Post-Caprese Tomatoes

Our family doesn't typically get sick of tomatoes. We wait impatiently for tomato season, then gorge ourselves on heirlooms, cherries, roasted San Marzanos... In those heady early weeks we savor our tomatoes thickly sliced and topped simply with salt and pepper, or on a bagel with a light smear of good cream cheese. Then comes the basil, oil and vinegar treatment, augmented occasionally with some fresh mozzarella or sweet corn. Really, we can do this 2-3 times each week and never get tired of the tender sweetness of a perfectly ripe tomoto.

But this year I bought a flat of heirlooms that did us in. I couldn't look at another basil leaf, I thought I was done. Fortunately we were rescued by the redoubtable Mark Bittman, who offered up this Asian take on tomato salad.

Sesame-Soy Tomato Salad

Slice 4-5 heirloom tomatoes 1/4-1/2" thick and arrange on a platter. Combine 1.5 tablespoons toasted sesame oil with 3 tablespoons soy sauce, and drizzle over tomatoes. Finely slice 2 scallions, sprinkle over tomatoes and serve.

Spicy Green Apple Salad

This recipe is a brilliant intersection between North American summer and fall, from the shesimmers.com blog -- a gorgeous blog with wonderful recipes, very much worth checking out. We made this salad with San Marzano tomatoes from our farm box and apples from our Rosh Hashanah foray to Petaluma's welcoming Chileno Ranch.

She recommends this salad as a topping for grilled or pan-fried fish. We added shredded leftover rotisserie chicken and a chopped heart of romaine and enjoyed it as an entree salad, topped with the recommended chopped cashews. Delicious! Makes about 2 cups without the added chicken and lettuce.

1 medium Granny Smith, Gravenstein or other very firm, tart apple
1 medium shallot
3-4 roma tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch dice
lime juice, to taste
fish sauce, to taste
dried red pepper powder or chili flakes, to taste
2-3 T of chopped cilantro leaves
¼ c coarsely chopped roasted cashews (optional)

Put 2-3 cups iced water in a bowl; keep the bowl handy. Core the apple and cut it in half. Slice each half lengthwise into thin slices. Make stacks of 4-5 apple slices and cut them lengthwise again into thin matchsticks. Soak the apple matchsticks in the prepared iced water.

Thinly slice the shallot lengthwise. In a mixing bowl, toss together the shallot slices, tomatoes, the well-drained apple matchsticks, and cilantro. Season to taste with fish sauce, lime juice, and dried red pepper powder. Serve immediately.

Shrimp with Green Beans in Coconut Milk

This dish is adapted from a Ken Hom recipe and another found in Anita Loh-Yien Lau's Asian Greens. The Ken Hom recipe has been a favorite every time I've made it, so I adapted that sauce to the ingredients I had on hand. The addition of the shrimp paste really made it, MZ devoured the green beans, R bogarted the shrimp and I was satisfied with the whole dish: the lovely pale yellow sauce contrasted with the green beans, the aromatics and the soothing flavors.

I used a bag of frozen white shrimp from Ikea of all places, an impulse buy for sure. What exactly is the carbon footprint of those shrimp, I dare ask? They were fully cooked, making this dish a snap to prepare in just 20 minutes.

4 large shallots, peeled and finely diced
1 pinch chile pepper flakes
1/2 t Thai shrimp paste
1 T coconut, vegetable or peanut oil (if there isn't enough coconut cream in the can)
1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut to 1.5" lengths
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1/4 t salt
1/4 t tumeric
1 t sugar
1 T fish sauce
1 lb large bay shrimp, cooked

Open the can of coconut milk -- do not shake before opening. If there is any thick almost-solid cream at the top, place that in a warm broad saucepan. Substitute oil as needed to reach ~1.5 T. When the coconut cream is melted, add the shallots, chile pepper flakes and shrimp paste. ry till fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the green beans, sugar, salt and tumeric and stir to coat. Stir-fry about 1 minute. Add the coconut milk, bring to a simmer and cook until the beans are to your liking. Add the shrimp and fish sauce, stir, and simmer till the shrimp are fully heated.

Serve with mounds of white or brown rice.

Kimchi Fest

For some reason I got a bee in my bonnet to make kimchi this year. Not satisfied with one type, I made three in the course of one week, then took off on vacation while it "cooked" and came back craving a Korean grill-fest.

The first type was scallion kimchi. I saw a recipe for ramp kimchee, but at $25/lb., there was very little chance that I'd buy enough to yield a pound of greens. But scallions? Dirt cheap at the farmer's market, so I decided to give it a go.

Here's the recipe, not terribly traditional with the Aleppo pepper, but...
http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2011/05/ramp-greens-kimchi.html

Once that was on the counter fermenting, I started thinking about the daikon and Napa cabbage we weren't going to get to before we left. I had ideas of making a Vietnamese bun bowl for dinner, but then w got a rain storm in June and that seemed less exciting.

I searched for recipes. David Lebovitz had one that looked tempting, till I noticed that more traditional recipes never call for rice vinegar. This one looks fabulous, a Steamy Kitchen guest post from Kimchi Mom complete with video, but with a grant due and a vacation to pack for, this was clearly more aspirational than realistic. I settled on the sauce and daikon prep from the Wandering Chopsticks recipe, with some Kimchi Mom influences.

1 large napa cabbage
about 1/4 cup kosher salt
1 T red pepper flakes, medium coarseness
2 T gochujang (Korean chili paste)
4 tablespoons fish sauce
3 t sugar
4 green onion stalks, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 T minced ginger (~1" piece, peeled)
1 T minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 8" piece daikon
water

Cut the daikon into 2" sections, reserve one piece and cut the remainder into 1" dice and place in a clean nonreactive bowl. Add 1-2 T salt and toss till well coated. Weight the top (I used a bowl with a can of beans in it) and allow to sit 3 hours.

Slice the remaining piece thinly lengthwise and add to the julienned carrot.

Cut the cabbage into four wedges, remove core and any discolored leaves, and cut into 2" pieces. Layer in a clean nonreactive bowl with a liberal dose of salt between each layer. Weight the top (I used a bowl with a can of beans in it) and allow to sit 3 hours

Just before the three hours is up, combine the sauce ingredients -- the pepper flakes through the minced garlic -- to make a sauce. Clean two jars that seal well and have a nonreactive top. I used an old caper jar for the daikon and a qt. jar for the cabbage.

Rinse the daikon well, squeeze out the excess water and return to the bowl. Add 1/4 of the sauce and stir well to coat. Add to jar but do not seal yet.

Rinse the cabbage in two changes of water, squeeze and add to the remainder of the sauce. Add the reserved daikon slices and julienned carrot. Stir and toss until coated thoroughly.

Do not clean the sauce bowl. Instead, add 1 cup water and 1 t salt. Stir to dissolve and pour over daikon until it's just covered. Pour remainder over cabbage, pressing cabbage down into jar.

Don't fill either jar more than 75% full, as the mixture will bubble and needs some air.

Seal both jars and set out on the counter out of direct sunlight for 24-48 hours to allow the kimchi to ferment, then put it in the fridge.

According to Kimchi Mom: After the first 24 or so excruciating hours, sample the kimchi. There should be a slight tang. At this point it is ready to be refrigerated. You can eat the kimchi right away, but I prefer to wait at least a week to indulge. The kimchi will continue to ferment at a much slower pace in the refrigerator and will keep for about 4 weeks. The kimchi will turn really sour at this point and if you have any left in the jar, it will be perfect for jigae, fried rice, ramen or jun.

A 3-Kid Hit! Udon Soup with Turkey Meatballs

You would think that we wouldn't want anymore turkey this weekend, but here it is Saturday and we're having turkey already. But turkey in a very different form, one that was a huge hit with all three kids at the table, and with the adults as well. This recipe is a riff on one from Sarah Marx Feldner's A Cook's Journey to Japan, which appeared on the fabulous blog The Kitchn last week, combined with a standbye originally riffed from a Donna Hay recipe.

This is slightly more complicated than my typical weeknight fare, what with the mixing and shaping of the meatballs, but it is definitely going into the regular rotation for nights when we have a but more time, but want something warm and soothing.

For the meatballs:
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 t minced ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon shichimi togarashi, or to taste
1 lb ground turkey
2 T matzo meal

For the soup
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
4 coins ginger
2 T white or dashi-style miso
3 cups sliced Napa cabbage, white stems separate from the leaves
3 scallions, thinly sliced
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup hot water till softened, de-stemmed and sliced into thin strips
2 T soy sauce

4 packets udon noodles (fresh or frozen) without seasoning packet*

Make the meatballs: Combine the egg and seasonings ingredients in a small bowl. Add the turkey, mix to combine, add the matzo meal and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Cook the noodles: Bring a pot of water to boil and cook one minute less than package instructions suggest, about 4 minutes. Drain, rinse, and drain again. Set aside.

Make the soup: Combine the broth, water and ginger coins and bring to a simmer. Add the miso, stirring until it dissipates into the liquid.

Meanwhile, form the turkey mixture into small 1 teaspoon balls, placing on waxed paper or a plate after forming.

Reduce the broth mixture to medium and add the meatballs. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook 4 minutes. Add the cabbage stems and cook 1 minutes, then add the cabbage leaves, scallions and udon. Cook 1 minute more to heat through.

Serve garnished with gomasio or shichimi togarishi.

* I buy udon in 3-packs from the refrigerator section at Nijiya Market.

Fusion Bolognese

I am a huge fan of Ken Hom, I own several of his cookbooks and find that his recipes come out dependably well. One of my favorites is an out of print Chronicle Books book, the first of the Quick & Easy series I love so much. This recipe is based on his "Fast Spicy Meat Sauce for Noodles," which I made several times before R suggested that it would be even better with tomatoes. Then MZ announced that the sauce was too spicy and sweet for her and it changed again. This is a super-easy, fast and very satisfying dinner, we like it served over dried Chinese noodles along with a salad or a quick stir-fried vegetable. R and I add chili garlic sauce at the table to bring it up to our spice preferences.

1 T vegetable or peanut oil
3 T coarsely chopped green onions
2 T coarsely chopped garlic
2 T finely chopped fresh peeled ginger
1 lb. ground beef (94/6 works well here)
1 T bean ground bean paste
1/8 t chili garlic sauce
1 T dark soy
2 T rice wine or dry sherry
2 T hoisin sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 28 oz can ground tomatoes, or diced tomates whirled with a hand blender till coarsely pureed
1 T tomato paste

Heat a medium saucepan ove medium high heat and add the oil. Add the onions, garlic and ginger, stir and saute for 1 minute. Add the ground beef and stir and saute for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, stir, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Oyako Donburi Modified

Oyako Donburi, or "mother and child ricebowl" is a huge favorite at our house. I've found that it's equally delicious, and exceptionally convenient, when I add vegetables to the pan in addition to the traditional onions, eggs and chicken. Everything is savory from the sauce and all we need is a pot of rice for a nutritious dinner.

I find the sauce in most recipes too sweet for our tastes, so this is dialed back a bit. Add 1/2 T more mirin and 1 T more sugar if you like a sweeter flavor. I serve it over short-grain brown rice; the rice takes much longer to cook than the oyako donburi, so if you want to make this after work, consider making the rice the evening before and reheating it for dinner. This recipe serves a family of four, but probably not four adults.

Last night I used diced leftover teriyaki chicken thighs, already cooked so I threw them in the sauce just before adding the egg. It was delicious!

1 T vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, cut into 1/4" quarter rounds

1/2 c thinly sliced carrot (on diagonal)

4 scallions, cut on diagonal and white and green parts separated

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1/4" pieces

1.5 cup dashi or low sodium chicken broth

5 T soy sauce

2 T mirin

2 T sugar

1 T salt

4 shiitake dried mushrooms, soaked in warm water to rehydrate and sliced thinly

2 cups fresh spinach, torn or cut into 1-2" pieces

4 eggs, lightly beaten

Heat the vegetable oil in a 10" saute pan, saute the yellow onion, scallion whites and carrot till just softened. Add the chicken, stir, add the next six ingredients through the shiitakes and bring to a simmer. Cook 3 minutes, then add the spinach, stir and cook 2 more minutes until spinach is wilted.

Pour the eggs over the chicken and vegetable mixture in a steady stream. Spread 1/2 the green onions over the eggs, place the lid on the pan and cook approximately four minutes. Check the eggs to see that they're not too runny. When the eggs are done to your liking, place a scoop of hot rice in a bowl, add a wedge of the egg mixture, drizzle with sauce and top with green onions. Enjoy!

Speedy Deliciousness: Miso Udon Halibut Soup

This is so easy and so good we have it every few weeks. R and MZ put it together while I make my commute home, it takes all of 15 minutes. We buy organic fresh udon noodles without the soup base, I usually get them at Nijiya but I recently saw them at the SF CostCo in the refrigerator section. There are three servings to a package, which easily makes enough noodles for four. The noodles and miso have a long shelf life, so we always have them on hand. It would also be good with tofu or thinly sliced chicken breast, the recipe remains just as speedy (add the chicken a minute or two before you add the sliced greens). Great with shiitakes or other vegetables if you have the extra time, but the idea is to keep it quick so we try not to add too many flourishes. MZ loves it best with Napa cabbage and halibut, in general kids love the big fat udon noodles.

4 T white miso paste

2 t fish sauce

2 T soy sauce

6 cups warm low-sodium chicken broth

3-4 slivered green onions, white and green parts separated

1 lb firm fish such as halibut or rock cod, cut into bite-size pieces

Four good handfuls of sliced quick cooking greens such as baby bok choy, Napa cabbage or spinach

3 servings fresh udon noodles (see above)

Gomasio for garnish

Bring a medium pot of water to boil and cook udon noodles per package directions.

Meanwhile, bring chicken broth to simmer, add miso, fish and soy sauces and the white part of the green onions. Return to simmer, cook 1 minute and add fish and greens. Cook 2 minutes.

Drain noodles, place a serving in each bowl and ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with remaining green onions and gomasio and serve.

Dinners Week of 08/09

Sunday: Dinner out in Berkeley after Peter Pan

Monday: Korean Braised Tofu*, soba noodles and pan-roasted pimientos de padron and shishito peppers; blackberries, plain yogurt and brown sugar for dessert

Tofu recipe was a definite keeper, riffed off of a recipe from Quick and Easy Korean Cooking, from my beloved Chronicle Books series. The pimientos de padron have been running hot, so the folks at Happy Quail Farms suggested we buy Shishito peppers, which she described as "just like the padrons but never hot." "Really?" I asked. "Really," she assured me. Not so, they have a different, floral but slightly more bitter profile and much tougher skins. The padrons win hands-down.

Tuesday: Shrimp Egg Foo Young

We had been talking about old school childhood foods. Mana made a lightened up version with just eggs, shrimp, bean sprouts and green onions, and a light oyster sauce. It was delicious with brown rice.

Wednesday: Tacos los Altos with friends

Too hot to cook.

Thursday: Shrimp, Pea and Orzo Pasta, Green Salad and Banana Bread

Aunt D brought her A game for sure. I used the Cook's Illustrated Banana Bread recipe as usual, but replaced half the flour with w/w pastry flour. Absolutely the best ever.

Friday: Grilled flank steak, potato-stuffed pasilla and bell peppers**, cherry tomato couscous***

Shabbat dinner with friends combined with major fridge cleaning in anticipation of vacation. I came across the two sides recipes this week, each made ample use of something that needs using from the CSA box. Both were outstanding, totally worth making again. R LOVED the peppers, MZ went for the couscous salad.

Saturday: Zuni Cafe for our anniversary

*Korean Braised Tofu

This recipe should be quite spicy, but since MZ isn't there yet, I changed the recipe quite a bit and we added gochujang at the table. So this is hardly Korean at all anymore, but it is very very tasty. It was great served over soba noodles, but I really would have loved it with short-grain white rice.

1 block firm tofu

2 T canola or grapeseed oil

2 T warm water

1 t white miso

2 T soy sauce

1 T mirin

2 garlic cloves, minced or run through a garlic press

4 green onions, sliced thin on the diagonal

1 T sesame seeds

Wipe the block of tofu dry and slice the tofu into 1/2" slices. Set the slices out on a jellyroll pan lined with paper towels while assembling the rest of the ingredients. Pat the tofu slices dry on top and sides.

Heat a 10-12" nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and when it is very hot but not yet smoking, add the tofu slices. Brown on each side ~5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the warm water and miso, whisk, then add the remaining sauce ingredients.

When the tofu is browned on both sides, pour the sauce over and around the slices, flip any pieces with a lot of garlic on top, cover and turn heat to medium. Cook for 3 minutes and serve. Garnish with additional green onions for a shot of color.

**Potato-Stuffed Pasilla Peppers

Adapted from a recipe on the Happy Quail Farms website, this recipe reminds me of the best street tacos we've ever had, served from a cart in Mexico City's main Zocalo. The tacos included grilled steak, peppers and onions with a smear of mashed potatoes, topped with cotija cheese. They were so addictive we went there on our last night instead of someplace fancy. So it was a natural to serve this with grilled flank steak. Serves 6

6 pasilla or green bell peppers
5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup crumbled feta
salt and pepper
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly spray a shallow baking pan that is big enough to hold peppers snugly together, holding each other upright (use balled up foil if they need propping). Slice the top (stem end) from each pepper and set aside. Keeping pepper shells intact, remove seeds and ribs. Arrange shells in prepared dish and bake while making the filling.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, sauté onion in olive oil while chopping the flesh of the pepper tops, discarding stems. Add peppers to pan and sauté while peeling and slicing the potatoes. Add potatoes and 1/4 cup water, cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring half-way through, until potatoes soften.

Remove from heat and stir in mustard, cilantro, feta, salt, and pepper. Remove partially baked pepper shells from oven and fill with potato mixture. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, until filling is golden brown and peppers are tender, about 25 minutes.

***Cherry Tomato Couscous

The perfect foil for high summer produce, this recipe came together easily, was ridiculously tasty when freshly made, and overnighted well in the fridge for a delicious cold salad the next day. I made very few changes: I used whole wheat couscous; I added 1/4 t Dijon mustard to the citrus juice mixture in the bowl prior to whisking in the EVOO to emulsify the vinaigrette; and I added three thinly sliced scallions (which, incidentally, were extremely popular with the 4 yos at the table). Another winner from 101 Cookbooks!

Summer Vegetables: Cucumber and Zucchini

We've been getting tons of cucumber, zucchini and red onions in our farm box lately. I love cucumber, but am less fond of zucchini. Both these recipes worked well enough to make again, MZ loved the zucchini. I prepped them the night before and served with microwave "baked" yams and pan-grilled teriyaki pork tenderloin.

Stir-fried Zucchini with Red Onion and Black Soy

3 large-ish zucchini cut in 1/4" half-moons

1/2 red onion, feather cut

1/4 t salt

1 clover garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 t minced ginger

1 T soy sauce

1 T chicken broth

1 t black soy

1/2 t sesame oil

Heat a wok to hot hot. Swirl in a scant 2 t canola oil, add onion, sprinkle with salt and stir and fry until the onion softens a bit. Add garlic and ginger, stir and fry 30 seconds and move mixture to upper edges of wok. Add zucchini, spread out across bottom of wok and allow to char around the edges. Stir and allow the other side to char. Add soy sauces and broth, stir and cook to desired doneness. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve.

"Korean" Cucumber Salad

This recipe is riffed from a salad from Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall. We need to work MZ up to the spice level she recommends... I used a combination of Persian, lemon and standard cucumbers because that's what I had on hand. I seeded the lemon and standard cucumbers with spoon before slicing. No seeding required for the Persian cucumber. Serves 4-6 as a side dish

3 lbs. cucumbers, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

1.5 T sea or kosher salt

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1 T vermouth

2 T sugar

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 red onion, feather cut

1 T sesame oil

1 T toasted sesame seeds

1 T slivered almonds

Place the sliced cucumbers in a strainer and sprinkle with the salt. Toss to cover. Let sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile. combine ingredients through black pepper, whisking till sugar dissolves. Add red onion and toss to combine.

Wrap cucumbers in a dish towel and squeeze out liquid. Place in a bowl with dressing ingredients, stir to combine, drizzle with sesame oil and refrigerate one hour or overnight. Toss with sesame seeds and almond slivers and serve.

Steamed Tilapia with Cabbage and Shiitakes

After our Ono Mix Plate fest, something light was needed, and something that would use the odds and ends in our fridge. We always have udon noodles on hand, I buy three-packs of the individual fresh udon without the sauce base whenever I do a Nijiya shop. I also had shiitakes that had dried in the fridge, a few teaspoon-fulls of tobiko left over from Robert's birthday poke, and a quarter cabbage. We picked up a handful of snow peas and some tilapia and I threw this together. It came together quickly, and was satisfying, tasty and healthful.

It was gorgeous topped with the tobiko, pretty enough for a dinner party. We used the shimchimi pepper mixture to give some heat to ours, but just garnished Miriam's with gomasio and gave her some "tiny orange balls" on the side. I would also serve this on soba, top with cilantro if I had it on hand, or replace the cabbage with Napa cabbage. Julienned carrots would be pretty, too, but at that point it stops being a quick/easy recipe.

1 lb. tilapia

6-10 dried shiitakes

2 c. coarsely shredded cabbage

1 handful snow peas, sliced on the diagonal to 1" pieces

2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1 t. minced ginger

1/4 c mirin

1/4 c soy sauce

2 T ponzu

1 t sesame oil

Gomasio (store-bought or home-made)

Shichimi Togarishi

Tobiko (optional)

Soak the shiitakes in hot tap water till soft, about 15 minutes. Lay the tilapia filets out on a plate. Bring a medium pot of water to boil.

Slice the veggies: cabbage, snow peas, green onions, garlic and ginger. Combine the garlic, ginger, mirin, soy and ponzu in a small bowl.

Drain the mushrooms (save the mushroom water for another use if so inclined), rinse any grit off, squeeze out moisture. Remove stems and slice caps thinly.

Set up a steamer, bringing water to boil. In a pie plate, place cabbage, then snow peas, then mushrooms and 1/2 green onions. Pour 1-2 T sauce over, and steam five minutes.

Meanwhile, blot any moisture from fish, with a paper towel, then liberally salt and pepper; prepare udon noodles. Place fish over veggie mixture, sprinkling remaining sauce and green onions on top. Steam 10 minutes.

Drain udon noodles and distribute in ramen or pasta bowls. Check fish for doneness. When just cooked, distribute veggies, then fish fillets on noodles, ladle sauce over fish and sprinkle with gomasio and shichimi togarishi, adding a dollop of tobiko if available.

Serves three adults or two adults, one kid with leftovers for one lunch. Delicious with a glass of chilled Gewurtztraminer.

Oyako Donburi

This remains one of our favorite meals. I added a cup of thinly sliced Napa cabbage, because I had it on hand. I prefer the baby spinach leaves. MZ loved the shiitake mushrooms and chicken.

Not much cooking over the weekend, but we did learn that MZ loves ikura. She kept asking for more orange balls. She also likes Little Star pizza.