Purple Stuff: Mystery Vegetable

Please help us identify this leafy, purple vegetable.

We bought it the other day at our green grocer's, not really caring what it was, just that it looked very good. It was among the other seasonal greens (yeah, it's purple...) without any labeling. I asked the cashier what it was, and she enthusiastically told me they were... beet leaves!

This was a bit surprising to me, as I've been eating beet greens since I could remember, and they've always been green, with just a hint of red in the stem sometimes.

Before diving into them tonight, I did a little online research. The closest thing I could come up with is orach (based on this photo at The Kitchn) aka German mountain spinach. But I'm still not convinced...

We tasted some of it raw, and it actually tasted not like beet greens, but a bit like beet root! Sweet, sugary, a bit mineral-y. After lightly wilting it, though, it gave off a beet-like juice (only much less intense) and lost its sweetness, tasting more or less like spinach.

So how did we have it? I added spinach to the pan while wilting in garlic-tinged olive oil, and served it both over and under buta-no-kakuni (Japanese style braised pork belly) over chestnut basmati rice.

And yeah, it was as good as it looks.

And although Alannah wasn't as intrigued by the whole beet-like flavor (notice the beet juice coloring tinting the rice, above) I'm ready to have the rest raw in a salad, maybe with a citrusy zest.

So does anyone know what this is? And how it's normally eaten? First definitive answer wins a moist, sticky date.

No, not with Alannah, but a nice, sugary deglet noor from North Africa. (Winner must take delivery in Paris, as fruit products generally do not pass customs. Kthxbai.)

Taking Her Delicate Flower

Mesclun is, quite literally, a fancy French way of saying "mixed greens." But when we say "mesclun greens," you pretty much know exactly what's going to be on the plate, as opposed to "mixed greens," which could damn well be anything. Anyway, I say mesclun, you say mixed, tomato, tom-ah-to, arugula, lettuce... let's call the whole thing elitist and base a presidential election around it.

Anyway, mesclun greens get even more fancy and elitist when you add edible flowers to the mix, which our local green market was more than happy to provide. Run some red radishes through a mandolin and you're getting some über-elite salad.

A salad with this much inherent flavor deserves a light, unobtrusive vinaigrette. Mix a healthy portion of extra virgin olive oil with tiny portions fresh lemon juice, rice vinegar, and cider vinegar, add salt and fresh-ground black pepper. Drizzle it over the greens 'til it looks moist and glistening, like it's ready and waiting for you to pierce it with your fork...

The Ugly Ones Need Some Lovin' Too: Monkfish

I'm not sure exactly what she does, but Alannah gets a lot of freebies from the guys at the markets.

Case in point: When she went to buy some cod fillet yesterday, the fishmonger threw in some monkfish.

Monkfish is like a drunk hook-up: Hideous but still satisfying. However – unless you procure some bad fish – there aren't any consequences in the morning. It may look like a bit like that beast you took home after 8 straight hours of beer pong in your fraternity days, only its flesh is firm and its liver beautifully intact.

Tonight was all about the flesh. Firm but supple. Moist and sweet.

And the fish was pretty good, too.

Roasted in the oven (15 min. at high temperature, 5 min. under the broiler), atop crisp potato pancakes, topped with a tomato-saffron coulis (with a touch of rosé), and garnished with wilted radish greens and red radish.

It made for something radically different - and more seasonal - than the usual filet de lotte served around Paris. Which is good in its own way - just that you don't need to eat stuff smothered in white cream sauce every day.

Or do you?

Naked Food: Today's Market Haul

There's nothing better than doing it outdoors on a spring day.

After sopping up our brunch and getting ourselves cleaned up, we headed out to our local markets, picking up a small bounty for the weekend.

Artichauts de Poivrade (baby artichokes), mesclun greens with edible flowers, red radishes, carottes de sable (sand carrots, a specialty of Gironde), fava beans, chicken breast fermier, poitrine fumée, and veal osso buco.