Portobello Shawarma and Quinoa Tabouleh

I’m always drawn to the flavors of Levantine cooking and the generous use of vegetables in varied dishes. A new book starts with those flavors and adds new ingredients to open up the possibilities of this style of cuisine. The book is Levant: New Middle Eastern Cooking from Tanoreen by Rawia Bishara, and I received a review copy. Her first book, Olives, Lemons, and Za’atar, stuck more closely to traditional recipes, but this time, she explores some new directions as she does at her New York restaurant Tanoreen. What I enjoyed about this book is that it gives you freedom to roam about a bit with traditional dishes. Rather than sticking to how a dish has always been made, new discoveries are celebrated and encouraged. The recipes are still inspired by Middle Eastern cooking but with a new perspective. For instance, the Shakshuka is a green version made with tomatillos, poblanos, and summer squash. Although hummus literally translates to chickpeas, here the concept is expanded into four variations, none of which include chickpeas. And, I can’t wait to try the Avocado Hummus. The Fall Fattoush is a twist on the familiar pita bread salad made with red cabbage, radicchio, and shredded beet. There’s a vegetarian Kibbie made with potatoes and spices that’s served on a lentil stew that looks perfect for a cold, fall day. There are meat dishes too like Harissa Baked Chicken, Tanoreen Spiced Cornish Hens, and Grilled Fish Kabobs. But, I got sidetracked among all the vegetable options and had to try the Portobello Shawarma and Quinoa Tabouleh first. 

This vegan shawarma starts with chopped Portobello mushrooms and lots of spices. The chopped mushrooms were combined with black pepper, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, nutmeg, chopped fresh garlic, olive oil, and white vinegar. The mixture was cooked in a heated skillet until the mushrooms were tender. I was surprised at the amount of vinegar but found that it gave the mixture just the right added flavor. The cooked mixture was intended to be served on fresh pita with sandwich toppings like cucumber, tomatoes, pickles, and tahini sauce. I went in more of an appetizer direction and served the mixture on homemade, baked pita chips, and topped it with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. The Quinoa Tabouleh is a lot like the traditional dish only with quinoa used in place of bulgur wheat. Diced fennel is suggested along with tomatoes and cucumbers, but since that’s not in season here I used chopped yellow zucchini instead. Lots parsley, cilantro, mint, green onions, and lemon gave it the expected flavors of tabouleh. 

I always like vegetarian dishes like this Portobello Shawarma, but these mushrooms actually caught me by surprise. The spices, garlic, and vinegar gave the mushrooms incredible flavor. They would have made a fantastic sandwich filling and were a fun topping for pita chips. The tabouleh was as fresh and bright as ever but just a little different with quinoa instead of bulgur wheat. It’s inspiring to see new takes like these on traditional dishes, and the results are delicious.

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Cucumber Umeboshi Salad with Cashew Crunch

I love the idea of collaborating with artists to create food. Everything about cooking is part of a creative process from choosing what to make to gathering the ingredients to the actual preparation and, of course, the presentation. Julia Sherman has been making salads with artists and chronicling the results on her blog Salad for President, and now she has a book of the same name. I received a review copy. In addition to cooking with creative professionals, she also planted the MoMA PS1 Salad Garden on the rooftop of the museum in Queens which became an ideal location for shared meals, performances, and talks. Sherman writes: “An artist reinvents the things you already know. They reframe the details of life and prod us to pay closer attention.” She suggests home cooks do the same by experimenting with ingredients and flavors and finding new ways to compose a meal. And, salads are perfect for experimentation and new composition. In some cases, the concept of a salad is extended to include brothier expressions like soup or cooked combinations like charoset. There’s even a chapter for “Other Abuses of the Format” including cocktails and desserts. But mostly, the book is full of interesting salads both simple and complex. There are also interviews with artists and other well-known personalities, and each one ends with a recipe from the interviewee. Alice Waters was interviewed, and she included her now classic recipe for Baked Goat Cheese with Garden Lettuces. Some other salads that caught my eye include the Tatsoi, Macadamia Nuts, and Shaved Coconut with Yuzu Kosho Dressing; Potato Salad with Sprouted Mung Beans, Yogurt, and Fried Black Mustard Seeds; and Pulled Chicken Salad with Napa Cabbage and Red Curry Puffed Rice. And, the Cucumber Umeboshi Salad with Cashew Crunch sent me off to find umeboshi right away. 

I found umeboshi, or salted plums, at a nearby Japanese market, and they’re often made with MSG. Luckily, I found a brand without it. You need to remove the pits, and then for this recipe, they were minced. I had two different types of locally-grown cucumbers, and they were partially peeled in stripes and chopped into chunks. For the cashew crunch, cashews were chopped and combined with sesame seeds. Nori was cut into skinny shreds and added to the cashews with a paste made from black garlic, fish sauce, and a minced habanero. After stirring, the nut mixture was spread on a baking sheet and toasted in the oven until browned. Once cool, it became a crunchy crumble topping. The minced plums were added to the cucumber chunks and tossed with rice vinegar. To serve, the cucumber mixture was topped with the cashew crunch. 

I loved the flavor of the salted plums with the cucumber. And, the cashew crunch could easily become a daily snack. The crunchy, umami-packed topping will be making frequent appearances in my kitchen. If you’re looking for salad inspiration or just ideas for using all sorts of vegetables, this book will serve you well. 

Cucumber Umeboshi Salad with Cashew Crunch 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from Salad for President: A Cookbook Inspired by Artists. 

Serves 4 to 6 
Prep Time: 20 minutes 

In Japan they say that umeboshi plums possess magical healing powers, the ability to cure everything from ancient Samurai battle fatigue to the modern-day hangover. Umeboshi are shockingly expensive, but a little of their concentrated, salty tartness goes a long way. When I buy cashews for cooking, I always opt for the broken cashew pieces as opposed to whole nuts; they are more affordable and taste just as good. Black garlic is fermented, and has twice as many antioxidants as raw garlic; its flavor is much sweeter and milder, like garlic candy, in a good way. You can find this at your Asian grocer, but it is widely available in mid- range supermarkets as well (they even sell it at Trader Joe’s). If you can’t find it, just substitute roasted garlic cloves with an added pinch of sugar. 

For the cashew crunch 
2 cloves black garlic, peeled 
1 teaspoon fish sauce 
1 teaspoon minced habanero pepper (or more if you love spice) 
1⁄2 cup (65 g) raw cashew pieces 
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds 
1 (8 x 7 1⁄2-inch/20 x 19-cm) sheet unseasoned nori 
1 tablespoon untoasted sesame oil or vegetable oil 

For the salad 
2 pounds small cucumbers (about 6 lemon or Kirby and 10 Persian), chilled 
2 umeboshi plums 
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar 

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). 
2. Using a mortar and pestle, make a paste out of the black garlic, fish sauce, and habanero. 
3. Roughly chop the cashews and toss them in a bowl with the sesame seeds. Cut the nori into thin shreds and add them to the cashew mixture. Add the black garlic paste and stir to combine it with the other ingredients as evenly as possible. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat it evenly with the sesame oil. Spread the nut mixture out on the foil and toast it on the middle rack of the oven for about 10 minutes, until the nuts start to brown lightly. Remove them from the oven and let them cool to room temperature. The nuts should go from sticky and soft to crunchy clusters as they cool. 
4. Working with the cold cucumbers, remove every other strip of the skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and discard (if using Persian cucumbers, you won’t need to do this). Cut the cucumbers into 1-inch (2.5- cm) chunks, as shown, or into ribbons and put them in a salad bowl. 
5. Remove the pits from the plums and discard. Mince the plums into a chunky paste and toss them with the cucumbers. Add the vinegar and toss to coat evenly (you might want to use your hands to break up the plums here). Top with the crunchy cashew topping and gently toss to combine.

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Green Bean and Shell Bean Fattoush

A new book from Martha Stewart always gets my attention and so do books focused on vegetables. I was delighted to receive a review copy of the latest, Martha Stewart's Vegetables. This brings together dishes for every season with all sorts of vegetables, but it’s not a vegetarian cookbook. The recipes highlight what’s great about the vegetables, and in some cases the star vegetable isn’t the only player in the dish. The chapters group types of vegetables like Bulbs, Roots, Greens, Pods, Fruits, etc. In this case, Fruits refers to tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and cucumber because they are technically fruits due to the seeds held within the flesh. Each chapter begins with an introduction to its type of vegetable with good information about how the plants are grown, their growing season, and some general tips for buying, storing, and preparing. This book is a little breezier about the vegetable information and doesn’t go quite as deep into the taxonomy of the plants as does Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison, but it offers a very good overview of the different kinds of plants we include in our meals. And, page after page reveals beautiful dishes ranging from stir-fries to sandwiches to soups, salads, and pasta with inspiration from several types of cuisine. The Herb-and-Scallion Bread Pudding would be perfect for Thanksgiving, Beet Risotto with Beet Greens would brighten a winter table, and Twice-Cooked Potato and Leek Casserole looks like a comfort food dish no one could resist. I want to try the Fried Rice with Collard Greens, Fennel and Smoked Salmon Salad, and Moroccan Vegetable Soup. Right away, I was intrigued by the Green Bean and Shell Bean Fattoush, and all the main ingredients are in season here right now. 

In the book, the recipe name is Green Bean, Shell Bean, and Sweet Onion Fattoush. But, I have an onion thing. I only use onion if it’s minced or if it’s in pieces large enough that I can easily scoot them out of my way on the plate. So, in my version, the onion was minced and whisked into the dressing for this salad. But, the important parts of this dish were the green beans, shell beans, and cucumber. I found all of those at Boggy Creek Farm. For green beans, I used purple and green long beans that I cut into two-inch lengths before blanching. The shell beans were fresh, golden creamer peas that cooked quickly with just about 15 minutes of simmering. Both kinds of beans were shocked with cold water after cooking and left to drain. The dressing, in my case, was made with minced onion, lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic. Olive oil was whisked into the mixture. Pita was grilled and broken into shards. The cooled and drained beans were tossed with chopped cucumber, parsley, and homegrown basil rather than mint. Crumbled feta was added along with the dressing, and the pita pieces were added to each serving. 

This was a light and fresh take on using shell beans for me. Each year when their season arrives, I usually add them to a summery stew with chunks of summer squash and tomato. This herby, lemony salad was a delicious way to highlight their mild, buttery flavor. I know I’ll be reaching for this book often as different vegetables appear throughout the coming months. 

Green Bean, Shell Bean, and Sweet Onion Fattoush 
Recipe courtesy of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright 2016 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Photographs copyright 2016 by Ngoc Ming Ngo. 

In late summer, fresh green beans and shell beans make a wonderful pair, one sharp and crisp-tender, the other buttery and plump. They’re the beginnings of our version of fattoush, a Middle Eastern bread salad that’s a fine way to enjoy summer produce. You can blanch the beans in the same pot: first the green beans, and then the shell (and not the other way around, since shell beans release a lot of starch). 

Serves 4 

2 lemons, 1 zested and both juiced 
2 garlic cloves, crushed 
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper 
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing 
1/2 pound haricots verts, trimmed 
3/4 cup shelled fresh shell beans, such as limas 
3 pita breads (6-inch) 
1/2 large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped 
1 English cucumber, quartered and cut into 1- inch pieces 
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled 
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint, plus more for garnish  
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 

1. Whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic, and season with salt. Whisking constantly, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream and whisk until emulsified. Season with pepper. Let stand 15 minutes; discard garlic. 

2. Blanch haricots verts in a pot of salted boiling water until crisp-tender and bright green, about 1 minute. Transfer beans to an ice-water bath (reserve pot of water); let cool, then drain and pat dry. Place in a large bowl. 

3. Return water to a boil. Blanch shell beans until just tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to ice bath; let cool, then drain in a colander and pat dry. Combine with haricots verts. 

4. Heat a grill (or grill pan) to medium. Split each pita in half. Brush both sides of pita halves with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill pita, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 1 minute per side. Let cool, then tear into 1-inch pieces. 

5. Add onion, cucumber, feta, herbs, and pita to the beans; drizzle with ½ cup vinaigrette; toss well to combine. Season with salt and pepper; garnish with mint. Let stand at least 10 minutes and up to 1 hour before serving. 

TIP The pita is charred on the grill (or under the broiler) to make it sturdy enough to soak up the vinaigrette without falling apart. The longer the salad sits before serving (up to an hour), the better the flavors and textures will be. 

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Black Drum Ceviche with Coconut Water, Cucumber, and Avocado

For a quick virtual vacation to the Yucatan, just open up the book Hartwood by Eric Werner and Mya Henry. As I turned the pages of my review copy, I was brought into the restaurant, Hartwood, and then on into the jungle where many of the ingredients used there are grown. The restaurant was built in 2010 in Tulum and was intentionally left mostly open to the surrounding natural setting. They have solar panels and a gas generator instead of power lines, ice is delivered, and the cooking is done over fire on a grill or in a wood-burning oven. The experience of the restaurant and the food served is very specific to the place despite the challenges that brings. The upkeep of the restaurant is a constant chore due to the heat, humidity, and rain. Werner and Henry clearly didn’t set out to take it easy after moving to the Riviera Maya. But, they did intend to take full advantage of all the local flavors available. The book explains how those flavors are built with roasted oils, pickled vegetables, and the use of wood smoke in the cooking. Lively mixes of fruits and chiles are seen in many dishes, and there are always suggestions for substitutions for ingredients and cooking techniques. I’ve marked the page for the Lentil and Papaya Salad with Lime and Honey Vinaigrette that’s made with summer squash and puffed amaranth seeds. There’s also a Grilled Nopales Salad with Queso Cotija served with a pink hard-boiled egg that was pickled with dried Jamaica flowers. The grilled seafood dishes all look fresh and flavorful like the Maya Prawns with Chipotle Mezcal Sauce served with sliced cucumber, radishes, and mandarin orange segments. There are also vegetable dishes, meat, desserts, and fruity cocktails. My first task was to choose one of the several recipes for ceviche because they all sounded fantastic. 

Of course, the most important thing about ceviche is choosing some perfectly fresh fish. In the book, each recipe is specific to a different type of fish, but there are suggestions for other good options depending on what’s available. In the past, I’ve always cut fish for ceviche into small cubes. Here, thin cuts against the grain are advised. The pieces are shaped more like sashimi. I decided to try the recipe called Ceviche de Robalo in the book, and robalo is a fish that moves in and out of fresh and saltwater. I used Gulf-caught black drum instead. My reason for choosing this version of ceviche was the juices, fruits, and vegetables that come together in it. The sliced fish was marinated in orange juice and lime juice with chopped red onion, sliced red serrano, and salt. Meanwhile, a cucumber was juiced by pureeing it in the blender and then straining it. That juice was mixed with coconut water. After the fish had marinated in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour, it was moved with a slotted spoon to a serving dish. The cucumber-coconut water mixture was ladled over the fish. The garnishes were grapefruit segments, thin batons of jicama and radishes, little cubes of cucumber and avocado, and I added cilantro leaves. I can never resist baking some long, thin wedges of tortillas to serve with ceviche. 

Enjoying this dish was like a mini getaway with the flavors of coconut, serrano, fresh fruits, and crunchy vegetables. I might always add coconut water to ceviche from now on. Obviously, this restaurant makes the most of the variety of produce available nearby. I’d like nothing more than to visit in person and stroll in after a day on the beach, but until I can get there, I’ll keep virtually traveling with the book. 

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Spicy Clam Salad

Every time I talk about the book On Top of Spaghetti I point out that I don’t play favorites with my cookbooks, but it’s one that is particularly special. It’s all pasta on every page, and everything I’ve made from it has been fantastic. Today, I won’t be talking about that book but instead about its authors and their first book. For years, I’ve been meaning to get a copy of Cucina Simpatica by Johanne Killeen and George Germon because of how much I enjoy On Top of Spaghetti. For that matter, their restaurant, Al Forno, is the reason Providence, Rhode Island has been on my list of places I want to visit. I still haven’t made it to Rhode Island, but I finally ordered Cucina Simpatica which was originally published in 1991. This one is more than pasta. It covers all of the Italian-based food they serve at Al Forno from starters and salads to pizzas, pasta, braises, and vegetables. And, now I have a new reason to want to visit their restaurant. I learned that most of their desserts are made to order including the ice cream that’s churned fresh for each customer. I checked the website, and their menu states that they continue to do this. Obviously, they have a knack for hospitality and an understanding of how to make really good food. As I was reading this book and choosing what to make from it first, our CSA box arrived. We received big ears of corn, pretty ripe tomatoes, and cucumbers. That helped me decide to try this Spicy Clam Salad. 

Making the salad requires pre-prepping a couple of items, but it all comes together simply for serving. First, oven-cured tomatoes were made. In the book, they suggest slow-roasting cored, whole tomatoes at 200 degrees F with basil or parsley and olive oil for eight to twelve hours. I took a quicker route by quartering the tomatoes, increasing the temperature, and giving them two hours in the oven. The flavor was concentrated and delicious. Meanwhile, hot pepper-infused olive oil was made by combining olive oil, paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic in a saucepan and simmering for 10 minutes. The pan was removed from the heat and left to infuse for 30 minutes before being strained. Next, the corn was cut from the cobs and cooked, and croutons were made with melted butter and garlic. The last thing to cook was the clams. They were steamed with white wine and water, and I added more crushed red pepper flakes. To complete the salad, the corn, croutons, chopped cucumbers, some sliced green onion, arugula, and parsley leaves were tossed with red-wine vinegar and the spicy olive oil. That was arranged on a platter, and the salad was topped with oven-cured tomatoes and the steamed clams. 

Fresh corn and clams always go nicely together, and all the other ingredients were like summer’s greatest hits. I always like clams, but this instantly became one of my favorite uses of them. Once again, Johanne Killeen and George Germon did not disappoint. I’m delighted to have another book of theirs to cook from, and I’d love to see a new one from them too. 

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Greek Salad

This is a story of one of the simplest dishes having the most impact. I have this memory of a Greek Salad that I ordered at a restaurant in Palm Desert during one of our trips there. It was my favorite thing I ate that entire trip. Tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta makes for such a simple combination that it’s weird that I even remember it. But, it was perfect. When I read my review copy of A Girl and Her Greens, I found myself nodding in agreement with April Bloomfield’s description of her Greek Salad. It starts with fresh, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, and I have a little thing about fresh cucumbers. Just like tomatoes, farm-fresh, just-picked cucumbers have so much more flavor than anything from the grocery store. And, I love bringing home different varieties of cucumbers. I found two types of cucumbers and several types of tomatoes at Boggy Creek Farm including the red and purple Indigo Rose tomatoes. After you gather the best of those two ingredients, Bloomfield suggests you take the time to cut them into different shapes to make the salad more interesting. Then, those chopped pieces get refrigerated to get them nice and cold. She marinates the onions in vinegar and oil for a few minutes. These little details along with carefully choosing the type of olives and using a good goat feta make this simple salad great. Thoughtful considerations like these are found in all the recipes in the book. I did a similar nodding in agreement as I read the Eggplant Caponata and Piedmontese Peppers with Tomato, Basil, and Anchovy recipes. There’s nothing too difficult here but lots of smart techniques for delicious vegetable dishes. 

So, to make this salad, the chopped cucumbers and tomatoes were placed in separate bowls and refrigerated for 30 minutes. That way, if juice from the tomatoes runs, it won’t get the cucumbers soggy. While those chilled, I sliced red onion into rounds and marinated them in Banyuls vinegar with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt. Separately, a vinaigrette was made with lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. Once the cucumbers and tomatoes were chilled, they were combined, the lemon vinaigrette was poured over them, and they were gently tossed. There’s mint in this version of the salad, and I’m lucky to have mint growing in front of our rented, temporary home that I can use. I have my own basil in pots, but everyone knows I’m incapable of growing mint myself. I used both herbs in the salad. For olives, Bloomfield uses pitted Nicoise. I like Nicoise olives fine, but meaty Greek olives are my favorites. I used some of both. And, I used our locally made Pure Luck goat feta. To serve the salad, the cucumbers and tomatoes were placed on a plate, the onions were set on top, olives were scattered about with the mint and basil, and feta was crumbled over everything. Last, the remaining liquid from the bowl with the onions was drizzled over the salad. 

Taking care with each step of this salad made it wonderful. The service wasn’t nearly as good as what I remember when I ordered that Greek Salad in Palm Desert and the view from the dining table this time didn’t compare at all, but the flavors, textures, and freshness were just as good if not better. Next up from this book, I have to try a very similar salad that becomes a sandwich filling on thick, white bread. It even inspired me to bake the bread myself. 

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Citrusy Quinoa Salad with Avocado, Cucumber, and Almonds

This is Thanksgiving week. I’m getting ready to bake bagels and start on a buttery pie crust. I’m double-checking my shopping list for how many total cups of cream I need before I rush out to gather the rest of the ingredients for the big day. Our menus for breakfast and the main meal are planned, and they’re full of rich and decadent things suited to a holiday that’s all about food. And, now I’m showing you a not-so-Thanksgiving-y light and lovely quinoa salad. Maybe think of this as the perfect day after Thanksgiving dish. The combination of Ruby Red grapefruit and avocado is what got my attention. The salad is found in The Kitchn Cookbook , and I received a review copy. It’s actually more than a cookbook. It begins with tips for setting up or reorganizing your kitchen. There are specific ideas for how to arrange cookware and utensils, but more importantly, it gets you thinking about how you use your kitchen and what will work best for you. There are also photos and ideas from several very different but all beautiful kitchens. Then, the book has you covered with tips for stocking your pantry and some basic cooking techniques. This leads up the recipes section with dishes for every meal of the day plus sweet treats and party planning ideas. The recipes come with lots of suggestions for variations to make them your own. The Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Hash with Baked Eggs would be great as a vegetarian brunch dish, or roasted chicken or cooked sausage could be added. Homemade Potato Chips are offered either baked or fried. The Roasted Shrimp with Horseradish Ketchup is now on my to-try list because I realized I’ve never made homemade ketchup. And, I’ve somehow never tried the extremely popular Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream that appeared TheKitchn.com. It’s made from frozen, very ripe bananas, and I can’t wait to make it. But, I had just received some Ruby Red grapefruits from my CSA, and this quinoa salad came first. 

I used a three-color mix of quinoa because I love the different colors, and I’ve heard the red and black varieties have more nutrients than white quinoa. It should be rinsed before being cooked, and the cooking process is a quick hands-off 20 minutes of simmering. After cooking, the quinoa was left to cool. Meanwhile, I made the vinaigrette with lemon juice, minced shallot, and sherry vinegar. Grapefruit sections were supremed and then chopped into big chunks. Almonds were toasted and chopped, and cucumber and celery were diced. The cooled quinoa was combined with the cucumber, celery, grapefruit, and some lemon zest. The vinaigrette was incorporated, and then the almonds were folded into the salad. I had a pretty head of butter lettuce from my CSA, so I served the quinoa salad in some lettuce leaves. It was topped with sliced avocado and crunchy, flaked sea salt. 

There are a lot of great flavors and textures here, and the sweet, citrusy grapefruit with the tender avocado was as delicious as always. I particularly love the mix of grapefruit, avocado, and shellfish, so I served roasted shrimp with the salad. Crisp celery and cucumber and crunchy nuts added nice variety. If you only add the avocado as a topping to each serving, the salad can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. I think it would also be perfect with some sliced, leftover turkey. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Citrusy Quinoa Salad with Avocado, Cucumber, and Almonds 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Kitchn Cookbook . 

Serves 4 to 6 
Once we nailed down how to cook quinoa perfectly every time (our post on making quinoa still brings thousands of readers to our site every day), a whole new world of seed salads opened up. Tossed with grapefruit segments, cucumber, and toasted almonds, and topped with creamy avocado, this quinoa salad makes a great lunch dish, or a side for dinner. 

1 cup quinoa 
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth 
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 teaspoon zest and 1 1/2 tablespoons juice) 
1 large shallot, minced 
1/2 tablespoon sherry vinegar 
1 Ruby Red grapefruit 
1/3 seedless English cucumber (about 1/4 pound), unpeeled and diced small 
2 celery stalks, diced small 
1/2 cup sliced toasted almonds 
Kosher salt, to taste 
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced, for serving 
Flaked sea salt 

Rinse the quinoa for 2 to 3 minutes in a fine-mesh strainer, rubbing vigorously. Drain. Heat a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and add a teaspoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the quinoa and cook, stirring to coat the quinoa with olive oil, for 1 minute. (The quinoa may pop, so be prepared to stir right away.) Pour in the broth, bring to a boil, cover, and turn the heat down to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off the heat and let the quinoa sit, with a folded dishtowel over the pot lid, for 5 minutes. Line a large baking sheet with parchment and spread out the cooked quinoa in an even layer. Let it cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients. 

Whisk together the lemon juice, shallot, and sherry vinegar. Slowly stream in the remaining oil while whisking, until the vinaigrette is emulsified. Set aside. To prep the grapefruit, peel away the top and bottom of the grapefruit rind until you can see the flesh. With a sharp knife, peel away all rind and pith along the curve of the grapefruit. Then cut between the white segments and cut out the flesh. Roughly chop the grapefruit segments and set aside. 

Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and add the cucumber, celery, grapefruit, and lemon zest. Add the vinaigrette and toss gently. Fold in the almonds. Taste and adjust the salad to taste with salt and pepper. At serving time, top the salad with the avocado, a sprinkle of flaked sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. This dish will keep in the refrigerator for 1 day in a sealed container. 

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Purple Hull Pea Salad and Butternut Squash Galettes

It’s going to take a bit of explaining to tell you how this dish came to be. First, some beautiful, fresh things like purple hull peas, a butternut squash, cucumbers, sweet peppers, and cherry tomatoes had just arrived from Farmhouse Delivery. If you’ve never tried purple hull peas, they’re similar to black-eyed peas with a slightly milder flavor. When they’re freshly picked, they cook to a nice state of tenderness in about twenty minutes. I’d been holding onto a recipe from Saveur magazine just waiting for some fresh field peas to come into season so I could try it. That recipe was from a story about Senegalese cooking that included dishes made with black-eyed peas, okra, and hot chiles. The recipes were perfectly suited to what grows well here. So, from that story, I wanted to try the Saladu Nebbe which is a black-eyed pea salad with lime juice, parsley, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and habanero. I made it with purple hull peas rather than black-eyed peas. On a completely different topic, I’d also been looking longingly at some little potato galettes from an old issue of Living magazine. I believe the page for these galettes was cut from a 2003 issue and the exact recipe isn’t online, but they’re simple, small rounds made up of very thin slices of potato. I got a crazy idea to try making the same thing with butternut squash instead of potato and then imagined the big flavors of the purple hull pea salad would marry well with a sweet, crispy galette. And, just like that, the dish you see here was created.

I admit the galettes would be easier to make with potato than with butternut squash. The squash slices didn’t stick together while cooking quite as well as potato slices would. After flipping each galette, I did have to push a few squash slices back into place to keep the round shape. I started by peeling a butternut squash and cutting off the straight section. That straight part was cut in half lengthwise and then thinly sliced on a Benriner. Olive oil and butter were heated in a large skillet, and a round galette was formed by layering the squash slices in a circle in the skillet. Each galette was made up of two layers of squash slices. The galette was seasoned with salt and pepper, and a smaller skillet was set on top of the galette to keep it very flat. After a few minutes, the galette was flipped, a few squash slices that slid out of position were pushed back into place, it was seasoned with salt and pepper again, and the small skillet went back on top. For the salad, the purple hull peas were cooked in water for about twenty minutes and then drained and set aside. The dressing was made by whisking chopped parsley and lime juice while drizzling in canola oil. Then, chopped green onion, sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, and a seeded, finely chopped habanero were combined in a big bowl. The dressing was added, and the salad was seasoned with salt and pepper. After tossing to combine, the salad was left to sit at room temperature for about an hour so the flavors could get acquainted.

This dish might have come about in a less than obvious way, but I was happy with the result. The finished galettes were crispy on the edges, tender in the middle, sweet, and buttery all at once. And, the fresh, bright, and spicy flavors of the salad were a good match. I always find good ideas in my recipe files, and who knows what they'll inspire next.

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Chilled Noodles with Vegetables and Crushed Peanuts

Labor Day supposedly marks the end of summer, but the end of our summer’s heat is nowhere in sight. I’m really not complaining since this summer has been so much less intense than last year, but at this point in the season, no matter how relatively mild the year may be, it’s still been hot for many, many days in a row. So, as I was going through old recipe files the other day, something that understandably caught my attention was an old article about chilled noodle salads. Nice, cold, crisp salads are always welcome on hot days, but don’t chilled noodles make a salad seem even colder? Maybe they retain their coldness longer than vegetables do, or maybe I’m just imagining that. Either way, I was convinced that chilled noodles and vegetables was the way to go for a few late summer meals. That article I found in the files was just a starting point. From there, I went on to look up noodle salads in a few books and eventually found the recipe that I worked from for this dish in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The cooked and cooled noodles were mixed with a rice vinegar dressing made with ginger and chopped chiles, and then I served it as a composed salad with the vegetables arranged on top. The changes I made to the original were only out of convenience. Rice noodles were easier to find than mung bean noodles, and I had some arame which I used instead of buying the suggested dulse.

The skinny rice noodles were covered with boiling water and left to soften which only takes a couple of minutes. Then, they were drained, rinsed under cold water, and transferred to a big mixing bowl. By immediately tossing the noodles with some dressing, they’re less likely to stick together in a big clump. The dressing was made with rice vinegar, vegetable oil, a little sesame oil, a scan teaspoon of sugar, a big pinch of salt, grated fresh ginger, and finely chopped serrano chiles. I added some chopped peanuts and cilantro leaves to the noodles before tossing with the dressing, and then the bowl was refrigerated while the vegetables were prepped. The dried arame was soaked in cold water for a few minutes until soft, and carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, and another chile were julienned. Green onions were sliced on a diagonal, and the salad was ready to be composed. A trick I learned from Martha Stewart years ago is to separately dress each item of a composed salad. So, after noodles were placed in bowls for serving, each type of vegetable was tossed in a bowl with a little of the dressing before being placed on top of the noodles. Last, more cilantro and crushed peanuts were used for garnish.

The contrast of crunchy vegetables and peanuts with squishy noodles was a good one, and the ginger and chiles offered pops of flavor. Icy cold, chilled noodles will be a great remedy to our ongoing heat until whenever summer really ends.

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Green Herb Ceviche with Cucumber

The 2012 James Beard Foundation award winners were just announced. In Austin, we're all extremely proud of Paul Qui who won Best Chef Southwest. This year's Outstanding Chef was Daniel Humm. The James Beard Foundation has been giving annual awards since 1990, and the foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011. I received a review copy of the book The James Beard Foundation's Best of the Best which honors all the recipients of the Outstanding Chef title from the first that was awarded through the 2010 award. While this isn't a cookbook for quick and easy weeknight dinners, it is a wonderful collection of bios of all the Outstanding Chefs, and each bio is accompanied by a signature dish or two or three from the chef. I probably won't attempt the Hot Potato, Cold Potato, Black Truffle, Parmesan dish from Grant Achatz who won in 2008, but it is fascinating to read about how it's made after reading about Achatz's career. There are photos of most of the dishes, and the salads are all gorgeous and very approachable. There's a Beet Salad with Mango, Feta, Orange, and Mint from Alfred Portale, a Greenhouse Salad with Blue Hill Farm Yogurt from Dan Barber, and a Summer Salad from Alice Waters. I'd love to adapt and simplify a couple of the recipes like the Chilled Honeydew Melon Soup with Crab Remoulade from Jeremiah Tower and the Spice-Roasted Lobster with Buttermilk Chutney from Tom Colicchio. What was most interesting about this book was learning how several of these chefs have worked together or under some of the same chefs at some point in their careers. And, did I mention the photos of the food? There is page after page of very beautiful food.

While most of the recipes are somewhat complicated chef dishes shown just as they are served at the restaurants, a few of them are very doable. One of those is the Green Herb Ceviche by Rick Bayless who was Outstanding Chef in 1995. Here in Austin, we're surrounded by many, great Mexican restaurants, and I order ceviche from their menus often. The few times I've made it at home, I went the simple, classic route with lime juice and chiles. This ceviche caught my eye because it started with an herb seasoning made with garlic, serranos, cilantro, parsley, and olive oil. The chiles and garlic were roasted before being pureed with the other ingredients. Some of that puree was mixed with lime juice for the marinade for the fish. I used halibut which was cut into small chunks before being left in the lime juice mixture for about an hour. Small chunks of cucumber were marinated with the fish as well. Just before serving, chunks of avocado were added to the ceviche.

I loved the herby green of this ceviche, the fresh crunch of cucumber in it, and of course the avocado. I have to say, it's fun to attempt to cook like an Outstanding Chef. It's also fun to flip through a yearbook of sorts of some of our very best American chefs.

Green Herb Ceviche with Cucumber (Ceviche Verde con Pepino)
Recipe re-printed with publisher's permission from The James Beard Foundation's Best of the Best.

Herb Seasoning
1/2 head garlic, cloves broken apart
2 or 3 fresh serrano chiles
1 medium bunch cilantro, thick bottom stems cut off (1 cup packed) 1
 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, thick bottom stems cut off (1 cup packed)
1/2 cup olive oil salt

Ceviche
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, plus more if needed
1 1/2 pounds sashimi-quality skinless, boneless fish fillets, such as Alaskan halibut
7 ounces small pickling cucumbers or Persian (baby) cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Salt, if needed
2 ripe large avocados, pitted, flesh scooped from skin and cut into cubes
Lettuce leaves, preferably butter lettuce, for garnish

To make the herb seasoning
1. Set a dry skillet over medium heat. Lay in the unpeeled garlic cloves and chiles. Roast, turning frequently, until they are soft and blotchy brown in spots, about 10 minutes for the chiles and 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool until easy to handle, and then slip the skins off the garlic, pull the stems off the chiles, and roughly chop (no need to remove the seeds). Put them in a food processor along with the cilantro, parsley, oil, and two generous teaspoons salt. Process until nearly smooth (it will be pasty). Scrape the mixture into a storage container and refrigerate until serving time.

To make the ceviche
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the lime juice and 1/2 cup of the herb seasoning. (Cover and refrigerate the remainder for another preparation.) Add the fish and cucumber, and stir to combine. To blend the flavors, cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour (for best results, no more than one hour). Taste and season with a little more lime juice or salt if needed, then gently stir in the avocado (save a little for garnish if you want). Serve on plates or in martini glasses lined with lettuce leaves.

Serves 6 to 8 as a starter

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Spicy Pappardelle with Summer Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Oregano

My books are like my kids or my cats since I don’t have children. You know what I mean. Picking a favorite just isn’t possible. Each one is special in its own way. But, when the others aren’t looking, I do sometimes point out a few that are maybe just a little bit extra special. Don’t tell them I said that. There are a lot of them. I can’t help it. One that I tend to favor is On Top of Spaghetti by Johanne Killeen and George Germon. It’s a book of nothing but pasta recipes, and pasta does make me very happy. I’ve cooked from this book many times, and I know that whatever I pick from its pages is going to be good. Whether it’s pasta with vegetables, tomato sauces, seafood, or baked pasta, the book has never let me down. It had been a while since I spent time with it, so I pulled it off the shelf a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for something light and fresh for summer. The head note to this recipe reads “this is as close to pasta salad as we get,” and that sounded perfect. I made a couple of small changes to the original ingredient list. Instead of using Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, I used some fresh, locally-grown habaneros, and since the oregano in my herb garden hasn’t survived our summer very well, I used fresh basil.

To begin, chop large tomatoes or halve cherry tomatoes as I did, and place them in a large bowl. Next, onion was minced and cucumbers were chopped, and both were added to the tomatoes. I seeded and finely chopped two habaneros rather than using pepper sauce. Then, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, and salt were added. Fresh oregano was supposed to have been added in addition to the dried, but since my fresh oregano has about two leaves on the plant right now, I added fresh basil instead. The mix of vegetables and herbs with the oil and vinegar was set aside to allow the flavors to mingle and the onion’s sharpness to subside. Meanwhile, the pappardelle was cooked in boiling water and drained. It was then tossed with the vegetables and vinaigrette, more basil was added on top, and dinner was ready.

This isn’t intended as a chilled pasta salad. Instead, it’s a room temperature pasta dish with raw vegetables. But, it does end up being a lot of pasta which means we had leftovers. Pulling the pasta out of the refrigerator and letting it come up to room temperature before serving those leftovers worked well. The finely chopped habaneros distributed throughout all that pasta added just enough of a punch, and the layered flavor of the onion and dried oregano played well with the fresh tomato and cucumber. As it always does, this book delivered another great meal, not that I play favorites.

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Salmon with Cucumber Salad and Soy-Mustard Dressing

This recipe is from the May 2009 issue of Food and Wine. In the magazine, the dish was made with grouper, and that white fish fillet was a nice, bright back drop for the very thinly sliced vegetables that were placed on top of it. The look of the dish and the fresh, light nature of the salad had stuck in my head for two years. I went off to the fish counter planning to bring home a thick, white fillet of something, but then instead, I saw the first wild salmon of the season. The very first salmon of the season is always so good, and it was shiny and dark pink and couldn’t be refused. So, my version has a pink back drop for the salad, but the flavor was everything I’d hoped it would be. Speaking of salmon, I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. I learned a trick for quick brining salmon from Ad Hoc at Home. In a cold solution of one part salt to ten parts water, salmon fillets are left to soak for about ten minutes. This brief brine seasons the fish and prevents the soluble protein from coagulating into white gunk when it’s cooked. Given the expense of first of the season wild salmon, I don’t mind taking this extra step to ensure the cooked result will be as good as it can be.

While the fish sat in the cold brine, the sauce was made in the blender. It was a puree of soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sake, whole-grain mustard, some garlic, and grapeseed oil. Half of the cucumbers were peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise on a benriner, and those became a folded base for the dish. The other half of the cucumbers were julienned along with carrot, daikon, and a red chile. Sliced garlic and shallot were fried until browned, removed from the oil, and then that oil was used to cook the fish. To serve, some soy-mustard dressing was spooned onto the plate, the long pieces of cucumber were folded into a stack, the salmon sat on them, and the julienned vegetables were the crown on top with a garnish of fried shallot, garlic, and black and white sesame seeds.

I have to go on a bit more about that brining technique because it really does perfectly season the fish, and the fish does look much better when there’s no white protein oozing from the fillet. The fresh, crunchy vegetables were just the right accompaniment, and the soy-mustard dressing added lively flavor. I know I would like this just as well with a white fish fillet, and the color combination on the plate would be striking, but this was a fabulous use of this season’s first salmon.

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Greek Salad with Grilled Pita Crisps and Bulgur Salad with Cucumbers and Radishes

When I read cookbooks, there’s always something that sparks an idea and sends me toward the kitchen. Sometimes, though, I just really enjoy the book and don’t want to move from my chair until I’ve finished it. Eating Local falls into that very category. It's been a pleasure to read this book about using locally grown food and the stories about farmers from different parts of the US. The recipes are straightforward and familiar, but they all have an unexpected twist that makes them fresh and new. For instance, beets with goat cheese or feta is a natural combination. But here, cooked beet greens and stems are topped with whipped feta seasoned with Aleppo pepper and mint. There’s also a zucchini bread, but this one has grated carrots and minced candied ginger in it. There are grilled cauliflower steaks with tahini sauce that look great too. The many stunning photos and the little, surprising additions to the recipes kept me turning the pages to see what I’d find next. Throughout the book, there are introductions to farmers from Oregon, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and even Austin, Texas, and the stories offer glimpses into what inspires these farmers to do what they do, their challenges, and their successes. I could go on and on, but I will just tell you one more thing about the book. It’s organized by ingredient alphabetically. You can look to the top right or left corner of each page and flip until you find the item you want to prepare. If you just received ten pounds of eggplants from your CSA, flip to the eggplant pages and you’ll get several ideas. Ok, one more thing. There are also recipes for fruits, poultry, eggs, and meat.

So, from the 40 or so pages I marked with sticky notes, I tried the Greek salad with grilled pita crisps first. I’d been thinking about panzanella lately, and this is similar to that or to fattoush. Locally grown, heirloom tomatoes are recommended for this, but what I found at our farmers’ market was just red, ripe lovelies in various sizes. The large tomatoes were cut into wedges, and the cherry tomatoes were cut in half. They were combined with cucumber, onion, and a dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, and fish sauce. I noticed in several recipes for salad dressings, fish sauce is included for a little added umami. Feta was added to the salad, and I used a locally made marinated feta. Last, grilled pita bread was broken into shards and tossed into the mix. The salad was garnished with basil and Greek olives. It was fresh defined and that tip about the fish sauce is one I’ll definitely use again.

Next, I flipped to the page with the bulgur salad with cucumbers, radishes, and green onions. This is essentially tabbouleh with the addition of radishes, dill, Anaheim chiles, and Aleppo pepper. The dill with the usual parsley and mint boosted the herb effect in the salad, and the radishes added peppery crunch. It’s recommended that this be scooped into lettuce leaves to form wraps which I did. I also used some leftover pita from the Greek salad and spooned the bulgur into pockets. These salads with little, added touches were satisfying dishes making use of several local ingredients. I know this is a book that will spend more time in the kitchen than on the shelf.

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