A new style

And has Summer ever arrived - riding upon rays of sunshine, stretches of blue skies and solid smacks of sheer heat! As temperatures pushed awfully close to the 40s, I had the good fortune to have most of Canada Day off, and the even better fortune of jumping into mountain-icy-cold-lake water. A hike was attempted too, but that was abandoned not far up the de-commissioned forestry road. Hunky (our truck) was none too pleased about his rear end scraping gravel every time we went over a deep hump. And, judging by the hands covering my eyes and bouts of hyper-ventilation, I'm not sure if 4-by-4-ing is really for me. 

It's been so suffocatingly hot in our house that we had to drag our mattress down the stairs, into the minimally cooler living room, where it remains. It kinda feels like we're camping only better because there are no mosquitoes or strange, possibly-animal things brushing against the thin fabric of our tent and we don't need a flashlight to go to the bathroom. We still seem to get up at 4:30 in the morning though.

Life is busy. Busy and bountiful. We are doing two or three farmers' markets a week. David is out in the field every day, harvesting, weeding, watering. New things all the time - sweet, yellow-buttery potatoes, fragrant green and purple basil, tiny bunches of green onions. At work we're transitioning to a new, much-larger cheese vat with all its advantages and drawbacks. We still carve out time for marathon SYTYCD sessions, and suppers with friends, and glasses of wine.

Yes, with life all a-whirl, I found it very challenging to get into the kitchen and cook, at least consistently. We'd inevitably bring home some leftover produce from a market and I'd dutifully collect a selection to stash away in the fridge. It was hard to fit ten bunches of kale and a rag-tag assortment of herbs and fennel and mustards greens in there though. It was even harder to use before the next batch of leftovers arrived. Every week I'd clean out the fridge, compost the greens I still hadn't used, re-stock, and repeat. Until now.

I read a book called An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. As the title suggests, it is about cooking simply, and well. There are essays on making salad dressings and cooking beans and using the odds and ends of last night's supper for tonight's. In the first chapter Tamar explains what she does with her vegetables after a trip to the grocery store, or farmers' market or whatever. She puts a pot of water on to boil and then she cooks all her vegetables at once, in batches; chopping up bunches of greens while others simmer, to be followed by cabbage, or potatoes, or whatever it is she has found that day, then finally pasta, or grains, or beans. She might make a quick supper then, but most of the prepared vegetables she keeps in her fridge, to use in the meals to follow. 

I must admit I was a bit shocked, and also off-put. Boiling? Really? Not my preferred cooking method for fresh vegetables. And I always cooked my vegetables specifically for the dish I was making. But, as the unused bunches of kale continued to pile up, I decided to give her approach a try. I filled up my biggest pot with water, added lots of salt, and cranked the heat up. I tore off stems of Swiss chard and gave them a good rainbow-y chop and plop into the hot water. They cooked much faster than when I would saute them, and I didn't have to keep a watchful eye and splash of water handy. When they were done I tasted a piece, still dubious, and it was freakin' delicious. Still fresh and green-tasting but not toothsome in the least. About an hour of chopping and boiling and juicing left me with a large container of boiled kale, a smaller one of boiled Swiss chard (stems and leaves), a bunch of boiled potatoes, a jar of cilantro pesto and a small yet potent jar of bright green juice. It certainly took up less space in the fridge. 

The real magic happened the next day when I came home and, after 10 hours of work, made a tart! A Swiss chard, pine nut, olive and feta tart. I made the crust myself, trying out a new recipe which is now a firm favourite (and which I will share with you very shortly), and while that rested for half an hour in the fridge, I foraged for ingredients. While it baked, I relaxed and checked my e-mail. There were even leftovers for lunch the next day. And for supper that next night, again after 10 hours of work, I made another tart - this time maple sausage with kale.  And in the morning I had fried rice with kale and an egg for breakfast. Somehow, though I never believed it would make a difference, having my vegetables ready to go made it so much easier, and enticing to get into the kitchen. 

Cooking styles seem to evolve as our lives do, and right now, this one is working for me! Today, my prep work produced a container of roasted zucchini, one of roasted mushrooms, another of sauteed radicchio, some boiled collard greens, a jar of juice to add to my morning smoothies, and a bowl of kale chips for snacking on. Pizza? Pasta? Sandwich? Salad? It could go in any direction from here, depending on what I'm into that day. Dinner is that much closer to actually happening and, these days, that is a very good thing.

Now, here is a recipe:

Simple, Easy (and also Gluten-Free) Tart Crust
From Green Kitchen Stories

This isn't a flaky, butter-laden crust and that's fine. It is light and healthy but also delicious. And gluten-free. And slightly sweet thanks to oat and ground almond flours. I find that a nice balance to a tart that is chock-full of greens. I make both the oat and ground almond flours myself, using a coffee grinder dedicated to such culinary purposes. I simply measure 1/2 cup rolled oats and blitz away until I have a finely ground flour. Same goes for the almonds. Though it might not be completely accurate that 1/3 cup whole almonds equals 1/3 cup ground almond flour, it's good enough for me. You could use regular flour if you like, or something else - buckwheat might be nice. Other nuts are tasty as well. I used walnuts in the crust for my sausage and kale tart. The dough will seem a bit sticky at first but, no matter, just wrap it up and stick it in the fridge. There's also no need to roll it out, simply push it into a pan with your fingers, and away you go!

I haven't included a recipe for the filling, I'll leave that up to you and your imagination. You might want to check out the Green Kitchen Stories recipe though. I loosely followed it - mostly the egg/cheese proportions, which give you a tart that is mostly greens, and none of this thick, heavy quiche stuff. A tart as it should be, I think.  

1/2 cup (65g) oat flour
1/3 cup (45g) ground almond flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp organic butter or coconut oil
3 tbsp ice-cold water

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F. Combine the flours, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter and cut into the flour with a pastry cutter, or your fingers, to make small, flour-coated, butter pebbles. Add the water and mix with a spatula until just combined. Gather into a ball, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate about 30 minutes. 

Press evenly into an 8" pie pan, prick the bottom with a fork and blind bake for about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 F, add your filling to the tart case, and bake about 30 minutes until set and/or done. Let cool somewhat before serving.

Makes enough for one 8" tart.