Root Vegetable Salad

Hello everybody,

We've been absent for almost an year from this blog. Many wonderful things happened, while we were off, and the most important are the two new, beautiful baby boys that took all our time, and made us forget about the blog :)))
Now, the babies are almost toddlers, and we spend more time in the kitchen again. Glad to be back and share our new concoctions with you.

 

My dear friend T.V. has been asking for this recipe for ages. Finally, I am ready to post it. Root vegetables can be enjoyed throughout the year, but I prefer them in Fall and Winter, when most of them are in season and taste better. These vegetables are usually inexpensive, and have tremendous health benefits. They grow underneath the ground and absorb many nutrients and minerals available in the soil. 

 For this recipe, you can use any root vegetable that can be eaten raw. I usually buy whatever vegetables are available in stores. On my last trip, I came back with beets, red and golden, watermelon radishes, rutabaga and carrots. The salad is very easy to make and tastes fresh for long time, if kept in a fridge.

Ingredients:

2 beets,
2 golden beets,
2 turnips
2 watermelon radishes
1 rutabaga
5 carrots
1 bunch cilantro
dill
3-4 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp vinegar and/or lemon juice
salt to taste

Clean and peel the vegetables. I used a food processor to shred them, that is why I cut them to pieces that would fit the opening of my food processor.

Add salt, olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, and dill to your taste. You can store the salad in your fridge for about a week.

Fiesta Farro Salad

 

I prepared a nice summer farro salad inspired by a similar dish I had tried at Il Cane Rosso in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Less tomatoey, more festive because of the touch of cilantro and the (semi) home-made tortilla strips...

It was perfect on a nice summer evening - filling because of the whole grains and at the same time light and refreshing because of the fresh veggies without lacking flavor (freshly boiled corn and grilled peppers are key!)
Farro works great here not only because it has a rich nutty flavor but also because it has the right amount of chewiness and can stand up to the juicy tomatoes and peppers.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• Italian farro (love Costco's variety)
• Diced tomatoes
• Grilled red/yellow bell peppers
• Corn
• Diced cucumber
• Diced onion
• My best extra virgin olive oil
• Rice vinegar (I'm a die hard Trader Joe's vinegar fan)
• Cilantro
• Tortilla strips
• Feta cheese (cotija cheese would be great too!)
• Salt a black pepper

Pickled Vegetables - "Trushia"

Pickled vegetables, a.k.a. turshia or trushia, as it is pronounced differently in different parts of Bulgaria, is an excellent accompaniment to meat dishes. Typically it is made in the late fall with the last load of vegetables picked in the home gardens. Made in huge amount, the turshia is then stored in the darkest and coldest places of the houses to last till spring. In the older times people ate only produce in season, so the typical winter diet consisted mainly of grilled pork cutlets, and home made sausages,  pork stews with potatoes, beans, pork cooked with pickled cabbage, and of course turshia. All the households in the villages had pigs and the killing and processing of the meat from the pig, usually happening around Christmas, was a pleasant occasion for family and friends gatherings and celebrations. The trushia had permanent place on the tables, used as an appetizer that people had when drinking rakia and a side dish for the meat dishes. Every family had their own recipes, or tips and tricks, and there was always a silent competition going on of who makes the most crunchy, fresh and delicious turshia.

These days, when we eat fresh vegetables all year round, we don't make turshia very often. It happens once in a while, usually around Christmas, to follow the years-long  tradition and satisfy the cravings we usually experience. 

A friend of mine DM gave me this simple recipe for a quick turshia. It gets ready in 2-3 days. There are variations of what types of vegetables you can use. In addition to my list below, you can add regular cabbage, green tomatoes, and small sweet peppers. The original recipe recommends slightly grilling the tomatoes and peppers before adding them to the mix.

This is what I used:

(Adapted from the original recipe)

• 2-3 heads cauliflower, cleaned and cut in small pieces
• 8 - 10 carrots cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 5 celery stalks, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 lb peppers cut in pieces. I use different colors peppers
• 1 head garlic, each clove peeled and cut into 3 pieces
• 1 bunch of parsley

Marinade:

• 300 g vegetable oil
• 500 g sugar
• 200 g salt
• 700 g apple cider vinegar

Procedure:

Boil the marinade and leave it aside. Mix all the vegetables, with the exception of garlic and parsley, in a big pot. Pour the marinade over the vegetables. Be careful not to use very hot marinade, because the vegetables will loose their crunchiness and become mushy. Cover with plastic foil or a lid and leave it for 24 hours in a cool place.

On the next day, add the garlic and parsley. Pack the turshia in glass jars and store in the fridge. If you live in a cold weather you can keep it outside. Usually the turshia is ready for eating in 2-3 days.

ETL: Fennel, Bok Choy and Watermelon Radish salad

We got fennel from our CSA box and I remembered that last year Marulka had made an amazing fennel and celery salad, topped with shaved cheese. Well I was out of celery and did not have any cheese so I decided to improvise and used only the ingredients that we got from the box. The result was awesome!

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, cleaned and thinly sliced.
2 heads of bok choy, cleaned and thinly sliced.
2 watermelon radishes, washed, peeled and thinly sliced.
5-6 kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise
1 lemon, juiced
some olive oil, salt and black pepper.

Wash all vegetables well and slice thinly (i used food processor and it took 30 sec!). Mix in a large salad bowl and add some olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the leftover fennel fronds and enjoy!

p.s. Here is what watermelon radish looks like :)

Aah - The Magic of Zaatar...

With my Indian cooking spell largely behind me, I am now knee-deep in the fascinating world of Sheherezade from A Thousand and One Arabian Nights..."How come?" you may ask...It's all about Zaatar...

I had the good fortune of receiving this magic (...and I guess no longer secret) ingredient from a colleague at work today and couldn't wait to put it good use. 

To my surprise,  zaatar resembles very much a beloved spice from my childhood in Bulgaria called samardala ( [самардала] in Bulgarian ) -  an herb with garlicky flavor called honey garlic (Nectaroscordum siculum ssp. bulgaricum syn. Allium bulgaricum). It turns out Zaatar contains savory - another  Bulgarian staple.

From Wikipedia:

Za'atar (Arabic: زعتر‎, also romanized zaatar, za'tar, zatar, zatr, zahatar, zaktar or satar) related Middle Eastern herbs from the genera Origanum (Oregano),Calamintha (Basil thyme), Thymus vulgaris (Thyme ) and Satureja (Savory).^[1] It is also the name for acondiment made from the dried herb(s), mixed together with sesame seeds, and often salt, as well as other spices.^[2] Used in Arab cuisine since medieval times, both the herb and spice mixture are popular throughout the Middle East and Levant.

I made a classic Middle Eastern tomato and cucumber salad with Tahini dressing:

Tahini dressing:

- 1 teaspoon tahini

- 1 teaspoon water

- juice of one lemon

- a bit of sea salt

- 1 large clove of minced garlic

Couscous Salad

Delicious, nutritious, fast and easy dish!!! Can use it as a main course or as a side salad to your favorite meal. Here is what you would need (of course can be scaled up or down depending on how much you would like to make):

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups dry couscous
• 1 english cucumber
• 5-6 tomatoes
• 1 small red onion
• 1/2 small jar kalamata olives
• 1/2 bunch parseley
• 1/2 bunch basi
• salt, black pepper and some olive oil

PROCESS:

1. Cook the couscous following the instructions on the box. If you use the Trader Jose's brand you can use a large saucepan and put 2 cups of water + 1 spoon olive oil and some salt and bring to boil. Then add the dry couscous and stir well. Remove from heat, cover and let sit ~5 min. Then remove the cover and fluff with a fork and let it cool down for ~ 10 min (if the couscous is too hot then the vegetables will get a bit mushy).
 

2. In a separate bowl, combine the finely chopped red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, parseley, basil and the olives (pretty much all the ingredients should be chopped into small cubes).

3. Finally, mix the cooled couscous with the chopped vegetables.
Add a little bit of olive oil (optional but i've found that it adds a nice flavor... also lemon juice goes well with this salad as well so you can use that instead), some salt and black pepper to taste and enjoy big time!

Shopska salata

This is my most favorite salad and I will be eating it often this summer... for best results, use ripe heirloom tomatoes and you will not be dissappointed!

The basics:
3-4 good sized tomatoes (or as many as you like)
1-2 cucumbers (or same as above)
1 onion (red or green)
2-3 peppers, roasted (can use red or green peppers)
parsley or basil
salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar
crumbled feta cheese

Chop the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Roast the peppers, peel and chop. Mix all ingredients and season with salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped parsley. Top the salad with crumbled feta and serve with a smile :) (or a glass of chilled rakia!)

Enjoy!

Birthday Cooking: Aftermath thoughts ...

I know, it's been a while since my last post, but I have a good excuse for my silence. It was my XYZ Birthday last week :). Usually, I don't cook on my birthdays, my family takes me out to a nice restaurant and we have decent food and plenty of drinks, talks, laughs, etc.
This year was an exception, I bravely decided ( What was I thinking !?!?!) to celebrate my coming to this world and my passion for cooking simultaneously, with cooking a four-course meal dinner for my family. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

It took me some time to decide on the menu and plan accordingly. I browsed through thousands of recipes and menus. At the end, the Cook's Illustrated "An Upscale Surf and Turf" menu won. The execution wasn't as easy as planned, but I'll get to that later :)

So here is what we had:

• Crab Towers with Avocado & Gazpacho Salsas
• Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Pecans
• Roast Beef Tenderloin with Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Stuffing
• Potato Roesti
• Coconut Layer Cake
• Parker House Dinner Rolls ( not pictured )

I appologize for the pictures quality. They did not come that good this time :(

Crab Towers with Avocado & Gazpacho Salsas

I would say that was the star in the menu. I prepared the crab meat salad and gazpacho salsa ahead of time. The avocado salsa though, had to be prepared close to the time of serving, otherwise the avocado gets darker. This appetizer was spectacular, the combination of crab meat and the creaminess of the avocado and the freshness of the gazpacho salsa were perfect. The dish was not very labor intensive, easy to prepare and serve! I'd make it again! 

Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Pecans

Nice salad, I sliced the fennel and prepared the dressing a few hours ahead, and just put everything together before I served it.

Roast Beef Tenderloin with Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Stuffing with Potato Roesti on a Side

I stuffed, rolled and tied the beef the day before and only seared and roasted it before serving. It came out nicely and my family liked it but...I didn't think it was that spectacular. There were a few pieces left and I tried it again last night.. I think I like it cold better. Next time, I would cook this in advance and just warm it before serving to avoid all the commotion from doing all the prep and cooking at the last moment.

Another point, I bought a high-grade meat for this dish, and probably cooking Filet Mignon would've showed the meat better.

Until this point everything was pretty much in control and served on time. But there was Potato Roesti in my menu, and that was way too ambitious. The recipe called for shredding the potatoes with food processor and then squeezing them as dry as possible. I did the shredding in advance and squeezing and drying just before cooking. I made two pancakes, and each took about 20 minutes to cook, a bit longer then I could afford at that time. By the time the roesti was ready the beef was not that hot, not to mention the fire alarm that got activated from the smoke :) ... So next time I would opt for potato pure, for sure. 

Coconut Layer Cake

   

I made the cake the day before. The recipe was good, the cake was moist and tender, the coconut flavor was deep yet subtle at the same time, overall not very sweet. My only objection was the amount of butter used in the traditional butter cake and the buttercream icing. Next time I'd look for a different filling and icing. Busy with last minute cooking, I forgot to take out the cake from the fridge and at the time of the serving it was quite cold.

So generally speaking, the cooking adventure went well, good experience, with few surprises here and there. My big struggle was the timing and my main mistake was, that I chose dishes I never cooked before. I did not dare to adjust, or shortcut the processes that could jeopardize the quality.

Will I recommend doing it or will I do it again? - NOOOOOO, nope, never, ever! Too much stress, and it was on my own Birthday :)

Thanks god I have this loving, supportive, and appreciative family. They were with me through the whole endeavor and made it fun and pleasure!

Another Mish Mash Dish - Veggie + Rice + Chickpeas

Sometimes I just don't feel like following any recipes and it's all about spontaneous creations.

I started with the flat bread, which was based on the same recipe as yesterday but had a completely different taste and texture - it was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside because I used a mix of flours - 1/3 cup of brown rice flour for lightness and crunch, 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour for a nutty flavor and 1/3 cup of unbleached white flour to up the gluten.

I also added some mandolined leeks and some rosemary to the batter and used a different type of skillet - a 12 inch stainless steel (instead of a 10 inch cast iron) .

Next was the stew - I sauteed some mandolined leeks, 1 slice of fat reduced bacon and chili pepper flakes. While they were cooking, I cubed some potatoes and carrots and threw them in the pot along with little fresh thyme and rosemary . It made sense to speed up the cooking process by chopping two sorry-looking bok choys, 2 celery ribs and some leftover fennel pieces.

Once the veggies were soft I added some chickpeas and chickpea cooking liquid in the pot.

Next in order was leftover brown rice to thicken the consistency and add some more heft. A bit of parmigiano and pecorino balanced things out...

The spinach salad was really flavorful - I am quite happy with the Lucini Pinot Noir vinegar that I got at Whole Foods a few weeks ago.

• Baby spinach
• Avocado
• Shaved onion
• Olives

Lentil and greens mish-mash

We got our veggie box yesterday and it came with the usual winter greens: chard, kale and spinach. I did not have any real ingredients for a full blown dinner so I decided to improvise and do something like a lentil mish-mash (i had only about one cup of lentils, and they were mixed red lentils and regular brown lentils) and it was really easy and quick to make:

1. In olive oil, sautee garlic, spinach, chard, kale, some arugula over medium heat (caution: the arugula gave slightly bitter taste, so if you don't like arugula too much you can leave it out)
2. In a separate pot, boil the lentils in ~4 cups of water and add spices to taste (salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric etc.. whatever you like... lately I am all about cumin!)
3. Once the lentil is fully cooked (~20min or so), drain the water and add the lentils to the sauteed greens and mix. You can add back little bit of the lentil water so that it is not too dry (~1/4 cup).




I also made a red cabbage salad with the rest of the veggies from the box by shredding everything in the food processor:

• 1 head of red cabbage, shredded
• 2 tokyo turnips, peeled and shredded
• 4 carrots, peeled and shredded
• 2 baby bok choy, finely sliced
• juice from 1 mayer lemon and olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and enjoy!

Tuesday dinner: Radishes and greens

I have always wanted to try radishes with butter and salt, a typical French snack and a gastronomical holy trinity of sorts for many a foodie.

Farm fresh red radishes are a must for me as I am not one of those true radish fans and find most varieties too "biting" and spicy. I figured today is the best day to give R+B+S a try, while the radishes from today's veggie box are still mild-tasting:

I sliced them in half and served them with Straus Creamery European unsalted sweet butter, which allowed me to tinker with the type of salt. I chose two varieties - Himalayan pink and samardala. I then spread a bit of butter and sprinkled a few grains of salt on a radish and popped it into my mouth. The contrast between the watery bite of the radish, the creaminess of the butter and the crunchiness of the salt is quite interesting.

My salad was simple:

The main course was the radish tops (greens), quickly sauteed them until wilted (3min) in olive oil with garlic and chili pepper flakes....

on top of umbrian faro ( 20 mins cooking time in my rice cooker):

I stirred the greens to reveal the faro beneath a bit better:

Avocado Fennel Citrus Salad

Hi Guys,

I decided to use 1/2 the fennel I got at the FM this weekend and make a salad for tomorrow's lunch. I had looked up some recipes today asking for fennel (as I am addickted to it) :0) and this fennel salad caught my eye as easy to make and at the same time also sounding very delicious. Here is the original recipe:

Avocado Fennel Citrus Salad
    1 grapefruit
    2 oranges
    2 Avocados
    1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice 
    1 tablespoon honey
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 bulb fennel, trimmed and sliced very thin
    (reserve green stuff for garnish)

Working over a large bowl to catch juice, peel and section the grapefruit and the oranges. Cut avocados in half, remove the pit, and peel. Cut into slices or chunks.  Add to grapefruit mixture and toss gently to coat with juices. Drain juices off into small bowl. Stir in honey, lime or lemon juice and salt. Add fennel slices and juice mixture to avocado mixture and toss gently to mix.

I didn't have avocados today so I just made it w/o them (but will probably stop by TJ's tomorrow on my way to work to get some so they will be added later on to my lunch). I also had only one orange, so I used one oro blanco grapefruit and 1/2 pomelo. It taseted very good even w/o the avocades - fresh and juicy.

It's Dinner time - Spicy Korean Slaw + BG/Korean Fusion Ciabatta Buns

You guys must be tired of me already - quite the prolific blogger today! Well, Crisco is hungry and after a record month of dining out (according to Mint), we have vowed to eat in as much as we possibly can.

After another healthy banana oatmeal breakfast and a labor-intensive Italian lunch, which required multiple hours in the kitchen, I was ready for a light and quick dinner (even Scratcho was groggy!)

Crisco's mom shared with me an amazing cabbage salad recipe over the holidays ( I am pretty much addicted to it and have made it many times since then).

• Shredded cabbage ( whatever you have on hand - I used a purple variety and some leftover Napa cabbage)
• Sliced carrots
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Minced garlic clove
• Sesame seeds (crush / crumble them a bit between your fingers to release more flavor)
• A bit of sesame oil
• 1 tbs soy sauce ( I buy it in bulk from Whole Foods)
• 1.5 tbs apple cider vinegar ( same as above)
• Chili pepper flakes for extra spicy kick

Crisco was hankering for a sandwich - I quickly fried two eggs sunny side up and he created two sandwiches for himself, composed of sliced ciabatta buns, lukanka slices, dijon mustard and Korean slaw. As you may suspect, some rakia was required on the side.

The interesting observation that Crisco made is how rare and great it is to be able to enjoy so many home made delicacies (lukanka, rakia, bread, etc.). Thanks!!!

Black-eyed Peas + Grains for Saturday Lunch

Now that I have gobbled up the banana oats, charged my camera batteries and downloaded the pictures from yesterday's impromptu lunch, I am ready to share the bean salad recipe with you.

The idea was to have a healthy (but tasty) and quick lunch after our 11am yoga class given that we had a busy afternoon ahead of us.

I like to keep cooked grains and beans in my fridge (I probably cook batches twice week) so that I can use them as ingredients in quickly-assembled soups, stews and salads.

We had spinach on hand so a bean+ grain salad made a lot of sense. Crisco likes to have eggs for brunch on the weekend so I figured a sunny-side egg on top of the salad would please him.

Black-eyed pea+ grain salad

For the salad:

• Yellow bell pepper
• Cherry tomatoes
• Onion
• Celery
• 2 cups of black-eyed peas
• 1 cup of kamut+spelt wheatberries
• Carrots
• Avocado

For the dressing:

• Parsley
• Sundried tomatoes
• Brown rice vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• EVOO
• Himalayan pink salt
• Coarsely ground black peppercorns

Serve on a bed of baby spinach and top with a sunny-side up fried egg