marinated beet salad with goat cheese and pistachios

i know a lot of people who say they hated beets as a kid but as an adult they are one of their favorite foods. i don't recall ever trying them as a kid - i know we didn't have 'em at home, and i don't remember them being on the cafeteria tray at school or anything. the only place i do remember seeing beets when i was growing up was at the salad bar, either sliced and chillin' in the liquid from the can they came from, or mixed into some kind of salad with wax beans. but since there were also chunks of ham and shredded cheddar and creamy pasta salads on the salad bar, i had no reason to give beets a second glance or thought. 

now, though, i go crazy for beets and their rich, earthy flavor with a hint of sweetness, their velvety texture, and their extremely saturated bull's-blood color (or deep cadmium yellow, or peppermint stripe). i love that they grow underground like buried treasure, i love that the greens are edible (the ones above were braised with onion, garlic, sherry vinegar, a little chicken stock, red pepper flakes and a teeny amount of maple syrup), and hey - i've got mad respect for anything that can hang out in a 400 degree oven for 2 hours before giving in the slightest little bit to a squeeze. 

this salad is from edible seattle's november/december 2011 issue. the beets are roasted (if there's a better way to have beets i certainly don't know what it is) and marinate overnight in a light dressing with slices of onion. the salad is finished simply with toasted pistachios and a bit of creamy goat cheese. the result is a beautiful beet experience. this is my current favorite beet dish.

here's the recipe as it was printed in edible seattle, with the one change of using toasted pistachios rather than buying raw and roasting at home. adjust the portions based on your amount of beets.

Bietola Marinata 
recipe courtesy Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria
8 servings| start to finish: 1 day
from Edible Seattle November/December 2011

5 lbs. beets (any will do, but a mix of red, golden and Chioggia if possible)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of half of a lemon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, julienned (i used sweet onion)

4 ounces toasted pistachios

8 ounces chevre

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put beets in a single layer in a large roasting pan or pans, without overcrowding. drizzle with the olive oil and shake pan to cover beets with oil.  sprinkle with salt, cover pan with aluminum foil and roast 1-2 hours depending on the size of the beets, until tender. when the beets are softened enough to be squeezable, remove from oven and allow to cool until they can be handled. remove peels - they should slip right off.  cut them into 1/2” dice and place in a  bowl. toss in the julienned onions and set aside at room temperature.

for the dressing, combine the vinegar, lemon juice and sea salt in a small bowl. slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture, whisking as you pour. (i've gotten in the habit of putting all of my dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shaking the bejeezus out of it to combine.)

drizzle the dressing over the beets and onions and toss. check the seasoning. Cover and marinate the beets and onions overnight in the refrigerator.

bring beets to room temperature in order for the olive oil to liquefy again. toss the mixture one more time, check for seasoning and divide the beets on serving plates. garnish each portion with 1/2 ounce pistachios and 1 ounce of goat cheese. serve.


sources:

beets from stoney plains farm

onion from willie green's organic farm

grilled chicken with corn and roasted red pepper relish

here's another go-to recipe for summer, compliments of bobby flay's bold american food. the garlic, ginger and honey marinade is perfect for an otherwise boring chicken breast, and the relish of sweet corn, roasted red pepper, balsamic vinegar, and jalapeno is a great balance of sweetness with just a little heat. bump up the amount of jalapeno or add other chilis if you want more bite, but i find this dish perfect as is. it would also be easy enough to grill the corn and cut it off the cob rather than toast kernels in a pan. your choice!

oh yeah, by the way, I LOVE CORN.

grilled chicken breasts with corn and roasted red pepper relish
from bobby flay's bold american food


for chicken with ginger and garlic marinade:
1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup coarsely chopped ginger
1/2 cup coarsely chopped garlic
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup honey
4 chicken breasts, pounded out to a fairly consistent thickness

combine all marinade ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. remove from heat and cool.

pour over chicken in a big ziploc bag or pan and refrigerate (covered if in a pan) for 3 hours or up to overnight.

grill over medium heat until juices run clear but it's not overcooked. (for us, this has been 7-10 minutes on each side.)

for corn and roasted red pepper relish:
1 cup roasted corn kernels (see below)
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, diced (see below)
1 Tbsp finely diced onion
1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 jalapeno, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

combine all ingredients in a bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. (can be made a day ahead.) serve over grilled chicken breasts.

for roasted corn: preheat oven to 350. remove all of the silk and all but one layer of husks. dip each ear in water. cover the kernels with the husks and arrange corn on baking sheet. roast 45 minutes. cool, and scrape kernels off with a knife. one ear of corn yields about 1/2 cup of kernels.

for roasted red peppers: preheat oven to 350. rub peppers with olive oil and roast on baking sheet 25 minutes. turn once during cooking. remove from oven and put in brown paper bag for 5 minutes to steam. cut peppers in half, pull out the seeds and the stem, and peel off the skins. they should slip right off. these can be easily frozen, too, to have for use in winter dishes!


sources:
corn, peppers, onions, and jalapeno from alvarez organic farms
cilantro from our garden

Grilled Chicken with Tomato Chutney Chickpeas, Cucumber Radish Salad, and Tahini-Yogurt

there's a tiny pocket of commerce in the middle of our residential neighborhood called "tangletown" where you can find one, and only one, of pretty much everything. one pub and brewery, one coffee shop, one doughnut joint, one sushi restaurant, one dentist, one general market, one dive bar, one chiropractor, and, oddly enough, one kingdom hall are a part of our little hood. (it makes our area feel just like small-town america, until you head a couple of blocks south and catch views of the towering seattle skyline.)

tangletown also has one nice restaurant, and, since 1) we can walk to it and 2) we consistently have great seasonal food and drinks there, it's the seattle restaurant we refer to as "favorite." it's called Eva, and one of their characteristics is that all of the elements on the plate are great, but when they are compiled into one bite, the dish is pretty perfect. a few weeks ago i had a dish of roasted duck with tomato–garlic chickpeas, tahini yogurt, and a salad of cucumber and radish with sumac. i was blown away by this dish. i rarely try to recreate restaurant dishes at home, but this one was so impressive and flavorful, yet fresh and unfussy, that i decided with a couple of modifications we might be able to pull it off. 

it WORKED! first modification--chicken breast instead of duck. it's a completely different texture and flavor, but i am in no way ambitious enough to cook duck. besides, eva does it so well i'll just let them cook it for me. also, i couldn't find sumac anywhere! there are a couple of specialty spice shops around town i'll hit up when i have the chance, but for this dish the sumac was just left out. i found recipes for the components of the dish on various websites, and hoped that when they all came together on the plate they would feel at home with each other. the components went together beautifully, but each is awesome on its own, so mix and match!

for chickpeas with tomato chutney
from quick tomato chutney on mistress-of-spices.com
*vegan *gluten-free

1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (i used yellow)
1/4 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (i used some from our garden that i'd frozen whole at the end of the season last year. thawed for a few minutes and the skins slipped right off!)
1 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
15 oz cooked chickpeas

heat olive oil over medium heat in a small pan. add mustard seeds. when seeds stop popping, add onion and ginger. saute 3-4 minutes.

add tomatoes and ketchup. stir and cook until tomatoes thicken and reduce. add spices and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens up quite a bit. you want it to cling to the chickpeas. when thickened, add chickpeas, stir to combine, and warm through.


for cucumber-radish salad
from avocado & bravado
*vegan *gluten-free

2 medium cucumbers
4 radishes
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp mint, chopped
chopped parsley to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

peel cucumber (i usually leave on about a quarter of the peel), slice into thin coins, then chop into small pieces. using a mandoline, slice the radishes thin and the chop into strips. (you can slice the radishes by hand, but a mandoline makes it so much easier...) combine cucumber and radish with diced onion in bowl.

whisk the vinegar with the olive oil and pour over the veggies. toss together with the herbs and taste for seasoning. add salt and pepper to taste, and more vinegar or herbs to your liking.

for chicken with mediterranean marinade
from the wannabe chef
*dairy-free *gluten-free

3 Tbsp balsamic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp herbes de provence (can substitute other italian herbs)
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (not super-duper thin, just pounded out to be a fairly consistent thickness)

combine first 8 ingredients well. put chicken in ziploc bag and pour in marinade and close bag. refrigerate. normally i like to marinate chicken overnight, but this time it only sat for 3 hours and was super flavorful.

here's where it gets tricky--i don't know exactly how we cooked it. rob grilled it, and every time we fire up the grill we do quick web searches for how long to cook chicken, to what temperature it should reach to be safely cooked, then we toss it on the grill, turn it after a few minutes, check it a few minutes after that, and pull it off the heat when we're happy with it. this time i think we cooked around 5 minutes on each side? (again, the chicken had been pounded out a bit so didn't take very long.) so, i'll say this--cook your marinated chicken however works for you!

for tahini-yogurt sauce
from food & wine
*vegetarian


1/8 cup tahini paste
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

blend tahini paste, lemon juice and olive oil in food processor. add yogurt and blend to mix thoroughly. scrape into bowl and add pepper. taste and add salt, if desired.

to serve
serve chicken, chickpeas and cucumber-radish salad drizzled with yogurt sauce and sprinkled with plenty of chopped cilantro. 

sources:
chickpas from alzarez organic farm
tomatoes, cilantro, and mint from our garden
radishes and onion from stoney plains farm
cucumber from river farm

jerry traunfeld's spiced chickpea salad

i first heard about this recipe last fall when i attended a "holiday preview" of sorts at interbay whole foods. they had invited a group of foodie folks to sample their new thanksgiving dinner offerings and, la-di-da, i got to go because jill lightner, the editor of edible seattle, gets invited to this kind of thing and sometimes invites me to come along. at this particular event, food photographer, writer, preparer, eater (not sure what her professional title is, but she seems to do pretty much everything when it comes to food!) myra kohn, who writes the "recipe box" column for edible seattle, came by our table to chat with jill. they talked about recipes she was testing for upcoming issues of the magazine, and one that sounded particularly exciting was a chickpea salad from chef jerry traunfeld. i had to wait until the may/june issue to try it out, but it was worth the wait. 

these chickpeas get a super-yum rating. some even call them addicting. they are spiced but not hot, creamy but not heavy, and are a perfect side dish for spring and summer meals. they also come together really fast. try them as an alternative to potato salad at your next barbeque if you want to serve something deliciously unexpected! 

jerry traunfeld's chickpea salad

from edible seattle, may/june 2011

2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 tablespoons peanut oil, or other vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon ajwain seed, or substitute fennel seed or celery seed (i used celery seed)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (i've tried with low-fat and whole milk yogurt, and the whole milk was definitely better!)

put chickpeas in a bowl.

pour oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. when oil is hot, add the mustard seed, cover the pan (the seeds will sputter and pop and be launched out of the pan otherwise), and turn heat to low. when the seeds stop sputtering, uncover and add the cumin, ajwain (or fennel or celery seeds), and chili flakes and cook for about 10 seconds, until spices are fragrant and browning. immediately pour the oil and spices over the chickpeas.

add the lemon juice, salt, cilantro, and green onion and toss to coat. stir in yogurt. serve immediately, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

sources:

chickpeas from alvarez farms

delicious salad and a fruity side built from what was in the fridge

you know what it's like. you're pumping away on the exercise bike, watching an episode of "the office" on the ipad, and going over the list in your head of produce that will go bad if you don't act fast. this time, the scene lead to two successful side dishes-- the watercress and pear from the ravioli dish i never made were split up and turned into a salad using fennel leftover from the pickled fall veggies, and a zingy side of pear and roasted beets with apple-mustard vinaigrette. 

this salad is out of this world. spicy watercress and cool fennel take on a vinaigrette sweetened by dried cranberries, and are perfectly complimented by nutty, toasted pecans. absolutely delicious, quick, and special enough to serve to guests or for the holidays. 

fennel and watercress salad with cranberry vinaigrette 

adapted from allrecipes.com

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 bunch watercress

1 fennel bulb

1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted

mix the two vinegars in a bowl and add the cranberries. let the cranberries soak for about a half an hour, then whisk in the salt and olive oil.

shave the fennel bulb into thin slices using a mandoline. combine watercress with fennel, toss with some of the cranberry vinaigrette, and top with toasted pecans.

this pear and roasted beet combo is really nice and is a great way to sneak some fruit into your diet. (somehow, i love to buy fruit, but when i get it home the appeal vanishes. so i kinda *have* to trick myself from time to time.) the oil-free dressing using apple jelly and mustard would be wonderful on just about anything, i've decided. and, bonus, the pears turn PINK!

asian pear with roasted beets and apple jelly-mustard vinaigrette

adapted from beet and asian pear salad, gourmet, january 1995

1 bunch small beets

1 asian pear

2 Tbsp apple jelly (we used a cinnamony apple cider jelly-- sooo good)

4 tsp white balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

preheat oven to 400 degrees. remove the beet greens (save these to saute in olive oil or toss in a casserole or soup!), scrub the beets, and wrap them in heavy-duty aluminum foil. roast them on a cookie sheet or baking dish until they are tender. this takes FOREVER. allow more than an hour, even for small beets. when beets cooked, allow to cool and slip the skins off. slice thin using a mandoline or knife. 

peel the pear and cut into chunks.

to make the dressing, heat the jelly, balsamic, and mustard over low heat in a tiny saucepan until jelly is melted. combine with pear and beets and serve. 

sources:

pear from rockridge orchards

beets from alm hill gardens

fennel from willie greens organic farm

georgia pecans from my wildly awesome aunt jane!

quick-pickled fall veggies

due to a series of events taking us out of the house at night lately-- my birthday, huskies games at the bar, pool with friends-- i haven't really cooked anything in a couple of weeks, which feels like years. not only have we been eating out and bringing home leftovers, but after a time of having someone else prepare our meals, it's easy to get a little lazy about being in the kitchen. brent olsen from olsen farms even commented this weekend at the farmers market, "hey, good to see ya. it's been a while!" yes, brent, it's sadly true. because we've been ordering pizza. (and please don't make me admit that there's one in the fridge even now, as i type...)

but, i'm vowing to break the cycle, just as soon as we get through the tower of leftovers we collected this weekend.

anyway, pickles! the culinary world has gone pickle-mad, a fact i've only recently uncovered. seems most of the menus we see these days include some sort of pickled goodie, and it could be absolutely anything. pickled raisins, pickled shallots, pickled stem of chard...

we recently went to poppy, jerry traunfeld's restaurant, for seattle restaurant week. one of the small plates on the thali tray was a dish of pickled eggplant and cucumber, and it was one of the many, many standout tastes we had that night. enter my bible, also known as jerry's cookbook, the herbal kitchen, offering a chance to recreate his pickled glory at home. i made a few substitutions based on what i had on hand, including using about a quarter of the herbs he called for (as much as my little thyme plant could spare), and using half white wine vinegar and half champagne vinegar. his were better, for sure, but these were still amazingly good. they are crunchy, crisp, and full of flavor without being too saturated in overpowering acid. the vegetables maintain their original character, so make sure you start with high-quality produce. the fennel was my favorite, rob's was the cauliflower.

we had them alongside a grossly overcooked and under-seasoned pork chop. go me!

pickled fall vegetables
adapted from jerry traunfeld's herbed fresh vegetable pickle in the herbal kitchen

1/2 cup kosher salt
2 quarts cool water
2 quarts prepared vegetables, such as carrots cut into matchsticks, thin sliced fennel bulb, cauliflower florets, and cucumbers seeded and cut into half moons
a couple of tablespoons of chopped fennel frond
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup champagne vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups water
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
3 dry bay leaves
handful of lemon thyme sprigs

brining:
stir the salt in the cool water until it dissolves. in large ceramic or glass bowl, submerge the vegetables and chopped fennel frond in the brine and let sit for 4 to 6 hours. the veggies wanted to float, so i put a deep plate on top of the bowl to keep them submerged.

pickling:
bring the vinegars, sugar, 2 cups water, chili flakes and bay leaves to a boil in a saucepan. add the herbs, stir, and remove pan from heat. let mixture cool to room temparature.

drain the vegetables from the brine and return them to bowl. pour over pickling liquid (again, keep 'em submerged) and refrigerate overnight. that's it!

before dinner i scooped our servings out of the brine and let them mellow for about a half hour. the leftovers stored in the brine for another day, which i then drained for good, fearing that they would get more acidic and more floppy over time. don't know if that was the right thing to do, but then again, we ate them all up in 3 days anyway!


sources:
cauliflower-- growing things farm
fennel-- willie greens organic farm
cucumber-- alvarez farm

herbed potato salad with lemon and olive oil dressing

every summer requires a reliable potato salad, and this summer mine was the herbed potato salad with lemon-olive oil dressing from bon appetit. some batches turned out better than others, but having an in-a-pinch recipe to turn to for dinner or last-minute barbecues has simplified several evenings over the course of the season. 

the recipe caught my eye because it calls for fresh herbs that happen to be growing in my herb pots. i've also never been in to mayo-based potato salads and appreciated that this one has a light and tart dressing of olive oil and lemon juice (which i spiced up with a little whole grain mustard and sugar). it comes together super fast, but the salad needs to sit for an hour or so before serving in order for the potatoes to take on the flavor of the dressing-- otherwise, it can seem like a flavorless bowl of steamed potatoes.

use super-waxy potatoes-- in the batch in the photo above i used yukon golds, red lasodas, and viking purples for a colorful mix. they held up beautifully, even though i over-steamed them! (i also forgot the red peppers in the batch pictured, and really missed them. won't make that mistake again.)

herbed potato salad with lemon-olive oil dressing
adapted from bob appetit, june 2000

2 lbs waxy potatoes
1/2 cup rough chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp (or more) whole grain or dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet or red onion
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

fresh cracked pepper

3 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

scrub potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces, about 1". steam in a basket steamer until tender, about 10 minutes. put potatoes in bowl and add red peppers. in a separate bowl, add lemon juice, mustard, onions, sugar, and salt and pepper. whisk in olive oil, taste, and adjust seasonings. pour dressing over potatoes, add chopped herbs, and mix thoroughly. cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to 4 hours for dressing to flavor the potatoes. serve at room temperature. 

sources:
potatoes: olsen farms

shaved asparagus and fennel salad (with slow-roasted halibut)

i've managed to convert rob. he was firmly planted in the "i don't like fennel" camp until this raw salad of shaved asparagus and fennel with a mustard dressing, and now he nibbles on the fennel tops on our way home from the farmers market. we've made it twice now, serving once with the crunchy topped, slow-roasted halibut in the recipe (we, and our dinner guest, thought the fish and salad were amazing), and another time on its own.

fennel is a fascinating vegetable. its bulb grows in a criss-crossing basket-weave pattern, and the stalks are long and slender, topped with delicate, feathery foliage. all parts are edible, and the taste is cool and herbal with a mild flavor of anise. the bulb hides dirt and sand between the outer couple of layers, so pull it apart to wash thoroughly. (it also grows wild all over the place around here, which makes walks around the neighborhood a fun and fragrant treasure hunt.)

for this recipe, the fennel is thin-shaved using the thinnest setting on a mandoline slicer. (you can do this with a knife, but it will probably make you grumpy. if you don't have a mandoline, get one! mine has changed my whole life, for the low, low price of something like 30 bucks.)

asparagus is too skinny for the mandoline, so use a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices from the trimmed stalks, and save the tips for another dish.

slow-roasted halibut with shaved asparagus and fennel salad

from bon appetit, april 2010

(salad is vegan and gluten-free)

4 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 Tbps dijon or whole-grain mustard

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp drained capers, chopped

3/4 lb asparagus spears, trimmed

1/2 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb

handful of fennel foliage, rough chopped

2 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (i used panko)

3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbps chopped fresh italian parsley

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp fine grated lemon peel

3 Tbps butter, melted

4 six-oz wild-caught pacific halibut fillets (also called alaskan halibut. avoid atlantic, and be cautious of california and greenland! read more on halibut best choices at monterey bay aquarium's seafood watch.)

for salad, whisk together lemon juice and mustard. slowly add olive oil while whisking, and mix in chopped capers.

use a vegetable peeler to make long, thin slices of the asparagus stalks. using a mandoline on the thinnest setting, shave the fennel bulb. toss asparagus and fennel bulb and foliage in the dressing. can be made ahead.

for fish, preheat oven to 300 degrees. prepare a baking sheet with a little oil. mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, lemon peel, herbs, and melted butter. season mixture with salt and pepper.

put fish on baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. divide bread crumbs among the fillets and press to adhere. bake fish for 20-40 minutes, depending on thickness of fish, until the center is opaque. (my fillets were almost 2" thick-- one took 32 minutes, the other 38 to cook through. watch it to not overcook-- the fish should be good and moist!) turn on broiler and broil about 1 minute until breadcrumbs begin to brown.

serve fish with salad.

sources:

asparagus-- canales farm

fennel-- alm hill gardens

french onion soup and a salad for all seasons

last thursday was soup and salad night. the soup was french onion, about which i promised to report since i was making it with my first batch of homemade beef stock. i'm happy to say it was wonderful! i followed this recipe from gourmet, december 2006, cooking the onions for about an hour and 15 minutes until they were amber colored and super creamy. topped with a cave-aged gruyere (oh my gawd, we love cave-aged gruyere so desperately!) and left off the parmesan, but only because i forgot about it... 


i admit i was a little nervous about this soup since it's success, best i can tell, depends on a well-flavored stock. thankfully, the flavor was there! it also felt good to know i was taking in all those minerals coaxed out of healthy, grass-fed bones. just got more bones from skagit river ranch-- 2 lbs for 3 bucks will make over $20 worth of stock!

now to the salad. it was another PCC natural markets recipe, warm roasted root vegetable salad with hazelnuts, chevre, and aged balsamic. the recipe calls for carrot, parsnip, turnip, beet, and yam on salad greens. i used carrot, parsnip, butternut squash, asian pear, and baby shallots on winter spinach. the pear was an experiment, but it roasted right up and caramelized like a champion. 

it wasn't until we were in the middle of dinner that i realized this salad was the wintry doppelganger to my grilled summer vegetable salad with goat cheese crostini! what can i say-- i like what i like! i'm already thinking of a spring version-- asparagus, radish and green onion, anyone?


recipes again:
french onion soup, gourmet dec. 2006 
warm roasted root vegetable salad with hazelnuts, chevre, and aged balsamic 

triticale and fall vegetable salad with kale chips and squash seeds

in cold weather months i often have to remind myself to eat light. summer is easy-- i can eat a tomato with a dollop of cottage cheese and consider it a reasonable lunch. not so as the dark and rain settles in over puget sound. sometimes, though, it feels good to eat something clean, something to atone for all those cheesy casseroles and cream-based soups that i do so enjoy during fall and winter.

i discovered some fun whole grains at the farmers market the other day. nash's organic produce was selling 1 lb bags of wheat berries, rye berries, and triticale (trit-a-kay-lee), a hybrid of wheat and rye. i figured those raw grains would be a good way to have some light and clean meals that were robust enough to stand up to the 50-degree drizzle outside. plus, at $2 a pound, they were a total bargain.

i've only tried the triticale, and i'm sold. it's nutty, chewy, and has a slightly springy texture in your mouth. it is also a significant protein source, so vegetarians take note!

i made an easy salad using fall veg and topped it with very flavorful condiments of toasted squash seed and kale chips. season each layer well and you've got a seriously tasty, hearty salad. the triticale has to soak overnight, so get started on this one the night before. so good!

triticale and fall vegetable salad

(serves 2)

1 cup triticale

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock, or water

1 carrot, chopped into 1" pieces

1 parsnip, chopped into 1" pieces

2 cups acorn squash, peeled and chopped into 1" cubes, seeds reserved

1/2 bunch kale, + 3-4 more leaves, tough stems and ribs removed, leaves chopped

1/2 cup + 1 Tbps balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp honey

spicy roasted acorn squash seeds (recipe follows)

rinse triticale, cover with water and soak overnight. drain and simmer in water or stock and 1/2 tsp salt for 1 hour. (there is no water-to-grain ratio as there is with rice. just cook it until it's done, and drain.)

heat oven to 350. toss the carrot, parsnip, and 3-4 leaves of chopped kale in olive oil, salt and pepper. roast 20 minutes until carrot and parsnip are cooked through and kale is crispy.

toss acorn squash in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until soft.

tent roasted vegetables to keep warm.

saute the remainder of the kale in olive oil until it begins to wilt. add 2 Tbps water or stock and 1 Tbps balsamic vinegar. cover to steam 2 minutes then cook uncovered, stirring, until wilted but still vibrant green. season with salt and pepper.

for the dressing, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the honey and 1/2 cup balsamic. cook over medium heat, stirring, until slightly reduced and syrupy.

to serve, divide kale onto two plates and top with drained triticale. pile the squash, carrot, and parsnip on top. spoon some of the dressing over, then top with the roasted kale chips and toasted squash seeds.

spicy toasted acorn squash seeds

1/2 cup fresh squash seeds

1 tsp melted butter

1//8 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

fresh cracked pepper

clean and wash the seeds. (a method i heard about on the radio works well-- put seeds in a wire mesh strainer with some kosher salt and scrub. the salt acts as an abrasive as well as seasoning. rinse.)

dry seeds well on kitchen towel.

mix seeds with melted butter, cinnamon, salt, and pepper and move to a small roasting pan in a single layer.

cover with foil (as they cook, they pop out of the roasting pan!) and toast at 375 for 12 minutes.

don't skip the seeds and kale chips! they bring a great texture and salty punch to this salad.

the substitution possibilities are endless. rice, barley, quinoa, or other grains for the triticale, root vegetables, winter squashes or gourds for the roasted veg, any leafy green for the kale... roasted onions or shallots would also be welcomed additions.

poached pear and bleu cheese salad with pear vinaigrette

it's funny how much the inventory at the farmers market changes in just a few short fall weeks. heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, and zucchini give way to storage potatoes, variegated maize, and butternut squash. one of the fall stand-outs for me lately has been the pears. they are beautiful and plentiful and i can basically eat my way through the market by happily accepting samples from farmers showcasing the many varieties and flavors offered in the pears they've grown. i never know what i'm going to do with them when i make the purchase, but somehow i can't leave the market these last couple of weeks without an armful.

the first use for a pear was to slice it into a salad. pear on salad is wonderful, but i was certain the idea could be jazzed up a bit. my recipe search turned up one from chef albert breuers for a poached pear and bleu cheese salad with pear vinaigrette. i love poached pear, but had only had it as a dessert. this recipe was a delicious eye-opener.

(i followed the recipe almost exactly, though made a few minor substitutions and changed amounts to make a salad for 2.)

poached pear and bleu cheese salad with pear vinaigrette

from chef albert bruers, old guard house inn

for poached pears:

2 pears, any variety, peeled with stem left intact

3/4 cup white wine

1 1/2 cups water

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp good quality vanilla extract

1 3-inch section lemon peel, yellow part only

1 3-inch section orange peel, orange part only

1 cinnamon stick

add all ingredients to small stockpot and bring to a boil. (may need to add more wine and water if the pears are not covered by the cooking liquid, or, as i did, turn them over a few times during the cooking.) reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes, then remove from heat and cool. reserve poaching liquid for vinaigrette.

for vinaigrette:

1 poached pear

1/8 cup olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1/8 cup poaching liquid from the pears

salt and pepper to taste

remove stem and seeds from poached pear and puree in blender or food processor. add to bowl with vinegar and poaching liquid and add oil slowly in a stream while whisking to emulsify. taste and season with salt and pepper. (can be refrigerated up to 1 week.)

for salad:

lettuce of your choosing (i used a salad mix of red and green lettuces, chard, arugula)

pear viniagrette (recipe above)

2 ounces crumbled bleu cheese (i prefer oregon rogue river blue)

1/2 cup pecans, toasted

1 poached pear (recipe above)

mix salad greens with vinaigrette, top with 1/2 poached pear, cheese, and toasted pecans.

this salad is flawless. the pear and vinaigrette are just sweet enough, the nuts and cheese balance them perfectly, and it's a smart way to sneak more fruit into your diet by having pureed pear in the dressing. i even saved the leftover poaching liquid and simmered it on the stove for a little while the next day. it made the house smell like pear-vanilla heaven, and if i'd taken it off the stove in time it would have been a perfect syrup over something yummy-- ice cream?

eat the greens!

it was about two years ago that i began to learn that the tops of root vegetables are edible. i grew up eating turnip greens, but as my mother recently pointed out we didn't eat the turnip. so the idea that both the roots and the tops are food came as a bit of a surprise. it started when i got a box of vegetables from a farmer who would bring his goods to our office. there were beets with greens attached in the box, and when i questioned their usefulness two of my colleagues insisted "yes! yes!" and then talked excitedly over each other about how best to enjoy them. i had to experiment for a while before i found my favorite beet greens recipe, which turns out to be roasted beets sliced over the greens which have been wilted in olive oil and a little water, served warm with a lemon vinaigrette and crumbled blue cheese. absolutely delicious.

this past spring i tried radishes for the first time. i'd only really experienced them on salads and was not impressed, but they were one of the first things available in the farmers markets so i decided to give them a go. when i asked the guy working the full circle farm booth what i should be looking for, he mentioned that the greens were edible so i should be checking for healthy looking radishes as well as their tops.

given that my experiences with "the tops are edible" were mounting, i'm not sure why it was such a shock for me to overhear at the market a couple of weeks ago that carrot greens are edible as well. farmers at the market are always asking if they can remove the tops for their carrot-buying customers, and have a huge pile behind them overflowing from a cardboard box. one farmer even asked if i wanted to donate the tops to her chickens. i suppose i assumed, based on those experiences, that the greens are good for chickens or for compost back on the farm, but not for eating. i was wrong! and now, in the interest of my "use the whole beast" sensibilities, i'm looking for ways to use carrot greens in my menus.

i got started by pinching off bits of the greens and tasting them, finding the raw flavor familiar but not quite able to place it. i remembered that i have a rainbow chard plant in the backyard that was never able to produce enough to use before the critters would get to it, but which has steadily had 3-5 small leaves on it since june. i snapped off a leaf of chard and tasted it along with the raw carrot greens-- that was it! they taste like chard, only a little bit milder. if that's the case, they can be used anyplace chard is, or any other green as far as i'm concerned.

my first try was a simple preparation i sometimes use with kale. i wilted them in olive oil with a little salt, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a dash of red pepper flakes. they were okay, but the stems are pretty tough and chewy, and i realized that i need to be more careful with the prep and pull off just the feathery leaves. i also noted that they are hearty and don't cook down and disappear like some greens do.

now that i had the basic texture and flavor down, i wanted to see if i could turn them into a reasonable side dish. i removed more of the stemmy material this time and sauted them with caramelized onions, then added some golden raisins and port. i thought it was delicious, and though rob went for the flavor, he noted that the texture was still chewy. i'll try and remove even more stems on the next go-round.

carrot greens with onions and raisins

(2 servings)

2 cups carrot greens, leaves only, washed and still a little wet

1/2 cup thin sliced onion

2 small garlic cloves

olive oil

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 Tbsp port

1 Tbsp hot water

salt and pepper

saute onions in olive oil over medium low heat until very soft and beginning to caramelize, without browning, about 15 minutes. add garlic and cook about 1 minute. add carrot greens and a pinch of salt and cook until wilted. add a bit of water if necessary.

meanwhile, put raisins in a bowl and add port and hot water. allow to plump up for 5 minutes or so.

add raisins and soak liquid to the carrot greens and onions and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the liquid is reduced. adjust seasonings and serve warm.

i really liked the carrot greens and raisins dish, but wanted to find more ways to get use out of these carrot tops.

i decided to make a soup i'd been curious about, adding a carrot and substituting carrot greens for spinach. between the tahini, cumin and cream, this soup had some curry-like qualities and a really interesting flavor that we both liked a lot.

garlic, chickpea, and carrot green soup

(serves 4)

modified from linda fraser's garlic, chickpea, and spinach soup from the great encyclopedia of vegetarian cooking

1 cup dried chickpeas

olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

4 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)

2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 large carrot, chopped

1 1/2 cups carrot greens, stems removed

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)

salt and pepper

sort chickpeas and throw out any foreign matter. rinse, and soak overnight in fridge in large pot of water. cook in soak water at a low boil for 45 minutes to an hour, until cooked but not mushy. pour off cooking water and set chickpeas aside.

in soup pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. stir in cumin and paprika and cook for a minute longer.

pour in stock, and add chopped potatoes and carrots. bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. add chickpeas and simmer 5-10 minutes more until vegetables and chickpeas are tender.

in separate bowl, blend together cornstarch, cream, and tahini. add salt and pepper to mixture to make sure it is well seasoned. stir mixture into soup, and add carrot greens. bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer a few minutes until soup thickens and carrot greens are wilted. taste and season with salt and pepper, adjusting other seasonings as necessary. serve with crusty bread, or perhaps even try with basmati rice?

i'll continue to experiment, but it seems the take-away for now is that carrot greens are a reasonable substitute for others. this is welcome news now that i can save my carrot tops from the compost bin, and even save a few bucks here and there on chasing down some other kind of leafy green. i think they'll be especially useful in soups where their stemmier parts are able to cook down and soften. let me know if you have any ideas!

note: i read in a few places that some people are allergic to the greens of carrots, so anyone who has bad reactions should obviously steer clear!

grilled veggie salad with goat cheese crostini

earlier in the summer we were grilling constantly. but after a freak heatwave had us dealing with temps in the high 90s (and no air conditioning in sight), and then a spell of cool rain and temps in the 60s, i'd nearly forgotten about the grill. thankfully, things seem back to normal this week, so yesterday we pulled it out from under it's shelter, dusted it off, and fired it up.

the inventory after saturday's market trip was as follows: 1 eggplant, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 green bell pepper, 1 sweet onion, 4 zucchini. also had on hand a half log of chevre, and half of a baguette. i can work with that.

i was cooking for 2, so i gave us each 2 slices of the vegetables, and two crostini. obviously, this can be adjusted.

grilled veggie salad with goat cheese crostini

1 eggplant

1 zucchini

1 onion

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 handfuls salad greens

3 Tbps balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

1/2 cup olive oil

baguette, sliced

goat cheese

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

prepare grill, medium heat. slice eggplant, zucchini, and onion about 1/4" thick, and cut peppers into chunks or thick strips. brush or drizzle veggies with olive oil, and lightly season with salt and pepper. cook on grill, turning once, about 2 minutes each side, or until they are softening and getting a few charred spots.

meanwhile, make vinaigrette by combining balsamic and honey, and slowly whisking in olive oil to emulsify. season with salt and pepper.

mix the salad greens and grilled veggies in a bowl with the dressing, then stack veggies over greens on serving plate.

prepare crostini by drizzling both sides of bread slices with olive oil, salt and pepper, and cooking at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, or until they are toasted. (it's easy to overdo these and end up with toast that feels like it will break your teeth, so watch them!) remove from oven, smear tops with generous amounts of goat cheese, and stick under the broiler just until cheese warms through and begins to soften.

serve salad with warm crostini, and drizzle with more of the vinaigrette.

it was delicious, though i did feel like the dressing needed more punch. maybe next time i'll stir a teaspoon of dijon mustard into it. or a clove of garlic. or both! i think the salad could also handle a couple of slices of grilled waxy potato, especially as a main course that needs to be a bit more hearty.

caprese for breakfast?

absolutely. especially if you've sampled and purchased a stunning 6-year balsamic the day before. a couple of scrambled eggs and a juicy peach and we were fueled and ready for our day at the zoo.

if there's not a form of divination that involves reading the caprese plate, there should be.