Rainy Day Greens
It…is…still…raining…!
But I’m feeling good. Hey, at least my lettuce is happy.
The Chard and Kale are also content with the cool temps and the rain. I’ve harvested about 1.5 pounds of them already and they are just getting started, so I did a quick scan through a revered cookbook to get ideas for preparing these greens, so that the family won’t get tired of the simple sauté. I don’t quite get why the revered cookbook and another source talk about Chard stems as something to cut off and use separately. The revered cookbook goes so far as to call them a completely different vegetable than the leaves. That’s not at all the case with what I’m harvesting – maybe because I’m harvesting them young? Anyway, this was very tasty the other night. I sautéed 13 ounces of rainbow chard, stems and all…
in 2 teaspoons of olive oil (that had been steeped with a tiny bit of chopped garlic – something I had on hand), and once wilted, I tossed in a handful of chopped green olives (castelvetrano, the bright green, buttery ones), golden raisins, and the tiniest bit of shaved grana padano cheese. Some toasted pine nuts would have been great. It was delightful alongside oven-fried chicken, which is in regular rotation at our house. It was declared a “dream dinner” — by the big people and the little people. That is another source of happiness.
And so is the memory of last night’s Award-Winning Chefs Dinner, a special Classic Wines Auction event of which we were honored to be a part, along with Chehalem, St. Innocent and Matello. The chefs were Philippe Boulot (The Heathman, Portland), Ethan Stowell (Union/How to Cook a Wolf, et al, Seattle), Jason Wilson (Crush, Seattle) and Cory Schreiber (founder, Wildwood, Portland). We had such fun table mates. I’m looking forward to reading Jennifer Heigl’s “dish” on the evening on her popular blog, Daily Blender. We had the pleasure of sitting with her last night. Jason Wilson’s lamb with an orange/olive sauce, served with baby spring vegetables and morels that was paired with our 08 Audrey Pinot. If that doesn’t chase away the rainy day blues, what will? Maybe a photo from the new Thursday evening Portland Farmers Market in NW Portland.
