme and marjoram

Slice the tuna into 1 1/2 inch cutlet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and allow the fish to warm up to room temperature. Arrange the tuna pieces into the smallest saucepan that will hold them in a single layer and then pour over enough olive oil to cover the fish. Add the garlic cloves and herbs, submerging them as well. Bring the oil to a gentle simmer over low heat. You can monitor the temperature of the oil with a kitchen thermometer, and it should not get above 150 degrees. Cook the tuna for about 10 minutes or until desired opacity, then turn off the heat and remove the tuna from the oil. Smash the garlic cloves into the oil and allow to cool. Strain the oil and reserve. This fragrant oil can be refrigerated for a week and used in salad dressing (see below) or in a sauce such as a quick puttanesca made with slow roasted roma tomatoes.

Slow Roasted Romas and Olive Oil Poached Tuna Salad

slow roasted roma tomatoes (recipe above)

olive oil poached tuna (recipe above)

green and yellow beans, trimmed and boiled until just tender (about 4 minutes)

small potatoes boiled until cooked through

lettuce leaves, washed

cherry tomatoes

hard boiled eggs (add to cold water, turn off heat when water boils, let sit 6 minutes, drain)

salt and pepper

1/3 cup strained olive oil from the tuna poaching

3 Tbsp sherry vinegar

On a large platter, arrange a layer of slow roasted roma tomatoes. As soon as the tuna is poached, place it on the layer of roma tomatoes to infuse the flavors. Around the edges of the platter, arrange lettuce leaves, potatoes, beans, and halved hard boiled eggs. Scatter the cherry tomatoes over the tuna. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. When you are ready to serve, whisk together the oil and vinegar and pour most over the perimeter lettuce, beans, and potatoes and a little over the central fish. Enjoy with fresh bread.

Roasted Tomato and Fish Tacos with Kohlrabi Carrot Slaw

This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm, handcrafted vegan hazelnut cheese from Avellana Creamery, and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art Company. Good Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings: 

Fresh
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of romas (try roasting for tacos)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds  peppers (use your grilled vegetables on pizza)
Shiro plums from SLO farm, NW peaches, and blackberries (try a plum and berry galette)
fennel and eggplants
baby beets and new potatoes (Salade Nicoise is nice on a hot summer day)
carrots and kohlrabi  (try the slaw below)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and cucumbers (make Ume Grill's Tsukemono)
radicchio, chard, kale, and lettuce, including ready-to-eat bagged mix
garlic and fresh herbs (cilantro, dill, basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill

Sweetwater Farm's summer harvest is reaching its peak. Their abundance of tomatoes and peppers are the perfect ingredients for fish tacos for a crowd, made simply with a couple of baking sheets as we did last weekend with a family crowd on the coast. First roast some halved tomatoes and peppers, topped with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt in a 350 degree oven. When these are nicely caramelized, put your fish on a baking sheet, topped again with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. If you have them, you could add a dusting of ground cumin and chipotle pepper, but in our sparse rental house kitchen, we made due with just salt and pepper and the intense flavors of the roasted vegetables, and the tacos were delicious. The fish will cook quickly, just in time to heat up some tortillas on the lower rack of the oven. With a bevy of cooks in the kitchen, we had all sorts of tasty toppings and sides. A favorite was a light lime slaw of kohlrabi and purple carrots, with the kohlrabi leaves reserved for taco toppings. The best part of this bountiful summer spread was that everyone could taylor their tacos to their personal taste.

Roasted Tomato and Fish Tacos for a Crowd

firm tomatoes such as romas (about 2 per person)
peppers of colors and spiciness that will suit your guests (about 1 per person)
white fish such as cod or sole (about 1/4 lb per person, check for best types to buy)
olive oil
fresh lime juice
salt and pepper
ground cumin (optional)
ground chipotle chile (optional)
small tortillas, corn or flour (2 or 3 per person)

Other taco fixings
sliced fresh or pickled radishes
shredded cabbage or kohlrabi leaves
cilantro
avocado
lime wedges
black beans
diced cotija cheese
sour cream or creme Mexicana
hot sauce, like Cholula

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Halve the tomatoes and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet. Halve the peppers and remove their stems and seeds. Arrange them next to the tomatoes or on a second baking sheet. Drizzle the vegetables with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 30 minutes, until they are very soft and begin to caramelize. Remove and reserve.

2. Arrange the fish on a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and other spices if using. Drizzle with a little olive oil and lime juice. Roast until the fish is just opaque throughout, which will depend on the thickness of the fish but will go quickly.

3. Meanwhile, arrange tortillas on a clean baking sheet or directly on the oven rack and bake briefly on each side, about a minute per side, until they just start to show a few brown spots. Store under a kitchen towel to keep from drying out.

4. Everyone can assemble their own tacos, including fish, a roasted tomato half, roasted peppers, and any other toppings they like. Enjoy.

Kohlrabi Carrot Slaw

1 medium kohlrabi
3 colorful carrots
juice from 1 lime
2 Tbsp olive oil
generous pinch of salt
tiny pinch of sugar

Generously trim the kohlrabi bulb of its tough skin and cut into julienne strips. Scrub, top, and tail the carrots and cut into julienne strips. Combine the kohlrabi and carrots in a bowl, toss with the lime juice, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Taste and adjust seasonings. It's fine to let this sit and pickle for a few hours if you want to make it ahead.

Roasted Tomato Fish Soup

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm, Fair Valley Farm, and Tiger Lily Art Company:

heirloom tomatoes, romas, and tomato deals: 10 lbs/$18, $20 lbs/$30 (try this fish soup)

blackberries and cantaloupes (make chocolate blackberry pudding) 

pepperoncini, poblanos, red hot cherries, anaheim chiles, and assorted pepper bargain bags

eggplants, fresh spring garlic, and onions (make ratatouille)

cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and kohlrabi (make some Pad Thai)

cutting celery, new potatoes, and beets (make a salad smorgasbord) 

assorted herbs including Italian parsley and 1 lb bags of basil (make pesto)

kale, chard, and a variety of lettuces including iceberg

bietola (Italian chard/beet green, delicious in salads)

dried beans and grains from Camus Country Mill (pick up some chickpeas for falafel)

jams, salsa, and pickles from Sweet Creek Foods

pastured chickens from Fair Valley Farm (try spatchcocked)

floral arrangements from Tiger Lily Art Company

Any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes can be transform by using fresh roma tomatoes at the peek of summer. For this summer fish soup, prepared in a minimal beach house kitchen with my sister-in-law, we made a intensely tomatoey base by slow roasting romas, garlic, and spicy peppers. With all of the rich flavors of summer, we didn't need any spices other than a sprinkle of salt.

Roasted Tomato Fish Soup

serves 4

3 lb roma tomatoes (~18)
4 cloves garlic
2 medium hot peppers
2 ears corn

2 medium leeks

4 carrots

4 stalks celery

olive oil
8 ounce bottle clam juice
1/4 bottle white wine
1 lb firm white fish such as cod
12 jumbo shrimp
salt
flat leaf parsley, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Coat a couple of baking dishes with a thin layer of olive oil. Halve and core the tomatoes, rub the cut sides in the olive oil, turn them facing upwards, and sprinkle with salt. Halve and seed the peppers and add them to one of the pans, along with the unpeeled cloves of garlic. Slow roast for about 40 to 50 minutes, until the tomatoes are completely softened and collapsed. Let the vegetables cool enough to handle. Peel the garlic cloves and mince them, along with the peppers. If you like, you can easily slip off the tomato skins, or keep them on and coarsely chop. Reserve the chopped vegetables to add to the soup.

2. While the tomatoes are roasting, you can make a quick stock for the soup and chop all the rest of the vegetables. Cut the corn kernels from the cobs. Reserve the kernels and add the cobs to a 6 quart pot. Rinse the leeks well, dice the white parts for the soup, and coarsely chop the green parts and add to the pot. Rinse and trim the celery stalks, dice the stalks for the soup, and add the tops to the pot. Scrub the carrots, peel and dice, and add the peels to the pot. If you like, you can peel the shrimp and add the peels to the pot (but if you are on vacation, leave the peeling for each person at the dinner table). Add 4 cups of water and a generous pinch of salt to the stock pot and then simmer the stock on medium low for about 30 minutes. Strain the stock into a large bowl or another pot and reserve (you should have 2-3 cups). 

3. Now start the soup. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. When it is warm, add a generous glug of olive oil (about 3 Tbsp). Add the diced leeks and saute until soft, about five minutes. Add the celery and carrots and saute for another five minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. Use a ladle full of stock to rinse the pans in which you roasted the tomatoes and add this to the soup pot. Add the clam juice, a quarter bottle of white wine, and enough stock to create the consistency of a thick soup.  Simmer on low for about fifteen minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed. At this point you could turn off the soup and finish it later.

4. Shortly before you want to eat, finish the soup. Rinse the seafood and chop the fish into 1 inch chunks. To the simmering soup, add the corn kernels, then the fish pieces, and then the shrimp, letting it return to a simmer after each addition. Cover and simmer for about five minutes until the shrimp are pink and cooked. Taste once more and add a splash more white wine or pinch of salt as needed. Turn off the soup and sprinkle generously with freshly chopped parsley. Serve with plenty of crusty bread.

Fennel and Sardine Pasta

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm and Fair Valley Farm:

green, yellow wax, and romano beans (try this bean salad with almonds and apricots)
blueberries

tomatoes and fennel (make the pasta dish below)
squash blossoms, baby squash, and zucchini

celery and kohlrabi (great in kimchi)
cucumbers and carrots (make some spring rolls)

broccoli and cauliflower (nice grilled in packets with beets) 

cilantro, Italian parsley, and 1 lb bags of basil (make pesto)
bell and cayenne peppers

fresh spring garlic and Red Long of Tropea onions (delicious grilled on pizza)

kale, chard, collards (make a chard and bacon tart)
variety of lettuces including iceberg lettuce
sunflowers and cardoon flowers

dried beans and grains from Camus Country Mill

jams, salsa, and pickles from Sweet Creek Foods

pastured chickens (try spatchocked)

Fennel is the backbone of one of my favorite quick pantry pasta dishes with bright and refreshing flavors that are perfect for a warm summer evening. This recipe illustrates some principles of a well-stocked pantry. First, no pantry is complete without a supply of tomatoes, and the absolute best are freshly preserved (here I used some of my stash of Sweetwater Farm romas frozen last summer). Next, always keep on hand a collection of canned fish,including sardines, salmon, tuna, anchovies, and smoked trout. Lemons and garlic are necessities. And finally, I like to keep a frozen supply of fresh breadcrumbs, which are easily made from the stale ends of Eugene City Bakery baguette run through the grater blade of your food processor. Then all you need to do is pick up a fennel bulb at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, and you have a delicious midweek meal lined up to go. 

Linguine with Sardines, Fennel and Tomato

adapted closely from lastnightsdinner at food52

1 tin sardines packed in olive oil (about 4 ¼ oz.)
extra virgin olive oil
2-3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed, and roughly chopped
1 small or ½ large bulb fennel, fronds reserved
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, or more to taste
2 cups peeled tomatoes (~12 romas) with their juice, gently crushed 
2 ounces white (dry) vermouth
1 medium lemon, juice and zest
1/3 cup toasted bread crumbs
1 lb pounds dry linguine

1. Bring a very large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Trim the fennel and slice the bulb very thinly. 

2. Open the sardine tin and drain the oil into a wide skillet (the amount of oil in the tin will vary by brand, so add additional extra virgin olive oil if necessary to make up 2 tablespoons). Warm the oil over medium-low heat and add the garlic, cooking until fragrant. 

3. Add the sliced fennel to the skillet with a sprinkle of salt, raise the heat to medium, and cook until the fennel is soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the chile flakes and let them sizzle for a minute, just until fragrant, then add the tomatoes with their juice. Cook until the liquid is reduced, then add the vermouth and let that reduce slightly. 

4. Add the sardines to the skillet with the tomato and fennel mixture, breaking up slightly but leaving some chunks. 

5. Add the linguine to the boiling salted water, cooking it until it is just short of al dente. 

6. As the pasta cooks, prepare the breadcrumb topping. Zest the lemon. Mince some of the fennel fronds. If using frozen fresh breadcrumbs, toast them lightly in a toasting oven or dry skillet. Combine a tablespoon or so of zest, along with a teaspoon of minced fennel fronds, with the toasted breadcrumbs, then set aside. 

7. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the pan. Taste and adjust salt if necessary. 

8. When the linguine is just short of al dente, use tong s to transfer to the sauce to finish cooking, adding a little bit of the starchy pasta water if necessary, and tossing gently to combine. (You'll want the sauce to be a little soupy, as the breadcrumbs will soak up the liquid and dry the pasta out a bit once you've added them.) 

9. Transfer the pasta and sauce to a large warmed serving bowl (or individual pasta bowls), add a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle on the toasted breadcrumb-lemon zest mixture, and garnish with picked small fennel fronds and the remaining lemon zest.