173: Mizuna Salad

Yes, this is familiar. Part of me didn't really want to post it, but eh, here we are. I used mizuna and most of a macintosh apple. Added a few scallions for a bit of oniony-ness. The dressing is mustard, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Really nicely refreshing, sweet and tart and with a little bite. Something you'll probably see again and again on this blog.

Delivery 17

Red Leaf Lettuce-2 heads Still having nightmares about the lettuce from the beginning of the season, so I switched out for more tomatillos

Mizuna-1 bunch

Mustard Greens-1 bunch

Radish-1 bunch

Potatoes-2 pounds

Cabbage-1 head

Tomatillos-10

Thyme-1 bunch

Rainbow Carrots-1 bunch

Hot Peppers - Habanero - take if you like

Ancho Peppers- 2

Sweet Peppers-2

Mustard Greens

The salad I made last week was just what I needed, so I'd like to do another raw preparation. Here are a few options.

Potatoes

A mix of red and white potatoes...and I still have some potatoes from last week that haven't found a recipe home. My time has been crazy limited lately, so I have a feeling that most things will probably be roasted/boiled. One of the mustard green recipes uses them. Here are some leftover recipes from other weeks: potato cake (with parsley), pancake, roasted (with cabbage), smashed (with cabbage).

Peppers

Rainbow of peppers! Bell, what they say is ancho (ancho is a dried poblano), cubanelle and habenero. Here's a frittata (bonus for potato). I may just roast them all and mix them with some kind of dressing.

Rainbow Carrots

Rainbow of carrots, too! I'm interested to see if the different colors taste different. Simple raw and roasted preparations are in order.

Cabbage

So...I still have that cabbage from two weeks ago. It's looking not-so-great. Can we just agree that I'll get to this when I get to this? But my perennial salad suggestion will hopefully not be the new pepper jelly (i.e. a recipe that I keep mentioning but never actually do)- it sounds lovely, but the "salt then let it sit for a few hours" gives me pause. When am I home for a few hours and then not on my way to bed?

It's a natural pairing with potatoes- here are some options: Ethiopian, Bolivian, more fried cakes, a few Indian preparations.

Broccoli

Makeshift "head" of broccoli...not sure it's worth making something dedicated out of this. I'm always in need of something simple (and healthy) to eat after interning on weekend, may just snack on these raw.

Tomatillos

These were smelling a bit musty, so as soon as I got home I washed and pureed. Will pick up some cheesecloth on the way home to strain out the juice for a tart. Or if not a tart, at least the curd portion of that tart. Any leftovers & pulp will probably be frozen/used in some kind of meat braise.

Thyme

Roasting herbage. Or biscuits, or popovers.

Radishes

Cherrette and one breakfast. Simple toast, salad (bonus for carrots), sandwich with herb butter, slaw with broccoli and carrot (technically daikon but I'd try it with regular).

Mizuna

Oh heeyyy Mizuna, long time no see. This post mentions an easy prep with potatoes, here's an insanely easy salad (hot garlic dressing), and here's a post on serious eats about it.

Dish 17: Spring Rolls

What happens when I wander places: I find projects. 

I was running errands in Brooklyn with no easy subway connection. There were busses between all these places but I don't trust them, so I walked. I love walking in the city- at the very least I get to connect up neighborhoods in my mental map. Usually I happen upon something I've heard or read about. This time it was an Asian market. It was small but decently stocked.

They had spring roll wrappers and vermicelli. So of course I needed to make spring rolls. 

Granted, I'd also seen this post on Macheesmo (one of my favorite blogs) and it seemed like a good way to use up some of my share.

The wrappers (a term I prefer to skins) were odd. Well so was the vermicelli- they looked more like plastic than anything. But it's always good to try something new. This was my first time making vermicelli- the internet told me to cook it like spaghetti so I did. 

It was a little weird. The noodles got lost in the water (they kind of turned invisible), and when I pulled them out my first thought was "jellyfish," which isn't exactly appetizing. Still, I tried them periodically and removed them from the water when they seemed about cooked. They got tossed in a little sesame oil to keep them from sticking together.

I also chopped/grated up a bunch of share and non-share veggies: carrots and daikon leftover from kimchi and mustard greens, mizuna, and red sails lettuce. In the future I would have prepped more of the grated veg.

To assemble just soak the sheets til they're pliant (not terribly long, 10-15 seconds) then put you veggies in and roll em up. No pics of the process, but there are tons of wrappers in the package so just dive in.

I ended up mixing and matching ingredients. The most delicious had the most variety- and that sesame vermicelli. Next time I'd like to wrap them a little tighter- or make sure the greens are more compact. A few wanted to fall out as I ate them.

I also need to plan more about what to put inside. They were fine, but with a considered flavor combination they could be awesome. 

Was worried leftovers wouldn't hold up but they were fine. Its a great dish for summer too- very little cooking required.

Dish 16: Chicken Livers with Sage and Mizuna

Imperfect and not really a looker but so tasty.

Yes these are chicken livers. I know, ew. But seriously they're delicious. It was my first time cooking with them. Overdid them a bit but still delicious. Very rich. 

I thought of doing a mousse. I have a recipe for one but after my previous experiments with the food processor I was a little wary. So sauté. Deglaze. Greens. Simple.

I started with this. Didn't use all the sage and added more garlic. The onions were sliced, garlic grated and sage plucked. Mizuna was roughly chopped. 

I semi-slowly browned the onions a bit, thought there were too many and took some out. Threw the garlic in later, then cranked the heat and tossed in the livers. Remembered the whole point of this was the sage so I tossed that in too. 

Maybe the livers were too wet, or the pan was too crowded but I didn't get the immediate sear I was hoping for. So they stayed in a little too long. So it goes. Lessons for later.

Took everything out and the pan went back on. I threw in the mizuna and a bunch of garancha wine vinegar (no sherry at the store). Those wilted/pickled, and I tossed back in those onions I thought were too much. They were not too much. When I tasted the greens, I thought they were a little too sour. But then I tasted the liver and it was so rich and heavy I actually added a little more more. They made the dish.

Re-added the liver back for a sec for a stir then onto the plate. 

Overall: delicious. Want to try it again. Some notes for improvement:

- don't overlook the liver (obviously)

- have more greens ready

- use more sage?

- make more! I have leftovers but not nearly enough

Delivery 2

Delivery 2 was much like Delivery 1. I'm happy there's levels of consistency and variation so I can build on prior experience but not get too stagnant- but I do wish kale had carried over. So it goes.

Here's the haul:

Bok Choi - 1 head

Chinese Cabbage - 1 head

Red Sails Lettuce -1 head

Romaine Lettuce - 1 head

Buttercrunch Lettuce - 1 head

Mustard Greens - 1 bunch

Mizuna - 1 bunch 

Sorrel - 1 bunch

Sage with Flowers - 1 bunch

Garlic Scapes - 6 scapes
 

And the highlights:

Sorrel: I had no strong feelings about this guy when I saw it on the list, but then I ate a leaf...awesome! A really nice citrusy bite, especially the stems.

From Wikipedia: "The plant's sharp taste is due to oxalic acid, which is a poison. In small quantities sorrel is harmless; in large quantities it can be fatal." Neat!

Lots of stuff to do with this guy- there are drinks, pesto, or some kind of tart? I read the flavor mellows when it cooks, so I'm thinking the pesto.

Butter Crunch Lettuce: This is the cartoon lettuce shaped lettuce- does it come across in pics? The leaves feel nicely pliant so I may use it in a wrap situation. Like this.

Sage (with flowers): Don't get me wrong- this is very pretty- but doesn't the effort of growing flowers take some of the oomph out of the leaves? Apparently sage is good with chicken liver- which I know, gross, but I need to eat more iron and that's one of the best sources. Also- liver mousse? Nom. Here are a few choices for when I'm looking.

Garlic Scapes: The sign said take six out of the bin, so I did. Apparently they ran out of rhubarb last week- I have a feeling the shareholders showing up last minute may be scapeless. There are interesting looking dips (apparently suuuper strong, so it's in the lead), on a pizza, or in okonomiyaki or biscuits. So- basically- all the things.

And our good friend Mr Chinese Cabbage. Obviously not new, but I got a monster-sized head. It's already been cut up for a second, appropriately spiced, batch of kimchi.

Oh and I found a little slug on my kale. He was kind of cute (no pics, sorry), but yeah, guess we know it's organic!

Dish 7: Last Minute Salad

Love this new place.

As I made my scrambled eggs yesterday I got a call from my mom- literally a few seconds after I'd put the kale in the pan. She was coming up to help me move the more fragile/unboxable things to my new apartment. It ended up being so much more than I thought. I climbed the equivalent 50 flights of stairs loaded up like a pack mule. Didn't eat enough. Went a little loopy. Needless to say I still have dumplings to fill and kimchi to complete.

Today's salad was designed to be as easy as possible- leftover radishes, all of the red leaf lettuce, the the last of the mizuna- which had sadly started getting wilty (need to work on my storage). The dressing is spicy hummous from Sahadi's thinned with a little oil and vinegar.

I wanted to try the salad-in-a-mason-jar thing. Fine enough but not sure how to get all that dressing out of the bottom. Also probably intended for more interesting-looking salads.

Still not getting this whole salad thing. I enjoyed this one more than my first one. A dressing with actual, you know, flavor seems to help. A bigger plate/bowl at work would as well.

CSA pickup is tomorrow- what do I still have left from last week? Bok choy, rhubarb and romaine.  (Update: and oregano!) 

Dish 3: Simple Salad

Is there a theory on how to compose a salad? Like what's the focus supposed to be? The greens, the toppings, the dressing? Or I guess ideally everything should just come together in some kind of harmonious whole. Or it depends on the situation. 

Obviously I'm over thinking this whole salad thing. Just realized lately that I never really ate them growing up. And though I eat them now I'm still not sure I "get" them. Whatever that means. 

This is a very simple salad. Too simple? I think I chickened out on going too much with any particular flavor and ended up with something not bad but bland.

I started with a base of romaine. Added the remains of my mustard greens and an equal portion of mizuna. Then I chopped up some radishes and carrots. 

The whole thing was tossed with a simple vinaigrette I'd thrown together the day before: rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, a little olive oil, a little soy sauce, and not enough ginger and garlic chives. And a little salt, pepper, and honey.

It was perfectly serviceable but nothing special. I have a habit of being vaguely disappointed when I do certain things- I think it's because I don't set clear goals. It's hard to be satisfied with your results when you didn't establish what qualifies as successful. 

So later tonight after unpacking a bit I threw together another super strong dressing. Maybe it's too strong? I'll call it the Immune Booster as its a lot of the things I've been told to eat when I'm getting a cold:

Ingredients (approx- mostly eyeballed and adjusted)

1.5 Tbs grated ginger

3 cloves grated garlic

1.5 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 Tbs olive oil

1.5 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp honey

Pinches of salt and pepper

There is no way this is bland, but at the same time no idea if it actually works with anything either. The goal was to attack my face and that it does.

Delivery 1

Yesterday I picked up my first CSA Share! Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of everything together until they were all bagged up, but still- gorgeous:

Contents:
Rhubarb-1 bunch*

Bok Choi-1 bunch

Chinese Cabbage-1 head*

Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head

Romaine Lettuce-1 head

Spring Time Kale-1 bunch

Mustard Greens-1 bunch*

Mizuna-1 bunch*

Garlic Chives-1 bunch*

Oregano-1 bunch

* = first time using. Technically I've cooked with mustard greens before...from a bag, frozen. So I'm not counting it

There was a small part of me that hoped that I'd be able to live solely off this CSA share, but there is a lot I'll want to pick up to supplement. I may have too many ideas :)

It'll be all salad everything for the lettuce and kale most likely. But for the new guys, here are some thoughts and non-bagged pics:

Rhubarb - Tart red veggie, usually used in desserts and jams. So excited for this, I've always wanted to try it, though wish I'd gotten more. This lovely rustic tart recipe from smitten kitchen seems my speed and requires minimal ingredient investment. Also you cook them straight from the freezer so there's no pressure to eat 10 in a few days.

Chinese Cabbage - aka Napa Cabbage. Used a lot asian cuisine- I see a super tempting recipe for dumplings, but I'm thinking kimchi! Or both- there is a lot of it. Found a nice kimchi recipe on CHOW- tho will probably omit the shrimp. It's got a slightly higher ingredient investment cost- and it may take some hunting to find that chili powder.

Mizuna - Japanese green- often compared to mustard greens or arugula, though milder. Can be eaten raw or cooked- I may try it with some lettuce in a salad and/or in stir fry recipe with Bok Choy (bonus for using another CSA veg!). Speaking of which...

 

Bok Choy - so. freaking. much. I've roasted the baby version of this before and loved it. Will probably try something similar with this big guy.

Oregano - nothing is springing to mind specifically for this (a friend suggested a lot of pizza!), but I so seldom use fresh herbs. Have to use all of it.

Garlic Chives -  It's like chive with a hint of garlic. Or a mild scallion. Another Asian veggie. I could use it in the kimchi- (oh hey! there's buchu kimchi which uses this instead of the cabbage)- or to showcase it make an omlette or garlic chive pancakes.

Mustard Greens - I've had an aversion to the flavor of mustard since I was little but recently started coming around to it in a big way. Want to try it in something cooked (maybe just a simple saute) and raw.

Tonight will be my first serious night of cooking in the new place. Sooo excited!