Euroveg

I enjoy reading food blogs from all over the world - in my view, it's the best use of the interwebs yet invented. Oh, you can claim that the exchange of scientific information is more important or that whole political movements have been fostered thanks to the internet, but I maintain that sharing food tips is the highest form of art that this medium is likely to achieve.

One of my faves, as much for the writing as for the food, is The Wednesday Chef, written by a most international person. She lives in Berlin, but I first found her in New York. Luisa Weiss - even her name is international. Through her posts, I have found that she has Italian and American parents, but she grew up in Berlin and now has returned there. She writes with a wonderful flair for words and images, and usually makes me laugh when she's not making me cry. I have never met Luisa, but I love her anyway.

So, when she reminded me that vegetables baked in parchment paper are wonderful, I tried out her recipe and My Beloved and I chowed down on these for dinner last night. My gmish is made up of new potatoes, a quartered fennel bulb, garlic, spring onion, olives and small, quartered artichokes, seasoned with fresh lemon zest, salt, olive oil and fresh thyme. Splendid. Really splendid.

Why am I telling you all this, instead of simply offering a link to her post? Because I found an easier way to prep the little 'chokes; now, it takes no time at all to throw together this wonderful main or side dish. Here's the deal:

Start bending the leaves backwards toward the stem - they will snap off, leaving the good, meaty part at the base behind. Keep doing that all the way around until the bases are all pale yellowish-green. Cut off the tip of the stem end if it's brown. If the harvesters have left a stem attached, go ahead and peel away the outer (tough) covering of the stem with a paring knife, but keep the middle, which is really just elongated heart - it's delicious. Cut off the top third of the leaves and there you have it!

If you want to keep the pale color, immerse your pieces in acidulated water but, honestly, the discoloration doesn't affect the flavor, so it's okay if you don't want to.

Now, doesn't that sound far more important than uprisings and scientific "progress?"

Parched Halibut

I'm not the first ever to state the obvious - English is a weird language. How come the verb "to parch" and "parchment" have nothing in common? They really should. And parchment paper makes no sense, either, since parchment is actually made of skin, not of wood fibers.

Okay, enough of that. No one will ever be able to make sense of English, we just have to embrace its oddities.

I'm embracing the heck out of parchment paper these days, such a useful tool in the kitchen! You can bake on it or stew in it, raise a collar for a tall soufflé or line the bottom of a cake pan to keep things from sticking. My favorite way to use it this week is to make fish packets for dinner.

Halibut is a lovely fish, firm and white and mild - but it can be a little, shall we say, flat? All those flat fishes are like that - sole, sanddabs, halibut, all nice and mild, but a bit boring - but they are also wonderfully good for you, still sustainably fished, and easy to tweak in new ways.

This time, I had a couple of nice fillets of halibut, about 1.5 inches thick, and some of the prettiest, freshest asparagus I've seen. To a generous sheet of parchment paper, I added five or six spears of asparagus, half of a chopped leek (white and yellowish parts only), a slice of lime from Jeanne's tree, fresh chopped oregano from the garden, sliced leftover cooked potatoes (two walnut size ones per packet) and a dab of butter, wrapped it up securely by folding the top over several times and gathering the ends and giving them a good firm pinch. One packet for me, one for My Beloved. They fit easily side-by-side on a rimmed baking sheet (in case the goozle escaped) and I slid them into a preheated 350 degree oven.

When you cook fish this way, it makes its own sauce from the mingled juices of the fish and veggies. You could add a sprinkle of white wine, but it really isn't necessary. Fifteen minutes (less if your fish is thinner) and the asparagus is perfect - still brightly green but tender - and all the ingredients have had a happy slumber party in which they all got to know each other very well.

To serve, you can simply slide the packets onto a plate and let each open his own, releasing the fragrant steam as the world's best appetizer, or you can flip them over fold-side down and slash a bold X into the paper with a sharp knife or a razor and peel it back to reveal the asparagus topping the fish. Either way, it's a dramatically beautiful plateful and you will get oohs and aahs from the Beloveds.

Med Veg

Because I had successfully harvested my first three zucchinis before they became baseball bats, despite being away on vacation for a good part of the last three weeks, I tried to think of a way to cook them that would enhance their innocent flavor.

I also had a single ripe tomato from my Early Girl plant, which got me thinking "Mediterranean" and that led me to the half bulb of fennel that was lurking in the vegetable drawer, which reminded me of a jar of nice McEvoy Ranch Tuscan table olives full of briny goodness, and that seemed to call for herbes de Provence.

Somehow, sauteeing didn't seem right and grilling wasn't quite it, nor did I want to add water and steam them - then, finally, I remembered that I had seen veggies roasted in parchment paper using just a little olive oil or butter to add richness - perfect!

Having sliced the veggies thinly, seeded the olives and quartered the tomato, I whipped out my seldom-used parchment paper, made little packets of the mixed veggies and herbs, dotted the top with butter, folding the paper over and tucking it in as my Mom used to do with the waxed paper for our lunchbox sandwiches, and slid them on a cookie sheet into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. The result was simply heavenly, a savory-sweet mixture that made the most of all the veggies in the packet.

I'd make this again for guests - it was that good! It would be easy to make up ahead and pop into the oven 10 or 15 minutes before serving. Each guest would get her/his own packet, which was fun to open, a little like a mysterious present, even for me who knew exactly what went into each one! They'd make a nice vegetarian lunch (even vegan if you went for the olive oil) and are a terrific side dish for dinner.

And all that from three little zucchinis, dark green and shiny, with a Mediterranean twist.

East Coast Fish

This doesn't look like much - the restaurant, Friends & Company on the Boston Post Road in Madison, Connecticut, was dark - but it was one of the best meals I enjoyed back east. Simple but full of flavor, a nice piece of salmon was encased along with green beans, slices of red bell pepper and chunks of redskin potatoes in a sheet of parchment paper and baked. Opening the parchment to release the fragrant steam is like opening a gift - delicious anticipation! I might have added a little dill to the mix but even without it, this was a great way to prepare moist, perfectly cooked fish. I've never tried this technique at home even though I have a big box of parchment paper languishing in my drawer - this will be inspiration for a number of simple summer meals!