Monday Market Haul - 7/28/2014

Finally! It's time for another Monday Market Haul! 

It was so nice to stroll the strands this weekend at my favorite farmer's market after so many weekends away!

Here's what I picked up:

Peaches, yellow and red plums, blueberries (who's farmer's selling point was "nothings been on them but rainwater!" Love it.) The strawberries were a surprise and I was slightly suspicious because I thought the season was over, but they were so cute and sweet and wild looking I snagged 'em up anyways, an italian pepper, parsely, a buncha squash including one the size of my arm, and squash blossoms - which I've never had before but I'm excited to experiment with.

So nice to be back! The farmer's market might be my happy place. :)

Fresh Pea Deviled Eggs and a few excuses...

Oops. Hello, hi, I know…it’s been too long.

Yes? What was that? Sorry I can barely hear you over my own self doubting and guilty thoughts about not keeping up with this the way I wanted to.

Okay. Off to make a real go at it, starting……...now!

So, after many, many a weekend of not being in the comforts of my own kitchen, I’m hoping to get back on track here. Two of these past weekends were spent at my mother’s in CT. So while I couldn’t do my usual farmer’s market runs, I did spend the days weeding the garden, making flower bouquets, and picking wild raspberries from around the yard.

Can’t get more local than that, really. I know, woe is me.

Then, I spent this past weekend eating my way through Austin, Texas. See what did I tell you, full of excuses. I was visiting friends but mainly I stuffed my face with naughty, naughty (utterly delicious) food.

Of course, me, being who I am, I managed to come upon a farmer’s market, and somehow restrained myself from buying all the peaches and fresh tomatoes I saw. It was hard. Austin was full of friends, puppies, tacos, and hot Texas sun and I’m already missing it - but I’m also looking forward to my first free weekend in my city of New York in a while. Back to the market and back in the kitchen I go! I can’t wait, I have truly missed it.

In other more relevant news --- at one point I did get around to using some of my shelling peas from my CSA and have the pictures to prove it!

I was inspired by smitten kitchen’s spring asparagus version of these deviled eggs and when she suggested using peas instead, I made a mental note to do so. They were the first thing I thought of when I got them in my farmshare last week.

The eggs in the pictures look super green because I used mashed avocado instead of mayo, but mine went brown pretty darn fast. I would use mayo next time instead which is what the recipe below reflects.

These eggs had a lovely pop of freshness in an otherwise usually rich bite. Can’t wait to make them again with mayonnaise instead. Although, let me say, the avocado didn’t taste bad whatsoever, so if you’re anti-mayo it’s still a tasty choice. They just go from beautifully green to disgustingly brown in about 5 seconds, so eat them up fast!

Fresh Pea Deviled Eggs

inspired by these eggs over at smitten kitchen

Ingredients

4 hard boiled eggs

3 tablespoons fresh peas - shelled, blanched, and smashed or pureed

2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use Sir Kensington’s)*

Squeeze of half a lemon ( approx 1 tablespoon juice)

½ tsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

*(If going the avocado route - use 2 tablespoons of avocado that has been mashed with a bit of fresh lemon juice)

Slice your hard boiled eggs in half and place the yolks in a bowl and set the whites aside.

(P.s. this is how I’ve been hard boiling my eggs with terrific results.)

Take your smashed peas, mayo, lemon juice, mustard and put them in the same bowl as the yolks and mash together to incorporate. Stir in your salt and pepper to taste.

Once fully mixed together, scoop yolk mixture and spread out equally among the egg whites. Serve immediately (recommended if you use avocado) or refrigerate covered in plastic wrap until ready to eat.

Last note, I fully recommend reading through the entirety of the smitten kitchen asparagus recipe from above. She has so many tricks and tips up her sleeve that are super helpful for making just the prettiest deviled eggs there could be.

Pickled Red Onions

Is it too late for an easy, quick Fourth of July condiment recipe? I know it’s practically over, but due to the East Coast’s complete wash out of a Fourth, perhaps some of y’all will be celebrating tomorrow? That’s what we’re doing and I will be sharing this love then. On all the burgers and all the hotdogs. Bunless, they might be. Tasteless, not so. 

As previously mentioned yesterday. I had time to do no things this week. I am le worst. So all those lovely veggies I lugged home from the market last Saturday have yet to meet their true destiny as the picnic salads I had planned to get done pre-July 4th. Gah! Even if you did celebrate today, this quick topping will hopefully elevate that cold burger you sneak out of the fridge at midnight.

I’ve only suddenly, recently, begun to adore red onions. With foods and me, it’s like a switch. One day I will hate something particular, the next day -- oh hey! You like this now! It happened with pickles, hot dogs, olives, AVOCADOS! For the life of me I can’t believe I went so long not eating avocados. I’ve thoroughly made up for lost time with those, let me tell you. It’s interesting how our palates change. So now, all of a sudden, like two weeks ago, I’ve been like -- I want all the red onions! Put them in all the salads, burrito bowls, on top the burgs!!! Charred or raw, doesn’t matter. I don’t know what hit me. So after inhaling a burger at a local restaurant that had a pickled red onion relish on it, the next logical thing to do was figure out how to pickle them at home.  

They're terribly easy to make, and definitely worth it. This is an all summer recipe really (maybe even all year), and I plan to have a jar of them on hand indefinitely.

Pickled Red Onions

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 red onion, sliced

In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, honey, salt, peppercorns, and water to a boil. Add in the sliced red onion and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 3-5 mins, then remove from heat and let cool.

Place in a sealed container. They will last for about two weeks in the fridge.

Put on everything. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

This week got completely away from me. Completely. I got home from work late every night with not much more time to make anything but an egg and go straight to bed. Thus, my gorgeous last of the season strawberries had begun to wither away! This is not how I wanted to start this whole thing off. This whole blogging thing. It’ll be easy, I said. No problem, I said.

 Reality check. 

So to save my poor, poor, shriveling berries, tonight I chopped them up and threw them into a saucepan with some diced rhubarb I’d frozen. I cooked them away with some lemon zest and juice, some honey and vanilla. This all resulted in a decently respectable strawberry rhubarb compote. Schmear it on something toasty or drizzle it over ice cream, it’s good for all those things.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

2 cups extra ripe strawberries, chopped

1 cup rhubarb, chopped

Zest and juice of ½ a lemon

Splash of vanilla

4 tablespoons of honey

 Mix all indredients in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally until broken down and thickly jammy. Seriously. That's it. I’d say it took mine about 40mins to get to my desired consistency.

It should last about two weeks in the refrigerator.

Monday Market Haul - 6/30/2014

Every Monday, I plan to show off all the fabulous things I bring home from the Farmer’s Market the past weekend!

Welcome to the first Monday Market Haul!

Red Russian Kale, Green Cabbage. Red Onions, Broccoli, Carrots, Strawberries, Red Cabbage, Radishes, Sweet Cherries

Okay, so I may have gotten a tad carried away at the farmer’s market on Saturday. Summer is here people! And the stands were abundant with proof of that. I had to keep in mind that I can’t make ALL THE THINGS! Somehow (berry wise) I was able to limit myself to only last of the season strawbs and first of the season cherries. But the raspberries, were calling my name, and throughout the market there were whispers of blueberries...but fortunately for my wallet and soon to be too full crisper they had already sold out by 11am! Meanwhile the pounds of veggies I brought home are bursting out of my bottom fridge drawer. I’m envisioning many a picnic salad for the upcoming holiday. Better get cookin’!

Beauts

Welcome! And a Red Russian Kale Strawberry Salad

Welcome to Sizzle & Sass! 

Coming to you from a tiny NYC kitchen where the challenge is simple. Cook and bake as seasonally, as locally, and as organically as possible in a typically small city kitchen with a grand total of two and a half feet of counter space. At least my fridge and oven are life size. Thank you, Queens.

Consider this challenge accepted, I’m beyond excited to conquer.

So, let’s start this thing off right, with a strawberry kale salad. Specifically, “Red Russian” Kale (the magenta veins just shouted to me at the farmer’s market - “I wanna meet some strawberries!”) I’d like to think it’s terribly seasonal and quite pretty in pink. I also threw some last of the season asparagus in there. Grab it up before it’s too late and try it fresh! It’s so crunchy and sweet! And then I dressed it all up in a jalapeno vinaigrette. If that ain’t sassy, I don’t know what is. 

If you do dairy, a salty feta or a tangy goat cheese would be lovely here. I had none on hand, but it also wasn’t missed. Next time, I will definitely throw in some sunflower seeds if I have them for added crunch - I love me a crunchy salad.

It’s only slightly spicy, but I cut out the rib and seeds, next time I might leave some in there to kick it up a notch. I was also thinking it might be nice to make the dressing a day ahead and let the pepper really steep into the liquid.

---

Red Russian Kale Strawberry Salad with Jalapeno Vinaigrette

Salad Ingredients

1 bunch Red Russian Kale

4 to 5 asparagus spears

½ of a red onion, thinly sliced

½ cup of fresh strawberries, sliced

optional:

handful of sunflower seeds

a bit of feta or goat cheese 

Vinaigrette Ingredients

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

2 teaspoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 jalapeno, finely minced

salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Prepare your vinaigrette first, perhaps even a day in advance

The Lazy Way (how I did it):

Whisk together the oil and vinegar, then add in the mustard, syrup, salt and pepper and jalapeno and whisk again until combined.

The Proper Way:

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, syrup, salt and pepper then slowly drizzle olive oil in while whisking until dressing has emulsified. Stir in the minced jalapeno.

Set aside.

Prep your washed kale by removing the stems. Stack the leaves on top of each other one by one. Then roll them up tightly into a tube shape, then cut across to create very delicate thin strips of kale. This is called a chiffonade! Easy to toss, easy to eat!

Line up two asparagus at a time and slice at a slight diagonal, to create thin oval discs.

Throw the kale, asparagus, and red onion into a large bowl and toss a bit to incorporate. Pour over the dressing and then add the sliced strawberries. Gently fold the strawberries in and distribute the dressing evenly.

Serves 4