Update: dinner!

While I had planned to make the pan-roasted asparagus recipe from Cook's Illustrated with the bunch I picked up at the greenmarket, my discovery that there were lots of tiny spears changed my mind. Instead, I divided the asparagus spears into three separate piles based on size, and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil - first the thick pile, then the medium pile a minute later, then the tinies a minute later. They turned out perfect! This (blurry) photo is of the three cute asparagus piles - I just liked the way they looked against my new red cutting board (it's the kind with grippers on the back so it doesn't slide while you're cutting):



I also took a photo of the delicious second incarnation of risotto with ramps - though it turned out a bit odd in the kitchen lighting. The only thing that could have made this dinner more perfect is fresh fruit for dessert...

Veggie envy

No greenmarket this week - I was low on funds (okay, totally broke), and uninspired by my last two trips. (Also, my search for recipes featuring ramps, the only new springtime vegetable I found last week, led to my understanding that they taste like onions. I may still try them, but that killed my motivation.) However, on the food blogs I read, everyone is talking about how delicious this season's a) asparagus and b) artichokes are. Neither of these are availably locally in the market. And I dearly love them both.

So I think I might take part of my food budget to Garden Of Eden and buy artichokes and asparagus to steam and roast, respectively, while my photo assistant is still out of town. That's the other reason I skipped the greenmarket - it's funny how much more inspiring I find it to make meals for another person. When it's just me, I generally come up with some concoction of brown rice and frozen vegetables (last night it was shelled edamame and corn), sauced with a combination of nutritional yeast, garlic, pepper sauce, and soy sauce. It's nothing to write home about, but it's reasonably healthy and can be thrown together with a minimum of effort and dishes.

Anyhow, tomorrow I should have more interesting vegetable news to report...I'm quite looking forward to trying the roasted asparagus technique from Cook's Illustrated, so I'll share the results. And let's not get into how much I love artichokes. Man. When I was a vegetarian teenager, I used to have an artichoke every year for Thanksgiving dinner instead of turkey. My grandmother would always scoff and say that artichokes seemed like nothing more than an excuse to eat the lemon butter dipping sauce, at which I would respond "so?"

Why I Love Cook's Illustrated

From #82, Sept/Oct 2006: "Like communism or sunless tanning, roasting chicken and vegetables together is far more appealing in theory than in practice."

Stir-fry report: zucchini casualty, avocado squash is a winner! Also: roasted carrots.

Saturday night we had stir-fry. I used the excellent Cook’s Illustrated recipe, using tofu, broccoli, and both the avocado and Asian squash.

(CI’s brilliant way to stir-fry tofu, no draining/pressing necessary: cut a block of firm tofu in half, then cut each half into twelve triangles; coat each piece in cornstarch on all sides, then fry in 3 tbsp. vegetable oil – make it hot! – for 4-6 minutes per side, ‘til golden brown. It’s so delicious!)

I used the exotic squashes because I knocked the bowl of seeded/chopped zucchini onto the floor and ruined it. This was lucky, though, because avocado squash is perfect for stir-frying – it’s drier than zucchini, so you can forego tedious seeding and just chop it. The flavor is similar to zucchini, but a bit more intense. The Asian squash tasted almost exactly like zucchini, but had way more seeds – not great for stirfry, but probably good for baking/roasting.

Speaking of roasting, last night I roasted some of the carrots:
1-2 cups carrots, chopped into one-inch chunks
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Arrange carrots in roasting pan. Whisk together honey and olive oil (adjust honey amount if your carrots are very sweet or very bland), pour over carrots, and stir until all pieces are evenly coated. Roast for about 20 minutes (or until brown and caramelized), turning pieces once or twice during roasting.