Asparagus Sesame Stir Fry

Ingredients:

• Handful of asparagus
• Some red pepper
• Teaspoon of white sesame seeds
• Olive oil
• Quarter of an onion, chopped
• A thumb-sized portion of fresh ginger, julienned

Firstly, the asparagus either has to be tender or young enough to eat raw. I wouldn't boil the asparagus before the "stir fry" either. Have it raw so that its crunchy along with the sesame seeds.

So, to begin, chop the onion and the ginger. Saute them for a minute in a wok on a high flame.

Add the asparagus to the wok - The object is just to get it coated in oil, NOT to cook the asparagus all the way through. So turn off the gas in another minute or so.

Once off the flame, add the sesame seeds and the sliced peppers. Mix well and enjoy immediately.

Zuccini, Asparagus and Peppers Salad

It's been a week since I got all my produce from the Farmer's Market and I still have plenty of it left over! Add to that I come home really late at night from work and dont feel like spending any time in the kitchen, and just ordering a Subway on my way home.

But I didnt want my very expensive zuccini and asparagus wither away in shame. So, salads is was!

To make, you'll need:

• Some asparagus (boiled for 2 minutes)
• 1/2 zuccini
• 1/2 a red pepper
• 1/2 a yellow pepper
• 1/2 a green pepper
• 1/2 a ripe tomato
• 2-3 small Indian aubergines (boiled for a minute)
• Some lettuce leaves
• Handful of olives
• Spoonful of olive oil

To make:
Start off with the chopped peppers and lettuce leaves

 Add the boiled asparagus....

 Then the zuccini ...Its a shame to have boiled zuccini..So definitely have it raw.

 Chopped tomatoes go in next.

 Then the aubergines and the olives...

Drizzle a little olive oil on top. Remember the tomatoes are going to leave their juices as well, so dont add a lot of olive oil.

Here's the final product:

My Miso Soup

I had this for dinner last nite as I was eager to taste what Korean miso tastes and looks like - definitely a lot darker in color than the Japanese one - almost a brick or burnt red color. I wanted to stay true to the original recipe and make it just with miso paste and tofu, but I made the mistake of putting my tofu in the freezer and it wouldn't thaw fast enough for my post-work hunger. So I improvised with cabbage, baby corn and asparagus. I boiled the asparagus for 2-3 minutes, which did leave some of the stalks a bit chewy and sinewy - So, I'd recommend boiling them for an additional minute or so.

Ingredients:

• 1 large tablespoon of Korean miso
• Two baby corns, chop into bite size morsels
• A big handful of green cabbage, julienned
• A small handful of asparagus (stalks?)
• A small knob of ginger
• Sesame seeds to garnish

To make:

• Boil the cut asparagus for 3-5 minutes.
• Drain and plunge into ice water.
• Retain the water used to boil the asparagus.
• Pour some of it over the miso paste in a seperate bowl.
• Stir till the miso is dissolved and gives off a lovely brown color.
• Add that back to the asparagus water.
• Add the ginger, finely chopped, to the boiling water.
• Put this back on the gas and bring to a boil, then turn off the gas.
• In your serving bowl, add the cabbage, corn and asparagus at the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour over your miso-ginger water over the vegetables in the bowl.
• Garnish with sesame seeds on top.
• Serve immediately.

Note: I did not forget to mention salt. The miso is salty enough on its own. Plus, I dont use salt or sugar.

Time to make: 5-10 minutes, tops.

Salads Galore

I'm giving my blender a break and using up my abundant, organic harvest from Sunday. So, salads it is! Yesterday it was my Veggie Delight Salad, and today for lunch I had my Carrot Salad with Tahini Sauce.

Veggie Delight Salad:

Toss together:

• Baby lettuce
• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Green pepper
• Black and green olives
• Cucumber slices
• Red cabbage
• Dried basil

I added some of the salty water from the olives and left it overnight in the refrigerator -So I didnt need any dressing.

Carrot Tahini Salad

• 2 Whole Organic Carrots
• Some asparagus ends
• Sunflower seeds
• Handful of raisins
• Handful of black olives
• 1 tablespoon of tahini paste

To make:

• Cut the carrots into thin strips.
• Boil the asparagus for 3-5 minutes and immediately submerge into icy water to retain the color and stop the cooking.
• Toss the carrots, asparagus, olives and raisins together. Then add the dressing before you eat it. The sunflower seeds go in last for the crunch.
• Dressing: Add some water and lime juice to your tahini paste and mix it together till there are no lumps.

Note that the tahini is going to make the salad extremely filling (I still have 1/3rd of my salad from lunch left over!), so you may want to reduce the portions.
Also note that the tahini dressing will dry up as the day goes on. It wont go bad, but the salad's a lot yummier when the dressing is still liquid.