Ginger-Glazed Grilled Carrots, Pea Shoots, Wild Rice Salad

It's the first week of our summer CSA!  This week we got the most beautiful basket of produce: fresh lettuces, spinach, scallions, mint, pea shoots, radishes, carrots, purple potatoes, and blueberry preserves.

The recipe ideas in their weekly newsletter looked really good too, so tonight I made one of them using the carrots and the pea shoots.  You basically marinate the carrots in a mixture of garlic, ginger, lime juice, brown sugar, and olive oil, then grill them whole.  Then you just make a quick salad out of the pea shoots and serve the carrots over the top.  I loved this method of cooking carrots!  Also, I forgot that pea shoots are totally edible, so this reminded me that I can be pruning my pea plants that are growing outside and add the pea shoots to my salads.

I also made a really yummy rice salad using a Mark Bittman recipe.  This recipe was a keeper!  Joe thought it was awesome, and I want to keep it in mind the next time I need to bring something to a picnic or potluck because it can be made ahead.

Ginger-Glazed Carrots and Pea Shoot Salad
adapted from Gathering Together Farm CSA newsletter
Serves 4

1 bunch carrots, tops removed, washed and peeled
1 bunch pea shoots
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
Dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Leave the carrots whole, and put them into a shallow bowl or plastic bag.  In a small bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, half of the lime juice, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and half of the olive oil.  Pour this mixture over the carrots and toss well.  Allow this to marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

You can grill these carrots on an outdoor grill, or indoors on a grill pan or cast-iron skillet.  Heat the grill or grill pan to a high flame/high heat.  Place carrots on the rack or in the pan.  Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Remove cover, flip carrots carefully.  Cook another 2-4 minutes or until the largest carrot is nice and charred on both sides.

Meanwhile, chop or tear the pea shoots into smaller pieces if desired.  Toss with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the other half of the lime juice.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Slice the carrots into 1-inch pieces if desired, or serve whole.  Pile on top of the pea shoot salad and serve immediately.

Wild Rice Salad
adapted from Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Serves 4

3-4 cups cooked wild rice, cooled
1/4 cup chopped scallion
1/2 cup dried blueberries, cranberries, or cherries (or a combination)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 large shallot (about 1 ounce), cut into chunks

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

In a large bowl, add the rice, scallions, dried berries, and almonds.  Toss with a fork to break up the rice and mix all the ingredients.

To make the vinaigrette, put the oil and lemon juice into a blender or small food processor.  Sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper.  Blend for about 30 seconds to emulsify.  Add the shallot chunks and pulse a few times until the shallot is minced within the dressing.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Drizzle the vinaigrette over the rice mixture and gently toss to combine.  Stir in the mint, taste one more time for seasoning.  Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to a day.  Bring the salad back up to room temperature before serving.

Apricot Poppy Seed Tofu with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus

Remember how I said before that most of my magazine recipe cut-outs were neatly filed away into file folders?  Well, that may have been a little optimistic.  Replace "most" with "hardly any" and replace "file folders" with "a massive pile on my desk", and then you'll have a more accurate description of my recipe collection.  These last couple of weeks I've been working on remedying that situation.  The result is that I've found a ton of recipes I forgot about that I can't wait to make!  This is one such recipe.

The actual recipe calls for chicken, but I used tofu, and it was delicious!  The apricot preserves make the sauce nice and sweet.  I had to let it simmer longer than it said to get it to thicken up.

To go with it, I roasted some asparagus and sweet potato wedges in the oven.  I sprinkled the potatoes with a little brown sugar in the last couple minutes of cooking.  It was yum!

Apricot Poppy Seed Tofu
adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine, September 2007
Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds firm tofu
Freshly ground black pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced (red onion works too)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup apricot preserves (chop any big fruit pieces)
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon butter

Slice the block of tofu in half lengthwise.  Press the tofu between layers of paper towels for a few minutes, or up to an hour if you have the time.  To add extra weight, set a heavy can (about two pounds) on top of a plate, and place the plate on top of the tofu.  This helps remove excess moisture and will help the tofu hold together better during cooking.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Season the tofu with salt and pepper and cook in the skillet, turning once or twice, until browned, about 5 minutes or so.  Add the shallots and cook for another 3 minutes.  Add the vinegar and cook until it is slightly reduced, about a minute.  Next add the broth, preserves, honey, and poppy seeds.  Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens.  Stir in the butter, and serve.

Inside-Out Spring Rolls

This is a wonderful, simple meal to have when you either don't have much time to cook, or you just don't want to spend a big chunk of your precious free time in the kitchen.  Sure, you could get take-out like this, but it's healthier to make it yourself, and taking some help from packaged pot stickers is a nice short cut.

I also would like to point out that this is the third meal I have made from just ONE head of cabbage!  Talk about stretching a buck!

Inside-Out Spring Rolls
adapted from Real Simple - Meals Made Easy
Serves 4

I used vegetable pot stickers but you could use whatever kind you like.  I also used regular soy sauce instead of low sodium, and dry roasted peanuts instead of salted.

1 16 ounce bag frozen pot stickers
1 tablespoon olive or peanut oil
1 large carrot, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 small head Napa or green cabbage, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce (regular or low-sodium)
1/4 cup peanuts, salted (or dry roasted)

Pan fry the pot stickers according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the carrot and cabbage and stir to coat with the oil.  Add the soy sauce and cook for just 2-3 minutes, so the vegetables are crisp-tender.

To serve, fill the bottom of a bowl with the vegetables, top with pot stickers, and sprinkle the peanuts over the top.

If your pot stickers came with a soy sauce packet, you can pour it into a small dish, heat it in the microwave, and serve alongside (I thought the soy sauce packet that came with ours was nasty, so I just dipped my pot stickers in some of our regular soy sauce).