Spring Roasted Vegetables with Tahini Dressing, Poached egg, and Crispy Sesame Panko

I was extremely excited yesterday when I got my hands on local asparagus, radishes, snow peas and sunchokes!  I have been waiting for what seems like far too long to buy these veggies, as I didn't want to buy some shipped from another part of the country. 

So I thought for tonight what better than to create a salad showcasing them?  I decided to roast the asparagus and sunchokes to bring out the flavor but leave the radishes and peas raw and crunchy!  I was in the mood for something with a little middle eastern flavor, so a tahini dressing was to accompany them, as well as some toasted sesame seeds.  I am a bit textural person when it comes to food, so I thought the crunch of some nice garlicy panko breadcrumbs would be perfect with the veggies and silky dressing!  Lastly, wanting this to be a complete meal, a poached egg topped off the lovely pile of veg! 

It was satisfying and delicious, plus quick to throw together!  Here is the recipe if you wish to try it for yourself! 

Spring Roasted Vegetables with Tahini Dressing, Poached egg, and Crispy Sesame Panko

Serves 2

Dressing:
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp water
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
a pinch cayenne
1 garlic clove, minced

Sesame panko:
1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt
 a large pinch red pepper flakes

Veggies:
Olive oil
2 cups sliced sunchokes
2 cups asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces

Poached eggs:
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 cups water
2 organic eggs

1 cup snow peas
1 cup radishes

In a small bowl, whisk dressing together, and set aside.  For sesame panko, in a small nonstick skillet, combine breadcrumbs, sesame seeds, garlic clove, olive oil, about 1/4 tsp sea salt, and red pepper flakes.  Saute until crumbs, seeds and garlic are toasted.  Remove from heat and set aside.  To prepare veggies, preheat oven to 475 degrees, line a sheet pan with foil, and spray with non-stick spray.  Toss asparagus and artichokes with just enough olive oil to coat and spread out on pan.  Roast until browned at the edges and crispy, about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, and let cool to room temperature. 
To poach eggs, heat water to a simmer in a medium saucepan with the vinegar and salt. Crack an egg into a ramakin. Stir water with a spoon to swirl, and carefully pour egg into it. Let cook for 3-4 minutes or preferred doneness, and remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with other egg.  To plate between 2 plates, scatter roasted veggies, snow peas, and radishes about the plate, drizzle with dressing, top each with a poached egg and the toasted sesame panko.  Serve!

Moroccan Salad with Crispy Jerusalem Artickokes and Sesame Yogurt

One of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities, La Belle vie serves up a wonderful Moroccan Salad with Crispy Artichokes and Sesame Yogurt.  I have ordered it the last 3 times I have been there I love it so much!  They spoon a bit of creamy sesame cumin laced yogurt onto the plate, top it off with mache, kalamata olives and artichokes so crispy they are almost like a chip!  The plate is dusted with Moroccan spices that give just the right amount of seasoning to the salad.  Since I can't go to La Belle Vie every weekend, or every time I am craving this salad, I thought this would be the perfect weekend to try and recreate it!  I put my own spin on it however, and not wanting to deal with frying artichokes, or cleaning one of them (since it is quite the process), I opted for some crispy roasted jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) instead!    I wasn't able to get my hands on any mache, so I used baby arugula, wartercress and a bit of spinach for my greens, and dressed it lightly in a lemon juice vinaigrette.  I am not exactly sure what all goes into the sesame yogurt at La Belle Vie, but it is so creamy that I guessed it was a Greek yogurt and that is what I used.  I whisked in tahini to make it even more creamy, a bit of cumin, garlic, and lemon juice for flavor, and it was the same delicious flavor as theirs!  My salad also contained kalamata olives, and i decided that smoked Spanish paprika would be perfect for dusting the plate!  My salad was just as wonderful as theirs, and now I am happy that I can recreate it at home for a lot cheaper.  That said, I still think the food at La Belle Vie is amazing and I am sure I will still order their verison of the salad as long as it is on the menu.  If you would like to try my version of this delicious salad for yourself, here is the recipe!

Moroccan Salad with Crispy Jerusalem Artickokes and Sesame Yogurt
Serves 2

4 large jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) thinly sliced on the diagonal
oilve oil
sea salt

yogurt:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 Tbsp sesame tahini
1/2 tsp ground cumin seed
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Greens:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 large bunch of baby arugula (about 1.5 oz)

1 large bunch of watercress or baby spinach (about 1.5 oz)

To plate:

smoked spanish paprika

toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees and line a sheet pan with foil, spray with non-stick spray.  Toss artichokes with enough olive oil to coat and spread out on sheet pan.  Roast until crispy and starting to brown at edges.  Remove from oven and let cool.  To make yogurt, whisk together yogurt, tahini, cumin, lemon juice, sea salt and garlic and set aside.  In a large bowl, place 1 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp lemon juice and sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  Add greens and roasted artickokes toss well to coat.  To plate salads, dallop a large spoonfull of the yogurt onto each plate, and smooth out with a spoon.  Sprinkle the yogurt and the plate with a little spanish paprika, then top with the dressed greens and artichokes.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and top with kalamata olives.

My favorite winter salad

I tend to get stuck in ruts... I am a very monotonous person sometimes when it comes to things I do every day, or when it comes to cooking dinner.  It is something I am not proud of, being such a creature of habit but oh well.  For this reason however I have been making a certain salad very often.  I have appologized to those who have had to share it with me, but luckilly they like it too and have no complaints, so I keep making it.   It is so good I cannot go without making it at least a few times a week, at least as long as the vegetables I use in it are in season.  I have come to love sunchokes this year, especially thinly sliced and roasted.  Right out of the oven with sea salt they are like chips!  In this favorite salad of mine,  I combined them with carrots and rutabagas roasted in the same way, and they are delicious together.    I used my standard toasted pecans to top off the salad as well as some golden raisins, which I don't think are used enough, but I love!  Everything is dressed in a light maple balsamic vinaigrette, and it is so delicious I could eat it all myself!  I listed this recipe as serving three, but it is actually two Amy sized servings.  Even if you are skeptical about root vegetables and don't care for them, this salad could change your mind.  I served it to my Mom who is not a big fan of root vegetables, and she looked at it and gave me "the look", saying "You know I don't like rutabagas..."  But once she tasted it she actually loved it and there wasn't a rutabaga left on that plate!  I love it when I can change people's minds about liking veggies!  Here is the salad recipe if you would like to try it for yourself!

Roasted  Root Vegetable Salad with Toasted Pecans and Golden Raisins

Serves 3

2 large carrots, thinly sliced on the diagonal
3 large sunchokes, thinly sliced on the diagonal
3 small rutabagas, thinly sliced on the diagonal
olive oil
sea salt

Pecans:

1/2 cup pecans
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp maple sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground chipotle powder
Dressing:
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp riesling vinegar

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

5 cups mixed flavorful greens such as arugula, mizuna and dandilion
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line three baking sheets with foil, and spray with nonstick spray. Toss root vegetables with just enough olive oil to coat, and spread out on sheet pans.  Roast until starting to brown at edges and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt, and let cool to room temp. Decrease the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Toss pecans with honey, maple sugar and sea salt and spread out on one of the sheets. Roast in the oven until fragrant and starting to brown, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Meanwhile, whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Combine greens, shallots, and roasted veggies, in a large bowl, pour dressing over, and toss with hands to coat. Divide salad between 3 plates and top with toasted nuts and golden raisins.

Whole Wheat Papardelle with Roasted Sunchokes, Carrots, and Pecorino Romano

My Dad gave me a pasta machine a couple Christmases ago, but up until now, I have only used it to make lasagna noodles.  I was at the Heartland Restaurant in St. Paul recently and they had this wonderful hand cut wild rice flour papardelle with golden turnips, chanterelles and parmesan cream.

The pasta had a nice hearty texture due to the nature of the flour used in it, nothing like I have expirienced with a pasta before!  It was so good that I was inspired to try my hand at making some pasta myself!  I used whole wheat flour in mine however, since I don't have a grinder that will grind the wild rice fine enough.   The whole wheat turned out to be just as hearty and still have that wonderful texture.  I decided to pair my hearty pasta with roasted carrots and sunchokes, since I had come across some beautiful locally grown ones.  I finished the pasta off with garlic, thyme and a little pecorino romano cheese. 

It was so simple and yet so good!  Comfort food fit for the coldest winter night.  And why not make your own pasta when you are cooped up inside due to the winter chill!  Here is the recipe if you would like some for yourself! 

Whole Wheat Papardelle with Roasted Sunchokes, Carrots, and Pecorino Romano

Serves 3
Pasta:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 egg
1-2 Tbsp water
1 tsp sea salt

4 medium carrots, sliced on the diagonal

6 medium sunchokes, sliced thinly on the diagonal

olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 tsp dried thyme
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 oz pecrrino romano cheese, shaved

To make pasta, mix together flour and sea salt in a bowl.  Make a well in the center, and crack the egg into it.  Add 1 Tbsp water, and start slowly mixing in flour and incorporating it into the wet ingredients.  Mix until all flour is incorporated and a soft but not sticky smooth dough is formed (if you need to add more water if dough is too dry).  Divide dough into 2 pieces, and flatten each slightly.  Lightly flour each, then send through a pasta maker until the dough is a very long thin sheet.  (alternatively, roll each out until very thin with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface).  Cut each into 1 inch thick strips, and set aside on lightly floured parchment.  Place a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, Preheat oven to 475 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil.  Toss carrots and artichokes with just enough oil to coat and spread out on sheet.  Roast until starting to brown at the edges, about 15 minutes.  When your pasta water has come to a boil, cook pasta for about 2 minutes, or until it floats to the surface.  Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan, and add garlic, pine nuts, and thyme.  Cook for a minute until garlic is fragrant, then add cooked pasta, roasted veggies, and sea salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well until heated through, then transfer to plates and sprinkle with pecorino romano and serve!

Warm White Bean and Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Many times I walk through the produce department and choose random vegetables that happen to look good and are local.  This includes selections at times which I have never tasted before, or have no idea how to prepare.  So last weekend I picked up some jerusalem artichokes, or sunchokes, that were locally grown and looked nice and fresh.  I didn't know how to cook them, but that didn't stop me from buying them!  I looked them up online when I got home, and saw many different ways to prepare them, and I decided to simply roast them, and include them in a main dish salad I was making.   I also included roasted carrots, fingerling potatoes, and shallots, as well as white beans, walnuts, and arugula.  I threw in some crasins for color and dressed the salad in a cherry balsamic vinaigrette.  Of course I tasted the sunchokes before they joined the other veggies, and they tasted like artichokes I am used to eating...I decided that in the future I am going to have to make a dish featuring them since this time I had only bought a small amount and they were so good!  The salad as a whole was amazing...a whole meal in and of itself alongside some crusty bread.  The roasted vegetables made the salad, with the wonderful caramelized flavors the oven had given them.  Try out this salad if you would like a hearty but light meal...if you can't find sunchokes, substitute another winter root vegetable. 

Warm White Bean and Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Serves 3

4 medium sunchokes, thinly sliced
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced on the bias
6 fingerling potatoes, thinly sliced
2 shallots, cut into wedges
olive oil

1 1/2 cups cooked navy beans
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups arugula

Dressing:
2 Tbsp cherry balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp dijon

1 tsp dried thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 475 degrees, line 2 baking sheets with foil, and spray with non-stick spray.  Toss artichokes, carrots, potatoes and shallots with just enough oil to coat and spread out on sheets.  Roast for about 20-25 minutes until softened and starting to brown at edges.  Remove from oven, and place in a large bowl, along with navy beans, walnuts, cranberries, and arugula.  In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients, then pour over salad and toss to coat.  Serve while still warm.