I got quite a few direct emails asking me where I got the fusilli I used in yesterday's Grilled Scallops with Fennel and Fresh Herb Fusilli.

Well, I got it at the Hollywood Farmers Market. We have an occasional vendor there that sells all sorts of handmade pastas both fresh and dried.

So for this weeks Market Matters I thought I would pass along a little bit about pasta.

Pasta was originally a Southern Italian dish. Particularly Sicilian. Eventually the cultivation of wheat moved into other areas of the country, and pasta became a common food item all over Italy.

Northern Italian pastas are generally pastas with fresh eggs and “soft” wheat. Soft wheat is lower in protein and gluten content. Bakers tend to like flour from soft wheat for batter-based foods like cakes and biscuits. Think cake flour. The soft wheat and egg produces pasta that has a silky texture. These pastas are often prepared as stuffed pastas (like ravioli) and in Italy they are called Pasta Fresca.

I live in the Hills above Hollywood. It’s a great place to live.

Though I can’t see Alaska from my house (sorry old joke!), I can see a castle that would make Cinderella proud, turrets and all! There is Moorish architecture. An English manor house too. Even a mid-century masterpiece case-study house by Pierre Koenig looming over the whole canyon. Who built these houses and why? They certainly had big imaginations…and what a tapestry they have woven through these hills over the years.

Most Sundays we walk down from these hills to the Hollywood Farmers Market. It’s probably a mile or a bit more and it’s a wonderful walk in (almost) any weather.

I love the market on Sundays. There is such a sense of community, and because it’s on Hollywood Boulevard, there is a real sense of place too. Because believe me Hollywood is some kind of place!

Well it’s happened again. I ripped off KCRW’s Good Food. This time my victim was the chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, Evan Funke.

When I left the house this morning for the Hollywood Farmers Market I had an open mind about what I would find for my weekly Market Matters post. But when I got there, the market felt a bit off to me. I think we really are transitioning from the winter crops to the early spring stuff. I even saw English peas in the pod. A sure sign that spring is on it way in. But the peas were not really peaking and I’d rather wait a few more weeks and be rewarded with perfect peas.

All the usual suspects were to be found though. I saw great citrus, and the winter greens are still aplenty. There were carrots, carrots, and more carrots. Some nice potatoes too. But nothing really inspired me. Then it hit me. That interview with Evan Funke came bursting to the forefront of my consciousness.

Okay, you have to understand that I store information about food in my head the way most Angelinos store obscure rush hour short cuts. You never know when your gonna need ‘em and you have no idea where the information comes from. But there it is, like magic; just when you need it.

What I am trying to say is I was not intending to steal from Evan Funke. But, after really scouring the market, I came home with a bunch of baby purple artichokes. It may sound like a great choice (and it is), but it was not really MY own unique, one-of-a-kind choice.

I live in the Hills above Hollywood. It’s a great place to be.

Though I can’t see Alaska from my house, I can see a castle that would make Cinderella proud, turrets and all! There is Moorish architecture. An English manor house too. Even a mid-century masterpiece Case Study House by Pierre Koenig looming over the whole canyon. Who built these houses and why? They certainly had big imaginations…and what a tapestry they have woven through these hills over the years.

Most Sundays we walk down from these hills to the Hollywood Farmers Market. It’s probably a mile or a bit more and it’s a wonderful walk in (almost) any weather.

I love the market on Sundays. There is such a sense of community, and because it’s on Hollywood Boulevard, there is a real sense of place too.