My latest, favorite discovery: Fried Greens Meatlessballs. The recipe comes from Twelve Recipes by Chez Panisse’s Cal Peternell. The beauty of these meatlessballs is that any green can work — turnip, beet, chard, kale, etc. Last week, when no greens arrived, I used the greens from the carrots and the greens from the onions — it worked like a charm. More greens will be arriving today — phew! — and these meatlessballs, seasoned with cumin seeds, garlic, and feta, is a great use for them along with the onions and any of the herbs, though the original recipe calls for cilantro. Find the recipe below. (Twelve Recipes, by the way, is a beautiful book — love it.) Zucchini: Very excited to try these soft taco zucchini tortilla shells — how cool? Cabbage: I finally made the cabbage pancakes. I didn’t use shrimp, I used way too much cabbage, and I served them with a soy dipping sauce, but they were delicious nonetheless and a great use of the cabbage and scallions. If you want a simpler, 10-minute sauté with eggs and soy, Mama Poule has an idea for you. Beets: I was flipping through the My New Roots cookbook and came across a recipe for pickled turnips and beets — just the recipe I needed for the few turnips languishing in my vegetable bin along with those beautiful, candy-striped beets. Note: All color (including pretty stripes) is leached from the beets after a few hours in the brine. Use this all-purpose pickling brine. Green beans: I’ve been steaming them and tossing them with Zuni Cafe’s 4-minute sauce gribiche, the recipe which the 4-minute caesar is based on. Incidentally, 4-minute sauce gribiche is also delicious on burgers. Recipe below. In the weeks ahead, if you find yourself really overloaded by greens beans, I love this Madhur Jaffrey recipe for Masaledar Sem (spicy green beans). We’ve been eating the carrots, cucumbers and green peppers raw with hummus. So good. What have you all been making? Any favorite carrot recipes? Pickled turnips and beets: Cabbage pancakes: 5 from 5 reviews Notes:
Any greens—beet, turnip, kale, chard, mustard, etc.—can be used here. I’ve even made these with a mix of the green tops from my CSA carrots and onions. I like to give my greens a quick pulse in the food processor. The greens need to be chopped finely at some point, and I find it easier to do it before they are sautéed. You could chop them finely by hand, too. If you have garlic scapes, you can purée them in the food processor after you pulse the greens. Use a few tablespoons of the scape purée in place of the garlic. Store the purée in an airtight vessel in the fridge. Basil or parsley can be substituted for the cilantro
