Chickpeas with Black Bean Sauce

Stir-Fried Chickpeas, in the Wok

Sorry for the extended silence -- I went on tour to Minnesota and then came home to a hurricane! We're fine now, the MTA is up and running and, in Manhattan at least, it's back to business as usual. Getting back on-track with work reminded me -- I've been cooking and not sharing the delicacies. So, here's a summer stir-fry for ya!


In trying to adapt my cooking styles to jive with a (mostly) vegetarian lifestyle, I've found myself most inspired by non-vegetarian recipes that I then adapt to my own purposes. These Chickpeas with Black Bean Sauce is one-such recipe.


Cleaning out the refrigerator, I discovered a jar of black bean sauce. It hadn't expired yet, but I also knew I hadn't used it more than once, when making a stir-fry from The Breath of a Wok. So, rather than throw it out, I decided to use it. Last time, I had used it with crabs. So first I found a stir-fry with crabs in it, Danny Chan's Ginger and Scallion Crabs from Yohana's Culinary Journey. Using that as a jumping-off point, I added in the black bean sauce. Then it was time to think of a new protein. A recipe for Chick Peas and Tuna with Spicy Black Bean Sauce came to the rescue. Eliminate the tuna, combine the recipes and ... voila! Dinner was served. My only complaint was that it was a bit dry. If anyone else has experience (and advice!) stir-frying chickpeas, please let us know in the comments. Bon appetit!


Chickpeas with Black Bean Sauce
adapted from Yohana's Culinary Journey and Goons with Spoons

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 4 slices ginger root
• 2 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces, white part separated from green
• 1 tablespoon black bean sauce
• 2 tablespoons soybeans, canned
• 2 cans chickpeas (about 2 pounds)
• 1/3 cup chicken broth (substitute vegetable if desired)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• cilantro, chopped
• 1 large egg, beaten

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with water. Set aside.


Heat wok over high heat. Swirl in grapeseed oil, add ginger and white part of green onions. Stir-fry 10 

Stir-Fried Chickpeas

seconds. Add black bean sauce and stir-fry another 10 seconds. Add soybeans and stir-fry 20 seconds. Add chickpeas and stir-fry another 20 seconds. Add broth, cover and cook 3 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper, cilantro and green onion greens. Cover and cook 1 minute. Swirl in cornstarch mixture and egg. Stir-fry another 30 seconds until combined. Serve warm.


Make it a Meal: This is actually a meal in itself. If desired, you could serve over rice. For dessert, make an avocado milkshake. To drink, I recommend a rose, such as a 2010 Biohof Pratsch. Enjoy!


Leftovers: Make soup by pureeing leftovers with warm chicken or vegetable broth. Yum!


Links to other black bean sauce noshes:

• Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Sauce from Simply Recipes
• Spicy Black Bean Chicken from Appetite for China
• Stir-Fried Chicken with Black Bean Sauce from Viet World Kitchen
• Chinese Steamed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce from Steamy Kitchen
• In memory of a chef-dad, plus his from-scratch black bean sauce from The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook

Black Bean and Cucumber Salad

Black Bean and Cucumber Salad

I don't know how this summer's been for you but, here in New York, it's been hot, hot, hot! Last week there were several days over 100F and, while I know that's mild for some it certainly isn't for us. I'm not terribly heat sensitive but, while our air conditioners made a valiant effort, it was still far too hot in the apartment to cook.

Cucumbers, Peeled, Seeded and Diced

During this heat wave, I found that I was craving different foods than usual. For example, I usually prefer cooked vegetables to raw but cucumbers (a vegetable I usually dislike) actually sounded quite appealing. See, when I'm really warm, I crave foods with a high water content in a constant effort to keep myself hydrated. I also crave spicy foods, probably because they make me drink more. So I started looking for cucumber recipes. I first stumbled upon a Shrimp and Cucumber Salad but that certainly wouldn't feed the vegetarian. And just leaving the out the shrimps would turn it into a side dish.


So then I found a Black Bean Cucumber Salad. That convinced me to use black beans so I went back to my original shrimp idea and was delighted to find Kalyn's Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber Salad with Mint, Lemon, and Cumin. With some substitutions and a little imagination, we were all set. Enjoy!


Black Bean and Cucumber Salad
inspired by SparkRecipes and Kalyn's Kitchen

• 1 16-oz. can black beans, drained
• 1 teaspoon fish spice blend
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 2 Mediterranean cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned fleur de sel
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 2 dashes hot pepper sauce (I use Frank's)
• 1/8 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 3 tablespoons lemon garlic olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.


Make it a Meal: To celebrate summer and keep the meal light, rather than making a traditional grain, go for

Cucumbers, Corn and Wine

some corn, simmered for 10 minutes (if you can bear to keep the stove on for that long). A great wine we recently discovered is Beach House. Mostly Sauvignon Blanc, it's very easy to drink and perfect for a hot summer's night (and, I'm sure, even nicer if you're lucky enough to be by the beach!). For dessert, chocolate (or vanilla or almond) milk! Bon appetit!


Links to other cucumber salad noshes:

• Sesame Cucumber Salad from Simply Recipes
• Julia Child's Cucumber Salad from A Veggie Venture
• Spicy Chinese Cucumber Salad from Use Real Butter
• Sichuan Cucumber Salad from Appetite for China
• Cool as a Cucumber Salad from Gluten-Free Goddess

Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup with Phyllo Dumplings

 Like everyone else in the food world, my favorite part of summer (aside from not having to wear a jacket outside) is the produce. Trips to the greenmarket become wonderful discoveries of fresh summer bounty and I have to force myself not to come home with everything I see.


Lately, the vegetarian and I have been traveling a lot so we haven't had time to enjoy the greenmarket as much as we'd like. Our travels took us to Hancock, NY, where we were costarring in a new play that about the founding of Laramie, WY. While this was a lot of fun, culinarily it left something to be desired (aside from an amazing restaurant we discovered on the way home, in Ellenville, NY).

Ozzy

The other thing that's been going on is that, do to some lingering behavioral problems, we had to send Ozzy to boot camp for 2 weeks. Now he's home and we're training him pretty hardcore. It's taxing but, ultimately, will be worth it.


So on our trip to the greenmarket yesterday, we wanted something fresh, non labor-intensive and that we could make into comfort food. There were beautiful baby eggplants at the greenmarket and we picked up several (white and purple). To stick with my theme of miniature produce, I grabbed two pints of cherry tomatoes as well. And, because our basil plant had died while we were away, a bunch of lemon basil came home with us as well.


My favorite way to prepare eggplant is to roast it. This concentrates the flavors without leeching out too much moisture. A quick internet search found a recipe for Roasted Eggplant with Tomato and Feta. I loved the flavors but wanted something more comforting than a warm salad. A quick cookbook search found me a recipe for Summer Roasted Tomato Soup. I put on my thinking cap, combined both recipes, and -- poof! Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup was born. Enjoy!


Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

Freshly Pureed Soup

adapted from A Slob in the Kitchen and Green Lite Bites

• 4 small Japanese eggplants
• 1 small white eggplant
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided, plus more as necessary
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup lemon basil leaves, chopped
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 1 red onion, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss eggplants, tomatoes, olive oil (at least 1 teaspoon), garlic, salt, basil, chickpeas and feta together.on an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, stirring halfway through and adding more olive oil if eggplant has dried out. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a stockpot, heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cooking, stirring, 5-10 minutes, until onion has turned translucent. Add roasted mixture and stock. Cover, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Remove cover, lower heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender. Season with additional salt and, if desired, black pepper, to taste. Serve warm.

Phyllo, hot out of the oven

Make it a Meal: While you can serve this as an appetizer in a multi-course meal, it is also heavy enough to be a wonderful main dish. While everything roasts, make some phyllo dumplings (a wonderful stand-in for croutons) by wrapping basil and/or feta cheese in phyllo packages. While soup cooks, bake phyllo 15 minutes in a 375 F oven. Serve in soup or alongside. To drink, I'd recommend a rose, specifically a 2010 Biohof Pratsch. A sauvignon blanc would be nice as well. And for dessert? Pomegranate seeds. Bon appetit! 

Leftovers: Make a pound of pasta and pour over as much soup as you want instead of a prepared sauce. Yum!

Links to other roasted eggplant noshes:

• Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup from Simply Recipes
• Roasted Eggplant with Mint from White on Rice Couple
• Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Soup from Smitten Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Pesto from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad

Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad

Whew! It's been a while! And I've even been cooking (three recipes in the to-be-blogged file). So accept a few posts in short succession, if possible. What have I been doing, you ask? A whirlwind trip to Los Angeles, another show and some family medical issues (everyone's fine now and the vegetarian and I are both home).


Several weeks ago, just before we to LA, I had a few beetroots hanging out in the fridge, left over from the butter borshch. As I've mentioned, the vegetarian is not such a huge fan of beets, so I decided that a side dish (which he wouldn't necessarily eat) would be the best bet. It was warm out that day and we were tired after spending the afternoon preparing for LA so I didn't want to cook more than necessary. And I wanted something fresh-tasting. Janna Gur's The Book of New Israeli Food provided the inspiration I needed. The beets would become a salad, then, dressed with pomegranate concentrate, cilantro and some pomegranate seeds.


But, since I knew the vegetarian would eat the majority of the other meal components, I wanted to make the salad a little more substantial. On the internet, I found a Herring with Potato and Beetroot Salad. While interesting, I wasn't going to go about cooking herring, especially since I would be the only one eating them. And I had no potatoes. But what really caught my eye about the recipe was the dressing for the beetroots: melted butter! So melted butter replaced the olive oil and I had a fresh, sweet salad for dinner and several lunches as well. Enjoy!


Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad
adapted from The Book of New Israeli Food and CookEatShare

• 3 red beets
• 2 tablespoons pomegrante juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 chiles de arbol, dried and crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add beets and cook for 45 minutes, until tender. When cool enough to handle, slide off peels and dice. Transfer to a large bowl and add pomegranate juice concetrate, lemon juice, chiles and salt. Let marinate 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter for about 10 seconds in microwave. Next, stir cilantro and pomegranate seeds into beet mixture. Pour melted butter on top. Serves 6.

Make it a meal: If, like me, you're feeding someone who's not very fond of beets, make sure your other 

Beets, Buckwheat, Black Beans, Cserzsegi Fuzseres

dishes can be a meal in themselves. I recommend buckwheat cooked simply with salt and black beans cooked with cumin. Mix both together and sprinkle with cilantro and pomegranate seeds. If your beets came with greens, steam them for 7 minutes over the boiling beets and add to buckwheat and black beans. To drink, I recommend gewurtztraminer or a Hungarian cserszegi fuszeres. Bon appetit!

Links to other beetroot pomegranate salad noshes:

• Beetroot and Carrot Raw Salad from A Life (Time) of Cooking
• Golden Beet and Pomegranate Salad from Simply Recipes
• Beetroot and Pomegranate Tabbouleh from Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Bulgur, Celery and Pomegranate Salad from 101 Cookbooks

Butter Borshch

Butter Borshch

My show closed on Saturday night and, after 3 weeks of wearing a corset, coming home late and barely cooking, I was really looking to make something restorative and nutritious for dinner last night. That always makes me think of soup. But so soon after Passover, the last thing I wanted was matzoh ball soup. I also knew I needed this soup to be chock full of vegetables, to make up for all the fried bar food I'd been eating late nights after performances. And I have a little jar of fresh bay leaves -- a gift from a cast member that I was eager to sample. Since spring produce isn't quite here yet, I started thinking about root vegetables. But I wanted a green as well. So I asked myself: what root vegetables have delicious edible greens? Beets, of course! Borshch it was, then.


But the vegetarian isn't such a fan of beets, so I wanted there to be enough other flavors in the borshch that it wouldn't taste overwhelmingly of beets (just clean and earthy). So we added in onions and carrots and sauteed all the earth vegetables in butter. Instead of cabbage, I used the beet greens and even half a package of diced tomatoes from Winter Sun Farms.


So did it work? Did the vegetarian learn to like beets? Yes and no. He loved the flavorful broth we created (and wasn't even turned off by the reddish color!) but found the texture of the beets off-putting. But that's fine; I had made enough side dishes for him to be satisfied with the broth stirred in and I was able to have extra soup for lunch today. Enjoy!


Butter Borshch
inspired by Cooking with PETA and Russian Cookbook

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 2 beets, grated
• 2 carrots, grated
• 3 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 cup sauce tomatoes, diced
• 1 bay leaf (fresh, if possible)
• beet greens from 1 bunch beets, stems and leaves chopped and separated
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional garlic salt to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground, plus additional red pepper flakes to taste

Melt butter in a pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, beets and carrots and saute until fragrant, about 15 minutes. Pour in broth, tomatoes and bay leaf and simmer 5 minutes. Add beet greens stems and simer another 5 minutes. Add beet green leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper and simmer, stirring well, 5 minutes, until greens are tender and flavors are melded nicely. Remove bay leaf and serve. Makes 4 1/2 cups.


Make it a meal: If, like me, you're cooking for someone who may not be crazy about borshch, make side 

Make it a Meal

dishes that could qualify as a meal in themselves. Staying in Eastern Europe, buckwheat is great either on the side or stirred into the borshch. For some extra protein, how about some nutty black-eyed peas? And traveling back around the world, some sauteed bok choy brings in an extra dose of greens. A bottle of red wine to drink and for dessert, fresh blueberries. Bon appetit!


Links to other borshch noshes and thoughts:

• Borscht from Simply Recipes
• Vegetarian Borsch from nami-nami
• Borscht Soup with Garlic Bread from Christine' s Recipes
• Creamy Beet Borscht from Lisa's Kitchen
• Jennifer Wildeboer talked about vegan borshch in her interview on food52
• Borscht from Wandering Chopsticks
• Borsht from Jew And The Carrot
• Borscht from The Kitchn
• Azu, the Tatar meat stew from nami-nami
• Borscht keeps the cold at bay -- canned vs. homemade borscht from Slashfood
• Simply Borscht from Papawow
• part of The Omnivore's Hundred, as listed on Chocolate & Zucchini

Broiled Edamame with Fennel and Lemon

Edamame with Fennel and Lemon

Last night, the vegetarian and I were able to enjoy a rare mutual night off. Rather than going out, we decided to stay in and cook together! And yesterday was one of those days where you can sense spring trying so very hard to push winter away and fly free. While spring hasn't quite settle down, my cravings for spring produce and lighter, pale green foods certainly have!

Edamame, ready for the oven

This meant, that, after having eaten lots of pastas, composed salads and tea this past (exceptionally busy) week, what I wanted last night was vegetable-based, fresh and easy to make. What I wanted was fava beans. I first encountered fava beans two summers ago when I belonged to a CSA. Never having made them before, I cooked them very simply the first time -- with garlic and oil, if I remember correctly -- and waited patiently, collecting recipes all the while, until I could have them again.


I rediscovered the recipe treasure trove last week and was most 
inspired by two recipes: Grilled Fava Bean Pods on Food & Wine and Potato Salad with Fava Beans and Fennel on Kitchen Konfidence. Of course, I live in an apartment without a grill (although we do have some outside space...) so I devised a way to "grill" using a preheated iron pan and a broiler instead.

But, you're thinking, isn't today's recipe for edamame, Lady A? So why on earth are you going on and on

Fennel et al., awaiting the Edamame

about fava beans? Because, darlings, The best laid schemes of mice and men/go oft awry. Which is to say that, spring having begun only astronomically and not meteorologically, fava beans are certainly not in season. So I defrosted the frozen edamame we received this month from Winter Sun Farms and made them instead.


Broiled Edamame with Fennel and Lemon
adapted from Food and Wine's Grilled Fava Bean Pods with Chile and Lemon

• 1 pound edamame pods, defrosted if frozen and spun dry in a salad spinner
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bulb fennel, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Ozzy, looking longingly up at our dinner

Raise oven rack as high as possible, place an iron pan on rack and preheat oven (with pan inside) to 550F. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss edamame with olive oil. When oven is heated. remove pan and turn on broiler. Add edamame to hot pan and place under broiler. Broil 5 minutes, shaking pan occasionally.

Meanwhile, in the same bowl, mix together fennel, green onion, red pepper flakes and kosher salt. when edamame is cooked, add to bowl and toss well to combine. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

Make it a Meal: As an alternative to your standard grain, try this with some savory oatmeal, prepared like

Edamame, Fennel, Oatmeal and Wine

rice by cooking it in water with olive oil, red pepper flakes and 
kosher salt. Stir in some Bulgarian feta as well, or just have the feta later for dessert. And to drink? I recommend a clean Sauvignon Blanc (ours was from Channing Daughters, of whose Wine CSA we're proud members). Bon appetit!

Links to fennel noshes:

• Roasted Fennel from Simply Recipes
• Carrot and Fennel Soup from 101 Cookbooks
• Braised Fennel from Simply Recipes

Roasted Rosemary Tofu

Roasted Rosemary Tofu with Salsa Verde

 So sorry for the extended silence! We just returned from an absolutely fabulous weekend in Florida (my first time!) for my cousin's wedding. We swam, went to the beach, saw alligators in the Everglades, ate hibachi, danced and enjoyed some sun and warm weather--two things we were beginning to think were just figments of our imagination.


But now we're back in New York, where it's still stubbornly winter and I see I have yet to write up the 

Tofu

recipe for the tofu variation of last week's Roasted Rosemary Cod. Enjoy!


Roasted Rosemary Tofu

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 1 lb. firm tofu
• 1 skewer fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde

Cut tofu in half height-wise, wrap in a clean towel and place on a plate. On top, place a colander or bowl filled with a couple of bottles or boxes (I use a bottle of olive oil and a box of kosher salt). Press for at least an hour.

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanut oil. Swirl around pan. Unwrap pressed tofu and salt and pepper each side. Place tofu in pan. Pan-roast for 7 minutes. Flip over, reduce heat to medium, and add rosemary leaves, butter and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove from pan and serve with

Rosemary and Tofu

 

salsa verde.

Make it a meal: We also had this with pearl barley, spinach, and Beaujolais Nouveau. For dessert: tangerines. Bon appetit!

Links to other Rosemary Roasted Tofu noshes:

• Roasted Rosemary Pears from A Life (Time) of Cooking
• Lentil and Eggplant Pasta with Rosemary from Tofu for Two
• Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Shrimp Skewers with Fuyu Persimmon from Kalyn's Kitchen

Roasted Rosemary Cod

Rosemary-Roasted Cod with Salsa Verde

Lately I've been wanting fish. Maybe it's the recent spate of warmer temperatures. Either way, last week, I 

Cod, Roasting in the Pan

kept thinking about cod. Cod is thick, rich, buttery and difficult to overcook. Because by itself it has a quiet flavor, I like pairing it with more pungent tastes like rosemary. Even though it grows year-round, I associate rosemary's loud flavor with winter. It marries surprisingly well with fish, so I decided to cook it with the cod, grounding the dish in winter although it's certainly on its way to spring. Just like the weather these days. Next post will be the tofu variation. Enjoy!


Roasted Rosemary Cod
(adapted from Craft of Cooking)

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 1 lb. skin-on cod fillet
• 1 skewer fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil. Swirl around pan. Salt and pepper both sides of cod fillets. Place them, skin side down, in pan. Pan-roast about 7 minutes. Flip over, reduce heat to medium and add rosemary leaves, butter and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove 

Rosemary-sprinkled Cod

from pan and serve with salsa verde.

Make it a meal: We also had this with pearl barley, spinach and Beaujolais Nouveau. For dessert I had some sottocenere and we each had a tangerine. Bon appetit!

Links to other Roasted Rosemary Cod noshes:

• Bacon Wrapped Cod with Rosemary and Lemon from Culinary Disasters
• Roasted Rosemary Beets from Guilty Kitchen
• Roasted New Potatoes from Simply Recipes

Tarragon Pistachio Butter and Beer Making, Part I

Tarragon Pistachio Butter

One of our Chanukah presents this year was a beer maker which, until now, has sat patiently above our kitchen cabinets, waiting to be used. Sunday night, after spring teased us with a 60F-day on Friday (only to shoot back down to a wintry 20F over the weekend), we decided it was time. Since neither the vegetarian nor I know very much about beer or beer-making, we invited one of his best friends from college, E, over to join in the merriment. We made West Coast Pale Ale, set everything in a (mostly) empty cabinet and began the more-immediate task of making dinner.


I've been on a sweet potato kick lately and, while looking for yummy sweet potato recipes in the folder in which I keep all the recipes I've stumbled upon and plan to make, I excitedly lighted on the word "sweet". It was followed, however, not by the word "potato" but instead by "pistachio".  Ah, yes! The Sweet Pistachio Butter from 101 Cookbooks--a vegetarian "healthy recipe journal" that I cannot recommend highly enough--that I had saved as a way to use up the pistachios from my Cornish Hens (and Tofu) with 

An (almost-set) Table

Cranberry Paste. (On a side note, one of my former college roommates, Miss Julie, a San Franciscan, cooks from there incessantly and was actually the one who first turned me on to the site.) Heidi made her Pistachio Butter for crepes but I, with my waning sweet tooth, wanted something more savory, to serve atop a protein. I stared for a while at the picture of Heidi's brilliantly green butter and decided to replace the sweetener with an herb. What herb? Something light, with a sweet taste and a loud flavor--tarragon! I often think of tarragon with chicken, but instead I paired it with Salmon Roasted with Herbs (from How to Cook Everything) for E and me and Tofu Roasted with Herbs for the vegetarian. The tarragon created just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the flavor of the pistachios and paired beautifully with the richness of the salmon. It also matched quite nicely with the delicate flavor of the tofu, I was told. And, to satisfy this sweet potato obsession, we had Roasted Yam Puree with Brown Butter--decadent and delightful. There was also a Cherry Tomato-Caper Salad and Hummus with Capers. And, while I would 
recommend a Viognier as a wine-pairing, we stayed on our beer theme and instead 
had Long Haul Session Ale with the Hummus and Morimoto Soba Ale with the Salmon, Tofu and Tarragon 
Pistachio Butter. I highly recommend both, especially the Morimoto. Enjoy!


Tarragon Pistachio Butter

• 

  Salmon and Tofu

  1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pistachios, shelled and crushed
• 1 bunch fresh tarragon leaves
• 1/2 cup water, hot (from the tap is fine)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pinches Hawaiian salt

First peel almonds: pour boiling water into a small bowl and add almonds. Allow to sit at least 1 minute, then remove them one at a time (go for those whose peels are the most shriveled first) and peel, rub, whatever to remove.

Place peeled almonds into food processor along with pistachios, tarragon, hot water and garlic. Pulse until all one consistency (add more water if you'd like it to be wetter), then add salt and pulse once or twice more to incorporate. Serve, atop salmon, tofu or whatever you'd like. Makes more than enough for 3 people's dinner. Enjoy!

Links to other tarragon pistachio butter noshes:

• Baked Peas with Tarragon, Yogurt, and Pistachios from 101 Cookbooks
• Tarragon Chicken Thighs with Buttered Leeks from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow