At the grocery store this afternoon, I was going to pick up a box of baby spinach when I noticed this one, right beside it.

What in the world is Mâche Rosette, I thought.

Kinda shows the extent of my veggie vocabulary, doesn’t it? Well, it sure didn’t take much for me to decide to pick it up instead of the spinach. I mean, look at it! It does resemble the baby spinach but a lot smaller. It just looked fantastic. I know I’ll be in for a treat with this one.

On my way home, I couldn’t wait any longer that I opened the box in my car and started munching on a bunch just to see how it tasted. Man oh man, was I in green heaven or what? It does have that spinach personality to it but I think I like it even more. It’s a lot milder and a bit nutty in flavor. I swear you don’t even need anything else to go with it. Heck, not even dressing, in fact.

So, here it is. I’ve made a uhh… Mâche Pit, if you will, and I’m trying to figure out a way to make it rock even more than it already does. How about a little grilled chicken with shitake and sesame oil? Or a few pieces of blood oranges with red wine vinaigrette. Maybe I should go back to the store and grab a bag of frisée to add to it. I don’t know.

Well, this ain’t gonna last long before it goes bad. If anybody has had it before, your suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

This is the time of year when you have to make some difficult decisions when you’re growing salad – should you rip out a bed of beautifully producing leaves in order to make way for the new crop that will see you all through the winter? Leave it in much longer than now and the new crop won’t have time to establish itself before the cold sets in.

The red-veined sorrel is one such tough call. We’ve got the corn salad hardening off at Springfield, champing at the bit to get planted, yet the sorrel has really only just come into its own, becoming more vigorous, and beautiful, by the day.

But one has to be ruthless in this salad-growing game – come out, this week, it must.

We’ll leave a couple of rows of the sorrel at the end of the bed of newly planted corn salad, just so we can see how it fares over winter. A small concession, that might, it must be said, have some emotional ties attached…such a pretty leaf…

I’m back! I apologize for my not so short hiatus, but I was dealing with a new job, a very difficult class and volunteering, all converging at the same time. I now have sorted things out and am ready to start blogging again. Luckily I have lots of great recipes to add.

Less than 2 weeks ago I went down to DC for Dave’s and my annual BBQ. It’s really Dave’s BBQ, but somehow I get the credit since I was the one to come up with the original idea.

This annual extravaganza started about 6 years ago when I was living at Kristen’s house. It was summer and being a New Englander, I started craving lobster, my favorite food. Since Kristen doesn’t eat seafood (I am still trying to convert her) we decided to do a Surf and Turf with lobsters and filet mignon for the non-seafood eaters. It was a huge success and everyone came.

I moved to New York and somewhere along the way the party moved to Dave’s house. Some people have moved away, some have moved back, some have wed, and kids have been born but the one thing that stays the same is that it is always good food and good friends. Since the original Surf and Turf BBQ, we have adjusted the menu. Over the years the main courses have been lobsters, Frogmore Stew (a South Carolina low country boil for those who have never heard this name before), Crabs, Ribs and the most recent was the Seafood Extravaganza featuring such delicious treats as shrimp, scallops, crabcakes, crab, salads, cakes, sangria, paella and a lot more. Friends bring lots of delicious foods and we sit around drinking brews, chatting and maybe if we are lucky, playing a few games of Beer Pong.

Here is an excellent corn salad that Sujeeta made. It’s sweet and crunchy and the perfect summer salad, especially for the Fall when corn is at it’s best.

Corn Salad

Ingredients

Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Drain the corn (if you chose the canned corn) and put it in a bowl. Add the rest of the vegetables and mix the salad together. Now add the olive oil and coat the vegetables. Top off with the lime juice and the salt and pepper and give the salad one final toss. I would cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes for the flavors to mix and then serve it immediately.

I made this for a lobster dinner recently and there was none left by the end of the night!

…so far, at least. While shopping at Whole Foods last night, I picked up five ears of sweet white corn for $3, which is a pretty good price in my eyes. Then I wandered over to their olive bar, because I wanted to get some of their yummy Bulgarian sheep’s feta cheese, which is so creamy and tangy and out of this world. I had in mind exactly what I wanted for dinner, which was a corn and feta salad. Here’s the recipe of what turned out to be one of THE tastiest salads I have ever made. I had plenty of leftovers so you might want to make a little less

• Corn from two ears of sweet white corn
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped (you can use 1 clove – I just love garlic!)
• 1 roma tomato
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 oz of Bulgarian sheep’s feta (or any type of feta or goat cheese)
• celtic sea salt and pepper, to taste

Mix it all up, let the tomato juices mix in the with garlic for 5 minutes, and enjoy!

These past few weeks our farm share has included many ears of sweet corn on the cob (22  small/medium ears to be exact), so I just had to make a salad!

Southwest Corn Salad
3 – 4 large ears of corn
1/3 cup onion, diced
1/3 cup bell pepper, diced
1/2 – 1 teaspoon jalapeño pepper, minced (feel free to add more if you can handle the heat!)
1 teaspon olive oil
1 avacado, cubed
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of a lime
salt and pepper, to taste

Shuck the ears of corn.  To remove the stubborn strands of silk- simply blast the corn with water from the faucet and then place is large pot of boiling salt water.  Cover and cook for about 5 minutes (cook longer if you like softer corn kernels).  Remove corn from pot with tongs onto a plate to cool.

Heat olive oil in small pan with onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, and a pinch of salt.  Saute for roughly 5 minutes or until vegtables are softened.

Meanwhile, chop cilantro, cube avacado, and squeeze juice from the lime into a medium size bowl.  Then add the cooked onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, and removed corn kernels from the cob into the mixture and stir well.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with cilantro and/or a lime wedge.

*You may like to drain the salad with a mesh strainer, depending on how much liquid is retained from the corn.

Serves 4

One of my favorite crowd pleasers, in the summer especially is my corn salad.  The other day I had the opportunity to make it for a bbq I was going to and it came out perfect, so I’m glad I wrote down the proportions this time.

Bif fat love

The real trick to this dish is a bacon vinaigrette that my friend Nicky showed me how to make.  It’s a basic emulsification using rendered bacon fat, and its outstanding and easy to make.  Not to mention it goes great with just about anything, so it would be a good weapon to add to your culinary arsenal.  While you’re frying your bacon(well done) put some water on to lightly blanche your asparagus.  When I say “lightly” I mean barely, and then shock it in ice water;  you don’t want to lose that nice texture and make it all stringy because it really is a nice texture to compliment all the fresh, crisp veggies in this dish.  I like to use the big fat grilling asparagus, you can usually find it year round.

Well done in this case means you can crumble it by hand.

So its pretty basic:   Chop up all your veggies, crumble your bacon and toss it all together  serve it slightly chilled.  For the vinaigrette your going to do as follows:

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp spicy brown mustard

4 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Rendered fat from 1 pound of bacon (thick cut)

Beat the egg yolk, mustard and vinegar together with a whisk, and then slowly start adding the bacon fat while whisking.  Drizzle it in slowly while you whisk until its all added and then give it a good 30 seconds of agitation and voila`.                                 The rest of the ingredients:

3 cans of corn

1 small red onion

1 avocado

1 small jalapeno

1 cup sweet red pepper

1 bunch large asparagus, lightly blanched

1 tsp fresh basil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 pound crisp bacon, crumbled

Though it factors prominently into Michael Pollan’s account of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” corn is fast becoming one of my absolute favorite summertime staples—that is, when I avoid it as a super-manipulated, non-perishable additive to my cottage cheese or crackers. I’m reading Pollan’s exquisitely wrought (and terrifying) account of America’s love affair with corn, and it’s scaring me to realize how insidiously the stuff is sneaked into us via the unlikeliest of comestibles.

So it seems strange today to extol the virtues of corn, but really, I think it deserves a break. At least all of us maize-eaters who want to just enjoy the taste of it in its purest form—straight from the kernel and into our meals. Other than gnawing it raw from the cob (which oh do I love!) sweet, in-season corn is well accompanied by some butter, some herbs, some salt and a dash of lemon.

I stumbled into this process last summer, after my dear friend Emily, a most graceful cook, gifted me her only copy of her favorite book: “Vegetable Harvest” by Patricia Wells. Can you imagine that? Her only copy! Naturally I felt compelled to put it to good use, which was all too easy, especially for such a ravenous vegetable-lover. This book embodies the best of French cooking: the thrill of simple, fresh ingredients treated with dignity and respect—and not too many accompaniments.

Even though we all know great food is best approached simply, it can still be nice to refer to an expert from time to time. Ms. Wells does not disappoint. Her recipes are worth investigating, basic though they may seem. She uses herbs flawlessly and suggests pairings so clean and sweet on the tongue, you wonder how you didn’t think of them yourself. Read: lemon zest with corn. Really, it is a golden combination.

This is a great salad for parties, because it can LITERALLY be thrown together (with some heat) at the very last minute. Once you’ve done your mise en place, it takes less than five minutes to prepare. I’ve also made it a bit in advance and kept it warm in the oven before serving. Cold corn salad leftovers are spectacular, and un-adorned kernels are well suited for pancakes. Few things embody summer so perfectly as a sweet ear of corn. I wish they would stay this way forever, naked and honest… so unlike the cobs that get hydrogenated or turned into some mysterious ingredient ending in ‘-ose.’

Fresh Corn Salad

(adapted from P.Wells)

Serves 4.

4 ears of fresh corn

3 tbsp local, unsalted butter

1 bunch parsley (or cilantro)

1 large organic lemon

1 tbsp sea salt

___

Slice corn kernels into a large bowl.

Finely chop herbs and set aside.

Zest 2 tbsp worth of lemon rind and add to sea salt. Set aside.

Melt butter into large sauce pan on medium heat. When corn is warm and butter has been melted and spread throughout, sprinkle with salt, stirring to mix thoroughly. Transfer to serving plate and stir in herbs. Serve immediately.

Greetings once again!  Do know, you have not been forgotten in any way, but amazing projects at work have me coming home late every evening, followed by research and writing papers for a set of classes I’m taking.  Currently I’m in survival mode, which means … time to cook!

Spinach pesto has been on my mind since I read it in someone’s blog awhile back.  In looking for a balanced, light meal, some spinach pesto over whatever fish looked good that day sounded like a good plan.  Has anyone seen the Ask Aida show on FN?  While the format is a bit odd for my preference, she is someone who comes across as trustworthy and the calmness of the show is welcome these days.  Turns out she has a corn salad recipe, so I gave it a go.  Good decision making on this meal all around!

Spinach pesto

5 oz pkg baby spinach

2 handfuls pine nuts

2 limes, juiced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Put the spinach, lime juice, pine nuts and garlic in a food process or and pulse until smooth.  Add olive oil and parmesan cheese and process a few seconds.  Taste.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Corn Salad

For the dressing:

• 1 1/2 cups packed fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup  extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the salad:

• 4 ears cooked corn, kernels removed (about 3 cups)
• 1 1/2 pounds grape tomatoes, halved (about 3 cups)
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, diced
• 2 medium avocados, diced

Directions:

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, using 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper to taste. Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving, or cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Pan fried snapper:

Heat a pan over medium heat until nice and hot.  Add 1 TBS oil, and let warm.  Add snapper.  Flip after one minute, or when fish is opaque a bit on the bottom edges.  Cook for one minute.  Turn off the heat and allow fish to finish cooking with the residual heat for about 4 more minutes.

Notes:

* The pesto is meant to be very spinachy and not very garlicky.  If you just can’t handle that notion, just double the garlic as you always do.  (You know who you are!)

* It was a warm day meaning that the pesto likely required less oil, so I stopped adding olive oil just when the first little puddle of oil gathered on top of the spinach.  Lately, I’m just not into pesto that is crazy oily.

*  I cut the snapper into potion sizes before cooking to make the flipping part easier.

* Corn salad of various sorts is a common dish around here during corn season, but the addition of fresh mozzerella was a new twist for me.  Yummy!

It’s not a conversation I’ll ever be able to live down, so I might as well tell you about it. It went like this, a few Junes ago, when we lived on Cape Cod, where there is no corn in June:

JIM: Wow! Corn on the cob!? Really?
JESS: Yup! Doesn’t it look great?
JIM: Where did you get corn this time of year?
JESS: (Looking sideways to see where her smart husband went.) The store.
JIM: No. I mean what country. Where did it come from?
JESS: Ohhh. California, I think.

There are a number of problems with this conversation: First, California is technically not a country. Second, corn usually tastes way better when purchased out of the back of a truck. Third, I was buying corn in June. Guilty. It’s just one of those things. Some people can’t stop themselves from buying Chilean cherries in January. I always buy corn before I should.

It’s become a bit of a joke between us. Anytime I bring something seasonal home – fat, drippy apricots, or heirloom tomatoes, or fava beans, say – Jim asks where it came from, and I tell him I got it at the store, even if I’ve just come straight from the farmers’ market. It’s our way of reminding ourselves that we can all be idiots, sometimes. We have a good laugh.

Last week, I spied soft, creamy cornsilk poking out from behind the bell pepper display, and couldn’t resist. At eight for $5, it wasn’t exactly cheap high-season corn, but I figured two ears were better than none in terms of satisfying my early-season craving, and better than buying a whole bushel, in terms of food miles. Into the cart they went, without a plan.

Then came the bulgur binge.

Last year was the summer of quinoa. We piled beans and avocado and tomatoes and corn atop big bowls of the stuff, or mixed it with vinaigrettes of all types, along with myriad summer vegetables, making glistening summer salads we could scoop in at all hours of the day. This year, though, I’ve decided my grain of choice is bulgur.

Bulgur has the unluckiest of grain names. Quinoa may be hard to pronounce, and even harder to spell, but it’s saved by its q; I’d love it on the basis of its Scrabble potential alone. Being easy to cook and delicious to eat seals the deal.

But bulgur. In a bag, it doesn’t look like much more than squirrel food, and what’s sexy about a food that rhymes with vulgar?

Lots, I think. Great nutty flavor, for one. And it’s cheap; I buy it in the bulk section of my local supermarket. It falls into the whole grain category, which means you can preen your feathers in nutritional self-congratulation while you’re standing in line at the check-out counter. Bulgur also bridges the gap between crunchy and yielding between the teeth, and accepts almost any flavor, like that rare woman who looks good in absolutely any color. (If I think about it too long that way, I get a little jealous, but I do love a food with flexibility.)

Recently, I’ve learned that bulgur can also stalk a person as well as any convicted sex offender. It’s been following me all spring, in fact. A couple weeks ago, my cousin Julia sent me a video of the tabbouleh dance:

I don’t really care if you think it’s funny (or not), or completely inappropriate (or not). It’s become clear to me that no one I forward it to seems to laugh as hard as I do. Which is fine. I never did have a normal sense of humor. The point – besides the fact that from now on, I will think of chopping a shoplifter’s hand off when I hack the stems off a bunch of parsley – is that the song is now deeply enough engraved in my brain that I’m singing songs to my son about changing his diapers in the same tune. Yes, the tabbouleh song has entered my nursery rhyme repertoire. And my husbands get-a-beer-out-of-the-fridge dancing soundtrack. And, it turns out, my kitchen psyche.

This video made me realize I’ve never actually made tabbouleh, that classic middle eastern mix of bulgur (which is cracked wheat, cooked by simply soaking it in hot water), parsley, tomatoes, and whatever else one likes to use. I wondered if I was missing something.

The day after Julia sent me the video, my friend Jon brought over a most delicious tabbouleh – one with the usual crunchy bulgur, parsley, and some mint, I believe, but instead of tomatoes, he’d folded in gigantic white beans. I took a modest portion at dinner, then focused on raving over the rest of our meal, partly because it very much deserved raving, and partly because I wanted to distract the others so there would be more tabbouleh leftover for me to snack on at midnight. It worked.

Then my mom got to talking tabbouleh. She even sent me photos. (See? Stalker.) This weekend, when I needed a side dish for a barbecue with friends, I put some water on to boil.

My bulgur salad was even faster to make than I suspected it might be. I soaked the grains, then sawed the kernels off a couple corn cobs, chopped some herbs, and crumbled feta. Into a bowl it all went. My husband grumbled something about salad for squirrels, and after being indoctrinated by the video, he insisted I couldn’t in good conscience call it tabbouleh since there aren’t tomatoes in it. A spoonful later, he was as smitten as I was. I won’t call it tabbouleh, but I will call it delicious.

Tomorrow, I’m going to make another version, this time with tomatoes and little chunks of mozzerella cheese, and perhaps balsamic vinegar instead of the lemon juice I used here. Maybe the next day, I’ll make another bulgur salad, with the fresh chickpeas coming into markets in Seattle. I see a creamy bulgur side dish in my future, too, and muffins studded with bulgur and fresh raspberries.

And oh, yes. Someday, there will be fresh local corn, and I’ll make this one again.

Quick Bulgur Salad with Corn, Feta, and Basil (PDF)

Though it satisfies like a pasta salad, bulgur salad requires a lot less attention (and less time near a hot stove, when summer weather hits). It’s also cheap, a bit healthier, and seems to get tastier after a day or two in the fridge.

To make the bulgur, you simply dump it into in a mixing bowl, add hot water, and let it soak for half an hour.

TIME: 30 minutes
MAKES: 4 to 6 servings

1 cup bulgur
1 cup boiling water
Kernels from 2 ears of corn
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped basil
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice from 1 large lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Place the bulgur in a small mixing bowl. Add boiling water, stir, and let sit 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, blend corn, herbs, feta, olive oil, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add bulgur, season with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.

It was the end of the week, and I hadn’t gone grocery shopping, plus I had little in my refrig to eat. So, I decided to make this very simple but tasty salad for lunch. I placed the corn salad in a mold and let it setup in the refrigerator for about an hour – that’s what gives it the shape. The Mana bread is not 100% raw, but close enough to it that it’s acceptable. You kind find Mana bread at Whole Foods and other natural grocery stores, in the frozen section. I like spreading coconut butter on the bread for added flavor. Well, try it for yourself.

for the salad.
Ingredients:
Corn kernels from one ear of corn
1 avocado (peeled, stoned, and chopped)
1 Roma tomato (chopped)
garlic and sea salt to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Other ingredients:
spinach
slices of Mana bread (I used date and fruit Mana bread)

Preparation:
Mix all the salad ingredients together and place in a mold. Refrigerate until ready to serve, at least one hour. Place a handful of spinach or more on top of a plate nicely arranged. Release salad from mold, and pour ontop of bed of spinach – forming a shape. Serve with slices of Mana bread. That’s it! Super simple!

Between May 1st and 3rd, I planted cool weather greens in the garden bed with the snow peas: mesclun, Grand Rapids lettuce, corn salad and three varieties of swiss chard. I have had a lot of luck with these greens varieties. Here is what I have to say about them each:

Mesclun – I consider this salad green variety a Must Grow for my garden. Mesclun reaches maturity quickly in just 30-50 days. It is also inexpensive to grow in comparison to buying it in the store: mesclun is the gourmet salad mix you see sold at produce counters throughout the Puget Sound area. It’s been a while since I’ve bought mesclun in the grocery store but I remember the price being $5.99 to $7.99 per pound. I will never pay that price again as this mixed green is much too easy to grow all season long. It tastes better fresh, too. The mix consists of leaf lettuce, kale, endive, beet greens, spinach, swiss chard, sorrel, corn salad, radicchio, cress and mustard.

Grand Rapid’s Lettuce – This lettuce is another Must Grow for my garden. It’s my husband’s favorite lettuce due to its crisp yet tender leaves. This lettuce almost melts in your mouth. It grows quickly, reaching maturity in 55 days. It doesn’t get bitter in the hotter weather.

Corn Salad – My little wildling is a Must Grow for my garden. It is a plant that can take both the heat and the cold while maintaining its delicate, slightly nutty flavor. It takes 60 days to reach maturity.

Swiss Chard – Another Must Grow for my garden. I do favor sturdy greens. Swiss Chard grows well in the cool part of the season but holds up well when it gets hot, never becoming bitter. Chards can be planted in late summer for a fall and possibly winter crop. I plant three varieties in my garden: large white rib, rhubarb and bright lights. Rhubarb has red stalks while bright lights has a white, yellow, orange and red stalks. To me all these different colors taste the same but it makes for a very ornamental greens bed. All these chards reach maturity in 60 days.

The boy and I hopped in the car early on Saturday morning to make our way to Charlottesville to visit with some friends, K and L. K and L are great people who live in a very cute house in a gorgeous neighborhood along the mountains in Virginia. The best part of their house, for me, was the kitchen. That is, after all, where all the magic happens (outside of the bedroom). K has been around the proverbial block and has learned a thing or two about being a kitchen magician. Because of this, the boy and I ate very, very well. Perhaps I ate a little too well, as I noticed the growth of a new food baby shortly after I returned home. We had a great time over food, wine and laughs. Sadly, I forgot to put my memory card back into my camera before we left home so I have no pictures to share. 

We sat around on the back porch having some drinks while talking and sharing stories. Besides my trusty water bottle, I was sipping on some Rex Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Pinot Noir. What a tasty, cheap wine! I picked it up because of the picture on the bottle. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the big cock in the future. It was smooth and light which was just perfect for sitting out on a deck in the sunshine. It tasted young but it was very enjoyable and nicely balanced. This is the part where I would usually qualify these statements with “for a budget wine” but I can say I would happily pay a few more bucks than the $8 I spent on the bottle. I feel like this wine would also lend itself well to summery sangria as well as to any dinner. 

Dinner on Saturday consisted of four dishes following homemade bread and hummus made from scratch. The bread was seriously out of this world. It was an Italian style bread with the consistency of a dense, white homemade loaf. It was infused with a perfect mix of herbs and spices. I’m still hopeful to get the recipe. The best part about the bread was that K packaged up a loaf for me and the boy to take home. YUM! 

K placed some hummus on the table at one point that the boy and I hungrily gobbled up. I’m not even sure if we were hungry but, boy, did we put a dent in that hummus! K made it from scratch with dried beans and it really showed. Even the texture was less mushy than mass-produced hummus. When I got home, I looked up some hummus recipes (light style) and plan to try my hand at making my own from scratch as well. I love to take little whole wheat pita pieces or Wheat Thins with me to work along with a scoop of hummus because it makes such a great afternoon snack. 

Clockwise from the top: Flank Steak, Grilled Asparagus with Manchego, Wild Mushroom Risotto and Pan-Roasted Corn Salad. Photo by K.

Dinner was amazing. The pièce de résistance was most definitely K’s flank steak. He told me some of the ingredients in the marinade and green sauce served with it but it’s not something I could recreate without a recipe even after tasting it on different parts of my tongue to identify different ingredients. I gave up after awhile and just enjoyed how delicious it was. Served with the steak was a shitake mushroom risotto, grilled asparagus with Manchego cheese and L’s famous pan-roasted corn salad. I especially liked the corn salad and the asparagus, being such a vegetable fan. The Manchego was a great addition to grilled asparagus, which held some smoke flavor due to being on the same grill as the flank steak. Manchego is such a distinctive cheese and perfect for cooking. I find it tastes similar to feta without being as salty. Feta is one of the key ingredients in L’s corn salad which consists of corn, tomatoes, feta, thyme, garlic and green onions. I thought the salad was perfect and it’s definitely going to make it into my meal rotation, especially since corn is one of the boy’s top 5 favorite veggies. 

As a token of my appreciation to K and L for their hospitality, I brought along the one bottle of wine I took home from Paris with me. I poured over the wine selection while I was in Paris and brought home only one bottle, hoping it would be great and something I could break out for a nice dinner or special occasion. Thinking of K and L as red wine fans and good friends, I decided this would be the perfect time. The bottle I had selected was from Chateau Preuillac in the Bordeaux region of France. I selected the Cru Bourgeois Medoc from 2002. This turned out to be a very powerful red. It was almost black with a tight tannic structure that attacked my tongue when I took the first sip. It had a very long finish and just wasn’t for me. I prefer a more light-hearted red wine and this was anything but. I was really let down by this as I was hoping it would end up being great since it was the only one I took back from Paris with me. C’est la vie. 

The next day we were treated to brunch before leaving K and L’s place to head back to Philly. K made some pretty delicious omelets with mushrooms, roasted peppers and cheese tucked inside some fresh-tasting eggs. L then gave me a big treat… carrot cake cupcakes!! I wanted to take the whole plate home against my better judgment. The cake itself was dense but moist and was finished with cream cheese frosting! I happily ate one and then immediately went in for a second which I regretfully split with the boy. 

We were so full rolling out of K and L’s that we didn’t eat anything else until 9 PM that night. We spent most of the drive talking about K and L, the food and the fact that we had a whole loaf of that delicious bread in the car with us. I’m sure I must have dreamed about 15-20 different kinds of sandwiches I would make with the bread once we got back home.  We did indeed have sandwiches for dinner but they were picked up at Bassett’s on the way. They make great Thanksgiving sandwiches with fresh carved turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on marble rye. 1/2 of one of these massive sandwiches with some simply steamed Brussels sprouts was the perfect way to end the weekend.

All in all, it was a fantastic food weekend. K is a really great cook. I wish I had pictures because my words don’t do it justice. Pictures wouldn’t, either, but they would help a little.

Today the news reported the national unemployment rate hit 8.9% for the first time in 26 years. Since I am one of the millions of people who are unemployed, my attention immediately turned to corn salad. Why you may ask? My answer: such statistics point to an economic “winter” in this country and corn salad is a very winter hardy green. I know this from first-hand observation while watching my garden grow.

I planted corn salad between the rows of corn last July. This is a common use of corn salad, a plant grown to keep the weeds down between rows of more highly valued plants. The squirrels and raccoons decimated the corn, but the corn salad thrived. I threw this green in our late summer salads. My husband developed a liking for the delicate, little oval leaves and their slightly nutty taste. Soon he was eating salads containing corn salad only. We were both amazed that it kept its freshness when stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Then November came. I became suddenly unemployed, leaving me ample time to bring the harvest in from the garden. I eyed the many plants of corn salad in the failed corn bed and wondered if they would make it through the winter. I wondered if I would make it through the winter, too, since I had no job and limited resources. I struggled with whether to harvest the corn salad now or to take the risk of leaving it in the garden . They were predicting a particularly tough winter for the Pacific Northwest. I left the plants, taking the risk, wondering if the little wildling would survive.

December and January brought record snowfall to the Pacific Northwest. My husband and I were snowed in for weeks. Neither of us could look for work anywhere but online. On the job boards, the “pickins’ were pretty slim”. I looked out the window at the snow mounds the garden beds had unexpectedly become. I wondered if the little wildling would be there when the thaw came or if it would go the way the swiss chard had gone, becoming a frost-bitten pile of mush. My husband was pessimistic. “No plant can survive that.”

Then the thaw came. The corn salad emerged, delicate green peeking up through the white remains of the snow. Not only had it survived, I swore it had grown. It would be growing still except I chose to harvest it at Easter. My little wildling deserved its place at a celebration of rebirth and resurrection.

Trying to step out of my comfort zone a bit, I tried the Cheddar and Chiles bread recipe out of Kneadlessly Simple. But I couldn’t just make bread – I had to find a good meal to go with the bread. I think it’s usually the other way around but what the hey. This bread has a ton of white cheddar cheese mixed in as well as finely chopped chiles. By far it’s the best loaf I’ve made to date. So I found a recipe for a southwestern turkey burger (really, just turkey patties with a liberal shake of chili powder on each side and topped with a slice of pepperjack cheese). I decided on an open face burger on the bread with sliced avocado and a spoonful of salsa on top. (Thanks Martha Stewart for the recipe!)

As a side, I made a grilled corn and tomato salad. I also threw some shrimp in the mix as an appetizer. I make a marinade of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt and then thread the shrimp on rosemary branches I cut fresh from the garden. I also like to grill the lemon to squeeze on top afterwords. Delicious! A huge storm moved in right before I pulled the shrimp off so I didn’t get a chance to grill the bananas for dessert. Those went under the brolier instead and were served with a dark chocolate sauce for dipping. NOMNOMNOM. This dinner got 4.5 noms out of 5 in my book.

Getting ready to get busy

Tomato and Corn Salad. NOMNOMNOMNOM

Cheddar and Chiles bread. NOMNOM

The finished product ready for noms

Shrimp on rosemary skewers

And a leafy green salad with toasted walnuts, goat cheese and golden raisins!

Cheddar and Chiles Bread from Kneadlessly Simple

• 3-1/2 cups (17.5 ounces) unbleached white bread flour,
  plus more as needed
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons table salt
• 1 teaspoon instant, fast-rising, or bread machine yeast
• 2 tablespoons corn oil, canola oil, or other flavorless
  vegetable oil, plus extra for coating dough top and baking pan
• 1-2/3 cups ice water, plus more if needed
• 8 ounces (3 lightly packed cups) coarsely grated very sharp
  cheddar cheese, preferably white cheddar
• 1/2 cup very well-drained and patted dry chopped canned green chiles

First Rise: In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. In another bowl or measuring cup, whisk the oil into the water. Thoroughly stir the mixture into the bowl with the flour, scraping down the sides until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. If the mixture is too dry to incorporate all the flour, a bit at a time, stir in just enough more ice water to blend the ingredients; don’t over-moisten, as the dough should be stiff. If necessary, stir in enough more flour to stiffen it. Brush or spray the top with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. If desired, for best flavor or for convenience, you can refrigerate the dough for 3 to 10 hours. Then let rise at cool room temperature for 15 to 20 hours. If convenient, stir the dough once partway through the rise.

Second Rise: Vigorously stir the dough, gradually sprinkling over and incorporating the cheese and chiles. Fold them in very thoroughly to ensure they are evenly distributed. If necessary, thoroughly stir in enough more flour to yield a very stiff dough. Using a well-oiled rubber spatula, fold the dough in towards the center, working all the way around the bowl. Invert the dough into a well-greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Evenly brush or spray the dough top with oil. Using well-oiled kitchen shears or a serrated knife, make a 1/4-inch-deep slash lengthwise down the center of the loaf. Cover the pan with nonstick spray-coated plastic wrap.

Let Rise Using Any of These Methods: For a 1-1/2- to 2-1/2-hour regular rise, let stand at warm room temperature; for a 1- to 2-hour accelerated rise, let stand in a turned-off microwave along with 1 cup of boiling-hot water; or for an extended rise, refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours, then set out at room temperature. Continue the rise until the dough nears the plastic. Remove it and continue until the dough reaches 1/2 inch above the pan rim.

Baking Preliminaries: 15 minutes before baking time, place a rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 425 degrees F.

Baking: Reduce the heat to 400 degrees F. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is nicely browned; cover the top with foil as needed. Continue baking for 20 to 30 minutes longer, or until a skewer inserted in the thickest part comes out with just a few particles clinging to the bottom (or until the center registers 204 degrees to 206 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer). Then bake for 5 minutes more to be sure the center is done. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out the loaf onto the rack; cool thoroughly.

Serving and Storing: Cool thoroughly before slicing or storing. Store airtight in plastic or aluminum foil. The bread will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, and may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months.

Tomatoes stuffed with Grilled Corn Salad from Martha Stewart

It’s summertime here in south Texas and my girlfriend, Michelle, and I planned a picnic on the beach to enjoy the surf and sun.  Knowing that we’d be outside all day, we consciously made dishes that would sit out well in the heat of the day.  While our husbands worked on a grill cooking the burgers and dogs, Michelle and I got to work setting up a buffet for the drinks and sides.

Bloody Mary Skewers

I love bloody mary’s and something about going to the beach always puts me in the mood for a spicy tomato juice cocktail.  Michelle and I assembled a few skewers to garnish our drinks, and I have to say they made all the difference.  We went the easy route and just used Mr. &. Mrs. T’s Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix, but you can find my own recipe for the drink here.

• Long Skewers
• Lemons
• Whole dill pickles
• Cocktail onions (found in a jar)
• Green olives (ours were stuffed with a garlic clove instead of pimento)
• Pickled okra (found in a jar)
• Pickled cauliflower (found in a jar) — we forgot to use these though!
• Fresh celery 
• Old Bay seasoning

Slice the dill pickles and okra into rounds and cut each lemon into about 8 wedges.  Wash the celery stalks and cut them into about 1 inch long pieces.  Thread at least one of each piece of garnish onto a skewer, finishing with the lemon wedge so that the drinker can easily remove the lemon and squeeze its juice into their glass.  Sprinkle the assembled skewers with some Old Bay and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Italian Pasta Salad

This is Michelle’s specialty pasta salad and it’s become a favorite in our household as well.  The following recipe fills a 4 quart bowl, enough to feed a large party.

• 1 box of your favorite ’short’ pasta (she used the ‘wheels’)
• 1 1/2 packets Good Seasoning Italian dressing mix, mixed with vinegar, water and oil according to package directions
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• As much of the following as you’d like to add:

                        -Monterey Jack cheese, cut into small cubes

                        -Green olives, sliced (she used the olives with red pepper flakes from

                          the pepper bar)

                        -Hard salami, cut into small cubes or small slices

The night before you plan on eating, boil and drain the pasta.  Toss the cooked pasta with about 2/3 of the salad dressing and refrigerate overnight to allow the noodles to absorb the dressing.  Before serving, toss in the remaining ingredients and add more salad dressing as needed. 

Crudites with Herb and Feta Dip

This veggie dip is not only good for an outdoor picnic, it’s easy to make and healthy to boot.  The original recipe is from Eating Well, and I’ve made it both as written and as it is below.  This recipe yields 2 cups of dip.

• 1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• Sprinkle of salt, to taste (optional)

Throw everything together in a food processor and mix until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  We ate this with raw broccoli and cauliflower florets, cucumber rounds, sliced red bell pepper, and celery stalks.

Corn and Green Bean Salad

Unfortunately I threw this salad together without writing the complete instructions down, but I’ll give you the basics to make it.  It’s light and summery and works well by itself or on top of greens for a salad.  This recipe makes slightly less than 4 quarts.

• About 2 pounds fresh green beans, ends trimmed
• 6 medium-sized ears fresh corn on the cob
• 1 package grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 tup mini fresh mozzarella balls, drained
• 5-6 shallots, sliced
• Canola oil
• White balsamic vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cut the corn off of each ear, and discard the cleaned ears.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and put the green beans in the water for about 1-2 minutes.  Add the corn kernels and sliced shallots to the water and blanch for about 1-2 minutes more.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the veggies to a bowl of ice water, then drain the water with a colander.  Stir in the grape tomato halves and mozzarella balls.  Toss with about equal parts oil and vinegar, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

In all, we had a wonderful day on the Gulf coastline.  With a good group of friends, food a plenty, and a few drinks to go around, it was the perfect way to kick off the beach season here.  Enjoy…

For our picnic in the park today, I made a corn salad yesterday. 

Corn Salad

3 to 4 cups of frozen corn
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped coarsely
1/2 cup chopped red onions
1/2 cup chopped green peppers
1/4 cup pitted chopped black olives
grinding of black pepper 

• Thaw frozen corn for 2½ to 3 minutes in microwave or until it is defrosted. It should still be cold and not hot. Drain completely (making sure it is cool) and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt and dried basil.
• Add the corn, onions, green peppers, olives and black pepper to the oil mixture.
• Mix well. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight. Overnight is best as the flavors intensify.
• Mix before serving.

Serves approximately 6

Corn Salad

These are the vegetable that I had on hand. This corn salad would also be delicious with diced seeded cucumber or celery. My daughter suggested using cilantro in place of basil.

Macque Choux (pronounced Moch Shoo) is a corn dish sautéed with vegetables straight from Louisiana, USA. It is said to be invented by the Cajun tribe of the state and so macque choux is also sometimes understood to be a blend of corn with cajun spices.

Corn straight off the cob can be used in this dish. Some people use creamed corn also giving the dish a pureed look. I had a bag of frozen sweet corn sitting in the freezer and HD asked to make “something nice” out of it sometime so I landed with this dish. It is really easy and as long as you don’t overcook the corn, it turns out as a great side accompaniment to your meal.

Preparation Time – 10 mins

Servings – 4

Ingredients

250 gms sweetcorn (frozen and thawed)

1 green bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

1 large onion (sliced)

1 tomato (diced)

1 tblsp ginger (chopped finely)

1 tblsp garlic (chopped finely)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 tblsp green coriander leaves (chopped finely)

For the dressing

½ tsp sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp mustard sauce

1 tsp green chilli sauce

1 tsp red garlic chilli sauce (optional)

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions till light pink in color. Saute the bell pepper, ginger and garlic in it. Add sweetcorn, sprinkle a little water on it and cover the pan for 2-3 mins while leaving the gas on sim to allow sweetcorn to become tender. Remove the cover and let the corn cook for another 2-3 mins. Make sure the corn does not get overcooked or it will become too dry for taste.

Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Transfer sweetcorn mixture to this bowl. Add salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Garnish with tomatoes and coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Refreshing Corn Salad…….spring is almost here!

Salads are the best compliment to any meal. Since this morning I saw new life to my plants, bright sunny sky and fresh breeze, I crave for something fresh and tangy for my palate. So here comes the simple yet flavorful recipe of Corn salad.

Ingredients:

For Corn Salad [4 servings]
Corn kernels – 3 cups (frozen or fresh)
Potatoes – 2
Sweet Onions -1
Tomatoes- 2
Cilantro -1/2 cup
Lime Juice – 2 tbsp fresh 

Dry Ingredients:
Chaat Masala – 1 tbsp
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
Roasted Cumin seeds – 1 tsp (powdered)
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Thaw frozen corn kernels in microwave for 2 minutes.

2. In a covered sauce pan, cook the fresh or thawed corn kernels for 5 minutes. Cool it down.

3. Boil the potatoes, peel and cut into small pieces. Chop sweet onions and tomatoes finely. Clean and chop cilantro finely as well.

4. In a salad bowl, add cooked corn kernels, chopped sweet onions, potatoes, tomatoes and cilantro. Mix gently.

5. Now add lime juice, chaat masala, freshly grounded black pepper, roasted cumin seed powder, sugar and salt. Mix the salad again.

Serve fresh with any meal or just as an anytime snack .