Introduction
You’ve decided to bring home, harvest and eat small, fresh plants. Perhaps, you've decided to grow them yourself. Congratulations! Don't get attached. It's easy to do. Microgreens are unparalleled garnishes. With the flick of a wrist, seedlings like sorrel cast an aromatic spell of color and flavor and make simple dishes exquisite. But beyond garnish? Microgreens are fragile and evaporate when cooked. It's their fragility that limits their flexibility in the kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that microgreens add so much dimension to a meal, other ingredients would make fun of them for being expensive and fussy. Try the cheddar biscuit recipe and you’ll taste how amaranth highlights a cheese’s grassy notes. Fold nasturtium into warm sesame rice to release a sweet, spicy steam. It doesn’t take much for microgreens to escape their fate as garnish. Microgreens in themselves are full of nutrients. Here at Cook Chop Chop, tiny is mighty. This book is dedicated to those who get their nutrients from plant based sources. Of the 18 recipes, 13 are vegan and all are vegetarian.
Ingredients and Equipment
Ingredients Oil is any neutral oil unless specified. Sumac is a tart spice that is reminiscent of lemon zest with a hint of cranberry. Find it and a kajillion other spices you suddenly can't cook without at World Spice Merchants.
Special Ingredients Cast Iron Skillet – 10" or greater Wok – 13" or greate Ice cream maker – "follow the maker's instructions" is what everyone says. When the ice cream is ready it, the motor will drop in tone and the machine will vibrat
Radish Sprouts
Radish sprouts crack a peppery whip. In appetizers they set the tone for the meal. In the main course, they provide a palate-cleansing break from strong flavors.
Extra lovely: Tossed with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of citrus juice (orange is a favorite), radish sprouts become a flavor bomb. Ramp up avocado toast, potato salad, seared tuna, or drown a hank in root vegetable soup. .
Deviled Eggs
Even served casually, radish sprouts shine as part of a tuna tartine or chicken salad. Mixed into an egg salad, they create texture and flavor with just a love-bite of heat. For heat that bites harder, use African Cayenne as a dusting
Steam eggs for 12 minutes. Place the eggs in an ice-water bath for 10. Peel eggs Ingredients 1/4 cup radish sprouts, rough chopped 6 yolks 1/4 cup aioli 1 tsp white vinegar 1 TBSP Dijon mustard 1/4 tsp white pepper, ground
Directions Slice eggs tip to tail Remove yolks and place them in a bowl Add stuffing ingredients Spoon stuffing, a teaspoon at a time, into egg whites Dust with the devil that you dance with
Gremolata Goes Deep
Gremolata by nature interrupts the monotony of gamey meat with bright herbaceousness. Use this radish sprout gremolata sparingly to quiet the boredom of a marrow broth or turn a bowl of plain rice into a table-wide "ooooh" moment.
Ingredients 2 cup radish sprouts 1 1/2 TBSP lemon juice 1/2 TBSP ginger juice 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp garlic chives, minced 1 tsp orange zest
Directions Mix lemon and ginger juice, salt, and garlic chives. You can let this dressing sit for a few hours. Just before serving, toss in radish sprouts and orange zest
Use as a chaotic plouche or send the dressed sprouts through the food processor to make a tidy paste for grilled meats
Amaranth Cheese Biscuits
Amaranth adds to dishes like potatoes and highlights the grassiness in cheese. We’ve made a lot of these biscuits and always miss the amaranth when it’s left out.
Ingredients 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded 1 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/4 cup Amaranth 1/2 tsp sumac Directions Heat oven to 400°F. In a bowl, mix ingredients. The dough should be clumpy, not pasty. Form tablespoon-sized balls and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan 2" apart. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Let cool on the cooling rack. If you've used GF flour, let the biscuits rest for 24 hours to fully set. Extra lovely: Serve with a dollop of apricot jam.
Amaranth Parmesan Crisps
Make these in small batches and serve immediately as an elegant, quick appetizer.
Ingredients 1 cup parmesan, shredded 1/2 tsp lemon zest 4 tsp Amaranth 4 tsp lemon basil 1 tsp lemon zest
Directions Heat oven to 400°F. Portion out 8 heaping tablespoons of shredded parmesan onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Place in oven for 4-5 minutes. Remove and let rest for 2 minutes. Top with amaranth and let the sprouts wilt into the cheese. Optional: Fold while disks are still warm and let cool to create parmesan "taco" shells. Extra lovely: Add lemon basil and pumpkin seeds and serve immediately
Oh! Naturtium Skordalia. Oh!
Nasturtiums and pea shoots get tougher as they mature. Youthful tenderness makes way for potent wisdom – let's celebrate that. Toss them into the food processor and make an enthusiastic skordalia to dip, sauce, or yes, garnish.
Ingredients 3 cups nasturtiums trimmed to 1" 6 cloves roasted garlic 1 cup mashed potato 1/2 cup olive oil 1 TBSP lemon 1/4 cup micro lemon basil S&P Directions In a food processor: place garlic, potato, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add lemon juice, nasturtium, and lemon basil. Slowly process into a thick paste. Gradually add remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Lemon Basil
Served with crackers or bread, the lemon basil will add an intriguing Mediterranean accent. As a pasta sauce, the refreshing nasturtium takes charge. Ingredients 1/4 cup lemon basil leaves 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp agave 1 cup rice vinegar Directions Place all ingredients into a non-reactive pot. Medium heat. Bring to a simmer remove from heat and let steep until cool. Pour into a container and refrigerate. Let sit 24 hours before using
Extra lovely: Lemon basil has a numbing zing to it. It’s powerful. Use it with other dominant flavors like pomegranate.
Four Out of Six Nasturtium Sauce
Every casual dinner party wants at least one side plate of pickles, hot sauce, chutney, or a seasoned salt to interject itself into the conversation. This syrup recipe tempers the bite of the nasturtium without muting it. Ingredients 4 cups nasturtium leaves and 2" of stem 1 TBSP soy 1 TBSP vinegar 1 TBSP lemon juice 1 TBSP honey Directions Pour soy, vinegar, and honey into a pot and set to boil. Stir often to dissolve honey. When the pot reaches a boil, turn off the heat and add lemon juice. Stir. Drizzle hot sauce over nasturtium shoots. Serve over roasted carrots or under chicken or braised pork.
Nasturtium Rice
This sweet, salty, sesame rice can always be relied on to make sense of willful flavors like nasturtium's pepper honied pepper. Ingredients 3 cups nasturtium, leaves with 1" stems 4 cup steamed short-grain rice 1 tsp sea salt 1/2 TBSP sugar 1 tsp rice vinegar 3/4 TBSP sesame oil 1 TBSP sesame seeds Directions Wash the rice under cold, running water until its cloudy water runs misty. Fill up the rice pot, watch the water bloom with white starch, gently swirl. Pour out the water. Repeat. Periodically scrape your hand through the rice. When your hands don't kick up a thick cloud of starch, drain the water off. Then add 2 cups of water. Cook on high for 4 minutes and turn down to low for 16 minutes. Turn off heat and let the pot sit for 5 minutes, at which point it will be done. Season rice Place hot rice in a large bowl. Scatter salt, oil, and vinegar around the rice. Gently and quickly mix 3x. Add sesame oil. mix 1x. Add Sesame seeds. Mix 1x. Add nasturtium. Mix 1x. Serve Pack 1 cup of rice into the oiled bowl. Upend the bowl onto a plate or another, slightly larger bowl Tap, remove the bowl, and serve immediately.
Pea shoots
Pea shoots are blithe if not fragile beings that easily appear in salads, side dishes, soups, under main courses, or as a garnish. To eat pea shoots raw, harvest just the top 2 inches of the shoots. Use pea shoots to add an airy quality to dishes with deep sauces and buoy easily drowned accents like corn silk.
The crown of versatility hangs heavy – pea shoots can easily be overworked. A quick toss in a large bowl with a ladle of hot broth or oil is all they need to shine. Pea shoots do not like heat. Instead of cooking them directly, use hot oil, sauce, or broth to keep their delicate structure and flavor intact.
Pea shoots & Green beans
Pea shoots add levity to this recipe's dense plum chili sauce. Use this dish to garnish rice, roast, or stew. NOTE: There are leafy pea shoots and there are viney pea shoots. The viney pea shoots hold the sauce in this recipe much better than the leafy pea shoots. Ingredients 6 cups leafy pea shoots, trimmed to 2” 1/2 lb green beans, blanched for 45 seconds in salted water 2 cloves of garlic, slivered 1 tbsp peanut oil 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp garlic 1/4 cup prune juice 1/2 tbsp Korean red chili paste Directions Place pea shoots in a bowl. Mix prune juice and chili paste. In a hot skillet: Add peanut oil. Add salt, pepper, and garlic. Stir to coat the entire pan with oil. When the garlic is golden brown: Add green beans to the pan and stirfry for 2 minutes – stir constantly. Take a half-step back from the stove: Add sauce. Stir. Turn off heat. Stir to evenly coat the green beans. Take off heat. Let cook for another minute. Toss green beans to cool them. Wait another minute. Add to the bowl of pea shoots, mix. Serve immediately.
Pea shoot broth
Pea shoots quickly become pea vines and pea vines quickly become stringy. Make this broth with tough, scraggly, or kind-of-sad pea vines. Use this broth in place of water to make rice, as a base for soup, sauce, or to steam vegetables. Boil rice noodles, dumplings, or couscous. Ingredients Makes 7 cups of broth 6 cups pea shoots 8 cups H2O 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 onion, thinly sliced 2 stocks celery, thinly sliced Directions Bring vegetables and water to a boil, add salt. Add pea shoots. Let simmer for 7-minutes Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes Strain through a fine-mesh strainer Extra lovely Use clear broth to cook rice, steaming greens, or as a light soup Blend up solids and strain for a thicker broth that can be seasoned into a soup
Pea shoots in a Wok
Pea shoots can be cooked in the wok. It will take just a second. Literally. You need a lot of shoots. Another method is to simply drizzle the hot broth in this recipe onto the pea shoots while constantly moving the pea shoots around. Ingredients Serves 4 8 cups pea shoots 1 TBSP broth 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 TBSP peanut oil 1 TBSP shallot 1/2 TBSP garlic Directions In a hot wok: add oil. Add shallot, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir until garlic browns. Turn off heat. Add shoots. toss. Add broth. Toss. Remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl. Plate and serve immediately.
Hyssop Blueberry Coconut Ice Cream
This vegan ice-cream is straight up gorgeous and simple. It's not too sweet, but sweet enough to satisfy a craving. Warning: Never underestimate the ability of the blueberry to leave a stain. Combine blueberries, hyssop syrup and orange zest in a sauce pot. Simmer until berries break (8 -10) minutes. Cool completely. Puree to smooth in a blend. Pass blueberry mix through a fine mesh strainer (to remove the seeds) and into a bowl. Pour coconut milk into the bowl and mix well. Place mixture in freezer for 20 minutes. Pour extremely cold but not frozen mixture into ice cream maker.
1/2 cup hyssop syrup 3 cups frozen blueberries 1-pint coconut milk, refrigerated for 6 hours 1/4 tsp orange zest Ingredients Serves
Micro Mix
This mix is a workhorse of texture, flavor, and refreshing air to a plate. On its own, it’s a rich salad. Add texture to a cauliflower puree or bulk up a couscous. It’s a happy plouche on top of a hotdog. Microgreens don't judge. Ingredients 1 cup pea shoots 1/2 cup nasturtium leaves and stem 2 TBSP lemon basil 1/4 cup sunflower sprouts Chop pea shoots and nasturtium spouts into one-inch-long sections. Directions Combine with lemon basil and sunflower sprouts. Extra lovely Mix in 1/4 cup pepitas
Sunflower Shoots in Lemon Turmeric
When in doubt make a pickle. When sunflower shoots grow their true leaves, they begin to bitter out. Pickle sunflower shoots with a hot brine to eliminate the bitter. Ingredients 1 cup sunflower shoots 1 tsp turmeric 1/2 cup lemon juice 3/4 TBSP salt 1/2 cup water 1/2 TBSP honey Directions Toast turmeric in a sauce pot and quickly add salt, water, and rice vinegar. Let boil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally with a whisk. Cover sunflower shoots with hot brine. Refrigerate excess and use to garnish rice, salad or noodle soups. Keeps for a week
For the Larder Use the following recipes to create ingredients that highlight microgreens and add dimension to dishes.
Pepitas
Pumpkin seeds and micro lemon basil make a beautiful pair. Use the combo as a filling for the parmesan crisps. Ingredients 2 cups pumpkin seeds 1/2 TBSP oil 1 tsp smoked paprika 1/4 tsp sea salt Directions In a cast iron with oil, cumin, and paprika. Medium heat, oil, add 2 cups pumpkin seeds to the hot oil Dust with paprika. Toss and let cook for 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt, let cool completely Extra lovely Mix in a bowl with lemon basil before topping parmesan.
Lemon Basil Vinegar
A pinch of lemon basil disappears in a stew pot but is remarkably ebullient in vinegar – which then makes an aioli worth a damn. Ingredients 1/4 cup lemon basil leaves 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp agave 1 cup rice vinegar Directions Place all ingredients into a non-reactive pot. Medium heat. Bring to a simmer remove from heat and let steep until cool. Pour into a container and refrigerate. Let sit 24 hours before using.
About
Adrianne Dow Young is a chef and a writer whose work is fueled by a love of research. Her greatest passion, deep organic growing, comes from a drive to learn through observation.
At present, she is discovering how to care for Dagrenning, a senior Icelandic mare and documenting her other projects All 23 Bunnies. When she isn't writing, she distills botanicals and makes whipped balms and soaps for her skincare company Persephone's Ball.
She lives in Leavenworth, Washington with her family and a revolving litter of foster kittens.
Other a.d.y. reads The intricate etiquette at the Korean table. Rockhounding in the North Cascades How to grow a cocktail garden. Grape varietal definitions for Wine enthusiast. Find her other book titles on Apple Books.