Sunshine Salad (aka Yellow Beet Salad)

The moment I saw these yellow beets, I knew my 'Y' was taken care of.
That is my entry for 'Y is for ...' of Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables .
The red/purple colour of beets is due to a combination of betacyanin (a purple pigment)and called betaxanthin (a yellow pigment). The yellow beet have more betaxanthin and less of betacyanin.
Besides being slightly sweet, the best thing about yellow beets is that they don't bleed any colour like the red beets. They taste much like regular beets; maybe just a tad sweeter.



Ingredients
2-3 cooked yellow beets, cubed (I microwaved the beets, which turned out to be a bad idea as they started blackening in a while. Next time I'll be cooking them in the pressure cooker.)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
handful of chopped cilantro
1 (or more) jalapeno, finely chopped
¼ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
salt, to taste
juice of ½ lemon (or more)

Method
Mix all ingredients.
Adjust the salt and lemon juice as per your taste.
Cover and let it rest for about an hour.

Serve as a salad to accompany your usual meal or mix with a couple of cups of cooked pasta to make a wonderful summery one-dish meal.

This is my entry for Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables food blog event.

Weekend Equal Opportunity Kitchen

My kids offer to help me in the kitchen fairly regularly. But on most weekday evenings I'm just trying to 'get things done---fast' that I'd much rather go solo. Weekends are another matter. I look forward to and accept any offer of help.
It is a lot of fun! With so many sous-chefs bustling around and jostling for space in our small kitchen and accommodating the last minute improvisations which are the rule, it is always amazing that we do get everything on the table in time.

Here is one of our typical spring-summer, free-form, no-recipes-required weekend lunches:

• panini-style sandwiches
  Bread, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh spinach, anything goes.
  For a sweet sandwich, peanut butter and bananas (Elvis Lives).
  We don't have a panini press, so we make do with a non-stick pan and a flat pot lid! Works for me. Especially since my son does the work!
  
• salad
  mixed greens with fruits and nuts mixed in.
  The vinaigrette is simple: 1 part vinegar (my current favourite is white balsamic vinegar) + 2 parts olive oil, salt, black and red pepper.
  The white balsamic doesn't colour the salad and lets the greens shine thru'.
  
• fresh fruit smoothies
  Fruits and yoghurt. No fixed proportions.
  One would have to try real hard to mess this!
  

Our Version of a Panini Press:

Mixed Greens with Oranges and Blueberries:

Our Lunch: Sandwiches, Mixed-Greens Salad and a Smoothie:

The spouse's involvement? He wisely left us to do our thang. But returned in time to join us for lunch and to lavishly praise our efforts!

Thanks, Trupti, for hosting this Spring Fling 2007 event.

My CSA Bag has Fava Beans: It Must Be Spring

Before I get to the recipe, a bit about CSA.
A few years ago, I noticed that the only locally grown ingredients on my dining table were the head of lettuce from Salinas, CA and the garlic from Gilroy, CA.
Though we'd regularly frequent the farmer's market, we couldn't always go there. When we couldn't, the produce came from the global market place!
We live in Northern California, where one should get locally grown produce all year around.
Enter Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Before the harvest season starts, I sign up to become a member of the farm.
Every week, throughout the harvest season, I pick up a bag of organic, fresh, locally grown produce from a pick-up site in the neighbourhood.
Just look at a recent CSA bag!!!

Being a part of the CSA has completely changed the way I cook.
In the pre-CSA days, I'd look at kale, the different types of chards, fava beans but I'd pass them saying 'I'll get them next time'....which never came.
I was mainly apprehensive of them fitting in my Indian-Maharashtrian kitchen.
But once I started getting these vegetables in my CSA-bag, I was forced to use them...forced to think outside the box (bag).
In no time the vegetables that once seemed exotic became a part of our much loved foods: kale-pulao, bok-choy amti (daal), chard-parathas, pasta with dandelion greens etc.

Now on to the recipe....

I read this recipe for the fava bean salad in a magazine in my dentist's waiting room. Don't remember the name of the magazine(was in too much pain) but do remember the ingredients...pain or not, I am a foodie.
The cilantro is my addition.
I think parmesan (not the kind that comes in a box) and cilantro go well together.

Fava Bean Salad
Ingredients
2 cups shelled fava beans
6-7 stalks, spring onions
4-5 stalks cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup, parmesan cheese, loosely packed
1-2 tsp oil (I used olive oil)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Blanch the fava beans for just over a minute.
Heat oil, and on a low flame cook the spring onions.
Cook the onions slightly (about 1-2 minutes).
Take the onions off the heat and let cool slightly.
Add the beans, cilantro, cheese, and pepper.
Toss well.
Taste the salad before adding the salt. The amount of salt will depend on the saltiness of the cheese.
Enjoy!

I'm sending the salad to Meeta's Monthly Mingle: Spring Is In The Air.