A la Bernadetta

Of late I've been on a summer salad kick, particularly those of the sort that could be a tasty addition to things tossed on the grill, or a meal all by its lonesome. Another quality I look for in a salad is evidence that it will age well, gently mingling flavors, becoming more complex with the passage of days. These are the midlife partners of salads--dependable, varied, healthful. But moving on:
The latest sprouted from two bunches of broccolini that ended up in my basket at Safeway. They were green, fresh, and most importantly, a dollar a pop. I had nearly forgotten about them, thus, though not for the last time, wasting two perfectly good dollars in the name of a bargain, when I came upon another epicurean impulse purchase--the bags of artisan Italian bulk foods that I picked up at Rainbow a while ago: farro and cecci. Translation: spelt and Italian chickpeas (they actually translate to "grass peas," cute, eh? I thought so.) Faced with these orphans, one of my favorite of Angele's creations, "Pasta a la zia" someone or other, came to mind. Its a classic mixture of olive oil, anchovy, garlic, red pepper flakes, and broccoli, often served with orrichiette, little ear pasta. It also should be served hot, and gets rather gummy and less attractive the next day. I took the spirit of ol' zia whoever (zia=aunt) and created "insalata a la zia Bernadetta," in honor of my aunt Bern, who is looking for good things to make for lunch with veggies and legumes. I omitted the anchovy because when I went to open the tin it looked a little bocholistic, and added kalamata olives for their briny, salty flavor instead. I also tossed in a bit of arugula because I had it, and I thought the peppery taste would be good. Capers also came to mind, but alas, the cupboard was bare. Feta could make the whole thing more Greek. Do as you will...

1-2 bunches broccolini, heirloom broccoli, or the crowns of the regular stuff. I like a lot of broc.
1 cup farro (spelt), soaked overnight if desired
1 cup uncooked cecci soaked overnight, or one can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic (to taste, I tend to like it garlic laden), minced
Chili flakes, 1 tsp or more, to taste
salt
8ish kalamata olives, minced
one bay leaf
herbs, if you like (I had fresh oregano, it was kind of nice)
Juice of one lemon

Cook farro and cecci, with a bay leaf, according to package direction. Farro freezes pretty well, so you may want to cook more to speed up your grain salad making at a later date. You don't have to soak the farro, but it cooks more quickly that way. Shorten the cooking time and taste if you do soak it.

Put farro and cecci into a large bowl

Blanch broccolini in boiling, salted water about 30 sec, then run under cold water.

In a large, cold skillet, put olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. Turn on heat to medium, and let the flavors infuse a bit. I then poured off a bit of oil into a cup for later flavoring as needed, but I might have had a bit more than a 1/4 cup to begin with. Turn up heat a bit and into remaining oil, add broccolini and saute until it softens a bit and picks up the flavors in the oil. Salt to taste as you saute. Turn the vegetables into the large bowl, making sure you get any oil and little bits remaining back in the pan. Add olives, and squeeze lemon on top (you need lemon, you do, maybe even a spot of zest if your inclined that way). Toss together and taste, adjusting seasonings (more salt, more chili) as needed. If eating immediately, toss in arugula and herbs. If not (better to wait a bit) cover and put in fridge for at least an hour. When you are ready to eat, add any herbs you might like (stick to Italian flavors--parsley, the oregano was rather nice, mint would be a different route...could work...). Enjoy alone as a meal, or as a side to broiled or grilled fish with lemon, roast chicken, etc.

The staff of salad

In these fogged late summer daze, I have become enamoured with color. Red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green tomatoes. Sweet 100's. Early girls. I love them all. I've been pretty into "kitchen sink" summer salads (more on that later) but I've been kicking around a few recipe ideas focused around produce that is booming at the moment. I forced Josh to come over and be my guinea pig as I knew he would probably have forgotten to eat all day and would therefore eat just about anything I placed in front of him, and probably like it. On the menu was:

Tomato Panzanella with Lavender and Mint

Sauteed sweet corn and red pepper with chili-lime butter

Red-rubbed flank steak

All were works in progress, though luckily all were edible. The chili-lime needed a bit more bang, the red-rub will next time go on a thicker cut, and the Panzanella needed...something. I gave it another go today, and figured it was the "pan" that just needed a bit more loving. Here is the second stage of this summer salad (as with all things that I make, amounts are approximate and should be adapted according to what you have). On the tomatoes--they are the stars of this dish, so this is the perfect time to make it. You don't want Safeway tomatoes, or winter tomatoes. This is good, summertime stuff here folks.

• 2-3 lbs good tomatoes. I like mix of sizes (sweet 100's, big heirloom) as well as colors (red, tiger-striped green, those little golden goodies). Cut the small in half, cut the larger in a range of sizes (early girls perhaps in 4 or eight, big guys in large squares)
• 2 cups trimmed arugula. You can cut this into think strips like the mint if you like.
• Lavender salt (pretty cheap at Whole Foods, oddly enough)
• Bunch of mint, to taste (optional)

For Croutons

• A good loaf of bread. I didn't use the whole loaf, and in fact its great for day old. Try ciabatta or Acme herb slab. See below for crouton recipe.
• Olive oil (1/4 cup-esque., or mix some olive oil and some butter)
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed

For Dressing

• A smallish shallot, minced
• 3ish tablespoons red wine vinegar
• squeeze of lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Put diced shallot in a cup with vinegar and a bit of lemon and let mingle for 20ish minutes.
In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 with a cookie sheet in there. Cut the bread (you may choose to take off the crust, or leave it on if you like the texture or are lazy. In a frying pan, heat oil or oil and butter over medium heat (until butter foams or oil is warm). Add garlic and let cook 30 sec to a minute. Add bread to pan and toss to coat, or if the pan is small put the cubes of bread on cookie sheet, pour oil over, sprinkle with sea salt and grind a bit of pepper atop. Bake, stirring once or so, until the bread is lovely and crispy but still a bit soft in the middle. Remove after about 8-9 minutes and let cool. These can be stored in a Tupperware for a day or two.

While the bread cools, cut the tomatoes and sprinkle with lavender salt. Taste to make sure you have not created something that tastes like potpourri. Take mint leaves to taste, and lay them all one atop another. Roll them up, then slice thinly across the roll, as if you were cutting a baguette. Do the same to the greens if you like. Slowly whisk the oil into the vinegar. In a big bowl, toss tomatoes, greens and bread (you may want to add the mint later). Grind pepper to taste. Let sit for one hour and up to a few--this could be good for pick nicks--or eat immediately if you are quite hungry or like your bread very crispy. Before serving, taste and add olive oil as needed.

Some possible variations--remove mint and lavender, add burrata, or another good fresh mozzarella, and basil. Or, leave lavender in, and add some tasty goat cheese. These are just ideas--let me know if you try them. They're on my list. As always, any suggestions, additions, or changes (I never measure my salad dressing) are awaited...

Next: Cheddar and pink pearl grilled cheese with garlic-onion jam...

Hot. Sauce. And summer squash.

Apparently reluctant to share his burrito with the alls of us, Dylan shove it where--well, this is a family blog. And since I know how he loves zucchini (kind of how Emily W and Jon love parsley) I have a recipe for the three of ys. Well, maybe not so much a recipe as a serving suggestion, but with PICTURES. Housitting is so helpful. Other people have all sorts of useful things, like kitchens and connector cords for cameras and fresh ravioli left behind in the fridge. And with these modern wonders, I bring you "Summer squash and corn ravioli with zucchini, corn, basil pesto and a garnish of grilled onions," otherwise known as lunch.

This secret family recipe that I am about to share with you will surely convince you of my prowess in the kitchen. I caution you to use such culinary skills carefully:
You need: pesto. Make it. Easiest thing in the world, particularly if you have a Cuisinart. Its rather common to have an almost full bunch of basil rotting away, so instead rough chop it, toss it in the food processor with some garlic (a clove or two) that you've roughed up, some pine nuts if you have them, or really any other nut you have around (dry toasted in a pan for a few minutes), a bit of olive oil and some lemon (with a bit of zest is best), and salt and pepper, bien sur. Pulse, then add a bit more olive oil until you have a thick paste. Put in a container, and keep in the fridge for a few days or freeze for basiless, low energy nights in the future.*
Premade ravioli (or you can made it--more to come there, right?)
some veggies--strays, whatever is around, or veggies that you've bought to compliment pasta filling.
bit of garnish, strays again will do--a few slivers of Parmesan, the last few leaves of your dying herbaceous plants, etc.

Take fresh ravioli of any flavor (in this case The Pasta Shop's summer squash with corn). Find duplicate or complimentary incrediants (but dulplicate are the easiest since they will undoubtedly go). I took a zucchini and made thin ribbons of it using a veggie peeler. Then I cut two longways cuts of sweet, fresh corn. Boil water with plenty of salt (don't be stingy). When boiling, toss in a few rav's (I did 5--it was plenty) and continue to boil gently. A minute or so in, toss in veggies. Boil as per package, usually 5-7 minutes. Drain, then return to pot off heat. Toss in pesto to taste, stir around, then put ravioli on a warmed plate (I usually take a bit of the pasta water as I am draining and toss it on there to warm), mounding veggies on top. Garnish with grilled onions if you happen to have them around, a bit of parm, or whatever little green guys strike your fancy.

*As you all know, you can add almost anything else that you have around to pesto. Mine happened to have a few stray sprouted garbanzos that I had around, and a smidge of parsley. I've put in anchovies (lessening the salt), made pesto of completely different herbs (cilantro, all parsley), added walnuts or hazelnuts, or take the same process to make tapenade. A really good tapenade can be whipped up of hazelnuts (if you have hazelnut oil, all the better rather than olive) and green olives.