Summer is for Salsa!

...And for cooling peppermint lemon infused water! So that's what I made today: a black bean, roasted green chile, minced onion, cilantro and lime salsa as well as a peppermint lemon water to have on-hand chillin' in the fridge. Seriously, this is the only way to escape the unbearable, oppressive, over 100 degree heat wave that has swept over Albuquerque these past two days. I highly recommend stocking your fridge with fresh homemade salsas and cooling waters. So easy and so good.

Peppermint Lemon Infused Water

1/2 Lemon, sliced fine

Handful of peppermint spears

A gallon of filtered water

You get it right...put it all together and chill for a couple of hours...soon you'll be drinking plenty of water to beat the summer into fall.

Black Bean & Roasted Green Chile Salsa

1/2 cup black beans

4 large roasted chiles, retaining some of the seeds

1/4 large onion minced

small handful cilantro, chopped fine

juice of 1 lime

Roast the chiles, peel the chiles, remove the tops, sliver long ways, then chop the other way. (You could also roast jalapenos if green chile is not available in your locale...but be careful, they are a bit hotter.) Chop onions & cilantro. Stir in with the beans, chiles, onions, cilantro and lime juice. Add salt to taste. Salsa is also for chips. The happy medium (pun) is a blue corn tortilla chip. Perfect for this salsa and pretty too...though I am sure it would be equally tasty atop a quesadilla with a little fresh avocado..

Blue Potatoes, Flowers in the Salad & Willy's Kale

You have to love summer. Maybe not the temperature as much as you love your garden, that is, if you have a garden. I noticed my potatoes dying back last week, a sure sign that says "dig us up". So I did this morning. I had planted Adirondack blues, a small purple potato, back in March. I only dug a small section of the plant but was able to unearth 6 potatoes ranging in size from a thumbnail to a fist. I knew what was for breakfast!

But before digging the potatoes I had already picked some fresh lettuce greens and nasturtium flowers. Salad for breakfast? Hells yes!

While plucking the lettuce I had also picked a bunch of kale. It's a variety that goes by the name of "Willy's Kale" on the seed package but I have seen a similar looking variety at our Co-op labeled as "Red Russian Kale". Regardless of monikers, it is a beautiful curly leaf variety that ranges in color from purple to green. The leaves don't seem to grow as big as other varieties but that could also be the consequence of the soil. Gardening is an art and a science. There are so many fine details of chemistry and biology that I have reverted to good ole' fashioned prayer. You plant it, say a few kind words to it, and pray that it grows. Tends to work mostly.

So the next question for me, and you if you're perceptive, was greens for breakfast? Mmmmm hmmmm. This is not an uncommon breakfast side dish at my house. Both of us love greens. LOVE greens. We would eat them all day if I had grown enough.

So that was breakfast: purple fried potatoes, lemony kale and nasturtium salad. So yummy...so simple...so I'll give up the recipes.

Purple Fried Potatoes

A handful and a half of Adirondack blue potatoes, cubed

1/4 onion, slivered

Olive oil, just enough to coat pan

Salt, to taste

Pepper, the same

You know the deal: cut em' up, place in pan, turn on med-high heat and watch, stirring occasionally. The browning process is up to you. I like my potatoes a little crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. I usually wait until I see some browning happening and then go about five more minutes. Always do a taste test. Mine were ready fairly quickly, perhaps because they were fresh. Different varieties have different cooking times so always taste test even if they look like they're browning. If they are burning and not cooking, turn it down, duh.

Nasturtium Salad

Greens from the garden

Nasturtiums, a couple for each salad

Olives, 2-4

Feta, sprinkled on top

No explanations necessary for salad right?

Dressing: Olive oil drizzle, olive juice from olives and fresh spritz of lemon.

Nasturtiums have been my favorite new addition to my garden this year. They add this festive neon orange, screaming firetruck red or mottled tie died peach and white to any salad (which you know is what you need to make it awesome). Aside from color, the taste is like a delicate petaled peppery radish. You can also eat the greens...bonus!

Lemony Kale

This has been my absolute favorite way to cook fresh greens this summer. So simple, so easy, so tasty that it almost requires no instructions like the above salad.

Bunch Kale, rolled up then sliced into centimeter slices

Olive Oil, enough to coat pan

3/4 of a lemon

Salt, to taste

Pepper, the same

Heat up the oil, place the kale in the pan, stir, add 1/2 a lemon and some salt and pepper. Cook this down until the greens have turned a forest green and look slippery. Do not overcook. Most people overcook greens and I think they are less tasty that way, plus some vital nutrients are probably cooked out. Turn off heat, squeeze the last wedge of lemon on, stir it up to evenly coat and of course enjoy.

Best Breakfast Ever!

Nutrition Factoid: Did you know one serving of potatoes has 100% of your daily recommended vitamin C? It does.

Two Recipes

Two common, yet amazing, recipes are following this sentence:

Cream of Radish Green Soup

and

Boule

Get psyched!!

In my last post I discussed the uses of radish greens. Yes the tops. If you can eat it, you should. (new motto)

The recipe is on tons of websites from Martha Stewart to well, mine.

Here she goes:

Tons o radish greens (bout as many as you can process)

Your heart (also as much as you can process)

6 cups veggie stock

an oninon

a couple potatoes (this makes things creamy, aside from the cream)

1/3 cup cream

Cook it like it sounds. Saute onions. Put in potatoes and radish greens, stir. Pour in stock. Boil for a while, cool, then blend. Add cream, stir, heat, eat. Oh, you might want to cut the onion...diced perhaps? Also, just a note: radish greens are very stringy, some recipes suggest straining, I strain through my teeth, you do what you want.

The Boule

Pronounced with a french accent, boule is a no fuss, no knead bread. Awesome! So simple you might wonder why you never thought of it before....or why they can get away with selling it for so much...not sure which is the better question... Let's wonder about that one together whilst we pour over the recipe:

3 cups warmish water

1 & 1/2 tbsp yeast

1 & 1/2 tbsp salt

6 & 1/2 cups flour (flowers)

basically you just mix it up. Don't worry about the salt killing the yeast because that actually does not happen. You should probably mix the first three ingredients first and then add the flour slowly. I only used 6 cups. Must be the altitude. Regardless, have 6 and a half cups on hand. As pictured, this is a very strong starter. We used it for bread (pictured) and pizza dough (sadly not pictured).

You best enjoy both recipes!!