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I made it over to the Wallingford Farmers Market today (it just opened last week) and was pleasantly surprised to see that, though it’s small, it has plenty of variety. I bought some ground lamb, fresh broccoli, and first-of-the-season strawberries.
There was little variety in one respect, though — the massive amounts of asparagus pretty much every vendor was selling. It’s local, in season, and apparently growing like a weed in these parts. We’ve been buying about a pound a week, if not more, and I would have bought some today…but we already bought some from Whole Foods yesterday. It was still local, I swear! I’m sorry, Michael Pollan!
Anyway, I came home tonight, looked in the fridge, calculated our schedule for the week, and realized we had a lot of fresh produce that was rapidly reaching Judgment Day and needed to be cooked/eaten immediately. Asparagus, you’re up.
The good thing about asparagus is that it’s easy to cook in a number of ways — roasting, simmering, even microwaving (though we don’t have a microwave now, and that’s a post and lifestyle choice story for another day). Plus I’ve cooked it enough that I feel comfortable playing around with it. Pretty much the worst thing you can do to asparagus is overcook it, which I do far too often, but the current product tastes so good it’s hard to really screw it up.
So here is my super-simple recipe for asparagus that I threw together tonight. All ingredients are approximate, it’s all to taste anyway. (You can see the fresh strawberries in the background. And dirty dishes…ignore those.)
- One bunch asparagus
- Shredded parmesan cheese
- Butter
- Salt & pepper
- Tupperware with lid
Boil a medium pot about half full of water, big enough to hold all the asparagus. While it’s boiling, snap off the woody ends of the asparagus (they break off naturally).
When water is boiling, dump in the asparagus and cook about 5 min. Test by sticking a fork into the stalk end of the asparagus, and when it goes in with just a little resistance, it’s done. Err on the side of firmer, because those things absolutely refuse to stop cooking.
Drain the asparagus and rinse with some cold water to kind of stop them cooking, but you still want them warm. Put a pat of butter (1 Tb. or so) in the Tupperware container. Plop in the asparagus and dose with salt and pepper to taste. Add parmesan cheese (1/4 cup or so, but as much/little as you like) and then seal the lid.
Shake the container vigorously until the butter has melted and the asparagus is all coated in goodness. You can eat this cold as a salad or warm standing up in front of the fridge with equal parts fingers and fork.
Indian food at Vij's
This list came to mind as we came up for air tonight at Vij’s, an Indian restaurant in the sleek suburb of South Granville Island, Vancouver, BC. This topic was apropos at the moment because both Lisa and I were trying to find other restaurants that had such an impact on us as this one. Remember, this is the restaurant Mark Bittman (of NYT and The Minimalist fame) said was one of the best Indian restaurants in the world.
As expected, there was an hour wait at Vij’s, but it was assuaged by the relaxing lounge, a few local pilsners, and free tastes of pakoras and other goodies the staff kept passing around. The appetizer of BC shrimp was spicy but complex, with mung sprouts. We don’t even know that that means. We had the lamb popsicles, de rigeour for Vij’s, which as advertised were flavorful, tender and bathing in a curry sauce that we both wanted to bathe in. The scene stealer were the short ribs, rich with cinnamon and cardamom and served with roasted kale. The syrupy gulab jamin practically drove us to tears. We spent 10 straight minutes so engaged in worshipping the food we didn’t realize we were completely ignoring each other.
Given our tendencies toward nerdy foodie obsessions, you would think we could rattle off a laundry list of places. But we only came up with four others in that elite category. That’s right, four.
Liverpool House, Montreal, Quebec: A farm-to-table joint tucked into the working class suburb of Petit-Bourgogne. The menu is written on a chalk blackboard, and includes such delicacies such as Guinea hen and pig-ear salad with micro greens. It’s not so much “Quebecois” as it is local fresh ingredients prepared incredibly well. What we remember most about this meal is that it was prepared so perfectly that in each bite you could tell how much care had gone into the dishes. One of those meals where you just don’t want it to end.
112 Eatery, Minneapolis, MN: We love this place so much we drove 8 hours out of the way on our cross-country roadtrip just to go. So that should tell you something. This tiny place in the Warehouse District isn’t exactly small plates, but more like everything on the menu looks amazing and is under $15 so you might as well order everything your stomach can fit. The duck pate bahn mi, any of the pastas, the sandwich with harissa, anything on special: just order everything you crave and worry about the bill and your stomach capacity later. Also, we are still recovering from that one time we ordered the tres leches cake. That was in May of 2008.
The Kitchen Table Bistro, Vermont: We ate a LOT of amazing food on our trip to Burlington in October of 2008. We would be remiss not to mention the pizza with local bacon, cheese and onions from American Flatbread or the bountiful farmers market downtown. But the Kitchen Table, in the nearby town of Richmond, was astounding. It’s in a converted house and the chefs/owners/couple use as many local ingredients as possible. The decor was gorgeous, but appetizers and dessert stood out the most: cider steamed mussels with bacon and aioli, and apple cake with cinnamon ice cream. GAH.
Paseo, Seattle, WA: We don’t care if it’s “only” a sandwich shop that’s been around for years and only takes cash and often runs out of bread and has scant if any seats and almost always has a line out the door and doesn’t have a website. We can’t think of any other place that always, ALWAYS satisfies like Paseo, with its pork sandwiches bursting with Jamaican spices and aioli and grilled onions and cilantro and the freshest baguette you’ll ever find. Guaranteed foodgasm 100%.
We took a brief trip to Vancouver in November of 2007, and even in the rain and gray skies we loved it. So it was an easy choice to come back for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
We decided to rent an apartment instead of doing the hotel or bed and breakfast thing, because that way we could cook with food from the Granville Island Farmer’s Market (basically Vancouver’s Pike Place Market). We wanted to stay in the neighborhood of Kitsilano, which we visited briefly last time around and knew right away it would be the perfect place for a low-key, non-touristy vacation. We found an apartment on a site called AirBnB, which is kind of like couchsurfing but instead of crashing on someone’s couch, people rent out their entire rooms or apartments. Our rental is 2 blocks from the beach and 3 blocks from one of Kits’ main drags of shopping and restaurants. That, combined with 70-degree days, has made this mini-break an excellent decision all the way around.
Our trip is not, of course, all eating and sunbathing (though we’re doing our share of that as well.) Saturday morning we tackled the infamous Grouse Grind, a grueling trek up Grouse Mountain that the locals call “Nature’s Stairmaster”. It’s about 3 km through the woods on an incredibly steep switchback.
It starts out somewhat genteel, and then lactic-acid hell sets in around the 10-minute mark. Both of us are in good shape, and our hearts felt like leaping out of our chests and calling it quits. What makes it even worse is that we see Vancouverites breezing up the mountain, including one dude wearing a weighted vest. The hard-core trekkers are members of a mountain club, and they use a computer chip to record their times. We managed to finish in a little under 90 minutes, passing several people along the way. We felt good about ourselves, until we learned that the fastest time of the day was 33 minutes! The record is an absurd 24 minutes, accomplished by a Kiwi in 2005. How? Why? Ugh!
No trip to Vancouver, though, is complete without an attempt at the Grouse Grind. It’s a killer climb, but the views at the top (a vista of Vancouver and lower B.C.) are SO worth it. So is the feeling of satisfaction.
We rewarded ourselves with a few hours of relaxing on Kits Beach, kind of like the Canadian Santa Monica, with bikini-clad women and muscle-clad men frolicking in the sand in front of a spectacular vista of the water and mountains.
Then we strolled along the water to the larger and a little less sceney Jericho Beach for drinks at the Jericho Beach Sailing Centre, with more amazing views and microbrews.
Going into the weekend, Jeremy said we were going biking on Sunday, but would not disclose where. Lisa said if it was longer than 20 miles or included hills, she would not be happy. Sunday morning, we woke up early (too early for some of us, ahem) and after a quick breakfast at Fresh Flours in nearby Phinney Ridge, we drove up I-5 to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor for a “leisurely” bike ride around San Juan Island.
We made good time up to Anacortes (less than an hour and a half) and as we drove down the scenic cove to the ferry terminal where we saw a ferry waiting, we congratulated ourselves on making the 10 a.m. ferry.
Problem was, after paying for parking and walking our bikes over to the ferry dock, there was no 10 a.m. ferry. Whoops.
“You can catch the 12:05 to Lopez and transfer to get to Friday Harbor,” the ferry employee told us, seeing our fallen faces.
We faltered momentarily at the thought of waiting two hours, as it would not put us into Friday Harbor until 2 p.m. We thought of calling it quits and going home, or trying to find an alternative bike ride. But then we decided that since the sun doesn’t set now until about 9 p.m., and it was 70 degrees and sunny, and we’d driven all the way, we might as well make the most of the day.
So we caught the ferry, hopped off at Lopez Island and quickly hopped back on the ferry to Friday Harbor.
That’s the view from the deck of The Doctor’s Office, a small cafe where we had lunch — half a turkey club and half a veggie special, all melty with boursin cheese and carrots and zucchini.
Properly fortified, we hopped on the bikes and headed to South Beach, at the southern end of the island. Here was where that whole “leisurely” bike ride was proven a bit of a misnomer. Let’s just say there were a lot of hills, a certain amount of sweating, some angry tooth grinding by Lisa, and ultimately gorgeous views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier (a good 150 miles away) and a calm beach to relax upon.
After an hour of lazing about, we got up to leave, with visions of pints of beer at the end of all those hills back. But as we started up the hill, Jeremy’s gear caught on something and bent halfway out of joint. We started a sweat a bit, realizing we were almost 10 miles from Friday Harbor, with no cell phone service to call a cab.
Fortunately, we had Canadians. A convoy of British Columbian firefighters (really!) were on their way back from the beach, and we hailed them to ask if their cell phones worked. Instead, they poured out of their pickups, circled Jeremy’s bike, discussed animatedly how to repair it, and did just that with a rock and a screwdriver and a bit of elbow grease.
So we biked back to Friday Harbor and rewarded ourselves with microbrews from the San Juan Brewing Company at the Front Street Alehouse, as well as a tasty seafood chowder highly recommended by the waiter, with big chunks of yam and salmon.
Comfortably sated, we made our way back to Anacortes and home — with a deuce-deuce (22 oz.) of San Juan Brewing Co. pilsner in tow for our efforts. Next time, we’ll know the ferry schedule better, and perhaps try Lopez Island, which is supposed to offer some flatter terrain for biking.
Spinach is such a tease. You think you have a whole dinner’s worth, then you toss it in a pan and it dissolves into a paltry handful. I prefer ample amounts of spinach, because it tastes fresh and healthy and I feel like I’m getting my necessary vitamins. Plus, green makes food look nice.
Anyway, I have, to my mind BRILLIANTLY, solved the shrinking spinach conundrum. Yes, it’s still the same amount of spinach, but it’s all in the mind games. Intellectual gastronomy, if you will.
Also, I need to get a camera better than an iPhone. Though you can do cool things with the “Sharpen” tool.
Double-Spinach Pasta with Sausage
- 8 oz. pasta (1/2 pound) I used bow-tie but anything would work
- 8 oz. spinach (or whatever size bag you have)
- 2-3 pre-cooked sausages (I used some random Trader Joe’s brand but anything classier would only make this taste better. But it must have spice.)
- 1 Tb. olive oil
- grated parmesan cheese, about 1/2 cup or however much you like
Boil a medium-large pot of water.
While waiting for water to boil, heat the oil in a medium-to-large non-stick saute pan over medium heat. Slice the sausage widthwise on an angle, so the flat ends are ovals. When oil is hot, add the sausage and cook about 8 minutes, tossing a couple times so brown on all sides.
When sausage is browned, add half the spinach and cook until wilted. Turn heat to very low or turn off all together.
When water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. During the last minute of cooking, turn the heat back on under the spinach and sausage if it was off.
Drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the spinach and sausage. Toss around to coat.
Add the other half of the spinach and toss around so it is combined but isn’t wilting. You’ll have a mix of half dark-green spinach, half bright-green spinach.
Turn off the heat, top with parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 2 with leftovers for 1 lunch.
Yesterday I decided to make muffins. I usually get these cooking cravings in the middle of the day, so by the time I get home I’m chomping at the bit.
The muffins in question are the montage-worthy carrot muffins with cream cheese frosting from The Delicious Life that I stumbled across via Tastespotting (food porn, basically).
Mine did not turn out as photogenic as the originals, but I think I get points for creativity when I realized I had more batter than cups in the muffin tin and improvised by putting more muffin cups in a loaf pan, though they did spread out which resulted in triangle-shaped muffins. But they still taste good, so hey!
Here is the slightly adjusted recipe I used; no raisins. We don’t do raisins in this house. We’ll do most foods, but no raisins.
Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
(adapted from The Delicious Life)
- 1 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup wheat flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots (For me, about 3 large-ish carrots’ worth)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
For filling:
- 4 oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix or sift, if you’re not lazy like me, the dry ingredients (flour through sugar).
In a separate, larger bowl, beat eggs and oil together, then stir in carrots and walnuts. (Ok, if you REALLY want to add raisins, do it here).
In a little separate bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together. It helps if the cream cheese is on the softer side.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet, pour into muffin cups, then top each with a little blog of filling.
Bake 25 minutes. Makes 12 normal cupcakes and 4 weird triangle ones.
Lisa
Jeremy
