Coaching Cooking

For me, a visit to a local demi-god such as TJ’s (I’ll let you figure that one out…) signifies that I will probably purchase a new and exciting food product. Granted, it’s not the only store that provides such an experience. But, there are certain products that bring out the cook in me and TJ’s is one of them.

Yesterday, I started out with a craving for a good tuna sandwich. A good tuna sandwich should never be underestimated. Those of you who’ve had a BAD tuna sandwich know exactly what I’m talking about. So I was thinking: tuna with mayo and some chopped red onion plus a great Greek seasoning blend (Thanks, Clare!), maybe some sprouts or cucumber on toasted Milton’s multigrain bread.

I walk into TJ’s and it is busy as usual, bustling really. I admit that I loved TJ’s even before those days when I used to visit my ex-boyfriend (he was a stocker, not a stalker…). The shelves are full of gorgeous, yet affordable foodstuffs. The produce section veers more towards the unusual so it’s nice to walk around and to feel inspired by such exotic offerings.

And this is the point, right in the produce aisle, where tuna sandwich ideas shift to lox and bagel realities. I spot the microgreens. Now, clearly the name microgreens might imply some sort of wave-of-the-future food product. Living in Silicon Valley as I do, the name also sounds suspiciously like a pseudo-futuristic take on a pre-existing food.

So what are microgreens anyway? Okay, just as a disclaimer, I’m not a botanist or a farmer, so my description exists merely as the rantings of a literary layperson. Microgreens are kind of like the tiny children of bigger salad greens. Arugula’s miniature daughters and sons or, dare I talk about it, the Lilliputian offspring of spinach have come together to form microgreens. You may not find these miniature greens everywhere, but they are starting to show up in fancy restaurants and even in some stores. For more information, see Jeannette Ferrary’s 2002 article in VIA Online: http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/microgreens02.asp

Personally, I think microgreens are fantastic for two reasons. One, they are tiny so you can throw them in a sandwich or sprinkle them on top of a larger salad and they become extra nutrition with big flavor. This is especially good if you are like me and you sometimes need to fool yourself into eating something healthy. Two, they are really just so darn cute. The flavor notwithstanding, these little greens somehow manage to steal the spotlight from those mixed greens we’ve all been forced to bear. So, they’re easy to eat, they’re becoming easier to procure, and they taste delicious.

So, back to the lox sandwich. I grab the microgreens, stroll by the meat and cheese cases for some choice cream cheese and lox (smoked salmon) all the while avoiding the bony elbows of my lovely gentlewomen (you know the ones…they have to grab the cold cuts RIGHT NOW or there’s a risk of losing them forever…that’s right, they’ll elbow you in the side or face if they need to…). Another quick jaunt across the store to the plain bagels plus a quick scan of the beverage aisle which yielded some pita chips, blood orange juice, and French lemonade. Move to the side, gentlewomen, because it’s sandwich time!

That lox sandwich comes together very nicely at home. I finely chop some red onion (okay, while watching “Project Runway,” I admit…). The plain bagel sits toasting in the toaster oven while I carefully removed the lox from its plastic sleeve. The microgreens, unfortunately, present a bit of challenge. Here’s the “micro tip” part of my spiel. Microgreens are, as I’ve stated before, small. They need a bit of care when washing. So I’ve found a great solution. The salad spinner is a great kitchen tool. It is also a bit too big for microgreens and I didn’t want to spin my precious tasties only to find that most of them were stuck in the colander part of the salad spinner. Here’s my solution below:

Put a small colander inside your salad spinner and the microgreens will dry out without falling all over the place plus they stay nicely tucked into the colander. Voila!

**NOTE**: If you purchase microgreens make sure to use them up quickly, within a few days of purchase, or store them carefully in the vegetable or bottom drawer of the fridge. Microgreens are delicate and they dry up if exposed to too much cold air or if they are left sitting on the counter.

Thus, the lox sandwich is a triumph of taste with the creaminess of the cream cheese on a plain bagel and the saltiness and smoky flavor of the lox balanced by the chopped red onion and the microgreens. The microgreens are clean, fresh and tasty (and even nutritious!). My microgreens mix from yesterday’s lunch included arugula, collard greens, broccoli collards, celery greens, amaranth, radish sprouts and several other delicious greens. And now I must pursue the quest for a great tuna sandwich (maybe with a little microgreens on top).