Tuesday, December 27, 2011
My Two Favorite Things About This Christmas
1) After years of waiting, we finally got a dog for Christmas. A friend gave us a 4-year-old female chihuahua, very sweet and mild mannered. She is just starting to come out of her crate and follow us around the house, tail wagging. Her favorite thing is to curl up in a ball, nuzzle her face into a blanket, and fall asleep. What a great Christmas present!
2) I found a recipe for Praline Sweet Potato Casserole in the Sacramento Bee and made it to accompany my family’s traditional Christmas dinner of prime rib. Even the avowed sweet potato haters at the table allowed that it "wasn’t bad"; the sweet potato lovers gobbled it up. This dish tastes like pumpkin pie meet pecan pie - more dessert than vegetable or side dish. Not that that’s a bad thing! You might not even need dessert after this one.
Notes: I baked the sweet potatoes the night before and stored them in an air tight container until I needed them. I reduced some of the sugar and butter in the sweet potato layer, but you’ll want to kept the proportions accurate in the praline topping to achieve the proper consistency.
Praline Sweet Potato Casserole
Serves 8 - 10
Ingredients
6 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
Praline topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pierce each potato and place in a baking pan or dish. Bake until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
In a sauce pan, heat the milk and butter until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling. Cut (or to taste) potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes.
Stir in the milk-and-butter mixture. Whisk in the eggs, and continue whisking until blended well. Add the brown sugar and stir until thoroughly blended. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or pan, and spread the sweet potato mixture evenly in it. Set aside while making the topping.
Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Making the praline topping
Melt the butter in a 2-quart sauce pan over low heat. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cream and pecans. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is thick, about five minutes. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Maintain a steady simmer until thick.
Remove the mixture from the heat in stir in the vanilla. Pour the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes and spread it with a rubber spatula.
Bake the casserole until the topping is slightly crusty and set, approximately 30 minutes. Serve while hot.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
What I've Learned About Kale (and Beets)
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Planning Next Year's Garden
My mind is spinning with plans for growing two gardens next year - one at home and one at my parent's property again, for the larger, rambling viney plants like squashes and pumpkins.
My goal for 2012 is to start all of my plants from seeds, which adds quite a bit more complexity than I have previously dealt with when growing a garden. Now I must take into account frost, germination rates, soil temperature, and making sure the seedlings get enough light and heat so they don't become "leggy" and weak.
So far, I am planning on growing nearly 40 different varieties of plants next year. Some I will order online from various companies, and later this month I will pay a visit to Baker's Seed Company in Petaluma, CA.
One of the seeds I am most excited to grow is the Yellow Taxi Tomato. When we went to the Ferry Pier Farmer's Market in San Francisco this summer, I couldn't resist this array of heirloom tomatoes:
I bought a sampling of several types of tomatoes, and when I got home, laid them out for a taste test. My favorite, hands down, was a yellow tomato called Taxi (second tomato up from the bottom left in the picture). It's not one that is commonly carried by seed companies, so I had to do a bit of hunting on the internet, but today I ordered my seeds from Reimer Seeds. This vibrant yellow tomato is sweet and almost acid-free, and produces tomatoes early, after just 65 days! I can almost taste them now.
Here are the other tomatoes I've got a hankering to try my hand at:
Seeds I Saved From 2011:
Black Krim Tomato: My absolute favorite tomato I have grown this year, this was the first to start producing and gave me wonderful rich, slightly salty fruit all summer long. This one is prone to cracking at first, but it was such a good producer that I didn’t care.
San Marzano tomato: This Italian heirloom paste tomato is supposed to be the best for making tomato sauces, and also great to dice and use in a salad or salsa. Yields were good last year, so I saved some seeds for this year.
Seeds I Got for Free:
Riesentraube tomato: I got this cherry type from Baker’s Seeds for free with my last order. Description: “The sweet red 1-oz fruit grow in large clusters and the name means "Giant Bunch of Grapes" in German. It is probably the most popular small tomato with seed collectors, as many enjoy the rich, full tomato flavor that is missing in today's cherry types. Large plants produce massive yields.” Massive yields are good, free is even better!
Seeds to Buy from Baker’s:
with deep lime-green stripes, very attractive. Flesh is bright green and very rich tasting, sweet with a sharp bite to it (just too good to describe!). A favorite tomato of many high class chefs, specialty markets, and home gardeners. Yield is excellent. The most striking tomato in our catalog, a real beauty.”
Cour di Bue Tomato: Of course, gotta have your standard red slicing tomato, and I chose this heart-shaped beauty. “This Oxheart type Italian heirloom has been a favorite in Italy for many years. Beautiful 12-oz. fruit have a delicious sweet taste; similar to the shape of a heart; great for fresh eating or cooking. Large vigorous vines. Hard to find.”
Monday, December 12, 2011
Signs of Life
Alpine Strawberries. They actually fruit in cooler weather. So tiny, so sweet!
I know these don't look like much, but I had to share that I finally got my shipment of Blueberry bushes. I have one Misty and one O’Neal variety, both southern types that enjoy heat more than the kind that grow in places like, say, Alaska. They're just twigs now as they are in their dormant stage, but I hope in a few years they will be enjoying our climate and give me all sorts of berries. (The soil in Sacramento is too alkaline to grow them in the ground, so I have them in boxes filled with a special potting mix suitable for acid-loving plants.)
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Vegetable Korma
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
minced2 potatoes, cut into small cubes
4 carrots, cubed
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 T. curry powder
1 c. frozen green peas
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 red AND green bell pepper, cubed
1 c. half-and-half
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook until tender. Add the ginger, garlic, curry powder and salt, and cook about 1 minute. Now add your potatoes, carrots, red pepper flakes and tomato sauce. Cook and stir for 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Stir in your frozen peas, chickpeas, bell peppers, half and half, and a handful of chopped cilantro. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10-20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. Garnish with more cilantro and serve over brown basmati rice. Makes 6-8 servings.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
SacMoFo: The Mini Burger Truck
My husband and I arrived early having already studied the list of vendors and decided that darn it, we were going for the mini-burgers again! We weren't the only ones.
When at last our order came up, we split 3 mini-burgers and an order of sweet potato tots. The sweet potato tots were out of this world, served with perfectly complimentary a honey ancho sauce. We couldn't even finish them all, so there weren't even any Napoleon Dynamite moments. ("Gimme some of your tots!" "No, get your own!")
We each enjoyed the Cowbell burgers (of which we ordered 2). They came with provolone, bacon, onion strings, and house BBQ sauce. We like a saucier burger and wish there had been more BBQ sauce, but this was a fine burger.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Perfect Pie Crust
My mom and I have a tradition that every Thanksgiving Eve, we bake pies together for the next day. How fortunate that just last month, I found a recipe for perfect pie crust while making a chicken pot pie. This dough was beautiful: pliant, easy to work with, and with all the best qualities of both butter (rich flavor) and shortening (flakiness and holding its shape). This makes 2 pie crusts.
Happy Thanksgiving!
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
1/2 c. cold unsalted butter
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. ice water
Mix the shortening, butter and salt into the flour with a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add water until the dough comes together into a ball. Cover dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or as long as 24 hours.
When ready to make pie, roll the dough out on a floured surface until it fits your pie pan. Fold in half, then in half again, and transfer to the pie pan. Now unfold it. Do the same with the top crust, tucking the extra dough under and crimping the edges. Bake as indicated in your pie recipe.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Bodega Bay
Monday, November 14, 2011
On Being Cozy
Saturday, November 5, 2011
A Food Lover's Seattle
We couldn't have asked for a better start to our trip than a sunny corner of Volunteer Park Cafe with a hot cup of hot chocolate and a slice of wonderful slice of blueberry coffee cake. (A copy of Bon Appetit and a rustic wooden table didn't hurt either; I felt right at home instantly.)
We had breakfast at The Crumpet Shop before hitting Pike's Place. Here's my lemon curd-ricotta crumpet.
There was just something about experiencing physically what I'd only read about and imagined - actually tasting the wood-fired pizza, roasted raddichio salad and the bittersweet chocolate cookie sprinkled with salt. We opted for a pizza with homemade sausage and roasted padrone peppers:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Foraging Walnuts
The good news:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Pumpkin Lasagna
I was a little trepidatious when I first envisions a pumpkin lasagna, thinking of cutting into a square and finding a thick layer of pumpkin filling, but it wasn't how I imagined it - it was much prettier and tastier. The pumpkin puree is blended with soft ricotta and other cheeses for a creamy golden layer that sits besides your traditional layers of pasta sauce, noodles, meat and vegetables. I love the versatility of lasagna as a season dish that you can throw zucchini and eggplant into in summer, then pumpkin in the fall. This is definitely a recipe I would make again.
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef or Italian sausage, casings removed
4 handfuls baby spinach
2 jars of prepared pasta sauce
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and spices, to taste
1 pound low-fat ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese + extra for topping
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 pound no-boil lasagna noodles
In a large heavy skillet, over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add meat and cook until brown, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add spinach and cook for 5 more minutes. Set aside.
In a large bowl mixing together the ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Add eggs, pumpkin puree and salt and pepper, to taste. Mix very well.
Build your lasagna in a large (9 by 12-inch) starting with a layer of sauce, a layer of pasta, a layer of half the sausage and a layer of half the filling. Add another layer of pasta, sauce, the remaining sausage and the filling. Finish with a layer of pasta and a layer of sauce. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Health Food at the Dollar Store?
A while back, I went to the Dollar Store in search of "real" food. I generally think of the food sold there as horrible both in quality and nutrition - you know, Banquet pot pies and generic soda pop. Then my co-worker told me he sometimes finds actual healthy food there, randomly. Their selection isn't consistent, but will sometimes offer unexpected pleasant surprises. He advised me to go with an open mind and see what I could find.
I took his advice and the next time I went to the Dollar Store, I wandered the food aisles. I was pleased to find a bag of whole fax seeds, an fantastic source of Omega 3 fatty acids. But what to do with them? I added some to a fruit smoothie once, but today I may have found the best use ever: multi-seed bread.
This bread had an excellent flavor and texture. I loved the subtle little crunchy bits of seeds tucked inside the slightly sweet, freshly baked bread. I have a feeling that my whole flax seeds are going to find their way into many more loaves of bread. And the best part is, they only set me back a dollar.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Jam Filled Oatmeal Bars
Tonight I brought these utterly simple bars to a church activity and they were a big hit. With whole wheat flour and rolled oats, they aren't overly sweet, but pleasantly satisfying, chewy and moist. One could almost justify these bars as an acceptable breakfast food on the go. And they are an excellent way to use that extra jam you might have in the fridge or pantry. Enjoy!
Jam-Filled Oatmeal Bars
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar firmly packed
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
3/4 cup jam (I used strawberry rhubarb)
Preheat oven 375 degrees, and in a large bowl mix everything together but the jam.
Measure two cups of the mixture and press into the bottom of an 8 inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Using a large spoon, distribute jam evenly over the mixture in the dish.
Take remaining mixture and sprinkle on top of the jam and press down lightly.
Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in dish for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Pan-Fried Butternut Squash, Fried Sage and Pine Nuts
I bought a butternut squash at a farmer's market this week, because it simply seemed like the thing to do. As I contemplated the possibilities, I decided I wanted something heartier than butternut squash soup, although I also have a good recipe for that classic autumn dish as well.
I thought of one of my favorite dishes at a certain Italian restaurant, a tender ravioli filled with butternut squash in a creamy sauce with fried sage.
Not being ambitious enough to hand roll my own pasta, I settled upon a recipe that used farfalle but the same classic flavors of squash and sage, along with pine nuts for a crunch. We used sage from our yard, which is happily thriving now that it can sink its roots into actual earth, and two small Walla Walla onions still hanging in there from the garden.
The final product was addictive - sweet, salty, herbaceous, it had all of my favorite elements from the more complicated ravioli dish, but with a fraction of the effort. I declare it the perfect hearty supper for a cool fall night.
From The Kitchn
1 medium butternut squash
1 small sweet onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
1 pound farfalle pasta
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
4 ounces high quality Parmesan, shredded or shaved (about a cup total)
Heat the oven to 375°. Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds the middle cavity. Flip the squash halves upside down and peel them. (Note: The raw squash rind can irritate your hands. If they start to itch or tingle, wear gloves.) Cut the squash into 1-inch cubes. Toss with the onion, garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mince about half of the fresh sage leaves and also toss with the squash.
Spread the squash mixture in a thin layer on a large baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft.
Heat salted pasta water to boiling and cook the farfalle until al dente. Drain and set aside. As the squash finishes roasting, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil in a large high-sided sauté pan. The oil is ready when it pops and sputters. (Don't let it start smoking.) Drop in the rest of the sage leaves and fry for about a minute, or until they begin to just shrivel up.
Remove with a slotted spoon and salt lightly. Crush with the back of a spoon. Add half the pasta to the pan, along with half the roasted squash mixture. Crumble in half the sage. Cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes or until the pasta is heated through and getting crispy on some of the edges. Add the pine nuts and cook for another minute. Stir in half the cheese and serve. Serves 4 generously.
(Repeat the last step with the rest of the ingredients. We split it into two because none of our pans are big enough to accommodate the entire recipe. It's very important that you not crowd the pan too much - you want the pasta to really pan-fry, not just steam up.)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Raised Bed Gardening Class
- Different common weeds and the best way to eradicate them (digging/pulling them up - surprise!)
- Helpful gardening tools (including some neat Japanese ones like the hori hori)
- The right kind of dirt to add to a raised bed (topsoil, then dust the top with compost; kelp meal to add minerals)
- Where to put your raised bed (a place with receives 6-8 hours of sunlight a day; western or southern exposure are best. If you put it on grass, at least turn the sod over before you place the raised bed on top of it.)
- Best fall crops to plant locally: garlic, kale, radishes, chard, and broccoli
- Basics of how to build a raised bed (cedar or hardwood last longest; salvaged wood is cheapest. Use screws, not nails. Or use paving stones or nothing at all like I mentioned above!)
Antonio taught us that when you're gardening the right way, the earth will improve over time as you incorporate organic matter and continue to remove the weeds. Patience is certainly a virtue to be learned by growing your own food.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
One Last Summer Meal from the Garden
Now that the experiment is coming to an end, I am full of reflections on what grew well and what didn't.
Great:
Delikatesse cucumber
Buttercrunch lettuce (but matured just as the weather got hot so it nearly all bolted)
Tom Thumb lettuce (same)
New England Pie pumpkins (took over the garden)
Danver’s Half Long carrots (but tasted like dirt - how do you grow sweet carrots?)
Sugar Ann snap peas (Some grew even when it got hot)
Dill - so easy to grow
Fennel
Ruby Red swiss chard (But aphids and cucumber beetles have made it inedible since summer hit - how sad!)
Not so great:
Black Valentine Bush Beans
Arugula
Mache (corn salad)
America spinach
Major fail (to germinate):
Mountain Sweet Yellow watermelon
Yarrow, Hyssop
Challenges this year included weeds, insect pests, and bad weather back in April. I have an enormous appreciation for farmers, especially those who find methods to do it organically. As for me, I have all sorts of ideas for next year, including starting my own seeds at home, doing raised beds at our new place and space-consuming crops at my parent's plot, and using companion plants to attract good insects and detract bad ones.