Fare Exchange: Carrots, cabbage, quinoa and corn on the cob

TO REACH USFare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.• Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750• E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com

photo Jane Henegar

Good morning and welcome to the April finale. The first two requests are shopping requests: Where does one find rice wine vinegar - not simple rice vinegar - and where can one find xanthum gum for making gluten-free bread?

The next three requests are tart and lemony: lemon mousse, lemon pots de crème, lemon custard. "And if possible I would like these lemon recipes to be easy," wrote their anonymous sender.

The where-to-finds came from Janice Sanders and Euela Laubenheim. Sanders supplied these details: "I have been looking for several months for an ingredient listed in the Pasta with Shrimp and Vidalia Oriental. We use it with cooked greens, and I bought it for years at local grocery stores. Now it seems to have disappeared. I can find rice vinegar many places, but not the rice wine vinegar. (Yes, I have looked in several oriental markets locally, as well as an international market in Atlanta.) Could you or your readers help me please?"

Laubenheim read about good baking mixes for gluten-free diners, and was "delighted to find Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free baking mix at Big Lots. Then I got home and the package said to use xanthum gum with the mix. I cannot find it anywhere, and have no idea what section to look in. Please help."

From time to time we will mention local blogs; today it's Hannah Messinger's - http://nothingbutdelicious.squarespace.com. She is the next generation of the Mount Vernon Restaurant Messingers. Her blog is filled with beautiful photography, poetic musings and a delight in food, always cooking with a conscience. An example follows.

Carrot Risotto

1 cup farro

1 tablespoon grass fed butter

3 tablespoons diced shallot (one large shallot)

Kosher salt to taste

4 cups vegetable stock

2 cups carrot juice

Dash white pepper

Soak the farro in warm water for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse.

In a small pot over medium heat, melt butter and sauté shallots with a big pinch of salt until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add farro and make sure each piece is coated with oil. Warm vegetable stock in microwave. Add stock, one cup at a time until farro is fully cooked to your liking, continue adding water if it is not.

Warm carrot juice. Turn heat to high and add juice 1 cup at a time until it thickens and is the consistency of risotto. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Serve with mint pesto (recipe below).

Makes 2 main-dish servings or 4 side-dish servings.

Mint Pesto

Green tops of 1 bunch baby carrots

1 small handful mint

2 tablespoon grated pecorino cheese

1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

3 tablespoons good olive oil

Kosher salt to taste

Pulse all ingredients in a blender.


Euela Laubenheim opened a page in a sorority magazine and found grilled cabbage. "I am sending the recipe because I have been looking, along with others, for the secret to the grilled cabbage served at Canyon Grill. This recipe is not the same but it sounds delicious."

If you are a cook who likes generalities, this is your kind of recipe.

Grilled Cabbage

1 head cabbage

A few pats of butter

Slices of bacon

Salt

Cut cabbage head into 4 to 6 pieces. Place each piece on a rectangle of foil. Add butter to each. Top with bacon and if desired, season with salt.

Grill cabbage, covered, over medium heat for 40 minutes or until cabbage is tender, turning twice.


Anonymous of East Ridge was looking for an unusual chicken salad and came upon this one, with a Greek twist. Our East Ridge correspondent also sent a quinoa fruit salad that would serve well alongside the Greek chicken, as well as a new and easy way to cook summer's juicy corn on the cob.

Greek Chicken Salad

1 can garbanzo beans (16 ounces)

1/4 cup Greek dressing

1/4 cup Greek yogurt or light sour cream

1 cup cooked chicken, diced or shredded

1/2 cup diced cucumber

2 tablespoons diced red onion

1 tomato, chopped

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup feta cheese

10 Kalamata olives, halved

Sprinkling of fresh chives or green onions

Place half the garbanzo beans in a large bowl and mash gently with fork or potato masher.

Add remaining garbanzo beans, dressing, yogurt, chicken, cucumber, onion, tomato, feta and olives to the bowl. Stir gently until well coated and combined.

Serve on baby spinach leaves topped with feta cheese, Kalamata olives, green onions and chives.

Quinoa Fruit Salad

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

Pinch salt

Juice of 1 large lime

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1 1/2 cups chopped mango

Extra chopped mint for garnish (optional)

Using a strainer rinse quinoa under cold water. Add quinoa, water and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Let quinoa cool to room temperature.

To make the honey-lime dressing, in a medium bowl whisk lime juice, honey and mint together until combined.

In a large bowl combine quinoa, blueberries, strawberries and mango. Pour honey-lime dressing over the fruit salad, stir gently and mix until well blended.

Makes 6 servings as a side dish.

Just a Dash...

East Ridge Anonymous asks, "Want to know the easiest way to cook corn on the cob? You will never boil corn again. Throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. That's it. Leave the husk on. It will trap the moisture, leaving you with juicy, tender corn. The husk and silk will peel away easily once it's cooked. Cut off the large end and it slides right out with no silk."

There is just something about April. Then again, there is just something about May. The menu changes, we're up for trying new things; it seems we get hungry in a light and lighthearted way. So shall we stop reading and start cooking? It's time.

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