What Would Alice Do?

Source: norecipes.com via Stacy on Pinterest

Despite the fact that summer is in full swing, I found myself uninspired in my menu planning today. And I found myself wondering, What would Alice Waters do?

I found the answer on Chez Panisse Cafe’s website: A menu inspired by Deborah Madison, whose wonderful cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is a welcome presence in my own collection.

I love how the menu focuses on the best organic produce, like zucchini, greens, corn, sweet peppers, rosemary, and tomatoes. Sample dishes from the menu:

Salads:

- Blue Heron Farm Little Gems lettuce with mustard dressing, spiced beets, egg, and chives
- Shaved fennel and parsley salad with black pepper and Parmesan

Entrees:

- Pizzetta with zucchini, bottarga di muggine, and mint pesto
- Sheeps milk ricotta and greens cannelloni baked in the wood oven with porcini mushrooms
- Grilled Riverdog Farm chicken breast with succotash and sweet pepper relish
- Pizza with Flammé tomatoes, pancetta, and rosemary

And for dessert, the simplest one I saw was a bowl of Frog Hollow Farm Santa Rosa plums! The fancier options included a peach, nectarine, and berry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.

Alice: Consider me inspired.

Valentine's Day Menu

For several weeks, I have been eying (with trepidation) Judy Rodger’s perfect roast chicken with bread salad. Fortuitously, I received the famous San Francisco chef’s Zuni Café cookbook through the interlibrary loan just in time for Valentine’s Day. With timing like that, fate has chosen our dinner for us. (You can also find the recipe here). (Despite the intimidating several page-long recipe, I am determined to see if this bird is as good as it's rumored to be.

Also on the menu: a moist, dark Winning Hearts and Minds Chocolate Cake, as blogged and written about my Orangette, also known as Molly Wizenburg. This one is mostly chocolate and butter, so I went with the good stuff and procured some pure Irish butter and uber expensive but excellent Scharffen Berger 100% dark chocolate.

I hope that it's a recipe for romance. What's on your menu?

Something To Look Forward To

Farmer's markets make me happy

January is hard.

December is cheery with the holidays and, in my family, two birthdays (mine and my dad’s). Then, along comes January. This year reminds me of my freshman year of high school, the year all the weatherman could talk about was El Nina and I swear it rained for 6 months straight, daily. In other words, it’s cold. It’s dark. It’s gloomy. Valentine’s Day is still far away and sometimes it feels like there’s not much to look forward to.

I decided that’s what I need this week: something to look forward to. For now, I’m setting my sights on the Farmer’s Market this Saturday, and plotting our meals for the rest of the week. Here’s the game plan:

Tonight: Sweet Potato and Beef Stir Fry with Vietnamese Flavors. This is from my new Food Matters cookbook, and I’m intrigued by the idea of a stir fry made with sweet potatoes.

Wednesday: Fava Bean Soup with Winter Greens. So, I have this bag of fava beans leftover from when we made falafel and I found this recipe for an Italian soup that will help me use them up. Even better, it calls for celeriac, giving me an excuse to eat a new vegetable that I’ve never tried before.

Thursday: Indian-style Cauliflower with Ginger and Cashews. This is a Splendid Table recipe, which I receive by e-mail weekly. Say, there’s one more thing to look forward to!

Friday: Greek-syle burgers with spinach and brown rice. This is a Mark Bittman recipe, and we’re going to give a whirl to his healthier take on this classic American dish. We're using grass-fed beef and topping them with mild sheepsmilk feta.

There. I think I've officially convinced myself that I have something to look forward to.

My Menu for Next Week

Monday: Meatless Monday strikes again with a new recipe from a vegetarian blog I recently started following, Seattle's own Herbivoracious. I love the blog because the pictures are amazing and the recipes are intriguing and much more creative than your typical vegetarian fare. When I prepare this vegetarian chili, I am going to try a new ingredient, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. This stuff seem to be everywhere lately, and this will be my first time cooking with it!

Tuesday: Cooking Light, my favorite magazine, published a budget-oriented section in this month’s edition which featured a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas with homemade red sauce. It uses chicken thighs to keep costs down. Don’t worry - they will be free-range. :-)

Wednesday: Now that spring has fully sprung in California, it is time to celebrate with a rite of passage - our first trip to the Wednesday night Davis Farmer’s Market, complete with a trip to the Hotdogger. They serve the best hot dogs that snap when you bite into them (a sure sign of a quality wiener), with the freshest, fluffiest buns you’ll ever taste. With a refreshing lemonade, it’s the best warm weather meal around!

Thursday: We try to eat fish every now and then, as it’s so darn good for you. I found a recipe that sounds delicious in the Family Circle magazine at work: Salmon (gotta be wild-caught; I can’t stand that pale flabby farmed stuff) coated with bread crumbs, Dijon mustard and dill. Sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try it.

Friday: Date night! I can heard the Thai food calling my name now...

Saturday: Attending a charity spaghetti feed! It’s always spaghetti they serve, isn’t it?

A Typical Weekly Menu

I thought it might be interesting to post what a typical weekly menu in the Grow household looks like, so here it goes. This is what we have planned for next week:

Monday:
This is, of course, Meatless Monday, and also our first day back from our LA vacation, so we will be having stir fry using whatever vegetables I have leftover in the fridge, which is quite a lot at this point. Broccoli, peppers, spinach, and snap peas are definitely in order, served in a soy-ginger sauce over brown rice. Dessert will be the best of the season, strawberry rhubarb crisp, with fresh, sun-ripened strawberries from the stand on Jefferson Boulevard.

Tuesday:
I’ve actually been trying to go mostly meatless lately. Tonight I want to try a Japanese dish called Otsu, which is basically soba noodles with cucumbers and fried tofu, tossed with a soy sauce and sesame oil dressing. Got the recipe from 101 Cookbooks, a hugely popular blog focusing mostly on healthy whole foods.

Wednesday:
Cinco de Mayo, which means I’ll be heading to Whole Foods to get a cut of pork (they only ell humanely raised pork, which is a must) for Carnitas! I’m gonna cook it in the slow cooker all day, then have a fiesta that night!

Thursday:
I’m tired by Thursday, so I’ll be going with something simple. I know I have leftover Chicken Sausage in the freezer, so I’ll saute that up with some bell peppers and olive oil and serve over whole wheat pasta with a mixed greens salad.

Friday: I’m completely exhausted by Friday, so we usually do our date night here, often opting for Thai food.

Saturday: Usually it's spontaneous and somewhat laid-back. We’re attending a Yelp ball at the Sterling Hotel (a perk of being an Elite Yelper) with food served from various local restaurants (for free! Yay!).

Sunday: Dinner with my family, who live 10 minutes away. This usually means comfort food prepared by my mom and dessert brought by me. However, this Sunday will be Mother’s Day, so I will supervise my little brother and sister as they attempt to make spaghetti with meat sauce, green salad and a crusty loaf of warmed and buttered bread.

I’m thinking I might get a pie from the infamous, elusive Real Pie Company for dessert, as I’m now on the owner Kira’s exclusive underground e-mail list. Since she’s a stay-at-home mom now, she offers one type of pie each week and alerts fans by e-mail. Then, you have to order your pie and pick it up at the Corti Brothers the next Friday. This week’s offering was an apple, quince and wild bluberry galette. Can you say delish?!