Market start June 2

Welcome to the tenth season of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, which will run from June through October on Sundays 10 am - 2 pm at the corner of Agate and 19th Ave. You'll find fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm, and fresh flower arrangements from Tiger Lily Art Company. 

This evening my daughter meticulously slicing a single radish, the extent of our daily garden harvest, into paper thin wafers to eke out garnishes for our white bean and vegetable fajita tacos. After this whiff of fresh root vegetables, I'm looking forward to the bounty of our local neighborhood farmers market this summer.   

Radish Leaf Chimichurri Sauce

Make this Sunday a special Fathers Day with a trip to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. You'll find all the fixings for a Fathers Day feast including pastured meats and eggs from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm, cut flowers from Tiger Lily Art Company, and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm.

With Camas Swale's produce fresh from the fields, you can use all parts of the vegetables. Last week I used this gorgeous rosy radishes for some quick pickles as a side for white bean and carnitas tacos (here's a carnitas recipe for slow cooking in the oven and a faster one for a pressure cooker).

The greens from the radish bunch were so fresh that I decided to make them into a quick chimichurri sauce, incorporating some seared Camas Swale green onions. The sharp radish greens, charred onions, and kick of red wine vinegar were a perfect pairing for the mild white beans and crispy pork. Try some out on a dad tomorrow.

Radish Leaf Chimichurri

greens from 1 bunch radishes
6 green onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 pinch salt
red pepper flakes to taste
1 Tbsp vinegar

1. Rinse leaves from 1 bunch radish and reserve. Rinse the green onions, trim off the root ends, and cut the whites from the greens. Cut the whites into 1/4 inch rings. Separately cut the greens into 1/2 inch rings. 

2. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. When the skillet is very hot, add 1 Tbsp olive oil, swirl to coat, and then add the white onion pieces, a pinch of salt, and red pepper flakes to taste, and let them sear for a few minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. When some of the onions are charred, add the green onion pieces and sear for one more minute. 

3. Transfer the seared green onions to a bowl. Stir in one tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Chop the radish leaves finely and stir into bowl. Taste and add more salt, pepper or vinegar as desired. Serve with meat such as carnitas. 

Taiwanese Meat Ragu and Spring Vegetables

This Sunday is the first day of the eighth season of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. Be sure to be on the corner of 19th and Agate between 10 and 2 to pick up organic vegetables from Camas Swale Farm, pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm, and fresh flowers from Tiger Lily Art company.

For your market purchases, here is a recipe for a Taiwanese meat ragu served on rice with roasted and fresh spring vegetables. This is a take on the Taiwanese dish lu rou fan, inspired by recipes from here and here and here. My sister and I both have an irrational love for this dish, which we'll order at a hole in the wall Taiwanese restaurant when I visit her in Chicago. I wanted to make a version that had the same flavors, but would be as easy as a slow roasted Bolognese sauce. I decided to skip the blanched pork belly, but use a base of caramelized shallots for a deep, rich flavor. 

And while I had the oven on low for the ragu, I also roasted some spring radishes and some collard greens (this recipe without the chorizo), which made a delicious accompaniment to the dish, along with some crunchy fresh carrots and cucumbers, a handful of cilantro, and a jammy egg. If you get to the market at 10 on Sunday, you can be eating this for dinner Sunday evening.

Taiwanese Meat Ragu

(serves eight and freezes well)

6 Asian shallots, sliced
2 Tbsp canola oil
8 large dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 2 cups boiling water
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp of five spice powder
1/4 cup regular soy sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce 
1/4 cup sweet rice wine

1. Start rehydrating the shiitake mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water. Heat a large Dutch oven or other oven-safe pan over medium heat. Add the canola oil and then the shallots and cook until they are deeply caramelized. Don't be afraid to let them sit and sear between stirring. 

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Chop the softened shiitake mushrooms and strain the rehydration water to remove any grit. 

3. Once the shallots are well caramelized, add the ground meat and cook through. Then add the garlic, brown sugar, and five spice powder and stir to dissolve. Then add the soy sauce, rice wine, and the reserved mushroom broth and bring to a simmer.

4. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven. Cook for two to three hours, allowing the liquid to reduce, the meat to become extremely silky, and a rich, roasted flavor to develop. Check on it occasionally and add a little water if it dries out too quickly. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. 

5. While the oven is on, roast some radishes, collard greens, or other vegetables to serve with the dish. Prepare a jammy egg for each diner by submerging into a small pot of boiling water and simmering for exactly 6 minutes before running under cold water. Cook a pot of rice.

6. Serve the ragu over rice with roasted and fresh vegetables, a jammy egg, and hot sauce on the side. Enjoy. 

Radishes in Chili Oil

Mark your calendars for Sunday June 7th, which will be the first day of the sixth season of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, 10 AM - 2 PM on the corner of Agate St. and 19th Ave. Last year I marked the announcement of the market start date with a number of radish recipe ideas, and here's an addition to that list from Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice: radishes in chili oil.

In the same spirit of the French dish of radishes and salted butter, this recipe uses soy sauce and oil to both brighten and temper the radishes' bite, but in this case their mild spiciness is enhanced with fiery chiles. First, to release some of the radishes' liquid, you need to pummel them a bit (I tapped them with a meat tenderizer) and give them a coating of salt. While they sweat, mix up sugar, soy sauce, sesame and chili oils, then drain and toss them in this rich coating. For a root to shoot approach to our radishes, I blanched the greens and tossed them with a sesame sauce Dunlop uses for spinach, similar to this gomae recipe. These made delicious vegetable sides for Eric's famous Ma Po Doufo and our child labor-enabled cabbage and pork dumplings. You can look forward to lots more delicious spring vegetables at the start of the Fairmount Market June 7th.

Radishes in Chili Oil

from Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice

2 bunches small red radishes, trimmed, rinsed, and patted dry
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons chilli oil with its sediments
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Lightly smack the radishes with the side of a cleaver, a rolling pin, or a meat tenderizer; the idea is to crack them open, not to smash them to smithereens.

2. Pile the cracked radishes in a bowl, add the salt, and toss well. Set aside for 30 minutes.

3. Combine the sugar and soy sauce in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the chili and sesame oils.

4. When you’re ready to eat, drain the radishes—they will have released a fair amount of water—and shake them dry. Pour the chile oil mixture over the radishes and toss to mix well and serve.

Roasted Beet and Radish Salad with Oranges

On a quick trip to Boston last weekend, I got to enjoy an unexpectedly sunny stroll with my father down to the Charles River, where the trees were still clinging stubbornly to the last of their famous fall foliage. We stopped at the farmers market, where my father lamented the passing of the sungold tomatoes that had garnished my parents'  salads all summer long. In response, I piled up our shopping bag with delicate squash, kohlrabi, beets, and baby turnips to demonstrate just how well these winter vegetables can top a salad. 

Back home in Eugene, I used the same philosophy to compose an impromptu salad with our remaining Sweetwater Farm beets and daikon radish.

Each vegetable got tossed with olive oil and roasted until sweet and soft. For good measure, I roasted some green onions and then tossed everything with some clementine sections, letting the oniony olive oil and citrus juice serve as the dressing. Piled onto fresh lettuce leaves, this mixture was just as sweet and satisfying as any summer tomato. 

Roasted Beet and Radish Salad with Oranges

serves four

4 small beets
1 medium daikon radish (or 8 baby turnips)
4 green onions
2 clementines
olive oil
salt
~8 lettuce leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the tops and tails of the beets and rinse well (for larger beets, remove their skin with a vegetable peeler). Cut into eighths. On a baking sheet, toss with ~1 Tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Trim and peel the daikon radish, cut into similar sized pieces, and on a separate baking sheet, toss with ~1 Tbsp olive oil and salt. 

2. Roast the beets and radish for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until a fork can pierce through the largest pieces easily and the radish have browned a bit. 

3. While the vegetables are roasting, trim the green onions and cut them into 1/2 inch rounds. In a small baking dish or oven safe skillet, toss them with ~1 Tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and stick them in the oven for about the last 10 minutes of roasting, removing them when they are soft and just starting to char. Wash and dry the lettuce leaves and tear into bite sized pieces. Peel the clementines, slice perpendicular to the sections, and separate the slices along the sections into triangles.

4. When the vegetables and green onions are done, toss them together in a bowl along with any oil from the pans. Toss in the clementine sections. Arrange the lettuce on a platter or individual plates and mound on the roasted vegetables. Enjoy.

Market Start Date and Radish Ideas

Mark your calendars! June 1st, four Sundays from today, will be the start of the fifth season of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. Sweet Water Farm will be back with their wide selection of fruits, vegetables, and preserves, Fair Valley Farm will have their pastured chickens, as well as pork and lamb cuts, and Tiger Lily Art Company will be offering gorgeous fresh cut flowers. The market will be open 10 AM-2 PM on Sundays in the Sun Automotive lot on the corner of Agate Street and 19th Avenue. In anticipation of the spring vegetables you can look forward to at the market, here are some ideas for the often overlooked and under appreciated radish. When young and fresh, these are delicious crunchy treats dipped in butter and sprinkled with fancy sea salt.

They are also wonderful sautéed in butter and tossed with fresh mint.

And they make a pretty pink pickle, a perfect garnish for Cinco de Mayo tacos. See you at the market in a month!

Quick Pickled Radishes

makes 1 pint

1 bunch radishes
1/2 cup cider or white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Combine the brine ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Allow to cool. Trim the tops and tails from the radishes and wash them well. Slice them into 1/4 inch slices and then cut these disks into strips. Pack the radish pieces into a clean pint jar. Once the brine has cooled, pour over the radishes so that they are all submerged. Seal and refrigerate. You can serve within 30 minutes, and they will last for a week or two refrigerated.

Tofu Banh Mi

When the clocks fall back and darkness descends well before dinnertime, I always feel an enhanced sense of urgency about preparing our evening meal. And no longer can one rely on fresh tomatoes or basil to drive the show. Instead we need to hope for inspiration from root vegetables and greens. One recent favorite solution is these tofu banh mi sandwiches. 

The tofu, from a Mark Bittman recipe, is braised in a concoction of caramelized sugar and soy or fish sauce that produces addictively flavorful slabs. The sugar caramelizing step seems a bit tricky, but every time I've made these, the unpromising sugar crystals at the beginning have dissolved during the braising step and all has turned out well. The Slate banh mi recipe adds a step of pre-freezing the tofu to give it a firmer texture. I've taken to keeping a stash of sliced tofu in my freezer at all times so that we can make these sandwiches on demand (just pull them out in the morning, or thaw in a microwave).

The classic garnish for these sandwiches is the Vietnamese quick pickle of julienned carrots and daikon radish called dau chua. On a family trip to San Francisco last spring, my son discovered a passion for these pickles, so I've been making them quite frequently based on a recipe from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia. They can be made ahead, but are also easy to whip up along with the tofu. Once you have the pickles and tofu prepared, then all you need to do is slather some good baguette with butter or mayonnaise (if you like, mix in some sriracha sauce), then layer on the tofu and dau chua, and add some cucumber and jalapeno slices and springs of cilantro, if you have them. Even if it's the end of the week and your supplies are low, I suspect that you've got carrots in the crisper and with that tofu in the freezer, you can make a simplified version of these sandwiches. Heck, you could even put them in a tortilla. No matter what, be sure to eat with plenty of napkins.

Tofu Banh Mi

based on a recipe from L.V. Anderson of Slate

Caramelized tofu
1 14 ounce package of firm tofu, sliced into 8 slabs, frozen, and thawed
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp water
1/3 cup fish sauce or soy sauce
1 large shallot, minced
plenty of freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

Dau chua
2 large carrots
Equivalent amount of daikon radish
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3/4 cup water

For the sandwiches
1 baguette
butter or mayonnaise, mixed with some sriracha sauce if you like
cilantro leaves
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
1 or 2 jalapenos, thinly sliced

1. First prepare the pickled carrots and daikon. Scrub the carrots and peel the daikon. Trim and julienne them or coarsely grate them (I use a food processor for this and it goes very quickly). Toss with the salt, place in a strainer, and allow to drain for 10-30 minutes (depending on your time schedule).

2. Meanwhile prepare the pickling sauce. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, rice wine vinegar, and water and warm just until the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool completely (you do not want to cook the vegetables).

3. Quickly rinse the drained carrots and daikon and squeeze well. Combine with the vinegar sauce and allow to marinate until you are ready to serve, or refrigerate and store for a few days. Taste before serving and add a little more salt if desired.

4. To make the caramelized tofu, thaw your pre-frozen tofu slices and drain off any liquid they release. Warm a large skillet over medium-low heat. Put 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a large skillet, stir to mix, and then put your spoon down because you should not stir the sugar as it melts or it will crystalize. Instead, let the sugar warm and bubble and gradually turn a golden brown while you shake and swirl the pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Now take the pan off the heat. Slowly drizzle in the soy sauce or fish sauce, then add the shallot. Return to the heat and cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about 4 minutes. Add the thawed tofu and the black pepper and cook, turning the tofu occasionally, until it has absorbed most of the sauce, about 15 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and remove from the heat.

5. Prepare the sandwiches. Cut the baguette into lengths a bit longer than the tofu slabs and cut horizontally. Slather the bread with butter or mayonnaise (mixed with a bit of sriracha sauce if you like). Layer on a tofu slab, a spoonful of drained pickled carrot and daikon radish, cilantro leaves, cucumber and jalapeno slices. Enjoy. 

Peanut Sauce Noodles with Kale Rabe

The Lane County Farmers Market is now in full swing. Today I found the tenderest baby radishes and carrots and this vibrant green kale rabe. The name is inspired by broccoli rabe, but really just refers to bolting kale. One of my husband's specialties is peanut sauce noodles, which we usually serve with broccoli rabe and crunchy cucumber sticks. For this evening's version we used blanched kale rabe (cooked in a separate pot from the noodles to accommodate picky eaters) with spring radishes and carrots for crunch. A delicious spring meal.

Peanut Sauce Noodles

(serves four)

for the sauce
1 inch ginger
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp canola oil
drizzle of hot chili oil
1/4 cup peanut butter (preferably from ground peanuts)
1/4 cup tahini
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar
2 Tbsp rice wine
2 tsp soy sauce
~1 cup water to thin the sauce
a drizzle of sesame oil
Sichuan pepper corns, freshly ground

1 package udon noodles
1 bunch broccoli rabe or kale rabe

for garnish
cilantro
bean sprouts
lime wedges
cucumber sticks
other crunchy vegetables such as radishes or carrots
peanuts
Sriracha sauce

1. Set a pot of salted water to boil for the noodles. If cooking separately, also set a pot of salted water to boil for the greens. Rinse the greens, trim off the thickest part of the stems and cut the rest of the stems into 1 inch sticks and rough chop the leaves.

2. Peel and finely mince the ginger, shallots, and garlic. You can do this quickly in a mini food processor. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the canola oil and chili oil and saute the minced aromatics until soft. Add the peanut butter and tahini, sugar, black vinegar, rice wine, and soy sauce. Mix and simmer over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Add water as needed to thin to the desired consistency. Taste and add more soy, sugar, or vinegar as needed. When the sauce is ready, add a drizzle of sesame oil and freshly ground Sichuan pepper corns to taste, and remove from heat. 

3. When the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook according to the package directions. You can add the greens to the pot when there are five minutes remaining for the noodles. Or blanch the greens in a separate pot for about five minutes. 

4. Toss the cooked noodles (and greens if combining) with the peanut sauce. Serve the noodles with all the garnishes for people to add to their plates as they like.

Easy Soft Polenta with Olive Oil Simmered Leeks

Some recipes are intuitive and transparent, like throwing together a fresh salad with seasonal produce, and they serve as a helpful reminder or inspiration. Other recipes pique our interest because they seem mysterious, improbable, and opaque. There's a special pleasure that comes from suspending one's best judgement, trying such a recipe, and having it succeed. Here are two such recipes from Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, a manifesto on the pleasures of slow cooked foods. The first recipe if for oven-baked polenta, which I was inspired to try with our ample supply of polenta from our Lonesome Whistle Farm CSA. Stirring your polenta continuously over a hot stove can be rewarding (and bicep building). But if you have time, and especially if you already have your oven on for a roast or stew, Wolfert's method is remarkably effortless and produces deliciously creamy polenta from an unpromising-looking sedentary sludge of water and cornmeal.

With my polenta and a Fair Valley Farm ham baking in the oven, and no stirring to occupy me, I got to flipping through Wolfert's cookbook and came across a recipe for slow cooked leeks and root vegetables simmered in olive oil that seemed perfect for my latest haul from Open Oak Farm's CSA. This recipe, which Wolfert described as "Mediterranean alchemy", offered the intrigue of a secret ingredient (a tablespoon of soaked rice) and an unusual cooking techniques (a parchment paper sealed pot). The final dish was a revelation: a meltingly sweet concoction of leeks and shallots that tempered the sharpness of a purple winter radish without cooking it to mush. And unexpectedly, the vegetables made a wonderful topping for the creamy polenta. The dinner was especially tasty resulting from the leisurely suspension of disbelief.

Oven-Baked Polenta

from Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen
serves 6-8

2 cups polenta 
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
2 tsp salt
8 cups cool water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large ovenproof pan, melt the butter or add the oil and swill to coat the bottom and sides. Combine the remaining ingredients and stir with a fork. Bake, uncovered for 1 hour and 20 minutes. 

2. Stir the polenta with a fork, season with additional salt to taste, and bake for about 10 more minutes, or to the desired consistency. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm. 

Note: Leftovers can be reheated in a microwave, mixing between heating, and the polenta will become creamy again.

Leeks Simmered in Olive Oil

from Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

2 pounds leeks
1/3 cup chopped onion or shallot
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced, or substitute other root vegetables such as turnips or winter radishes
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp rice
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon, or more to taste
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1. Clean the leeks thoroughly (I like to trim the roots and green tops and then cut them lengthwise and wash them, splayed open, under running water, then drain well.) Cut them into two inch lengths. 

2. Combine the onions, olive oil, and root vegetables in a heavy Dutch oven and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the leeks and sugar, cover with a sheet of parchment paper or foil and a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes (Leeks and root vegetables should cook in their own moisture. If necessary, add 1 Tbsp of water).

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak the rice in hot water for ten minutes. Drain.

4. Add the rice to the leeks. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, tightly covered, for 20 minutes longer.

5. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Wolfert recommend serving the leeks and vegetables at room temperature or chilled, but they are also delicious warm on top of polenta with grated parmesan cheese.

Buttery Radishes with Mint

ALERT: the diversity of brassica seeds grown in the Willamette Valley is endangered by a plan to lift the ban on growing canola, which can cross pollinates with many different brassica plants. Read more about this issue here and here and express your opposition to this plan by Friday August 10 by signing this petition.   

Sweetwater Farm packs an enormous variety of produce in their custom trailer that they take to market, giving customers the opportunity to move beyond summer basics like tomato and basil salads and to experiment with new ingredients and flavors. I loved the way farmers John and Lynn nestled these rosy red radishes in among the sweet cherries and cherry tomatoes, tempting innocent passers by to move beyond their comfort zone of sweet fruit into the brassica family. I fell for the ploy and snatched up a pint.

Also I had wanted to try this recipe for sauteed radishes and mint. The preparation is very similar to these brown butter turnips, where chopped root vegetables are sauteed slowly in butter, tempering their sharpness and bringing out a mellow sweetness that is punctuated here with the bright flavor of fresh mint.

These made a delicious and easy side dish for salmon cakes and the old standby of tomatoes with basil.

Buttery Radishes with Mint

adapted from a food52 recipe by liahuber

1 pint of 1 large bunch of radishes
1 to 2 Tbsp butter
pinch of salt
1 spring mint (~8 leaves)

1. Trim the tops and tails from the turnips and cut them into quarters or more for larger radishes so that they are equivalently sized. 

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter, add the radish pieces and a generous pinch of salt, and saute for about ten minutes, turning occasionally, until the radishes are soft through and have browned on some sides. Transfer to a bowl and stir in torn mint leaves. Serve warm.

Market Start 2012

Today was the first day of the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, which will be held every Sunday through October on the corner of 19th and Agate from 10 to 2:30.

Here is a selection of our haul, fresh from SLO Farm and Sweetwater Farm. 

We enjoyed a delicious summer dinner of tomatillo pork tacos (with calypso beans from Lonesome Whistle Farm) and deconstructed salsa. And to top off a lovely day: ice cream sundaes with a cherry on the top.

Chicken Salad with Roasted Jalapeno Sauce

At the end of a long week, we had a smattering of leftovers and no clear dinner plan. There was a leftover grilled chicken breast, the end of a pot of Lonesome Whistle Farm Rio Zape beans, a stray avocado that had been too hard to eat earlier in the week, and some fresh radishes from our garden.  

Looking for inspiration, I flipped through Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday and came across a creamy green sauce made with roasted poblano peppers and spinach. I had neither poblanos nor spinach, but I did have a jalapeno and a bunch of cilantro, so I made this variant of the sauce. It was rich, smoky, and tangy, and proved to be just the thing to pull together these disparate items into a refreshing salad that gave the illusion of great foresight and planning. The remaining sauce was also delicious used, as Bayless' recipe recommend, as the topping for broiled salmon. This recipe would work well with other peppers and green, and given its versatility, it's a good one to have up your sleeve as a quick way to embellish a meal. 

Chicken Salad with Roasted Jalapeno Sauce

Jalapeno sauce (makes 1 cup of sauce)
1 jalapeno
8 ounces sour cream
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime
pinch of salt


salad
lettuce
cooked beans such as Rio Zape or black beans
grilled chicken breast
sliced radishes
avocado


1. To prepare the sauce, roast the jalapeno over an open flame or under the broiler until it is charred all over. Put it in a bowl with a plate on top to allow it to steam off the blistered skin for a few minutes. Handle the pepper carefully, or wrap your hand in plastic wrap, and use a paring knife to scrape off the blackened skin. Cut the pepper lengthwise, remove the stem and seeds. Taste a little sliver to gauge the heat (this will vary a lot between peppers). If it's very spice, use half of the pepper for the sauce to start and add more to taste. In a food processor, combine the sour cream, washed cilantro leaves, juice from one lime, and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth, then taste and add more jalapeno and salt to taste.


2. To prepare the salad, plate washed, torn lettuce leaves, top with beans, chicken pieces, radish and avocado slices, and garnish with a generous dollop of the jalapeno sauce. Enjoy. 

Homemade Kimchi

Right now in the microbiology course I'm teaching we're considering all the different ways that microbes make a living, eking out energy from the most unlikely sources and in the most unlikely settings. It's hard not to feel a little superior as humans, knowing that we have the luxury of aerobic respiration, popping out dozens of ATPs for every sugar molecule we ingest, while the slow fermenting microbes toil away to make a couple of ATPs from the same starting material. But, while dashing to class after frantic mornings getting the kids off to school, I've been thinking that there's a lot to be said for those fermenters' slower paced lifestyle. It's not all about the ATP. I'm certainly grateful for those fermentation byproducts, especially when they result in a delicious and easy kimchi stir fry supper at the end of a long day.

This kimchi recipe is based on David Chang's from Momofuku. It is easy to prepare once you locate the Korean chili powder, called kochukara, which I grabbed while racing through Sunrise Asian Food Market on a mission to find roasted black sesame seeds, although I forgot the jarred salted shrimp called for in this recipe. The chili powder went into a gingery, garlicy, salty, sweet paste that I tossed with cabbage, daikon radish, carrots, and green onions. Then I left the cabbage-affiliated microbes to their leisurely fermenting as we dashed off to a Saturday soccer game. Later that evening I tucked my jars in the refrigerator, instructed to let the kimchi continue fermenting for a couple of weeks, but we couldn't resist sampling it the next day. It was already delicious, with a strong kick of ginger.

A stash of kimchi is a readymade stir fry in a jar: a bounty of precut vegetables, softened but still with plenty of crunch, in a delicious sauce, that just needs heating up with some starch and protein. We're particularly fond of this kimchi fried rice recipe for a quick weeknight meal. A new favorite is kimichi fried rice cakes, topped with strips of cooked egg and a sprinkle of those sesame seeds. Given our speedy rate of kimichi consumption, our diligent cabbage fermenting microbes barely made it to their two week mark before we had gobbled them up. 

Cabbage Kimchi

adapted from Momofuku

makes 1 to 1 1/2 quarts

1 small to medium head cabbage, discolored outer leaves discarded

2 tablespoons kosher or coarse sea salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 bunch scallions, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (greens and whites)

1-2 julienned carrots

1 small daikon radish, peeled and julienned

20 garlic cloves

1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger 
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup kochukaru (Korean chile powder)

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup usukuchi (light soy sauce)

2 teaspoons jarred salted shrimp (optional)

1. Cut the cabbage lengthwise in quarters, slice out the cores, then cut the quarters crosswise into 1-inch-wide pieces. Toss the cabbage with the salt and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a bowl. Let sit for a few hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. 

2. Combine the garlic, ginger, kochukaru, fish sauce, soy sauce, shrimp, and 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl. If it is very thick, add water 1/4 cup at a time until the brine is just thicker than a creamy salad dressing but no longer a sludge. 

3. Julienne the carrots and daikon and slice the green onions. Drain the cabbage. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables and the brine.

4. Transfer the kimchi to clean glass jars. Pack the kimchi down so that the vegetables are submerged in the red spicy brine (the goal here is to have the vegetables in an aqueous, oxygen-depleted environment that promotes fermentation of lactic acid bacteria and prevents the growth of other bacteria). You can leave the kimchi to ferment in a cool place for a day or refrigerate directly. Though the kimchi will be tasty after 24 hours, it will be better in a week and at its prime in 2 weeks. It will still be good for another couple weeks after that, though it will grow stronger and funkier.