Eating Dirt

A Little Motherly Love: Lamb, Carrots and Fava Salad

This year I made my desires for Mother's Day known well in advance: no gifts, just a day at home in the garden and a big dinner, cooked as a family.  It was delicious, and I got gifts anyway - three of Andy Goldsworthy's books, much loved by my kids after we watched his Rivers and Tides together a week or two back.

I spent the day puttering out in the yard, planting this, pulling that, occasionally enlisting the help of our kids and more occasionally having a glass of wine. Rose, of course, since the sun was shining. I collected favas, spring onions, mint, arugula and snap peas for the salad, which was the only part I had to make myself. Fresh favas are the best thing in the world, picked from the garden and eaten hours later. The flavor difference between them and the ones from the store, or even from the CSA box, is surprising. Perfect to go with some spring lamb.

These recipes are from David Tanis' A Platter of Figs, the first spring menu in the book. Its not something I would make every day, but a little fancy, with two kinds of meat (lamb wrapped in bacon) a salad, vegetable and a cake for dessert. All good springy things to enjoy with your Mom!

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Roasted Lamb and Saffron Carrots (adapted from David Tanis' A Platter of Figs):

(serves 4-6)

for the lamb:

 

1 boneless shoulder roast of veal, 2 to 3 pounds

salt and pepper

3 garlic cloves, sliced

olive oil

a few rosemary sprigs

a few thyme sprigs

3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (or bacon)

1 T butter

2 spring onions, finely chopped

water or dry white wine

For the carrots:

1 lb carrots

1 T butter

2 cloves garlic

1/2 t grated lemon zest

Season the roast well with salt and pepper. Insert the garlic slices into the lose flesh on the underside of the roast. Drizzle a little olive oil over the meat. Lay the rosemary and thyme sprigs on the meat, then wrap the pancetta slices around the roast, tie it all together with kitchen string and place in a roasting pan. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or over night.

Bring the meat to room temperature and preheat the oven to 400°F. Roast the lamb for 45 minutes to an hour, until the internal temperature is 130°F. Let the meat rest on a platter, loosely covered, for at least 15 minutes before carving.

While the meat is cooking make the carrots and prepare the salad (recipe below). Peel the carrots and slice into thin coins. Sauté them in 1 T butter with a little crumbled saffron and a couple minced garlic cloves. Season well with salt and pepper and a half teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest. Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer, covered for 5 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

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Fava Bean Salad with Mountain Ham and Mint (adapted from David Tanis' A Platter of Figs):

2-3 pounds fresh young favas (sub in peas or snap peas if you don't have enough)

 

1 large fennel bulb

2 spring onions, thinly slivered

 salt and pepper

fruity olive oil

1/2 lemon

1/2 bunch mint

4 slices cured ham, such as jamon, serrano or prosciutto

arugula leaves

Shuck the favas, then blanch the beans in boiling water for 10 seconds, cool them in a large bowl of ice water. Pinch the skin and pop the bean out. This is a good task to share with kids.

Trim the top, stems and core from the fennel, and when you are ready to make the salad slice it into thin shreds or use a mandolin. Put them in a bowl with the favas (and peas), onions and some salt. Drizzle generously with olive oil to coat. Coarsely chop the mint leaves and add them, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the salad. Toss well, taste and correct if it needs more salt, oil or lemon.

 Pile the salad onto a large platter, surround with the ham or tear it into strips and scatter over the salad. Grind some pepper on top, garnish with some arugula and serve immediately.

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Salmon Cakes

 
I've been struggling with pan frying cakes and patties of all varieties for a long time now.  They never turn out right - sometimes they stick, sometimes they fall apart, sometimes they burn to a crisp. But tonight I asked my husband for advice, knowing that he has a tendency to remember everything he reads (but nothing I say) and that he read Russ Parson's How to Read a French Fry a thousand years ago when it first came out.  Parson's book is all about kitchen science, and  I seem to remember it deals with sticky patties.

"Protein molecules will stick to the pan until they have been cooked long enough to denature the protein," he told me. So this time I strictly followed the frying time recommended by my recipe, and actually set a timer to really get it right. And low and behold, it worked. The patties didn't stick, they didn't burn (once I turned the heat down low enough) and they didn't fall apart. 

And as an extra bonus,  both my children gobbled them up and asked for more. As usual, my daughter ate her salad and my son did not. "No," he told me, " salad has vegetables in it. I don't like vegetables".  I did manage to get him to swallow two bites after bribing him with strawberries, though.

But whatever, we managed to polish off nearly an entire bag of produce box lettuce, along with some cilantro and mint. I've found that sometimes the key to a really good salad is tossing in a couple small handfuls of whatever fresh herbs I happen to have around. They add just enough to push lettuce past the edge of humdrum and boring to unusual, exciting and delicious. So far I have yet to find an herb combo that falls flat, though really strong flavored ones (like sage) must be used in moderation.

As for the chives, grow a pot of them outside your kitchen door. Otherwise they molder in the bottom of the fridge and get slimy. Yuck!

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Salmon Cakes with Greens (adapted from Epicurious)

 1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon chopped shallots

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 pound salmon fillet, skin removed, finely chopped

2 egg whites

5 tablespoons drained capers

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon olive oil, twice

4-8 cups lettuce or mixed salad, depending on who will be eating

2 small handfuls of herbs

Mix together the mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon shallots, 1 teaspoon mustard, buttermilk and juice in a bowl, then set aside. This is the dressing for your salad.

Chop and wash your salad greens and herbs, dry them, wrap them in a towel, place in a plastic bag and put in the fridge. You can even do this a few days in advance.

In a larger bowl, combine salmon, egg whites, the remaining 1/4 cup shallots, capers, breadcrumbs, remaining 1 tsp mustard, salt and pepper. Mix well and shape into eight 3-inch-round patties. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook four salmon cakes until their bottoms are golden, about 6 minutes. The cakes will not be easy to remove from the pan until they are fully cooked, so resist the urge to scrape at them if they don't come up in one piece, and make sure to turn down the heat if your pan starts to smoke. When your time is up, flip and cook until golden, 5 minutes more. Toss greens with half the buttermilk mixture; divide salad among 4 plates; top each with 2 salmon cakes. Garnish with a dollop of crème fraîche or mayo and a sprinkle of chives. Serve with remaining dressing on the side.

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Spicy Asian Slaw or What to do With Cabbage?

In the past couple of weeks we have eaten at least five cabbages. I was surprised this week, to find none in our CSA box and only one in the fridge, already slated to be sliced and dressed to go with a noodle soup that would use the last of a previously roasted chicken. Winter, or Spring in some places, is cabbage season. They are beautiful in the garden, gathering dew with dusty hues of plum, pale and bright green. And they are great in salads of all sorts, stir fried and steamed, but sometimes I'm just not sure what to do with them all.

So, as a last resort, I planned to make an asian slaw recipe I'd found in my collection of favorites. I don't recall ever making this before, but there it was. I had my doubts, mostly because as a general rule I don't love coleslaw. Its OK, especially when made with sesame oil and peanuts, but not something I'm interested in wasting too many calories on.  

"Make Cole Slaw!" my husband said, when I asked, dejectedly, what to do with the two cabbages we received last week. So I did. And it was shockingly good. Even my daughter ate it, which wasn't too surprising, since she tends to like raw vegetables, though not usually with sauce or dressing.  We ate it with an asian style noodle soup, also easy and delicious, so I'll add that recipe here as well.  

Enjoy!

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Spicy Asian Slaw (adapted from an old Eatwell Newsletter, I think):

Makes 4-6 servings.

For the dressing:

1/2 c mayonnaise

1 T toasted sesame oil

1 T mirin (or rice wine vinegar)

3-6 Tchili sauce (rooster sauce, or something like that)

1 T grated ginger

2 T fresh lime juice

1 t salt

1 T sesame seeds

Mix the ingredients together, then set them aside while you assemble the slaw.

For the slaw:

1 small green (preferably savoy or napa) cabbage - if you use a large one, double the sauce recipe

1 small turnip, grated

1 large carrot, grated

4 green onions or 1 small onion, thinly sliced or grated

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Core the cabbage, quarter and slice it very thinly. Transfer to a large bowl or salad spinner, fill with water and swish, then lift the cabbage out to drain, or spin it in the spinner. Add the cabbage, grated turnip, carrot, onion, mint and cilantro to a large bowl. Mix in the dressing, then let sit in the fridge, covered, for up to four days.

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Quick Asian Noodle Soup (adapted from Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry):

Makes 4-6 servings.

4-6 c chicken broth

1 T minced or grated ginger (peel it first)

1 star anise

1 large shallot (or 2 small ones) halved and thinly sliced

1 jalapeno or serrano chili, sliced longways, seeded and sliced into rounds (add as many or few as you want)

3 small leeks or some scallions, thinly sliced

1 bunch spinach leaves, washed

1 t salt

pepper

3/4 lb soba noodles

1 T sesame oil

1 c or so leftover cooked chicken

Heat the chicken broth, adding the shallots and leeks, ginger, star anise and jalapenos as you slice them, then the salt. Let that simmer gently while you wash the spinach (set it aside when finished), chop the leftover chicken and cook the noodles separately according to their package directions. When the noodles are done, drain them and toss with the sesame oil, then put some in the bottom of each bowl. Add the chicken and then the spinach to the soup, give it a stir and turn off the heat. Taste for salt, grind some pepper on top, and ladle the soup into the bowls, over noodles.

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Birthday Crab Rolls

My daughter turned five years old yesterday, and what a celebration it was. She had presents from her Grandparents in the morning , singing and candle blowing with a fake cake at school in the afternoon, then dinner with real cake and more presents in the evening. Tomorrow she has another birthday bash (to which we seem to have invited over seventy guests) and still more presents arriving in the mail from her other Grandmother.

She takes it all in good stride, though, with this year being the first in which she understood the concept of time well enough to actually count down the days to her birthday, and tell me "I'm really going to be five tomorrow!" the day before. This year's cake came from Miette, of course, and tomorrow's big party cake is coming from (urp) Safeway (did you know they have a blog too?). There is only so much I can do when my daughter demands that a princess be painted on the top.

In addition to being overpowered in my choice of cake, I had no say in the dinner menu either. My three year old son has been begging me to bring home a whole (preferably live) fish ever since we visited our local massive Asian market, Sunset Super, and wouldn't let me leave Whole Foods yesterday without buying a crab. Luckily, I managed to get away with an already dead one, recently cooked, cleaned and cracked. Phew.

Together we pulled its meat from the shell at home. When he tired of that, my son coated the kitchen floor with dirt and then hurled pot shards three stories down from our deck, while I boiled up some noodles, grated carrots, picked mint leaves and rolled it all up in rice paper. Or whatever you call that impossibly thin edible wrapping material. My little crab packages didn't come out quite as nicely as the ones served at Dragonfly Restaurant around the corner, but with a little practice I'm sure my skills will improve.

Of course neither of my children at the crab rolls - that was left to my husband and me. Instead they dined on cream cheese sandwiches, carrots and plums. And for dessert, cake.

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Crab Rolls (adapted from Jay Harlow's West Coast Seafood):

4 oz rice sticks (aka rice noodles)

24 small rice paper rounds (I used full ones, and only about 12 or so)

1 smallish crab, cooked, chilled and picked (about 1/3-1/2 pound meat)

1/4 cup shredded green onion or garlic chives

1/3 cup mint and/or cilantro leaves

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced into thin strips 2-3 inches long

1/2 cup shredded carrot

Nuoc Cham sauce for dipping (see recipe below)

Cook the rice sticks in boiling water until soft, then drain them in a colander in the sink and rinse with cold water. Cut into 1 inch long lengths. 

The easiest way I've found to rehydrate the rice paper (it is sold dry) is to layer them between damp kitchen towels. Let them sit this way for 5-10 minutes, then flip the stack over so that you start with the rice paper layered first. They are very delicate, and once they have stuck together, nearly impossible to unstick, so be careful. They can stay layered in dishtowels for an hour or more.

For each roll, lay out a sheet of softened rice paper and put a Tablespoon or so of rice sticks in the middle. Add a piece of cucumber, some carrots, chives, mint and crab, then fold the two opposite sides and roll it up into a neat little bundle. If the rice paper tears, you can always take another sheet and double wrap the roll to hold everything together.

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Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce):

1 clove garlic

1 small red or green chile

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar or lime juice

1 teaspoon sugar

2 Tablespoons hot water, or to taste

Finely mince the garlic and chile, or pound them together in a mortar. In a small bowl, combine the chile-garlic mixture with the fish sauce, lime juice (or vinegar), sugar and hot water.Stir it up, then taste to see if it needs further thinning with water. Its pretty strong stuff, so taste with caution. Set it out in a bowl for dipping the rolls into.

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Quick Orecchiette with Green Things

 

Orecchiette is fast becoming my first stop lazy dinner, one step short of pesto with Trader Joe's dried tortellini, which is the one my kids will always eat under any circumstance. Pesto pasta is what we leave for the babysitter to cook, the one I am teaching my daughter to prepare for her little brother, or perhaps vice versa, as soon as he or she is old enough to operate the stove without needing to call the fire department. I recently taught my four year old how to turn the stove off - so she can quiet the tea kettle while I am indisposed - and consider that a major step toward dinner independence.

But until that time when I can have my children make dinner while I tend the garden, swap the laundry, read the paper or sit on the pot, I need something else to cook. Because I cannot possibly eat pesto pasta four times a week. I cannot even eat it twice a week. Not even when accompanied by salad. After seeing it day after day for five years, I cannot eat it at all. Don't get me wrong - I still adore pesto with other types of pasta - just not tortellini. Or those mini ravioli, tri-color or otherwise.

So now, thanks to the genius of Nigel Slater, I am training my children to eat orecchiette. My Italianate friend Jill will be the first to point out how clever it is to have one's children eat something called "little ears" in another language, and I am more than willing to take credit for simultaneously expanding their palates while teaching them to speak in a foreign tongue. And eating little ears?  That is nearly as exciting as snacking on boogers. So really, I win in three ways.

Except that they haven't quite taken a liking to this meal yet, but I can feel it coming. As long as I let them sit on my lap while I spoon it into their mouths, piece by piece, allowing at least three minutes in between each bite for chewing, eye rolling, gagging and, finally, swallowing, they choke it down. 

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Quick Orecchiette with Green Things (adapted from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries):

fava beans in their pods (a bag or so)

spinach leaves (about half a bunch or 4 cups, removed from the stems )

orecchiette for four (about four cups dry or half a pound or 8 oz)

2 cloves young garlic

1 Tablespoon olive oil

four to six sprigs of mint (or a small bunch)

8 oz or so ricotta cheese 

Start by putting a large pot of salted water on to boil. 

Next, remove the fava beans from their pods and queue them up to go into the pot as soon as the water boils - cook them for five to seven minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl full of cold water, leaving the boiling water in the pot.

In a smaller pan, heat the olive oil while you mince or thinly slice the garlic. Don't let the oil get too hot, and when the garlic is ready, put it in the pan to cook gently, not letting it brown. When it starts to color just a tiny bit, remove the pan from the heat and let it wait.

Now wash the spinach. Spinach tends to be sandy or muddy, so it (like lettuce) requires at least two washings. I like to fill my salad spinner with water, drop in the mesh basket and swish the greens in that, then pull out the basket, dump the water, replace the basket (with the greens inside) and fill and swish again. When it is clean (the rinse water won't be muddy anymore) pour it into a really big colander and let it wait in your sink. 

After the favas are out of the pot, dump in the pasta and cook it until it is soft but still chewy. It's package should give you some better guidelines for time. When the pasta is done, pour the water and pasta from the pot into the colander in the sink, where the clean spinach is waiting. Give it a good shake or two to remove excess water, then dump it all back into the pot and add the cheese. If you, like me, find that you have waited too long to use your ricotta (it will not smell right and will taste bitter), then throw the ricotta away and substitute with whatever cheese you have hanging around. Soft cheese is best, but cut off the rind because it won't melt nicely. If you need to use hard cheese, grate it over the pot. Pour in the garlic and oil and stir it all up.

Rinse the mint, roll it in a clean kitchen towel and pat it dry, then pull the leaves off the stems and chop them finely. Toss it into the pot after the pasta, greens, garlic and cheese have been added.

Now for the favas - squeeze them from their skins into a bowl, then add them to the pasta pot along with some salt (start with a half teaspoon or so) and stir it all up, tasting to see if it needs more. Add some pepper too.

Once the salt and pepper are right, serve. 

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Scorcher!

Today was HOT. I love hot here because we don't get much of it. At 7:00 this morning, when I ventured out to fetch some forgotten item out of the car, it was already seventy degrees.  Seventy!  Its a rare day when the temperature passes seventy even in the afternoon around here. So of course, the dinner menu needed a little work. I'm not about to eat comfort food soup when the temperature is close to ninety at dinnertime. 

I was lucky enough to visit my friend Steph at her home in Oakland this morning, where she fed me a tasty potato salad with mint and peas - very refreshing on a sweaty day. She then gave me the recipe, which had been given to her by our mutual friend Meagan in Brooklyn, who years ago gave me a delicious fajita marinade I will post sometime this summer. We grilled some up a few weeks back while all the grandparents were in town with great success. Today, since we happened to have new potatoes (both from our garden and the CSA box), peas and mint in the garden I had the salad again for dinner. We also have favas, so many favas, so I added some of those as well. I figure anything you can do with peas you can do with favas too. 

The potato salad was great, alongside some grilled swordfish with watermelon for dessert. I know...swordfish! Its full of mercury!  And thus is something I shouldn't feed the kids. But they love it, and so do I, so we eat it a few times a year. I've tried calling other meaty fleshed fish swordfish, but my kids always know better. They do eat most fish, though, which is just great. I wouldn't voluntarily eat fish until I went away to college, so their love of it just blows me away. But then I didn't have a problem eating cooked green vegetables like they do, so I guess thats the trade off.

After hearing last week's NPR story on high levels of lead found in kids' juices, I feel a little of the hook for choosing poisonous dinner foods for my children. It seems I just can't escape toxins in foods, and the best way to avoid sick kids is to eat a very varied diet. Lots of different things, with the intent of avoiding a buildup of whatever nasty stuff is found in any one particular food item. So there, swordfish naysayers.

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Potato Salad with Mint, Peas and Favas (adapted from Epicurious.com):

2 lb small new potatoes (red, white, fingerlings, whatever)

2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup podded (that means removed from the pod) peas (you can sub in frozen if you like)

1 cup podded fava beans 

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint

For starters, put  some generously salted water on the stove. While it is coming to a boil, scrub the potatoes, then cut them into one inch chunks (roughly).  When the water boils, toss in the potatoes and let them boil gently for ten minutes or so, testing them occasionally by poking one with a sharp knife. When the knife easily pierces the potato, they are done. Drain them into a colander in the sink and let them cool. Then, put about two inches of water back into your pot and heat it to a boil again. When it is boiling, throw in the peas and favas and let them boil vigorously for four minutes. Drain them into another colander in the sink. If you are using just frozen peas you can omit this step and add them to the potatoes, thawed. 

While the peas and potatoes cool, mix together the shallots, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.  When the favas are cool, you'll need to remove their skin. Many of them will have already split their skin, so you can just squeeze them out. If not, then pinch a little hole in the skin and squeeze the beans out that way.

Mix together everything except the mint and let it stand or put it in the fridge. Right before serving (you can serve it cold or room temperature) mix in the mint.

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Grilled Fish:

2 steaks (not the fillet with skin) of any white fish (about 1 pound)

1 lemon, sliced in half

olive oil

salt & pepper

Lay out your fish in a glass dish, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze half of it over the fish. Sprinkle a Tablespoon or so of olive oil over the fish, then salt and pepper it - about 1/8 teaspoon of each. Flip the fish over and do the same to the other side. Let the fish marinate while you prepare the grill and whatever else you have to make for dinner (I like rice and arugala salad with this). Cooking the fish should be the last step, aside from dressing the salad.

Heat up the grill to whatever temperature you use for fish - our grill is particularly wimpy, so I blast it up to high.  

Lay your fish on the grill.  Close the lid and leave it for five minutes or so, then check to see if there are nice grill marks on the fish. If so, flip it over onto the skin side. If not, let it cook longer and keep checking until the grill marks are there.  After flipping, shut the lid again and come back in five minutes to check for doneness.  I think the easiest way is to take a sharp knife and slice into the thickest part of the fish. When it is opaque inside, it is done. Serve the fish right away.

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Grilled Chicken with Harissa and Mint

 Chez Panisse was wonderful. It remains my favorite restaurant, and I think this was my best visit yet. For starters, while we were having a drink at the bar upstairs, Alice Waters walked in. I didn't talk to her, but it was pretty exciting nonetheless. My champagne was fantastic and my husband had a really interesting wine that was unpasteurized and sulfite free - delivered every day in reusable stainless steel bottles and consumed that evening. I'll have to get the name and and post it, he remembers things like that. It was definitely different from the usual sauvignon blanc, a little cloudy and not as layered on the palate as many traditional wines, but I'll gladly take that in lieu of sulfites on occasion. 

Before our dinner even came we were treated to a kitchen tour, which is always fun, but this time we got to check out the meat and produce walk-ins. Behind big shiny doors (copper, if I remember correctly) were such wonderful things to eat!  A whole row of little lambs hanging side by side, and in the produce cooler I saw the biggest morel mushrooms of my life. And there was something else in there that amazed me, but I cannot remember right now. Maybe later I'll be able to share. Back at our table we could peer into the kitchen and watch sardines on the grill, which is a really beautiful sight. Almost as good as the Parisian Chef in the NY Times this past Sunday.

Monday dinners at Chez Panisse are a smaller affair than the rest of the week, and certainly no friday or saturday extravagance, but it was the perfect thing - not too much food. Well, not too terribly much food. We had sardines for our first course, which I've never eaten before.  They are pretty fish, petite and very shiny. Really delicious, and also easy to just slide the meat (or should I call it flesh? or fishflesh? ) off the bones. I ate the skin with it.  Such a small fish has very fine skin, I guess. Tasty!

The main course was lamb with house made couscous. Our waiter had one of the chefs come out to describe to us how they made the couscous, and now I understand why my Moroccan friend Khadesia told me a couscous takes all day to make. She must have been talking about making it from scratch, not the bagged kind I like to boil up in fifteen minutes on the stove. At Chez P, they start with flour and spray it with a little water and just roll it around in a sieve, then let it sit and dry for a while, then spray it and roll it some more, then let it sit and dry for a while, then spray it and roll it some more, and eventually it turns into couscous. It was served with a lamb broth and spring veggies (artichoke, peas, asparagus) along with butternut squash, and lamb, of course. A really good way to use up the end of the winter produce and still get to eat spring goodies - I'm not sure I would have thought of combining those myself.

Dessert was rhubarb and a yogurt ice cream, and mine came with a little candle for my birthday!

Which reminds me, thanks for all the Facebook Birthday wishes. Hopefully I'll login again to Facebook sometime soon and respond.

And then today, back to the significantly less glorious kitchen in my own house. Actually, today there was no cooking - we had Thai delivered.  But yesterday, we had grilled chicken with harissa.

Harissa is a fabulous thing.  In fact, there was some with our couscous at Chez P. on monday. But I love it because I can make it myself, put it in a little clip-top jar with a quarter inch of oil covering the top and keep it in the fridge for a thousand years. Its been so long since I made harissa that I don't even remember what is in it. You don't have to make it from scratch, though, its easy enough to buy at a middle eastern grocery or probably at Andronicos or Rainbow. But if you happen to have a food processor and access to Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, you can make it pretty easily too.

The chicken recipe was a winner - so easy my husband could make it, really good and the kids ate it too, with a little coaxing. They would not eat the snap peas we steamed to go with, but thats OK because it left more for me. Another score from Nigel Slater, this one will go into the little striped books where I store my best recipes. And I guess I'll post the harissa one too, since my husband just trotted in with the book and dropped it next to me. Now I have no good excuse not to.

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Grilled Chicken with Harissa and Mint (adapted from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries):

2 teaspoons harissa paste

2 Tablespoons yogurt

3 Tablespoons olive oil

4 chicken pieces (we cut up a whole chicken and use 2 breasts and 2 thighs, but you can do whatever)

a handful of mint leaves

salt and pepper

Stir the harissa into the yogurt, then whisk in the olive oil, a little salt and some pepper. It might look a little curdled, but don't worry about it. Roll the chicken pieces in this. 

Heat up the grill, and place the chicken on it to cook. As soon as nice char marks are on the lower side, flip the chicken pieces onto their other sides and continue cooking. To test for doneness, take a knife and slice into the thickest part of the chicken. The meat should look opaque and have only clear juices running out, not pink.

Mince the mint leaves. Sprinkle them onto the chicken after it is done cooking. Serve hot off the grill, with a simple salad or steamed snap peas.

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Harissa (adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone):

12 dried red New Mexican chiles

3 guajillo chilis

4 garlic cloves

salt

1 Tablespoon caraway seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for storage

Wipe off the chilis with a damp cloth, break off the stems, shake out as many seeds as you can. If you're sensitive to chilis you'll want to wear gloves for this. Tear the chilis into pieces, put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water, and let it stand for at least 30 minutes. Remove from the bowl, and snip the chilis into little pieces.

Grind the chilis, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, caraway, cumin and coriander seeds and a little oil in the food processor until a smooth paste forms. Add a little of the chili soaking water if needed. Pack into a clean jar, cover the surface with oil and refrigerate.

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A Spring Take On Pasta Primavera

 

No eggs for egg salad today, after yesterday's debacle.  

I love fava beans.  To me, they are the harbinger of spring.  Yes, they are a pain to prepare - first you shell the beans, then you boil them really briefly, then you skin the beans - but I find it a reasonable tradeoff. Favas start showing up at the market around the same time as shelling peas, asparagus and lilacs. Lilacs are my absolute favorite, except for  Lily of the Valley, yet another springtime superstar of the garden. I would gladly trade a year's worth of chocolate to get both of those to flower every spring in my yard.

Pasta Primavera, on the other hand, I have mixed feelings for. It is one of those foods usually more fatty and salty than good, and can range anywhere from comforting to frightening, depending on who makes it for me. But this one is from Canal House Cooking again, and is both a joy to cook and to eat. Like the name implies, it actually uses young spring vegetables, not old crufters you might find at the grocery store in January.

Its ham and spaghetti appeal to kids and manly meat eaters, and the veggies aren't too hard to separate out, should someone deem them unfit for consumption. The only caveat to easy assembly are the favas and peas. I recruit my kids to help shell them. Its the one time I encourage them to shred food, so they don't mind helping out. Getting started on those early on in the day is a good idea, they can sit out on the counter just fine and will benefit from a few minutes of attention here and there.

Today was the perfect spring day - I made dinner with the kitchen doors open to the deck and wandered down to pick mint from the garden. Lots of sun, not too hot. Hopefully tomorrow I'll make it out there again to start some seedlings, but that is looking doubtful. I hope the weather holds until Thursday. 

My bad decisions of yesterday were replaced by plain old bad luck today.  We managed to make it to the Garden Railway at the Conservatory of Flowers, which was very cool - a miniature railroad featuring city landmarks all built of recycled trash - but the fog machine was broken, so the 11:15 fogging I had promised the kids didn't happen.  Instead, we identified and counted the kitchen gadgets used to build the Ferry Plaza building. Then this evening at dinner, I managed to break two corkscrews while attempting to open a bottle of riesling.  Luckily, I found my old swiss army knife while cleaning out my top dresser drawer this past weekend - and it did the job just fine. 

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Pasta Primavera (adapted from Canal House Cooking volume 3):

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup diced smoked ham (if you have kids who will like this part, double it)

1 cup fava beans, shelled, then dropped for 30 seconds into boiling water, then peeled. 

1 cup shelled peas

1 bunch chopped thin asparagus

1 stalk green garlic

1 pound spaghetti

1 Tablespoon tomato paste 

A few finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Grated pecorino romano cheese

For starters, you can prep the fava beans and peas in advance.  The peas just need to be shelled.  The favas need to be shelled (the easiest way is to break the end off the bean pod, squeeze out a bean, then break it again to get to the next bean, squeeze it out, and so on).  Then drop them for 30 seconds into a pot of boiling water.  Drain them and dump them into a bowl of ice water.  Then peel them (the easiest way is to pinch a bit of the skin off, then just squeeze the bean so it pops out of the pinched spot).

When its time to make dinner, bring a large pot of salted water to boil over medium heat.  The pasta takes about ten minutes to cook, so don't start it until fifteen or so minutes before you want to eat.  Instead, turn the heat down to simmer once it boils, so that your water is ready to heat up quickly when you are ready for it.  Put about two Tablespoons of olive oil in a large, low sided pot or pan over medium-low heat.  When it is hot (it will shimmer, but should not smoke) add the ham.  Stir it around for a couple minutes until it starts to brown just a little bit, then throw in the green garlic and peas.  Add about 1/2 cup of the boiling pasta water, stir it up, and let the peas simmer in it for five to ten minutes, until they seem done to you. Then add the favas and asparagus and cook it for about five minutes more.  Remove the pan from heat and don't put a lid on it.  

If you haven't already, put the pasta on to cook.  Turn the heat back up so that the water boils vigorously, then pour it in and mix it up right away, to prevent clumping.  When it is done, drain it and then put it back into the pot.  Add the tomato paste and about three more Tablespoons of olive oil and stir to coat.  Then add the vegetables and ham, along with any pan juices, to the spaghetti and stir it together.  Salt and pepper to taste. Serve into bowls, sprinkle with the fresh mint and grate some cheese over the top.

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Asparagus!

 

Mmm...tasty!

 What is a home without tequila?  As I found this afternoon, perfectly fine, as long as there is vodka around. The margarita recipe I posted last friday works well with either one.

Today I had the honor of meeting Novella Carpenter, author of the book Farm City about her adventures in urban agriculture in Oakland, CA.  She was great, even more Farmy than I had imagined she'd be.  As she likes to explain in her book, she is not the first to raise a garden and livestock in an inner city.  Its not that uncommon in other countries, and even some parts of the United States. Today, I'm told, Detroit has the most active urban farming community in our country.  Nonetheless, her story of breaking ground for a farm in Oakland's Ghost Town neighborhood where she raises poultry, rabbits and pigs is pretty impressive.  

As for my garden, I took the big step of planting our pre-sprouted bean seeds today.  if you remember from a day or two back, the seeds have been growing in paper towels as my efforts to settle them into the ground were thwarted by uncooperative children.  Today I finally dispensed with my need for family planting and planted them by myself.  Naturally there was much shrieking and rending of garments when my children learned the fate of their seeds, but luckily I had a few left for them to drop into holes in the ground.  And now, thank goodness, it is done.  

For the second time this month we ate an asparagus and pea salad, from Canal House Cooking's spring issue. It is so good that I plan to make it again before the season ends.  We also grilled salmon, my college pal Jenny Nelson's recipe, that Jason and I first ate years ago on the east coast in their wonderful garden. This spring pairing is great, and for the kids (there were five - my friend Shelley and her munchkins joined us for dinner) there was also a side of buttered pasta, some sort of twisty noodles they were very fond of. I had some too, really not a bad addition to the meal.

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Asparagus and Pea Salad (adapted from Canal House Cooking Volume 3):

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 bunches thin asparagus,  sliced crosswise after tough bottoms have been trimmed off.

1 cup fresh peas, shelled

4 skinny spring onions, thinly sliced

1 small head butter lettuce, washed and chopped

8 pieces cooked bacon, chopped

1 handful fresh mint leaves, chopped

pepper & salt

Bring a pot of water to boil, and toss the peas in for two minutes, then the sliced asparagus.  Boil for two more minutes, then dump the pot into a colander in the sink.  Then immerse the vegetables in a big bowl of ice water to stop them from further cooking.  Put the lettuce, onions, mint and bacon in a salad bowl, then add the peas and asparagus when they are cool.

Put some water on in a kettle to boil, keeping it warm until the rest of your meal is almost ready.  At that time, heat the water back to a boil and mix 1/4 cup of hot water with the parmesan and olive oil.  Whisk it until smooth.  Add the pepper and some salt.  Pour this dressing over your salad, toss it and serve.

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Jenny Nelson's Grilled Salmon:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon honey

fresh wild caught salmon filet for four

Put the olive oil, soy sauce and brown sugar into a teeny-tiny pot over low heat (I use a metal measuring cup).  Bring it to a gentle simmer, then add the butter, ginger and honey. Stir it all together, then let the sauce simmer until it thickens, so that it is not terribly runny any longer. Remove it from heat.

Lay each piece of salmon skin side down on a sheet of tinfoil, and fold up the edges to make a sort of boat around the fish. This will hold the sauce in place, so the tinfoil edges should be close to the fish edge, and at least as tall.  

Heat the grill, and when it is medium heat, put each fish boat on the grill, and brush the sauce on with a pastry brush.  Try to divide it equally among the fish pieces.

Close the grill lid and wait five or ten minutes.  Then check on the fish - it will be a paler pink color and opaque looking when it is ready.  You can cut into the middle of the fish with a knife to see how its done and judge for yourself.  Bright pink is undercooked, but you don't want to cook the fish so much that even the middle is overcooked, so a completely opaque middle section is too cooked.  When the fish is ready, you should be able to scoop it off the foil, leaving the skin behind, with a spatula.

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