Red Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Meatless Monday Menu – Red Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce

I used the green garlic in the pasta sauce and in the dressing for the salad. It smelled good, especially cooking in the olive oil, and not surprisingly it is not as strong as fully formed garlic. I love having it around because it reminds me of spring and that the growing season is on it's way.

This salad is good with the comfort foods of winter or with soup on a rainy day like yesterday. I want to keep it in mind for next winter because so many of the ingredients can be stored over the winter or will be at the winter farmer’s market. In our salad the sweet potatoes, red onion, garlic, and red leaf lettuce were all local.

Red Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/red-leaf-salad-with-roasted-sweet-potatoes?comments_page=1&showComments=true&#conversation-container

I’m giving you the link because I changed very little. I used almonds instead of walnuts because I had them on hand and I don’t particularly care for walnuts. I also used Greek yogurt instead of plain. I couldn’t find any plain yogurt to my liking at the grocery store and I enjoy the thickness of the Greek yogurt. It was just fine for dressing – the vinegar breaks it down enough.

Market Menu Week of March 28

Ciabatta, green garlic, radishes, red leaf lettuce, red onion, spinach, sweet potatoes…these are my treasures I got at this week’s market.

The green garlic is the scallion/leek like vegetable the length of the bottom of the picture. I almost dismissed them thinking they were scallions and then I noticed the sign. I asked the vendor if they were to be used just as you would garlic. He said yes and that you can use the whole thing, all the way up the green. He told us they are the beginning of growing garlic and that as the plant gets older the bottom forms the bulb we usually associate with garlic. The green garlic reminds me of the garlic scapes we get at the beginning of CSA season. My mother in law was with us when we got the garlic scapes last year and was excited to learn she could use the scapes - what forms out of the top of the plant – from the garlic in her garden.

Market Menu

Meatless Monday – Red Leaf Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Fresh Tomato Sauce and Pasta
(Green Garlic, Red Leaf Lettuce, Red Onion, Sweet Potatoes)

Mom Meal (a meal for an expecting friend) – Indian Dahl with Spinach
(Spinach)

Baby Shower for my first niece – Arugula Bruschetta with Radishes
(Radishes, Frozen Arugula Pesto)

Purple Potatoes!

Thursday Menu – Slow Roasted Salmon with Purple Potatoes, Purple Potato Fries

The Purple Cook has purple potatoes! This dinner was simple, yummy, and the purple potatoes made for a fun find at the farmer’s market. My kids just don’t seem to like potatoes – hash browned, mashed, baked, roasted. What is wrong with them? I loved, love, and will continue to love potatoes. The kids did get a real kick out of cutting open the potato and finding a deep purple color, so I made them their own special side dish of purple potato fries for dinner. Yes, like most children they adore a French fry.

Slow Roasted Salmon with Purple Potatoes
Adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/slow-roasted-salmon-with-potatoes-recipe/index.html

5-6 scallions, cut in half lengthwise (Local)
3-4 T olive oil
Salt
2 salmon fillets
1 ½ pound purple potatoes (Local)
¼ onion (Local)
4 T unsalted butter
1 T dried tarragon
2 T fresh parsley (Local)
2 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Place scallions in the bottom of a shallow baking pan and toss with 1 -2 T of the olive oil. Season the salmon fillets with salt and brush with olive oil. Place salmon over the scallions and roast in the over until firm 30 minutes.

Cut potatoes into uniform sizes, about 1 inch round. Cook potatoes in a pot of boiling salted water until fork tender, 15 – 20 minutes.

Pulse the onion in a food processor until mined. Add butter, tarragon, parsley, and lemon juice. Add salt to taste. Pulse until well combined.

Remove salmon from the oven and top with half the herb butter. Drain the potatoes and toss with the remaining half of herb butter. Serve salmon on top of scallions with purple potatoes on the side.


Purple Potato Fries

3-4 purple potato (Local)
1-2 T olive oil
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and then cut potato to resemble a French fry. Toss potatoes on a baking dish and toss with olive oil and salt. Bake 20 minutes, flip potatoes and bake an additional 10-20 minutes until golden and crispy.

Indian Dahl with Spinach

Meatless Monday Menu - Indian Dahl with Spinach and Rice

The spinach and onions were the local ingredients I used for this recipe. I'm going to share the link to the recipe because the only change I make is that I don't soak the lentils for 20 minutes. I just rinse them and go directly to cooking them in step 2.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Indian-Dahl-with-Spinach/Detail.aspx

This recipe is great when you are getting lots of greens during CSA season. I especially love this one with collards, but you can use any of the greens to replace the spinach.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I enjoyed watching the preview for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It's a new series on ABC that has a two hour premiere on Friday March 26th at 8pm EST. The website describes the series like this...

"Jamie is inviting viewers to take a stand and change the way America eats, in our home kitchens, schools and workplaces with the thought-provoking new series."

http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution

The preview show was on Sunday night. You can still watch it online.
A quicker alternative is his TED talk which can be found here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY

The TED talk summarizes his mission and shows the highlight videos from the preview of the new series.

Market Menu Week of March 21

At the market I got…scallions, purple potatoes, spinach, and salad greens.

Meatless Monday – Dahl with Spinach, Rice
Tuesday – Slow Roasted Salmon with potatoes and scallions
Thursday - Spicy Sichuan Noodles using some of the spinach and scallions

I’m also hoping to try a few dressing/vinaigrette recipes the nights I have salad.

Pesto Salmon and Broccoli

Thursday Menu – Pesto Salmon, Broccoli, Pilaf

Last night's dinner smelled so good while it cooked. The fresh broccoli from the market had a lovely aroma while it steamed, the basil filled the room when the salmon cooked, and the garlic in the pilaf comforted everyone.

Along with the arugula pesto I mentioned the other day, I also have my last bag of basil pesto from the summer that I froze in ice cube trays in the freezer. One cube was perfect for last night’s salmon.

Pesto Salmon

2 T basil pesto
2 or 3 T corn starch
2 salmon fillets

Spread pesto on salmon in a thin layer. Coat salmon fillet with cornstarch. Place salmon in a skillet with hot oil. Cook salmon 4 minutes per side.
Same method as in this post, just added the pesto under the cornstarch layer.
http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2010/03/crispy-thai-style-seared-salmon.html

I cut up the florets of broccoli and then cut the stalks very thin. If you cut the stalks thin they will cook at the same rate as the florets and turn out rich and buttery. I put it all in the skillet and let it steam with some olive oil and chicken stock for about 10 minutes with the lid on. Then I took the lid off and let it brown on the edges. I finish it with a little sesame oil and my family gobbles up broccoli every time.