What’s Fresh: Watercress
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
Although watercress may not make you witty, as the Greeks once thought, this superfood will provide you with vitamins and minerals enough to keep your wits about you! Watercress gives a simple salad a peppery punch and brightens salmon dishes with an earthy tang. Spring and autumn harvest is when you’ll discover the best watercress. Choose bunches with brilliant green leaves and little or no wilting. Store the cress roots-down in a glass of water, covered with a plastic bag, in the refrigerator. Then give your meals a chef’s flourish by garnishing your dishes with fresh sprigs of watercress.
What to Make: Lettuce Wrap with Watercress Aioli
You can pick up recipe cards in our produce department. Or, check out the March 21 Co+op Deals flyer or Stronger Together website for recipes.
Looking for a coupon? Save on some of the ingredients for this recipe with online coupons! Coupons good through April 3, 2012.
Oranges are an amazing fruit (so amazing that author and essayist John McPhee wrote an entire book about them). With a history that stretches back to ancient China, oranges are consumed in many different ways around the world. Given their nutritional value (an excellent source of both vitamin C and fiber) and fresh flavor, it’s no surprise that oranges are so popular. In general, the sweetest oranges are the ones that are grown the closest to the Equator, but orange trees can be found as far afield as Brooklyn and even Iceland. The peak season for oranges in the U.S. is generally December through March.
The old adage is right. As the richest food source of beta-carotene, carrots are good for your eyesight and a treat for your taste buds to boot! Snack on raw carrots, or shred them into your salads, where they’ll contribute lovely color and texture. Juice them for the classic health food beverage, or add them to casseroles, soups, breads and muffins. Don’t forget carrot cake, where they partner beautifully with warm spices like cinnamon and cardamom and fruits like pineapple and raisins. Simply steamed, with fresh-snipped herbs and a bit of butter, bright carrot coins enliven any dinner plate.
Lemons are cheerful fruits. The bright color, fresh scent, and refreshing taste of lemon zest and juice enliven both sweet and savory dishes, from quick breads, bars, and tarts to fish, poultry, and grain salads. Spirals of lemon peel make an everyday side of steamed broccoli or garden peas just a little bit more special. A wedge of lemon adds a thirst quenching pucker to plain water, black tea or fruit juice. Lemon is also refreshing in make-it-yourself cleansers and room sprays. When looking for zest in recipes of all sorts, lemon is the fruit of choice!
You don’t have to be from southern climes to enjoy collard greens! While the traditional (and delectable) way to serve them in the southern U.S. is with black-eyed peas and cornbread, they can be used in place of other leafy greens in recipes, too. Rich in nutrients and easy to prepare, collard greens are tempting additions to soups, served as a side with meats and poultry (like smoked turkey), and added to cooked bean or grain pilafs or salads. You can even substitute these broad mildly-flavored leaves for seaweed in homemade sushi.
The pomegranate’s leathery red skin hides a treasure trove of sweet-tart, juicy arils (as the edible seeds are called). Among the first cultivated fruits, pomegranates do not ripen once they’ve been picked. The sweetest, juiciest fruits should have smooth, unbroken skin and feel heavy for their size. Once you’ve liberated them from the skin and pith, pomegranate seeds are delicious additions to both sweet and savory dishes. Sprinkle them in Greek yogurt or atop a spinach salad. Try them on ice cream or hot cereal, or garnish a platter of roast pork with the little red jewels.
If there’s such a thing as a refined vegetable, it might just be the leek. Leeks are alliums (members of the onion family), and gently but distinctly flavor a dish without overpowering other ingredients. Leeks are also lovely plants, with white, crisp stalks (the part of the plant used in cooking) topped by green leaves. They grow tidily and fairly easily, though they do require a good washing after harvest because they can trap dirt between the sheaves. Sauté sliced leeks and add to salads, stir-frys and frittatas, serve them as a side dish or as the focus of a cold (or hot) soup. Bigger isn’t better when it comes to leeks; smaller leeks are more tender and sweet than the larger ones.
Pumpkin’s culinary calling card may be holiday pies, but it’s equally delicious in other desserts like custards, cookies, cakes (especially cheesecake!) and bars. In fact, creamy pumpkin purée (which can often be substituted for other winter squash) makes terrific savory dishes, too. Try it as filling for ravioli, the focus of a soup, and an addition to grain or vegetable casseroles. It’s also perfect in potpies. You can easily bake your own pumpkin for purée, but be sure to use pie pumpkins rather than jack-o-lantern pumpkins, which tend to be grown for size instead of flavor. And don’t forget to roast the seeds for topping salads or stirring into nut mixes.
