Last night it rained, an honest, garden-soaking, puddle-making rain. It hadn’t rained in 48 days. (Seattle’s record dry spell, set in 1951, was 51 days.) On the way out the door this morning, wrapped in coats against the newly-brisk air, my four-year-old cheerfully sang out our family’s frequent admonishment to her toddling little sister: “No boots, no puddles!” It suddenly felt like fall.
It’s as good a day as any to put on a pot of beans. Continue reading
Emmy Cooks is Foodista’s Food Blog of the Day today! What a nice compliment. If you’ve made your way here from there, welcome. We’re glad to have you. Grab a fork and come dig in!
I’ve had a bok choy and radish slaw rattling around in my brain ever since I saw this recipe on another beautiful Northwest blog (did you check out yesterday’s?), The Plum Palate. I had in mind a radish slaw that gave me the first hope that I could ever love radishes, and I envisioned the pungent flavors of raw bok choy and spicy radishes tamed with a bit of sweetness and the acid bite of vinegar. Do you do that too, imagine how things should taste and then tweak until you get them there? I was happy with how this turned out, and even happier after the flavors had the chance to blend for an hour or so. Continue reading
Oh, school. Its arrival is so bittersweet. Even though I liked school as a kid, I was never quite ready for summer to end–who is? And now that it’s my own kids heading happily back to class, a part of me is sorry to see them go. (Another part of me is looking forward to a few mornings a week alone with my baby, of course, and to the single hour of silence in my day at her naptime.)
So yesterday we celebrated the Last Day of Summer Vacation with swimming, ice cream cones dripping onto the sidewalk, and an afternoon in the park. Today dawned all business instead: breakfast, brushed hair, a stocked backpack, and then a bike ride to school to deliver our oldest to the rigors of first grade. (It looked pretty fun, actually.)
And by the end of the day we were all exhausted. Quesadillas, rice, beans from a can. And this salsa. This salsa! It brightened everything right up. Bring home a pound of tomatillos and a lime next time you’re out, and in five minutes you’ll be cheered right up. Have the energy to go beyond quesadillas? I love tomatillo salsa on black bean tacos, taco salads, huevos rancheros, and chilaquiles. Especially chilaquiles. Maybe it’s a good thing that the seasons are changing after all. 
Continue reading
I love a picnic. And we spent yesterday evening at the best picnic of the year.
It was a party with friends and friends-of-friends, all in white at a waterfront park in Seattle. The location was a secret until late afternoon, then the text messages flew, the final arrangements were made, and we began to descend upon the appointed destination. White balloons fluttered at the park’s entrance, white lights lit the path to the water, and soon long tables were set with white linens and plates, flowers and candles. Feasts were laid out. The guests, of course, wore white. A band kept time to the festivities and after dark descended, hundreds of white sparklers lit the air. A very nice picnic indeed.
Luckily our friends are excellent cooks and we ate very well. (They are great photographers, too; you can see my friend Knox’s photos from last year here and my friend Tara’s photos from last night here.) There were meats and cheeses and chutneys and quince paste and three kinds of pickles. There were salads in a palette of brilliant hues: beets with oranges and pistachios, roasted cauliflower and chickpeas, salmon nestled into greens, plums on a bed of grilled kale with ricotta, a saffron coucous with raisins. There was a fancy cake. And, in a nod to the party’s white theme, I brought vegetables with this dip.
I also brought it because it’s so good. It’s a savory, moreish way to eat your vegetables. It’s perfect with green beans but I couldn’t resist adding blanched carrots and crisp radishes to the plate as well. The more color the better, I say, at least on my plate.
Colorful Vegetables with White Dip (adapted from Gourmet): Okay, yes, the secret ingredient here is a can of anchovies. Brave them, try them, even if you’re skeptical. This is a gentle introduction for nonbelievers.
Drain and rinse a 2-oz. can of anchovies and dump them in a small pot with 2 big cloves of minced garlic, 2 Tbsp. water, and 2 Tbsp. sour cream (I used low fat). Simmer for 10 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Transfer the resulting anchovy-garlic paste to a food processor with another 1 c. sour cream and 1/3 c. mayonnaise and blend until smooth. Optional: add 1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice. (I like it both ways, with and without the lemon.) Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill at least an hour before serving with blanched green beans or other blanched or raw vegetables.
Tonight we went to a friend’s birthday party. A keg of good beer, a smoky grill, a swing in the pear tree, little girls running everywhere. After dark, there were birthday candles and fireworks. This is the salad to bring to a party like that.
Continue reading
Why does everyone have to keep talking about how summer’s almost over?
La la la la la! This is me sticking my fingers in my ears and not listening.
La la la la la! These peaches are me sticking my fingers in my ears and not listening. La la la–oh, mmmm. Continue reading
Roundabout late afternoon, while I’m (doing a million other things and) waiting for inspiration to strike in the kitchen, it’s usually safe to start with a sauce. A pesto, a garlicky yogurt sauce, a lemony harissa number? It’s easy to take it from there: a pesto might lead to pasta, a yogurt sauce will inspire something to dunk in it, and that lemony harissa is a treat with eggs.
Today, unable to stare down the mountain of gorgeous produce in my fridge, I retreated instead to a pantry shelf for a jar of dried guajillo chiles from our Tonnemaker’s CSA. A spicy paste of red chiles is the answer to a number of questions at our house, such as: “What should I pour over rice and black beans and vegetables?” and “What would be good on this taco salad?” and “How should I sauce my enchiladas?” And if there’s any of this sauce left over after dinner, the question immediately becomes, “How soon is morning so I can make huevos rancheros?” Continue reading
The challenge with zucchini at this time of year, I find, is how to wrangle overgrown clubs of squash into something that you actually want to eat. With all due respect to the lovely Mollie Katzen (to whom much respect is due), this is not the season for stuffed “Zuccanoes.”
My answer to the annual giant zucchini quandary usually involves my food processor. Grating zucchini is therapeutic, first off; literally cutting the squash down to size shows it who’s boss and lets it see that you are not intimidated. Continue reading
A friend sent me an urgent email the other day.
“Make this salad,” he instructed.
“I like that salad,” I told him. “But have you tried this one?”
He re-sent the original link. I saw his point, and went out to buy a watermelon.
There are no new recipes under the sun, or something like that. I love the flavor combination featured in this salad enough that I’ve featured a similar recipe before. But this variation is even simpler because instead of making that creamy oil-free dressing (which is, by the way, well worth making), you just squeeze a lime into the salad with a pinch of salt for clean, bright, summertime flavor.
This recipe is also worth revisiting at this time of year because it’s a great way to use up any odds and ends from your CSA or exuberant vegetable shopping. Do you have a clean-out-the-fridge day of the week? It’s Saturday around here, both because there’s time to cook and because I need to make room for the next CSA box in the fridge. Continue reading
Emmy Cooks 