Shaved Fennel Salad

The Shaved Fennel Salad from Super Natural Every Day is my new favorite twist on the cucumber salad I've made for the past few years.  Like many who have the book, I've gravitated toward recipes with beautiful photos, and this salad has none.  When Heidi posted it on her website, complete with photos to remedy the fact that it's photo-less in the book, I took notice and mentally filed it away to make.  Whenever we start getting new goodies from the CSA again, I like to search the sites I love for recipes I haven't tried, and I rediscovered this one.  The recipe instructs you to let the sliced zucchini sit to absorb the lemon juice and dill for 20 minutes to an hour, which I found to be too little time.  (The first time I made this, I let it sit in the fridge for 2 days out of necessity, and the second time I actually followed the instructions with poor results.)  The lemony salad is a great match for the arugula, but does not work at all with regular lettuce.

The salad also made a lovely accompaniment to the Rye Soda Bread and Dill Butter from the same book, which we took on a picnic to Duke Farms (a lovely picnic for a lovely place).

Rye Soda Bread with Dill Butter

This is a fantastic pair of recipes from Super Natural Every Day.  I've been meaning to make the Rye Soda Bread - it's one of the ones I had my eye on early on when I got the book.  The Dill Butter was never on my short list.  But when we got two bunches of dill from the CSA, I figured, why not both?  I used up some of the chives from my little container garden as well.

I don't know what I was thinking not wanting to make the Dill Butter to go with the bread.  It's ridiculously good!  I'm not one to butter my bread, which is why I wasn't interested in it at first - but it's really worth it.  I have been snacking on it for the past few days, and I even ate it for breakfast yesterday (and probably will tomorrow).  Despite the somewhat assertive flavors it actually makes a very nice breakfast.  (In Heidi's book it's in the Lunch section, but I like to warm it up and we don't have a toaster oven at work, so breakfast it is!)  Farmer cheese is added to the butter, almost as much as there is butter, so it's not entirely butter that I'm eating for breakfast!

I'm officially out of rye flour, though, so now it's time to try a variation with some other types of flour.  I'm trying to use up as much of my flour as possible, but it's rough with all this produce coming at me left and right!

Which reminds me... I'll try to get my CSA post up tomorrow!

Fruit and Nut Filling for Baked Zucchini

This is the second recipe I tried from Tender, and it was so much better than the first.  I did run into several issues - my zucchini didn't cook through, for one, even though I was cooking much less of it than the recipe called for - but I was able to overcome them pretty well.  One note for myself for next time is to omit the breadcrumbs.  If this amount of filling is needed, double the couscous instead.  The breadcrumbs, though I had to improvise them using lavash which may have affected their success, did not really add anything to the dish.  The yogurt-dill sauce was delicious and compensated for the slight dryness of the couscous filling.  I would also love to try this with the fat round zucchini that you can actually hollow out and stuff.  Quinoa could make a nice substitute for the couscous and would add protein to the meal.  I could also see turning this into a kind of grain salad... chop up the zucchini (maybe grill it first?) and mix it all together.

Lemon Quinoa with Currants, Dill, and Zucchini

When I first heard about the new book Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, I was pretty stoked about it.  I ordered it not too long after I heard about it and as I flipped through, I was really excited to try some of the unique recipes.

Before I had a chance to make anything, Heidi featured this quinoa recipe on her blog, 101 Cookbooks.

A few days later I gave it a shot.  Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed.  I only had a bite.  It was not appealing to me at all beyond that.  I think it was the dill - I don't think I like dill - and the over-lemon flavor.  I had actually had doubts about putting in that much lemon juice, but I talked myself out of it and did it anyway.  Heidi halved the amount of currants, which sounded like a really good idea AFTER I had already made it, and she also added feta, which was kind of a "duh" moment for me... how did I not think of that?  It was on the recipe page as a suggested variation!

I also tried Heidi's suggestion of making quinoa patties with the leftovers.  I only had a bite of these as well.  I burned most of them (yay!) and they were pretty dry and needed some kind of sauce BUT I liked the mix much better in patty form than I did originally.  Unfortunately, I doubt I will be making this again.  If I do attempt it, I will be trying a variation that does not include dill or so much lemon juice.  But I have a feeling that some of the other recipes in the book will make up for this.

Almond Chive Salmon with Lemon Dill Green Beans

I just got myself a present, a brand new Cuisinart food processor, so I absolutely had to use it over the weekend. I had bookmarked a recipe for Almond Chive Salmon that called for a food processor and decided it would be delicious with some Lemon Dill Green Beans.

It is always a challenge for me to do more than one thing at a time! So, I began by chopping the parsley and making the bread crumb mixture. I used whole wheat bread, of course, instead of white bread. I made the mixture in my food processor as directed and I was thrilled with it! I love my food processor. I plan to take advantage of it frequently.

Here's a tip for those of you who do not like to clean: whenever I bake fish (or something similar) I put down aluminum foil on my pan. That way, you can just crumple it up and toss it in the trash and you have one less thing to wash!

I steamed the green beans, which was also the first time I ever used the steamer pot thing! The recipe said 5-7 minutes, so I turned the heat off after 5 and left them for another 2 minutes. I like cooked veggies to be crunchy, and they turned out wonderful. When they were done, I mixed them with the vinaigrette and it was delicious. (I just had to stick my finger in and taste a little because it smelled so good!)

Because I cook for two and most recipes are made for 4, I halved the crust mixture for the salmon. I still had too much. I followed the recipe for the lemon dill vinaigrette, but I used fewer green beans than the recipe called for. I am now noticing that the salmon recipe suggests using different herbs besides parsley, so I think if I make this again I will use dill for both for more consistency. I might also cook the salmon for a shorter time.

Unfortunately I timed things poorly. My green beans were ready about 5 minutes before the salmon, which doesn't sound like a long time, but was enough to cool them down a little more than I would have liked. Next time, I should get the salmon in before mixing the vinaigrette. I might also cook the salmon for a minute or two less, because I felt that it came out a little on the dry side, and it would have been yummy if I squeezed some lemon over it as well. But it was delicious, and I would definitely have it again! I might try it with asparagus instead of green beans, as the recipe suggests. I was a little hesitant about not having a carb-y side, but the dish was filling enough as-is.

Cucumber and Feta Salad

I spend a lot of time looking for recipes online. I found this recipe for Cucumber Feta Salad last summer and have made it a few times since. I like that it doesn't require actual cooking, and that I can toss it in the fridge and have it later. I made it this morning and then went out for a few hours, and I took it out at dinnertime. I was the only one who really ate it but I still think it is good and I'm sure I will make it again since it is so easy.

I adjusted the recipe a lot because the few first times I made it, it was a little overwhelming. This time it was pretty light. I sliced 2 cucumbers and chopped about 1/4 cup of dill. Then I juiced 1 1/2 lemons (we had 1/2 left over from something else so I added it in to have more dressing) and added a little olive oil and some salt and pepper. I added the dill and feta (not sure how much I used exactly, but maybe 1/2 of a 5-oz container) and tossed it with the lemon mixture. Then I just covered it and put it away until we were ready to eat it.

One trick to the salad is not to slice the cucumbers too thick or too thin. If they are sliced too thin, they get pickle-y from the dill. Too thick, and they don't have enough flavor. This time it turned out just right!