Vegetable Galore !

Last Saturday I really over did it with the grocery. Eric drove me to the middle eastern store and I just couldn’t refrain myself with all the beautiful and ultra-fresh vegetables I would never dream of finding in the regular stores in our 98% born quebecer town. Now after 7 days, I still have lots of them to prepare before the next grocery. Châteauguay -the Montreal south-shore suburb town we live in- is very far from being a multi-ethnic town. Well… The town is right beside the Mohawk reserve of Kahwanake and I noticed we have quite few families from the Barbados living here too (they are so nice, they seem to smile all the time!). But on the food and produce department, that doesn’t seem to encourage the local grocers to offer much in terms of more ethnic staples. Even Cilantro is almost impossible to find, and when I find it, it’s sold by the 3 or 4 sprigs bunches, desperately wilted and at almost 1$ the sprig ! And looking at bruised, black spotted bell peppers disgusts and frustrates me ! So last Saturday at Adonis, I felt like I was in Ali Baba cave ! Figs, blood oranges, mounds of generous ultra fresh cilantro bundles, fennel, asparagus, pineapples, all sorts of grapes, cardoon, freshly baked pita bread, creamy lebneh, dozens different kinds of olives, mangoes… I was in grocery heaven ! I don’t even mention the fact all these delicious food stuff are about half the price of what they charge us in Châteauguay for almost rotten produce ! I didn’t make it to cook all the veggies I bought last week. It’s sad because they lost a bit of their prime freshness. But they are still looking way better than those on the shelves of the local grocery stores ! Today I made for lunch a not so classic version of fennel & orange salad, a tweaked version of a Global Gourmet recipe. I have 2 fennel heads. One is enough for the generous salad. With a crusty baguette to dip in the dressing, it was yummy ! I’ll have one left and I already know how to prepare it! While growing up in France, I was used to the fennel heads packed in water cans. It doesn’t exist here in Canada. I never saw them. The way we used canned fennel heads in France was in “gratin”. A simple and delicious recipe ! We just strain the fennel heads, rinse it quickly, cut them in half lengthwise and lay them in a buttered casserole dish. Then we prepare a béchamelle sauce and coat the fennel heads with it. A generous layer of grated gruyere cheese and hop it goes in the oven until the gruyere is golden brown. I have fresh fennel heads here in Canada ! So the gratin should be even better in taste ! But the fennel gratin will be for tomorrow. Today my boys asked me for grilled cheese. I accompanied them with steamed artichokes eaten the French way, with a good homemade Dijon mustard vinaigrette. Asparagus, Fennel, Red Onion and Orange Salad 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon basil pesto 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 1 bunch asparagus spears, tough ends snapped off 1 large fennel bulb 5 oranges 2 thinly sliced medium red onions Whisk together mayonnaise, milk, basil pesto, olive oil, vinegar and parsley. Steam asparagus about 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Rinse under cold running water until cold, this also helps keep their bright green color. Remove greens and stem from fennel and thinly slice bulbs. If you have a mandoline, use it by all means. The thinner the slices, the better the salad. Cut peel and white pith from oranges. Using a small sharp knife cut between membranes to release segments. In a large bowl, toss all the indredients together with about 1/2 a cup of the dressing. Serve the rest of the dressing appart on the table. I usually have quite a bit left. I just refrigerate it and use it later on other greens or vegies. Steamed Artichokes With Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette 1 large artichoke per person 1 tablespoon good quality Dijon mustard (I like the excellent "Maille" brand) 1 clove garlic 1 tablespoon vinegar (the kind you prefer, I use red wine vinegar infused with shallots) 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (not olive!) (*) Cook the artichokes by steaming them for approximately 1 hour. After an hour, pull a leave toward the center and check the flesh by scrapping it with your teeth. It should be really tender. While the artichokes are steaming, prepare the vinaigrette. Cut the garlic clove in 2 lengthwise. With 1 half of the clove rub well the bottom and the lower third of the edges of a medium bowl (cut face facing the bowl's surface of course). Leave the half garlic in the bowl. Mix together with a fork or little whisk the mustard and the vinegar in the bowl you just rubbed with garlic. Add the oil and whisk well to obtain an emulsion. No need to ad salt as the Dijon mustard is already salty enough. But you can add few strokes of pepper mill. Remove and discard the half garlic clove. If you wait before using the vinaigrette, the emulsion will separate. Just give it a whisk stroke or two to re-emulsify it when ready to use it. When the artichokes are cooked, remove from heat and lay on a platter. Let cool to room temperature or just warmy-ish. To eat them, pull a leave at a time and dip in the vinaigrette. Scrape the delicious "meat" with your teath and discard the rest of the leaf. When you arrive to the really small leaves near the heart of the artichoke, remove them all and don't eat them. Their tips are really sharp and you don't want to hurt your palate. Remove the "hair" stuck to the heart and discard it too. You can now dip the heart in the vinaigrette and eat it. (*) Just a "healthy" note about the oil part in all of my vinaigrettes. I use 2 tablespoons of any oil I choose (today I needed a neutral tasting oil so I used sunflower oil) and 1 tablespoon organic, unrefined flax oil. Actually, I always use part of the oil in a cold recipe (flax oil should NEVER be cooked or heated) because of the Omega3 content in it. It's very good for us all, but particularly for my 3 boys brain performances. Bon appétit !