Random Vegetable Scraps: Grapefruits, Toni Morrison, and being forgetful at the grocery store

The challenge of a weekly CSA delivery in my opinion is using up all the produce thoughtfully before the next delivery happens. I like this part and that's why I like getting weekly surprise produce.

This week I got grapefruits alongside the kale and carrots and apples and such. Every time I think about grapefruits I think about the book Tar Baby by Toni Morrison, specifically a scene where Margaret and Valerian, a married couple who own a particularly nice home on a Caribbean island called L'Arbe de la Croix, are eating breakfast:

Sydney returned with a bowl of crushed ice in which a mango stood. The peeling had been pulled back from the shiny fruit in perfect curls. The slits along the pulp were barely visible. Valerian yawned behind his fist, then said, "Sydney, can I or can I not order a cup of coffee and get it?"

"Yes sir. 'Course you can." He put down the mango and filled Valerian's cup.

"See, Margaret. And there's your mango. Four hundred and twenty-five calories."

"What about your croissant?"

"One twenty-seven."

"God." Margaret closed her eyes, her blue-if-it's-a-boy-eyes and put down her fork.

"Have a grapefruit."

"I don't want grapefruit. I want mango."

Valerian shrugged. "Slurp away. But you had three helpings of mousse last night."

"Two, I had two. Jade had three."

"Oh, well, only two ..."

"Well, what do we have a cook for? Even I can slice grapefruit."

"To wash the dishes."

"What dishes? According to you, all I need is a teaspoon."

"Well, someone has to wash your teaspoon."

"And your shovel."

"Funny. Very funny."

I read Tar Baby when I was fourteen. I think my older sister read it for English class a couple of years prior to that and I picked it up off the shelf where it lived next to all the other assigned readings (Scarlet Letter, To Kill A Mockingbird, that sort of thing). I've always been an avid reader, but Tar Baby was the first book I had actual trouble putting down. There were some parts that made me uncomfortable: depictions of fear, anger, intrusion, hints of violence and intimidation, far more latent commentary on racial tension than my teenaged brain could not fully absorb or parse, and yet I couldn't stop reading. For some reason, my primary associations with the book are corduroy ("the swish of cloth - corduroy against corduroy or denim against denim - the sound only a woman's thighs could make"), peppermint (after the candy that bore the character Valerian's name), grapefruit, and Paris (Jadine modeled there before heading to the Caribbean).

So what did I do with the grapefruit from my CSA? Well, I ate one of them for a snack at work and decided that meant I should use the other one in a non-breakfast setting.

I turned to Mark Bittman, whose fantastic app "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" is among the very best apps I've ever spent money on. I typed in the ingredient "grapefruit" and came up with a good number of options. I settled on the following:

Jean‐Georges's Rice Noodle Salad with Grapefruit and Peanuts
By Mark Bittman
(From the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for iPhone^® app)

Introduction:
This is an adaptation of a recipe from my first book with Jean‐Georges Vongerichten, Cooking at Home with A Four‐Star Chef. Here cold rice noodles are spiked with grapefruit, peanuts, vegetables, herbs, and spices to make a flavor‐packed salad in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts but individual flavors remain distinct.

Use a couple of oranges, tangerines, or even peeled and sliced fresh plums or peaches in place of the grapefruit if you like.

Ingredients:

1 or 2 small fresh chiles, minced, or about 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
About ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
8 ounces rice vermicelli
1 stalk lemongrass
1 large grapefruit, peeled, sectioned, and chopped
½ cup chopped roasted peanuts
1 medium to large ripe tomato, peeled, cored, seeded, and chopped
3 scallions, minced
⅓ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Steps:

In a small bowl, combine the chiles, garlic, sugar, lime juice, and soy sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning. (This dressing may be prepared a day or two in advance; if anything, its flavor will improve.)
Soak the rice noodles in fairly hot water (about 120°F, just too hot to touch) for 10 to 20 minutes, or until soft. Meanwhile, set a large pot of water to boil. Trim the stalk of lemongrass and peel off enough layers to expose its tender core. Finely mince enough to make about 1 tablespoon.
Mix the grapefruit, ⅓ cup of the peanuts, the tomato, scallions, mint, ⅓ cup of the cilantro, and the lemongrass together in a large bowl.
Drain the noodles and plunge them into the boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, drain the noodles and rinse in a colander under cold running water until cooled. Drain well, then toss in the large bowl with the grapefruit mixture and the dressing.
Divide the salad among serving bowls, garnish with the remaining cilantro and peanuts, and serve.

I started making this tonight and realized that I had no rice noodles. I'd been to the store no fewer than three times in the past week and had forgotten each time to pick some up. I wanted to smack myself on the forehead, but I'd just chopped up a jalapeno and thought it wise not to risk getting jalapeno in my eye (right?). I made the executive decision to continue fixing dinner, but instead of rice noodles, I grated up some rainbow carrots (hooray, CSA rainbow carrots!) and chopped up a cucumber to round things out. I also added some crumbled tofu to my leftovers; it will marinate overnight and be delicious for lunch tomorrow at work.

So, no noodles in the following pictures. Oh well. It was a pretty tasty dish, though if you're not into grapefruit, by all means, don't add it. It's a prominent flavor to say the least. I added more green onions than the recipe called for, and put a dash of sriracha on the finished product as I ate it.

Done with the dressing; on to the salad part ...