Beet Green and Wheat Berry Bowl

One of the nicest things about really fresh farm vegetables is that when you buy a bunch of root vegetables like beets or turnips, you get a bundle of fresh greens in the bargain. So when you visit the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market this Sunday morning, be sure to buy a bunch of Camas Swale Farm root vegetables and then rush home and make yourself a bowl of sautéed greens for lunch. 

I made this bowl with wheat berries that I'd cooked ahead in my trusty rice cooker. For many years I had held out on getting a rice cooker as an unnecessary kitchen gadget, but I've discovered that it's immensely handy for cooking all sorts of whole grains without any babysitting. You can set it up before leaving for work in the morning or taking a stroll to the farmers market, and return to a perfectly cooked pot of grains. For these I sautéed the beet greens with a couple of scallions and a sweet pepper, along with splashes of soy sauce and mirin, and topped it off with a fried egg for a delicious post market lunch.

Beet Green and Wheat Berry Bowls

serves two

1 bunch beet greens
2 large scallions or a shallot
1 small sweet pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp mirin or rice wine
1 cup cooked wheat berries or another hearty grain
salt to taste
2 eggs
hot sauce such as Sriracha for serving

1. Ahead of time, cook the wheat berries in a rice cooker or on the stove top.

2. Rinse and chop the beet greens into 1 inch strips. Dice the scallions and pepper. 

3. Warm a skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and then the scallions and peppers and cook for a few minutes until glassy. Add the beet greens and saute for about three minutes until they have started to soften. Add the cooked wheat berries and stir to warm and coat in the oil. Add the soy sauce and mirin and allow to cook down. Taste and add salt as needed. Remove from the heat.

4. While the greens are cooking, heat a small skillet on another burner. Add a drizzle of olive oil and then crack in two eggs. Cook over medium low heat until the yokes are the desired firmness.

5. Divide the beet greens and wheat berries into two bowls. Top each with a fried egg and serve with a hot sauce like Sriracha. Enjoy.

Quinoa, Wheat Berry and Chickpea Salad

This Sunday's Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm and Fair Valley Farm:

• Delicata and Sweet Dumpling winter squash (try this salad)
• Cauliflower (delicious roasted)
• Stanley prune plums and Italian prune plums
• cantaloupe and honeydew mellons
• Carrots and radishes (try these buttery radishes with mint)
• One last round of green beans (from SLO Farm) 
• variety of tomatoes; 10 lb flats of San Marzano romas for $15 (freeze for winter)
• variety of sweet and spicy peppers
• kohlrabi (delicious raw in a lemon caper salad)
• variety of cabbages, kale, collards, and greens (make some collards and beans)
• broccoli and eggplants (try a roasted salad)
• lettuces and baby lettuce salad mix
• zucchini and summer squash
• variety of potatoes including bargain bags of red potatoes
• sweet onions, green onions, garlic, and leeks
• fresh herbs, including basil, cilantro, dill, thyme, oregano, and sage
• tomato sauce and pesto
• naturally fermented pickles, dilly beans, and sauerkraut
• homemade jams (delicious in crepes)
• Scottish oats (make this teff oatmeal)
• a selection of dried beans and grains from Camas Country Mill
• pastured chicken (try spatchcocked)
• pastured pork: pork chops, shoulder roasts, and ham roasts
• pastured lamb: ground, rib chops, and leg roasts (grill some burgers)

A few weeks ago we enjoyed a belated anniversary meal at Koho Bistro and had a delicious dish from the "Leaves and Weeds" section of their menu that I was inspired to recreate at home as the backdrop for Sweetwater Farm's sweetest of sweet cherry tomatoes. Their dish was a veritable cornucopia of grains and beans: wheat berries, barley, wild rice, quinoa, and chickpeas, all cooked separately with care. 

Without a restaurant kitchen staff on hand, I decided to pare this list down to chickpeas, a small grain like quinoa, and a large grain like wheat berries or barley. Despite the stack of pots it generates, this combination is definitely worth making and having on hand as an inspiration for quick lunches and dinners. The chickpeas are earthy, and the wheat berries and quinoa adds different notes of nuttiness. Like the Koho dish, I added toasted almonds and goats cheese. For this summer version, I added parsley and cherry tomatoes, but the grains and chickpeas lend themselves to infinite variations through the seasons, such as with roasted eggplant or delicata squash, or the green bean and red pepper version below. I'm sure these beans and grains complement each other nutritionally, but what's impressive is how well they complement each other in flavor, making a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Quinoa, Wheat Berry, and Chickpea Salad

cherry tomato version
1 cup dried chickpeas
1 cup dried wheat berries (or substitute barley)
3/4 cup dried quinoa
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 pint cherry tomatoes, rinsed
6 ounces feta cheese, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup flat parsley leaves, rinsed and chopped
1 large lemon
1 tsp pomegranate molasses or a honey
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

1. If you remember, soak both the chickpeas and the wheat berries separately overnight. For each, rinse and place in 2.5 cups fresh water and simmer on low until they are soft, about 2 hours. Salt generously and strain if necessary. Cook the quinoa on a low simmer in 1.5 cups fresh water for about 15 minutes until it releases its halos and the water is absorbed. Combine the cooked chickpeas and grains into a large serving bowl.

2. Mix the dressing of juice and zest from one lemon, pomegranate molasses or honey, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt to taste. Toss into the grains.

3. Toss the dressed grains with the slivered almonds, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and parsley leaves. Taste and adjust seasoning. Enjoy the salad on its own, or layer it on tender greens.

green bean and red pepper version
for slivered almonds, substitute whole almonds toasted with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp smoked paprika;
for cherry tomatoes, substitute cooked green beans and chopped roasted red peppers;
for the feta cheese, substitute cubed aged gouda
for the rice wine vinegar, substitute sherry vinegar, and omit the molasses or honey.

Wheatberry Kisir

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm and Fair Valley Farm:

• tomato sale ($1.95/lb; $18/10 lbs; $30/20 lbs), with an abundance of varieties including: early girl, big beef, beeefsteak, brandywine, san marzano, Japanese black trifele, new girl, ponderosa del oro, principe, borghese, rebeleski, red pear piriform, sun gold, celebrity, mt. fresh, orange blossom, paragon, polbig, qualit, taxi, and valley girl (feast on salads and make a few batches of sauce for the winter)
• peppers both sweet and spicy, including: ace, ancho, anthoi romanian, carmen, conchos, czech black, el jefe, flavor burst, italia, jalafuego, lipstick, melrose, numex joe, parker, red rocket, sahauro, serrano del sol, tiburon and yankee bell
• baby lettuce salad mix and lots of greens
• Japanese and globe eggplants (delicious in a hearty pasta sauce)
• zucchini and summer squash (make refrigerator pickles)
• green beans, yellow wax beans, and romanos
• cucumbers (combine with tomatoes in gazpacho)
• a variety of potatoes 
• sweet white onions, garlic, fennel, and leeks (make a leek and bean soup)
• fresh herbs, including basil, cilantro, dill, thyme, oregano, and sage
• tomato sauce and pesto
• naturally fermented pickles
• homemade jams
• a selection of dried beans and grains from Camas Country Mill
• pastured chicken
• pastured pork: bacon, pork chops, shoulder roasts, ham roasts, spare ribs, ground sausage and ground pork (try ma po doufo)
• pastured lamb: ground, stew meat, leg roast, rib chops, loin chops

With the glut of summer tomatoes, you can't have enough ways to incorporate fresh tomatoes into a meal, in soups, salads, tarts, pastas, and grain dishes. My sister, who developed a taste for Turkish food while living in Berlin, recently taught me how to make kisir, a parsley-packed, harissa-spiked salad made with very fine bulgur. Since bulgur is a form of wheat grain (parboiled and dried), I experimented with giving the same treatment to whole wheat berries from Camas Country Mill. And I let some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers sneak in for a complete bowl of grains, fruits, and vegetables. This makes a delicious accompaniment to lamb burgers or roast chicken. 

Wheat Berry Kisir


3/4 cup wheat berries 


2 Tbsp harissa
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup olive oil 
1 small onion
1 tsp ground cumin 
2 bunches parsley
juice from 1 1/2 lemons
3 Tbsp pomegranate molasses 
salt
1 cucumber 
1 pint cherry tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes






1. Cook the wheat berries by simmering them in 2 cups of salted water over low heat until tender but still firm, about 90 minutes. When they are tender, drain them if necessary, transfer them to a serving bowl, and stir in the harissa and tomato paste. 


2. Peel and dice the onion. Heat a skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil, and then add the diced onions. Cook until they are thoroughly cooked through but do not let them brown. Add the cumin and cook for one more minute. Then pour the spiced onion oil over the wheat berries and mix.


3. In a food processor, chop the parsley leaves until quite fine. Scrape them into the bowl with the wheat berries and stir. Stir in the pomegranate molasses and lemon. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, or harissa as desired.


4. Peel the cucumber and chop it into lengthwise into quarters or sixths and then widthwise into 1/4 inch pieces. Halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes or chop the large tomatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. Fold the cucumbers and tomatoes into the dressed wheatberries. Serve at room temperature.


Note: to make an authentic kisir, hydrate 1 1/2 cups fine bulgur with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Then  proceed with the recipe above as written for the cooked wheat berries. And exclude the tomatoes and cucumbers if you are feeling like a stickler.

Berries for Breakfast

At tomorrow's Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to fresh and smoked salmon from the Salmon People, local beans and grains from the Southern Willamette Valley Grain and Bean Project, and the following produce from SLO Farm and Songbird Farm:


Blueberries!!!
Blackberries
Plums


Green Beans
Garlic
Bietola
Zucchini
Beets
Cucumbers
Lettuce Mix
Parsley

Eggs
Honey

Here's my new favorite breakfast. Cook some wheatberries the evening before (1 cup wheat berries in 2 cups salted water simmered for about 90 minutes until tender). In the morning, warm up a half cup of wheatberries with a drizzle of maple syrup or honey. Top with a scoop of yogurt and some fresh berries. Enjoy.

Wheatberry Tabbouleh with Green Beans and Feta

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to fresh produce from SLO Farm and Songbird Farm, including:

Blackberries
Strawberries
Green Beans
Purple Green Beans
Green Cabbage
Zucchini
Garlic
Bietola
Flat Leaf Parsley
Baby Lettuce mix
Basil
Cucumbers
Scallions
Sunflowers
Cherry Tomatoes
Swiss Chard
Eggs
Honey

Linda Castleman from The Salmon People will be back again with delicious fresh and smoked salmon.  

And you can stock up on locally grown and milled beans and grains from the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project. 

I've been experimenting with salads made with wheatberries from Camas Country Mill. This is variant of a Middle Eastern tabbouleh salad normally made with bulgar, a grain prepared from wheatberries that are par cooked, dried, and cracked. Following a traditional tabbouleh recipe, I prepared a lemony parsley dressing and tossed in cherry tomatoes, but then I couldn't resist adding in some green beans. Since I was straying away from tradition, I tossed in some cubed feta for richness and toasted almonds for crunch. When mixed together, the final salad was delicious and filling, with a satisfying bite from the whole wheatberries.

Wheatberry Tabbouleh with Green Beans and Feta

1 cup dried wheatberries 
1 bunch parsley
1 lemon
~1/3 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 lb green beans
1/3 cup almond slivers
~3 ounces feta cheese
salt and pepper


1. Simmer the wheatberries in 2 cups salted water, covered, for about 75-90 minutes until they are soft but still firm. If there's still water left toward the end, remove the top and raise the heat to boil off the liquid. You can cook the wheatberries ahead of time.


2. Prepare a lemony parsley dressing for the salad. Rinse the parsley and put the leaves into a food processor or mini chopper. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the lemon rind, and then juice the lemon. Add the lemon rind, juice, a glug of olive oil (about 1/3 cup), and generous amount of salt and pepper. Process into a runny green paste. Taste for seasonings. Stir into the wheatberries.


3. Trim the stems off the green beans and cook them in salted boiling water until they are bright green but still crunchy, about 4 minutes. If you feel anxious about overcooking, you can plunge them into ice water after they are cooked. Quarter them lengthwise.


4. Toast the almond slivers in a dry skillet or toaster oven for a few minutes until fragrant. 


5. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Dice the feta. Fold the beans, almonds, tomatoes, and feta into the dressed wheatberries. Enjoy.

Wheatberries with Snap Peas and Magenta Spreen

Songbird Farm is a new addition to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, selling fresh eggs, basil, salad greens, chard, plant starts, and propolis salve, made from beeswax.

This week they had these amazing colored salad greens, called magenta spreen, 

and SLO Farm had these plump, fresh snap peas.

I decided to combine these with wheatberries from Camas Country Mill. I'd never cooked wheatberries before, but they proved to be quite easy, if you just set them simmer about an hour and a half before you plan to eat. Because I love the combination of peas with ham and mint, I sauteed some cubed ham with sliced snap peas for a few minutes, then stirred in some sliced mint leaves and several scoops of cooked wheat berries, and finished it with a splash of sherry. For a vegetarian version, you could substitute shiitake mushrooms for the ham, or stir in some cubes of feta cheese at the end. The magenta spreen made a colorful garnish for this fresh and filling dish.

Wheatberries with Snap Peas and Ham

1 cup wheatberries
2 large handfuls of snap peas
1/3 cup ham cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 mint leaves
splash of sherry
salt and pepper to taste
magenta spreen or other salad greens for garnish


1. To cook the wheatberries, combine one cup of grain with two cups of salted water and simmer, covered for one and a quarter hours. Taste for firmness and continue cooking until it reaches the desired consistency, maintaining a firm bite. If there's some water remaining, you can boil it off towards the end with the pot uncovered, or drain the cooked grains in a fine mesh colander.


2. Remove the stems from the snap peas and slice into thirds. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the ham cubes and saute for a minute. Add the snap peas and saute for about 5 minutes until the snap peas turn more green but before they lose their crunch. Add one cup of cooked wheatberries, reserving the rest for another use. Stir to coat, then add a splash of sherry and let this boil off. Taste for seasoning and serve warm with a garnish of salad greens.