Green salads have endless possibilities … Strawberries can be at their very best this time of year – juicy and sweet, with a luxurious texture. This romaine-based mix showcases the berries with Romaine lettuce, Feta cheese and salted nuts such as pistachios or almonds. The dressing is a simple vinaigrette spiked with honey and shallots. Fresh tarragon comes to the…
Strawberry Salad Finds Bliss with Pistachios and Feta
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, Uncategorized, Videos
Roasted Bok Choy – Potato-Chip-Crisp Leaves with Tender Bases – Top with Ginger Sauce
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, UncategorizedHigh-heating roasting caramelizes bok choy, lending it an alluring sweet edge. It starts out with a gentle mustard-like flavor, but roasting tames much of that sharpness. The process creates texture contrast, transforming the tender leaves to a potato-chip crunchiness, the broad base to a moist succulence. It’s the best way to cook it. While the bok choy is in the…
No-Fail Rice Pilaf with Corn and Leeks, or Diced Carrots and Cauliflower or Green Beans and Peas – Easy and Delicious
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, RestaurantsThe versatility of pilaf makes it a welcome dish in a cook’s repertoire. Because it can be supplemented with a wide variety of vegetables, it’s a delicious way to use up produce that you have on hand. Diced carrots and celery; slivers of fresh fennel and diced zucchini; diced bell peppers and green onions; thinly sliced green beans and green…
Kimchi Rice – Deliciously Addictive – Top With Fried Egg and Call It Dinner
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, RecipesTeaming starchy white rice with the high-impact flavors of kimchi results in a dish that is temptingly delicious. On its own, kimchi can be cheekily sour, spicy, and pungent. It’s a concoction of salted and fermented vegetables that is a staple in Korean cuisine. Used in a stir-fry of sorts along with day-old cooked grains of rice, tames the flames…
For a meatless Monday meal, I often turn coarsely chopped greens (such as spinach, collard, chard or kale) into a delectable dish. How? I cook greens in just enough broth to make them tender-crisp, then toss in some cooked farro. The semi-pearled farro makes the concoction nutty and delectably chewy. It adds a subtle sweetness, turning a boring dish into…
A couple of years ago, a chef friend and I dined at Salt and Love, a busy Italian-style bistro in Manhattan Beach, CA. We thought the meal was delicious and both of us were eager to try to reproduce the scrumptious starter that we had shared. It was the Sugar Snap Pea and Burrata Salad, so fresh and tempting it…
BROCCOLINI – Tender-Crisp Yum Broccolini (sometimes labeled “baby broccoli”) is a cross between gai lan (Chinese Broccoli) and common broccoli. The stalks are as skinny as asparagus, the leaves and tender buds alluringly tender. Spicy Sauteed Broccolini (or Gai Lan) with Garlic Yield; 6 servings 1 1/2 to 2 pounds broccolini (sometimes called baby broccoli), ends trimmed 1 tablespoon extra-virgin…
Hatch White Chili – A One-Bowl Meal With Pizzazz
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, UncategorizedFresh Hatch chilies are available a few short weeks each year, in August and September. These delicious chilies are from the Mesilla Valley in New Mexico, they have thick walls with flavorful flesh – use them fresh or roasted – then peeled, seeded, and if you like, frozen. One of my favorite ways to use them, is to spike a…