Posts tagged ‘experimenting’

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April 2, 2012

New Favorites from My Kitchen

It’s been a while since I posted what I’ve been up to in my own kitchen. Now that the farmers market is back up and running, things are going to get more interesting in a hurry. Two Saturdays ago, I brought home a bundle of radishes because they were so pretty (and inexpensive) I couldn’t resist. Did I mention I’ve never liked radishes and neither has Evan? The last time I had tried one was probably at least 10 years ago and it was overly spicy, on a pitiful iceberg lettuce salad, and generally unpleasant.

But my market radishes were hastily sliced over a spinach salad one night and actually were pretty good. They have a hint of spicy flavor, but are fairly neutral. Kind of like jicama, but I didn’t have to get out a big knife to slice radishes. It occurs to me that these radishes would be really nice as a snack, dipped in Yumm! or some other delicious sauce. Other things I’ve been making a lot are roasted veggies, specifically roots and squashes; we’ve been eating lots of greens and are really looking forward to homegrown salad mix in a couple of months.

But my prize creation of the winter is a creamy potato and celery root soup. It’s already made an appearance on the Everyday Eats

Fancy soup you can whip up in a hurry!

menu, because though it looks fancy, it’s really easy and can come together in a hurry. I think the key to its yumminess is using vegetable stock as the liquid rather than water. Then there’s coconut milk from a can, which gives it a delectable creaminess. You can use regular milk, but I would recommend anything but skim. Set a piece of crusty bread hot out of the toaster oven next to it, and you’re sitting down to a wonderful wintery meal. It sort of makes you remember the old soup ad where the snowman comes in from outside and over a bowl of hot soup, melts down to become a little kid. This is that kind of meal, but way better for you.

Then there’s dessert—I bet nobody’s surprised there. I’ll just share what’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It’s pudding made from avocados. Who doesn’t love guacamole? Basically, I took two recipes, one for mint pie filling and another for chocolate mousse, both made with avocados and layered them in a bowl to make a pretty pudding. Here’s the boiled down version: take 4 avocados and scrape them into the food processor. Blend them for a bit, then add 10-20 dates (depending on how sweet you like things) that have been soaked in water for at least half an hour, plus a tablespoon or two of maple syrup and the juice of half a lemon. Blend that together, then take out half the mixture and add a few drops of peppermint extract (and chopped fresh mint if you have it) to taste. Add about ¼ cup cocoa powder and a teaspoon of vanilla to the remaining pudding in the food processor and blend that. Then you can layer the two in a clear bowl to your heart’s content. Fair warning: it’s probably going to disappear pretty quickly, unless, you know, you don’t like mint and chocolate.

 

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February 15, 2012

Welcome to my Garden, Three Floors Up

If you ever want to appreciate what the people who grow your food do, try growing some yourself. You’d likely be in for a wild ride, at least for a first few years.

Yes, years. Gardening, or micro-scale farming if that’s what you want to call it, requires knowledge, patience, trial and error, and time. To say nothing of the soil, seeds, fertilizer, water, and pest control to your liking. I’ve made some feeble attempts at growing edibles myself, with mixed results. Mostly I find myself in awe of the process. You try something one year; either it works or it doesn’t; you stash your findings away for the following year. For me, it goes something like this: trial; fail; forget; try to remember; trial again. This year is different. For starters, it’s February, as opposed to May or June, and I’m already thinking about what I want to grow.

I use the term “garden,” but loosely. I think of a garden as a small plot of land, with room for rows of tomatoes, squash, and on,

My little garden from last year

and on, and on. I live in a condo, so my reality is a little different. Currently, I have about five pots outside containing a total of maybe three bags of potting soil. But a lot of Google searches say it’s absolutely possible to have a productive little garden in containers. Last year’s wasn’t a total bust: we had lettuce, chives, basil and a few little strawberries (at least a couple of which the dog ate as she came back from her walks). The big flop was the Roma tomato that put out three batches of flowers and never produced even a green tomato. Not. One.

As it’s so early, I’m going to be really ambitious and try starting a few things indoors from seeds. Lettuce, rosemary, oregano, bell peppers, acorn squash, and an heirloom beefsteak tomato to name a few. I understand that seeds like to be kept warm. There’s a spot on top of our heater that I think they might like. And I’ll probably need to set them outside if we have any sunbreaks anytime soon. With some extensive reading and study, I might be able to convince these little plants to grow

To show how little I know, consider the following: I planted acorn squash seeds last October, excited for the prospect of harvesting my own winter squash. When the happy little seedlings croaked out in the cold, I mentioned it to my mom (who is a talented gardener). “Lindsay,” she said, “they call it winter squash because you store it and eat it in the winter. Not because it grows in the winter.” I am an amateur. But I am going to plant more winter squash this spring and see what I can make of it. With some sunshine (my “garden” faces west, which I understand to be crucial to its success), and remembering to water (you know, after the rainy season ends in August), maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to skip buying tomatoes at the market occasionally. Until then, I thank my lucky stars for the farmer’s market and the farmers who know what they’re doing.

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January 10, 2012

My Latest Food Adventure: Oysters

Two weeks ago, me having just finished reading Consider the Oyster by MFK Fisher, my husband and I went to Dan & Louie’s Oyster Bar to finally taste this magnificent food so exalted by so many. Here’s the short version: we tried oysters; neither of us likes oysters.

And the long version:

My new favorite food author, Fisher, wrote an entire book in the early-mid twentieth century just about the oyster. I had never once tried one, and I’m only a little bit grossed out by some shellfish, usually depending on how they’re prepared. Fisher described so many ways to eat them: on the half shell, Rockefeller, in stew or soup, and in stuffing to name a few, I figured one of them had to be amazingly delicious. They suddenly sounded like the ultimate comfort food, and I absolutely needed to try them.

Oysters Rockefeller

I’d been thinking about this new adventure for a few weeks, and when my husband suggested we check out the Oyster Bar, I looked forward to it for days. I’d settled on oyster stew ahead of time and possibly oysters Rockefeller before we started the walk to the restaurant. Oysters Rockefeller, we found, are not cheap but we got them anyway. They came out on a glass plate straight from the oven, the six mollusks removed from their shells and covered with a mixture of butter, spinach and bacon and served with lemon wedges. I ate one and then accidentally flipped one over, revealing the pale flesh and making me realize I was eating the whole body of a blobby hermetic critter. Come on, Lindsay, you ate bull tail in Spain I thought to myself and downed the second one.

The oyster stew was exactly what I expected. Some of the oysters in it were chopped, and those were just fine, but the larger pieces of bivalve creature were objectionable. They have that slightly gritty texture so common in shellfish, and when you bite into them, what I suppose you’d call “oyster liquor” gushes out briefly. All that went through my mind at that moment is that “oyster liquor,” as I had feared, is a euphemism for seawater. The broth, made of butter and cream, was quite nice, and I did manage to reach the bottom of the bowl.

None of this is to say there was anything wrong with what we ate, just that we’re not oyster people. I didn’t ever think I was, but now I’ve confirmed it. Fisher’s prose about them convinced me to try, but maybe they’re an acquired taste. Now I’m onto the next book within the book I’m reading, and it’s called How to Cook a Wolf—it was written during WWII, and so far does not contain actual directions to cook an actual wolf. It appears to be a metaphor—were it not, rest assured I wouldn’t try to take her direction. I’ve come across some interesting advice about economy and balance that is highly applicable today, but that will wait for another post.

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December 20, 2011

Consider the Stove

I came across this article on Grist this morning and must, must, must share it. Here’s the critical link that makes eating locally, organically, and sustainably possible: people have to cook. I just blew your mind, right? Probably not.

Anyway, the article is a conversation between Kurt Michael Friese and Tamar Adler, both food authors. Adler is getting a lot of press for her recently released book An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, which is on a long list of books I’d like to pick up. But back to the conversation. They’re talking about how Americans have been convinced not to cook for themselves, often by many of the same companies that make both processed foods and health claims.

Okay, that isn’t really news either, but these two touch on something else that I think is so important and largely overlooked. Home cooking is not and should not try to be celebrity chef-ery. If you’ve been fed (sorry) the idea that anything you cook should be worthy of a hi-def close up, you’re probably not overly eager to get in the kitchen and awkwardly chop an onion into uneven pieces. In fact, you’re most likely convinced that anything you cook will be a disaster in comparison to the latest culinary challenge.

Now we come to my very favorite quote of the whole piece. Friese makes a great comparison: “I worry about what people learn from TV because it’s too much like porn: People who are prettier and more talented than you doing things you’ll never do in places you’ll never do them. It stresses people out to think that they need to live up to that standard.” It doesn’t matter that all these shows fall under the “reality” category: they aren’t the reality of cooking to feed yourself. The point being: this is a conversation worth reading.

And a quick aside: both authors cite MFK Fisher, arguably the best food writer of the past century. I’m currently reading The Art of Eating, which was published in the 50s and is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. It’s a compilation of five of her previous books and I’m just about to the end of one called Consider the Oyster. I have never eaten an oyster, but now find myself wondering where I can find oyster stew and Oysters Rockefeller. More on this adventure and the rest of the book later.

A very successful and un-stressful last minute shopping week to all!

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September 30, 2011

New Season, New Veggies

Somebody seems to have told the weather it’s fall, because even with the sun shining, you can feel the coming chill in the air. That means last week’s farmers market had sprouted all sorts of variety unimaginable in the berry-and-melon-overload of July. We’ve arrived at that magical time between summer and winter when you get the best of both worlds. There are still berries to be had, and easy-to-keep winter squash have shown up right alongside.

Basil and apples are both abundant...this week. Blink and you'll miss it!

The ease of keeping winter produce is, to me, one of its most endearing qualities. I bought our first butternut squash of the year, and it’s comforting to know it will hang out happily in the pantry until December if I let it. Even leafy greens are hardier in the winter. Every season is an opportunity to discover and rediscover things you love.

Since spring, we’ve started to embrace some vegetables that I’d never prepared before and to which my husband and I have always had some aversion: eggplant and asparagus. I created an eggplant chili (which was vegan) a few weeks back that was unbelievably good. After a couple more test runs, that one will be showing up on Everyday Eats menus. As for asparagus, roasting rather than boiling was the ticket to acceptance.

So for this season, I’ve set my sights on some new produce to try. I have limited experience with Brussels sprouts, but it wasn’t good. That one time I tried them. But I read somewhere that roasting or grilling them makes them infinitely better. It works for cauliflower, so we might as well give it a spin (I’m cringing as I think about the sprouts). Another is cabbage: I’ve only cooked it once with corned beef, so that’ll be an adventure. I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet.

As the season suggests, fall is a little like going back to school. I’ll stop making cucumber and watermelon salad in favor of root vegetables and cooked hot dishes. Soup will be acceptable soon. I’ll rifle back through some recipes and reestablish what the standbys are. Then it’ll be time to branch out and find our new favorites.

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August 15, 2011

Good Things Happen When You’re Daring in the Kitchen

Okay, so maybe KOi fusion inspired me, but last week for dinner I combined a traditional western European breakfast food with non-traditional stir-fry and it worked. It worked well enough that I will write it down.

I knew I was taking a risk smashing them together, but it paid off in that now I have one more totally unique dinner in my repertoire. Even better: like the best recipes I know, it’s a “whatever you have will work” thing. I used half a leftover zucchini, yellow squash, a small head of cauliflower and a bunch of green beans for the stir-fry. Add a little sunflower oil, garlic and a smidge (seriously, not more than about a tablespoon, and the pan was full o’ veggies) of soy sauce and served it in a Dutch baby.

Now about Dutch baby (Dutch…baby?). I once asked my mom if in Holland, they just call it a baby, which seemed like it could get awkward. You might know it as a German pancake. My personal theory is that Dutch came from a mistranslation of Deutche. This is all beside the point.

Basically, this Dutch/German/baby/pancake is a ratio of 1 egg to ¼ cup milk and ¼ cup flour blended together and poured in a flat Corningware pan with some melted butter in the bottom. I suppose you could make it in a standard square Pyrex, but the little blue flower design of Corningware is etched onto my image of the thing. It just works better than anything else. Chez moi and my hubby, I double the above ratio (using half whole wheat flour) and use a 6 inch square Corningware I picked up at Goodwill for a whopping $3.99.

Once the Dutch baby was in the oven; 425 for about 20 minutes; I whipped up my seasonal stir-fry and away we went. My mom used to say, “Dutch baby waits for no man,” so when it was for dinner, we didn’t dawdle getting to the table. She said that because after it’s out of the oven, you had better eat it quick because it cools and deflates from its puffy, fluffy glory. As soon as it’s out of the oven, slice it like a pie and fill it with stir-fry.

I’ll admit that until we sat down and ate, I had no idea if this was going to be a colossal swing and a miss. Even as I was putting it on the table, I wondered what I was thinking. But this out-there crazy combo worked.  Aside from a small container of veggies, there were no leftovers, and we started with a lot of vegetables. I take this as further proof that being daring and unafraid, while no guarantee of success, occasionally hands you a gem. Score one for being super adventurous.

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