Cold Chinese Cabbage with Cilantro
This ‘recipe’ is from one of our new favorite cookbooks, Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters. We love how she makes the vegetables the focus of each simple dish. This one, for example, calls for only a few ingredients other than the star: cabbage!
Marinate crushed, finely diced shallots in white wine vinegar for 15 minutes or so. Slice Napa cabbage very thin, toss with the shallots and vinegar, some good olive oil, and salt and pepper. Let the cabbage sit about 10 minutes so it starts to wilt. Add a handful of fresh cilantro leaves and serve.
Pasta with Zucchini, Walnuts, and Pesto
Another recipe from Chez Panisse Vegetables. Unless you have pesto on hand, we recommend substituting the basil from this week’s share. Just mince it with a clove or two of garlic (depending on your tastes) and toss it in with a pat of melted sweet butter. You might also add chopped broccoli with the zucchini for an even more diverse veggie dish.
Trim and julienne some zucchini or other summer squashes, and sauté in olive oil until tender and starting to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Cook fresh noodles and add to the pan with a ladle of the pasta water or some chicken stock; some toasted walnuts, roughly chopped; and pesto sauce. Turn off the heat and toss well, taste for seasoning, and serve with grated parmesan.
If you haven’t caught on yet, we love our new cookbook. We’re not going to sell copies of it, but we do recommend it, and I’m sure that Third Street Books could order you a copy if you wanted your own.
