Monday: Taco night, redux

Roasted butternut squash tacos with black beans, parsley and toasted almonds.

As we were titling this post, we realized this was actually our second Monday taco night in only a couple months. (What is it about Mondays?)

When we recently made butternut squash roasted with warm spices, we had the thought that it might be very nice in a taco. And indeed it was. We riffed on the squash by adding some black beans simmered with a little cumin and a bay leaf, then stuffing both into softshell tacos along with some fresh chopped parsley and chopped, roasted almonds.

Monday: "Anchovied" eggs

Wax beans Hungarian-style and "anchovied" eggs.

Wax beans look like yellow "green beans," but they taste different:


No, these are not french fries

The world of fresh beans has always been kind of confusing to us - apparently, all "string" or "snap" bean types are just baby versions of the "common bean," Phaseolus vulgaris. Anyway, this recipe called for an interesting preparation: first you trim and boil the beans separately. Then you saute onion, parsley, and garlic in butter, and then add flour to make a light roux; you thin that with stock or water and then simmer until it's the consistency of a sauce. We seasoned with smoky paprika, some minced dill, and a little bit each of sugar and lemon juice. The beans are tossed in the sauce to coat.

"Anchovied" eggs are Mark Bittman's cutesy name for deviled eggs made without the mayonnaise and with some chopped-up anchovy and olive oil mixed in. Being anchovy devotees, we like them better than the normal version.

Saturday night: red okra

Spiced okra and tomatoes over herbed couscous, with a glass of "Bittersweet" cider from Eve's Cidery.

This red okra actually dates from last week's greenmarket - we just hadn't gotten a chance to cook it until now. It held up very well in storage. Isn't it beautiful?



Okra is in the mallow family, which means it's related to hibiscus, cotton, and cocoa, and it probably originally comes from Ethiopia. This is the first time we've ever found red okra, which is a less common varietal than its green sibling. The pods are a beautiful lime-green on the inside, and though much of the color is lost in cooking, they do keep a reddish tinge.



This particular dish uses a Middle Eastern flavor combination: vinegar, cinnamon, parsley and mint. Like many okra preparations, it relies on an acidic ingredient - here, tomato - to cut the "gooey" texture okra has naturally.


Three colors of heirloom tomato, chilies, and white onion

Here the okra is chopped and braised in a deep pot with minced chilies; then the tomatoes, onion, and vinegar are added and allowed to simmer until the dish has a saucy texture. It's served over couscous which has been tossed with chopped mint and parsley.

Saturday picnic lunch

A friend of ours was dogsitting, so we headed out to Morningside Park today for some idyllic doggie picnic time. The sandwiches we brought were made with fresh bread from the greenmarket, Vivace Bambino cheese, grainy mustard, lemon cukes, and purple radish sprouts.

The bean salad incorporated the first sweet peppers we've bought this year:



Lemon cukes, besides being yellow and lemon-shaped, do actually taste a bit less grassy and more lemon-like than an average cucumber. They have a nice dense consistency, whiteish flesh, and their seeds are surrounded by neon green jelly. Here is a lemon cuke looming ominously before the peppers:



Our white bean salad included the diced sweet peppers, minced shallot, garlic scapes, cilantro, parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice.