Kalettes in a salad

Pictured above are the raw materials of the salad. Clockwise, starting at lower left corner:

• Several kalettes (what the store called them: infant kale)
• 2 sweet-tooth peppers: 1 yellow, 1 orange
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 6 thick scallions
• beaker for the dressing (see below)
• red cabbage (I used just one thick slice, shredded)
• Stokes Purple® potato (cooked, from the fridge)
* 3 baby bok choy of a size the store calls “mue” — Infant bok choy
• 2 yellow cayenne peppers
• 1 red beet, raw (which I grated)

Also in the salad but not shown:

• 1/3 cup navy beans from the fridge
• 1/3 cup unpolished little millet from the fridge
• 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted pumpkin seed 

The dressing was made by loading the immersion blender beaker with:

• 1 lemon, peeled
• 2 cloves Russian red garlic, sliced to make blending easier
• 1″ very fresh ginger root, ditto
• about 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
• about 1.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Dijon honey-balsamic mustard
• dash of tamari
• dash of Frank’s RedHot Xtra Hot sauce
• about 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• about 1.5 tablespoons chipotle aioli

I cooked the baby bok choy mue: sliced it in half, placed flat-side down in a nonstick skillet sprayed with olive oil, added a little water, covered, and cooked on medium heat for about 5 minutes. 

I like to refrigerate grains, beans, and potatoes after I cook them before I eat or use them in a dish I’m cooking. Refrigerating after cooking makes the starch resistant and not so quickly digested.

Purple potatoes are particularly nutritious.

A NY Times quiz I recently blogged said that kale and beets are best eaten raw. Okay.

Kale: 

As with other cruciferous vegetables — like cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage — kale is loaded with compounds called glucosinolates. When you chop or chew kale, an enzyme is released that converts glucosinolates to new compounds called isothiocyanates, which can trigger anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer pathways in the body, Dr. Ho said. Heat from cooking, however, destroys those enzymes, preventing that reaction and making isothiocyanates less available.

Kale also supplies plenty of vitamin C and antioxidants, which are similarly degraded by cooking. One 2018 study also found that various cooking methods like boiling, steaming, microwaving and pressure cooking reduced levels of potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and copper.

There are a couple of workarounds to the enzyme-destruction problem. One is to cut up the cruciferous vegetable and let it rest for 45 minutes to let the enzyme complete its job before cooking the vegetable. Once the reaction is complete, the beneficial compounds are heat-stable.

The other workaround is to go ahead and cook the vegetable, and then at the table add some uncooked cruciferous thing that still has the enzyme active — for example, a little dry mustard powder; or possibly some shredded raw cabbage (as in slaw). Those will provide the still-active enzyme needed for the reaction. 

Beets:

Beets are rich in dietary nitrates, Dr. Michels said, nitrogen-based compounds that have been linked to a range of health benefits, including lower blood pressure. Beets also contain betalains — pigment compounds that give beets their signature deep hue and that have antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and liver protective properties — as well as flavonoids.

But you won’t get as many of these benefits if the beets are overcooked, Dr. Michels said — especially if they are boiled. Studies suggest that boiling can reduce the levels of vitamin C, folate, flavonoids and betalains.

I ended up with a lot of salad — enough more another meal or two. So the leftover will got into glass storage containers.

Late start but a great shave

D.R. Harris shaving soap is first-rate, and that WSP Prince silvertip is not too shabby, either. It’s a firm brush that brought forth upon this continent a great lather. The razor, the SR-71 slant by The Holy Black, is a straightforward Merkur 37 clone with a hefty handle. Three passes cleared the stubble and a splash of Arlington aftershave finished the job. Arlington has a fresh fragrance with a little citrus.

The tea this morning is Murchie’s CBC Radio Blend: “A blend of choice Ceylon and China black teas, Jasmine and other green teas with a touch of citrus.”