Another Lunch

Asparagus season is coming to an end and while it makes me want to curl up and cry until the next spring sprouts shoot up i am more inclined to celebrate its passing!  For lunch I had a grilled asparagus sandwich with grated carrots, radishes, and sliced red bell peppers.  The asparagus was sauteed in copious amounts of garlic with a little olive oil and a splash of soy sauce.  The bread was lightly toasted and slathered with locally produced spicy mustard.  I ate two of these and was thinking of going for a third but alas I ran out of asparagus

Lunch time, yeah!

The last two weeks have been BUSY!  it may be hard to believe but I dont think I have cooked a full dinner in 2 weeks!  Egads!  yet still I crank out some tasty and quick lunches.  Above you see the toasted sesame asparagus in a balsamic reduction with a side of chipotle zucchini and roasted fennel bulb.  The salad is a Dino/Red Russian kale mix with sunflower seeds and grated carrots.  The strawberries on top are just because but made an excellent cap to the meal.

Triple Carrot! 

Lunch Brief

This time of year is great!  Asparagus is growing with vengeance in the sun after brief rains.  So when i get home from the farm I always have a nice handful of the culls.  Start the pasta cooking and while that is going on get your added vegetables ready. I sautes the green onions and garlic with some olive oil on a medium heat tossing in carrot slices after the onions browned a bit (only a minute or two with green onions).  Soon after I toss in the asparagus and the collard stems and let them all sizzle for about 5 minutes.  I toss the collard greens in then and turn the heat off, letting the residual heat of the cast iron and steaming vegetables blanch the collards without turning it to mush (If I was doing a lot of greens I would need to leave the heat on a while on low).  I toss the pasta with the vegetables some 'butter' (earth balance, coconut oil, olive oil, or what ever fatty stuff you like) salt pepper and grated garlic to taste!  

This was my Lunch yesterday

Mondays are a particularly yummy lunch day for me.  Fresh food comes in from a local farm (sometimes picked by me! ) and I have enough time to do something with it.  Above is this weeks lunch which I was particularly happy with.  On the left is a green saute which started with onions, green garlic, mustard seeds and carrots.  I originally planned on putting the asparagus in that but after adding the collards stems and some thinly sliced potatoes it took on a life of its own.  The collards went in last and the dish was seasoned with oregano salt pepper and a touch of brags.

The quiona with fresh sliced radish (center) I did a bit weird.  See I wanted to have plain quiona this morning for my quiona pancakes (coming soon) so i did not cook it in broth, just water.  After separation out about a cup of cooked quiona I tossed in Spike (my favorite powdered vegetable broth) some olive oil, garlic powder, pepper and paprika (for color contrast to all the green).  A couple quick stirs and onto the plate it goes with the radish and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.

The asparagus . . .lemon pepper in coconut oil. I brazed it in a hot cast iron with a bit of onion and garlic after it browned and was tender (though young fresh asparagus can be eaten raw and is already tender) I turned off the fire and added a teaspoon of coconut oil and a squeeze of half a lemon (probably only 2 tsp of juice) and let it simmer in the cooling pan.

A very happy lunch I had :)