Klein's is a family-owned vegetable stand that runs from April until October in Elgin, Illinois and Udina, Illinois. They sell herbs, seedlings, flowers, local-ish sausage, cheese, and picked items (Wisconsin and Indiana, respectively) and most importantly, the best selection of local vegetables this side of the Fox River. An added bonus, I can walk there from my house. The trickier part is walking home with my produce-laden bags.
All through spring thaw, Klein's has taunted me with their signage about seedlings and springtime, informing me that things are growing, but not yet for sale. Well, finally, my time has come. They've been open about two weeks, and I made my first visit this past Sunday. Right now there are mostly herbs and flowers for sale, but inside there's a modest crop of shallots and the most beautiful, tender, asparagus you ever did see.
Not to mention the pickles. I could talk for days about those pickles. Two jars came home with me yesterday--just homely dill pickles and average pickled banana peppers. But you have never eaten a pickle until you've eaten these pickles. Where have I been my whole life? I had never heard of these, but a friend who was staying the weekend informed me that these are made fifteen minutes from his childhood home--further reason to pick some up.
Needless to say, the dill pickles are all gone. And the banana peppers are following closely behind--I think there are two left--but not for long.
Shall I eat a shallot?
black rice, chopped asparagus, pearl couscous
Asparagus grain salad
loosely adapted from 101 cookbooks
I knew I wanted to make a grain salad with springy foods, and originally I had barley in mind. But I had leftover pearl couscous on hand, so I went ahead and used it up. The first version of this salad was served with romaine lettuce, the couscous sprinkled on top like little gems. Very fresh and springy. For the second version, pictured here, I decided not to use lettuce at all, but instead added in black rice for color and heft. Both times I waited until serving to dress the salad. The salad is even better the next day, after all the flavors have mingled.
For the salad:
1 head of romaine lettuce
3 shallots
1 large picked banana pepper
small handful asparagus (six to ten pencil-thin stalks)
1 cup cooked pearl couscous
sesame seeds
For the dressing:
2 parts miso paste
1 part toasted sesame oil
1 part white wine vinegar
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup cooked pearl couscous
Chop the lettuce into 1 inch ribbons and add them to the salad bowl. Finely chop shallots, banana pepper, and asparagus; then add them to the salad. I didn't cook the asparagus because it's so new and tender, but you could steam it if you want. I cut these in circles about an eight of an inch in width--the way you'd chop a green onion. Stir in the cooked couscous and sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.
Whisk together the first three dressing ingredients; I used a small food processor. Drizzle in the hot water and continue to whisk--dressing will become creamy. Taste and then add pepper as needed, or more vinegar. It probably won't need more salt or oil, but make it how you like it.
Chill both the salad and the dressing before serving. Dress the salad immediately before serving. Serve cold.
For the version in these pictures, I swapped out one cup of cooked black rice for the romaine lettuce.
These flavors are all pretty strong, so I wanted a full-bodied dressing to counteract the fragrance of the shallots and the tang of the peppers. The miso/sesame combination is strong in a completely different direction. I think they work well together. You might want to skip the dressing entirely.
Add-ins are endless: for lunch tomorrow, I'll probably add in a chopped hard-boiled egg or a handful of chickpeas, or both. Or maybe next time I'll try it with barley after all.
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