Wednesday Market Madness

I went wild at the "Wednesday market" at Christopher Morley Park.  Not even a cranky six-year-old, already "bored of life," and hating on vegetables could slow me down. 

In addition to all of the fresh produce begging to be bought, dayboat scallops and offerings from Orwasher's Bakery, two french guys had set up shop and were peddling an exciting array of smoked meats, including this incredible chewy, funky chorizo sausage (smoked duck breast, I will be back for you next week!). 

I diced the chorizo and gently warmed it in the pan, adding fresh corn, halved grape tomatoes, and a splash of cream to the flavorful fat released from sausage.   A (small) handful of basil from the pot on the porch, and a pinch of aleppo pepper (more flavorful and less "in your face" than ordinary red pepper flakes) made a divine bed for seared scallops.

There is something to be said for a lack of restraint.

At Last

In the life of a teacher, the first day of summer is as glorious as it gets.  The yammering students, sniping administrators, the months and months cooped up in airless, windowless rooms still hover around the consciousness like a persistent bad dream.  But the days ahead, days and days and days (71 to be exact), are filled with promise.  Whole books will be read, projects completed, day trips taken, meals planned and made.  Anything is possible, especially after a couple of these watermelon margaritas! 

This recipe makes two drinks, but can easily be doubled or tripled.  Heck, quadruple it.  It's summer at last!

Watermelon Margaritas

2 oz. top shelf tequila

2 oz. triple sec, Cointreau or Gran Marnier

Juice of one lime

1 cup of ice cold watermelon chunks, no seeds

A hanful of ice cubes

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.  Strain into chilled martini glasses.  Garnish with watermelon slices.  Add a squeeze of lime juice to taste. 

A New Green

I finally made it to my farmer's market this morning, with summer just two days away.  I had in mind a recipe by Mark Bittman from the June 16 edition of the Times for Pasta with Peas, Proscuitto and Lettuce.  Bittman's emphasis was on using small quantities of meat--in this case, crisped prociutto--as a garnish, as opposed to it being the star player in a dish.  Great idea, but what really struck me was the use of lettuce in a hot preparation.  Sure, I've wilted my share of spinach and arugula, even watercress, but lettuce?!  I grabbed a bowling ball sized head of Boston lettuce and some handfuls of fresh peas, determined to try it out. 

I took some liberties with the recipe.  Crisping prociutto is blasphemous in my book, as its soft, satiny texture is what makes it so darn good in the first place.  But crispy bacon--who could quibble with that?  I also added some shrimp, tasty, wild caught, but sort of superfluous, as the lettuce stole the show.  Were you worried it would turn out limp and watery?  I'll admit, I was.  Instead, it was sweet and fresh tasting, and even retained a bit of its crunch at the ribs.  The splash of citrusy sauvignon blanc I used to green the vegetables woke up all the flavors, and tasted good in the glass alongside, as well.  It was the pefect way to welcome summer.

Pasta with Lettuce, Bacon and Shrimp

6 slices of smoky bacon, cut into batons

1 pound pasta (the gemelli I used were perfect)

1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tablespoons butter

1 shallot, minced

2 cups of peas, preferably fresh

1 head of Boston lettuce, cored, leaves cut into ribbons

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Meanwhile, cook the bacon batons until crisp.  Drain on paper towels and reserve.  Spill out most of the bacon fat.  Season shrimp with salt and pepper and saute in the fat until just cooked through.  Remove and reserve.  Melt butter in the same skillet and saute the shallot until softened, about 4 minutes.  Turn off the flame while you wait for the pasta to catch up.

When water boils, add pasta and cook until just tender. Drain pasta.  Turn the flame back on under the shallots, and add peas, lettuce and wine.  Cook until lettuce is wilted but still bright green, maybe 5 minutes.  Don't overcook!  Add pasta and shrimp back to pan and cook until just heated through.  Off the heat, toss with parmesan.  Taste for salt and pepper, garnish with bacon, and serve.

Serves 4

Pesto's Cousin

As an apartment dweller, I am limited to growing things in containers--and not even very large containers either.  But that doesn't stop me from dreaming big dreams of pesto, like this one, which I clipped from the back page of Gourmet in August of last year, and just finally got around to making.  So what if I had to pit stop at North Shore Farms for a bunch of the not-so-homegrown stuff to supplement my meager supply?

With roasted almonds standing in for the pine nuts, a cloud of fresh ricotta cheese in place of most of the traditional parmesan, and a garnish of briny kalamata olives, I had a suspicion this would be great. 

I was right.  This was ordinary pesto's suave and sophisticated cousin.  The ricotta lent a velvety texture, and was a wonderful carrier for the basil and garlic flavors, mellowing and smoothing them out.  The olives provided a welcome salty sharpness with each bite.  It was a big bowl of comfort, summer weather style, perfect with a chilled glass of Savignon Blanc.  And the garnish is just-picked from my garden, thank you very much.

Philly Fresh

The first trip to the farmer's market is always a treat, even more so with my sister and her delicious child for company.  At the Glenside Farmer's Market, just north of Philadelphia, I couldn't resist a green corrugated carton of the juiciest just picked strawberries, as far removed from those ginormous, woody supermarket berries as apples are from oranges. 

Another salad: candy sweet strawberries, slightly tart dressing, creamy goat cheese and toasty walnuts--perfection!

Strawberry Salad

Serves 4

2 c. stawberries, hulled, divided

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1 T dry mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 c. mild flavored oil

1/4 c. walnut oil

1 5 oz. log of goat cheese, crumbled

3/4 c. chopped walnuts, toasted

6 oz. greens--baby arugula and spinach are nice

Blend 1 c. strawberries with next 5 ingredients in food processor.  With motor running, add oils.  Taste for balance and seasoning.  Slice remaining cup of strawberries.  Arrange greens on plates.  Top with goat cheese, walnuts, strawberries and dressing. 

Something New

                             

I owned a bamboo steamer for ten years and never once got around to using it.  When I finally decided to break it out the other day, it was full of spiderwebs and smelled faintly of mildew--one too many years in the basement, I guess.  So I treated myself to a new one--at $9.95, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  I had bookmarked the Steamed Cod with Caramelized Onion, Ginger and Scallions from Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges.  It's a book I've had in my Amazon "saved items" queue ever since I discovered it at the library.  One day my finger will slip and it will end up in my "shopping cart items--to buy now" queue, but until then, I'll keep trying not to splatter up the pages of the library copy. 

  

I'm not sure if I rigged this up correctly, but it seemed to work just fine.  I lined the baskets with parchment paper--if you have lettuce leaves, use those.  I set the steamer in my cast iron pan, filled it halfway with water, brought the water to a boil, then steamed for 10 minutes or so, adding water when necessary to keep the level up. 

The finished dish, served with a stir-fry of baby zucchini, shitake mushrooms, and snow peas, was clean and light, the fish was exceptionally moist, and the flavors were surprisingly nuanced despite the few ingredients and ease of preparation--this is by far the easiest recipe in this cookbook.  I'll be using this steamer again in the very near future.

Steamed Cod with Caramelized Onion, Ginger and Scallions

From Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges

1/4 c. plus 2 T peanut oil (or any neutral flavored oil)

2 medium onions, sliced

One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, julienned

Four 6-ounce thick cod fillets (or any white-fleshed fish)

Salt

Cayenne pepper

2 T sesame oil

1/4 c. slivered scallions

1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Soy sauce

1.  Heat 1/4 c. of the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until almost smoking.  Add the onions and brown, but do not cook through, about 2 minutes.  Toss in the ginger and remove from the heat.

2.  Prepare a steamer.  Season cod with salt and cayenne pepper, then top each piece with the onion-and-ginger mixture.  Steam until a thin-bladed knife pierces through the flesh easily, about 10 minutes.

3.  Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil and remaining 2 T peanut oil in the same skillet in which you cooked the onions, until the oil smokes (watch this one--I burned my first batch of oil).  Transfer the cod from the steamer to serving plates.  Top each piece with some scallions, then pour on the hot sesame-peanut oil mixture.  Top the fish with cilantro, season to taste with soy, and serve.

Serves 4

Feeling Blue

Blue cheese makes me feel like a grown up.  Until very recently, I couldn't even look at a hunk o' blue without surpressing a shudder.  You see, blue cheese is riddled with mold, and I've been phobic of mold ever since I unwittingly popped a piece of pre-cut supermarket canteloupe into my mouth only to find--after I began chewing--that it was covered in four layers of fuzz.  But somewhere, somehow, I recovered from my trauma, my tastebuds matured and I overcame my aversion.  Oh happy day!  Now I lick blue cheese off my fingers like it was frosting.  I'd rather have blue cheese than ice cream.  And this blue cheese dressing satisfies my every craving.

Easy Blue Cheese Dressing

Serves 2

2 T mayonnaise

2 T plain yogurt

1/2 tsp. cider vinegar

few dashes of hot pepper sauce

2 oz. blue cheese, more or less

Whisk together the first four ingredients.  Stir in blue cheese.  Pour liberally over salad greens and sliced tomato.  Crumbled bacon would taste good too.  Sprinkle with additional blue cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

Desperation Dinner

A freezer ready meal is a working mom's best friend.  However, ever since I read Michael Pollan's book--you know which one--and subsequently ditched the Lean Cuisines (I still jump when I see the sign in the supermarket: 4 for $12!), my freezer is full of Belle and Evans chicken parts, grass fed meat, whole wheat flour and not much else.  Not exactly the makings of a desperation dinner.

Then I had a brainstorm.  What about a frozen burrito, like the kind they have at Trader Joe's?  So I whipped up a batch for dinner, deliberately making extra for the freezer. 

Don't you just love tomato paste in the tube?  Forget Kindle, here is real progress.  I flavored two cans of pinto beans with two tablespoons of paste, onions, garlic, chili powder and cumin. 

Then I toasted some flour tortillas over my stove's open flame.

I piled each tortilla with a generous spoonful of beans, some leftover rice from the fridge, and some grated cheddar cheese.  The picture does not do it justice.  It was really good, especially with sour cream and salsa.  The only thing missing is cilantro.  Next time.

And here they are...freezer ready.  Like money in the bank!

Vegetarian Bean Burritos

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 medium japeno, chopped

2 T olive oil

1 tsp. cumin, more to taste

1 tsp. chili powder, more to taste

1 1/2 T. tomato paste

2 cans of pinto beans (15 oz.), drained and rinsed

a handful of chpped cilantro

1 c. cooked rice (could be brown rice, I guess)

6 oz. shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese

6 burrito sized flour tortillas

salsa and sour cream for serving

1.  Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Saute onions, garlic, jalepeno, chile powder, cumin and a good pinch of salt until golden, about 10 minutes.  Add tomato paste and cook a minute or so more. 

2.  Add beans and 1 c. of water, bring to boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cilantro.

3.  If you have a gas stove, toast tortillas. 

4.  Fill with bean mixture, rice, and cheese.  Fold and serve. 

To Freeze:  Wrap in plastic wrap, then aluminium foil.  To reheat: Nuke for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes straight from freezer, then bake in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.  I think you can just microwave them, too--perfect for a work lunch!