Culinary Jigsaw Mystery

Preserving Autumn's Kentucky Gold

2011-11-04T10:36:00.009-04:00

There are several things that I associate with the coming of fall in Henderson: The steam rolling off of a huge burgoo pot, my grandparent’s foraging for pecans in their yard and green tomato ketchup. Though these days, you better watch yourself if you identify it as Mamaw’s recipe; Nana takes offense. According to her, she has made green tomato ketchup more than Mammaw.

So this fall, as I am enjoying an unexpected autumn in my hometown I decided I wanted to stock up on some of Nana’s green tomato ketchup and if I’m lucky some pecans.

On Sunday, PopPop and I went to my cousin Wil’s farm and harvested about a bushel of green tomatoes that were still on the vine. Then yesterday I arrived at Nana and PopPop’s house ready for a day full of grinding, pickling and canning.

I was greeted by PopPop, sitting in his foldable camping chair on the side of the house- a virtual sentinel standing guard- with a gun no-less, should his arch-rival, the squirrel, poke his head around the edge of a branch. You see, PopPop, has spent the majority of the past two months sitting in this spot with his pellet gun waiting to knock off any squirrel that dare take any of his prized pecans.

While the rest of their grandchildren and great grandchildren are playing video games, chatting on facebook or running around doing errands, Nana and PopPop are content at spending their days in their side yard, searching for their version of Kentucky gold: the pecan. One Sunday after dinner we all went out to see how many pecans had fallen. With childlike glee Nana would scream, “oh here’s one,” followed by giddy laughter and sheer delight. The pecans kept falling one after another. We could hear their kerplunk as they hit the moist ground. The afternoon turned into a scavenger hunt: who can find the most pecans on the ground. I think our final count was around 200. The running total as of yesterday is about six gallons.

On days when I run out of job hunting things to do or just want a glass of milk and a slice of cake I go over to Nana and PopPop’s to check in and see how many pecans they have collected each day. The other day I went over and received a much needed lesson in the techniques used to extract the pecan from their shell. First, you crack it with a nut cracking device, then you pick, with surgical precision, out the nut from the shell. I can’t help wonder if PopPop’s precise skill at pecan hulling is honed by his clock repair acumen or vice-versa. Either way, when it comes to making sure a perfect pecan is extracted PopPop is a great teacher.

As PopPop stands guard of our fall bounty of pecans, I go into the kitchen and find Nana already hard at work. I told her to wait and I would help. But this woman does not know how to slow down and has probably worked her whole life, nary with a break to breath.

Her arthritic swollen hands have already washed cored and cut up about a half bushel of green tomatoes. And don’t start to think for a minute that she didn’t let me know how much work all this was. She repeatedly tells me, “last time PopPop and I did this we swore we would never do it again!” Alas, I guess being a grandson has it’s perks. She knows I love her green tomato ketchup and I eagerly want to learn how she makes it every year so I can carry on the tradition. I take a roasting pan full of green tomatoes out to the deck and start the long process of grinding about 3 gallons of green tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cabbage.

Next, we wait 4 hours, watch Nana’s favorite afternoon TV show, Let’s Make a Deal, and then start prepping the mason jars for processing.

At first Nana, scoffs at my suggestion that we have to first sterilize the jars in boiling water. Then after we fill all the jars with the green tomato ketchup she thinks I’m crazy for saying we have to put them in a water bath. What do I know, I just moved back from the city and all I have to go by is Ball’s Blue guide to canning.

Nana said, “I have never, put them in a hot bath and it always turned out just fine.” I guess, growing up in a germ phobic world has taken it’s tole on me. I explain why I think we need to put them in a water bath and Nana relents. She admits, “My mom always canned everything under the sun, but I never paid attention.” She continues, “I have always been a tom-boy and never wanted to be in the kitchen when we were canning. All I did was wash the jars, since my hands were so small.”

Let’s just say I won the war on the boiling water bath and taught Nana something as we listened to the tops of the Mason jars pop, indicating the water bath had done it’s job and properly sealed the jars.

By the end of the day we had a nice batch (21 pint jars full) of green tomato ketchup, family stories and a garage full of pecans. I can’t wait for a bowl of white beans, a dollop of green tomato ketchup and corn bread (made from Mammaw’s cast iron mold that creates little corn cobs). Oh, and for dessert Nana’s famous Pecan Pie.

While Nana and PopPop think their pecans are Kentucky gold, I think my opportunity to learn Nana’s recipe for green tomato ketchup and hear her old stories is my own version of Kentucky gold.

Eat More Kale

2011-06-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

Now that I am a vegetable farmer I have lots of great veggies at my disposal. The frustrating part of this picture is that this organic farmer is so busy, harvesting, weeding, seeding and driving to market that I never have time to cook for myself. (the sole reason I became interested in farming) Sadly, instead of cooking the vegetables that I have spent so much time growing, lately Sheetz (our local gas station) has been my place of dining. Sounds like the start to a joke... two organic farmers pull up to the drive in window at kentucky fried chicken/taco bell.... what do they order? A. Factory raised, antibody pumped chicken and chemically sprayed vegetable burritos. UGH!

Well, this past Saturday, after market and one of the most grueling weeks so far I had the chance to have dinner with some other young farmers in the area. I finally put my raw kale salad, that I had been telling people at market about, to the test . Nothing like blind endorsement! It is simple, seasonal and tasty.

Chiffonade (cut into thin ribbons) tender Tuscano Kale. Toss with a mustard vinegrette (dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, and olive oil) toss in some fresh sweet cherries, and toasted almonds and a stinky telagio inspired cheese from your local dairy. Whoala, an organic farmer actually finds time to eat what he grew!

Another one of my favorite ways to cook kale is Tuscan Kale and Cannellini beans.

Saute diced spring onions, rosemary and red pepper flakes till onions are limp. Add a little white wine. Cook till jammy. Next add kale that has been ripped off its stem. Cook till it is cooked down. Add cannalenni beans. Finish off with grated parmesean cheese and crumbled bacon.

Making Pie

2010-07-31T23:17:00.001-04:00

This past week I took a vacation from the farm. I drove 6 hours to another farm: that of my best friend- Malea in Tiffin Ohio. I had just finished a marathon of 5 and a half weeks as a camp counselor at the farm where I work and she had just arrived in Ohio after 1 and a half years in the peace corps in Rwanda. I was so excited to see her and her family.

Even though I was on a vacation from the farm I found that I really could not escape the farm. I continually found myself in conversations about farming with her dad, Sunrise co-op board members and with her grandmother. I thouroughly enjoyed these conversations. I learned something about their methods of farming and was able to share some of my newly found knowledge about my experiences farming. I really enjoyed learning about Malea's family dairy, playing around her dad's HUGE tractors, and finally learning how to make pie crust with lard. Now that I am back on the farm (where we raise Pigs) I am so excited about making lard and PIE!

Malea's grandmother started her narration of the pie baking lesson by reminding Malea that when she was a little girl she would sit at the table across from the kitchen and watch her make pie. Grandma Hoepf also told me that one of Malea's first words was pie!

How to male a lard Pie crust and Elderberry and rhubarb pies. (for 1 and pies)

1) measure 1 &1/2 Cup flour

2) measure a little less that 1/2 cup of lard

Mix by hand and pour in ice water till desired consistency

Divide into three balls

Meanwhile prepare the elderberry filling:

1) mix 4 cups elderberries with 1/4 cup water and heat on stovetop

2) Add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon flour, and one teaspoon lemon-aid concentrate.

Next you roll out the pie crust. Grandma Hoepf is using a rolling pin that was given to her as a wedding present 61 years ago.

You want to continually flour the surface and the rolling pin to make sure the dough does not stick and want to get the dough as round as possible.

At this point Grandma Hoepf intergected that the last time she made a rhubarb pie and sent it with Malea's dad, it was placed in the back seat behind the driver. Apparently someone slammed on the brakes and the pie ended up in the carpet underneath the driver's seat.

Also, Grandma Hoepf talked about how she made 7 pies for Malea's parent's wedding rehersal dinner. She said "We was milking the cows then and couldn't leave the cows so I sent them to the reception."

After rolling out the dough, Grandma Hoepf fluted the edges of the pie crust rolling it over itself. then for the elderberry one she added the filling, top crust with vent holes, sprinkled with sugar, and pinched the edges of the crust. and baked at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

Next we made the rhubarb filling:

1) mix one egg 1 cup sugar 3 cups rhubarb and 3 tablespoons flour with 1 tablespoon vanilla

Grandma hoepf then expressed her recent frustration when she went to kroger and bought what was labled butter, but turned out to be butter light. "i got butter, it said butter on the package, but it was light butter. So I took it back."

2) make the crumble topping by mixing 1/2 stick of butter 3/4 cup sugar(1/2 white 1/2 brown) and 4 tablespoons flour)

Mix it by hand and crumble on top

Cook at 425 for 15 minutes then lower to 350 and cook till brown (around 30 minutes

Wild About Fermentation

2010-03-03T18:46:00.008-05:00

My current love affair is with a little bacteria called lactobacilli. He is everything you look for when seeking out love and especially when seeking out a love affair! He is wild, He is loyal and predictable, persistent, prolific, and easy to find. He is the lover that is found just about anywhere- especially on vegetables that grow close to the ground. And if you really want to get him excited add a little salt brine. That really gets his juices going.

Like all love affairs there is a story behind my current love of lactobacilli. We met on a hot summer day. Shawna, from Mountain View Farm, was at the market that I manage. She brought a jar full of her homemade Kimchee. She offered me a sample: it was love at first bite. I knew that I was destined for a hot and heavy relationship with this prehistoric bacteria as soon as I crunched on the tasty fermented cabbage spiced with a heavy dose of hot peppers and ginger. Wide eyed, I went home with a huge nappa cabbage, bunch of carrots and a daikon radish ready to pickle up my new favorite boyfriend.

Shawna told me to look at Sandor Katz's book Wild Fermentation. Sandor has also found himself caught up in the love affair with fermentation though he has taken it to a whole different level: he identifies as a fermentation fetishist. Maybe my relationship with Lactobacilli is on its way to fetishists status but right now we are in the honeymoon phase.

Lactobacilli is nature's way of preserving summer's harvest and requires no special equipment, no boiling and doesn't risk one dying of botulism if things are not canned correctly. The brine that vegetable are placed in helps the lactobacilli reproduce and the lactobacilli destroys any toxins in the vegetables and breaks down some of the cellular structure of the veggies, causing them to be more digestible. Additionally, after fermentation our bodies can absorb the nutrients in the vegetable better. Like any good boyfriend, he breaks you down and gets under your skin. Not to mention the salty lick of your lips after a good make out session.

So after my encounter with the hot sexy lactobacilli at the market I went home and decided I wanted him all to myself. I started my first batch of lacto-fermented kimchee. A kitchen that smelled of sweet rotting cabbage and two weeks later I had a nice batch of kimchee. Though, I must say the initial attraction had worn off a little bit at this point. The stench of my apartment and later my entire fridge of fermenting cabbage turned me off my new batch of Kimchee. I could not stomach eating it. Again like any relationship our love affair needed a small breather.

Several months and many open fridge doors revealing the stench of love later my friend Adam tried to bring Lactobacilli and I back into a meaningful relationship. Adam stormed in my apartment and demanded to know where the kimchee was. I warned him but he proceeded to eat half a jar. At that point. I decided maybe I had dumped lactobacilli too quickly. So the next day when I was eating an after market omelet I decided to add a little kimchee as a side condiment. Again, making up after a fight is always the best part. I realized i had dumped lactobacilli too quickly and was ready for full on lactobacilli love.

Now I have several batches of lactobacilli ferments going in my kitchen. I just can't get enough of lactobacilli's wild love. I have a great batch of sauerkraut, sour beets and ginger beer.

I have a feeling this love affair will only get better with time. Long and slow time.

Here is how to find your hiding lactobacilli boyfriend:

Sauerkraut:

Slice 5 lbs of Cabbage toss with sea salt and crunch in your hands. This releases the water.

Tightly pack in either a crock or a large mason jar. As you mash the cabbage down it will release its juices. You want the cabbage to eventually be covered in the salty brine.

Every day tamp down the cabbage and make sure it is covered by the brine. After a week or two on the counter start tasting to see if it has your preferred tang. When your preferred tang is reached put it in the fridge. After 3-4 weeks. Then serve with sausages, in a potato and white bean soup or as a condiment to any meal.

Kimchee

Slice A head of Nappa cabbage, thinly slice carrots, and daikon radishes. Toss with sea salt and crunch in your hands

Tamp down in a crock until water is released and brine covers the cabbage.

Once the mixture is fermented enough, after several weeks, drain the brine and mix with grated ginger, crush red pepper, and garlic.

Sour Beets

grate 5 lbs of beets

Toss with sea salt and pack tightly in a crock. Let brine cover top of beets.

Sit and wait till tangy and tasty then transfer to fridge.

Farm Inspired Meals.

2010-01-26T18:27:00.002-05:00

As I write this I am sitting at Mountain View Farm in Purcellville VA. Right across the Shenadoah River from Historic Harpers Ferry. Mountainview is run by Shawna And Attilla and they come to the market I manage in DC- the 14&U Farmers Market. Through out the market season they bring in great naturally grown produce to my neighborhood in DC. Their farm is a part of an environmental center. It consists of 900 acres of wooded land and includes pasture and the market garden.

Shawna and Attila also raised goat, have a few sheep 2 pigs and are also waiting on their heiffer to calve so they can have milk. I might be lucky and get to have my first experience helping a cow give birth.

As I am out here everything inspires me to cook.

For breakfast, I had an omllette (from the chickens that used to be here until they met their fate by a local mink) filled with black beans and salsa that Shawna made from the summer's tomato and green pepper crop. I also had local bacon on the side.

Then for lunch, I made one of my favorite soups. Saute bacon in olive oil, add garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Saute till soft and then add tomato paste. Then add chicken stock and cubed potatoes (from the farm) Simmer until potatoes are soft. Then add cannelloni beans and ditalini pasta. Finally, I grated Keswisk Creamery's Carrock cheese ( it is very similar to Parmesan). For dessert I made a pear (from the Dupont market) upside down cake.

Then before it is my dinner time I did the rounds up at the pasture and gave the goats their water and grain. Threw kitchen scraps to the pigs and gave the Heifer with child a special grain mix. After they eat then its time for my dinner.

Now it is dinner time. I am roasting cubed blue magic Hubbard squash tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and cinnamon. I'll later mix it with some extra black beans. The main dish is a Grass fed T-bone steak.

YUM! I love life on the farm!

Farm sitting

2010-01-25T10:22:00.003-05:00

I am taking a winter vacation and going to farmsit at Mountain View Farm. Mountain view comes to the market I manage and grows great greens and produce. They also raise beautiful goats, chickens and have a pregnant heifer.

I am looking forward to a week away from the city in the foothills of the blue ridge mountains. While on the farm I'll be feeding the animals, hiking, and cooking up lots of farm inspired meals.

RIght now I am packing up some of my buys from the market this week:

Mushrooms: portobella, oyster, and crimini
Collards
Buffalo chorizo
buffalo summer sausage
leeks
potatoes
Blue magic hubbard squash
fresh mozerella
ricotta
keswick cheese
bacon
pears

chicken

And my friend Sandy of Painted Hand Farm will be visiting mid week and will bring her delicious goat, veal and grass-fed beef and a duck from Pecan Medow.

I am looking forward to a week on the farm, the train ride to harpers ferry and a week of food and friends and farm animals.

A Box of Sweet Potatoes

2010-01-25T08:11:00.002-05:00

At the end of the market that I manage last November I stocked up on lots of storable produce. I stocked up on kabucha squash blue magic hubbards and bought a 25 pound box of sweet potatoes. I am slowly working my way through 25 pounds. Blue Magic Hubbard Squash and black bean burritos, sweet potato pizza and a favorite of friends: sweet potato fries. But one of my favorites is baked sweet potato with butter and Keswick Creamery fresh bovre with garlic and oregano (Their take on fresh goat cheese- chevre). Also, a great breakfast is steel cut oats with baked sweet potato stirred in.

Blue Magic Hubbard Squash and Black Bean Burritos

Before Christmas, I was invited to a vegan baby Jesus Burrito Party. I racked my brain on how to prepare a burrito filling that wasn't the same old black bean filling. So I came up with this. Also, after looking through mexican cookbooks I was pleasantly surprised that I approrprately selected a traditional Mexican vegetable: squash.

First, I cut up the squash into small 1/2 inch cubes, tossed with olive oil, ground cumin, and cayenne. Roasted in 400 Degree oven till the edges are a bit caramalized

Next, heat up on stove top olive oil, saute onions, add crushed red pepper flakes, add black beans.

Finally, toss squash cubes with beans. Stuff your tortilla for a delicious burritto.

Sweet potato fries

Julien sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch matchsticks. Toss with olive oil, cajun seasoning and salt. Roast at 400 degrees till perfect

Baked sweet potato: two ways

This preperation of the sweet potato is very simple and so delicious!

1. Wrap potato in aluminum foil poke with fork in several locations, bake in 400 degree oven till insides are mushy, cut open, add fresh raw butter and a scoop of keswick creamery garlic and oregano bouvre.

2. Saute steel cut oats in butter, add water, bring to boil till al dente (what I love about steel cut oats is the all dente bite and the nutty smell as I simmer the oats) meanwhile bake a sweet potato in oven. When oats are done, add raisins, brown sugar and scoop the potato into the oats. YUM!

Lazy Day: Easy Soup: Delicious

2010-01-25T07:36:00.003-05:00

I got home from work late last week and, honestly, my kitchen at best resembled foothills of mountains of dirty dishes. I was starving and didn't feel like mountaintop removal mining before eating. Simple was in order.

I made a delicious potato leek soup roughly following Julia Child's recipe.

Lightly saute leeks in butter, add cut up potatoes, add chicken stock. Simmer till the potatoes are soft. Once soft, puree with immersion blender, add salt, pepper, butter and creme fresh.

I also sauteed some spicy italian sausage balls and dropped them in.

This meal was so delicious and so simple and quick!

Celery Root & Apple Soup

2010-01-08T13:55:00.002-05:00

I first had this soup a couple years ago at lunch during restaurant week at Zola Next to the spy museum in Washington DC. At the time the soup was so simple and delicious that I wanted to recreate it at home for myself. I have tweaked the recipe over the years but last night I think it was the best I have ever made. It is a light and simple soup that taste delicious!

1) saute half an onion and one large garlic clove in olive oil (or butter). Add cubes of celery root, 2 apples and several small potatoes. Saute until onions are translucent and vegetables are browning on the sides.

2) Add stock: Vegetable or chicken. Raise heat to boil.

3) Simmer until vegetables start to fall apart.

4) Meanwhile, in a saute pan saute mixture of mushrooms in butter till crispy, add a little apple cider to deglaze pan.

4) Blend to a silky consistency with immersion blender.

5) Add butter, small amount of maple syrup and a tad of apple cider.

6) Serve with a dollop of creme fresh and topped with mushrooms.

YUM!

Spring Pie

2009-05-13T08:41:00.004-04:00

Pizza. Lately I have been resorting to pizza on work nights. No not delivery and not even frozen pizza, not even your traditional tomato sauce pizza. Rather I have been resorting to pizza in the general sense. I take a cheap bag of pre-made pizza dough from trader Joes and add different veggies that I have sitting around in my fridge waiting to be eaten. In the words of an Ex the pizza is just a vehicle for the good stuff.

Pizza starts with a good bed. I have found a good cheap bed that is perfect to lay all my veggies on: trader joes pre-made pizza dough. First, the price is right: $0.99 a bag and this is enough to make two pizzas (each pizza is enough for either one with left overs or plenty for two). Second, Trader Joes has three different varieties: plain, herb garlic, and whole wheat.

After a good bed you need some good sheets and a nice comforter to make your bed yummy and pretty. Lately I've been topping my pizza with fresh spring time vegetables. After several trial and errors I have found that the best pizzas are those with simple toppings and not overdone. I had several where I kept putting on topping after topping and then adding cheese. While these were delicious i have grown to like the simpler pie with a few simple toppings and lately have been going cheesless. Following are a few of my recent creations:

Leek Garlic and Mushroom

This is a very simple pizza but the flavors are perfect together. On top of plain pizza dough I brush Olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then I add finely chopped leeks, thinly sliced garlic clove and top with thinly sliced crimini mushrooms. Then cook in oven untill the crust is crispy and the mushrooms perfectly cooked.

Green Onion, garlic, Potato, Mushroom and Asparagus

This is my latest creationg and I think my favorite so far. I used the herb and garlic dough brushed on olive oil sprinkled salt and pepper and a few red pepper flakes. Then added finely chopped green onion and thinly sliced garlic. Next, I added very thinly sliced yellow potatoes and thinly sliced crimini mushrooms. Finally I topped it off with halved asparagus that had been tossed in olive oil and salt and pepper. YUM. and it is pretty too.

Sweet potato Pizza

I made this pizza when I realized that I had a surplus of sweet potatoes that needed to be eaten ASAP. Started with a plain pizza dough base, brushed the dough with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Then added very thinly sliced sweet potatoes. Next I added caremalized onions. Topped with tiny mushrooms tossed with olive oil salt and pepper and rosemary (can't remember their name; the mushroom lady gave them to me in exchange for watching her stand at the farmer's market) and finally topped with a few shavings of romano cheese.

Mushrooms!

2009-05-10T20:12:00.007-04:00

I have always had an affinity for the delicious taste of various fungi known as mushrooms! But lately I find myself gravitating to the mushroom in every meal I cook. At both the Dupont and Penn Quarter farmers markets there is a mushroom producer that always has a great selection. When I am feeling indulgent and the season is right (basically the month of may) I can score my favorite wild fungi- the Morel. Though my go-to mushroom is a crimini (a baby portobella).

My favorite way to prepare the crimini is by quartering it, tossing with olive oil, salt pepper, rosemary, and red pepper flakes. Then I saute on a medium heat and eventually add butter and cream for a mushroom cream sauce. Good by itself with quartered mushrooms or equally good pureed and added with your favorite fresh pasta.

Alternatively, I take the mushrooms tossed with olive oil et al. and put in a roasting dish (tonight with asparagus) and roast it until the asparagus and mushrooms are soft yet still have a bite to them.

These mushrooms are so versatile that I eat them along side roasted asparagus, on top of a fresh salad with a light dressing, with egs prepared in any which way, or as its own main course.

Who needs boys when you have fungi in your life?

Dang, I LOVE mushrooms!

When the Urge Hits: The Tang of Spring

2009-05-10T17:56:00.009-04:00

Lately I have been enjoying simple foods. I like something that taste great yet takes minimal effort to prepare. I want something that I can just have waiting in the fridge and eat when the urge arises: instant gratification- taking food porn to a new level!

Rather than keeping little-debbi nutty bars (from my youth) or other snack food, my go to instant gratification snack food has been a tangy sweet treat! At the farmer's market Kuhn's orchard has been bringing beautiful stalks of rhubarb. I take these green and red stalks cut them up and toss in melted raw butter from Painted Hand Farm and add 1/2 cup of sugar, a dusting of cayenne pepper and a tad of cinnamon. (fresh ginger and lemon juice are also good additions.)

I cook it over a medium flame until the rhubarb breaks down and makes a mushy jam. Then I put in a seal tight container and keep in the fridge.

Then when the urge hits me I pull out my rhubarb compote and a helping of Keswick Creamery yogurt and have a great indulgent snack!!

Smelly Feet

2009-05-08T14:12:00.002-04:00

My favorite neighborhood pizza place recently changed their menu to my distain! Radius pizza in Mt. Pleasant, Washington DC is a great neighborhood restaurant that is well known for its free bottle of wine Wednesday special and for me their gorgonzola gnocchi. Since Radius is literally two blocks away from my apartment it has become a staple in my weekly diet. Their gorgonzola gnocchi is e at the center of my love of Radius. Unfortunately, Radius recently changed their menu and took the gnocchi off so now I am left to my own devices.

My love of gorgonzola gnocchi started about a year ago when I went to my best friend, Malea’s house. (Actually my love of gnocchi is a sordid affair: I have one bad memory of ordering it, under peer pressure, at my birthday dinner at Pasta Mia in Adams Morgan, it was served with a tomato sauce and I hated it. Like most loves I gave it another try and now have a lasting relationship with it.)

After work Malea and I stopped by Calvert Woodly to get some wine and cheese. As we were waiting in line I smelled the foulest smell emanating from under Malea’s arm. It literally smelled like rotting flesh and stinky feet all bound up in one. I was reluctant to say anything to Malea because I was starving and looking forward to her home cooked meal. Plus, I pretty much trust her cooking instincts.

A stinky cheese purchase and half mile walk to her apartment later we were in the kitchen boiling potatoes to make our own homemade gnocchi. My responsibility was to roll the gnocchi against the fork and let to drop (according to the directions from Marcella Hazan). Soon, I realized the under the heat of a flame and sliced with heavy cream, the pungent odor of gorgonzola gives way to a rich creamy sweetness that pairs wonderful with homemade gnocchi.

Last night I decided to recreate my favorite gnocchi meal. This time I didn’t make my own Gnocchi. Instead, I purchased it from the farmers market that I work at. The gnocchi was a perfect little pillow of potatoes. For the sauce I first caramelized onions in olive oil and then added the gorgonzola to melt and then added cream. Finally, I dropped the slightly boiled gnocchi in and served it. Next time I think I might add some mushrooms to the sauce. I also roasted fresh asparagus from the farmers market. YUM! Mold that smells like funky feet never tasted so good!

Seduced By an Avocado

2009-04-22T06:40:00.011-04:00

Last night on my way home from work I stopped by the supermarket to find something to cook up. The past few days I had used up all my farmers market finds and was in need of some new inspiration. After meandering around the produce section at Whole Foods I was less than inspired. While I am craving asparagus, I did not want to purchase any, knowing that soon enough I would have local asparagus from local farmers on my table.

But soon enough the ripe avocados seduced me with their bumpy dark peel. After picking up a few I knew that they were perfectly ripe. Now my challenge was to plan my dinner around the avocado. I slowly started picking up various things. A lemon, a bunch of beets, a small bag of walnuts, and baby-boc-choi. I knew I had some leftover blue cheese at home and some delicious green onions from the market.

Once I got home I started my avocado centered dinner by halving the beet and roasting it in a 400 degree oven tossed with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Next, I halved my baby-boc-choi and sprinkled olive oil and salt and pepper on it. The beets were fork tender after about 45 minutes, at which point I toasted the walnuts and put the baby-bo-choi on the grill pan. Finally, right before the baby-boc-choi was finished grilling (just long enough to wilt it and bring out the crunchy crispness) I added the green onions to the grill pan.

Meanwhile, I prepared a simple lemon olive oil vinaigrette, with lemon juice, tad of mustard, tad of honey and salt and pepper and olive oil.

Now for the seduction of the avocado: I cut up the avocado in cubes, tossed with cubed beets and diced tomato and tossed in the toasted walnuts and vinaigrette. Next add crumbled blue cheese (left over from a cheese plate several nights ago) topped with baby-boc-choi and grilled green onions.

YUM!

Avocado, you can seduce me anytime you want. I don't care if you are not local!

Homemade Pizza

2009-04-20T14:10:00.010-04:00

Trader Joes always has exactly what I am looking for. This time it was pre-made pizza dough: Joe's price is right $.99. Plus they have a great variety: regular, herb, and whole wheat. Sometimes I like to get all three and have a pizza party.

After a trip to the farmers market I had local portobello mushrooms, homemade pesto, local mozzarella cheese, and green onions. I knew the best way to use all of this was on top of a fresh pizza.

After rolling out my dough (in a shape roughly representing the West Bank)I brushed the dough with Olive oil and spread my homemade pesto on the pizza. Next I added portobello mushrooms, which had been tossed with olive oil, rosemary and red-pepper flakes. Next layer, fresh tomatoes and top with fresh green onions. Put in oven, until the mushrooms and tomatoes are nicely cooked. Finally add mozzarella and let melt. Top with fresh cut green onions.

Morels

2009-04-16T22:20:00.004-04:00

It is April and the once a year crop of morels has made its rounds. So tonight I shared my morals with some of my closest friends. We had deliciously plump (happy pigs) Pork chops- marinated in lemon juice, rosemary and thyme grilled, and sauteed morels with shallots, butter and cream. YUM! I love the earthy taste of morels shared with friends. For desert we had delicious dark chocolate with red hot pepper and ginger snaps.

Wet and Cold Spring Evening

2009-04-15T20:07:00.003-04:00

The past week has been damp and cold. An unwelcome part of spring. But I guess summer will be here soon enough. Tonight. after putting some recently sprouted seeds in little better soil and setting up a grow light for those recently germinated seeds, I decided to cook up some potatoes and mustard greens that I have.

I'm making a simple potato soup: Saute 2 onions in olive oil with a bay leaf and chopped rosemary, peel, quarter and thinly slice potatoes. Add the potatoes to the onions until they are coated and sauteed. Next add a cup of water a 1.5 teaspoon of salt. Then add 1 quart water. Bring to boil and let simmer for 30 minutes. Finally I'll put a cup or two of the potatoes through a food mill then mix in with some butter. and quickly boiled mustard greens, red pepper flakes and lamb sausage balls.

Top it off with shaved Parmesan Cheese

Potato soup on a cold damp spring evening is perfect!

Thrown together dinner

2008-09-02T19:43:00.000-04:00

Tonight I literally took a few things and threw them together hoping it would be edible.

Dice and sauté one onion, garlic clove, and jalapeno.
Add summer squash coins
Add halved cherry tomatoes
Add corn

Salt and pepper and at the end add two spoonfuls of fresh yogurt.

I was a little bit leery but in the end it was great.

Desert: more yogurt with nectarine and my friend john’s cherry jam that he made from cherries in his garden.

Stratagraphy

2008-09-01T14:49:00.005-04:00

I am formerly an anthropologist. Maybe formerly isn’t the best description: I still and will forever identify as an anthropologist. In college as I was studying anthropology I had to take intro to archaeology. You see, archaeology was what got me excited in anthropology in the first place. After spending a summer restoring a 200 year old cemetery in my hometown I was obsessed with archaeology - my friend and I spent every day the summer between Jr. and Sr. year in high school in the grove of trees, cutting down 200 year old weeds, and uncovering different strata, where the tombstones had fallen over and were now buried under dirt. It all started with a summer of what some might call digging up graves.

Though, when I got to college I instantly found that rather than the dead I was more interested in the living: cultural anthropology. Nonetheless, I still had the anthro requirement to take archaeology. The one thing I remember about that class is we had to draw our own stratagraphy. I think I chose a landfill, maybe not I can’t remember.

Well today, I was mulling over what to do with my beautiful eggplant and loads of tomatoes. So I am creating a summer stratagraphy. Each layer is a different fruit and i have used different cooking techniques for each, mixing cooked and fresh elements to this dish

Layer one: A thin soup of roasted tomato sauce: roast tomatoes, puree, sautee onion and garlic, add tomatoes and fresh oregano and a spoonful of pesto
Layer two: A slice of Cherokee purple tomato, lightly roasted in the oven
Layer three: Sliced eggplant, first roasted in oven then grilled on grill pan
Layer four: Goat cheese
Layer five: Fresh green zebra tomato
Layer six: Fresh basil pesto

All skewered with a sprig of rosemary.

No Cook Summer

2008-08-31T07:25:00.005-04:00

Nothing says summer like a kitchen full of tomatoes of multiple varieties. Today at the market I picked up my favorite cherry tomato- sunburst. They are smaller than other cherry tomatoes and are bright orange – an explosion of flavor in your mouth. I eat them raw all the time. I also picked up a couple of my favorite green zebras. Then after going to my friend’s community garden plot I picked up some more red cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes.

One problem: casualties. Riding a bike has its inconvienience, namely sometimes all my tomatoes get squashed a little in my messenger bag. First thing when I get home I have to do triage, separate the squashed maters from those that were saved. Then I have to think up quick ideas to use the squashed ones before they go bad.

I decided to take today’s casualties and make a chilled Gazpacho and a salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado, and corn. Both were perfect!!!

Chilled tomato Gazpacho

Cut four small tomatoes
Peeled and seed two small cucumbers
Dice a 4th of a red onion

Puree tomatoes and half of cucumbers in food processor, chill in fridge
Add onions and left over cucumber to separate bowl and let sit in white wine vinegar

Add cucumber and onion and vinegar to soup

CHerry Tomato, Avocado, & Corn Salad

This was my favorite and is perfect for a late August summer day:

cherry tomatoes- cut the larger ones in half
1 ripe avocado, cut in cubes
corn on the cob- boiled for a minute then de-cobbed
jalapeno, finely diced
1/4th red onion diced
small bunch of basil chopped

mix all together, sprinkle lime juice and oil on top, season with salt and pepper.

My Version of Succotash

2008-08-26T19:32:00.002-04:00

The fridge is pretty bare, but I have corn on the cob – if you ignore the catepillar that ate part of the cob, fresh lima beans (babies) and fresh tomatoes from my friend’s community garden. Perfect for a succotash!!

Saute three cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add Red chili pepper flakes. Add lima beans, cover with water, bring to boil. Keep at boil for 10-20 minutes, routinely refreshing with more water. You want to boil until the lima beans are soft. I added chicken broth at some point to add a little extra flavor. Add Italian seasoning and salt to taste. Close to right before the lima beans are perfectly soft, add corn that has been cut off the cob. Finally, immediately before eating add chopped tomatoes. Also t the very end I added a large spoonful of basil pesto.

I accomponied this summer dish with homemade french fingerling potato chips

A perfect succotash for late a August summer evening!

Simple Summer Pasta

2008-08-25T20:07:00.008-04:00

I got home from work late today and needed to make something quick.After putting on Iron and Wine on the turntable, I started assembling one of my favorite summer melodies.

Cut a handful of cherry tomatoes in half
boil pasta

Mix pasta with tomatoes, pesto, goat cheese and top with fresh cut basil

Eat with a cob of corn

YUM!!!!

Perfect Sunday

2008-08-25T20:00:00.002-04:00

Sunday’s are best spent with friends. Yesterday was no exception. I started off by going to Malea’s house for waffles. They were delicious! Fluffy from the buttermilk, yet crisp from warming in the over. Topped with peaches equals YUM!

Then after post breakfast stupor we trekked over to my friend Lisa’s community garden plot. She is out of town for three weeks and invited me to water the garden and take some of her veggies. This was perfect! 1) I love community gardens and hope that one day I can find a coveted plot in my neighborhood. 2) all the gardens were overflowing in ripe tomatoes of all varieties – heirloom, roma, and early girls, Basil, peppers and squash. I was in my own little paradise.

So we went home with a load of basil, several tomatoes and some flowers. Several minutes later we transformed the Basil into two large batches of pesto

After doing some much needed cleaning in my kitchen I then invited another friend over for dinner. I needed to use the seconds tomatoes I got from the market on Saturday. So I made a simple tomato sauce with sliced squash from Lisa’s garden

Simple Tomato Sauce:

Sauté one small onion and three cloves of garlic
Add pinch of red pepper flakes and Italian herb seasoning.
Add chopped up tomatoes.

Simmer until the liquid reduces, Add more herbs and salt as necessary.

Puree Tomato sauce

Add thinly sliced squash

Serve over boiled spaghetti

Basic Pesto

Mix fresh Basil, garlic and toasted nuts in food processor. Drizzle in Olive Oil. Add salt pepper and parmesan cheese.

Feast'o'Beets

2008-05-06T07:57:00.006-04:00

So often in the kitchen I find myself wasting so much food. Whether it is from ambitious market shopping with eyes bigger than my tummy, or if I only use one part of a veggie, one way or another I know I am contributing to the waste of a lot of useful nutrients.

Today was different. I went to the market, inspired by the bounty and look of large bunches of beets I bought bright red beets with greens attached: just the way they were pulled out of the ground! I've made beet dishes before and I have also actually bought beet greens as a solo produce item before, but today I decided to integrate the whole vegetable into a feast'o'beats-- eating the beet from head to toe:root to tip top leaf.

For this feast'o'beats I invited my friends Dave and Rick over. Menu included butter sauted beets with orange juice, Beet greens sauted with olive oil, onions, rosemary, red pepper flakes, cannallini beans, and sprinkled with bacon and parmesan cheese.

OJ Beets

- Wash and peel a big bunch of big beets, then shred - real easy if you have a cuisine art

- Melt butter in pan, add beets, saute until beets are soft- but still have a little bite.

- add orange juice.

- you can also add a dollop of creme fresh at the end for an extra treat

Beet Greens'n'Beans

- Saute Diced onion in olive oil until translucent, add rosemary, red pepper flakes and white wine, reduce down until jammy

- add chopped up beet greans, Cover with lid until greens are wilted

- add can of cannalini beans untill heated

- top with crumbled bacon and parmesan cheese.

Mushroom Madness

2008-05-02T14:26:00.008-04:00

It is spring and the Fungi keep popping up in the yard and in the farmer's markets around town. I am a lover of all things fungus related: morels, portobella mushrooms, and truffles. Last night my friend Malea and I took a trip to the farmer's market by my office, picked up two crops that are in their prime right now: portobella mushrooms and asparagus. I am also super excited, I bought a cherokee purple tomato plant - my favorite heirloom ever!!!

Portobella Mushroom Cream Sauce

- Saute Garlic in olive oil, add pinch of red pepper flakes, and pinch of fresh rosemary

- chop up to portobella caps and add to saute pan, add chopped sun-dried tomatoes

- simmer until portobella reduces in size and become s super moist, add a splash of water or white wine

- take about 3/4s of this mixture pure with a bit of cream

- add pureed portion back to pan and add frozen baby peas

- Add slabs of butter and wisk in cream

- add chopped up spinach and simmer until wilted.

Serve over homemade pasta and top with grated parmesean cheese

YUM!!

-

Feeling More(a)l

2008-04-27T10:47:00.006-04:00

It always happens this time of year. The air warms up, the water falls out of the sky, and sprouts start poking their eyes through the dirt. In addition to the spring green that shows its face, I find myself getting all moral. Morel more like it. This is the small window of time in late April mid May when the delicacy wild morels start showing up in the market. Despite their outrageous price tag, I cannot resist at least one moral meal a week. I mean, with all the immoral meals that I indulge in i think the least I could do would be to have one moral meal a year- If I'm lucky maybe two.

This is a two Morel meal year. Last week my friend came over for dinner. I stopped by the farmer's market by my office and picked up a basket of tasty Morel morsels. My friend had not ever had Morels . Don't blame those without morels, they just haven't been brought up right. Thankfully my parents saw the importance of morels and early in life my dad took me morel hunting out in the woods. We gathered up a whopping three morels and took them home to be deep fried.

Those morels have followed me through college and adult life. As my mom always reminded me: don't forget where you came from. I sure haven't forgotten and am thankful for her introduction to morels!

Here is my standby morel meal I like to eat it as an appetizer or put on a piece of toasted baugette:

-Soak morels in room temp water then drain( to clean and get all the grit out of them)
- Quarter or half each mushroom depending on size
- heat olive oil in pan, add chopped shallots, then add morels
- De-glaze with white wine
- saute until mushrooms are soft, add butter to taste, also can add thyme, rosemary etc for additional flavor, Salt and pepper, a splash of lemon juice also adds a nice touch.
- time is of the essence. Last time i was tlaking to my friend and kind of forgot about the morels ( thats what happens with morels when you are fast and loose with them). They turned out great. Secret- plenty of butter

Variating from my morels:

Today I decided to deviate from my years of morel living and add a twist. Instead of just eating them by themselves, I added them to fresh made pasta.

-Make fresh pasta
- Prepare Morels as described above, add peas and add cream to create a cream sauce.

Yum! morel pasta primavera.

Cheers to another morel year!

Inspiration from a comet

2008-01-23T08:59:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is to go to really good restaurants enjoy their food and then go home and learn how to make what I just ate. Recently, i have been enjoying a little pizza joint in upper northwest dc - comet pizza in Van Ness right next to Politics and prose. Aside from this location being a bit in the middle of no where, it has a special place in my heart- I used to live in a basement right behind Comet ( which previously was a nondescript thai restaurant) and outside my basement door was a colony of 50 turtles that my landlady collected. Additionally, the sign for comet is from another old neighborhood of mine- the comet wine shop in adams morgan. With a combination of turtles and a really cool sign, before i even stepped foot into comet I knew that I would love it. Then I walked in and noticed that the whole place is decorated with a ping pong motif. Ping pong tables, lights that look like ping pong balls, and the best part- the bathrooms, where aliens play ping pong in an idilic english country setting.

That is not to mention the good pizza. So on new years day a friend and I ventured to Van Ness and shared two personal sized pizzas. A whole carafe of wine and a broken wine glass later comet inspired us to make our very own green bean pizza.

So last night we whipped up our own comet inspired green bean pizza:

1.) Prepare a white sauce (butter, garlic cream, flour thyme and salt and pepper)

2) spread on pizza dough

3) Blanch green beans

4) Toast hazlenuts

5) carmelize onions

6) add all on top of pizza

7) finish off with mozerrella cheese and feta

YUM!We also made a second pizza:

1) red sauce, Tomatoes, garlic, onion and italian herbs (put through the food mill)

2) slices of fresh tomatoes

3) Mozerrella

4) mounds of bacon

A pizza extravoganza inspired by comet!

Teabagging!

2008-01-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a thoughtful friend I now have the proper tools for teabagging - a Squeasy from oposum design. I love it. It is perfectly designed to allow one to coax the tea bag into the crevice and has a special slit for the string. Then you slightly squeasy with ever such ease the squeasy and it pumps the remaining flavors of the tea into your cup. Now my Good earth original blend, and Celestial seasoning Bengal spice will be so Yum. Yay for teabagging accessories!

New Apartment New Kitchen

2008-01-08T14:41:00.000-05:00

I recently moved into a new apartment. As soon as all the boxes got to the apartment (even as my friends were still there eating pizza and drinking beer) I couldn't wait to unpack my kitchen stuff. It has been in storage for 4 months and was gasping for air! I felt like little kid on christmas day opening each box and getting excited about the contents. Moving into a new kitchen is also exciting because I got to figure out where i want everything to go and how to decorate.

Now I face a small dilemma: How do I stock my cabinets? I have very limited cabinet space. Plus in the process of moving everything i realized that i store a lot of food that i end up never eating. But now the real dilemma: I am having my best friend and her husband over for dinner ( my first meal i have cooked in a while) and I don't have any staples. Now olive oil, no salt no pepper, no herbs, no spices!!

It is either going to be a bland dinner or I am going to have to take out a small loan to stock the kitchen. Needless to say, the fact that I now have my kitchen back I am looking forward to more cooking, having friends over and sharing here.

Colors of Spring

2007-04-01T18:53:00.000-04:00

It is officially spring here in the bluegrass state of KY. Soon the Grass will get its blue hue. The trees are already starting to turn tender green, Puple and white buds are starting to show on trees and the Tuna trees are smelling up the streets as well.

Inspired by the colors and freshness of spring I made my meal tonight utilizing three spring colors: pink, yellow and green. Giada from Food Network helped out with the menu.

Salmon on Pea/mint puree in a broth of lemon, shallots and chicken stock.

Pea puree

2 cups of frozen peas
1/4 cup fresh mint
handfull of sorrel
Salt
Peppe

Puree and add oilive oil while pureeing.

Broth

1 shallot
Olive oil
lemon zest
lemon juice
chicken stock

Heat olive oil, saute shallot, add lemon zest and juice from 2 lemons, add chicken stock. simmer.

Salmon

Season each side with salt pepper and olive oil, Put in hot skillet. Sear each side for 3 minutes.

Pour the broth in the bottom of a bowl, add a mound of the peas and top it off with the salmon.

YUM! A colorful spring meal.

sorel salmon and apples

2007-03-31T13:24:00.000-04:00

I can't get enough of the citrus flavor of Sorel today. So for lunch I baked a salmon filet tossed with olive oil salt pepper and lemon juice. Salmon on a bed of fresh sorel with a sliced apple on the side. YUM!

Sorrel!

2007-03-31T09:41:00.000-04:00

It is spring. I know because 1) the farmer's market is open and 2) they had Sorrel. I love sorrel. Little green leaves packed with lemony punch. Each bite is like biting into a lemon. I love a sorrel.
But you have to get it while it is in season, there is only a small window of time during the spring when you can enjoy the greatness of sorrel.

I like sorell by itself. No fuss, no dressing- naked sorel. Its also good added to a spring green salad mix. .

Today I enjoyed a sorell salad with a light vinegerette (brown sugar, dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, lemon juice); roasted asparagas topped with a poached egg (follow julia's directions in the art of french cooking- perfectly poached oeufs result all the time) and delicious Kentucky bacon!

Welcome Spring, Welcome sorrel!

Super Bowl of Chilli

2007-02-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

It is that time of year again. Though not a fan of the foot ball or the game, I must confess I have a guilty pleasure of seeking out super bowl parties every year. Either I host one - with a cornicopia of differing super bowl foods or a sniff one out.

This year I am making a Super bowl of Chilli, no-knead bread, Zingy tea, brownies, and a jello mold lobster! (releasing the lobster from the mold ws the hardest part, I put the mold in a bath of hot water and all the sudden the jello started melting. As a result the lobster is leaner than he might otherwise be.)

No need to knead-- ameoba of flour yeasties and water

2007-02-04T14:24:00.000-05:00

Finally, after three months of Bitman's NYTIMES article on no-knead bread and millions of postings in the blogosphere recounting tricks variations and pure enthusiasm for the no-knead phenomenom I have finally gotten my hands sticky and attemped the at home artisnal bread.

My test audience will be all those coming over for the super bowl party I am throwing.

Zingy Ice Tea

2006-12-18T12:14:00.001-05:00

My friend Jake introduced me to his modified version of Ina Garten's red zinger ice tea. Now I am a full convert!

Steep eight bags of red zinger tea and 4 bags of lemon zinger tea with 32 oz of hot water. Steep for ten minutes.

Add 32 oz. of white grape juice. Add ice and put in the fridge.

Yummy Zingy Ice tea. good alone or mixed with Gin or Champagne. It is a crowd pleaser- ahve pleanty on hand for your next party.

More Holiday Fun!

2006-12-17T14:29:00.001-05:00

The After Party

2006-12-16T10:59:00.000-05:00

The after party is supposed to be better than the actual party. However, if you are the party thrower, the after party entails cleaning up the mess you made to make the party happen. Usually what happens is that I get so exhausted making the party that once every one leave it takes everything out of me just to cover all the left overs up. ( which no one ever takes home- leaving me with more food than I know what to do with)

Dirty Dishes and massive amounts of leftovers. ( anyone wanna help decorate some extra cookies?)

Decorating FUN!

2006-12-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

Even though I am 27 years old, I still love decorating holiday cookies. The icing, the glitter, the gold and silver balls. It is all so much fun. And then there are all the cute shapes you can make cookies into.

Yesterday I had a cookie decorating party. I was lucky-- my friend Ali agreed to do the task of rolling out the ginger bread and butter cookie dough, cutting the shapes and baking them. She even brought mixed and colored icing to deccorate with!

Ali brought doves, camels, cats, dinasaurs, and bells. Nothing like decorating a camel and a gingerbread couple to get you in the holiday mood- a soundtrack of Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson holiday music also helped.

My favorite Holiday

2006-11-29T08:51:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. I enjoy hanging out with my family and eating good food! Here are some memories from this year's thanksgiving at Nana's House. It included cooking and baking with mom, Hanging out with my Bro Timmy and going over to Nana's for Turkey.

Nana's $65 Thanksgiving for 25

2006-11-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

All for only $65. Nana knows how to shop for deals!

Three Layer Pumpkin DEEEE-Lite

2006-11-22T19:48:00.000-05:00

Another layered dish to make me feel at home:

Three layers of goodness- Nutty crust, Cream cheese, cool whip and sugar, & pumpkin

1st Layer: mix 1 cup flour, 2 Tblsp sugar, 1/2 cup margarine, 1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts

Bake at 350 untill golden, Let cool

2nd Layer: Beat 8 oz pack of cream cheese, 1 Cup powdered sugar, 6 oz cool whip

3rd Layer: 16 oz can of pumpkin, 2 small packages vanilla instant pudding, 1 cup half and half, 1 tspn cinnamon, 1/2 tspn powdered ginger, 1/4 tspn ground cloves.

4th layer- top with a final layer of plain cool whip and garnish with chopped nuts

Prelude to Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T18:43:00.000-05:00

Whenever I come home for the holidays my mom always asks me what my requested meal is. This time I did not hesitate I wanted King Ranch Chicken Cassarole. Nothing makes me feel like home like a good cassarole. And not surprisingly, two weeks ago when my sister came home she also requested King Ranch Chicken Cassarole.

King Ranch Chicken Cassarole

Ingredients:

3-4 cups cooked boned and diced chicken breast ( boil it) ( keep the broth)

1Lb Sharp chedder cheese grated

8-9 flour tortillas cut into pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can chicken broth (retained from boiling of the chicken)

1 can celery Soup

1 small can chopped green chillis

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chillies

Directions

1)soften tortillas in chicken broth

2) mix all soups and broth togetrher with chillies and tomatos and heat slowly

3) Season with salt and pepper

4) In Buttered cassarole dish layer tortillas, chicken and soup in that order then top with cheese. Continue layering untill all ingredients are used. Final layer should be cheese

5) Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Slime Balls aka baby cabbages aka Brussell Sprouts

2006-11-20T09:29:00.000-05:00

I have a very distinct memory of growing up and my mom occassionally putting something on the table that we were forced to try and had to finish before we left the table. The one food that sticks out in my memory is the night that my mom bought frozen brussell sprouts and boiled them. Then FORCED my sister and I to eat the Slimey balls that they were.

As I remember the Brussell sprouts were slimey balls that tasted NASTY! They were so repulsive that my mom admitted that she would never make us eat them again. My mom was a fair player-- as long as we had to endure the slimey balls she had to try them also. And from what I remember she was not too happy with the slimey balls that frozen brussell sprouts turned out to be.

I suppose my mom had an ulterior motive in making us try the brussell sprouts. In fact, growing up I always remember her saying "you at least have to try it, because some day you may be in someone's house and they might bring you something to eat that smells weird or tastes awfull and you have to be polite and eat it." Little did I know in the middle of eating nasty slime balls that my mom's wisdom would ring true. However, years later when I was in India I realized my mom's wisdom. For the most part I loved Indian food. However, there were rare occassions when I would be at a friend's house and offered fried goat's blood, or when I bit down on a cardomom seed ( which makes your mouth feel like it is being turned inside out). My reaction was usually strong. But I had a little voice in my head that sounded like my mom telling me I had to try it.

Now years after the traumatic slime ball incident I find myself walking through the farmers market and take a special effort to try new things that I have never had or trying things that I have bad memories of as a child. As my mom always reminded me as a child "you never know, your taste buds may have changed." ( ironically I find myself saying the same thing to friends that refuse to eat certain vegetables and my 16 year old brother that is one of the pickiest eaters I know)

In walks the Brussell Sprout

I have recently re-discovered a love for the brussell sprout, (not of the slime ball inclination but fresh farm picked sprouts). I take them home, wash them, halve, and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Then I roast them in a 350 oven.

I have recalimed the brussell sprout and now love them.

Thanks mom for teaching me to try new things!

Next mission is to convert my mom back to the brussell sprout. ( everytime I tell her I am making them she cringes, laughs, and then reminds me of the slime ball incident.)

Creamy Rice

2006-11-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

Nothing warms a cold rainy day like a pot of creamy risotto! An added bonus is that the constant stirring is very soothing and theraputic. Better still-- share the pot of creamy rice with a friend. Rissotto is great as a stand alone dish or served with a vegtable side. It is also a great blank palatte, to which you can add any desired goody (i.e. peas, shitake mushrooms, truffels (the pig sniff'n kind) etc)

My recipe is essentially the recipe in Joy of Cooking but be sure to use Secret ingredient #1 and Secret Technique #2. And don't trust Joy when it says it only takes 30 minutes. It always takes me longer to stir and incorporate the stock to the desired creaminess. No problem waiting here though-- the wait is well worth it!

Creamy Parmesean Risotto

1) Heat olive oil in saute pan, add chopped onion. Saute until onion is soft

2) Add one cup of aborio rice, toast in the olive oil just to coat the grains of rice

3) Add 1/2 cup of dry white wine. Heat until you can see a cloudy center in the rice grain surrounded by translucent edges

4) SECRET INGREDIENT #1: Homemade Chicken stock. Add one cup of hot homemade chicken stock at a time. Allow rice to absorb the stock then add another.

5) SECRET #2: Constantly stir ( yes as a matter of fact you will be tethered to the stove)

6) Continue adding stock untill the rice is soft and creamy

7) add a cup of frozen peas

8) add one -2 cups parmesean cheese and slabs of butter.

Serve hot!

YUM!

Fake Cake

2006-11-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

I made my first venture into the land of vegan baking today. One of my friends kept going on about how great this coffee shop's vegan carrot cake was so I decided to take a stab at it myself.

In addition to my first vegan cake it was also my first layer cake that did not fall apart when I tried to stack it and put icing on it.

Secret vegan ingredients= FAKE Egg (Ener- G egg replacer) & Tofutti FAKE cream cheese.

Never have I enjoyed FAKE so much!

Plus it made my apartment smell really yummy!

Vegan/FAKE Carrot Cake (compliments of Vegweb)

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup cane sugar
3 egg equivalent in Ener-G FAKE egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 can (about 14 oz) crushe'd pineapple, drained
1 cup shredded coconut
nuts and raisins optional

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, spice, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, mix sugar and eggs until creamy (works best with an electric mixer) - add vanilla, then add vegetable oil. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and add carrots, pineapple, and coconut.

I like to use two 6 inch round cake pans and then stack them on top of each other with a layer of frosting sandwiched in the middle. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to let the cake adequately cool before frosting.

FAKE Cream Cheese Frosting recipe

1 package vegan cream cheese (tofutti) 1/3 cup margarine, softened. 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 cups confectioners sugar

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla, then add sugar.

Tasty Toasted Treats

2006-11-14T22:26:00.000-05:00

There is nothing better to sate an appetite late in the evening than a batch of toasted squash seeds.

I got home from school today and decided to roast my acorn squash. While I patiently wait for the squash to roast with the added butter and brown sugar. I dried off the seeds, tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and toasted in the oven for several minutes.

Result: tasty toasted treats. (that is until my cat pulled the paper towl with the seeds on it down from the counter)

Simply Sweet Tators

2006-11-14T01:25:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and so are tables full of variations on the favorite tuber of sweetness-- the sweet tator!

I grew up with my grandmother's sweet potato casserole mashed sweet potatos with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and pecans. It was almost so sweet it could be a desert. In fact, when I lived in India, on Thanksgiving we made a t-giving meal. My contribution was Nana's sweet potato casserole. Aside from the fact that in India ovens don't exist: I had to resort to a toaster over- increasing the baking time from 1 hour to 6 hours ( even still the topping on the top was never crispy like Nana's-- the cooks laughed at me but told me how much they liked it. It apparently was similar to many of the indian sweets that pack enough sugar to kill a large elephant.

Then there is the perenial sweet tator dish: Yam cubes roasted in a jammy sugar substance and topped with marshmallows.

I recently discovered a much simpler and not quite as sweet version of the sweet tuber.

I take a good size sweet potato, bake it in a 350-400 degree oven, Squeeze open and add butter, little brown sugar and either creme fresche or sour cream.

YUM!!!

Yum in the Tum

2006-11-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

Cool weather is blowing in and it is time for warm autumn soup to warm my soul.

After getting over fears, propagated by friends, of an apartment that smelled like cauliflower, I spent the evening sauteing, boiling, simmering and pureeing, not to be confused with the motor like purring of my cat.

Cauliflower Pureed Soup Garnished with Toasted Florets and Pecans

Recipe, compliments of the Thanksgiving edition of Food and Wine.

1) Saute 1 leek and 2 cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil.

2) Add chopped Cauliflower from one medium sized head (save several small florets), chopped and peeled granny smith apple.

3) Add three cups of vegetable stock and 4 sprigs of thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes

Meanwhile....

Open a bottle of wine-- enjoy-- read the paper and listen to good music.

4) Heat the oven at 350. Toss small cauliflower florets and handfull of pecans in olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in oven.

5) after the soup has simmereed puree in a food mill with the finest grade. (I preferr a food mill to a food processor; the food mill can make a more refined puree. Though sometimes I do the first batch in the food processor and finish it off with the manual food mill.)

Garnish with the roasted pecans and florets. I also added a dallop of goat cheese and a drizzle of Olive oil.

ENJOY autumn's warming soup.

Colors of Summer

2006-08-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

Summer always brings the best flavors to the table- straight from the farm. In addition to the yumminess that a good august harvest brings it also brings briliant colors. Today I enjoyed roasted salmon, with PERFECT sweet corn on the cob, green beans and sliced heirloom tomato drizzeled with olive oil and salt and peper. Throw in some fresh squeezed lemonade and you have the perfect summer dinner.

Campfire Gourmet!

2006-08-01T11:18:00.000-04:00

Summer- the perfect season for camping and grilling. So far this summer I have been able to go camping in one national forest and one national park-- Red River Gorge and Mammoth Cave.

The first campsite was super primitive- no running water in walking distance, and the car was a short hike away. During this expedition we were left with dehydrated packs of food that you mix with hot water. Not the best but they gave sustenance for the trip- and added burps the morning after that reminded you of the awful preserved flavors of the food- Our selection- beef strogonough and pad thai. Heat source- Quick and hot fire made of small twigs.

Plus the old campfire standby- Roasted Marshmallows.
Second trip- mammoth cave- We went all out- Brats, roasted corn on the cob and portobello, zuccini and onion kebabs. I toated my olive oil, sea salt and pepper grinder along with my wustoff to the camp ground. Heat source- charcoal fire.
Then for breakfast the next day we woke the neighbors up with the crackle of bacon grease--- bacon with eggs. And last but not least french press illi coffee.
There is something so primordial (no I did not make soup) about cooking over a flame or charcoal. (ignoring the fact that my knuckles became barbequed after scrambling the eggs)

The Life of Cream and Cone- Cut Short

2006-06-19T22:29:00.000-04:00

Summertime is grate for grater's ice cream. I am always able to rangle a friend inot going to get the seasonal flavor. This time it was black rasberry chocholate chunk- And when they say chunk they mean iceberg or glacier. My other favorite is strawberry chocolate chunk!

Brunch With Myself and the farmland of Kentucky

2006-06-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

I enjoy a great brunch filled with friends and an added mimosa is great too. Likewise, I have fond memories of Sunday mornings lounging in bed and making coffee and breakfast with the boy. However for the past six months I have had an opportunity to develop an appreciation for the brunch with myself. It is one of the most self indulgent things a person can give themself.

Perfect cobination:
- Read the Sunday Times
- moka pot cappiccino
- Sunday brunch

I've had multiple variations on the brunch theme:

- fresh salad with vinnegerette and goat cheese with an omlette filled with fresh vegtables and goat cheese
- waffels with fresh strawberries
- bacon bacon bacon

Today I am using up the last of my asparagus:

- roasted kentucky asparagus topped with a kentucky poched egg and goat cheese ( from southern Indiana) and bacon, with a refreshing drink of lemon italian soda and a couple fresh Kentucky strawberries.

It is a Kentucky sunday brunch.

Plus the postal service is playing in the background.

I love my time with myself at sunday brunch.

Green Spears and Red Rubies: An asparagus and Strawberry Marathon

2006-06-04T12:09:00.000-04:00

I love the look of asparagus. It has such a unique form slender body with a tightly bound tip. I like to compare it to a spear- Can you imagine a war fought with asparagus spears! Now that truely would be a food revolution. Another pressing question of mine- is the Jolly green giant really an anthropomorphic asparagus?

Last week I made a trip home. One of the highlights of the trip was going to the farm where my 15 year old brother works for the summer. Its less of a farm and more of a strawberry patch and aspargus patch. Timmy stands at the stall, directs people where the best berries are, weighs the harvest and also picks asparagus. So early Saturday morning before it got too hot, my mom and I headed over to the field to get strawberries.

I also saw asparagus growning for the first time and picked about 4lbs.

I came home with about 10 lbs of strawberries and 4 lbs of asparagus and I have been racking my brain all week to figure out how to use the multitude of asparagus. It doesn't help that some of my freinds refuse to eat asparagus.

several meals included the traditional- roast asparagus in olive oil with parmesean cheese (my asparagus standby)

I also made homemade pasta with my new pasta roller. Tossed with fresh pesto from my window garden with two uncooked canned tomatoes diced and added a saute of asparagus and onion and garlic- this was delicious. I thought about pured asparagus and adding it to a pasta dough- I wonder if this would work.

Now it is the end of the week- rather begining of a new one-and I still have a hearty portion of green spears in a bucket in my fridge. Cream of asparagus soup sounds good.

As far as the starwberries go, everyday I have enjoyed the decadence of cereal with fresh strawberries. Now I am going to use the last of the stawberries and make strawberry bread.

Self-Service Froth!

2006-06-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

You know you have reached a certain point in life when you can serve yourself a perfectly frothy cappiccino from the privacy of you own home. No need to patranize the soudntrack-filled starbucks.

I just purchased a moka pot (I love how it looks on my stove top- I've never been one much into the clunky filter coffee pots taking up so much room on the counter) and a hand-held battery powered frother. It makes the perfect cappiccino BZZZZZZZ- froth is ready! Froth on command!

The only draw back to my recent moka pot purchase- in my attempt to learn how to make the perfect cappiccino I am intoxicating my body with multiple cups of high octance esspresso shots. Each time increasing the caffine jitters.

Illi coffee, Moka Pot and self-service froth

Plus with my soundtrack of The Southland and the Sunday Times, I have the perfect start to a Sunday.

Molly Moochers

2006-05-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

The spring rains have arrived and so has my favorite springtime fungus- Morels.

About this time every year my eyes are peeled and my nose can find the scent of a morel from a mile away. I remember when I was a kid, my dad and I went morel hunting. I think we came home with a measly 2 morels. But I remember the little morsel. We battered it in flour and fried it.

So then 20 years later, when my interest in cooking was starting to bloom, and I saw the familiar fungus at whole foods, I could not resist. Aside from the $50 / lb price tag I was happy as a clam.

I took my fungi home and read read read about how to prepre it. I ended up following the combined wisdom of both Alice Waters and Paul Bertollli. Heat up butter add morels aadd a tad of white wine and reduce down untill a little jammy. Towards the end add a little tarragon (another one of my favorites).

To my delight the morels ended up being little morsels of goodness. I had just a tiny plate of the fungus but was never so satisfied.

Now, every May I look out for the sponge-cone shaped fungi for a little treat.

Three publications this past month have picked up on the morel craze:

Molly Mooching on Bradly Mountain: The Aestetic Ecology of Appalacian Mountains, Mary Hufford, Gastromomica, Spring 2006.

- some year I want to go to the kentucky mountain mushroom festival and take part in the fungi festivities.

Magic Mushrooms, Gary Wolf, New York Times Magazine, May 7, 2006

Even Michael Pollan in his new Book Omniviore's Dilema writes about his experience foraging for mushrooms.

Strawberry Lemonade

2006-05-20T14:32:00.000-04:00

It is a beautiful sunny day today- a respite from the weeks of rain and gloom we have been having.

I got an early start at 6 a.m. and have been running since then. A delightful trip tp the makret landed me asparagus for grilling, swiss chard, strawbabies, and a new watercress plant.

After repotting my rosemary and planting the watercress I needed a refreshing drink.

Strawberry lemonade-

- 1 pack instant lemonade mix
- add fresh strawbabies that have been maciating with sugar
- pour in strawbaby juice and several strawberry chunks.

Yum a fresh spring drink!

Omnivore's Appetite

2006-05-17T07:59:00.000-04:00

Before starting, the Omnivore's Dilemma I had slight disdain and intolerance for those individuals that were constantly reading foods labels to determine calories and fat content. (some have gone so far as to label me intolerant). Now I am finding myself becoming an object of my own disdain.

I find myself turning over a label to reveal the ingredient list are and to determine how much of the food's content is composed of corn. It is amazing how pervasive corn is in all of our diets.

Then to my further excitement, when I made a visit to the farmer's market I found a new farmer that sells grass fed beef. Grass, after all, is why cows have multiple stomachs! I can't wait to cook it up.

All of my excitement over the revelations in Pollen's omnivore dilemma, however are overshadowed by my best friend's dad's thoughts on the subject. (he is a farmer in Ohio and grows corn and raises his own small herd of cows). If only I could recount the many cow stories she has told me. ( like the one where her mom and dad went to a dinner and her mom won a new carhart jacket only to be stealthily traded for a test tube full of bull semen.) How can I get an invitation to these parties?
He doesn't like the current trend in organic food. He raises a valid point- what about the farmer's and families and for that matter the entire US economy that relies on the expansive industry of corn farming? Are we now so intertwined that there is no solution?

Aside from making me hyper aware of the food I am eating and learning where it all comes from I love the education pollen gives on corn sex, industrial agriculture and his myth busting of whole foods.

Omnivore's dilemma is a delightful read and has sparked so many neurons in my brain as well as conversations with friends, farmers and co-workers.

Plus, notwithstanding my new knowledge, I remain an avid omnivore, just a tad bit more conscious of the food I eat.

Strawbabies

2006-05-17T07:37:00.000-04:00

Strawbabies: n. 1. Babies born of the straw; 2. Commonly known as the strawberry; 3. Red spring morsel of tartness and sweetness; 3) usually used in multiple recipes, notably: strawbaby shortcake & strawbaby jam, Origin- Lukisms.

My parents came in town today and came bearing gifts: Strawbabies that my grandmother picked from the field next to her house!

A perfect occassion for Strawbaby shortcake. And no I am not ashamed that I make my shortcake with bisquick. In fact, My shortcake brings all the boys to tha yard and they're like its better than your's...I could teach ya but I'd have ta charge.

Shortcake topped with fresh Kentucky Strawbabies, a tad of milk and cool whip.

THen for breakfast shortcake with milk.

The all purpose meal (shortcake)

Read my dad's essay on my grandmother and picking strawbabies:

Berry Season

We all wish for good experiences for our children during their early years. I know all my children have benefited greatly from jobs, sports and Church activities they were involved in during their summers between school sessions. They have all thrived from their public education here in Henderson. I didn’t have that opportunity. As a little kid I first went to public school at the old Central Elementary School but they said I was too religious. Then I went to a private Christian school and they said I was too secular. I didn’t even know what that meant so I just went home to Mom and was “hoome skoulled.” She was real nice but didn’t have much to work with. Recently I went home to my thirty-sixth high school reunion. It was just me and Mom sitting around the punch bowl listening to Joe Cocker, and the Jethro Tull all night on my old LP’s.

I am so proud of our Community and the teachers who make a special effort to educate our children. It takes a special person to be a teacher and we have some of the best. They have nurtured and been good examples for our kids to follow.

I want to especially mention a family that has made my son’s last couple of summers unforgettable. He and his cousin, Bryan W, were born three days apart in 1990 and work in George's strawberry patch, which is located next to Community Baptist Church on Pebble Creek Drive. They have learned valuable lessons that can’t be found in books but that will follow them their entire life and build the character that is much needed in all kids. George, Lisa, Madison and little Kennedy all work at the patch during strawberry, blueberry, black berry and asparagus season. They allow my son, Bryan and my Mom to help in what ever way is needed. My son has learned the value of dependability, hard work, honesty and contributing to the business in more ways than just putting in his time. They pick the strawberries, drive the mule to chauffeur the pickers, work the register, baby sit Kennedy, be a gopher for George and make the best strawberry milk shakes in West Kentucky. My Mom is no spring chicken, just 10 in dog years, but picking strawberries and supervising the boys keeps her young and exhausted. She lives to pick berries of all kinds from Georges’ patch in town and Aunt Bugs’ patch at Baskett. She’s always around directing the pickers to the best spot for the sweetest berries. I think her Mom and Dad knew how much she would love picking berries and they arranged to have her birthday right in the middle of berry season. It is a delight to see my family so involved with the Warrens and I appreciate their patience with the boys and teaching them how to be responsible and know the value of work.

Now this is not an advertisement for the W’s berry patch but I must say if my son doesn’t save enough money to buy his Apple laptop computer this summer I’m afraid his head will pop like a blueberry on steroids.

To me, heaven will be seeing my son come home at the end of a long day after mowing lawns and picking berries, dirty, sun burnt, and sweaty with a couple pints of berries. He, my wife and I eat them with shortcake and cream on a hot June evening in H-son KY.
That’s what memories are made of and this is only one of many made right here in this town. There is nothing like the kids and families here in H-son and we grow some good ones.

Lemony Swiss Chard Pancakes

2006-04-28T17:47:00.000-04:00

This week finds me in the middle of Law school finals. Usually, all I can manage to do during this time of the year is study, watch mindless TV and sleep. This week however I am cableless and have lots of produce in the fridge waiting for its fate-- my stomach.

My meal tonight included Swiss chard cinnamon pancakes with Lemon Hummus on top, garnished with chiffonad of Sorrel and fresh lemon wedges.

Swiss Chard & Cinnamon Pancakes

Rinse off a bunch of swiss chard then put in a pot on medium heat to wilt the chard

In a separate bowl mix
- 4 beaten eggs
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp all spice
- 3/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp black pepper

When the Chard is wilted add it to the mixture.

Heat a non stick pan with a tad of Olive oil.

Drop heaps of the mixture in and fliip once each side is done- about 3-4 minutes.

Garnish with Hummus or sour cream, or creme fresche, and lemon wedges.

To add more lemon flavor I added chiffonade of sorrel.

A perfect lemon retrete for a warm spring evening!

Indoor Agriculture

2006-04-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

The Market today was full of starter herbs, so I gave in to temptation and bought enough to create a window box of herbs, This will add to my already hearty harvest of mixed lettuce that I have growing in the window.

I added:

- Tarragon (great fresh herb with a bitter yet sweet bite I love this herb)
- 2 Basil plants- perfect for pesto and garnishes
- oregeno
- thyme
- chives
- parsley

I love having the ability to step over to my window and pick fresh lettuce for a light salad. And now the freshest of herbs are at my finger tips- my windowsill.

Indoor agriculture is a great addition to weekly trips to the farmers' market and a community garden plot. It adds life to an otherwise dead apartment. Plus I love watching plants grow. Life is amazing!

Crusty Pecans

2006-04-11T16:36:00.000-04:00

I found one more use for all those pecans my grandmother gave me-- Pecan encrusted salmon. I found the recipe on the internet and it packs a great- nutty flavor encasing the savory goodness of the Salmon inside.

1) Grind 1 cup of pecans to a rough powder
2) Add 3-4 minced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3) dip salmon in Olive oil then cover with pecan mixture
4) sear one side on the stove top for a couple minutes
5) place in 450 degree oven for 3-5 minutes.

I ate this with a small spring green salad. It is a great lunch!

Soup=Bliss

2006-04-09T19:42:00.000-04:00

How much easier can you obtain bliss than by throwing chick peas, butter beans, peas, rosemary red pepper flakes, and spinach into a pureed soup.

Pureed Bean Soup:

1) saute 1 diced onion and 3 diced garlic cloves
2) add diced rosemary and red pepper flakes
3) add one can of drained chick peas and one can of white beans
4) add 2 or 3 cups of water or chicken or vegtable stock (water is just fine-you will never tell the difference)
5) simmer for a while
6) puree the soup ( I love any excuse to use my hand crank food mill but feel free to use a food processor as well)
7) add puree to pot, add frozen peas and baby spinach (swiss chard is nice too)
8) add a pat of butter, squirt of honey, a splash of balsamic vineger, salt and pepper to taste

garnish with freshly chopped scallions and grated parmeseam cheese.

Result: a perfectly pueree of silky goodness= bliss

Makes enough for 2 or 1 with leftovers.

Broccoli Rabe- Variation on a Theme

2006-04-08T19:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I had a variation on a theme of broccoli- Broccoli Rabe. Not quite broccoli, not quite a green, Broccoli Rab has a very distinct taste. Bitter and green Crunch and smooth.

Working on the variation on a theme motif I decied to take one of my old standbys- Spinach sauteed with raisins and pine nuts and add a dash of Luke variation. Tonight's variation on a theme- Broccoli rabe with raisins, walnuts and goat cheese.

Saute broccoli rabe in ginger-lime butter, meanwhile soak raisins in warm water and toast walnuts. Once the Rabe is wilted add raisins and walnuts. Finally, add a splash of sherry vinegar and a diash of sugar to cut the rabe's bitterness. Finanly add crumbles of goat cheese.

A scrumptious dinner.

Bountiful Market

2006-04-07T23:34:00.000-04:00

I could barely sleep last night because I knew that I would be making my first visit to the farmer's market. I had dreams of chard, sorrel, spinach and french breakfast radishes running through my head. I underestimated the weather and experinced a very brisk bike ride and soaked up the morning drizzle. My fingers are now buring from the cold!

My favorite farmer's were there today, Ivor with his great display and great organic greens. I got eggs, baby carrots, baby onions, broccoli rabe, MOMMA bok choi, spinach and mescelum (to suplant my apartment supply). I also bought some more spring lettuce starters for my window box and a basil plant for a full season supply of pesto.

Now I am itching to cook it up! Cuz that's what I wuz born ta do.

Risotto Crisp

2006-04-07T12:09:00.000-04:00

What started out as an attempt to make leftover risotto into risotto cakes/fritters soon turned into crispy rissoto hash. The consistancy was close to that of hash browns with a crispy bite. I added a bit of marinera sauce and topped with parmesean.

Next time I'll add the eggs and hope the fritters stick together.

Pink Food

2006-04-05T18:58:00.000-04:00

I guess February is more appropriately the month for Pink food themes. Spring also can be a good reason for pink food. Spring has many pastel colors, pink tulips, pink died eggs and pink Salmon. But most importantly, my biggest inspiration for eating Salmon is Julia. How can one forget the day she plopped a huge salmon on her counter and proceeded to cook it up. So much more fitting, given the fact that this week a new book was released that is by Julia and her great nephew. The book chronicals Julia's time in France where she began her passion for food it is: My Life in France," by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

I always thought it was weird that Salmon's pink color is artificial. What is the reason behind eating pink fish? Regardless, now that it is pink it is a great food for a pink themed meal. Added exccitement to a dinner of Salmon is today's discovery of a transitional fish to land animal. Scientist have found the first fish with Forward Facing Fins- indicating that fish slowly transitioned from the sea and started inhabiting land.

Today the fishmonger at whole foods pointed me in the direction of the farm raised salmon. I am broiling it with a lime ginger butter and eating with a simple parmesean cheese rissoto.

Pink is the reason for the season.

Pea Shoot Lunch

2006-04-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

It is officially spring and I had my mainstay spring (or for that matter any season) lunch. Whenever I am out of leftovers and in need of a good lunch I throw this meal together in less than 30 min. Today, I used fresh mescelum that I grew in my apartment in a window box. Nothing is quite as fulfilling as eating lettuce that I grew in my own apartment. Plus in this one I added some pea shoots. An added variation includes roasting/grilling baby zucchini and adding it to the salad. YUM!

Fresh spring green salad with a sherry vinnegerette, crumbled goat cheese and toasted pine nuts. Roasted red potatoes, & omlette

The meal is fresh light and so savory. A perfect meal for the middle of a sunny spring day.

BBC-- Baby Bok Choi

2006-03-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

At one time my former boyfriend and I created a "rap" song utilizing the rhythmic sound of baby bok choi. It requires particular emphasis on the (B)aby (B)ok (C)hoi. If you were to assign a rhythym to it the baby bock would each get an eight note and the choi would be a halfnote.

Aside from inspiring musical expression baby bok choi is one of my favorite vegtables. I love to eat it fairly simple. I take a relatively small BBC halve it, run under water, add a little hot seasame oil and steam on a grill pan.

The BBC has a distinct juicy and fresh taste to it, while retaining a yummy crunch.

Baby Bock Choi got back!

Unseasonal Indulgence

2006-03-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

A trip to Whole Foods and I am unabashedly inspired by unseasonal foods. Somewhere I read about how Whole Foods tempts people with organic yet un-seasonal foods. It's true- but honestly- there are only so many roots and tubers that a boy can eat during the winter months. Plus the sun is starting to warm me up and I am ready for the bounty of spring and summer. I am getting a head start with this weeks list of unseasonal produce. (don't tell Alice Waters). Meanwhile my crop of mescelum mix in my window planter is starting to produce some nice seasonal leaves of green goodness.

My canvas of food this week:

- New onions
- Swiss chard
- Red potatos
- Baby bok choi
- Sugar snap peas
- Zucchini (way out of season)
- strawberries

I was also tempted by the fiddlehead ferns but somehow managed to stay away from them- perhaps next week.

Stay tuned to see what type of puzzle all the pieces form together.

Krispy Kreme

2006-03-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

A weekend in DC would not be complete without eating at my favorite restaurants. Ranging from Amma's South Indian, to full kee shrimp dumpling soup to the pure temptation of Krispy Kreme located next to the dupont metro stop. I indulged in my temptations.

Weekend of FOOD

2006-03-17T08:38:00.000-05:00

I'm in my former home of DC for the week. When people ask me what my plans are they usually constist of hanging out with friends and eating at my favorite restaurants.

The next question is to list all my favorite restaurants. After listing them all my friends reply- sounds like you will have a full time job eating. That characterization is pretty much reality.

Great places to eat in DC:

- coffee in the morning- tryst- the chocolate ship waffels are wonderdful and bowls of strong coffee will take you to new heights (adams morgan living room)
- teaism (tea and they have a wonderful shrimp spring roll with excellent dipping sauce)
- Burma- (second floor eatery in chinatown) one of my favorite palces ot eat! Get the fresh ginger salad and the pickled mustard plant
- Chinatown Express- Right below Burma- fresh noodle soup with beef
- Full Kee- More chineese noodles- shrimp dumpling soup hong kong style
-Jaleo- tapas - dates wrapped in bacon YUM!
- Meskerem- Ethiopean vegetarian combo
-Ammas- South India like Maleyalee's eat (Georgetown)
- Bua - where the waitress know my friend and staurt by face and know exactly what we order as soon as we walk in the door.
- The Diner- the cliche trendy 24 hour diner in adams morgan- love to go late at night with Malea and catch up after a hectic day of flying.
- Plus on Sundays the Farmer's Market in Dupont Circle is GREAT!

I could go on but am already running out of time slots to eat.

Squirrels, Nuts, and Nana

2006-03-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

I love my grandmother! She always pulls through with excellent coffee cakes, the best mashed potatoes and green beans, and most recently Pecans. Above all the food that she makes I just love her. I could spend all day lying on her couch and watching TV with her.

My grandmother (Nana) has a pecan tree on the side of her house and I love envisioning her and my grandfather (popop) sitting in their lliving room picking out the pecans from their shells as they watch the latest cable news TV magazine. I also envision Nana chasing after the squirrels to make sure she gets every single nut in her yard. I've been told that Nana stays up at night fretting over whether the squirrels are hording all her pecans.

Naturally, when I received a care package last week from Nana I was super excited to get a sour cream container full of pecans hand picked with love.

While I am perfectly content eating pecans bythe handfull I needed to find a way to use them in cooking. Thoughts of Nana's famous pecan pie ran through my head, but I finally settled on pecan waffels. YUM! With fresh stawberries and blueberries on top.

Brokeback RANCH

2006-03-04T18:45:00.000-05:00

Well it's Oscars' weekend and in its honor and in honor of all the gay cowboys out there I've decided to indulge in my two temptations-- Ranch and Cowboys. Well maybe just the former.

I love a good falafel stuffed in a pita with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a twist of ranch dressing.

Not quite the mid-east tahini but I like to call ranch the tahini of America!

YUM! I love a good middle-eastern taco with American Tahini!

So to all you cowboys, cowboy lovers and all ranch lovers I eat in your honor.

Spring Sprouts

2006-03-04T12:14:00.000-05:00

This past week we had a warm spell and it got me excited about planting my garden.

I have a community Garden plot behind a neighborhood school. I sat up late the other night fantisizing about what I will plant.

For spring I can't wait to see the sprouts poking their green heads above the dirt.

Here is my list for spring so far:

-sorrel (provides an explosion of citrus in your mouth all contained in a little green leaf)

-Swiss Chard (provides greens all year round)

- French Breakfast radishes

- Mescelum mix

- Snow peas

- Broccoli

I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!

Noodle Cartel

2006-03-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has an article today about the rising cost of a bowl of noodles in Western China. Apparently to purchase a bowl of noodles you now have a 4 cent hike in the price. Some are blaming the rising price on a noodle cartel.

Fortunately I was able to enjoy the noodles of China before the threat of the noodle cartel. I can attest-- They make some fine noodles. In Washington DC, I worked two blocks away from Chinatown (China block). And my friend Mona and I would always go to Chinatown Express. The front window of this place has is a living breathing advertisement to wett any passerbyers' appetite -a chinese man making the homemade noodles tossing the dough and manhandeling it. (see photo above that's the real guy!) They also have florecscent orange ducks hanging in the window and other hanging dead things. I always got their fresh noodle beef soup. Noodles hit the spot on a cold or even a warm day.

With noodles on my mind, I decided to once again make a noodle dish last night, though not of the Asia variety, but of an Italian bent. For some reason I have been on a noodle kick... perhaps there is a noodle revolution going on in my head. Or perhaps I am trying to get my fill of noodles before the noddle cartel makes its way to the western hemisphere.

Last night I made linguine with a saute of onion, garlic, asparagus, chicken/apple/ gouda sausage, potobello mushrooms and swiss chard. Indeed a strange combination, and at one time when everything was mounded in the pan I thought, "how is this going to turn into a pasta sauce?". But some how after everything reduced down it turned into a nice pasta sauce with tons of flavor. In the end, I added a very light wine and cream sauce.

Aside from the charred (burnt) burshetta I attmepted to make (which set off the smoke alarm), the meal was great rounded off with a glass of Ruffino Orvieto Classico white wine.

Noodle lovers unite against the Noodle Cartel!

It's Easy Being Green

2006-03-01T17:48:00.000-05:00

Contrary to Kermit the Frog's assertion that "it's not easy being green", when it comes to asparagus and dill, it is easy being green.

My fridge remains rather bare, and while I should stick to principles and try to eek out a meal out of the leftovers and soggy leek in the bottom of the produce drawer, I decided to take a trip to our town's first downtown gourmet food market. They had their grand opening today. (I live downtown and am very excited about having a gourmet market close to me.)

I am still staying on the minimal side of things. Though due to slim pickin's in the wallet and a desire for a relaxing meal, I decided to supplement my fridge with new veggies.

I randomly picked a fresh bunch of asparagus and several red potatoes.

A perusal through Alice Water's "Vegetables" and I landed a recipe for simple asparagus soup. An assembly of Asparagus, red potato, onion and a dallop of creme fraiche. I think I will also have some baked tilapia dusted with dill on the side. And a salad with goat chese fritters ( goat cheese covered in italian bread crumbs and fried). And dessert: Chocolate mint ice cream. YUM!

The added bonus is that I have one more excuse to use my food mill.

A Green Evening!

Leftovers & Temptation

2006-03-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about cooking at home all the time is that I rarely ever have to spend money at restaurants. I am running low on cash this week until Friday rolls around and I have been living off of leftover Polbano Pesto Pasta and Uppuma. They are great leftovers by the way! I find that when I eat leftovers I like to stagger them. I cannot eat for lunch what I had for dinner the previous night. I shuffle it up a bit.

Feeling tired by leftovers, I gave into the temptation of fried chicken; last night my class mate, Annie, convinced me to eat dinner at a place called Cottage Kitchen. As if the name were not enough, the place really is like a cottage and you can get any arrangement of home cooking. We both chose the fried chicken with two sides (mashed potatoes and green beans). Good home cooking was exactly what I needed to warm my soul.

Then I got home and guiltily had a second meal of leftover Polbano Pesto Pasta.

High Tea

2006-02-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

Lately I have found myself enjoying the comfort of my apartment and curling up on my couch while I listen to my favorite Cat Power, or Death Cab album. The perfect companion-- a warm cup of tea.

I grew accustomed to drinking tea daily when I was in India. We would have a mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea. Plus if you ever visited anyone's house they would quickly heat some up or send someone out to get it from the local tea stall. I will never forget rolling up to an Indian railway station in the middle of the night and hearing the tea whallas yelling Chai, Chai in a high pitched nasal voice.

Steeps of late:

- Ginseng Peppermint
- Good Earth Original Blend
- Celestial Seasonings- Bengal Spice
- South India
- Honeyroo- A rooiboos blend that has a honey flavor- at the local Coffee shop I was always labeled the "high maintenance tea boy because this tea takes 10 minutes to steep-- 10 minutes of wonder, anticipation, and enjoyment of the sent it emits.
- Lest we forget my mom's blend of "spice tea"- instant ice tea mixed with tang and cinnamon

I could not live without my oxo tri-tone whistling tea kettle, my bodum tea basket and my trusty selections of loose leaf tea.

Uppuma Pittikkum!

2006-02-27T12:32:00.000-05:00

Uppuma Pittikkum = I like uppuma

My fridge is rather bare today. I was gone all weekend and didn't have time to go shopping. I am left with the bare essesntials that remain in the firdge: left over indian chillis, curry leaves and that's about it, other than a leek and some lettuce.

I can't think of a better excuse to make one of my favorite comfort foods-Uppuma! Uppuma is a South Indian tiffin dish that is made from rava (aka cream of wheat- though I resist this definition because it is nothing like cream of wheat). You can find rava at any Indian grocery store. The rava is mixed with onions peas and spices and water and then forms into a thick maleable mixture. I like to fill a bowl full with uppuma and then turn the bowl upside down. It creates a little mold of uppuma.

To eat-- I mix the uppuma with yougurt and a little bit of sugar.

Uppuma

-1 cup rava
-1 1/2 teaspoon Ghee

First: Heat the ghee in a pan and "fry" the rava untill it turns light brown and emits a roasted smell.

-3 teaspoons oil
-1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
-1 tablespoon Begal Gram dal
-1 dried red chilli broken into pieces

Second: Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds dal and red chilli.

-few curry leaves
-1 big onion- diced
-3 green chillis- diced finely

Third: When the mustard seeds start to sputter add the curry leaves onion and green chilli.

-2 1/2 cups water
-frozen peas or mixed frozen vegetables
-salt to taste

Fourth Afer the onion turns golden brown add the water, peas and salt. Bring to a boil and add the rava slowly integrating into the boiling water. Stir until the consistancy becomes thick and the water is absorbed by the rava.

ENJOY: Add a dallop of yogurt and some sugar! Best of all-- eat it like an Indian and mix everything together with your fingers; form into a ball and scoop into your mouth. Eat with a glass of fresh lime soda or make a batch of Indian tea (darjeeling topped off with milk and plenty of sugar).

Note on Indian cooking:

I find that whenever I invite friends over for Indian food they are always impressed by my ability to make Indian food. It is a common misconception that Indian food is impossible and full of many multiple steps. I am here to tell you that, once you get over your fear of Indian cooking, it is very easy and methodical. I learned how to cook by sitting on the floor next to my Indian amma (mother) Karthama while she prepared all our food when I was studying abroad in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Observation is a great way to learn the flow and rhythym of Indian cooking.

Additionally, I always make sure I read the recipe and divide the recipe into seperate sections. Next I prep all the food and put them in little bowls according to what step they belong to. Then all it takes is assembling all the seperate parts and adding everything at the appropriate time.

Special Indian cooking gadget of the day: Masala Dabba. This is likely one of my most prized cooking possessions. It is a tin canister that has 6 little cups inside that I put my essesntial Indian spices in and it has a cover that seals in all the flavor and keeps air out.When I am ready to make Indian food, I pull it out of the cabinet above my stove and have all my indian spices at my fingertips. I like to include: cumin seed, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, fenegrunk seed, tumeric, and curry powder. (a very South Indian spice combination). This little gadget also makea a great wedding or housewarming gift for anyone that enjoys Indian cooking. It is my signature gift paired with a South Indian cookbook.

Recommended South Indian cookbooks:

Nita Mehta's South Indian favorites. isbn 81-86004-15-5

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India, by Chandra Padanabhan.

Cappatalama? (Shall we eat?)

Polbano Heat

2006-02-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

The first time I had this meal was at a work holiday party. I distinctly remember fresh corn tamales and this dish. Tonight I'm making it for two friends. It's simple, quick and packs a punch of polbano heat. It is a great way to use up all those polbanos that come in a co-op subscription in late summer. But I also like to warm up the winter months with some polbano heat.

First- broil or grill 7-8 polbano peppers until the skin is bubbly and black. Put them in a paper bag to let cool down and let the bag get steamy. Skin and take the seeds out of the middle of the pepper.

Second- blend the peppers and sour cream (to taste) in a food processor. Add salt to taste.

Meanwhile- boil spagetti.

Lastly- Mix the spagetti and polbano/sour cream mix. Place in a rectangle pan. Cover with mozzarella and heat in oven till the cheese starts to melt and turn brown.

This is a great meal and I like to refer to it as a polbano pesto with cheese.

Everyone always enjoys it!

Plus, this recipe makes a big dish which means you get to munch on it for the whole week as leftovers.

Peppery Roots

2006-02-24T14:05:00.000-05:00

It is getting closer to radish season. I cannot wait. As a kid I remember hating them. They always showed up on vegetable platters and I always skipped over them. Then I discovered the packed peppery punch of the slender French Breakfast Radish. I love to crunch on them and enjoy their fresh peppery bite. They are best eaten by themself as a snack or on the side of a spring green salad. I can't wait till they show up in the market.

Delicious Revolution

2006-02-24T13:18:00.000-05:00

Alice Waters made a call to arms today (02/24/06) in her Op e-d in the New York Times "Eating for Credit". She calls for a "Delicious Revolution" "that will induce children -in a pleasurable way- to think critically about what they eat." Waters has already won several battles and has liberated many of the past food oppression. Her edible schoolyard project teaches kids in public schools the importance of fresh local food and gives them a chance to integrate food into all subjects at school. The result- citizens that value good food and respect the earth that it comes from.

I like the sound of a delicious revolution. It is time for a regime change. We are surrounded by so many bland uninspiring foods that we consume, why not overthrow the blah regime and replace it with a delicious revolution. I remember the first free range chicken I ate (french cut breast from a local farmer at the dupont circle farmer's market in DC). I felt like I was eating chicken for the first time. For me everyday is a battle in the delicious revolution. Every meal we create and enjoy is a victory on the side of our taste buds.

The coming delicious revoultion will liberate us all of uninspired food and will enrich our lives with delicious food.

Stand up for deliciousness... start a delicious revolution in your backyard and your kitchen.

Inspiration

2006-02-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

When cooking, I think inspiration is of prime importance. What makes you happpy? Why do you enjoy cooking? I find cooking inspiration in multiple places. Much of my inspiration derives from my senses.

Sight: Perhaps its in the beautiful displays of fresh produce at Whole Foods, or the many samples that let me try new things. Sometimes its a desire to try something new, or learn a new technique. Other times, I just like the look of a vegtable, or a can of tomatoes with a cool label on it. The farmer's market provides many inviting inspirations in the colors and freshness of everything. More than anything I love the colors mixing together in a saute pan- green celery, orange carrot, red tomato. Better yet are the mutiple shades of green produced from a diced leek. I love the colors of food.

Smell: As I walk by a fresh cart of oranges I am drawn to their citrus smell or the smell of fresh basil. Such smells pull me in and inspire a meal. Again the smell of freshly sauted produce YUM!

Touch: Sometimes I like to touch the food I'm looking at (yes I know this is perhaps unhygenic) what about those ripples on dinasaur kale? or the tightly held together broccoli heads?

Sound: The crack of a celery stalk, or the crunch of a carrot. The quick slice of a potato and the chopping sound of an onion.

Taste: I almost forgot the whole reason for all this cooking-- Your Taste Buds. Obviously, taste plays a big part in my inspiration. I remember a recent trip to the farmer's market. I had a sample of sorrel. I bit into the leaf and in return I had an explosion of lemony citrus flavor in my mouth. It was so juicy and all the flavor was packed into a little leaf. Taste leaves an imprint on my taste buds and continues to inspire all that I eat. Try some sorrel all by itself just washed, or add a light vinnegerette and you too can expeirience the joy of sorrel.

DESIRE: The strongest sence perhaps-- Sometimes I just have a craving for something-- my mom's beef strogenough, or minstrone soup. Desire many times controls my diet.

Inspiration is the root of good cooking!

Mushroom Power

2006-02-24T10:01:00.000-05:00

This month's Food and Wine (Feb.) has a great article on the healthy qualities of eating mushrooms (pp 42). Additionally it talks about how the sponges of the earth are good for one's skin. This aspect of fungi skin products wierds me out a little bit, because I remember a dinner party where we had mushroom pate. The conseunsus of the party was that the pate looked, smelled and tasted like dirt-- fitting characterization given the source! So I still have a hard time contemplating a daily mushroom pate skin scrub.

With mushrooms on my mind, I ventured to Whole Foods and glanced at all the mushrooms, my eyes are always on alert for morels (delictable morsels of earthy goodness), instead I saw a basket of shittake mushrooms calling out my name. I filled a bag and was on may way to mushroom health.

My sliced shittake's found their home in a simple cream sauce (heavy cream and parmesean) with sauted onions and garlic, with a little white wine, and broccoli rabe over linguine. This turned out very good and went well with a side of roasted brussel sprouts with walnuts and raisins.

The next day for lunch I used the left over mushrooms and made an omelette with mushrooms and goat cheese.

Later on in the week the mushrooms were included in a cream cheese/butter/flour crusted tart with swiss chard, shittake mushrooms, bacon, leek and goat cheese.

Food and Wine's "Polbano and Chedder Stuffed Portobello" (Feb. pp.48) is also a GREAT meal.

The many uses of the mushroom- the sponge of the earth.

I can't wait for morel season

Foodlog

2006-02-24T09:38:00.000-05:00

As my culinary jigsaw mystery progresses each week I like to keep a record of what I made and how it turned out. I have found that a cooking journal/foodlog is a great way to remember what you made and who came over to share the meal. I also like to include the wine that we drink. It is fun to go back and see all the different creations that I have made.

I like to organize my food journal in two main sections 1) the food journal chronicling the finished products; 2) a section where I include all my list of things in the fridge and the outlined menus for the week.

I like to think someday when an archaeologist or a geneologist finds my food journal they may have some, if only slight, insight in the world we lived in in 2006.

Keep a foodlog!

More food to come next week- I will be out this weekend enjoying cafeteria style 4-H camp food. Perhaps I will be inspired with some broccoli casserole or mac n' cheese. YUM!

Origins

2006-02-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

The Jigsaw Mystery has its origins in a winter basement apartment in DC. Feeling lonely and hungry, I started to take small pleasure in shopping for food, reading multiple cookbooks and then feeding myself and friends. I relish stopping by the grocery after work each evening strolling the produce aisle and looking for inspiration for the evening. Who ever thought that brussell sprouts or celery root could provide an evening of entertainment? Well I soon discovered that such fruits of the earth could entertain, sooth and make me happy.

I started by picking one vegetable each day that I had either never eaten before or remember hating as a child. The discovery and rediscovery of new and formerly despised foods (likes slimy brussell sprouts) led to many nights of plunging into cook books combining recipes and creating new Luke recipes. Part of the mystery involves learning as much as possible about the vegetable and different ways to use it. What caught my eye each day? Sometimes it was a weird looking vegetable- celery root, or I was attracted by the color, or other times I just liked the name- e.g. watercress. After discovering the vegetable, I would experiment and make various dishes.

Slowly, the processed evolved and I got a subscription to a local organic food co-op. This provided a completely new culinary mystery. Each week I opened a new box to discover what my canvas was for the week. The process began and I started planning meals and finding ways to use all the food. Fun thing about a co-op is- you have no control over what you get and have to figure out how to use it all.

RESULTS: a culinary adventure where I constantly discover new likes and dislikes and along the way fill my evenings and my belly with self indulgence.

Culinary Mystery of SUPREME Proportions

2006-02-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

While not quite in the line of culinary mysteries, Ruthy is also one of my hero's and what a great Jewish mother she is--She even helps her co-justice on the Supreme Court wipe out some schmutz on his robe. Ruth Bader-- I love her. And the picture begs the question what was it that Alito ate for breakfast that was smudged on his robe? That indeed is a culinary mystery.

cole crops unite around a cold day

2006-02-22T22:18:00.000-05:00

Another friend just left and we had a nice reuinion with various winter vegtables. (the 3rd meal with friends of the week). Someone stop me!

First we had sauteed spinach with raisins and pine nuts

Second- linguine with brussell sprout leaves, asparagus, onions garlic, peas and goat cheese. My creation

dessert- an orange zest, rosemary and yogurt cake.

such a filling winter meal.

I love sharing food with friends. Food baby likes it too!

Julia oh Julia

2006-02-22T19:02:00.000-05:00

NYtimes had a great article on my hero Julia Child in the magazine section this past week. She is the best former spy chef that I know. I suggest all of us Juliaphiles cut out the picture of her and place it someplace auspicious in our kitchen--- mine is on my fridge. ( in the hindu tradition of having a shrine to gods in the kitchen) And ironically enough one of Child's first posts as a spy was in the tamil and hindu land of Sri Lanka. I like the think the same sun that cast shadows on her and the steam from her pots in the piture also shines on me when I cook.

Plus a new book is comming out that was co-written with Julia - rememering her time in France when she began her passion for food it is: My Life in France," by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

How to Enjoy your own Culinary Jigsaw Mystery

2006-02-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

The enjoyment of creating yummy meals out of soon to be rotten food can be enjoyed by all. All it takes is a few idle moments at work, an imagination, curiosity, and no fear.

When you find yourself overwhelmed by all the produce in the fridge and cannot think of a way to use it before its expiration date or worse yet--- your fridge has started to smell-- This technique is a sure fire way to 1) nurish yourself, 2) not waste anything 3) clean out your fridge and prepare it for next week's puzzle.

First Step--Open the fridge door and out waifs a pungent smell- the smell of partially or rotten food- or at a minilmum you sight a fridge full of produce bags stuffed in every corner and have an axienty attack about how you will use it all before its impending doom- a return back to nature via either the decompopsition process or the human digestive tract.

Usually, when work or life gets me down or in a fit of bordom- I lean back in my chair and start typing a list of everything in my fridge. The perfect part of this technique is that to all outside observers you are hard at work typing on the computer. Little do they know that you are planning a war on partially rotten food that lurks in the fridge. This process is somewhat like those MENSA and intelligence tests, where the instructor shows you a drawer full of objects and 10 minutes later you are asked to recall what was in the drawer. Make a list of the impending casulties in your war on wasted produce, AKA collateral damage.

Next- I start the process of putting the puzzle together. Oh those two things sound good- maybe I'll make something with them. As you go along you find the puzzle coming together. Slowly the puzzle's "picture" appears. This is the satisfying part of the process-- but satisfying yet is the consumption of the puzzle.

Then finally you have a comprehensive list of meals for the remaining of the week. Perhaps there is a loner in the bunch but if you look hard enough you will find the jagged edged puzzle piece that completes your gourmet jigsaw puzzle.

Last step - cook the puzzle

Then next week you take all the puzzle pieces, throw them in the air and you get to start all over again.

Fermented Rice Crepes (dosai)

2006-02-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

For all those non- tamilians out there Fermented Rice Crepes is AKA Dosai. The quintessential south indian "snack" (tiffin) food. Paired with a spicy coconut chutney or a sambar (thick veggi stew) the dosai is a perfect way to wake up and start your day off with spice. (its a traditionally breakfast food in south india)

On Saturday I got my new 7 cup Cuisinart and have been itching to use it to make my own Doasi batter from scratch. Scratch indeed. The process requires:

1) soaking special "boiled" rice and lentils and fenegrunk seed overnight ( i had to treck to three indian grocery stores-- ending at the Tamil owned one in town to find the special rice and ended up luging home a 25 pound bag of rice that is only used to make dosai)

2) after a good overnight soak, grind the water logged grains in the food processor

3) mix together the two soaked mixtures and let ferment for another 12 hours.

The important process is the fermentation of the batter- yes it is strange to think of fermented rice and indeed the mixture emmits a sour smell and sour taste- but as with other fermented things- these fermented grains are wonderful

My food processor did not completely grind the waterlogged grains smooth enough the first time so I gave it a double processed grinding. ( in India they have these contraptions that are composed of a big stone bowl with another big stone cone that rotates around the bowl and smashes the grain into a smooth paste---Even better-you can make this by manually rolling a stone rolling pin against a stone valley to create the batter). I succombed to modern technology and have become complacent with the less than smooth batter the cuisinart creates.

Modern or stone ground-- either way these crepes are delicious.

It took about ten trys before the pan was hot enough where I could flip the dosai without it falling apart.

Paired with a good coconut chutney ( compliments of the cuisinart) and a mixture of iddli podi ( more ground spices into a powder mixed with veggi oil--- adds a nice light spice to the meal).

What is the Culinary Jigsaw Mystery?

2006-02-22T17:22:00.000-05:00

Every week when I'm bored at work or at school I sit back and ponder all the things lurking in the fridge waiting to either rot or be eaten. My goal is to eat rather than let rot. Sometimes it ends up in yummy meals other times simply nourishment for a body in need of calories Simply a record of the multiple jigsaw puzzles that I put together with all the bounty in my fridge each week. Its always a mystery what will surface out of the larder and always a joy to discover a great meal from food that would otherwise rot.

Strangers in the fridge

2006-02-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

So I decided to have friends over for the 2nd time this week. My cooking fun is turning into a nerosis. I looked in the fridge and had a strange combination of things:

-a couple leafs of swiss chard
-old goat cheese in need of being used
-pasta
-half a can of whole tomatoes
-cannallini beans
-bacon
-rosemary

So I figured lets make a pasta with a thick/dense sauce. Though the sauce was less of a sauce and more of a saute on top of a nest of pasta.

Saute: onion and garlic with rosemary and red pepper flakes
Add: chard and tomatoes.
Toss: cooked spaggehti with saute and goat cheese.

Result: Food baby is happy! A great way to get rid of the old goat cheese stray chard and canned tomatoes