happelsauce

I have been meaning to write about watermelon salad for weeks. Weeks! I have an excuse. I have been busy. Since my last post, I have moved to Oakland and spent my days researching job opportunities in the Bay Area. I’ve also manage to squeeze in some very good times. Dancing up a storm in heels, stretch pants, side ponytail and hot pink lipstick to the 80s beats of Tainted Love, soaking up tunes, frozen margaritas, and the piney mountain air at the Wanderlust Festival in Tahoe, and quelling my anxiety about finding my dream job with lengthy trips to my amazing neighborhood market. Nothing like a good grocery store to soothe my soul. Seriously. Yes, my future is completely up in the air, but so far it feels good.

I made watermelon salad three times in Seattle before heading down to the Bay. Each time it was summerinmymouth delicious. And simple to prepare. And, it’s not your typical salad, which I like. It’s nice to mix things up a bit. Serve it in bowls alongside your summer bbq. It’s best the day you make it, so don’t leave leftovers. This shouldn’t pose much of a problem because there’s really no such thing as too much watermelon.

Watermelon Salad

Serves 6 as a first course or side dish

1 medium-sized seedless watermelon, cut into small cubes

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup fresh mint, chopped

1/4 of an onion, preferabley Walla Walla Sweet, very thinly sliced

Big chunk of feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

• Combine all the ingredients except the feta cheese and toss. When you’re ready to serve, sprinkle the feta on top.

After my European farming adventures, I decided to spend some time in Seattle to decompress and plot my next move. This means that I’ve been living at my parents’ house for the past few weeks. In very recent developments, it turns out that I won’t be here for much longer. I am moving to Oakland in less than two weeks to sublet a friend’s room for a couple of months and attempt to find a job. But, in the meantime, being home has meant that I’ve spent lots of time with my parents. And I love them with all my heart, so that’s been nice. Plus, my mom is an excellent cook. She invited our neighbors over for dinner the other night and made a ginger peach crumble for dessert. I missed out on the crumble hot out of the oven, so I scooped a big piece of their leftovers from the pan this morning, warmed it up a bit and ate it for breakfast with vanilla ice cream and a cup of coffee. Home sweet home!

I first heard about this farro salad from my friend Regan. She’d recently tried it at a summer barbeque and raved about it. I had never cooked farro before and wanted to give it a try. So, Regan kindly emailed her friend for the recipe and passed it along to me. Do I just have farro on the brain, or does this hearty ancient grain seem to be popping up in recipes and restaurants everywhere? Is farro the new quinoa? I might be willing to bet on it.

In Seattle, we get these incredibly beautiful summer days – sunny and warm and fresh. Of course, every string of sunny days gets interrupted with a cloudy, cool and drizzly day or two. I like those days. They make me thankful for the sunshine. And the clouds seem to sharpen things into focus. Green appears greener and the city smells crisp and new. To me, this salad tastes like one of those cloudy summer days in the very best way. The farro has the same effect as the clouds, sharpening the crisp and vibrant veggies into focus, making them taste clean and fresh.

This is not a recipe to be followed precisely. It’s more of a choose-your-own-adventure salad with a farro foundation. I recommend the veggies listed below. They are in season and look good together – the hot pink and white radishes, bright green peas and soft yellow corn – but you can choose whatever veggies sound good to you.

Farro Summer Salad

Serves 4 as a first course

2 cups farro or red wheat berries

1 bunch radishes

1 pound fresh sweet peas

3 ears fresh corn

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup fresh basil, torn into bite sized pieces or roughly chopped

Olive oil, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste

About 4 ounces feta or goat cheese, crumbled

• Cook the farro at a slow boil in 6 cups water for about 50 minutes until chewy but not squeaky. While the farro is cooking, remove the sweet peas from their pods, scrape the corn kernels from the cob, and slice radishes in thin rounds. Combine all the veggies in a large serving bowl with the garlic, basil and juice from half a lemon.

• When the farro is ready, drain it, rinse over cold water to cool and add to the fresh veggies. Gently mix the salad together while adding a thin stream of olive oil to taste.  Mix and add the rice wine vinegar in dashes, tasting as you go. (I’m in no position to provide an accurate vinegar measurement because I tend to have a very heavy hand with all things acidic. I would happily drink rice wine vinegar from a spoon.) Let your tastebuds be your guide! Same goes for the salt and pepper. Mix and taste, mix and taste. Once it tastes just right, crumble a hunk of feta or goat cheese over the top and mix again.
• Serve alone in small bowls or plated on a bed of arugala.

Remember “The Dip?”  I put my hand up on your hip, when I dip, you dip, we dip. You put your hand up on my hip, when you dip, I dip, we dip… I think that song was lodged in my brain for a good few months in high school. It was a good one. Dips are good. Both the dancing and the eating kind.

I made two the other night, both are adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything. (The dip in the middle of the platter is an olive tapenade that I threw in there for presentation’s sake. I found it in the fridge. Trader Joe’s. Not nearly as tasty as the other two, might I add.)

The feta dip is particularly easy and quick and flavorful. It’s best in the summer with fresh herbs. We served it with sugar snap peas and sliced carrots, but it would be great with pita bread, crackers or slathered on a grilled veggie sandwich.

Feta, Yogurt and Herb Dip

Serves about 6 dippers

About 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 cup plain yogurt (whole or lowfat are best)

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon minced fresh mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried

Lots of freshly ground pepper

Freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste (about a half of a lemon tastes good to me)

* Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl with a fork. Taste and add more lemon juice and a little salt if necessary.
* Garnish with extra parsley and serve with fresh veggies or crackers.

As for the hummus, I’ve made it before without the tahini and it works fine. So, if you don’t have any tahini lying around and you don’t want to buy it, don’t let that stop you! Without it, I just add more lemon juice, cut back on the garlic, and call it lemon hummus. But, the tahini does make it creamier and fluffier. Be sure to keep blending to get the consistency you desire.

Hummus

Serves at least 6 dippers

2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained

1/2 cup tahini (optional)

1/4 cup mild olive oil or sesame oil from the top of the tahini

1-3 cloves garlic, peeled (Start with 1 clove, taste, then add more if you want. I use 2 cloves. With 3 your breath will be hummin’.)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 heaping tablespoon ground cumin

Juice of 2 lemons

About 1/3 cup water

* Toss everything but the water in the container of a food processor and switch it on; drizzle the water, a little at a time, as needed to make a smooth puree.
* Taste and add more of whatever you think it needs – salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, or cumin. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika for color and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with veggies, pita, crackers, or olives.

It is an absolute truth that my memory is almost invariably triggered by food experiences. Is this something I am proud of? Not entirely. But, whatever works.

Years ago, I remember visiting a warm, friendly and scrumptious little bakery on Lopez Island called Holly B’s while biking around the island. Was my Lopez Island biking adventure grueling? Was it sunny?  A torrential downpour? I honestly couldn’t tell you. But, I remember Holly B’s Bakery! And it turns out that my mom bought a signed copy Holly B’s cookbook, With Love & Butter, a couple of years ago – With Warmest Baking Blessings and Lots of Love from Paradise (Lopez)! xoxo Holly.

Yesterday morning I baked Holly’s Morning Glory Muffins. They are not too sweet, perfectly moist, chocked full of freshly grated apple and carrot, nutritious and delicious. I ate two for breakfast this morning and I think they tasted even better the next day. Yes, it’s cloudy outside but there’s plenty of morning glory to go around. Mmmmm.

Morning Glory Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat)

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups coarsely grated carrot, packed

1 unpeeled, coarsely grated apple

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional, I didn’t have any so I left ‘em out)

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

6 tablespoons thawed apple juice concentrate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*I added a sprinkle of flax seeds to the batter, because why not?*

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the center. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
• Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add the carrot, apple, raisins, coconut, and almonds (if you’re using them) and toss with your fingertips until all the fruit and nuts are coated with flour. Break up any globs.
• In a medium bowl, blend the eggs, oil, apple juice concentrate, and vanilla in and pour on top of everything else. Mix until combined using a rubber spatula.
• Scoop the batter into the muffin cups. These muffins are dense and won’t rise much.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake another 10 minutes or until the muffins are no longer look gooey inside. You don’t want to overbake them. You can peek by piercing a muffin with the sharp tip of a knife.
• Let them cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before unmolding them. Eat them warm! I would bet the muffins freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and again in foil to protect from freezer burn, but I can’t vouch for this. I plan on eating them all before the freezer becomes necessary.

I have tucked my sweet little Happeltizer in, put her to bed and headed downstairs to get saucy in the kitchen.

Introducing Happelsauce! (Thanks to my lovely and clever friend Sarah for the new name.)

Happelsauce is my updated, more delicious blog in which I will share with you my culinary delights and disasters. The content from Happeltizer will remain, but Happelsauce is my new outlet and my anchor while I learn about the origins of edibles and attempt to whip up lots of goodness in the kitchen. Stay tuned…