What's Cooking.

At the beginning of May Adam and I took a two week trip to California. You can see all the photos here. One thing that's different about previous trips we've taken is that I didn't bring my DSLR camera, I only brought my iPhone. There's certainly a noticeable difference in quality, but the trade off was that I didn't have to carry a big camera. I'm not ready to give up my camera entirely, but it was nice not to worry about another electronic something or other. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite shots:













We got back a month ago, but I already can't wait to go back. Since then, we've had a lovely visit from family, including this little heartbreaker, who I only have blurry photos of, because he is in constant motion.



That was the day we had donuts for breakfast and ice cream for dinner in an attempt to show the whole family the best that Somerville has to offer. Yeah, I think he enjoyed himself.

After a bout of kitchen malaise when we got back from California (where are MY 8 for a dollar avocados?!), I've been finding my way back to cooking in the last few weeks. I made these excellent muffins (mmm, molasses and raisins), and there are three jars of rhubarb rosemary jam on my counter waiting to be labeled. Last week I threw together a pistachio chimichurri and we've eaten it on fish, beef, eggs, pizza and grilled veggies: one bunch of parsley, one bunch of cilantro, a couple stalks of spring garlic (or a clove or two of mature garlic) 1/3-1/2 cup of roasted pistachios, salt and enough olive oil to make it as loose as you like it. Chop the pistachios in the food processor, then add the herbs, and pour in the oil while the machine runs. Use it on just about anything (my favorite was on grilled steak).

Farmer's markets have been open for a couple of weeks, and our garden is in bloom, now too. The tomatoes are starting to flower, and I've been able to use the chive blossoms to pretty up salads of local greens and baby tomatoes - even if the avocados are $2 a piece and come from across the country.



What have you all been up to? What's cooking with you?

Avocados

Oh hai, friends! It's been a while, eh? Sorry about that; I'm going to try and do better. In fact! I'm going to attempt NaBloPoMo again. Thanks, Erin, for the kick in the pants. Oof, we'll see how it goes. Let's ease into it, shall we? How about I tell you this weird thing I do: I text my sister when avocados are on sale. She loves them and they are expensive. I also buy them when they are on sale and put them on my toast for breakfast. Yep.

See, I told you we were starting small. See you tomorrow.

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Shrimp

I brought three different food magazines with me on this vacation; the November issues started arriving at my house a few weeks ago but I saved them for the plane. I also knew I wanted to cook for Amy and Matt while we were here. (Eliot is still a little young for grownup food, but he does do this fantastic joy wiggle when you get a spoon of pureed whatever near him.) I salted a chicken on Monday morning to roast on Wednesday night but we wanted something lighter since we had scarfed some serious pizza the evening we arrived.

This salad from Fine Cooking caught my eye, but I made a few changes. I used green leaf lettuce instead of frisée because seriously, who likes frisée? and I added the suggested shrimp to "make it a meal" because we're on the gulf coast of Texas, shrimp is a thing here. This and a loaf of garlic bread (mix minced garlic with softened butter and some salt, spread on a split loaf of so-called Italian bread, wrap in foil, 20 minutes or less at 350) made a lovely light dinner. Added bonus: squeeze the leftover grapefruit carcasses and drink the juice for breakfast the next day!

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Shrimp
serves 4

You could also just skip the shrimp and eat this as a first course, the grapefruit and avocado combo is really nice.

1/2 head green leaf lettuce, cut into salad size bites
2 avocados, pitted, sliced
3 large grapefruits
1 medium shallot, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
1/3 - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

First, make the salad dressing: combine the shallot, vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, a few grinds of pepper and a hearty pinch of salt in a bowl, let stand while you cut the grapefruits.

Use a zester to add about a teaspoon of grapefruit zest to the dressing, then cut the top and bottom off the grapefruits, exposing the flesh. Use your knife to carefully remove all the peel and pith from the fruit. Cut each segment out from the membranes (this is called a citrus suprème) and set the segments aside. If you do this over a bowl you can capture all the juice, then pour it off and drink it. Yum.

Whisk 1/3 cup of olive oil into the dressing, then taste it on a leaf of the lettuce. Adjust the seasoning with more salt or vinegar as necessary, if it's too acidic, add a splash more olive oil.

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat, then add a tablespoon of olive oil and the shrimp. Cook in one layer, flipping once, until the shrimp is cooked through and pink. Toss with the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice and season with salt.

Arrange the avocado slices on plates, then toss the lettuce with about half the dressing (or more as necessary) and plate on top of the avocados. Nestle the grapefruit segments in the salad, and top with the shrimp. Drizzle the remaining dressing on the shrimp and serve

Sushi Salad

No, this salad is not a pile of raw fish on a plate. I'm just messing with leftovers again. Adam made maki (rolled sushi) on Monday - nothing too intense, just nori (seaweed), sushi rice and vegetables. And a little crab. I said "Hey, why don't you get some Krab! We have avocados. We'll make California rolls." And he came home with one actual king crab leg.  Which is awesome because even though Krab is standard in Cali rolls and even sort of ok for things like seafood salad, real king crab is AWESOME with capital letters. I harvested the crab meat and prepped the vegetables, he made the rice and rolled the maki. We ate it in front of House and it was delicious.

But then we had leftover vegetables. And leftover rice. And leftover crab and leftover nori and more of that Genji Ginger Miso dressing I'm so completely enamored with.

So I chopped everything up. I tossed the cucumbers, carrots, scallions and rice with some baby arugula (I really wanted bok choy or napa cabbage but the bok choy at the store was rubbery like pencil erasers and the napa cabbage was yellow, limp and sad) and some of the dressing, and topped the whole thing with sliced nori, crab, avocado and some chopped cashews for crunch. I beg of you, dear Japanese friends, to forgive me: I call it sushi salad.

Bright Pink Salad

Friday night, I faced a bowl of beets. I had roasted them a few days before on a kitchen binge, knowing I would be more likely to eat them if they were ready to go in the fridge.

I didn't have any grand plans for them, but Adam and I needed a snack before heading out for the evening, so I began to construct a salad of things I had around. Here is half a small red spring-sweet onion, sliced thinly.

There was a small block of feta in the cheese drawer, so I added that for tang., and handful of roughly chopped parsley for contrasting color.

Then I noticed the avocado, so ripe and perfect it just had to be used immediately. This is the one ingredient I wasn't sure about, but the cool creaminess was just different enough from the earthy beet flavor that the similar textures didn't fight each other in the bowl.

Finally, a palmful of pistachios for crunch and salt. I squeezed half a lime over the bowl for acidity, then I gave the bowl a gentle toss.

Aaah, beets: nature's paintbrush.

PS. Have you entered my most recent book give-away yet? One more day!


Bright Pink Salad
serves two as a snack or side

1 bunch beets, roasted* and chopped into bite sized chunks
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
handful flat-leaf parsley (or cilantro might be nice), chopped
1/2 avocado, diced
handful pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
juice of half a lime

Put beets, onion, feta, parsley, avocado and pistachio in a bowl, squeeze lime juice over all. Toss gently, then taste, add more lime if necessary.

*To roast beets: Preheat oven to 350F. Scrub beets and remove scraggly root ends and greens (reserve greens for another use). Do not peel (it will be easier once they're cooked), but quarter large beets, halve if small. In a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil, toss the the beets with 3-4 Tablespoons olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Use your hands to be sure all pieces are coated, but then don't touch anything, because you'll have pink beet juice all over you and that. stuff. stains. Fold the edges of the foil over to form a packet, place packet on a cookie sheet in case of leaks, and bake for an hour. After an hour, carefully open the packet to let some steam escape, then return it to the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then using a paper towel, slide skins off beets. Store in the fridge with any accumulated juices and remaining oil until ready to use. Beets will keep, roasted about 5 days.

And for my next trick

When it comes to parties, I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Ok, two... I have two tricks up my sleeve. One is Kathy Frontino's Amazing Potato Salad, which probably shouldn't count as my trick, given it's name. The other trick is guacamole. It's not very tricky, I know. It's only got a few things in it. It's easy enough to buy vacuum packed guac at Trader Joe's or wherever you find yourself, but if you make it from scratch you can keep it chunky, which I love, and impresses people with your kitchen prowess. Or something.

I made some on Monday when we hosted an impromptu Roof Deck Appreciation/Labor Day Party. There are many many recipes and techniques out there, but this is how I do it. You need two avocados, a tomato, half an onion, cilantro, a lime, salt and garlic powder. Sometimes I mince fresh garlic instead of using powder, and sometimes I add diced jalapeno, but I didn't have one today so we had mild, cool, creamy guacamole as a foil to spicy salsa. It worked.


Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. My favorite way to remove the fruit, at least for this application (in which I will be mashing it all together) is to cut it into a grid:

Then you just squeeeeze and the meat comes smooshing out. (Isn't cooking fun?) I usually squeeze some lime juice onto the avocado to inhibit browning while I construct the rest of the dip. Now add at least half (sometimes I use a whole tomato) of a diced tomato, half a diced onion, and half a bunch of cilantro (well rinsed, dried, chopped to your preferred level of fine-ness), salt, the juice of half a lime, and a few shakes of garlic powder.

Then proceed to mash the whole mess with a fork. Taste. Probably needs more lime juice? Yeah, mine did.

Eat with tortilla chips, after taking blurry photos to post on your blog.

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados, preferably Hass
one tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced (any kind will do, red also looks pretty)
1/2 - 1 lime, juice only
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste

Cut the avocados in half, remove pit, cut with crosshatch pattern and squeeze out fruit. In a bowl combine all ingredients and mash to your desired consistency. Taste. Enjoy.