It’s definitely Kimchi week with your napa cabbage, scallions and radishes. I’ve been making it the last couple of years and love having a couple of jars in the refrigerator at all times. I’m devoted to the linked recipe from Tigress in a Pickle below. And if you don’t like or want to make kimchi there is another suggestion for the gorgeous napa cabbage and lots of fun dishes for the spinach. Enjoy all the shades of green this week!
French Green Lentils and Pasta with Spinach, Bacon and Goat Cheese
Saag Paneer (link)
Salsa Verde
Chickpeas and Spinach
Kimchi (link)
Napa Cabbage with Hot Bacon Dressing
Bok Choi Fried Rice with Peanuts and Coconut Milk
Green Salad with Peanut Dressing
French Green Lentils and Pasta with Spinach, Bacon and Goat Cheese
I came up with this dish last week to use the beautiful spinach in the share and now we get more this week so I get to share the recipe. It’s simple and could be adapted in a variety of ways—could be made into more of a soup (omit the goat cheese) and served hot, garnished with some parmesan shavings, etc.
The combination of tiny tubular pasta and lentils is a classic Roman one.
¾ cup French Green lentils
¾ cup small, tubular pasta like Tubetti or Ditalini
¾ – 1 lb spinach, washed
2 slices bacon, diced (optional)
2 ounces fresh goat cheese or feta
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Cook the lentils in plenty of salted water (or vegetable broth) until tender but still retaining their shape (about 15-18 minutes). Remove the lentils from their cooking liquid with a spider or small sieve (if you have one) and set aside. This way you can cook the pasta in the already hot and seasoned lentil water and save time. You can also start over or do them simultaneously. Cook the pasta and drain.
Meanwhile, render the bacon in a large sauté pan for just a few minutes. Add the spinach and a pinch of salt and cook for another minute or two, just until the spinach is wilted and tender. Add the lentils and pasta to the pan and briefly warm through—doesn’t need to be hot. Turn the mixture onto a serving platter, drizzle generously with good olive oil, taste and season with salt and pepper and scatter over the goat cheese. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
This classic Indian dish prominently featuring spinach is fun to make, including the paneer, which is quite simple.
Salsa Verde
I include this every year. It’s just wonderful on pretty much anything—a versatile, zippy Italian sauce. I often just make it with parsley garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, oil and salt but the addition of capers and little onion makes it even more fun. Many variations include a couple of anchovies so by all means use them if you have them.
You don’t need to use a food processor and I actually prefer the slightly rougher texture of it when all is chopped by hand but I often use the processor.
1 medium bunch parsley, well washed and stems cut off (but don’t bother picking all the leaves off the remaining stems)
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 shallot or chunk of onion, finely diced (optional—can use one scallion too)
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed (optional)
2 small garlic cloves, minced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or white or red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine all the ingredients except the oil in the food processor and pulse until fairly uniformly and finely chopped. You don’t want to end up with a puree so don’t over do it. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse a couple more times. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, lemon juice or vinegar if needed.
Salsa Verde—Suggestions for using it:
• Drizzle generously over roasted veggies (very good with roasted cauliflower)
• Use as a spread for sandwiches
• Dress hardboiled eggs, canned Oregon Albacore and boiled potatoes
• Use as a dressing for a pasta or rice salad
• Dress white beans with it or stir it into a white bean puree for a delicious spread
• Stir a few tablespoons into a soup when serving.
• Delicious with sautéed shrimp or other seafood or grilled beef
Spinach and Chickpeas
–Adapted from Moro: The Cookbook via Smittenkitchen.com
This recipe is delicious and flexible. If you end up with a little less spinach or a little more sauce, or if you want it with a little less this or a little more that, so be it. Adapt to your liking.
1/2 pound dried chickpeas, cooked until soft and tender or two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound spinach, washed (if you have a full share you can use all or save 1/3 of it for something else and if you have a half share, use all you have)
A hefty 1-inch slice from a crusty loaf, cut into small dice (optional—will be thinner but still good without)
1/2 cup canned, crushed tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (pimento)Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice, to taste
Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add half the olive oil. When it is hot, add the spinach with a pinch of salt (in batches, if necessary) and stir well. Remove when the leaves are just tender, drain in a colander and set aside.
Heat 2 more tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the bread for about 5 minutes or until golden brown all over, then the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic, cumin and pepper. Cook for 1 minute more or until the garlic is nutty brown.
Transfer to a food processor, blender or mortar and pestle along with the vinegar, and mash to a paste. Return the mixture to the pan and add the drained chickpeas and tomatoes. Stir until the chickpeas have absorbed the flavors and are warmed through. Season with salt and pepper.
If the consistency is a little thick, add some water. Add the spinach and cook until it is hot. Check for seasoning and serve with paprika on top, or on fried bread toasts (as the Spanish do).
Kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage)
I make mine a little less spicy than she does and use run of the mill red pepper flakes and it turns out well but by all means find the peppers she calls for. I also have added radishes cut into batons which would be perfect for your share this week. Though I haven’t tried this I would think that the thick, white bok choi stems would work as well. Let me know if you use them and how it turns out.
I put kimchi on quesadillas, sandwiches, in salads, with beans, on rice. . . .It’s a wonderful tart/fresh/complex counterpoint to many foods and is terribly good for us, as it is naturally fermented.
Napa Cabbage with Hot Bacon Dressing
–adapted from Food52 by Amanda Hesser
This is delicious and a favorite way to eat napa cabbage. Trust that the sauce will come together. The egg works wonders.
Serves 4 to 6
1 small napa cabbage, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (you’ll need 6 to 8 cups)
6 thick slices bacon, cut into 1/ 4-inch strips
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons red wine or cider vinegar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Place the cabbage in a large mixing bowl. Add the bacon to a medium sauté pan and set over medium heat. Render the bacon fat and brown the bacon, adjusting the heat as needed. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towel, then pour off all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat (approximate, don’t measure) from the pan.
Set the pan over medium low heat. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the vinegar and water and bring to a boil. Season with the salt. Gradually – and slowly! – whisk this mixture into the egg.
Sprinkle the bacon on the cabbage, then pour 3/4 of the dressing over the cabbage and toss to mix. Add more dressing as desired. I think it’s good with plenty of dressing. Serve with a big green salad, some roasted potatoes and a cold beer, if you’re so inclined.
Green Salad with Radishes and Peanut Dressing
I had a green salad dressed with a light peanut sauce at Smallwares (a restaurant in NE PDX) this week and was inspired by that when I developed this one over the weekend. I’ve never tossed a green salad with this kind of dressing and was delighted to discover the combination.
About 6 cups romaine, well washed, dried and torn or chopped into bite-size pieces
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (greens too)
1 cup diced or chopped radishes
1 cup bok choi stems, diced (optional)
Handful of mint leaves, torn or roughly chopped
Handful of basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped
1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts
About 3-4 tablespoons of the below peanut sauce (you’ll have sauce leftover!)
Toss everything but the peanut sauce in a salad bowl. Add the sauce and toss very well. If the sauce seems a bit thick thin it with a little more peanut oil or water or lime juice (if it’s needs a bit more acidity). Enjoy!
Quick Peanut Sauce
4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1-2 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon peanut oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Pinch or two of salt, if needed
Bok Choi Fried Rice with Peanuts and Coconut Milk
–adapted from Food Matters by Mark Bittman
This is a great way to use up leftover or previously frozen rice and whatever veggies you have on hand. You can easily add chicken or beef cut fairly small. If you’re going to add meat, stir-fry the veggies first, then remove from pan, add meat and stir fry until cooked. Add veggies back in as well as rice, garlic, etc. and proceed with recipe. The addition of coconut milk is a bit unusual here but I think it’s a nice touch. You can use leftover quinoa or barley instead of rice.
Serves 4
2-3 tablespoons coconut, vegetable or olive oil
4-5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3-4 medium cloves)
1 head bok choi, trimmed, well washed, leaves and stems cut in half lengthwise and then into thin strips crosswise
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 cups cooked long-grain white or brown rice, preferably chilled
2-3 eggs, beaten
½ cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce or Tamari
2 serrano chilis (or small green Thai chilies), seeded and minced (or ¼ tsp chili flakes)
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup chopped, roasted peanuts (wonderful but can do with out in a pinch)
½ cup chopped basil or cilantro or mint (wonderful but can do with out in a pinch)
lime wedges (optional)
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil in the largest skillet or wok you have over high heat. Add the scallions, ginger, and bok choi cook, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes until wilted. Lower the heat if the mixture threatens to scorch. Add another tablespoon of oil and the garlic and a few second later add the rice, breaking up the chunks (with your fingers is easiest) as you go. When all the rice is added, make a well in its center and pour in the egg; scramble it a bit then incorporate it into the rice.
Add the coconut milk and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has boiled off or been absorbed, just a minute or so. Add the fish and soy sauce, a little salt and pepper, and the minced chilies. Turn off the heat and stir in the herbss and peanuts. Serve with the lime wedges.