Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

We’re all moved into our temporary home, and I’m slowly but surely getting acquainted with the kitchen. I’m not at all happy about the small, shallow sink that makes it difficult to wash large pots and pans. And, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to use the limited amount of countertop space. Despite these little inconveniences and my ongoing complaints, I have managed to do some cooking since we’ve been here. I’ve just been tentative about taking on baking projects that require space for working with dough. But, now I realize I was being ridiculous. I just read a review copy that I received of The Bread Exchange by Malin Elmlid who has baked all sorts of sourdough breads in different situations all over the world. She travels with her sourdough starter or creates a new one when she arrives at her destination. She asks to borrow ovens and seeks out the best flour she can find wherever she happens to be and makes it all work. And, beyond making bread in all the places she’s traveled, she’s also brought about a fascinating project involving trades of bread for gifts from other people. The trades aren’t about any kind of monetary exchange. Rather, her handmade bread that she’s watched over for hours and baked to perfection is traded for new experiences to learn from or things handmade by other people. The book is about bread and how she makes her sourdough loaves, but it’s also about her travels and experiences all over the world. Beyond the initial instructions for creating a sourdough starter and a handful of bread recipes, you’ll find stories and recipes from different occasions and locations. I do want to try the Rosemary Bread with Goji Berries. Elmlid received a goji berry tree as a trade in Germany. I didn’t know goji berries grow well in Germany, and now I wonder if I could grow a tree here. The stories meander from Egypt to Sweden to Bavaria, Poland, the US, and Afghanistan among other locales. The recipes include things like Fig Confit from an event in Berlin, Blood Orange Curd with Rosemary from a stay at a farmhouse in Bavaria, a Midsommar Cake with a Rhubarb Compote inspired by the Midsummer celebration in Sweden, Afghan Leek Dumplings, and Belgian Waffles. Since I still wasn’t ready to bake while I was reading this, I opted to start by trying the recipe for Maple-Roasted Squash Salad which was part of a menu from a roof-top party in Brooklyn. 

In the book, the recipe is made with pumpkin. I knew I’d never be able to peel a pumpkin easily, so I opted to use a butternut squash instead. The squash was peeled and diced, tossed with maple syrup and sprinkled with ground coriander, and then baked until tender. The next element of the salad was the yogurt sauce. Plain yogurt was mixed with minced garlic, and some red wine vinegar was to be added. I had just received some beautiful bottles of oils and vinegars from O Olive Oil and couldn’t wait to try the fig balsamic. I used that in the yogurt sauce instead of red wine vinegar. The salad was built by layering the roasted squash pieces with some yogurt sauce and topping it with sprouts. I garnished with chopped walnuts for some crunch. 

This salad was a light and lovely intro to fall. The roasted squash was completely of the season, but the yogurt and sprouts brightened and freshened it up a bit. The fig balsamic could quickly become my new best friend in the kitchen. It would be a perfect condiment drizzled over any roasted squash all by itself. And, now I think I’m ready to put my sourdough starter back to work. I know I can find the space to knead and shape some loaves no matter how cramped this temporary kitchen seems. 

Maple-Roasted Pumpkin Salad 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Bread Exchange. 
Contributed by Renee Baumann, SERVES 6 

I traded a loaf of sourdough bread, baked in the NoMad kitchen, for this recipe. I asked Renee to help me create a vegetable dish to pair with a burger but that would steer clear of the more typical burger accompaniments. I wanted a veggie dish that would stand on its own, complement the flavor of the burger, and showcase the agricultural bounty of New York. Browsing through the seasonal produce at the Union Square Market, the idea came to her: kadu bouranee, an Afghan dish that she had recently fallen in love with. Traditionally, the sweet roasted pumpkin is served with hot lamb or beef and a cold garlicky yogurt sauce. She borrowed the flavor combination and then took some liberties, choosing simple culinary treatments, with just enough seasoning to highlight the ingredients. 

MAPLE-ROASTED PUMPKIN 
1 1/4 lb/570 g pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes 
1/4 cup/60 ml maple syrup 
1/4 tsp ground coriander 
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

GARLIC-YOGURT SAUCE 
2 medium garlic cloves 
2 cups/480 ml tangy plain sheep- or goat-milk yogurt 
Sea salt 
1 tbsp red wine vinegar, plus more as needed (optional) 
Sunflower shoots for garnishing 
Toasted hazelnut or walnut oil for tossing 
Purple carrots, thinly sliced, for garnishing 

To make the pumpkin: Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Place the pumpkin cubes in a baking pan, drizzle with the maple syrup, and sprinkle with the coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 12 to 17 minutes, or until al dente. 

To make the sauce: Cut the garlic cloves in half lengthwise. Remove any green shoots in the center. Finely mince the garlic. Stir the garlic into the yogurt in a medium bowl and let the flavors meld for 10 minutes. Season with salt and the vinegar, taste, and add more as desired. If you are using a tangy yogurt, you may not need any vinegar. 

Toss the sunflower shoots with a little nut oil just before serving. Arrange a pile of shoots on top of the pumpkin and top with the yogurt sauce. Garnish with carrot slices. Serve as a warm or cold salad, depending on your mood, season, or schedule.

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Peach and Radish Salad with French Feta and Almonds

It’s not often that the first word I’d use to describe a collection of chefs’ recipes is “practical,” but that’s just what came to mind as I started reading a review copy I received of The Chefs Collaborative Cookbook. The Chefs Collaborative is a group of chefs, food professionals, and producers who have been fostering sustainable cooking through advocacy and education for 20 years. They inspire others to “embrace seasonality, preserve diversity and traditional practices, and support local economies.” The book is a collection of dishes from the member chefs that take you through the seasons with vegetables and fruits, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, and dairy and eggs. The recipes immediately seemed practical because of the many suggestions throughout for making use of what’s in season at the same time, what you may be growing yourself or finding at your farmers’ markets, or what you may have on hand to use as substitutes. There are ideas for using as much of harvested plants as possible like by saving your chard stems for a gratin, pickling watermelon rind, and adding squash leaves to a curry. I like those kinds of reminders especially when the end results look so delicious in the photos. There are also great bits of information throughout the book about reducing waste, choosing well as you shop, and cooking with different sustainably-produced ingredients. The Rainbow Chard Stem Gratin is from Chef Monica Pope; the Broccoli Hushpuppies made with broccoli stems comes from John and Julie Stehling; the beautiful Grilled Eggplant with Roasted Red Pepper and Black Olive Salad is by Nora Pouillon; Southwest Heritage Bean Soup using heirloom beans is from Kim Muller; and Chestnut Waffles with Roasted Apples and Cream is by Jennifer McCoy. It’s exciting to see a book full of such smart ideas, making use of sustainable ingredients so well, and bringing together interesting flavors. At the height of peach season, I love adding them to as many meals as I can, so I was delighted to see the Peach and Radish Salad with French Feta and Almonds by Michael Schwartz. That was my first stop in the book. 

To make the salad, red onion was thinly sliced on a Benriner mandoline and then left to soak in cold water to take off some sharpness and to make them extra crisp. I also sliced the radishes on the mandolin and soaked them in cold water. The peaches were pitted and cut into thin wedges. An easy vinaigrette was made with champagne vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. The drained vegetables, peach wedges, and some chopped basil were tossed with the vinaigrette and placed on platter. The salad was topped with crumbled feta, more chiffonade of basil, and toasted almonds. 

It’s a crunchy, savory, tangy, and sweet kind of salad, and I loved the mix of flavors. It was a perfect match for some grilled, Gulf shrimp. I’m deciding what to make next and thinking about the Farmstead Cheese Strata with Roasted Tomato Wine Butter. There’s also a Vanilla Carrot Cream Tart that I can’t wait to taste. There’s a lot to like about this book, and I predict its pages will be food-splattered from frequent use. 

Peach and Radish Salad with French Feta and Almonds 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Chefs Collaborative Cookbook by Chefs Collaborative and Ellen Jackson published by The Taunton Press in 2013. 

Michael Schwartz, Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink | Miami, Florida 

French feta cheese is typically made with sheep milk and tends to be milder and creamier than Greek feta. Its understated flavor nicely complements the sweetness of the peaches and the bright, peppery notes of the basil and radishes. Cheesemakers across the country are making a wide range of sheep milk cheeses, including French-style feta. Look for your own local source. 

Serves 6 

1/2 small red onion 
3 to 4 Easter Egg or French Breakfast radishes 
4 or 5 ripe peaches (about 2 pounds) 
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn 
1 cup French feta cheese, crumbled 
1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted 

Thinly slice the onions on a mandoline or with a very sharp knife. You should end up with about 1⁄4 cup. Fill a small bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes and soak the onions for 5 minutes; this mellows the sharp bite typical of raw onions and makes them crisp. Drain the onions and pat dry with paper towels. Thinly slice the radishes on the mandoline. 

Halve and pit the peaches. Cut each half into quarters and slice the quarters into thin wedges. Combine the oil and vinegar in a bowl with some salt and black pepper and whisk to combine. Add the peaches, onions, radishes, and basil, tossing gently to evenly coat the ingredients. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired. 

Divide the salad equally among six plates and top with the crumbled feta and toasted almonds. 

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Black Rice Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

As I read the May issue of Bon Appetit, I noticed one mention after the next of little, old Austin. I thought: what are we, Portland? Clarks Oyster Bar was noted in Dish of the Moment regarding shrimp toast; in a list of uses for hot sauce, the Michelada was inspired by one from a dive bar in Austin; and in the Good Health section, there was a story about our Lake Austin Spa Resort. We are pretty proud of our food scene here in Austin, so it’s nice to see our city being referenced more often in magazines lately. It was in that story about Lake Austin Spa where I found this Black Rice Salad, and the recipe is available online. This is an ideal dish to have on hand as our hot, summer weather settles in. Having a big bowl of this in the refrigerator makes grabbing a healthy lunch easier than ever. I collected some local green beans and tomatoes at the farmers’ market and mixed them with thawed edamame and sliced green onions. The bright red of the tomatoes and greens of the other vegetables look great with the dark, glossy black rice. Toasted walnuts add some protein and crunch. 

Black rice requires about 35 to 40 minutes of cooking, so start that first. Once the rice is tender, you need spread the rice on a baking sheet to let it cool. While the rice cooks, toast the walnuts in the oven, and whisk together the vinaigrette. Lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and honey were whisked together, and olive oil was drizzled in while whisking to complete the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I like a lot of pepper with lemon. The original recipe doesn’t include cooking the green beans, but I don’t really like raw green beans so I blanched them after cutting them into small pieces. The edamame was thawed, the green onions were thinly sliced, and the grape tomatoes were halved or quartered. Everything was tossed in a large bowl, and the salad was ready for serving. 

You could add a little decadence to this otherwise very healthy dish by topping it with crumbled goat cheese or feta, but it really doesn’t need it. My favorite accompaniment to it was extra tomatoes since they’re so good right now. This dish is just one more thing to love about Austin. 

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Spinach and Red Quinoa Salad with Pecans and Halloumi

I realize this just looks like a spinach salad, but there’s a lot more going on in there. For one, it was intended as a quinoa and spinach salad, and I did use the entire suggested amount of quinoa, but I had a lovely bunch of spinach and wanted to use every bit of it rather than only a couple of handfuls. So, the extra spinach is hiding a lot of the red quinoa. But, that’s not all. There are also chewy pieces of dried apricots, toasted pecans and pumpkin seeds, and a tangy dressing with pomegranate molasses and lemon juice. And, the grilled halloumi is seasoned with ras-el-hanout. All those lovely flavors combined to make much more than some simple, spinach salad. I found this dish in the book New Vegetarian Kitchen which was an impulse buy a few weeks back. I was standing in the coffee bar line at Whole Foods when I saw the bright green cover of this book on a display and naturally grabbed a copy to peruse while my cappuccino was being made. In it, there are things like Watermelon Curry on Black Lentil Cakes, Bhel Puri on Poppadom Crisps, Spring Vegetables with Crunchy Walnut Crumble and Harissa Mayonnaise, Vietnamese Tofu and Mango Salad Cups, and many other things I want to try. The variety of dishes including sweet, savory, starter, and main convinced me I needed to take this book home. 

The first step of making this salad is to cook three-quarters of a cup of red quinoa. Do you rinse your quinoa before cooking it? I never used to rinse quinoa or rice but I’ve started doing so lately. Quinoa has naturally-occurring saponins on the surface that could affect the taste if not rinsed away. Odds are that it was rinsed before being packaged, but I give it another rinse in a sieve just to be sure. So, rinsed quinoa was cooked, drained, and allowed to cool. Next, halloumi was sliced, brushed with olive oil, dusted with ras-el-hanout and grilled on each side on a grill pan. At the same time, pecans were toasted in the oven, and pumpkin seeds were added to the baking sheet for the last few minutes. I made a little extra dressing since I was also using extra spinach, and that included about four tablespoons of pomegranate molasses, two tablespoons of lemon juice, four tablespoons of olive oil, one crushed clove of garlic, a pinch of ground cumin, and some freshly ground black pepper. To build the salad, the cooled quinoa was placed in large bowl and topped with the dressing. Cleaned and chopped fresh spinach was added followed by some chopped dried apricots, minced red onion, and chopped parsley. Each serving of salad was topped with a few pieces of grilled halloumi and some pecans and pumpkin seeds. 

I’m easily drawn to any dish with halloumi. I love the salty flavor it adds and the firm texture that takes so well to grilling or searing. The spices that mixed with the dressing, sweet dried apricots, nuts, and parsley were an added bonus. This tasty meal-of-a-salad indicates that my impulse buy was a good one. 

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Marinated Cauliflower, Olive, and Caper Salad

At the tail end of cauliflower season, I’ve had enough of bubbly, gooey gratins. With spring just around the corner, I wanted to use what might be the last of our local cauliflower for something with more zip. I found a marinated cauliflower salad from Bon Appetit’s November 2003 issue, and that was just the inspiration I needed. Of course, I made a few changes by including carrots, switching up the olives, throwing in some capers, and adding some heat with crushed red pepper. But, I was thrilled with the basic idea of this mix of marinated vegetables that could top a bed of arugula for a fresh, crunchy salad of winter produce. You’ll want to start the salad either several hours or a day before you plan to serve it. The cauliflower, carrots, and olives need some time mingle in the dressing. I served it just like it appeared in Bon Appetit on a bed of baby arugula leaves, but it’s also great by itself. Or, you could top it with some toasted pine nuts and crumbled feta. 

I started with a large head of cauliflower and cut the florets into pretty small pieces of about an inch or smaller. You can add the chopped vegetables to a large mixing bowl as you go. Next, a mix of olives like green and black Cerignolas and Kalamatas were pitted and roughly chopped. While shopping for these olives, I discovered that red Cerignola olives exist. I’d never seen them before. I looked it up and learned that they’re dyed red during the curing process, and I lost interest. For a moment, I thought there really was a strange, red variety of olive, but no. Carrots were sliced and celery was chopped as well. I love using the very middle stalks of celery and chopping the pale green leaves and including them too. Last, capers were drained and added to the bowl. I didn’t add any salt to the vegetables or to the dressing because of the saltiness of the olives and capers. Taste as you go to decide if you’d like any added salt. The dressing was made by whisking together apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, some fresh herbs, and crushed red pepper. Olive oil was drizzled in while whisking, and black pepper was added last. I used both chopped fresh oregano and parsley because both are currently growing in my herb garden. You could certainly skip the oregano or used dried. Half of the dressing was poured over the vegetables in the mixing bowl, and it was stirred to distribute. Cover the bowl and store the remaining dressing separately. Both should be refrigerated until ready to serve. For serving, arugula leaves were tossed with some of the remaining dressing and placed on a platter to be topped with the marinated vegetables. 

The marinated cauliflower keeps well in the refrigerator for several days, and I found another great use for it that I can’t wait to show. The pops of flavor put this on the opposite end of the cauliflower spectrum from a cheese-filled gratin, and that makes it a good transitional dish on our way to spring. 

Marinated Cauliflower, Olive, and Caper Salad 
inspired by recipe from Bon Appetit November 2003 

Dressing: 
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar 
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard 
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (optional) 
2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsely 
pinch crushed red pepper 
1 cup extra virgin olive oil 
black pepper 

Marinated cauliflower: 
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into small florets 
2 cups mixed olives, pitted and roughly chopped ( a mix of green and black Cerignola olives and some Kalamatas made a good combination) 
3/4 cup sliced carrots 
3/4 cup chopped celery, (middle stalks with the leaves) 
1/4 cup capers in brine, drained 

To assemble: 
10 ounces baby arugula, washed and spun dry 

In a small bowl or glass measuring pitcher, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, minced garlic, herbs, and crushed red pepper, and slowly drizzle in the oil while continuing to whisk until emulsified. Season with black pepper to taste. I don’t add salt here since the olives and capers add saltiness to the salad. 

Combine all ingredients for the marinated cauliflower in a large mixing bowl. Add about half of the dressing to the vegetables and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for several hours. Store the remaining dressing in the refrigerator overnight as well. If you think of it, stir the cauliflower mixture a time or two to distribute the dressing while it marinates. 

Remove dressing and marinated cauliflower mix from refrigerator about an hour before serving. Toss arugula with some of the remaining dressing and place on a platter. Top the arugula with the marinated cauliflower and serve. 

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Tender Greens Salad with Crispy Fried Shallots

Picking up a book and taking a trip around the world without even leaving the couch is a lovely thing. That’s what Naomi Duguid’s books offer. They’re always filled with photography of everyday life, beautiful scenery, and inviting food that makes virtual travel all the more real. Her latest is Burma: Rivers of Flavor of which I received a review copy. The fresh, bright flavors of the food with ingredients I already love like chiles, lime, and shallots drew me in quickly, and with every turn of a page, there’s another dish I want to try. Duguid recently taught a class at Central Market Cooking School, and I attended with a media pass. She spoke about her visits to Burma, now officially called Myanmar, over the years and the style of eating she was introduced to there. She mentioned the rice meals that are accompanied by several condiments, vegetables, and salads and explained that when she ordered one or two things at a restaurant, she’d be served eight or nine items instead. Every dish of curry was served with rice, sauces, fresh and blanched vegetables, and side dishes. And, that’s the style of meal she prepared for the class. The food isn’t always necessarily spicy, but with the various condiments that typically accompany a meal, you can tailor each dish to suit your personal taste.

Burma shares borders with India, China, Laos, and Thailand as well as having a long coastline, and the food has similarities with that of its neighbors. Although, I thought it was interesting that coconuts don’t grow well in most of Burma, so coconut milk isn’t a very common ingredient. Chiles fresh and dried, chile powders, shrimp powder and paste, toasted chickpea flour, roasted peanuts, fermented soybean paste, shallot and garlic oil, peanut and sesame oil, and turmeric are some of the basics of a Burmese pantry.

During the class, we were served a tray of some fresh and some blanched vegetables with a Tomato Chutney made with tamarind pulp, dried chiles, fresh chiles, cilantro, and shrimp paste. It was a tangy, spicy, savory sauce to return to throughout the meal. The next dish was one of the simplest and most intriguing soups I’ve seen. A Silky Shan Soup was made by whisking chickpea flour, salt, and water in a bowl. More water was brought to a boil, and the chickpea flour mixture was slowly stirred into the boiling water. That was the soup. It was cooked until smooth and thick. The soup was served over rice noodles with several garnishes like chile oil, chopped roasted peanuts, shallot oil, palm sugar water which adds more of a smoky flavor than sweetness, and blanched pea tendrils. You can also make the soup as described and then pour it into a shallow pan and chill it. It will set up into a consistency like tofu, and that is sliced and used in salads. Other dishes included a roasted eggplant dish made sweeter with the addition of an egg; a chicken curry in which the chicken pieces had been marinated with a flavor paste of ginger, garlic, turmeric, and mild red chiles; and a salad made with blanched spinach that tasted so fresh and zippy I couldn’t wait to go home and make it myself. All of those dishes were served with rice, and the idea of the meal is to move about the plate and experience the different kinds of tastes. Nothing was too spicy, but taking a bite of a vegetable dipped into the tomato chutney delivered a kick. The chicken and eggplant were mild, and the salad dressed with lime had such big, bright flavors.

After the class, I set about creating my Burmese pantry. I fried shallots and saved the shallot oil, and then fried garlic. I toasted chickpea flour which is sometimes a main ingredient and sometimes more of a seasoning. I bought dried shrimp and ground it in a food processor to make shrimp powder. And, then I made that fantastic Tender Greens Salad at home. Some spinach was blanched, drained, and squeezed of excess water, and then it was tossed with fried shallots and garlic, dried shrimp powder, chopped roasted peanuts, toasted chickpea flour, shallot oil, lime juice, fresh shallot slices, and fish sauce. I’m looking forward to mixing those flavors in other dishes like a beautiful Chicken Salad Burma Style, Chickpea Soup with Lemongrass and Ginger, Golden Egg Curry, Kachin Salsa, Shrimp Curry, and Fried Rice with Shallots. It’s been a pleasure to get to know Burma from this book, and the food has been every bit as delicious as it looks on the page.

Tender Greens Salad with Crispy Fried Shallots
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission. Excerpted from Burma: Rivers of Flavor by Naomi Duguid (Artisan Books). Copyright 2012.

Serves 4 to 6

I learned this central Burmese version of the Shan dish Chinese Kale with Pork Cracklings from a friend in Rangoon. It’s very quick to make if you’ve got your pantry basics on hand, and it’s an easy and flexible dish to turn to when you have plenty of greens around. Start with any tender greens, briefly boil them to soften, and then chop and dress them. This dressing also works well for uncooked greens such as watercress or lettuce leaves (omit the fried garlic and reduce the dried shrimp powder slightly).

About 1 pound tender greens, such as Taiwan bok choi, baby bok choi, pea tendrils, spinach, or pumpkin or cucumber vine tendrils, trimmed of tough stems and well washed
2 tablespoons thinly sliced shallots, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained
2 tablespoons Fried Garlic, or a mix of Fried Garlic and Fried Shallots
2 to 3 tablespoons Dried Shrimp Powder
2 tablespoons Chopped Roasted Peanuts
1 to 2 tablespoons Toasted Chickpea Flour
1 tablespoon Shallot Oil, or more to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
About 2 tablespoons Fried Shallots

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Toss in the greens and boil until just tender; timing will vary with the greens, but it should take no more than 5 minutes, and in many cases (spinach, for example) much less than that. Drain the greens and press out the excess water.

When the greens are cool enough to handle, cut them into approximately 1 1/2-inch lengths and place in a wide shallow bowl. (You should have about 3 cups.)

Add the sliced shallots and the fried garlic or fried garlic–fried shallot mixture, and toss a little. Add the dried shrimp powder, peanuts, and toasted chickpea flour and toss. Add the shallot oil and lime juice and mix well with your hands, kneading the dressing lightly but firmly into the greens. Add the fish sauce or salt, as you wish, and mix well.

Mound the salad on a plate, top with the fried shallots, and serve.

Fried Shallots and Shallot Oil
Makes a generous 3/4 cup flavored oil and about 1 1/4 cups fried shallots

Here you get two pantry staples in one: crispy fried shallots and delicious shallot oil. Drizzle shallot oil on salads or freshly cooked greens, or onto soups to finish them. You can fry up shallots each time you need them, but I prefer to make a large batch so they’re around when I need a handful to flavor a salad. The trick with fried shallots is to cook them slowly, so they give off their moisture and get an even golden brown without any scorched or blackened patches. Once they’re removed from the oil and left to cool, they crisp up.

1 cup peanut oil
2 cups (about 1/2 pound) thinly sliced Asian or European shallots

Place a wide heavy skillet or a large stable wok over medium-high heat and add the oil. Toss in a slice of shallot. As the oil heats, it will rise to the surface, sizzling lightly.

When it’s reached the surface, add the rest of the shallots, carefully, so you don’t splash yourself with the oil, and lower the heat to medium. (The shallots may seem crowded, but they’ll shrink as they cook.) Stir gently and frequently with a long-handled wooden spoon or a spider. The shallots will bubble as they give off their moisture. If they start to brown early, in the first 5 minutes, lower the heat a little more. After about 10 minutes, they should start to color. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally to prevent them from sticking to the pan or to each other, until they have turned a golden brown, another 3 minutes or so.

Line a plate with paper towels. Use tongs or a spider to lift a clump of fried shallots out of the oil, pausing for a moment to shake off excess oil into the pan, then place on the paper towel. Turn off the heat, transfer the remaining shallots to the plate, and blot gently with another paper towel. Separate any clumps and toss them a little, then let them air-dry 5 to 10 minutes, so they crisp up and cool. (If your kitchen is very hot and humid, they may not crisp up; don’t worry, the flavor will still be there.)

Transfer the shallots to a clean, dry, widemouthed glass jar. Once they have cooled completely, seal tightly.

Transfer the oil to another clean dry jar, using all but the very last of it, which will have some stray pieces of shallot debris. (You can set that oil aside for stir-frying.) Once the oil has cooled completely, cover tightly and store in a cool dark place.

Fried Garlic and Garlic Oil
Makes about 1/4 cup fried garlic and 1/3 cup garlic oil You can use a similar technique to make garlic oil, but slice the garlic thicker (a scant 1/4 inch), rather than into thin slices, since it cooks much more quickly than shallots. Heat 1/2 cup peanut oil over medium-high heat, add 1/3 cup or so sliced garlic, and fry over medium heat until just golden, about 5 minutes. Lift out the garlic and set aside to crisp up. Store the oil as above. Fried garlic does not keep as well as fried shallots; refrigerate and use within 5 days.

Dried Shrimp Powder
Makes about 1 1/2 loosely packed cups

Dried shrimp are an important source of flavor as well as protein through most of Southeast Asia. In Burma they are often used powdered. The soft powder gives a subtle depth of flavor and also thickens sauces. Look for largish dried shrimp, more than 1/2 inch long if possible, and the darker-colored (more red than pale pink or beige), the better. Try to get shrimp that are a little soft rather than completely hard. The easiest way to grind them is in a food processor (traditionally, they are pounded in a mortar).

1 cup or more good-quality dried shrimp (see the headnote)

Place the shrimp in a bowl with water to just cover and set aside to soak for 10 minutes (20 minutes if the shrimp are very hard and dry). Drain and pat dry.

Transfer to a food processor and process until reduced to a slightly uneven, fluffy powder, from 1 to 3 minutes, depending on the toughness of the shrimp. Pause and wipe down the sides of the bowl occasionally if necessary. Store in a glass jar.

Chopped Roasted Peanuts
Makes a scant 1 cup These are handy to have when you are making Burmese salads, so it’s worth making a cupful or more at a time and storing them in a jar. Buy raw peanuts (in their papery skins or not, it doesn’t matter)—you’ll find them in Asian groceries and health food stores.

1 cup raw peanuts, with or without their papery skins

Place a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat, add the peanuts, and cook, stirring them frequently with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent burning. Adjust the heat if necessary so they toast and change color gradually, in patches; as they heat up, the skins, if still on, will separate from the peanuts. When they have firmed up a little and are dotted with color, remove from the heat, but keep stirring for another minute or so.

If using skin-on nuts, carry the skillet over to a sink or a garbage can and blow over it gently to blow away the loose skins. Rub the nuts between your palms to loosen the remaining skins and blow again; don’t worry if there are still some skins on your peanuts. Pick out and discard any nuts that are scorched and blackened.

Transfer the nuts to a wide bowl and set aside for 10 minutes or more to cool and firm up.

Once the peanuts are cool, place them in a food processor and process in short, sharp pulses, stopping after three or four pulses, before the nuts are too finely ground. You want a mix of coarsely chopped nuts and some fine powder. Alternatively, place the nuts in a large stone or terra-cotta mortar and pound with the pestle to crush them into smaller pieces. Use a spoon to move the nuts around occasionally; you don’t want to pound them into a paste, just to break them into small chips.

Transfer the chopped nuts to a clean, dry jar; do not seal until they have cooled completely. Store in the refrigerator.

Toasted Chickpea Flour
Makes 2 cups

For this distinctively Burmese pantry staple, which is very easy to make and store, chickpea flour is simply lightly toasted in a skillet. Chickpea flour is made from ground dried chickpeas (garbanzos) and contains no gluten (see the Glossary for more). The flour is available in South Asian groceries (the common name for it in India is besan), some health food stores, and specialty stores. Keep it in a well-sealed bag in a cool place, as you would any flour.

Make this in any quantity you wish; I usually make 2 cups at a time. Use in salads to add a layer of flavor and texture, and also to thicken sauces and soups, as directed.

2 cups chickpea flour

Place a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium-high heat, add the flour, and use a wooden spoon to stir it frequently as it heats and starts to toast. Lower the heat to medium if it starts to brown quickly, and keep stirring to expose all the flour to the heat. After about 6 or 7 minutes, it will start to change color. Lower the heat a little and continue to stir as it gets a little more color, then remove from the heat and continue to stir for another minute as the pan starts to cool. The whole process takes about 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer to a wide bowl and let cool to room temperature. Store in a clean, dry glass jar, well sealed.

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Poppy Seed Dressing

Long, long ago, in a time before I made most things from scratch, my favorite salad dressing was Briannas brand Poppy Seed Dressing. Kurt would occasionally grab a bottle of the Blush Wine Vinaigrette of the same brand, but if I got to the shelf first, it was Poppy Seed that landed in the shopping cart. For years, I’ve been whipping up all sorts of homemade vinaigrettes, creamy parmesan dressings, Caesar salad dressings, and whathaveyou, and I had all but forgotten about my old favorite poppy seed. Then, along came a story about poppy seeds in the April issue Saveur magazine. Included in that story was the recipe for Poppy Seed Dressing which was first made popular in the 1950s by Helen Corbitt. Poppy seed dressing is sweet, tangy, and somewhat creamy without being too thick. It’s perfect with butter lettuce, and it's a great match for cucumber and tomato.

Although it took me a few months to get around to making this dressing, it ended up being worth the wait. In August, our friends who live in Dublin were visiting Austin for a week. They brought us beautiful food gifts of Irish, cold pressed, extra virgin rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil with chile. This plain rapeseed oil, which is another name for canola oil, has a rich, nutty flavor, and it made the homemade poppy seed dressing extra flavorful. To make the dressing, poppy seeds were cooked for a few minutes until toasted, and then sugar, white wine vinegar, dry mustard powder, salt, pepper, and grated onion with the juice were added. The mix was cooked just until it came to a simmer, and then it was poured into the blender pitcher. Rapeseed oil and olive oil were added, and the dressing was pureed until smooth. You can store the dressing in the refrigerator for about five days. It may need a quick stir before using.

I always loved that poppy seed dressing from the grocery store, but this homemade version was better by far. The flavors were so fresh and bright. With locally grown, just-picked vegetables and homemade dressing, this simple salad was unbelievably good. I’m glad to have reconnected with my old favorite type of salad dressing, and now I’ll be making my own often.

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Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper

Food and art collide intentionally in the new book from Alain Passard. In The Art of Cooking with Vegetables, of which I received a review copy, he has created a collage to accompany each recipe. He explains that although the food usually inspires the collage, there have been times when creating the collage led to different combinations on the plate. The collages are abstract, colorful, and beautiful. I’d love to have them framed and lined up on a wall. The book was created in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his restaurant L’Arpege with vegetable recipes for each season. The recipes all have simple, straightforward titles in contrast to the complexity of the flavors in the dishes. For instance, Herb-Filled Peppers on Warm Crusty Bread is made with a filling of finely chopped, blanched fava beans, sauteed garlic and onion, and sorrel, cilantro, chervil, basil, and chives. The roasted, stuffed peppers are then served on toasted bread and topped with shaved parmesan. Ratatouille Brittany-Style in Butter is an interesting mix of cooked and raw vegetables with an eggplant and butter sauce served on the side. A recipe I can’t wait to try is the Avocado Souffles with Dark Chocolate. A souffle of mashed avocado, pistachio marzipan, vanilla, and egg whites, of course, is baked in the halved and hallowed avocado skins. A square of dark chocolate is set into each souffle before baking. Puffed, green domes baked in dark, black avocado containers is something I want to see and taste. From the section of the book focused on summer, the first recipe I had to try was the Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper. It’s a colorful, sweet-savory, fork-and-knife kind of salad made with fourme d’Ambert which is Kurt’s favorite cheese.

I actually planned ahead for this recipe. One of the ingredients is purple basil although green basil would have been fine instead. I had planted purple basil seeds and waited until some leaves appeared to make this. I wish the leaves had been more completely purple, but I went with what I had. The salad also includes sorrel, and red sorrel would have been pretty. Sadly, I was only able to locate green sorrel, but its lemony flavor was great. The colors, textures, sweetness, saltiness, and herbiness were all important here, and one more twist for this salad was the mix of hot and cold. The melon slices were actually stewed in a little olive oil. The melon became just slightly more tender and was the only warm element on the plate. To finish, the plate was drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar, and flaked sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper were added. I had a few walnuts on hand and decided to use them for garnish to add a crunchy item to the mix.

The sweet, warm, orange melon with the savory, big flavor of the blue-veined cheese was well-matched for looks and taste, and the bright mix of herbs cut the richness nicely. It was a surprisingly filling salad with the wedge of melon and chunk of fourme d’Ambert. Now, I’m flipping to the late summer pages of the book to decide which food as art piece to recreate next.

Melon with Blue Cheese and Black Pepper

Recipe courtesy of Alain Passard, L'Arpege, and Frances Lincoln Publishers, Ltd. Copyright 2012. Excerpted from The Art of Cooking with Vegetables. All rights reserved.

Serves 4, 40 minutes

1 large, ripe melon

150-200 g (5-7 oz) fourme d’Ambert or Stilton
3-4 tablespoons virgin olive oil
several handfuls of red or green sorrel, washed, and tough ribs removed
leaves from a bunch of purple or green basil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
fleur de sel
1 tablespoon black peppercorns crushed or coarsely ground

Drink with A Pineau de Charentes or a Floc de Gascogne

Slice the cheese into four equal-sized portions and leave them at room temperature for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, cut the melon into quarters, and scoop out and discard the seeds. Thinly cover the bottom of a saute pan with about one tablespoon of the olive oil, holding back the rest; arrange the melon quarters, flat on their sides, in a single layer, in the pan. Partially cover with a lid and stew the melon quarters gently over low heat for 25 minutes, turning them over from time to time.

While the melon is stewing gently, put the leaves of sorrel and basil in a salad bowl and dress them gently with the remaining oil.

To serve, arrange a quarter of melon, a portion of cheese and a helping of the salad on four individual plates. Season to taste with salt and crushed or coarsely ground black pepper. Sign each plate with a trail of balsamic vinegar.

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Grilled Quail with Savory Cherry-Zinfandel Compote and Kohlrabi, Fennel, and Bing Cherry Salad

Can we talk cherries? I go a little bonkers for them every year. Last year, it was Cherry Lambic Crisps and White Chocolate-Cherry Ice Cream and Cherry Sorbet Sandwiches. The year before, I couldn't get enough of Pickled Cherries. So, when Whole Foods asked if I'd like to help celebrate Cherry Fest by coming in for more fresh, lovely cherries and planning a special menu around them, it was an invitation to a kid into the proverbial candy store. Cherry Fest is taking place at all Austin Whole Foods stores this weekend, Friday through Sunday, with special events from 12pm until 5pm. On Friday, there will be a one-day sale on cherries. For a cherry-themed meal, I imagined quail would pair well with the fruit, and I set about hunting for sauce ideas. In Sunday Suppers at Lucques, there's a Savory Cherry Compote served with duck confit which I thought would work just as nicely with grilled quail. With the main dish decided, I started a search for a salad with cherries. Girl in the Kitchen had just what I'd hoped to find. It's a raw, crunchy mix of thinly sliced kohlrabi and fennel with fresh cherries, and it's made tangy and bright with chopped preserved lemon and fresh mint. 

I couldn't help making a few minor changes to the cherry sauce. Rather than making it with port, I opted for a Zinfandel on the fruitier side. Also, to keep this sauce firmly in the savory category, I added some minced shallot to the ingredients that simmered with the cherries. So first, spices and herbs were gathered in a cheesecloth bundle, and those included thyme, bay leaves, chiles de arbol, star anise, a cinnamon stick, and black peppercorns. A quarter cup of sugar was melted in one cup of water in a saucepan, that was brought to a boil, and then a half cup of Zinfandel, juice from two oranges, and the spice sachet were added. I added minced shallot at that point as well. The heat was reduced to a simmer, and one third pound of stemmed and pitted cherries was added and poached for about ten minutes. At that point, the sauce was strained into a heat-proof measuring pitcher to remove the cherries and sachet. The strained sauce was returned to the saucepan, and cooked until reduced by two-thirds. It was strained again, seasoned with salt and pepper, and just before serving, a tablespoon of butter was swirled into the sauce and the cherries were returned to the pan. I used semi-boneless quail which were cut in half, and I removed the wing tips. I marinated the halved quail in a mix of olive oil, minced garlic, sliced serrano chiles, chopped sage, oregano, and rosemary. Grilling the quail happens quickly. They only need a few minutes on each side over high heat on the grill. Then, I moved them to a cooler spot on the grill and basted them with some of the sauce. The grilled quail was served with more sauce including the cherries. The sauce is full of big, fruity, spicy flavors, but once it coated the quail, it seemed more subtle, like that was exactly where it belonged.  

The salad is a very quick preparation. Trimmed kohlrabi and fennel bulbs were cut in half lengthwise, and then thinly sliced on a mandoline. Cherries were pitted and sliced in half. Everything was combined in a large bowl, drizzled with olive oil, finely chopped preserved lemon was added, and it was seasoned with salt and pepper. You should taste before adding salt since the lemon adds a good bit of saltiness of its own. After tossing to mix well, chopped, fresh mint was sprinkled on top. It's a simple mix of well-coordinated flavors. Fruity sweetness, acidity, herbiness, and the floral anise of fennel were delightful in this cool, crisp salad. 

A dessert with cherries was easy to choose, and of course, I'm not done with cherries for this year. I've been having them for breakfast with Greek yogurt and homemade granola, and I still need to stock the freezer with a few bags after more have been pitted. And, more ideas for using cherries keep catching my eye: 

Cherry Tartlets 
Cherry Prosecco Granita 
Cherry and Rosemary Focaccia 

I received a $150 gift card from Whole Foods. I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

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Chicken and Mango Salad

I'm already thinking about salads. It's usually some point in July when all I want to eat is salad, but the mood might have started early this year. Or, maybe this is just a way of planning ahead. I'll have one more go-to salad when the heat of summer has gotten serious. Either way, this is a healthy, light meal with big, bright flavor. The dressing is a puree of diced, fresh mango, cilantro leaves, mint leaves, curry powder, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. It seems much more rich and decadent than it is since the thickness of the dressing comes from the mango. The idea came from the book Power Foods which is full of dishes like this that have great flavor and are good for you at the same time. I made a slight change to the dressing recipe. I used a flavored extra-virgin olive oil. I had received some products to sample from Corners of Time, and their Meyer lemon olive oil worked beautifully with the mango, herbs, and curry powder. Also, I used arugula rather than watercress as suggested for the salad, but both are peppery greens well-suited to the fruity dressing, grilled chicken, and avocado. 

This salad was a snap to construct. First, the chicken was marinated for a few hours in a mix of olive oil, white wine vinegar, and Dijon mustard before being grilled and sliced. The dressing was made in the blender, and mango, cilantro, mint, curry powder, and salt and pepper were pureed. Then, with the motor running, olive oil was slowly added until emulsified. My curry powder wasn't particularly spicy, so I added a pinch of cayenne after tasting. Fresh mango was used here, but thawed, frozen mango chunks would be fine. The salad was built with a layer of arugula or watercress topped with sliced chicken and avocado. The dressing was spooned over the chicken and a few herb leaves were scattered on the plate. The simple, few ingredients in the salad were just enough since there was so much flavor in the dressing.

I was delighted with this dressing and its texture, and I started imagining other uses for it. It's thick enough that it could be used in place of mayonnaise in the regular kind of chicken salad. It would also pair well with crab or shrimp, and it would work perfectly as a dipping sauce. Obviously, I'll be pulling out the blender to whip up this dressing repeatedly all summer long.

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Salt Cod, Orange, and Olive Salad

I have this one last citrus dish to sneak in here at the tail end of the season. This is from an article I cut from Delicious magazine two years ago, and the recipe is included on Taste.com. It’s one of those salads that look so pretty in the photo you know it’s going to taste great. I can’t help but be drawn to food like that. With several colors on a plate, there’s bound be a good mix of flavors as well. In this case, there are sweet, brightly-colored orange segments, briny and dark, black olives, pale and mild, soaked salt cod, peppery, pretty, green watercress, and some bite from skinny slices of red onion. I know some people fear that salt cod is going to be stinky or difficult to prep, but it really isn’t. I buy salt cod at Whole Foods that comes in a little wood box, and there’s no smell at all when it’s opened. I soak it in a bowl of cold water covered with plastic wrap that I leave in the refrigerator, and I change the water each day while soaking the fish for three days. The kind I buy is boneless and mostly skinless, so there’s very little work involved other than soaking. Once the salt is removed by soaking, the flavor is mild just like cooked fresh cod.

So, you do have to plan ahead when working with salt cod since it does need to be soaked for two to three days to remove the salt. For this dish, after the salt cod had soaked for a few days, it was then simmered in milk with parsley sprigs, thyme, and bay leaves. After the milk with herbs and salt cod came to a boil, it was left to sit, off the heat, to infuse for about 15 minutes. Then, the fish was removed and chilled in the refrigerator. While the fish chilled, the vinaigrette was made with garlic, sherry vinegar, white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and orange juice. To build the salad, chunks of the salt cod, thinly sliced red onion, orange segments, black olives, and watercress were tossed with the vinaigrette and then plated with parsley leaves. A mix of black olives is suggested, and I used some oil-cured black olives, black picholines, and some kalamatas.

Oranges and black olives are a classic pairing, and that fruity and briny combination was a lovely thing with the chunks of cod and fresh watercress and parsley. You have a great dish when all the components’ flavors go together so well and everything looks so good together at the same time.

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Parmesan Tuiles with Grapefruit and Chile Salad

It's common enough to find citrus fruits in salads. Grapefruit and avocado or orange and fennel are two classic examples. I wanted to make something similar but brighter and spicier and more of a winter version of a summer dish. I had a page from last September's Food and Wine in my idea stack, and I kept coming back to the parmesan tuiles with heirloom tomato salad. A small, crisp, savory cookie was a good vehicle for a bite or two of salad, and I started re-imaging the salad on top with winter's citrus. I had just received a box of Texas red grapefruit from TexaSweet, so I was ready to experiment. Some kind of chiles definitely needed to be included as well as something herby. I also wanted some sort of vegetable to balance the grapefruit's sweetness. I tried a mix of chopped grapefruit segments, tiny slivers of habanero, sliced green onion, and broccoli sprouts, and it was good but not perfect. The habanero was just way too hot in a big bite of salad, and the sprouts didn't add texture. I tried again with thinly sliced jalapeno and fresno chiles, some fine julienned pieces of radish, and parsley. That iteration combined all the flavors and textures I had in mind.

I actually made the parmesan bases two different ways. First, I followed the recipe from the magazine for the parmesan tuiles which is a mixture of grated parmigiano-reggiano, softened butter, a little flour, and some black pepper. That dough was formed into a log and cut into round cookies that baked into lacy, crisp wafers. The second version I made were just parmesan frico. I piled stacks of grated parmigiano-reggiano on a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked until the cheese melted into rounds. When cooled, the two cookies were almost the same with the latter being a little quicker and easier to make. For the salad, I cut the peel and pith off of two ruby red grapefruits, and then cut segments which I chopped into chunks. A jalapeno and a fresno chile were each thinly sliced, and two radishes were julienned. Two green onions were thinly sliced, and some parsley was finely chopped while a few leaves were left whole for garnish. All of the salad items except for the whole parsley leaves were combined in a bowl, seasoned with salt and black pepper, and then scooped with a fork to strain off the liquid when placed on each parmesan tuile.

The sweet, fresh, slightly bitter taste of the grapefruit was the center of attention, but the chiles did not go unnoticed. The radish, parsley, and green onion all added good balance. The big, bright flavors, as well as serving it on a parmesan cookie, made it a fun salad for winter. Of course, summer tomatoes would be good here too, but citrus worked extremely well for a February salad.

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