market inspiration

I could have bought two of everything at the market yesterday morning.  The panic of the season ending has already begun, and it unleashes a greedy, hoarding instinct in me.  I exercised restraint, however, and only came home with this luscious selection.

Then, I poked through some cookbooks and checked for napa cabbage recipes online.  As usual, I only found recipes that would require 4 additional ingredients that were not currently in my kitchen.  So, I decided to throw something together using only the inspiration of the ingredients in front of me.  The result was a lovely and tasty "composed" dinner.

#1  Roasted new potatoes

-cut potatoes into bite size pieces

-toss with 3 T olive oil, 1 t chili powder, 1 t coriander and salt and pepper

-bake in single layer on baking sheet 

- 400 for about 30 minutes

#2 Warm Napa cabbage salad

-saute 1 clove garlic, 1 T cumin seed and 1 t coriander in 4 T olive oil

-add 1 stalk thinly sliced celery, 1/3 cup chopped green onion and one thinly sliced red bell pepper

-saute for 3-5 minutes, until heated and translucent, but not brown

-add 1/2 sliced napa cabbage

-cover and steam for 5 minutes

-add salt and pepper to taste

#3 beet salad w/ bleu cheese

-boil beets until easy to pierce through with fork

-peel under cold water

-slice and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, a squeeze of fresh lime, and a dash of balsamic vinegar

-serve with bleu cheese

This was enough for two large servings, plus leftovers.

Of course, any of these 3 can also be used as a side dish for any dinner.