Author Archives: kbecker57

This recipe comes to you via social media at its finest. A friend on Facebook posted a link about summer salads via EatBoutique! I was intrigued by the zucchini salad recipe, courtesy of Post Punk Kitchen. And voilà, I was eating zucchini!

Basil from my “garden”

I liked this recipe because I also got to use some of the fresh basil that I’ve been growing.

I had planned to use a summer squash and a zucchini for this recipe, but it turns out summer squash doesn’t peel as nicely as zucchini. Since the summer squash was a fail, I didn’t have enough zucchini (oh darn) so I used half the tomato, basil, garlic mixture for zucchini and tossed the other half with a cucumber.

Zucchini ribbon salad
Serves:
Source: Post Punk Kitchen

Zucchini!

Ingredients
1 large tomato (or 2 plum tomatoes), diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
10 large basil leaves, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound zucchini, peeled and then peeled into ribbons
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cucumber!

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the tomato, onion, garlic, basil, vinegar, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and let sit as you peel the zucchini.
2. When zucchini is ready, add to bowl and mix well.

I found this recipe back when I first faced the question of “What the heck am I going to do with this gigantic head of Napa cabbage?”. This was probably immediately after the question of “What the heck is this?”. I’ve been making it ever since…with a few tweaks along the way. For example, I omit that hideous seasoning packet from the ramen noodles. Yes ramen noodles…they still exist and they may still be 4 for $1.

Ramen noodle-sesame seed-almond mix

If you are serving this in one sitting, feel free to toss everything together and serve per the recipe below. But if I’m making it just for me, which means multiple servings, I keep the cabbage, the noodle-sesame seed-almond mixture, and the dressing separate and toss together an individual portion just before I’m ready to eat. This will prevent the noodles and almonds from getting soggy.

Napa salad
Source: allrecipes.com (July 2006)
Makes: a lot


Ingredients
1 package ramen noodles (doesn’t matter which “flavor”)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds (or sliced almonds)
1 head napa cabbage, shredded

Individual portion of Napa salad

6 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp white sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Discard seasoning packet from ramen noodles, then crush noodles. In a medium skillet, brown noodles in butter over medium heat. Add almonds and sesame seeds and cool.
2. Once cooled, toss noodle mixture in large bowl with cabbage and onions.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Pour dressing over salad, toss and serve.

I knew I had two weeks of spinach from my CSA, and a party to attend where I did not want to show up empty-handed. This led me to the idea of making a spinach dip with fresh spinach, instead of frozen. I found this recipe and adapted it to my liking and the ingredients I had on hand. 

The funny thing is that I naively thought that I would have enough spinach! I figured out that I had about five ounces and when I cooked that down I realized that if I only used that, it would be more like a carrot/onion/garlic dip. I had no luck getting spinach at the farmer’s market (though I did treat myself to some cherries and tomatoes, and a yummy cranberry current scone from Clear Flour Bread). In the end, I had about 17 ounces of spinach and that was definitely spinach-y enough.

Mise en place

Spinach dip
Source: Adapted from chow.com
Makes: 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves (or 2 garlic scapes), finely hopped
1/4 tsp salt, plus more as needed
1/4 tsp black pepper, plus more as needed
16-20 ounces baby spinach, washed
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pita chips, crackers, chips and/or veggies for serving

Directions
1. Place a food-safe dish towel, cheesecloth, or a quadruple layer of paper towels on a cutting board and set aside. Place a fine-mesh strainer in the sink.
2. Heat 1/2 Tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and stir to combine. Cook until vegetables have softened, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
3. Return the pan to medium heat and add the other 1/2 Tbsp olive oil. Add half the spinach, season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach starts to wilt. Add the other half of the spinach and cook until completely wilted.
4. Transfer the spinach to the strainer in the sink. Using a ladle or spatula, press on the spinach to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. Wrap spinach in dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze as much additional liquid out of the leaves as possible (or drain using paper towels).
5. Chop spinach finely and transfer to the bowl with the vegetables. If possible, chill vegetables until cool (1-2 hours).
6. Once chilled, mix in the sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice and stir to combine. Cover tightly and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours.
7. Serve with pita chips, crackers, chips, and/or veggies and enjoy!

This was so delicious that I think I will be saying au revoir to frozen spinach and onion soup mix recipes! 

Spinach dip

I wanted to find something creative to do with the head of Savoy cabbage I got in a recent CSA share. Thanks to Google, I came across this lovely blog post by Orangette and decided to give it a try. Note to self, probably not a good idea to make this when it is about a million degrees out (turning on the oven in this weather was a bad idea), and also not a good idea to start this at 9 pm (it bakes for over an hour).

A few notes on the cheese…the recipe calls for Saint-Marcellin or a “good” triple-cream cheese. She recommended Delice de Bourgogne, Pierre Robert, or Brillat-Savarin (but not Brie)…”good” seems to also mean “French”. As much as I dislike asking for directions in the grocery store, I could not find any of these in the Whole Foods cheese section and had to ask for help. I showed the cheese girl (probably not the technical name of her position) the list of possible cheeses, and they were out of stock. But she was very helpful and asked what I needed it for, and let me sample a triple-cream from the Cowgirl Creamery in Vermont. It was delicious, and I figured I could not go wrong since I’ve never made this recipe before. I hope I’m right because it cost $30.99 per pound!

Cheese from behind the glass case

I adjusted a couple of ingredients…substituted olive oil for some of the butter and garlic scapes for the scallions. I could not really get the cabbage to brown, which may be related to the heat not being high enough or the olive oil/butter switch. It felt like I was cooking the daylights out of it, and when I removed the foil, I realized that I was indeed cooking the daylights out of it. Next time I might cut down on the baking time…and it might also be delicious with some sliced potatoes.

Cabbage pre-oven

 Savoy cabbage gratin
Source: Orangette
Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Savoy cabbage (about 1 ½ lb), quartered, cored, and sliced into ½-inch-wide shreds
3 garlic scapes, chopped
Salt
1¾ cups mild chicken or vegetable stock
1 ripe Saint-Marcellin cheese (about 3 oz.), or an equal amount of triple-cream cheese

Directions
1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a large (roughly 10”x 14”) gratin dish, or another dish of similar size.
2. Melt the butter in a large (12-inch or bigger) skillet over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil. Add the cabbage and garlic scapes and season with salt. Cook, stirring, until the cabbage is nicely wilted and just beginning to brown in spots, about 10 minutes. Add the stock, bring to a steady simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
3. Transfer the cabbage, garlic scapes, and all the liquid into the prepared gratin dish. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue to bake until the liquid is mostly evaporated, about 20 minutes more. 
4. Remove the dish from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Cut the cheese into small lumps and scatter it over the cabbage. Return the dish to the oven, and cook until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Voila, with the help of Instagram!