Two For Five = Mizuna

I usually frequent the farmers’ market by myself, but this weekend I got 80P out of his hangover-I-want-bed mode and took him with me.  And this resulted in the purchase of radishes.  They had samples out and it’s kinda weird because they’re spicy.  Anyway, we now have like 5 fucking radishes and I have no idea what to do with them.  80 says he used to eat them as a kid with salt, but um, there must be something else out there.  I’m thinking I could use them as a alternative to a chip for a dip.  But any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyway, this post has nothing to do with radishes.  And don’t you think radish should have two “d”s in it?

Even though a lot of the workforce likes to go out for lunch during the week, I love bringing my food.  No shock there.  For today’s lunch I took full advantage of my market purchase, including these funky greens that 80 also added to my cart: mizuna.  We were just going to buy a bunch of mustard greens but then the upseller said there’s a special: 2 bunches for $5, so 80 grabbed mizuna.  Um, yea, I know, what the eff is mizuna.

Eggplant and Mizuna Salad

I risked the safety of not only the baking sheet, but of my entire apartment building, by putting the sheet in the broiler.  I had no idea if it would stand up to the heat, but I had no other choice – I had to try broiled eggplant after I saw this recipe.  The baking sheet is a bit warped now, but I have a feeling it will be worth it.  (I’ll comment post lunch with an update.)

I let the recipe guide me, but I added some extra things in.  I mixed together: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grated garlic (it’s so fun to grate garlic, but sometimes it chips my nail polish and I don’t like that), cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  I brushed that mixture on both sides of the eggplant slices and put it under the broiler for 5 minutes.  The baby eggplants do not take long at all.

Oh, and I’ve been into roasting eggplant lately, but that means I scoop out the middle and toss the skin.  I looked up the nutrient make-up of the eplant and flavinoids and antioxidants are found in the skin so I thought this broiling technique would work well and be fast – I didn’t want to be stuck standing at the stove, frying the eggplant, batch after batch.

Okay, so then I added the eggplant in with half a can of chickpeas and crumbled feta and like a good ESer, I added in some toasted pine nuts. But then I thought the salad looked a little puny so I quickly wilted some of the mizuna in a drop of oil and salt and pepper.  I really have no idea what mizuna tastes like, although it looks very marijuana–like.  And I’m gonna dress the salad with the leftover tahini sauce I made for the cauliflower.  Although, it might not even need the sauce, I’ll let you in on that as well.