Stir-fried Amaranth Greens with Toasted Almonds and Mustard Seeds

Easy and delicious (good for when you totally forgot the leafy green side dish till the last moment):

Ingredients
A couple handfuls amaranth greens, per person
1/4-1/2 tsp black and/or yellow mustard seeds, per person
1 tbsp sliced almonds, per person
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Toast almonds in a wide pan over medium-high heat, stirring or tossing frequently. Just as they begin to brown, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and stir to coat, then immediately add the mustard seeds. Stir and fry for a few seconds, then add the amaranth greens. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally and pressing the leaves against the pan for a few seconds from time to time. Add a tablespoon or so of water, cover the pan, and let steam for few moments till the water evaporates, then uncover, sprinkle with a little salt, and serve.

In Which the Scientists Discover Food

So this month's Journal of the American Medical Association has a commentary written by two Harvard nutrition experts advocating, of all things, changing the focus of our dietary guidelines from nutrients to foods. According to the authors, "the evidence now demonstrates the major limitations of nutrient-based metrics for prevention of chronic disease" (Mozaffarian and Ludwig, 2010, p. 681). For instance, they cite accumulating research suggesting that fat and even saturated fat intake is pretty much unrelated to the risk of developing chronic illnesses like heart disease.

They go on to say that "in contrast with discrete nutrients, specific foods and dietary patterns substantially affect chronic disease risk, as shown by controlled trials of risk factors and prospective cohorts of disease endpoints. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts are consistently associated with lower risk of disease" (p. 681). Fish also get an evidence-based thumbs up. Meanwhile, research shows that highly processed foods are associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases, and the authors go on to suggest that we need to understand that the health consequences of consuming different foods probably reflect complicated interactions of different nutrients within each food, the way food is prepared, and combinations of foods within larger dietary patterns. Not to mention that "the greater the focus on nutrients, the less healthful foods have become" (p. 682).

Sound familiar? It's kind of neat to see the same ideas that Pollan highlights making their way into mainstream medical science. Here's hoping the U.S. dietary guidelines, which I think are due to be revised this year, start adopting food-centered rather than nutrient-centered guidelines, as these authors advocate. It seems like changing the language we use to talk about and evaluate health and nutrition from nutrients to foods could go a long way toward changing the way we eat.

Sauteed Baby Corn

Have I mentioned I love our new weekly produce box? Two weeks in a row of fresh baby corn = quite a bit of food-centered happiness.

Ingredients
Fresh baby corn
Olive oil
Garlic, pressed (1-2 cloves per 6 ears, or rather earlettes)
Salt & pepper


Saute the garlic in a little olive oil over medium heat for a minute or so. Add the baby corn, turning it to coat it with the garlic. Turn heat up slightly and saute for 3-7 minutes, turning the corn from time to time, until tender (time depends on how small the corn is. You can eat it raw, so it's okay if the inside is still crunchy when you're done. We had some very small ones that cooked all the way through, a couple bigger ones that had a crunchy center, and several that browned on the outside, and all were delicious). If the pan starts to dry out, add about 2 tbsp water, cover, and steam for a minute to finish cooking. Sprinkle with salt and pepper before serving.

6-8 earlettes will serve 2 as a side vegetable.

Nectarines with Anise Hyssop and Moscato Drizzle

If you ever find yourself within reach of some fresh anise hyssop, grab it and make this. Anise hyssop, as we discovered this week after finding it in our CSA box, turns out to be an herb that tastes remarkably like those little sugar-coated fennel seeds often found in Indian restaurants. You might find it at a farmer's market, growing in your garden already (it has pretty purple flowers), or nestled between two other things you've never seen before in your own produce box.

Ingredients
Nectarines (could substitute peaches), pits removed and sliced into wedges
Moscato (a current favorite is Trader Joe's Late Harvest 2009)
Fresh anise hyssop (2-3 leaves per nectarine)

Arrange the nectarines on a plate. Make a chiffonade from the anise hyssop: tightly roll the leaves and then slice the roll into thin ribbons. Sprinkle over the fruit, drizzle lightly with about one spoonful of Moscato per nectarine, garnish with anise hyssop flowers, and serve.

Goes well with a glass of Moscato or a cup of fresh mint and anise hyssop tea (just steep a handful of leaves in hot water for a few minutes before pouring).

Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Salad with Dill

On Friday, we received our very first CSA box from Del Rio Botanical. We pick it up at a little market right near our house. I've never been quite so excited about groceries (food, yes; dessert, obviously, but not groceries, until now). I took deep calming breaths before entering the store, though, and managed not to hug the grocery guy who handed it to us, although I think he may have noticed me bouncing up and down a little (just a little, I swear) on our way out.

Our first box has (clockwise from the top left): White zucchini, cilantro, mint and anise hyssop, green and yellow beans, cavern striped tomatoes, amaranth greens, black plums, and fresh baby corn.

First, we tackled the amaranth greens, which were gone in a day and a half (stir-fried under dinner one night with chickpeas and topped with a stuffed cavern striped tomato; sauteed with shallot and garlic and parsley and then stirred with a couple of eggs the next morning for brunch -- basically a variation on the Soft Set Eggs recipe from a couple of weeks ago).

Then last night, we roasted the green and yellow string beans and decided to take on the remaining Italian citrone cucumbers, which I had never seen before they appeared in our produce box. My husband thought of making a salad with smoked salmon and dill. Since we had quite a few of the cucumbers, we served the salad over a bed of sliced cucumber dressed with a little dill and white wine vinegar. The whole thing made for a lovely, light, refreshing summertime meal.

Ingredients
About 5-6 inches of cucumber, peeled and diced
Rice vinegar (seasoned or unseasoned)
2 tbsp finely chopped scallion (white and light green parts), divided
1-2 tsp chopped fresh dill, divided
3-4 oz wild smoked salmon, coarsely chopped (you want about equal parts smoked salmon and cucumber in the salad)
Olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon
Ak-mak crackers (or another stone-ground wheat cracker)


Combine cucumber, 1 tbsp of the scallions, and 1 tsp of the dill in a small bowl, sprinkle liberally with rice vinegar, and let sit for at least ten minutes. Drain most of the excess vinegar out the side of the bowl.

Then, add the smoked salmon and the rest of the scallions and stir to mix. Liberally douse with olive oil (about 1-2 tbsp -- enough to moisten the salad throughout) and add a generous amount of black pepper. Add additional dill to taste. Drizzle with a little lemon juice, and serve with the crackers.

Serves 2 with something else alongside (e.g., veggies stir-fried or roasted with mustard seeds and topped with a little salt and lemon juice before serving). Pairs well with a slightly dry Viognier (e.g., Yalumba 2009, currently on sale at Costco).

Best. Chickpeas. Ever.

At some point last week, I decided it was about time to learn to soak my own beans. Now, if you've soaked beans before, you probably think this is about as momentous an announcement as someone declaring they've decided to stamp their own envelope in the old-fashioned, lick-it-yourself sort of way.

But, if you're like me and tend to assume beans grow in cans in the supermarket aisle, you may not yet know that home-soaked beans (or home-grown beans, as my husband dubbed them after noting that they grew to twice their initial size after soaking and had therefore been grown, in the home -- can't argue with that) are (a) simple to prepare (kind of embarrassingly simple, actually, in light of the fact that I had never considered doing it before), (b) way cheaper, especially for anyone moving their culinary practices in an eat-food-mostly-plants sort of direction, and (c) way tastier. This last one nobody told me, which has me slightly irked because I'm pretty sure I would have done this sooner if they had. Although maybe I wouldn't have believed it could make that much of a difference. But apparently home "grown" beans have an entirely different taste, and texture, than their canny canny cousins.

So, I soaked some cannellini beans last week, and got hooked, and yesterday morning found me trying my hand at chickpeas. Which were again incredibly easy. If (like me) you have no clue how to do this, here's a cheat sheet:
1. Rinse a bunch of dried chickpeas, checking through them carefully for stones
2. Throw in a pot of water (the water should be several inches above the beans, because they'll expand quite a bit), bring to a boil, and boil for two minutes
3. Turn off the heat and let them to soak for about two hours (you can also just let them soak in cold water overnight, instead)
4. Drain and rinse the beans, then add them back to the pot with some fresh water and a few whole peeled cloves of garlic, and simmer them for another 60-80 minutes until they're tender
5. Drain and stick in the fridge until you're ready to use them

6. Optional, but highly recommended: Make the following recipe. Which turned out to be...well, what the title says.

Ingredients
3 cups cooked chickpeas (soaked and cooked yourself, else canned)
1 Meyer lemon, zested and cut in half
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt & pepper
Ñora pepper (optional)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3/4 cup black Forbidden rice (could substitute brown basmati rice & adjust the cooking time)
Saffron threads
Scant 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (or two generous pinches)
Scant 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds (or two generous pinches)
1/4 cup broth or water
3/4 cups cooked chopped spinach (frozen works: thaw for 2 minutes in the microwave and then drain. If fresh, blanch, drain, then chop)
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
Aleppo or other hot pepper, to taste
Pinch or two ground cumin
Pinch or two sweet paprika


Whisk the juice of half the lemon with a generous glug of olive oil in a bowl. Add the garlic, a pinch of salt, and some black pepper and ñora pepper if you have it. Add the chickpeas, stir to coat, and marinate in the fridge for about half an hour.

Saute about a quarter of the chopped onion in a small pot over medium heat until it softens. Add the black rice and a pinch of saffron and cook, stirring, for a minute or two, then add a little less than one cup of water. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes or until done. (If there is extra liquid left at the end, uncover, turn heat to medium, and cook for another minute, stirring to evaporate the water.)

Meanwhile, heat about 2 tbsp olive oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds and toast until they start to pop (about 10-20 seconds). Immediately add the rest of the onion and cook, stirring, for several minutes. Just as it starts to brown, add the chickpeas (and a little more olive oil if it's too dry) and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 more minutes.

Next, add the spinach, turmeric, a pinch or two of salt, pepper, and Aleppo. Cook, stirring, for a few more minutes, adding the broth as it starts to get dry. (Depending on how cooked your chickpeas were to begin with, you may want to cover the pan and let it simmer for a couple minutes at this point.)

Add the cooked rice, stir, and cook for a minute or two until heated through. Then dust with a bit of cumin and just a little paprika. Add the lemon zest, cook for about 30 more seconds, and then turn off the heat. Cover pan and let sit for 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot or at room temperature, garnished with a lemon wedge. Goes well with roasted carrots with cumin seeds (below).

Serves 3-4 (or 2 for dinner with some leftovers)

Roasted Carrots with Cumin Seeds

Who can resist rainbow carrots?

Okay, possibly large portions of the population. But so far anyway, not me.

Ingredients
1 bunch whole carrots, brushed clean and with stems removed
Olive oil
Cumin seeds


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Coat a small roasting pan with a little olive oil (I use what appears to be a nonstick loaf pan...although I have definitely never used it to bake, so for all I know it could be some sort of pudding mold or a playpen for cupcakes. In any event, it makes a good carrot-roasting pan because it's the perfect length and keeps the carrots crowded together, which prevents them from drying out).

Add the carrots to the pan, brush with olive oil, and set them in the oven to roast. After 20 minutes, take them out, sprinkle lightly with cumin seeds, turn them gently, and sprinkle again. Roast for another 10-30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes or so, until the thickest part of the carrot is tender (total roasting time will depend on how thick your carrots are). Sprinkle with a little salt, and serve.

Lunchtime Leftovers: Seared Kale with Lemon and Smoked Salmon

I know, I know, enough with the kale already, but I had leftovers from the last few recipes, and this turned out so ridiculously easy and delicious that I had to post it.

Ingredients
Smoked salmon
Leftover chopped red kale (this stayed good in the fridge for a surprisingly long time, even though it was already chopped... I think it's from four or five days ago)
Some frozen chopped onion
(if you're like me and keep some frozen on hand for quick dishes -- if not, fresh works too)
Olive oil, salt, and pepper
Lemon
Crackers or flatbread ( we had ak-mak crackers on hand, which are made from stone ground wheat and just a handful of other ingredients, and which brought out the flavors in the kale)

Heat a pan over medium-high heat. When hot, toss in a few tbsp frozen onion per person and let the excess water evaporate for 10-20 seconds, stirring occasionally. Then add a little olive oil and continue to cook for a couple minutes until onion is slightly browned. Add the kale (a generous handful per person), drizzle a little more olive oil over the top, and sprinkle with a little salt and a lot of black pepper. Cook the kale for 1-2 minutes, pressing it down against the pan with the back of a spatula for a few seconds at a time, then turning it and pressing the other side down. Turn off heat, add a generous squeeze of lemon juice, stir, and serve with the crackers and smoked salmon. (To eat, make open-faced sandwiches on the crackers with the salmon and the kale on top).

Smoked Salmon Risotto with Kale

Ha! Take that, kale. I have cooked you, and you are delicious.

As risottos go, this one is fairly simple to prepare (as in, there aren't too many ingredients, and they don't need to be cooked separately or cut in intricate ways), but the resulting flavor is complex enough to keep things interesting. 

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 rounded cup of Arborio rice
About 4 cups of broth*
Dry white cooking wine
1 bunch dino kale, sliced into ribbons, rinsed, and dried in a salad spinner
6 oz smoked wild salmon, sliced crosswise into strips (and separated into individual pieces if necessary, so they don't clump together when you add them to the risotto) 
1 Meyer lemon, zested and halved
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

And any of the following that strike your fancy:
Some asparagus, thinly sliced at an angle (diagonally across the stem)
A scattering of frozen peas
A handful of baby arugula


Heat the broth in a small pot until it simmers, then turn off heat. Leave covered on the stove.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a big pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Next, add the rice, stirring to coat the grains. After a minute or so, add 1-2 ladles full of white wine and cook, stirring, until it evaporates. Add a ladle full of broth, and again simmer, stirring, until the excess liquid is gone. Continue adding broth and stirring until rice is just tender and most of the broth is used up.

Then, add the kale and any other vegetables you'd like along with another ladle full of broth. Cook for a few minutes until wilted or tender (asparagus will take the longest, so add it first if you're including it. Kale and peas seem to need about 2-3 minutes, and baby arugula barely needs any time at all). Next, add the smoked salmon, lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, and parsley, and turn off the heat right away. Stir everything together gently, adding a bit of the remaining broth if it seems at all dry. Pepper liberally, stir in the grated Parmesan, and serve. Garnish with a half-slice of Meyer lemon and a sprig of parsley, or sprinkle a little chopped parsley over the top.

Serves 4, or two for dinner and two for lunch the next day.


*Half chicken and half veggie works well.

Leaves for Breakfast: Sauteed Kale with Egg and Toast

I am, I have to admit, a little stumped about kale.

First of all, it's one of those hippie vegetables. (Apologies if you are a kale-lover and/or a hippie. Nothing wrong with either one.) But I've always kind of had the impression that kale doesn't actually taste good, and that you eat it because you're a crazy health nut who drinks Smoothies of Unnatural Color and dines daily on wheat germ and hemp protein powder.

Second of all, I think it's related to cabbage, and I harbor a deep suspicion of cabbage dating back to an elementary school science pH experiment with boiled cabbage juice, vinegar, and baking soda.

Thirdly, having conquered my persistent conviction that any kale, once placed in a grocery basket, would sprout wheat germ arms and hemp protein legs when I wasn't looking, I bought some and brought it home, contemplated its pretty leaves, gazed at it searchingly, surfed online recipes, but found nothing particularly inspirational to do with it. We made it for dinner last night, but the non-kale ingredients outshone the kale and would have been better with a different leafy green. So, stumped and still working on it.

In the meantime, however, I had extra chopped kale in the fridge this morning, and threw together a breakfast that turned out to be surprisingly delicious and not very complicated to make. Which doesn't quite count as conquering the kale, since I set out to cook it for dinner, but does convince me that it has potential.

Ingredients
2 eggs, preferably from chickens who get to run around eating grass and things
2 slices of whole grain, not-too-many-ingredient bread, toasted
Olive oil
2-3 large handfuls of chopped red kale, rinsed well and dried in a salad spinner
1 large clove garlic, pressed
Salt, freshly ground black pepper, ñora pepper if you have it

Boil the eggs for 6 minutes or a few seconds longer (this will give you medium-boiled eggs, with a soft yolk but cooked white -- you could boil shorter or longer if you like, or poach them). Run under cold water for a few seconds and peel.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic with some olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the kale, cook for 2-3 minutes or until just wilted, and toss in some salt and pepper.

Spoon the kale over each piece of toast and top with an egg, then slice the egg into quarters, lengthwise, and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Serves 2.