Tzatziki salad

Last year, the cucumbers I planted on the roof failed miserably. I was pretty convinced that this meant cucumbers are poorly suited to container gardening and was ready to give up on them. But, you know, I already had the seeds, so I went ahead and tried again this year. Only one of the two vines I planted grew, but grow it did! I had really good intentions about training the vine to a trellis, but it seemed to grow in leaps and bounds overnight and it ended up just twisting around our railing. And my tomato bushes. (Nature fight: which plant will win??) As a result, some of the cukes grow outside of the roofdeck over the little uncovered part of the roof, and I have to perform all kinds of gymnastics to get to them. Don't worry mom, it's safe. All this to say I have received an abundance of cucumbers this year, and I've been amazed at how flavorful they are. They have a wonderful green tinge to the flesh. Most of them we've been eating sliced as simple appetizers on the roof with glasses of white wine. I finally saved a few to make this salad, which turned out really nicely and really allows the flavor of fresh summer cucumbers to shine. The concept is essentially a combination of traditional raita and tzatziki. I used Joy of Cooking's tzatziki recipe as a starting point. Makes a great cooling side (especially to tomato pie! Yum!)

Tzatziki Salad

Cucumber plant in the background. Cocktail hour in the foreground.

Slice 2 cucumbers. Peel and seed them if they're firmer/late season- if you're unsure if you need to, take a slice from the middle and bite into it. If you encounter and are bothered by the skin and seeds, then... Skin and seed it (duh.) Put in a medium sized bowl.
Slice 1/4 red onion (optional) and a large handful of cherry or grape tomatoes (optional... Unless you've recently raided your mother's garden, in which case you really ought to add some.) add to the cukes.
For the sauce, whisk together 1c plain yogurt, 1 large clove garlic (minced), 1T EVOO, 1T red wine vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in a small handful of basil leaves (8 or so) and 1-2 sprigs mint, chopt. You could also use dill instead of the basil, or oregano in place of the mint, or omit one of the herbs altogether- just use what you have.
Stir the sauce over the veggies and serve cold.
Serves 4 (as a side).

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is one of those awesome summertime dishes that I only make when tomatoes and herbs are cheap and plentiful. It's also a treat to have a filling, cool dish on a warm, summer evening. The version I'm posting here is adapted from the Joy of Cooking. We added chick peas to make it a more filling vegetarian main dish. Feta cheese would probably be a nice addition as well, or perhaps just a little sprinkled on top. All in all, the dish is very flexible- the tomatoes, bulgar, and herbs are important, things like beans, feta, olives, cucumbers, and onions are all optional and you can mix and match depending on your taste and availability. You can adjust your parsley and mint ratio according to taste, as well. We topped ours with squash blossoms- doesn't make much of a difference in flavor, in fact, I don't even think they taste that good, but they're elegant! Ours fell off our zucchini plants. Basically, this recipe should be seen as a jumping off point- be creative!

Tabbouleh

Prepare 1 cup bulgar- place bulgar in a glass or other heat safe bowl. Add 2.5 cups boiling water and about 1/4t salt. Cover and let sit for 30 min or until most of the water is absorbed. Bulgar should be  chewy. Drain excess water (being careful not to lose any grain) at the end.

Meanwhile, dice (large dice ok) 3-4 large tomatoes. We used mostly brandy wine tomatoes, which are soft and sweet, but anything fresh and ripe will do.

Slice 1/2 red onion thinly, add to tomatoes.

Chop up to 2c parsley and up to 1c mint, add to tomato mixture.

Stir in 3c or so chick peas.

Stir in 1-2 finely diced jalapeños and a handful of chopped olives (optional).

Toss the above with 1/3c lemon juice and 1/3c EVOO, as well as salt and black pepper to taste. 

When bulgar has finished cooking, mix all ingredients together in whichever bowl is larger.

Enjoy!

Summer corn salad

I made this corn salad last night along with tomato pie. It was a perfect light late summer meal, full of produce from our CSA share, Mom's garden, and a few gems from our roof. It's a delicious way to eat corn without having to heat up your kitchen or grill. I made just a few changes, so I'll reproduce the recipe here:

Corn salad
Serves 2-3

Shuck 3 ears corn. Cut off kernels and place in a large bowl.
Thinly slice or dice 1/4 red onion and add to bowl.
Whisk together 1T brown sugar, 1.5T walnut oil (sunflower would also be good), 1/4t salt, and 2.5T lemon juice. Alternatively, place these ingredients in a clean and empty jam jar and shake to mix.
Toss together the corn, onion, and above dressing.
Mix in a generous handful of sunflower seeds (toasted or raw works fine), a generous handful of chopped cilantro, and about 1-2t chopped fresh oregano. You could use different herbs - I think parsley, chives, etc would also taste good, just try to use fresh rather than dried.

The tomato pie turned out really well, too - I actually made a crust from scratch this time, which took a little longer but made a huge difference in flavor:

Roasted leek, mushroom, and white bean casserole

When M. is out of town, I like to treat myself by cooking food that I like but he doesn't. Making the most out of a bad situation. Living large. Mushrooms feature prominently in my solo cuisine for this reason. I improvised this dish the other day and was very pleased with it. It is savory, flavorful, and healthy. Delicious! I even had it for breaknap today (meal before night shift - when one never decide between breakfast food or dinner food.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Trim, half length-wise, and clean 1 large leek. Slice into ~1/4" pieces. Clean carefully and thoroughly. I like to spread out the leaves under running water as they are often full of dirt.
Clean ~1 pint of baby bella mushrooms using a paper towel or a mushroom brush. Do not rinse - the water will soak into the mushrooms and make them chewy. Cut large mushrooms into 4 pieces and small ones into 2 so they're all roughly the same size.
Put these into two large baking pans along with 3 cups of white beans. Since you'll be roasting them, you want things to pretty much be in one layer.
Toss with a generous splash of EVOO (~2T per baking pan), a splash of balsamic vinegar (~1T per baking pan), a squirt of dijon mustard (~1T total), crushed rosemary (~1/2T total if you're using dried), white pepper (a shake per pan), and salt, to taste (~1/2t total).
Bake until mushrooms and leeks are lightly brown and beans are dry but not burnt (~30").
As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle lightly with finely grated Parmesan.

I accompanied the above with mixed greens ("power greens") sauteed with a sliced leek, EVOO, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper.

I put both dishes into a bowl together and ate it with homemade white whole wheat rosemary bread. The next day, feeling in more of a breakfasty mood, I added a fried egg on top.

Mmm!

Glorious Easter at Suzanne's!

Suzanne and M hosted Amanda and Dave, and Ben and Big Dave for a really happy Easter dinner. Dan got into the act, too, but not productively. I think he was very pleased to observe food on the dry sink and thought that might be his territory.

Amanda's contribution was Devilled Eggs Two Ways. Suzanne and the Munsons enjoying M's kirs and beer.

One of Suzanne's many contributions was the Easter Bunny, perhaps looking a little startled about Dan. My contribution was a Rhubarb and Asparagus salad. For the salad, for 4 eaters (a WP recipe which I've fiddled with): Heat 3/4 c. water and 3/4 c. sugar over medium low heat until sugar dissolves, stirring. Add 3 c. Moscato or other sweet white dessert wine, plus 1/4 c. juiced rhubarb or grenadine for color. Lacking these, I used 2 c. Moscato and 1 c. ruby port. Add 2 1/2 T. whole back peppercorns, lightly crushed. I was cooking for 8, doubled the amounts, and had way too much liquid left over. I froze it for another day. I think you could reduce these amounts also when cooking for 4. Bring this to a simmer and add 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 4 inch pieces with objectionable strings removed. Simmer until "cooked through but not soft, about 5 minutes." Drain, remove peppercorns (the recipe says "rinse," but I thought it needed to keep the sugary coating), and drain again. Chill immediately; it gets mushy fast. A bag in the frig worked fine. Cook 12 stalks asparagus until bright green and barely tender. Plunge it in ice when done, drain it, and refrigerate it. For vinagrette, mix 3 T lemon juice, 1 T dijon, and 1/2 c oil. I think if I offer this again I might also put some of the cooled, strained poaching liquid on the table for people who want something sweeter. I was tempted to just drink it. Mix 1/2 lb salad greens with 1/2 c fresh herbs (dill, parsley, tarragon, basil, chives). There are all sorts of ways to serve this. The WP article had a nifty square of red (rhubarb) and green (asparagus) stripes at the bass, topped by lettuce. I lined a bowl with the various stalks and put the greens in the middle.

Salmon from l'Entrecote Couronné

This Geneva Bistro was either a very convincing retro or simply untouched for 80 years. The walls had metal channels, as if they housed electric wiring merely tacked on in the modern era. I did not expect to find any seafood here, given the name, but the seafood entreés outnumbered the beef. They even offered plats végétarien.

Maybe not so retro after all. I had a salmon entreé with capers and cherry tomatoes. I found a pretty good facsimile online as follows, for 4 people: Preheat oven to 425 In a bowl or bag, toss 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, pulsed into halfish pieces in the FP, 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced, 1 T. drained capers, 2 T. red wine vinegar (next time I'll try balsamic for more kick), and salt. Put 1 T oil in a medium-sized ovenproof skillet, Season salmon and put it in the skillet, skin side up. Cook over moderately high heat until well-browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the salmon and put it into the over to roast for about 7 minutes. Pour off the fat in the pan and plate the fish. Put the skillet over moderate heat and add the tomato mixture, plus 1/2 t cumin and 2 T oil. Cook about 2 minutes, until the tomatoes just soften. Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle on 1 T minced basil. Another recipe I found calls for roasting the salmon, brushed with oil, in a 400 degree oven along with the tomatoes, also brushed with oil.

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Tried something new yesterday! Inspired by a delicious brunch at Liv2Eat and some 101cookbooks posts, I finally made a raw brussel sprout salad. It turned out really nicely- similar to a cole slaw, but a little tangier and more substantial. One of the things that made me hesitate about making this dish for so long (aside from the obvious risk of farts) was that I thought you could only make this if you had super fresh, pristine, farmer's market brussel sprouts. Not true. Yes, it would probably be better if you had such creatures - better ingredients, better... Well, you know. The salad turned out really nicely, though, with Shoppers' finest. If you can't decide whether that's a compliment to Shoppers' or a backhanded diss, don't worry, neither can I.

Wash about 1.5 lbs brussel sprouts and cut off their stems
Shred finely - I used the 2mm blade on my food processor
Make the dressing: whisk together 3T lemon juice, 3T evoo, 3T buttermilk, 1/4 t salt, black and white pepper, thyme, 1/4c romano cheese.
Pour the dressing over top and knead a little.
Toast about 1.5 cups slivered almonds or hazelnuts
Stir together the sprouts, almonds, and a handful of craisins
Toss it all together.

In the dressing, you can manipulate the liquid ingredients depending on your tastes... I might favor more buttermilk and less evoo.

Enjoy!