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INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch of collard greens 1 half of a spring red onion 1 teaspoon bacon fatContinue reading »
This dressing is for a shaved fennel salad, but the fennel would make this a nice dressing to top grilled fish or pork chops. You could make the fennel salad without the lettuce and use this dressing with it for topping the aforementioned.
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This dressing was designed for the Radish Meyer Lemon Salad, but would go well with many other things. Perfect with shrimp or grilled swordfish, or grilled chicken or asparagus. Nice on fava beans too. If you want to keep this dressing for more than a couple days, strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the mint shreds which will discolor and start to taste swampy after a couple days.
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This originally was made for a salad of cabbage, roast oyster mushrooms, and roast chicken, but would work with many other items as well. Try it on noodles, or for a light chicken salad with celery, carrot, water chestnuts, and pine nuts. This would be good with lightly sautéed cucumbers on a piece of roasted or gently sautéed fish, as well as on other salads.
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This is one of those salads similar to the Moroccan type, where there is no lettuce, the dish can be served to start a meal or as a side, or can make part of a light supper with a little soup and a more traditional salad of lettuces. Next time you are out for Chinese or Japanese food and they have the better quality bamboo chopsticks that are almost pencil thick, ask for a set to use for dishes like this, where you need to slice down without cutting all the way through something.
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I was fishing for recipes at our family reunion and my auntie gave me this easy soup recipe. She says it is a big hit with her household. Instead of using canned beans, try it with your braised cranberry shelling beans or other white beans.
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Here is another iteration of mint pesto. This uses traditional pine nuts, but you could substitute roasted almonds or combine the two. If you do not have fresh marjoram, skip it, but it adds depth to the mint and brightens it up. I prefer to use a mortar and pestle for my pesto, both for flavor/texture, and because it is hard to do smaller batches in a food processor. Both methods are given, but I hope you will try the mortar and pestle method.
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I love mint, so this was a natural progression. I think pistachios are better than pinenuts with mint, and almonds work well also. You could use either one, but I like the mixture. I prefer to use a mortar and pestle for my pesto, both for flavor/texture, and because it is hard to do smaller batches in a food processor. Both methods are given , but I hope you will try the mortar and pestle method.
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Not sure what to call this. Not quite a sauce, not quite a salad. I guess I’d call it a condiment or topping, which is how this came to life. I had a bunch of Meyer lemons to use up, and was looking for something to top some grilled fish with, and stumbled onto this idea. This won’t really work with other lemons as they are too sour and the rind is usually too thick. Look for Meyers with the thinnest skin, or cut back a little on the amount of lemon you use. Try this on grilled fish or chicken, pan seared scallops, or toss with boiled shrimp. Goes well with broccoli and pasta, too. You will want to use a very sharp knife for this recipe!
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This dish will work perfectly with Tokyo or Harukei turnips as well as the scarlet turnips, although I would be less sanguine about success with full-sized red-topped or white turnips. If the greens are present and tender, you should add them to the dish. This dish is sort of a 2 for 1-the roasted turnips for 1, the sautéed greens for 2.
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This is a simpler version of a sauce from my sushi bar that was known as Venus sauce. Its origins lie in an old traditional Japanese fair dish known as “dengaku”, where it was painted onto tofu and vegetables and grilled over coals. Use this in a similar fashion, but use the broiler as it is less messy. Try it on marinated firm tofu, blanched vegetables, and fish.
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This is the recipe for traditional miso soup. It includes the recipe for “dashi” (which is the starting point of many Japanese recipes), which is the base of miso soup. There are instant dashi packets out there, but they never taste as good as home made, and are frequently laden with additives such as MSG. Dashi may be frozen for “instant” soup, so do not be put off by the idea of having more than enough dashi if you only want a bowl or two.
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This is loosely based around a traditional Japanese treatment of greens. The stems of shiitakes are frequently too tough to eat, but still contain plenty of flavor. Using the stems for a “stock” base keeps them from going to waste and boosts the flavor of the dish. See Chef’s Notes for more about this.
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The silky butter lettuces contrast with the crunch of the broccoli and the crisp bite of the turnip dice fills in for croutons. The broccoli (and turnips) can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator, and the broccoli is great as is for a snack or a side, or you can even chop it up and add it to a sandwich.
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This is a simple dish with nowhere to hide for inferior ingredients, so make this with ripe flavorful tomatoes and fresh aromatic herbs. As it says, this is a great topping for fish, whether grilled, roasted, or poached. Use it with any thicker fish. Use a milder olive oil, and only enough to be noticed. Too strong and it will overpower the tomatoes, and too much will muffle all the flavors and make the salad/topping heavy.
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This is based on one of the many “salads” that show up in Moroccan cooking. Although you seldom see green salad as we know them, Moroccan cuisine has many “salads” that start a meal, and then are left out to accompany whatever else is served. They can be served cold or at room temperature. You can use whatever type of olive you wish, but I prefer an oil cured black olive here. You can use them whole if you wish, but I prefer to pit them and cut them into smaller pieces.
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These appear in many Moroccan and Middle Eastern dishes, as well as elsewhere. They add a lemony tartness and imbue dishes with lemon fragrance as well, but they are subtler. Typically, only the skin is used with the pulp being discarded. Some preparations call for pureeing the skin, which adds a silkiness to the dish.
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Although this dish seems ridiculously simple, the flavors meld to yield a sophisticated tasting dish which dish is quite popular here, even with the kids, who normally don’t care for hot spinach dishes. The flavor of the mushrooms helps mitigate the sometimes strong earthiness of spinach. This dish is easy to riff on, making it flexible and fun to make. Add tofu and leftover grains for a one-dish meal. Some spinach has stems that are unpalatable-chewy or stringy-but some have tender, succulent stems. If this spinach falls into the latter class, by all means use the stems. You will have to chew on a couple stems to know if they will work. If they do not, just ignore the recipe instructions pertaining to them.
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The “Sweet and Sour” in this dish comes from the apple cider and cider vinegar employed to sauce the greens. This is a fairly quick dish to cook, and the flavors go well with richer dished or will cut through the fog of a head cold also. The sweetness of the dish is cut by the sharpness of the greens themselves, and the acid of the Granny Smith apples and the vinegar.
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If the idea of ham does not appeal, use some Pimenton de la Vera instead for the broth. The smoky flavor really pulls this dish together. Use more stock to turn this into a brothy soup, or cook it down until the stock has reduced to a glaze and serve as a side. Finishing with a few drops of a vinegar based hot-sauce, vinegar, or lemon juice adds a bright spark to the dish and emphasizes the sweetness in the ham, leeks, and peas.
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This is a variant of an old standby around here, and is similar to what you get when you order Chinese Chicken salad. The dressing is good for many things-try it on sliced cucumbers. You can add things to this slaw to fancy it up easily; try chopped dates and peanuts, or raisins or green onions.
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This recipe calls for new potatoes, but you can use anything really, as long as it is a waxy type. The new potatoes have a sweetness and nutty quality that just really plays well with this iteration of pesto. If the potatoes are smaller- 1-inch or less- smashing them with a fork or cutting board is great. If they are bigger, slicing is a good way to go, or cut the potato into 1-inch chunks and go from there. This helps to keep a good potato to pesto ratio for good flavor. If you decide to salt the finish dish, be sure to use a large crunchy type and go light with it. This is one of those simple dishes where it is all about the ingredients, and how some things just seem to go so well together.
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This soup uses potato to give it a creamy feel, and there is no dairy in it at all. The garlic used is young “green” garlic which has a lovely garlic aroma and a mild flavor without any heat. If you wish, omit it. The soup is excellent either way. This soup is also good served cold a la Vichyssoise. See Notes for ideas. By the way, you do not want this soup to boil- boil this soup and it will turn khaki and smell very broccoli-esque. This recipe includes a step where the stock is simmered with the peelings of the broccoli to add flavor. This is optional, and omitting it won’t hurt.
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