Two bring-along lunch ideas for warm weather

Here are a couple of my favorite lunch ideas for hot days that are easy to make ahead and don't require reheating once you're in the office.

This cheese-free frittata is loaded with vegetables and is tasty served cold:

Note: Bacon fat or butter make for a much cleaner release from the pan, and both fats add wonderful flavor to this dish, but if you are particularly averse to them both, refined coconut oil or olive oil will work—you’ll just have a messier cleanup and a less neat serving appearance.

3 eggs
Sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter or bacon fat
1 spring onion, diced
1/2-1 cup cut-up asparagus spears
1/2 medium bunch lacinato kale, cut into ribbons (about 2 cups)

Heat broiler. Beat eggs lightly with several generous pinches of sea salt and black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon fat in a medium skillet over medium heat; add onion and a pinch of salt and cook until soft, about five minutes. Add asparagus and cook about 2 more minutes. Add kale and a splash of water and cook until kale stems are almost tender and additional water has cooked off. Add remaining fat and allow it to melt. Turn heat down to low, add eggs, and stir occasionally as if making scrambled eggs. When eggs are half cooked, place under broiler for about 2 minutes, or until cooked through. Immediately remove frittata to place and serve, or cut into slices to cool.


My lighter version of tuna salad (with an olive oil/vinegar dressing - no mayo required) is great with lettuce leaves or crackers: one can of olive-oil packed tuna, drained; 1/2 red bell pepper, diced; zest and juice of 1/2 lemon; about a teaspoon of capers and a few splashes of brine; a small handful of rough-chopped olives; a pinch of cayenne and plenty of freshly-ground black pepper; a glug or two of extra-virgin olive oil. Mix everything together and add sea salt and vinegar to taste.

The green smoothie, 2011 style

Whether it was Mercury in retrograde, the continuing depressive contribution of an especially trying winter, or turning 31, the first few weeks of 2011 were rough, people. The energy was that of scratching one’s way through an increasingly narrow tunnel through the dirt.

Worse, I ended up with crippling late-night abdominal pain, the result of an infection, and took antibiotics for the first time in about seven years. To me, the girl who prides herself on an immune system of steel, this was a bit of a wake-up call. I re-quit coffee, decided to go on a two-week alcohol-free vegan diet, and dusted off the old Vita-Mix to reintroduce green smoothies into my life.

But these are not the yogurt-and-berry breakfast-in-a-glass concoctions of the past – these are lean and streamlined, for someone who doesn’t fear the grassiness of raw greens or the grainy texture of flax. One cup of local apple juice or cranberry-apple juice, about a cup of raw kale leaves, a half-cup of parsley, and one tablespoon freshly-ground flax seed, liquefied in my darling machine.

Raw kale we know: it’s full of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, etc. Parsley is the overlooked nutritional powerhouse in this equation: astounding amounts of vitamin K in addition the expected A and C, as well as good levels of iron and folate; and the volatile oils and flavonoids that give parsley its vibrant, grassy piquancy are especially anti-carcinogenic and blood-cleansing. And, of course, the flax provides yet more fiber and most of a day’s worth of omega-3 fatty acids.

I’m not exaggerating to say that bringing green smoothies back into my life felt like coming home again. While I’ve cleaned up my act in other ways (though I've gone back to coffee), I can trace my morning exuberance directly to that cup-and-a-half of chlorophyll-laden freshness. Green smoothie for president!

My city, my sauna

As a counterpoint to last Saturday's zombie-hazed, sleepless market trip, this morning I woke up at 6:30 after a sensible bedtime, and got up to run four miles in refreshing 80% humidity before heading out to USG. My extra-long run had me visiting both Monsignors McGolrick and McCarren, as well as the scenic pass near our neighborhood terrifying chicken slaughterhouse, before rounding my sweaty way back to my woefully not-yet-air-conditioned apartment.

After all that and fighting through the busy market crowds? The cherries tasted AMAZING.

Early to bed, early to rise:
1 lb. sugar snap peas
1 qt. strawberries
1 lb. cherries
1/2 lb. wild asparagus
1 bunch lacinato kale
1 bunch Siberian kale
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 head Red Oak lettuce
Total spent: $35.50

I blanched last week's sugar snaps and took them with me to a beach picnic; they were wonderful, but I'm looking forward to hoarding these so I can eat them with lunch every day. Lunch-wise, last week's standout meal was goat barbacoa made by my friendly local (cute) butchers at The Meat Hook, thrown in a bowl with lots of sautéed kale and shallots, on top of red quinoa (tastier than beige quinoa!).

Mostly, lately, I've only wanted to eat the above-pictured Enormo-Salad dressed with shalloty Dijon vinaigrette and topped with hardboiled eggs and olives, sometimes with a buttered piece of the awesome spelt-rye sourdough from Hawthorne Valley Farm on the side. Coming soon: a recipe for said salad dressing.

My only real disappointment this season has been my own overwhelming lack of interest in all things rhubarb. Maybe when I get my A/C installed I'll be able to care. I have been dreaming about this rhubarb bread, but haven't been able to stomach the idea of heating up the oven to bake it. Ditto rhubarb chutney and the great rhubarb bars I made last season. We'll see.

As is standard Saturday practice, I've already eaten half the cherries and one-third of the strawberries. Some things don't change.

OMGreens

Given last week's relative barrenness at USG and the freezing-cold temps, I wasn't expecting much from this morning's trip. The hydrangeas pictured were certainly the most glamorous and colorful scene at the market today, but I was much more excited by the color green.

It's really happening:
1/4 lb. pea shoots
1/2 lb. collard greens
1/4 lb. lacinato kale
1 lb. white button mushrooms
3 lbs. mixed apples
Total spent: $22

Not only did I find marvelous (albeit pricey) young lacinato kale and collard greens at Norwich Meadows Farm, the farmer who grows my favorite carrots and shell peas in the world had pea shoots. Fresh greens! I couldn't stop smiling.

With my bounty, tonight's dinner was a salad of the pea shoots, with my standard simple dijon mustard vinaigrette, and kale stir-fried with lots of sesame seeds, ginger, and shoyu. The young and tender greens cooked up very quickly, and had so much flavor - I can't wait to try the collards tomorrow.

In other produce news, I've been making jam thumbprint cookies like crazy the past week with last season's homemade peach jam, because it turns out that jam made with agave only lasts a couple of weeks once opened. And as I'm off toast at the moment, I've got to find ways to use this stuff. Luckily the cookies are quick to make, and I haven't had trouble finding folks to eat them.

Punk rock died when the first kid said...

Despite my morning grumpiness, the sun, perfect blue sky and not-quite-chilly temp made me glad to be a vegetable obsessive, rather than the sunglass-wearing aging punk I sat across from on the train back to Brooklyn. Nothing wrong with his way, of course, just that fiddling with the safety pins on a black hoody while reading Barthes (whom I recognized by the author photo alone - thanks, liberal arts education!) just doesn't strike me as the way to get the most out of such a lovely morning. Though shuffling through a crowded market with aching, laden shoulders may not appeal to lots of folks either, I suppose.
Greens greens greens:
1 bunch beets with greens
1 (gigantic) bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch dinosaur (lacinato) kale
1/3 lb. mixed salad greens
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
1 head celery
2 1/2 lbs. carrots
2 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 lb. seedless grapes - green Lakemont and purple Jupiter
6 lbs. mixed apples (Empire, Gold rush, Macoun, Gala)
2 Bosc pears
1 pint strawberries (?!?!)

Total spent: $56

Being on a budget at the market always requires sacrifices: today, I gave up on getting tomatoes, and had to forego goat cheese in favor of eggs and bread. Though I suppose there was no question of whether or not to buy the strawberries once I saw them, which are some of the best I've had all year...and will be perfect over our favorite coconut milk ice cream for dessert tonight. Beets always make me feel like a smart shopper, though, since they're two vegetables for the price of one.

The Brussels sprouts were an impulse buy as I was still in the shallows of the market - they're not really an economical choice for the household since the photo assistant won't eat them. But if buttered Brussels sprouts and toast for lunch at 11 a.m. are wrong, I don't want to be right!

It's become the time of year when hearty greens make it into every meal - blanched and chopped in tacos instead of lettuce, added to chilis and soups, and sauteed with garlic and olive oil to accompany just about anything. Tonight I'll probably have garlic-sauteed beet greens (my current fave!) along with roasted potatoes and veggie sausage for dinner. My friend Amanda makes a yummy dish with lacinato kale, lemon, and I think red pepper flakes - I'll try that this week.

And of course, given the tough economic times (which for me have nothing to do with Wall Street, rather the increase in my monthly student loan payment for culinary school), I'll save the stems from all the greens and stir-fry them with tofu at the end of the week, like I did last night. Not the tastiest dish in the world, but good if it's spicy enough, healthful with brown rice, and frugal.

One of my favorite greens dishes lately is toasted English muffin halves topped with (in this order) goat cheese, minced chives, garlic-sauteed chiffonade-cut greens (chard is ideal), a butter-fried egg each, and more minced chives on top. The chives may seem optional, but they absolutely make this dish - combined with the goat cheese they elevate an ordinary breakfast combo into a dinner-worthy meal. Tomatoes on the side are an excellent accompaniment and predictably, I precede this with a big green salad.

Pre-Smoothie

This morning's smoothie, before I blended it. Contents: kale, spinach, carrots, bananas, frozen mango chunks, frozen raspberries, soy yogurt, apple juice, and ground flax seed. Verdict: delicious, from both myself and my photo assistant, who is pickier than I am about these things.

Apples, celebs: just another day at USG

Maybe winter's not so bad - the photo makes today's haul look almost...appetizing!

My hearty cold-weather cornucopia:
2 bags spinach
1/2 lb. Swiss chard
1 bunch curly kale
4 large beets
1 1/2 lbs. Carola potatoes
2 lbs. carrots
1 bunch celery
1 buttercup squash
Total spent: $35

The greenmarket today was a sea of apples - even the usually reliable Migliorelli Farm had little more than apples - but I managed to find some good-looking (but pricey) greens. I don't like the texture of curly kale, but I'm going to use it for smoothies, so it shouldn't matter. The other greens will be sauteed or steamed, per usual, I'll roast the squash, and the beets will go into borscht.

But the most exciting part of the greenmarket today was when I met celebrity picklemaker Rick from Rick's Picks, and got to talk to him and his coworker Allison about how much I love their beets. They were really friendly! I also bought a jar of whole dill pickles, and I've eaten about half of them already...I think I'm going to try to make ersatz pickled carrots with the brine after they're gone, per a tip on the Rick's website. We'll see how that works out.

At the moment I have (last week's) apples on the stove for applesauce. No big recipe plans this week other than borscht; tonight I may make colcannon with a side of veggie sausage and steamed carrots, or maybe oven-baked sweet potato fries with sausage and greens - cozy winter foods, as it's just around freezing out.

Oh no, you got kale in my mashed potatoes!

Maybe winter won't be so bad if I can have this colcannon all the time. It is what the annoying might call a "no-brainer" - three of the best foods (garlic mashed potatoes, kale, and seitan) sharing one stage...the event of a lifetime!

Thank you, Vegan Yum Yum. Thank you for giving me hope where my wintry future offers none.

Ho-hum (not the veggies, but me)

It was a tough week at work, which unfortunately translated into kind of a downer Saturday. While I had pledged that I would buy less at the USG this week since my photo assistant is going away for the week, and therefore I only need food for one, I didn't quite manage...and spent almost the same as any other week.

So much green, so little time:

1 bunch peppermint
1 bunch tarragon
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 bunch Russian kale
3 small heads bok choy
3 zucchini
1 bunch (3) white onions
1 bunch leeks
1 lb. shell peas
4 white peaches
3 nectarines
4 apricots
2 yellow ("low-acid") tomatoes
1 pint orange Sungold cherry tomatoes
Total spent: $35

The tarragon is an experiment - I'm trying to get myself out of my fresh herbs comfort zone, which is made up entirely of basil, oregano, and parsley, though I've yet to find my tarragon recipe. I bought the mint to make this facial scrub from Urban Vegan, which actually calls for dried mint, though it worked wonderfully with the fresh herb. (My face felt amazing, but it was annoying to have to prevent the oats from going down the drain. I will make it again, though.)

Tonight's dinner was risotto with leeks, chard, and peas; Tofurkey sausage; and sliced Sungold tomatoes with parsley. The tomatoes were perfect - little sweet globes of warmth and light. I'd been planning to make a green risotto with the chard for the past few days, but when I saw leeks at the greenmarket, I realized their more-vegetal oniony flavor would suit the chard better than the shallots I had originally bought for the purpose. It turned out terrific.

I don't have solid plans for anything else I've bought this week, though I did recently make a new pot of black beans (with the poblano and jalapeno chiles I bought last week and didn't write about because I was in Baltimore to see friends at Virgin Fest), so the kale will probably end up in burritos, or with the beans over rice. We'll see what happens with the tarragon...and I've also got a ton of fresh mind leftover to find a use for.

Going overboard...

...was my greenmarket m.o. today. Though strawberries are already gone, the amazing July selection at the USG today more than made up for it.

I love summer:
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1 lb. sugar snap peas
2 cousa squashes
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 bunch basil
1.5 lbs. cherries
5 apricots
Total spent: $34

The plural of "squash" is giving me a headache. Does "squashes" mean only "multiple varieties of squash," or can I use it to mean "two fruits of the squash plant"? I think my point comes across regardless.

I'm very glad sugar snap peas are still here - they're our summer staple vegetable so far. I've been blanching them for 75 seconds, shocking them in ice water, then packing them in lunches with a few grinds of sea salt...and then, more often than not, we have them again (prepared the same way) with dinner.

I'm excited to have bought my first tomatoes of summer! One of my plans is to have them in a pesto pasta salad with cousa squash, goat cheese, and Italian parsley - with fresh basil to garnish. I bought some pesto at the greenmarket because I don't have a food processor to make my own. The basil will also go into some homemade tomato sauce.

Most of the other veggies are self-explanatory - greens for adding to burritos, pasta, and anywhere else I can fit them in, and the carrots for having raw or steamed with lunch. The cherries are from Terhune Orchards, which is also where I get my apples in fall - they have the best cherries at the greenmarket (they also had the best asparagus when it was around). I'm very happy that apricots are starting to show up; a few places even had peaches. Though these are two of the fruits I most want to can this summer, so that clock is ticking quickly. We'll see if I can fit in a class and get the gear in time to put up some fruit this summer.

Everything's cuter in spring

After dropping off my week's worth of fruit and vegetable waste with the compost lady, I was immediately plunged into a newly bountiful greenmarket experience. Tables were piled with asparagus - sold loose or in bunches - as well as rhubarb, tender-leafed spring spinach, and sweet-looking baby lettuces. And more vendors I recognize from last year have returned.

The predominant color is still green, and there isn't much variety (except for the potted herbs and extraordinary-looking flowers); one stand had some greenhouse-grown organic tomatoes which looked lovely, but at $5/lb. I decided to hold off. Neverrtheless, I picked up a lot of staples and a few exotics that I'm excited about this week. (Excuse the dark photo - my photo assistant had an appointment this morning and so couldn't help.)



May vegetables are better than May flowers:
2 lbs. asparagus
2 bags spinach
1 bunch red Russian kale
5 Winesap apples
2 zucchini
1/4 lb. mixed baby lettuces
1 lb. baby golden fingerling potatoes
1 bunch ramps
1 basket fiddleheads
Total spent: $36

I have absolutely no idea what to do with the fiddleheads, but I'm looking forward to them. I've eaten them once before that I can remember, years ago at an upscale Portland restaurant named after them, and don't remember being impressed. But they're so seasonal and considered so special that I imagine there has to be a way to make them wonderful.

Though I'd love to make ramps risotto for a third week in a row, I am going to force myself to be more creative. I've read about asparagus/ramp soup, which sounds lovely - I'm hoping to find a recipe. (Though this recipe for soup made with just the ramps does sound nice.) And this time, I've ensured I'll have enough of the thicker asparagus spears to use for that pan-roasted asparagus recipe from Cook's Illustrated - and I'll sautee the thinner spears.

The greens I'll used as usual - steamed or sauteed, added to every meal possible...though perhaps someday I can wheedle someone into getting me a Vita-Mix blender as a gift, and then I can add them raw to green smoothies in the morning! A girl's got to have a dream.

Spring - so what??

Okay, I'm not quite that cynical, but despite the ridiculously gorgeous day, there was very little in the way of actual produce at the greenmarket this week. The food options are still mostly apples and potatoes, though I did find the same greens I had last week - including the fantastic chard - though there are, here and there, signs that bounty is just around the corner. The market was dominated by potted plants and flowers, which certainy looked lovely, and made the place smell fragrant (and highly allergenic).

Pretty much the same as last week:
1 lb. Bindje potatoes (pretty little yellow ones)
4 lbs. apples (Winesaps and Mutsus)
1/2 lb. rainbow chard
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 log goat cheese
1 loaf "San Francisco" sourdough
Total spent: $27

I made a lovely lunch snack of the sourdough smeared with goat cheese, topped with tart Mutsu slices, and popped under the broiler for a minute and a half. The goat cheese, from Lynndale Farms, is delicious, with a nice, pure, creamy flavor.

Onwards and upwards! I'll keep my fingers crossed for next week.

A semi-glorious and expensive return to USG

The past month or so has been impossible. Hence, no greenmarket trips. At this point, my body is fairly crying out for fresh vegetables...I think this USG trip came just in the nick of time. Though, unfortunately, most vendors are still replete with potatoes, apples, onions, and other fall/winter offerings - perhaps because our spring has been so cold thus far - I was able to find some really nice-looking (and pricey) greens.


Some of this isn't produce at all:
1/3 lb. mesclun mix
1/3 lb. rainbow chard
1 bunch kale
2 lbs. fancy red potatoes (I forgot what variety)
4 lbs. apples (Mutsu, Red Ida, and Winesap)
1 bag shallots
3 lbs. whole wheat flour
1 dozen eggs
Total spent: $36

The eggs were an impulse buy, chosen after I had walked around a bit and realized the spring greenmarket bounty I had been irresponsibly hoping for hadn't arrived. Though I don't eat eggs all that often (I have a bit of an inferiority complex regarding my inability/unwillingness to become totally vegan), farm-fresh ones are so lovely. I'm going to make omelets for dinner tonight, probably filled with greens and with roasted potatoes alongside. The greens vendor also had some "green garlic," which looked like the garlic equivalent of chives; he claimed that the roots of the stalks are delicious when scrambled with a fresh egg. I think I may have to try them next week.

I'm not sure what variety of kale this is, but I do hope that it turns out better than the usual tough, curly kind; the leaves seem quite tender and they're totally flat and shaped a bit like arugula. (A later Google search has shown that it is Red Russian kale.) Perhaps I'll use them with the chard in some garlicky mixed-green tacos one evening, with black beans on the side. I've been making big pots of beans all winter, but I haven't had fresh greenmarket peppers...I can't wait until lots of different types are available again, so I can experiment. Supermarket poblanos and jalapenos are waxy and tired (though, of course, better than nothing).

No applesauce this time - these will be sliced for lunches. Applesauce reminds me too much of winter - and since the winters temperatures are hanging around, I've got to avoid being stuck in the winter mindset. Maybe my early-onset hay fever will help...sigh.

A sidenote - sometimes I can't post because this happens:

Getting out of my USG rut

It sounds simple, but I started on the other end of the greenmarket today. Usually, by the time I slog my way through from the lower, southwestern corner, up to the bend, I've already got bagsful of produce - out of room, patience, and money. And it worked! I ended up finding lots of new apple varieties, and buying my "staples" from different vendors than usual, with the exception of peppers (I had a great conversation with the fellow at my usual pepper stand), shallots, and herbs.



My more-eclectic-than-usual take:
1 bunch fresh basil
1 bunch fresh oregano
6 apples, various types (among them Honeycrisp, Macintosh, Jonamac...)
3 peaches
2 purple plums
2 nectarines
4 shallots
2 heads Rocambole garlic
1 lb. green beans
1 bunch kale
3 Poblano peppers
3 Hatch chiles
5 jalapeno peppers
total spent: about $28

Three of the shallots, half a head of garlic, and most of the fresh herbs have already been simmering in my tomato sauce for a few hours, with unsurprisingly delicious results. (And I now know why most people don't use fresh oregano - after you've rinsed and dried what feels like 1000 little stalks, you have to pluck ten or so delicate, fuzzy leaves from each, then chop all of it somehow.)

Kale was a risk, but since I don't like Swiss chard, and spinach might poison me, I had to do something green and leafy. Luckily, Recipezaar provided a really great-sounding recipe for white beans and kale, so I'll try that one of these nights. The recipe couldn't get more wintry, unless it were served in a butternut squash bowl.

The green beans will have their usual fate - blanched, cold, for lunch snacks - and all the peppers will end up in a gigantic pot of black beans. I'll roast the Poblano and Hatch (as my pepper guy instructed), and probably won't use all the jalapenos, though they are little (and were 5 for $1).

Last week's early goldens weren't as crisp and sweet as before I went on vacation, so I eschewed them entirely in favor of a mixed bag of "crisp"-promising varieties. The Macintoshes I picked up last week were terrific (and I got a couple more this time around), though I feel a bit mainstream saying so.

Speaking of mainstream, I bought Kitchen Confidential today, and I'm devouring it, despite Bourdain being a semi-sexist vegetarian-hater. (I think he just hates vegetarians who are irritating about it when they're at restaurants. But who doesn't?)