Are you already a convert to sprinkling beautiful ripe strawberries with a bit of balsamic vinegar? If you haven’t already devoured the contents of your pint, try this over ice cream, frozen yogurt or plain Greek yogurt. The better the balsamic you use, the better the result.
In my CSA box was a little bundle of three medium size daikon radishes with greens. I think raw daikon radishes are an acquired taste. I love “regular” radishes, but the daikon has a bitterness to the heat that makes it not something I enjoy eating raw in a salad.
So to use my three pretty daikons today, I’ll be making these vegetables. Even if you don’t want to do the whole recipe, try the pickled vegetables part. It’s a fairly traditional take on Vietnamese pickled vegetables which are served on banh mi sandwiches and a great way to temper those daikons. You could do it with all daikon, but the carrots add color and the cucumber makes a nice change of texture. Try chicken, tofu or other shrimp instead of the salmon if you like.
This recipe is adapted from one in “A Change of Appetite” by Diana Henry.
From World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey
Serves 4
This is one of my winner dishes for potlucks. The dish always comes back empty. Granted, the recipe calls for young leaves, but I’ve never differentiated the age of my Swiss chard, and never had complaints. Now that I look at the recipe, I don’t remember doing anything other than washing, chopping and steaming my chard before dressing with the sauce. The sauce is the money here anyway.
This is one of my favorite cookbooks! If you like ranch dressing, you’ll love this. It’s exactly what you remember ranch dressing to be, without a lot of stuff that you don’t have in your kitchen. It amazed me the first time that I made homemade ranch dressing. We’re enjoying this tonight, with a huge salad with other veggies (radishes!) and ham, as soon as I finish writing this up.
One last apple recipe for 2013. This is from “The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods” by Sara Forte.
From the book:
The contrasts in both temperature and texture—from the crunchy crust, to the cold ice cream, to the warm apples—put this ice cream pie in a class all its own. And, believe it or not, all the components can be made in advance, so all you have to do is simply warm up the apples when you’re ready to serve. If you or someone you’re serving has a nut allergy, 1/2 cup more oats can be substituted for the pecans in the crust.
Note that if you put all the warm apples on top of the ice cream pie, you will end up with a big mess. I suggest cutting the pie into pieces and serving each with an individual scoop of warm apples. Alternatively, you can serve the sautéed apples at room temperature, which will keep the ice cream from melting so quickly.
From Bon Appétit.
I’m a big fan of cooked lettuce. Try this and see what you think.
Adapted from a recipe from Whole Foods. Simple recipe, delicious results.
A recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition).
This recipe is from chef Eddie Hernandez of Taqueria del Sol – a low-fat spread that he prepares “all the time at home” for a healthy, flavor-packed snack. Maybe you have some peppers tucked away in the freezer from this summer? Those will work fine.
This is the year my husband gets what he’s always wanted for Christmas – gussied up bacon. This is a recipe from Southern Living. They suggest for easy cleanup, line jelly-roll pans with aluminum foil.