Guinnah

Back on my head

2011-09-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is what we always say in our household when it's time to get back to work "alright then, back on my head" - it's from a very bad joke - one that probably isn't appropriate on a blog that talks about food. Alright then...

I haven't blogged but I've been super busy. And now that all of the busy-ness is over I am exhausted! We saw one kid off to new adventures in far away lands (or Nebraska, same difference)

My best friend and I managed to pull off planning a successful 30th high school reunion - we had a great time and wondered where all the years have gone. We have known each other since we were four years old. This is us at 15:

And at...well, you can do the math:

Then days after driving home from Oregon I turned around and drove down to LA to get the other kid settled into her new house at school. We had a fun night before we left - we went to see Taylor Swift in concert. A nice mommy-daughter night, though the shrieks of the young girls was truly deafening.

And today is our 25th wedding anniversary (and last week was my birthday). Do you see what I mean? There has been a lot going on!

So now it is back on my head.

No-yeast pizza crust - easy!

2011-08-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

It was one of those nights. I just really wanted pizza - not enough to go get one mind you. And our options for delivery are a bit limited. So I figured what the heck - I almost always have a package of mozzarella fresca on hand, there's basil in the garden, some tomatoes on the counter - I'll just make one. I headed into the kitchen and soon realized I was out of the one thing I'd need to make pizza dough - yeast. Sigh. I often make pizzas using lavash bread but none of that in the house, no pita bread either. I got online and searched for a no yeast pizza crust not sure what I would find. Well I found a lot. I just picked one and went with it and was very pleasantly surprised. The result was a thin crust pizza that baked up crispy and brown - really just the way I like pizza. I mean, I love a really good deep dish every now and then but my preference is an almost cracker thin crust.

This recipe made enough for two decent size pizzas. One was topped with a simple tomato sauce (canned Italian tomatoes simmered with some garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil), fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. The other pizza was topped with garlicky sauteed beet greens, feta cheese and kalamata olives along with the mozzarella. Yum.

No Yeast Pizza Dough

(printable recipe)

2 1/2 cups flour

2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 - 1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients. Add 3/4 cup water and oil. Stir until it forms a ball. If the dough is stiff add more water. The dough will be soft, not sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes. I did all the mixing and kneading in my stand mixer and it worked great.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-25 minutes.

Twice Roasted Beets with Buttermilk, Goat Cheese and Dill Dressing

2011-08-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

As with many meals around here, this dish came about because I had something in the fridge that I needed to use up - in this case, buttermilk. I was flipping through the Cafe Flora cookbook and came across a recipe for Buttermilk, Goat Cheese and Dill dressing which they mentioned was good on their roasted beets.

We may be a weird household but we really love beets. I love them hot, cold - even canned (on spinach salad). I know it's one of those vegetables that a lot of people hate - or *think* they hate. Because a lot of people when pressed will admit they've never actually tried them. I've posted before about my favorite recipe to convert beet haters and it's still a favorite. But this one is definitely a close second. It involves roasting the beets twice - once wrapped in foil to cook them through and then a second time cut into wedges and gently tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The dressing goes together in a minute, super easy - but I'll admit that while the beets were in the oven for the second round of roasting I was thinking to myself "I wonder if this is worth the effort" - after the first bite I can say yes, it most definitely is. This isn't something you can make at the last minute but for the most part it is largely unattended oven time so it isn't that much work - just time and planning ahead. Both hubby and daughter commented that it looked like having dessert first - it looked very much like peaches with ice cream!

Twice Roasted Beets with Buttermilk, Goat Cheese and Dill Dressing

(printable recipe)

For the beets:

6-8 beets of roughly equal size

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons olive oil

salt

For the dressing:

1 4oz log goat cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon minced onion or shallot

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the dressing combine all of the ingredients except salt and pepper in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.*

Heat oven to 400. Trim the greens off the beets, leaving about an inch. Wrap each beet tightly in foil and place in a baking dish. Roast in the oven for an hour and up to 1 hour and 15 minutes until a knife goes easily through the beet. Reduce oven to 350. Let beets cool until you can handle them but you'll want them to still be warm. Remove the foil and slip the skin off, trimming off the root and stem ends. Cut each beet in half and then each half into wedges (4 or 5 wedges per half). Place them in a bowl and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Place the wedges on a baking sheet and roast again for 30 minutes. Let cool a bit then plate them and top with the dressing.

*Note - I used a 3.5 oz round of garlic and herb goat cheese because that's what I had, I omitted the lemon zest because I had some recently squeezed lemon juice in the fridge and I used dried dill, just used less. This makes a very thick dressing that would also work well as a dip with veggies.

Macaroni and Cheese

2011-08-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

I think macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food. I'm seeing it on the menu in more restaurants and often they have a variety of macs - like the local Jack's Restaurant and Bar, which has a choice of six different "Jack's Macs." Over the years I've tried many recipes. It's not a complicated concept - a roux, some cheese, some pasta. One of my favorites was a macaroni and cheese I made while on vacation. We'd rented an apartment for a week and every morning we'd stroll to get a cappuccino, baguette and cheese. By the end of the week we had a lot of bits and pieces of cheese so I used them all in a hodge podge mixture that was the best! Since then I've been on the lookout for that one recipe - my go to recipe - and I think I have finally found it. I've made this many times now and it is the dish that is requested when the college kid is coming home for some home cooked meals, it's the perfect drop off dinner for a friend, it freezes well, tastes good leftover and it's easy. Can't ask for more. The original recipe is here at epicurious.com - the recipe as I make it is below. I use a bit less butter, fat free milk instead of whole milk and a little more pasta. A really strong, sharp Cheddar is the key. This recipe makes a lot - perfect for sharing and or freezing. I usually get two 9 x 12 pans out of this. It's not something we have very often because let's face it - it's not exactly health food. But it is the perfect thing when you just need a little comfort...

Macaroni and Cheese

(printable recipe)

For the topping:

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups panko bread crumbs

3 ounces coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar

1/2 cup grated parmesan

For macaroni and sauce:

1 stick butter

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

5 cups fat free milk

16 ounces coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar

1/2 cup grated parmesan

19 ounces elbow macaroni

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in the middle

For the topping, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter, Combine the panko and cheese until combined well, mix in melted butter. Set aside.

Get the macaroni going in a big pot of boiling water. You will want to cook it al dente and be sure to reserve one cup of the pasta water. While that cooks melt the 1 stick of butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat and then stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, three minutes and then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer, whisking occasionally. 3 minutes. Stir in the cheeses, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat.

When the pasta is done, drain it (don't forget to reserve one cup of the cooking water) and return it to the pot. Stir in the cheese sauce and the cup of water. Mix well and then put in your baking dishes (I sprayed the baking dishes lightly with olive oil). It is a very soupy mixture (but don't worry, it bakes up perfectly) - you may want to ladle it into the baking dishes. Spread the topping evenly on the macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20-25 minutes.

The original calls for putting it in two 2 qt baking dishes but I prefer to use a shallower pan so I can spread out more of that topping! You can make one large dish and then a couple of smaller ones to freeze. It's pretty flexible.

Raw Kale Salad

2011-07-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing more and more recipes for raw kale salads. I typically only use kale in soups and stews so honestly I was a little leery of eating it raw. But when I saw a recipe over at 101 Cookbooks I knew I'd found a great one to try. I've never been steered wrong by her recipes. Ever. We've had this two Saturdays in a row for lunch and I am in love. Heidi's recipe called for Tuscan kale but without driving all over town what I found was red kale so that's what I went with. I look forward to trying it with the Tuscan kale but we really loved this version as well. I found a fantastic pecorino - Pecorino Toscano Riserva il Forteto - I upped the amounts of the cheese a bit using close to an ounce in the dressing and another ounce on the salad. And I cheated a bit on the bread crumbs and bought crostini that I crushed with a rolling pin. And finally, I used the best kitchen tool I have - clean hands (remember to take off your jewelry!) and really tossed the salad well with the dressing, kneading it as you would bread dough. I was worried the red kale might be a little tougher than the Tuscan so I want to break it down a little. As I said, I am in love.

Raw Kale Salad

(printable recipe)

1 bunch red kale

2 ounces crostini

1 small garlic clove

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch

1 1/2 - 2 ounces grated pecorino cheese, divided

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

freshly squeezed lemon juice - 1/4 cup

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Trim the bottom few inches off the kale stems and discard. Slice the kale into thin ribbons and wash well, spin dry. You should have 4 to 5 cups. Place the kale in a large bowl.

Crush the crostini with a rolling pin to make coarse bread crumbs

Using a mortar and pestle or a knife, pound or mince the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a paste. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl. Add half the cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt, pepper flakes and black pepper and whisk to combine. Pour the dressing over the kale and toss very well - I used my hands to work the dressing into the kale. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes. Toss with the bread crumbs and additional cheese and serve.

adapted from 101 Cookbooks Raw Tuscan Kale Salad

Lavosh Crackers

2011-07-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

If I were to admit to a food weakness it would be cheese (or dip) and crackers. I could eat crackers with some kind of topping every day - I don't, but I could. I remember as a kid eating that pimento cheese out of a jar on top of triscuits (and of course that jar then became our juice glass - old school recycling). And many a sleepover was spent with a box of wheat thins and ranch dip (and Tiger Beat magazine with Leif Garrett on the cover). Even my favorite sweet treat as a kid was graham crackers with peanut butter on it.

These days there are so many more choices for crackers. But the fancier the cracker the higher the price tag. I see those flatbread crackers and they are charging four or five dollars for a tiny package of what is, essentially, dried bread. So this isn't a recipe as much as a tip for easy to make crackers using lavosh from the grocery store. The lavosh I used was from Whole Foods but Trader Joe's sells it as well - what I like about the lavosh from these stores is that it comes in nice even rectangles. The lavosh at the Middle East market, while more authentic, comes in very large, oddly shaped sheets and tends to be a little thinner and not as durable for a cracker. You can bake these in one large sheet and then break them in to rustic, free form shapes or you can embrace your inner Virgo and cut them into a more uniform size. For my book club the other night I cut them using a patterned craft scissor to create a scalloped edge (I keep all kinds of non-kitchen items in my kitchen)

Next I lay them out on a baking sheet and spray each side lightly with olive oil using a mister like this. Then it's a matter of adding whatever seasoning you like - I did one batch of sea salt and cracked pepper, one with gomasio (sea salt and sesame seeds) and one with Greek seasoning. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes (but watch your first batch carefully just in case to figure out what is right for your oven and baking sheet). Then cool on a rack.

These make light, crispy crackers that are still (in the words of the architect husband) "structurally sound."

Lima Bean Skordalia

2011-07-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

I don't think the lima bean gets a lot of love. I can't recall eating them as a kid or maybe I've blocked it out? Even now I mostly use them as an easy stand in for fresh fava beans when I make the Persian dish Baghali Polo - though I should probably explore these more as we love beans.

There is one recipe I frequently make using lima beans and that is Lima Bean Skordalia. Skordalia is a Greek dish typically made with garlic and potatoes (or stale bread) and served alongside meat or as a spread on bread. The Pasta Shop at Market Hall in Rockridge sells a lima bean skordalia that is really good as a dip and their recipe can easily be found online. However it uses a lot of olive oil - and while it's a healthy fat it makes this dip deceptively high in fat and calories. I make it instead with one third of the oil and increase the lemon juice and while mine is much thicker than their version the taste is very bright and well...lemony.

Last night was book club night and we had decided on doing appetizers - it worked out perfectly as everyone provided something different. It was a beautiful warm night full of lively discussion and good food. We had a minor hiccup when three of us who had carpooled together went to the wrong house - we all stood on the front porch with our food in hand while a surprised young father stood at the door wondering who the hell we were. Awkward.

Lima Bean Skordalia

(printable recipe)

1lb bag frozen lima beans

4 cloves garlic

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add lima beans and cook according to package directions. Drain and cool.

In your food processor, place garlic cloves and pulse until finely chopped. Next add lima beans and lemon juice. Run the processor, scraping down the bowl as necessary until smooth. With processor running slowly add olive oil and blend. I also add about 1/4 cup water to help the blending. Add salt and pepper to taste - even more lemon juice. I like to serve it with a drizzle of olive oil and some hot paprika on top.

Mini Berry Cheesecakes

2011-07-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I had the privilege of cooking dinner for a friend of mine who is recovering from surgery. A privilege because this family is a joy to cook for - they love everything! And as the cook, an appreciative audience is so nice. I must say that my own family is always appreciative - don't want to imply otherwise!

Which means that I have several things to blog but I'll start with dessert today. Last year I posted about the buttermilk cheesecake tarts I made for my daughter's birthday. Along with cooking for my friend this weekend, we were also invited somewhere for dinner. With this recipe in mind, I offered to bring dessert. Last year when I made the tarts I had extra batter so I made mini cheesecakes by dropping a gingersnap cookie in the bottom of a cupcake liner and then putting in the batter. I didn't pay close attention when I was baking and they definitely cracked and sunk but they tasted great. I wanted to try those again so I put in a tiny bit more effort and was so happy with the results (in fact I was wishing I'd made all mini cheesecakes instead of the tarts). I used regular size cupcake pans and liners and put a generous spoonful of the crumb mixture into the bottom and used my mojito muddler to tamp the crumbs down.

The only changes I made to the previously posted recipe is that I increased the amount of graham cracker crumbs (I used two of the three packages in the box)- I did not increase the amount of butter for the crust. So the crust was a little more crumbly but if I handled them carefully it wasn't a problem - even with the larger tarts. They are a perfect size for when you just want a little something and would be great for a party - they are really quite simple!

Mini Berry Cheesecakes

printable recipe

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 packages graham crackers (about 3 cups crumbs)

1 cup sugar

3 8oz packages Neufchatel cream cheese

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

berries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Add cracker crumbs, mix thoroughly. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan. Spoon crumb mixture into bottom of each liner -a heaping tablespoon full. Tamp down with the bottom of a skinny glass (I used a muddler) Bake for 5 minutes, remove from oven and set aside.

Cream remaining butter and 1 cup sugar with cream cheese until smooth. Add buttermilk and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add eggs and beat slowly until combined. Do not overbeat.

Spoon batter into muffin liners - about ¼ cup of batter for each mini cheesecake.

Bake for 24 minutes. Cool in the refrigerator until cool enough to handle and slightly firm then carefully remove the paper liners and chill until completely firm. Top with berries that have been split in half - split side down.

Because I made some of this into tarts (six) and some into mini cheescakes (21) I’m not sure exactly how many minis this would make - probably close to three dozen. It’s flexible - if you want to fill them a little more just bake them a bit longer.

Raspberry Lemonade (and the little tree that could)

2011-07-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Several years ago we had our neighbors over for dinner. We had been gradually tearing things out of our backyard so the conversation that night turned to gardening and landscaping. Our neighbors lamented the few citrus trees they had planted that were suffering from too little sunlight. He asked if we might be interested in a tree or two - sure, why not? I didn't give it a lot of further thought until the next day he showed up with the most scraggly looking tree ever. It didn't even have a root ball per se, but rather some dangling little roots. And the soil where we live is solid clay - very difficult to dig. Oh, and it was around 100 degrees that day. And one more thing, I'm not really much of a gardener. The perfect storm for failure - it seemed like it might be more efficient to throw it straight into the compost bin. But I dug the best hole I could and plopped that baby in there. He showed up a few minutes later with another tree and we did the same thing. He didn't even know if they were lemon, lime, etc. I wish I'd gotten pictures of when they arrived - this picture of the lemon tree was probably taken year later:

It took a few years before they blossomed and we learned what we had. The tree on the right is lemon and on the left, orange. I always say that a plant has to have a strong will to live in our yard. In this case, the lemon was very determined!

Since then we've added two more oranges, another lemon, lime, mandarin and grapefruit. The orange tree in the front yard is amazing - still small but prolific. And there is nothing like the smell of citrus blossoms as you pull in the driveway.

Recently my husband and daughter went out to pick the last of the lemons for the season - we figured there might be a few. There were 64!

They juiced them all and we've been enjoying a lot of homemade lemonade. Yesterday I decided to make raspberry lemonade for a friend recuperating from surgery. Lemonade is so simple but some like it sweeter, some prefer it very tart. And the type of juice (Meyer, Eureka) will affect the flavor as well. This recipe is fairly sweet with the raspberries so you may want to adjust accordingly.

Raspberry Lemonade

(printable recipe)

1 cup raspberries (frozen are fine but let them thaw first)

2 cups lemon juice

2 cups sugar

10 cups water

In a blender, combine raspberries with lemon juice and blend until smooth. In a large pot combine two cups water with two cups sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Add the raspberry lemon mixture and the additional water (you may want to add about seven cups and then add additional to taste). I suppose you could strain this but I didn't find the raspberry seeds or pulp to be bothersome. I always save the glass bottles from store bought lemonade and use them over and over!

Quinoa, Garbanzo and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing

2011-07-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to slip back in here...long time no see!

I went looking for some ideas for spinach salad the other night . We eat a LOT of spinach and I have many favorite combinations that we have over and over. But I was kind of hoping for something a little different so I looked on epicurious and found this recipe. As luck would have it I had pretty much everything it called for on hand (except cucumbers and it was just fine without them).

I'll admit I was a little hesitant once I made the dressing because that smoked paprika flavor was really strong and I just wasn't sure how that would blend with everything. But it was delicious (and really, I don't think it would be worth making the dressing without the smoked paprika - regular paprika just wouldn't do the trick). We typically dress our salads with just balsamic vinegar and a spritz of oil so I don't like a lot of oil in my dressing. I ended up using a 50/50 mix instead of the 2:1 ratio the original recipe called for. We really loved this salad - I was getting thumbs up while we all ate. In fact liked it so much it got me back on here to blog it!

Quinoa, Garbanzo and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing

(printable recipe)

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed, drained

10 oz. baby spinach leaves

1 15- to 16-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed, drained

¾ pint container small cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cup (packed) fresh mint leaves. cut into thin ribbons

3 oz coarsely crumbled feta cheese , divided

1/4 cup Sherry wine vinegar

1 ¼ teaspoons smoked paprika

1/4 cup olive oil

Place quinoa in large saucepan; add 1 ½ cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until quinoa is tender, 15 to 16 minutes. Drain. Chill until cool.

Meanwhile, combine spinach leaves, garbanzos, halved tomatoes, mint leaves, and half of feta cheese in extra-large bowl. Add cooled quinoa and toss gently to blend.

Whisk vinegar and smoked paprika in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over salad; toss to coat. Season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle remaining feta over.

adapted from epicurious.com - Bon Appetit July 2010

Double Secret Grilled Vegetables

2010-09-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sort of like double secret probation right? This recipe is from my friend Robin and it is, as she says, "killer delish." It has two secret ingredients that make it so good. Secret ingredient number one:

really, what isn't good with blue cheese on it?

Secret ingredient number two:

Not so secret anymore!

I started with some yellow squash from our garden - they probably should have been picked a few days ago but it's been busy and with the CSA I've had a lot of produce on hand. But I didn't want them to go to waste so that's what I used.

The recipe, as I made it, is as follows:

Grilled Vegetables with Double Secret Sauce

3 large yellow squash*

1 nectarine or peach, thinly sliced

1 red onion, finely diced

1/2 cup good balsamic vinegar, plus extra for marinading

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for marinading and sauteing

1 tablespoon good quality blue cheese (I used Pt. Reyes blue cheese)

Slice the squash into rounds about 1/4" thick. Toss with some balsamic and olive oil to marinade while you make the sauce. For the sauce, saute the finely diced onion in a bit of olive oil until the onions soften and just barely begin to brown. Then add in the 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the blue cheese. Stir to combine and melt the cheese...keep warm.

Spray a grill pan with oil and heat up on the grill (Robin recommends this pan - I have one just like it but it's flat and it works well too). Add the veggies and cook over medium high heat for a few minutes and then lower the heat to medium. When the vegetables are about halfway done, add the sliced nectarine. Continue grilling, tossing occasionally so that everything gets evenly cooked. When they are done, toss with the balsamic sauce.

*Note on veggies: Robin says you can use just about any veggie just try to keep them a consistent size. I made it once with a big mix of veggies and it was very good - use what you have!

We eat a lot of grilled vegetables and I love how this recipe, with its two secret ingredients, really change things up. Thanks Robin :-)

Publish Post

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week fourteen

2010-09-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. So hard to believe that we are fourteen weeks into the CSA. It's one thing to have this vague feeling that time is going quickly but it's another to be keeping track like this! The CSA newsletter said they had a lot of tomatoes and they weren't kidding...the tomatoes are varied, beautiful and incredibly good. This weeks share included:

Swiss chard

parsley or basil

onions

squash or cucumbers

strawberries

sweet peppers

Bibane roasted pepper and herb bread

I am attempting to participate in NaBloPoMo this month....this month's theme is ART. So we'll see how I can tie that in! Of course I think a lot of food is art just on its own - and if you play with the pictures and mess up some pixels you get a pretty piece of tomato art ;-)

Cauliflower Curry

2010-09-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Probably not the greatest picture ever taken but such a simple-to-make dinner that I wanted to share. I know I've confessed before how much I love my crockpot. There's nothing better than coming home to a dinner that's ready to go. It is awesome in the summer too because we often have very hot days but the evenings can be quite breezy and cool once the fog from the bay rolls across the hills. So it's hot enough that you don't want to be at the stove but by dinner time something warm and comforting sounds really good. That's how this came about. I had some beautiful cauliflower from the CSA and was in the mood for some kind of curry or stew to go on rice. But I was really not in the mood for recipe searching, modify and shopping. So I gathered a few simple ingredients, dumped them in and crossed my fingers :-) I used a Thai red curry paste but the resulting dish was more like an Indian curry. Since we couldn't decide, dh declared it Burmese. Whatever, it really took less than five minutes to get it into the crockpot and then I just let it cook all day. Along with some brown rice in the rice cooker we had a delicious dinner with minimal effort.

Cauliflower Curry

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets (don't make them too small, they break down quite a bit)

1 lb. yellow split peas, rinsed and picked over

14oz can diced tomatoes (do not drain)

32 ounces vegetable broth

14oz can light coconut milk

2 tablespoons red curry paste

Toss it all into the crockpot and cook on high for 5 hours then reduce to "keep warm" setting until ready to eat (this works best if you have a crockpot you can program). Season with salt to taste.

Serve over brown rice.

We ate this with plain yogurt on the side and lots of different spicy mango and hot pickle relishes. You have to read the labels but there are red curry pastes out there that don't have any fish/shrimp in them. I believe that the Thai Kitchen red curry paste is both vegan and gluten free.

We're gearing up for someone to head back to school - shopping, packing - and this someone also got a new stick (you know, the essential back to school supplies!)

Calzone with swiss chard, olives and capers

2010-08-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

So after all my bellyachin' about the weather last week do you want to know what I made for dinner on that very hot day? Calzone. In a 450 degree oven. Was it hot? Yes, very much. Was it worth it? Again, yes, very much. At the CSA pick up they often have a bonus box - a selection of some of their more abundant produce you can take for free to go with your weekly share. At the last pick up I chose a beautiful bunch of swiss chard - I love the color of the stems. While washing the chard I came across a ladybug (after already soaking everything in water). Hallie quickly went into rescue mode and took the ladybug outside to try to get it to "fly away home" (here's hoping her house wasn't on fire and her children weren't alone - remember that lovely childhood rhyme???)

This calzone goes together super quickly if you can get ahold of some pre-made pizza dough (I get it at Trader Joe's). Homemade pizza dough isn't difficult - I make it all the time - but sometimes I just want something that's ready to go :-) I really love the combination of walnut, olives and capers in this:

Swiss Chard Calzone

1 lb package fresh pizza dough (I use Trader Joe's)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 bunch swiss chard, washed well and coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 oz shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped kalamata olives

1 tablespoon capers

1-2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar (I used a fig balsamic)

salt and pepper

Heat oven to 450. Divide the pizza dough into 4 pieces and let rest while you

prepare the filling. Heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in saute

pan with red pepper flakes and garlic.

When garlic is fragrant add chard to

pan, toss with tongs occasionally, until tender - about 5-7 minutes. Put

the chard in a bowl and add the cheeses, walnuts, olives and capers -

stir to combine. Drizzle with balsamic and season with salt and pepper

to taste, mix well. On a floured board, form each section of dough into

a circle - about 8 inches diameter - place the filling on half of each circle,

leaving about a 1 inch border. Wet the edges of the dough with water and

fold the dough over, crimp with a fork. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil

and carefully place each calzone onto the sheet. Bake for 16-20 minutes

until browned. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Adapted from recipe for Escarole Calzone in

Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week thirteen

2010-08-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Let me first get this out of the way - it is hotter than a motherfather around here and it makes it very hard to get anything done. I've got all this beautiful food and not a lot of energy to do anything with it (well except that amazing looking focaccia, we mustered up the strength to eat that up straight away). I have plans for everything - just hope for promised return to cooler weather. We are doing a repeat of the tomato and goat cheese salad (again) - that, I can handle. I've come across some really fantastic looking tomato recipes but right now we are really happy just having this one in rotation. This week's share included:

cherry tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

summer squash (I chose zucchini because we are hours away from a yellow squash onslaught in the garden)

cucumbers (love those lemon cucumbers!)

basil

yellow peaches

white nectarines

tomato basil focaccia bread

This afternoon I am staying indoors with the AC on, trying to get some work done as well as researching washing machines (ours died). Hal and I cooled off a bit this afternoon with this lovely concoction - espresso blended with ice and chocolate soy milk - yum.

But I'm not kidding about the heat - I snapped this yesterday driving home from the CSA pick up (don't worry, I pulled over...)

I love summer but I am totally ready for fall!

Grilled Summer Squash Tacos

2010-08-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I was craving Mexican food (ha - recently - I'm always craving Mexican food). I had several summer squash from the CSA so I decided those would make a good filling for some tacos. I really wanted roasted vegetables but it was just too hot to use the oven. Usually when I grill vegetables I use a special pan for grilling that has little holes so the vegetables don't fall through - but I wanted to make these in a pretty small dice. So I took a chance on an idea. I started with two patty pan squash, one zucchini plus a yellow squash from our garden

I cut these into a small dice along with a red onion and some sweet peppers (all from the CSA). These were tossed with some salt and pepper and sprayed with a bit of olive oil.

I picked out an older baking sheet (not a flat one - one with sides), sprayed it with olive oil and then put it on the grill, turned the flame on high and closed the lid. Once the pan got really hot I tossed the vegetables on it and let them cook - stirring occasionally. It worked great! Not quite the same as flame grilled but they still had a unique, grilled flavor and best of all, no hot kitchen.

I warmed the corn tortillas on the grill as well and then topped them with the grilled vegetables, reduced fat cheddar, diced avocado, salsa verde, lettuce and some tomatoes from our garden. They were awesome. Totally fulfilled that taco craving but also satisfied my desire for a healthy meal.

Spinach Lasagna

2010-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned our trip to my friend's cabin. When we are up there we tend be out during the day and then home in the evenings. So lunch often finds us grabbing a bite to eat in town (or up at the ski lodge depending on the time of year) but by dinner time everyone is ready to get comfortable for a night of games, movies and stargazing. I decided to bring up lasagna for the first night so we wouldn't have to go to the store or spend much time in the kitchen. This recipe is one that has become a favorite. The original recipe that I work from is one for Sausage, Cheese and Basil Lasagna from Bon Appetit, February 2000. I have modified it over time to be vegetarian, more spinach than basil but very, very good. I use finely chopped mushrooms to mimic the sausage flavor - in fact the youngest guest (who hates mushrooms) loved the "sausage lasagna."

Spinach Lasagna

Sauce Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 oz. crimini mushrooms, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 large onion, diced

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes with added puree

1 14oz can diced tomatoes (do not drain)

Lasagna ingredients:

18 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese*

5 ounces grated paremsan

1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves

16 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 15 ounce container, plus one cup, part-skim ricotta cheese

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

16 no-boil lasagna noodles

non-stick oil spray

First you have to make the "sausage." Combine the finely chopped mushrooms with the fennel seed, red pepper and sea salt.

Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium high heat and add the mushroom mixture and saute until the mushrooms have released their moisture and the mushrooms are browned and look like crumbled sausage

Transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl. Add the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until they are soft and start to brown just a little bit. Add in the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, oregano and mushroom mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Season with salt, pepper and more crushed red pepper to taste.

For the filling put the basil leaves in your food processor and pulse to finely chop basil. Add ricotta, 6 ounces of the mozzarella (about 1 1/2 cups packed), 2 ounces parmesan (about 3/4 cup), egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Pulse a few times to combine. Squeeze out all of the excess liquid from your thawed spinach (I like to put it in a clean cotton dishtowel and wring it out) and put in the processor bowl. Pulse a few more times to blend the spinach with the cheese but keep it a bit chunky.

Preheat the oven to 375. To assemble the lasagna spread 1 1/4 cups sauce in a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Arrange four of the no-boil noodles across the bottom - they may overlap just slightly but it will be okay. If they overlap a LOT (if your pan is slightly smaller) then just use three. Drop 1 1/2 cups (generously filled) over the noodles and spread evenly to cover. It is easier to use your hands for this so that the noodles don't move around. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan. Repeat layers of sauce, noodles, filling and cheese 2 more times.

Top with the remaining 4 noodles. Spoon the remaining sauce on top of the noodles and sprinkle with the remaining cheeses. Spray a large piece of foil with non-stick spray and cover the lasagna.

Bake lasagna at 375 for 40 minutes. Carefully uncover. Increase oven temperature to 400. Bake until the noodles are tender, the sauce bubbles thickly and the edges of the lasagna are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes. Transfer to work surface and let it stand 15 minutes before serving.

*Note about the mozzarella. This recipe calls for 18 oz of shredded mozzarella and most packages of pre-shredded or whole mozzarella are sold in either 8, 12 or 16 oz packages. I used a 16 oz. package of shredded cheese and then a chunk of mozzarella fresca (not so fresca though - it was in the freezer) for the top. I'm sure the recipe would survive with just 16 ounces.

There were eight of us and this served everyone generously for dinner and several of us for lunch.
Happy campers!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week twelve

2010-08-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Another amazing CSA share this week. I was really happy to see the yellow cauliflower again! This week's share included:

2 baskets of mixed cherry tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

green butterhead lettuce

summer squash

eggplant (or cucumbers but we are inundated from our garden right now)

choice of peppers

chard

corn

chocolate zucchini muffin

We loved the tomato salad that I made last week, so much so that I made it again. The corn was fantastic - I prepared it in our usual way, Persian style. The chocolate zucchini muffin? Well, it was the first to go ;-)

It's that time of the summer where everything is looking a little droopy and tired (including me!) - even though I'm watering in the afternoons as well the morning on those really hot days. We are getting a fair amount of tomatoes, lots of cucumbers and the serrano chiles are insane. I guess the fact that we never went on vacation this summer worked out well for the garden!

We did have a nice little getaway last weekend to my best friend's cabin in the woods. It's an adorable cabin built by her grandparents many years ago. You can tell the fun they had building it - their friends would join them on the weekends and this collage wallpaper in the hallway is a testament to the fun they had ;-)

It's right across from the lake

And near the adorable town of Murphys where Ana did her first wine tasting at the Frog's Tooth Vineyard tasting room

We love spending time with these friends - and I love how their daughter looks like she could be one of ours

Great weekend!

Tomato, Goat Cheese and Basil Salad

2010-08-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

In last week's CSA we received some really beautiful heirloom tomatoes plus a basket of cherry tomatoes. I picked up a container of fresh mozzarella to do the (always delicious) same ol' thing. And that would have been the end of that but a friend of mine, Lynn, happened to post a salad on her blog http://mommyporch.blogspot.com/ that made me sit up and take notice. Not that different from my usual tomato, mozzarella and basil but it had just enough of a twist that I couldn't wait to try it - and as luck would have it I happened to have enough of the ingredients on hand to make it right away. The recipe was originally published in The Silver Palate cookbook - a mainstay of mine for many years - but I'd never tried this particular recipe. I think the book is long gone from my shelf (I've pared down considerably over the years) but I'm really happy this one came along.

Tomato, Goat Cheese and Basil Salad

6 large ripe tomatoes, cored, cut into thick slices and then halved

1 medium red onion, halved and sliced thin

½ cup basil chiffonade

¼ cup pitted Nicoise olives, chopped*

2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped

1/3 cup best quality olive oil

Dash of red wine vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

6 ounces goat cheese

Add the tomatoes, onions, basil, olives, parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to a bowl. Stir gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Just before serving, crumble the goat cheese over the salad and gently stir to combine.

*Using what I had from the CSA I basically halved this recipe - I used three tomatoes and a basket of cherry tomatoes, a small red onion and 3.5 ounces of goat cheese. I also used just a teaspoon or so of olive oil and added some capers along with the olives.

We LOVED this salad. The goat cheese just sort of melted and wow, it was so good. I can't wait to make it again. Thanks Lynn!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week eleven

2010-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

So we've made it halfway! The CSA runs for 22 weeks and this was week 11. I love seeing the tomatoes when we get there - such a variety of shapes and colors and sizes. We love eating them sliced with a smidge of salt and adore them with fresh mozzarella and basil. Recently I combined our CSA tomatoes with some from our yard and tossed them with a mixture of almost every herb we have - basil, thyme, parsley, mint - finely chopped and a bit of salt. Heaven! The share this week contained:

1 basket of strawberries

1 basket cherry tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

green beans (hooray!)

summer squash

cucumbers

hearts of romaine

broccoli

rustic loaf of bread

Such a beautiful food!

insalata caprese -

tomato and mozzarella salad with arugula and pinenuts-

tomatoes, basil and vegan "mozzarella cream" -

The funny thing is, for all my adoration of tomatoes now, there was a time I really didn't like tomatoes. When I was a kid, tomatoes fell into the "weird texture" category of foods - these were foods that had a flavor I liked but couldn't get past the texture. Not sure how or when I overcame that little peculiarity but I'm certainly glad I did.

Lentil salad with Tomato, Cucumber and Feta

2010-08-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

We are entering that stretch of the summer where school is looming on the horizon and all those things we meant to do this summer are quickly getting squeezed in (or set aside for "some day"). Ana's classes begin next week and a lot of Hallie's friends have already left to go back to school. It just feels...well, different. Not bad, not good - just different.

I mentioned before that we received lemon cucumbers in our CSA share last week - this salad is where I used them, along with the cherry tomatoes and red onion from our share. When I got home from picking up the share that day everyone was starving so I need something that could go together quickly. Hallie and I had just been to the gym so we were looking to have something healthy and not too heavy. I always have lentils on hand so I decided to throw together a quick lentil salad. Lentils are great because they don't require any soaking, they cook quickly, they're cheap, they're good for you and so on....while they cooked I did the chopping of the other ingredients and prepared some fruit to go along side.

Lentil Salad with Tomato, Cucumber and Feta

1 lb lentils, picked over and rinsed well

1 lb cucumbers, peeled and diced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

white wine vinegar

salt and pepper

Cook lentils according to package directions (mine said 3 cups water to 1 lb lentils - I actually ended up needing a little more). Cook until tender but not mushy - you want them to hold their shape. Mine took about 25 minutes. While lentils are cooking prepare your vegetables and add them to a large salad bowl. Once lentils are cooked drain any excess water you might have. If you are planning on serving the salad right away you'll want to cool the lentils. I spread them out on a large cookie sheet and sprinkled them liberally with white wine vinegar and some sea salt and place them into the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Once the lentils have cooled add them to the salad bowl and toss with the vegetables. Then add the feta cheese and toss until combined. At this point it's a matter of taste and adding more vinegar, salt and pepper until it suits you. I usually use champagne vinegar for this kind of salad but I really don't like the last one I bought - I got it at Berkeley Bowl (and paid a lot more than I usually do - it looked like a nice bottle) but just plain don't like it. So the white wine vinegar was just right. It certainly wouldn't hurt to drizzle some olive oil or add some fresh mint or basil to this salad. But again, the cheese adds enough flavor that I don't think it needs any oil. We enjoyed this for dinner and it was great leftover for lunch the next day.

It hasn't been very hot recently so I hope that our garden is getting enough sun! We got kind of a late start because of some drainage and landscaping work that we did (and by "we" I mean the very nice people we hired to do it). We typically have hot weather through October so I'm hoping that everything will catch up and be happy. The usual suspects are growing like crazy:

The hardest part is keeping the grape vine from growing into the fig tree (and the roof). It makes for a lovely green canopy in the yard but it is a tangled mess when it comes time to prune!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week ten

2010-08-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Boy am I behind this week - but I have a (fairly) good excuse. Hallie finished her 6 week stint as a circus camp counselor so it was our first week with some time to play. First, the CSA share this week was:

box of strawberries

box of cherry tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

choice of a variety of cucumbers

onions

collard greens

basil

eggplant

leeks

bran muffins

I chose the lemon cucumbers because our own garden cucumbers are starting to really produce. I usually plant lemon cucumbers but one year our dogs decided they were the best snack ever and would pick them off the vine (yes, we have weird dogs) - but they don't seem to go after the regular cucumbers even though they love them. So it was a nice treat to have the lemon cucumbers.

We started the week with a hike of the Lafayette Rim Trail . I love that Hallie not only wants to do this kind of hike but actually wants to do it with us (Ana was in Disneyland celebrating her birthday so she was spared the hot weather hike):

And to make it even better her best friend came along.

Down side was we went at around 2:30 in the afternoon and it was over 90 degrees. We are not geniuses. And this sign is a little deceiving since we walk almost 1/2 a mile uphill from where we park to get to this point:

It was definitely tough going at some points because it was super hot and it is dry and dusty up there - this picture really doesn't capture how steep it is!

But the rewards come when you catch a glimpse of the reservoir

We had some fun with the hills

and finally, that last bit where you remember why this is such a great place to hike

Green Bean, Walnut and Feta Salad

2010-07-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

There are some recipes I've been making for as long as I've been married (almost 24 years). I'm not sure that this one has been in rotation for quite that long but it has been a standby for a good long time. I got the original recipe from one of those old Junior League cookbooks - this one was "Savor the Flavor of Oregon." I'll admit that anymore, I don't really follow the recipe. I just throw it together using amounts that work. These green beans were from our CSA last week and were the best green beans I've ever tasted - straight out of the steamer they were crisp and flavorful and just wonderful.

Green Bean, Walnut and Feta Salad

1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts

1 cup red onion slices

1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Steam green beans until crisp tender and still bright green. Chill.

Chop mint leaves and add to the green beans.

For dressing: combine oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic. Add walnuts, red onion and feta cheese to beans. Pour dressing over bean mixture and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.

For a lower fat option I often will skip making the dressing and just spray the beans with olive oil and sprinkle on some white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Then just use whatever amount of walnuts and feta suits you. The dressing is really good but the nuts and cheese give it plenty of flavor so it's safe to go with the lighter version as well.

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week nine

2010-07-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Such a colorful haul yesterday! I picked up at the tail-end of the appointed time - about two hours later than I usually go and was happy to find that there was still plenty for us latecomers. This week we came home with:

basket of tomatoes

sweet peppers (had choice of eggplant or peppers))

1 head of romaine lettuce

1 bunch chard

onions

nectarines

peaches

snow peas

1 bunch summer savory

ratatouille focaccia bread

I thought my family showed considerable restraint in not tearing into this beautiful bread the minute I walked in the door:

I saved this for tonight since we already had so many leftovers from the weekend (including some mini pizzas which I topped with the chard like I did a few weeks ago - yum!).

Things are really coming along in our garden - I get tomatoes pretty much every day now and will soon be picking cucumbers. In the ongoing guinnah v. squirrel battle I bought a spray product that is supposed to deter the annoying critters. Of course I don't want to kill the squirrels or even harm them (or my dogs) so I bought a product that is supposed to deter based on smell and taste. Sounds good in theory only this stuff smells so good - rosemary, peppermint - they are going to think they are in a spa. Squirrel pedi - I don't think so!

Zentini

2010-07-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

In honor of the return of the best show ever (in my opinion anyway) I thought I'd post about a favorite cocktail we've been whipping up this summer. Now I know there are purists who will say that just because you add "-tini" to the end of a word it doesn't make it a true Martini. Fine, it's a ginger, vodka and lime cocktail served in a martini glass. We first sampled this drink at The Walnut Creek Yacht Club (where there is neither water nor yachts) and loved it. Naturally I set about figuring out how to make them at home. I pretty much follow a recipe I found on the Food Network site except I use a lot more ginger in the simple syrup. I made these the other day and let the mixture sit for awhile in the cocktail shaker before adding some ice and shaking it. I really liked the way the flavors had blended - I think I'll be doing it that way in the future.

Zentini (Ginger Martini)

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. ginger syrup (recipe follows)

1 sprig fresh mint

juice from half a lime

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with some crushed ice and shake to combine.

Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Ginger Syrup

4 cups water

2 cups sugar*

good sized piece of ginger (4-5") - original recipe calls for peeling and slicing into coins - I either grate it or shred it in the food processor and use all the pulp it creates PLUS the juice

Combine the water, sugar and ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes. Strain into a glass bottle and let it cool before you use it. I like to use these bottles from IKEA.

*I would love to try making this someday with stevia but haven't attempted it yet

I love the glass cocktail shaker in the picture. My husband picked it up one day at a shop in San Francisco while killing time between meetings. Mind you, we don't make many cocktails but it is still a pretty piece to look at on the shelf. He also picked this up for me one day:

Really not sure what to make of THAT message but it is pretty funny. My life isn't one in which I encounter a lot of flask-necessitating situations (read: never) but damned if I won't be ready for it if the needs arises. Cheers and glad to have you back Don and Betty - oh how I've missed you.

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week eight

2010-07-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm so far behind this week...birthday month is in full swing. We went out for the big 21st birthday on Wednesday, have company coming tonight, going to a 50th birthday party tomorrow and then hosting the whole family for a June/July birthday catch-up on Sunday. Whew!

As usual, the CSA was full of wonderful things. Our schedule was a little different this week at home and Tuesday didn't really feel like Tuesday - but once I picked up our share - all was well, it was Tuesday after all. This week I brought home:

cucumbers

green beans

summer squash

onion

gypsy peppers

eggplant (variety of choices)

basil

yukon gold potatoes

red speckled troutback lettuce

honey wheat bread

Our own garden is coming along nicely though I am beginning to feel a bit like a losing contestant on "Are You Smarter Than a Squirrel" - they were so pleased with their harvest of our nectarine tree that they have moved onto the tomatoes. I spotted this at the base of our rose

The next day it was gone. I usually call the dogs off when they are barking at the squirrels but at this point it is game on. woof.

Happy Birthday Golden Girl!

2010-07-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

And by Golden Girl I don't mean Betty White! Today is my girl's "Golden Birthday" (turning the age of your birthdate) so she's the big 21! Which is weird because I don't think I'm old enough...wait, yes I am.

This kid was the baby people fantasize about - she slept through the night right off the bat and had such a happy personality. She was what our pediatrician called a "sucker baby" because they are so easy they sucker you into having another. Of course she was occasionally a little bit naughty but even then it was cute

She suffered through first time parents who tried their best but surely had some missteps along the way

She's going to Disneyland for her birthday - her happiest place on earth!

Happy Birthday lovely Ana - we love you!

Pizzeria Delfina's Spicy Cauliflower

2010-07-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

I was an odd child as far as food goes (okay, in many ways, but this is about food). There were certain things I didn't like the texture of (tomatoes for one) but I have always loved cauliflower. I loved to eat it raw - also loved raw cabbage and turnips. Like I said, weird. So I often find myself picking up a cauliflower without any plans for it. Many years ago I had a favorite Moosewood recipe that was a macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and tomatoes. Then a few years ago I stumbled upon Crackling Cauliflower at Whole Foods and that became a household favorite. I love to roast cauliflower with just some olive oil, salt and pepper - it's amazingly good. A couple of weeks ago I tossed it on the grill - equally delicious. In our CSA this past week we were given a beautiful golden cauliflower called "Cheddar Cauliflower" so I needed to find a good recipe for it.

I really wanted to try something new so after a bit of poking around online I found this recipe from Pizzeria Delfina. I don't usually fry anything but I did want to give it a try as written. I would definitely make this again but I think next time I would just roast it in the oven. I find that roasted at a high heat it gets every bit as good this fried in oil one.

Pizzeria Delfina Spicy Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower

Extra-virgin olive oil or mixture of canola and extra-virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

1/4 cup drained capers, dried

2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 teaspoon chile flakes

Thinly sliced pickled Calabrese peppers (optional; see Note)

Cut the cauliflower in large even-size florets by cutting around the core, down around the stem. Dry well with a clean dish towel if wet or damp.

Place a metal strainer over a bowl. In a wide shallow pan with a heavy bottom, pour 1/2 inch oil. Heat the olive oil on high heat until very hot but not smoking.

Place the cauliflower in the pan and cook on high heat until it begins to brown, about 1 minute, then reduce to medium/medium-high and continue cooking until it is deeply brown all over, flipping over to fry all sides, 8-10 minutes total. Season well with salt. The oil should stay bubbly hot. By the time the cauliflower is deeply browned, it should be pretty much cooked through.

When the cauliflower is 1-2 minutes from being done, add the parsley, capers and garlic. Cook until the garlic has browned, then add the chile flakes.

Immediately drain into the strainer. Allow to drain well before seasoning with salt to taste and tossing with the peppers, if using.

Note: Tutto Calabria whole jarred chile peppers are available at Lucca Delicatessen in San Francisco and online.

Gazpacho

2010-07-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

I will admit - I've never been much of a chilled soup fan. I've tried several and always enjoyed the flavor but just couldn't see myself indulging in a full bowl. But while meandering through some favorite food blogs I stumbled upon this recipe at thatveganblog.com. I don't know if it was the way she described her own previous feeling on the whole gazpacho thing or what, but I was suddenly very motivated to make this! I think mine ended up being a little more blended - I kept adjusting the seasoning and would give it another pulse each time - but it was truly outstanding. I had to adapt it a bit to what I had on hand but we loved it (and when I say "we" I am not including little miss soup hater) - I can see this getting a lot of replay this summer! The cucumber, onion and garlic were from our CSA, half the tomatoes were a gift from someone else's CSA and half were from our garden as was the lemon and chile. The recipe as I made it is below:

Crystal's Gazpacho

8 oz "sweet 100" tomatoes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
2 peeled Persian cucumbers
1 bell pepper (or an extra cucumber)
1 small red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 serrano chile
fresh cilantro to taste - I used about half a bunch as she suggested
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
diced avocado
.

Roughly chop the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, and onion into large chunks
Add the veggies and everything else to a food processor and pulse until you have very small pieces (the size of a kernel of corn or smaller).
Taste and add more vinegar, lemon, olive oil and/or salt & pepper if necessary.
Top with diced avocado, guacamole, a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle with corn kernels cut right off the cob or all of the above!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week seven

2010-07-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Once again - an amazing collection of goods. Driving home from the CSA pick-up my mind starts to wander as I think about what I'll make with all this wonderful food...

1 basket of baby plums

2 baskets of strawberries

1 bunch of carrots

1 bunch chard

summer squash

cucumbers

cauliflower

head of red leaf lettuce

herbs (I chose marjoram)

herb focaccia

In our own garden the tomatoes are ripening - I've managed to get a few each day the past few days. We have a serrano chile that is sort of going crazy which is just fine for my pepper loving husband. I'm still mourning the loss of the nectarines (too dramatic?) but feel better armed for next year. I'm very excited about our pomegranates this year. Last year I think we got five pomegranates - this year it looks like we'll have at least twenty (provided there's not some roaming critter in the neighborhood who fancies pomegranates). It's a really fascinating process - the growth of a pomegranate:

Our established citrus trees (two lemon, two orange) are full of tiny fruit and our new trees (grapefruit, lime, tangerine, another orange) are well on their way. Even the little volunteer fig tree that we transplanted to the front yard seems to be very happy. I love having these things to look forward to in the fall and winter. There is nothing like pulling in to your driveway and picking a few oranges before you head inside!

Grilled Onion and Blue Cheese Risotto

2010-07-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

Monday nights have become "go through the fridge and use everything up" night because I get my CSA share on Tuesdays and I want to make sure I haven't overlooked anything. I came across two open packages of arborio rice in the pantry - they each had a cup of rice left so that was the start. I had a few onions - two red and one white; no parmesan but a container of blue cheese, no broth on hand but a couple of vegan bouillon cubes. Hmmm...the weather has cooled considerably so the notion of standing at the stove and stirring risotto didn't sound so bad. And the result was really good...

Grilled Onion and Blue Cheese Risotto

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup white wine

4 cups vegetable broth, warmed

3 onions (I used two red and 1 white)

2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
olive oil

Heat up gas grill - about a medium flame. Peel onions and cut into quarters - toss with some olive oil and salt. Place them on a grill pan and close the lid. While those are cooking heat up some olive oil (I just used my sprayer) in a large saute pan on medium heat and toss the arborio rice, stir until every grain is shiny and covered with oil (you can do a more traditional part butter, part olive oil but this works just as well). Add the white wine and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Add the vegetable broth one cup at a time, stirring each addition until the liquid is absorbed. Don't forget to check on your onions! I stirred mine occasionally until they were soft and the quarters had fallen apart. Some pieces get a little darker than others but that's fine.

Continue adding broth until the rice is still a bit firm - al dente - but not chalky inside. If you run out of broth you can use some water to finish it. Once the rice is cooked, stir in the blue cheese and combine until melted, stir in the onion and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

We had a lovely insalata caprese with this - using tomatoes and basil from the garden. I did a panicked picking of the tomatoes because yesterday our nectarine tree was stripped clean of fruit - presumably by squirrels - I was worried the tomatoes would be next! It's not a large tree so it's completely plausible. We have deer in the area but they don't come into the backyard (we have a very tall fence) and it's not a tree that is visible to anyone so I doubt a hungry (and greedy) person wandered into our yard. I'm always scolding the dogs for barking at the squirrels but I've changed my tune today - go get 'em! (don't worry - they never catch them - in fact the squirrels get up high in the trees and just tease the dogs incessantly).

Beet Roesti with Rosemary

2010-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Most people I know either love beets or they hate them - it's really not a neutral vegetable. We love them - hot, cold, roasted, raw - it doesn't matter. This is by far our favorite recipe - it's pretty simple and tastes amazing. The only problem is everyone always wants more! I tried something different this time - the recipe calls for sliding the beets out of the pan onto a plate, flipping it over and then back in the pan. Well this time I cooked it on my panini maker. I cooked it until the bottom was almost ready and then closed the lid on it to cook the top. It worked really well. These lovely beets were from our CSA share this week. I have yet to take a good picture of this recipe because you really want to eat it immediately - I guess I'll just have to keep trying :-) Make it - you won't be sorry!

Beet Roesti with Rosemary

From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

1 to 1 1/2 lb. beets (I used one bunch that had two large and one smallish beet)

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I think fresh is essential here)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp butter (works fine with Earth Balance for vegan)

Trim the beets and peel them as you would potatoes; grate them in a food processor or by hand. Begin preheating a medium to large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Toss the grated beets in a bowl with the rosemary and salt, then add about half the flour; toss well, add the rest of the flour, then toss again. Place the butter in the skillet and heat until it begins to turn nut-brown.

Shape the beet mixture into the skillet, shape it into a nice circle, and press it down with a spatula. Turn the heat to medium-heat and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the bottom of the beet cake is nicely crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Slide the cake out onto a plate, top with another plate, invert the two plates, and slide the cake back into the pan. Continue to cook, adjusting the heat if necessary, until the second side is browned. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week six

2010-07-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've come to love Tuesday afternoons! This week's CSA share included:

1.25 pounds peaches

1.25 pounds nectarines

3 cucumbers

1 bunch beets

summer squash

1 bag of arugula

1 head lettuce

1 bunch radishes

herbs (I chose Italian parsley)

2 seeded cheese breadsticks

The radishes are absolutely beautiful (the hubster loves radish greens!) I can't wait dig in...and I did on the breadstick on the drive home - just a bite though :-)

Yesterday we also had the first nectarine of the season off our tree:

Perfection!

Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes

2010-07-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Okay...one more birthday related post and then I'm done (for a week or so...). Our most recent birthday girl has been working at a day camp this summer - more specifically, she is a counselor teaching circus skills to kindergarteners. Ah, there is some justice in the world :-) Since she had to work the next day, her actual birthday celebration was not a big one - out to dinner with her friends and then to a friend's house for the evening. I made a batch of these mini lemon buttermilk cupcakes and sent them along for the group. As a tribute to her circus camp I made cupcake picks using vintage circus images I found online - silly, but cute.

I've made this cupcake recipe many, many times - we love them. Just the right amount of lemon and the tiny size makes them a great party dessert.

Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes

(I double this recipe and get about 7 dozen mini cupcakes - unfrosted, they freeze well!)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup low fat buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line mini cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg. Add vanilla and lemon extracts into the buttermilk and pour half into the sugar mixture. Mix in half of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining buttermilk and the rest of the flour. Stir until just combined. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk (I use vanilla soymilk)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

In a mixer bowl, cream the butter, lemon rind, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar alternately with milk until the mixture is creamy and smooth, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon juice.

I use a frosting gun to keep it simple. I line them all up and fire away.

I originally found the cupcake recipe at slashfood.com and the frosting recipe at cooks.com.

Buttermilk Cheesecake Tarts

2010-07-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Since it is officially birthday month around here there is definitely some baking going on. With two July birthday girls we kick off the month on the 1st and tend to drag it out as long as possible! Friday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Hallie's 19th birthday - to the Cheesecake Factory. So why would I bake cheesecake if we were going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner? Well for one, everyone is too full right after dinner to even think about a monstrous slice of their cheesecake - even a sharing slice. And two - I like doing the whole presents and cake thing at home.

But the real reason I made cheesecake even though we were going to Cheesecake Factory - when I went to the store on Thursday to buy ingredients for my other recent baking endeavor I made a careful list of what I needed - and left it on the counter at home. I did pretty well getting what I needed, but for some reason I also thought I needed cream cheese. And since I couldn't remember how much I needed I bought two packages - you know, just to be on the safe side. Well as it turns out I didn't need it. So...I looked online until I found a recipe that would work with what I had on hand. I modified it quite a bit but this is the recipe I worked from and this is what I came up with:

Buttermilk Cheesecake Tarts

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup sugar

3 8oz packages Neufchatel cream cheese*

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

berries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Add cracker crumbs, mix thoroughly. Using 8 individual tart pans, put 1/4 cup of crumb mixture into each pan and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake for 5 minutes on a cookie sheet, remove from oven and set aside.

Cream remaining butter and 1 cup sugar with cream cheese until smooth. Add buttermilk and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add eggs and beat slowly until combined. Do not overbeat.

Pour batter into tart pans (I used probably about 1/2 cup of batter for each tart and had leftovers).

Bake for 20 minutes. I cooled these for several hours in my other oven. I just put the pan in there and let them sit for 3 to 4 hours and then put them in the refrigerator to chill.

*I actually used 2 packages Neufchatel and 1 8 oz tub of soft cream cheese because that's what I had on hand. I know they don't recommend baking with the tub cream cheese but it worked fine.

I had some leftover batter so I used some cupcake liners and a cupcake tin to make some more mini cheesecakes. I put a gingersnap in the bottom of the liner and filled with the batter (I got 8 of these from the leftover batter). I baked these a little longer - probably 25 minutes. I wasn't paying close attention to these and they did crack and sink a little bit but it made a perfect dip for fruit! You could make more graham cracker crust and get a couple more tarts out of it. This was all an experiment so I didn't know what I would end up with!

We all loved these tarts. Not nearly as sweet as a restaurant cheesecake but still decadent enough to feel a wee bit guilty. A really good vegan cheesecake can be found here.

Happy 4th of July!

Grilled Pizza with Swiss Chard, Black Olives and Feta

2010-07-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

This isn't so much a recipe as an idea for using this week's CSA swiss chard. I had some small "take and bake" cheese pizzas that I wanted to doctor up a bit. So I washed and dried the chard, removed the stems and chopped it into ribbons. This was sauteed with two minced garlic cloves in a small amount of olive oil with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. I cooked it until the chard was completely tender (nothing worse than greens on a pizza that you can't bite through!). This went on top of the pizza along with some sliced black olives and a sprinkling of feta cheese.

The crust on these was labeled as flatbread so it was probably a little sturdier than your average pizza crust - I figured it would stand up to going on the grill. Most grilled pizza recipes call for grilling the crust first and that adding toppings once you've turned the crust. But since these were already made that wasn't an option! I figured I'd take a chance. I sprayed my grill pan with olive oil (off the grill) and put the pizzas on over low heat and closed the lid. After about five minutes the bottom was already dark and crisp. I moved them away from the flame and let them sit a few minutes more (again with the lid closed) so that the cheese would melt. The top wasn't browned and bubbly like it would be in the oven but the flavor was really good - definitely an option for those warm summer nights when turning on the oven sounds like a really bad idea!

Birthday Girl

2010-07-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where the time has gone. One minute I had this tie-dye wearing infant who refused to sleep for longer than a minute and next thing you know she's a college sophomore! She was a sweet little girl

who was always a little sassy as well

She's grown into an amazing young woman

and I hope she's still speaking to me after seeing these pictures :-)

Happy Birthday Circus Girl - we love you!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week five

2010-07-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

A little behind on posting this week's CSA. We took a quick trip to Portland to see my dad (and other family, but mostly my dad). To prove how much I'm loving the CSA I booked my return flight on Tuesday afternoon so I would get in on time to make the CSA pick up. The fact that I got to fly on this plane just confirms that I made the right choice:

I know I could have asked a friend to do it but I really like going and picking out my produce - I like the process of it all.

This week I came home with:

1.5 pounds peaches

1.5 pounds pluots

1 bunch chard

1 head red leaf lettuce

1 bunch broccoli

basil

red torpedo onions

gypsy peppers

summer squash

double olive bread

It was 100 degrees while we were gone and the garden looked a little unhappy to have suffered through that kind of heat. Our nectarines should be ready in a week or so and we had the first two mulberries off the tree yesterday (we don't get a lot of berries on this tree so every single one is a treat)! I finally had enough sweet 100's to use in our salad for dinner last night and it looks like there will be plenty more to follow. I think I'll be cleaning up the mint today so maybe it will be a mojito night??

Sauteed Collard Greens with Raisins

2010-06-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

So this past week I had the collard greens challenge again. We received the collards in our CSA share and while we loved the pesto I made before I was determined to try something new. I made a kale and cranberry recipe in the past and thought that maybe collards and raisins would be good together. Did a quick search and whaddaya know- Martha Stewart had the perfect recipe just sitting there waiting for me. It's good thing (no, really...it was a good thing).

Sauteed Colllard Greens with Raisins

1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds (about 2 bunches) collard greens, stalks removed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup raisins
2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar (I used balsamic because I was out of white wine vinegar)

Toast the almonds in a large, dry skillet on the stovetop (Martha said to toast them in the oven but I couldn't see heating up the oven just for that...).

Remove the almonds and heat oil over medium-high. Add collard greens and raisins; cook, tossing occasionally, until collards are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vinegar.

Serve sprinkled with toasted almonds.

Quick, simple and good for you - it received two thumbs up from all three of us.

Collard Greens

Grilled Squash with garlicky mint yogurt sauce

2010-06-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

I came home with a decent amount of summer squash from the CSA pickup the other day. There was squash on the list (I chose the pattypan squash) plus an abundance of little zucchini and yellow squash in the bonus box.

I grabbed a few zucchini to go along with the pattypan and decided to grill them. I just sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with sea salt. For the sauce I mixed one cup of fat free plain yogurt with about 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint and a garlic clove minced up with a pinch of salt. A little confession here - I could have easily called this blackened squash in salt sauce - I left a couple of pieces on the grill too long and my pinch of salt was maybe a "pinch" if the jolly green giant was doing the pinching. It was a bit salty. But the rest of the family didn't think so because they always salt everything (bad habit...). In any case, I love the combination of grilled vegetables with a seasoned yogurt sauce - even a well (over?) seasoned one!

Gyros Wraps

2010-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

This spring we discovered an awesome new sandwich shop. We were wandering through the antiques street fair in Whittier, California and at the end of the block stopped to look around for a lunch spot. We've eaten at most of the options - the burger place, Thai, Mexican and so on. But right there on the corner was this new place Fenix 5-4 touting itself as a Pure Food Eatery and Organic Juice Bar - um, hello! We'd found our spot! At that first visit we had the Fake BLT & Avocado Sandwich, Vegetarian Club Sandwich and the Four Cheese Grilled Cheese (there were three of us!). The owner came over to our table to visit - offered us a free wheatgrass tea (which was fantastic). We went back the next day and had the BLT again along with a sandwich that isn't currently on the menu (I think it was called the Fake Elvis or something like that). So of course for our most recent visit to Whittier (dorm move-out) we headed straight to Fenix for lunch. This time we had their Vegan Beef Gyro. I could tell they used the Trader Joe's meatless "beef" strips for this sandwich so I made a mental note to try this one at home. I made a few changes (my version is vegetarian, not vegan) but it was really good and definitely something I'd make again

Fenix Style Veggie Beef Gyros

1 package Trader Joe's meatless beef strips

3 sheets Trader Joe's lavash bread

12 oz jar roasted red peppers

1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

crushed red pepper

lettuce leaves

crumbled feta

avocado

diced tomato

Drain the red peppers. In a food processor combine the red peppers, yogurt, salt, paprika and crushed red pepper to taste. Process until smooth. Take about 1/4 cup of the red pepper sauce and toss it with the meatless strips. Let them marinate for 15 minutes or so and then saute until browned. Chop in smaller pieces.Lay the bread out horizontally. Layer lettuce leaves first across the middle. Top with meatless strips. Add crumbled feta, thinly sliced avocado, diced tomato and top with red pepper sauce.

Fold bottom part of bread up over the sandwich filling and then roll it over to close it. Slice into three pieces. If I'd had some red onion on hand I would have used it - some kalamata olives would have been good too...or cucumber. In any case - these were really good and we've been using the red pepper sauce on other sandwiches as well.

The next day we saw the owner at a nearby coffee shop and visited with him a little more. I love that small town aspect of Whittier. We also love Fenix 5-4 and look forward to many more awesome lunches :-)

Curried "Chicken" Salad

2010-06-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Back in the meat eating days, curried chicken salad was a family favorite. I've made it many times with different substitutes - tofu, garbanzo beans etc but made one the other night that was really quite good. I'd picked up a veggie chicken product at Safeway on a whim one day. I rarely shop at Safeway but this caught my eye so I figured we'd give it a try. It's Gardein brand - I bought the "chik'n filets" (I hate these made up names but whatever).

I've made basically the same recipe for years - substituting or omitting depending on what I have on hand.

Curried Chicken Salad

1 package of veggie chicken (I used 7 oz pkg) or protein of your choice (tofu, tempeh, garbanzos)

1 1/2 cups halved seedless red grapes

1 can sliced water chestnuts, slivered

sliced green onion to taste (I used finely diced red onion this time)

1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup hot mango chutney

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

salt and pepper to taste

Pan fry the veg chicken until browned, cool and then dice. Combine the mayo, chutney, curry and S&P to make dressing. Combine the chicken with the grapes, water chestnuts, onion and almonds. Mix dressing into salad and chill to allow the flavors to combine. You can add in celery, raisins, sliced olives, mango, apple etc.

I think next time I make this I will double the recipe. There were three of us and we finished this easily - it would have been nice to have some leftovers. It was a great summery dinner. Of course now we are back to Junetober weather so it may be a few days before we are ready for salad again!

Trouchia - Chard and Onion Omelet

2010-06-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

I get asked pretty frequently for vegetarian cookbook recommendations. Often it's from someone whose child has decided to become a vegetarian and they are at a loss of what to do. Sometimes it's a friend who is an experienced cook and is looking to branch out beyond Meatless Monday. For those people I usually recommend Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone." I've made many, many recipes from this book and they never fail to deliver. One favorite, the Chard and Onion Omelet, or Trouchia, is easy to throw together, delicious and makes excellent leftovers.

In the CSA box last week we received both swiss chard and onions so this was my obvious choice:

Trouchia

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large red or white onion, quartered and thinly sliced crosswise

1 bunch chard, leaves only, chopped

Salt and freshly milled pepper

1 garlic clove

6 to 8 eggs, lightly beaten (I used six)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped basil

2 teaspoons chopped thyme

1 cup grated Gruyère (I used 4 slices reduced fat Jarlsberg, chopped up because it's what I had)

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 10-inch skillet (make sure it's one that go into the oven), add the onion, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely soft but not colored, about 15 minutes. Add the chard and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has cooked off and the chard is tender, about 15 minutes.

Season well with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, mash the garlic in a mortar with a few pinches of salt (or chop them finely together), then stir it into the eggs along with the herbs.

Combine the chard mixture with the eggs and stir in the Gruyère and half the Parmesan.

Preheat the broiler. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and, when it's hot, add the eggs. Give a stir and keep the heat at medium-high for about a minute, then turn it to low. Cook until the eggs are set but still a little moist on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining Parmesan and broil 4 to 6 inches from the heat, until browned.

Serve trouchia in the pan or slide it onto a serving dish and cut it into wedges. The gratinéed top and the golden bottom are equally presentable.

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week 4

2010-06-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks since this whole CSA thing started! It's quite a reminder of how quickly time goes by...

This week we received

2 boxes of strawberries

1 box of baby plums

Broccoli

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 bunch collards

choice of summer squash

garlic

herbs

brownie and a chocolate cookie (a very large, amazingly delicious cookie)

I really should have skipped the dessert box - the brownie and the cookie. I could have walked on by, put it in the trade or donate box but no, the chocolate was calling my name. We don't eat a lot of dessert and if we do, it's usually fruit based. But wow - this cookie was good. Big enough for sharing for sure. We had a little bit of the brownie on top of some Cefiore original tart frozen yogurt (a product I'm only slightly obsessed with). A perfect way to end the day!

Barbecued Corn - Persian Style

2010-06-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I loved corn on the cob. It was boiled in a big pot on the stove, served with little corn shaped picks in the end and slathered with butter (or more likely margarine) and sprinkled with salt. That, and watermelon, were the signs that summer had arrived. Now that I live in California we get the watermelon and corn a little earlier and I cook it in a different way.

My husband grew up in Iran and has fond memories of street peddlers selling this grilled corn - or balal. It's so simple and sooo good. I can't imagine it any other way. Before we had a gas grilled the corn would go right on the coals but it works on a gas grill as well (for that matter I suppose you could do it on your gas stove). Just put the corn on the grill, close the lid and turn it occasionally as it cooks. You will hear some popping - you want it to get to get dark but not blackened - it doesn't take very long. The next step is what makes it different. Prepare a large bowl of very warm water (that will hold all your corn) and dissolve in it, two tablespoons of salt. Once the corn comes off the grill submerge it in the salted water. It only needs to stay in for a few seconds (maybe 5-10). That's it - it is ready to eat, no butter, no extra salt, just as it is.

Happy Summer!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Weren't the 70's grand? There's a whole lot of polyester in that picture. What was it about pictures back then that no one looked in the same direction?

We had a wonderful father's day - we took the dogs to Ft. Funston for a day of fun, sun, water and woofing. In short, it was dog heaven...(click on any picture to enlarge it)

They played in the ocean

Bella checked out a very scary rock - she barked at this for a good long time

There were almost 30 vizslas on this walk!

Including an adorable puppy...named Bella!

There were Golden Retrievers playing Lion King

A 4.5 month old Great Dane puppy (puppy?!?)

But the best part was spending the day together -

daddy and his girls

Happy Father's Day to the best husband and dad ever (besides my own of course :-))

Summer Squash "Crab" Cakes

2010-06-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

I made these for the first time several years ago. They were in the rotation for awhile and then for some reason fell off the radar. These things happen. But in this week's CSA we had our choice of several summer squash so I picked up a zucchini and a yellow crookneck squash and for some reason flashed back to this recipe. There are many versions of this on the internet - all essentially the same ingredients, just different proportions. The recipe I made is as follows:

Summer Squash "Crab" Cakes

1 medium zucchini

1 medium crookneck squash

1 yellow onion

1 cup bread crumbs

1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

2 eggs, beaten (or flax seed egg replacer)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Grate the zucchini and yellow squash (using a food processor will make this a 5 second job). Using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the shredded squash and place it in a large bowl. Next put the onion through the grater on the food processor and again, remove as much liquid as you can before placing the onion in the bowl with the squash. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until well combined. Using a cookie scoop (I used a 1/8 cup scoop) measure out the mixture and place on a greased baking sheet (I usually line with foil to make clean up simpler) and flatten the scoops a bit.

Bake for about 25 minutes, turning them over after 15 minutes or so. I did have trouble with a couple of them sticking but I think it might have been this new 100% recycled foil I bought. Nice idea but it didn't really behave the way I'm used to. Also, I have a small oven so I used two baking sheets and kept changing their rack position back and forth. In the end I managed to get them all on one sheet which is how I should have started. It's not a bad idea to keep an eye on them though because ovens can vary. I use fat free mayonnaise and it worked just fine. We topped these with a little mayo mixed with dried dill and fresh lemon juice.

My dear husband keeps reminding us that it is Father's Day Eve so the house is all aflutter. We are going on a vizsla group walk in the morning at Ft. Funston (check out the link - this guy has amazing pictures). We don't go on these very often because we have such great place to walk right near our house but we are giving it a go tomorrow. It is a lot of fun (especially for the dogs) but for me it's like going on a field trip with a bunch of 4 year olds who all look exactly like your kid - nervewracking! But as they say, a tired dog is a good dog so it will give us a great start to the week!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week three

2010-06-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Once again, our household was so excited about the baked goods in our CSA - this week a beautiful herbed batard. The share this week included:

Loose leaf lettuce

Chard or Bok Choi

Summer Squash

Onions

White garlic

Herbs

Sweet and Sour plums

nectarines and apriums

the awesome bread

I decided to use the sweet and sour plums the day we got them. I had a feeling they might get lost in the fridge amongst the other fruit - they are small and they have pits - so it's a bit more work than eating an apple :-)

Since I just had one basket of the plums, I didn't have enough to make a tart or this plum galette I posted about before. So I decided little individual baking cups with just the fruit, a little sugar and a crumbly topping would be just the thing.

Sweet and Sour Plum Crumble

1 basket sweet and sour plums - cut off the pit (yield 1 2/3 cup fruit)

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

6 gingersnaps

whipped cream

Mix the fruit with the brown sugar and almond extract. Distribute evenly in 4 ramekins. Crush the gingersnaps with a rolling pin and distribute evenly on the 4 baking dishes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until hot and bubbly.

We had ours topped with whipped cream though a bit of frozen yogurt would have been good too. Let me tell you - these babies were really sour! But I liked the sourness and didn't want to load these up with sugar. We rarely have dessert unless we are having company so it was a fun middle of the week treat and a happy beginning to a new week of CSA goodness!

Grilled Potato, Eggplant and Rosemary Salad

2010-06-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

It was a scorcher this weekend - close to 100 degrees. Yesterday was one of those days where everything moved in slow motion - including me. I finally made it to the market and came home with plans to do some grilling. And then of course the propane tank was empty. ugh. So off to the gas station to get it filled and then, finally, I got our dinner going.

I had a beautiful bunch of rosemary from our CSA so I grabbed several stems and tossed the rosemary with some russet potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper.

I put these on a grill pan on the gas grill and cooked them over low heat. Sometimes I'll lay the potatoes out very neatly and turn them evenly (because I am a Virgo and those kinds of things make me happy) but today just wasn't one of those days - so on the grill they went in a messy jumble

I checked them every few minutes and tossed them around with tongs. They were ready after about 15 minutes

These went into a large bowl and were splashed with some rice vinegar. Next on the grill was one eggplant, sliced into rounds and a large red onion, cut into slices. All brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. The eggplant and onions were on the grill a little longer, 20-25 minutes.

Before adding these to the salad bowl I cut up the eggplant rounds into smaller pieces, the onions I just left in rings. I added about a 1/2 cup of chopped Italian parsley, a few more splashes of rice vinegar and some salt and pepper. We ate this at room (outdoor?) temperature along with veggie burgers and watermelon. By our (late) dinner time, the temperature was much more comfortable and it was a perfect night for eating outside. It was also a perfect night to light up the fire pit and make s'mores!

Baked falafel pita with scape and mint yogurt sauce

2010-06-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Looking for a good use for the onion scapes we received in our CSA box, I decided to make some falafel for dinner the other night. I wanted to use the scapes in both the falafel and in a yogurt sauce to go on top. There are a lot of recipes out there for the traditional fried falafel but I really wanted to make ones that I could bake instead. My best friend made the ones from the Whole Foods Cookbook once and we're not sure what happened but they were deemed to be "Awful Falafel" - but I still used that recipe as a guide, as well as the recipe from Mark Bittmann's How To Cook Everything. This what I came up with - they were really quite good:

Baked Falafel

2 slices wheat bread, well toasted (or ~1/2 cup breadcrumbs)

2 cloves garlic (I used the CSA garlic)

1 cup sliced scapes

1/2 large bunch Italian flat leaf parsley

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

olive oil spray for pan

Scape and Mint Yogurt Sauce

18 oz plain fat free yogurt

1/2 cup chopped onion scapes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the two slices of toasted bread in the food processor and pulse to make bread crumbs. Next add garlic and scapes and pulse until well chopped. Add parsley and seasonings and pulse until combined. Next add lemon juice, olive oil and garbanzo beans and pulse until it is well blended.

Refrigerate for awhile to firm up. Using a small cookie scooper, scoop out falafel mix onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil and sprayed with olive oil (I got 15 out of this recipe). Spray the tops of the falafel with olive oil.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning the falafel over halfway through.

Serve in whole wheat pita with lettuce, tomato, avocado and yogurt sauce. These would have been awesome with a bit of feta cheese as well but I didn't have any on hand. Next time!

Tomato, Mozzarella and Pesto Panini with Kale Chips

2010-06-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

The bread we got in our CSA yesterday looked and smelled wonderful. We chose one with an abundance of salt on the crust because, well... why not? I was considering cooking some pasta last night to toss with the rest of the collard green pesto and serving the bread along side. But we decided this was bit too carb intensive so I went for something cheesy and melty instead. I sliced the bread and added the collard green pesto, fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes and fresh basil. This bread made, hands down, the best panini I've ever had. It would be worth the drive to Pleasanton to pick up another loaf...seriously, it was amazing.

Since we also got some kale in the box I decided to make some kale "chips" to go along side. These aren't pretty but I did photograph them anyway. They are a great way to satisfy that desire for a salty, crunchy go along with a sandwich without any guilt. First you wash and spin dry the kale, remove the stems and tear the leaves into small pieces. Spread it out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and spray with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt. I've also made these sprinkled with nutritional yeast which is nice too.

Bake in a 350-400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Check them frequently as they go from not quite ready to burned very quickly.

They will darken and get crispy and are not very pretty but they taste really good! Sometimes you have to remove the ones from the outer edges as they get cooked before the rest of pieces. So it does need fair amount of attention but only for a few minutes and it's worth it for some guilt free snacking!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week two

2010-06-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was pick up day for our CSA. In the box for week number two:

1 basket of strawberries

1 bunch kale

1 bunch onion scapes

1 bag loose leaf lettuce

1 head garlic

1 bunch herbs (I chose rosemary)

4 pounds mixed fruit (choice of white nectarines, Flavor Royal pluots and Lorena apriums)

1 herb focaccia bread

I was really excited about the fruit because we are a fruit-intensive household. Don't get me wrong, we eat a lot of vegetables. But it is difficult to keep the fruit bowl full around here. Add in two dogs who also love fruit (you should see them when I come in the door with a watermelon - they go nuts) - I really should be shopping every day. I was able to fill the fruit bowl with nectarines and pluots and still have a bunch in a bag in the fridge to bring out as the others ripen. Our own nectarine tree is ripening and some of our mulberries are beginning to get some color as well. Our poor mulberry tree had a rough beginning in our yard. It sat in the crate for several weeks before it was planted and then after its first year we moved it to another spot in the yard. For awhile there it didn't look like it would make it. But it has done quite well in its current location.

There's been a lot of wildlife spottings around here as well, hubby said that Bella and Renzo cornered a fox on their walk the other day and then came across a woman and her dog - pretty much glued to her spot on the trail because there was a snake. She was sure it was a rattlesnake. Great - very glad I wasn't there for that encounter. Also spotted two very young black tail deer in a neighbor's front yard - I was relieved when their mommy came out from behind a tree and escorted them safely up the hill. Yesterday out of the corner of my eye I saw a scurry across the yard and then suddenly up on the fence were these two quails. Luckily they cooperated for a photo :-)

Baghali Polo (Persian Rice with Dill and Fava Beans)

2010-06-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

I knew as soon as I saw fava beans on the CSA list that I would be making this rice dish. I toyed with the idea of using them in a salad instead but this Persian rice dish is a favorite in our household and since the weather had cooled down a bit yesterday it was a good day for cooking. It makes a lot but most Persian food is a bit time consuming and not really worth making a scaled down version - we'll just get several meals out of it!

Baghali Polo

3 cups basmati rice

2 lbs. fresh fava beans

1 large bunch fresh dill, removed from stems and chopped

2 yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 package vegetarian "beef strips" (I used Trader Joe's) cut into smaller chunks

olive oil

salt, pinch of saffron threads

First rinse the rice in a large bowl until the water runs clear. Then cover the rice with water and some salt (~1 tablespoon) and let it soak (it can soak for several hours so you can do this early in the day if you prefer). For the fava beans, steam them in their pods for about 10 minutes and then run cold water over them.

Once they are cool enough to handle, removed them from the pods and then remove the skins from each bean. Put a large pot of water on to boil. Once the water is boiling, pour the water out of the rice and add the soaked rice to the boiling water. Stir to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. You'll boil the rice for about 6 minutes. It should still be firm on the inside - sort of al dente but rice-style! Before you drain the rice, skim some of the rice water off the top - about 1/3 cup and add the saffron threads to the water. Drain the rice in the sink and run cold water over it to stop the cooking. Let it drain completely. In the meantime, saute the onions in some olive oil until they are tender (if you get a Skype call from your best friend during this, saute them until they are well browned). Add the veggie beef strips and cook until they are heated through. In the same pot you cooked the rice in, add about 1 tablespoon olive oil to the bottom of the pot. Next, using a small strainer, pour about 1/2 the saffron liquid into the pot and swirl the pot to blend the water and olive oil.

Spoon about 1/4 of the rice into the bottom of the pot. Next add 1/2 the onion/veggie strip mixture, half the fava beans and half the chopped dill and spread evenly on top of the rice. Repeat with another layer of rice, onion mixture, beans and dill and finally top with the last 1/4 of the rice. You want it to be sort of mounded and not level. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke some holes through the rice to the bottom of the pot and then pour the remaining saffron liquid over the top making sure some goes through the holes.

This will be steamed for about an hour. To prevent any moisture that gathers on the lid dripping into the rice and making it soggy, you'll want to cover your lid with a clean dish towel before putting it securely on the pot.

Cook for about 10 minutes over a medium - medium/high heat (depends on your stove). After ten minutes turn the heat down to low and continue cooking for another 50 minutes. This can be unattended but you want to make sure it doesn't burn. The goal is to get the browned, crusty rice on the bottom which is known as tahdig (or the best part that everyone fights over).

I will admit that I don't always get a perfect tahdig but the blogging gods were on my side because last night it was perfect and came out in one piece. And since tahdig is really only good straight out of the pot and there were just three of us, we definitely got our fill! We always serve plain yogurt to go along with these polo dishes. I'm happy to say that we used up every single item we got from the CSA over the course of the week and am on my way out the door to pick up this week's box!

Collard Green Olive Pesto

2010-06-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend. Finally, beautiful weather! We went to a gallery opening on Friday night, hosted a small party on Saturday night and last night had dinner at my best friend's house. I'm exhausted :-) And it dawned on me today that tomorrow is the next CSA pick up day I figured I'd better get on the ball posting what I ended up making with last week's box. It's been fun trying out some new recipes. Yesterday I used the collard greens to make this collard green olive pesto from epicurious.com. It was a simple recipe to prepare and I loved the bright green results. I was at the tail end of my bottle of olive oil so I used only half what the recipe called for and I don't think the pesto suffered at all from less oil. Last night so I brought some large garlic croutons and topped them with goat cheese and some of the pesto. They were a big hit and everyone was surprised that they were eating collard greens. I still have half the pesto left and haven't decided yet whether to freeze it or use it this week...I guess I'll wait and see what I come home with tomorrow.

The other day I used the large bunch of parsley with some red quinoa, tossed with diced tomato and the juice of the two lemons from the box. I was kind of wishing I had some cucumber and onion to throw in there but I actually loved it just the way it was.

Tonight I'm going to tackle the fava beans (not that they are difficult to prepare but they do take some time). Also had the first tomato out of our garden this weekend - just a little sweet 100 but it was fantastic. I can't wait for the rest of them!

Pasta with caramelized onions and sauteed greens

2010-06-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

For our first CSA inspired meal I decided to use the bag of braising greens since they looked to be the most delicate. To get started I sliced the red onion from our CSA box (and I had another one we'd purchased at the farmer's market so I used two very large red onions) and got that going in a saute pan with just a spray of olive oil.

I let those cook for 40 minutes or so, stirring as needed. I added a little bit of salt and a sprinkle of sugar and eventually ended up with some really deliciously caramelized onions.

I removed those and in the same pan (with another spritz of oil) sauteed the mixed greens which very quickly went from this:

to this - I added some salt, pepper and a splash of fig balsamic vinegar (another farmer's market purchase and one that is highly addictive)

From there it was just a matter of cooking up some whole wheat spaghetti (I cooked 8 oz for the four of us) and tossing it with the greens and onions back in the saute pan. Once it was all heated through I added 2 oz of blue cheese (it helps to reserve some of the water from the pasta pot and add in a bit when tossing everything together).

We had this along with the cherries and the baguette (dipped in more fig balsamic vinegar). Yum. I've made pasta similar to this many times with arugula and sometimes with spinach but the mixture of greens was really nice. So far we are giving our CSA two big thumbs up!

Terra Bella Family Farm CSA: week one

2010-06-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the farmer's market here in town. This is the first year for our farmer's market (they did a 4 week test run last year and it was apparently quite popular because now we have it every Thursday night - awesome!). Most of our neighboring towns have a farmer's market so I could go to one pretty much every day if I wanted to - even the nearest Kaiser hospital has one every week. But what I like about ours is that it goes into the evening. The opening night of the market we grabbed our food, stashed it in the car then went to the local saloon (yes, they actually call it a saloon - The Roundup Saloon to be precise) for a beer and game of pool. After that we walked up the street to Yankee Pier restaurant (a first visit for us) and had a wonderful dinner. A great night - this empty nest business is not so bad ;-)

Last Thursday it was cold and windy so much less inspiring! But we picked up a half flat of organic strawberries, some organic kale, onions and lettuce. Then hurried home to get warm! But before we left we signed up to participate in Terra Bella Family Farm's CSA. They do a local pickup on Tuesdays so yesterday was pickup #1. I came home with:

1 lb red onion

1 bunch collard greens

1 baguette

1 box of cherries

1 bunch Italian parsley

1 large bag of braising greens

1 head lettuce

2 lemons

2 lbs fava beans

1.5 lbs pluots

I was able to resist devouring the entire baguette on the ride home - in fact we made it last two nights (served four of us last night, three tonight). The CSA provides a bakery item each week from Bibiane Bakery and I have to admit - as much as I love vegetables, I'm really looking forward to what that bakery item might be each week!

Blue Cheese Chopped Salad

2010-06-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

As a child I liked to sit on my dad's lap and eat the croutons off his salad (bless his heart, I'm not that nice). My mom made homemade blue cheese dressing that was full fat, full flavor and just generally awesome. Salads were typically iceberg, tomato wedges, shredded carrots and that thick, cheesy dressing. Yum. But we really can't eat dressing like that these days (I mean we can, we just shouldn't!). So this was my healthier, updated version:

Blue Cheese Chopped Salad

Serves 4 (or 3 as a main course salad)

2 small heads iceberg lettuce, chopped

1 basket grape tomatoes, cut in half

~1/3 cup reduced fat blue cheese crumbles (I used Treasure Cave brand)

4 slices Morningstar Farms faux bacon, cooked until crisp and then crumbled

croutons (I used Trader Joe's mini rye toast instead)

Dressing

~1/3 cup fat free sour cream

~1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt

2 T. red wine vinegar

2 T. reduced fat blue cheese crumbles

pinch of granulated garlic

salt, pepper

Mix all the dressing ingredients together with a whisk until well blended. Toss lettuce, tomatoes, and croutons together with the dressing. Place salad on individual plates and top with some blue cheese crumbles and crumbled veggie bacon and a good crank or two of black pepper.

This would be good with some avocado, maybe some cucumber, even some black olives. Obviously, you can used as much or as little cheese as you'd like but I was trying to keep it a bit on the guilt free side. Saturday was really the first sunny, warm day we've had in forever so we enjoyed this out on the patio. It was perfect!

Spicy garlic sauce

2010-05-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

When we get Chinese take out we inevitably go for the eggplant in spicy garlic sauce. It is one of our favorites and it is something I've found to be consistently good across a wide spectrum of restaurants. However, the drawback to the dish is that it is almost always swimming in oil. I had picked up an eggplant at the produce market and went looking for a way to replicate this dish without all the oil. I found a recipe for a spicy garlic sauce that looked pretty good and then decided to broil the eggplant rather than stir fry it. I cut it into cubes and sprayed it with a bit of olive oil (I got a new oil mister recently and I really love it) and put it under the broiler until the cubes were browned and tender. Once the sauce was ready I just tossed the cooked eggplant cubes with the sauce and served it over brown basmati rice. It was really good but I think I should have doubled the sauce.

Last night I decided to try it again but this time with tofu. So I doubled the sauce (except the sugar) and added some ginger in with the garlic. It was perfect!

Tofu in Spicy Garlic Sauce
(printable recipe)
Ingredients:

1 lb extra firm tofu, sliced into 12 slices and patted dry

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 tablespoon dark soy sauce

4 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1 1/2 teaspoon chili sauce, or according to taste

3/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

1 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

Olive oil spray

10 cloves garlic and 2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped together

Preparation:

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauces, rice wine or sherry, chili sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl, stirring to combine. In a separate small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water.

Spray a sauté pan with olive oil. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring until aromatic (about 30 seconds).

Quickly restir the sauce, add it into the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring. (This will take about a minute).

Re-stir the cornstarch/water mixture and add it to the sauce, stirring to thicken

Spray a saute pan with olive oil and heat to medium. Put tofu slices in pan and leave them (don't be tempted to mess with them) until they start to brown around the edges. When browned, flip them over and brown the other side. Toss with the garlic sauce.

May Madness

2010-05-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

When you have children in school, May is always that month that can (and usually does) break you. It's the end of the season party, the band performance, open house, teacher's gifts, final projects and on and on. It's May Madness and it is real. But I don't have children in school, I have adults in college. And yet May Madness has reared its ugly head empty nester style. Lots of work related activities going on - went to a great private event at the 2010 Decorator Showcase in San Francisco and have been busy, busy working on our website. Just last weekend we brought our youngest home from her freshman year of college.

Her final project in her painting class:

And here in the bay area, April showers brought May showers (I've taken to calling this month Mayvember - it is raining like crazy right now). At least both my girls are finished with school for the semester so all is well!

Jicama Melon Salad

2010-05-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

As an accompaniment to the black bean and sweet potato enchiladas I wrote about yesterday, we had a refreshing jicama and melon salad. I've made something similar in the past (and what I wrote about the Lena Horne connection still holds true). I was lucky that the cantaloupe I picked out was pretty much perfect which helped a lot. And I will admit that whenever I see the tiny $5 package of pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe's I think to myself "who on earth would pay $5 for a handful of pomegranate seeds?" Well, me as it turns out. But they really made the salad. The sweetness of the melon, the crispness of the jicama and then the unexpected pop of the pomegranate - perfect. I will definitely keep this one in rotation and when our pomegranates are ready this winter I am freezing the seeds so I don't have to buy them the rest of the year.

Glee is on tonight and the Sharks won. Oh happy day.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

2010-05-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

I know...long time no see. It was my hungry-for-mom's-cooking daughter who reminded me I haven't blogged for awhile! We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night and I decided to do an early Cinco de Mayo dinner - an Uno de Mayo dinner if you will. I have an easier time planning a menu if I have some kind of theme. This one happened to have a secondary theme which was lime. I went through 18 limes before we even got around to making mojitos! (and yes, I know mojitos are Cuban, not Mexican but they are delicious. And I drink them in Mexico. So it counts)

I wanted to make something that could be popped into the oven so I could spend time with our friends and not on last minutes preparations so enchiladas were an obvious choice. One couple we had over had already had my soyrizo and green olive enchiladas so I wanted to make something different for them. I've seen recipes for sweet potato and black bean enchiladas all over the internets but the first place I saw them was in Robin Robertson's "Vegan Planet" cookbook - a pretty straightforward dairy-free recipe. I've also made this version Gluten-Free Goddess Recipes: Karina's Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas. But what I was really craving was mole - one of the best enchiladas I ever had was at the airport in Mexico City, a simple cheese enchilada with mole. We ate there because it was basically the only place in the airport that took credit cards - the ATM wasn't working and we (being the excellent parents that we are) had zero cash with us. No dollars, no pesos. But I digress.

I'll admit - I used a store-bought mole because I live within minutes of countless Hispanic markets and it just made sense. And I'm a little lazy. I roasted the sweet potatoes and tossed them with canned black beans, canned green chiles and some mole sauce. Rolled them up in corn tortillas with some monterey jack cheese, tucked them into these adorable individual baking dishes and topped them with more mole and some crumbled goat cheese. They were baked at 350 (covered) for about 20 minutes and then uncovered for 10. Before serving them I drizzled on some lime sour cream and some fresh cilantro.

I didn't keep exact measurements but essentially this was the recipe (and I had plenty of leftover filling so use your own judgement for how many you want to make - I made 8 individual dishes of two each)

4 large sweet potatoes, cut in a small dice (about 1/2")
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can fire roasted diced green chiles
8 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 corn tortillas
crumbled goat cheese - ~2 oz.
cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper
prepared mole sauce

Preheat oven to 450. Toss sweet potato cubes with some olive oil (I just used my mister), salt, pepper, a bit of cumin and some chili powder (~1/2 tsp each). Roast until they start to brown and are tender throughout - 30-45 minutes depending on how much you are cooking and how crowded the pan is. Toss the sweet potatoes with the black beans, green chiles and some mole. Just enough sauce to sort of hold everything together. Warm the tortillas - either in a towel in the microwave or one at a time in a dry frying pan - until softened. On a plate, use a pastry brush to cover each side of the tortilla with sauce (with regular enchilada sauce you can dip them but this was a bit too thick for that). Spoon on some of the potato-bean mixture, a bit of cheese and then roll up and place seam side down in a baking dish. I filled these quite generously since it wasn't going to be possible to go back for seconds. I put two in each baking dish, topped with sauce and sprinkled with goat cheese. These were very, very good...

Mojito season has officially begun!

Happy Spring!

2010-03-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that winter is over - but all around me the flowers are blooming, our trees are sprouting new leaves and the surest spring sign of all - my allergies are starting up. I love this time of year when everything is still green and the temperatures are warm but mild. The photo is from our little nectarine tree. It's probably only 5 feet tall and not very full but the fruit is delicious - when we get a chance to have any. The nectarines get ripe around the end of June and I think the last several years we have been gone during that period - and it's only a few days before they fall from the tree or the birds get them all. We have no summer vacation plans this year so I think we will be eating all the nectarines we can for several days in a row!

The fig trees are both full of new leaves and I'm sure they will once again be prolific. We have a volunteer fig tree that came up last year and is already at least 3 feet tall. I am not much of a gardener so any tree that has volunteered to grow in our yard is more than welcome. I love things that are willing to put up with my sporadic attention.

I have a backlog of things I need to blog - it's been very busy around here. I'll try to get something new posted tonight or in the next couple of days!

Vegetable Korma

2010-02-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

As I emerge from my hockey watching-induced coma I find myself wondering where this month went? It was definitely a bit hectic but that's no excuse...so I'm going to sneak a post in before the month is officially over.

Hubby has been craving either Persian or Indian food so I searched online for a recipe for one my favorite Indian dishes - vegetable korma. But I knew I didn't want to use a recipe that calls for heavy cream or half and half like so many of them do. I came upon this recipe at Manjula's Kitchen. I was happy to see her recipe called for just plain mik - I figured it would more likely survive my use of soy milk. I've copied her recipe here with the adjustments I made in italics. It was really delicious, filling and exactly what I was looking for. I served it on long grain brown rice with plain yogurt and a very spicy mango relish on the side. Leftovers for lunch today were just as good. A definite keeper!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups chopped vegetables (cauliflower (1/2 medium head), green peas (1/2 cup frozen), carrot (2 medium), green beans (~1/2 lb), red bell pepper (one medium)
1/2 cup chopped fried paneer (I didn't use paneer or tofu - just vegetables)
3 tablespoons oil (I used only 2 teaspoons with no problems)
Pinch of asafetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1 seeded finely chopped green chili (I used a rather large jalepeno)
1 tablespoon shredded ginger
1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric Haldi)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor powder) (I didn't have this so substituted the juice of half a lemon)
1 cup milk (I used 1 1/2 cups fat free soy milk)
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Garnish:

1/2 cup seeded and chopped tomatoes (I added a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained, to the dish while it cooked rather than garnishing with fresh tomatoes)
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro - didn't use

Method:

Mix the shredded ginger, green chili, coriander powder, turmeric, and cayenne pepper with 2 tablespoons of water and set aside.
Mix cornstarch with milk and set aside.
Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away oil is ready.
Add the asafetida and cumin seeds. After cumin seeds crack, add the bay leaves and the spice mixture. Fry for a few seconds until the spices start separating from the oil.
Add the cauliflower, green peas, carrot and green beans. Mix well and cover the pan. Let the vegetables cook on medium heat for about 7 to 8 minutes. The vegetables should be cooked just about half way.
Add the bell pepper and paneer. Mix well. Add the milk/cornstarch mixture and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add more milk if needed for more gravy.
Turn off the heat. Mix in the garam masala, amchoor powder and cilantro. (At this point I put it in my Le Creuset dutch oven and let it cook in the oven at a low heat until we were ready for dinner - an hour or so).
Place the vegetable korma in a serving dish and garnish with chopped tomatoes. Enjoy!

Mushroom sliders with chipotle mayo

2010-02-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

I tried posting this the other night and when I published it the formatting was all wacko. So back for another attempt. I made this based on a recipe from epicurious.com for Mushroom Kasha Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise. I didn't have the exact ingredients - but close. When reading the comments it sounded like the full size "burger" could be a bit crumbly and hard to manage. So I made 20 small ones and served them as sliders. Below is the recipe as I made it.

Mushroom sliders with chipotle mayo

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup coarse kasha (whole roasted buckwheat groats)
3 large portabella mushrooms, stems discarded
1 large onion, quartered
1 large red bell pepper, cut into large pieces
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
20 large oval slices rye bread, cut into 3 inch rounds if desired, lightly toasted

Bring water to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, then stir in kasha. Cover and reduce heat to low, then cook until kasha is tender and water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Break one third of mushrooms into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, then transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining 2 batches of mushrooms, transferring to bowl.

Put onion, bell pepper and garlic in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Cook onion, bell pepper and garlic in butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add chopped mushrooms, parsley, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until any liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, then stir in kasha, parsley, soy sauce, and 1/2 cup bread crumbs until combined well. Cool 10 minutes, then stir in egg until combined well.

Line a platter with foil. Spread remaining cup bread crumbs in a shallow baking dish.

Form a scoop of mushroom mixture into a patty about (3 inches in diameter), then dredge in bread crumbs, knocking off excess, and transfer to platter. Form and dredge more patties, transferring to platter. Chill patties, loosely covered with plastic wrap, 1 hour.

Heat oil in cleaned 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then fry patties, turning over once, until deep golden, about 4 minutes total. Transfer patties to paper towels to drain (patties will be somewhat soft).

Meanwhile, whisk together mayonnaise and chipotles adding in a little adobo sauce - blend until the chipotle peppers fall apart.

Spread bread with chipotle mayonnaise and sandwich each mushroom patty between 2 slices.

I used an empty can to cut out the toast pieces. Just make the patties to fit whatever size you are going to cut the bread. This made 20 sliders.

I'd like to make these again and experiment with baking them in the oven (and toasting the bread in the oven) to make it a practical appetizer. These were really good ! We had leftovers the next day on a full size sandwich. They were just as good but the sliders were more fun :-)

Yancey's Fancy Mexican Frittata

2010-01-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

The name of this frittata comes from the cheese I used - I had a wedge of cheese in the freezer that I'd bought at Costco - I tend to overbuy for parties and will freeze things rather than having them sit in the fridge. It is called Yancey's Fancy Jalapeno/Cayenne Cheddar - so naturally I needed to use it in something where the heat would be appropriate. I also happened to have a lot of eggs on hand so the decision to make frittata was pretty much made for me. I was really happy with the way this turned out and I have to credit the cheese - the flavor was so good. I don't know that a regular pepper jack would work as well - the cheddar really gave it a lot of flavor. I think in the future I'd do a mixture of pepper jack and cheddar as I don't think this is something I can easily get again. I also have a wedge of their horseradish cheddar and am looking forward to trying that out as well. I started out this week determined to cook as much as possible from what we had on hand and haven't been to the store since Monday - we have one blood orange in the fruit bowl and nothing but lemons and limes in the fridge (but fresh oranges from our tree) - time to get to the store!

Yancey's Fancy Mexican Frittata

6 large eggs

4 oz grated Yancey's Fancy Jalapeno/Cayenne Cheddar

(or a mixture of pepper jack and cheddar)

1/2 cup milk (I used rice milk)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 small tomatoes, diced

olive oil, salt and pepper

You will need an oven-proof skillet for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Saute onion in a teaspoon or two of olive oil over medium-high heat until the often is softened and begins to brown. In the meantime, whisk eggs with milk and then add in about 2/3 of the cheese and the tomatoes - season with salt and pepper. Once the onions are browned, pour the egg mixture over the onions and cover the skillet. Cook on the stovetop over low heat until the edges of the frittata begin to brown and look set. Remove cover, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and place the skillet in the oven and bake until the frittata is set in the middle - about 10 minutes. Finish under the broiler until the cheese on top is browned and bubbly.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup (from 101 Cookbooks)

2010-01-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am married to a soup lover and am mother to both a soup lover and a soup hater. Now that it is just two of us here at home, soup no longer feels like a form of punishment for dinner. With all the stormy weather we've been having, last night was the perfect night for soup. Even better - I had the soup itself already in the freezer - all I needed to prepare were the toppings.

I've tried several tortilla soup recipes over the years and I usually like them, but not enough to make the same recipe again. Until we tried this Vegetarian Tortilla Soup recipe from 101 Cookbooks. It is soup perfection. Truly. I can't think of any soup I love more. I've made a lot of recipes from 101 Cookbooks - her style of cooking really appeals to me and I have had nothing but success. But this...it is amazing. I usually top the soup with just the tortilla strips, goat cheese and oven roasted tomatoes. I always double the soup base so that I have extra to put in the freezer - an immersion blender is a very handy thing for this recipe.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup Recipe - www.101cookbooks.com

As I mention up above, if I'm treating this like a one bowl meal, I'll toss in some tofu (smoked or browned in a skillet) and some shredded chard as well. Heat alert: I call for 1 teaspoon of spicy red chili powder at the beginning of this recipe - keep in mind that some chile powders are stronger than others. If you (or your family) are worried about the soup being too spicy, scale back. The worst thing you can do is make the soup too spicy too early in the process. If you start out light, you'll be able to adjust the amount of spiciness toward the end. If you like your soup spicier, add more chile powder toward the end. One last note, this is another soup where seasoning is so important. If you haven't seasoned it properly with salt, it is going to taste very flat.

6-8 corn tortillas, cut in half and then into matchstick-thin strips
a big splash of extra virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt

20 small yellow or red cherry tomatoes

another splash of extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large white onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne or other spicy red chili powder
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups vegetable broth (or water)

a few sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup of goat cheese, crumbled

Gently toss the tortilla strips with a glug of olive oil and salt. Turn them out onto a baking sheet, arrange them across the pan and bake in a 350F degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden and crispy. Set aside.

Halve (or quarter) the tomatoes lengthwise and put them in a small roasting pan, oven proof dish, or rimmed baking sheet. Toss with a bit of olive oil and a pinch or two of salt. Bake in a 350F degree oven for 40-45 minutes (less time if you use smaller cherry tomatoes), or until the tomatoes are shrunken and golden around the edges. The tomatoes keep nicely in a jar for days (refrigerated), so you can do this part in advance if you like. Set aside.

Now for the soup itself - in a big pot over medium-high heat cook the garlic and onions in a splash of olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt for just a minute or so. Stir in the spices and then the tomatoes. Cook down for about five minutes or so, it should thicken a bit. Remove from heat, add one cup of the broth and puree with a hand blender (or puree in a traditional blender). Add the remaining 5 cups of broth and puree until smooth. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve the individual bowls topped with plenty of tortilla strips, the roasted and sun-dried tomatoes, and some crumbled goat cheese. Alternately, as I mention up above, you can finish with sliced avocado, cilantro, white onions, and a squeeze of lime. If you like a creamier soup base add a splash of half and half, or stir in some extra goat cheese.

Makes about 6 servings.

Risotto with roasted fennel and blue cheese

2010-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

I've been trying really hard to shop in my pantry/refrigerator before heading to the store. We have a lot of food. Here in Northern California were are having non-stop storms (I fully expect Noah to knock on the door any minute to pick up a pair of Vizslas for his ark) - given the weather, I wanted to to just hit the store once for some fresh fruit and vegetables and then hermit myself away with our tax folder. I shudder just writing those two words.

Anyway...I had a box of DeCecco Riso (carnaroli rice), a few fennel bulbs and half a container of crumbled blue cheese. This is what I came up with:

Risotto with roasted fennel and blue cheese

1 lb carnaroli or arborio rice

8 cups vegetable stock

1 cup white wine

olive oil

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

1 large onion, chopped

3 bulbs fennel, cut into thin wedges

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

4 oz crumbled blue cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss the fennel wedges with some olive oil, a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper. Place on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Give it about 10 minutes in the oven before you start the risotto because you want to make sure the fennel is done before you finish the risotto! To make the risotto, melt butter in a large skillet and add one tablespoon olive oil (or just use 2 tablespoons olive oil). Add the chopped onion and saute over medium flame until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the rice and stir so that all the grains are coated with the olive oil. Add wine. Once the wine is absorbed begin adding vegetable stock about 1/2 cup at a time, gently stirring until it is absorbed before adding more. You may not need all 8 cups so by the time you've added six cups or so start checking the rice to see if it's tender or not. I'm not a constant stirrer of risotto but I do give it a fair amount of attention. Once the rice is tender and no longer chalky (at least 20 minutes) stir in the parmesan, blue cheese and roasted fennel. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

We also had a simple salad of baby lettuces, walnuts and pomegranate seeds - the pomegranate was from our yard. Considering it is a young tree and we only had five pomegranates this year it's a big deal!

Tofu bacon BLT with avocado

2010-01-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

Just because a person becomes a vegetarian doesn't mean there aren't certain foods they still think about...I can't tell you how many years it's been since I've had a piece of real bacon - it's been a long time. But I used to love BLT's. When I was a kid I didn't like tomatoes so I always had bacon and lettuce. Eventually I came around on tomatoes and started adding avocado as well. There are faux bacon products out there and they aren't bad - but they aren't great. So whenever I get a craving for a good ol' BLT I turn to this recipe that is all over the internet.

Tofu Bacon

1 lb firm tofu

spray oil

for each frying pan batch:

2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

1 tsp. liquid smoke

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Slice tofu into thin strips - the thinner you get it, the crispier it will be. Spray a large frying pan generously with oil and place over low-medium heat - add tofu in single layer. Let it cook for about 10 minutes. Don't mess with it - just let it cook. After they start to get browned around the edges, turn the tofu pieces over and let them cook on the other side for about 10 minutes.

While the tofu is cooking mix together the soy sauce and liquid smoke. Once the tofu is browned and crispy, remove from the heat and toss in the soy sauce mixture. Once everything is coated add in the nutritional yeast (you may not need all of it). Keep tossing until all the pieces are coated. That's it. I tend to cook mine in two or three batches and have found that the 2 tablespoons soy sauce isn't enough for a whole pound of tofu. So make more accordingly for your own taste.

This recipe can be gluten-free if you use a GF nutritional yeast and a wheat-free tamari.

I'm not saying that the average person off the street would think this tastes exactly like bacon....but it makes an awesome BLT for those of us for whom bacon is but a distant memory!

Polenta Gratin with Spinach and Mushrooms

2010-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

It has been so gray and dreary here. It is winter after all, but still...we've had fog for days on end. We had two days this past week where the sun was shining and the temperatures were leaning toward 70. It was a lovely reminder of what we have in store in a few months. But it was just a teaser as we are back to the same old gray.

This weather has definitely made me feel like cooking soups and stews, casseroles and cookies. I had a log of prepared polenta in the fridge and got online to find a new recipe to try. I came across this gratin at foodandwine.com. I substituted vegetable broth for the chicken broth, used just cremini mushrooms and used swiss cheese instead of the Gruyère because I already had some in the fridge. Comfort food at its finest!

Polenta Gratin with Spinach and Mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms

1 large shallot, minced

8 oz prewashed baby spinach

1/2 teaspoon thyme

pinch of nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup cream

One 18 oz log of prepare polenta, cut into 1/4" slices

3 ounces swiss cheese, shredded (1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the shallot and cook over moderately low heat for 3 minutes. Add the spinach, thyme and nutmeg and cook over high heat until the spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the spinach evenly in a 2-quart baking dish

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour over moderately high heat.

Add the stock and cream and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper and pour over the spinach. Arrange the polenta slices on top of the spinach in overlapping concentric circles, pressing to submerge the polenta slightly.

Sprinkle the swiss cheese on the polenta, cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Preheat the broiler. Uncover the polenta and broil 6 inches from the heat for about 2 minutes, or until golden. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Fattoush

2010-01-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

I've had many version of fattoush, the Lebanese salad with crisped pita bread. Some have a long list of ingredients, others are more simple. It's really a flexible thing and subject to personal taste and what you have in your vegetable bin. I have several cookbooks with recipes (I've had the Paula Wolfert version which is delicious) but I found this one online that called for cilantro - which I happened to have on hand. I had all the other ingredients as well so this is what went on the table. Even though we've mostly had cold weather (relatively speaking, I know...) I was in the mood for a big salad and this definitely hit the spot.

Fattoush Salad

from www.insalatas.com

Salad:

3/4 cup vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup English cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced in 1/4 inch cubes
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onions (about 1/2 of a small red onion)
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (about 1/2 a bunch)
1/4 cup finely chopped mint (about 1/2 a bunch)
6 cups hearts of romaine lettuce (about 3 hearts), torn roughly by hand
2 pieces of pita bread
2/3 cup sheep’s milk feta cheese
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives (about 12 olives)

Lemon vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (about 1-2 cloves)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon toasted and freshly ground cumin (see below)
2 ounces olive oil
5 ounces extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves 6 as a side dish

To make the pita chips, preheat oven to 350˚. Trim edges off of the pita, keeping a circle shape, so that the pita can be split into two halves. Cut each half into 6 triangles and arrange on a baking sheet. Toast for approximately 12 minutes, or until the pita chips crisp up and are golden brown. Turn baking sheet halfway through baking. Set aside and cool.

Break the chips into large pieces.

To make the vinaigrette, in a small saucepan over medium-heat, toast cumin until aromatic and light brown, approximately 3 minutes. Toss occasionally to prevent burning. Let cool and set aside. Grind in a spice grinder until cumin becomes almost like powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, cumin, extra virgin olive oil and olive oil. Season to taste with generous amount of salt and black pepper. Set aside.

To serve, toss romaine hearts, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, mint, cilantro, red onions and olives with the vinaigrette in a large bowl, making sure that the leaves are well coated with the vinaigrette. Divide the salad among 6 chilled salad plates. Serve immediately.

Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Squash, Arugula and Pecans

2010-01-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

There's so many blogs right now that are full of "cooking from the pantry" challenges. I try to cook from the pantry as often as I can and just fill in with fresh fruits and vegetables as needed. So in the spirit of cooking from the pantry I took a look around and found I had a package of DeCecco Pappardelle pasta in the cupboard. I got online to look up a recipe and came across this one from Cooking Light. As luck would have it (and because our house is weird) - I happened to have both a butternut squash and some arugula. I didn't have pine nuts - they are so expensive I tend to buy precisely what I need for a recipe and no more. I did have pecans though so that's what I substituted - I also substituted dry sage for the fresh.

I actually doubled the recipe - not because the two of us can eat that much - but because my butternut squash yielded exactly 8 cups diced which was exactly twice what the recipe called for. Same with the pasta. I'd much rather have leftovers than half a squash and an opened package of pasta. I'd read the reviews and noted that several people had commented that it was rather dry - I reserved more of the cooking water than they'd called for and still found it to be too dry and at the end tossed it with a bit of olive oil which helped immensely. I'd rather eat a little less and have it taste great than soldier on with a dry pasta dish.

Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Squash, Arugula and Pecans

based on recipe from Cooking Light

4 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Cooking spray
8 ounces uncooked pappardelle (wide ribbon pasta) or fettuccine
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups trimmed arugula
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Asiago cheese
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 475°.

Combine squash, vinegar, oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange squash mixture in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 475° for 25 minutes or until tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

While squash bakes, cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1 tablespoon cooking liquid.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pine nuts, sage, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or just until the pine nuts begin to brown, stirring occasionally. Place pasta, reserved cooking liquid, pine nut mixture, and squash mixture in a large bowl; toss gently to combine. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, arugula, cheese, and black pepper; toss gently to combine. If dry, toss with additional olive oil Serve immediately.

Stuffed Baby Eggplants

2010-01-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

Every now and then, the small market where I shop will have these little eggplants. I had nothing particular in mind when I bought them but they were too cute to pass up. Our Christmas dinner was at my sister-in-law's house and I'd said I'd bring a vegetable or two. Problem was, the day got a little busier than I'd planned and at 2:45, with a 4 pm departure looming, I hadn't started cooking. I had the eggplants and also had Brussels sprouts on the stalk. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do so quickly scoured the internet for a recipe to use as a guideline for the eggplants. I found a recipe on the Vegetarian Times website that was pretty much what I had in mind and I followed it loosely. Below is how I made it.

Stuffed Baby Eggplants

8 small eggplants

olive oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup bread crumbs

cinnamon, oregano

2/3 cup feta cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Cut eggplants in half, leaving stem intact. Scoop out the inside of the eggplant, leaving about a 1/4" shell. Coarsely chop the eggplant that has been scooped out. Spray a cookie sheet with oil and put the eggplant shells face down. Spray the tops with a bit more olive oil and put them in the oven while you prepare the filling.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a saute pan and add the garlic. Give it a minute and then add the chopped eggplant. Cook this until the eggplant is softened and cooked throughout - about 6-8 minutes. Then add the drained tomatoes, the walnuts and breadcrumbs and season with salt, pepper, oregano and a dash of cinnamon to taste.

Remove the eggplant shells from the oven and turn them over for stuffing. Evenly distribute the filling among the shells and top with feta cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the shells are softened and browned and the feta cheese is browned and bubbly.

I covered these loosely with foil (with a vent so they wouldn't steam on the long drive) and then gave them just a few minutes more in the oven before dinner. They survived the drive and the reheating just fine. We had a couple leftover that were delicious leftover as well.

These could easily be made gluten free with a GF breadcrumb option. Vegan, leave off the feta or substitute with a crumbly tofu "feta"