Easy Cucumber Gazpacho

There were cucumbers again in my CSA box this week. At first, my heart sank. Cucumbers again? There are only so many Greek salads one can eat in a summer, after all. And who knows what else to do with a billion cucumbers. Cucumber sandwiches for a small army? Vegetable carving? Gazpacho?

Gazpacho.

This recipe was made by breeding this one with this one. The result is rather gorgeous: The avocado provides a subtle creaminess that elevates the whole thing from normal to dreamy.

Make it. It's insanely easy and insanely delicious, and how often do those two things go hand in hand?

Ingredients
3-4 scallions, white and light green parts, cut into pieces
1 small clove garlic, pressed
2 cucumbers, peeled and cut into a few pieces
(if you have oddly sized CSA box cucumbers, just estimate roughly about how many you'd need to make up an average-sized, supermarket cucumber)
5-6 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh basil
1 red gypsy pepper or 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into a few pieces
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch cayenne if you'd like a bit of spice
Chives (optional) for garnish

Blend all the ingredients except the chives in a food processor until smooth. Adjust basil, salt, and pepper to taste (you want to be able to taste the basil without it being overpowering. If you can taste the basil but the soup still tastes a little bland, you can turn up the volume with a bit more salt).

Serve immediately or chill until you're ready for it. Just before serving, garnish with snipped chives and a drizzle of high quality olive oil.

Serves 2-4, depending on whether you're going for bowls or smaller cups.

Curried Potato Salad with Cilantro and Ginger

A few weeks ago, while lunching outdoors in Berkeley on a shady patio, basking in the summery summertime, I was offered a bite of potato salad.

"Potato salad?" said the bite-offerer, descriptively.

"Um," I replied.

I paused. I'm not such a fan of potato salad, after all. I believe in the overcooking of all potatoes always forever, and potato salad potatoes are so frequently al dente. And then there's the mayonnaise thing. And the cold thing. And the lack of any hint of flavor drama.

And yet.

Maybe this was THE potato salad. Maybe this would be the moment at which the summertime picnics of my life would change course magically and irrevocably in a blissful epiphany of potato salad perfection. Maybe the secret ingredient was hidden inside this very forkful.

I forked.

I chewed.

I marveled at how very much this potato salad tasted exactly like every other potato salad I had ever tried in the history of summertime picnics.

Enough was enough. I was tired of being a passive potato salad bystander, sitting wistfully on the sidelines of summertime picnic history. It was time to act. It was time to make this.

It is in many ways, as you will see, the anti-potato salad potato salad. No mayonnaise. No white potatoes. Bursting with flavor. And best of all, delightfully overcooked.


Ingredients
1.25 lbs yellow or purple potatoes
Rounded 1/2 tsp black or yellow mustard seeds, lightly toasted in a pan until fragrant (about 30 seconds)
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
Scant 1 tsp good quality curry powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Handful cilantro, chopped (about 2 1/2 tbsp)
Small handful baby arugula, chopped
2-3 scallions, sliced

Bring a pot of water to boil for the potatoes, then boil 15-25 minutes until the skins split and the potatoes are very tender (i.e., delightfully overcooked). Drain, rinse with cold water or an ice bath to cool, and peel (the skins should pull off easily).

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, curry powder, ginger, and salt. Put the peeled potatoes in a bowl and break apart into bite-sized pieces with a fork, then drizzle with the curry mixture and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle in the mustard seeds, cilantro, arugula, and scallions, tossing gently to mix evenly. Adjust seasonings to taste (the spice of the curry, tang of the vinegar, and cilantro-y-ness of the cilantro should balance each other out -- if one seems to be missing from the flavor, add a bit more. If the flavor just seems muted overall and you want to make it louder, sprinkle in a bit more salt).

Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge to chill while the flavors blend until you're ready to eat.

Serves 3-4.

Ginger-Rubbed Salmon with Mustard Seeds and Sorrel

Quick, easy, and stupendously delicious...hello, salmon season. I've missed you.

Serve this over jasmine rice or jade pearl rice, with sauteed greens on the side.

Ingredients
12 oz wild salmon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 small clove garlic, pressed
Mustard seeds
Onion blossoms
(or sub 1 scallion, thinly sliced)
Olive oil
1 cup chopped sorrel leaves
(about one third to half a bunch)


Sprinkle salmon generously with salt on both sides, and a little ground pepper on the non-skin side. Mash the garlic and ginger together, and then rub onto the fish (mostly on the non-skin side, and a little on the skin if you plan to eat it, which you should, because it will be amazing. Trust me). Sprinkle the non-skin side lightly with mustard seeds and the onion blossoms or scallion.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a glug of olive oil and swirl to spread in the pan. Place the fish in the pan skin-side down, wait a moment, then shake to make sure it's not sticking.

Cook for several minutes, until the skin is golden-brown, then flip and cook for a minute until the fish has just a hint of gold to it (if it's a thick piece of salmon, you may have to cook it for a couple minutes on the non-skin side...or, keep it skin side down, and put a lid on the pan for a minute to help it cook through).

When the fish is medium-rare (still that darker shade of pink in the middle), serve onto a bed of rice. The trick is to catch it just before it's as cooked as you want it, since it will keep cooking a bit over the hot rice. The other trick is to eat it medium-rare, because medium-rare salmon is amazing.

Drizzle a little more olive oil in the pan, add the sorrel, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and toss to coat. Turn off the heat. Saute the sorrel, stirring, for about 20-30 seconds till it just starts to change color from a vibrant green to a darker olive tone. Pour over the salmon, and serve immediately.

Serves 2.

Halibut with Ginger and Shiitake Mushrooms

There may be a glitch in the matrix.

The thing is, after repeatedly sampling this halibut recipe, I can say in no uncertain terms that it's the best halibut ever (on dramatic days, I have been known to generalize beyond halibut to all fish, hot foods, or objects in the solar system). But then last night, for inexplicable reasons, I made this new recipe instead. And it...here's where the glitch comes in...it also seems to be the best halibut ever.

Obviously, a philosophical conundrum such as this can only be resolved through tireless and repeated empirical investigation. I'll get back to you when I've gotten to the bottom of it (or to the bottom of the Co-op's fish supply, whichever comes first). In the meantime, feel free to engage in your own scientific tests -- for the benefit of humankind, of course, and for the benefit of dinner.

Serve over brown or black rice, and pair with some sort of vegetable. This recipe is fairly simple and quick, as long as you remember to start the rice ahead of time.


Ingredients
1/2 - 2/3 lbs halibut (enough for two)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced
2 medium cloves garlic, chopped
Several thin slices ginger, julienned (nearly twice as much ginger as garlic, volume-wise)
12-15 shiitake mushrooms, brushed clean, stems removed, and cut in half
(or sliced in thirds, if especially large)
3 oz sake (rice wine)
Lemon wedges or halves

Sprinkle the fish with salt and black pepper, then dredge in the flour.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. When hot, drizzle the bottom lightly with olive oil, then add the fish. Pan fry for several minutes until golden brown on the bottom, then flip. (If you've cut the piece of fish in half already and it's fairly thick, you may be able to brown all four sides. If not, turn the heat down a bit so that the fish can cook through before the bottom gets too dark.)

After you've flipped the fish, heat a glug of olive oil in another pan over medium heat (or, if you're lazy like me and have a big enough pan, push the fish to the side of the first pan and do this on the other side while it cooks). Add the ginger and scallions, stir a few times, then add the garlic and turn the heat down just a bit. Saute for 15-20 seconds, then add the mushrooms and stir to coat. Continue cooking the mushrooms, stirring occasionally and without crowding them, until they start to lightly brown.

Just before the fish is cooked through, remove it from the pan and set aside.

Sprinkle the mushrooms with a pinch of salt, stir, then add the sake and turn off the heat. Stir a few times as the sake simmers. Serve the fish over rice, and spoon the sauce over the top. Garnish with a generous wedge of lemon, and serve hot.

Serves 2.

Smoked Trout, Two Ways

Once upon a time, we thought we shouldn't plant cilantro in the summer because it would bolt. Now we know better. Not only is green coriander an amazing find, balanced halfway between cilantro and coriander, but this week, our produce box came with a big bunch of fresh, green cilantro berries. They're like little bursts of cilantro with a hint of citrus, and we've been scattering them on everything we can think of.

Meanwhile, it's summer, and we're on the prowl for meals that don't involve turning the stove on. Like putting things on bread and eating them.

These two versions of open-faced smoked trout sandwiches taste completely different and yet share most ingredients in common, so it's easy to make both at once if you want a fancy-feeling summer picnic with fairly minimal effort. The bread could probably be toasted, but we liked it untoasted, and it's best to stick with something relatively plain to avoid overpowering the trout--a levain would work nicely, and Village Bakery's walnut levain (available at the Co-op or Taylor's, where you can also find smoked trout) was an unexpectedly perfect complement.

For a side veggie, try sauteed beet greens or chard.

Ingredients
Fresh bread, sliced
1/3 lb smoked trout
2 small scallions, thinly sliced (white and light green parts)
1 avocado, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

1 ripe, fragrant tomato, thinly sliced

and/or

Cilantro berries (or sub a light scattering of chopped fresh cilantro)

Arrange the bread slices on a plate or two, then divide the avocado and trout equally among them, layering one over the other (avocado on the bottom is slightly easier to eat later, since it's less prone to slipping off the bread).

For trout with dill and tomato: Liberally sprinkle each piece of bread with scallions and dill, and top with a slice of tomato. Grind pepper over the top, and serve.

For trout with fresh cilantro berries: Sprinkle each piece of bread with just a few scallions and some cilantro berries (6-8 cilantro berries for each half-round of bread was a good amount for us...you won't taste them much unless you bite directly into them, and then they give a burst of cilantro-y flavor...so you want to end up with about one per bite). Sprinkle with black pepper, and serve.


You'd never guess (or at least, we never would have), but the cilantro pairs amazingly well with a glass of Gnarly Head old vine zinfandel.

Serves 2 for dinner.

Soft Set Eggs with Shiitake Mushrooms and Amaranth Greens

Found at the coop: Amaranth greens. No idea what to do with these. The internets suggested something called callaloo soup, which was great fun to say, repeatedly (go on, you know you want to try it), but which was accompanied by some greenish-gray pictures that didn't look particularly appetizing. The next meal was breakfast, so we thought we'd put them in an omelette and see what happened (only we like revueltos, or Spanish soft set eggs, better than omelettes, so that's what this is).

Ingredients
Olive oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3-4 scallions, sliced
1 clove garlic, pressed
4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A few shakes of crushed ñora pepper
Coarsely chopped amaranth greens (about 2 cups, or a little more)
4 pastured chicken eggs

Break the eggs into a bowl, leaving the yolks whole. You can make this with two whole eggs and two egg whites, or all whole eggs.

Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and toast for 10-15 seconds, stirring, then add the pepper and scallion and cook for about 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, saute for another minute, then add the mushrooms, salt, black pepper, and ñora pepper. Cook until the mushrooms just start to release a little liquid, then add the amaranth greens and saute until just wilted.

Pour in the eggs, turn heat down to medium low, and slowly stir the eggs in with the vegetables. They should set softly as you stir. I like to break one yolk, stir once and wait for a moment, then break the next. You want the white and yellow to still be distinct when it's done.

After a minute or two, the eggs will have set. Serve hot.

Serves 2 for breakfast.

Quinoa with Carrots and Pepper

This made a nice, simple, protein-laden backdrop to the other things we were cooking tonight (collard greens with applewood smoked bacon, above, and grilled vegetables. You can use the quinoa like a bed of rice and let them mix together a bit). If you wanted to make it more flavorful, you could use broth instead of water, and/or saute the vegetables separately and add them to the cooked quinoa at the end. 

Ingredients
Olive oil
1/4 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
4 scallions, sliced (white and light green parts) or 1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 carrot, diced
2 handfuls Eden Organic canned chickpeas
Pinch or two of salt
1 scant tsp finely chopped oregano
1 cup red quinoa
1 1/4 cups water
2 tbsp toasted sliced almonds (Trader Joe's does this for you, if you like having them on hand...they keep forever in the freezer)
Small tab (about 1/2 tsp) pasture butter

Rinse the quinoa, then soak it in cold water for 30 minutes (or hot water for 10, if you forget to do this ahead of time and are impatient for dinner. Hypothetically speaking). This helps remove the saponin, which coats the quinoa grains and can make them taste bitter, and also makes the quinoa cook more quickly later on.

Heat the olive oil in a smallish pot over medium heat. Add the pepper, garlic, and scallions, and saute for a couple of minutes, then add the carrot, chickpeas, salt, and half the oregano and saute for another minute or two. Add the quinoa, stir a few times, then add the water and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low or just above low and simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is done (if there is extra liquid left at the end, uncover pot and cook for a minute over medium heat to let it evaporate). Add remaining oregano and stir. Add almonds, switch off heat, stir in the butter, and serve.

Serves 3 (or 2 with some leftovers)