LACK OF RAIN MAY CHANGE A LOT

Do you find the constant references to our "beautiful, glorious weather" as disturbing as I do? The comments trouble me, just as the description of rainy days as "ugly" and "awful" have always troubled me.

The current praise for our weather makes me shiver as I remember the two significant droughts I've lived through here. The relentless "niceness" of the weather becomes exhausting after a while, especially when there's not enough water to keep your outside plants alive and you try to shower in under 2 minutes.

If this keeps up, and there is every indication that it will, lack of water will play havoc with our farms and their harvest. There has been such an amazing increase in the number of small family farms since the last long-term drought ended in extreme weather and dramatic floods at the start of 1994. Since then, we've had more years of average and above-average rainfall than I can recall.

We're way overdue for a drought, but if this one is longterm, a lot will change and not in a good way.

Some of the changes will be subtle and, really, we're already seeing them. If you eat a truly seasonal diet, things feel off. The slow braises, stews and hearty soups we want in the rainy season just don't seem right when the thermometer reads like late spring and the sky is a startlingly clear blue. Yet freezing nights make us crave more than a light salad.

Here are a couple of recipes, seasonally appropriate, that I hope will help.

This dish is meant to be either a substantial first course or a main dish, not a side dish. It is hearty and filling, yet does not take long to prepared. All ingredients can be found at farmers markets, except the maple syrup in the dressing.

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad with Pecans, Soft-Cooked Eggs and Warm-Bacon Maple Vinaigrette

Makes 4 to 6 servings

-- Warm Bacon-Maple Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

6 cups cauliflower and broccoli florets (see Note below)

2 or 3 eggs, preferably from local pastured hens

1 small red onion, sliced into very thin half rounds

4 ounces shelled pecans or walnut pieces, lightly toasted

-- First, make the vinaigrette.

Blanch or steam the florets until just barely tender. Remove from the heat and transfer to a wide shallow bowl and let cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, put the eggs in a small saucepan, add water to cover by 2 inches, set over high heat and bring to a boil. The second the water boils, remove the pan from the heat and cover it. Let the eggs rest in the hot water for 3 minutes, lift them out and set them aside.

Add the onion and pecans or walnuts to the florets and toss lightly.

Working quickly, heat the vinaigrette if it is not hot, crumble the bacon and add half of it to the vinaigrette and pour half the vinaigrette over the salad.

Use a spoon to crack open the eggs, scoop them out of their shells and set them on top of the salad. Spoon the remaining dressing over the salad, scatter the remaining bacon on top and serve.

Variation:

* Mozzarella fresca or burrata is a delicious addition to this salad, either with or without the eggs. To add mozzarella, cut about 8 ounces into 1/4-inch thick half rounds and tuck them here and there among the florets before adding the first round of dressing. To add burrata, set one on top of the salad after adding the eggs, if using, use a spoon to break it open and drizzle some of the dressing on top of it.

This recipe is adapted from "Vinaigrettes and Other Dressings" (Harvard Common Press, 2013, $16.95) so that it makes enough for this salad.

Warm Bacon-Maple Vinaigrette

Makes about 3/4 cup

1 shallot, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

-- Kosher salt

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, plus more to taste

6 bacon slices, cut in half crosswise

6 to 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

-- Black pepper in a mill

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

Put the shallot and garlic in a small bowl, season with salt and add the vinegar. Set aside.

Cook the bacon in a heavy skillet set over medium heat until it is crisp. Transfer it to a brown paper bag to drain.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan, return the pan to low heat and add the vinegar mixture. Simmer for about a minute, add half the olive oil and the maple syrup and heat through. Stir and season very generously with black pepper.

Carefully taste the mixture and correct for salt, oil and acid, adding as much of the remaining olive oil as needed for balance. Heat through, add the parsley and remove from the heat.

Set aside until ready to finish the salad.

This simple dish can be made with quinoa, farro, brown rice or even some sort of small pasta, though I think it is best with wild rice, which reflects and enhances the vegetable's earthy flavor.

Do not be alarmed by the amount of butter called for in the recipe, as you won't be using it all. I use this amount because it is challenging to make a smaller amount of brown butter; because it keeps so well, you might as well go the easy route, use as much or as little as you want and store the rest for another time.

Cauliflower with Wild Rice and Brown Butter

Makes 4 to 6 servings

1 cup wild rice, picked over for rocks, etc.

4 vegetable stock, chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (see Note below)

1 large cauliflower, cut into florets

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

-- Black pepper in a mill

-- Red pepper flakes, optional

Put the rice in a strainer and rinse it under cold running water until the water runs clear.

Pour the stock or water into a heavy sauce pan, add the tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the reduce, reduce the heat so that the water simmers, cover the pan and cook gently until the rice is tender, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let rest for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Uncover and drain off any liquid that has not be absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork.

While the rice cooks, make the brown butter and cook the cauliflower.

To make the brown butter, put the butter into a small saucepan set over low heat. When it is melted, use a spoon to scoop off and discard any impurities that rise to the surface.

Carefully pour the liquid butter into a small bowl and discard the film of milk solids on the bottom of the pan. Wipe the pan clean, add the clarified butter and set over low heat. Cook gently until the butter takes on a bit of color and begins to give off a nutty aroma. Remove it from the heat.

Blanch or steam the cauliflower until just tender. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Put the cooked rice into a wide shallow serving dish and scatter the cauliflower on top. Drizzle some of the brown butter over the cauliflower and rice and sprinkle with Italian parsley, salt and pepper.

Serve hot.

Note: You will have brown butter left over; simply put the unused portion into a small container, cover and store in the refrigerator; it will keep for quite some time.

Michele Anna Jordan hosts "Mouthful" each Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRCB 90.9 & 91.1 FM. E-mail Jordan at michele@micheleannajordan.com. You'll find her blog, "Eat This Now," at pantry.blogs. pressdemocrat.com.