On life lessons and red cabbage

Phew! What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks have been. A pleasant whirlwind – a trip to a warm place, a lot of good food, many generous gifts, and cherished time with loved ones – but a whirlwind nonetheless.

As a result, I obviously have not been back here to share with you the recipes I promised last time. So much for being optimistic about the amount of time I would have to devote to this blog while on my winter break! Ah well, optimism is better than its opposite, no?

I did make some successful Christmas treats, including the Food52 Pine Nut Brittle (aka object of my obsession), which was just as good as I imagined it would be.

Its flavors are a bit unexpected in a brittle, so it might not be for everyone. For me though, the surprise is delightful and the salty, herbal flavor coupled with the toasty taste of the pine nuts sets the caramel sweetness off just perfectly.

Now, the holidays are nearly over though and the time for sweets has come to an end…er, well, at least it has slowed down a little, as we recover from our two months of indulgence. So, I won’t linger on the brittle recipe today. But if you are looking for something sweet to serve at your New Year’s party, I highly recommend it.

Instead, I want to tell you about a warm, complex, soul-satisfying red cabbage salad that, despite some strong resistance on my part, I just love. You see, I have been in a stand-off with a head of red cabbage that has been in my refrigerator for longer than I care to admit. It has taught me things though, this red cabbage, things about life.

It all started when I bought the red cabbage for a specific recipe that I had stubbornly decided to make, even though I sensed that I probably would not like the dish. I never just have red cabbage lying around; it is not a piece of produce that is in my regular rotation. I happened upon this recipe though and doggedly decided that I was going to give it a try. So, I bought a head of red cabbage that I knew was way too big for what I needed (like, WAY too big…), but it was the smallest head I could find and I was going to make this recipe, dammit!

I made the dish, using just 1/4 of the head of red cabbage, and hated it. Lesson #1: trust your instincts – when it comes to the size of produce and the food you like.

Before we left for our Christmas trip, we of course did our best to eat all the perishable food in the fridge and I managed to use up everything that would have gone bad during the time we were gone…except for the rest of the red cabbage. I couldn’t bring myself to throw so much food away though, so I left it in there, thinking that maybe it would still be good when we returned and I would figure out what to do with it then.

Well, it was. It survived our five-day absence and sat there in the crisper drawer taunting me upon our return. So, this week I have made it my mission to use up the red cabbage that apparently would be left standing, with the Twinkies and cockroaches, after a nuclear bomb.

It’s not that I couldn’t find a recipe that used red cabbage, it’s just that I kept thinking back to Lesson #1 and tried to steer clear of recipes that I knew I wouldn’t like given their ingredients and flavor profiles, which, in the world of red cabbage recipes, narrowed things down considerably.

After a half-hearted initial search I decided to do what I have done so many times before when I find myself with a vegetable that I don’t know what to do with, or when I want to do something different and unexpected with it: I turned to Heidi Swanson. You may remember how much I love her cooking from this gushing post a few months ago.

On her blog I found a recipe for a red cabbage salad that seemed, well, weird. But also intriguing.

I decided to trust Heidi and give it a try. What did I have to lose, after all, besides the cursed red cabbage that I didn’t want to eat anyways?! And I am so glad I did. Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to try new things just because you fail once (or many times!)

The flavors in this salad are definitely not what you likely think of when you think of dishes made with red cabbage. This is, however, precisely why I like it. It is rich, nutty, salty, crunchy and just slightly sweet.

The balance of sweet with the other components is what gets me, I think. Most red cabbage dishes where the cabbage is cooked (as opposed to a raw slaw) are just so sweet, over-the-top sweet. The sweet in this salad is subtle, and it is layered – coming as it does from several different elements: the toasted and caramelized sunflower seeds, the dried fruit, and the balsamic vinegar.

We ate it served over the nutty, chewy grain farro, and I am sure it would work just as well over another grain such as barley, wheat berries, or even quinoa. I might also try it on top of some creamy polenta. I’ve also been eating it on its own as a light lunch. It is the perfect winter dish and has been particularly comforting upon our return to our cold and wet Seattle home after spending several days in the southern California sun.

And so, Lesson #3: don’t give up and don’t throw away good food (especially a veggie!), because there is always something new and delicious you can do with it. You simply must give this dish a try, whether or not your relationship with red cabbage is as complicated as mine.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad

Adapted from 101cookbooks
Makes 4-6 servings

The substitutions I made in my version of this recipe were mostly changes of necessity because I didn’t have certain ingredients on hand. The fact that it still came out so well is yet another testament to how wonderful this dish is. As long as you keep your ingredients in the same general vicinity, you can play around with it to your heart’s content – use different nuts, different fruit, different herbs, different cheese, anything that sounds good to you. And let me know if you land on another good combination, I will definitely be making this again soon.

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound head of red cabbage (or 3/4 of a larger head, in my case), quartered and cut into thin ribbons
• 2 tsp fresh thyme, minced
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries (or another chopped dried fruit – the original recipe calls for golden raisins)
• 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste
• a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Roast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Sprinkle on the sugar, and a couple pinches of salt. Stir until the sugar melts and coats the seeds. Transfer the seeds immediately to a plate or bowl so they don’t stick to the pan. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes with a couple pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute more until fragrant.

Add the cabbage and a few more pinches of salt. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the cabbage softens up just a touch. You don’t want it to get too soft – it should still be a bit crunchy in the final dish – but how long you need to cook it will depend on how thick/thin your cabbage is sliced so it is difficult to give a precise cooking time.

Once the cabbage is slightly softened, stir in the thyme, dried fruit, and the vinegar. Fold in 1/2 cup of the feta cheese and most of the sunflower seeds, then taste. Season with more salt if needed.

Serve garnished with the remaining feta, sunflower seeds and Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Wait, it rains in Seattle?

It’s been gray and chilly, and little rainy, for the better part of the last week in Seattle. People did tell me it would get like that here (fact: every single person I told I was moving to Seattle responded with “But don’t you know it’s cloudy and rainy there all the time?!”) so I can’t say I am surprised by the change. I also may have tempted fate by making this warm grain salad with winter veggies a couple weeks ago when it was definitely still summer.

The photo above was taken at the top of a hill in my neighborhood. Even when gray and cloudy – or maybe especially so in that weather – I find the sky here to be just beautiful.

The way that the clouds and the light, whatever light there is, play off of one another is breathtaking. This weekend the wind was blowing thick storm clouds across the sky at a break-neck pace, so fast that there were moments when the next set of clouds couldn’t keep up and the sun broke through in bright, brilliant flashes. At times it felt foreboding and at times fantastical, like it should have been accompanied by the music from The Wizard of Oz.

On this same misty walk we found that we were walking on sidewalks covered with these little guys.

Though cute in their own way, seeing as many snails as we did out and about almost made me thankful we didn’t move here early enough to plant a garden this year.

In any case, I am welcoming the cooler weather with a soup – but it’s called Summer Minestrone Soup, so it’s still slightly rebellious. Take that weather gods!

In addition to being delicious, this soup is very healthy. That is important to me after my blackberry dessert gorging of late. I have recently jumped back into my pre-cross-country move workout routine, and it ain’t pretty. I can use all the help I can get. Although, I have gone running 5 of the last 6 days, so that is something to be proud of. Maybe I will make another blackberry dessert to celebrate!

Ok, so while I work on my willpower, let me tell you about this soup. It is from a cookbook I acquired recently at a huge used book store in Seattle. I bought it even though after moving all my books across the country I vowed to never ever buy another one (did I mention I have to work on my willpower?) It is called A Cook’s Guide to Grains by Jenni Muir.

The book is lovely, and quite informative, with a substantial section in the beginning devoted to explaining how grains are farmed and processed, and why they are good for your health. She also has a section for each of the grains in the book that discusses what it is, what it goes with, where it comes from, etc. All fascinating.

It’s not a vegetarian book, so I’ve generally had to make substitutions in the recipes I’ve tried. But a book devoted to grains is definitely vegetarian-friendly given how useful they are in providing that hearty substance in a meal that people commonly associate with meat. I use grains in my own cooking all the time.

Case in point, this soup. It is very substantive, and even though I pointed out its summery title above, it is definitely feeling like fall around here and this soup was warm and nourishing to match. It combines farro, fresh beans and pasta all in one dish – what could be better?

Its clear broth and the veggies I added to my version make it kind of like a souped up (sorry, couldn’t help it!) version of the classic Chicken Noodle soup…without the chicken of course. This also made it the perfect soup for me to prepare last week for my boyfriend who had our household’s first cold of the season – a sure sign of fall if anything is.

Sick or otherwise, this soup hits the spot and I hope you will make it for yourself no matter what season it feels like where you live.

Summer Minestrone

Adapted from A Cook’s Guide to Grains
Makes a big pot (about 10 cups) of soup

I adjusted the proportions of liquid and grains/pasta from the cookbook recipe, and in turn the cookbook author notes that she adjusted the proportions from the original recipe to suit her tastes. So, you should feel free to adjust the proportions as you see fit! Additionally, I would really use fresh beans if at all possible – even if they are not the type of beans called for (I used a different type than the book called for). You coooould use canned beans if you had to, but the fresh beans just give it such a different taste, a bright yumminess, if you will.

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup farro
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 14 oz fresh shelled cranberry beans
• 8 oz button or baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small-med zucchini, sliced
• 1 small-med yellow squash, sliced
• Up to 2 cups water (I used the pasta water from my linguine, but if you use leftover pasta you could use plain water)
• 4 oz cooked pasta (I used linguine), cut (when cooked) or broken (before cooked) into bite-sized pieces
• salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil is a large soup pot. Add the onion and cook over low heat until translucent (5-7 minutes), stirring occasionally.

If you are cooking the pasta fresh for this soup, put another pot of water on to boil for that. If you are using leftover cooked pasta, skip ahead to the next step.

Add the farro and garlic to the pot with the onions, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring.

To that, add in the stock, bay leaf and rosemary sprig. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

If you are cooking the pasta fresh for this soup, break the pasta up into bite-sized pieces before cooking (simply by breaking the bunch of linguine in half once and then again) and then cook according to directions. Once it is done, set aside. Make sure to stir a drizzle of olive oil into it so that it doesn’t solidify into a gummy mass while it’s waiting to be added to the soup.

Add the beans to the soup pot and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, zucchini, and squash to the soup pot and then add the water a 1/2 cup at a time until it is as soupy as you would like it. Then bring back up to a simmer and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, or until the grains and beans are tender.

Stir the cooked pasta into the soup and allow it to heat through briefly.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately (don’t burn your mouth!) It also makes great leftovers, although the grains, pasta and beans absorb a lot of the liquid so you may need to add more stock or water when you reheat it.

The summer farmers market bounty

Another wonderful thing about Seattle: the summer farmers market. It’s not that there weren’t farmers markets in DC, there were, and good ones. I was especially loyal to the one in downtown Falls Church, close to the last place I lived in the DC area. But the farmers markets I’ve been to in Seattle just seem so much more robust (ew, I hate that word)…buzzing…alive…bountiful. Not just in that there are seemingly more of them, but also each one is brimming with so many different types of produce, so many different farmers to choose from, each booth with something tastier than the last.

I’ve also noticed that many, most really, of the booths are selling organic fruits and veggies. People ’round these parts are committed to their organic, local, seasonal produce – even many of the grocery stores are great for that. It’s quite impressive. I know it’s a trend that’s sweeping the nation, but I can tell it’s not a recent thing in the Pacific Northwest and I am reaping the benefits.

I am also dazzled by the number and variety of other wares I find at the farmers market – things like local, handmade cheese, homegrown grains (I used wheat berries from Bluebird Grain Farms in the recipe below), fresh-caught seafood, and I’m only just beginning to explore everything it has to offer.

With all this enthusiasm, I’m sure it’s not a surprise to hear that I’ve gone a bit overboard the last couple times we’ve visited our local farmers market.  The closest one to where we live is the one in the U District, which is huge – much to my delight, but adding to my overindulgence.

Oh my. When I go there I find myself in a state that is somewhere between heaven and the old game show Supermarket Sweep. If I actually got everything for free, like the players on Supermarket Sweep did, then it would be pure heaven!  But alas…

It’s all just so hard to resist. I want to buy everything and I rationalize it by reminding myself that summer in Seattle doesn’t last long (at least that’s what long-time residents keep telling me) and that I need to take advantage. As a result, last week I was looking for recipes that would use as much of my farmers market haul as possible.

I had bookmarked a recipe from The Kitchn almost a year ago for a barley salad with golden beets, chard and feta, and it fit the bill perfectly. I know, it sounds a little wintry. But beets and chard are in season now, so why give them the cold shoulder until November? Nearly everything I used to make my adapted version of this recipe came from the U District Farmers Market.

The flavors and textures in this dish burst when you eat it. The sweet, earthiness of the beets and chard, the chewiness of the grains, the salty tang of the feta cheese. The combination of these ingredients is magical to a veggie-lover like me. Try it out and I’m sure you will agree.  I will be back to corn and stone fruit tomorrow, don’t you worry. For now, it’s all about this warm, satisfying salad.

Golden Beet and Wheat Berry Salad with Rainbow Chard

Adapted from The Kitchn
Makes about 5 cups

You can really play fast and loose with this recipe, as I did in adapting it to my tastes. For the greens, you can use kale, beet greens, or spinach (though I would cook them for less time if I were to use spinach) if you don’t have chard. For the grains, you can use barley as The Kitchn recipe suggests, but I used wheat berries and I also think that farro would be lovely. For the onion element, I cooked white onion instead of adding raw (though soaked) red onion because I just don’t like raw onion. I also omitted the scallions in the original recipe because I didn’t have any, and – I must admit – used lime juice instead of lemon juice because I didn’t have any lemons. All of this is just to say that this recipe is a prime candidate for experimenting and using what you happen to have in your kitchen – it will taste fabulous no matter what!

• 1 cup dry hard white wheat berries
• 3 large golden beets, tops removed
• 1 bunch rainbow chard, washed
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (or lime juice, if you must), divided
• 1 small white or yellow onion, diced
• 4 ounces feta, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 450-degrees.

Bring 3 cups of salted water to a boil. Add the wheat berries. Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for approximately 45 minutes, or until they are soft. Drain when done and set aside.

Loosely wrap the beets in foil and roast in the oven until they are just fork tender – about 45 minutes. Peel the beets while they are still warm – I find the edge of a fork works brilliantly to just scrape the skin off. Once peeled, dice the beets into 1-inch cubes.

Meanwhile, prepare the chard. Strip off the leaves and tear them into bite-sized pieces. Cut the stems into bite-sized pieces.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté the chard stems and diced onion until they start to brown a bit around the edges. Add the torn chard leaves, half of the lemon juice (1 1/2 tablespoons), and a big pinch of salt. Cover and cook the chard until it is bright green and has wilted down, stirring occasionally (about 8 minutes).

Once everything is cooked, combine wheat berries, beets, chard and onion mixture, and feta in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the remaining lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and drizzle this vinaigrette over the salad. Stir to evenly coat all the ingredients.

Taste and season with salt as needed, and pepper to taste. You can serve immediately, but if you can wait it’s good to let it sit for 15-20 minutes so that the wheat berries can absorb the liquid. Serve at room temperature.