[End of] Summer Green Bean Salad

Technically it's still summer for me, I don't have classes until Thursday. These past few weeks I've been trying to soak up all the summer I could down here in San Diego. Some foreign friends (Dave, Lavinia, and Felicity) flew over from England and we were able to catch up with them. I can't believe exactly one year ago I was abroad, getting used to English customs like weighing people in stones, drinking so much tea that it began to run through my veins and being confused when people asked where the bin was. [it's the garbage].

My roommate, Kevin, and I also have done a few projects in our new room. About a month ago we moved into a 1920's house about two blocks from Windansea beach. Rough life. We made a tree made out of twine and a light out of an old wicker birdcage.

I spent a good month at home in the Bay area with family and friends. I went to the farmer's market a lot with my dad and when I saw all the heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn, basil and green beans this dish came together in my head. Some friends came over that night and we ate the salad for dinner. Thanks to the amazing Christine Chia for taking these pictures. It's perfect side for a summer barbecue. I know that it's late to be posting about a summer salad but it's summer weather year round in San Diego. Because salads only have a few ingredients, it's important to get fresh, quality ingredients. Use what's in season and treat the ingredients with respect; prepare them simply to let their flavors shine through

The Ingredients
1.5 lbs green beans
2 lbs cherry tomatoes
5 ears of corn
3/4 cup feta
3/4 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil
3 lemons
salt and pepper


The Method
Roast the hazelnuts in a small pan over medium heat to bring out the flavors. Cool and then roughly chop them.

Trim the stem ends off the green beans and bring a large pot of water to the boil.

Shuck the corn.

Blanch the beans for 1 min in the salted boiling water.

After 30 seconds have passed, blanch the corn for the remaining 20 seconds. Drain the beans and corn and set in a colander to drain.Hold the corn and then shave the kernels off. Use the back of the knife to scrape the ear to get all the sweetness.

Half the tomatoes with a sharp knife.

Create the dressing by juicing the lemons,

seasoning with salt and pepper and whisking in the olive oil.

Time to assemble. Toss the beans in the dressing, add the corn and tomatoes. Then sprinkle on the feta cheese, hazelnuts and tear the basil leaves before adding to salad.

Toss to coat and serve.

This salad is refreshing, light and so simple to make. It takes my favorite summer flavors and combines them all in one super-dish. Here's to this past summer! Now, bring on the fall flavors of pears, persimmons, and acorn squash. Oh, and it's almost red Starbucks cup season.


Recipe by Spencer Huey

Six Citrus Salad

I'm ready for summer. At UCSD, we're in the middle of week eight with three more to go. Most of my friends are done with school...one of the cons of the quarter system. Summer seems so close yet SO FAR at the same time. It's not that I don't like my classes; I really love learning about wildlife conservation, writing about California condors, and hearing lectures about cathedrals and castles that I've visited while studying abroad. It's just that I'm ready for something new... and a break from studying.

I have to be honest. I didn't make this salad over the weekend, in fact I didn't make this last week. This recipe and these pictures are from a month ago. We were visiting our friends and they wanted us to bring something green. I was at the produce market and saw how great the citrus looked and decided to make this salad.

The Ingredients

your favorite mixed greens

olive oil

salt and pepper

four lemons

one lime

two navel oranges

two cara cara oranges

two blood oranges

one grapefruit

1/2 cup feta

1/2 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts

handful of blackberries

The Method

Toast the almonds in a pan on medium low heat to bring out their nutty flavor.

Make the dressing by juicing the lemons and lime; you'll get about 1 cup of juice.

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and drizzle in olive oil to taste. I put into about 3/4 cup of the olive oil but if you prefer a less acidic dressing add more olive oil that's why I didn't specify an exact amoung. Whisk to combine.

The next step is to segment (technically supreme) the rest of the citrus. With a pairing knife, cut off the top and the bottom of the fruit, just the white pith. Place the orange on an end and carefully make vertical slices separating the fruit from the pith.

Be sure to make curved cuts with your blade to minimize fruit loss. Take the fully peeled fruit in your hands and make a cut on each side of the membrane to loosen the orange segment.

Have a bowl underneath as you cut to catch the segments. If you don't get the hang of it right away, don't worry you have six other fruits to practice on.

Having the different citrus fruits give you a variety of colors and flavors. The navel oranges are the classic oranges. The cara cara navels are pinkish in color and have a blackberry undertone. Blood oranges are one of my favorite fruits; they have a deep crimson color with raspberry-like flavors. To balance out the sweetness, the grapefruit gives a pleasant bitterness to match with the bitterness of the greens.

The last step is to assemble the salad as a whole. In a large bowl, loss the greens with just enough dressing to coat. Add three fourth of the feta, almonds, cranberries and citrus segments. Toss to combine and add the blackberries, and remaining feta, almonds, cranberries, and citrus on top of the salad. Crack some black pepper over to finish.

It was so fun to hang out with everyone. We played a version of charades with two teams. Each round, each team picks any word for any player on the opposite team to act out. Sounds really easy but let's just say words like agility, niche, and valor don't have hand motions. My friend, Andrew Ruiz, who is an amazing photographer struggled for a minute and a half on the world "eco-friendly."

This salad is a great connection between the late winter-spring citrus fruits and the start of summer berries. It kinda fits where I am now: its spring and I'm in school but mentally I'm in summer mode.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Yorkshire Pudding

So I'm back in San Diego, California with its 80 degree weather in what's suppose to be the dead of winter. One of the perks of going to school down here. In many ways it's great to be home. I missed walking around in my rainbow flip flops and shorts. I missed pad see ew, carne asada burritos, dim sum and kalbi. Most importantly, I'm glad to be home because I get to spend time with my friends and family.

As great as it is to be back in California, I still miss Canterbury and England a ton. I miss the cobblestone streets, half timber houses and English countryside. I miss fish & chips, fry-ups and a proper Sunday roast. I REALLY miss my English friends and I can't wait to see them again. I'm working on a teleportation matchine, I'll let you know when it's up and ready.

Over the holidays, I wanted to make something quite English for our family meal. I decided on Yorkshire pudding, an essential for holiday roasts. Think of them as an English popover-something really tasty to soak up gravy with. Since I'm not English and could not come up on a recipe on my own, I used Jamie Oliver's recipe for huge Yorkshire puddings.

The Ingredients

1 cup milk
3/4 cup AP flour
3 eggs
pinch of salt
vegetable oil/ pan drippings/butter

The Method
Pre-heat the over to 450 degrees.

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Let it sit for 10 min; this will allow the flour particles to absorb the liquid which will give you better Yorkshire pudding.

Meanwhile, put a muffin tin in the oven to preheat in the oven for 10 min with just enough vegetable oil, butter, or drippings to cover the bottom of each pan.
Take the tray out and fill the muffin tins about a third of the way up. Quickly put the tray back into the oven and let them bake for about 15 min until golden brown and delicious.

Don't open the oven before they're done, they'll fall like a soufflé. Serve immediately with your roast, roast potatoes, vege, and gravy.

Once you start making these apart of family dinners, it will be hard to stop eating them.

Roast Parsnips and Carrots with Pancetta

I wanted to squeeze one more post before I left the amazing country of England. I'm snowed-in and our flight got cancelled yesterday so why not? I wanted something easy, flavorful and quite English. At Sainsbury, parsnips were on sale and I decided to go for them. I think that parsnips would scare most Americans away. I don't know why; these root vegetables are relatives of the carrot. They are white in colour, starchy and quite sweet. I rather like them and I reckon that they would make a great side to a very English, Sunday roast.

The Ingredients
5 carrots
5 parsnips
200 grams (7 oz.) cubed pancetta
1 tablespoon butter
salt


The Method

Preheat your oven to 220 C/ 425 F/ gas mark 7. Take your roots, peel and quarter them longways. This will allow even cooking and give you nice long spears. Par-cook your the vege in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set them on a rack to steam dry. Having them dry is important as it will allow them to get brown and crispy.
Meanwhile, take a pan and throw the pancetta in on medium heat for less than two minutes, just until the fat starts to turn translucent. This ensures that the pancetta will get crispy as well. Toss with the vege as well.
Align the vege on a lined baking sheet and place it in the oven.

Roast for about 25-30 until the vege starts to turn light brown. Because of their shape, the spears cook not completely at the same time. Honestly, I kinda like this; it gives you a variety of textures. The sweet vegetables go well with the crunchy, saltly pancetta. Try these for Christmas dinner or a Sunday roast.

Get your Sunday roast ready with roast potatos, gravy, brussels sprouts and my favourite, Yorkshire pudding. This will serve about 4-6.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Sauteed Sea Bean and Mushrooms

So we went to the English Walmart the other day. It's called ASDA. I have no idea if it's an acronym or what it stands for. I do know that it's apart of the Walmart family.I am not a huge fan of Walmart, sorry if that offends anyone.

However, I have a confession to make, I do like ASDA. Imagine Walmart but 2/3 of the store is food. Don't think frozen, processed, heat-and-ready-to-heat kind of food. Think aisles, many, many aisles, of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, breads and more, of course more, it's Walmart.

So I picked up at package of spinach and on the label is the farmer's name. In fact, most of the produce packs have the name of the person who grew it, how cool is that?

Things were as inexpensive as our other favorite store, Sainsbury, but still a full sized, glass jar of Nutella was only a pound, fresh herb plants were 68p, and I bought sea beans for 1.5 pounds. It was my splurge of the day.

My first encounter of sea beans was in the summer when I was about seven. I was enrolled in a summer camp called Bay Camp where we learned about all the creatures and plants that lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you didn't know already, another passion of mine is animals and zoology which also came at an early age. Anyways, they told us we could eat the sea beans (they called it pickle weed) and so we tried them. They tasted salty, crunchy and of the ocean. They also provide habitat for many of the shorebirds and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Say that ten times fast.

Fast forward to this summer when I was at my favorite produce store, the Berkeley Bowl. I was shocked to see the pickle weed I tried as a kid selling for $14 a pound and the name changed to sea beans, which sounds better than pickle weed, I guess. I guess the habitat for salt marsh animals has turned to a classy, modern green for foodies. Don't worry, the sea beans are grown like any other crop, no mice were hurt in harvesting.

The sea beans (pickle weed, glasswort, samphire) grows in a salt marsh and therefore have a distinct salty taste. They can be eaten raw in salads or cooked. They are crunchy, salty and resemble spinach or asparagus.

The Ingredients

a couple of handfuls of sea beans (less than 1/4 of a pound)

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons of water

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 clove of garlic chopped


The Method
Heat a pan on medium high heat and add the butter and oil. Thrown in the mushrooms and cook until lightly brown on each side.
Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Toss in the sea beans and water.

Cover for about 2 minutes and then saute until all the water is evaporated. There is no real need for salt because the sea beans are quite salty.

If you happen to run into sea beans, give them a try. They are a perfect side for fish or other seafood.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Garlicky Broccolini

I can't believe I've been in England for over three weeks. I am living on campus at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Think typical English countryside....that's exactly what Canterbury looks like.

It's full of half-timber houses, a cathedral founded in the 600's, forests of oak trees, and cobblestone roads.

The food store scene is not too shabby either. Let's just say that American grocery stores should take notes from the stores here in the UK. First, food is fresh, not processed. I took a look at canned goods, frozen foods, packaged items and could easily pronounce all the items without the need of a biochem degree. Second, the groceries are much cheaper than I expected. I usually spent about $40 a week on groceries. Here I spend less than half that. Fresh herbs are less than dollar here; I bought a jar of lemon curd for about 30 cents as well.

With my fridge full of fresh ingredients and my belly completely empty, I decided to make a quick lunch of broccolini. Broccolini, called tender stem in the UK, is similar to broccoli; it has long thin stems with a smaller floret head. It's a hybrid between broccoli and the Chinese green, gai lan. The slightly sweet taste is somewhere between broccoli and asparagus. This dish can also be made using broccoli or broccoli rabe, which is a more leafy, bitter, and nutty cousin.

The Ingredients

a bunch of broccolini (or broccoli, broccoli rabe)

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

couple pinches of peperoncino

2 tablespoons water or chicken broth

salt

The Method

Start with a cold pan. Pour the olive oil in the pan, along with the garlic and chili flakes. Turn the heat on medium heat. This will allow the olive oil to be infused with the garlic and chili for a longer amount of time.

When the garlic starts to sizzle and turn whiter, add the broccolini, water, and a dash of salt. Cover with a lid and let it steam for 3-4 minutes until the broccolini becomes tender. Uncover the pan, give a toss and allow the water to evaporate. Serve as a side to roasted chicken or steak.

The broccolini were tender yet crunchy, slightly sweet and full of a spicy garlicky flavor which fill your whole mouth.This will feed about 2-3 people. This weekend, I am going to Barcelona, Spain. I can't wait to go tapas bar hopping, all day.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Caprese Quinoa

Tonight we had some of my parents friends over. They've known me since I wore diapers and my cow pajamas, which was 20 years ago not 4 years ago as some of you may think. It's really encouraging for me to see such long-lasting friendships. They have been supporting and praying for each other for years and have such strong bonds with one another. I haven't seen them in quite a long time so I made some food and we had some great discussion about faberge eggs, Berkeley Bowl (my favorite food store) and my upcoming semester in the United Kingdom. I thought my friends were the only ones who talked about the most random, unrelated topics....guess I was wrong.

Anyways, I made caprese quinoa - part salad, part grain but all together really tasty and really really good for you. Quinoa is a seed from a plant that is related to spinach and swiss chard.

It has all essential amino acids making it a complete protein. Great for vegans, no more Soyrizo or Tofurkey! Quinoa can be mixed with all kinds of things. Think of some vegetables that are in season right now and combine quinoa with them. Quinoa can also be cooked like oatmeal and topped with fresh blackberries and blueberries. Since it's the end of summer, I found some great looking baby roma and pear tomatoes at the Berkeley Bowl.

We also had some fresh basil from our plant so in it went.

This grain is becoming quite popular and trendy in the food world, think culinary V neck- comes in a few colors and can be paired with basically anything.

The Ingredients

3 cups quinoa

5 cups water and/or broth

1 clove garlic, finely minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 baskets (pints) of cherry tomatoes/pear tomatoes/smallish tomatoes, cut in half or quartered

1/2 cup basil, sliced thin

16 oz fresh mozarella, put into the freezer for 30 minutes and then cubed

2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper

The Method

Pour the quinoa into a large bowl and fill the bowl with water. Quinoa must be rinsed to remove the saponin which is a natural coating which acts like a natural bird and bug repellent. It also acts as a natural laxative...so make sure you rinse a few times, to get rid of the bitter saponin and its ill effects.

Once washed, pour the quinoa into a large pot with the broth/liquid. Most people will say that there should be a 2:1 ratio with the liquid but I prefer an al dente texture quinoa and plus there will be water on the rinsed grain so I opt with a little less. Put a cover on the pot and bring it to a boil on medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender and the spiral shaped germ unravels. Fluff with a fork when it's done.

Mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together and pour it into the cooked quinoa. The mixing will prevent a huge garlic clump which may surprise your guests.

Add the tomatoes, basil and cubed, slightly frozen mozarella.

Freezing the cheese for 30 minutes is crucial. The quinoa is quite hot and if the cheese wasn't frozen, the cubes would melt together into one chewy, gummy mess. The chilled cubes will allow the mozarella to be mixed in while staying separated and will be perfectly soft by service time. Fold together and season with salt and pepper.

This makes a great side to a grilled steak or roast chicken and serve about 8-10 people.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Grilled Artichokes

My family went to Monterey and Big Sur for the weekend. Northern California beaches have so much character to them. They are much rockier and colder than their southern counterparts. There are always tide pools to be found, chalk full of hermit crabs, anemones, sea stars and sculpins. Ok, the sand might not be as soft or the sun not as hot...or even out at all, but the beaches of northern California has this adventurous spirit about them that I find appealing.

On our way home, we took a stop in Castroville, the Artichoke Capital of the World. Now, that is a huge claim to fame. They take this member of the thistle family very seriously. They even have an artichoke queen; the first one was none other than Marilyn Monroe. I told you, serious.

We grabbed a couple dozen and headed to a family barbecue in Redwood City. We had so much food: delicious ribs (my Uncle Nelson's specialty, the best I've ever had), tri tip, corn bread, classic potato salad, grilled eggplant, portobellos, and peppers, and corn rice. It was one of those times where I wish I had several extra stomachs and a plate the size of a trashcan lid.

I made some grilled artichokes which I hoped were on par with the rest of the food.

The Ingredients

5 medium sized artichokes

2 lemons

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt

pepper

The Method

First thing is to prep the artichokes. First, pull off the bottom leaves. Then, cut the stem and top 1/4 of the artichoke off with a sharp knife.

With kitchen shears, cut the remaining thorns of the leaves. This is all done to make the artichoke easier to eat.

Steam the artichokes to par cook them for about 10-15 minutes until they are almost done. If you want steamed artichokes which is the more normal way of eating them, let them steam for about 20-45 minutes depending on size. If they are done, a knife will slide in and out of the heart pretty easily.

To make grilled artichokes, take them out early and quarter them. Scrape out the inedible choke with a spoon and set the quarters aside.

Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl; mix in the minced garlic, olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Whisk this lemony vinaigrette together.

Toss in the artichokes and let them marinade for about 10 minutes if you can.

Place on the grill to finish cooking for about 4-5 minutes. You can also broil them in the oven to finish them if you would like to.

Eat them as you would a normal artichoke, scrape the fleshy part of the leaf with your teeth discard the leaf, and then eat the heart. This will serve around 8-10 people.

If you are making the steamed artichokes, remember to scrape out the choke with a spoon.Feel free to cut them in half or eat whole.

My favorite dipping sauce is mayonnaise or lemon juice and olive oil.

Recipe by Spencer Huey