Summer Slaw with Peanut Dressing

A food processor is worth its weight in dirty dishes for chopping great numbers of things up. Last week it was too hot to cook, and consuming anything warmer than room temperature seemed wholly unappetizing.

I've been feeling too delicate to go to the grocery store; I can't lift the weight of a basket with food in it and I am finding it difficult and painful to maneuver the cart with one hand. Whatever, I don't mind trying. The problem is other people in the grocery store. They bump into me and my shoulder and I black out from pain. I still stand after these encounters, but I'd rather avoid them. I've tried going to the store at "off" times of day, but there isn't really an "off" time at my nearest store. (Well located, developers, well located.) Sadly, whatever psychologist the architect and client consulted to maximize customer spending influenced them to choose a very, very awkward layout. So I consulted my refrigerator/pantry for dinner.

Summer Slaw

Slaw

1/2 medium head cabbage, shredded

2 medium carrots, shredded

3 radishes, shredded

1/4 large red onion, shredded

1 atauflo mango, shredded

1/2 serrano pepper, shredded (why not?)

1/4 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

Peanut Dressing

juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

3 drops toasted sesame oil

Whisk together all dressing ingredients and pour over the shredded mango and vegetables. Toss to distribute and let stand in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Top with chopped peanuts just before serving.

This would probably be even more delicious garnished with cilantro or Thai basil or toasted sesame seeds (or all three).

Those with peanut allergies can substitute cashew butter and cashews.

Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a side

Ceviche Peruano

When it's too hot to cook, why not cook without heat? Ceviche is a wonderful summer recipe; the Peruvian version is one of the simplest to prepare and, in my opinion, the tastiest. This dish is perfect for cooks with low mobility. The most basic traditional version uses a firm white fish and variety of sea creatures marinated in just lime juice and salt, but I elaborated a little while keeping within the Peruvian flavor profile. Using whole bay scallops instead would eliminate some knifework and speed the preparation.

Ceviche Peruano

juice of 3 limes

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

10 sprigs cilantro

1/2 serrano or hotter pepper (use an aji amarillo if you can find it)

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 pound sea scallops (quartered) or bay scallops (whole)

1/4 red onion, sliced thinly in a food processor and separated into rings

Combine lime juice, salt, pepper, cilantro, hot pepper, and garlic and pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. Pour marinade over scallops and stir to coat, making sure there is enough liquid to cover fish. Top with sliced red onion. Let marinate/"cook" 2-3 hours in refrigerator until fish is opaque and firm. Serves 2.

Traditional accompaniments for this dish are boiled corn, sweet potatoes, or yucca, but I used a less labor-intensive sliced avocado.

Carrot Top Tabbouleh

I decapitated the adorable baby carrots from my CSA share, but the greens looked too luscious to throw away. To make up for my cold-blooded murder of their bottom parts, I decided to put them to good use. I had only a few sprigs of parsley left in a glass on my windowsill, so I decided to make some tabbouleh/tabouli/taboule with carrot greens.

1/3 cup boiling water

1/3 cup bulgur wheat

tops from 1/2 bunch of baby carrots, leaves only, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

6 sprigs parsley, leaves only, chopped

6 mint leaves, chopped

2 scallions, sliced thinly

1 medium cucumber, seeded and diced

1 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

10 grape tomatoes, halved

2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

In a glass bowl, add boiling water to bulgur wheat. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Toss together carrot tops, parsley, mint, cucumber, scallions, olive oil and lemon juice. Add bulgur wheat and refrigerate. Just before serving, toss in tomatoes and feta cheese.

Serves 2

I found that the carrot greens weren't as flavorful as the parsley, but they were tasty all the same. I might use more next time. I didn't add salt to this recipe because of the feta cheese, but feel free to add salt to taste.

Victorious again

Saturday's take at Haymarket:

1 bunch parsley

2 tomatoes

1 mango

1 avocado

4 still-warm whole wheat pitas

1/2 pound kalamata olives

mad garlic, yo

$6.75, but I will admit that about 40% of the olives are a little soft. This will probably not deter me in the future.

I got home and made an adulteration of the jicama-watercress-avocado salad in the Veganomicon cookbook that we tried at my aunt's house a few weeks ago. In addition to forgetting about Google Book Search, I forgot the lime juice and sugar in the dressing, but I made a pretty decent-tasting approximation from memory.

Here's my altered version including some ingredient additions/omissions/substitutions:

Dressing

juice of 1 orange

2 tbsp. soy sauce

3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. cilantro, finely chopped

3 tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

Salad

1 medium-sized jicama (Mine was $1.12 at $1.99/pound at Whole Foods. It looked medium. You do the math.), peeled and shredded

1/3 bunch watercress, snipped from your nearest windowsill

1/2 ripe avocado, sliced

1/2 mango, cubed

1/4 yellow onion (the red is prettier), sliced thinly

black sesame seeds, for garnish

cashews, toasted and chopped, for garnish

fresh cilantro and mint, chopped, for garnish

Whisk all dressing ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. Pour over shredded jicama in bowl, mix together, and let stand while preparing remaining ingredients. Place watercress on plate and top with jicama-dressing mixture. Arrange avocado, onion, and mango on top of jicama. Sprinkle sesame seeds, cashews, cilantro, and mint on top and serve.

Makes 2 servings.

This is really refreshing--perfect for a summer day, or at least a day that pretends to be summer, which I have to get used to in Boston.