the CONSCIOUS PALATE Newsletter : MAY 2010

How does it always get to be the end of the month so fast? You'd think I'd be up to speed, like all good bloggers, typing away effortlessly day in and day out. Guess I get tangled up in the tucks and folds of life... galloping along. I'm always and still learning to ride its saddle, settle down into its rhythm, gently steer it and let it travel me.
One thing I've been having loads of fun doing is photographing the season's earthly bounty when it shows up at the marketplace here in Paris and adding it to my new blog page: SEASONAL HARVEST: from the Loire Valley to Italy's Heel. It will by no way an exhaustive list ,at teast this first year around. But feel free to consult it and let the pictures inspire you to create seasonal wonders for your table. or ask me for suggestions... Every few days or week I'll add more to the list and post the entry on my blog as well as a link to it on my NEW Facebook page (please sign up on it!) and Twitter page (@ cucinaditerresa), and would love to have you follow me.

As I'm writing, the Champs-Elysées, from the Arc du Triomphe to the Rond Point, there where generally rivers of cars, flow has been magically transformed into a large tree-fruit-vegetable garden to bring attention to the plight of farmers. Quite a celebration of the earth sitting on top of hot asphalt; and it attracted the masses. Hope when they close up tonight they are going to pass all the plants, or at least take them back to their fields.

Now I often make my roast radishes recipe with my cooking class participants as something to nibble on during the classes (with a nice glass of Sauvignon from the Loire Valley - say an unfiltered Domaine de Villargeau La Belle Paresseuse 2007, Coteaux du Giennois), and always end up with a big bunch of them left over and sitting in my refrigerator. I mulled over different ways in which I might make use of them and eventually came up with this savory tart recipe. I like it quite a bit and thought I'd share it with you.

Here's a list of links on food and our relationship to it:
TED.org - Graham Hill: Why I'm a Weekend Vegetarian
Grain.org - Pastoralism an untold tale of adaptation and survival.
And from the Roots of Change newsletter:
PlanetGreen - Composting: It's easy, Awesome for the Environment, and Doesn't Have to Be Smelly
Little City Gardens
Farmland.org - Farm land and Food: Re-connected
California Farm Bureau Federation - Congress Starts to Work Early on 2012 Farm Bill
NYTimes - Farmers Cope with Round-Up Resistant Weeds
SFGate - Alice Waters Push for Local, Organic Setting National Agenda

WHITE-TIPPED RADISH TART – serves 6

Pie crust:
200 gr unbleached white flour (170 gr white flour, 30 gr Kamut or Farro flour)
100 gr sweet butter, room temperature
1/3 tsp unrefined sea salt
2-4 tBsp water

Filling:
400 gr red-white radishes, or other young fresh radishes, weighed without tops
125 gr walnuts
Zest of 1 lemon
2 generous handfuls flat parsley, coarsely chopped
1 smaller handful fresh mint, coarsely chopped
Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground WHITE pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Garnish:
50 - 60 ml quality Balsamic vinegar

— Sift flour with salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the softened butter cut into small pieces. With your hands rub the flour and butter together until the mixture turns crumbly. Add the water and stir lightly with a fork to mix until beginning to hold together (add more water if needed). Gather up into a ball, wrap in waxed paper or food wrap and set aside in a cool place for 1 - 2 hours.
— Wash and dry the radishes. Cut off the tops, and if fresh and tender, set aside.
— Just before rolling out the dough, preheat the oven to 200 ˚C (400 ˚F)
— Place the walnuts, lemon zest, chopped parsley and mint, and a pinch of unrefined sea salt in a chopper. Add 5 – 6 tBsp of water and blend until somewhat smooth. If needed add a bit more water: the mixture should be nicely moist but far from runny. Set aside.
— On a lightly floured surface, lightly knead the dough with the heel of your hand. Shape it again into a ball, flatten and roll out into a circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Line a 25-cm (10-inch) pie or tart dish. Crimp the edges if needed. Set aside.
— Using a mandolin, slice the radishes quite thin. Toss them in a bowl with a pinch of unrefined sea salt, a few twists of freshly ground white pepper, and enough extra-virgin olive oil to generously coat. Set aside.
— Cover the bottom of the pie dish with the walnut mixture. Arrange the radishes on top in an even layer. Bake on the middle rack in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden and the top radishes turning crisp. Remove and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
— In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, over medium-heat, reduce the Balsamic vinegar by two-thirds, or until syrupy (when small airy bubbles begin to cover the surface).

To serve: Drizzle a bit of the reduced balsamic vinegar around each slice and dip each bite of the tart into it. — You can also make a little herb salad to accompany the tart: if there were any nice tender radish leaves, combine them a couple handfuls of flat parsley, a handful of fresh dill and/or chervil, and season with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of unrefined sea salt and a couple twists of the pepper grinder.

SPRING SEASONAL HARVEST

 

WILD FENNEL grows prolifically throughout spring. It has often been considered a nasty weed, spreading out enthusiastically on hill and dale. You can easily forage for it on a sunny country lane or rolling hill. Kindly cut off the younger, more tender stalks — as they age they become fibrous. The bright green feathery fronds are wonderful added raw to salads. Sicilians cook frond and stalk then sculpt them into the most earthy wild fennel cakes.

VIOLET ARTICHOKES are cultivated all around the Mediterranean region. Certain Italian varieties are delectable eaten raw, very thinly sliced and served with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a good, spicy extra-virgin olive oil. They are harvested from March to May, (and often again in fall) and of course are heavenly in risotto or frittata.

RED and WHITE RADISHES — from that lovely and sulfurous Cruciferous family. Though available year around, radishes are a cooler weather vegetable and thus sweeter in spring and autumn, their leaves ever so more tender. In the simmering days of summer they become woody and lose all their joy. And those unblemished green tops... 'tis a shame to throw them away; they make for a great addition to salads, can be transformed into a wonderful pesto, or lightly wilted with a mixture of other baby greens. Besides they're an excellent source of Vitamin C and calcium (perhaps 6 times more content than the actual radish). And to think that we mainly grew up watching our mothers throw them away. Of course, if you're going to use the leaves, I'd suggest buying them grown organically, biodynamically, sustainably.... Better yet, grow them yourself — even on your windowsill.

WATERCRESS is one of the earliest known leafy vegetables eaten by humans. A quick growing cool-weather vegetable, it flourishes in spring and autumn. And it is quite an amazing source of calcium, iron, folic acid...

RED SCALLIONS, which are the early shoots of red onions, have begun to crop up at the marketplaces here in Paris. They arrive early April and sometime in June they'll disappear. But in the meantime, you can enjoy them in salads, pasta dishes, and...

Young bunches of BLETTE leaves are out and about this spring. The blette plant is kin to the Chenopodiaceae (or Goosefoot) family along with beets, spinach, amaranth and quinoa, It was cultivated in the European Mediterranean as far back as Babylon and ancient Rome. It became popualr in France in the Middle Ages with many a recipe honoring it. Depending on the variety, its taste and texture recall that of Swiss chard or collards. The blette pictured here is an early French variety whose leaves are small and somewhat thick and more collards in most ways. The variety praised by Italians, whose leaves can achieve elephantine proportions, has a surprisingly silky texture and thin, supple leaves, and brings more to mind Swiss chard. If growing it in you garden, it can be harvested from July to October. The larger leafy blette has white ribs which can comprise up to a third even a half of its size, but they are rarely discarded. In fact they're quite prized and spun into succulent gratins and savory tarts in France and Italy alike. One of my favorite ways to use the colossal leaves is in the savory tart, erbazzone, that hails from Emilia-Romagna.

The prized GARIGUETTE is a treat to behold in your mouth. This early variety of strawberry is picked from mid-April to mid-June and its presence at the marketplace exhales spring in all her glory.

This young bulb of FENNEL hails from Sicily where the more clement temperatures allow for winter growth. In its native region (southern Europe and the Mediterranean) it is normally planted in late spring or early summer for harvesting in autumn and then again in spring. Of course fennel is available in summer and winter, but oh how stringy and cantankerous it is, as fennel is not one persuaded by summer's warmth or winter's chill.

RHUBARB was known for its curative properties some 4500 years ago in places such as China and southern Russia, but it wasn't until the 18th century that people took to celebrating it in dishes, both savory and sweet. The beautiful red stalks are available from the end of April through June and they make wonderful compote, pies, chutney...

WILD FENNEL grows prolifically throughout spring. It has often been considered a nasty weed, spreading out enthusiastically on hill and dale. You can easily forage for it on a sunny country lane or rolling hill. Kindly cut off the younger, more tender stalks; as they age they become fibrous. The bright green feathery fronds are wonderful added raw to salads. Sicilians cook frond and stalk then sculpt them into the most earthy wild fennel cakes.

VIOLET ARTICHOKES are cultivated all around the Mediterranean region. Certain Italian varieties are delectable eaten raw, very thinly sliced and served with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a good, spicy extra-virgin olive oil. They are harvested from March to May (often available again in fall), and of course are heavenly in risotto or frittata.

SORREL is a perennial plant whose young leaves can already be picked in early spring and then on through fall. A most hardy plant that I left on my windowsill through Paris's last expressive winters, waking up in the morning to find it cloaked with snow and gleaming. Mix the baby leaves with all the other fine young shoots to ad a nice tart layer to your salad. And if the Northern winds persist even in May (!) ... gather up younger and older leaves and swirl them into a velvety soup.

Is there any green as exquisitely luscious as the BEET GREEN? Lightly wilted then swiftly sautéed with a pinch of chopped garlic (sprout removed), seasoned with unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper and, just before heaping onto a plate, christened with a pearl or two of fresh lemon juice. Heaven is just around the corner! Don't let anyone cut off those tops ever again! Not to mention they're chocked full of vitamins and minerals. From mid-spring to at least mid-summer they spread their lofty leaves out on vendors' stands at markets here in Paris, waiting to be gathered up into your arms.

Fresh ROSE GARLIC: fat, round, and full of delicate flavor. You can find it at the marché from the end of May through September. All young fresh allums (onion, shallot, garlic) are kindly digestible, so don't deprive yourself of their savor. Chop fresh garlic (first remove the exterior leaves, until you get to its firm heart) and sprinkle it on a salad, or toss the cloves with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and roast in a hot oven, on the top rack, for 10 minutes or so. Great with roasted beets.

NEW ONIONS [oignons nouveax] as they're called in France are available from April to July. I love to douse them with extra-virgin olive oil, wrap the green tops in parchment paper then roast them in a hot oven, on the top rack, for 5 - 10 minutes. They make a beautifully colorful garnish to any vegetable dish and are generously sweet in the mouth.

TOMATOES, TOMAhTOES. They've just begin to appear at one of my favorite marketplace vendors at the Aligre marché in Paris... all the way from Sicily — and still green. (The red ones pictured above were as green when I bought them as the shier one hiding behind them until they ripend into their now robust crimson robe.) I have to tell you that when I bite into my first tomato of the season, a clamorous joy invades me. I eat mounds and mounds of them until there are no more to pluck from the vines, knowing I'll have to go without their enthusiastic presence and vigor through the long winter months. But from May to October it's tomato time!

WILD ASPARAGUS, delicate, wispy things you can gather in the woods and hills from mid-March - mid-February (depending how far south you are) through mid-April. But I would be stretching the truth if I let you think that I'd been out with my basket picking them not far from a quaint village setting... Alas, they are also now grown commercially and I picked these up at the marketplace the other day. It was an adventure of sorts nonetheless, as I steered my bike through the teeming streets of Paris and back home again with them in tow. Seems the most mouth-watering way to prepare them is lightly cooked in a splash of water then added to a frothy omelette.