html

Monday, November 23, 2009

Giving Thanks


Just a little warm, spicy comfort coming your way. This soup is from a recipe in Sarah Foster's cookbook titled Fresh Every Day.

The soup is called something like Chipotle Squash and is perfect for cold, wet days or just when you need a warm up inside. I made a nice big batch and froze it to enjoy at my leisure. Even just looking at the picture I'm feeling that my nose is a little warmer and my soul a little steamier. I swear that I took the picture to the right even though it looks almost identical to the picture in the cookbook. That's a recommendation in itself! I'm not an avid cookbook reader but this is a cookbook that I can recommend without a single qualm. It works for home cooks and people who don't think they can boil water. I have owned it for several years now and it never fails to inspire me. And even better- Sarah Foster is a local!

I'm wishing you joy and I'm thankful for all my blessing. Here's hoping you snuggle up with a great cookbook or a bowl of soup or a pack of wild relatives and enjoy the gifts of this season!

Perfect Marriage


I finally have a new recipe to post! My family has been rundown lately with colds and pre-holiday events. My kids are...well kids. So getting them to eat homemade chicken noodle soup is tough, especially with all those veggies floating around. No matter how good for them I swear it is. I have strong reservations about store-bought soup. I definitely don't feel as though I'm giving them something that will make them healthier. So whenever we have soup, I want it to be homemade. I asked what kind of soup sounded good last night and was told that Italian wedding soup would really hit the spot... if only someone knew how to make it. (There was also a request for homemade crescent rolls from the smaller contingent. Since he usually gags at the mere mention of soup so I made those too-not as picturesque but pretty tasty.)

I accepted my mission. Even though I've never made Italian wedding soup before or even considered making it. I mean, I've eaten it before! It can't be that tough right? Hmmm...well. Luckily for all of us that proved to be the case. This could have definitely gone bad. I'm sure there's a more authentic, time honored approach. However, I must say that my version is easy, very tasty and pretty hard to mess up.


The making of the soup is actually a three step process. First you make the meatballs, then you make the soup, then you put it all together and let the flavors meld for a while.

Ingredients:
2TBSp olive oil
1 lb mild italian pork sausage, casings removed
1 bunch very dark kale-finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs (approx.)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup of white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc leftover from K's birthday party)
Parmesan Rind
2 boxes of low sodium chicken broth (approx. 8 cups)
1 cup large couscous pearls*
salt and pepper to taste


*the large couscous pearls are kind of difficult to find. This is sometimes called Israeli couscous and sometimes called 'pasta pearls'. I can sometimes find mine at Neomonde but other times I have to buy a little box in heavily packaged food section.

The Meatballs
In a large bowl mix the sausage, about half the kale, 2 garlic cloves, the cheese, egg and about half the breadcrumbs. Mix with your hands until the mixture will stick together but still feels like a solid. It's hard to describe what this should feel like but it reminds me of making peanut butter cookies. Too much liquid and they won't hold a shape. Too much bread crumb and they crumble. You want them to stay stuck together because...you want to make 1 inch balls with the mix. Take slightly less than a tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. It should make about 20-25 meatballs.
Heat the olive oil in a deep sided saucepan or large stockpot over medium high heat.
When the olive oil has warmed, pop in the meatballs. You may need to do this in batches if you have a smaller pot because you don't want to crowd them.
Cook the meatballs for about 3 minutes on every side until they have a nice brown outside. Take out the meatballs and place them on a paper towel covered plate.


The Base
Lower the heat to medium and put chopped onion in the pan and sautee for about 5 minutes.
Throw in the remaining garlic clove, the wine and the parmesan rind and sautee for about 2 minutes.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil (stir it intermittently).

All together Now
Add the meatballs and the kale and continue to cook at a low boil for about 20 minutes. This kind of lets the soup suck the salt and flavor out of the meatballs so I wouldn't add any additional seasoning until after this step. If you used low sodium or turkey sausage, you might want to taste the soup to see if it's got enough flavor.
Add the couscous and simmer for about 5 minutes.





Monday, November 02, 2009

Manic


I would like to tell you that I've got a great new recipe to share. Or that I ate out at the most AMAZING restaurant last week. Or that I am really, anything...other than an insane, manic person who is hell-bent on redoing my entire house. But the truth is I'm not focused on eating very much lately (gasp!) because I'm to busy trying to get my house in order. Why does my house need to be in order? I'm not 100% sure. This is some sort of post-baby creative frenzy that has happened to me both times that my children are nearing the 2 year mark. I think it's the result of several years where I was forced to do everything one-handed in 10 minute increments. I've had months to meld my vision and it's finally time to DO IT. So, I am doing it.
Since July, I have (with the assistance of my sweet spouse):
  • Put up a stone backsplash in our kitchen
  • Painted every room in the downstairs
  • Rearranged furniture in every room
  • Stripped and repainted a sideboard
  • Reorganized my kitchen cabinets, movies, DVDs and books
  • Donated or sold several boxes or 'stuff' that is useless to us
And I'm not really done. But there's a party at my house in two weeks that is making me put the finishing touch on lots of side projects and simultaneously helping me realize exactly how manic I am being. Hopefully I'll get back to food stuff soon but if not, there'll be lots of pizzas being ordered from Daniel's and lots of quick trips out to Tyler's.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Nutella Poundcake




Uhm...seriously, could this look more divine? It's from this month's Food & Wine magazine. The recipe is so, so easy. Two things to note:
  • I needed a bigger loaf pan than the standard size. It cooked over and now I've got to clean out my oven.
  • It is very, very hard not to eat the whole thing at once.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Ant and the Grasshopper (Or End of Summer Cooking Frenzy)






For most of the summer, I've been trying to use up all items in my farmer's box as quickly and as efficiently as I can. In spite of the wonderful, beautiful state of all the produce we receive each week. I'm not always successful but I do manage to use most of my produce within each week. Usually most of it goes into lazy, uncomplicated dishes that I can pull off without much thought (can you say veggie stir fry?). I have been completely in the moment. No forward thinking for me-no sir. I just open the CSA box or the fridge and whatever comes out is what we are eating. I do have weeks where something gets carried over-usually shishitos or onions or garlic or some little thing that will store fairly well.

Events have conspired to transform me from a lazy grasshopper into an organized ant. First, we went out of town and missed a week of veggies. Apparently all our friends were out of town too soooo...I opted to get a double box this past weekend. That means that there was a LOT of produce that needed to be processed. More in fact than it is humanly possible for our family to consume even if we eat nothing but veg for every meal.

Also, we're coming towards the end of the growing season. Even our long glorious growing season will come to an end with the onset of frosts. Sigh. No more fresh pesto each week? No more reaching into the produce drawer to throw on the grill at a whim? Panic set in. Which turned quickly to elation. I have an excuse to cook. ALOT!

This weekend I made many many dishes. So many in fact that it's not flattering to my character since it means that I spent the entire day cooking and ignoring all other obligations. My cooking comfort zone is some form of Mediterranean food-Greek, Italian, French, even Lebanese or Turkish-are all within my standard reparte. I have been wonderfully challenged and uplifted by the asian ingredients we get each week and have started to feel comfortable enough to adapt them to my usual techniques. For example, we get lots of shishito peppers and I've become slightly addicted to them. However, I've been wanting them a little more 'done' than just flash sauteed. One dish I tried this weekend was roasted shishito peppers, roasted red peppers and feta. Just put the shishito peppers on a piece of aluminum foil on the grill. If you want to add some sweet peppers too, place them directly on the grill. Once the peppers were roasted (about 5 minutes but this depends heavily on your grill temp-watch them!) and peeled of little char bits, toss them with feta cheese, a little garlic, salt, and olive oil. Holy cow! I've eaten it over a baked potato for 2 days in a row.

Another unusual (for me)and glorious dish was something called Clay Pot Miso Chicken. It's basically a chicken stew or braise-a technique that I am very familiar with. I made a few tweaks just to adjust for ingredients. I left out the wood ear mushrooms and improvised on the mirin (rice vinegar, 3/4 cup of sauvignon blanc and a smidge of sugar). I highly recommend you try this dish if you need a new way to use Gobo and you really want a reason to buy large amounts of shitake from Spain Farm. It is a relatively easy recipe that is worth the little bit of fussiness or unusual ingredients because the outcome is just soul warming. There will be a blustery, rainy day sometime around January 10th where I will be cold, with a runny nose and a spirit longing for the smell of just turned soil. I'll know that it's too early, even in warm little NC. I'll reach into the freezer and pull out this dish, heat it up and serve the salty stew over jasmine rice. I'm sure I'll feel like I just might make it.

More recipes to follow. I've resolved to make bean soup this coming weekend and at least one other dish to freeze for each week that's left of the CSA.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Smooth move




















This is my daughter at the North Hills Farmers Market. We take a cooler because (in order of importance):
  • The produce handles it better
  • The children handle it better
  • I enjoy looking like a bag lady
  • It distracts from my muddled expression
Regardless, it's the only way I can travel on Saturday mornings with both kids, no caffeine, and a whole box of produce to pick up. Not to mention cheese, bread, meat and seafood. If you see me, say Hi. I love to babble.

Summertime.....and the eating is easy



There's not much I dislike about Summertime eating. Produce is plentiful, perfect, and hard to mess up. Here's an easy meal or appetizer you can make with almost zero cooking. The amounts are relative since it just depends what kind of stuff you have around. The one thing you want to remember is that you need a lot of soup (oil/tomato goop) or your bread will be too hard to eat. I used yellow and green tomatoes and garlic from Edible Earthscapes box this week plus 2 German Queens I got from my Dad. I love the uncooked garlic in this recipe so I put lots. You will taste this garlic for several days-despite your best efforts-so make sure everyone around you tries at least a bite.

Ingredients:
1 baguette, sliced in 1 inch thick circles (day old is best in my opinion)
3-6 fresh tomatoes diced
3-6 cloves of minced garlic
10 leaves basil, sliced or torn into bits
olive oil-around a cup but you'll have to use your judgement

Toast the baguette for about 5 minutes or until firm. Don't burn it but you don't want it mushy either.
Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
When the baguette is place heaping spoonfuls WITH LOTS OF SOUP on each slice.


Eat immediately with lots of napkins.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Watermelon Radish



This is not really a recipe but sometimes the obvious options need restating for you to remember the crisp truth. The lesson this week is that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is better with butter.
We received a watermelon radish in our farm box a few weeks ago from EdibleEarthscapes. I must admit that radishes are not things that I have felt strong reactions for previously. I think they're lovely in their little round easter egg colors and I don't mind them thrown into salads or as little pickles. But I don't get too excited about eating them. They seem like a side dish or an afterthought. Definitely not something that requires center stage.
I'm starting to change my mind about radishes though. The watermelon radish was so beautiful. Greenish white on the outside, fushia on the inside with little spokes radiating out. Something to showcase it's loveliness was required but what? My husband wanted to just eat it raw as is but I like to fiddle with things a little bit before I eat them. We were having a little soiree so we used them as an appetizer. We slathered butter and then a little sea salt dashed on top for flair. The were all dressed up (and disappeared quickly).
Incidentally, on the plate beside them are cucumber slices with pickled ginger and daikon pickles. The daikon is another kind of radish we received from the farm that has me very intrigued. I julienned them and then salted them, squeezed out the water and then put them in a brine of salt and sugar for about 12 hours. They stink up the fridge righteously but they provide this crisp little garnish that makes the stink worthwhile.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Memorial Day

I've been very interested in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for several years but never quite got around to doing the research to join one. I kept telling myself that it was ok. I was too busy. It didn't make me a bad human to buy produce wrapped in plastic and carted in from somewhere else. I seemed to always have a few too many things to take care of to get around to finding a source of local produce or connecting with a specific farmer. We did move, build a fence, organize a new house, have baby no. 2, etc so there was a lot going on. Last year we went to at least one farmer's market every weekend and grew a cherry tomato along with our usual mix of herbs. We shared our cherry tomatoes with the neighborhood when we became flooded and I was not a bad human. But, I was not the best human that I could be in my suburban paradise and I pined for more of a connection between garden and food.

This winter, I made it a priority to join a CSA. I paid my deposit and then waited for spring to arrive. Not very patiently but as patiently as my genetic make-up will allow. I checked my farm's website religously looking for the signs that the magic was beginning and told every person I spoke with (sometimes multiple times) about the CSA we joined. Our farmer's are Jason and Haruka from Edible Earthscapes . The produce listed on their site ranges from solidly normal to exotic and unknown. I was afraid for a while that I was annoying them to death with questions and just over the top exuberance. Fortunately, they still seem to like me-at least they don't visibly cringe when I show up on Saturday mornings to collect my box.

We're now on our third box of goodies from Edible Earthscapes and I've been remiss in not posting earlier. I am overwhelmed and overjoyed with the abundance that greets me each week in my box. This week we got butter lettuce, turnip greens, romaine, watermelon radish, daikon, basil, cilantro, and peas!! A lot of the ingredients we get from the farm are not items I would usually make so it's really forcing me outside of my comfort zone. I'm doing a lot of research online for recipes each week and have a renewed appreciation of bloggers and useful forms of technology in general.

While I will post recipes eventually, I would like to take a moment and reflect on the emotional and spiritual connection that seems to deepen each week between me and my, well...produce. When I was little, I lived with my maternal grandparents on-and-off and spent at least a few days each week with my paternal grandparents. My grandparents were avid gardeners and maintained a connection to food, a disdain for waste and a penchant for 'make-do' that seems indicative of their generation. Both sets of my grandparents ALWAYS planted a Victory garden and would still find a way to justify stopping by a pick-up truck piled with corn on the side of the road if the price was right and the corn was sweet. My grandfather could become downright verbose about peaches (and country ham) and there was always a strong debate between my grandfathers on the the merits of tomato varieties (German Johnson usually won).

I have vivid memories of 'putting up' plums, shucking corn, shelling peas-with my relatives all around laughing, chattering or singing. I can close my eyes and feel the breeze off the back yard coming through the screen doors in mid-July after a day spent romping through the pasture in search of blackberries for cobbler while my grandmother combed through my sunkissed hair looking for ticks. I remember how excited my grandmother was when the persimmons were ripe or when the pecans at the church fell. There always seemed to be some kind of produce that needed work and always people who were glad to take some of it. Jams or nuts or canned goods were my grandparents equivalent to giftcards-everyone likes them and no one will turn them down. So gardening, eating, and love have always been viscerally entwined for me in a way that our industrial lives lack.

I find myself regretting that my son won't ever be able to just ramble un-chaperoned until the fireflies come out or wind up in the creek face-to-face with a snake of unknown pedigree and have to figure out the best escape route. He's unlikely to walk under the apple tree for his sister because she's afraid of the yellow jackets and fish out the best apple for her or to climb the spry cherry trees to get the tart little pink balls before the birds can scavenge them away. I find myself finding ways to recreate those same langourous summer memories within the context of our suburban, year-round school, two parents who work, life-for myself as much as for my kids.

When we walk the greenway beside our house, I point out the blackberry vines with their green nubs just starting to show. I show them poison oak (the first and most important plant to learn to ID) and talk about how allergic my brother always was to it but how my dad and I never get it. I show them how to suck the juice out of honeysuckle and teach the oldest the names of trees that we walk by. But it's been more difficult to recreate the way working for and with your food translates into a further love and appreciation for our non-monetary wealth. That is, it was more difficult until the addition of the farm box to our lives.

Each Saturday morning we pile into the car as soon as we can to go and get the box before the sun is too hot. We eat breakfast surrounded by people who produce food locally and are genuinely enjoying the connection to the other folks at the market. We go around the market and pick out bread, eggs, cheese, seafood, and more produce (how can that be!!!). We talk to new friends we've met at the market and old friends we've convinced to come out. The kids dance a little bit to the live music and sometimes we engage in a little modern day retail shopping at the mall to keep from having to run around again afterwards burning more gas.

When we get home, I spend the next 3 hours engaging in the ritual of unloading and sorting and cleaning and bagging and sometimes just fidgeting with the produce. I go through what we'll make, I show my kids all the interesting things that come along with organic produce (slugs!) and talk about how things are grown. There is a change occuring that is slow but powerful within my house because of that white cardboard box. My son ate turnips last week. Granted, they were in a cherry sauce but still!

Mostly though, I'm reconnecting to the way food-the growing, the prepartion, the creativity-can translate into the expression of love and affection for each other. We linger over dinner more often now. We ate around our table (not our kitchen island) 5 times last week. We've had people over for meals more often lately. In general, we are expanding into better human beings-the ones that we know we should be but can never quite find the time to be.

We got peas this week in the box-fat, juicy, crisp little pods that are just begging to be crunched. While I took of the stiff bits on the ends I could almost feel my grandmother's tan, lined hands swiftly working beside me while she jabbered on about a funny joke she heard at church. I think I will be finding the time for a CSA from now on.