Tag: Scallions

cabbage salad with lime and oregano

salad cabbage scallions oregano lime

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This salad recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers book. It’s fine even the next day as leftovers—it just gets to be more like cabbage pickles. It’s fantastic with homemade refried beans, or on top of the beans piled on a tostada… add diced avocados and you have a feast!! See the recipe for “tostadas three ways” for all kinds of recipes to serve with this salad!

If you’re serving this salad on its own (not with refried beans or something else), you can sprinkle it with toasted green pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for a little extra pizzaz. See instructions, below.

Tip: in case you like to make things occasionally with lime juice (like guacamole, or this recipe, for example) but you don’t always have limes hanging around, you can buy a big bag of them from Costco, squeeze them right away, and freeze the juice in small containers. Then you can just pop a container in the microwave for a few seconds when you need some fresh lime juice.

6 cups finely sliced green or red cabbage
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup finely diced white onion or scallion
2 pinches dried oregano
2 to 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro (if you have it—but go ahead and make this salad without cilantro if you don’t have any hanging around.)
1/3 cup lime juice

Toss the cabbage with the salt and onion and sugar. Add the rest of the salad ingredients, toss well, and taste carefully. Does it need more sugar? More salt? More lime? Add until you’re happy with the flavors. Its should be bright and pickle-y, not bland. Refrigerate until ready to use.

toasted green pumpkin seeds
Put a ½ cup or so of green pumpkin seeds (not the ones from your Jack-O-Lantern, but the kind you can buy in bulk at the grocery store) in a skillet over medium-high heat and toast, stirring fairly constantly (with your extractor fan running for the inevitable smoke) until the seeds swell up and turn golden around the edges. Some will make popping noises. Pour onto a plate and let cool for a bit to crisp up before serving.

fresh peas with scallions

scallions peas

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This is hardly a recipe, just a description. But with fresh peas from the market, it’s so perfectly delicious as a side with almost any meal.

fresh peas
scallion greens, sliced thin
extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt

Boil the peas for just a minute in salted water until tender, then drain them and toss with scallion greens, olive oil and salt to taste.

Thai-flavored eggplant with scallions

eggplant scallions basil thai

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Last week, Arthur (the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market manager), was clearing out his greenhouse of eggplants, so he gave me a bunch! What a treat! I made a bunch of baba ghanouj (eggplant dip) to freeze and share with him, but I still had some eggplants left. I thought I’d try a Thai theme, just for fun! This recipe is based on one from Cook’s Illustrated, and the article had a couple of other vegetable recipes to make, using this same sauce base. So for dinner I made this eggplant dish, and then another dish using the same sauce base:  broccoli and red peppers with Thai peanut sauce. It was a fantastic vegetable bonanza, served with rice!

It’s important to use an oil with a high smoke point, like peanut oil or grapeseed oil, so it doesn’t burn and smoke while you stir-fry the eggplant. Don’t use olive oil, for sure!

When I made this, I couldn’t find any basil at the Wednesday farmers’ market at the Dimond Center, so I just left it out, and it was great. But I’m sure it would really fantastic with the addition of the basil! 

Thai Sauce Base
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice plus 1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lime
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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Eggplant
1 tablespoon peanut oil or grapeseed oil, plus 1 more teaspoon
2 pounds eggplant (2 large globes, or 4 long skinny Japanese), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
6 medium cloves garlic, minced
1- inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin
½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn into rough 1/2-inch pieces (optional)

1. For Thai Sauce Base: Mix fish sauce, lime juice and zest, sugar, and red pepper in small bowl until sugar is dissolved; set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until shimmering, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggplant and cook, stirring or tossing the skillet every 10 to 15 seconds, until browned and tender, 5-10 minutes, depending on the type of eggplant.
3. Push eggplant to sides of skillet, clearing center of pan. Add remaining teaspoon oil, garlic, and ginger to center of pan and mash with back of spoon; cook until fragrant, 30 to 45 seconds, then stir mixture into eggplant. Add half of the Thai Sauce Base and stir until combined. Taste and see if you want to add more—it’s pretty potent and salty stuff, so I didn’t use quite all of mine. Add the sauce to your taste.
4. Off heat, stir in scallions and optional basil; serve immediately with rice.