Local radishes - a spicy, feel-good April lunch

A few days ago, I thought I'd see if I could make lunch from (mostly) locally-grown ingredients in Minnesota in early April. Not easy to do.

At the co-op I came across some radishes grown in Wisconsin - not sure how this happened, but obviously a greenhouse or hydroponic operation was involved. I thought I might steam them, having recently discovered this method of cooking radishes at a banquet at Concordia College (none of us knew what we were eating until we asked the caterers, who told us they were steamed radishes). But then as we walked by the cookbook section of the store, Local Flavors by Deborah Madison caught our eye. Several of the recipes in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle come from Madison, and when we happened to open the book to a page with recipes for Radish Sandwiches and Radish Salad with Cheese, we knew it was destined for the cookbook shelf in our kitchen cupboard.

The book is arranged to help you cook from ingredients at a farmers' market or CSA farm: "Rather than letting the parts of the meal dictate the order of recipes," she writes, " botanical families and regional seasons themselves have been given that guiding role." There's even a feature article in the book about the St. Paul Farmers' Market. One of the oldest markets in the country, it was established in 1853, before Minnesota was even a state!

I already had locally grown chives in my shopping basket, and had some Wisconsin parmesan at home, so we headed home to cook. Along with the radish salad, we had some Italian Carrots Jennie had made earlier in the week, some Minneapolis-baked Rustica bread with Hope Butter from Hope, MN, and a piece of smoked Lake Superior lake trout. We both agreed after lunch that it was the "freshest" lunch we'd had in a long time, and left us energized, without any hint of post-lunch sluggishness or sleepiness.

Radish Salad with Vella's Dry Jack Cheese
(Deborah Madison) Serves 4-6

2 bunches of radishes

2 T. chives, chopped

olive oil

2-4 oz. Dry Jack cheese or Parmesan

sea salt and pepper

mixed greens

1. Cut off the radish greens and, if they're in good shape, chop them roughly.

2. Leave just a bit of stem on the radishes and slice the radishes thinly lengthwise. Put them in a bowl with the chives and radish greens and coat with olive oil. Shave the cheese over them, add salt and pepper, and add additional mixed greens if desired.

Italian Carrots

(Ellen Vancura)

1 lb carrots, peeled

1/2 C. olive or vegetable oil

1/2 C. red wine vinegar

1 t. suger

6-8 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely

1 1/2 t. dried oregano

1. Cut carrots in strips, cover with water, bring to boil, then drain immediately.

2. Mix oil, vinegar, sugar and garlic. Add carrots and oregano and mix.

3. Refrigerate at least overnight (lets the flavors "visit"). Serve cold.

1/2 a box of Penne + 1/2 a smoked fish + 1/2 pint of cream = Awesome

Tonight Jennie and I had a group golf lesson, so we got home about 7:30, hungry. I opened the fridge and saw we still had half a fillet of smoked Lake Superior lake trout and a half-used pint of heavy cream that was going bad fast. Suddenly, it hit me like an Asian Flying Carp: These two halves would make a whole. I would make pasta with trout in cream sauce.

I checked out our pasta situation, hoping we had some linguine or at least spaghetti - we had, naturally, half a box of penne. First I cooked the penne (using a new "quick" method I learned listening to The Splendid Table - you throw the pasta right in at the beginning with the cold water). When the pasta was almost done, I heated some olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat and added two cloves of minced garlic for about a minute. Then I drained the pasta (leaving just a touch of pasta water so that its starch would thicken the sauce later on) and added it to the saute pan. Next, I poured in the cream, added the trout (separated from the skin and flaked into pieces), used a scissors to snip some fresh chives, shook a few shakes of dried thyme, and grated some fresh parmesan cheese into the pan.

After cooking for about 2-3 minutes, the sauce thickened and the smoky, creamy wonder was ready to eat. Jennie whipped up a salad with mixed greens, hydroponic Wisconsin tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese, and an apple cider vinagrette.

How was it? Really rich and smoky, and ridiculously good. I will be making this instant favorite again very soon.

Pasta with Smoked Lake Trout and Parmesan Cream Sauce
(Serves about 3)

1/2 pound of pasta

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 a fillet of smoked lake trout, flaked

1/2 a pint of heavy cream

A small piece of parmesan cheese

A few chives, chopped or snipped

A couple shakes of dried thyme

Whitefish poached in tomato sauce with polenta

Last week we were at the co-op, and in keeping with my increasingly serious Eat Local kick, I saw some whitefish from nearby Lake Superior and decided I had to have a big fillet. Fortunately, I had also thrown some bulk cornmeal in a bag because I had been thinking it was about time I tried making homemade polenta instead of using the stuff in the plastic tube.

At home I checked out Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything to assist me with my inaugural polenta-making, and saw that he recommended serving it with Whitefish Fillets Poached in Tomato Sauce - it was my lucky day! I had the aforementioned fillet, a jar of tomatoes canned by my wife's aunt, and a few other necessary items. Half an hour later, we were enjoying some serious tastiness (excuse the non-professional food photography)!

Improvisational cooking

Most of the time, I like to cook without a recipe. I just look around at what's in the cupboards and fridge, and put something together. Improvising food is like improvising music, once you know the basics of what works with what (ingredient-wise or notes-wise), and you pick a key (pasta or B-flat), it can be relaxing and rewarding to make it up as you go.

For me, a trip to my co-op grocery store down the block is as enjoyable as going to a movie. I like to go on an empty stomach (it ensures you come home with the best tasting stuff) and take my time, picking out an item or two and then building a meal off of that. A few weeks ago, stopping on my way home from work, I came across duck eggs in the first aisle, which I hadn't had before. I decided on dinner right then: duck egg omelettes with smoked salmon, chives and sharp cheddar. My wife was initially grossed out by the concept of duck eggs, but the fluffy, slightly sweet omelettes were a hit.

Because my mom's a home ec teacher

I love to cook, and when people see some exotic creation I've whipped up, they always ask: How/why do you know how to do that? I tell them it's because my mom's a home ec teacher - so I've always known how to cook.

My first dish, which I began preparing around age 4, was scrambled eggs in a custard cup, microwaved (I wasn't allowed to use the stove) for several minutes until it reached a nice, hard, rubbery consistency, then served to my parents as breakfast-in-bed.

My favorite food to eat at this age was broccoli with cheese sauce. I liked it because it looked like I was eating miniature trees, and my parents were thrilled because whose kid likes eating broccoli?!