Tag: Cilantro

baba ghanouj (garlicky eggplant dip)

eggplant cilantro spread tahini toast toppings peanut butter

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This recipe is based on one in Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens, and I love it. Dip pita bread in it, or spread it on toast. Scoop it up with chips, or with celery… It’s so yummy! If you don’t happen to have cilantro, it’s fine to leave it out.

Two notes about the tahini. 1) If you can’t find roasted tahini, just use the regular kind. And 2) Smell the tahini, and taste it once you’ve gotten it all mixed up and creamy (the oil separates out when it’s sitting on the shelf in the store. If it smells yummy and nutty, and tastes creamy and rich and good, use it. If it smells bitter and rancid, take it back to the store and exchange it for a jar with a newer expiration date. I’ve had some trouble recently with getting good tahini—so make sure yours is good before you use it. In fact, I’ve had so much trouble lately that I’ve just used peanut butter instead of tahini! The natural, unsweetened kind of peanut butter, of course. Maybe I even lik it better than tahini!

2 globe eggplants, about 2 pounds
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons roasted tahini (sesame paste) or natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon cumin seed, toasted in a skillet and ground
Juice of 1 lemon
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (OK to omit)

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and brush the cut sides lightly with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cut side down, and roast until very tender, about 35 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then scoop the flesh out of the skin, or peel the skin off the outside--whichever is easiest.
2.  Meanwhile, combine the tahini or peanut butter, cumin, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, and a pinch of cayenne in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Chop the eggplant with a big knife until in small chunks, then add it to the bowl. Whisk everything together until it is fairly smooth, but retains some lumps.
3. Allow the baba ghanouj to sit for 30 minutes or an hour at room temperature, then season to taste, if needed, with additional lemon juice, salt, and cayenne. Toss in the cilantro and serve on toast.

Vietnamese-style Napa cabbage soup with shrimp

cabbage soup cilantro mint shrimp noodles peanuts napa cabbage

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Last week at the Wednesday Dimond Center Farmers’ Market, Carol Kenley was giving away a free Napa cabbage if you spent $20 at her stand. Needless to say I fulfilled that requirement… and then came home with a GIGANTIC Napa cabbage, on top of the vegetables from her stand, A&M Farms, and Stockwell Farms. Whoops! I’m still digging out from under that mountain of wonderful vegetables!

So… what’s a good way to make quick work of a Napa cabbage? I’d already eaten that great napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut dressing for several meals the previous week… So I invented this quick soup, inspired by a vaguely similar chicken-noodle soup in Cook’s Illustrated from 1999. I left out the noodles entirely (remember, my main goal here was to use up vast quantities of cabbage—not fill up on noodles!), but you can add them if you like. The broth is really flavorful after just 20 minutes of simmering with the Asian ingredients—I think you’ll love it!

I used fresh shrimp from the Saturday South Anchorage Farmers’ Market, but you could substitute any seafood you liked. This will make 4 big bowls of soup.

Optional noodles

8 ounces thick rice noodles

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Off heat, add noodles, and let sit until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside until ready to distribute among individual serving bowls.

Broth

8-10 cups vegetable broth (low-sodium, if store-bought), or bean-cooking broth (for example, from the hummus recipe)
8 medium cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch rounds
3 star anise
¼ cup Asian fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1. Bring all ingredients to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer partially covered for 20 minutes to blend flavors.
2. Strain the broth through a sieve to remove the flavorings and return the broth to the pot. Bring the soup back to a simmer, and season to taste with additional salt if necessary.

Soup

1 pound fresh shrimp, shells removed
1 medium Napa cabbage, rinsed and sliced thin crosswise (about 8 cups)
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin on an angle
½ cup loose-packed fresh mint leaves, torn in half if large
½ cup loose-packed fresh cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
Lime wedges for squeezing at the table

1. While the broth simmers, remove the shells from the shrimp and chop all the vegetables.
2. When the broth is strained, add the shrimp to the simmering broth and cook them until just tender and cooked, for about 45 seconds. Remove them immediately from the soup with a slotted spoon or strainer.
3. Bring the broth back to a boil and add the cabbage. Cook on high heat for 3-5 minutes, or to your taste. The cabbage should be cooked a little bit, but retain a little crunch.
4. Ladle the cabbage and broth into large soup bowls, add noodles if you’ve decided to use them, and top each serving with a pile of shrimp.
5. Sprinkle on all other ingredients and serve immediately, passing lime wedges separately.

Swiss chard with cumin, tomatoes, and cilantro

tomatoes onions chard cilantro greens beet greens chard stems

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This recipe is deceptive—maybe it doesn’t look all that phenomenal, but I’m telling you, it is fabulous. The fresh Swiss chard at the market now is so sweet and delicious, and those big red tomatoes are so good… You can get fresh cilantro, and I even used Alaskan storage onions! Even if you don’t have the cilantro, make this anyway!

It’s a variation of a recipe in a Cooks’ Illustrated from many years ago. I have all the back issues, and I love mining them for good ideas!

If you happen to have a fresh jalepeno hanging around, by all means use it, but otherwise, just use a small can of chopped green chiles. I always keep a few cans in the pantry just for these sorts of occasions. The chiles really do add a great taste.

I ate this with spicy roasted cauliflower with red peppers and cumin and a little brown basmati rice (recipes in the cookbook and on the website), and it was SO GOOD!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, minced
sea salt or kosher salt
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 medium jalepeno pepper, OR 1 small can chopped green chiles
1 ½ teaspoons cumin
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 pounds Swiss chard with stems
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
freshly-ground black pepper

1. Wash the chard and cut the stems off each leaf. Holding the stems in a bundle, cut them into ½-inch slices. If the leaves are large, slice them into 1-inch wide ribbons, but if they are small, you can leave them whole. Drain the leaves, but don’t dry them.
2. Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add onion and ½ teaspoon of salt, sauté for a minute or two until starting to soften, then add the chard stems. Cook until stems are tender and onion is cooked. How long this takes will depend on the age of the chard. If the pan is drying out before the stems are tender, just add a bit of water to steam them and finish cooking them.
3. Then add the garlic, chiles, and cumin; sauté another minute or so. Add the tomatoes and cook until their juices release, about another minute. Add wet greens to the pan, stir around a bit, then cover and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until greens completely wilt but are still bright green, about 5 minutes. Uncover, and if needed, finish cooking until just tender. Add cilantro. Taste and season with additional salt if desired, and pepper if it’s not spicy enough already from the chiles.