Radish Walnut Salad With Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette

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I've had the best intentions of posting some back-logged recipes, but sadly have found myself so otherwise occupied that I'm barely keeping up with a photo a day on my garden blog.

Mr CC has been grilling veggies and I've been making salads and that's what's been on the table for dinner lately. Good, healthy food but not particularly blogworthy. Until last night's salad.

You might think those are apples in the photo, but you'd be wrong. No, the secret ingredient here is radishes; recently re-discovered (by me), sweet, crunchy, crisp radishes. I've been born again.

I'd not been a radish fan since, as an unknowing child, I bit into one that not only burned my mouth, but burned a memory forever in my brain - EAT RADISHES, SUFFER PAIN!

Then I discovered the round, red, sweetly delicious Red Globe Radishes and suddenly I can't get enough of them. All these years. Who knew?

This simple salad is superb with a vinaigrette made with a combination of walnut and olive oils.

Radish Walnut Salad with a Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
Organic spring mix of salad greens
4-6 sweet red globe radishes
1/2 cup walnut pieces
2 ounces golden balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon good dijon mustard
2 ounces roasted walnut oil
2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
pinch sea salt
several grinds good black peppercorns

Preparation:

Wash and trim the radishes and cut into quarters.

Assemble the salad by putting the greens in a large bowl followed by the radishes and walnut pieces.

For the dressing, whisk the vinegars, mustard, salt and pepper in a glass cup until blended.

Briskly whisk in the walnut oil then the olive oil until the mixture is emulsified (thickened and combined).

Pour some of the dressing over the salad, toss and serve.

This salad goes nicely with grilled zucchini and portobello mushrooms. If you'd like a bit more protein, add a filet of pan-seared tilapia.

As for my new love affair with radishes, French Breakfast is next on my list. Where will it end?

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Celebrating Humboldt Bay Oysters

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Minutes from being pulled out of the bay, you can buy these beauties, harvest-fresh and tasting of briny salt water, from Humboldt North Bay Oyster Company (sorry, no web site) on Saturday mornings at the Arcata Farmers Market .

These are plump, sweet Kumamoto oysters, a specialty of Humboldt and Arcata Bays (actually one very large body of water stretching from Arcata in the north, past Eureka to the National Wildlife Preserve in the south.)

Interesting reading about how this strain of oyster came to be grown just 1/2 hour's drive from my kitchen may be found here.

And did you know that Arcata is host to the annual Arcata Bay Oyster Festival which attracts 10,000 to 15,000 oyster-loving revelers each year? Yes it is. And this year the event is being held on June 16th which also happens to be our 23rd wedding anniversary. You can bet we'll be there.

Mr CC likes to serve these babies hot off the grill, dribbled with melted butter and sauteed garlic slices. That's the way I like them best.

Not at all fussy when it comes to libation pairing, oysters go well with Champagne, a zingy white wine or a good microbrew.

Slurp!

4/28/07 - Cook's Notes:
Now here's a lesson in shoddy research. The oyster pictured above is not a Kumamoto, it's actually a Pacific oyster, also originally from Japan. We got Kumamotos at the Farmers Market this morning. Photos coming.


Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Mac N Cheese Southwestern Style...

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... Or, how to get a prepared dish on the beach for hungry beach-nighters in just under 2 hours. That was my challenge for this week's dinner on the beach; make a lot and keep it hot my battle cry.

Christine's Somewhat Southwestern Mac N Cheese
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
1 pound elbow macaroni (can be Dreamfield's)
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
several tablespoons white whole wheat flour
1 cup pimiento stuffed green olives, buzzed in the food processor
1 4-ounce (or more) can diced green chiles, use jalapenos for more heat
4 cups frozen sweet petit corn kernels, such as S&W, thawed
1/4 to 1/2 chile in adobo sauce, minced (careful, these are hot!)
1 to 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 eggs
2 cups 1/2 & 1/2
4 ounces sliced black olives
Earth Balance or butter for the dish

Preparation:

Cook the elbow mac in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, stir and set aside in a warm place.

Shred the cheeses (I used my food processor), keeping them in separate bowls

Divide the flour between the two bowls and toss with the cheese.

Whisk the 4 eggs with the 1/2 & 1/2 until well blended.

Stir the diced green chiles, green olives, adobo chile and sauce, corn, salt, pepper and all but 1 cup of each cheese into the macaroni. Check for seasonings.

Pour the egg mixture over the macaroni mixture and mix well, I used my hands, they work very well for tasks such as this.

Butter a large oblong glass casserole dish and pour in the mac N cheese, spreading evenly the the edges.

Put the rest of the cheeses on top of the casserole along with the sliced black olives.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until very hot and bubbly.

To pack to the beach, cover the casserole with foil and place in a cardboard box just large enough for the dish to fit snugly. Don't forget to take hot mitts with you. And a large serving spoon.

Watch the entire dish disappear, especially when the teenagers arrive.

Good night

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

The Brick Layer's Omelet

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Recently, Mr CC's Aunt Kay sent an article that had been clipped from the March 10, 1963 Bonanza Magazine within the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, Western Dining section. The article, part of which is shown above, was written by Jane Benet with a photo by early Bay Area photographer, Roy Flamm, and features a recipe from Ralph Johnson, my late father-in-law, painter, sculptor and art professor at UC Davis from 1957 to 1988. The recipe is a re-print from the Artists' & Writers' Cookbook published in 1961.

As I've said before, Ralph was a great cook and dear friend and I was fortunate to share many an evening with him; my kitchen or his.

The story goes that when he was a young man, Ralph had a job as a hod carrier, working for a Danish bricklayer. His boss gave him the recipe which he then dubbed the Brick Layer's Omelet.

Mr CC is the chef of note here, claiming proprietary descendancy. He shopped for the ingredients and made the dish. I took the photographs and ate what was put on my plate. This is an old fashioned dish using simple ingredients. It was tasty but, more to the point, it was truly poignant.

Before I go any further, I simply must tell you about these eggs. Oh my god, they are so beautiful, their yolks so orange, their whites so perky and clear. They must have come from very happy hens.

Well, yes, as it turns out, they are very happy hens from our very own, local Wild Chick Farm. Pasture-raised, organically fed, they live about 12 miles from my kitchen. These particular eggs are from Araucana hens and may be purchased on Saturday mornings at the Arcata Farmers Market.

Brick Layer's Omelet
As re-printed in the SF Sunday Chronicle, March 10, 1963
Ingredients:
3 strips bacon
4 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup chopped olives (we used black)
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup monterey jack cheese cut into cubes

Preparation:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Fry the bacon in a 9-inch skillet until tender-crisp.
Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. Leave bacon fat in the skillet.
Place the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together with a fork until the eggs and flour are combined.
Pour contents into the skillet and crumble the bacon over the top.
Bake in the 350-degree oven until the omelet is golden and puffy, about 30 minutes.
Cool slightly and cut into wedges to serve.
As Ralph said, "A little jelly is sometimes good with it."

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Farmers Market Fresh Herbs And Lettuce

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Baby lettuces, chard, green onions, bronze fennel fronds, stems of rosemary, sage and lavender, all tucked into a basket. Who could resist such sweetness and light?

This was part of our bounty from the Arcata Farmers Market yesterday and is my offering to Weekend Herb Blogging, being hosted this week by the fabulous Sher of What Did You Eat? who happens to live in my home town. Besides loving all the wonderful recipes that come from Sher's kitchen, I get vicarious thrills from reading about her gardening experiences - experiences that I miss so much living here in the foggy dampness of the north coast. Though I must admit to a twinge of jealousy when she writes about the tomatoes that she picks from her veggies boxes.

Organic food lovers know the healthy and aesthetic advantages of eating produce that comes directly from an organic farm to a farmers market and then into your basket to take home for dinner. Apart from growing your own (a popular phrase here in Humboldt County), there's nothing fresher or better for you.

This beautiful basket of greens and herbs will turn into tonight's salad and adorn the leg of lamb that's about to go on the rotisserie. I'll show you the finished product in another post. For now, enjoy this image of the incredible offering of earth's bounty on this Earth Day. And be sure to pop on over to Sher's kitchen to see this week's round-up!

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Strawberries In Raspberry Wine With Goat's Milk Yogurt

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As I was wracking my brain for a stupendous dessert for Ilva and Joanna's blog The Heart of the Matter - Eating For Life, I kept discarding ideas, one after the other: too heavy, too sweet, nothing seemed right.

But when I walked into our local Co-Op today, the ol' two by four hit me smack 'twixt the eyes - strawberries! Organic, sweet, juicy, heart healthy strawberries . What could be a better dessert for springtime and your heart?

Strawberries are low in calories, packed with fiber, Vitamin C, folate, potassium and antioxidants such as ellagic acid. Research has shown that eating about 8 strawberries a day can significantly lower systolic blood pressure, which may reduce the risk of heart disease associated with high blood pressure.

Without further ado, here's what I came up with for HOTM 2.

Strawberries in Raspberry Wine with Goat's Milk Yogurt
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients (all measurements are arbitrary):
Fresh, organic strawberries
Raspberry wine
Vanilla extract, the best you can find, no added sugars or corn syrup (yuk!)
Coarsely cracked, tellicherry peppercorns
Miniscule grains of Fleur de Sel de Guerande (if allowed)
Small shavings of deep, dark chocolate such as Valrhona bittersweet
Goat's milk yogurt, the best you can get your hands on - I used Skyhill Farms from Napa Valley

Preparation per serving:
Cut several strawberries into very small dice, about 1/8-inch.
Mix 1 tablespoon raspberry wine with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and a grind of black pepper.
Pour into a serving glass and add the diced strawberries.
Spoon about 1/4 cup yogurt over the strawberries.
Shave the dark chocolate over the yogurt and top with a perfect red strawberry and a few grains of sel de guerande.
To eat, dip your spoon all the way to the bottom of the glass, bringing up the pepper infused wine and the strawberries to mix with the pure white yogurt. Swoon.

To your good health!

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Mediterranean Red Pepper Coulis

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People go nuts over this sauce whenever I make it. It's fast, fresh, delicious, versatile, vegan friendly and about as heart-healthy as it gets.

We put it over roasted veggies, stir it into soups, dollop it on steaming bowls of stew, use it as a dip for crisp, raw veggies. If he's lucky enough to find some left over in the fridge, Mr CC puts it into his lunch tacos.

Recently, I used it in several ways: As a sauce for the as-yet-to-be-posted Stuffed Mexican Hat Pasta, and then again as a topping for the soup that was made from the left over Mexican Hat Pasta stuffing. Posts are coming soon.

I call this Mediterranean because the ingredients taste and smell like that warm, sunny region to me. And coulis is simply a more exotic French term for a fresh sauce. See my notes below for a few variations.

Mediterranean Red Pepper Sauce
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
2 large red bell peppers, charred, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
fresh Italian parsley (optional)
fresh basil (optional)

Preparation:

Set the whole red peppers over a gas flame set on high and char until the skin is blackened and blistered all over, using tongs to turn them. You will know when the blistering begins because the skin will give a popping sound.

When charred, place the peppers into a paper bag, fold down the top and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Remove peppers from the bag and, using your fingers, push and peel the skin from the fruits. Do not put under running water to do this as you will wash away much of the flavor. It's okay for bits of charred skin to remain on the peppers, I think it gives them character.

Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove the seeds and veins.

Chop peppers coarsely and set aside.

Saute the onions in the 1 tablespoon of olive over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the chopped garlic and stir for about a minute more.

If using the fresh herbs as I did for this recipe, chop them coarsely now.

Place the chopped bell peppers in a food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times, just to break the peppers up.

Add the chopped herbs, the onion and garlic saute along with whatever oil has remained in the pan, and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped.

With the machine running, pour the 1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil through the feed tube in a small, steady stream, using enough oil to create a thick, smooth sauce.

Stop the machine and taste the sauce. Add salt if needed and pulse to incorporate. Add the lemon juice and process until incorporated.

Keep in a glass bowl or measuring cup. This can remain at room temperature for several hours but should be refrigerated if being kept longer.

Cook's Notes:

Here you can see another version of the sauce with no herbs. You would think character would be lost but it's not so. It's different and just as delicious.

Going south-of-the-border, you could make this sauce by substituting red onion for the sweet one and lime juice for the lemon.

Spice it up with charred, peeled jalapeno.

Leave out the garlic if you wish.

Don't saute anything. Just add it fresh to the food processor.

Add spices like cumin and corriander.

My preference is to keep it as simple as possible so the freshness of the ingredients shine.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved