Tastes like . . . Oregon?

Fresh Snake Hill Farm asparagus, toll caught King Salmon from Kate's Fish (more from them below), and some Quinoa w/ dried apricots, both from the Westside food co-op.

The salmon was a piece from the midsection, and was so thick that half a pound was only around an inch wide across the top. To get decent looking portions with good surface area for searing (however lightly) I split the fish into belly and loin pieces, removed the skin from each of the two pieces, and then laid the pieces on their sides for cooking. Pictured above is the loin piece--the belly was just about the same thickness. If the skin was still on it would be along the edge of the fish piece towards the bottom of the picture. Hate to loose the skin, but for simple stove top cooking it was just easier to cook the fish on its side. Enough of that. It was a great fish with a smooth salmon flavor and buttery texture. Seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked to medium rare in a mix of butter and canola oil, there's not much better.

As for the asparagus, again, it's asparagus season, so I'm going to get as much of it as I can. Cooked the same way I usually do it. Regarding the side effects, you put up with what you have to. The stuff is worth it.

The Quinoa. A quick rinse and then one part quinoa to two parts water with a little salt and some chopped up dried apricots for good measure. Simmered covered for about 20 minutes, and left to rest covered for another five, and that's all there was to it. The apricots added a nice sweetness to quinoa.

No sauce with this meal. The salmon was rich enough. Still, a sauce would have looked nice.

And some rhubarb preserves. Straight out of The Silver Spoon Cookbook, one cup of sugar to each pound of rhubarb (straight from the community garden), let steep for two hours, and then the resulting mixture is poured into a pan for 30 min. of simmering (with lots of stirring) followed by an additional 5 min. of simmering with some grated orange zest (Here the zest was from a Frog Hollow nectarine? courtesy of Stuart--his Flicker pages are linked on the right.). It's a shame to go from beautiful stalks to a brown blob, but the taste (and preservation power) is worth it. Great with ice cream, maple syrup, and some crushed nuts.

While I associate salmon and rhubarb with the Northwest (where I first tried rhubarb pie--I know, I was raised in a bubble), this last picture is pure Great Lakes. In addition to the salmon, I got a whole Walleye from Kate's for a side project. I got the fish filleted and wasn't in need of the bones, just flesh that day (although I was hoping for eggs, but unfortunately he wasn't a she). After the fish was cleaned and the fillets bagged up, Tom, the friendliest fishmonger in the CLE, was considerate enough to make sure I didn't leave the best part behind. Below are the tiny and tasty Walleye cheeks, skin on, over more of the quinoa with some parsley grown by a wonderful Bosnian couple that sell some great stuff at the Shaker Market every week. Really a nice little appetizer.

Carrot Halwa (Gajar Ka Halwa)

In sticking with the Indian cooking videos, I'm posting the recipe I used for this followed by two inspirational videos. It's a result of having limited supplies and the need to make something for a vegetarian pot luck. Having spent four hours at North Union's Indoor Winter Market at Shaker Square on Saturday, there was no excuse for the lack of supplies, but so it goes. If you're in the Cleveland area I can't recommend the Winter Market enough. It's the closest thing to sunshine we get around this time of year

Ingredients:
Butter, about three tbs
Cashew, pieces
Almond, pieces
Raisins (golden would be great, but I didn't have them for this)
Carrot, shredded (here 4-5 cups)
Milk (enough to cover the carrot, about 2 cups)
Heavy cream (optional, I just used a splash)
Sugar, to taste (one cup was about right for me--it looks like a lot, but go with it)
Cardamom, seeds pounded
Fennel seed, pounded (my addition, I liked it)

Method:
see below

Here are the videos I watched. Very informative.



and



Lately I can't seem to get enough of these videos, but I'm sure the Indian food kick will come to end eventually.

Dessert?

Or a savory snack? A trip to the farmers' market yielded an abundance of onions (Little cippolinis from Snake Hill Farm, an amazing piece of land in Geauga County, Ohio. The pun--the farm is run by Savory and Lou--is unintentional.) and apples (Galas, and a Honeycrisp, from a local orchard.). Also, the flours from my food purchasing group were adding up, so a tart/pie was in order.

I combined Oak and Spelt flours, and it resulted in a good tasting base for the apples and onions. Not too much like a pie or tart dough though. I don't think going for the free form thing was such a good idea in this case either.

The addition of Cardamom made the filling great. It brought out the sweetness of the apples and onions, and added a great flavor of its own. It made the whole thing work.

Crust:
- I more or less followed this recipe: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001127perfect_pie_crust.php. As noted above, the flours were changed, and I halved the recipe to fit it into my mini food processor.
- My half recipe made enough dough for four of the pies (I used four smallish apples)
Filling:
Ingredients:
- Apples, peeled and roughly chopped
- Onions, halved and sliced pretty thinly
- Cardamom (crushed seeds)
- Sugar

- Butter
- Salt
Method:
- Melt butter in a pan
- Add sliced onions with some salt and sugar (not too much of either, I used a pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of sugar to a good handful of sliced onion
- Cook onions until soft and starting to caramelize
- Then add apples and a bit more salt and sugar, mixing everything well
- Once apples are softening, add cardamom
- Stir well again, and when everything is pretty soft turn off heat Pie/Tart
- I free formed the dough to hold the filling and put it into a 350 degree oven on a cast iron griddle (I'll use a pie tin if I make this again. As you can see, the dough collapsed)
- Once the crust was dry and the apples were just beginning to brown, I removed the pie

This tasted great, especially the filling. I'll experiment with the crusts more in the future. I don't think oak and spelt are the way to go here. The taste was great, and so was the color, but the texture was a bit too cookie-like.