nothavanas

Saturday I went to the Farmers' market in the U district (after my eye doctor appointment) and got an entire sockeye salmon for $25, and a miscellaney of vegetables. I got squat rounded carrots called Thumbelina, golden beets (many of which were smaller than chocolate chip cookie dough portions), parsnips (which were labeled carrots, but I've never met a white carrot), and celery root. I diced up the veggies, adding in two potatoes and a number of garlic cloves, and tossed with olive oil and spices. The spices I grabbed were mixed peppercorns, juniper berries, bay leaves, sage, kosher salt, and a little mustard seed, plus a dash or two of apple cider vinegar. I roasted them at 350 for 20 minutes, then raised the heat to 450 (so I could bake biscuits!) for another 15-20 minutes.

Today I dumped the leftover veggies into a pot, heated them up, and added about half a jar of roasted red and yellow peppers, and a quart ziploc full of veggie stock. I diluted the stock with maybe 3.5 cups of water, enough to cover and seem souplike, and brought it to a boil. I pureed the resultant mixture in the blender, leaving a little texture behind. Final flavor adjustments involved a titch of garlic powder and some salt.

I like the soup better than the whole vegetables, honestly. They didn't get quite soft enough during roasting, but the heating and blending process softened them up nicely.

I'm planning to do something tasty with my collection of Savory Spice Shop blends and ingredients once a week this year.

This week I made Potato-Chorizo Tacos with Avocado-Tomatillo Salsa, and made the chorizo from the last of my chorizo spice blend and a pound of ground pork. I made a double batch of the salsa, since I bought roughly twice as much ingredients as I needed. That's what comes of deciding on dinner while I'm at the grocery store, without my recipes. I didn't remember to get any jalapeno peppers, so I threw in a little bit of the Honey-Jalapeno Hot Sauce from the Ballard Farmer's Market. The salsa turned out very mild and creamy, while the chorizo had a reasonable kick. It happily fed everyone; I mixed a separate batch with fake beef for the vegetarian.

I made chard-saffron tart last night, from The Greens Cookbook. This is my favorite dish of all time from that book, including olive oil bread, and it is the only reason I own a tart pan. It's easy, the dough is beautifully flavored and textured, the custard is quick and tasty. And it makes an excellent breakfast.

I also boiled some various potatoes and mixed them with pesto, as if I didn't feel like making the pasta portion of pasta with pesto and new potatoes. And I blanched some yellow and green beans and dressed them with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and Wash Park seasoning blend. It was food processing evening.

Oh, and Sunday I made sourdough bread, which I ate with apple butter from Woodrings Orchard.