Fusilli with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Kale and Carrots

What a special treat to get locally-made artisan sausage in today's CSA box! And this sausage is truly special. It was made just two weeks ago from a locally-raised sow bred from award-winning stock. The sausage is very fresh, and pretty lean as sausage goes. You can really taste the pork in this finely-balanced and subtly-spiced product.

This recipe uses several of the vegetables in today's box as well as the sausage to make a delicious pasta entree. You can use either the sweet Italian or the hot Italian sausage, or you can omit the sausage entirely if you prefer. You'll still end up with a flavorful dish.

1 lb Italian sausage
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1-2 zucchini, washed and sliced
4-6 oz kale, washed and chopped
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2-2/3 C pasta cooking water
1/2 C heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese, optional

1. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized chucks (or smaller), until done. Remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside.

2. If necessary, heat a little more oil in the skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the sliced carrots to the skillet. Turn down the heat, cover, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring once or twice.

4. Add the zucchini, cover again, and cook for 3 minutes more, stirring once or twice.

5. Add the kale, cover again and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the kale just wilts. Turn off the heat.

6. Return the cooked sausage to the skillet. [You can do everything up to this point ahead of time if you wish. Cool the skillet and its contents and refrigerate until you're ready to cook the pasta.]

7. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fusilli. Cook according to directions. [You can substitute spaghetti, linguini, fettuccini, or practically any pasta shape you prefer.]

8. Just before the pasta is done cooking, turn the heat on again under the sausage and vegetable mixture.

9. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 C of pasta water.

10. Add 1/2 C pasta cooking water and 1/2 C heavy cream to the skillet with the sausage and vegetables. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

11. Add the cooked, drained pasta, and stir to combine with the sausage and vegetable mixture. Stir constantly as the liquid begins to reduce, becomes very thick, and sticks to the pasta. Add a little more pasta water if necessary.

12. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Today's bounty included:

Sausage from Nancee Siebert's sow prepared by Fryer's Meats and distributed by Jennie Cook;

French fingerling potatoes from Weiser Family Farms;

From Sage Mountain Farm: organic siberian kale, red sails lettuce, spinach, and radishes;

From JR Organics: organic celery, chard, and red leaf lettuce;

From Jaime Farms: Cauliflower, free-range eggs, hot-house zucchini, carrots, and cilantro; and

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Navel oranges.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Parslied Potato Salad

Potatoes love parsley. One of the simplest ways to prepare potatoes is to boil them until tender, slice, dot with butter, and spinkle on a little salt and chopped fresh parsley. Parsley's bright green color and flavor are perfect complements to the slightly sweet starchiness of potatoes.

Parslied potato salad involves just slightly more preparation than boiled potatoes with parsley and butter. You can serve this potato salad warm immediately after you mix it up; or you can let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight and the flavors will meld together nicely. It'll keep for several days in the fridge, so make extra to serve with another meal later in the week.

For 4 side dish servings:

4 medium potatoes (approx 1 #)
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
2-3 T finely chopped red onion
3-4 T finely chopped celery
3-4 T finely chopped fresh parsley
juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
A pinch of fresh lemon zest, or to taste
3 T olive oil, or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Add 1/2 t salt to the water, if desired. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook potatoes until just tender, about 10 minutes for medium potatoes, but cooking times will vary depending on the size of the potatoes.

2. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, you can remove the peels if you like (I prefer to keep them in their jackets). Dice the potatoes in approximately 1/3 to 1/2 inch dice. Place in a large bowl.

3. Add the chopped onions, celery, and parsley. Stir well. Add the lemon juice, zest, and olive oil. Stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add a little olive oil, lemon juice, zest, salt, and/or pepper to your taste.

4. Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Today's bounty included produce from four farms:

From Underwood Family Farms: Napa cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, Japanese turnips, fennel, celery, orange carrots, tatsoi, Hass avocados, and parsley;

From Weiser Family Farms: French fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, parsnips, and Rustic Nantes cooking carrots;

From Sage Mountain Farms: radishes, spicy salad greens mix, and green Russian kale;

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Bacon avocados, pomelos, and Satsuma mandarins.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Fattoush Salad

Fatoush is a wonderful Lebanese salad made with many of summer's best vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. And we got all of them in today's box!


The thing I love most about fattoush is that it has toasted pita chips in it to give it a fabulous crunch. You can buy pita chips at most markets; or you can make them yourself by separating the two halves of the pita bread, brushing them with a little olive oil, and toasting them in a 375 degree oven until brown and crisp. I like using the whole wheat sesame pita, but you can use any flavor you like.


Another wonderful things about this salad is that you can use a variety of greens. I like using romaine lettuce and mixing in some arugula or dandelion greens. Sorrel, with its bright, lemon-y flavor, also goes nicely in the mix.


Fattoush Salad

4-6 C washed and dried salad greens, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 large tomato chopped
1 cucumber, quartered, seeded and chopped
1/4 C chopped sweet onion
1-2 green onions, chopped
1/2 C chopped bell pepper (green, red or yellow - your choice)
3/4 C cubed feta cheese
2-4 T chopped Italian parsley
1-2 C pita chips
salt and pepper to taste
dried Moroccan olives or Kalamata olives, optional


Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl, except the pita chips, salt and pepper.

Mix up the dressing:

2-3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T finely minced shallot or 1 T mashed roasted garlic
1/4 t salt
pepper to taste


Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Pour over salad and toss. Add pita chips and toss again. Serve immediately.


By the way, sumac is a wonderful herb to add to a fattoush salad. Get some at the Spice Station on Sunset.


Today's bounty included:

From Underwood Family Farms: romaine lettuce, bi-color corn, orange carrots, Hungarian bell pepper (pic above), yellow zucchini, cucumbers, bok choy, and avocados.


From Sage Mountain: Broccoli florets, collard greens, dandelion greens, arugula, and chard.


Cottage Grove provided the tomatoes - Early Girls pictured above. And Sweet Tree Farms provided peaches, plums, and nectarines.


And Silver Lake Farms provided arugula and mustard micro-greens, as well as new basil and cilantro micro-greens (cilantro pictured above). Sprinkle some of those basil micro-greens over your next Caprese Salad.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Rutabaga Butternut Stovetop Tajine

Here's another rutabaga recipe you might enjoy. It's a wonderful Moroccan-spiced vegetable stew called a tajine. Traditionally, a tajine is a stew made in a special clay pot also called a tajine. The pot is a beautiful round baking dish with a tall conical lid. I love making slow-cooked stews in my tajine, but they bake for several hours. Here's a delicious stovetop adaptation that takes less than half the time of a traditional tajine.

Prepare the spice mixture:

1 t cumin seeds
1 t coriander seeds
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 t salt

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry cast-iron skillet over medium heat until aromative and lightly browned, 1-2 minutes. Cool, then grind in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestle. Stir in cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2-3 T olive oil
1 C chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C carrots chopped in about 3/4-inch chunks
2 ribs celery chopped in about 1/2-inch chunks
2 C rutabaga chopped in 3/4-inch cubes
2 C butternut squash chopped in 3/4-inch cubes
Peel from 1/2 orange, pith removed
2 C water
1 C canned garbanzo beans
1 t agave syrup
Chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Heat olive oil in heavy skillet or saucepan with a lid. Add onions and garlic. Stir to coat with oil. Add spice mixture and cook until onions are translucent, but do no brown.

2. Add carrot, celery, rutabaga, and butternut squash. Stir to coat with spices.

3. Coarsely chop orange peel and add it to the pot with 2C water. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down slightly and cook on a medium simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

4. Add the garbanzo beans and agave syrup. Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are very tender and the liquid has cooked off enough to make a very thick sauce, about another 15-20 minutes.

5. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro and serve over couscous or rice.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Kale and Onion Quesadillas

Pictured left is a perfectly perfect Romanesco cauliflower from our pickup today, courtesy Weiser Family Farms.

Quesadillas are one of the easiest things you can make for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I just love filling a flour tortilla with freshly scrambled eggs and grated cheese and frying it in a hot cast iron skillet (my substitute for a comal) until the tortilla is golden and slightly crisp and the cheese is oozing out the sides. Sometimes I add crisp, crumbled bacon or sauteed red onion, or mushrooms and peppers - whatever is fresh and in season.

For lunch and dinner, I usually skip the eggs and turn to savory vegetables. The combination of kale and onions is wonderful in a quesadilla. Slice the onion thinly lengthwise and saute it in a little oil until the onion is translucent. Chop the kale in thin slices and add it to the onions. Cook until soft. In the meantime, grate some jack cheese. You can use pepper jack if you'd like some spice, or try asadero cheese, which is a Mexican cheese available in most markets.

You can use flour or corn tortillas, but for this quesadilla, I prefer corn tortillas. If you have access to thicker, hand-made style tortillas, even better.

To cook the quesadillas: Heat a cast iron or heavy-duty skillet (or a comal, which is essentially a cast iron flat griddle pan) over medium-high heat. Brush the pan with a small amount of oil. Place a tortilla on the pan. Let it warm up for a moment. Then put some kale-onion mixture on the tortilla and sprinkle a generous amount (or to taste) of grated cheese on top. When the tortilla is soft, fold it over, being careful not to spill out the ingredients. Brown it on one side, then flip it over and brown it on the other. The cheese should be fully melted when the quesadilla is browned on both sides. If the tortilla is browning too quickly, then turn down the heat a bit.

You can make as many quesadillas at a time as your pan will hold. They're best served hot, but be careful to let the cheese cool down a bit before biting into it so you don't get burned.

Another wonderful addition to this basic recipe is potatoes and our Weiser Farms spuds are perfect for this dish. It's best for the potatoes to be slightly par-boiled before adding them to the skillet with the onions. And they should be diced no larger than 1/4 inch or thinly sliced. I really like seasoning them with a little smoked paprika, too. Make sure you cook the potatoes until they're nearly done before adding the kale to the pan.

Omnivores might enjoy adding some browned and crumbled sausage, too. Quesadillas offer endless possibilities for creativity so have some fun and enjoy this recipe. By the way, you can substitute chard for kale if you prefer.

A few words about cherimoyas: Don't cut into that cherimoya until it softens a bit. It should yield to slight pressure like an avocado when ripe. If you've never tasted a cherimoya, you're in for a treat. When ripe, this exotic fruit has a sweet and slightly tropical flavor. It best enjoyed sliced in half and scooped out (sans pits) or peeled, pitted and chopped in chunks. There are quite a few pits.

I like cherimoya best as is, but you can do a few things with it other than adding it to a fruit salad. Try it with yogurt and a little honey. Puree the peeled and pitted fruit and make a sorbet or use it in ice cream, add it to your favorite custard recipe, mix it into a smoothie or a cocktail, or use it as a base for a salad dressing. Slices or chunks of cherimoya can adorn a fruit tart along with other seasonal fruits.

This week's bounty included the following:

Either 1 butternut squash or a delicata and a Tuffy acorn squash
Either a bunch of yellow carrots or a bunch of red carrots
1 # parsnips
4# navel oranges or 1 cherimoya
1 bunch purple kale or 1 bunch chard
1 bunch Easter radishes or 1/2 # Jerusalem arichokes
1 red leaf lettuce or 1 bunch dandelion greens
1 bunch candy beets or a Romanesco cauliflower
lemons or herbs (cilantro and parsley)
1 # Russian banana potatoes
1 # satsuma tangerines or 2 black Hass avocados
1 # medium onions

Enjoy!

Shelley

Full Moon Chicken Salad

I've been making this chicken salad since graduate school. My roommate loved this recipe and insisted I make it at least once a month - sometimes more often. She dubbed it Full Moon Chicken Salad and the name stuck. Even though the full moon is nearly two weeks away, you can enjoy it now or during phase of the moon.

It's a great blueprint recipe. You can add or omit ingredients. Vegetarians can replace the chicken with grilled tofu, or skip it altogether. I use avocado and tangerine, especially in winter when they're in season. In summer, I add thinly sliced red bell pepper. Feel free to be creative. Thin, julienned pickled ginger gives the salad a nice tang. Thinly sliced or shredded red cabbage is another attractive addition.

Here's the basic recipe:

5-6 C finely sliced Napa Cabbage
2 C grated carrots
1 C thinly sliced green onion
1/2 C loosely packed cilantro leaves
1/2 coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1 C tangerine segments (or supremes with the membranes removed)
1 large avocado, not overly ripe, diced**
2 C chopped or sliced grilled chicken breast
1 finely sliced serrano chili, or less to taste (optional)

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Then make the dressing.

**To dice an avocado: Cut it in half lengthwise. Remove (and compost) the pit. Holding one half in your hand peel side down, score the flesh lengthwise and crosswise being careful to cut to the peel, but not through the peel. Then scoop out the flesh and separate the dice. Compost the skin. Repeat with the other half.

Dressing:
1/2 C rice vinegar
2-4 T sesame oil (or half sesame oil and half canola oil)
2 T soy sauce
1-2 T honey or agave syrup
1 T fresh finely grated ginger
1/2 t black pepper
2-3 T sesame seeds

Whisk together all the ingredients (except sesame seeds) until well combined. Pour over the salad and toss until well coated. Season with a little salt if desired. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and toss to mix in.

This week's CSA box included: iceberg lettuce, turnips, green kale, green or purple cauliflower, leeks, broccoli, arugula, mizuna, beets, Meyer lemons, avocados and tangerines.

Here's a bonus recipe from Rachel at Silver Lake Farms. She shared this with me when I picked up my veggies this afternoon. It sounds delicious.

Rachel's Kale and Cauliflower Salad

Wash and dry the cauliflower. Remove (and compost) the leaves. Break into florets and thinly slice the florets with a mandoline.

Wash and dry the kale. Remove (and compost) the tough stems. Chop finely.

Toss the cauliflower and kale together with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Rachel didn't give me the proportions, but you can probably figure them out. Just use whatever amounts seem good to you.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Green Chile Pork Stew

I picked up my CSA box yesterday along with my pork package from Silver Lake Farms' pig share program. This week's box had just about everything I needed to make a fabulous green chile pork stew!

I cut my stewing pork (about 3 lbs) into about 1-inch chunks and browned them in a little olive oil. While they were browning, I chopped some onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, and 1 clove of garlic. I sauteed the veggies and garlic in a big stew pot, using a little more oil. Then I added the browned pork, a large can of green chile sauce, a can of water, a bay leaf, a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. I simmered this stew on very low heat, covered for the first hour and partially covered for the second hour.

When the meat was barely tender, I added big chunks of potatoes and finished cooking until the meat was completely tender (another 30-45 minutes). I'm taking this stew to a holiday pot-luck this evening.

I like to make my own green chile sauce from scratch, fire-roasting green anaheim chiles (plus 1-2 serranos for heat), then peeling, pureeing, and cooking the anaheims with the serranos, garlic, cumin, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper. Sometimes I add a little epazote, too. This sauce freezes well. But I didn't have any home-made sauce, so I used a can. Either way, it's a hearty and delicious meal.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Stuffed Peppers

Here's what Farmer John had for us in Silver Lake this week:

Summer squash
Carrots
Oranges
Red leaf lettuce
Celery
Dandelion greens
Garlic chives
Basil
Red tomatoes
Purslane
Rainbow chard

And here's what Tara brought down from Underwood Family Farms:
Galia melon
Sharlyn melon
Kabocha squash
Easter radishes
Yellow wax beans
Green leaf lettuce
Eggplant
Orange bell pepper
Chocolate bell pepper
Yellow Brandywine tomatoes

And Silver Lake Farms provided delicious micro-greens - pea shoots and radish!

I love to make stuffed peppers. You can stuff almost any kind of pepper; and you can put almost any savory item in the filling. It's a great way to get creative and use whatever's in your fridge. All you need are some vegetables and a grain; meat and cheese are delicious options, too. With the beautiful orange and chocolate bell peppers in today's box, I couldn't resist making this wonderful treat.

I prefer cutting bell peppers in half lengthwise. One-half makes a nice side dish; two halves make a great main. Depending on the size of your peppers and how full you stuff them, you'll need about 2/3 C filling (or more) per half.

It's best to chop your vegetables into small pieces, but don't mince them. I like to saute all the vegetables before mixing them into the filling; that way some of the water is cooked out and the filling won't get soggy.

A nice, thick tomato sauce in an important component of my recipe. I've been making slow-cooked tomato sauce all summer with tomatoes from my garden. It freezes well for months. If you don't have your own sauce, use whatever tomato sauce you put on your pasta.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This recipe is for 2 peppers or 4 halves. You can double this recipe if you wish.

2 medium bell peppers
1 T olive oil
1/4 lb bulk (or 1 link, casing removed) Italian sausage (optional)
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1 small carrot, trimmed and chopped fine
1/2 rib celery, trimmed and chopped fine
1-2 small summer squash, washed and chopped into small pieces
2 leaves chard, washed, trimmed and chopped
3/4 C fresh corn kernels, removed from the ear
1-1/2 C cooked brown rice
2-1/2 to 3 C thick tomato sauce
grated cheese, optional
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut peppers in half lengthwise and set aside.

2. In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 t olive oil and brown the sausage, breaking it up into small chunks as it cooks. When done, remove from pan, chop finely and set aside. Pour off any grease from pan and wipe clean.

3. In same skillet, heat remaining 2 t olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 1 minute. Turn down heat. Add carrots, celery and squash. Cover and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add chard and corn kernels. Cook until chard is wilted and vegetables are just soft. If necessary, uncover and cook off any excess liquid.

4. In a bowl, mix the cooked sausage (if you're using it) and the cooked vegetables together with the cooked brown rice. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 C thick tomato sauce - just enough for the mixture to hold together, but not so much that it's saucy. [If you'd like, you can add some grated cheese to this mixture, but I usually don't.] Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Fill each half pepper with the filling mixture.Place them snugly in an oven-proof baking dish. Top each pepper with 1-2 T tomato sauce and/ or 1 T grated cheese. Pour about 1/2 inch hot water in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.

6. Remove peppers from baking dish and serve each half pepper with 1/2 C thick tomato sauce. You can serve the pepper in a pool of sauce or pour the sauce over the pepper; or you can omit the sauce entirely if you prefer.

I'll post my recipe for slow-cooked tomato sauce next time.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Salade Nicoise

What a bountiful week!

Here's what Farmer John had for us in Silver Lake this week:

Navel oranges
Avocados
Daikon radish
Red radishes
Red & golden beets
Curly green kale (pictured below)
Green chard
Tat soi
Arugula
Romaine lettuce
Dandelion greens
Tomatoes
Squash blossoms
Mixed herbs

And here's what Tara and Danielle brought down from McGrath Family Farm, certified organic growers in Camarillo:

Carrots
Forono beets
Black kale
Red chard
Spring onions (that's what Danielle is holding below)
Sweet corn
Baby arugula
Mixed greens
Green string beans
Strawberries

When I saw the beautiful strings beans at the CSA pick-up this week, I thought Salade Nicoise. I learned to make Salade Nicoise in 1977 in a class on the regional foods and wines of France. In that class, our Salade Nicoise was built on a base of blanched string beans, boiled potatoes, and butter lettuce. It also had oil-packed, canned tuna, anchovies, olives, red onion, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and fresh parsley all in a Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Since then, I've enhanced my recipe with the addition of capers, fresh basil, and lemon juice; and I've embraced the California version using fresh, seared Ahi tuna, at least some of the time.

Over the years, I've eaten many Nicoise salads and I've seen other ingredients included such as fresh or roasted red peppers; mixed greens, especially arugula, instead of or in addition to butter lettuce; and balsamic vinegar dressings.

Here's a nice blueprint for this lovely composed salad. Don't sweat it if you don't have (or don't like) all the ingredients, it's a wonderful full-meal salad however you make it.

Salade Nicoise

Serves 2

2 C loosely packed butter lettuce or mixed greens
1/4 lb small or thin string beans, blanched and cooled
4 smallish new potatoes, boiled until just tender and cooled
1 can oil-packed tuna
1 medium tomato,sliced lengthwise into 6-8 sections
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
1-2 T thinly sliced red onion
8-10 black Nicoise olives, or more to taste
4 canned anchovy fillets, or more to taste
1 T capers, or more to taste
1 T chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 T chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

For the Dressing:
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T wine or cider vinegar
1 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
1-2 t prepared Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

1. Briskly mix together all the ingredients for the dressing until emulsified. Set aside.

2. Wash and dry the lettuces and/or greens. Break into bite-sized pieces. Toss with 1-2 T of the dressing. Arrange dressed greens on 2 plates.

3. Toss the blanched string beans with 1 t of the dressing and arrange half the beans in a small stack on each plate.

4. Slice the potatoes and fan out half the slices on each plate. Drizzle with a few drops of dressing.

5. Drain and flake the tuna. Divide among the 2 plates.

6. Arrange half the tomato sections and one quartered hard-boiled egg on each of the 2 plates.

7. Scatter the finely sliced onion, olives, and capers among the 2 plates. Drape 2 anchovy fillets on each plate. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with the remaining dressing.

If you don't have Nicoise olives, you can substitute Kalamata olives or dried black olives. If you like your salads more heavily dressed, double the dressing recipe.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Farmer's Salad

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to share a simple recipe from my mother. When I was a child, my mother often put out a smorgasbord for Sunday brunch that included all manner of delicious sweet and savory treats. Though the items changed from week to week, she frequently included this salad. She called it Farmer's Salad, I think because she used to eat it when she visited a farm.

You can enjoy this salad as a side dish, but it's substantial enough to eat as a main course with some nice grainy bread and butter. It's easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator for a few days.

5-6 radishes
2-3 green onions, such as the Negi onions
2 small Persian cucumbers**
2-3 T chopped parsley
16 oz cottage cheese
2/3 C sour cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Wash and dry the radishes. Remove the greens and save them for another use or compost them. Halve or quarter the radishes lengthwise, then chop them thinly. Place in a large bowl.

2. Wash and dry the green onions. Thinly slice the white part of the green onions. Save the green stems for another use or compost them. Place the sliced onions in the bowl with the radishes.

3. Wash and dry the Persian cucmbers. I like to leave the skins on but you can peel them if you like. Cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and thinly slice each half. Add slices to the bowl.

4. Add the parsley, cottage cheese, and sour cream to the bowl and mix well. Add a little salt and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.

This salad is at its crunchy best eaten shortly after mixing it up.

**I like to use Persian cucmbers because they're relatively lower in water than other cucumbers. But you can use any cucumber. You can remove some of the water from the juicier varieties by slicing them, sprinkling the slices with a little salt, and allowing them to drain in a colander for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Zen's Spicy Green Rice Recipe

Hi Tara

Thank you for all the wonderful goodies today.
Here is a recipe that we used your cilantro for.

Thank you!
z & b

Spicy Green Rice

Makes 6 servings

6 cups — cooked warm Jasmine Rice ( 2 1/2 cups uncooked)
1 cup — finely chopped cilantro
1 1/2 cups — chopped green onions
1/4 cup — finely chopped jalapenos (less or more depending on how spicy you like it)
1 cup — cooked and drained green peas
3 tbsp — olive oil
1 tbsp — sesame oil
2 tsp — salt
Black pepper to taste
Juice from 1 or 2 limes depending on size and juiciness


Place cooked rice in a large bowl and add ingredients and gently mix!

So easy! Thank you Zen! Tara