Tatsoi and other delicious veggies
Look what the CSA bunny brought this week! Too bad I wasn’t here, otherwise I might have caught his fluffy little butt and cooked him right up.
This week we have more salad mix, saute mix, spinach, ramps, and radishes. New this week is a small head of romaine lettuce, tatsoi, dandelion greens, and watercress.
Tasoi is an Asian member of the brassica rapa family. One common name for tatsoi is spoon mustard…aptly so because of the distinctive spoon shape of the leaves. It can be eaten raw or cooked. I imagine mine will be served salad style, probably mixed into a salad with the spinach.
Dandelion greens are delicious. These are really long and generously leafed. Dandelions are rich in vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin C. These will get a quick spin around a hot pan with a little pork jowl and served up next to some potatoes.
Watercress is one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans. It too is very healthful…full of vitamins A and C, folic acid, iron, and calcium. Every year I look forward to our watercress bunch. It will be added to the yearly egg salad sandwich. It is the only reason to eat an egg salad sandwich…well maybe not? Anyway…that’s my position and I’m sticking to it.
Romaine Lettuce is the lettuce for a real caesar salad. This is a small head so I’ll use a small egg (yes raw!!! oh horrors!!!), lemon juice, garlic, homemade croutons, parmesan cheese, and a good olive oil and hopefully some fine anchovies. Anchovies are so salty and provide just the right unctuousness. I can’t wait for the ultimate bad-breath salad.
Have fun readers…it’s almost Friday!!! We get to watch Lost tonight (tivBob‘d from last night) and I can’t wait.
Dane County Farmers’ Market
Here in Madison we have several very good Farmers’ Markets. I usually go to the West Side Community Market held in the shadow of the DOT building. But Madison is known for its large Dane County Farmers’ Market held on the Capital Square in Madison. This market is so bizarre that I’ve always had a difficult time making myself go. The vendors line the sidewalks around the Capital and everyone in Madison shows up to walk, zombie like, clockwise counter-clockwise around the square. Whenever baked goods are encountered the crowd bunches up, forward momentum ceases…it is just ridiculous! Our first visit was frustrating because we didn’t know about the counter-clockwise rule…we were like innocent fishies swimming upstream against the current, oblivious to the status quo.
But because I’m looking for rabbit (so I can make the Conejo Colorado that Homesick Texan blogged about last week) we went downtown to the Capital Square Market. I did see some fresh ramps that looked good and I bought a rack of lamb from Sylvan Meadows Farm and an ostrich tenderloin from Golden Dreams Ostrich Farm. But no rabbit. My favorite moment was when a quartet of musicians played Springtime For Hitler.
Tonight we had a spinach salad with smoked pork jowl lardons, eggs, and grilled ramps. I dressed the salad with a black currant dressing that balances a sweet fruitiness with a tart top-note from the white wine vinegar. Due to my extreme laziness I refused to chop herbs and shallots so instead I added some Sunny Paris seasoning blend from Penzeys. It’s a lovely blend of purple shallots, chives, green peppercorns, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf, and dill. here’s the recipe:
Black & White Dressing
2 tablespoons black currant jam
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon Sunny Paris seasoning blend
salt
Throw all of this in the blender and pulse until well blended. Enjoy.
Simple fish gumbo
I may be caught in a rut, cooking-wise, but it is a tasty rut and I can’t help but blame it on the weather, work, and February. This is another spur-of-the-moment, what’s in the pantry, kind of dinner. After our weekend of feasting on pancakes, scones, pasta, and pizza (YIKES… when I write that out it actually scares me) we’ve gone back to a lower carb existence. The boy’s were counting on homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner but I knew that would be the wrong path for GH and I to take.
As I was digging some frozen cod out of the freezer I saw a bag of red, yellow, and green pepper strips from TJ’s and a bag of frozen okra. It seemed logical to put together a fish gumbo for me and the GH. It was easy to chop and assemble the gumbo as I made noodles for the boy’s soup. I timed it so they were both done at the same time and the only snafu was hunting down Dexter since he was outside playing in the snow. The boys sat down to steaming bowls of chicken noodle soup and GH and I were spared another carb massacre by dining on a delicious fish stew. No muss, no fuss, and everyone was happy.
Simple Fish Stew
2 pieces of cod, fresh or frozen, cut into chunks
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup of diced ham, bacon, or smoked pork jowl
6 cloves of garlic, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
1 cup of fresh or frozen bell pepper strips
1 cup of fresh or frozen okra
1 large can of roma tomatoes
8 ounces of chicken stock or water (if needed)
Tabasco Sauce to taste
Worchester Sauce to taste
2 teaspoon Gumbo Filé powder
If your using frozen fish get it out of the freezer now. Add to a 4 quart pan on medium heat the pork, celery, onion, and garlic. Allow this to cook until soft. Add the pepper strips, tomatoes and stock or other liquid if needed. Bring the heat back up and then add the Tabasco and Worchester sauces to taste. Check for salt. Add the okra and bring back up to heat. Cut the fish into chunks and add it to the pot. Bring it back up to heat. Once the fish is cooked through add the Gumbo Filé and stir well. Serve with some parsley on top.
