Bright Brown Rice

A recipe in Bon Appetite for sesame-cilantro rice caught my eye a while ago. Sesame seeds! Cilantro! Fresh Ginger! Scallions! Sign me up. But when I looked a little closer I was less thrilled - 2 tablespoons of different oils to fry the green onions? No thanks.

I nixed the oil, substituted brown rice for the white, and was completely satisfied with the result. The recipe has you cook the rice with a piece of peeled fresh ginger, which is a great trick. It perfumes the rice ever so slightly, giving it a fresh complexity. The combination of brown rice and toasted sesame seeds emphasized the inherent nuttiness of each. Brown rice can be a little hot and heavy for summer meals, and the addition of bright fresh herbs gave it the lightness it needed.

I really like brown rice. I like the way it tastes, I like it's nutritiousness, but I especially like the fact that I now have an easy, healthy, and light way to make brown rice exciting. I can imagine this being paired with some steak, grilled chicken, or even packed up as part of a picnic basket.

Sesame-Cilantro Brown Rice

Inspired by Bon Appetite

Serves 2

1/2 cup brown rice

1 peeled 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger

1-2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 Tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, add the brown rice, ginger, and a pinch of salt. Cover the pot, bring back to a boil and then turn the heat down low and simmer for 45 minutes.

When the rice is done check to make sure there is no water left at the bottom of the pan by tilting it. Let the rice sit off the heat for a few minutes. Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Add the toasted sesame seeds, cilantro and green onions. Stir to combine. Eat.

A Leaf to Love

With my reserved chard leaves burning a hole in my refrigerator, I had to finally break down and turn the stove on. While a hot meal on a hot day cooked in a hot kitchen is something I've been trying to avoid this summer, the mountain of chard in my fridge was wanted to be part of something warm, rustic, and wholesome. Grilling just wasn't going to cut it (and freezing was out of the question).

What I came up with was this: white bean chard stew. By keeping it light and simple it really didn't seem summer inappropriate. I think that a rich and heavy stew might not have been such a good idea, but this one really hit the spot. It takes a little time, although it would take a lot less if you used canned beans, but it was actually very easy and since I chopped the vegetables after I started cooking the beans it ended up coming together fairly quickly. All said and done, the stew was a delicious, healthy, and bright way to enjoy some summer produce. Oh, and the chard was the best part. Earthy and vibrant.

White Beans and Chard

Feeds 2 hungry people

1 cup dry white beans, or two cups cooked white beans

bay leaf

1 tsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic

2 medium carrots

1 large celery stalk

1/2 an onion

15 oz can of diced tomatoes

4 cups of swiss chard leaves

Cover the beans with water and bring to a boil, once the beans are boiling add a bay leaf, one of the garlic cloves (peeled, whole) and some salt (1/2 - 1 tsp), and turn the heat down so that it remains at a light simmer.

Cut the onion, 2 remaining garlic cloves, carrots and celery in a large dice. In a separate medium sized pot heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and onions along with a pinch of salt and cook for several minutes over medium heat, stirring. Turn the heat down if the mixture begins to brown. Then add the carrots and celery and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the can of diced tomatoes and bring the mixture to a simmer. Turn the heat down, keeping the tomatoes at a low simmer, stirring occasionally.

Depending on whether or not you soaked the beans they will take 45 minutes to an hour to cook, so at this point just let everything simmer away until the beans are tender. This is a good time to prepare your chard leaves. Make sure to wash them really well, then rip or chop them into manageable pieces (I ripped them into 2 inch squares).

When the beans are tender, drain them and add them to the vegetables, along with the garlic clove (but not the bay leaf). Stir the mixture well, and add the chard leaves stirring the hot mixture over the leaves then putting the lid on the pot. After a few minutes the chard should wilt down substantially and all you need to do is season to taste with salt and pepper and dig in.

Stalk to Stem

Today one of my boyfriend's co-workers brought some of her excess garden bounty to share. There was the ubiquitous zucchini, enormous spiky cucumbers, and a huge bunch of red chard. I snagged the chard.

I really never cook chard. While I have fully embraced kale, I haven't quite surpassed the memories of the limp bitter steamed chard of my childhood. It's not that I don't want to try recipes with chard, actually I really do. Like the chard and ricotta tart from David Tanis' cookbook. I just don't want it steamed.

I think one of the reasons I have not cooked with chard sooner is because it is really cemented in my mind as something that you get from someone's garden, not the grocery store. I think that's one of the reasons I jumped on it so quickly today.

Once you get your hands on some chard, by garden or by store, you should not steam it. It's a lot like spinach, but one of it's special attributes is its thick stalk, which in this case was a bright pinky red, as thick and colorful as rhubarb. Unlike kale, which has a thin but tough stem that is discarded, chard's stem doesn't need to be wasted. Unfortunately, because the leaves and stem need to be treated differently, many recipes call for using just the leaves.

So I found a recipe that uses just the stalks! Who knew chard stalks could be addictive? In this case, chard is literally charred on the grill, then mixed with garlicky olive oil, and doused with lemon juice.

Grilled Rainbow Chard with Fava Beans and Oregano

Adapted from Gourmet

2 lbs Swiss chard (leaves removed from the stalks and reserved for another use)

1 cup shelled fava beans, or shelled edamame*

1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

1 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons chopped oregano*

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

First blanch the chard stalks. Cut the stalks in half crosswise and cook them in a pot of salted boiling water until just tender (3 to 5 minutes). As soon as they are done cooking, transfer the stalks to a bowl of ice water until they are cool, then move them to a plate.

Cook the beans in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then transfer them to the same ice bath previously used for the chard. If you are using fava beans, peel the skins off.

Toss the chard stems with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Grill them over a medium-hot grill until they are tender and lightly charred (around 7 minutes). Slice the chard into inch long pieces.

Cook the garlic in 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, over medium heat until just pale golden. Add oregano, beans, and chard, and cook for 1 additional minute. Transfer to a serving dish and stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

*I skipped the fava beans and oregano because I didn't have any on hand, but I think that the addition of beans especially would have helped round out the recipe. I also think that white beans might be a nice addition as well.

Freezing Summer

Strawberries don't last very long but neither do strawberry sales. If, for example, you were to get carried away and buy more strawberries than you could ever possibly eat* before half of them became a moldy disgusting mess in the hot summer heat, you might want to figure out a way to save some for later enjoyment. Of course you could make jam, but that is hot and sticky work and summer is already hot and sticky enough. The other option is to freeze, which is probably both the easiest and coolest solution.

To ensure that you preserve your strawberries to their fullest potential, it's a good idea to gently wash your berries, dry them very gently, and the lay them out on a baking sheet or a pie dish and let them freeze individually before packing them into a heavy ziplock bag to await their future use. Obviously if fresh strawberries are what you want then freezing strawberries is not the answer, but if you aren't going to be able to eat them when they are at their peak then freezing them so that you can use them in a recipe later is a good way to go. Nothing makes me sadder than throwing out once beautiful fruit because it has gone past its prime. If you freeze your precious ripe fruit, you do want to take the time to do it correctly. You don't want to save your fresh fruit from the trash only to have to throw away a freezer-burned icy mass of unusable frozen fruit.

*My personal experience points to strawberry consumption topping out at 1 pound per person per day. Any more leads to extreme strawberry exhaustion and may result in nausea and never wanting to eat another strawberry.

Lime Popsicle to the Rescue

Like anything in life too much of a good thing can eventually leave you a little numb to its specialness, or in this case deliciousness. While I could eat strawberry popsicles, or a number of other exciting flavors, in an endless nightly rotation, I find that punctuating the more unique flavors with what I like to think of as a popsicle palate cleanser helps me to appreciate the showier, more expensive, more time consuming, and more obscure recipes. Lime Popsicle to the rescue!

Lime popsicles are pretty much the easiest, yummiest, thriftiest, most refreshing of popsicles. The great thing about lime pops is that not only do they themselves taste fantastic, but they are even capable of making you realize how great the other flavors of popsicles you have eating previously or subsequently. For example, I started to get a little jaded regarding the deliciousness of my strawberry popsicles after eating them three nights straight, but when I mixed it up and ate a snappy refreshing lime pop I suddenly appreciated the strawberry in ways I had not previously been able to. How had I not realized how smooth and almost creamy it was? Or how densely strawberry-y? But this is not about the strawberry popsicles.

You can't go wrong with lime popsicles. A couple of limes, not too much sugar, and some water and you are set. Now all you need is a beach and a big sun hat.

Lime Popsicle

I started with a recipe from Paletas, but I found that the lime zest used in the original recipe gave the popsicles an overwhelmingly bitter bite. Also, I prefer the flavor of regular large limes over that of the small mexican limes recommended, which I again found to be a little too bitter for my liking. Three batches later and I'm happy with a simplified and perhaps Americanized version.

Makes 6 tiny 1/4 cup capacity popsicles

1 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Mix the water and sugar in a small saucepan, and put it over medium heat. Bring the sugar water to a boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Mix the freshly squeezed lime juice with the cool sugar water and pour into your popsicle molds.

Go to sleep and hope that it is hot enough in the morning to justify eating a popsicle for breakfast.

Garlicky Jalapeno Burgers

Before my nightly popsicle, I have to eat dinner. Lately that has meant a lot of grilling. Mostly grilled pizzas and hamburgers. The first batch of burgers we made was a little boring. So to spice up the next batch we mixed the meat with chopped shallots, garlic and a jalapeno pepper. A splash of worcestershire sauce, a good pinch of salt, and a grind of fresh pepper later and our burgers were far from boring. Juicy, a little spicy, and very meaty.

Garlicky Jalapeno Burgers

Serves two

2 garlic cloves

1 Tbsp shallot or onion

1/2 jalapeno

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

8-10 ounces 15% fat ground beef (Depending on how big of a burger you want)

Cheddar cheese (optional)

Hamburger Buns

Turn the grill on and pre-heat!

Finely chop the garlic, shallot/onion & jalapeno, and mix into the ground meat along with the worcestershire sauce, a good pinch of salt and a healthy grind of pepper. You want to mix the ingredients thoroughly, but try not to overwork the meat! Halve the meat and shape into patties, making them thinner in the middle than around the edges.

Grill the burgers to your desired doneness. Don't forget to toast the buns also. If you want a cheeseburger then melt some cheddar cheese on top. Boyfriend Tip: grill the tops of the buns on both sides to toast the sesame seeds on top (if there are any).

Eat up!

Summer means Strawberry Popsicles

Summer is definitely here, which for me means hot days, warm nights, and no air conditioning. I actually really like it, we have a little covered area outside of our apartment where we have put a table and chairs. And we have enough windows inside of the apartment that I can enjoy a nice breeze during the daytime.

I would have to say that the best thing about summer in California is the produce. Corn, tomatoes, plums, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, cherries, zucchini. Which translates to lots of grilling and lots of fruit desserts.

In an attempt to keep things light and cool (who wants to turn on the oven when it's 90 degrees out?), I have turned into a Popsicle Fanatic.

Homemade popsicles are so much better than store-bought in so many ways. First of all, they are so much less expensive. Also, way less wasteful (so much packaging!). Last but certainly not least, making your own popsicles gives you control over what ingredients you want to put into them, which allows you to have the last word in flavor and healthiness (additives? sugar content?). Fantastic!

We have al tiny popsicle maker from ikea that makes 6 popsicles, each of which hold about 1/4 cup liquid. It's great because every three nights we can try a new flavor.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Strawberries. One of the local grocery stores had a special, 1 pound of strawberries for 97 cents. We bought 7 pounds over the course of the week. We ate them for breakfast and dessert, and made rich strawberry ice cream as well as several batches of strawberry popsicles. There is nothing better than simple ripe strawberries, but when you can't eat your stash fast enough you can't beat strawberry popsicles. Simple and delicious, these straightforward popsicles really let the strawberries shine.

Strawberry Popsicles

(adapted from Paletas)

This will make 6 small (1/4 cup capacity) popsicles, it can be doubled for more.

2 cups fresh strawberries (washed, hulled, and cut into quarters)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Stir the sugar into the sliced strawberries and let them macerate for around 30 minutes. Once they are nice and juicy, put the strawberries and their juices into a saucepan with the 1/2 cup water, and bring to a simmer. Simmer the mixture for about five minutes, then take the mixture off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Once it is cool, add the lemon juice and puree the strawberry mixture in a blender, food processor or with an immersion blender until it is smooth, then pour it into your popsicle molds!

Now all you have to do is wait for them to freeze!