Dandelion Pasta Salad and How Food Bloggers Successfully Collaborate

How do two food bloggers who are in command of their own kitchens successfully collaborate?

Last weekend I found myself in a beautiful Hollywood Hills home, nesting, shopping, and cooking with one of my favorite food bloggers in the whole world, Greg of Sippity Sup or just Sup.

Sup describes his blog as serious, fun food. I never miss a Sippity Sup post because there is always something good to eat, something to learn about the ingredients, beautiful photography, and best of all his pithy sense of humor shining through.

Everyone needs a colleague that makes them stretch. Sup does this for me. When I’m posting, he’s one of the bloggers I want feedback from, and when we get together, we spend time talking about our blogs like they are our babies.

Our friendship took root in San Francisco at the Food Buzz Festival, but could we click in the kitchen? Well yes, when it’s in a house this pretty. And you should see the kitchen. It’s a wonder we could cook at all and not just relax in this beautiful outdoor pool area.

The salad was our contribution to a neighborhood dinner party, one I wish I could tell you more about, but what happens in Hollywood stays in Hollywood. We decided to both post this same dish today from our individual vantage point.

Pasta salad can be boring, but not when Spinach Tiger and Sippity Sup get together.

As we were standing in this Armenian market admiring the various choices of feta cheese, we both became smitten with a bouquet of bright green dandelion greens. I don’t know the name of the store, but Sup probably can help you with that.

When I lived in California, I took for granted all the various markets and food sources available. Now I pine for them.

In food blogger fashion, neither one of us had cooked with dandelion greens and it excited us.

It’s appearance is similar to arugula, but, the way to tell the difference is the deep tooth of the leaf. This is how dandelion was named. Dent de lion means lion’s tooth, and thus, dandelion. It’s super nutritious, and has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. It is complimented well with a briney feta.

Not all feta cheeses are created equally. This one was very creamy and had a smooth luxurious taste and texture.

If you taste dandelion on its own, it might seem harshly bitter, but once dressed and spiked with a bit of heat, the bitterness seems to disappear, but stays alive enough to awaken your palate. And, dandelion doesn’t wilt very much. When dressed with olive oil and lots of lemon, even on its own, dandelion transforms from bitter to delicious.

Note: I made a Dandelion Salad with Blood Orange in honor of the Hunger Games Trilogy.

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Dandelion Pasta Salad and How Food Bloggers Successfully Collaborate

Dandelions are more than weeds. They make an excellent backdrop for a pasta salad with fresh feta cheese.

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil more as needed
• 1/2 pound feta cheese
• 1 bunch dandelion trimmed
• 1/2 t red pepper  flakes or dried thai chiles
• 1 cup of kalamata olives pitted and halved
• juice and zest of one large lemon
• salt pepper
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add a generous amount of salt. Cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
• Whisk the olive oil lemon juice, lemon zest, red-pepper flakes with a pinch of salt in large bowl. Drain the pasta and add it to this mixture, stirring to coat the pasta well. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.
• Trim dandelion stems. Rinse and dry. Cut in half. Lay the dandelion greens out onto a large serving platter or bowl. Top them with the still slightly warm pasta and stir to combine. Let the salad cool completely then top with the the olives, feta cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few grinds of black pepper.
• Serve at room temperature. If you refrigerate take out an hour before serving.

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add a generous amount of salt. Cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
• Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, red-pepper flakes with a pinch of salt in large bowl. Drain the pasta and add it to this mixture, stirring to coat the pasta well. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.
• Trim dandelion stems. Rinse and dry. Cut in half. Lay the dandelion greens out onto a large serving platter or bowl. Top them with the still slightly warm pasta and stir to combine. Let the salad cool completely, then top with the the olives, feta cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few grinds of black pepper.
• Serve at room temperature. If you refrigerate, take out an hour before serving.

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