A Market Miracle

During today's trip to the farmer's market, I happened upon a miracle:

The most beautiful asparagus I have ever seen.


I walked through the market as I usually do, passing by each stand and assessing the day's goods, thinking through what I'll want to pick up on my walk back through to the entrance. Everything looked good today, what one would expect at the glorious start of the spring season: leafy greens, a sprinkling of red tomatoes, many herbs ready for planting, radishes and turnips and the occasional jumbled quart of strawberries.

But today, I walked down to the very end of the market, and there on a table at the last stand, I stood awestruck: long-stemmed, green, glorious asparagus, bundled up and ready to be lovingly cradled in my arms. Asparagus! Asparagus season is really truly here! I knew it was here last week when I bought my first batch of the season, but those in no way match up to these delightful beauties, these perfect specimen of plant.


I bought one bunch, telling the farmer that his asparagus were by far the most impressive I had ever seen. He told me that they had been harvesting for a few weeks, but as I know, the asparagus would only be around for a few weeks more. I asked if he would be back on Saturday; alas, no, his farm is only in Carrboro on Wednesdays. I paid for my single bundle of asparagus, walked back through the market and added a quart of strawberries, a single cucumber, and a bunch of Lacinato kale to my tote.


But as I walked back towards the entrance to leave the market, I felt unsettled. Something wasn't right. I knew -- I needed to go back for more. More asparagus! 'Tis the season, and as short as it is, and as beautiful as those stalks were, I knew I had to have another. I returned to the farmer, from the hopefully-now-famous Whitted Bowers Farm (biodynamic, of course -- this must be related to the extraordinary quality of these asparagus) to buy a second batch.


I am most certainly in love.

Mom's Birthday Present: Part 3

Apologies for not posting Mom's birthday part 2. No photos were taken at the event. But here we are at part 3!

However, first things first, the farmer's market purchases from this past week.

Wednesday held two especially incredible purchases: the season's first strawberries AND the season's first asparagus!


Both came from a farm that I tend to avoid, and honestly, the only reason is because the head farmer is not very nice. Everyone else at the market is friendly and greets customers and chats, and this particular one just isn't a friendly or nice person. Given that there tends to be a lot of choice at the market, it's not hard to refrain from purchasing from a specific stand since items are usually available at about the same price from more than one farmer. However, I had to make an exception in this case for the asparagus and strawberries. No one else had them yet, and Karen and I were thrilled to finally see these items! Asparagus has a very short season, so expect to see much of it over the next few weeks. Add to the purchased items list a delicious and enormous $2 bag of salad greens.

This Saturday I acquired a nice bunch of spinach and another bag of lettuce, though I looked for the farmer I purchased the lettuce from last Wednesday and didn't see her on Saturday. Maybe she only comes on Wednesdays?


The strawberries were the primary inspiration for Mom's birthday dinner #3 this past week. I flipped through the index of various Moosewood cookbooks, looking for strawberry inspiration, and landed on this strawberry salad dressing from New Classics.

Strawberry Dressing

1 cup fresh strawberries, rinsed and stemmed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white or regular balsamic or cider vinegar (we used balsamic; might try cider or white next time to lighten it a bit)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp water
pinch of ground black pepper



Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Refrigerated in a sealed container, this dressing will keep for three days.


With all the basil from last week's farmer's market purchase, making pesto pasta was the obvious choice. My go-to pesto recipe:

Mollie Katzen's Pesto from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest:

3 packed cups fresh basil leaves (no stems)
3-4 healthy cloves of garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp of salt
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pulverized nuts (I use pine nuts or walnuts, or a mix or both)
1/2 cup olive oil

Optional: 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley (I use this occasionally, or add a sprinkle of parsley if I have a bit around); 1/4 cup melted butter (not necessary, say I); freshly ground black pepper (sure!)


Puree everything together in a blender or a food processor until it becomes a uniform paste.


We roasted some tomatoes for the pasta as well (keeping them on the side, of course, to accommodate my Dad's extreme tomato dislike). Roasting cherry tomatoes really brings out their flavor. I use a combo of about 2 olive oil:1 balsamic vinegar, plus a teaspoon or so of sugar, a teaspoon or so of salt, a pinch of pepper, and you can add a pinch of herbes de provence or anything dried and green you have around. Whisk it together, coat the tomatoes, roast them on a baking sheet at 400 or 425 for 20 minutes or so, and you've got some good eats.




We put mixed the pesto in with the pasta, threw in some olives, and put together a salad with some toasted almonds, raisins, and the strawberry dressing. Call it dinner.

Tofu Salad: Surprisingly Incredible

I bought a few blocks of tofu a couple of weeks ago, saw this recipe in my Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook, felt skeptical, but decided to go for it anyway since I already had nearly every ingredient. Good choice.

Tofu Salad

1 cake firm tofu
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp light or white miso
3 Tbsp prepared tahini
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups peeled and grated carrots
1 1/2 cups diced red bell peppers (red were too expensive; got green instead)
1 1/2 cups diced celery
1/3 cup chopped scallions
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, basil, or dill (used the basil right off the plant! yes!)

Crumble the tofu. Heat the oil in a non-stick or heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook, stirring constantly, until the tofu becomes dry and shrinks slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and fresh lemon juice and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and set aside to cook for at least 10 minutes.



Meanwhile, whisk together the miso, tahini, mayonnaise, and mustard in a mixing bowl.



Add the carrots, bell peppers, celery, scallions, fresh herbs, and cooled tofu. Allow the flavors to meld for 15 minutes or more and then add salt and pepper to taste.



This salad is fantastic. I can't wait to try it as a sandwich very soon. Also good straight up, right out of the bowl. It took a while to put it all together, and the sauce was a little hard to integrate (honestly, I ended up mushing it all together with my hands to get the sauce to spread evenly between the tofu and veggies), but definitely one I'll make again.

Also, the incredible view from my kitchen today:



What a beautiful, relaxing, cooking-filled weekend.

Saturday of a 3 day weekend = lots of cooking

First, the weekend's market purchases!

Some standard fare (though still always exciting): 2 bags of basil, and a lovely batch of green onions. The basil is from a wonderful nice man who only sells two or three kinds of lettuce and basil. He just sets up a little table with cardboard boxes and puts one head of lettuce on top of each, and then a box for the basil. And the green onions come from an older, very Southern couple that I think is adorable. The wife likes to talk to folks, and the husband likes to make change. As well as a delectable cinnamon bun! This man sells herbs and cinnamon buns out of the back of his pickup. Yum.



And a very exciting, semi-splurge from the market today: a patio tomato plant!



It's blooming now and tomatoes should grow in 70 days. Look out, mid-June! I've never grown tomatoes (or any veggie) before, but the fellow selling them gave me some (hopefully) helpful hints. And check out my basil plant from a few weeks ago! Already repotted and doing just dandy.


For lunch, I wanted to use one of the hunks of tofu I've had in the fridge for a few weeks. This recipe I picked out a while ago and hadn't gotten around to making it. It's described as tasting "just like fried chicken" which I found hard to believe.



"Fried Chicken" Tofu and Gravy from Cookin' Southern Vegetarian Style

Enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your skillet
2 to 3 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 pound tofu, sliced
1/2 cup good-tasting nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tbsp tamari

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the sesame seeds.



While these are heating, dredge each slice of tofu in the nutritional yeast until both sides are generously coated.



When the seeds start to sizzle, arrange the tofu in the skillet. Drizzle the tamari over the top.

Turn the slices and fry on both sides until crispy and brown. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on how you like it.



In my delight to try this dish and my separate focus on sauteeing some spinach and corn and one of today's green onions as a side dish, I completely forgot to make the gravy. Ooops. No wonder there was a ton of sesame seed-oil mixture left in my pan at the end of frying the tofu.



Nonetheless, this fried chicken tofu is seriously good. I mean, it's good in the way that tofu that is fried in oil for several long minutes is always pretty good, but it also has a sharp, southern tang to it that really does resemble fried chicken. I'm impressed. I'll make it again with the gravy, for sure.


I had a craving to do a baking project today (sorry, I know I'm a Jew sinning during Passover, but it had to be done) and had two sweet potatoes on sale from the co-op. Sweet potato muffins it is! I had two recipes to choose from, a Deborah Madison recipe that used molasses (no thanks) and this one, from a cookbook I rarely use though I've had it longer than most of my others.

Sweet Potato Muffins from the 12 Best Foods Cookbook (one of which, no surprise, is sweet potatoes)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil or light olive oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup low-fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup mashed roasted sweet potato
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds (I left these out)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Place paper liners in the cups of a 6 cup muffin pan. (I buttered by pan and it worked out fine.)

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In another bowl, combine the oil, sugar, and egg. mix in the yogurt and vanilla. Stir in the carrot and sweet potato. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of the dry ingredients, and mix just until blended. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them to the top. Sprinkle 1 tsp sesame seeds and a few pumpkin seeds over the top of each muffin. (I wasn't sure if I'd like the sesame seeds, so I did some with and some without.)



3. Make 22 to 27 minutes, until the muffins are lightly colored and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then unmold and cool completely on a wire rack.



Um. Yum.



The description of the muffins says they are "almost creamy in the middle" and that is sure true. They are dense but have some give, not too sweet, and feel relatively hearty given all the veggies. Nice!

Carrot-Yogurt Salad

Straight out of The New Moosewood Cookbook:

Carrot-Yogurt Salad

1 lb. carrots, peeled and coarsley grated
2 medium-sized tart apples, grated
1-2 Tbs. lemon juice
1-2 Tbs. honey
Pinch of celery seed (I omitted this)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup firm yogurt

Optional additions:
1 Tbs. poppy seeds or toasted sesame seeds (sesame seeds: check)
1/4 cup minced almonds or cashews, lightly toasted (almonds: check)
1/2 cup very finely minced celery (check)
a handful of raisins or currants (raisins: check)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut (check)
1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped pineapple (no go)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill.



This recipe definitely makes you appreciate the delight of the food processor grating option. Hallelujah. I love this for breakfast or snack. And with the optional additions, it's a little more interesting than my old standard carrots-yogurt-raisins-pineapple salad. Crunchy, nutty, good.

Paneer Makhani: At Attempt

Paneer is perhaps my favorite food. It is the tart Indian cheese that magically does not melt when fried, and resembles a hearty, chewy tofu, but packed with delicious dairy flavor. At Banjara, my preferred Indian establishment just off Curry Row in Manhattan, they make an absolutely incredible dish called Paneer Makhani, a deep, beautiful red saffron sauce that I am always trying and always failing to replicate. At Haveli in Middletown, CT, the same dish was called Shaahi Paneer.

I buy paneer whenever it is available from the lesbian cheese farmers from Chapel Hill Creamery. It keeps a long time, slices well, and most importantly, fries up great.





Here's my most recent attempt at Paneer Makhani. I had recently bought some paneer from the market and found this recipe online with the help of Google.

Paneer Makhani from Archana's Kitchen

2 cups paneer cubes/ 250 grams ready paneer packet or Home Made Paneer
2 cups freshly pureed tomatoes (choose red tomatoes)
¼ cup thick cream (can substitute with low fat milk)
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1 tablespoon kasuri methi (fenugreek)
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon Vegetable/Sunflower oil
Salt to taste

Grind the onions, garlic and ginger into a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan; sauté the onion paste. Once they turn mild golden color, turmeric powder, cumin powder, cardamom powder and sauté for a few seconds.



Add the tomato puree and simmer until the tomato puree thickens. (I put mine all in the food processor at this point, just to make it as smooth as possible.)

Add cream, honey and salt and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add the paneer (I always fry mine up first) to the above makhani. Add kasuri methi and simmer for few minutes.



This version of the dish was good, though of course never as amazing as my Banjara and Haveli counterparts seem to make it. I think I would cut back a bit on the cardamom next time -- it was easy to pick it out as a stronger spice above all the others when eating it.



But really, could fried cheese ever be bad?

Crunchy Peanut Slaw

Yum. I've never been a big coleslaw fan, given their typical overly mayonnaise sweetness, but saw this recipe with the Asian-y style dressing (shout out to toasted sesame oil and rice vinegar) and cilantro and knew it would be a big hit. Cabbage-based slaws and salads are totally growing on me, thanks to Smitten Kitchen's apple cabbage walnut salad.

Crunchy Peanut Slaw from The Kitchn

Crunchy Peanut Slaw
1 big bowl of slaw, serves at least 8

1 medium head green cabbage, outer leaves removed
1 1/2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts
1 bunch green onions
1 cup chopped cilantro (about two big handfuls unchopped)
Salt and pepper

Dressing:
1/2 cup light oil, like canola
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar (or more, to taste)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more, to taste)

Shred the cabbage very finely. The fineness of the shredded cabbage is really what makes this salad; you want it in in threads, almost, and with the threads chopped into bite-size lengths.


A good opportunity to practice thinly shredding the cabbage.

Toss with the peanuts in a large bowl. Chop the scallions, including the green and white parts. Toss the scallions and chopped cilantro with the cabbage, seasoning very lightly with salt and pepper.

Whisk the dressing until emulsified, then taste and adjust to your own preferences of sweetness and saltiness.

Toss with the cabbage. Garnish with a few more peanuts and serve.



So easy. So good. And this recipe seriously makes a ton of slaw.