A Good Dish

making food simpler

It Is Shell Bean Season And Borlotti/Cranberry Beans Are An Easy, Fresh Protein Source

Borlotti/Cranberry beans simmered with herbs and garlic
Porcelain bowl by Silvie Granatelli

Borlotti beans, also called Cranberry beans because of their speckled fuschia pods and interior dots, are a type of shell bean that shows up at farmers markets in fall. You may find the bright pink and cream-colored pods still tinged with green or yellowing – either way, they are all okay. I’ve even found pods that look like the ends are rotting but the beans inside were still fine. Sadly, as gorgeous as they are raw, they lose most of their vibrant color when cooked. Unlike green or wax beans, which can be eaten raw or cooked, shell beans, like dry beans, need cooking to be digestible. You simply remove them from their pods (as you would shell fresh peas) and simmer in water or broth until tender.

Fresh cranberry/borlotti beans in their pods
Shelled beans ready to cook
Sometimes you get a batch of very colorful beans

Fresh Borlotti/Cranberry beans may be one of the most versatile beans. Once cooked, you can add them to salads, pastas, soups (especially good in a minestrone) or even just tossed with butter and salt. They make a delicious bean salad with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. Whoever discovered there were edible beans in these pretty pods and that you had to cook them before eating was a brilliant risk-taker. Fortunately for us, that someone was adventurous because these beans are both tasty and high in protein and fiber.

Beans in their pod
Dry shell beans are shelf stable but need soaking and longer cooking
Simmer beans with fresh or dry herbs, garlic or onion until tender

My favorite ways to eat cooked Borlotti beans are 1- simply simmered with garlic and herbs, drained and drizzled with olive oil and 2- combined with corn and red pepper in a succotash. You can store cooked beans in the fridge for a couple of days so they work well as a cook once, eat several times ingredient. Plus, you can freeze cooked beans and always have a protein available to add to a soup or pasta mid-winter. Buy a few pounds at your local farmers market, shell and simmer until soft and please share with the rest of us how you used them.

Succotash made with shell beans
Porcelain bowl by Sylvie Granatelli

See a piece I wrote on Sylvie Granatelli‘s work here.

Napa Cabbage Sauté With Carrots, Onions And Sesame Is Easy Anytime Of Year

Napa sauté
Plate by Dehmie Dehmlow

Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese cabbage, is the most common ingredient in kimchi, appears in soup and stir-fry recipes in many cuisines around the world and also makes a good salad. It is milder and sweeter than head cabbage and a great back-up vegetable to keep on hand. Like other cruciferous vegetables, it lasts a pretty long time in the fridge – up to two weeks. If, after a long refrigerator nap, the outer leaves look spotty or wilted, just peel them off and use the rest. I find it in Northeast farmers markets from spring to fall and it is widely available in mainstream chain groceries and Asian markets year round. Napa shrinks down dramatically as it cooks because of its high water content so don’t be afraid to start out with a lot of raw cabbage.

Napa at our farmers’ market
If you cut napa lengthwise and lay cut side down,
it is easier to cut into pieces
Cut carrots into slices and then matchsticks

My favorite way to prepare Napa is in a macrobiotic/Japanese style sauté with onions, carrots and sesame that I learned how to make when I took a macro cooking class my first year out of college. I make it the same way all these years later because it is simple to prepare, good leftover and everyone seems to like it. Why mess with a good thing?

Napa sauté with toasted sesame seeds
Boat bowl by Dehmie Dehmlow

SAUTÉED NAPA CABBAGE WITH ONIONS AND CARROTS

  • 2 TBs neutral cooking oil, like avocado or grape seed
  • 1 large onion, peeled, halved and sliced
  • 3-4 large carrots, cut in thick matchsticks
  • 1 small or 1/2 large Napa cabbage, cut in squares (make 2-3 lengthwise slices and then slice crosswise)
  • 2 TBs tamari or soy sauce
  • 1-2 tsps dark sesame oil
  • 1-2 TBs toasted sesame seeds or gomasio (sesame salt)(optional)
  • Heat the oil in a large high sided skillet or wide stockpot.

Add onions and cook until wilted but don’t brown.

Add carrots and cook 3-4 minutes more.

Add Napa and tamari, stir, cover and cook about 4-5 minutes until wilted but still some bright green evident. 

Turn off heat, add sesame oil and toss. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. 

Put in serving dish and top with sesame seeds.

Serves 4-6 and stores 2-3 days refrigerated.

Dehmlow plate recto

Dehmie Dehmlow is making some of the most inventive plates, bowls and cups round. She considers shape, volume, rhythm, line, color, surface and use, producing generous, painterly and sculptural pieces that are both thoughtful and playful.

Dehmlow plate verso

Make Summer Last A Little Longer With This Easy Fresh Corn Salad

Corn salad
Stoneware Bowl by Wayne Smith

Fresh corn is at its best from late August through September, if we are lucky. I grew up near farms that grew corn in Connecticut and we ate a lot of it, mostly just boiled. My father was so picky about his corn—he only liked small, tender kernels and wouldn’t eat it if it wasn’t freshly picked. Because of that insistence, we often drove out to farm stands selling that day’s corn, shucked it in the backyard and put it right into boiling water. While I am not nearly so fussy, I do appreciate fresh farm stand or farmers market corn, although I am willing to eat many varieties and will store it in the fridge for a couple of days, if need be. I am not positive it makes a difference but have always felt that keeping corn cold kept the sugars from turning starchy so I refrigerate it until just before using.

Lots of fresh corn
in markets right now

Sometimes we get corn in our CSA share. Otherwise I buy it at a farmers market or a roadside stand. Right now fantastically sweet corn can be had all over the Northeast. I am a sucker for the baker’s dozen deal where you get thirteen cobs for the price of twelve. What am I going to do with so much corn for just two people, you may wonder? Well, I boil or steam them all, serve two (or 4, depending on our voracity) and refrigerate the rest. This gives me the fixings for corn soup, a cold cob of corn for breakfast, corn in salsa, succotash or, perhaps easiest and tastiest of all, fresh corn salad.

Simple fresh ingredients
make a delicious salad

Making corn salad is as simple as cutting the kernels off the cob (use those cobs to make stock for corn soup), dicing some fresh red or green bell peppers and red or Vidalia onion, adding some fresh herbs and tossing it all with a tangy cider vinaigrette. Add peppery baby arugula, sliced cherry tomatoes, cooked cranberry or black beans or minced chili peppers as you please. This is perfect picnic or potluck food as it can sit out for a couple of hours if you bring it chilled and it stores well for a few days refrigerated. Fresh corn salad makes a terrific summer meal alongside a tomato or peach caprese salad. Buy that dozen so you have enough to share with friends and save everyone the heat of cooking for an evening.

Corn Salad in a stoneware bowl
by Wayne Smith

FRESH CORN SALAD 

  • Kernels from 6-8 cobs fresh corn, cooked
  • I red onion, diced finely
  • 1-2 red bell peppers, diced finely
  • 1-2 jalapeño peppers, diced
  • A big handful of fresh basil leaves, sliced in thin strips
  • Vinaigrette:
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • Big pinch salt and black pepper(Optional pinch cumin, thyme, chili powder-taste before adding to see if you think it needs more flavor)

Toss prepared vegetables with vinaigrette and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Serve chilled or at room temperature. If freezing, don’t add basil until serving. 

Rimmed bowl by Wayne Smith
Photo courtesy of the artist
Platter by Wayne Smith
Photo courtesy of the artist
Jardiniere by Wayne Smith
Photo courtesy of the artist

Peach Season Is Here! Peach Salsa Is Delicious With Grilled Or Uncooked Peaches

Grilled (front) and raw peach salsa
Small bowls by Sandy Simon

Is there anything more summery to eat than a juicy peach? When I saw that a nearby apple farm was selling pecks of peaches (yes, peck—about 10-12 lbs) for $20, I couldn’t resist. But what do you do with 10 or more pounds of peaches, all ripening at the same time? When my sister told me her husband had been grilling peaches, my mouth started watering and my mind racing with ideas. I grilled a dozen peaches (delicious in green salad, alongside sausages or as a dessert alone or with ice cream) simply by halving and brushing the cut sides with olive oil and then laying the oil side down on the hot grate for several minutes. Presto—deliciousness!

Simply grilled peaches
Rimmed bowl by Sandy Simon

Although my husband and I are enthusiastic eaters, even we couldn’t chow down all those grilled peaches. So my next project was turning the leftovers into salsa. Pretty easy, actually. It merely took finely chopping some onion, peppers and cilantro along with the peaches and squeezing fresh lime juice over all. I let it sit a few hours in the fridge and, once again, delicious! I tried variations with corn, shallots, basil and fresh uncooked peaches and liked each one. No grill? Just use a grill pan or griddle on your stovetop. If you like a little more bite to your salsa, add a splash of cider vinegar and a pinch of cayenne. Use your preferred herb and corn or tomatoes to plump up your salsa, as you see fit. Other possible add-ins could be avocado, black beans, grated or candied ginger and lightly cooked tomatillos. This salsa was great by itself with corn chips and celery stalks but would also be good on grilled bread slices with goat or mozzarella to make bruschetta, atop baked cod or alongside a pork chop or sausage.

Prepared onions, peppers, cilantro and corn
Chopped grilled peaches

Even after making peach caprese with ungrilled peaches, adding some sliced peaches to bowls of yogurt and to smoothies and eating a few out of hand, juices dripping, I still had a few pounds left from that peck. Those I sliced, tossed with lemon juice (so they didn’t turn brown) and froze them on a rimmed cookie sheet, like we did blueberries a few weeks ago. When the days start getting darker, we will have a little peach sunshine on hand.

It is easy to freeze peaches

 

Peach salsa made with grilled (left) and uncooked peaches
Bowls by Sandy Simon

GRILLED PEACH SALSA

  • 4 (8 halves)grilled peaches, chopped
  • 1 small red onion, chopped finely (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 shallot, chopped finely
  • 1-2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped finely
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped finely
  • 1-2 ears of cooked corn, sliced from cob
  • Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped finely
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin and/or chili powder, optional
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • Pinch salt

Mix all together and refrigerate a few hours or overnight before serving. Keeps 3-4 days refrigerated.

Set of small slipped and glazed earthenware bowls
by Sandy Simon

Lacto-Fermented (Salt) Pickles Are Easy To Make And To Eat!

Lacto-fermented pickle spears
Stoneware plate by Mary Barringer

Two potters I like and respect, Liz Quackenbush and Doug Peltzman, recently posted similar recipes for lacto-fermented pickles. Liz uses a combination of salt and vinegar and Doug just salt. Last year, I posted a recipe for vinegar pickles and enjoyed those well into the winter but in Doug’s recipe, the cukes are cured with salt water and delicious but are not for long term storage. I gave them a try. Lacto-fermentation is the process of good bacteria eating and converting sugars into lactic acid, similar to sourdough, yogurt, kombucha, kimchi or sauerkraut (also very easy to make with just cabbage and salt). Food becomes easier to digest and has healthy benefits (good bacteria in our guts is a positive thing) as a result of this process. 

Bubbles indicating fermentation

I thought making pickles with vinegar was easy but with salt it is even simpler. Just dissolve the salt in water, add herbs, garlic and spices and your cucumbers (whole or cut). Then you  cover and wait a few days until the pickling magic happens. You can use a crock (Peltzman makes some beauties especially designed for this process, with a water lock—the gallery/shelf where the lid sits has a little depression for water—so gas produced by fermentation can escape) or just clean glass jars. I’ve found other potters making crocks (including (Krista Cortese, Gwendolyn Yoppolo, Miki Palchick, Daniel Bellow to name a few) but there are many making wonderful big jars or lidded bowls which work, too, if you crack the lid to let the gas that is formed by fermentation to escape.

Pickles in process in a Doug Peltzman crock
Photo courtesy of the artist
Stoneware fermenting crocks by Doug Peltzman
Photo courtesy of the artist

You can pickle other vegetables, like carrots, green beans and green tomatoes this way. If I make more pickles  I will have to learn to use a water bath to preserve them into the winter without refrigeration but, honestly, it is not likely I will be willing to go through that hot processing, since we are eating them so quickly. For now, we will be happily munching pickles from the fridge, using them in salmon and sardine salads and putting them on burgers of all kinds. Next time I may have to use a half-gallon jar… Thanks to Doug and Liz for the inspiration and guidance.

Lacto-fermented pickle
Plate by Mary Barringer

PICKLES (from Doug Peltzman)

  • 1 clean quart glass jar with non-reactive lid
  • 1 quart water 
  • 2 1/2 TBs salt (I used Diamond Crystal kosher)
  • 1/2-1 TBs black peppercorns 
  • 1-2 bay leaves
  • 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • Small handful of fresh dill, with flowers if available
  • Enough fresh pickling cucumbers (like Kirby) to fill your jar, whole or in half or quartered spears
  • Optional – mustard seeds, allspice or coriander berries, red pepper flakes

Pack jar tightly with cucumbers, whole or in spears, along with dill, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and whatever other spices you choose 

Mix salt into water and stir until dissolved. 

Pour into packed jar to completely cover pickles. 

Let sit out uncovered (I used a layer of cheesecloth draped on top to keep out flies, etc.) 2-3 days until brine is bubbly and cucumbers have started to yellow or darken from bright green and look like pickles. Cover tightly and refrigerate a few days before using. Taste to see if they are pickled enough for your preference. 

Ready to eat!

Mary Barringer makes a wide range of handbuilt stoneware pots with intriguing, painterly imagery and rich, textured surfaces. Her small plates are irresistible to me and so pleasurable to use or just look at. We have been buying and enjoying her pots for decades and I highly recommend having a look at her shop–the link is below.

Small stoneware plates
by Mary Barringer