rhubarb daal

This is a wonderful way to enjoy rhubarb as a vegetable, and a tart and refreshing meal for a spring evening.

Start with some oil in a heavy pot, and heat up ½ tsp. (whole) cumin, ½ tsp. (whole) coriander, and 2 tsp. each brown and yellow mustard seeds until they start popping. Then add a very thinly sliced onion, a small fragment of cinnamon bark, and chili peppers (to your taste, I added three whole chiles de árbol). Stir until the onions are translucent. Then add a bunch (about a pound) of rhubarb chopped into ½-inch slices. Stir, and season with a bit of salt. Add two cloves of crushed garlic, ½ tsp ground turmeric (dried, or thrice that if fresh), and a knob of freshly ground ginger.

Then add 1½ cups of red lentils. Cover with stock (chicken, or vegetable — or plain water and another but of salt) and stir. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until the lentils are done and the rhubarb has dissappeared into the daal. Serve with saffron rice (or your choice of other starch), a dollop of yogurt, and some fresh cilantro.

spring!

Step one: marinate lamb riblets and goat chops in toasted & ground cayenne, coriander, pepper, salt and cumin.


Serve greek feta and moroccan sardines while waiting.


Marinate asparagus in olive oil and diced preserved lemons.


Have harissa on hand, mix with some pomegranate molasses and garlic. Sear ribs/chops on both sides, cover and grill for twenty minutes. Mix with harissa mixture, cover.




Take a break, eat an arugula-strawberry salad by Kate.


Grill the ribs/chops a second time.


And eat — with that asparagus, marinated and grillled. This was wonderful with tzatziki and some bulgur tossed with lots of parsley and some preserved lemon.

ramps. rhubarb.

Ramps. Sautéed (white part, then green), in an omelet. Even better when the ramps came from the same person from whom I buy eggs. A whole meal from one property.



On the other hand, a local rhubarb galette. The was a super lazy take on Tartine's galette dough. I sliced some butter, rolled it out with a mix of ½ coarse whole wheat / ½ white flour, added salt and enough water to make a dry dough. It was amazing. That held rhubarb, sugar and nutemeg:

ramps. asparagus. grill.

A red hot grill + Ramps and asparagus =

Really quite simple, and delicious. Marinate ramps and asparagus in olive oil, preserved lemon, Korean chili flakes and lots of white wine vinegar. Heat the grill up very hot. Make a basic risotto (having stock on-hand helps — this was a very rich duck stock with salt and pepper added at the end). But both vegetables on the grill: this was the ramps are mostly cooked the the asparagus very lightly. Chop them up upon retrieval from the grill and serve on risotto.

spring is here

Fiddleheads feel like definitive proof that Spring has sprung. (75º weather, on the other hand, suggests it may have already passed us by). These hail from the same spot off the bike path where I found them last year.

soon

Have my seeds started, some compost bought and now I just need it to be surely warm for good. (And to convince my landlord that leeks and tomatoes will look just fine in the yard). There are herbs from borage to thyme (that's parsley coming up in the first photo), leeks, "Purple Peacock" Broccoli, "Violet Queen" Cauliflower (the purple cauliflower that I got at the market last year was incredible), cucumbers for pickling and eating, some tomatoes. It'll be modest patch -- got a CSA share the month before last. (N.B.[17:59]: my landlord has given me the go-go for vegetables where I'd like).