Glenn Andrews - Recipes for gourmet vegetables

by Glenn Andrews

Daikon, tomatillos, bok choy, arugula, radicchio. Suddenly, these and other gourmet vegetables are turning up in produce departments and seed catalogs across the country. But what are they, and how do you use them?

Even those who are adventurous in the kitchen are reluctant to buy something they have no idea what to do with. These vegetables are unusual to us just because were not used to them yet. In their home countries, theyre in everyday use. Dont pass them by because of lack of knowledge about them. Theyre delicious! And I, for one, am delighted to be living at a time in which theyve become available. Weve come a long way from the days, not so long ago, when even canned water chestnuts were hard to find.

This bulletin can be your guide to the most interesting of the new-to-the-market vegetables. Theyre listed alphabetically, with a description of each and suggestions for use plus recipes. The alphabetization is by the main part of the name, not necessarily its first word. Thus, Japanese eggplant can be found under E, for eggplant, etc.

Most of the vegetables can easily be grown from seed. A list of sources appears at the back of the bulletin. Often, the name used by supermarkets is different from that given in seed catalogs. Thus, youll usually find bok choy in your produce department, but pak choi is the seed to buy. Alternate names are included wherever this applies.

Try these recipes and suggestions to familiarize yourself with the ingredients, then create your own ways to use them. You can combine recipes, using the cooking method from one and the flavoring from another. You can use whatever herbs or spices strike your fancy, experiment with different liquids and in general, have fun!

The Jerusalem artichoke is a little gem of a root vegetable which can be eaten raw, when it resembles water chestnuts, or cooked, when it resembles nothing but its own marvelous self. Its often called sun-choke in markets.

Fry as you would potato chips. Or peel, boil and serve creamed. I have read that if boiled much beyond the point of tenderness, they will again become tough.

Growing Jerusalem artichokes is almost ridiculously easy. You can use special seed tubers or simply plant sunchokes from a supermarket. Use small tubers whole; cut bigger ones into two or more pieces, each containing an eye. Plant in early spring, six inches deep, one foot apart, in full sun. Youll get a towering plant (up to ten feet high) and small flowers which resemble sunflowers. In late fall, dig up your surprisingly large crop. From six medium-sized tubers, I once got 20 pounds of sunchokes. Choose a spot where you wont mind having a permanent sunchoke patch, since unless you dig up every single last tuber, theyll come back year after year.

This is a fantastically good dish, and a fine introduction to the joys of the sunchoke.

1 pound Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes)

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons heavy cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel the Jerusalem artichokes, then cut them into chunks. Boil in water to cover for 10 to 15 minutes or until very tender. Drain, then run the chunks in a food processor along with the butter and heavy cream until smooth. Reheat gently, stirring and seasoning to taste with the salt and pepper.

SERVES 4.

No one paid much attention to arugula (pronounced uh- roo -gulla) when it was called roquette or rocket. Now that the marketers have reverted to the Italian name, cooks have discovered its nutlike taste, and its become a very trendy food. Use it raw in salads and sandwiches or chopped and cooked in pures, soups, souffles and sauces for pasta.

Easily grown from seed (sometimes under the name rugula); given the same care as any loose-leaf lettuce, it will be ready for use in 35 days.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 bunch (2 cups) arugula, chopped

3 scallions, minced

cup pecan halves

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups light cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the arugula, scallions and pecans and cook, stirring, for three or four minutes. Add the tomatoes, cheese and cream. Simmer, stirring gently and often, until a little thicker than heavy cream. Season to taste. Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.

Most supermarkets have carried fresh bean sprouts (the sprouts of mung beans) for several years now, but most of their customers still dont know what to do with them. Once youve tried them, youll never again buy the canned variety. Use the fresh ones whenever bean sprouts are called for in recipes or sprinkle them on salads or cook them in such excellent, quick-cooking vegetable dishes as either version of Bean Sprouts with Peppers, below. You can substitute other vegetables for the peppers with equally happy resultschopped celery and/or tomatoes, for instance, go well with sprouts, as do onions.

Its easy to grow your own bean sprouts. First buy mung beans, which you can find at most health food stores and many supermarkets. Its possible to buy special sprouting apparatus, but a 1-quart jar is really all you need. Put cup of the mung beans in the jar and add about 2 cups of warm water. Cover loosely. The next day, drain the beans in a colander and rinse them gently with warm water. Drain again, return to the jar. Cover loosely and put it in a cupboard or other dark place. Repeat the rinsing and draining process every day for three or four days until the sprouts are about one inch long. They can be eaten right away or stored, refrigerated, for five or six days.

This is a quick and delicious vegetable dish, the kind you can cook without even thinking about what youre doing.

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

2 Sweet peppers green, red, yellow, orange, purple or whatever deseeded and diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, then add the bean sprouts and peppers and saut, stirring, for 3 or 4 minutes. Season to taste.

SERVES 3 TO 4.

This version takes more thought and a bit more time to prepare, but when you eat it, youll think youre in a four-star Chinese restaurant.

2 tablespoons oil

2 sweet peppers, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced

teaspoon finely minced or pressed garlic

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger

teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

cup water 1 teaspoon sherry

teaspoon sugar

Oriental hot oil to taste

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Stir-fry the peppers, garlic, ginger and salt for about one minute. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry for another minute. Add the water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the sherry and sugar, then the hot oil start with 2 or 3 drops, then add more, drop by drop, till the dish is as hot as you wish.