Eating Outside the Box, Take 4

This season' CSA delivery is drawing to a close, as Fall is upon us.  Only three more weeks of bountiful, organic produce remain.  (Only three more weeks of less time spent in grocery stores, too, sadly.)  Gazing upon the bright orange and gold vegetables so fitting this season, I once again sought dinner inspiration from Nigel Slater's Tender.

With a plenitude of snappy carrots and golden beets, I chose Mr. Slater's recipe for "a salad of carrot thinnings" as my springboard.  The recipe is actually for those tiny, tender spring carrots, and miniature beets.  Mine were large, and very autumnal.  And I don't think Mr. Slater would mind my adaptations one bit.

Away we go:

A Warm Salad of Carrots and Golden Beets - adapted from Tender
 - serves 4 to 6 as a side

Ingredients
1 bunch carrots, about 1 pound, peeled, and cut into sticks
3 medium to large golden beets, peeled, and sliced into rounds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 or 4 Tbs olive oil
handful of fresh herbs, chopped - I used dill and parsley, the recipe calls for cilantro, use what's on hand
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

You may either boil or steam your veggies, depending on your preference, and their size.  If you're making this as it's originally intended, with wee spring vegetables, steaming would work best.  (In this case, leave small beets whole.)  If, as I did, you're using larger, autumn veg, it may be more prudent to boil them.  Boil the beets first until just barely fork tender, with a bit of a snap remaining to them.  Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set in a colander to drain.  Cook your carrots for a minute or two, just to take the raw edge off, and drain.

While the carrots cook, slice your beet rounds into sticks, similar in size to the carrots.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk your vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper, then drizzle in your oil, whisking to combine.  Toss in the vegetables, stir to coat in the dressing, and add your fresh herbs.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

This salad keeps nicely for a day in the fridge, and is lovely for lunch the next day.

Happy Autumn to you!

In A Snap

I love the comforting nature of winter foods, don't you?  A lovely warming soup, a sensuously creamy gratin, a heaped platter of roasted root vegetables...There's an interesting juxtaposition there, I believe, between healthy and homey, and downright rich and naughty.  Hm.  Too bad I've not got a psych background.  We could probably really run with that theme for a while.  Kidding.

Right,focus.  We were talking winter.  It seems almost a necessity to fill our bellies with warm, soulful, and often heavier meals, in order to buoy ourselves through the dark days of the season.  At about this time of year, though, I find myself yearning for the lighter, crisper fare of spring and summer.  Those foods with a burst of vibrant color, and a refreshing snap to them simply call to me.  Things just taste more alive that way, don't they?

Cue Nigel Slater's Tender.  (Oh, baby, I adore this book.)  It's filled with exactly every single thing you'd love to eat throughout the year, a perfect harmony of comfort and bright, fresh ingredients.  So, I was combing through recipes, trying to find something simple and fresh to accompany a creamy gratin for dinner.  And I hit the jackpot in a big way.  (At least I don't exaggerate, right?)  Not exactly a recipe, more a suggestion, for a carrot salad.  It's very similar to a French grated carrot salad, but with a wee twist.

Toasted cumin seeds.  Yum.  Crunchy carrots are cloaked in a very simple, lively vinaigrette of equal parts lemon juice and olive oil, some fresh parsley, flaky sea salt, and smoky cumin.  This is wake-you-from-your-winter-slumber food.  And the best thing?  You can make it in a snap.

I'm going to follow Mr. Slater's lead on this one, with not giving exact amounts, for the recipe.  I could say that this gives you a bit more laissez faire to work with what you have on hand, and how many mouths you need to feed.  To be honest though, I'm also doing this because I didn't record exact amounts when I made it.  What can I say?  It's not always a well-oiled machine around these parts.  And sometimes, just sometimes, writing down recipes and snapping photos cannot take precedence over hungry bellies.  So, follow your instincts, it's impossible to mess this up, I promise.

Carrot Salad with Toasted Cumin Seeds - adapted from Tender

Ingredients
carrots, peeled and either julienned, or grated - allow about 2 to 3 carrots per serving
equal parts freshly squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil
flake sea salt, to taste
cumin seeds, about 1 tsp per 4 servings, lightly toasted over medium-high heat for a minute or two

Throw everything into a suitably sized bowl, and toss to combine.

Now that's a snappy salad.  Enjoy!

Ongoing

Those of you who have met the Mister are probably aware of his Renaissance Man tendencies.  The guy does it all.  Seriously.  He's got the manly-man stuff nailed down.  He can fix anything.  If it can't be fixed, he'll build a new one.  And matching his mucho-manliness, he's got the creative artist thing going on.  He surfs.  Which is quite possibly one of the sexiest things a man can do.  Especially in boardies.  And get this:  he can cook.  In fact, he taught me a lot about cooking, back in the early days.  Be still my heart.

But I'm just going to come out and say it:  there is one thing that I can do better than the Mister.  My coleslaw is better.  The Mister perhaps doesn't agree.  The debate is ongoing.

Here's our thing with coleslaw.  Despite being fairly free and loose in the kitchen, with recipes (recipes, people!), I like my slaw to be pretty traditional.  Aside from one or two tiny additions to the standard mayo, vinegar, sugar that is the backbone of (to me) good coleslaw, I stick fairly faithfully to the spirit of coleslaw.  My interpretation of the spirit, anyway.  Now, to the Mister, coleslaw pretty much just requires some shredded stuff, and a dressing.  And the dressing is where we differ.  I've seen that guy in there, throwing in all sorts, with wild abandon, I tell you.  Worcestershire and cumin have been spotted going into his dressing.

Okay, before you get the wrong idea, and start thinking I'm slaw-ist or something, I will confess.  His coleslaw is delicious.  Always.  But when I'm the one making the slaw, I prefer to make it my way.

I'm pretty sure this debate has been ongoing for about eleven years now.  The first time I remember making coleslaw was in a wee studio apartment, off the Mirage Bar, in Praia da Luz.  (Yup, we lived off a bar for a bit.  Those were the days.)  I mixed that slaw up in a plastic ice cream box, because we had no mixing bowls.  And it was simply cabbage, carrots, mayo, vinegar, and sugar.  Just like my Grandma B used to make.  Which may be why I'm so attached to this sort of standard recipe.  Plus Grandma B really didn't make much else.  At least not so very well, bless her.  Anyway, ever since that day, we've been trying to show each other up, on the coleslaw front.

A year or two ago, I discovered a tasty (and non-threatening) addition to my stand-by slaw, in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.  She adds dijon mustard to her dressing, and celery salt.  So I decided, hey, let's live a little, I'll throw in some grainy dijon, and my homemade celery salt & pepper.  And it's pretty nice, if I do say so...

Here you go:

(Obviously, I'm not fit to serve food in the real world.  Didn't even wipe the rim of my bowl.  Damn.)

My Coleslaw - inpired by Grandma B, and Barefoot Contessa

- makes oh, rather a lot

Ingredients

1/2 small, or 1/4 large, head green cabbage, or savoy cabbage

1/2 small, or 1/4 large, head red cabbage

4 medium carrots, grated

2 green onions, thinly sliced

small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

1 - 2 Tbs fresh dill, chopped

Dressing

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3 Tbs grainy dijon

3 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp homemade celery salt & pepper, or store bought celery salt

1 tsp kosher salt

freshly ground pepper, to taste

Core the cabbages, and slice into thin shreds.  Combine in a very large bowl, with the other vegetables, and herbs.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients, and pour over the veg.  It may look like you don't have enough dressing at first.  Don't worry, after sitting for a bit, it'll be just right.  Stir well to coat everything, cover, and leave in fridge for at least 2 to 4 hours before serving.

I think coleslaw is best once it's had a good several hours, or even half a day, to sit and hang out.  The flavors are well dispersed, the mayo thins out nicely from the liquid that's released from the cabbage, and the texture of the slaw goes just slightly less crunchy.  After about 2 days in the fridge, it goes a little too watery though, so eat it up before then!

An awesome coleslaw trick I learned from the Mister, is to serve it atop baked potatoes, with a little grated cheese.  This is the thing in England.  At least with baked potatoes.  I thought it sounded quite odd at first, but it's absolutely lovely.  Oh, another thing he does with leftover slaw is to make sandwiches, with sharp grated cheese, on a good, crusty bread.  Tasty.

See?  I am open to suggestions from the Mister.  Just not on my coleslaw recipe.

Out of The Box

As you may be aware, food takes up a rather large part of my day, week...life, whatever.  Thinking about the next meal, reading cookbooks and blogs, preparing a healthy (and hopefully tasty) meal, and best of all, of course, eating.  And since we are just lucky enough to be taking part in Helsing Junction Farm's CSA program, that means I'm getting even more stoked on food these days.  For not only are we blessed to be eating delicious, organic food...we get to look forward to the box arriving every Tuesday.  It's like my birthday happening every week!  Who could ask for more than a surprise in a box each week?  And said surprise is of the food variety?!  Well, needless to say, this gal is fairly content.

Now, I'm not making any promises here.  I mean, I'm rather shockingly terrible on follow-through, people.  But, I will try my very best to post a recipe, all summer long, from Out of The Box.  (Everything in me screams against even mentioning such a commitment.  I shall try, though, that much I can promise you.)

So, this week, from Out of The Box:

It was a beaut, fine people, let me tell you.  Having been off to enjoy Whidbey Island for a couple of days with friends, I found myself, from the moment I awakened yesterday, looking forward to making dinner when we arrived home. 

Being a rather grim day, at least for summer, something warm and homey seemed in good order.  Fresh carrots, baby turnips, sugar snap peas, fresh garlic, green onions, bunches of herbs...and from my pantry, some new potatoes, onions, fennel, yellow pepper, and a lemon.  What's cooking, you ask?  Why, a Baby Vegetable Braise, of course!

Baby Vegetable Braise with Lemon and Fresh Herbs - serves 4

1 small bunch new carrots (about 6 or so carrots), scrubbed and cut in half
1 small bunch baby turnips (4 to 6 turnips), blanched for 5-7 minutes, then halved
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 head fennel, cored and sliced, fronds saved for garnish
6 new yellow potatoes, blanched for 10 minutes, then halved
half a medium onion, sliced
6 cloves fresh garlic, or 3 regular cloves, sliced thinly
1 yellow pepper, sliced
juice from one lemon
4 Tbs unsalted butter
white wine, or chicken or vegetables stock, or a combination of the two

Herbs for Garnish
1 or 2 green onions, sliced thinly
small bunch of parsley or cilantro, chopped
fennel fronds, chopped

In a Dutch oven, or heavy bottomed pot, melt 2 Tbs butter over medium low to medium heat.  Add onion, fennel, and garlic and cook until translucent, but not browned, about 5 minutes.  Add potatoes, carrots, and turnips, a hefty splash of white wine (about 1/4 cup), and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Turn heat to the low side of medium low, and cover.  Cook until vegetables are easily pierced with a fork, but not over-soft, about 20 - 30 minutes, checking often to ensure the pan doesn't dry out.  If it does look dry, add another glug of white wine, or chicken or vegetable stock.

Add sugar snap peas and yellow pepper, check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.  Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.  The peas and pepper should still have a nice snap and retain their bright colors.  Squeeze the juice of a lemon over all the vegetables, add the remaining 2 Tbs of butter, and the fresh herbs.

Now that is one tasty dinner.  Bright, fresh, colorful...a feast for the eyes, and the belly.

Enjoy!