... and to go with those Fourth of July Burgers: Carrot-Raisin Salad and Strawberry Lemonade
With burgers on the brain (and soon to be on the menu: my friends have decided to serve burgers at their fireworks party - score one for the home team), I'm now on to what to serve with them: Something with potatoes, of course, coleslaw, because it's so good with burgers, lots of mustards and relishes and ketchup, maybe a mango salsa, maybe some guacamole (I remember the first time I had guacamole with a burger - it was about 100 years ago in Palo Alto, California and I think the dish was called a California Burger) and this carrot salad, which has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
As American as the salad looks, it's really a standard of French home cooking and casual bistros. In fact, it's so much a part of the French kitchen that you can buy salad-ready grated carrots in just about any supermarket in the country. Of course, if you've got a food processor with a grating disk, you can get the job done in minutes, less time than it would take to get that supermarket.
...Continue reading ... and to go with those Fourth of July Burgers: Carrot-Raisin Salad and Strawberry Lemonade
Burgers: Fourth of July Fare
When you live in a small town as I do part-time (Westbrook, CT, population about 6,600 and growing), you can really see your tax dollars at work: a new school, the re-paving of a country road, the opening of a nature trail and the fireworks at the beach to celebrate Independence Day. In fact, most of the towns along the Shoreline have fireworks displays and any restaurant, inn or household that's got a view of their town's celebration usually has a party.
We're a couple of miles inland from Long Island Sound, so we see nothing and hear everything, but we've got good friends in Madison who throw a fabulous fireworks party for about 50 people and we're lucky enough to be included in the fun. And the food. And it's the food for the party got me thinking about burgers.
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Dessert for The Modern Spice Virtual Dinner Party: Monica Bhide's Saffron Coconut Macaroons
If you haven't heard about Monica Bhide's new cookbook, Modern Spice, you will - here, in a second, on Monica's site, tomorrow, and everywhere else pretty soon. Monica, whose work you might know from her earlier book, The Everything Indian Cookbook, from her frequent articles in the Washington Post or from just being a person interested in food, food, food, takes the spices, ancient cuisine and traditions she grew up with in India and, as she says in the introduction to her book, 'translates them for our generation'. And, since 'our generation' lives a good part of our lives online, Monica has created what I think might be a first: A Virtual Dinner Party. The party kicks off June 22 on Monica's site and we're all invited.
Actually, Monica's party is a potluck and I've been asked to 'bring' dessert, so here's a sneak peek: Monica's Saffron-Coconut Macaroons (and a confession).
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Of Compost and Weddings: Trash, Beautiful Trash
The other day, I was tossing things into my compost bucket - I keep it in the sink at the end of my work counter in Connecticut -- looked over at the pile up and stopped: it looked so beautiful. I love to compost. I love saving every little scrap. I love that what I toss away this year will become food for what I'll harvest next. But I don't normally look at my compost and think of beauty, although, I realized, I had done it once before. The year was 2001 and it was then, in July, that many food pros had to figure out how to make a compost beautiful enough for a wedding.
Would this week's compost have been pretty enough? That's what I was thinking when I snapped this picture.
It's not that the 2001 compost challenge was meant to send anyone into a tizzy over their trash. In fact, it wasn't even a challenge. But when you ask a bunch of luminaries to do something, it's not surprising that they'll take it seriously -- or that there won't be a little friendly competition. Here's the story:
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Roasted Rhubarb, So Good Over Ice Cream
Tomorrow, I'm heading back to the Lyme Farmers Market and I'm sure I'll have new things to share with you. However, before that happens, I want to catch you up on last week's haul. I already told you about the garlic scapes and the pesto I made from them -- and ate all week: once with pasta, once with scallops, once with shrimp and rice and a couple of times just straight off the spoon -- but I haven't had a chance to mention the rhubarb, which I roasted.
The problem I often have with rhubarb is that I overcook it -- it seems to go from celery-crisp to baby-food soft in a flash -- so I was delighted when I found this simple way to roast the rhubarb and end up with tender stalks that (mostly) still hold their shape.
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