In the last couple of weeks at Vegan Bits, Lane started a discussion about natto. Having multi-generational familiarity with natto, I thought I’d share some additional information to help uninitiated westeners navigate this unusual food.

Like so many other great foods out there, natto was invented quite by accident according to Hiroko Shimbo, in “The Japanese Kitchen”. This accidental invention involved a bacteria residing in rice straw. Before natto was packaged in styrofoam or plastic containers it was once sold in wrappers of rice straw. Shimbo also explains that until not that long ago there were some places in Japan where natto was not a popular food item!

Natto is made by inoculating cooked soybeans with the natto bacteria and allowing them to ferment. Fresh natto is best eaten within the first few days, but freezes very well. I buy my natto from the freezer section of the Japanese market. It usually comes packaged in sets of 3 small foam or plastic containers weighing about 1.75 oz. each.

Natto is a good source of calcium, iron and magnesium. It is a very easily digestible protein and the fermentation gives the added bonus of supplying vitamin B12 - an important nutrient for those adhering to a vegan diet.

Shimbo recommends trying natto with miso soup. I second that recommendation as it makes the acquired taste of natto completely disappear.

For using in miso soup, remove natto from one 1.75 oz. package and rinse in a colander. Roughly chop, add to the soup water and cook for a couple of minutes before continuing with the recipe. If desired you can use a bit of the mustard sauce included with the natto as a garnish for the soup.

One last note for vegans and vegetarians: When shopping for natto, you may notice on some packages the addition of bonito flakes or extract. Typically this is part of the soy sauce mixture contained in a tiny sealed plastic packet with the natto. If you have no qualms about buying this and simply throwing it away, it will make your search for a dietarily acceptable natto much easier.

Those of you looking to try new healthful foods or in search of a way to enjoy natto, I hope you try it in the soup. Let me know how it goes.

This past Saturday’s produce box included a nice quantity of the beautiful purple tomatillos pictured above. With sweet corn and tomatoes included in Saturday’s delivery, it was hard not to make some Mexican cuisine over the weekend. Along with the tomatillo salsa recipe I’ll share today, I made sweet corn pudding and chicken taco filling (to utilize some of the tomatoes). I’m working on fine tuning the sweet corn pudding recipe and promise to share it when I’ve got it just right.

Tomatillos are fantastic when you can get them fresh. In the past when trying to find enough at the grocery store to complete a recipe, it has been difficult as they are often past their peak. Store tomatillos in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. Freshly picked tomatillos will keep for up to two weeks, though I always recommend using produce as quickly as possible because the longer it sits the less nutritional value it will have. Tomatillos are very low in calories and provide a decent amount of potassium.

My method for this salsa requires the ingredients to be broiled to mellow the flavors just a bit, but you can opt to make this completely raw which will shave about 12 minutes off the preparation time making this a super quick salsa. I really like to eat it on chicken enchiladas or chicken tacos.

Tomatillo Salsa

• 2 pounds tomatillos
• 1 -2 serrano peppers (or more according to taste)
• 2 small onions
• 8 large cloves garlic
• 1 t. coarse salt
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro

Preheat broiler. Have a large sheet pan at hand.

Remove husks from tomatillos and wash off sticky residue - fruit and vegetable wash makes quick and easy work of washing away the stickiness! Cut tomatillos in half and place on sheet pan.

Remove stems from peppers and cut in half. Add to pan with tomatillos.

Peel and slice onion and lightly smash garlic cloves without removing the skin. Add onions and garlic to pan. Place 4″ - 6″ under broiler and cook until everything begins to brown.

Remove skins from garlic cloves and place all broiled ingredients in food processor along with the salt and cilantro. Process until as smooth as you like. Adjust seasoning to taste and enjoy!

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Tomato season is here, and I bet even some of you who don’t consider yourselves gardeners have a tomato plant or two so you can enjoy the amazing flavor of a fresh, home grown tomato.

For those of you who don’t grow your own during the summer you certainly won’t have any difficulty finding them at local farmers’ markets. If you’re new to your area, haven’t shopped local farmers’ markets recently or just plain don’t know where to find one near you, check out www.localharvest.org to search by zip code.

I am an avid gardener, but unfortunately do not have much space for vegetable gardening. This year I decided to get more inventive and find ways to grow a few things in pots. (If you recall, earlier this year I shared a picture of some small radish I grew in fine soil in a wide shallow pot.) One thing I was particularly enthusiastic about was a package of San Marzano seeds I’d had in the refrigerator for years. On March 29 this past spring my first San Marzano tomato journey began. 133 days later, I harvested my first nine tomatoes! (Not many, but San Marzanos are indeterminate meaning they produce fruit over a period of time.)

Clearly nine plum tomatoes is not nearly enough to merit getting out the canning supplies or even cooking down to paste. So what was I to do with my few precious tomatoes? For anyone who isn’t already familiar with San Marzanos, these tomatoes are not the kind of tomato to slice and eat raw on a sandwich or in a salad. These tomatoes best show off their merits when they’ve been cooked. Given my initial small yield, I devised a way to make do with so few of these little gems — roasted tomato sauce.

One more short discourse before I dive into sharing the recipe - I was about to call this quick & easy pasta sauce, but it really isn’t quick. Even though it doesn’t qualify as a quick sauce it more than qualifies as easy and the active preparation time is very little, about 10 minutes. The rest of the time the tomatoes are roasting away in the oven getting really sweet and saucy. Do you have a quick version of your own fresh tomato sauce? I’d love to hear about it.

easy pasta sauce

• San Marzano tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• olive oil
• coarse salt, to taste
• fresh basil (may substitute dried)
• fresh oregano (may substitute dried)
• fresh thyme (may substitute dried)
• garlic
• good quality balsamic vinegar

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay tomatoes, cut side up in a baking dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. If using dried herbs instead of fresh, sprinkle tomatoes with dried herbs at this point. The amount of dried herbs to use is the same or a bit more than the appropriate amount of salt. Season with salt and drizzle somewhat generously with olive oil. Put in oven and roast until completely soft and edges begin to brown, about 45 - 60 minutes.

Just before taking the tomatoes out of the oven, mince the fresh herbs (if using) and garlic. Set aside. Remove tomatoes from oven. Flip tomatoes cut side down and pull the skin away with a fork. Discard the skin. Stir in the minced herbs and break up the tomatoes with a fork or a couple of dinner knives the same as you would cut butter into flour for biscuits or pie crust. Drizzle in balsamic vinegar and adjust seasonings to taste.  Serve over hot pasta.

Notes:

• If your balsamic vinegar is not well aged and has a bit of an edge on it, stir in a bit of brown sugar to tame it.
• For my nine tomatoes, I used about 1 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar, 1 1/2 T. fresh basil, 2 t. fresh oregano, 2 t. fresh thyme and 1 large clove garlic.
• My nine tomatoes made enough sauce for 2 adults with no leftovers!

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Over the last month, I have been keeping busy developing new recipes inspired mainly from the produce I receive in my CSA box. In the process of having so much fun, I’ve neglected to share the ideas that would be helpful to everyone out there interested in keeping their cooking seasonal. Over the next few days, I’ll be getting caught up on sharing some of the recipes and ideas from the last few weeks, so stay posted. There is more to come!

Yesterday we received our first sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes of the season. Those two ingredients, along with the candy onions available now inspired my roasted corn and black bean salad. We’ve been getting huckleberry potatoes as well over the last few weeks, and I incorporated those into the meal. Fried until crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, they were a nice complement to the bright flavors in the salad. In addition to being suitable on its own as a light meal, this salad would make a nice side to a number of things including fish tacos or a good burger.

Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salad

• 2 cans black beans, drained or 3/4# dry black beans, cooked
• 6 ears corn, roasted or grilled, kernels removed from cobb
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small candy onion, very thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 T cider vinegar
• 2 t chili powder
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
• 4 T olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

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For the second week in a row, I had the delight of receiving English peas in my CSA box. English peas do have to be shelled before eating, but they are so worth the little amount of effort required. My husband and I shelled them in a matter of minutes while talking on the phone with some family.

Last week, I utilized the peas in fried rice and vegetable korma. Both dishes came out tasting so fresh and delicious, but for this week I really wanted to make the peas the center of attention. I had to think for a little while before deciding what I wanted to do with the peas and finally settled on English pea soup. It was simple, delicious, filling and best of all, quick! I prepared some multigrain croutons with white truffle oil and butter as a nice crunchy compliment to the creamy soup.

Enjoy the recipe below and let me know how it turns out for you if you try it.

English Pea Soup

• 4 T. olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, rough chop
• 1 large leek, sliced (white and light green part only)
• 2 medium ribs celery, diced
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 quart shelled English peas
• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• optional garnishes: chopped chives, crumbled pancetta, creme fraiche

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, leeks and celery. Allow to cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

Add stock and potatoes to the pan and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about 15 minutes. Add the peas and continue cooking until potatoes and peas are cooked through, about 10 minutes more.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in parsley.

Puree soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until completely smooth. Serve hot, room temperature, or cold with optional garnishes.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Note: This recipe can be made completely vegan by using vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock.

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