Editor’s Note: In lieu of an essay this week, here are five recipes.
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Orecchiette Salad
1 lb orecchiette
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled & chopped
6 celery ribs, thinly sliced
4 small pickles, thinly sliced
8oz green olives, drained & chopped
2 small red onions, diced
2 cups mayonnaise
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup minced dill
black pepper to taste
To make the salad, cook the orecchiette in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold running water, shaking the colander. Put the orecchiette in a large bowl and add the eggs, celery, pickles, olives and onions. Whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, dill and pepper in a small bowl until smooth. Pour over the salad in dollops and blend well, making sure all the ingredients are coated. Cover and chill several hours, then serve cold.
Yield: 12 cups
Cooking time: 85 minutes
Vegetarian: yes (vegan)
Source: 12 Months of Monastery Salads
Date prepared: 21 July, 2012
Rating: ***
Sources:
Orecchiette – Cavaliere Giuseppe Cocco, Fara San Martino (Abruzzi, Italy)
Eggs – Pecatonica Valley Farm (East Main & Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard)
Celery – Jones Valley Farm (Carroll)
Pickles – Summer Kitchen (West Main)
Red onions – Lor Farm (West Main & North Pinckney)
Dill – Lor Farm (West Main & North Pinckney)
Dijon mustard – Westbrae Natural
Mayonnaise – Hellmann’s
Comments:
A refreshingly briny-tart pasta salad, but one that’s filling enough to keep you satisfied until a late dinner. I was actually surprised that the olives and pickles worked so well together, and pickles may seem like an unusual addition to a pasta salad in the first place. But they do.
That may actually beg the question of what kind of pickles to get. I’ve only recently discovered that there’s more than just kosher dill, but that’s still my absolute preference. (One of my favorite treats growing up was a whole dill pickle from Jacobson’s deli and butcher shop. I was apparently easy to please, and no parent objects when a five-year-old wants to eat a vegetable.) I also think that works better here, given the dill-inflected dressing. No worries about a dill overload, because it’s a rather subtle herb. I think bread and butter pickles are too cloyingly sweet for this salad, which shouldn’t taste sweet. It should taste briny, but still savory.
While I used orecchiette, what pasta to use is in your discretion. The original name is actually “Macaroni Salad,” so that obviously would work. Why I ended up with orecchiette was an accident: I was in the pasta-couscous-rice-beans-quinoa-bulgur aisle at Willy Street Co-op and couldn’t find macaroni. Which was odd. But then I felt that substituting penne would be too typical, although a reasonable replacement. Cavatappi, farfalle, rigatoni, rotini and fusilli also offered themselves as alternatives, and all of them would have been good too (though the farfalle might be too big). Orecchiette stood out as an unusual option, and because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had it or if I’d ever had it at all.
The celery and the red onion add a good crunch. I felt quite lucky to buy good celery at the Farmers’ Market. The ribs are smaller, but they have less water content. So they actually taste like a good vegetable rather than something that simply hydrates. Still, I’m amazed that anyone got celery to come out of the ground in this drought; I should think that celery is an extremely water-intensive vegetable to grow. One thing I’ve noticed about farmers’ market celery, compared with supermarket celery, is that the mouth-feel of the former is dryer. If you’ve grown up on the supermarket stuff, you’ll only think you’ve tasted the crunch of a celery stick, dunked in ranch dip or some such thing. Hardly. Farmers’ market almost cuts the inside of your mouth, it crunches so crispily.
On the other hand, this salad would not be to everyone’s taste. The briny pickles aren’t a flavor to be expected in a pasta salad, where diced cucumbers might be presumed more appropriate. (Note to self: if making this again, do more than simply slice the pickles; texture-wise, in the context of the whole salad, chopping them would be better.) It almost feels like this salad was designed thoroughly tongue-in-cheek with an ironic eyebrow raised––as if it was meant for a satire of a barbecue or picnic lunch. Still, the more optimistic interpretation is just a twist on an old classic. Serve this to people with a bit of zest for adventure on the palate.
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Cold Tomato Soup
1/3 cup olive oil
8 small leeks (or 4 large), halved & sliced (white part only)
8 large tomatoes (about 6 lbs), cored & in eighths
4 minced garlic cloves
2 cups water
minced leaves of 1 bunch basil
minced leaves of 1 bunch tarragon
leaves of 1 bunch thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 minced celery stalks
Pour oil into a large soup pot, then sauté leeks and garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and sauté until mixture resembles a chunkier marinara sauce. Add water and remaining ingredients; cover pot and cook soup over medium-high heat for 30 minutes. Let the soup cool for about an hour off heat; purée soup in a food processor. Serve hot, or chill at least three hours and serve very chilled.
Yield: 10 cups
Cooking time: 85 minutes (not including cooling time)
Vegetarian: yes (vegan)
Source: 12 Months of Monastery Soups
Date prepared: 21 July, 2012
Rating: ****
Sources:
Leeks – Willy Street Co-op
Tomatoes – Don’s Produce (West Main)
Basil – Lor Farm (West Main & North Pinckney)
Tarragon – Willy Street Co-op
Thyme – Willy Street Co-op
Celery – Jones Valley Farm (Carroll)
Comments:
Herbalicious and tomato-ey, this soup was a lovely cool-down after a full day’s work and the gym, plus a walking commute in 90+ºF heat. This soup has full-on tomato flavor, the aroma and taste enhanced, deepened and complemented by the basil, tarragon and thyme. Dined on cold, the soup tasted like a gazpacho without the greenness of the cucumbers to offset the red vegetalness of the tomatoes. Ladled out hot, it tastes a like a great pasta sauce, if a little on the thin side. I thought to myself that, with the right tweaking of proportions––maybe leave out the water––serving this with spaghetti or linguine would be well in order.
Speaking of pasta, though this soup is hearty enough in the vegetable department, it could also work with the addition of a pasta corta, like a penne, rigatoni or macaroni. I think it’d be more appropriate to serve the soup hot if you add pasta. (I keep meaning to do an essay to post here on pasta in its infinite variety.) And I can explain all the references to pasta in this blog post with the fact that cooking this soup made my parents’ house smell like tomato sauce all day; my dad and I kept remarking to each other that we both wanted pasta.
There are a few cooking tips to keep in mind when making this soup. For one thing, definitely let the soup cool some before you purée it, so that it’s easier to handle when you do. (I admit I’m a bit gun-shy about this, because I once accidentally melted tupperware when pouring too-hot liquid into it.) Also, get nearly overripe tomatoes, like the ones at Don’s Produce, which are perfect for soups because they’re big and juicy and full to bursting with flavor. Even bruised or other “second-best” tomatoes are fine to use; just cut away the blackened bits and let the tomatoes stew. No vegetable has to be perfect to be usable.
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Stuffed Melon Salad
2 small muskmelons, halved lengthwise & seeds scooped out
2 cups cottage cheese
4oz chopped walnuts
2oz raisins
2oz sultanas
minced mint leaves to taste
1/2 cup half-&-half
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp + 1 tsp honey
Combine cottage cheese, walnuts, raisins and mint, mixing well with a fork. Whirl the cream, nutmeg, paprika, lemon juice, honey and pepper in a blender. Fill melon cavities with the cottage cheese mixture and pour the cream mixture over each melon half, serving immediately.
Yield: 4 cups cottage cheese filling, 1 cup dressing
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Vegetarian: yes (lacto-ovo)
Source: 12 Months of Monastery Salads
Date prepared: 21 July, 2012
Rating: ****
Sources:
Melons – Pleasant Springs Orchard (East Main)
Cottage cheese – Westby Creamery
Walnuts – Hickory Nut Heaven (Pinckney)
Mint – Lor Farm (West Main & North Pinckney)
Honey – Bee Charmer (West Main)
Comments:
Well, every report I’ve read about the flavors of fruit being more concentrated as a result of the drought is correct. In one report, melons were particularly singled out as being sweeter than usual. And this inspired me to buy a few at the Farmers’ Market. There are three places to get great melons around the Square in a normal season: Knapp’s Fresh Veggies on Pinckney Street; Heck’s Farm Market on Main Street; and Pleasant Springs Orchard, also on Main Street. But this isn’t a normal summer, and some farms have been hit harder than others, or lost some crops and not others. So Knapp’s was MIA completely and Heck’s only had watermelons, leaving me to buy ultra-sweet cantaloupes from Pleasant Springs. No complaints. I’m just happy to confirm the agricultural reports’ accuracy with my own experience.
Brother Victor offers this salad as a full lunch, but I think it would make a great breakfast dish, especially for those who get tired of milk and cereal, or yogurt and granola. I actually had it as a dessert, a follow-up palate cleanser to that delicious tomato soup. It works there too. I can imagine children really liking this dish, though maneuvering one’s fork or spoon to get out mouthfuls of melon and stuffing might be beyond them. Even I was occasionally, and accidentally, flinging bits of cottage cheese at parts of my face that weren’t my mouth or onto the table (though thankfully not at the wall). Or maybe kids would enjoy the opportunity to make something of a mess. It has a certain charm.
I do think the dressing is almost superfluous, despite its being tasty. The stuffing is quite enough on its own, and with melons this sweet, a little something extra from the honey is rather unnecessary. There’s also not really a good place to put the dressing, except as a drizzle on top, which just serves to further demonstrate its extraneousness. I ended up using it like a dip for forkfuls of melon. On the other hand, I had never thought to use paprika as part of a dessert, but it works to provide some spiciness without overwhelming the honey or cream; the sweet variety of the stuff raises possibilities for baked goods, like cookies, if the right balance could be found. I must find other uses for the dressing––perhaps on a beet salad––since it seems versatile. And it’s not like it detracts from the rest of this stuffed melon salad in the slightest. It just makes it almost too much of a good thing.
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Tabbouleh
12oz bulgur
4 cups cold water
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 medium green peppers, minced
3 medium cucumbers, minced
5 minced celery stalks
minced leaves of 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
minced leaves of 1 bunch mint
1 minced medium white onion
5 crushed garlic cloves
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste
Soak the bulgur in a saucepan in the water for 30 minutes, then set the saucepan on the stove and bring it to a rapid boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook the bulgur about 30 minutes, until it absorbs all the liquid. Transfer to a large salad bowl, then add tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, celery, parsley, mint and onion; toss to combine, then chill until ready to serve. Whisk together oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl until thickened, then pour over the salad and toss to coat well. Serve immediately.
Yield: 12 cups
Cooking time: 185 minutes
Vegetarian: yes (vegan)
Source: 12 Months of Monastery Salads
Date prepared: 28 July, 2012
Rating: ***
Sources:
Olive oil – La Crosse Olive OIl Company, Persian lime-infused
Bulgur – People’s Food Co-op
Tomatoes – Columbine Farm (Onalaska)
Green peppers – Columbine Farm (Onalaska)
Cucumbers – Old Oak Family Farm (Bangor)
Parsley – Old Oak Family Farm (Bangor)
Mint – Herbal Turtle Farm, (Winona, MN)
Onion – Columbine Farm (Onalaska)
Garlic – Lynwood Farm (Stoddard)
Comments:
Recipes like this, even though they can persuade you to take up vegetarianism, remind you of just how labor-intensive vegetables are. It takes a long time to mince all those vegetables. Admittedly, I brought part of this on myself, first by trying to use up a bunch of celery (not called for in the original recipe), and then by buying three cucumbers when the original recipe calls for one. (Those 3-for-$1 cucumber deals will be the death of me yet.) Also, FYI, seed those cucumbers to help reduce the tabbouleh’s volume; that’s my note for the future. But no matter what you do, you’re still going to end up with tons of tabbouleh.
I must have been in the mood for Middle Eastern cuisine, which is difficult to find up here in La Crosse (though I did find a good Greek diner). I’d just finished an anthology of Ancient Near Eastern mythology and historical documents––my second of the summer. Buying the Persian lime-infused olive oil from the La Crosse Olive Oil Company also seemed appropriate for the occasion, both due to the eastern Mediterranean provenance of the dish and the presence of lemon juice in the dressing. To complete the Middle Eastern thing, I bought some dried Turkish apricots and dates as sweet snacks. The lesson distilled from this appears to be: if you can’t find a restaurant that serves it, make it yourself.
When I first had this salad for lunch on Monday, I realized I’d made a mistake: I forgot to cook the bulgur in salted water; I’d just cooked it in salt-free boiling water. Why that makes a difference is because plain tap water doesn’t bring out the good flavor of the bulgur; it just makes it taste like dried grass. And there’s plenty of that around here this summer. In combination with the rest of the ingredients (except the tomatoes and dressing), the tabbouleh just tasted bland. But this was easily repaired with a sprinkling of salt and pepper that was then folded into the salad. The seasoning boost covered all sins.
So once the salad was properly salted and peppered, it was a good, filling and flavorful lunch. The citrusy-garlic dressing brought out the vegetal flavors of the peppers and herbs. The dressing would be great for other salads, since the lemon juice and the lime zest balanced each other perfectly, keeping the dressing from being too sour; the combination also mellowed out the garlic, so that five crushed cloves wasn’t too much at all. The grape tomatoes tasted like little red gems; it’s worth the effort to halve them all.
A pleasant surprise of this salad was how having its flavors still on my tongue affected the taste of my choice beverage. I usually drink a Coke Zero. I don’t know if it was the salad alone, or the dressing alone, or a combination of the two, but Coke suddenly tasted like a different drink. A vastly improved one This blend of ingredients brought out the sweet, tannic spiciness of whatever makes up Coca-Cola’s secret formula. I could definitely taste ginger. I’m still thinking about what caused the sudden flavor change: I know that a Coke is made better with a bit of lemon or orange juice, but what was it about this particular recipe? Would the same––or a better––thing happen with a real, made-with-sugar Coca-Cola?
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Consommé Madrilène
8 cups vegetable stock
5 minced celery stalks
2 minced medium white onions
5 chopped Roma tomatoes
1 diced green pepper
15oz tomato sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne
salt & pepper to taste
Bring stock to a boil in a stockpot, then add celery, onions, tomatoes, pepper, sauce and cayenne. Bring the soup to a hard simmer over medium heat for 75 minutes; let stand for another 10 minutes, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill and serve cold.
Yield: 14 cups
Cooking time: 120 minutes
Vegetarian: yes (vegan)
Source: 12 Months of Monastery Soups
Date prepared: 28 July, 2012
Rating: ****
Sources:
Stock – Pacific Natural Foods
Onions – Columbine Farm (Onalaska)
Tomatoes – Lynwood Farm (Stoddard), red & yellow zebra
Green pepper – Columbine Farm (Onalaska)
Tomato sauce – Muir Glen
Comments:
Another tomato-ey soup, you say? Well, ‘tis the season. Make hay while the sun shines, gather ye roses while ye may, and all that. Because it is the season for tomatoes, so make the most of them. Eat them in everything you can think of and then some, until you’re tired of them. Because by then it’s October and they’re gone. At that point, you can eat squash or beans or whatever. You’ll get sick of those in their turn, and you’ll be longing for tomatoes at that point. This is what it means to eat seasonally. Do it right and you feel sort of programmed to crave something just as it’s coming into season. Unless a monkey wrench gets thrown into your weather and throws off the schedule.
As for the soup itself, it tastes like much more than a spicy gazpacho. The flavor is vaguely reminiscent of a thin salsa, and with a little less liquid, this recipe would make a very good one. But an even better comparison is the Mexican classic, ceviche. All that’s missing are some cooked shrimp, which would make an excellent addition here for those that wanted to go the seafood route. With or without fish, the soup is gently sinus-clearing, and disappears from the bowl all too quickly. This stuff goes down easy.
The Years of Living Seasonally 