Thanks to Food and Wine for this refreshing chilled soup recipe. Here’s the link to the original. I pretty much followed it exactly, except I substituted 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar for the sherry vinegar, as there was no sherry vinegar at the store. Also, I had a hard time straining out the solids, so I didn’t do much more than get a few colanders dirty before giving up on straining altogether.
This is not the kind of soup to make into a meal. Instead, it would be perfect at the very start of dinner or between courses as a sort of palate cleanser (thanks to my husband for that idea). The recipe says it makes 6 servings, but I think this would make more like 8-10 smaller cups. In fact, this would be the perfect thing to use the 12 (!) espresso cups that I registered for 6 years ago, since I’m not usually making 12 cups of espresso at a time.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup stale, crustless 1/2-inch white country bread cubes
- 1 cup white grape juice
- 1 1/4 cups blanched sliced almonds (I used slivered)
- 1 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber (This was one large cucumber for me)
- 1 Granny Smith apple—peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1 cup seedless green grapes
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar (I used a small amount of red wine vinegar instead)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Shredded mint leaves, for garnish
- Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small bowl, soak the bread in the grape juice for 5 minutes, pressing to soften.
- Spread the almonds in a pie plate and toast in the oven for 6 minutes, until lightly golden; let cool. Transfer 1 cup of the almonds to a blender. Add the bread, cucumber, apple, grapes, garlic, vinegar and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Puree until smooth. Strain the soup through into a bowl, pressing on the solids.(or make a mess with colanders in your kitchen). Whisk in the buttermilk and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.
- Pour the gazpacho into cups and garnish with the mint and remaining 1/4 cup of almonds. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
This is basically an easy fresh salsa over a bed of greens. We arrived in Indiana after a long day of traveling, and I wanted a salad with a bunch of Sweet Corn Charlie’s vegetables. Okay, so the avocado is not from Indiana, but the others are!
Ingredients:
1 tomato, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
Kernels from 1 ear of raw sweet corn–must be very fresh!
1 head red leaf lettuce
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Mix together chopped avocado, tomato, and corn. Add olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper until thoroughly coated.
Pour mixture over greens. Enjoy!
This post is a result of a request from a friend who has great taste in posters. I have a feeling this friend also has an abundance of garlic scapes lurking in her fridge.
Honestly, I don’t remember the amounts. This is really more of a technique. You can adjust the amounts according to your taste. I think this pesto would be great as a bruschetta.
If you have too much pesto, you can freeze whatever you won’t eat that day. I used a few tablespoons of it with some angel hair pasta and a bit of the pasta’s cooking sauce. I froze the rest in ice cube trays for future meals.
Thanks for the inspiration, omnonnombk!
Ingredients:
- Around 5 garlic scapes
- a handful of basil
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts (You can toast these first if you want to get fancy)
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup good olive oil
- salt and pepper
Directions:
- Using a food processor, blend together the first 4 ingredients until well combined, scraping the sides as needed.
- Add the parmesan cheese and process again until blended together.
- Use the small hole in the food processor to slowly add olive oil while the blender is going. You’ll need to scrape down the sides a few times.
Thanks to Local Roots NYC CSA for posting this recipe from Kitchn. Here is my adapted version of it. Clearly, I’m on a lemon yogurt kick. I made the farro a day in advance to cut the prep time tonight. With that prep out of the way, the salad took me about 15 minutes to make.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup farro
- 2 cups water
- salt
- 1/2 pound peas, shelled
- 2 baby leeks, white and light green parts only, thoroughly washed (I like to soak it them in a bowl of water a few times)
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield Organic Low Fat)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- black pepper
Directions:
UPDATE: I made the salad again, and this time I took a photo of it. I used 1 clove of regular garlic instead of garlic scopes this time around.
I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how to deal with the mess from peeling beets. I know, I know, I am part of some riveting conversations. Below, I explain a trick I learned.
I never cooked with fava beans before. The internet warned me that they are time-consuming, and this is true. However, the internet also let me know it would be worth the time. Also true. Wow, the internet is so smart.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium-sized beets
- 1/2 pound fava beans
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
- 2 garlic scapes
- juice of 1/2 juicy lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. First, you need to get the beets in the oven. Jack Bishop, author of “Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen” suggests heating an oven to 400 degrees, wrapping the beets (cut off any dangling roots and the stalks) in two layers of aluminum foil, and cooking for 1-1.25 hours. After an hour, test your beets to see if a skewer glides easily through them. If so, they are done. Then, allow the beets to cool a bit before handling. Last, take a wad of paper towels to rub off the skin. (that’s the cool trick!) The last step for the beets is to cut them into the shape you want for your salad. Then, place the beets in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Once your beets are in the oven, start to deal with the beans. Get some water boiling. While you are waiting for it to boil, peel off the stringy part to reveal the beans inside. As a bonus, you will discover that the inside of the pod is pillowy. Fascinating! The sad part will be when you realize that you don’t get a heck of a lot of beans for all that work. But you will get over it once you eat the beans (says the internet).
3. Next, put the beans in boiling water for a little under a minute. While that’s happening, prepare a bowl of ice cold water. Then, spoon out the beans and put them directly into the cold water to stop the cooking.
4. One more step before you eat the beans. Pinch off the outer shell to get to the edible part. You did it!
5. In a food processor (I used the mini prep), combine garlic scapes, lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Pour the dressing over the beets and stir to coat the beets
6. Arrange the dressed beets on a serving dish. Top with feta cheese and beans. (You can toss the ingredients all together, but the result will be a very pink salad.) Enjoy!
I was wondering what to do with all my radishes, beyond slicing and sprinkling them over greens. This recipe used up the rest of ours from our share, and the radishes and pickle relish add some great flavor to the potatoes. This is one of several recipes that I made from Food and Wine’s most recent Grilling issue (although there is no grilling involved for this recipe, I’ll be posting the grilled kale recipe soon). I like that it is a make-ahead dish, so it is absolutely no work on the day you serve it. It stays good for two days after you make it.
At this point, I have several recipes on this blog that feature the radish. You can just click on “radish” in the right column, and find other recipes that use this vegetable. Have you done anything exciting with your radishes? Let me know…I’d love to know and share more ways to use these, as I think more are arriving from the farm this week!
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds medium Yukon Gold potatoes, halved but not peeled
- Salt
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika (I actually used smoked hot paprika because that’s what I had on hand)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 6 red radishes, 1/3-inch dice
- 3 celery ribs, cut into 1/3-inch dice
- 1/2 medium red onion, cut into1/3-inch dice
Directions:
- In a large pot, cover the potatoes with water, add a large pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Shake the pot over moderately high heat for about 10 seconds to dry the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a large rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, blend the mayonnaise with the relish, vinegar, mustard powder, paprika, black pepper, cayenne, radishes, celery and onion. Gently fold in the potatoes and season with salt (I did not add any more salt at this point, I would wait until you serve it to decide if more salt is needed). Refrigerate the potato salad for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve cold or lightly chilled.
Hooray for the CSA!
This sweet and spicy combination is also a combination of two CSAs. (For my original post about the CSA, click here).For the past few years, I’ve been a member of Dumbo/Vinegar Hill’s CSA. I loved so many things about it: Sang Lee’s incredible organic vegetables, the serene location in Phoenix House’s courtyard, and the neighborhood friends I made while volunteering at weekly pick-ups. I also loved the convenience factor; the pick-up location was just a short and cobblestony walk along the river from my apartment.
Within the last year, I moved a few neighborhoods away, so I knew I would have to switch. I did a little research to find CSAs near my new place (ok fine, so I just read a sign posted outside Stinky). I was intrigued by Local Roots’ slightly different model for CSAs: For example, instead of joining for June-November, the season is broken up into Summer and Fall. There are other differences as well. I also liked the idea of picking up at 61 Local, the locavore-friendly (where I once spotted a dog sipping her weekly Guinness, and was assured that she prefers stouts and only has one per week) bar/restaurant just off Smith Street. Their vegetables come from Rogowski Farm, located in Orange County, NY. We also signed up for a meat share, which will come from Arcadian Pastures. Some friends in the neighborhood also got their fruit share, and I hope to get a sampling of that as well 🙂
And so, although I felt a little bit like I was cheating on Sang Lee, I went ahead to pick up my first share of the season. The vegetables have been delicious so far. The spicy greens are, in fact, very spicy. This strawberry dressing is an interesting contrast. The dressing recipe is from Sang Lee’s recipe blog, so I think of this salad/dressing as a CSA merger.
I used the spicy greens mix from the CSA share, and topped it with some goat cheese. I actually halved this dressing recipe and it was plenty for the week. Since I went a little overboard on strawberries from the farmer’s market a few weeks back, I had fun with canning and freezing a few quarts.
By the way…Do you know that to freeze strawberries you just chop off the tops, lay them on a baking sheet in a single layer with none touching overnight? Then, put in a freezer bag and they will stay good for up to 6 months)
I just let a cup of the frozen guys thaw for an hour or so before starting the recipe.
Strawberry Dressing
Ingredients:
- 1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and cut into quarters
- 1 tablespoon sugar or honey (I used honey)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons or more good vinegar — wine, sherry, rice, balsamic–preferred for this recipe (I used balsamic)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon water
- 6 pieces of mint, finely diced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
- Dice your strawberries and add the sugar and lemon juice to a small bowl. Muddle them together until somewhat liquid. In a blender, add all other ingredients(imersion blender/food processor work too).
- Then add the strawberry mixture and blend for a few minutes to immulsify everything and make the strawberries smooth.
Are you familiar with Whole Foods’ Step System for animal welfare ratings? If you haven’t already heard me or someone else going on and on about it, here’s the link. What’s tricky is that they don’t have all of their cuts available in all levels at all times, so one has to be flexible. I’m still too new at buying meat to know about good substitutions, but I’m slowly learning. I went to get flank steak, as this Cooking Light recipe called for, but they did not have any steps 4-5 of that kind. The butcher suggested skirt steak, which they had in a Level 4. Great! Thanks, helpful butcher! I ended up bringing home entirely too much steak because I got flustered ordering it, and froze half for fajitas another night.
Also, this recipe calls for fish sauce. So do most Thai recipes that I find. Since I don’t eat fish, I just omitted it. However, when I took a Thai cooking class, I was told you can substitute “this mushroom sauce” for the fish sauce. However, I was in Thailand at the time and could not read the label on “this mushroom sauce.” Oh well. I should look for it in an Asian market one of these days. In the meantime, I usually just taste my food and add more soy sauce if I think it needs more salty flavor.
This gave me a chance to use some of my fresh herbs: mint, basil, and cilantro.
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 pound skirt steak
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 3/4 cup julienne-cut carrots
- 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
Directions:
- Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle steak evenly with pepper and salt. Add steak to pan; cook 6 minutes each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steak from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices.
- Combine juice and next 4 ingredients (through Sriracha) in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.
- Combine cabbage and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 6 tablespoons juice mixture to cabbage mixture; toss well. Toss steak in remaining 2 tablespoons juice mixture. Add steak to cabbage mixture; toss to combine.
I read that pearl of wisdom on a paper towel yesterday.
Here’s to tomorrows filled with salsa from the container garden in the sky!
Vegetables with a view: tomatoes and cucumbers in their City Pickers.
The herbs: mint, basil, cilantro, chives…(and a tomato stuck in there, too). I gave the cilantro, mint, and basil haircuts earlier tonight for a Thai salad–post to follow soon! I hope I can make my cilantro last all summer. Anyone know if that’s even possible?
There are some jalapeño plants along this wall.
You can lighten this salad by omitting the goat cheese. However, this particular version was made with Bucherondin, a goat cheese log from Stinky Brooklyn. It is also tasty if you substitute sunflower seeds for the almonds.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 6-8 strawberries, sliced
- 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 4 basil leaves, julienned
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- To reduce the vinegar, pour it into a small saucepan along with the brown sugar. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Stir frequently, and be careful not to burn the vinegar. When it reduces by about half, remove from heat. When cooled to room temperature, whisk in olive oil. I added a little bit of salt and pepper, put it in a sealed container and gave it a few shakes.
- To assemble the salad, layer spinach, strawberries, goat cheese, almonds, and basil.
- Drizzle the salad with dressing just before serving. You will have extra dressing, which you can refrigerate and use at another time.
fresh from brooklyn 