Minimally Invasive

For something I’d never even heard of before last weekend, I can’t imagine living without the garlic scape now. I picked up a huuuuuge bag of them at the farmers’ market yesterday, but after two days of cooking with them, I didn’t have enough left to pickle. Poor me. Maybe that’ll be a project for next weekend.

Ah, but this weekend … this weekend there was fresh garlic (below, left) and scapes (below, right),

not to mention lovely sugar snap peas

and radishes

and grass-fed beef!

Wow. Did we eat well. Gil was out on a hike yesterday and didn’t share in the stir-fried sugar snaps, scapes, and radishes with grilled shrimp,

but I didn’t hear any complaints when he had the grilled combo today — steak, corn, and scapes.

recipes after the jump

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Another trip to the farmers’ market this weekend yielded many goodies, including a quart of lovely strawberries. A quart is a lot for two people to go through before the berries begin to spoil, so I started cooking with them right away.

While The Official MI Husband was away on a hike yesterday, I took advantage of the time alone to photograph my produce bounty and make a wonderful strawberry frozen yogurt. It’s so simple and so delicious, I can’t imagine why I’d ever buy the premade stuff again — all I did was mix whole milk yogurt, some vanilla sugar I’d made a few weeks ago with an old vanilla bean pod, almond extract, and sliced strawberries and let the ice cream maker do its thing. The recipe I adapted calls for Greek-style yogurt, but I didn’t bother straining mine; I prefer the soft-serve consistency regular yogurt yields.

But, sadly, the frozen yogurt barely made a dent in the strawberries. Add to it the blueberries I found on sale at our local market and the potential for spoilage was nearing crisis proportions. Luckily, I happened across a shortcake recipe on the Cooking Light website which saved the day. The only change I made was substituting creme fraiche for the horrid low-fat whipped topping the recipe called for. P-tooey! The lowfat shortcakes were perfectly shortcakey — the crispy crust protected a light and moist interior, and the bite from the lemon zest really complemented the fruit fillings. I’d say this healthier recipe was really the way to go.

I know there are people out there who think dessert isn’t complete without chocolate, but this is my kind of treat. Fresh berries and cream. Mmmm … I think it’s time for a second helping.

recipes after the jump

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When I got home a few nights ago, Gil was still out helping his dad prepare/clean his computer room for the painters who were coming the following day. I thought it’d be nice to surprise him with a decent dinner for a change, but needed something that could be ready by the time he returned in 30 minutes or so. As quick meals go, this one really can’t be beat.

I’ve been on a bit of a meat kick lately, so I picked up four lamb loin chops at the grocery along with a couple of sweet potatoes and set out to prepare our meal. (The chops in the picture aren’t really burned, no matter what your eyes tell you — I coated them with a dark Singapore Curry rub bought on our visit to Seattle in February.) We still had a beautiful bunch of tender kale bought at our farmers’ market over the weekend, and I wanted to do something more exciting than my usual olive oil/garlic/red pepper preparation, so I used Indian spices to complement the chops and added cubes of boiled sweet potato for a nice contrast (visually and spicically). I also tossed in some garlic scapes left from the weekend, but if they’re out of season or if you don’t have access, you really don’t need them.

The lamb was quite good, but lamb always is. What surprised me was how well the veggies came off — the flavors married beautifully and the kale would’ve sorely missed the potatoes had they not been there. And it was so easy, so quick! Not bad for a weeknight.

recipes after the jump

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A yummy, light lunch inspired by the good folks at Last Night’s Dinner:

Colorful and delicious! And without the traditional heavy mayonnaise dressing, it was the perfect antidote to a hot and humid day.

It isn’t the Colonel’s, but I do crave it fortnightly (and this from a girl whose chickennui has been lifelong). As it’s been about three weeks since I last prepared this dish, I’m overdue; it’ll be on the menu again this week, just as soon as the chicken thighs defrost in our colder-than-average refrigerator.

What is this heavenly dish, you ask? It’s something so simple, I can’t believe I never hit upon this particular combination of ingredients before. I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman’s show How to Cook Everything and caught an episode from Napa Valley in which he took on Chef Gary Danko’s fancy-pantsed grilled quail. The marinade sounded simple and the quail were adorable arranged with a bitter greens salad, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Because I didn’t feel like lugging quail home from the city (a matter of potential spoilage, not weight, though my arms aren’t getting me any free passes to the gun show), I picked up Cornish game hens and spatchcocked them good. The process was much simpler than I was expecting, but still more of a chore (and more expensive) than, say, using chicken thighs. (As agnostic as I am about chicken in general, I’m annoyingly evangelical on the subject of chicken thighs, so — fair warning — don’t ever get me started on the subject.)

The whole process was really very simple: The marinade takes one minute to throw together, then the chicken bathes in it for as long as you can stand it — up to a day — and then you slap it on the grill. The results far outweigh any effort you put into it. Because I felt the need to Do More, I also grilled asparagus and threw a foil-wrapped packet of potatoes, garlic, and onions with Cajun seasoning and olive oil on there with everything else.

There happened to be a gorgeous chive blossom squatting in my new herb garden, so I sprinkled that on the salad for a little color:

And there you have it. The chicken was juicy and bursting with flavor, especially after I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar on it when it came off the grill. Mmmmm … wonder if those thighs have defrosted yet.

If I can get excited about chicken, you know it’s a good recipe. Try it and let me know what you think.

recipes after the jump:

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OK, it’s the heat, too. Pics from our trip to Louisiana for Mason’s party are finally posted.

The Official MI Husband did a writeup, so I don’t have to. He also took pictures.

As did I.

Some marriages work because the partners are so similar that they never disagree. While Gil and I aren’t entirely dissimilar, I feel our marriage works more because we complement each other in so many ways: Gil looks before I leap, he handles the chainsaw while I man the phone with 9-1…already dialed, and he bakes the cookies I never seem to get right. I don’t know if it’s bad mojo or what, but we could take the same recipe and my cookies would turn out cakey and burnt while his would be delicate, light, and perfectly balanced.

So whenever he suggests chocolate chip cookies, I turn over the kitchen to him. But he surprised me last time — instead of breaking out the Toll House cookie dough, he went homemade, using a recipe from my Cooking Light magazine.

I did have to give him a few quick lessons on weighing flour for the best results and how to avoid stand mixer injuries, but everything turned out great.

(from top: Gil displays formidable leveling skills, examines the chocolate chips for defects, spoons dough onto the cookie sheet like a pro, and proudly displays the dough so I can get a picture)

In fact, everything turned out so great last time, he gave it another go tonight. It seems my first attempt at apricot ice cream wasn’t quite sweet enough to satisfy the sugar junkie in him (and there was no chocolate, so I think it doesn’t even count. At all.). But it was very pretty.

Gotta run. Time to watch the Yankees and sample some of Gil’s hard work. He bakes the cookies, I eat the cookies … could we be more perfect together?

recipes after the jump

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Color me happy.

The German Coast Farmers’ Market in St. Charles Parish, LA, has really taken off since its inception four years ago. Despite the nearly unbearable heat last weekend, the turnout was good for the anniversary celebration, and spirits were high. The growing season is much farther along down there than it is here in New Jersey, so I was really happy to get some juicy Creole tomatoes fresh from the Zeringue farm. Ponchatoula strawberries were already out of season, but I managed to get along knowing fresh berries will be along soon out here. I’d say the highlight of the GCFM was the jumbo crab-stuffed artichoke I bought at Betty D.’s booth. The artichoke really was enormous, but she’d stuffed it so full of seasoned crab meat, you could barely see the artichoke at all. Gil, my dad, and I had that for dinner one night and felt completely satisfied.

But even more exciting than visiting such a faraway market is knowing that WE HAVE OUR VERY OWN FARMERS’ MARKET RIGHT HERE IN RINGWOOD!! Yes, that’s right, from June to October, I’ll be at the local bus stop every Saturday morning to buy some of the freshest produce our farmers have to offer. I picked up some kohlrabi, garlic scapes, radishes, komatsuna, raw milk pepper colby cheese, and fresh herb plants — oregano, rosemary, and spearmint — which the vendor potted together for me free of charge.

Since komatsuna and garlic scapes were new to me, I had to dive right in and cook them for dinner last night. I used Floyd Cardoz’s ramps recipe (from his incredible One Spice, Two Spice cookbook) as a starting point and was really happy with the results. Unlike the ramps I made a month ago, this dish wasn’t as greasy and the greens were much more tender. We’d had a pretty big lunch already, so a light dinner of stir-fried greens really hit the spot.

Next weekend, I plan to branch out to try the kosher dills, grass-fed beef, and get a bunch more garlic scapes for pickling.

recipe after the jump

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