Mixed Green Salad with Orange, Avocado and Radish

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Four Cooking Together

How spoiled we are to find all the ingredients for this salad locally, including in our backyards. Raised in Illinois, after 17 years in the SF Bay Area, I am still struck by the exotic sight of citrus trees growing right outside my door.

Our farm box delivery provided the lettuce – the nuts, avocado, radish, onion and vinaigrette ingredients all came from the local farmers’ market. We still have a few juicy oranges hanging onto our backyard trees, so sweet they are practically bursting. If it were fall, we’d be harvesting walnuts from the yard as well!

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How it all began…

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Four Cooking Together

These days you hear a lot about people radically changing the way they approach food. Some have pledged to eat nothing grown outside a short radius of home. Others have sworn off packaged foods. A brave few have even vowed to consume only what they can raise in their own backyards. If you’re like me, you hear about these noble efforts and immediately feel guilty about the store bought chips sitting in the cupboard and the Indian tea, shipped halfway around the world, both items equally cherished and impossible to give up. My intent is always to do something about the “chips” in my life, when I find the strength someday. The remorse fades quickly though, in the face of the larger struggle at hand – to get some food, any food, on the table each and every day. How does a busy family seriously find the time, energy, and sheer willpower to fundamentally change the way we feed ourselves?

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Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Four Cooking Together

This recipe couldn’t be easier – the vegetables are roasted together then tossed with cooked pasta right in the roasting pan. And though I think of it mostly as a summer dish when our garden is overflowing with sweet sungolds, I often turn to this technique mid-winter, when I’m craving the tastes of summer. It’s astounding what roasting does for a lack-luster, off-season tomato. Try it next December.

Consider adding other vegetables you have on hand such as summer squash, eggplant or bell pepper. You can omit the onions if you like, but don’t forgo the garlic—just a little bit add loads of flavor. During the last few minutes of roasting you could also throw in a few olives or some cooked cannellini beans. We like to use orzo because it soaks up all the pan juices and becomes creamy, almost risotto-like in consistency, but other pastas work nicely too. Arugula and basil are equally wonderful, so use what you have—even both.

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