Although it will keep up to two weeks in the refrigerator, nuoc cham is best when freshly made.
Cold sauce: Nuoc Cham
Recipes
Warm sauce: Anchovy and Olive Oil Sauce
Instead of trying to dream up with to do with all the individual components of this week’s box, I thought I’d offer an option that would feature several. Where one kohlrabi might not go far in a single dish, combined with some of its neighbors from the box, it can make a really wonderful meal.
I love the way dipping sauces bring things together. Here’s a suggestion for one warm and one cold version. They’d both work well for dipping sliced raw fennel or kohlrabi, carrots and beets (raw or steamed), or you can pour either one over wilted beet greens or Swiss chard. The ideas come from The Splendid Table, that wonderful NPR program on all things delicious.
This is the classic “bagna cauda” perfect for vegetables and bread. Don’t be afraid of the anchovies, although you can leave them out if you absolutely must. And if you have a garlic scape or two left over from last week, try them in this recipe. Also delicious over pasta, maybe with those wilted greens.
Roasted Beets, Cabbage and Whole Grain Salad
So after reviewing the box, I’m ready to make a salad, but not with the lettuce. How about something with cooked grains, the Chinese cabbage, and roasted beets? You can use any grain you like here – rice, bulgur, farro, millet, couscous, whatever you have on hand. The cabbage is nice for salad because every bit of that leaf is tender.
MellowBellies Frittata
And here’s one more recipe for greens – a frittata. Bake it in a pie plate and cut into wedges for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. Bake it in a square pan and cut into bite size pieces for a pre-dinner nibble. It’s good at room temperature, hot or cold, and accommodates whatever greens you want to put into it. The recipe will also accommodate whatever cheese you have on hand. It’s hard to go wrong here. I’ve included a method for steaming greens in the microwave. I prefer to do that instead of heating up the kitchen with lots of boiling water. But you should use whatever method you prefer.
Three Dollar Café Squash Casserole
Because we live in Atlanta, it’s pretty much a requirement that you make at least one squash casserole this summer. This recipe came was published recently in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can use any combination of summer squash (they use both crookneck and zucchini at Three Dollar Cafe) and top it with any cheese you like, although they definitely use American at the restaurant. If you don’t have chicken base, you can do without it, but it’s a long-lived pantry (actually – refrigerator) staple that adds a boost of flavor without all the liquid of using chicken stock.
Green Goddess Dressing/Dip
Yogurt-Cucumber Dressing/Dip
I’m sharing two dips, one of which use cucumbers in the recipe. Both would work just as well as a salad dressing, but I was thinking of them as dips for fingers of fennel and kohlrabi, and disks of summer squash and cucumber. Green Goddess Dressing is traditionally made with a mixture of herbs and anchovies, but you can adjust it to suit your household’s taste.
notes about cucumbers
Spiced Lettuce Cake Bars
Finally, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try this recipe for lettuce cake, and today’s bounty of lettuce provides the means. I saw this mentioned at SeriousEats.com last year, and although it calls for iceberg, I’m going to try it with our green leaf lettuce. Sounds like an interesting variation on carrot cake. The recipe comes Nicole Weston of BakingBites.com.
Enlightened Chocolate Basil Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
I also love making a simple syrup (equal quantities sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves) flavored with basil. Tonight I made 4 cups of simple syrup and while it was still warm. dropped in all the basil from the box (stems, flowers and all – rinsed well, of course!). Tomorrow I’ll strain out the basil and refrigerate the syrup. I can use it to flavor iced tea, make a frozen ice or sweeten fruit salads. And since it’s not watermelon season yet, I can save my basil syrup and use it to make a modified version of Martha’s margaritas. (It’ll keep at least a month in the refrigerator.) Yum!
Ok – so then Suzanne mentioned basil cake. I found a recipe online for Lemon Basil Cake, calling for Trader Joe’s vanilla cake mix gussied up with the zest of 2 lemons and 1/2 cup chopped basil. And a lemon cake with basil syrup at Epicurious.com. And pound cake with lemon-basil-orange syrup. I can totally see the connection between lemon and basil, but chocolate? There was a chocolate basil cake on the Enlightened Cooking blog. Here’s the recipe. If I hadn’t already put all my basil into sugar syrup, I’d try this tomorrow.