Now You're Cooking! - Mother Nature

Mother Nature
By Jane Weston Wilson

A description of the volcanic ash from the volcano in Iceland was described as in “the shape of a huge black cauliflower.” Many years ago I had the opportunity to visit Iceland as part of an exchange of cultures through learning more about each other’s food. It was a joint venture between the Iceland Tourist Bureau and the New York Technical College where I received my chef training.

During that visit a tour guide took us to the area of the volcano where volcanic ash covered the landscape. We were told that the astronauts who went to the moon trained there because it had the same landscape. It certainly had the eerie feeling of being on another planet. Today, April 22, we are celebrating Earth Day's 40th Anniversary. It’s significant in the light of what happened last week that the havoc nature is capable of causing should make us better stewards rather than plunderers of the earth which is our home.

Those of us lucky enough to be part of a community garden, ours is the West Side Community Garden, where once again we see the wonders of nature whether pushing up 13,000 bulbs, planted in the fall into full radiance this weekend or growing in our 6 by 4 vegetable plots, a variety of vegetables that truly connect us to the earth where earthworms and our hands work the soil.

In the Green Kitchen, Techniques To Learn By Heart is on sale now. In her interview on NPR, cookbook author Alice Waters talks about foregoing the many machines we have become used to, to become even more involved with what and how we eat, for example, a mortar and pestle puts us more in touch than a Cuisinart when preparing food. What she is after is giving you everything you need “to bring out the truest flavor that the best ingredients of the season has to offer.”

So growing our own or going to get the first greens at the Greenmarkets is the order of the day. Our West Side Community Garden has gotten wonderful attention for Earth Day with coverage in this week’s The New Yorker as well as a segment in the Live! With Regis and Kelly morning shows between 9 and 10 AM on Tuesday the 20th where they planted a herb garden, which they will visit throughout the summer as it grows.

Keep reading for great, green recipes.

It’s the time of Green, and here are two recipes that feature some of the early greens.

Artichokes Stuffed with Bulgur and Golden Raisins
Serves two
This makes a first course, a side course or a small meal.

Ingredients:
2 medium or large size artichokes, rinsed, stems removed
1 Tab fresh lime juice
2 Tab golden raisins
1 cup cooked bulgur (In a quart sauce pan add 1 cup bulgur, and 1 1/4 cup boiling water, cover for 15 minutes remove from stove, fluff with a fork to separate the grains.)

Dressing:
1 Tab olive oil
2 Tab freshly squeezed lime or orange juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Procedure:
1. In a 4 quart sauce pan place water to cover, add artichokes and lime juice.
2. Boil gently 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Leaves should pull out easily.
3. Drain the artichokes and cool.
4. In a small bowl, whisk dressing ingredients, pour over bulgur. Add raisins and toss lightly.
5. Place each artichoke in a small bowl to stand upright.
6. Part leaves, remove choke with a spoon.
7. Spoon the bulgur and raisin into each artichoke, dropping some in the open leaves.
8. Serve at room temperature.

Three Green Salad with Grapefruit and Olives
Here is a way to enjoy your greens, three at a time -- spinach, Chinese cabbage and watercress. Grapefruit adds tartness and black olives, robustness.

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach leaves, thoroughly rinsed, and patted dry stems removed
1/2 cup finely chopped Chinese cabbage
1/4 bunch watercress, rinsed, patted dry and stems removed1/2 cup grapefruit, seeded and sectioned
8 pitted black olives, drained and thoroughly rinsed.

Dressing:
1/2 Cup finely chopped basil
2 Tab olive oil
2 Tab lime juice
1 Tab rice vinegar

Procedure:
1. In a small bowl whisk together dressing ingredients.
2. Pour over salad and refrigerate until ready to serve.