A Delight

I have in my hot little hands, my friends, an absolute score of a cookbook:  Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries.  This book is divine, full of beautiful family recipes and remembrances, and stunning photographs.  I own another of her books, Venezia:  Food and Dreams, and it too is a work of art.  Falling Cloudberries is, for me, a little more accessible though, with recipes I can easily make, and ingredients to which I have ready access.

For dinner last night, I made one of Kiros' recipes, for Chickpea, Feta, and Cilantro salad.  A perfect salad.  The huge amount of fresh herbs; parsley, scallions, cilantro, and mint......the bright acidity of lemon...the salty creaminess of feta...a bit of heat from chiles...What else needs to be said?  In short, this salad was an utter delight.

I did some minor adapting, as you do.  Rather than one can of chickpeas (garbanzos), I used two, and therefore squeezed an additional lemon over it.  I didn't bother increasing the amount of herbs or feta, and it didn't suffer one bit.  And, I must admit, I cut the amount of olive oil by half.  I couldn't quite wrap my head (hips) around a whole entire cup of olive oil.  Delicious or not, it is getting on to summer, people, and these curves don't need any extra padding.

Without further ado, a simply delightful salad:

Chickpea, Feta, and Cilantro Salad - Adapted from Falling Cloudberries
 - serves 4 as a main dish, 6 as a side

Ingredients

*Note*  I have adapted the salad somewhat from the original.  That's what you do with cooking.  Especially salads.  Get inspired, and adapt a recipe to meet your needs.  Go for it.

2 - 14 oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1/2 cup olive oil, plus 3 Tbs for cooking onions and garlic
1 1/2 red onions, chopped
5 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
pinch of red chili flakes, to taste (or fresh red chili, chopped finely)
6 oz feta cheese, crumbled
4 large scallions (green onions), chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
juice of 2 lemons
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet, over moderately low heat, and gently sauté the onions with a sprinkle of salt, until they are soft, translucent, and golden.  Don't fry them over a high heat, you don't want to brown them, but rather sweeten and cook them slowly.  This took about 10 or 12 minutes for me.  Now add the chopped garlic and chiles and cook for a few seconds longer, just until you can smell the garlic.  Add the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the chickpeas.  Leave to cool completely.

Once cool, add your chopped herbs, feta, lemon juice, and olive oil, and stir gently to combine.  Taste for seasoning, remembering that the feta will add quite a bit of saltiness to the salad.

Serve at room temperature.  This will keep for a day or two in the fridge, but after that, the herbs will darken and go mushy.  To eat leftovers, let the salad come back to room temperature before serving, and perhaps add a little drizzle of olive oil if the chickpeas have absorbed it all.

Have a delightful day!

Out of the Box, Take 9

We just had our very last CSA delivery for the season, and it was bittersweet.  Bitter, obviously, because it's the last.  Sigh.  I am so going to miss those beautiful, organic vegetables arriving weekly, like a long-lost friend.  And sweet, because there were some delicious foods in there.  I consider myself fairly vegetable savvy, or at least I did, until lately, when I was pleasantly surprised to discover the gorgeous wealth of the fall harvest.  Who said the only colorful, exciting veg comes in summer?  No way, my friends, we've been eating well.  From electric watermelon radishes (I'll have those for you soon!), to rainbow chard (which, yes, my kiddos are get slightly tired of, but not me!), to colorful squashes and potatoes, leeks and broccolini...oh my.  Good stuff.

So last night, for the first time, I had Delicata Squash, and I must sheepishly admit, I wasn't sure exactly what to do with it.  That's what the internet is for, though, right?  So, I looked it up, and discovered that while it's a winter squash, it possesses a more tender skin, that doesn't need to be peeled.  Nice, less work?  Count me in.

When roasted, Delicata Squash tastes somewhat like Butternut, but perhaps even a bit sweeter.  The skin gets a nice crunch to the edges, while the flesh caramelizes with its roasting time in the oven. Scrumptious.

I had some escarole, also from our box, which had nice, sturdy leaves, and, once the ribs were stripped, a pleasingly subtle bitterness.  Reminiscent of radicchio, but less bitter.  (The ribs were a little aggressive, so I tossed them.)  Along with some feta in the fridge, toasted hazelnuts, and a quick balsamic-honey vinaigrette...dinner was on!

Here you go:

Autumn Salad of Roasted Delicata Squash, Escarole, Feta, and Hazelnuts
serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a side

Ingredients
1 or 2 Delicata Squash, about 1 or 1 1/2 lbs total
escarole, or other robust salad green
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted in a dry pan, then coarsely chopped
1/4 cup feta, broken into bite-size chunks

Balsamic-Honey Vinaigrette
2 tsp grainy dijon mustard
2 Tbs good balsamic vinager
1 Tbs honey
4-6 Tbs good olive oil, to taste (I prefer my dressing on the tart side, so use less oil)
1 clove garlic, minced
generous pinch Maldon sea salt, or kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

To prep the squash, first slice off the ends, then slice in half, lengthwise.  Using a spoon, scoop the seeds from the squash, then slice into 1/2 inch crescents.

Toss with 2 tsp olive oil, and coarse sea salt and pepper, then arrange on a baking sheet, and roast for 35 to 45 minutes, turning every 10 to 15 minutes.  If the squash are browning too quickly, turn the heat down to 350.  Likewise, if they are not caramelizing, turn it up to 400.

Once the squash goes in the oven, throw all your vinaigrette ingredients into a mason or jam jar, shake vigorously, and leave to let the flavors meld while the magic happens in the oven.

Arrange the escarole leaves on a platter, top with warm Delicata squash, feta chunks, hazelnuts, and drizzle with vinaigrette.

Lovely.  We had our salad alongside some of Molly's Bouchons au Thon, from Orangette.

Happy Autumn Eats to you!