Eating Dirt

Sweet Potatoes with Chard, Green Garlic and Spring Onions aka Indian Spinach

 

Sometimes dinner needs to be fast and furious, and a plan made in haste goes badly awry. But occasionally a crazed forage through the pantry yields exciting surprises, like last night. In this case, Nigel Slater's Indian Inspired Spinach and Potatoes were on the menu (from Tender, my second favorite kitchen garden cookbook), but after dumping my son in front of TV and gearing up for dinner, I found no spinach and only a single potato in the house. Luckily, we had some sweet potatoes leftover from a past CSA box, fresh chard, spring onions and green garlic, all of which remade a semi-traditional take on saag aloo into a delightfully Springy Californian version. For a little extra protein, and something besides rice that the kids would eat, I warmed some frozen chickpeas with a little bit of curry powder and tossed those on top.  

Here's the recipe below. For more info on what I did with the rest of this week's produce box, check out the CSA section of this site.

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Indian Inspired Spinach or Springy Californian Indianesque Chard (adapted from Nigel Slater's Tender)

1 large bunch spinach or chard

3 medium potatoes, sweet potatoes or a mix of both

2 T vegetable oil (I like canola)

1 large onion or 2 large spring onions

2 cloves garlic or stalks green garlic

1 inch piece of ginger

1/2 t black mustard seeds

1/2 t turmeric

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 c cooked chickpeas

1/2 t curry powder

rice to serve

Start by putting on a pot of salted water on to boil, enough to cover the potatoes. This is good over rice, or with naan, so start the rice now if you're having that or send someone to collect some takeout naan. In a small pot, stir the chickpeas and curry powder together and warm over low heat.

Wash and scrub the potatoes (peel the sweet ones), then slice into 1/3 inch rounds or so and put them in the pot. While the potatoes boil until tender (5-10 minutes, just keep poking them with a fork to check), wash the spinach or chard, remove and discard the spinach stems or  if using chard, separate the leaves from the stems (the easiest way to do this is just grab the stem with one hand and pull toward the outer edge of the leaf with the other, tearing leaf off the stem as you go).  Chop the chard stems finely and put them aside. Next wash and chop the onions, garlic and ginger.

By now the potatoes should be tender. Dump them in a strainer in the sink, wipe out the hot pot with a towel and put it back on medium heat. When it is dry, add the oil, then onions and sauté for a few minutes until softened and add just a pinch of salt. Next add the chard stems and cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic, ginger, mustard seeds and turmeric, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked potatoes and about 1/2 cup of water. Bring it to a boil and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, just a few minutes.  Add the spinach or chard leaves  and cook until they are wilted to your liking. Add a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice, with chickpeas on top.

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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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