cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing (and a fall picnic)

This afternoon we went to a nearby apple orchard just north of Providence. We were hoping to be able to pick apples, but they said their season was over - a bit disappointing, especially since so many of the trees there still had apples! They had a harvest festival going on though, so there were lots of families and kids, which was fun to see. And a burlap maze, and pumpkins, lots of mums and fall flowers. We brought a picnic along, so we camped out in the orchard and enjoyed the sun and some good food. I made the barley salad with cherries and pecans (which really is good), and a cucumber salad (recipe below). Philipp made this beautiful apple cake, almost tart-like with raisins and almonds. And we had fresh fruit and good cheese...and the weather could not have been more perfect. A great way to get out of the city and celebrate fall for a bit.

Recipe: Cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing

this is another one from Ottolenghi's Plenty - such a good cookbook!

ingredients:

2 large (or 4 small) cucumbers, peeled, cut lengthwise in half, and then sliced thin

1 small red oinion, shaved thin

1 1/2 inch ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, pressed

toasted sesame seeds (about 2 T)

cilantro (about 1/3 cup)

dressing: 2 T rice vinegar, 2 T olive oil, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sesame oil

Mix the dressing, and put the onions in it to soak for about 1 hour. Peel and cut the cucumbers (I used a mandolin for the onions and cucumbers - makes this salad super fast and easy). Add the garlic and ginger to the onions/dressing, and mix well. Then add everything else and mix everything. Let it sit at least 10 minutes before serving so all the flavors soak in. 

exploring Providence: another morning at the farmer's market (and another slaw recipe)

Today was another gorgeous Saturday morning, so after a short jog I biked up to the market to get some veggies for the week. Our CSA share starts in two weeks, so after that I probably won't go to the market anymore. And the weather probably won't be as nice, so I wanted to appreciate it while I can. I still was surprised the farm stands didn't have more greens (didn't see any fresh herbs, salad greens), but they did have lots of end-of-summer fruit - and one stand even had winter squash already! Below is a nice assortment of what they had. Lots of tomatoes, peaches, plums, pears, some corn, watermelon, green beans, potatoes, onions. Lots of good produce!

I also stopped at this Indian spice store (Not Just Spices) on Hope St on my way up there. That will be a good resource. I will really miss By The Pound, an amazing bulk spice/food store in Ann Arbor. But now I at least know where I can get some cheap spices and dried beans. Maybe it will inspire me to try cooking more Indian food. that's something I've always wanted to learn. I also need to explore that area (Summit?) on Hope Street more. They have lots of shops and restaurants and it's really cute looking.

cucumber-pepper slaw with feta

I can't believe it's already September. One of the things I am feeling sad about, as we are enjoying the last weeks (days?) of summer, is that I was traveling so much and missed out on so much summer produce. Sigh. I had a great summer, but I wasn't cooking very much and that I am a little bummed about. Anyways, for this fall Michael and I signed up for a CSA share that is run through Brown, so we will get to enjoy the end-of-summer produce as well as fall's bounty. Which will be wonderful.

The last few days I re-made that grain salad with cherries, blue cheese and pecans. And served it on baby kale (which is a very good product - yum yum). It was really good. If you haven't made it yet, do it! Tonight I wanted to make something different and get some more veggies. So I paired some chicken with a jerk marinade with a fresh veggie slaw.

Another variation, if you wanted to make the veggie slaw more substantial and take for lunch would be to dice or more roughly chop the vegetables, and then mix with quinoa or a whole grain (barley, farro, etc). That would be good, too.

ingredients:
1 medium - large cucumber
1 T salt
2 T olive oil
1 scant T rice vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
fresh black pepper
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, fine diced (or paper-thin slices)
3 oz. feta, crumbled (vegan without the cheese)
roughly chopped basil

1. Cucumber: Cut lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Then cut cross-wise on a mandoline (thin slices) or with a knife. Salt and put in a colander over a bowl. Let sit 15 minutes while you do the other ingredients, then rinse and pat try with a paper towel. 

2. prep other veggies: thinly slice the jalapeño, peppers, and onion.

3. mix the dressing: olive oil, rice vinegar, sugar, black pepper. Don't add salt because the cukes will add some more saltiness.

4. combine everything and serve. Let sit about 30 minutes before serving.

Slaw recipe adapted from Saveur. I found their dressing to be 4x what I needed, also I was afraid of using a habanero!

We had this for dinner with chicken. For the jerk chicken, I just mixed some jerk seasoning with about 2 T olive oil. I smeared this on some chicken drumsticks and let it marinade a few hours in the fridge until dinnertime. Then cook the chicken in a pan on the stovetop, or grill if you have one.

fresh summer farro with peaches, cucumber and arugula

I hate to start all these posts with apologies... Summer is just not my time for blogging. Since the chocolate cake only a week has gone by, and I've been up through all of Michigan, via the UP to Duluth for a cousin's wedding and a triathlon, to Minneapolis for a Twin's game and some sister time, and back to Ann Arbor through Madison and Chicago. Whew. All in the company of two good friends. But still - the road tripping gets a bit old. Yesterday we were in the car over 12 hours, and the total over the last five days probably comes closer to 30 hours...so I couldn't wait to be "home" (one of many at the moment...) and cook, even if it's just for a week before the next leg of my crazy summer starts up.

This recipe does just the trick...it felt like a cleanse after some eating on the road and lots of eating out the last week. It's very fresh and summery tasting because of the lemon-ginger-mint dressing, and the water-packed cucumbers and peaches. Yum yum.

ingredients:
1 medium cucumber, diced
1 cup farro (uncooked)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 T olive oil
1 T grated fresh ginger
3 firm but ripe peaches (or nectarines), diced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped mint
3 cups arugula, coarsely chopped

1. Toss diced cucumber in a bowl with some salt, let stand at room temp 1 hour. Rinse, then drain in a sieve.
2. Combine 2 cups water with farro, bring to a boil then simmer 15 mins. (Keep an eye on it - all sorts tend to cook at varying rates and you don't want it too mushy). Fluff and spread out on a plate or a baking sheet to let it cool.
3. Whisk lemon juice, oil, ginger, 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl. Add cucumber, farro, peaches, sunflower seeds, mint, mix well. Refrigerate about 30 minutes (up to 1 day) to let flavors develop.
4. Before serving, add arugula and toss.

based on a recipe from eating well magazine (Red Rice Salad with Peaches and Cucumber)