Radish salsa, guacamole, olives, roasted beets

Risi e Bisi served with Caprese salad

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 2 ounces pancetta, cut into small cubes
• 1 1/2 cups of small grain brown rice parboiled for 13 minutes or arborio rice
• 8 cups of water or chicken stock, heated until hot
• 1 1/2 cups of shelled peas
• 3 garlic scapes, finely chopped
• 1 cup of cava or dry white wine
• 2-3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
• salt & fresh ground black pepper

1. Add the olive oil 10- to 12- inch heated sauté pan and cook the pancetta for a minute or two. Combine the onions, celery, and garlic scapes and cook over medium heat until they are softened but not browned.

2. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, until it is amost opaque. Add 1 cup of cava or wine and stir until the wine has evaporated. Add enough water to barely cover the rice (about 1 cup) and cook, stirring until the water is absorbed. Keep adding water, one ladleful at a time, and stirring constantly. After about 15 minutes taste the rice; it should still be al-dente but getting close to being done.

3. Add the peas and continue to cook for about 4 more minutes, adding a bit more water, until the rice is tender and creamy yet still al dente. The risotto should be quite moist.

4. Add the butter and Parmigiano, mix quickly and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

This week my small share included:

• rhubarb
• green onions
• radishes
• strawberries
• eggs
• shelling peas

I added to that:

• ground lamb
• asian greens
• garlic scapes
• tomato salsa
• raspberry jam

And they have become, so far:

• Rhubarb & Strawberry custard pie
• Lamb & bulgur patties (aka Kofta) served with tomato salsa
• Braised radishes with goat’s milk butter, parsley, green onions, and sea salt

Not very photogenic but every bite elicited a very loud "OMG!" from Alan

Voort’s Classic Rhubarb Custard

3 eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar (i actually replace this with 1 to 1 1/4 cup maple syrup.  I actually replace everything with maple syrup…)

1 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 Orange juice (if using maple, just leave this out – or replace with any other juice you have!) [I used maple and didn't add orange juice]

beat eggs, then stir in remaining ingredients one at a time

fill pie shell with cut up rhubarb (2-4 cups, depending on the size of your pie plate), then pour custard mixture over top. (you can add any other fruits in here as well – try strawberries, sour cherries – basically any berries you still have in your freezer…amazing) [I added strawberries; about two cups of each]

(my favourite pastry is butter pastry – can you go wrong with butter? – 1 1/2 cups flour (I’ve used the red fife, all purpose, spelt and buckwheat here – all good!), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 lb cold butter, 3-5 tbsp ice water – mix flour & salt, cut in butter, add ice water until it’s a ball.  refrigerating for a few minutes really helps the roll-out.  makes 1 shell) [I used spelt; wasn't sure it was going to turn out but it was a very nice, flaky pie shell]

bake at 4oo degrees for 15-20 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 and bake 30-40 minutes more or until custard is set.

let it cool until you can put it in your mouth without burning yourself…

At the end we have a nice big bush of Thai basil that I couldn’t resist:

I’ve had that one for a couple of weeks now and emboldened by its survival, I got these little babies this weekend:

In the larger pot: Sweet red pepper, red lettuce, and flat leaf parsley. In the smaller pot: peppermint

On the left: kale and cayenne pepper; on the right: arugula and jalapeño pepper

Wish me luck!

I always meant to go back and travel and width and breadth of Portugal. Search for some of my roots, perhaps. Today I was able to do so through Tessa Kiros’s wonderful book Postcards from Portugal: Memories and Recipes* that I discovered through my friend Fernanda.The book is simply gorgeous, a journey through Portuguese cuisine, a product of a colonial past that brought Portuguese merchants to every corner of the world, bringing with them many spices and techniques from far away lands. This spirit is conveyed in the book’s opening page:

My appreciation of Portuguese food started in South Africa, where it seemed through from Mozambique to the many restaurants and homes. Plus, all the greengrocers were Portuguese – a testimony to their love of the land. But mostly what intrigued me was the stretching out of Portugal to so many other and varied lands.

My travels took me through all of mainland Portugal and to the island of San Miguel in the Azores. I was charmed by the old-fashioned way of doing things in this ancient kingdom of Europe – so humble, unobtrusive and majestically beautiful. A land of many flowers and of charming homely tables laden with food marinated in spices picked from  far-off lands. From the lands where the intrepid navigators once sailed in glorious caravels, through boiling oceans, past fabled monsters and battling with contrary winds and currents. Collecting spices to bring back to their cooking pots, they sowed seeds of their own spices and children in foreign lands and women. Exchanging between far-flung locales, pieces of language, gold, gems, recipes, architecture, porcelains and silks, they carried them right back to Belém on the banks of Lisbon’s River Tejo. They brought a bit of the world – its people, religions and ideas – back to Portugal. And they accomplished all this largely with ships and men on the open oceans of the globe.

(…)

This created a fascinating cross-pollination of people and places – Cabo Verde, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe, Goa, Macau, Guinea, the Azores, Madeira – that all go to make up the culture of Portugal past and present. This leads to surprise elements and ingredients in the food with interesting combinations: cinnamon and cloves, fresh coriander used in abundance, peppers, feijoada, coffee with steak, and, of course, the wonderful piri piri. Many times I felt the Portuguese had been given a challenge – something similar to ‘conundum’ where you have to find as many short words as you can from one long one. The Portuguese were given bacalhau [cod fish] and eggs to make as many tings as they could. And so they went ahead… and invented a thousand recipes for bacalhau, and made all their desserts with egg.

Although the empire has faded, the result today is a land rich in the diversity of its people, food, art and respect for the faraway places it once dominated. And the soulfoul fado tunes are draped with the melancholy of splendid days gone by…

That is just the beginning. The book is simply gorgeous – pictures leap from the pages, many of which are framed with the ubiquitous white-and-blue tiles of Portugal. Starting with a brief description of the Portuguese kitchen, Kiros takes us on a gastronomic journey to the soul of Portuguese cooking including traditional dishes such as pastéis de nata, the ever present Bacalhau, caldo verde, and grilled sardines but also moving beyond to delicacies such as Port Ice Cream, Prawns in Beer, and gazpacho à Portuguesa. Definitely worth a read. Expect some Portuguese dishes here in the future.

*Apparently, the original title was Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found, a much nicer title.

Crumble:

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, chopped in small pieces
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I didn’t have any, but it would had been nice)

Fruit filling

• 3 cups chopped rhubarb
• 3 cups chopped strawberries
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 400F (200C)
2. Mix the fruits, 1/4 cup sugar, maple syrup, cornstarch, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a large baking dish
3. For the topping, mix all ingredients with your hands until you get a coarse crumble.
4. Pour over the fruit and bake for 40-45 mins until crumble is browned and fruit is bubbly. Serve with vanilla ice-cream.