Arugula Flowers








February, 2007

On my weekly trip to the farmer's market, I stop at my favorite stand for greens, organic farmers from Gilroy. I ask my weekly question, "Do you have arugula?" No, but the woman points to a bunch of arugula flowers.

"$1.00"

I had never seen arugula flowers before but I couldn't resist. Not sure how to eat them, I chopped them into small pieces and added them to the salad. I've never tasted anything quite like them. Pungent, nutty, crispy morsels mixed in with the mesclun greens.

I shared the bunch of flowers with my daughter. She added them to her salad that night of spinach, avocado, grapefruit, hard boiled eggs with a classic red wine vinegar and olive oil vinagrette. I ask her to describe arugula flowers. "Delicately spicey and unique," she said.

The next week I went to back to the market looking for arugula flowers. They had two bunches. The woman standing next to me was buying the other bunch.

"What do you do with arugula flowers?" she asked me. I told her that I had just discovered them and chopped them up in salad. She does the same.

As we were exchanging arugula flower ideas, the woman who owns the stand started speaking in Spanish. The woman next to me stopped to listen and then translated. "She says they are very good for your....and here she smiled trying to get the right translation....love life!"

"Well, no wonder I like them so much," I told her. We all laughed.

The arugula flower season is short. If you see any, buy them immediately. Enjoy their delicate beauty. Then chop them up and put them in your salad.

Red Lentils
The true color of these lentils is closer to coral even though they look orange in this photo. Maybe these are pink lentils? coral lentils? Whatever their true identity in the vegetable kingdom, they tasted delicious in the red lentil stew.

Red Lentils

My California neighborhood satisfies my craving for diversity. We have the Reggae Bar, the Irish Bar, a New Zealand Pub, a tattoo parlor down the block from the needlecraft store and Larry's shoe repair with the real Larry. The restaurants include a Taqueria, Thai, Japanese, Philipino, Chinese, Indian, Tillie's American hamburgers and pies. Every corner has an old fashioned package store with milk, bread, liquor, newspapers, and lottery tickets. These corner stores have sticks of incense on the counter next to the Slim Jims. The smell of burning incense wafts into the street. Some of the shopkeepers wear turbans, others the East Bay garb of the Raider Nation. The manicure places have incense too along with altars in the front of the shops with fruits and flowers.

The middle eastern grocery store feels the most like going into a foreign country I'm often the only person in the store who speaks to the shopkeeper in English. The shelves are filled with spices that I don't recognize. I come here to buy Basmati rice in 10 pound bags. They sell halal meats and on Fridays bake flat breads that are the size of skateboards. For reasons I can't understand, I became enamoured of red lentils (masoor dal.) I put a package of them in one of the family Christmas stockings. They are the most beatiful color, pinkish-coral-red dots. They turn brown when cooked and look a lot like other lentils, but their uncooked delicate color and shape is magical.

When I was preparing for vegetarian guests I decided to go to Epicurious (www.epicurious.com) and search for the words "vegetarian stew." Up came a recipe not only for a vegetarian stew but for a vegetarian stew that called for red lentils. This was it.

I have heard the advice not to try new recipes for your guests. I don't subsribe to this theory. Why not try a new recipe for your guests? Look for something that has good ingredients and chances are it will come out OK. And if not, you'll have to invite them back for something that is tried and true.

I did break this rule recently. I seem to be intrigued by color. The recipe was for Pineapple Carpaccio (www.sfgate.c0m) I actually followed the directions: cut a pineapple into rounds, sprinkle it with sugar, then with saffron threads, marinate it in the refridgerator for 1/2 hour, then garnish with a "fetching" bunch of red grapes. We had quite a discussion about whether the grapes were fetching or not, but we did our best. I served it to my guests. The pineapple turned deeply golden-red under the saffron threads. The grapes were as fetching as grapes can be. Its beauty lured us in, but the taste was terrible! Forutnately, we had other dessert selections.

I see from the lamb stew comments that the Vegetarian Stew was a success. Its secret ingredient - swiss chard. And those beautiful red lentils.

Vegetarian Stew

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion thinly sliced
5 teaspoons curry
2 dried red peppers cut into flakes (or just the flakes or 1/4 tsp cayenne)
1 tsp salt
1 carton vegetable broth (32 0z) if you plan ahead you could make your own.
1 cup water.
1 large bunch swiss chard. Wash carefully, dry, remove the tough stalks, and chop.
2 1/4 cup (one pound) red lentils
1 can cooked garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed


Heat oil in heavy stew pot, saute onion until golden. Mix in curry and red pepper flakes. Add broth, water and chard to pot. Bring to boil. Add lentils and garbanzos, reduce heat. Simmer until lentils are done, about 15 minutes.

You can make this dish ahead to this point, then finish the cooking in a covered casserole in a 350 degree oven.

The lentils poof up when they cook. Add more water if necessary. Before serving, taste for seasonings. The recipe says you can top with yogurt, but this doesn't work for vegans. I served it over rice.

When they ask for the recipe

Fourteen people came to dinner this week. I wanted to be at the party too, not too exhausted or stressed to enjoy the real purpose of a meal, being with family and friends. I made a lamb dish that I adapted from a recipe in the San Francisco Chronice www.sfgate.com. The only thing I had to do at the last minute was cook the rice. As the ultimate compliment to the chef, several friends asked for the lamb recipe. I especially like this recipe because it has a mysterious ingredient, dried figs. They melt into the gravy, no more shape or seeds, just a lingering sweetness.

Ingredients
The spices: the recipe calls for whole spices that you grind in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. I have a mortar an pestle inherited from my father in law who was a chemistry teacher, but I couldn't find it. I don't have a spice grinder. I happened to have the fresh spices because my son just brought me a spice postcard from Sri Lanka, a picture of a temple painting attached to 15 connected tiny cellophane packets of fresh spices rolled up in a rubber band. Miracle of miracles, every spice called for in the lamb recipe was in the postcard. I put the whole spices in between two pieces of waxed paper and bonked them with a rolling pin. The last time I made the recipe I used dried spices. Dr. Sue says don't worry too much about these things....use what you have. For this recipe the turmeric is most important. No one would miss the mustard seeds or coriander.

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin (or ground)
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds (or ground or none)
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander (or ground or none)
1/8 tsp black peppercorns (or ground)
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 TLS olive oil
2 pounds lamb cut into one inch cubes
Kosher salt to taste (or regular salt)
Freshly ground Pepper to taste
1/2 large onion
4 large or 6 small dried figs
2 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced (or put through a garlic press)
2 Tlbs golden raisins
2 slices ginger root
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 cup red wine
1 small can beef broth or chicken broth
1 pound butternut squash cut into cubes (they sell this at Trader Joe's - I don't know if I would cook this recipe otherwise..the squash really makes it! I can't report how hard it is to cube a butternut squash. I'll do some research and get back to this. Meanwhile, I hope you can find a Trader Joe's)
1 lemon

If you are using whole spices, toast the cumin, mustard seeds and coriander in a small dry skillet until fragrant. Let them cool and grind them or mash between wax paper with a rolling pin. If you are using powdered spices, skip this step.

Heat olive oil in a large pot, season the lamb with salt and pepper, and brown in two batches. Remove from the pot and set aside. Chop the onion and saute in the same pan until soft. Add garlic and spices and cook until the garlic is soft and aromatic. Add the figs, raisins, cinnamon stick, ginger and red wine. Simmer until the wine is reduced and absorbed into the fruit, about 10 minutes. Add the lamb back to the pot. Add the can of broth. Simmer for about 1 hour or until tender. You can make the recipe ahead to this point and keep in the fridge for a few days.

Add the squash and simmer for 15-20 more minutes until the squash is soft. Just before serving:

Taste for seasonings and if needed, add more salt and pepper.
Squeeze a lemon into the stew to brighten the taste.
Remove cinnamon stick
Especially important: Fish out the ginger! When cooked, it looks a lot like the squash. I forgot to do this and one of my guests had an unexpected ginger encounter. You don't want this to happen to you or your guests.

Serve with Basmati rice if you have it..or any rice will do. Add a green salad, a good bread, and a nice red wine.

Chocolate Mousse For Your Valentine

Valentine's Day is coming soon. This is the BEST chocolate mousse ever, better than restaurant chocolate mousse. This recipe is from a Parisian friend with impeccable taste. She came to visit us in our rented apartment last year in Paris. I served her bread and cheese.

"Where did you get this bread?" she asked.

"From the boulangerie across the street."

"Oh, no. They make terrible bread. You must go to the boulangerie on this side of the street in the next block. Ask for 'une tradition.'"

We did. The difference was amazing. There is bread and then there is real bread. Likewise for chocolate mousse. Bon appetit!

Chocolate Mousse

8 eggs
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 tbls sweet or lightly salted butter
1/4 c. cognac or brandy (the good stuff)
1 4oz. bar milk chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream

Separate eggs. Let whites warm to room temperature - 1 hour.
Melt chocolate pieces with butter in double boiler over hot, not boiling water, stirring constantly (160 degrees)
Beat in yolks, one at a time making sure that the mixture does not curdle but hot enough to form a custard.
Let cool 10 minutes.
Stir in cognac or brandy.
Beat whites until stiff but not dry. Fold chocolate into whites, gently but enough to combine thoroughly. Turn into 1 quart bowl and refridgerate (recipe says or freeze for 1 - 2 weeks but I've never tried this.)
Soften milk chocolate bar for a few seconds in the microwave and make chocolate curls using a cheese slicer. Let them cool on waxed paper.
Whip cream. Decorate top of mousse with whipped cream and chocolate curls before serving.

Note: This recipe is best when the mousse is made the day before serving so the flavors can blend.

Note #2: Dear Readers, Please remember that Dr. Sue has impaired judgement when it comes to quantity. She must have been the tribal cook in a previous life because her recipes tend to feed a crowd even when she's not trying. My daughter made this Mousse for her Valentine and reminded me that it makes a HUGE quantity, plus it is so rich that you can only eat a little bit. You could easily cut the recipe in half or even in 1/4 and it would come out just fine. Just don't skimp on the quality of the chocolate or the brandy. Mmmmmmmmm...