More Quick Farm to Table Dishes for Right Now

Farmer's markets are running close to high tide. Colorful arrays of roots, shoots and fruits abound. There's so much to pick, what to do?  Here are a few more suggestions: get yourself cauliflower, parsley, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, spinach and feta or paneer or halloumi cheese, arugula, shiny fresh smallish purple onions, mint and fresh dates. These will be the basis for 4 vivid, tasty and memorable summer offerings--if you are not allergic to peanuts. You can serve them all as a vegetarian feast or as side dishes with grilled meat or fish.

Seared Cauliflower with Chimichurri

Make the chimichurri:

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves only coarsely chopped

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

4 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp dried oregano leaves

2 tsp crushed red pepper

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor, combine the parsley, vinegar, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper. Process until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil and whiz into a puree. Let stand 20 minutes. 

Cook the cauliflower:

1 large or 2 med heads of cauliflower, trimmed only of the greens

1/4 c corn oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375º. 
Slice cauliflower into 1/2" thick slabs, like steaks.* Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a large cast iron pan over high flame and when its very hot add the oil.
When oil is hot, add cauliflower slabs and brown 3-4 minutes on each side, until each is getting golden and crispy.
Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the cauliflower 10-12 minutes or until it is tender.
Transfer to a serving platter and spoon the chimichurri over it. 

*No worries if these fall apart into florets. Just keep going the same way. The final dish will still be exciting and delicious.


Nepali Peanut Salad
serves 4-6

1 lb dry roasted peanuts (can be salted, no problem)

2 Serrano chilies, seeded and minced

12 cherry tomatoes, sliced thin

1 small red onion, peeled and diced

½ bunch fresh cilantro, leaves only finely chopped

1 tsp coarse sea salt, less by half if peanuts are already salted

½-1” piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

1 med garlic clove, peeled and grated or minced

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

2 limes, juice only

3 tbsp peanut, mustard or corn oil

¼ tsp ajwain seed

pinch dried mint

1/8 tsp anise seed

1/4 tsp cumin seed

 ¼ tsp ground or minced turmeric root

 1/8 tsp ground coriander

 1/8 tsp black Himalayan salt or asafetida if you have one of them

Optional: 1/4 tsp chili powder if you like food very spicy

Combine the peanuts, chilies, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, salt, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes and lime juice in a large bowl. Thoroughly blend.

In a small frying pan, heat the oil over medium/high flame. Add all the spices and sauté one minute until their aroma is released and they are lightly browned. Pour the contents of the pan over the peanuts and stir to blend everything.

Saag Paneer 

serves 4 as a side

1 1/3 lb fresh spinach, well washed

2 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
½ lb paneer or feta or best halloumi cheese, cubed 

1 small onion, very thinly sliced (a mandolin is helpful)
4 fat garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1” fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 fresh small green chili, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add spinach, blanch for 10 seconds, then drain and cool in ice water. Squeeze well to dry. Finely chop the stalks and roughly chop the leaves. Squeeze again and again until no more water comes out – it should be as dry as possible.

Heat the ghee/butter in a large heavy frying pan on a medium-high heat and fry the cheese cubes until golden and crusty. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Heat the remaining ghee/butter until it just starts to smoke.

Add onion, garlic, ginger and chili, then the spices and salt. Fry, stirring vigorously, until everything is browned but not burnt.

Add the chopped, dry spinach and cheese and stir vigorously until everything is hot. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Arugula, Mint and Date Salad plus variation with grilled Halloumi

1 bag fresh arugula,

3 stems fresh mint, leaves only

2 spring purple onions (very small) or 1 smallish fresh purple onion

1/4 c chopped roasted walnuts

3 fresh dates, pitted and chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste

Juice of 1/2 large fresh lemon

3 tbsp olive oil

very light pinch of cinnamon

Whisk together the lemon juice. cinnamon and olive oil.

Slice the onion into very thin rings.

Mince the mint leaves.

Remove any long stems from the arugula.

In a medium serving bowl combine arugula, onion rings, chopped mint and dates.

Season with salt and pepper and dress with the lemon juice and olive oil. That's it.

Variation: grill or pan fry slices of halloumi brushed with olive oil until each side is golden brown. Season immediately with dried oregano and sea salt. Serve the salad on individual plates with one slice of hot halloumi on top.

 

Pasta with Peas and Pea shoots
After I finished this post, I cobbled together a quick dinner essentially out of nothing.
I had already shelled fresh peas and, this is vital, boiled the pods in water to make pea broth.
So I sautéed in olive oil a small fresh purple onion minced with a clove of garlic and two handfuls of pea shoots, coarsely chopped. I threw in some feta cheese I happened to have but ricotta or goat cheese would have worked too. Salt, pepper and a few mint leaves all cooked until soft.

while that was going on I boiled the pea broth, added lots of salt and threw in penne plus the fresh peas.  These took about 10 minutes to cook.  I drained them and threw the peas and penne into the pot with the pea shoots. Blended the mess with a spritz of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt and debated whether or not it needed the crunch of chopped walnuts. Didn't go there and the dish was just yummy comforting fine.