The Soaked Bean

Seeking Nourishment, Finding Traditions

Shades of Green Salad

By

mixin

In traditional Chinese medicine, Spring is representative of Earth, the wood element, and, in the body, the liver and tendons.  It’s said to create the color green, the sight of which “nourishes the soul through the eyes”, clearing the vision and the way towards new sight. (Pitchford, 317).

Geneva is currently teeming with green.  I notice that the tomato plants on our tiny balcony stretch taller each morning.  My legs feel less and less sore after every hilly bike-ride.  I dipped in the lake yesterday for a few fresh moments, and I’ll dip again today.  It won’t be long until a proper swim is within reach or stroke or paddle.

wildasparagus

This Winter was my first full Winter in Geneva, and it sometimes felt long, dark.  Untangling the threads of all of my interests, forging a path through what often feels like bramble hasn’t been easy, but where there is bramble there is also potential and as I’m submerged in so many shades of green this Spring my eyes no longer see only thorn, but white rose, sweet berry, and even sweet-berry-crumble with a side of raw cream.

The dietary recommendations for Spring, in traditional Chinese medicine, are to fill your plate with shades of green–sweet green, bitter green, pungent green, green that renews, that revitalizes–creating a “personal Spring within”.  (Pitchford, 317).  Not a tall order considering the bulk of market stands at the moment: asparagus, green peas, snow peas, sorrel, mâche, spinach, chard, butter-head lettuce, fennel, romanesco, kolhrabi, sage, mint, parsley, thyme–chartreuse, fern-green, hunter-green, jade, and on and on.

greenpeas asparaguss

Summer, in all its heat and expansiveness, is just a little more than two weeks away.  Soon there will be strawberries, and aubergines, and squash, and tomatoes, stronger legs and warmer waters and a path forged further ahead.

For now, a recipe with many shades of green for nourishing that personal Spring within.

sesame mix

What’s your favorite Spring-time green?

Print
Shades of Green Salad

Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi's Plenty More

Ingredients

    For the salad:
  • 10 asparagus spears, trimmed and sliced diagonally into 3 pieces
  • 100 grams or 2 handfuls green peas, shelled fresh
  • 100 grams or 2 handfuls snow peas, trimmed
  • 1 bunch wild asparagus (optional)
  • 1 bunch sorrel, sliced into ribbons
  • 1 shallot, very thinly sliced
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
    • For the dressing:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • pinch salt

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with very cold water. Once water is boiling, place asparagus in pot and blanch for 3 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place in cold water immediately. Repeat this process with green peas (blanch for 5 minutes), snow peas (3 minutes), and wild asparagus (1 minute). Drain everything and pat dry.
  2. Toast sesame seeds in cast-iron skillet on medium heat for 5 minutes or so, or until seeds start to brown.
  3. Mix together oil, honey, vinegar and salt in a small jar, shaking vigorously.
  4. Place the asparagus, green peas, snow peas and wild asparagus in a large bowl. Add sorrel, shallot, sesame seeds and dressing. Mix all together and serve.

 

New Potato Potato-Salad

By

potatosalad

It’s mid-May and Summer is already afoot:

Dandelions have gone to seed, lilac’s in bloom, strawberries redden and branches grow greener and evenings stretch longer and submerge us in blue.

These blue nights of late Spring and early Summer–described so beautifully by Joan Didion in her memoir— always invoke major nostalgia for me.  Nostalgia for past Summers and the places I spent them in and the people I spent them with; and even, oddly enough, for this coming Summer–which I think about so often that it sometimes feels as if it’s already gone.

chop chopchop

Lately, I’ve been getting ahead of myself.  All the growth of this season brings a sense of boundlessness, infinite possibilities.  There’s so much space within these blue nights and I find myself wavering between projecting too far into the future and retracing the past, often missing the little details of the present moment.

The little details which become currency for nostalgia, what is cherished, held close: the nacho dinners Emulee and I would make after a long, hot day of weeding on the farm,  salted hakurei turnips by the lake, a pickled egg and a glass of cider at Tandem’s counter, the ride-home with Kasia after symphony-in-the-park with reggae turned up and windows rolled down, light scattered across a patch of tall nettles, the knick-knack shelf in my grandma Stella’s living room, a jelly doughnut cut in half, home-made potato salad in a yellow bowl.

My nostalgia for the past reminds me that while attending to the future is undoubtedly important, engaging in the present is vital, as these are the moments, the little details that give, dare I say, meaning to our days.

shallots parsley

Last Sunday, some peonies really drove that message home.  One of my favorite flowers, I realized I was taking home the first bunch of the season and quite possibly the last one.  Their flowering season is short.  If I’d been looking too far ahead–toward this coming Summer–or too far behind, I might have missed them altogether.

Like I might have missed these first harvest, or new, potatoes of late Spring.

honey/mustard dressing

This new potato potato-salad is based on the memory of my grandma’s potato salad–the one in the yellow bowl.  It isn’t her recipe–she used mayonnaise and celery and sometimes apple in hers–but it reminds me of her and the summers we shared.

In French new potatoes are called delicatesses, a fitting name for these earthy-sweet and tender tubers.  A handful of red-skins, some shallots, some sage, a whole fistful of parsley and a tangy-sweet dressing make a salad that is, in my opinion, the perfect compliment to these extended twilight hours and all the space for picnics by the lake, BBQs in the yard, and new found little details they provide.

potatoweb-26

Print
New Potato-Salad

Ingredients

  • For the salad
  • 1 kilo potatoes, mix new + red-skin
  • 1/2 bunch parsley, minced
  • handful fresh sage, minced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • pinch salt
  • For the dressing
  • 1/2 olive oil
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons mustard
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • pinch salt

Directions

  1. Scrub potatoes and chop into bite-sized pieces (in half for new potatoes, in quarters for red-skins). Place into large pot and cover with cold water. Add pinch of salt and place on stove on high-heat. Once water is boiling, reduce heat and let potatoes simmer for 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water.
  2. While potatoes are boiling, chop shallots and herbs and place in large mixing bowl. Make dressing by adding all ingredients to a jar, sealing and shaking like a wild-wo/man or until emulsified.
  3. As soon as you've drained and rinsed your potatoes, add them to the mixing bowl and pour over the dressing. (It's important to pour the dressing on while the potatoes are still warm). Mix everything together. Serve right away for the warm version or cover and keep in the fridge overnight for the cold-version.

Keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days, if well-sealed.

Mes amis de Suisse:

Ce Samedi à Plainpalais il y a un évènement Art Sans RDV –c’est une expérience immersive à la rencontre de la plaine de Plainpalais et des oeuvres d’art qui l’habitent.  À 19h30 je préparerai le buffet pour l’inauguration de leur application mobile: des nori-rolls avec riz noir et pesto d’ortie/des betteraves/des carottes et des macarons de noix de coco et des amandes.

J’espere vous voir là-bas!

RDV