Lynne Rossetto Kasper's Thai Cabbage Salad with Cashews and Chili-Coconut Dressing

Not everyday is as productive as last Friday. In about 2 hours, I made a fantastic salad, discovered a new cooking technique, and finally learned how to achieve that elusive sweet-salty-tangy-spicy balance in a Thai vinaigrette. It's all thanks to Lynn Rossetto Kasper. As if I'm surprised.

I am a huge fan of Lynn Rossetto Kasper. I'm a loyal listener to her "The Splendid Table" podcast, and I absolutely loved her pithy and clever "How to Eat Supper" podcasts, which she co-hosted with TST producer Sally Swift (until recently, when they suddenly stopped coming out...) So I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that it took me until last week to sign up for Lynn's "Weeknight Kitchen" newsletter. Now maybe it's too soon to pass judgement, seeing as I've only gotten two issues. But this is Lynn Rossetto Kasper. Every recipe is a run-to-your-kitchen recipe. As expected, just one day after the email landed in my inbox, I was at the counter, surrounded by heaps of green cabbage.

The recipe in last week's edition was for a Thai cabbage salad with tofu, cashews, and pineapple. D was quick to point out that I cut my pineapple slices so large as to intimidate my guests (sorry, ya'll! Hope the yellow didn't scare you away) so in the future, I'll make my pineapple more....welcoming. But aside from that, I found this salad delightful. It's got really well-layered flavor: the bitter freshness of cabbage, the tangy sweetness of pineapple, a generous handful of cashews, scallions and herbs, and a biting vinaigrette rounded out with fish sauce (one of Lynn's favorite ingredients: it's got tons of umami, or glutamate, which helps give that extra something to...well, almost anything.)

I threw together a small plate of this salad before serving it to make sure that the flavors were balanced. One bite led to two, then three, and before I knew it, my plate was clean. Yep, flavors were balanced alright. I've had the salad for two lunches and a dinner, and a wee bit of it is with me at jury duty today. Now go pick yourself up and make it.

Also, now that I have your attention, apologies for the shameless self-promotion, but if I can't do it here, where can I? I'm super excited to announce that I'm featured in this week's Washingtonian Blogger Beat! Check it out!

Thai Cabbage Salad with Cashews and Chili-Coconut Dressing

This dressing is truly amazing. Heating the chili in the oil really opens up the flavors (the new technique I learned), and the fish sauce is really key in rounding out this dressing: if you've never used it before, don't be afraid! It can smell funky, but the flavor is very subtle. Not one of the guests to whom I served this salad thought there was fish sauce in the dressing. Also of note: this sauce goes way beyond cabbage salad: Cook some tofu and vegetables, add this sauce, and you've got thai curry.

For the Roasted Chile-Coconut Dressing: 1/2 cup expeller-pressed canola oil (or other oil, such as safflower or grapeseed 4 generous teaspoons coarse ground Aleppo chile (I use Penzey's, which Lynn recommends), or other flavorful medium-hot to hot ground chile 4 large garlic cloves, chopped fine 1-1/3 cups coconut milk (canned is fine) 2 to 2-1/2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce 4 tablespoons sugar 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon salt Juice of 1 to 1-1/2 large limes

For the Salad: 3 large handfuls mixed greens 8 leaves of Napa or regular cabbage, cut crosswise into thin slivers. (If using regular cabbage, as I did slice as thinly as possible; use a mandoline if you have one) 4 whole scallions, thin sliced 1-1/2 cups bite-sized pieces pineapple, fresh, or canned in pineapple juice and drained 1/2 cup salted broken cashews, or peanuts (I like them toasted) 1-1/2 to 2 cups diced firm tofu, cooked and diced tempeh, chicken, or seafood 1/2 light-packed cup fresh mint, coriander (cilantro) or basil leaves, torn (I used mint and cilantro) Salt and fresh ground black pepper

1. Make the dressing by combining in a 12-inch straight sided sauté pan the oil, chile and garlic. Heat slowly over medium so flavors will open up but nothing will burn (about 2 minutes). Stir with a wood spatula until the garlic begins to sizzle (don't let it brown).

2. Quickly add the coconut milk and boil, stirring, for 30 seconds, or until it's a deep red-gold. Stir in the fish sauce (start with the smallest amount), sugar and salt and boil 30 seconds, or until thickened with glossy bubbles and the sauce is the color of caramel.

3. Immediately scrape all the sauce into a bowl to stop the cooking. (Sauce could be refrigerated for several days). Rinse and dry the pan and keep it handy for reheating the sauce.

4. Make the salad by blending the greens and cabbage together and dividing between 4 dinner plates. Divide the remaining ingredients between each serving, scattering them over the greens. Season the salads with salt and pepper.

5. Warm the dressing in the pan until it comes to a bubble and drizzle it over each serving. Then squeeze generous amounts of fresh lime over the salads and serve.

Smoky Corn Salad

So sorry that posts have been so few and far between (and so short) lately. I'm doing my best to offer some great summer suggestions between work and work -- bear with me; just two more weeks of this insanity, and I'll be back on track.

Meanwhile, hopefully you're taking advantage of the last of summer's produce more than I am. If you find yourself swimming in corn, this smoky number is a great variation on the corn salad theme. It combines raw corn that's charred in a smoking castiron pan, poblanos that are cooked over an open flame to remove the skins and intensify their flavor, a bit of red onion, and of course, some of those delightfully plump and round cherry tomatoes that are so good this time of year. The method is so simple it's a joke: just char everything in the castiron pan all together, and add the tomatoes just before serving. It's just the way to take advantage of summer's abundance. Have a plate in my honor, and once I crawl out from under this rock, I'll be back in the kitchen in no time.

Smoky Corn Salad

3 ears of corn, husks and fibers removed 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1/4 of a red onion, diced 2 poblano peppers 1/2 a jalapeno, diced, optional 1/4 tsp. smoked spanish paprika olive oil salt pepper 1 lime

Roast poblanos over an open flame, turning to blister skin on all sides. When fully blistered, turn off heat and transfer peppers to a paper bag or roll inside tinfoil. let steam for 5 minutes, then run under water to remove skins. Chop roughly and set aside.

Heat castiron or heavy stainless steel pan over high heat. Remove corn from cob, and combine with chopped onions and jalapeno, if using. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan and immediately add corn mixture. Toss to coat, then let sit for a 30 seconds at a time just to develop a real char on the kernels. Add smoked paprika, and add salt to taste. Keep tossing and charring, tossing and charring, until there are enough brown spots to give some serious smoky flavor. Remove from heat, add tomatoes, and toss to combine. Transfer to a plate, and squeeze 1 fresh lime overtop. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pesto Streudel and Panzanella Salad

Now that it's summer, my counters are teeming with beautiful red tomatoes and my fridge is packed with brightly-colored produce of all sorts: radishes, favas, beets, strawberries, you name it. It's a welcome change from the endless supply of potatoes, yams, potatoes, and kale, oh, the kale. Thank goodness I've got some red back in my life!

Of course, with beets and radishes come a whole new type of greens -- the kind attached to the stems of the beets and the radishes, of course. Both are too often overlooked -- especially radish greens, for which I've never seen a recipe. Until now.

Here's the thing. Pesto? It doesn't just have to be basil in there. Stick in some cilantro and call it chimichurri or -- better yet -- send some radish greens under the knife and start to enjoy what too often ends up in the disposal (or, in my case, the compost bin. Yay!)

Radish greens are best used within a couple days of buying or picking them, so they're a bit more finicky than basil. But they're spicy and a little bitter like arugula, and quite flavorful. They're also almost always attached to the radishes you buy, so why not use them? I've blended them up with walnuts and pinenuts, and they pair beautifully with both. But I've got a lingering curiosity about how they'd play with pecans, so if you try it, lemme know.

Last time I made this, I stuffed it in phyllo dough for a variation on spanikopita. Radish leaves contain a fair amount of water, so I'd recommend putting the ground leaves into a fine mesh strainer to let some of the liquid drain out. After that's done, feel free to add any other things you'd like. I've added Parmesan before, which is quite nice, but since this last time I was going for a Greek theme, I opted with feta cheese and liked it even more. I also added a squeeze or two of lemon, which gives the pesto some tang and has the added benefit of delaying oxidation (when pesto hits the air and turns brownish).

As you can see from the pictures and the post title, we ate this streudel with Panzanella, or bread salad. I can't say I have a recipe; we really just used the vegetables from this week's trip to the farmers' market, and any vegetables will work. The key is to have some good, juicy, ripe tomatoes in there, whose juices will seep into the pieces of bread. Other than that, no rules -- sky's the limit.

Radish-Beet Pesto Streudel

I know this recipe is really rough and that the measurements are as imprecise as can be -- but this is one of those things that is ever so contingent upon your tastebuds. If you're nervous, start with 3/4 of the greens and 3/ 4 of the nuts, and after you've blended that quantity, start tasting and adjusting until you achieve your preferred balance of greens to nuts.

1 bunch (about 1 1/2 cups) radish leaves, rinsed and dried 1 bunch (about 3 1/2 cups) beet leaves, rinsed, dried, and ripped into large pieces 1 1/2 cups walnuts or pinenuts salt and pepper 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled juice of half a lemon, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set phyllo dough out on the counter, in its box, until thawed, at least half an hour.

Chop greens in a food processor. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl, and either leave for an hour to let the liquids drain out, or (much more efficient) press on the greens to expel their liquid. Return to the food processor.

Add nuts and blend until the pesto is your preferred consistency (I like this radish-beet pesto quite smooth with only a few very small chunks, but others like it super chunky -- up to you). Add cheese, and give the processor a couple quick pulses just until the cheese is incorporated. Taste and adjust for salt, and add pepper and lemon if desired.

Remove the plastic covering from the phyllo dough, unroll it, and cover it with a slightly damp towel; this will prevent the sheets from drying out and turning brittle.

On a rimmed baking sheet covered with a piece of parchment paper or tin foil, place one layer of phyllo dough and brush lightly with olive oil. Cover with a second sheet of phyllo dough. Repeat five times, until you have six layers of phyllo dough stacked on top of each other with a thin layer of olive oil in between (if you have five or seven layers, please don't sweat it).

With one of the long ends facing you, spread the pesto horizontally about a third of the way from the edge closest to you, leaving about 1 inch at either end. You'll be rolling the up the streudel along the long edge of the dough. Start rolling the filo away from you, making sure the pesto stays inside the dough as much as possible (if it leaks out a bit, no worries). Pause at the halfway point to tuck the edges into the roll (or be lazy like me and leave it open, though the pesto will seep out during baking). Brush the top with a little olive oil and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, until the top is golden and whatever filling has seeped out is bubbling.

Panzanella Salad with Fava Beans

Ingredients

Several handfuls of fresh lettuce, whatever is on hand is fine The best tomato (or cherry tomatoes, in my case, though large ones are preferable) you can get your hands on 2 mediterranean little cucumbers or 1 regular cucumber, chopped 1 lb. fava beans, shucked, blanched, and peeled ** 2 slices or 1 big hunk of good, crusty bread that's a couple days old, cut or ripped into squares or small pieces 1/8 cup olive oil 1/8 cup red wine vinegar salt pepper

Mix vegetables, favas, and bread together in a medium salad bowl. In a separate smaller bowl or dressing container, mix oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. About ten minutes before serving, shake dressing well and drizzle over salad. Toss to combine, and allow to sit for a bit until the bread starts to soak up the dressing. Serve.

**To prepare favas, start by popping open the pods and picking out the beans. The beans are coated in a waxy outer layer that also needs to be removed; to do this, cook fava beans in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 1 1/2 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well. Peel fava beans and set aside. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Avocado Tomato Salad

It'd be a shame to spend too much of this day indoors, because it's beautiful outside and I have an all-day pool pass -- so I'm going to keep this short: It's summer, people! That means I'm barely to be seen at the grocery store, stocking up on fruit and veggies almost exclusively at the three nearby farmers' markets to supplement my CSA. I'm high on summer produce.

Avocados and tomatoes are especially excellent right now. Tomatoes haven't quite hit their peak, but I picked up some beautiful heirlooms this morning and we enjoyed them in salad, with a bit of salt and not much else. Last week, I had some beautiful on-the-vine tomatoes in the house, as well as some perfectly ripe avocados and some baby lettuce from a friend's garden, so I threw together a really simple salad that's definitely going to be a staple on my plate this season. It's just lettuce, avocados, tomatoes, a crumble or two of my usual Keswick Creamery feta, and some lemon, salt, and pepper. It doesn't get much simpler or better than that.

As you can see, we enjoyed this salad both in the bowl and atop a bagel and lox leftover from my dear friend Dellie's med school graduation party. Congrats, Dr. Sorel! So proud!

If I could make one suggestion for summer eating, it would be to Keep It Simple (excuse the weird capitalization). Let the produce speak for itself -- it doesn't need much to sing.

Happy Summer, everyone!