Veggie Spring BBQ

If you live in Northern California, you know that it has been unseasonably cold and rainy this spring.  The husband and I got new patio furniture delivered and days later the weather took a turn for the worse - sixties and rain, punctuated by days of muggy, sticky air.  What's good for our garden isn't so great for entertaining and relaxing out on the patio, luxuriating in the comfort of our new patio furniture.  Finally, we had some sun and warmth this past weekend!  We took advantage of the warm afternoon (I think it finally hit 90!) and the lovely breezy evening that followed.  Sacramento benefits from two rivers and the wonderful blessing that is the Delta breeze.  It can be downright hot during the day, and then suddenly the wind kicks in and the heat dissipates.  It's amazing for a girl like me who grew up in the insufferable humidity of the East Coast. 

To celebrate the warmth, and to get our minds off the plumbing disaster that was unfolding in our bathroom (showers only, so don't worry too much!), we cooked some great food and hung out on our patio with friends.  We even dusted the cobwebs off the old Weber and rolled it out of the garage.  That's right - on Sunday, we used our grill for the first time this season!  Dare I say that summer is almost here?

The menu featured a tried-and-true black bean salad recipe and a more exotic dish: romesco sauce, served alongside grilled new potatoes (they were purple on the inside!) and zucchini.  I cheated a bit and jumped the gun with the zucchini; it hasn't yet started popping up in our box, but it sounded like just the thing to accompany the potatoes.

 I have been itching to try romesco sauce for quite some time.  It hails from Catalonia, Spain, and is a piquant cold reddish sauce that you can spoon over almost anything - veggies, eggs, seafood (or so I'm told) etc.  It's a puree of almonds and/or hazelnuts, red peppers, tomatoes (sometimes), garlic, and spices, laced with olive oil and thickened with a bit of toasted or fried bread.  See a great article from the LA Times here that describes the almost alchemic nature of the stuff.  I added a secret ingredient to mine (also my secret ingredient in deviled eggs!): smoked paprika.

Here's our elaborate BBQ menu:

- Deviled Eggs - a pretty traditional recipe, but with smoked paprika added to the yolk filling and regular paprika dusted on top for a jolt of color.  I use Martha Stewart's failproof method for hard-boiled eggs: place eggs in cold water in saucepan; bring to a roiling boil and boil for one minute; remove from heat, cover, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 13 minutes.  Spoon the eggs from the water into an ice bath.  Perfect yellow yolks - no green exterior - every time.

- Grilled new potatoes and zucchini with romesco sauce

- Black Bean Salad with Feta, Almonds, and Arugula

- Grilled bread

- Watermelon

 And for dessert, our friends brought a delicious treat: strawberry shortcake!  It was a tasty dinner to usher in another perfect Sacramento summer.  We will be spending many more nights out on our back patio.

 Recipes are below for the romesco sauce and black bean salad.

Romesco Sauce
Adapted from Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen"

1 slice of country white bread, toasted and torn into large chunks (I used ciabatta)
1/2 cup blanched almonds
3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced with a bit of salt into a paste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon sweet (regular) paprika
2 charred red bell peppers (jarred is fine) or 4 charred piquant peppers (I used piquant Trader Joe's brand), chopped
1/4 cup vinegar - sherry vinegar is traditional, but I used a mix of white wine and apple cider vinegars
1/2 cup olive oil

Place the toast, almonds, and garlic in a food processor and grind.  Add all the remaining ingredients, except the vinegar and olive oil, plus salt to taste; process until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula a couple of times.  With the machine running, add the vinegar through the feed tube and process to incorporate, then add the olive oil in a slow stream and process.  Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.  Romesco sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.


Black Bean Salad with Feta, Almonds, and Arugula
Adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks
This is a basic salad that would gratefully accept a number of additions.  I particularly enjoy the dressing, which uses a mix of lime juice and white wine vinegar for the acid.  It's just very well balanced and pleasant in the simple form below, but feel free to add other veggies and fruits as desired.  I made my black beans from scratch because that's what I had.  You could also use canned beans here, but make sure you rinse them before using.

For the Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I like to add an extra splash or two)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon harissa (or sub in a pinch or two of cayenne)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced and pressed with a bit of salt to form a paste
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil

For the Salad
3 cups cooked black beans
1/2 a bag of arugula (about 3 or 4 cups)
1/4 cup feta, crumbled
1/3 cup toasted almonds (either sliced or slivered)

Make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, honey, harissa, salt, garlic, and mustard (I used this neat immersion blender meant for salad dressing - this is a cool tool).  Add the olive oil in a slow stream and whisk to emulsify.  Set aside the dressing until you are ready to eat.

Toss the arugula with a bit of the dressing to moisten.  Toss the beans and almonds with the remaining dressing.  To serve, either place the beans atop the arugula, or serve them alongside one another.  Sprinkle the feta on top of the beans and serve.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

The shaved asparagus craze continues!  Last Saturday, my dad prepared a fine shaved asparagus salad, as seen here.  It was doused in a lemony vinaigrette and crowned with dabs of goat cheese and cherry tomatoes.  There was no raw edge whatsoever!  A vegetable that I once only knew in its cooked form (and a lovely form it is!), asparagus has reinvented itself as a shaved and raw delicacy.  Asparagus is having a (unique) moment.  I will say that the shaved asparagus echoes a zucchini carpaccio I have known and loved.  I will have to dig that one up again when zuke season rolls around.  Any day now ...

 Smitten Kitchen also featured shaved asparagus this week, though hers was shaved but not raw, adorning a simple white pizza.  I thought this was some kind of divine suggestion, so I heeded and made the pizza last night, after returning home from a work-related party.  The preparation allowed the asparagus to really shine.  I've done my share of asparagus pizzas (remember this?), and they are tasty, but this elevated asparagus pizza to a whole new level.  The shavings, plus lack of sauce, created a delicate texture and a clean taste.  It was simple: asparagus, mozzarella, parmesan, green onion, and a smattering of red pepper flakes.  I wavered at first on the white pizza aspect, snagging a can of marinara to bring home with me in case I felt desperate and untrusting.  I am not one to respect a recipe.  But sometimes I just have to take a leap of faith, and I am thankful that I did.  I think the most this pizza would benefit from would be a couple halved cherry tomatoes, but even that would detract from the simplicity and clean flavors. 

 If you like asparagus, and if you are intrigued by the shaving phenomenon, I recommend this pizza!  One caveat - mine got pretty wet.  I think it was a combination of a mile-high pile of green veggies plus the fresh mozzarella.  Next time, to cut down on the liquid, I would use a regular mozzarella from the deli aisle, like the kind you would use for a killer twelve-pound lasagna, and eschew the fresh mozzarella.

 Also, a tip.  Shaving the asparagus isn't quite as labor intensive as one would imagine, assuming you employ an efficient technique.  Keep the woody ends of the asparagus attached, rather than snapping them off.  Use these as a handle, and use a veggie peeler to shave in one motion from woody end to tip.  I found it easiest to work at the very edge of the counter so that my hand didn't hit its surface in the middle of the shaving motion.  I also didn't obsessed over shaving down the last part as thinly as the first couple of strokes.  If the remaining stalk was a bit thick, I used my knife to slice it in half lengthwise, or just broke it in two pieces.  There is beauty in non-uniformity with this pizza!  The variety of texture adds interest to an uncluttered palette.

P.S. A quick search shows that I am, indeed, a bit tardy to the shaved asparagus party.  Food & Wine featured a shaved asparagus salad in June 2003.  Martha shared one in April 2007.  But it's new to me, so I'm going to continue to believe that asp. v. 2.0 is a novelty.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza
Adapted, just barely, from Smitten Kitchen
Note: You can use your own pizza dough recipe here.  This recipe makes one 12-inch pizza, so plan accordingly.  Of course I prefer homemade dough, but when you get home at 8 on a work night and didn't make it in advance, that's just not part of the narrative.  I used Trader Joe's dough because it has reliable, if thick, results.

pizza dough - enough for one 12-inch pizza (such as Trader Joe's prepared dough)
1 bunch asparagus, washed
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 pound mozzarella, sliced into small cubes or shredded (hint: try a low-moisture version)
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt & black pepper to taste
3 green onions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
red pepper flakes

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Pizza likes a hot blast when it goes in, so make sure it heats for at least 20 or 30 minutes; if you use a pizza stone, place it in the cold oven and then turn it on to preheat.

If your dough needs to rest for a few minutes before rolling out, do that as you prepare the asparagus.   Make sure you place the dough on a well-floured surface while it rests at room temperature.

To shave the asparagus, use a vegetable peeler; hold the woody end and shave from the woody end down toward the tip in one motion, repeating to create long shavings.  Any thicker remaining slices can be cut with a knife or snapped in half.  Use the tips!  They don't shave very well, and that is totally okay.  Shave your whole bunch and place in a medium bowl.  Add the olive oil, plus salt and pepper to taste; stir using tongs.  Set aside while you prepare the pizza.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle.  Drape onto a pizza pan dusted with cornmeal or flour, or onto a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel if you will be using the pizza stone.  Sprinkle the parmesan over the dough, leaving a one-inch border for the crust.  Spread the mozzarella over the parmesan, then add the asparagus with your tongs.  Arrange it so that most of the surface is covered.  Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.  Pop it in the oven and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and browning in spots, and the crust is golden brown.   Let it site for 2 minutes before slicing, otherwise you will have a melty mess on your hands!

Sugar snap peas: a quick stir fry.

Last night, I ended my second running hiatus.  I did a tentative two miles and suffered no extreme consequences.  I popped ibuprofen, ran happily on the treadmill, did my physical therapy exercises (which looked ridiculously easy compared to the ninja-ball moves being performed by the intense lady next to me at the gym, but I swear my moves involve a lot of tough quad-clenching that is not immediately obvious to the naked eye), and came home to elevate and ice the knee.  After all this, a girl's gotta eat! 

I had planned on a simple - very simple - meal revolving around the sugar snap peas from our box.  I even broke one of my cardinal rules and purchased a pre-made bottle of teriyaki sauce.  Yes, I did it.  No, I'm not too terribly ashamed, partly because I could pronounce all the ingredients and it was healthier than a frozen pizza.  Some nights I am not cut out for galloping gourmet status! 

So I iced, blogged, and showered, then whipped up a tasty tofu stir-fry with sugar snap peas and couscous (my guilty grain pleasure, due solely to speed of preparation).

 First, I pan-fried tofu cubes over medium heat in about a tablespoon of oil for a total of about 11 minutes, flipping once.  While these cooked, I made the couscous (using a knob of butter, veggie broth, and dried garlic & ginger), removed the strings from the sugar snap peas, and steamed the peas for about three minutes.  Then I added the peas to the tofu, plus a generous pour of teriyaki sauce, and flicked the heat to high.  I let the whole mess simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce reduced somewhat, then served the delicious, savory feast over couscous.  The sugar snaps were delectably sweet, and the sauce was also pretty tasty.  I gobbled it all up and literally licked my plate.

Dessert?  The faux-light Cooking Light brownies, three times the chocolate (twice the melted chocolate, and a generous pour of chocolate chips into the batter).  The recipe is meant to make SIXTEEN servings.  I will be lucky if I get 10. 

And the knee verdict?  Today, the day after my little two-mile run, my knee is sore.  But it's a tolerable, somewhat dull ache, and it's better than it has been after running.  So I am going to consider this progress, and I plan to stay off the knee for at least a few days.  PT and cross-training are my friends; I just need to convince myself of this.  Who would have ever thought that I would be addicted to running, rejecting the cardio machines in favor of a spin around the neighborhood?  Not me.  My next semi-short-term goal is to get a bike.  If I can do a spin class, then I am pretty sure I can bike.  I'll just have to learn all the rules of the road, and how exactly to use all those gears!  We live one mile from the wonderful American River Parkway bike path, which runs from Sacramento to Folsom.  How can I not take advantage of that?

What's in the box? First-week-of-June edition.

Here's our box for this first week of June.  Wait, it's June?  I hadn't noticed!  It hasn't been above 85 degrees yet this year, here in brilliant Sacramento.  I guess I can't complain too much.  Soon it will almost be too hot to enjoy all our fabulous new patio furniture.  We're hoping to have a get-together this weekend (fingers crossed!) to break it all in.  I'm ruminating on the menu ...

Our box includes:

Asparagus
Sugar Snap Peas
Carrots
Strawberries
Lettuce
Red Spring Onions
New Potatoes

Here are some close-ups:

Lovely red onions.  This is the first time we are receiving the red kind since we stared our CSA!  I am giddy with excitement.

 And lovely new potatoes.  Wait until you see what I've got planned for these guys.

A more panoramic view of the spread:

Those sugar snap peas are going to be dinner tonight!

How'd we do? Plus a big salad.

Last week, we used up the bulk of our veggies one seriously veggie-intensive recipe.  We spent Memorial Day weekend cooking, eating, drinking, and hanging out with my parents in Clear Lake.  What a fabulous way to celebrate California's spring bounty!  The weekend revolved around food and wine, and it was wonderful.

Here's the roundup:

* Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Carrots - Spring vegetable stew.  Everything tastes better at the lake!

* Carrots & Lettuce - Big Salad, served with cheese toast.  See some lovely photos below.

* Strawberries - We ate these for breakfast on Saturday morning, alongside a fried egg and some toast.  May I just say, now that lemon curd is back in my life, I am feeling decadent.

* Dino Kale & Spring Onions - Ohhhh be still my beating heart!  I actually declared affirmatively, out loud, that kale is my new favorite vegetable.  That's right.  Kale.  Eat it like so in a frittata and you may begin to share my passion.  Frittata is also a new obsession, now that I have conquered my fear of melting my pan handles under the broiler.

And here are some pictures of the lovely Big Salad.  This was crisp and satisfying.  The only downside was having to omit the feta since it had gone slightly off after a couple weeks tightly wrapped in the fridge.  But we soldiered on.  I made not-so-light Cooking Light brownies, amped up with THREE TIMES the chocolate called for in the recipe, for dessert.  A wonderful end to the box week!

 Our salad contained box lettuce, carrots, red bell peppers, green onions, apple, dried cranberries, cashews, and chickpeas.  I had mine with my favorite vinaigrette: a dab of dijon mustard, a small pour of olive oil, generous amounts of balsamic vinegar, and a touch of honey.  Plenty of fresh ground pepper and you're in business!

Memorial Day: family, eats, and treats.

Memorial Day was a special weekend for us, filled with family and food.  My dad and step-mom came to visit from Dallas, and we all met up at their vacation home in Clear Lake.  The scenery is absolutely beautiful; Clear Lake is the largest natural lake entirely in California, and it is a wide blue expanse perched up in the mountains of the North Coast Range.  Their house lies in the shadow of a dormant volcano called Mount Konocti.   We love to head out of town for Clear Lake whenever we can to relax, enjoy the stunning views, and eat like kings.  If there's a three day weekend coming up, you can bet that we are angling to spend time up at the lake house.

 We drove up Friday night, wicked dogs in town and car packed to the gills with groceries (including the contents of our box), board games, and clothes (the latter being my own neurotic issue - I can't just pack for three days).  My parents arrived only minutes ahead of us.  And our weekend of wine and food began!  We spent the next two days eating a drinking our way through Lake and Sonoma Counties.

 On Saturday, we slept in and got up to drink coffee, nibble toast and eggs, and mull over our dining decisions.  My dad and I planned to make dinner that night, and I strove to use as many of our CSA veggies as possible.  I brought only one cookbook with me: Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone."  I settled on a spring vegetable stew, similar to the one that I tossed together sans recipe a few weeks ago.  I was able to use the asparagus, sugar snap peas, and carrots from our box.

 My dad made not one, not two, but three dishes!  He is quite the chef.  He made a bruschetta with tomato, fennel, goat cheese, and chives:

Plus a peach-basil-prosciutto appetizer (I didn't get a picture of this sucker, but the peach was dredged in a cumin vinaigrette - very tasty!).  He also lovingly prepared a shaved asparagus, cherry tomato, and goat cheese salad to accompany our stew.  This was absolutely delicious!!  Shaving the asparagus seemed laborious and was time-intensive, but the results were tasty and much appreciated.  The twist to this dish is that the asparagus was served raw.  I think that the raw preparation is all the rage right now; I have never heard of it until recently, and I have seen it in more than one place this spring.

On Sunday, we went to Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, for lunch at the wonderful Dry Creek Restaurant (a Charlie Palmer spot - I saw it on Martha Stewart only days before my step-mom told me that this is where we were going!).  I had gnocchi with pickled red cauliflower, cauliflower mousseline, and ricotta salata.  It was delectable.  After lunch, we headed to the Dry Creek Valley for some wine tasting.  My dad took us on a driving tour of some of his favorite wineries, including some quirky stops that were to honor an oddball ambiance or two.

 

We especially enjoyed the quaint Yoakim Bridge winery.  I made friends with Isabella the bulldog puppy:

 

 Look at that face!  Their property was lovely, boasting lush rose bushes and foxglove.  Foxglove always reminds me of a nursery rhyme garden, with a hint of the Alice-in-Wonderland subversive.

After our Sonoma tour, we headed back over the winding mountain road to Clear Lake.  My step-mom made a tasty white bean-sundried tomato-roasted garlic dip (again, no picture ...).  We were still full from lunch, so we didn't really eat dinner (though of course I had to eat a bowl of spelt-berry salad, my prepared food obsession from the Sacramento food co-op).

Sunday morning, to celebrate my dad's birthday, I whipped up a couple of frittatas featuring asparagus, onion, feta, herbs, and prosciutto (for the meat-eaters).  I used the basic recipe here, but subbed out the kale and instead sauteed about half a bunch of sliced asparagus, plus added feta.  It was a delicious way to end a weekend chock-full of great food and company.  I am already looking forward to the next occasion that we can sneak away to our beloved lake house!

Spring Vegetable Stew
Adapted from Deborah Madison, "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"

Note: Crumbled goat cheese would also be nice here.  You can add to the top of the stew after it is spooned into serving bowls.

4 to 6 carrots (use fewer if your carrots are larger), scrubbed, peeled, and sliced into medium thick coins
1/2 to 1 cup sugar snap peas (I used almost a cup), washed, strings removed
6 small radishes, scrubbed and cut into l-inch pieces
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 3-inch pieces
6 green onions, white and light green parts sliced into 3-inch pieces
4 small turnips, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup vegetable stock
leaves from about 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped chives
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
grated parmesan

Cook each vegetable separately.  Bring a stock pot of water to a boil; add one tablespoon of salt.  One type at a time, blanch each type of vegetable by simmering for a couple minutes until tender; remove immediately using a slotted spoon or small strainer and submerge in a bowl of cold water.  When all of the vegetables are blanched, drain the bowl.  Vegetables can be made a few hours ahead of time.

Heat the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat, then add the blanched veggies and veggie stock.  Cook until heated through, about four minutes (you can cover the pan to facilitate heating).  Stir in the herbs and salt and pepper to taste, and cook for one minute.
Stir in the lemon juice immediately prior to serving.  Serve over pasta, gnocchi, or a bit of rice, and garnish generously with grated parmesan.