Spring vegetables

Asparagus


Steamed asparagus and broccoli with lemon dressing



Roasted asparagus with orange and oregano


Asparagus with saffron champagne vinaigrette



Grilled chicken with asparagus


Fava beans






Quinoa pasta with beans and asparagus



Fava bean dip with garlic and Meyer lemon



Beans and peas ragout

Leeks



Braised leeks in white wine



Leek, spinach, and Gruyere quiche

Radish






Sautéed radishes and watercress

Artichokes



Steamed artichokes with lemon vinaigrette


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Rafael, CA

Grill everything: Vegetables

Here I am, in the "beautiful, sunny California" in the end of May (heavy fog one day, so that you don't know if it's day or early morning till 4 pm, when the howling wind takes away the fog and brings in the rain clouds; pouring rain the next two days; upper 50s; repeat). I know I shouldn't be complaining: if this climate is good enough to grow grapes, it's probably good enough for me. But please, can it be just a little warmer sometimes? I'm waiting for summer. Begging for summer. Doing my little Voodoo dance to bring the summer in. The magic dance requires me to pretend that it is summer now. So every time the weather allows me to get outside, I cook my dinner on the grill, and serve it outside too. I even made the poor dear boyfriend have dinner out in the patio, in 50 knot wind, so that he had to hold his napkin with one hand, while protecting his face from the flying salad with the other. We pulled it off just fine, so I know, the summer is coming...

Since all grills are different, I cannot give you the exact cooking times. Mine is a Weber Q 320 gas grill that goes from zero 65 to 600 in 15 minutes. Probe your vegetables with a fork from time to time to find out right cooking times for your grill.

I like to prepare assorted vegetables, then brush them all together with light olive oil seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper just before placing them on the grill.

Artichokes: Peel off tough outer leaves. Cut off the top 1/3. Cut in halves. Remove the choke with a spoon or tip of a paring knife. I don't bother to rub the cut surfaces with lemon juice to protect them from discoloration - they are going to charr anyway. Parboil until almost tender, 10-15 minutes. Shock in ice water. Brush with seasoned oil, grill, turning once, until the heart is tender and the leaves are charred, 5-6 minutes.

Asparagus: Break off tough root ends (if you have a powerful blender, save the roots for a cream of asparagus soup). Toss with seasoned oil, grill until tender, 2-3 minutes, turning once or twice to get nice grill marks.

Bell peppers: Core, slice into 6 segments, brush with seasoned oil, grill, turning once, until tender and the skins are lightly charred, 4-5 minutes. Remove skins if desired.

Carrots: trim the root and the greens, leaving 1/2 inch of the greens attached (for presentation). Parboil until almost tender, 15-20 minutes. Shock in ice water. Brush with seasoned oil, grill, turning, until tender and marked on all sides, 5-6 minutes.

Eggplant: For grilling, select slender Japanese eggplants. Slice into 1 inch wheels, either straight or on diagonal. Brush with seasoned oil. Grill, turning once, until tender and lightly charred, 4-5 minutes.

Fennel: Trim off the green tops. Cut the bulb into six segments, brush with seasoned oil, grill, turning once, until almost tender but still crunchy, 6-8 minutes.

Lemons: Cut in halves, brush the cut side with oil, place on the grill with the curbside down. Grill 1-2 minutes just to soften. Squeeze over your grilled meats, fish, or vegetables.

Mushrooms: Trim the roots even with the cups. If the gaps in the grill are large and the mushrooms are small, thread them on bamboo skewers soaked in water. Brush with oil, cook 3-4 minutes, turning once. Cook portabello cups on the cooler side of the grill 8-10 minutes, until soft, turning once, brush with white wine vinegar or balsamico, if desired. Slice before serving.

Radish: Trim roots and greens, cut in halves, brush with seasoned oil. Grill on the cut side, just to mark, about one minute.

Ramps, baby leeks: Remove outer leaves. Cut off the green part, leaving 1 inch for presentation. Cut lengthwise, rinse, rubbing with your fingers, under running water, to remove the dirt that is clinging between the leaves. Brush with seasoned oil. Grill, turning once, until tender and lightly charred, 2-3 minutes.

Spring onions: Remove the green tops, leaving 1-2 inches. Trim off the root, but leave the root end intact, so that the layers won't separate (you can cut it off after cooking). Cut the bulb into six segments, brush with seasoned oil, grill, turning once, until tender and well marked.

Summer squashes (green, yellow, crookneck, pattypan, zucchini, etc.): Slice oblong squashes into 1 inch wheels, either straight or on diagonal. Cut pattypans in halves, or, if small, leave whole. Brush with seasoned oil. Grill, turning once, until tender, 3-4 minutes.

Sweet potatoes, yams: scrub thoroughly, brush lightly with oil. Grill in their skins over medium heat, turning occasionally, until tender (about 20 minutes). Cut in halves lengthwise, season with salt, pepper, olive oil. Eat out of the skins, or, if organic, skins are good to eat too.

Tomatoes: Cut in halves. Brush with seasoned oil. Place on the cool side of the grill, cut side down, and grill gently, just to charr the cut side.

There are flowers on the plate!

The vegetables love this miserable rainy spring we are having here. It's a shame I'm not a vegetable (yet?). The fava beans, sugar peas, heirloom tomatoes, and all the herbs and flowers are doing great.

The duck leg confit that I did this week shares the plate with baby carrots, asparagus, fingerling potatoes (Finn and Russian Banana), all sauteed in the duck fat, and nasturtium leaves and flowers.

Yes, you can eat the flowers. Just wash them well. They add a lot of color and some spicy flavor. Taste somewhat like watercress.

Other flowers good to eat are:

• Chive flowers - taste similar to chives but milder, beautiful purple color in salads


• Pansies - don't taste like much; mostly for decoration
  
• Zuccini flower - fry, stuff and braise, or just add fresh for color in salads


• Rosemary and thyme - cute and flavorful; use to garnish dishes that are flavored with rosemary and thyme leaves


• Marigold - add to salads


• Artichokes - you know

Quick grilled pizza with artichokes and asparagus

This pizza takes advantage of the fine seasonal vegetables, whatever you have on hand (I had goat cheese and bacon), and a sunny arternoon perfect for grilling. Can be easily done on a week day, after work.

I got this elegant oval non-stick griddle that is too thin and burns everything, so my pizza came out charred on one side. Next time I'll use a pizza stone, it'll cook it more evenly.

For the dough (makes two):
1 cup bread flour + more for dusting
1 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup warm water

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add olive oil and water, mix with a fork to combine, then dust your hands with flour and knead the dough for 5 minutes, dusting your hands as needed to avoid sticking. Form the dough into a ball, cover with a towel, and leave to rest for about 30 minutes (it doesn't have to raise).

Meanwhile have a glass of wine in the sunshine.

Divide the dough in halves. Refrigerate one half for future use.


For the filling:
3 small artichokes, trimmed and halved
4 slices of bacon
2 oz goat cheese
6 young asparagus spears
1 ripe tomato, sliced
1 Tsp olive oil
salt, pepper

Boil water in a medium pan. Add the artichoke halves, reduce heat to low, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Heat the gas grill to medium. Place the griddle on the grill, add bacon slices, brown on both sides, remove to a plate covered with a paper towel. Turn up the heat to high. The target tempereture is 500 degrees.

Pour the fat off the griddle and wipe with a paper towel. Roll out the dough and spread on the griddle. Scatter the crumbled cheese, bacon slices, asparagus spears, artichoke halves, and tomato slices on top. Season with salt and peper, drizzle olive oil over the pizza. Place on the hot grill. Cover and cook until the crust is cooked through and charred on the edges, 7-9 minutes.

Wine: 2006 Walnut Block Pinot Noir, Marlborough

Sunny day, whole fish

I was having a car problem on Sunday, and while I was waiting for my car to be repaired, R. took me to the farmers market, and there I saw the fish. I looked at the Thai snapper, it looked at me, and we were at agreement that it's a good day to grill a whole fish.

It's a good idea to grill a fish with the scales on - the scales don't stick to the grill, and when it's ready you just lift and discard the skin with the scales. but this time the fishmonger had scaled the fish before I had a chance to say anything. All right, there are other ways to protect my fish from sticking, like a lot of oil, or a grilling basket, or placing herbs between the grill and the fish.

To keep the Thai theme, I put kaffir lime leaves and slices of Meyer lemon inside the fish and also tied them to the outside. Brushed with grapeseed oil and grilled over indirect heat for about 15 minutes, turning (very carefully) once.
Served with grilled asparagus and frisee and heirloom tomato salad.

2007 Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir, since the fish is from New Zealand too. I would eat it with a Sav. Blank, but R. likes a red wine even with fish, and the light silky Pinot worked just fine.

Raw

The farmers market is so wonderful this time of the year! The asparagus spears are slender and delicate; snap peas are still tender enough to eat with the pods; spring onions are so sweet that they don't make me cry - and I would cry if someone mentions onions in a conversation; the greens are beyond fresh, and there are innumerable varieties: lattuces, chicories, miner's lattuce, arugula, pea greens, beet leaves, nettle, spinach, sorrel, what's not. Not all of the greens are green, and this makes salads even more interesting.

And the pullet eggs. The guy at the egg stall is very excited about them. They are eggs from "teenager" hens, under six month old. The young hens are just learning to lay eggs, so these practice eggs are tiny - the ones sold at the market barely qualify as medium; they are not allowed to sell even smaller ones, - have bright yolks and very delicate texture.

Every Thursday after a trip to the market I'm tempted to skip the dinner and just slice some raw vegetables for a salad. Do I resist? No. The possible combinations are endless. I just go with what looks the best today. Two examples:


Salad #1: arugula, cresta di gallo, curly cress, mediterranean cucumber, fava beans (shelled and lightly cooked), fresh asparagus, soft-boiled pullet eggs, red wine vinegar and EVOO dressing.
Salad #2: fresh asparagus, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, snap peas, thinly sliced spring onion, soft boiled pullet eggs, goat cheese; dressed with mayonnaise made of one yolk of a pullet egg (tiny!) with about 3 Tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard.

Market watch: April

After all the long winter months of cabbages, potatoes, turnips, and torrentious rains, the farmers market is getting exciting again. The new asparagus is so tender that you can eat it raw (and I do).

While the fava beans in my garden are just beginning to show their first black and white flowers, the market already got young fava beans - for a week or two their skins are so tender that no double shelling is required.

The first heirloom tomatoes and small mediterranean cucumbers show up (at stellar prices).
The strawberries are reaching their peak.

I feel like turning vegetarian. I made myself a salad of mixed greens with young fava beans, shelled and steamed for 3 minutes, heirloom tomatoes, sliced raw asparagus, and mediterrenian cucumber. I know I shouldn't eat onions before going salsa dancing; but could I leave these beautiful spring onions out?

Keeping to the local, seasonal concept, I added lardons made of my home-cured bacon, and a free-range duck egg, soft boiled.
This salad got the simplest dressing of red wine vinegar and EVOO that it deserved.

Signs of Spring II

Eating outside. Fresh from my just cleaned for the season gas grill: prosciutto wrapped scallops and asparagus; mahi mahi scewers; portabello steaks.

Here I am, messing with the classics (again). Small fillet mignons baked with morel halves in puff pastry, with roasted fingerling potatoes.

Miner's lattuce. Looks like a miniature water hyacynth, complete with pretty little flowers. Mild and juicy.

Breakfast outside. Steamed asparagus with Maltese sauce made with blood oranges.

Not shown: Starborough Sauvignon Blanc; Theraflu Severe Cold and Cough.

Signs of Spring

I’ve been watching the Farmers Market for the first signs of spring. People is sleeveless tops don’t count – in California you can see them any time. What I wanted to see was some exciting spring produce. Well, anything besides cabbages and potatoes.

Here comes:
Asparagus

And morels

Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and grilled over medium heat for about 4 minutes, turning once.

Maccheroncini pasta with morels, asparagus and shallot.

I found too late that I'm out of white wine, so the liquid in the sauce is a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. All the better. The asparagus and the 'shrooms taste so fresh and bright that wine would actually interfere with their character.

And more piroshki, same dough as in the previous post, this time filled with beef and with shitake mushrooms.

Beef filling:

2 Tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, minced
1 lb ground beef (I hand-minced a large New York steak, a lot of work, but tastes great)
4 sprigs oregano, minced
Salt, pepper

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, sauté, stirring frequently, until soft and golden. Add the beef. Cook, stirring, until almost no pink color remains. Season with oregano, salt, and pepper. Let cool.

Mushroom filling:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
½ large onion, minced
¼ lb shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
salt, pepper
a few drops of truffle oil (optional)

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter. Add the onion, sauté, stirring frequently, until soft and golden. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the mushrooms soften and begin to dry. Add a few drops of truffle oil to intensify the mushroom flavor. Let cool.

Salmon with mushroom sauce

Here starts the fall menu. I know that asparagus does not represent the fall, but I love the combination of it's color with the salmon so much that I got imported asparagus and included it anyway.

The sauce here is composed of white, chanterelle, giant oyster, and shitake mushrooms. Any mushroom combination would work, but the chanterelles really make it delicious.

The salad on the side is mixed greens with heirloom tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Sauteed salmon with mixed mushroom sauce

Serves 2

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

1-1/2 cups sliced mixed mushrooms

1 shallot, minced

3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only, stems removed

1/2 glass of white wine

3 tbsp crème fraîche

salt, pepper


1 Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil

2 wild salmon fillets, skin removed

salt, pepper


Heat the olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, the butter, thyme leaves, and some salt and pepper. Sautee until all liquid evaporates and the mushrooms turn golden. Add shallot, reduce heat to medium-low, cook for a few of minutes without coloring the shallot. Add wine, reduce to about 1/3, add crème fraîche, reduce some more, keep warm.

Season the fillets with salt and pepper, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, cook the fillets for 5-7 minutes per side. Serve the sauce over the fillets, with or without steamed asparagus, or, for a more appropriately seasonal dish, with boiled and lightly mushed potatoes.

Learning to Stir Fry

I got a small stir fry pan! I wouldn't call it a wok - it's Calphalon stainless steell, not the traditional carbon steel that turns black with use - but it's small enough to fit into my kitchen, it has a metal handle (that's one reason why I didn't get an authentic wok, everything in the Chinese store has plastic handles that I don't like), it's easy to clean, and, it turns out, one can use it to stir fry!

The common sence would tell me to get a cookbook and to try to follow a few recipes, to get the idea, and then start improvising. But no, I'm not like this, only the lusers (short for 'lame users' in old hackers slang) read the manual, the real gurus just do the thing. So my first stir fry experiment is an improvisation. It turned out eadible, and I will probably even repeat it, with some variations - it has to be a little different every time, no fun otherwise.

I used a top sirloin steak from Safeway that was flavorful, but, like most meat cuts in this store, cut in such a way that I had to trim off a lot (the trimmings go into the freezer in a marked plastic bag for future stocks), so as a results I probably had a little over half a pound of meat.


Stir fried steak with bell peppers
serves 2

2 Tbsp peanut oil
2-3 large garlic cloves, grated
1 in of gigger root, grated
1 star anise, litely bruised
1 kaffir lime leaf, cut into thin strips
leaves from 2-3 sprigs of oregano and thyme, stems removed

1 top sirloin steak, trimmed and cut against the grain into thin 2-inch long strips
salt, pepper

1 yellow onion, peeled, cut in half, and thinly sliced
1 each small red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, cored and thinly sliced
handful of white mushrooms, quartered
4-5 asparagus stems, hard part removed, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tsp each soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, toasted seasame oil
a few basil leaves, to garnish
1 cup steamed white rice, to serve

Heat the stir fry pan over high heat. Turn on the kitchen fan. Add the oil, immediately add the aromatics, swirl and cook for about 30 seconds.

Add the steak, cook, stirring to brown on all sides. Remove the steak to a plate.

Add more oil if needed, add the vegetables, cook stirring untill soft and browned in places, a couple of minutes.
Add back the meat and the meat juice, stir to warm up. Adjust salt end pepper. Remove the star anise.

Mix the sauces, vinegar, and seasame oil, add to the pan, stir to mix. Garnish with basil leaves.
Serve over rice.

Why white wine? - No reason, I just was feeling like it this time. I would actually serve a Zinfandel with this dish.