Eating In for a Week
by Cathy ErwayPage 2 of 2
When you're hungry again, preheat the oven with a cast-iron Dutch oven inside. Plop the doughball inside the Dutch oven and top with its heated lid. After 20 minutes, remove the lid, but continue to cook 10 more minutes. Peel a couple beets and slice into rounds. Roll up some beet greens and chop into chiffonades. Toss with a squirt of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Make a loose pile of the leaves on fresh bread and top with a row of the beet slices. You can overlap them a little — they're just going to fall off with the first bite. Pick the pieces up and stain your hands even more, or forfeit by picking up a fork (you're not in a restaurant, nobody's watching!).
Day 3: Tuesday
Since that wasn't much to eat last night, bring your black beans to boil on the stove. Add a slew of aromatics — chopped onions, garlic and herbs. While it's simmering, chop your beet stems into ruby inch-long sticks. Bring a pot of equal parts water, vinegar, some salt and pickling spices to boil — just mustard seeds work just fine. Boil stems for a minute, then remove from heat and let cool before covering up to chill.
Meanwhile, have a poached egg on toast for breakfast and a lunch of leftover pancakes, or pasta from the clam incident. For dinner, make a black bean and rice platter, with a pat of garlic sautéed beet greens beside it and a garnish of beet green pickles, jalapenos and some crème fraiche.
Day 4: Wednesday
Time to shop again. Get some apples, spring lettuce, asparagus and cheese from the Greenmarket. After a leftover black bean lunch, notice that your bread has gotten a bit stale. Make a flurry of fresh breadcrumbs in a food processor. Mash some black beans in a bowl, crack in an egg, and add the breadcrumbs and spices like cumin and cayenne. Form into patties and pan-fry them in a small pool of olive oil. Wrap most to chill or freeze. Place apple slices on top of the most fetching one, and cover with a slice of cheese. Place under a broiler until browned on top. Toss the lettuce in a light vinaigrette, and eat alongside your black bean cake au fromage.
Day 5: Thursday
It's all about the asparagus today. Have some asparagus with your eggs in a savory frittata. Roast some spears and make a warm panzanella salad with toasted stale bread, lettuce and wedges of beets. Make a pasta that night with asparagus and cheese.
Day 6: Friday
Now that you've eaten like a pro for the better part of a week, relax and have a black bean burger with beet stem pickles on a roll. Splurge on a free-range pork chop that night, simply browned with salt, to eat with asparagus and creamed black beans.
Day 7: Saturday
Make apples with oatmeal for breakfast before hitting the store for more food. Mix another batch of bread dough for the week, pick up whatever you fancy at the Greenmarket. Start the week anew, or old. There are probably greens in your crisper, about to turn.
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