Roasted Potato and Asparagus Tacos with Kohlrabi Slaw - Recipe

Roasted Potato and Asparagus Tacos with Kohlrabi Slaw

Soft tacos in a Mexico City form factor: just a fistful of delicious ingredients in two soft, steamed corn tortillas. Perfect to pick up in one hand, and never put back down. I can enjoy other, overstuffed tacos that require a fork, but to me the street food version is best.

Today's tacos contain oven roasted Yukon gold potatoes and asparagus, a kohlrabi slaw, avocado, feta cheese, and cilantro, with a little lemon crema. Obviously the feta should have been cotija, but that's what I had on hand.

The potatoes were from Olsen Farms, which grows an astonishing selection of heirloom varieties. I think they are near the end of their storage collection for this year, but if you are in the Seattle area, look for them when the new crop comes out and be amazed.

I blatantly snagged the slaw concept (not the ingredients) from Marination Mobile, about which more very soon. I picked kohlrabi basically because it was the nicest looking crispy vegetable I saw at the market yesterday, but you could just as easily use jicama.

The slaw was dressed with Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar.  I'm not a big TJ's person at all, but that vinegar has a really bright, citrusy taste that I've used countless times to bring a dish to life. Granted you could easily combine champagne vinegar and fresh orange juice yourself, but in a pinch, this stuff is a real winner.

Because there are a lot of components to assemble on each taco, it is really important to have hot plates, and all of the ingredients prepared and organized in advance. Otherwise you'll be serving cold tacos, and who wants to do that?

Oh, and a note about corn tortillas: do not buy the ones at Whole Foods! They are terrible. The texture is completely wrong, and when heated they get all crumbly. It is as if they had hired a team of food scientists to make the worst possible tortilla. In order of preference: homemade, made at a local tortilleria (ask around, you might be very pleasantly surprised!), or a national Mexican brand.

Roasted Potato and Asparagus Tacos with Kohlrabi Slaw
Makes 8 tacos, serves 4 with rice and beans
Vegetarian and gluten-free; not vegan unless you substitute or omit the dairy products

• 6 medium potatoes, 1/2" dice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2" lengths
• 3 small or 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and julienned, preferably on a mandoline, or grated
• 1/2 small sweet onion or white onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champage Vinegar or 1/4 cup champagne vinegar and 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema, sour cream, or yogurt
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 lb feta or cotija cheese, crumbled
• 1 ripe Hass avocado, peeled and sliced
• a few sprigs of cilantro
• salt
• 16 soft corn tortillas

1. Heat the oven to 375 F. Toss the potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the cumin powder, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt. Roast on a sheet pan in a single layer, turning occasionally with a spatula until golden brown and crispy. Taste and adjust salt. Set aside in a heatproof bowl.
2. Toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and roast on the same sheet pan until tender and beginning to brown, maybe about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust salt. Set aside in a heatproof bowl.
3. Reduce oven to 175 F.
4. Combine the kohlrabi, onion, vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
5. Combine the crema and lemon juice with a pinch of salt and whisk. Put it in a squeeze bottle if you like.
6. Put the plates in the oven to heat, and return the potatoes and asparagus to the oven to reheat.
7. Wrap the tortillas in a clean, moist kitchen towel and microwave until steaming hot and soft. Start checking after 1 minute.
8. To serve: on each plate, make two stacks of two tortillas each. In order, top with the potatoes and asparagus, then slaw, cheese, avocado, creama, and avocado.

Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice Rethought - Recipe

The traditional recipe for arroz verde involves cooking your rice with a puree of poblano peppers and herbs. It is truly delicious, and I'd choose it in a heartbeat over the typical red rice you find nearly universally at Mexican-American restaurants.

When I went to make it yesterday, I thought to myself "now why am I cooking all of these delicious fresh herbs?" Their flavor is so perfect when raw, why should I boil the for 20 minutes? So I took a new approach. I omitted the poblanos, and simply made a pesto-like puree of the herbs, garlic, and a little oil. After the plain rice was cooked, I stirred in the herbs right before serving.

The result was really satisfying, with a clean, bright, summery flavor. And as you can see, the green color is very appealing on the plate.

The recipe below calls for 2 cups of fresh herbs. My daughter and I raided the garden, and used a lot of flat-leaf parsley, oregano, and cilantro,and smaller amounts of chives, rosemary, mint and dill. You can vary it according to what you have available and what you are serving it with. Because the herbs are thoroughly pureed, you can use tenderish stems of parsley and cilantro as well as the leaves.

Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 4 as a side dish

• 1.5 cups medium grain white rice
• 2 cups edible parts of lightly packed fresh herbs (see note above)
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or according to package directions.
2. In a food processor, combine the herbs, garlic, and olive oil. Process until thoroughly pureed.
3. Just before serving, stir the herb mixture and salt into the rice. Taste and add more salt as needed.
4. Variation: you could also stir in a bit of lime or lemon juice.

Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate

The second annual Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon is coming up again on July 12. I was a judge last year and was impressed with the wide range of chocolatiers that showed up to sample their wares, and at $20 for an adult advance ticket I thought it was a darn good deal.

I won't be able to attend this year, but somehow I still had the good fortune to receive a few advance samples from two of my favorite places: Theo Chocolates and Chocolopolis. Sometimes it is good to be a blogger!

Theo sent along a 91% Costa Rica bar that was amazingly smooth for such a high percentage, and a 45% milk chocolate that completely redefined my understanding of the light stuff. It has a complex, caramelized flavor that I could go back to over and over. Also included was a coffee & dark chocolate bar done in concert with Caffe Vita, and these incredible ghost chile & sea salt caramels.

I had the opportunity to tour Theo a couple months ago with a group organized by Keren Brown (aka the Frantic Foodie). I was amazed at what a small, committed group of people can do. How many chocolate companies do you know that have two Ph.D.'s on staff, one who specializes in the anthropology of cacao and another who is helping growers around the world improve the quality of their beans and processing? Or that have already been featured on Oprah? Or that partner with Jane Goodall? Or that uses only organic, fair trade beans? Amazing stuff. I can't even begin to tell you their whole story, you should just go visit them and take the factory tour, or if you live far away, peruse their site and buy some bars.

Chocolopolis also deserves lots of love. Chief Chocophile Lauren Adler curates ultra-high quality bars and confections from around the world, gathering them all at her small Queen Anne shop. It is a terrific place to taste, learn about chocolate, and come home with goodies you can't find anywhere else. They also make some awesome stuff on-site. The fig filled with anise ganache and dipped in 72% chocolate was one of the best bites I've put in my mouth in a long time.

Speaking of local Seattle companies, take a minute to sign up for the ChefShop.com newsletter and you have the chance to win $500 worth of their products. Their products are awesome.