A taste of summer

I got tomatoes and basil in my box this week! They were the first tomatoes of the season - little yellow cherry ones. I made a simple pasta dish. I Just sauted onions and garlic and crimini mushrooms. Then I added oregano and the halfed cherry tomatoes and cooked until the tomatoes broke down. Then I added some fresh basil and cook for just a minute more. Meanwhile, I cooked some really nice kamut pasta spirals, which I added back to the sauce along with a little pasta water to give the dish the right moisture. I topped it with some nice pecorino romano. It was definitely a nice preview for the summer produce to come.

Beet Salad

Once again I got beets in my box. Emboldened by last times success, I decided to try them raw. It was good! Beets are winning me over.

Beet and Carrot salad

Grate some beets
Wash and peel some carrots with the intention of grating them, but then decide you are sick of grating things and cut them into thick slices instead.
Make a vinnegrette of equal parts lemon juice and hazlenut oil. Whisk in salt, pepper and a bit of dijon. Marinate the beets and carrots in the dressing. Then mix in some toasted walnut pieces. Serve over arugula with feta cheese.

The Kale Quest: A Concession

Reeves admits that Suzanne's sugggestion of Moorish Chickpea Stew with kale is less bad than the previous contestants. I used 1/4 tsp cayenne and 2 slices of homemade bread - - that is, with onion, olive, wheatberry, etc. I loved it!!

The Kale Quest Encounters a Contradiction

Reeves doesn't like kale.

Tonight I am trying kale with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar.
I also bought purple-ish kale at Whole Foods today, on the clerk's recommendation that it was less bitter. He said stay away from dinosaur kale, which he finds very bitter. Jody, didn't you once use dinosaur kale?
Of course it's possible that purple kale has no lutein or zeazanthin.

The clipping for caramelized onions has been sitting in the drawer under the microwave for a long time. You sweat them - - 2 lbs worth- - with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl, tossed, for 10 minutes. Then, leaving the drippings in the bowl, you saute them on medium high until the first hint of browning. Then you add back the liquid, turn the heat to low, and cook them, covered, for an hour. Very sweet!

The Kale Quest Continues

So I tried Suzanne's recipe with some pretty bland whole wheat noodles. I think I need to shop more diligently and bring home the soba for this recipe. I didn't have miso, nor asparagus, so it was basically noodles and kale and tahini sauce, which I made with lemon juice, water and tahini. I served it with tofu that I'd cooked in the teriyaki marinade I use for salmon, along with some eggplant slop (red pepper, onion, roast cumin, yogurt, tahini, eggplant) and - -big novelty - the stems of the kale, chopt into small pieces and sauteed over medium high heat. They added a neat crunch to the tofu! But Reeves was not pleased by the kale. He like the noodles, though. I have great envy over these CSA boxes you both are getting!!

Fresh Apricots

I would just like to take a moment to appreciate fresh apricots. They are heavenly. A good fresh apricot is like a solid nugget of perfume. I don't remember having them before coming to CA. They put their dried cousins to shame.
Tonight I made a quick fruit salad of sliced apricots, strawberries, peaches and a squeeze of lemon. It was perfect. I love June!

The Kale Quest

As Suzanne has been hearing for the last two nights, I'm committed to culinary concentration on kale. It has by far and away the highest amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, which when ingested embed themselves in the retina and protect photoreceptors. So - - go blog!! I used the search function for the first time and came up with Suzanne's April post about noodles with kale, asparaus and tahini sauce. Will do!