Best Summer Potatoes

(This is one of those inexact recipes….)

Potatoes, small to medium.

Rice wine vinegar  1/3 – ½ cup

Sugar  1/3 cup

Salt

Pepper

Parsley or cilantro or dill

 Steam the potatoes until fork -tender but not too tender.  Let cool until they are warmish, not hot. Cut each potato in half  and place in a large bowl.  Mix 1/3  to ½ cup rice wine vinegar  with 1/3 cup sugar (depending on amount of potatoes), add salt and pepper to the vinegar/sugar, and stir well to mix. Pour the vinegar mixture over the potatoes and fold in gently to coat completely.  Chop parsley, dill or cilantro and add to the potatoes while folding in the liquid.  Let sit in refrigerator, covered, for a few hours to soak up the flavors.  Addictive.  You can adjust the vinegar, sugar, salt to suit your taste.

Cabbage Toran

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

8 cups shredded cabbage

¼ tsp ground turmeric

1/8 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

 Heat oil in a large skillet. Add mustard seeds. Lower the heat and cover skillet  while seeds are popping. After popping, add cabbage. Stir well to coat. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add turmeric, chili powder and salt. Mix well, simmer 10 more minutes. Eat!

Fresh Beets and Beet Greens

 Beets are rich in calcium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, as well as carotene, B complex and vitamin C.   Beet leaves, the "greens", have especially high carotenoid content.  Beets may be eaten raw (grated onto salads, or cut into slices or sticks and served with dips), cooked, pickled or fermented.  Small beet leaves may be added raw to salads.  Larger leaves are best cooked, as with spinach or other cooked greens.  Young beets and greens may be cooked and eaten together.

 To cook whole fresh beets, wash, and cut off leaves, leaving the roots uncut and 1-2 inches of stem attached, to minimize "bleeding" of color.  To cook, either cover with water, bring to boil and simmer until tender; steam; or bake in oven at 250--300 degrees (at least one hour for 1 1/2-inch beets).  Plunge hot beets into cold water, and easily slip the skins and stems off.  (The thin skin on freshly harvested small beets may be more difficult to remove, but can either be peeled with a knife or left on.)  Try sliced or cubed cooked beets with a bit of butter, salt, and freshly ground pepper, or with a little butter that has been melted with a mashed clove of garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Raw beets may also be grated and quickly sautéed in a little butter until well coated; then covered and steamed until crisp tender, approximately 10 minutes.  Add a small amount of water or lemon juice, and keep checking, so they don't burn.  Or try the following recipe:

 Beets in Orange Ginger Sauce (3 servings)

 Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan, and add 3 cups of diced cooked beets.  Toss to coat.  Add 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced fresh ginger root.  Continue cooking until the beets are heated through. 

Spicy Peanut Dip  (excellent for raw kohlrabi slices)

(Vegetarian/Vegan)

(Makes 2 cups)

 1 cup crunchy natural-style peanut butter

3/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon soy sauce

2-3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

dash cayenne pepper

fresh parsley or cilantro sprig, for garnish

Combine all of the ingredients except the herb sprig in a large bowl, and stir with a fork until blended.  If the mixture is too thick, add 1/2 cup more water, or enough to create a good dipping consistency.

Scrape the dip into a serving bowl, cover, and let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes before serving.  If you must chill the dip, bring it to room temperature before serving.  (If it becomes very thick, thin it with a little more water.)  Garnish with the parsley or coriander sprig.  Serve with an assortment of fresh vegetables, such as carrot or celery sticks; sweet pepper strips; sugar snap peas; kohlrabi, zucchini or cucumber slices.

The peanut dip will keep in the refrigerator for three days. Leftover dip is delicious served with steamed or sautéed mixed vegetables.  Or stuff sliced, raw salad vegetables and greens into pita bread halves, then pour the dip over them.

Recipe from: Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin; c 1992; Harper Perennial division of Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.  New York, NY