Brown Basmati and Asparagus Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette - May 17, 2012

Asparagus always gets used first whenever it arrives in our CSA box, preferably the very same night we receive it.  It's flavor changes rapidly after it's picked because the sugars convert to starches, so it's best if eaten quickly.  The June 2012 issue of Bon Appetit has a nice spread on grain salads, which are a favorite around here at Chez Jess & Nick, and was the inspiration for this dinner.  I didn't use any of their recipes, instead choosing to riff on what I had available to me.

For our version, I sauteed asparagus lightly in olive oil, adding in a big bunch of saute greens right before turning off the heat.  While the rice was cooking, I chopped up the rest of our chives from the previous delivery, two green garlics, and six or eight French Breakfast radishes.  To this, I added the zest of two lemons.  Once the rice finished cooking, I combined my fresh and sauteed ingredients, stirred them into the rice, and dressed with olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and a splash of red wine vinegar.



It turned out pretty well and had great flavor.  My rice, however, was a little mushier than I would have liked, even though I added less water and thoroughly rinsed off the surface starches prior to cooking.  Bon Appetit has a tutorial at the back of the magazine for cooking perfect rice.  Perhaps I'll have to follow it next time.

Chicken Fricassee with Harvest Grains - May 8, 2011

A few weeks ago we were watching Top Chef and somebody made a "fricassee" and the judge remarked "I can't believe you made a fricassee in just 30 minutes!" or something like that. To which I said, "What the heck is a fricassee?" I remembered the word from one of my favorite childhood books, Caddie Woodlawn ("If at first you don't fricassee, fry fry a hen!") but had no idea what it really meant.

So when I saw a recipe in last week's food section of the Washington Post called Not Enough Thyme Chicken Fricassee, I knew I needed to try it - especially since the recipe title was pun-y!

It turned out quite delicious, although there was a thick layer of grease floating at the top of the finished dish which I skimmed off much of. I also removed all the skins before I served it because most had become separated from the meat anyway and were all soggy and unappetizing. I think next time I will just remove the skin to begin with. It was also bordering on being a bit too salty. I did use reduced sodium chicken broth as the recipe called for, but the only tomatoes I had were the normal kind and not no-salt-added. I generously salted the chicken at the start of the cooking and could probably lay off that a bit and just adjust the seasoning at the end if it needed more.

Finally, I served the fricassee over Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joes. It is a mixture of Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa and was just a perfect complement to the meat and sauce.

After we were done eating, we agreed that we still didn't know exactly how to define "fricassee" - other than "tasty"!

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad - April 12, 2011

Here's another recipe I snagged off of that list from the Kitchn. I changed it up a bit to suit our pantry. First off, we live in Minnesota, so there's no way I'm going to be using a wild rice mix from a box. We grow that sh*t here, so I made real, Minnesota-grown wild rice. Next, instead of green grapes, I used dried cranberries, dried currants and a fresh Pink Lady apple to add sweetness and crunch. The slivered almonds kept their place. The chicken breast was poached (leftover from the Hainanese Chicken recipe) and shredded and everything was mixed together with some canola-based mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. I actually made this up the night before (with the exception of the apples, which I added right before we ate) and let it chill in the fridge overnight. We ate it cold and it was delicious. It's kind of a heartier, grainier version of the chicken salad we're all familiar with, minus the curry if you happen to make yours that way.

Quinoa and Black Beans - April 10, 2011

We bought a huge bag of quinoa at Costco a while back and I've been trying different recipes that feature the super grain. Most are good, but nothing that really wowed us. I think I've finally found a real winner!

I found this recipe simply by googling "quinoa" and "black beans." It was the first one listed in Allrecipes, which I've found to be a hit-or-miss resource. It's like the world's largest church ladies cookbook: easy, tasty and crowd-pleasing food, though often a bit heavy on the "cream of something soup" type ingredients! This recipe had the best of all worlds - easy to make, not overly processed, and yummy. We particularly like the kick that the cayenne gives it, but you could scale that back if you want.

Barley and Root Vegetable Salad - April 5, 2011

Warm Barley and Root Veggie Salad with Spinach

This was a meal inspired by cleaning out our fridge and finding many unused root veggies from our CSA. Since our new share starts in about four weeks (yay!), I think it's high time we start using up last years goods. For this salad I roasted parsnips and turnips tossed in my new favorite oil, coconut. It's seriously so good. While those were roasting, I cooked up some hulled barley, which is more nutritious than pearled, but also takes about 20 minutes longer to cook, so plan accordingly. Once the barley was done, I mixed in some fresh spinach to allow the heat from the grains to wilt it a little and then I tossed in the roasted root veggies. We dressed it all with some olive oil, salt and fresh pepper.

Japanese Quinoa with Egg and Snow Peas - July 14, 2010

Japanese Quinoa with Egg Whites and Blanched Snow Peas

I found the recipe for this tasty quinoa here (scroll down a bit...it's there), via the kitchn. It sounded good when I read it, and tasted great! As usual, I had to make a couple substitutions due to pantry limitations, including cippolini onions for the shallots and vermouth for the sake, but all turned out well. Also, I had a bowl of egg whites in the fridge (leftover from a dessert you will hear about soon) and decided to use them up by cooking with salt and pepper and placing them on top of the quinoa as an additional protein source. The snow peas just looked like they belonged in the bowl as well, so I treated them to a quick blanching and tossed them in. Everything was delicious and I have a feeling this Japanese-inspired dressing will find itself in other dishes in days to come.

Farro and Arugula Nests - June 15, 2010

Nest of Farro and Arugula with Garlic Scapes, Bacon and Poached Egg

Farro has been on my list of grains to try. Unfortunately, I had been having trouble finding it in my usual bulk sections. This past Friday, however, afforded me a chance to peruse what I think is the best bulk section in the area, the one inside Valley Natural Foods Co-op. And what do you suppose I found? Farro. For dinner last night I cooked some, mixed it with some cooked bacon and sauteed garlic scapes and piled it on a bed of arugula. I poached some darling little pullet eggs that we snagged from Braucher's at the Kingfield Farmers' Market a week ago, and placed one atop each bowl. The result looked just like a savory little nest, and tasted delectable. I really enjoyed the farro, which is similar in consistency to barley, but has a nutty, wheat-y flavor that is slightly different from the latter. I am going to have to do a mixed grain breakfast cereal one of these weekends using some of my fun new (to me) finds.