greg cooks

nourishing the body

salad

Community Supported Agriculture

We got our first CSA box last week. We went with the Lakes and Valley CSA this year and so far they have been great. If you are not involved in a CSA, you should be. It’s a wonderful idea and a great way to support local growers. CSA, or community supported agriculture farms are popping up all over the country. The idea is that you buy into a share of a farm for the whole season. Every week the CSA we belong to delivers a half bushel box of whatever is being harvested in the garden at the time. This season has been very cold and wet so our local farm is a bit behind the seaons. Usually we get our first spring greens in early June. But it was worth the wait. Our box was brimming with fresh lettuces, arugla, spinach, asian greens, and a few radishes. New to us this year is farm fresh eggs! We were delighted to find a farm with free range chickens.


Our first CSA dinner was, of course, a salad. Mixed grees, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, red peppers, blue cheese, topped with a fried free range egg and crispy bacon. A dijon balsamic dressing was just the right combination for this satisfying salad.

Wedge Salad

I must admit that iceberg lettuce is not my favorite. I hardly ever eat it. It just has no flavor and no nutritional value. The only thing it has going for it is its wonderful crispness. This is my favorite way to eat iceberg lettuce. With lots of blue cheese dressing, fresh tomatoes and crispy bacon. The lettuce is just a carrier for the rest of this goodness. This quintessential American salad sure is good. I even managed to lighten the dressing by using fat free yogurt instead of sour cream and mayonnaise. The lettuce must be served as an intact wedge to take advantage of the full crunch when you bite into all the layers.

Light and almost healthy blue cheese dressing

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
3/4 cup nonfat yogurt
20 good grinds of black pepper
3 tbsp rice vinegar

Rhubarb salad?

You bet! This salad turned out so good. Actually it has a lot more than rhubarb in it, but that is the secret ingredient that makes this dish very interesting. I started by chopping two large stalks of freshly picked rhubarb. In went one small red onion diced along with about a cup of chopped fresh asparagus. About 1.5 cups of cooked leftover brown rice was tossed in along with one can of drained and rinsed great northern beans. The whole shebang was flavored with the juice of one lime and half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste (a lot of pepper) and a good dose (~3 tbsp) of extra virgin olive oil. I love the tanginess and texture of the rhubarb pieces as you crunch down on them.

Four courses

First I must apologize for being awol for a while. Life and work have been getting in the way lately of my blogging efforts. Although I have been cooking here and there and have several dishes to catch up on. I wanted to share a meal I made a couple weeks ago. This was a four course meal starting with a light Greek salad. The foundation of the salad is a bed of romaine and red leaf lettuce. That was tossed with a rather simple but flavorful lemon and olive oil dressing. The salad is topped with sliced red onions. I like to soak them first in ice water after slicing to tame down their heat. There’s also some greek salad peppers, kalamata olives and, of course, feta cheese. The whole thing was garnished with a bit of sumac powder.

I have been on a real pasta kick lately and it started with this fettucine al fungi. Homemade pasta is so simple to make that I can’t understand why I don’t do it every day. I never really measure for my pasta. Sometimes I’ll use egg, sometimes not. Just mix some flour, egg, water and salt, knead it until elastic, and let it rest for a bit before rolling out. I have a pasta roller that makes easy work of it. Nothing can beat the taste and texture of fresh pasta. This evening I made a mushroom, cream and cheese sauce for it. It has three kinds of mushrooms – dried shitakes (soaked), fresh shitakes, and fresh baby portabellos. These were sautéed in a pan with good olive oil and of course lots of garlic. A splash of cream and a splash of truffle oil were added and the fresh cooked pasta was tossed in. A handful of grated parmigiano reggiano was added and the pasta was plated up.

Beef was on the menu for the main course. As a unifying theme I went with beef and mushrooms but I moved from the Mediterranean to Asia with this sesame, garlic and soy marinated beef. It was a pretty simple stir fry but had plenty of flavor. I served it with polenta that had been cooked with the retained liquid from soaking the mushrooms. I also served up some baby bok choy seasoned with soy and sesame oil.

For dessert a rather simple chocolate mousse. Nothing fancy here. I just melted some good chocolate and folded it in to some whipped cream. That’s it! Easy as mousse.

Soup and Salad – Mediterranean Inspiration

I’ve been on kind of a Mediterranean kick the last couple days. Soup and salad usually go together but I actually made these on different nights. This evening I made a really wonderful soup. The other day I roasted an eggplant in a hot oven until it was soft and tender. I was thinking maybe baba ganoush would be on my menu soon. But there it sat in the fridge neglected. Tonight I decided to make a soup out of it. I started with a hot pot and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. In went a couple of chopped up onions, salt and pepper. These were sautéed until they were just starting to caramelize. Next I added a good dose of chopped garlic, about 6-8 cloves worth. These were cooked for about a minute or so with the onions. In went a can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chicken broth, the flesh of the roasted eggplant, and some seasonings. I added the juice of a lemon, about a teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried oregano, and a healthy pinch of spicy red chili pepper flakes. This was simmered for about 20 minutes until all the flavors were mingling together and the veggies were all well cooked. I wanted it to be on the creamy side so I added one can of evaporated nonfat milk. This is a good healthy alternative to adding cream. Of course cream would be over the top better, but this was pretty good. The soup was puréed with my hand blender. All I can say is YUM! The herbs and lemon along with the eggplant and onions. Delicious!

Last night started everything off with this Greek inspired salad. This was also very satisfying. I started with a bed of chopped romayne and green leaf lettuces. These were dressed with a lemon, oregano and olive oil dressing. On top are some sliced cucumber, sliced carrots, artichoke hearts, celery, sliced chicken breast, kalamata olives and lots of feta cheese. Another drizzle of the lemon dressing and a dusting of sumac and the salad was ready to go. It reminded me of the lemony greek salads from a local mom & pop shop I used to get when I was a graduate student.