Cook the Books 2013 - Tender goodness from Nigel Slater

This month's Cook the Books assignment was Tender by Nigel Slater. I loved this tome of a cookbook and its somewhat non-standard presentation; think part gardening diary, part ode to the seasons (the moody photos especially), part personal narrative, and a lot of enticing recipes. Organized alphabetically by type of produce, he starts each chapter discussing the specific vegetable in both the garden and in the kitchen. The section (when applicable) on varieties was always interesting and informative to read, but I think my favorite feature was the list of seasoning recommendations for that specific vegetable. From herbs and spices to best oils and accompaniments, I felt like this piece showed a lot of his cook's personality, and was plenty useful and inspiring—and I definitely found some things I wouldn't have thought of, but that make perfect sense.

The lineup of dishes served up this month was modest, but across-the-board satisfying.

Chickpea patties with beet tzatziki

I broke in my new food processor (first full-size one I've ever owned) making the chickpea patties! They took a bit of finessing in the pan to get right, but in my opinion the key is to not make them too big, and to let them cook long enough on the first side to crisp and firm up so you can flip them without them coming out a crumbly mess.

Messy

Tidy

Tasty

The color and flavor boost from the grated beet "tzatziki", with additional salt and lemon, is what really made this shine for me.

Chard with olive oil and lemon

First-ever time that I boiled chard. Of course really it's just blanching, but still I was surprised at this preparation, not least at how much I liked it. So I busted out a new technique and a new tool in the kitchen this month!

A pilaf of asparagus and mint (sans the favas)

I saw favas all over early in the month, but by the time I was looking for them to cook with, they were nowhere to be found. So I made the spring pilaf without them and still loved it. The aromatic spices added great dimension, but I cut down the butter called for by about 1/3, and still found it a bit heavy for the dish. In fact, there were a lot dishes in this book that called for heavy cream or a lot of butter, it kind of made me laugh. Of course that tastes good! Maybe the difference of the UK still being cold in spring came into play, but veggies I would think of as lending themselves to being lighter often had a lineup of heavy ingredients. Still, come cold nights, I could definitely see myself turning to some of them. Again, this one I felt like was really elevated by the yogurt sauce, so don't skip it.

Check out some of the dishes Grow & Resist and Ohbriggsy cooked up, and as soon as it's up I'll post the recap of everyone's menus.

Springtime bounty

Nature is really showing off around the Bay Area lately. Maybe it’s just after all that cold and rain, the appeal of being provocative and showing off the equivalent of a lot of skin is just too enticing. Go check out the verdant green and wildflower brocade of Bernal Hill if you don’t know what I mean.

In addition to windy walks, I’ve savored a couple incredible beach days and have been especially enjoying some farmers market forays. I don’t usually go to the Heart of the City one at the Civic Center on Wednesdays, but since I had to hit the Steps Sale at the San Francisco Public Library this week, it was an easy add-on. I think the most astonishing award has to go to the tables of gigantic cauliflower heads that really drove home the fact that these are actually flowers. If they had longer stems, I would be making vase arrangements for sure. 

A huge rosemary harvest and a large $2 bunch of lemongrass has also led me to make some delicious simple syrups I am at this moment enjoying in cocktail form. C’mon, it is Friday evening, after all!

At the Bakesale for Japan at Bi-rite last weekend, it was heart-warming to see how everyone rallied to the cause and donated an incredible array of goodies. I did my part by bringing home some coffee-passion caramels from the Tell Tale Preserve Co., a jar of lemon curd, sunflower butter cups, peanut butter apricot cookies and a piece of matcha pound cake. I am still trying to find out who made the phenomenal sunflower butter cups - they were amazing.  

On the home front, I planted some herb starters in containers on the deck including a lime-scented geranium that I can’t wait to do something exciting with once it’s grown a bit larger and can give up some of its fragrant leaves.

Lastly, today I made Pickled Chard Stems! While sometimes I definitely cook the stems with whatever dish I’m using the chard in, lately I’ve been going right to the leaves, and just discarding those gorgeous red stems seems like such a waste. I had literally set aside a bunch of them in order to do something useful with them later, when I came across this recipe on the Local Kitchen blog. It felt extremely satisfying to get such a beautiful result from something I otherwise wasn’t going to use.

Happy weekend friends, hope wherever you are spring is rearing its magical head for you too.