Great recipes, simple ingredients

My boyfriend is doing a lot of work in Los Angeles, and I'm periodically making the trip with him. He has a corporate apartment, which means the cabinets are empty and cooking equipment is sparse. (And there's no BBQ grill.)

I spent the morning walking through the Santa Monica Farmers Market, and was drooling over the great selection of ingredients available. But...while I love to cook, I don't want to make a significant investment in ingredients that will only get used once or twice.

What great dishes would you make that require few ingredients and--aside from the central protein or fruit/vegetable--use fairly common ingredients?

At the Farmer's Market today I picked up a zillion delicious looking tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, as well as some asparagus. I bought a salmon at Wild Oats and a few staples (olive oil, balsamic, sea salt, etc.). Tonight I'm making oven-roasted asparagus (tossed in olive oil and sea salt), and a tomato salad (marinated in olive oil, balsamic, salt and a little honey). We already had OJ in the fridge, so I bought maple syrup, and I'm marinating the salmon in OJ, maple syrup and olive oil. So that's tonight's meal.

We're within walking distance of Bay Cities Italian Deli, which is fantastic, so yesterday's dinner was fresh bread, prosciutto, French sausage, olives and a couple cheeses. They sell some fresh pasta--including a butternut ravioli--so I imagine I'll pick up some sage one day and make ravioli with brown butter and sage sauce.

Vegetables I saw at the Farmer's Market today: Tons of tomatoes, lots of potatoes, a good selection of leafy greens, every fresh herb you could imagine, asparagus, beets, brussel sprouts, several kinds of eggplant and other squash.

What dishes (main and side dishes) would you make that take advantage of the fresh ingredients available but don't require a huge investment in secondary ingredients that may ultimately go to waste? (And only use pretty basic cooking equipment.) I need some inspriation!

I like to cook simply in those types of situations, so if I stop in a store and find a nice piece of salmon or if there's a great steak that I can make more than one meal of, I like to change them up a bit by roasting fish or meat with a little compound butter.

Butter, garlic and blue cheese crumbled with create a delicious glaze over some salmon one night. While butter, chipotles and sun dried tomatoes will give that extra salmon a whole different approach the next night.

Since you're in LA, some great Pastrami or Corned Beef from Langers makes a delicious base for some garlicky and oniony hash. Served with a poached egg or two and a salad, this can make a great dinner. Spice it up as you like. I like a little smoked chipotle or smoked paprika in mine.

A rotisserie chicken with some sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, honey, roasted anaheim peppers and a sprinkle of cayenne make the basis another great hash variation for brunch or dinner.

I don't have specific recipes, but do have ideas on how to make do without a pantry:

A few sprigs of fresh herbs (or, even better, a mixed herb bouquet, as are sometimes available) and give you a lot of seasoning with relatively little commitment. I've also found that the tubs of "light" butter with canola oil can be used in place of mixing oil and butter yourself for sauteeing. A can of "instant" flour allows you to make roux-based sauces without 5lb bag, and then small bottles of cream, milk, and (maybe not small) wine give you a whole range of sauce bases.

Other than that, it sounds like you've got quite a lot of great ingredients you can put together in a saute or roast together - you could make a marinade of your olive oil, salt and balsamic and do a mixed roast of brussels sprouts, eggplant and asparagus, and then roast potatoes with fresh herbs in another pan (frying pans can make great roasters in a pinch, as long as they're not non-stick and have metal handles) Or roast beets, chill them, and use them to dress a green salad with your olive oil and balsamic. Tomatoes (or peppers) can be stuffed with herbed rice or couscous... (it's fall, most of my thinking is oven-related)

Get yourself a bottle of sriracha (asian chili sauce...red bottle with green cap, usually a rooster on front). I use it to spruce up almost everything I cook....from roasted veggies to chicken soup. It adds a burst of heat and flavor that makes everything it touches luscious and full flavored.

You should check out Mark Bittman's column "The Minimalist" in the Wednesday New York Times. I've gotten some of my favorite recipes from him.

about a month ago, he had a great recipe for a paella that was pretty much just tomatoes, rice and some aromatics. It was amazingly good (it would be even better with some shellfish or smoked sausage thrown in). this would use up a few of your zillion tomatoes. Last week, he had a number of ideas for veggies and pasta and earlier in the summer he had a huge list of meals that take 10 min or less. I frequently make his stir-fried squid with greens and jalepenos to use up the greens I get from my CSA.

I second the recommendation to buy some sriracha. I like tossing it with pasta, green vegetables and butter or thinned-out peanut butter.

Mhays wrote:it sounds like you've got quite a lot of great ingredients you can put together in a saute or roast together

this reminds me - when I have a bunch of random CSA vegetables at my disposal, I often just toss everything into a hot oven in a roasting pan with some herbs and garlic and olive oil. This almost always turns out good if you avoid using poor candidates for roasting (like leafy greens). Then just accompany with some good bread and cheese. This even makes for good hash the next day - just top with a poached egg.

A lot can be done with pesto, also. Just heat the thing and toss with pesto and butter. Steamed red skin potatoes and green beans are great this way.

Good idea: NYT archive of Mark Bittman

Or, even more specifically

Happy Taster Gal wrote:Get yourself a bottle of sriracha (asian chili sauce...red bottle with green cap, usually a rooster on front). I use it to spruce up almost everything I cook....from roasted veggies to chicken soup. It adds a burst of heat and flavor that makes everything it touches luscious and full flavored.

I have heard that the ol' rooster has been hard to find in certain Asian stores lately. Anyone care to share where their latest bottle was obtained from? I'm trying to avoid a few fruitless trips to find some. Thanks for any help you can give.

Lookin' for a little spiciness lickety split,
Dan

I've seen sriracha at harvestime on Lawrence near Talman:

HarvesTime Foods
2632 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625

sarcon wrote:I've seen sriracha at harvestime on Lawrence near Talman:

HarvesTime Foods
2632 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625

I bought the 17-oz. Sriracha hot chili sauce -- distinguished from a few other varieties including chili seeds -- for $2.69 plus tax (five cents) at HarvesTime on Lawrence tonight. (They're open till 9 P.M., and the phone number's 773-989-4400... but are they in Edgewater, too, at 5515 N. Clark [773-275-3800]?) I'll have to check H-Mart and Chicago Food for availability when I'm in the neighborhood, but a few local Jewel-Oscos are next on the list to check for stock. Thanks for the suggestions, public and private, y'all!

Sincerely,
Dan

I actually saw sriracha yesterday at the Target store on Mannheim Rd north of Higgins!!!