the thin chef

I didn’t want real dinner tonight. Maybe it’s because Jason is out of town and my drive to cook a full meal dissipates when he’s gone, or possibly because I ate a huge portion of chocolate cheescake late this afternoon at work {it was a recipe test for the magazine…it’s a tough job, but someone has to taste the food to make sure it’s all as delicious as it looks!} aaaanyway, I came home with very little appetite.

Eventually, I started thinking about something cool, crunchy, and light. I had some fresh goodies in the fridge, leftovers from a photo shoot yesterday. A tangle of watercress, slices of miniature cucumbers, and pieces of crisp radish went in the bowl, and were dressed lightly with just a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Beautiful, crunchy Maldon flake salt was the perfect extra something. Oh, and I decided halfway through eating it that if I’d had an avocado, it would have been perfect mixed in.

Crunchy, Spicy Salad
Makes 1 salad, but can easily be multiplied to make more

1/2 (2-ounce) bag watercress, larger stems removed and discarded
1 miniature cucumber, or 1/2 regular cucumber, sliced
2 large radishes, halved and sliced
1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, combine the watercress, cucumber, radish, and avocado. Toss gently to combine. Drizzle with lemon juice, and toss, then drizzle with oil, and toss again. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

24, 24, 24 update: I just finished making the base for the tomato ice cream, and I have to say, I really like it. It’s different…but I think it turned out well. I can’t wait to churn it and taste it again, to see if the end product is as yummy as the custard base.

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If you are like me, regularly drooling over fabulous foodie blogs like 101cookbooks.com, chocolate and zucchini, and Last Night’s Dinner, you’ve hopefully heard about Rancho Gordo beans. But if you haven’t, consider this my hearty endorsement.

I must admit, I’m not tough to please in this department. I love beans. Refried beans, lima bean soup, black beans and rice, white bean dip, three-bean salad…I love ‘em all. But aside from once making the aforementioned lima bean soup with a ham hock and Publix brand dried limas, I’d never cooked beans from scratch. Why take all that time when canned beans are so easy?

…Because they taste so much better, that’s why. Truly. And Rancho Gordo heirloom beans…well, they’re in a class all their own. I’ll let their Web site explain more. I got my dad a few varieties for Christmas, and he loved them, so I’d been meaning to order some myself. I finally got some, but then it took me a month and a half to get around to cooking them. But, the day finally came, and I am here to report that They. Were. Awesome.

I ordered black beans, craberry beans, and Christmas Limas. I decided to try the Christmas Limas first. I soaked them for 5 hours, then cooked them for another 3 1/2 hours. With nothing but water and a dash of salt in the last 30 minutes of cooking, the beans cooked beautifully and created a mohogany-colored pot liquor. The beans themselves were nutty, tender, and creamy. Fabulous.

I ate a bowl—plain, save for some Louisiana hot sauce—for lunch one day, but I wanted to try a little something more…exciting, so I built a vegetarian salad using the beans, some veggies, a zesty lime dressing, and a few handfuls of cooked whole-wheat couscous. It ended up being a light, filling, healthy one-bowl meal.

Veggie-Couscous Bowls
serves 4 as a side, or 2 for dinner with leftovers
Of course I now must recommend dried heirloom beans for this salad, but if you must, canned beans will work in a pinch. One 14.5-ounce can of drained, rinsed black beans or butter beans would work well here.

1 small lime, zested and juiced
Extra-virgin olive oil (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ripe avocado
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2/3 cup whole-wheat couscous
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 pound dried Christmas Lima beans, cooked and drained

In a medium bowl, combine the lime zest and juice. Whisk in olive oil, tasting as you go, until you get a dressing that you like. (We like ours on the very tangy side, but just keep tasting as you drizzle.) Add salt and a few grinds of pepper. Dice the avocado, and put it directly into the dressing. Set aside.

Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan over high heat, and then stir in the couscous. Remove from heat, cover, and let steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

In a large bowl, combine the avocado and dressing, cucumber, red pepper, and beans. Toss gently to combine. Add the couscous, and toss to evenly coat everything with the dressing. Serve.

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Okay, not really…I only wish I grew asparagus and peas and basil in my backyard. I can’t wait until I own my own place so I can go nuts with an organic garden. Until then, I’m working with a few pots and the chilly not-quite-spring weather here in Birmingham. So my green stuff comes from Publix. Either way, this dish I saw in the April issue of Gourmet looked fabulous, so I made it…and it really was superb. (The whole issue, dedicated to Italy, is the most gorgeous I’ve seen Gourmet look in a while. Definitely pick it up–you’ll swoon over the photos and food.) The caption under the recipe says “what grows together, goes together” and that just couldn’t be more right. Springy, fresh, light, but so flavorful, this is something I’ll be making again and again this spring!

ASPARAGUS, PEAS, AND BASIL (PISELLI CON ASPARAGI E BASILICO)

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There’s a wonderful bakery and coffee shop in Gainesville called 2nd Street Bakery that is just about the coolest place I’ve seen open in Gainesville since I’ve been here. (Tied with Satchel’s Pizza, of course.)

The bread and pastries at 2nd Street are addictively good, especially the crusty French baguette. It’s so big, though, that Jason and I rarely eat the whole thing before it gets stale.

We’ve done everything from fresh bread crumbs to French bread pizza (this Cooking Light recipe is especially good) but I have to say my favorite use-up of the last bits of baguette is panzanella salad. Italian cooks waste nothing, so this salad was likely born out of necessity as a way to use their stale bread and just about any veggie their gardens grew.

Whether your bread is a little stale or fresh from the bakery, the croutons are definitely my favorite part. I’ve seen a million different varieties of this salad, but to me, the simpler the better. Choose tomatoes that are sweet and in-season. If you can’t find big tomatoes that meet the taste requirement, grape tomatoes are almost always sweet. I don’t love raw onions, but if you do, red onion is a traditional addition.

Panzanella
serves 4
1 medium or 1/2 to 3/4 of a large crusty baguette
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Big pinch of Kosher salt
5 grinds of black pepper
3-4 tomatoes, seeded or 1 pint grape tomatoes
1 cucumber

Dressing
Juice from 2 lemons
1 clove of garlic, finely minced or grated with a microplane
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut baguette into bite-sized cubes. In the salad bowl, toss cubes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, cut tomatoes in bite-sized chunks. Peel cucmber, cut in half lengthwise and with a spoon, scoop out seeds. Cut cucumber into bite-sized chunks and toss with tomatoes in salad bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Stir in croutons and toss everything with dressing. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

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