Happy Spring

Happy Spring, everyone!

I think we can officially say that it is spring.  Off and on rain, wild temperature mood swings, and the incessant blooming of the Bradford Pear Trees have made their appearances.  By the way, who thought it was a good idea to plant these awful trees every two feet in our town?  They smell awful and make everyone's eyes water and nose run. Blech.  But for all that complaining, I really do love this season. Want to know one of my favorite things about it?  The Farmer's Market, of course!  It's like everyone emerges from their winter hideouts and I see all the lovely, smiling faces that make this community so wonderful.  I love strolling down to the square and listening to the banjos, seeing the tents of farmers with their tender greens, fragrant flowers, and wares, and saying "hello" to all of you!  That's what is coming up this weekend (rain permitting).

On these glorious Market Saturdays, our fair store opens at 9:00 to catch you early(ish) morning shoppers.  Come on in and see what new goodies we have.  I restocked our Taza chocolates just in time for Easter.  We have a new Raspberry Crunch bar and a Wicked Dark Chocolate with Toasted Coconut that only has 2 grams of sugar per serving.  That's practically healthy!  We still have the old favorites Sea Salt and Almond, Toffee Crunch, Espresso Buzz, and Wicked Dark with Candied Ginger.  We also just got a fresh (can you call cured meat fresh?) batch of Chorizo Seco from Charlito's Cocina and it is oh so tasty.  I must admit that thinly sliced Chorizo with some fancy crackers and smokey cheese along side a jar of olives and nuts takes me on a mini European vacation.  It's like that old Calgon commercial, but with food instead of heavily perfumed bubble bath. Chorizo, take me away!

I noticed your eyes light up when I mentioned the word "olives."  I have good news, people. I placed an order for 4 cases of olives.  There are the Abuela Recipe pitted gordal olives with onions, green chili stuffed gordal olives, and red chili and garlic stuffed gordal olives coming our way.  They *should* be here today.  Probably.  Maybe.  I have no control over this.  But do you know what else is going to be on this magical shipment that may or may not be here today?  ROSEMARY FUSED OLIVE OIL!!!  That's right.  It's back.  Our distributors have been out of this wondrous oil since December.  But no longer, friends, will you have to wait.  I'm so excited!  I'm interested to try the Rosemary Oil paired with our Lavender Balsamic, which was just put out for spring.  I usually prefer the Lavender paired with our Eureka Lemon Fused Olive Oil, but I like to try new things.  I'll let you know what I think.

See my hands?  It's like I'm waving hello!

Speaking of new things, there is a new recipe that I tried out and I can't stop thinking about it.  It's a Banh Mi Bowl.  (Collective groans, "why does she always write about weird, unpronounceable things??" See Past Blog Posts to fully appreciate my readers' plight.) Banh Mi are Vietnamese Sandwiches that typically involve crispy roasted pork with pickled crunchy vegetables inside a crispy Baguette that is altogether a flavor and texture explosion that I highly recommend.  But I can't just leave well enough alone.  I had to turn that crispy pork into flavor-packed meatballs and the bread into rice or rice noodles.  The pickled vegetables had to stay, because there is no messing with perfection there.  I will quick pickle any vegetable in my refrigerator if it sits still long enough.  And soon you will, too!

Let's start with the meatballs.  If you don't eat meat, have no fear.  This Crispy Peanut Tofu is a 100% acceptable substitution.  But the meatballs, you guys.  They are so good.  Garlic, cilantro, chili paste, sesame oil, and fish sauce make these things the bees knees.  Fish sauce?  Get you some fish sauce.  You can find it in the Asian Section of most grocery stores.  My favorite brand is Red Boat, but any will do.  You can swap it out for soy sauce, but only if you absolutely have to. If you have ever made homemade Pad Thai or Red Curry and wondered why it doesn't taste the same as take-out, it's because you're not using enough fish sauce. Anyway, you make the meatballs like normal meatballs, bake them, and try not to eat them all at once, straight from the oven, whilst burning your mouth.

Beautiful pickled vegetables

While they are baking, make your rice or rice noodles and do your Quick Pickles. I suppose you could do the pickles before you start the meatballs. It's up to you.  Once you start doing Quick Pickles, you will always have some on deck.  I put them on my salads, my sandwiches, my Bloody Mary's.  Really, anything.  My favorite things to pickle are carrots, red onions, cucumbers, cabbage, radishes, and bell peppers.  The key is to thinly slice them.  You want them either in ribbons or disks, the better to soak up your vinegar solution.  What vinegar should you use?  Ironically, anything but Balsamic.  Do. Not. Use. Balsamic.  I use red wine vinegar mostly.  When I'm doing an Asian-style dinner, like Banh Mi Bowls, I use rice vinegar.  You can absolutely use the cheap old Distilled White Vinegar that you'll have left over from dying Easter Eggs and that'll work just fine.  You combine equal parts vinegar and cold water (I usually use 1/2 c. each, but make enough that your veggies are submerged) and equal parts salt and sugar (1 Tbsp. each, if using 1/2 cups of liquid) then stir in your vegetables and set them aside for 30 minutes or so.  That's it!  Cover them and stick them in your fridge for up to a week.  No scary canning, or cooking the solution or anything like that.  This is how you'll make your coleslaw all summer.

Anyway, you take your crispy meatballs and pickled vegetables and put them over a bowl of rice or rice noodles or a cubed baguette and top it with a bit of cilantro, chili paste, our Honey Ginger White Balsamic (wink! It's our sale vinegar for this month!), a drizzle of Toasted Sesame Oil, a bit of soy sauce, a handful of peanuts, chopped fresh jalapeno.  Really, whatever your heart desires!  You can turn it into a salad or lettuce wrap, if you want to. But however you make it, this will become one of your Top 10 thrown together meals for weeknights or busy weekends.

Thanks for reading along.  Oh, and for shopping with us.  We love you!  Cheers!

Banh Mi Bowls
Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Meatballs or Crispy Peanut Tofu
Quick Pickled Vegetables
Rice or Rice Noodles or Cubed Baguette
Cilantro
Jalapenos
Peanuts or Peanut Butter, if you want
Drizzle of Honey Ginger Balsamic (Sale!) and Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce
Sriracha or Chili Paste


Meatballs

Not beautiful vegetables.  But tasty meat!

1 lb. ground pork (or ground chicken or turkey, I guess)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. fish sauce (I guess you could use soy sauce instead, but go for the fish sauce)
1 Tbsp. sugar or honey
1 Tbsp. chili paste (OR 1 tsp. chili flakes)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/4 c. panko or regular (not Seasoned) breadcrumbs (OR 2 tsp. cornstarch)
Healthy Drizzle of Toasted Sesame Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1.  Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl, mix well with your clean hands.  Form into meatballs around the size of a walnut, or 2 Tbsp. and place them on an unlined baking sheet. You should get about 24 meatballs.

2.  Bake meatballs about 25-30 minutes (I forgot to time it, but this is probably right), until they are cooked through with crispy edges and smell divine.

While they are baking, make your Quick Pickled Veggies

Quick Pickled Vegetables
1/2 c. vinegar (red wine, rice, or white vinegar, depending on the cuisine your pickles are going with)
1/2 c. cold water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt

3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

(Really, you can do any vegetables. Cabbage, bell peppers, radishes, jalapenos...)

1.  Whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a medium sized bowl until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

2.  Add your vegetables and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer, or in the refrigerator for hours.  They will last, covered, for several days.  The vegetables will be less crispy, but more pickled, the longer you leave them.

P.S. Happy Easter! Happy Passover!  Happy Spring! (I can't tell if this photo filter is supposed to be  a bunny or a cat.  Matilda did it.)

Cat or bunny? You decide.