Woops!!

Power of suggestion maybe? Thursday night I was talking to a friend who was complaining about her CSA experience last year (different CSA) and the lack of variety in the crops. Apparently, she had received many more scallions than she ever needed. Each week they came, and she was not happy about it.

So yesterday, with my abundance of green vegetables, I planned to make a pea shoot and noodle dish and a dressing for the baby greens and arugula. One of the ingredients in both dishes was scallions and so I took out the long green shoots from my fridge. Cutting them, I thought they looked rather thin, but continued on my task for the dressing. It was only after finishing the dressing and tasting it that I realized they were not scallions, but chives!!!

What could I have been thinking? Other than looking similar in their length and color, they are

NOT.
THE SAME.
AT ALL.

Urrrggghh. I tried to get the chives out of the dressing all the while cursing myself for the momentary brain glitch. I recovered enough and substituting shallots as I had no scallions.

Both dishes ended up eatable, though not by the youngest member of the household, who was less than happy. While she normally loves noodles, these were pronounced "not oily enough" (??????? what does this mean???), and the pea shoots got the dreaded "no" sign, which for her is the slow and determined shake of the head back and forth, all the while staring at me with eyes that say:

"you.
shouldn't.
have.
made.
me.
try.
this.
you.
will.
pay.
later".

Lesson to be learned: appearances can be deceiving, except in the case of a young one's displeasure.


Here is the recipe for the dressing, which comes from the book, "From Asparagus to Zucchini":

1/3 cup sesame or olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, pressed into a paste
1-2 teaspoons grated fresh gingerroot or 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
dash of cayanne
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon chopped green onion (scallions)