This is the time of year when we write posts about how tired we are of winter. But I’m not. I’m totally over being tired of winter. I already gave in a few weeks ago to the allure of fresh produce, abandoning the frozen corn, green beans, and zucchini in favor of bean sprouts, cucumbers, and oh my lord grape tomatoes as big as your thumb.

There’s still part of a cabbage in the fridge — my cabbages grow to gigantic proportions, I don’t know why — but the last of fall’s carrots was gone over a month ago and yes, I tired of the old. I wanted the crunch of nutrients I hadn’t had fresh in months.

I abandoned locavore eating. Just until spring, and just once in a while. There’s something about fresh sprouts. They’re a promise. They’re potentiality. They could have become beans, but instead they’re going into my tummy. They’re earthy and new and taste of beginnings.

And this salad. Oh, this salad is all about the decadence, the utter wrongness, so wrong it’s right, of eating things that have been trucked two thousand miles. This is what perked me up, got me looking forward to the herb seeds I planted today, made me impervious to the clutch of the muddy clay that is my yard as I glop through it in winter boots, leaving wet dinosaur footprints that would fossilize when the ground dries, if I weren’t going to seed it with grass this spring.

We’ll be eating local again soon, very soon. And even now, I still take down a jar of pasta sauce made from my tomatoes and onions for supper, and pull 2008 applesauce from the freezer, still tree-fresh. But along with preserved homegrown every few days or so something like this salad pops into my mind, and demands attention.

I think it’s the cucumber seeds up on the shelf, whispering to me that they’re ready, almost ready. Ready to grow.

yes, peanut dressing is the bomb

Indonesian tofu, bean sprout, and cucumber salad with spicy peanut dressing, from Jeanne Lemlin’s Vegetarian Classics, takes simple ingredients and elevates them with this peanut dressing.

It’s to die for. Take tofu roasted in sesame oil and soy sauce, bean sprouts, cucumber, and green onion. Nice ingredients, but who cares?

Peanut dressing cares, that’s who. It’s just got all good stuff in it: peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, you know the drill. I’m sure you could find other uses for it beyond just this salad. A regular green salad, for example, or in a quinoa salad. Some kind of cold fried rice?

In any case, if you still suffer the winter blahs, consider breaking the locavore commitment for just a few meals, gather up some sprouts and cucumber, and try this salad.

indonesian tofu, bean sprout, and cucumber salad with spicy peanut dressing

Adapted from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin

servings: 4 as a side salad or very light meal; 2 as a meal

peanut dressing:

¼ cup natural-style peanut butter

2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
 (choose a brand without wheat for going gluten-free)
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice

2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons water

salad:

1 recipe roasted tofu (recipe here)
2 cups mung bean sprouts

1 small English cucumber, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 green onion, very thinly sliced, tops only

To make the spicy peanut dressing, combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and beat vigorously with a fork or small whisk until very smooth.

To assemble the salad, spread 1/4 of the bean sprouts on each of 4 salald plates. Layer on 1/4 of the cucumber, followed by 1/4 of the tofu. Drizzle the dressing over each portion and garnish with sliced green onion.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bean sprouts, cucumber, green onion, peanut butter, tofu

Two things, and then the recipe for the best basic coleslaw you’ve ever had.

First, we went to Hello Sushi tonight. You may recall that I became a bit cranky on my last visit. Tonight, however, was delightful. Just like last time we were coming off a day working at my aunt’s house, but this time I was with my aunt, Linda, instead of my cousin, and this time we’d changed clothes and cleaned up a bit. We had futo maki and Alaskan soup to begin with. The Alaskan soup was a fishy broth with crab and fluffy cooked egg floating around. Next we had one of the specials, mushrooms stuffed with spicy tuna and deep fried. This one had a lot of flavor and texture going on: salty, umami, creamy, chewy, and then little teeny pops from the roe that was sprinkled on top. To finish Linda ordered a spider roll and I ordered a yellowtail nigiri, both also awesome of course, and she had ginger ice cream (ick) for dessert.

And I didn’t take a single picture. Yeah, I bet reading all that was real exciting. Apparently food writing needs pictures.

POM poms?

Second, the nice people at POM (who sent me POM juice a month or two ago that I haven’t gotten around to cooking with yet) sent me 3 flavors of their new product, in which pomegranate juice is spat into iced coffee. First, the bad. The chocolate flavor was not pleasant. You’d think it had promise, being pomegranate juice and coffee and chocolate (insert Homer drool sound here). But rather than meld into a greater whole, the pomegranate, chocolate, and coffee just all vied for attention in strange ways. Café au lait was more pleasant (“You can’t taste the pomegranate,” Linda said, which I think means along the lines of, “It didn’t overwhelm this drink like it did in the chocolate one”), and the vanilla flavor won the taste test, reminding Linda a bit of egg nog of all things, and I liked it as well. The nice thing is the POM people seem to have been ingredient conscious, using “rainforest-friendly” coffee beans, organic sugar, and so forth.

We slammed them down as caffeine boosts for house painting sessions.

Finally, the coleslaw

I just pulled the last cabbages out of the garden 3 days ago. Everyone else has meticulously cleaned out their gardens months ago and rototilled them into perfect, uniform rectangles. Mine, on the other hand, is covered in garden debris, kitchen scraps, eggshells, and corn dust (from the corn dryer; no, I don’t have time to explain). Oh, and there are still leeks, rosemary, and parsley in there. I shook the snow off the parsley and it immediately looked a bit happier.

It’s not the traditional time for coleslaw, but it’s still a fabulous side for a hot sandwich like grilled cheese. Try this recipe. It’s your straightforward, straight-up coleslaw, exactly what you’re thinking of when thinking of taking coleslaw to potlucks or picnics.

Coleslaw

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pound cabbage, shredded – green, red, or a mix
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk, or 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1-1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large bowl, mix together the shredded cabbage and minced onion.

In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. If you’re using buttermilk powder (I always do), there’s no need to reconstitute it — that just waters down the dressing, which will happen naturally a bit anyway as the moisture from the cabbage leaches into the dressing.

You see in my image how “thick” the dressing made with buttermilk powder looks at first. This is a mistake — I shot the photo before adding the vinegar and lemon juice. Your dressing will not look that pasty!

Stir dressing into the cabbage and onion mixture. Chill before serving until flavors meld, at least an hour.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cabbage

I have a confession to make.

I cannot bring myself to bake or cook with fresh berries.

Why not? Their season is so short, it seems such a waste to transform them with heat, when frozen berries will do the job just as well. And you can whip out frozen blueberries in the dead of winter, anytime.

But fresh berries in the dead of winter? You know they’re out of season, so they’re being shipped thousands of miles, and hey! *snaps fingers* we’re trying to eat more local here. In that process of being shipped across continents, they’re losing freshness and flavor, and won’t be worth much fresh anyway, in my opinion.

Why not practice a more seasonally-aware cuisine? Gorge on fresh when it’s available, and freeze or preserve once you’ve gotten sick on fresh blueberries. (Tomorrow I’ll be freezing blueberries, and show you how, which is hardly necessary, as it’s so damn easy you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it before.)

In the spirit of practicing a more seasonally-aware cuisine, we’re now eating 99% blueberries and sweet corn. Ha ha.

13 ways of looking at a blueberry

Simple, as usual, is better. There are approximately 3 general ways to go with fresh blueberries. First is sweet, and mixed with dairy and/or grains. Second and third are savory, in salads or salsa.

We’ll get the obvious out of the way first.

1. Blueberries plain in a bowl, eaten with a spoon or by the handful. See the picture at the top of this post. My favorite. Sprinkle with sugar for more sweetness.

2. Top breakfast cereal or oatmeal with blueberries.

3. Top pancakes with blueberries. Okay, I’ll allow you to make blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberries in them if you want. Just this once.

4. Blueberries in a bowl, with milk, or half and half, or cream. Add sugar if you insist.

5. Crush blueberries slightly with a potato masher, and stir into yogurt. Drizzle with honey or maple syrup. Thanks to Sarah of Yummy Smells.

6. Another from Sarah of Yummy Smells: Mash blueberries with a touch of honey, and layer atop peanut butter on graham crackers. It’s rustic blueberry jam!

7. Microwave vanilla ice cream for 10 seconds. Sprinkle fresh blueberries on top, and stir in.

8. Remember that strawberry feta salad? Make it with blueberries instead of strawberries.

9. In fact, add blueberries to spinach salad too. Try spinach, blueberries, sesame seeds, goat cheese, and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette.

10. Make a parfait layering plain or vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and granola. Add wheat germ and banana slices if you like.

11. Top lemon, lime, or vanilla pudding with blueberries.

12. Blueberry and corn salad. Blueberries like corn, which is handy since they’re in season at the same time. Cut the corn off of a cooked or grilled ear or two, add a cup or two of blueberries, some fresh basil, a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, and salt and pepper. I’m probably going to make this and turn it into a post. :p

13. Blueberry salsa. Chop up blueberries, red onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, splash in some lime juice, season with salt and pepper. Serve atop grilled fish.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: banana, blueberries, corn, feta, oatmeal, pudding, yogurt

I know, I know, you’re just antsy for that currant chiffon pie. Because there are no recipes for currant chiffon pie in existence (Google tells me so) I had to tweak from recipes for inferior fruits like lemon and orange. As a result, the first pie (yesterday) was good, but I decided it could be better, and I just shoved the adjusted-recipe version into the fridge.

In the meantime, comfort yourself with a nice, healthy salad. Ha ha.

There’s this gigantic, wizened old apple tree in the front yard. This tree is so ancient no one remembers what kind of apples grow on it, only that they’re tart, ripen really early, get soft quickly, and make good applesauce. As a result, not much usually gets done with them.

At the same time, the second planting of kohlrabi is coming ripe. You know what kohlrabi is, don’t you? Here’s my lovely aunt Linda holding one up for professional photography. You know it’s professional because the wind was blowing so hard this was the only place the leaves weren’t being twisted into even more alien shapes I put the gas tanks and grain bins distractingly behind the kohlrabi on purpose. *nods* (Also, she cherishes her anonymity on the Internet, but she never gets to read this, so let’s not tell her, shall we?)

Everyone seems to think it’s some mystery vegetable. I always had it growing up, so that surprised me. What? Your life experiences differ from mine?

Kohlrabi likes cool temperatures, produces 1 bulb and 1 bulb only, and that above ground. That’s it. It blows its wad making this one not-very-big chunk of vegetation that tastes a bit like cabbage and jicama, and a bit (only a bit) sweet.

what do i do with this green-tentacled space alien?

To prepare kohlrabi, pull off the stems and cut off the root, leaving the bulb. I’m told the leaves may be cooked like other greens but I’ve never tried it.

Now peel off the green outside. It’s soft and not very deep. The end of the kohlrabi near the root tends to get woody, especially near the outside, and especially on kohlrabi that have been neglected and allowed to grow a tad too big, like this one. See the area in the bottom of the pic where the kohlrabi flesh looks stripey and a bit yellower? That’s going to be tough and woody, and you may as well cut it off unless you’re really hurting for fiber.

One the kohlrabi is peeled, you can cut it up however you want. I like to cube it for straight up snacking, but for this recipe I sliced it thin and then cut it into matchsticks.

You know, I like how coleslaw kind of mushes up the cabbage a bit when it’s been made for a day or two. I decided I don’t like that mushing effect with this salad, though. If you like your apples and kohlrabi to have a nice crunch, plan on eating this the same day.

The black pepper, of all things, brings out the apple flavor in this salad. I don’t know why, but that bit of spice in the creamy honey yogurt makes it swoon-worthy.

kohlrabi and apple salad

You may want to put your apple bits in lemon water or sprinkle some Fruit Fresh on them if they’re prone to browning like the ones I used are. I.e., if they brown as you’re cutting them.

prep: 20 minutes
servings: 4

1 large kohlrabi or 2 small, peeled
1 large tart apple or 2 small, cored
1/2 cup plain yogurt
juice of half a lemon, or 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Julienne the kohlrabi and apple. You can use a mandolin or do it manually. If doing manually: Slice the kohlrabi and the apple thinly, then stack slices and cut into matchsticks.

For the honey yogurt dressing:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, honey, pepper, and salt. Toss in the julienned kohlrabi and apple, and mix well. Let sit 10 minutes before eating to allow the flavors to mingle.

The kohlrabi and apple salad will keep in the fridge, but as it sits, it will soften.

Variations: Grate the kohlrabi and apple instead of julienning. Use cabbage or jicama in place of kohlrabi.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apples, kohlrabi

Shrinkage. It’s not just for George Costanza anymore. Thanks to rising costs and a disinclination towards outwardly raising prices, food manufacturers are selling less for the same price. Everything comes in a smaller package these days, and not all of it is due to chilly swimming pools.

And in the process, mucking up loads and loads of recipes. Jerks.

But I’ve got a present for you. Spring tuna wraps uses 5 ounce cans of tuna, yay! Well, that’s because I sort of just wrote down the precise measurements today, but you didn’t read that, did you?

But it’s not spring anymore, I hear you complaining. Too bad. Up here in Michigan, it’s been a cruel cool cool summer, and peas, lettuce, radishes, and green onions are still going strong in the garden. Confession: my peas are sugar snaps, so I use frozen in this recipe, shh. Don’t tell anyone!

gah, someone get this cat off my countertop

Oh, wait. Hold up. My dad’s cat, who likes to come in my house at night, keeps jumping up on the counter to lick the measuring cup that had mayonnaise in it.

So annoying. I hate getting hints that it’s time to wash the damn dishes.

Okay, tossed the cat outside, now back to the wraps. I’ve always liked canned tuna, and missed it when I eschewed fish in the strict vegetarian phase. Even as a kid, a tuna sandwich was always a special treat and change from the normal peanut butter and jelly sack lunch. I would have had it in every lunch if I could. As a grownup, I finally found out how tuna is supposed to taste, via tuna steaks in good restaurants, but canned tuna still holds a special place. I don’t know why, because it bears about as much resemblance to tuna the fish as canned salmon does to salmon the fish, and I hate canned salmon.

Now, updated for grownups: brighten up tuna salad with tangy lemon, sweet peas, and crunchy bits of radish. Toss in some toasted almonds, splash on a bit of Thai chili sauce, tuck it all into whole wheat tortillas with leafy lettuce. Yes, there’s still mayo in here, and celery, and some green onions and…you get the point. A melange of springy vegetables ready for sandwich noshing.

Oh wow. Even at six servings, each tuna wrap is 242 calories apiece! Sounds pretty good to me.

spring tuna wraps

Thai chili sauce is spicy and a bit sweet, meant more for adding flavor than heat, though it can be a bit fiery. You may have seen the Vietnamese version, a bottle with a prominent rooster on it, which is the same thing. The version I have is from an Asian market, Shark Brand (Sriracha), and if you’re curious, it contains 35% chiles, 25% water, 20% sugar, 10% garlic, 5% salt, and 5% vinegar.

prep: 15 minutes
servings: 6 to 8

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon jarred minced garlic
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce (optional)
2 (5 ounce) cans of tuna, drained
1 cup peas, fresh or thawed from frozen
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup green onion, sliced green tops
1 radish, finely chopped
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
ground black pepper to taste
lettuce leaves
whole wheat tortillas (recipe here) or other wrap

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, and Thai chili sauce.

Add tuna, peas, celery, green onion, radish, and slivered almonds, and mix well. Add black pepper if desired (salt too, if you want).

To serve: Scoop about 1/2 cup of tuna mixture onto a whole wheat tortilla. Top with lettuce and roll up tightly, and enjoy.

Alternatively, you may skip the wrap and have the salad on a bed of lettuce. Less pretty, though.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: almonds, green onion, lettuce, peas, radish, tuna

Update: strawberry and feta salad is now entered in this week’s ZOE Secret Ingredient Challenge. Psst: the secret ingredient is feta.

With strawberry vinaigrette!

You know. I’ve really got to begin paying attention to presentation when I snap these photos. I’ve been just putting something on a plate or bowl the way I’d eat it and sometimes it’s not quite so…attractive.

Like this strawberry and feta salad. I shouldn’t have mixed it up first. I should have put the lettuce in the bowl, artfully arranged the strawberry slices on top, rakishly sprinkled the toasted slivered almonds atop that, and strategically placed feta crumbles throughout. Then I should have drizzled the strawberry vinaigrette on the lettuce only, magically avoiding the strawberries, almonds, and feta.

But noooooo.

It’s all mixed together, feta tinted pink by rogue strawberry juices, lettuce with messy-looking bits of cheese and strawberry clinging to it, almonds haphazardly fallen to the bottom of the bowl.

It’s a pictorial Hindenberg.

/end rant

This is the last of the strawberries. Everybody heave a big sad sigh here. Don’t tell sis; these are the ones I got from her last week. They’ve been languishing in the fridge covered in plastic wrap, crying out in their tiny high little voices. Needless to say, some of them had to go. But they were in decent shape; a few soft spots here and there; a few too soft to use.

The lettuce in the garden is still going strong, which is really weird for July. It made it through last week’s hot spell without bolting, and these cooler days are making it happy face.

If you have rabbit food and some strawberries in the fridge, try out this salad. The tang of the feta is a neat counterpoint to the strawberries, and who can resist crunchy almonds?

Try the strawberry vinaigrette on a spinach salad, too. What do you like to do with fruity vinaigrettes?

strawberry and feta salad

prep: 20 minutes
into your mouths: 20 minutes
servings: 5

strawberry and feta salad

8 ounces lettuce, torn
1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

strawberry vinaigrette

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup strawberries, halved
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Toast the almonds: Place in a shallow pan over medium heat. Shake or stir frequently. You want the almonds lightly browned, not dark brown. They’re almost done when you hear popping noises and smell the almonds.

Prepare the vinaigrette: Place olive oil, the 1/2 cup halved strawberries, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, basil, salt, and pepper in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Mix the salad: In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, 1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries, feta cheese, and toasted almonds. If serving immediately to a group, mix in strawberry vinaigrette. For single servings, add vinaigrette to taste.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: almonds, feta, lettuce, strawberries

Ohnoes. A pantry meal — in June!

It may be spring — almost summer — but the garden’s getting a slow start around here. A very wet spring kept us from planting until late May. We’ve already burned past the asparagus and rhubarb, and strawberries are due any day now, but normally at this time we’d have lettuce and radishes at the very least.

But it was not to be. The radishes are just about big enough to snack on, but there just isn’t a lot going on yet. I’m not in the mood for hot, heavy, stick-to-your ribs food now, though, so I turned to a main-course salad and dug out this black bean and couscous salad recipe.

Couscous is one of my favorite pastas/grains. I like whole-wheat couscous (obviously!) and it’s one of the whole-grain products that doesn’t seem any different from non-whole-grain variety. It isn’t even prepared differently; perhaps a touch more water or broth when making it, but it turns out fine without such watchfulness. Couscous also pairs amazingly with beans, and I’m partial to black beans. A lot of which goes to explain why I enjoy this salad so much.

You’ll notice in the picture that I used green pepper because that’s what was on hand, but it’s really yummy with sweet red pepper. Also, notice how white the corn is? That’s because it’s from the corn I froze last year, another good reason to have some now — I froze a lot of sweet corn!

The dressing is what makes it stand out, though. This is one of those malleable salad recipes where you can mix and match and swap ingredients to no ill effect, because the aromatic olive oil and lime juice mixture that’s holding it all together is what makes it sing.

So I thawed some frozen corn, got out some whole-wheat couscous and black beans, chopped up the pepper and green onion (the only fresh ingredients) and mixed up the dressing, and had a refreshing spring pantry dinner.

black bean and couscous salad

prep: 15 minutes
to table: 20 minutes
serves: 8

1 cup whole wheat couscous
1-1/3 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or from concentrate
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 green onions, chopped, green tops only
1 bell pepper, any color, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or 1tablespoon dried
1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained

In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the couscous and stir. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, cumin, salt and pepper. If using dried cilantro, add now as well. Stir in green onions, bell pepper, fresh cilantro (if using), corn, and black beans.

With a fork, fluff the couscous. Add couscous to the vegetable/dressing mixture and mix well. Serve immediately or chill.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | Leave a comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: black beans, corn, couscous, sweet peppers