the arugula files

Sweet Potato and Lemon Drenched Kale Tacos

A winter CSA means I have more sweet potatoes and greens than I know what to do with.  The easy solution is to roast the tubers and saute the greens and then put them in (or on) something, like this taco, for example.

I'm not sure what makes a taco a taco.  As I see it, if food is placed in some type of tortilla (flour, corn, wheat) then it's  a taco (especially if it's sprinkled with cheese).  I like to describe this dish as a taco rather than the alternative description, wrap, because a wrap sounds like bland health food and taco sounds tasty. This dish is both healthy and tasty so maybe I should call it something else entirely.  Wraco?  Oh dear. I think I'll stick with taco.

In Season: Corn

All I can say is: corn, I love you.  I love your flavor, your texture, your price.  I wish you would stick around longer than a few summer months, but I suppose absence makes the stomach grow fonder.  And, corn, you are more than a mere side dish.  Don't let anyone treat you that way.  You are a better than that.  You are a headliner:

Corn and peach salad, a lazy summer dish.  For grilling the corn and it's perfect for a heat wave.

Corn fritters with maple syrup, a dish that requires air conditioning and a bullet proof vest, but worth the battle.

Corn and bacon chowder, or should I say chowDUH?

Corn quesadillas, a cheap satisfying meal.

In Season: Figs

My lovely brother in law, Nestor, owns a fixer upper on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  He's been slowly rehabbing the house, with hopes to retire there some time in the future.  It's a long drive from DC, sitting in beach traffic with hundreds of others seeking sun and a slower days.  His house isn't much to speak of yet.  It has lovely bones and because it was built a long time ago it is falling apart at the seems.  It will take years before it's ready for a rocking chair on the front porch.  But meanwhile, oh, the fig trees.  They surround the house, offering a little shade and something to sweeten the deal.  This weekend Nestor brought me a platter of figs, dozens of them.  I almost fell over when I saw them.  Worth at least five Hamiltons here on the western shore. It makes me laugh about how plentiful these things are there and about how all us city dwellers pay through the nose for them when we see them at the farmers market.  Makes me think I should give up on this crazy, fast paced life, buy a fixer upper, and forget about things like iPhones and iPads and everything in between.

I plan to make fig pizza and some fig jam. 

I'm thrilled.