Asparagus tomato salad with chive blossom vinegar

The house came with an abundance of chives. Now it has a superabundance of chives because frankly otherwise there would be weeds in that spot and I can tolerate chives more than weeds so I let them spread until I'm tired of it.

Plus the pretty purple blooms add color to the back alley garden while they last. They're the purple flowers in the foreground before the purple phlox bullies take over the back. And they keep out the other purple thugs: harebells. What is it with the color purple and restless plants?

Asparagus, tomato and pickled chive blossom salad

Adapted from athoughtforfood.net

Ingredients

2 pounds asparagus

1 pint grape tomatoes

2 tablespoons chive blossom vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

Pickled chive blossoms for garnish

Method

Snap tough ends off asparagus and discard (or save for broth). Cut remainder into two-inch pieces. Steam asparagus until just this side of tender. Remove from heat and chill in ice water. (Or if you’re microwave-steaming in a bag, just toss the bag in the freezer briefly to halt the cooking process.)

When cooled down, put asparagus into a large bowl. Cut grape tomatoes in half, or in quarters if large. Toss with asparagus.

Combine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and whisk to emulsify. Toss with asparagus and tomatoes.

Divide asparagus mixture among 4 plates. Crumble goat cheese over salads and garnish with chive blossoms. Serves 4.

 

Chive blossom vinegar

Adapted from cathybarrow.com

Place 1 cup chive blossoms in a jar. Top with 1½ cup white wine vinegar. Cover with lid and keep in a dark place for 2 weeks. You can remove the chive blossoms at this point if it’s strong enough or else let it go a few more weeks. Strain into a jar and keep in the refrigerator to help retain its color.

Rating: Obviously I should have been making this vinegar ever since I lived with all those chive blossoms. It's got just the right touch of chive tang without being overpowering. This is so going in every vinaigrette until it's gone. (Vinaigrettes, I've had a few. Why haven't I written that book?) It worked very nicely in the asparagus tomato salad, and the goat cheese was a dandy touch.

Green goddess chicken club salad

 

The recipe for a chicken club sandwich looked delicious. But with a four-foot-square raised bed of leafy greens, salads, not sandwiches are on the menu these days. Better we eat it instead of letting the slugs feast on it. Besides, there's something very satisfying about weekly bringing in a big bowl of lettuce that you know would have cost you $10 at the store and would wilt to mush in next to no time.

But I had a leftover chicken breast  that we'd grilled after it marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, white wine and garlic chives. That also shouldn't go to waste. So I inverted the sandwich recipe a bit, using the dressing called for and using croutons in place of the bread.

Green goddess chicken club salad

Adapted from the sandwich version in “Great Tastes: Cooking(and Eating) from Morning to Midnight” by sisters Danielle and Laura Kosann of The New Potato blog.

Ingredients

1 slice sturdy bread

Olive oil

½ teaspoon dried thyme

3 to 4 tablespoons green goddess dressing

6 to 8 cups mixed salad greens

1 cooked chicken breast, sliced

¼ cup cherry tomato halves

2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Freshly shaved Parmesan for garnish

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice bread slice into 1-inch cubes. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil, thyme and some salt and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes until crisp. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, place 3 tablespoons green goddess in a large mixing bowl. Toss with greens, adding more as needed to get the desired dressing-to-greens ratio.

Divide greens among two plates. Top each with half of the chicken, half the tomatoes, half the bacon and half the bread cubes. Top with a few more dollops of dressing. Garnish with shaved Parmesan. Serves 2.

Green goddess dressing

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup basil leaves

1 tablespoon tarragon leaves

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 teaspoon anchovy paste

Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This makes a fairly sturdy dressing. There will be leftovers. This is not a problem.

Rating: Tasty. That dressing could pinch hit for a dip. And, well, there's bacon.

Lemon rhubarb scones with streusel topping

 

It's still peak rhubarb season here, so I thought I'd try yet another new rhubarb scone recipe to enjoy the largesse. And then I'll go back to my favorite rhubarb scones.

Lemon rhubarb streusel scones

Adapted from Anna at hiddenponies.com via tastykitchen.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, melted

¼ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup brown sugar, divided

1½ cup flour, plus 1 tablespoon, divided

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup cold butter

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup chopped rhubarb (about 3 goodish-size stalks)

1 whole egg yolk, beaten

1 cup sour cream

½ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

2 teaspoons milk or cream

Method

Preheat oven to 425. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a smallish microwave-safe bowl, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in oats, ¼ cup of packed brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Mix well and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together remaining 1½ cup flour, whole wheat flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add rhubarb and lemon zest and toss to coat. Stir together egg yolk and sour cream. Mix into dry ingredients.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently about a dozen times. Pat dough into a 9-inch circle in the middle of the parchment-lined sheet. Sprinkle with reserved streusel mixture. Cut dough into 8 to 12 wedges. (I opted for 8 because I thought my odds of successfully cutting them into 8 were better, since the dough is a tad tacky.) Don’t separate the wedges.

 

Bake 18 to 24 minutes until light brown and cooked through. Reslice into wedges along the cut marks. Let cool slightly before drizzling with a glaze made of the powdered sugar, extract and milk.

Rating: By the time these came out of the oven, I'd developed a bad attitude about this recipe. While not difficult, the recipe is a little more time-consuming and dishes-producing than your standard scones, entering into the this-better-be-worth-it category. And I thought so even after being able to cheat by already having some leftover almond-flavored glaze so I didn't have to whip that up too. Plus, they looked like they'd taste like hockey puck scones -- something about the oats and that touch of whole wheat. But they weren't bad at all. They're very moist inside, more cake-like than scone-like since they're highly leavened and lack that scone crumb. The lemon flavor doesn't really stand out much, but as I say, they're not bad. 

But these are still far and away a better rhubarb scone.