Green Pizza with Roasted Zucchini

Don't let the heat keep you away from the Fairmount Farmers Market this Sunday. From Camas Swale Farm, you'll find plenty of inspiration for salads and other cold meals. 

And once the heat breaks, you can try this springtime pizza. The green sauce takes inspiration from this recipe from Joe Beddia's Pizza Camp, and the zucchini are inspired by this roasted zucchini salad from Jacques Pepin.

The resulting pizza was a tasty celebration of spring produce and a nice change from our regular pizza Margherita.

Green Pizza with Roasted Zucchini

makes four individual pizzas

1 recipe of Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough (enough for four individual pizzas, started the evening before)
4 medium or 6 small zucchini
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano

green sauce
1 bunch spinach, stems removed and rinsed well
1 handful chives
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt to taste

1. Prepare the pizza dough the evening before, according to Lahey's instructions. Combine 500 g flour, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon yeast, and 1 1/2 cups (350 g) water, and mix briefly in an electric mixer or by hand until combined into a ball. Cover and let stand for about 18 hours.

2. When you are ready to start the pizzas, preheat the oven to 500 degrees and insert a pizza stone if you are using one. Also put a rimmed baking sheet in for the zucchini.

3. Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch discs. Toss in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil to coat. Slide onto the hot baking sheet in the preheating oven and spread into a single layer. Bake for about 5 minutes until starting to brown, the flip with a spatula and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, return to the bowl, toss with a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, and reserve.

4. Prepare the green sauce by mixing all the ingredients in a food processor. Taste and add more salt, pepper flakes, or lemon juice as needed.

5. Divide the dough into four balls, flour them lightly, and shape them according to Lahey's instructions (or use a rolling pin to roll them out on a silicone mat). Sprinkle polenta on a baking sheet or pizza peel and place one pizza dough on top. If you like, you can prebake the crust for 5 minutes in the preheated oven to ensure an extra crispy pizza. Spread over a quarter of the green sauce in a thin layer. Top with a quarter of the roasted zucchini rounds, fresh mozzarella, and pecorino romano. Bake for at least ten minutes, until the crust is crisp and the cheese has started to brown. Prepare and bake the remaining pizzas. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of fresh chopped chives.

Beet and Spinach Hash

Come one, come all to the opening of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market Sunday June 5th from 10 AM - 2 PM on the corner of Agate St. and 19th Ave. While you are there, you can treat yourself to a pastry at Sweet Life Petite, or an iced tea latte at Oolong Bar, or brunch at Studio One Cafe or Agate Alley.

Alternatively, you could take your market treasures home and cook yourself a delicious spring hash with some root vegetables, onions, and greens from Camas Swale Farm and some fresh eggs from Fair Valley Farm. Hope to see you at the market tomorrow!

Beet and Spinach Hash

serves four

a dozen baby beets and 4 large beets
4 baby onions or 1 large onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 large handfuls spinach
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
Sriracha for serving

1. Rinse the beet and trim off their stems and tails (for baby ones, there is no need to peel them). Cut them into 1/2 inch pieces. Peel the onions and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium low heat, add the olive oil and the onions and sauté for a couple of minutes until they are glassy. Add the beets, salt and pepper, and stir to coat in the oil. Turn the temperature to low, cover the pan, and allow to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beets are soft and the onions have caramelized. 

3.When the beets are close to done cooking, cook 4 fried eggs to order (runny, hard, over easy etc.).

4. Once the vegetables are nicely cooked, add the spinach and a pinch more salt and toss so that the spinach just starts to wilt. Remove from heat and distribute across four plates. Top with fried eggs and serve with a hot sauce like Sriracha.

Spinach Yogurt with Spiced Chickpeas

In line with my last post, my Christmas present cookbook this year, Yogurt Culture by Cheryl Sternman Rule, is full of inspiration for cooking with fermented daily products. With some baby spinach from our Sweetwater Farm CSA and some cooked chickpeas in the refrigerator, I ended up making a mashup of two of Rule's yogurt spread recipes (a Turkish spinach dip and an Indian raita with a spiced tarka). For the base I mixed plain whole milk Nancy's Yogurt with chopped spinach and a pinch of salt, and then layered on these chickpeas fried with garlic, lemon rind, cumin, coriander, and smoked paprika.

Rules tops many of her savory yogurt dishes with a drizzled of oil, so for this one I made a tarka of cumin and mustard seeds and fresh curry leaves (now available on a regular basis at Sunrise Asian Food Market). This dish worked well as a party appetizer with pita chips, with the cooling yogurt as a nice contrast to the spicy chickpeas, and it was substantial enough to serve as dinner after the guests were gone and we were too tired to cook.

Spinach Yogurt with Spiced Chickpeas

for the chickpeas
2 Tbsp neutral oil such as canola
3 strips lemon rind, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 cups cooked chickpeas (could use one 15 ounce can)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
pinch of salt

for the yogurt
1 cup baby spinach
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
pinch of salt

for the tarka
1 Tbsp neutral oil such as canola
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
4-5 fresh curry leaves (optional)

1. For the chickpeas, heat a skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil and then the slivers of lemon rind. Cook one minute and then add the garlic. Cook another 30 seconds and then add the chickpeas and spices. Stir well and allow to coat the chickpeas. Allow to cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas have crisped.

2. Prepare the tarka. Heat a small pan over medium high heat. Add the oil. When it is hot, add the cumin seeds and about 30 seconds later add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Cook about a minute until the oil is very fragrant but before anything burns, and then transfer the tarka to a small bowl.

3. Rinse the spinach, drain, and chop finely. When you are close to serving the dish, combine the spinach with the yogurt and a pinch of salt.

4. To serve, spread the yogurt mixture on a shallow serving dish. Layer over the chickpeas. Drizzle the platter with the spiced oil, including the toasted seeds. Serve with warmed flat bread or pita chips.

Simple Miso Soup for a Cold

 

Being at the tail end of my second nasty cold in the past month, I've been craving nothing much but soup. Steaming pots of long simmered chicken broth are wonderful, but when cold viruses have sapped every last drop of energy from your body, such a broth can seem like a mirage. In contrast, a restorative miso soup, prepared with a quick kombu broth, is well within reach. 

As described in Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen, Japanese broths made with kombu, or dried kelp, takes just as long to prepare as to bring water to a boil. I've shared both her dashi (made with bonito flakes) and a vegetarian version made with shiitake mushroom. These broths can be the backdrop of a flavorful soup when you layer in greens and mix in miso paste (avoid cooking, to preserve the full benefits of the fermenting microbes). A few bowls of this soup (with any number of variations in vegetables and protein) can do wonders for restoring one's spirits and health. 

Dashi (basic sea stock)

12 square inches kombu
2 cups cold water
1/4 cup loosely packed dried shaved bonito flakes (katsuo-bushi)

Place the kombu in a pot of cold water and heat over medium heat. When small bubbles begin to break the surface, remove from the heat. Sprinkle over the bonito flakes. Allow the flakes to settle, and then remove the kombu and strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. You can scale up this recipe for more stock,which can be stored for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, but the flavors will not last if frozen.

Kombu Jiru (basic vegetarian stock)

12 square inches kombu
1 dried shiitake mushroom
2 cups cold water

Place the kombu and mushroom in a pot of cold water and heat over medium heat. When small bubbles begin to break the surface, remove from the heat. Allow to sit 3-4 minutes, remove the kombu and mushroom, and then strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve the mushroom cap for cooking. You can scale up this recipe for more stock,which can be stored for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, but the flavors will not last if frozen.

Simple Miso Soup for a Cold

makes 1 large bowl

2 cups broth
1 rehydrated shitake mushroom cap, sliced
1 slice baked tofu, rinsed and diced
1 handful tender greens like baby spinach
1 Tbsp miso

Heat the strained broth to a simmer. Add the sliced mushroom cap and tofu to the simmering broth. Place the greens in a large soup bowl. In a small bowl, mix the miso and a ladle full of the broth. Pour the rest of the simmering broth into the soup bowl and mix in the thinned miso. Eat right away.

Beet Green Gomae

Recently my husband and I indulged in a rare adults only evening out. We enjoyed the neighborhood tavern feel of Izakaya Meiji, where we sampled an addictively delicious spinach gomae, a dish of steamed spinach with a salty and sweet sesame sauce. I wanted to try making this at home and attempted to puree toasted white sesame seeds in a mini food processor, but was thwarted when they stealthily slipped beneath the blade and remained defiantly intact. The resulting dish was light and refreshing, speckled with toasted sesame seeds, but it didn't capture the rich nuttiness I was trying to recreate.

For my next attempt, I procured some roasted black sesame seeds from Sunrise Asian Food Market. This time I took the seed grinding into my own hands and smashed them in a molcajete, which produced a satisfying paste. The only problem was that in my excitement about the black sesame seeds (an 8 ounce jar for under five dollars!), I had forgot to pick up any spinach.

Luckily, this gardening assistant was helping pull up overwintered beets, which provided an abundance of fresh beet greens for me. I blanched them, like spinach leaves, in boiling water and then quickly transferred them to an ice water bath to halt the cooking process. 

After squeezing out the water and chopping them, I tossed them in the inky, grainy paste that resembled the black dirt from which they had so recently been plucked. As if by magic, the flavors were just what I had been dreaming about. I may even prefer the beet greens to spinach with their extra bitterness as a foil for the sweet nuttiness of the sauce.

Beet Green Gomae
makes two appetizer-sized servings

I bunch beet greens or spinach leaves
2 Tbsp roasted black sesame seeds (or toast some sesame seeds yourself)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp rice wine
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1. Smash the sesame seeds into a paste using a coarse mortar and pestle (a Mexican molcajete works well for this) or a spice grinder. Mix in the sugar, rice wine, and soy sauce.

2. Boil a pot of salted water and prepare a bath of ice water. Rinse the greens. If using spinach bunches, you can keep them intact during the blanching process and trim off the stems and roots afterwards. When the water is boiling, submerge the greens into the water for just under a minute and then quickly drain and toss into the ice water bath. 

3. Wait a minute and then drain the cooled greens, wringing out excess water. Lay the greens on a cutting board. Trim off the roots of the spinach if necessary and chop the greens into 1 inch strips. Toss with the sesame sauce and serve.

Springtime Pasta with Fava Beans and Ham

Here's a springtime recipe in anticipation of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market starting up on June 19. I'd never cooked fava beans before, but when my son grabbed one from a stall at the Saturday Farmers Market and tried to chomp it, I was intrigued, so we bought a bag. 

One reason I've shied away from this springtime delicacy is the labor involved: the beans need to be shelled and then each bean needs to be blanched and peeled. I realized though that for a three year old, shelling beans is fun, not labor (as is foraging for mint in our back alleyway, a perfect partner for these beans). I was also emboldened by Jamie Oliver's claim that favas (Brits call them broad beans) don't required peeling if they are small. It was worth a try.

We had some leftover Easter ham frozen away, which I diced up, along with the mint.

In keeping with the child labor theme of the meal, I recruited my seven year old daughter to make us fresh pasta,

while I prepared an easy sauce to go along with it. I sauteed the ham with the mint, some baby spinach, and a splash of white vermouth,

cooked the fava beans along with the pasta, and tossed the pasta in the sauce. 

The final dish was delicious and the mint-flavored ham went perfectly with the fresh fava beans. But I must admit that the beans would have been even tastier if peeled. Another task to start training the kids to do.

Fresh Pasta with Fava Beans and Ham

For the pasta
4 eggs
3 cups flour
pinch of salt


1. Combine the ingredients in a food processor and mix. The final dough should be moist enough that it just starts to come together in a ball. Use a little more flour or a dribble of water to achieve the right consistency. 


2. Pat the dough together into a log, cut into about 12 pieces, and pat flat. Set a large pot of salted water boiling on the stove.


3. Use a hand crank pasta machine to roll out the dough, starting with the widest setting and narrowing it by increments of 2, ending on the second to last thinnest setting. Then cut the dough into fettucini.


4. When the sauce is ready, cook the pasta in rapidly boiling water until the fettucini are just cooked but still have some bite, about 2 minutes. You can cook the fava beans with the pasta if you are not planning to peel the individual beans. 


For the sauce
1 lb of fava bean pods, or as many as you are willing to shell
5-6 springs of mint
3/4 cup cubed ham
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
~6 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup white vermouth
salt and pepper to taste


1. Remove the fava beans from the pods. If you are willing to do the extra work, blanch them for 1 minute in boiling water and then remove the inner green parts of the beans from the paler casing. Or just reserve the unpeeled beans and cook them with the pasta.


2. In a large pan that can hold all of the pasta, melt the butter and warm the olive oil. Add the cubed ham and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped mint and continue to cook for another minute. Add the baby spinach and the fava beans, if you bothered to peel them, and cook until the spinach just starts to wilt. Add the vermouth, cook one more minute, and then turn off the heat. 


3. Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce to coat. Serve immediately with plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Dutch Bullet Bean Soup with Indian Spices

With the rainy weather persisting, I was craving a a bean soup with a rich pallet of spices. A bunch of spinach in the refrigerator and a box of strained Pomi tomatoes in the pantry were the inspiration for an rich bean soup with Indian spices. Of our selection of CSA heirloom beans from Lonesome Whistle Farm, the small Dutch bullets seemed the best suited for this dish, recalling small mung beans. 

For spices, I used a combination of cumin, coriander, turmeric, and mustard powder. I sauteed chopped onion in oil until soft, then added the spices until fragrant, and then diluted in the strained tomatoes, 2 cups of Dutch bullet beans, and 6 cups of water. 

I left the beans to simmer on very low heat, partially covered, until they were tender, about 3 hours.

When we were almost ready for dinner, I washed and chopped the spinach,

and prepared a tarka of hot oil with fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, and cayenne pepper. With the heat off, I stirred in the spinach and spicy oil, and we enjoyed warm bean soup to ward off the drizzly weather. 

Dutch Bullet Bean Soup with Indian Spices

2 cups Dutch bullet beans, rinsed 

1 small onion, chopped

4 Tbsp neutral oil such as grape seed, divide use

26 ounces strained tomatoes (such as Pomi)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp mustard powder

salt to taste

6 cups water

1 bunch spinach

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

1. Sautee the chopped onion in 2 Tbsp oil until soft. Add the ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, and mustard powder and cook for about a minute, until fragrant. Add the strained tomatoes, beans, and 6 cups of water. Allow to simmer on very low heat, partially covered, until the beans are soft, about 3 hours. Add plenty of salt to taste.

2. Rinse and densely chop the spinach leaves. Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of oil in a small pan and add the fenugreek and cumin seeds and cayenne and cook until fragrant. Turn of the heat for the beans and stir in the fresh spinach and spicy oil. Enjoy.

Other recipes for heirloom beans:

Arikara beans with tomatillo pork

Ireland Creek Annie Baked Beans
Flageolet bean salad with fennel, orange, and tapenade
Arikara beans with roasted fennel and peppers
Jacob's Cattle bean and ham stew
Calypso beans with ginger and black mustard seeds
Ireland Creek Annie bean bruschetta
Lemon and herb Dutch bullet beans
Minty green flageolet beans
Dutch bullet beans and roasted squash soup
Rio Zape beans with toasted chile sauce
Arikara bean gratin
Calypso bean and leek soup