Farmers Market Month, Day 1: berries, coconut, salmon, acini de pepe

[rachelmanija]

At today's farmers market, I bought so much stuff that I had to call it quits early as I could literally carry no more. I now have berries (rapidly diminishing, they are PERFECT), kale, Chinese broccoli with edible yellow flowers (broccoli rabe), mandarin oranges, goat cheese, apricot kefir, pickled daikon, tempeh (for snacking - it's Korean style and very tasty), six eggs (white, brown, and blue-green), golden beets, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic, green garlic (garlic sprouts), and salad greens (which got so squashed that I decided not to make a salad tonight).

At the market, I bought and drank a green coconut, ate half the meat, and took the rest home. Not at the market, I ate a mango pastry I'd brought back from Tucson and warmed in the microwave. It was delicious. So were the things I made for myself:

Blueberries and raspberries in a coconut half:



Broiled soy-garlic salmon (an old stand-by) on a bed of acini de pepe, with capers, pickled garlic, and kimchi. Elderflower cordial.



Salmon from freezer. Acini de pepe from pantry. Let me explain the acini de pepe. I had a box of it which I bought a while back on a whim. It's rice-sized pasta (pastina). I decided to use it up in lieu of rice, since it's been sitting in the cupboard for ages. I have never cooked the stuff before and thought it would make about two cups. It made something like eight cups. Or more. I now have a giant bowl of acini de pepe that I need to make use of.

I'm thinking "in lieu of rice" and... um... maybe a grain-based salad? Heat with butter and maple syrup for breakfast? I believe it's normally used in soup, but I don't feel like making soup. Will take non-soup ideas if you have any. Especially if they involve any of the ingredients I already have. I also have Chinese sweet sausage I want to use up - maybe I could make a sort of fried rice with it, and eat with stir-fried garlic greens and/or Chinese broccoli. It's perfectly nice, neutral pasta, just... there's a lot of it.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

I've cooked with orzo, which is pretty similar to acini di Pepe. I definitely think you can make fried 'rice' and 'rice' salad with it -- being pasta, it doesn't get as hard as cold long grain rice does. Just be careful about cooking duration, so it doesn't turn tough or burn, and about additional liquid, so it doesn't turn mushy.

Also I am envious. It's 2 months to the farmers' markets here and I've never seen a coconut at one. *calls up the picture of berries in a coconut half and licks screen*

[rachelmanija]

Ah! Thanks. I think tomorrow I'll try the fried "rice" and maybe also seeing if it works as a breakfast dish. No more bread experiments till I finish it, that's for sure.

Those are possibly the best raspberries I've ever had. The blueberries are pretty great too.

[rosefox]

Yes, it works really well for pasta salad. My mother makes "Tuesday night pasta sauce" of cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, and salt in the blender and pours it over cooked acini de pepe for an instant supper that's brilliant cold the next day. It will take any sauce you want to throw on it, and is also perfectly happy with chopped raw veg and olive oil or the salad dressing of your choice (or even, I suppose, mayonnaise).

[rachelmanija]

That sounds good. Is it a cold sauce?

[rosefox]

Yes, uncooked, poured straight from the blender onto warm pasta. Since yours has already been chilled (I assume), you might want to mix in a little olive oil to keep it from turning into one giant pasta clump.

You could probably also mix some of it with egg and the green garlic and and maybe some cheese and perhaps just a bit of flour, and fry or bake it. That's Depression-era "this one egg is all the protein my family gets today, how do I stretch it out" cooking, but when I was growing up, pasta pancakes were my absolute favorite thing to do with leftover spaghetti, and I bet they'd work very well with small pasta too.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks! Also for the pasta pancake suggestion. I've never had that but it sounds great.

[rosefox]

You're welcome! I wish I could tell you proportions, but it's such a throw-it-together thing... enough egg and flour (or breadcrumbs) that it all sticks together, is the important part.

Mario Batalli says you should fry pasta pancakes in 1/4 cup of oil, which reminds me that you can fry cooked small pasta in hot oil until it gets brown and crunchy, salt it, and eat it by the handful like popcorn. I do this with elbow macaroni sometimes. Be warned that it might actually pop out of the skillet as water comes out of the cooked pasta and hits the hot oil; I recommend putting a screen over the pan.

[minoanmiss]

! I should have kept going after my fried pasta got tough and taken it to the crunchy stage. I'm going to try this.

[rosefox]

The oil has to be really hot (as with most fried things). I pan-fry ravioli sometimes too and they blister very nicely, like dumplings.

[nestra]

You could try something with the pasta, the goat cheese, and whatever vegetables you want to put in. I would normally make it with couscous, feta, dried cranberries, and assorted vegetables (plus meat).

[laurashapiro]

So envious of the green coconut! Nom.

I use pastini in soups, especially bean soups, but you could also just add butter and cheese and eat it as a main or a side.

[yhlee]

Reading about your food adventures is delightful. :) I can't wait for the weather to turn spring properly here so we can try the local farmers' market! I will say that I miss the amazing produce available in SoCal.

[ellenmillion]

Sooooo envious of your local produce right now. Our window for such things is so short, and so intense; it's very odd to read about it happening in February.

[rachelmanija]

Southern CA is definitely Easy Mode for this kind of challenge.

[movingfinger]

I read your post just after closing the cheap plastic greenhouses over the pelargoniums I'm trying to carry through this winter, and boy, do I miss California farmer's markets now.

[rachelmanija]

On the one hand, I picked a rough month for onlookers in colder climes. On the other hand, I could have done it in February and it would have been even worse.

[duskpeterson]

WHERE IS THIS MARKET CAN I LIVE THERE?

[rachelmanija]

Mar Vista, Los Angeles!

[duskpeterson]

No wonder my mother (who grew up in LA) always used to talk about the produce there. I'm green with envy at the variety you have access to.

[tibicina]

When I went to college in Minnesota, I (who'd lived in California since I was 3) and one of my friends who'd grown up in Peru would bond over being very confused by not just being able to always get fresh fruit fairly cheaply. (I mean, the KINDS you could get were sometimes seasonal, but... of course there was fresh fruit around. There was always fresh fruit around.)

[duskpeterson]

Marylander here. I'm currently eating oranges from California. :)

[benbenberi]

The classic comfort-food preparation of acini de pepe, endorsed by a million nonnas, is a bowl of it hot with a lot of butter and grated cheese. For extra comfort, beat an egg into the hot buttered cheesy pastina (sort of like a carbonara, or tamago kake gohan).

[rachelmanija]

That sounds delicious and I think I'll try it for breakfast tomorrow. I have some farmer's market garlic jack that would do nicely.

[illariy]

This all looks delicious.

I don't know about pastina but if it is not too salty, it might work similar to a sweet breakfast made with millet, just instead use pastina, prepare with hot milk and add sugar/whatever plus fruit as desired. I also have a delicious quinoa salad recipe that might work with acina de pepe instead of quinoa but it's in German. Here: https://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/3021541454956278/Pikanter-Quinoasalat-mit-Tomate.html

Plus the stir-fry idea sounds nice. With different veggies on different days. Hope you have a good week, food-wise and otherwise!

[brigdh]

I'm so jealous of your farmer's market! I've been doing a CSA/farm share for about a year now, and for the last few months here in NYC it's been all turnips, radishes (SO MANY RADISHES) and onions. At least the eggs are delicious year-round!

[minoanmiss]

Radishes can be overwhelming, argh. I remember that from when we had a CSA in Boston. Have you tried rolling them in olive oil and salt and roasting them, and slicing the greens thinly and sautéing them with olive oil and garlic? Some ways to mix up the radish bounty. :)

[brigdh]

I haven't tried roasting the radishes yet, though it's on my to-do list! So far I've used them in stir-fries, made three kinds of quick pickles (which actually were delicious), and have eaten them sliced thin on toast with good butter and salt. Which is delicious, but a bit more effort than I usually want to put into my breakfast.

[minoanmiss]

Three kinds of pickles? Ooh, please tell me the variations!

I also put radishes, finely chopped, into potato salad. I like the spicy kick.

Maybe the sliced radishes with butter would work for a pre=packed lunch sandwich? I wonder how many days it would hold.

[brigdh]

Here's the recipes I used:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/03/danmuji-korean-pickled-daikon-radish-recipe.html
This one's main flavor is from turmeric, and ended up being my favorite.

https://pickledplum.com/pickled-daikon-japanese-recipe/
This one is mostly soy sauce and red pepper, but despite loving those flavors, I liked this one the least. It tasted more "raw" than the others, probably because it's the only one that wasn't boiled first.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/quick-radish-refrigerator-pickle-recipe-1327894
This one is dill and mustard seeds, and was also very good.

I also put radishes, finely chopped, into potato salad. I like the spicy kick
Excellent idea! I do love potato salad.

[minoanmiss]

Thank you for the recipes!

[movingfinger]

Maybe you need an "acini de pepe" tag?

[athenejen]

Maybe it's just the latent Midwesterner in me, but my immediate thought was casserole. I bet it would make a delicious broccoli-cheese casserole variation in place of the rice, for example, or tuna noodle casserole in place of the noodles. The nice thing about casserole is that you can add pretty much whatever you have on hand to it and flavor it however you like as long ss all the ingredients go together.