Tis the season - for Rhubarb and Asparagus!

So, once again this post is late.  I wrote it on the 12th and took a picture of the rhubarb streusel, but I didn't get a picture of roasted asparagus until the 18th (even though we ate it almost every night), didn't post it until now, and now asparagus season is over.  Although, if you cut back your stalks later in the year, they will produce some new delicious shoots for you - don't overtax the plant though.  


We were recently visiting family and Jake's aunt had made this great rhubarb streusel.  I just had to have the recipe.  Now that the rhubarb in my garden is finally big enough to pick I am going to give it a try!

Rhubarb Streusel     (double for 9x13 pan)

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups rhubarb (cut-up) - I added a bit more rhubarb - I had picked too much from the garden.

Beat eggs and sugar, add rhubarb.  Mix and put in greased 8x8 pan ( I must confess that I didn't grease the pan and it turned out fine).

Mix like pie crust and sprinkle over rhubarb
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I think that next time I am going to reduce the sugar a little.  I added more rhubarb, and since I didn't have much experience with the recipe I added the amount of sugar recommended, but it was still a bit sweet - I thought.  I will keep you posted.


The other thing which is coming up in my garden, which I have mentioned before, is asparagus.  Please, please, please buy your asparagus fresh.  The stuff from the store is almost totally worthless.  I am not just saying that because I grew up on a produce farm and we grew asparagus.  I crave it in the spring and since I haven't been able to find it around here and my garden cannot keep up with the demand I recently caved and bought some from the store.  Yuck.  Ick, and Phooey.  It was tough, starting to fern out and generally awful.  Find a farmer near you who grows it.  Granted, not all farmers are equal, but I bet it will be better than store bought!  Since I neglected to post a photo of roasted asparagus in my previous post, I will do so now.  Happy eating!

System Cooking with Salmon

I forgot to take a picture of the whole salmon fillet that we cooked for the first meal.  Use your imagination.  :o)   I had a sockeye salmon fillet that was about 1.75 lbs.  We seasoned it fairly lightly with my version of the Potlatch Seasoning that you can buy at Williams-Sonoma.  We bought it once and I liked it so I just read the ingredients on the back and mixed up my own.  Here are the ingredients.  I have no idea how much of each spice I put in, but I added them in decreasing amounts:

Kosher salt, paprika, crushed red pepper, chili pepper, oregano, basil, coriander

It also says that they add safflower oil, but I don't.  Anyway, place fish on some aluminum foil,  and sprinkle lightly with the seasoning.  Grill over medium heat until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Don't overcook!   Serve with rice and roasted asparagus and fiddleheads (if in season).   Don't eat too much - you will want plenty of leftovers (and besides, salmon isn't exactly cheap!) 

The next night I made omelets.  I took the leftover asparagus, fiddleheads, and some of the rice and salmon and added some chopped winter onions from the garden (you could use a couple of scallions instead - basically the same thing).   I sauteed everything together until the onions were cooked through and then set to the side.

I love omelets and I usually make them with milk, but I recently saw a Jamie Oliver video where he fixed them without milk.  If you have never made omelets before or even if you have, watch the video.  It isn't very long and he does a great job of explaining how to make them.  I made them exactly the way he does in the video.  Three eggs, pinch of salt, a little freshly ground pepper, whisk well, pour into a hot pan, tilt and cook, add the salmon mixture, sprinkle with some cheese, fold it over and serve.  Mine didn't fold over as nicely as his, as I am sure you can see, but omelets are a great way to use up leftovers.  Jake has informed me that soup season is over.  I am not so sure, but over the summer I usually use up my leftovers in different ways other than soup.   

The third night we had a salmon pilaf.  I didn't have much asparagus left, but I had a bit, so I chopped it up fairly small and put it into the pan first with a bit of olive oil.  While that was cooking I chopped up three stalks of celery, three winter onions (scallions) and a couple of handfuls of kale and flaked the remainder of the salmon.  When the asparagus was cooked through I added the rest of the rice, vegetables and salmon.  I would have added some garlic, but I am currently out (gasp!).  I cooked together for a few minutes and then stuck it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  You could skip this step and just saute it until the vegetables are cooked through.  I just felt like an oven baked pilaf that night.
 

Blackened Catfish and Fiddleheads

Some friends of ours gave us some catfish, so I decided to try a blackened catfish recipe.  I pretty much left this recipe alone, except for cutting the cayenne pepper in half.  I served it with rice, but it was still a little too spicy for my kids.  Jake and I liked it, but I ended up scraping off most of the seasoning so that they would eat it.  Oh well. 

It is asparagus and fiddlehead season around here.  Yea!  I have a ton of ostrich ferns growing in my yard, and I always knew that you could eat the tightly rolled fern heads (fiddleheads), but I hadn't tried it until last year.  I always meant to, and then I would forget about it until the ferns were too big.  Last year, I forgot, but then I just snapped off the ferns, and new fiddleheads formed.  I tried boiling them like asparagus, but they absorb a lot of water and kind of taste mushy.  Ick.  This year, I tried roasting them with olive oil and some coarse salt.  Yummy!  Isabela loves them and Maya thinks they are OK.  It is kind of funny because Maya loves roasted asparagus and Isabela think it is OK.  It works out well because this time of year I am usually roasting both together.

To roast asparagus or fiddleheads:  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place fiddleheads and/or asparagus in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil  and sprinkle with some coarse sea salt.  Roast for about 8-10 minutes, until tender but still with some firmness.  Sprinkle with some Parmesan when they come out of the oven.