Cherry Arugula Solstice Salad

The boys were buzzed this afternoon –their hair that is. Now the little baldies will be nice and cool in the warm weather.

It hasn’t been all that hot though lately. In fact, we’ve had many cloudy afternoons and so far this summer haven’t made it to the pool yet. I have a feeling that once the summer solstice passes we’ll get a good dose of hot weather and go for late afternoon swims at the community pool before our dinner-time baseball practices.

On another note, because so many of you have expressed an interest in threads and conversations that might not be entirely related to one post, I have decided to launch a forum. Where is it? Just go to the navigation bar on the right hand side and under “main menu” click “forum” and you will be taken there straight away. This forum creates another step in the evolution of our ongoing discussions regarding recipes, celiac, organics, diy eco-cleaners and several other topics that have bubbled up over here recently. I hope we all have a lot of fun with it.

My mother-in-law is having a summer solstice party on Saturday. I created this Cherry Arugula Salad in honor of her event. Although I know it will never surpass her all time favorite dish, Chipotle Orange Chicken, I’m just hoping that she’ll like it enough to serve it alongside.

Iced Tea

Baseball is indeed over. However, all-stars have begun and my son and several of his little cohorts are on the team. We are now therefore faced with practice daily from 5:30 to 7:30. Thank goodness I am not coaching!

I will however, be providing the team with lots of snacks and good beverages such as the one below. This scrumptious iced tea really hits the spot on a summer’s day. It is sweet, lemony and refreshing.

Rooibos tea is said to be an excellent recovery beverage. Although it does not contain caffeine, I find on days when I am feeling a little draggy that it can put a punch back into my step. I really enjoy drinking it after a good workout.

Iced Tea
2 tablespoons loose rooibos tea
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon agave nectar
⅛ teaspoon stevia
12-18 ice cubes
¼ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 lemon, sliced into wedges

1. Place rooibos in a 2 cup pyrex glass measuring cup
2. Pour boiling water over rooibos; add agave and stevia
3. Steep for 10 minutes
4. Meanwhile, divide ice cubes and lemon juice between 2 large tumblers
5. Strain tea into cups
6. Serve with wedge of lemon

My husband says this beverage tastes like an Arnold Palmer, I think it tastes like the Nestea I grew up on (which I loved). Either way, when I serve it at our summer barbecues this iced tea is quite a hit. I make a huge batch of it in a stock pot, throw in tons of ice and serve it with a soup ladle. Enjoy!

Community Supported Spinach Cake

Our weekly CSA share kicked in yesterday and we received a ton of fresh organic produce! For those of you who aren’t familiar, “CSA” stands for community supported agriculture. This relatively new socio-economic concept changes the way food is produced, distributed and sold, creating small scale closed markets for farmers in which the consumer participates in the risk and rewards of the farm.

One of the great benefits of the CSA (in addition to receiving produce the day it is picked) is that it gives farmers more time to do what they do best –grow food. By cutting out the middle man, the farmers also receive more money for their crops and save time by not having to market produce to stores.

Earlier this year my family purchased a “share” in this season’s crop from Abbondanza. This means we receive vegetables straight from the farm each week during the harvest months.

Frankly, our farm share is looking great this year –although we actually only purchased a “half share,” we received more greens yesterday than I could figure out what to do with. This sent me rummaging through my recipes last night in search of culinary solutions to my vegetable overload.

The biggest “problem” was spinach. What to do with the several pounds of spinach crowding out the other greens in the veggie drawer of my fridge? Spinach cake of course!

Spinach Cake
1 ½ pounds spinach, thoroughly washed, leave stems on if they are not tough
1 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, whisked
½ cup currants
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

1. Wilt spinach in a large covered saucepan, over low heat (do not add water) 5 minutes, until tender
2. Drain and cool, then gently squeeze moisture out of spinach
3. Place spinach in food processor and pulse until coarsely blended, then set aside
4. In a small skillet, warm 3 tablespoons oil, add pine nuts and saute until golden brown
5. Add garlic to pan of pine nuts and saute together an additional minute
6. In a large bowl, combine pine nuts mixture, blended spinach, eggs, currants and salt
7. Spread mixture into a greased 10×7 inched pyrex baking dish
8. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes
9. Serve

Makes 12 spinach cakes

This spinach recipe is based on Claudia Roden’s Tortino di Spinaci. As I have mentioned before, she is my all time favorite cookbook author. I often hear her speaking about the history of Jewish food on NPR. She is basically a food historian, as well as a culinary genius.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do and that it solves your spinach harvest woes!