Kitchen Garden Journal

 

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These days I am really loving vegetable dishes that are part-salad and part-pickle. Salads made with sturdy vegetables like cabbage or cucumbers (unlike lettuce or field greens) actually improve by marinating in the fridge for a day or two. So if you don’t feel like eating it all right away it doesn’t go to waste. 

½ head of Tendersweet cabbage, very thinly sliced, preferably on a mandoline slicer

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Powdered red chile to taste (I like to use about 1 Tbsp Korean hot pepper powder. It is made from seeded red chili peppers and is intensely flavored without being too hot. It also gives a nice red color. Hungarian hot paprika would make a good substitute.) 

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp white, rice or sugar cane vinegar, or more to taste

Silce the cabbage into a large bowl. Add salt and sugar and massage into the cabbage with your hand. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix and serve. It is best to wait at least 30 minutes for the cabbage to go fully limp and absorb the flavors. It can also be made a few days in advance also. Feel free to add any other ingredients you want like cilantro, onion, garlic, scallion, fresh chiles, etc. 

 

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This is my favorite way to eat beets. The combination of the bitter greens, the sweet beets, the roasty nuts, the creamy cheese, and the sharp dressing is one of the most sublime flavor combinations ever contrived. (We've also got lots more beet recipes on this blog...)

•  Arugula (or lettuce, dandelion greens, spinach, or radicchio)

•  1 bunch small beets

•  Small handful walnuts or pecans

•  4 oz fresh goat cheese

•  Shavings of sweet onion or shallot, scallion or chives

• For the Dressing:

•  1 tsp Dijon mustard

•  1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

•  1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

•  Salt & pepper

•  1/4 cup olive oil

Wash and dry the greens and add to your favorite salad bowl. Trim and wash the beets and steam until tender. (Peeling is not necessary, but if desired, they slip right off after cooking.) Toast the walnuts either in the toaster oven or in a dry frying pan and set aside. Be careful not to scorch them. Decorate the salad with pats of the goat cheese, onions and slices of beet.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing by whisking together the mustard, vinegars, and the salt and pepper. Drizzle in the oil as you continue whisking and the dressing should emulsify into  creamy brown substance. Just before serving add the toasted nuts, and toss with the dressing.

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We are in high summer now. Most years, lettuce and salad greens are tough to grow this time of year. But the high highs of this year’s record breaking heat wave have made it close to impossible, so our lettuce and greens are taking a break for a few weeks.

The good news is that there are many other salads to make from the vegetables that love the heat. Last week we gave you our favorite tomato-cucumber-onion salads. There are so many tomatoes to try and a great way to sample them is in a caprese salad: fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, basil leaves, olive oil, salt & pepper. We had that and some fresh bread from the market and nothing else for dinner the other night and no one felt that anything was lacking.

Something else that’s been inspiring me is one of our other mainstays, pico de gallo. This salsa-like concoction is great scooped with chips or folded into a burrito, but it’s really a salad at heart, and I’ve been treating it as such all season, using whatever vegetables are around instead or in addition to the usual suspects: hakurei turnips, radishes and carrots have found their way in there, with positive results. Another hint: use lots and lots of cilantro. It’s really about the onion-cilantro-chili-lime flavor combination, so any other vegetable is really just along for the ride.

Root vegetables also lend themselves into infinite variations of summer salads to be served cold or a room temp. Beets, carrots and potatoes all delight in a dip in the vinegar, especially when accompanied by sweet onions, which are also in season now. Check out the recipe below for a spicy-citrusy Moroccan carrot salad. Chocolate & Zucchini has a lovely recipe for a grated raw carrot and beet salad with lots of variations. Another vegetable that loves its citrus is fennel, which should be sliced thin or shaved crosswise on a mandoline. (Don’t have one of these? You cook vegetables on a regular basis? YOU NEED ONE!)

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Stolen from Easy-French-Food.com

• 1 pound carrots
  1 orange
  1 clove garlic, finely minced
  2 tablespoons olive oil
  1 tablespoon lemon juice
  1 tablespoon chopped cilantro or flat leaved parsley
  1 teaspoon ground cumin
  1 teaspoon honey
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  1/4 teaspoon pepper
  pinch of cayenne pepper

Juice the orange. Scrub the carrots clean and slice them diagonally into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Place them in a medium sized pot and pour all but 1 tablespoon of the orange juice on top. Fill the pot with just enough water to cover the carrots. Simmer the carrots on low heat for about 15 minutes. They should be just tender - not at all mushy.

Remove the carrots from the heat, drain off the water, and allow to cool.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, reserved orange juice, chopped cilantro or parsley, honey, salt, pepper and cayenne. Add more salt, pepper or cayenne pepper to the dressing according to your taste.

When they have cooled, mix the carrots with the dressing and serve or refrigerate. This salad can be enjoyed either chilled or at room temperature.

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Ingredients: tomatoes, cucumbers, onions. Method: cut them into small pieces, add oil and vinegar, serve immediately.

All around the world, and especially the Mediterranean, there is a class of lettuce-less salads based on tomatoes, cucumbers and onions that varies only slightly from place to place.

These salads just scream summer to me, and I wait all year for the moment to arrive when these three vegetables simultaneously come into season. Nothing could be easier to prepare than these simple chopped salads, and nothing could be more refreshing on a hot summer night than panzanella, horiatiki, or Israeli salad served alongside grilled zucchini, fish or skewered meats. Follow those links to recipes from some of our favorite food blogs. (Our recipes for these salads can be found on The Vegetable Pages.)  

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This week there was a great blog post on the New York Times' website, "Beet Recipes Even a Beet Hater Can Love." Since we have an abundance of beets right now, we though this would be a good moment to share these awesome simple recipes with you. Click on the links below to go straight to the individual recipes.

• Beet and Beet Green Gratin
• Beet, Citrus and Avocado Salad
• Mixed Spring Greens Salad With Roasted Beets
• Grated Raw Beet Salad
• Roasted Spring Onion and Beet Salad

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This is my approximation of my favorite coleslaw. Growing up in Oneonta, NY, we used to go to Brook's Barbecue restaurant (famous for its chicken) all the time. Being the 80's, they had an all-you-can-eat salad bar. I would go back for bowl after bowl of their slaw, smothered in unlimited quantities of bacon bits. I may not have been a very sophisticated eater in those days, but I knew what I liked, and to this day I rate all other coleslaws against their tangy, zippy version. The main flavor components are vinegar, garlic, and black pepper, light on the sugar, light on the mayonnaise. Find our other favorite slaw recipes here.

• 1 small cabbage or 1/2 medium cabbage, shredded (6-8 cups)
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 clove garlic, finely grated or microplaned
• 1/2 sweet onion, grated, or some scallions (optional)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup white vinegar or other sharp vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• lots of freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve refrigerator-cold, with (preferably) or without bacon bits. Meal must also include 2 or more of the following: grilled chicken, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, grilled cheese, hot dogs, potato salad, potato chips, french fries, pickles. Happy Fourth of July, everyone.

 

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This recipe is an adaptation for cabbage of Thai green papaya salad (som tam) and makes a refreshing and fat-free alternative to mayonnaise-based salads (not that there’s anything wrong with mayonnaise!). 

• 1/2 to 1 head cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small hot red or green chili, minced
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• Thai basil, spearmint (optional)
• 1-2 scallions, chopped
• ¼ cup roasted shelled peanuts, ground or chopped fine
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp light colored vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce (optional)

Mixed thinly sliced cabbage and grated carrot in a large bowl with the garlic, chili, cilantro and other herbs if using.  Add the lime juice, salt, sugar, vinegar and fish sauce and stir well (the volume of salad should decrease within minutes as the cabbage sheds its liquid).  Refrigerate until needed.  Just before serving garnish with the ground peanuts and chopped scallion. 

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• 1 lb. celery root, cut into julienne matchsticks or grated
• 4 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbsp boiling water
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped (optional) 

This is perhaps the most common salad eaten in France.  Place mustard in bowl and whisk in boiling water.  Next, whisk in oil until thick and creamy.  Whisk in vinegar and season to taste. Fold celery into sauce and marinate at least 2 hours.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve cold or at room temperature.

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• 1/2 lb. arugula
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1/2 sweet onion (Walla Walla or Tropea), sliced thin

Wash arugula, spin dry and place in salad bowl. Top with tomatoes and onion. Dress just before serving.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste
• ¼ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

Mix together all ingredients except oil in a small bowl.  Whisk in olive oil until an emulsion forms.

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