Recipes

Spring is a great time to enjoy early greens.  

Handling and Storing Lettuce and Other Leafy Vegetables

The key to successful tasty greens is careful multiple washings. As Julia Childs says, “It would be a cruel waste of time to have gritty spinach” after all that work.

It is best to do this as soon as you have purchased your lettuce.

Remove the stem by cutting it out so that the leaves come apart easily. Separate all of the leaves and plunge into a sink full of cold water to loosen the dirt. Drain and repeat this at least two more times lifting the leaves above the water the last time as the water drains away from the leaves.

Take each leaf out, run it under the water if necessary and inspect for broken areas or brown spots. Remove these. Dry leaves in a salad spinner or rolled up in a kitchen towel.

Store closed up in a large plastic bag in the refrigerator and use for salads and sandwiches as needed.

The lettuce should stay fresh for about 4 days.

This also works well with spinach, radish, beet greens, kale collard greens and bok choy.

Salad tip: Be sure the lettuce leaves are dried well and torn into mouth size pieces. No one likes to dribble salad dressing down the front of their clothes!

When the Spinach Comes Marching in…
What to do with spinach

Salad
Spinach can be eaten raw in salads accompanied with raw mushrooms, walnuts, goat cheese, finely sliced red onion, radish slices and dressed with a classic vinaigrette.

Simply Cooked Spinach*
Serves 4

Spinach just seems to cook down to nothing so you need plenty of the wonderful deep green leaves to make enough for good healthy, delicious servings. Be sure to wash, wash, wash the leaves to remove all of the grit and sand. Spin it dry to reduce the amount of liquid that will accumulate.

Equipment:
A large skillet with a lid.
Colander
Slotted spoon

Ingredients:
2 pounds spinach leaves washed and dried
Kosher salt
Freshly grated nutmeg
Chicken broth (optional)

Preparation:
Place the spinach in the skillet with a few tablespoons of water or chicken broth. Cover the skillet. Over high heat cook until the spinach is totally wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to colander and drain well. 

Transfer the spinach to a warm serving dish with the slotted spoon. Season with salt and nutmeg. Serve warm.

*Adapted from: Patricia Wells. Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate.  New York: William Morrow.

Salad Dressings And Additions

Basic Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons of best-quality red-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk the vinegar and salt together to dissolve the salt. Add the oil slowly to emulsify the mixture. Taste for seasoning. Or, you can put all of the ingredients into a screw top jar and shake to blend. 

This dressing will keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator for
a few weeks.

Variation: To the ingredients listed above, add 1 teaspoon of Dijon type mustard.
Prepare the same way.

Vinaigrette Augmentations:

Substitute 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice for 2 table spoons of vinegar
Or, add 1/3 cup of minced shallots
Or, 1 clove garlic minced
Add fresh, finely minced herbs: tarragon, mint, basil, parsley or chives. Mash the herbs with the salt first.

Tip: Dress salad just before you serve it.

Salad Additions:

Cherry tomatoes cut in half so they absorb the dressing and don’t plummet to the bottom of the salad bowl.
Cucumbers thinly sliced. You don’t have to peel them.
Radishes sliced about 1/4 inch thick.
Capers for acidity
Avocado chunks for smoothness and luxe

What says “summer” more than fresh, juicy tomatoes?  On the Vineyard you can start buying tomatoes from local farms in the last half of June all the way through October.

Here Come the Tomatoes

After you have sliced them for sandwiches, quartered them for salads, and interleaved them with slices of fresh mozzarella and basil, and you still have tomatoes left over, you can use them in some of the many recipes that call for ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped. The best tomatoes for this use are plum tomatoes; however, this preparation can be used with regular ones as well.

Uses for peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped tomatoes:

• Pasta sauces
• Ratatouille
• Green beans, tomato, vinaigrette salad
• Salsa
• Gazpacho

Seeding and Chopping the Tomatoes
Halve the tomatoes, and then scoop out the seeds and juice with your thumb. You can discard the seeds and juice but I like to save it for other uses. Course chop the tomato flesh to the size called for in the recipes.

Preparation #1 for peeling tomatoes:
With a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, peel the tomatoes downward, using a side-to-side, sawing motion as you peel from top to bottom.

Preparation #2 for peeling tomatoes: 

1. With a sharp paring knife, cut a cross through the top of the tomatoes.
2. Place tomatoes in a large mixing bowl.
3. Pour boiling water to cover the tomatoes and let rest in the water about 2 minutes.
4. Plunge the tomatoes into cold water, drain and slip the skins off.

Basil Pesto *

Bountiful basil starts coming in in June and keeps producing into October.   There’s a lot you can do with this tasty, readily available, easy to grow aromatic herb.

Basil, an herb and member of the mint family, has a strong, pungent peppery flavor. In some cultures, basil has a sacred significance. 

After purchasing the plant with its roots and leaves, place it in a vessel with water until ready to use. 

Ingredients

• 2 oz. fresh basil leaves (2 cups, washed, dried and packed tightly)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic peeled
• salt
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 2 tbsp. freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
• 3 tbsp. butter, softened to room temperature

Preparation

1. Put the basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and a teaspoon of salt into a food processor or blender and grind until fine and almost creamy.
2. (Tip: You can prepare the sauce ahead of time up to this point and refrigerate or even freeze it. Cover the surface with olive oil to prevent the basil turning black.)
3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the two grated cheeses.

To use for pasta:

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan or pot. Add 1 tablespoon of
salt and the pasta, stir well and cook until al dente. Drain and toss with the sauce, 2 tablespoons of hot water, and the butter.

Note: It is best to freeze basil pesto in small amounts. You can fill ice cube trays with the pesto and then pop the frozen cubes out and store in tightly closed container. It will keep for several months.

*Adapted from: Giuliano Hazan. (1993). The Classic Pasta Cookbook. New York:
Dorling Kindersley Limited.

Basil Oil

Once you make this, you will always want to have it on hand in your refrigerator. 

I discovered this recipe in Patricia Wells Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate*.  As she suggests, it can be used on freshly sliced tomatoes, poached fish, or as a basis of a salad dressing of your choice. You can also use fresh mint leaves and tarragon in place of the basil as a variation.

Equipment:

• 5-quart pasta pot fitted with a colander
• Fine mesh sieve
• Food processor or blender
• Small jar with a lid

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

Preparation:

Bring 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil over high heat in the 5-quart pasta pot fitted with a colander. Add the coarse sea salt and the basil leaves and blanch for 15 seconds. Drain the basil in the sieve. Immediately dip the sieve in ice water to refresh the basil and help keep its bright color. In a clean kitchen towel, lay out the leaves, roll the towel and squeeze till dry.

Transfer the dried leaves, oil, fine sea salt, into a blender or food processor and process until pureed and well blended. Pour into small jar with a lid and refrigerate for up to ten days. It’s a good idea to take it out at least 10 minutes before you intend to use it. Give it a shake and drizzle it on.

*Adapted from: Patricia Wells. Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate.  New York: William Morrow.