Sure, as the weather heats up, soup probably isn’t the #1 thing on your mind. But maybe it should be! New Rochelle’s NoMa Social aims to put soup back in the spotlight this season thanks to this decadent sweet pea recipe they shared with us. While sweet peas are well and good, let’s be real: it’s the suggestion of white truffle oil and crab that really caught my eye.
I realize I talk a lot about my CSA box these days (side note: this is completely on my own volition, they do n-o-t sponsor my recipes or anything) but I will say that our most recent CSA delivery was especially good. We had… spring green beans! Big carrots! Beautiful red onions! Plus some of my favorite usual suspects: kale, cabbage, etc. After a long weekend of not-so-stellar eating, I was ready to devour these vegetables and get my life back on the right track… with a power bowl!
“Power bowl” is just my way of describing any giant bowl packed full of good-for-you components. Mostly vegetables, some protein, a small amount of good fats, and possibly a healthy grain (although not in this particular version), and some sort of flavorful homemade dressing/marinade. Basically as balanced and natural as you can get – meaning you can eat a huge amount of it and get tons of nutritional benefits without worrying about your portion size. I really like eating huge amounts of things, so this works out great for me.
Already waiting for spring. [Grantoftegaard Farm / Ballerup, Denmark]
I thought it was a genius move. Actually, I thought it was the second genius move in just one dish.
At first I panicked when I saw only a 1/4 of a box left of the whole wheat squiggle pasta. How could I complete a proper salad for a birthday party with only a 1/4 box of pasta?! But then I spied some orzo. Who said pasta salad must only carry one type of pasta?
I thought, like I just said, that it was a pretty smart move. I compared cooking times and knew exactly when to drop each pasta into the salty cooking water. Bravo, Gansie, I said to myself. Actually, it might have been out loud.
Anyway, that worked out.
I run a mostly no-mayo zone in the kitchen. It’s not a strict rule, just something we don’t buy. (For fear that Bennett will suddenly make 14 peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches in a row. That’s right. I said peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich.)
With the no mayo in my fridge, I reached for yogurt as the base. Oh, you darn nasty yorgurt. I think you fucked me.
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Ed. Note: Our friend Julia, the pending med student and far mar worker, tells us what to do with that mysterious rhubarb. Julia previous spun Meyer lemons into syrup.
Last Saturday when I was working at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market, I spent all day singing the praises of rhubarb. I then realized that all I ever do with it is make crisps, so I decided to branch out and started searching for other things. Plus, my co-worker Nick thinks it’s a dumb vegetable, and very over-hyped, so I was trying to prove him wrong. Nothing like a little revenge cooking.
I love rhubarb because it adds something unexpected to sweet deserts. It takes on the sweetness, but also is fresh and bright and slightly sour. It just tastes like spring to me: new and tangy. I have to say, I think this roasted rhubarb recipe could be the gateway drug for the gorgeous magenta stick. And it’s going to be hard for me to go back to my normal crisps after this. It was so, so good.
This time of year it’s hard for me to eat brunch at a restaurant. Instead of tired florentine or crab cake benedicts (or <gasp> buffets), I grab a bright red bike from the closest Capital Bikeshare dock and ride over to the farmers market. Asparagus bundles line the wooden tables. Bins of kale and spinach also take up plenty of space. But on Sunday, it was all about the strawberries. It was the first time I spied the sultry fruit this season and I couldn’t resist picking up 2 cartons (at $7) from the tiny Bloomingdale market.
The only mistake: riding my bike back home. The berries rumbled around in a box I borrowed from a vendor. When I opened it up at home, it looked like a crime scene as the berries stained the cardboard walls. I managed to save them and decided to use most of them up pretty quickly for a friend’s graduation party. (Congrats, El!) It’s a twist on strawberries and cream, and mostly all of the ingredients can be found at market.
Creating this still cheesy, but much fresher, dish makes me so freaking happy its spring! That was pretty lame, huh?!
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