I like using the broiler part of my oven to cook things quickly and cleanly. For example, thin pieces of marinated chicken or fish, cheese sandwiches that need melting, fruit, and wow I didn’t realize the list would even be this long. (By the way, Mark Bittman loves his broiler too.) So what am I upside-down grilling these days? Stuff slathered with this miso sauce. We did fish fillets. We did slabs of tofu. I am open to chicken. And sliced eggplant.
The procedure is super simple: mix white (shiro) miso with lemon juice, sugar, black pepper, and a tiny bit of water if you need to thin things out. If you’re cooking something a little wet (like tofu or I don’t know, vegetables?), pat it dry first. Spread miso sauce on whatever. Leave under the broiler for an appropriate amount of time. Done and delicious.
Here’s a nice little something to spread on bread that is really easy to make. I already threw some green garlic into homemade mayonnaise/aioli, so I thought I’d blend it into another garlicky spread. This time, a French thing with olives. Combine green olives, green garlic, fresh parsley, capers, and lemon juice in a food processor. While it’s still running, drizzle in olive oil until it becomes a smooth-ish paste. Spread this stuff on sandwiches, grilled fish, chicken, or nothing more than a good piece of bread.
It’s spring! Flowers! Allergies! Rain! Asparagus! Ramps! I’ve learned to appreciate these things while they last because before we know it, there will be an onslaught of heat, humidity, and mosquito bites to mark the end of spring.
Mayonnaise has never really been part of my condiment collection but the homemade kind is fun to make. You can use a food processor or give your forearm a light workout by using a whisk. Green garlic is the stalk of the garlic plant, harvested before a bulb (where the cloves come from) has fully formed. It has a mild garlic flavor and turns the mayonnaise a pretty shade of light green.
In a bowl or food processor, combine:
1/4 cup finely chopped green garlic
1 egg yolk
salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
Whisk together by hand or turn on the food processor. Slowly drizzle in up to 1 cup of olive oil while the food processor (or your hand) is running. The mixture should emulsify and thicken (but don’t overdo it or else you’ll break it). Taste and adjust seasonings.
I mixed a spoonful of my green mayonnaise with extra mustard, capers, and parsley to dress up a potato and asparagus salad (that tastes better after sitting in the fridge overnight, by the way). I’m thinkin it may also do wonderful things to steamed artichokes, pretty much any sandwich, chicken or egg salads, pommes frites, some kind of crudités plate, crab cakes… basically any of the usual mayonnaise applications that could use a hint of garlic.
Turns out apple butter is pretty easy to make. It just takes some patience to wait for everything to reduce. I threw in a few Bosc pears because they were here and on the verge of rotting into a brown mess. Spread this stuff on toast, biscuits, whole wheat muffins (like I did), pancakes, nut butter sandwiches, meaty sandwiches, melted cheese sandwiches, bagels with cream cheese, vanilla ice cream… you get what I’m getting at.
about 4 pounds (10-12 medium or so) apples and/or pears
1 cup apple cider
small cinnamon stick (optional) or some other blend of warm spices
1/3 cup sugar
a few squeezes of lemon juice
Peel the apples and/or pears and cut them up into chunks. Combine with apple cider and cinnamon stick in a pot (it should be filled about halfway up). Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and cook until the fruit gets soft, about 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Pureeing is optional; you can make your fruit butter as smooth or chunky as you’d like. Add sugar and lemon juice to the pureed fruit. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced and thickened. This may take a few hours. Be careful towards the end, because you don’t want scorched apple butter stuck to the bottom of your pot. You can do some real canning after this, or you can just store it in a jar in the fridge.
Here’s another way to not waste leaves (previously: carrot top pesto), one of many many great ideas I’ve picked up from 101 Cookbooks. A tiny bit of effort for a whole lot of seasoned salt that you can sprinkle on almost anything to give it a bit of toasty celery flavor.
This week I came across a lovely article in Saveur about Mexican salsas and Mark Bittman’s New York Times feature about tomatoes (both complete with mouth-watering photos). And now I have two jars of homemade salsa, ready to be spooned over huevos rancheros and dipped into by crispy tortilla chips. Salsa de tomatillo is a no-brainer when my CSA gives us tomatillos. I’ve made it with raw tomatillos before, but I think I like the roasted version better. Salsa borracha is a tangy, thinner salsa that gets a boozy kick from beer AND tequila. I adore them both.
As you can plainly see, this is among the least photogenic edible things I’ve made. I doubt anyone will be reblogging this one on tumblr. What it lacks in appearance it makes up for in flavor: a little sweet, gently garlicky, and brightened up by lemon juice. The recipe can be found here. I found that the roasted eggplant provided enough of its own natural sweetness that I cut the amount of honey called for by half.
This week’s issue of New York Magazine has a delicious recipe from ABC Kitchen (a new favorite) for a simple salad with lettuce, radishes, olives, and a nutty vinaigrette. Perfect for enjoying summer radishes and all the beautiful frilly lettuces piling up at the farmers’ market and CSA shares around here. I used basil instead of tarragon and skinny green onions instead of chives. Still delicious.
It’s been a mad dash to finish up all this summer fruit before it’s gone from the farmers’ markets (or more importantly, before it starts rotting in my kitchen). Originally, I wanted to bring out the new KitchenAid mixer again and bake a buckle with some Santa Rosa plums that were sitting around. Then I had a peach roll (a sticky cinnamon roll with peach chunks nestled in its crevices) at Locanda Verde and considered plum rolls for about five seconds. Then a bounty of desserts showed up for John’s birthday (um, hello Zabar’s cinnamon rugelach), convincing me to use those plums for something else. Like a sauce that will go on a simple roasted pork tenderloin this weekend. Washed down with another good recommendation from our new neighborhood wine shop.
(adapted from Chow, without all the fussy canning stuff)
5 medium (2 inches in diameter? is that medium?) plums, pitted and chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2-inch segment of ginger, grated
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
Put all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Cook until reduced and thick, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn.
This peach salsa staring you in the face qualifies as good picnic fare (in my book) because it meets the following criteria:
- It does not have to be eaten hot or cold, so it’ll taste fine all afternoon (and I do not want to be responsible for nasty bouts of foodborne illness).
- It can be made ahead of time, and keeps well.
- It is totally safe for vegetarians, vegans, the lactose intolerant, and people who are allergic to nuts or wheat (and fine, it’s fresh and nutritious).
- The ingredients are cheap, especially when in season.
I happen to have two additional go-to picnic contributions that meet these criteria: hummus, and those summer rolls too.
recipe:
5 roma tomatoes*
3 medium peaches
1/4 of a medium red onion
1 serrano pepper, seeds removed if you can’t stand the heat
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt to taste
a fistful of cilantro
Finely chop all ingredients that need chopping, then add lime and salt to taste. Alternatively, puree everything in a blender or food processor for a more liquid salsa. Or you could do like I did: use both methods, then combine the batches for the best of both worlds. Serve with tortilla chips. This stuff is also good as a topping for grilled fish or chicken, or nachos with black beans and lots of Monterey Jack cheese (exactly what I did with the leftovers).
* There’s been a story in the news about late blight, a fungus that attacks tomatoes and potatoes, and other members of the nightshade family of plants. (One article here, and Chef Dan Barber’s take on the situation here.) This summer, the fungus has spread all over the Northeast, and it’s sounding pretty bad for farmers and organic tomato lovers alike. Farmer Deb from my CSA recently announced that we will not be getting any tomatoes this year. This is seriously disappointing, because the cherry tomatoes we usually get each summer are seriously delicious. For this salsa, I purchased conventional tomatoes from Whole Foods.
