Macrobiotic Recipe of the Month - July 2008

Back to basics

After the long holiday weekend, I thought I'd post a simple vegetable recipe, a boiled or "blanched" salad.  This is a good way to get good quality "yin" or foods that help relax the body, and help prevent sugar cravings. Yes, eating vegetables relaxes the body. Blanching a vegetable quickly (and lightly) cooks it.

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Boiled Salad – Blanched Vegetables

1 cup thinly sliced Chinese cabbage
½ cup thinly sliced leek
1 cup broccoli florets
¼ cup summer squash, sliced into half-rounds
5-6 red radishes, halved

Fill a pot half full with spring water. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-to-high flame. Place each vegetable, one at a time, in water. Boil uncovered only until the color turns bright – a minute or less.

Blanch each vegetable separately and in order from mildest- to strongest-tasting so that each retains its own distinct flavor and color. Use a fine-mesh skimmer to remove vegetables from boiling water.

Drain each vegetable on a flat surface to stop cooking. Serve blanched salad plain, or with dressing, or a splash of vinegar or lemon juice. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled, – tossed together or arranged in sections on a platter. 

What vegetable combinations would you try?

Enjoy! ~Meg

Local Organic Strawberry Update

I received an email from Nancy Stedman at Little River Flower Farm in Buxton, Maine who wrote:

Our strawberries are ready for picking. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 7-11 a.m. and 3-6 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please call before coming to make sure the fields are not resting for the day, if there are any changes I will record them around 7 p.m. the night before. My numbers are: 929-3967 recording (if fields are resting, ie. no berries that day this info will be on the recording, so please check by phone before making your trip out), or my cell 838-9375.