Roasted Baby Fennel

Super easy and tasty. I found these at the farmer's market and they were too cute to pass up. Just roast in the oven at 425 for 15-20 minutes or so. Olive oil, salt, and pepper. I love the licorice taste of fennel.
 

Bi Bim Bap

Dolset Bi Bim Bap is my favorite menu item in Korean Restaurants. It's a bowl of rice with veggies, a fried egg (of course) and usually kalbi beef, but of course here I subbed baked tofu. It arrives to your table in a smokin hot iron bowl, sizzling like fajitas. The desired effect of the presentation is not just to impress the diner, but to create this divine crust of rice at the bottom.

And I love the variety of vegetables the dish features. Variety being the key. I've made this version with shitakes, broccolette, carrots, and arugala, but you could use almost any combo.
 

I've replicated Bi Bim Bap by sauteing rice with a bit of hot and teriyaki sauce, and then letting it sit in the frying pan on medium hit to get the rice to form a crust. After a few minutes, I crack the eggs in and put a lid on for them to cook. The vegetables are sauteed separately in another pan with a touch of teriyaki.
 

Then you put it all together to serve. In Korean restaurants, Bi Bim Bap always comes organized like this for presentation, so that is what I show here, but I've also made this more like a stirfry, which is easier and tastes just as good.

 

Home, sweet home

We are back from a most excellent vacation (more later) and though we are mostly out of food, my garden welcomed our return with a fair number of green and yellow beans and a cup of sun gold cherry tomatoes. Eager to get back to cooking, I endeavored to make this salad I'd read about somewhere. The result was shockingly good. I seriously did not expect to be discovering my favorite new food. Granted, the dish was helped by being all picked within a few minutes of serving and the fact that sun gold cherry tomatoes are the best on Earth. But still! I can't believe what I've been missing out on!

Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad
Serves 2

2 Cups of green beans (or yellow or purple or a mix)
1 Cup cherry tomatoes (sun gold if you can)

Vinaigrette (this is what I used, but use your fave)
1 Tablespoon ev olive oil
1 Tablespoon white balsalmic
1 cube dorot frozen basil
1 cube dorot frozen garlic
(these are awesome trader joe finds that make life easy, you could also chop up a clove of garlic and a few basil leaves)
salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the salad, first wash and de-end the beans then blanch for 4-5 minutes in boiling water. Meanwhile chop tomotoes in half. When beans are done, run them under cold water and set them on a paper towel to dry. Toss beans with tomatoes and vinaigrette. Enjoy!

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Marination Mobile Tacos

Inspired by the very popular Korean Hawaiian Taco Truck. This version of the "sexy tofu" isn't that hard to make. I just marinated extra firm tofu in Soy Vay Teriyaki marinade overnight.
 

Grilled it up, and topped it was some bok choy and shitakes. Really super good! Easy! Not quite the real thing, but since I rarely get to go, it will do.
 

Cantaloupe Fantasia

I just got a cantaloupe in my CSA box and I was a little dismayed. It used to be prosciutto e melone was my favorite way to eat cantaloupe and at first I wasn't inspired to eat this one. So I bought some fake ham and faked it.

 

This was nothing to write home about, but it did make me realize cantaloupe is plenty tasty to just eat plain. But I also remembered the delicious watermelon salad we've had a few times and tried something similar with the cantaloupe. This is spring onion, purple basil and cojita with chunks of cantaloupe. Really Really Really good.
 

Soup and Sleep Days

When I get a cold, there are two things I like: soup and sleep. A trick I picked up during my study abroad days when I could just go to bed if I wasn't feeling good. I was feeling pretty crummy at the beginning of June, so Charlie made me his specialty: garlicky paprika tomato soup with toasted cheese. SO Yummy.
 

And later I made my other top comfort food, top ramen. This bowl featured shrimp, baby bok choy and shitake mushrooms. And of course and egg stirred in to thicken the broth.
 

Socca!

Socca will always have a very special place in my heart. Way back in the day, when I was 20, I took off on an a fairly epic journey. I drove with Jenny back to her school in Philly via the Southwest and then flew to travel around Europe for a month by train before meeting my study abroad group in Roma. Everything about it was totally brilliant, except that I was really hungry all the time.

I was vegan and fairly insistent about not bending the rule even the tiniest bit while travelling. Let's face it, I was 20, and when you are 20 you are naturally self-righteous. But I paid the price for it those first three weeks and I was getting more than a little bit cranky living on the road and eating only baguettes. I was on my way to Nice, when I read about their intriguing street food in the guidebook. Socca! Socca is a vegan (gluten free even) flatbread sold by street vendors all through this beautiful town. I went straight for the first vendor as soon as I arrived. It did not disappoint. Warm and peppery, this pizza like dish melts in your mouth and makes you feel totally content. The street vendors make it in these metal barrel BBQs so it has this smokiness to it. Plus it makes it that much more the perfect hobo food for the lost vegan girl riding the train around. I make this delight at home whenever I'm feeling nostalgic.

 

This is Mark Bittman's recipe for Socca, I use it for reference when I make mine. Since I am watching my calories, I only used 3 Tablespoons of olive oil and it's still good but doesn't melt in your mouth like the real thing. He's not kidding about the pepper, the more the better. I usually skip the rosemary and onion in favor of a teaspoon of cumin, which is how I enjoyed it in Nice.

Socca (Farinata)
Time: 45 minutes

1 cup chickpea flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon, at least, ground black pepper
4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced, optional


1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, optional.

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a well-seasoned or nonstick 12-inch pizza pan or cast-iron skillet in oven. Sift chickpea flour into a bowl; add salt and pepper; then slowly add 1 cup lukewarm water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover, and let sit while oven heats, or as long as 12 hours. Batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream.
2. If using onion and rosemary, stir them into batter. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into heated pan, and swirl to cover pan evenly. Pour in batter, and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until pancake is firm and edges set. Heat broiler, and brush top of socca with 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil if it looks dry.
3. Set socca a few inches away from broiler for a few minutes, just long enough to brown it spottily. Cut it into wedges, and serve hot, or at least warm.

Yield: 4 to 6 appetizer servings.

To impart that same BBQ smoky flavor, I make mine in a cast iron skillet:
 

Socca is excellent on its own, but it's fun to dress up too. Here I've made it like a pizza, mimicking my favorite vegan pizza from carmelita. This is white beans pureed with truffle oil, porcini mushrooms, pecans, roasted garlice, and water cress. Yum.

 

And since I am definitely not a vegan anymore -- I actually gave up soon after leaving Nice nearly 14 years ago -- I thought I'd try it out with one of my favorite combinations: havarti and tomato. This was better than the toasted havarti and tomato sandwich I made a few weeks ago.