Early Risers

Those who know me well know that I am not an early riser. During the school year, mornings come painfully early and the only thing that gets me out of bed most days is the mug of coffee my husband hands me. Summer is my bliss...I'm allowed to sleep in much of the time (if I'm lucky enough to sleep through the early birds who start chirping at sunrise), and everyone is so much better off because of it. Trust me.

But the world needs early risers--like these radishes, always the among the first things to be harvested out of the garden. Coupled with other eager beavers, snap peas and mint, they make for a cool and crisp early summer salad--and as a bonus, flaunt their preppy colors proudly.

How is your garden coming along? Our beans are getting high, there are blossoms on our squash, tomato and cucumber plants...but no fruit yet....

Snap Pea and Radish Salad with Goat Cheese

Printable Recipe

Sweet peas, spicy radishes and creamy goat cheese meld in a bright salad that makes use of your early summer harvest.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

Yield: serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pound sugar snap peas, de-stringed and cut in half if large

1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Zest and juice from one lemon

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 ounces of goat cheese, crumbled

1 tablespoon fresh mint, thinly sliced

sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Preparation:

1. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Blanch the peas in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and plunge immediately in the prepared ice bath. Set aside.

2. Whisk lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl. Toss peas, radishes, scallions, lemon zest, goat cheese and mint in a medium bowl.

3. Drizzle with dressing and add salt and pepper to taste. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

Space Odyssey: Meet Kohlrabi

This gorgeous slaw, came from a strange orb, that looks not unlike a UFO...but is even more bizarre because it sprouts tentacle-like arms from all sides. It tastes sort of like radishes, but it's not spicy, and sort of like broccoli stems, but it's not sulfurous, and sort of like cucumbers, but it's not watery, and sort of like jicama, but it's not starchy. It is cool, crisp, moist and quite delicious and just what you want to eat on a hot and sultry summer night... like last night, where the fog was so thick the sea was totally obscured, the trees were dripping water like it had just rained, and the low, the LOW was 70 degrees. Ugh.

Kohlrabi tastes good on its own, but it tastes even better when it's dressed up a bit. I decided to julienne it, along with some snap peas and spring onions. Julienne is just a fancy word for slicing it into matchstick pieces. I was lazy, so my matchsticks were big, but if you care about uniformity, use your mandoline slicer or julienne peeler. If you're in your less-than-fully-equipped summer kitchen, and lack certain tools, it's not hard to do it on your own. Peel the kohlrabi, slice it thinly, then stack it and slice it into small matchsticks. ( Works for potatoes too, if you're ever inclined to make French fries.)

The resulting salad, tossed in a ginger dressing was everything I could have hoped for....zingy, bright and refreshing. And I would absolutely make this again if I ever get another kohlrabi in our CSA basket or find one at the farmers' market. If not, the I might substitute cucumbers, and/or broccoli stems (slaw) for the kohlrabi. I think it would also be great with a handful of chopped peanuts tossed on top just before serving (we didn't have any). Luckily, the salad kept well too and we enjoyed the leftovers for lunch again today!











Asian Kohlrabi Slaw

Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: serves 4, with leftovers

Ingredients:

1 kohlrabi, peeled and julienned and cut into 2-inch pieces (sliced into matchsticks)
1/2 pound of snap peas, de-stringed and julienned
4 scallions, julienned and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, de-veined and diced
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons canola (or other plain tasting) oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Chopped salted peanuts (a handful), optional

Preparation:

1. Toss kohlrabi, snap peas, scallions, jalapeno and cilantro in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk ginger, vinegar, oils, soy sauce and sugar until combined.

3. Drizzle dressing over the kohlrabi mixture and toss well to coat thoroughly. Serve immediately, or chill until ready to eat. Top with peanuts (if using) just before serving.

The Odd Couple

One of my very favorite rides at Disneyland is the Haunted Mansion from October through December. During that time, two holidays, Halloween and Christmas, collide, creating something that's more than slightly bizarre. But I happen to think that it's a wonderfully creative and delicious interpretation of Tim Burton's movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I definitely appreciate how seamlessly two disparate ideas are blended in to one attraction that totally works.

Fresh produce can find some odd pairings too, especially during the transition months, as one season morphs into the next. One of my favorite examples of this is cranberries (fall) and jalapenos (late summer), simmered together to make the most intoxicating and flavorful jelly ever. In spring you'd expect to pair snap peas with asparagus or fava beans. But in this recipe, I've partnered them in a stir fry with the beautiful, nearly seedless tangerines that are enjoying their final days at our farmers' market. The contrast both in colors and flavors is so wonderful in this dish. Crisp and sweet peas are a perfect foil for the sour, slightly bitter and yielding flesh of the tangerine. Add in a little heat from some chili sauce, and you've got one heck of a dish with well-balanced flavors.

Sugar Snap Pea and Tangerine Stir Fry with Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from Bon Appetite

The contrast in colors and flavors, not to mention the heat from the chile sauce, makes this dish exciting. Don't bother peeling the tangerines as their skin becomes tender and sweet during cooking. I've included a recipe for sweet chile dipping sauce below, but sometimes you can find it at the grocery store.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pound pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon cornstarch
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 seedless tangerines, sliced into 8 wedges
1 pound of sugar snap peas, de-stringed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup sweet chile sauce (*see below)
1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Preparation:

1. Slice the tenderloin into 1/2 inch rounds, then slice each round into strips. Toss with the corn starch and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.

2. Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add oil and when nearly smoking add the fresh ginger root and stir. Toss in the tenderloin slices and garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat begins to brown and is almost cooked through. Add the tangerines and cook for 30 seconds more.

3. Stir in the sugar snap peas, soy sauce, chile sauce and half of the green onions and cook until the sauce begins to thicken, about 1 to 2 minutes more. Take off the heat and top with remaining green onions. Serve over hot rice.


*Sweet Chile Dipping Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Yield: about 3/4 cup

Ingredients:

1 C sugar

1/2 C white vinegar

1/2 C water

3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 t salt

1 T chile garlic sauce (sambal oelek or siracha sauce...or minced fresh chiles or dried chile flakes)

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan bring the first 5 ingredients to a gentle boil over medium heat. Boil for 10 minutes or until the mixture is a thin syrup. Remove from heat and stir in the chili garlic sauce. It keeps for about a week in the fridge when sealed in a glass jar. If you are using dried red chile flakes or fresh chiles instead, use sparingly as they can be quite spicy.

Fail to Plan...

I need a plan. Things are always better with one, right? At least I will have a direction, a goal, an idea of what the heck is supposed to come next. Though I am referring to the bigger picture, a plan for my dinners the next few nights wouldn't hurt either. Take last night, for example. A plan would have helped me get something edible, if not delicious, on the table. But after driving up and down the freeway for two straight hours, dropping and dropping and retrieving and retrieving little boys from baseball practice, all I could do was pour myself a bottle of wine...I mean a glass (or two). The kids ate quesadillas with hunks of watermelon (again) and we ate, though I am deeply ashamed to admit it, Panda Express, which wasn't half bad (I must have been really hungry).

So this morning, in between getting a filling re-filled (popcorn kernel incident) and walking my stinky, but adorable, shaggy dog, I will make a menu and grocery list, just like the organized and responsible housewife I'm supposed to be. If you like printable lists to help you stay on track, check here. Or if you are like me, maybe you just scratch a list out on the back of your kid's old homework page (reduce, reuse, recycle). Gotta do what works for you, right? Just make sure you have a chance to use that list before you recycle it...not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

When all is said and done, here is what my menu plan for the weekend is shaping up to be.

Thursday: Grilled chicken and sesame noodle salad

Friday: Pizza of some sort, maybe on the grill if it's too hot to heat my oven

Saturday: Grilled sausages that my dad is bringing from a little butcher near his house in northern California, broccoli salad and pasta salad

Sunday: Fresh pasta with fresh f.m. veggies

Four day's worth of meals is about all I have in me. Plus, hopefully I will be inspired by my purchases at the farmers' market on Sunday morning...that is, if I can make it. My son has a baseball playoff game that starts at 8 a.m. which is highly disturbing to say the least. Drive-thru Starbucks here I come.

Tonight's sesame noodle salad is perfect for a hot evening. There is just the right amount of creamy peanut flavor to temper the heat of the chilis, and the fresh veggies keep it light and fresh. It will be perfect with our grilled chicken (that has a soy balsamic marinade...I'll share that another time).

Sesame Noodle Salad

serves 4

1 pound spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

1 head broccoli, separated into small florets

12 oz. sugar snaps, de-stringed and cut in half

5 scallions, cut diagonally

1/2 C peanut butter

1/4 C red wine or rice wine vinegar

1/4 C soy sauce

1 t sesame oil

1 t chili garlic paste

1 T freshly grated ginger

1 clove of garlic, minced or grated

1 T toasted sesame seeds

1/4 C hot water from pasta pot

Cook pasta according to directions on package. Meanwhile whisk peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, ginger and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

When pasta is finished cooking, drain in a colander. Add broccoli to boiling pasta water and cook until crisp tender (about 1-2 minutes). Remove and set aside. Add snap peas and cook for one minute. Remove and set aside. Toss pasta with peanut sauce in a large bowl. Add veggies and toss well. Sprinkle top with sliced scallions and sesame seeds. If pasta seems very sticky, add up to 1/4 C of hot water from pasta pot. Toss again. Let cool to room temp and serve.

What's for Dinner?

For some, the eternal questions run deep; What is the meaning of life? Where will I go when I die? Is there a God? Do I have a greater purpose? For me, this quest has always had a decidedly gastronomical rather than spiritual focus--what's for dinner? This question has plagued me since I was a child when I would pester my poor mother practically from the moment I got up in the morning. Mom, what are we having for dinner? I would ask. You haven't even eaten breakfast, she would sigh, already exhausted by the prospect of spending a day with a persistent redheaded girl who asked a lot of questions. It's no different today, when I still wonder the same thing, except for the unfortunate detail that I am the one who is in charge of meal planning and preparation. So, of course, it falls to me to both present the query and the answer. Ugh. I hate that sometimes.

Today was no exception--all day long I fretted about dinner; what I should cook, if I needed ingredients at the market, and if I needed to look up a recipe. I was uninspired, uninterested and underwhelmed by the idea of cooking. I like it so much more when I've assessed what I have purchased at the market and I set aside time to make a plan. The good news was that even though I lacked a menu for the week, I did have bagfuls of fresh farmers' market produce looking to be put to good use, and some tofu in the freezer. So I pushed through my inertia and nearly overpowering desire to order take-out, and made dinner after all. A spring veggie stir-fry with brown rice.

Healthy and satisfying at once, this dish really is an easy one to fall back on, provided you have plenty of fresh veg. The sauce works with just about any produce, so use what is freshest and what is seasonal, and most of all, what you have on hand.




Quick Hoisin Stir-Fry
serves 4

1 T freshly grated ginger
1 small head broccoli, chopped (including stems which can be thinly sliced)
5 carrots, scrubbed and sliced
2 small bunches bok choy, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, de-stringed
1 bunch scallions, washed well and sliced into 1-inch segments
1/2 block tofu, cubed
Brown rice, cooked according to package directions
Toasted sesame seeds

For the sauce:
Combine 2 T soy sauce, 2 T hoisin sauce, 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T sherry or white wine, 1 t chili garlic paste, and 1 t cornstarch.

Heat 2 T vegetable oil in a large wok or saucepan over high heat. Add ginger and stir-fry until fragrant (1 minute). Add tofu and stir gently until lightly browned. Toss in broccoli and stems and carrots and fry for 2 minutes, then add the remaining vegetables and stir well. Pour in 1/2 C water and scrape up any dark bits from the bottom of the pan. Cover pan and let steam for 1-2 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender. Uncover, pour in sauce and stir until thickened (1-2 minutes). Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with soy sauce on the side.

April Heat Wave Brings May....?

It is still April, right? Mother Nature is confused, it seems, and so am I as I sit here in my sun dappled living room, wilted like the spring flowers in my garden. Outside, the mercury is hovering around the century mark, and indoors it is not much better...okay I'm exaggerating a bit, because it is only 81 degrees. In my house. In April. On CNN tonight as Lou Dobbs was listing off California's ailments, the current heatwave was lumped in along with the budget deficits, unemployment rate (over 11%!!), and housing market. The worst part about it is that we are already experiencing a serious drought, with many localities facing steep rate hikes or rationing, so these high temperatures are just adding insult to injury.

Sunday, at the farmers' market, I asked my favorite farmer if they had any cilantro with the root still attached. He told me that they couldn't harvest it that way right now, because it requires too much water to be able to pull the plant up by its roots, and that their farm's water supply had been rationed. It is going to be a long, hot, and dry summer I fear. A summer without cilantro roots. But aren't these sweet peas lovely? I bought them at the farmers' market...3 bunches for $6.

On days like today, summer days usually, I really, really don't feel like cooking, or even eating. But it's easy enough to make a salad for dinner using up some fresh and bright spring produce (sugar snaps, scallions and strawberries), and when it's topped with grilled chicken breasts and a sprinkle of salty crisped prosciutto (elitist bacon bits I like to call them) it makes for a fine main course. The salad dressing is studded with toasted white and black sesame seeds and is so delicious it is hard not to eat by itself.

It was a late dinner tonight, with the boys not returning from baseball practice until after seven. You wouldn't believe how tempting the lovely chopped ingredients at-the-ready were....especially the crispy pile of prosciutto. I did as Julia did...one for me, one for the bowl. Thankfully our early summer should come to an abrupt halt by this weekend, when temperatures are expected to be some thirty-five degrees cooler. Thank goodness for that!

Sesame Dressing

1 T sesame oil

1/2 T Dijon mustard

1 T soy sauce

1/4 C red wine vinegar

1/4 C sugar or honey

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 T minced shallot

1 T toasted white sesame seeds

1 T toasted black sesame seeds

Place all ingredients into a smallish lidded container. Shake vigorously until combined.

Spring Salad with Strawberries

Place 1 C chopped snap peas (de-stringed), 1 C sliced strawberries, and 4 chopped scallions into a large salad bowl. Toss with 5 oz. of mixed baby lettuce (1 bag). Top with 1/4 C toasted slivered almonds, 4 oz. prosciutto (crisped in a frying pan and cut into chunks) and 2 sliced, cooled grilled chicken breasts. Toss with enough dressing to just moisten, taking care not to drown the tender lettuce leaves. Serve immediately.

A Light Lunch

Often, when I return home from the farmers' market, I am overwhelmed with the variety and volume of food I have purchased. I don't think about much in the way of recipes when I am buying produce there, but I do always try to find something new that I haven't ever tasted, get something that is recently in season (like fava beans and English peas this week), and obviously look for things that I enjoy. At home, I lay everything out on the counter and sort and bag things according to type (all herbs together etc.), and only then does my mind begin to assess what I might throw together to make a meal. It probably isn't the most efficient way to do things, but I don't like to shop encumbered with lists. I want to get my inspiration from the beautiful things I find at the market, and perhaps the farmers themselves, who are always eager to share recipes with their customers.

Because storage space in the refrigerator is always an issue, I must clean out containers of dubious leftovers and straggly half-used veggies to make room for the fresh stuff. Today, I noticed that we had a bit of left over rice vermicelli from the soup I made the other night, and so I decided to make some summer rolls using those noodles, and some fresh from the market slivered snap peas, carrots, scallions, and baby lettuce. Summer rolls are like a salad in a thin, cold, translucent wrap made of rice flour. We enjoy them occasionally when we are on the Cape (there is a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant nearby), but now that I see how easy they are to make at home, I'm happy that we can have them a lot more often. Besides veggies and noodles, they are often filled with cooked shrimp or thin slices of steak (or even tofu), but I made a vegetarian version this afternoon and thought they were just fantastic. To accompany the rolls, I made an easy dipping sauce out of hoisin sauce, peanut butter, rice wine vinegar and chili garlic paste. It made for a quick, refreshing, and healthy lunch, and I'm looking forward to them making a more regular appearance on our menu.

Summer Rolls

4 Vietnamese rice spring/summer roll wrappers (they are different than the soft won ton wrappers, but can be found in the Asian section of many markets)

1 C cooked rice vermicelli noodles

1/3 C julienned carrots

1/3 C julienned snap peas

1/3 C julienned red or yellow bell pepper

1/3 C julienned scallions

handful of baby lettuce

handful chopped cilantro and mint

Soak one wrap in hot water. (I put some very hot water in a skillet that is a bit larger than the wrap then place the wrap into the water, pressing down with my fingers so the edges don't curl.) When the wrap becomes soft and yielding, after about 10 seconds or so, carefully lay it out on a clean dish towel. On the bottom third of the wrap, layer some lettuce, some rice noodles and a bit of each veggie, and top with cilantro and mint. Take care to not put too much or it will be difficult to roll. Fold in the outer edges over the middle, then roll from the edge closest you up to the top. It is not too much more challenging than rolling a burrito (or a sandwich in parchment paper) and much the same method. If your first one turns out lumpy, don't worry, it gets much easier with practice. It will still taste delicious. Place your roll onto a plate and do it again with each remaining wrap.

Dipping Sauce

Place 1 T hoisin sauce and 1 T chunky peanut butter in a small bowl and mash together with a fork. Stir in 1/4 C seasoned rice vinegar and 1 t chili garlic paste. If necessary, add a tablespoon or so of water to loosen to your desired consistency.