Two lovely salads from the Pompano Farmers Market

We finally left icy Maryland to arrive in a heat wave in South Florida...85 degrees and sunny!  The first thing I did was head for the Pompano Beach Saturday Green Market.  Such an abundance of fresh vegetables and exotic fruits...all ripe and juicy!  From my gatherings I made two Patricia Wells salads from Vegetable Harvest. 

1. Bistrot Paul Bert's Watercress Salad with Creamy Bacon and Poached Egg
Fresh spicy watercress mixed with sauteed bacon, tossed with a simple dressing of lemon and cream then topped with a poached egg makes a satisfying lunch.  I should have stemmed the watercress  - it was distractingly chewy, but the salad tasted great.  Reminded me of a salade au lardons from Burgundy...yummy and only 340 calories per serving.   For one salad:

• wash and stem a bunch of watercress and place in salad bowl
• dice 2 slices of bacon and saute until crispy, drain on paper towels and toss in bowl with watercress
• mix 1 part lemon to 8 part half and half or light cream (e.g. 1 tablespoon lemon to 1/2 cup cream) adding 2-3 minced chives, salt and pepper
• toss salad with two tablespoons of dressing
• Poach an egg (or microwave an egg for 30 -40 seconds) (until white sets and yellow is runny)
• Place egg on salad

I bought several beautiful, ripe Hass avocadoes and ripe tomatoes, so I made PW's Spring onion, Tomato, Avocado and Basil Salad with Basil-Lemon Dressing.  Absolutely simple and delicious for only 163 calories per serving as a side salad or 400 for a lunch salad (using whole avocado).  To make a lunch salad:

• thinly slice 2 scallions or spring onions, place in salad bowl
• peel and slice one whole avocado (if very ripe, then just chop roughly) and place in bowl
• halve 12-15 cherry tomatoes or roughly chop two ripe medium sized tomatoes
• toss with2 T. chopped basil, 1 part lemon juice to 8 part olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

NB: Recipe used homemade basil oil ....since I didn't have time to make it, I used olive oil and lots of basil.

Loved both recipes....and feel very healthy eating these good things for lunch!

Cauliflower Challenges

In an effort to use up some cauliflower before our departure in late October, I tried Patricia's Golden Cauliflower and Rice Pilaf on P. 144. She recommends golden rice from Camargue (which I don't have) so I tried a black Venere rice thinking the cauliflower would stand out nicely. I just finished cooking it and so far I think there is a slight bitterness to the spice mix (curry powder, piment d'Esplette, cumin and cardamom)...maybe it is my spices or the rice made it taste funny. The bad news is the cauliflower is mushy...I might have to try this one again with Camargue rice because I'm not charmed by this dish so far.

Cucumber Pickles a la Patricia Wells

I ate a huge breakfast and wanted something light and fresh for lunch so I decided to make Patricia's Cucumber and Dill Salad , on p. 28. It is a very simple salad of cukes, vinegar, sugar and dill. I actually expected to be disappointed because I make lots of quick vegetable pickles like this but with Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese ingredients and they tend to be very spicy and tart.

I sliced the cuke and salted it, then made the dressing (replacing champagne vinegar with homemade basil vinegar). I rinsed and dried the cukes and tossed them in the dressing and chilled it for about 15 minutes.

Wow, this recipe is a little gem...yes, a bit sweeter than what I usally make but very sour/sweet and fresh! Would be a great pickle with corned beef or burgers! It was so good that I ate the whole cucumber (not just one serving which is only 25 calories)....so the whole salad is only 100 calories. It was a delightful Spring-like meal for a pretty day!

Cauliflower to Swoon Over!

Well, I just finished Vegetable Harvest's Cauliflower Puree and it is absolutely fabulous!!!!! In fact, it inspired me to make prime rib tonight, just to serve it. I usually don't like purees cause it is like eating baby food. This recipe is like really buttery mashed potatoes.....so yummy and only 99 cals per 1/4 cup or so.

Amazing Lunch: Curried Squash Soup and Thai Vegetable Curry

I made 4 recipes today from Patricia Wells' Vegetable Harvest today! I didn't intend to do it but I had a bunch of winter squash, potatoes, zucchini, turnips and tomatoes from the farmers market and I wanted something veggie cause I've been eating lots of protein, so I needed a real veggie meal. I also had a yearning for Asian so I went right to Patricia recipe: Thai Medley p. 212 which features root veggies in a coconut thai curry sauce.

Well, the first step was making the Thai Curry Paste...I noticed it was on p. 309 right across from Curry Powder recipe P. 308 and since they both use lots of the same spices, I thought I'd make them both and use the curry powder later. An Indian student in UNH Grad School in the 1970's taught me how to make my own curry powder and kept telling me that I should never buy it, but I had forgotten how good it was in the busy-ness of the last several decades, so I was curious how it would turn out made by a French chef.

I measured, toasted, ground and processed the spices and started on the THai Medley. I only had to replace one thing...the cumin seed...I only had ground cumin (so I toasted that too!). I hate cutting winter squash...it is so hard, so I cheated and put the whole thing just cut in half ( I did that on the deck with a machete-type huge knife banging it on the deck to make it split in half!) in the oven at 375 covered with foil for 30 minutes. It got sort of soft, so I took out half of it, peeled, seeded and chopped it for the recipe along with carrots, turnips, zucchini and tomatoes.

I had a quart or so of chicken stock frozen, so I added that in and let it cook away for 20 mintues. I had to use a low fat coconut milk cause that's all I had, so I cooked it down to half to thicken it a little. After the 20 minutes, I added the coconut milk to the veggies, cooked for 5 minutes and heated up some brown rice I had and poured a cup or so on my dish and added the lime and curry paste.

OMG!!!!! It was fantastic...I ate it with a spoon so I could get every drop of the sauce on the rice. I was alone so I licked the bowl....and only 175 cals plus brown rice!!!! I never tasted anything so rich and so low in cals. The flavor is sweet and smooth on the surface and has a long finish of spice and heat. The curry paste has a wonderful sweet start and pepper finish with lots of flavors of citrus, mellow heat and nuttiness!

I still had a bundle of squash cooked in the oven, so I made the Spicy ButterNut Squash Soup on page 61. It calls for parsnips (which I haven't found at farmers market or grocery store) so i used young turnips that were quite sweet. I added the onions, apple and salt to turnips and squash and cooked it down in half chicken stock and half beef stock (cause I ran out of chicken stock) for 30 minutes then ran it all through the food processor. I poured a bowl for "second lunch" and added powdered ginger and the fresh curry powder.

Another wonderful soup....for a mere 119 cals per serving. It had a gentle, sweetish upfront flavor with underlying spicy, earthy, mild heat finish. In future, I'd do the parsnip instead of turnip, cause I think it would have added more sweetness and depth.

So I completed 4 recipes today and couldn't be happier with the results....PW is so talented....all the flavors are very intense but refined rather than "in your face"....I never would have believed she'd be good at Thai cooking!

Comfort on a Cold Day - less than 200 calories per cup

I made the most wonderful Fresh Corn Soup from Patricia Wells' Vegetable Harvest last night.  I had the last of the fresh corn I bought mid-week and wanted to use it up. So I made this corn soup.  I replaced 1% milk with fat-free half and half, used 6 ears of corn and simmered for about one hour and I didn't puree any of the corn soup. OMG...so delicious! With or without the cilantro and paprika it was so sweet and delicious and rich tasting. I ate it warm with Puppeteer Semillion Sauvignon Blanc from South Australia. Here's the recipe with my variation.

Chunky Corn Soup with Cilantro and Smoked Spanish Paprika

Vegetable Harvest, Patricia Wells

(Serves 4-6)

6 ears fresh corn, shucked

3 cups fat-free half and half

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1/4 fresh cilantro leaves (for garnish)

about 1 teaspoon hot smoked Spanish pimentón de la Vera

With a sharp knife scrape / slice the kernels off the corn cobs. Be sure to catch any milky liquid that is released while you do this. Place the kernels and the cobs in a saucepan or skillet large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add the milk and salt. Cover and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook at a bare simmer for 60 minutes. Remove the corn cobs, and put the milk and corn mixture in a blender and puree until the corn is slightly broken up but still maintains some texture. Serve warm garnished with the pimentón and cilantro.