Mediterranean Orzo Salad

Well hello dear readers! Nice of you to join me here, at this oft-neglected blog of mine. Work has taken a turn for the busier, and I've not been posting as much as I'd like. The craziness will likely continue through the end of the month, but then I'm home free and will post much more! Meanwhile, thanks for hangin' in there. And you'll be handsomely rewarded for your patience -- I have a couple of smashingly delicious recipes in the queue.

As you may have noticed, it's pretty smokin' hot these days. For those of us city folks without a porch, grilling isn't much of an option, but nonetheless, I try to minimize indoor cooking as much as possible during summer months. This orzo salad requires no oven time, and just around 20 minutes of stovetop cooking. It can also be tweaked in any number of ways; as usual, the recipe I provide here is entirely a function of what was in my fridge when I made it, and you should listen to your fridge's innards just as carefully.

The lovely thing about orzo salad -- how can I pick just one! -- is that it's the perfect picnic dish. Part side, part main, nutritious, tasty at room temperature, it really behaves itself on the gingham tablecloth. I served this a couple weeks ago for lunch alongside mini crustless mushroom quiches (delicious, though I've no pictures to prove it). However, it's just delightful on its own, as well.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad

• 2 1/2 cups orzo
• 1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes*
• 1 block feta cheese
• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 1/2 a yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

*If sundried tomatoes are packed in oil, roughly chop them. If they are dry, soak them in a bit of warm water for 10-20 minutes to reconstitute.

Cook orzo according to package directions. Strain water, reserving just a bit to prevent clumping. Set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat a few Tbsp. of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, and cook slowly until it begins to caramelize, about 15 min. When the onion is translucent and has begun to turn golden, add chopped kale, some salt, and a splash of water, and cook for about 5 minutes until kale has wilted. Remove from the heat and add immediately to orzo, tossing to combine.

Add beans and sundried tomatoes; stir to incorporate. Chop feta into cubes, and add just before serving. Taste the salad; if it needs some acidity, add some red wine vinegar. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup. Add salt and pepper as needed, and finish with a scant drizzle of olive oil.

**Ideas for tweaking (and beyond): - spinach, feta, cherry tomatoes, basil - rainbow chard, pine nuts, goat cheese - cucumbers, red peppers, feta, mint - mushrooms, goat cheese, fresh thyme - pears, gorgonzola, walnuts

Tzatziki

My wonderful mom reminded me that when we first made this, we also grated in 2 pickling cucumbers. I completely forgot to put them in the recipe here! Correction appended. Have you ever seen a recipe here at NDP that called for mayonnaise? No, I don't think so. Definitely not. That's because I hate hate hate mayo with, well, a passion. It makes my stomach turn just to think about it! Yuck. The grossness of mayo notwithstanding, at least 95.5% of all dip recipes list mayo as an ingredient -- incomprehensible, if you ask me. Why not pass up the mayo for some yogurt? Or sour cream, if that's your thing? Why ruin a perfectly good dip with mayo? Disagree if you must -- I get that mayonnaise is one of America's favorite condiments. Just not one of mine.

(end rant.)

Here's a delightfully fresh and mayo-less dip that's perfect for summer. It's a spin on Mediterranean tzatziki, a dill-spiked yogurt and feta dip. When my mom and I made some for our fathers' day dinner, we spruced it up with fresh chopped mint and parsley in addition to the dill, and added a bit of fresh lemon juice to finish it off. Just when I thought it couldn't be better, I made round two, and grated a bit of lemon zest in as well -- good call; a little zest goes a long way. I also experimented with some cumin, which was interesting though unnecessary. As usual, I can think of a hundred ways to tweak this so-called "recipe," like adding other spices, vegetables, herbs, juices, or even bases (yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, ricotta, etc) according to your taste. Don't be afraid to play around with it.

Tzatziki

• 1 15-20ish oz. tub of yogurt, sour cream, or (ick) other something (I used Fage brand greek yogurt)
• 1 8-oz. block feta cheese, crumbled
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• zest 1 lemon
• 2 pickling cucumbers, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (feel free to omit any herbs or add in any you like!)

Combine all ingredients; mix well to combine. Garnish with mint sprigs, dill, or lemon. Serve with crudites (chopped raw vegetables), pita chips, crackers, or anything else.

Chilled Leek and Pea Soup with Mint

Summer doesn't take its time in DC. Blink, and before you know it, it's dripping down your back, glowing on your face, sticking the jeans you shouldn't have worn today to the back of your legs. Yep, awesome. In prepping for Washington's summer-o-sweat, I've been reminding myself to breathe deeply and contemplating ways to limit stove and oven use. But you can only eat so many salads before the sheer sight of baby greens makes you scream. The solution? Make now, eat later, chill in-between.

In these early days of summer, when evenings are cool enough to mitigate the unyielding humidity, I make a big pot of soup, pack it into containers, and stick half in the fridge, half in the freezer. Then, on hot days, I can pop a bowl of chilled soup right out of the fridge and eat it immediately, for some much-needed respite from the sun without a painfully hot cooking process. Same goes for iced coffee, which I make at night and drink the next day at work. Needless to say, freezing half is a strategic move to set us up for July and August, when nary a flame shall burn in this unfortunately insulated apartment.

On the topic of summer treats, coffee ice cubes are a fantastic way to chill your latte without diluting it. If you need a recipe, yikes.

Here's a soup I've recently fallen in love with. It's been making its way around my neighborhood, and every cook has made her own changes. Shockingly, I'm no exception. I topped my bowl with a bit of lebne (or labaneh, a tangy cross between yogurt and sour cream) instead of creme fraiche, and garnished with mint instead of chives. I also adjusted the proportions a bit. Feel free to carry on the tradition, and change it to suit your preferences (or the contents of your fridge).

Chilled Leek and Pea Soup with Mint

• 3 leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped
• 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
• olive oil
• 16-oz. peas, fresh or frozen (not canned)
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup fresh mint
• 1/8 Tbsp. nutmeg

1. In a stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute nutmeg, leeks and onions with a bit of salt until translucent, about 4 minutes. The goal here is to let them develop some flavor without turning too brown or burning. Stir regularly.
2. When leeks and onions have finished, add stock, and bring to a simmer. Then add peas, and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, until soft.
3. Remove the soup from the heat, and add mint. Stir to combine. If you have an immersion blender, blend the soup til smooth. Alternatively, transfer soup to food processor in small batches to puree; if you overfill the processor, it'll spray hot soup all over you -- my personal version of hell, summer or not!
4. After all the soup has been blended, transfer back into the pot, and chill. serve with a bit of creme fraiche, yogurt, sour cream, etc on top, and garnish with mint sprigs or chopped chives.

Greens? mouthwatering. Pictures? Not so much.

(After a long, long hiatus -- nearly 2 weeks! -- I've finally got a recipe for you. I recently started a new job, which, in contrast to the old one, actually necessitates my doing work. It's been tough to adjust to a full -- often overflowing -- workday and still make time to blog, but I'm coming around. Thanks for continuing to read, and I promise, more great recipes are in the wings!)

Honestly, I don't think I've ever posted such ugly pictures (save some of my early shots, which are pretty embarrassing). My apologies if looking at them makes you lose your appetite. I didn't even bother to put the watermark on that second one -- let's face it; no one's going to claim to have taken that ugly pic.

But the spinach, people, the spinach. It's absolutely delicious, and I insist that after staring for way too long at these ugly pictures, you go bother to make the spinach that's in them. I happened to have spinach in the fridge, and stumbled upon this recipe in The New Best Recipe (aka my New Best Cookbook). It's not my usual tune to make creamed spinach. I'm more drawn to raw salads and quick-sautees with Asian flavors than I am to heavy, Southern-style greens. However, I will certainly be making frequent exception to that rule from now on. TNBR's creamed spinach recipe yielded a perfectly delicate green, sweet from the cream and a pinch of sugar, slightly salty, a bit spicy from the freshly-grated nutmeg, and buttery from a sauteed shallot and, well, butter. I guess it's not hard to see how anything can be made tasty if you add sugar, salt, cream, butter, and shallots. But anyway, this spinach was pretty much a home run. I actually cut the cream in half, and it was still delicious, so if you'd be inclined, do the same.

Assertive Greens with Shallots and Cream makes 2 cups

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 shallots, chopped fine
• 1 recipe Blanched Assertive Greens (below)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1.4 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the shallots and cook, stiring frequently, until golden brown, 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the greens and stir to coat them with the butter. Stir in the cream, sugar, thyme, and nutmeg.
3. Cover and cook until the greens are heated through, about 2 minutes. If any excess liquid remains, remove the lid and continue to simmer until the cream has thickened slightly, about 1 minute.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

   Assertive Greens:

   • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
   • 2 pounds assertive greens, such as kale, mustard greens, collard greens, etc.

   Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a Dutch oven or a large, deep saute pan. Add the salt and the greens, and stir until wilted. Cover and cook until just tender, 7 minutes. Drain into a colander. Rinse the pan, then refill with cold water, and put the greens into the cold water to stop the cooking. Gather greens by the hand, and squeeze dry.