Black Bean Salad Farmer's Market Style

As a continuation of yesterday's post on Dinner from the Farmer's Market, I thought I'd share with you this lovely lunch made with the vegetables from my farmer's market haul, sardine sandwich on toasted ciabatta topped with slices of fresh heirloom tomatoes seasoned with homemade lavender salt, with black bean salad on the side.  I felt like an Italian grandfather eating this dish, and I was sure to brush my teeth vigorously after it, but it was so soul-satisfyingly good.  

To make the sandwich, I halved and toasted a section of ciabatta bread, opened a tin of sardines packed in water, drained them, added a little mayo and smashed it up.  I smeared the sardines onto the bread and topped with tomatoes and salt.  One tin of sardines made one hearty serving.  On the side, I had this little salad.  The leftovers of it kept for days and kept getting better and better.  Enjoy.

Black Bean Salad Farmer's Market Style by Joie de vivre

Salad Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

kernels of corn from 3 ears of corn, cooked and cooled

1/2 bulb fennel, chopped somewhat finely

1 red pepper (choose your level of heat) chopped 

1 medium sized red onion, chopped finely

1/3 c. finely chopped cilantro

Dressing:

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c. lime juice (I just used bottled)

1 garlic clove, minced

Pinch of ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Combine all of salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld.

2.  One hour before serving, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Before serving, combine the dressing with the salad and stir together.  Salad gets even better the next day. 

That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment

Yesterday afternoon, I found inspiration on how to pep up my frozen fish fillets from an unexpected source. I had a joyous 30 minutes alone in the car yesterday to listen to a radio station that I chose! Usually I'm hauling around kiddos who insist on listening to Kids Place Live on Sirius nonstop. But yesterday, I was alone in the car and was able to listen to something OTHER than kids music! Since this never happens, I didn't really know my other options. As I was flipping through the millions of stations on Sirius, I happened across a station called Hair Nation (seriously). It is a tribute station to the great hair bands of the 1980's. You know, like Firehouse and Def Leppard? I hadn't heard some of these songs in probably 20 years (did I just say that? *shudder*) but somewhere in my brain, all of the lyrics were hidden and I was singing at the top of my lungs. It was here that I found inspiration for my fish condiment. Here is my tribute to the great 80's hair bands, That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment. I think the name says it all. It did go nicely with the fish and was a good way to zing up an otherwise bland source of protein. Enjoy!

That'll put hair on your chest fish condiment by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 2oz. can anchovies
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 oz. can hot diced jalapenos
20 grape tomatoes, halved

Directions:

1. Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil.
2. Add the diced onion and minced garlic and let soften for 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the anchovies plus the anchovy oil mashing the anchovies with the back of your spoon until completely disintegrated.
4. Add the red pepper flakes and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant
5. Add the can of jalapenos and the grape tomatoes. Continue stirring off and on for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through and slightly mushy.
6. Serve with fish to pep up your dinner!

Imagining Avignon

Joan over at Foodalogue has been hosting a wonderful food event titled, "A Culinary Tour Around the World".  Each week, she and participants travel virtually to other countries through the food.  They "meet" people along the way as they dine their way through the country.  Joan started this event not only to satisfy her traveling bug, but to bring awareness to organizations that help fight hunger such as BloggerAid and World Food Programme.  I am so honored that Joan asked me to join their group in France this week.  I had so much fun imagining myself bicycling through southern France and sitting at farmer's tables, that I plan on joining them again.

When Joan and the others caught up with me, I was in a little town in southern France called Avignon.  Avignon has a long history, however, it is probably most famous for the Palais des Papes.  In 1309, Pope Clement V declared Avignon to be the residence of the Papacy instead of Rome.  Seven popes eventually resided in Avignon, however when Gregory XI moved the papacy back to Rome in 1376, a schism occurred in the Catholic church and a small band of cardinals declared a second pope, an antipope, in Avignon.

The Palais des Papes

Today, Avignon is a beautiful town, perfect for wandering through, and a base for exploring Provence.  It was here that I "met" my wonderful guide, a gardener named Michel.  He was the caretaker of a small castle in a little town called Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  It was an hour or so drive to the north, so I settled into his little Peugeot and watched the countryside pass.  The fields of sunflowers and lavender were in bloom (in my imagination, it is always summer) so the time passed quickly and I used it to get to know Michel a little better.  Michel's castle was owned by a rich Parisian couple who spent two weeks in the summer and two weeks in the winter in Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  The rest of the year, Michel and his wife, Aurelie, cared for the castle and it's grounds.

When we arrived at Michel's home, Michel's brother, Benoit, and his family were also there for Sunday lunch.  Benoit gave me a two cheek kiss in greeting and invited me to join a game of petanque.  As he looked like he took it very seriously, and I am not really a sporty type, I politely declined to see what Aurelie was up to in the kitchen.  Aurelie was preparing a simple sandwich called Sardines Grillees Croutes on homemade baguettes.  I found an approximation of her recipe in Rick Stein's French Odyssey.

Grilled Sardine Croutes adapted from Rick Stein's French Odyssey

Serves 3

1 tin sardines, in olive oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 chunks of baguette

3 romaine lettuce leaves

1-2 nice tomatoes, cut into very thin slices

1 jar roasted red peppers

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered

6 anchovy fillets, in olive oil

Directions:  

1.  Open the sardine tin.  There should be three small chunks of sardines inside.  Open each chunk up by cutting down the middle.  Put the sardines on a cookie tray and broil for 3 minutes.

2.  Begin assembling sandwiches.

3.  Open up each chunk of baguette.  On the bottom halves of the baguette chunks, lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Lay romaine lettuce leaves, tomato slices, red onion slices and roasted red pepper pieces on in that order.  Top with sardines and anchovies.

4.  Serve top half of bread alongside.  Also serve with 4 hard boiled egg quarters.

5.  Eat with a fork and knife.

For dessert, Aurelie unwrapped a chunk of Saint Andre cheese, a triple creme cow's milk cheese, and placed it on a communal tray with some prunes.  We also had Aurelie's freshly made yogurt alongside.

After eating, we toured Aurelie's garden.  She had lots of raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, and even a bee hive from which Michel extracts honey in the fall.  It was a very pleasant day in the sun.  We eventually settled in watching Benoit and Michel play a couple of very serious rounds of petanque while sipping on a nice Burgundy.

All too soon, it was time to head to the big city of Grenoble for my flight out of France.  Joan and her travel buddies are off to Portugal next week.  I had been planning on meeting them in Ethiopia in three weeks, but I had so much fun on this adventure that they may see me before that.  If you are interested in joining Joan and crew yourself for their culinary tour, just click on the Foodalogue badge above.  Until then, A bientot!

Sweethearts dinner

Last year, my hubby forgot Valentines day.  Forgot that is until about 7 p.m. that night when I incredulously looked at him and said, "You didn't even get me a card?"  In his defense, hubby is a great hubby and when I said that to him was busy playing with the kids and getting them ready for bed, but forethought on Valentines day is not one of his strong suits.  Therefore, if I want to celebrate Valentines day, I really need to plan it myself.  This year, we celebrated a little early.  I am sending this to the Alchemist Chef for her Valentine's Day Recipe Competition.  Although it is slightly cheating as it isn't really a "recipe" per se, it still was quite romantic.  There is something about eating slowly and with your hands that is quite, um, stimulating.

I call this slightly cheating because I didn't even have to cook these.  My local fishmonger had already steamed them, I merely had to bring them home, put them in a steamer for 10 minutes to warm them, and melt some butter to dip the meat in.

Oh, another thing to save hubby embarrassment over his lack of Valentine Day planning skills, he is a great photographer.  I introduced him to the term "food pornography" a few weeks ago and, after he laughed and laughed, has been working on his food photos!  He took these two.  The top one is my favorite.

Do you have any special plans this Valentines day?  Do share!

Quick Cioppino

Oooh Nellie, I am one spoiled girl.  Whilst flipping through the December issue of Martha Stewart living at my mother in law's house, I came across a recipe for quick cioppino.  Cioppino was traditionally an Italian fisherman stew made with the catch of the day.  While I adapted Martha's recipe, I still made one rockin' bowl of soup.  My five year old LOVED this stew and asked for seconds of clam and mussels.  I take that as the ultimate compliment.  I'm sending this soup to be part of the Souper Sunday event over at Kahakai kitchen.  Enjoy!

Joie de vivre's Rockin' Cioppino

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. course salt

1/8 tsp. chili pepper

1 1/4 c. dry white wine, like Chardonnay

1 15oz. can diced tomatoes with juice

2 1/2 c. chicken stock

14 mussels, debearded and scrubbed well

1 1/2 lbs. clams, scrubbed well

1 lb. firm white fish fillets, like rock cod, cut into 2 inch pieces.

Directions:

1.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Saute the onions and garlic until translucent.

2.  Add thyme, salt, chili pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring.

3.  Add the wine, scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pot with your wooden spoon, simmer for 1 minute.

4.  Stir in the tomatoes with juice and chicken stock.

5.  Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

6.  Add the seafood, re-cover the pot, and cook until the shells open, about 6 minutes.  Discard any unopened shells.

7.  Dish into bowls, serve with nice rolls and put an empty bowl in the middle of the table to serve as the communal shell discard bowl.

Election Day Dinner - 2 days late!

Doesn't this sound like all of us sometimes?  You are running the kids to an activity, you have to pick up a gallon of milk, then you have a quick meeting before running to pick up the kids again.  This was my night on election night.  I had a 5 pm meeting at church when I usually am cooking dinner and got home at 6 pm with the little ones saying they were hungry and my own desire to watch the election results calling for a quick dinner.  Fortunately, one of my stops before church had been to our local fishmonger.  He had fresh Rock Cod in that day and I picked up two fillets as well as his homemade beer batter mix.  While my husband sauteed up some swiss chard, and I microwaved some green beans and put a packaged Caesar salad in a bowl, I was frying up some golden pieces of yumminess.  A quick, delicious dinner, in about 15 minutes, better and healthier than take-out, and then we were all set to settle in and watch the results come in!