Slawfest

Picked up the July/August edition of Martha Stewart Living yesterday.  I haven't flipped through one in a while...really it just does too spectacular a job of making me suffer from "someone is always doing it cooler".   And Martha has become so freaking ubiquitous, everywhere from Home Depot to KMart.  But I had to do a late run to CVS and what the hell, I'll get a couple of magazines to go with the pint of Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Swiss Almond I planned to sneak into the freezer and eat at midnight without sharing. Well, anyway, Martha (or whoever works for her) came up trumps with a recipe for swiss chard slaw.  Between my garden and the CSA, I have chard and kale out the wazoo, and desperately need new ways to use them.  Martha's recipe had torn toasted English muffins in it, as well as cantaloupe and a scallion dressing.  I didn't follow it to the leetter, just took inspiration, mugged the garden, and improvised something similar for lunch today, which Jeeps and I ate with leftover grilled chicken.   It's crunchy and delicious, and if you grow "Bright Lights" swiss chard, it's a very pretty, colorful dish as well.

Dinner rolled around and Jeeps was putting salmon under the broiler.  "Can you make that slaw again?" he asked.  After the mugging there wasn't much chard left, so I filled in with kale.  Just as good.  In fact it was too good:  I made just enough for me and Jeeps, went to set the table, and came back to the kitchen to find Panda eating it out of the bowl with her fingers.  "Hey, you're not supposed to like that!" I cried.  "It's kale!"

Damn kids...

Damn Swiss Chard Slaw

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All measurements are completely eyeballed

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• 1 bunch swiss chard or kale or mix of both
• 4-5 sprigs of parsley, chopped
• 2-3 scallions, chopped
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 glug mayonnaise
• 1 swirl of sesame oil
• 1 splash of sesame seeds

Cut the stems off the chard and reserve.  Cut the leaves into chiffonade - pile a few leaves, roll them up like a cigar, cut across with your knife into ribbons and dump in the bowl.  Repeat.

Take the chard stems, cut into 2-3" lengths, then carefully cut in half or thirds lengthwise to make matchsticks.  NOTE:  do not do this with kale stems.

Add rest of ingredients to bowl, combine and toss until well-coated.  Serve with something, pile it on toasted bread, or just eat out of the bowl.

Fava Bean Salad

I posted about fava beans before. Prepping them is a little labor intensive but they are so, so good, and this salad, pinned from Whole Living, is just dynamite—bright, fresh and full of spring. I made it last night with Bouchons au Thon and roasted potatoes and there wasn't a scrap left.

I used my own vinaigrette instead of the garlicky dressing shown below, although it does sound delicious. I had no feta cheese. I had crumbled goat cheese but I'm the only one who likes it, so it ended up being cheese-less.

Fava Bean Salad (with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette)

For the vinaigrette:

• 1 head garlic, 1/2 inch cut off top to reveal cloves
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 3/4 cup (2 ounces) walnuts, toasted and chopped

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the salad:

• 1 pound shucked fresh fava beans (from 3 pounds pods; 3 1/2 cups)
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears of corn)
• 1 medium cucumber, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Make the vinaigrette: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle garlic with 1 teaspoon oil. Wrap in parchment, then in foil. Bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Squeeze garlic from skins. Mash until smooth.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients with 1 tablespoon of the roasted garlic and remaining 2 teaspoons oil.

Make the salad: Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook beans in a large pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beans to ice-water bath. Let cool completely, and remove with the slotted spoon. Cook corn in same pot for 1 minute, and drain in a colander. Peel thin shells off beans.

Toss cucumber, onion, parsley, feta, beans, and corn with the vinaigrette.

Serve.

With a nice chiaaaaaaanti.

Fava Beans

Yes, yes, with his liver and a nice chianti. Lovely, Clarice.

Fava beans are in season and I've never had them, but I figured my recent reunion with lima beans wouldn't make them such a stretch. Using my rule of "don't make a lot of what you've never had before," I bought a little package at DeCicco's and after shelling, there were about maybe 20 beans.

You boil them in salted water for five minutes, drain and rinse. Then you have to peel off the second shell around the bean, and you find they are this amazing, beautiful green.

I drizzled some olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper on them, and Jeeps and I ate them as an appetizer, right out of the bowl without ceremony. They were delicious, kind of a cross between edamame and lima beans. Definitely making these again. This has gardening potential, too....

Twig and Wheat Berries

Oh behave. My torrid affair with the Moosewood Cookbook continues, and I have unusual grains like Wheat Berries tucked in a corner of my mind. So when I see a bag of Red Mill White Wheat Berries on the shelf at DeCicco's, I think, Ah-hah, yes, I should buy these.

Wheat berries refers to the entire wheat kernel, except for the hull:

They resemble barley, and take about an hour and change to prepare. They smell really good while cooking—toasty, nutty, with a little bit of vanilla in there as well. The Red Mill bag had a salad recipe on the back which I tweaked to suit my own purposes, and served with some grilled apple sausage.

Tweaked Red Mill Wheat Berry Salad

• 1 cup cooked wheat berries (1/2 cup grains to 1 3/4 cup water, simmered for at least an hour)
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2-3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 2-3 scallions, sliced, or 1 tbsp dried, minced onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• Vinaigrette of olive oil, white wine vinegar and honey mustard (or equal parts honey and dijon mustard but the mustard really is the star that pulls the salad together, don't skip it)

Combine all ingredients, toss well. Serve.

Die.

The greens are a sauteed kale, red onion and toasted corn salad which my friend Cyd told me about only in terms of ingredients. I kind of just fudge it all together and it's awesome (plus it addresses some of my anemia issues).

In a Pickle, Part II

These looked (and were) ridiculous easy to make and the Moose said they would keep "practically indefinitely." Love that. I can see these on top of a burger, or in fish tacos, or with bean salad, or on crostini, or with tuna salad, or... (Did I mention practically indefinitely?)

Pickled Red Onions

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns (OR 1 tsp of pickling spice which I had in the house, don't ask me why)
• 4 medium red onions, sliced very thin (and apologies to Redman who was wept at the kitchen computer as I sliced.)

Fill a teakettle with water and put it up to boil

Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper (or pickling spice) in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved

Put onion slices in colander in the sink and pour boiling water over them. They will wilt slightly. Drain well and transfer to the bowl with the marinade.

Cover and allow those babies to get drunk for several hours. Store in the refrigerator and use as needed. Practically indefinitely.