The Earthbound Cook

I’ve also included a variety of scrumptious salads featuring whole grains. The Brown Rice and Chickpea Rainbow Salad, flavored with a zesty pesto vinaigrette, is a visual feast that includes red tomatoes, pale green cucumbers, and dark Kalamata olives. With the protein and fiber of chickpeas and brown rice, this dish is filling and delicious. If you haven’t discovered farro yet, I highly recommend it.

Fennel, Apple, and Radish Salad

1. Snip enough of the fennel fronds to measure 1 tablespoon. Set the fennel bulb aside.

2. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, fennel fronds, chives, ¼ teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste in a glass jar and seal the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously to combine. (Any leftover vinaigrette can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 week. Let it return to room temperature and then shake vigorously before using.)

3. Trim the fennel bulb, cut it in half lengthwise, and then thinly slice the halves. Quarter and core the apple, then thinly slice it.

4. Place the fennel, radish, and apple slices in a large bowl and add three-quarters of the vinaigrette to the vegetables. Toss to lightly coat the salad, and then taste to see if more dressing is needed. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the salad to a platter or individual salad plates. (The salad will lose its crunchiness over time, but it can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 2 days.)

1. Using a mandoline (see sidebar, this page), slice the turnips into paper-thin rounds. (Alternatively, use a sharp knife to slice the turnips as thin as possible.) Transfer the turnips to a medium-size bowl. Slice the carrots in the same manner, using only the thickest part of the carrots so that all the rounds are approximately the same size. Add the carrots to the bowl. (Unused parts of the carrots can be saved for stocks, soups, or healthy snacks.) You want roughly equal quantities of turnip and carrot for the salad. Stir in the parsley.

2. Combine the shallot, garlic, and lemon juice in a glass jar and seal the lid tightly. Let this mixture marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes.

3. Add the olive and canola oils to the shallot mixture, seal the lid tightly, and shake vigorously to combine. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. (The dressing can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days. Let it return to room temperature and then shake vigorously before using.)

4. Add the dressing to the turnip-carrot mixture, tossing to coat. Season the salad with sea salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate the salad, covered, for up to 2 hours before serving.

growing your own food

Luscious vine-ripened tomatoes, raspberries hanging like red jewels among green foliage, or new potatoes emerging from loose earth that you gently rub away to reveal their pretty red or yellow or purple skins. With just footsteps between your ingredients and your kitchen, organic produce that you grow at home is by far the freshest, most satisfying, and most eco-friendly food choice. It just doesn’t get much greener.

Gardening is a decision to link yourself more closely with the cycles of nature. It’s exciting and extremely rewarding to watch your vegetables grow beautiful and strong, but there’s also risk involved. In my California garden, I have experienced the heartbreak of losing a lettuce patch to snails overnight, or a thriving squash plant to a gopher. But I find that being in such an intimate relationship with nature is grounding and invigorating—it’s thrilling to join in an adventure starring the weather, insects, soil, and seeds.

I feel a sense of accomplishment when I’m turning the soil, enriching it with compost, breaking up all the large soil clumps with my hands, and gently planting seeds and little seedlings with wishes for them to grow strong and healthy. A bag of produce from the supermarket may be healthful and tasty, but I’ll never have the same “maternal” affection for it that I have for the basket of summer squash, vine-ripened tomatoes, Romano beans, and fresh basil I carry into the kitchen from my garden. That basketful is bursting with the life I helped develop, and I feel pride in the results of my hard work. Also, my hunger to prepare and eat this produce has been intensifying all the weeks and months I’ve watched it grow!

Gardening isn’t only healthy exercise for the body and good relaxation for the mind; it’s also an activity that binds you more closely with your family and community. Some people are surprised when they hear that my kids enjoy eating lots of fruits and vegetables. I’m sure part of the reason for this is that even though we have a big organic farming business, they grew up with a home garden—working the soil, deciding what they wanted to plant every summer, harvesting it, and then eating it at its peak of freshness and flavor. Vegetables were always a true treat in our home, never a punishing prerequisite for dessert.

These days my son, Jeffrey, and I put in the garden as a team, and we spend some of our best time together during collaborative trips to the nursery. Then we work side by side planting, weeding, watering, and talking. Sharing your extra produce with friends and neighbors is also a great gift. And sharing a new plant variety or a successful way to deal with a garden pest creates immediate common ground and connection with a fellow gardener you never met before.

Growing your own garden is also a wonderful way to explore new varieties of produce. You can grow carrots of all colors, tomatoes of all shapes, and herbs with fresh flavors to seduce the senses. Even if you live in an apartment in the city, you may be able to grow some herbs in little pots on the windowsill to flavor your food as you cook. Growing anything at all can be very gratifying. And don’t be intimidated if you’ve never gardened before. When Drew and I started Earthbound Farm in 1984, there was no Internet to help educate us about how to grow food or troubleshoot problems, so we got all our information from the staff at our local nursery and from Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. I still recommend those two sources to get you going, in addition to what you’ll find on the Web. So whatever plot you have to work with, I urge you to break ground. A whole world of flavor and satisfaction is waiting just under the surface.

Roasted Beet Salad alla Caprese

2 balls (4 to 6 ounces each) fresh milk or buffalo milk mozzarella cheese, drained and patted dry

¼ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced in very thin ribbons, or opal basil sprigs

Carrot-Apple Slaw

1. Prepare the dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients in a glass jar and seal the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously until the honey dissolves. Let the dressing sit at room temperature while you assemble the salad.

composting your kitchen scraps

Growing up in New York City, I can’t remember ever hearing the word “compost.” In fact, I ate so few fresh fruits and vegetables in those days I wouldn’t have had much to compost anyway! But now that I live on a farm and generate a lot of fruit and vegetable trimmings, I am grateful to have space for a compost pile where I can turn kitchen scraps into this valuable soil amendment for my garden.

I realize that composting may not be possible for everyone, and I don’t mean to instill guilt in city dwellers for not doing it. Just think how much fuel they save walking to their local market, while those of us in more rural areas get into our cars and drive many miles to do our shopping.

If you’re able to give composting a try, here is some basic information I hope will encourage you to get started.

What is compost?

Compost is organic matter (things like kitchen scraps and garden clippings) that has fully decomposed. The result is a valuable soil amendment gardeners often call “black gold.” Compost improves soil structure, aids in necessary microbial activity, attracts beneficial soil organisms like earthworms, and holds its nutrients in a slow-release form. To make compost, we balance the mixture of organic ingredients, make sure they’re not too wet or too dry, and turn the mixture regularly to make sure it gets enough oxygen. While there are many ways to compost, there is really no best method. You can find many types of bins to hold your scraps and clippings—some that rotate, some that store the compost in layers, others that use worms to break down your scraps—but if you have the room, you can also use a simple backyard compost pile.

There are abundant online resources explaining how to compost, ranging from instructions for setting up a small kitchen worm-compost bin, to advice on managing a basic compost pile in your backyard. You can also check with your local waste management facility. Many offer reduced prices on compost bins made from recycled materials.

Why it’s important to compost

Since food waste decomposes in a relatively short amount of time, many people don’t consider this waste to be much of an environmental problem. But when food is buried in the landfill, it decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) and produces methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂). A recent study by the independent nonprofit agency WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) found that 25 percent of a typical American household’s garbage is comprised of discarded food and trimmings, generating roughly 96 billion pounds of food waste each year. And food waste in our landfills, combined with other materials that decompose, such as yard clippings, is the second largest man-made source of methane in the United States, accounting for 34 percent of total methane emissions.

What about garbage disposals? These keep waste out of the landfills, but they pass it along to our water treatment facilities, resulting in the greater use of energy and water. (See page 249.) If your house uses a septic tank system, waste from the garbage disposal is added to the rest of the sewage sludge in your tank. In fact, in terms of water and septic-tank use, some building codes consider a garbage disposal the equivalent of adding another bathroom. So until there’s a better system for city dwellers, if you can’t compost your scraps, it is better to include them with your other garbage than to put them down the garbage disposal.

But if you do have the space, composting your non-meat kitchen scraps is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with this kind of waste. You’ll experience the joy of knowing that what used to be your garbage—coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels, for example—is now nourishing your garden or your houseplants!

Thai Cabbage Salad

1. Place the cabbage, carrots, cucumber, jalapeño, mint, and basil in a large bowl and stir to combine.

2. Combine the lime juice, oil, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes in a small glass jar and seal the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously to combine. (The vinaigrette can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 week.)

3. Add three-quarters of the dressing to the cabbage mixture, and toss to combine. Taste, and add more dressing if needed. Just before serving, stir in the peanuts if using.

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

SOBA ARE LONG, THIN, FLAT JAPANESE NOODLES made from a combination of buckwheat and wheat flours. The buckwheat gives them their distinctive beige-brown color and nutty flavor. Slivers of crunchy radish and carrot add texture and color to this salad, which is very light and fresh tasting, with a subtle hint of sesame flavor. It goes well with grilled chicken or fish. images

Serves 6 to 8

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the noodles. Cook at a slow simmer until the noodles are just tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the noodles to a colander and set it under cold running water to stop the cooking. Drain well, and transfer the noodles to a large bowl.

3. Add the cucumber, carrots, radishes, and scallions to the noodles, and toss to combine. Add the dressing, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat. Transfer the salad to a serving platter, sprinkle with the sesame seeds, and serve. The salad can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days.

garbage disposals: how some friendly advice turned out to be not so environmentally friendly …

Decades ago, when I was newly married and still figuring out my way around the kitchen, Drew and I visited his aunt and uncle in Miami. Helping his aunt clean up after dinner, I was instructed to scrape all the plates into the sink so all the waste could go down the garbage disposal. When I threw something into the garbage can, I was firmly reminded that all the waste possible was to go down the disposal. Since her husband owned a trash disposal company, I was pretty confident she would be an expert on handling waste, and I was grateful to learn this new protocol.

Because of those lessons long ago, I kept my garbage disposal very busy until I started doing research for this book. It turns out that garbage disposals are not at all green! They use a great deal of water and electricity; the solid waste either becomes sludge in your septic system or travels to a wastewater treatment plant where the solid matter has to be filtered out (again using lots of water and electricity); and eventually the sludge from either location must be transported to a disposal site. So if you have a garden, or even a few pots on a balcony, it’s much better to compost what you can to make rich fertilizer for your plants (See Composting Your Kitchen Scraps, page 247). If you don’t make compost, minimizing food waste and putting scraps in the garbage is the next best option.

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad

1. Place the wild rice and the salt in a medium-size saucepan, add enough cold water to cover by ½ inch, cover the pan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook slowly until the rice is tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Drain the rice and let it cool to room temperature.

2. Place the rice, chicken, celery, and pecans in a large bowl and stir to combine.

3. Cut off both ends of each orange to create a flat surface so that the fruit can sit level on a cutting board. Using a sharp paring knife, remove wide strips of the peel and pith by cutting downward, following the contour of the fruit. Leave the flesh intact. Holding the orange over a bowl to catch the juice, slice between the white membranes to release the fruit in segments. Cut the orange segments in half crosswise to form bite-size pieces. Add the oranges and the reserved juice to the salad.

4. Add the vinaigrette and celery leaves and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered, until serving time. The salad is best eaten the day it is made.

Chicken Salad with Two Rices

For a more economical version of Chicken and Wild Rice Salad, you can use white rice, such as long grain, jasmine, or basmati, in place of two-thirds of the wild rice. In Step 1, place ¼ cup wild rice and the salt in a medium-size saucepan, add 2 cups cold water, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Then add ½ cup white rice and an additional ½ cup water. Continue to cook, covered, until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes more. Uncover the pan and let the rice cool to room temperature. Continue with the recipe at Step 2.

Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette

using cold water helps us get out of environmental hot water

Sometimes cold (or cooler) water works just as well as hot water, and there’s a lot of energy savings involved. Here are a few tips.

Turn down your water heater.

The thermostat on the water heater in a typical household is set at 140°F. But did you know that water heated to 120°F is usually hot enough? Lowering your water heater temperature also lowers levels of global-warming CO₂. Any time you burn fossil fuel, greenhouse gases like CO₂ are produced. (See page 183 for more information about global warming and greenhouse gases.) According to Power Scorecard (founded by leading environmental organizations and scientists), each 10-degree reduction for an electric water heater (most electricity is generated by the burning of a fossil fuel) means we lessen the amount of CO₂ produced per year by 600 pounds; for a gas heater, it saves 440 pounds of CO₂. This is the CO₂equivalent of driving a small car over 1,000 miles for the electric water heater and 745 miles for the gas heater.

And here’s another interesting tidbit from Power Scorecard: “If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO₂ emissions—the same amount emitted by the entire nation of Kuwait or Libya.”

When possible, do laundry with cold water.

If everyone in the U.S. used cold water to do their laundry, we could prevent somewhere in the realm of 60 million tons of CO₂ emissions each year. There are many good cold-water detergents available, and an added benefit is that our washables will last longer.

Use more cold water in the kitchen.

When you think of it, there are many times when we don’t need to use hot water in the kitchen—for example, when rinsing dishes. Being mindful of using hot water can really help lower your energy bills and help cool global warming.

Wild Rice and Shiitake Salad

8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps thinly sliced (about 4 cups)

1. Place the rice and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium-size saucepan and add enough cold water to cover by ½ inch. Bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook gently until the rice is tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Drain the rice and transfer it to a large mixing bowl.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the rice, and stir in the almonds, cranberries, and scallions.

3. Add about ½ cup of the Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette to the rice mixture, stirring to combine. Taste, and add more dressing (sparingly) if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The salad can be served at room temperature or cold. (It can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days.)

Brown Rice and Chickpea Rainbow Salad

2 medium tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch dice (about 1¼ cups)

1. Place the rice, 2¼ cups water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a small saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender or nearly so, 30 to 40 minutes. Check the water level once or twice during cooking to make sure that it has not evaporated, and add a little more water if needed.

2. Remove the pan from the heat, and spread the rice on a rimmed baking sheet so that it will cool quickly. (You should have about 3 cups.)

3. Place the rice, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives, parsley, and lemon juice in a large bowl and stir to combine.

4. Add ½ cup of the Pesto Vinaigrette to the mixture, and toss to coat. Taste, and add more dressing if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve chilled or at room temperature. (The salad can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days.)

Pesto Vinaigrette

1. Bring a large covered saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the orzo and cook according to the package directions until just tender, 9 to 11 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold running water until the pasta cools to room temperature. Drain well again, and transfer the orzo to a large bowl.

2. Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and oregano to the orzo and toss to combine.

3. Add half of the Red Wine Vinaigrette and toss again. Taste, and add more dressing if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Transfer the salad to a platter, and sprinkle with the feta. Serve at room temperature.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1 small red onion, halved through the stem end, then very thinly sliced crosswise

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot, and add 1 tablespoon salt and enough cold water to cover. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on their size.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, place the green beans, tomatoes, red onion, olives, parsley, capers, and red pepper flakes in a large mixing bowl, and stir gently to combine.

3. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano in a small glass jar and seal the lid tightly. Shake the jar vigorously to combine. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper to taste, and set it aside at room temperature.

4. When the potatoes are tender, drain them immediately, and then let them cool until they can be handled. Cut the potatoes into small pieces, and add them to the bean mixture. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables, and toss gently to coat thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. The salad can be served at room temperature or chilled. (It can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.)

Lemon Couscous Salad with Spinach

Farro Salad with Edamame and Arugula

1½ cups shelled fresh (1½ pounds unshelled) or frozen edamame (soybeans), thawed if frozen

1. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large covered saucepan over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the farro, and return to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the farro is puffed and slightly chewy, 20 to 30 minutes. (Do not overcook, or the farro will be mushy.) Drain the farro immediately, and rinse it under cold running water until it is cool. Drain again, and transfer it to a large bowl.

2. Bring a covered medium-size saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the edamame and ½ teaspoon salt and cook until the edamame is crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes, or if frozen, according to the package directions.

4. Drain the edamame and plunge it into the bowl of ice water. When the edamame is cool, drain it thoroughly and add it to the farro.

5. Add the arugula and scallions to the mixture, and toss to combine. Add ½ cup of the Tomato Vinaigrette and stir to combine. Taste, and add more dressing if desired. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste, and serve at room temperature. (The salad can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.)

Tomato Vinaigrette

1. Place the tomatoes, vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.

2. Use immediately, or transfer the dressing to a glass jar, seal the lid tightly, and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Let it return to room temperature and then shake vigorously before using.

Panzanella Salad

12 ounces day-old country-style bread, with crusts, cut into 1-inch cubes (8 cups)

2 medium red, yellow, or green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch dice (about 2 cups)

1. Place the bread in a large bowl, and add the tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, and red onion.

2. Add ¾ cup of the Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette to the mixture, and toss to coat all the ingredients evenly. Taste, and add more vinaigrette if the salad is dry.

3. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with the basil. The salad should be served within an hour or two of making. If made too far in advance, the bread will soak up all the dressing and you will need to add more.

CHAPTER 7
VEGETABLE AND GRAIN SALADS

Innovative Salads with Substance

Fennel, Apple, and Radish Salad

Baby Turnip and Carrot Salad

growing your own food

Roasted Beet Salad alla Caprese

Carrot-Apple Slaw

Pineapple and Jicama Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

composting your kitchen scraps

Thai Cabbage Salad

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

garbage disposals: how some friendly advice turned out to be not so environmentally friendly …

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad

Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette

using cold water helps us get out of environmental hot water

Wild Rice and Shiitake Salad

Brown Rice and Chickpea Rainbow Salad

Pesto Vinaigrette

Mediterranean Spinach and Orzo Salad

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Potatoes

Three-Color Potato Salad

German Potato Salad

Lemon Couscous Salad with Spinach

Farro Salad with Edamame and Arugula

Tomato Vinaigrette

Panzanella Salad

Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Bulgur and Grilled Vegetable Salad