A tough day redeemed by berries and dinner

This morning I was tired and listless at the Union Square greenmarket. After wandering back and forth three or four times, aimlessly picking up something here and there (sometimes visiting the same vendor multiple times), I realized I just needed to be home.

Luckily I managed to get a reasonable amount of food, despite my haziness; however, it took me so long to wend my way to the Fantasy Fruit stand, they had sold out of Tristar strawberries by the time I arrived. I was so close to the end of my rope I almost cried - now I know why my intuition has always sent me to their stand first.

But when I got home and started eating the delicate heritage raspberries and spectacular blackberries I bought from Terhune Orchards, I felt a lot better. There will be more strawberries next week!

I don't remember buying half this stuff:
1 pt. blackberries
1 pt. raspberries
2 lbs. peaches
1 lb. apricots
2 lbs. lady apples
2 ears bicolor corn
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 stalk celery
1 bunch carrots
2 lbs. green beans
2 lbs. zucchini
2 heads Rocambole garlic
Total spent: $50

Since it was ungodly hot today, I had to work up to the idea of making dinner for a couple of hours, and decided on stir-fry, with the vegetables cut into thin strips. This has the hot-weather advantage of quicker cooking than larger pieces, and, even better, I got extra knife skills practice.

For two people, I French-cut about 1/2 lb. green beans (French-cutting green beans is so hard!!), cut 2 medium-sized carrots into matchsticks, and chiffonaded 6 big Swiss chard leaves. I also pan-fried about 1/3 block of tofu, pressed briefly and cubed. I threw the carrots and beans in, then once they were almost ready, added a twince more oil and tossed in the garlic and chard, then added the tofu once the chard was almost wilted, just to heat it back up. We had this with my favorite grain, short-grain brown rice. Why is it so good? All other forms of brown rice are dead to me.

We also had the corn, steamed, to start, with butter, salt, and smoked Spanish paprika. I like bicolor corn, but regular yellow is much sweeter - I hope it shows up at the market soon. And of course, dessert will be more fresh berries!

Speaking of berries, I desperately need to get on the canning wagon. I had planned for Tuesday, but the photo assistant and I are going to see The Dark Knight instead. Next Saturday, then, I will be making my first batch of jam. I can't let another summer's bounty get away from me...and as I have an offer open to practice with peaches from a friend's family's tree, I have to hold up my end of the bargain and figure out how to do it, stat.

(Photo is not mine! It is from futurowoman's Flickr photostream)

Just the facts on my rushed morning

I was in a crazy hurry Saturday morning, but somehow I managed to pick up an excellent assortment of produce.

Variety is the spice:
1 bunch kale
1 bunch collard greens
1 lb. shell peas
1 lb. pattypan squash
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch carrots
2 lbs. zucchini
2 ears bicolor corn
1/2 lb. cherries
2 lbs. peaches
1/2 lb. apricots
1/2 lb. Shiro plums
2 lbs. lady apples
2 pints Tristar strawberries
Total spent: $67

Why so few cherries? According to one of the vendors, the cherry crop has been truncated due to a hailstorm and bad weather over the week - so no more! Despite this heartbreaking news, I was able to console myself somewhat with delicious peaches, apricots, plums, and strawberries.

We fly the planes ourselves

Due to our disdain for a) fireworks and b) drunk people, as well as our indifference to c) barbecue, my photo assistant and I have developed the perhaps-antisocial July 4 tradition of seeing three movies in the theater. Yesterday we were three for three, with Wanted, Get Smart, and Hancock all coming through with all the car chases, gunfights, explosions, special effects, pratfalls, and one-liners we hoped for. And what's more American than that?

Listen, fruit is less expensive than smoking, even in these quantities:
1/2 pt. raspberries
1 pt. Tristar strawberries
1 lb. peaches (!!!!)
2 1/2 lbs. cherries
5 Empire apples
1 1/2 lbs. rhubarb
3 lbs. zucchini
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 1/2 lbs. shell peas
1 lb. "soft" discount tomatoes
1 head Rocambole garlic
Total spent: $57 (of which $20 was for cherries)
Today we're going to a friend's house upstate for a barbecue, so I made rhubarb bars again. This time, I used brown rice syrup, which definitely has a hearty and almost caramel-like taste, which added a nice quality to the rhubarb filling - thing is, I didn't use enough sweetener in the filling, nor sugar in the streusel, so they taste more like breakfast bars than sweet desserts. I also used whole wheat flour because I didn't think it would make a difference in a recipe that already called for oats. These bars are hearty and taste a bit healthy, but I hope folks will still like them. I'm also bringing Tofurkey sausage, cherries, and half a dozen little zucchini for the grill. Despite the rain, it promises to be a fun trip.

Today I passed up apricots and the season's first corn on the cob, because I was out of money and my shoulders hurt, but I may pick some corn up on Monday for dinner - I'm quite excited about it. Tomorrow night we'll have peas, and maybe peaches for dessert!

The summeriest meal around

Tonight we had a gazpacho of sorts: shallots cut into whisper-thin salad slices and macerated in 2-3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar along with minced basil and salt; then added the seeds, juice, and flesh from a tomato I concassed and diced; let it sit for an hour or so at room temp while making the rest of dinner, tasted for seasoning, ladled into bowls, then drizzled with my fancy Pasolivo olive oil just before serving. It was on the magnificent side of wonderful, with the acid and salt countering the sweetness of the tomatoes and basil just so.

I got the shallot-vinegar-herbs idea from Peter Berley in one of our classes - he used it to dress roasted peppers, and mentioned that with tomatoes, it would make a nice gazpacho. And so it did.

Our main course was risotto with shelled peas (the biggest ones I've ever seen) and spinach, with Parmigiano and butter added to finish; I liberally sprinkled minced parsley over each serving, which really highlighted the fresh taste of the summer vegetables. An hour later, we upped the summeriness ante even more with a few handfuls of Tristar strawberries (eaten in front of the TV while watching House on DVD, naturally).

The gazpacho was wonderful! If only acidic foods didn't give both of us tummyaches, I would make it constantly this summer. But so it goes - this lovely healthful dish will have to be only an occasional treat.

Today I'll be making potato salad with the lovely "just dug" red new potatoes I bought at the Greenmarket yesterday, made with a dressing incorporating Mean Beans brine. More on this later.

An exciting and impractical morning

What a morning! I miraculously awoke at 6:32, even though I'd forgotten to turn on the alarm I'd set for 6:30. I got up even earlier than usual so I could get to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket at 8:30 for a meeting about an exciting internship (more on this later so I don't jinx it), then to USG for shopping. I bought shell peas twice, once because I planned it, and once on impulse when I tasted sweeter ones elsewhere. It was that kind of morning.


Yes, I have an expensive fruit habit:
2 pints Tristar strawberries
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries
1 1/4 lbs. cherries
3 lbs. zucchini
2 lbs. shelling peas
1 lb. sugar snap peas
1 bag spinach
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch carrots
Total spent: $57

I had a nice NYC moment today, during my convoluted subway trip (turns out I made the wrong call about how to get to Grand Army Plaza and back). A very nice woman asked me if I knew how to get to the Cloisters. "I've been there, but I'm not sure I remember," I replied, and racked my brain to recall the subway stop. After the not-so-helpful "it's somewhere above 180th, and you take a bus to Fort Tryon Park, I think" and multiple attempts to find secret clues by staring at the subway map, I had all but given up.

But! Miracle of miracles! When the memory part of your brain has been eroded by too-late-diagnosed ADHD, and you therefore have the short-term memory of a newborn bunny rabbit, you come up with coping mechanisms like writing down in a little black notebook any information you may need to know more than five seconds in the future. And so, luckily for my new friend, I found all transportation and contact information for the Cloisters in said notebook, to her delight and amazement. And we could be heroes, just for one day.

Clearly, I bought a ton of fruit this week - including blueberries which I don't even really like! - because I just can't get enough. It's only going to get worse when peaches and apricots come into season...but of course, I can't wait. Thank goodness I just got a raise! My photo assistant is currently giving up refined sugar, so I'm using that as an excuse to be even more lavish than usual with my fruit purchases - but I'm still eating the lion's share of the fruit (just like with everything).

We're having a friend over for dinner on Monday, and I think I'm going to make a risotto with the spring onions, spinach, and peas, serving veggie sausage and broiled zucchini on the side; I'll start with an olive and pickle plate featuring my new favorite, Rick's Picks Mean Beans. Dessert will be fresh berries, that is of course if we've got any left.

Hilarity ensues

"Boy," I thought, munching on one of the blanched sugar snap peas I had brought in my lunch, "these are tough. Maybe they are going out of season or something? I did buy them from an unfamiliar vendor..." After struggling with the too-fibrous pods of a couple more, I gave up and decided to shell them, making a decent-sized mess to get to the tender interior peas.

"Gee," I thought, struggling to shell an especially intractable petit pois pod for dinner, "these are tough to shell." I reached for another equally-difficult pod, and had struggled through about five of them when it finally dawned on me what had happened. Of course, in my morning rush, I'd blanched the petit pois and put them in lunches, and I was now trying to shell sugar snap peas.

It's this kind of subtle hilarity that makes live worth living, really.

Sweet treats and expanding horizons

What a wonderful greenmarket morning I had Saturday! I made it to Union Square by 8:30, and the crowd was manageable. I bought lots of fruit to make desserts for Katherine's birthday/housewarming party, as well as the season's first cherries.

Getting up early is worth it:
2 qts. strawberries
1 1/2 lbs. cherries
3/4 lb. rhubarb
1/2 lb. asparagus
1 lb. fava beans
1 lb. petit pois
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 bunch carrots
3/4 lb. shiitake mushrooms
Total spent: $47

For Katherine's party, I made rhubarb oatmeal bars, using a version of this recipe, but I cut the sugar in the rhubarb filling by about 1/4 cup, and added 1 tbsp. lemon juice to brighten the flavor. I also omitted "1/2 cup chopped" from the crust since I didn't know what to chop and add 1/2 cup of, and left out the vanilla as well. They turned out really delicious, but they didn't quite "bar up" to become independent desserts - you couldn't eat one out of your hand. I can't tell if I should have cooked them longer, or if the streusel just isn't substantial enough to be a bottom crust. Or maybe that 1/2 cup chopped would have firmed things up. (I'm thinking that shortbread would be insanely good, and just as buttery.)

I also made strawberry shortcake; I used the cream scone recipe from Baking Illustrated as the base (adding 1 tsp. vanilla), sliced and partially macerated the (quite wonderful on their own) berries with sugar and letting them sit for a few hours, and whipped 1 cup of Ronnybrook Dairy heavy cream with a few tablespoons of sugar to top. It was all lovely until I ate lots at the party (along with Allison's yummy pie), then had a severe sugar crash all of a sudden, got overwhelmed and cranky, then had to hurry home.

Tonight's dinner was shiitake mushroom risotto with buttered peas (excuse me, petit pois), which I had to have solo because my photo assistant is in transit and has been stuck at airports for the past six hours. He can have leftovers though. The peas were great - just a bit sweeter than regular English shell peas. Tomorrow night I have class, but I'm planning something exciting for a late-night Wednesday dinner involving those lovely favas.

And cherries!!! I have been talking about cherries for months, and now they're here! Of course the 1 1/2 lbs. I bought Saturday are already almost gone. I love them so much!!

(No photos this week due to extreme laziness.)

Guess what this is?

You're right - it's a giant buttery pile of mushrooms and spaghetti, and it's what I ate for dinner tonight!

Sometimes, my dinner is accidentally cute

I was too lazy to post yesterday, but tonight I worked up all the energy I had left after my bike rides and coffee-drinking and book-reading and talking, and made risotto. I love risotto to distraction. (In fact, today, I lost the thread of conversation at one point because I was thinking about risotto, then I pretended to be reading my book while actually I was planning this risotto, which btw, recipe below.)

Asparagus is almost gone, but I've got plenty of greens:
1 bunch red chard
1 bag spinach
3 heads baby red lettuce
1 bag (about 1/2 lb?) baby bok choy
1/2 lb. garlic scapes
1 lb. sugar snap peas
1 bunch baby carrots
2 lbs. green and yellow zucchini
1 lb. asparagus
1 qt. strawberries
Total spent: $48

The strawberries were much nicer than last week's - they are from my favorites, Terhune Orchards. Terhune was offering two varieties, a larger and a smaller (of course I've forgotten the names because apparently notepads haven't been invented yet), and I chose the latter, assuming they'd be sweeter. While the quart I have is uneven as far as taste, by and large they are lovely, sweet, fragrant little gems. Oh, how I love strawberries. Next weekend, for Katherine's birthday/housewarming, I'm planning to make strawberry shortcake, though I may have to incorporate rhubarb somehow. Or maybe I'll make two things. We'll see.

I have no idea how I'll use the garlic scapes, though they always have so much hype that I figured I would join their bandwagon late. And I bought the baby bok choy specifically for the stir-fry I made last night, but in classic Anna form, forgot to use it. Instead, we had a stir-fry of asparagus, sugar snap peas, and matchsticked carrots, which was very lovely but leaves me with unplanned bok choy. I think I'll have to make another stir-fry; it's too small to grill and there's not enough of it for a main dish.

This spinach and havarti risotto may be my favorite I've made yet, and being as though my photo assistant is out of town, I'll have leftovers all to myself for days. I sautéed some asparagus spears simply with a little olive oil and sea salt on the side, then when I plopped everything on the plate together, it was accidentally cute - like a little asparagus bow for my risotto face...or something. The raw-milk havarti is from the vendor at USG whose name I can't remember, but which always has a lot of good-looking tan vaguely-punk kids in their 20s working behind the counter, and lots of lactic acid-fermented pickles. It's great cheese! It has flavor dimensions regular havartis only dream of, while remaining quite a mild cheese. The shallot browned a little bit while I wasn't paying attention, but it ended up adding a really nice little bit of caramelized flavor to the risotto. I may do it on purpose next time.

Spinach and havarti risotto
2 shallots, cut into small dice (about 1/4 cup)
3 tbsp.-ish olive oil
3/4 cup Arborio rice (brown rice takes forever, trust me)
4 cups vegetable stock
lots of spinach, along the lines of 6 cups before it's cooked maybe, washed well, stems removed, and ripped into 2" or so pieces
3/4 cup grated havarti cheese
sea salt + fresh grated pepper to taste

Heat vegetable stock to a boil in a saucepan; turn down to a simmer. Heat olive oil over medium in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (small Dutch oven works great too, especially for showing off that you have a small Dutch oven), add shallots, and cook until completely softened. (Optional: get distracted reading a book so that a tiny amount of them brown a little bit.)

Add about one cup of stock and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently but not necessarily every single second, until almost all the stock is dissolved. Continue adding one cup of stock at a time until it's all gone and the rice is softened to desired consistency. (If you run out of stock, just add a little water - no need to open another container of stock just to splash in 1/2 cup or so.) Remove from heat, add cheese, salt, and pepper to taste, stir, and cover.

Set your vegetable steamer up in the pan you used for the stock; add water, and steam spinach until completely wilted, just a few minutes. Squeeze spinach with tongs, remove to cutting board, and chop; add spinach to risotto. Stir in about two tbsp. of delicious pasture-fed cultured butter and serve to yourself and two lucky friends along with some wonderful local asparagus. Or, if you are flying solo, eat as much as you want then let the rest cool before spooning it into two plastic containers, and you've got lunch sorted for the next two days! Lucky you.

Oh snap!

Almost as if in answer to my response in this Serious Eats thread about the Saturday USG, this morning's excursion was especially hot and crowded - and I got very cranky. But the rewards were myriad.

Maybe I am a poser, but my shoulders hurt for reals:

1 lb. sugar snap peas
1 lb. asparagus
1/2 lb. pea shoots
1 lb. shelling peas
1 bunch curly kale
1 bag spinach
1 bunch lamb's quarters
4 shallots
3 onions
1 quart strawberries
Total spent: $52

Last night was the celebratory barbecue for my friends Sam and Nat, who are getting married on Sunday. From the Friday greenmarket, I brought blanched sugar snap peas for finger food, blanched asparagus for the grill, and lots of baby lettuces. We had way too much food, but the sugar snaps (they're so sweet this year!) were gone in an instant, and the grilled asparagus went over well too. The salad was so lovely - the baby heads of lettuce so fresh - that I once again mourned the flavorless salads that most folks end up eating. They can be good, with the right dressing, when you've got bland greens, but when you have a mix of the type of lettuce that is tasty enough to eat alone, it's a totally different experience.

Tonight, I'm excited to sautee the pea shoots with garlic, then serve them with spaghetti so they can be wound around the fork at the same time. I'll have that with buttered peas on the side and some of the Field Roast sausage we have leftover from the barbecue.

The lamb's quarters I bought on a whim; they were described as similar to spinach, but without any oxalic acid. I'll try sauteeing them with garlic. A few minutes after picking them up, I was utterly seduced by the gorgeous spinach from Windfall Farms - it's bright green, with big, flat, un-crinkled leaves - and so crisp and fresh. So now I've got spinach and a spinach stand-in. Luckily, I love greens, so we'll make short work of the lot.

But of course, the most exciting purchase I made today was that quart of strawberries. They're not quite ready, I'm afraid - flavorful, but still a little lacking - but I will take strawberries over no strawberries any day. Lots of vendors had them, so I'll probably head to work early on Wednesday morning to try some more. I don't have any illusions that this box will last past the weekend.

In general news, I'm still getting used to my school schedule, which is not easy to do. Having free time is something I'd grown fond of, you see.

Travelling, busy, and...lazy

Last Saturday was a wonderful day at the Greenmarket, but despite having Sunday off for Memorial Day, I never got around to photographing or documenting my haul. I did find a new favorite vegetable of the minute, pea shoots, which I like to eat raw. They taste a bit like grass but more like what they are - a fresh, juicy precursor to wonderful sweet peas.

Most everything else was the usual stuff - zucchini, kale, ramps, asparagus - but I also have conquered my fear of collard greens. We had some braised quickly in class that I just loved, so I have been trying to recreate them at home. I've had varying levels of success, but every time I have them, my collards craving heightens. Now that I've run out for the week, I'm not sure what to do.

This Saturday I'm going to a friend's engagement brunch, so no USG for me...but if I can motivate early tomorrow, I might try to swing by on my way to work for staples. Adding the Natural Gourmet as well as a wonderful Wednesday night meditation class to what was already a busy-feeling schedule has made my spare time next to nonexistent. But I don't feel stressed because everything I'm involved in right now is so positive.

Next week I may try sauteed pea shoots with an omelet. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get some fava beans soon! I can't wait.

You might want to sit down for this.

Last night in class, I ate mushrooms...and I liked them!!

We also spent about four hours talking about vegetables, which was pretty much a dream come true. Things have started to get interesting.

No greenmarket this week, because I'm going to the UK for All Tomorrow's Parties. Wish me luck finding food.

(photo from Flickr - Ex Libris's photostream)

Quiche and tell

After a lovely greenmarket morning on Saturday (marred only slightly by the bushels of flowers flinging eye-burning pollen around everywhere), I had brunch with friends at our new favorite brunch spot, the never-crowded-enough Old Devil Moon, and spent the rest of the afternoon making quiche with Kara, in honor of Mother's Day.

Pretty much the same as last week, with a "berry" important addition:
3 lbs. asparagus
1 bunch ramps
2 1/2 lbs. zucchini
1 bag spinach
1 box sprouts (sunflower and red clover)
1 box raspberries!!!!!
4 apples (Winesap and Mutsu)
Total spent: $41.10

We ate the raspberries during quiche prep. They were greenhouse-raised and $6.50 a (tiny) box, but so delicious. I made my quiche with a pre-made whole-wheat crust (sorry, Mom, I was so lazy), Knoll Crest Farm eggs, Lynnhaven goat cheese, soymilk, a little heavy cream, ramps, and blanched asparagus. When I served it this morning for brunch, I sprinkled a bit of shredded Parmesan on each slice and heated them separately under the broiler; this plus a bit of freshly-ground black pepper turned out to be just the thing.

I think quiche may be my new favorite meal. It's great to make in advance, can be done relatively healthfully, and is so versatile! I'm already planning my next one: Lynnhaven's goat feta, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and spinach or zucchini. And yes, I'll make the crust homemade next time.

We used this Epicurious recipe, as well as the recipe from Baking Illustrated as our guides, then improvised. Here's the recipe I came up with - next time I'd use about 1/4 more cheese though, and prebake the pie crust. Also, I plan to omit the cream, adding extra cheese and another egg yolk to keep the texture.

Springtime Vegetable Quiche
1 pie crust
3 large or 6 small ramps, white part sliced thinly and leaves cut into 3/4" wide pieces
1 tsp. olive oil
6 eggs
1 1/3 cups soymilk
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 oz. goat cheese
1 1/2 cups asparagus, cut into 1" pieces, blanched
1/2 tsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper

Saute white part of ramps in olive oil until soft; add leaves and cook until wilted. Set aside to cool. Whisk together eggs, soymilk, cream, salt, and goat cheese; add several grinds of pepper. Arrange asparagus pieces evenly in crust. Add cooled ramps to egg mixture and stir; pour egg mixture into crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until light golden brown; center should be just set and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean.
Note: If you have extra egg mixture after filling your crust, you can pour it into greased ramekins and bake them for cute crustless mini-quiches. This is also a good way to taste-test your quiche mixture before baking the whole thing. Not that I am forward-thinking enough to have done that, but you could do.

As for the rest of it, I'm planning to make another springtime vegetable risotto with the remaining ramps, as well as zucchini and asparagus; though the asparagus (from Terhune Orchards) is so good on its own, simply blanched, that it might end up gone before I get around to risotto. We've been eating the zucchini raw in lunches, with hummus for the photo assistant, and of course cooked in every possible dish. I think I'll make pasta with spicy zucchini sauce this week too.

Greenness

Though last week was really my first visit of the season to a bountiful Greenmarket and requisite enthusiasm, it was a harried, hurried morning, and I ended up buying far fewer vegetables than I needed. But it gave me something to look forward to all week, knowing that asparagus, ramps, and other green and leafy wonders would be there for the taking. This is what got me out of bed by 7:30 this morning.

Welcome back, tired shoulders:
1.5 lbs. asparagus
1 bunch curly parsley
3 lbs. zucchini
1 bag spinach (at least 2 lbs.)
1 bunch curly kale
1 bunch ramps
3 lbs. Mutsu apples
Total spent: $42.50

And as the photo indicates, everything's green! One greenhouse grower had some tomatoes, which I skipped because I'm experimenting with lower my nightshade intake at the moment, and a few vendors had early rhubarb, which I skipped because I have no idea what to do with it; everyone else had cooking greens, ramps, salad greens, asparagus, zucchini. Though I've been really jonesing for carrots for the past few weeks, the joy of an overflowing vegetable crisper will carry me through until they arrive.

My friend Mark asked me yesterday if I could include some more breakfast recipes on Produce Stories - and mentioned that he is not a fan of omelets. (I love omelets, but they are a bit stressful, and even when perfectly cooked, I admit they don't thrill me the way they seem to thrill some.) Because I'm not the sweet breakfast type, I'm sticking with eggs, and recommending a frittata, which is what I'm going to make with most of the plate above: inside will be ramps and zucchini, sauteed together, and some Lynnhaven Farms feta, and I'll serve a few spears of blanched asparagus and some tender baby greens on the side.

Food Blogga has a good basic frittata recipe - the key is to keep the egg moving while it's on the stovetop, to avoid uneven cooking and dryness. And of course, like anything cooked under the broiler, keep an eye on the frittata to avoid burning. Like omelets, frittatas are very versatile, but they allow for a bit more flexibility in amount and type of filling, and a bit less precision, which is nice in the morning, especially pre-coffee.

If I had any bread in the house I'd serve this with toast, but I don't, so I won't. Potatoes would go well, too, but they're nightshades, so they're out too. Cold frittatas are really good leftover, too - when I studied abroad in Italy, we would often have slices of cold potato frittata in our packed lunches, which I loved.

Almost as exciting as fresh things returning to the Greenmarket is that I had my first day at culinary school on Tuesday! It was a bit of a non-event, mostly talking about procedures, protocols, and rules (apparently federally-accredited trade schools require all sorts of policies and procedures to maintain this status), filling out forms, etc. But tomorrow is my first full day (starts a 9 a.m, sigh), and we'll be starting knife work and have to wear our uniforms. More on this later!

Two new good things

New good things have been few and far between lately - hence my lack of posts. However, there are two I thought I should briefly mention.

1. My new bag. I am not the handbag type, nor the Dooney & Bourke type, but my mom won me over to both camps by sending me what has to be the biggest purse-type bag in the world. It is simply huge, and can carry lots of produce. Today at the greenmarket, I bought a five-lb. bag of apples (which are now bubbling away with lots of cinnamon on my stovetop for applesauce, of course), and declined an additional carry bag, dropping the (large, unwieldy) bag of apples into my enormo-bag, where it disappeared into the depths, much to the delight of the vendor. "Wow," she said, "It's like Mary Poppins!" Indeed.

2. I am going to culinary school! I have been officially accepted into the Natural Gourmet Institute Chef's Training Program. I start April 29. I am so excited!

Dark times

These are dark times, my friends. Today's rainy trip to the Greenmarket yielded very little in the way of fresh produce: a carton of sprouts, two onions, a few hydroponic tomatoes, a bagful of apples. No one even had any carrots! Migliorelli Farms was out of pear cider for the year, and the little stand where I usually buy my kale was gone, no doubt due to the weather. Last week's trip was much the same, minus rain.

This morning I slept late (well, 9:30), and had decided not to head to Union Square and its dismal produce offerings when I realized how much I rely on market vendors for staples like eggs, goat cheese, and apple cider - and I'm so spoiled by the quality of the local stuff that I trudged out into the elements, sweatshirt hood half-shielding me from the downpour.

Lucky thing, too, because I was able to invite Katherine over for a very-late brunch of spinach and goat cheese omelette and home fries. (Ironic given the subject of this blog, the only non-local element of this meal other than spices was the spinach!) And the apples bubbling away on the stove, smelling of wonderful Penzeys Ceylon cinnamon makes me even gladder that I made the trip.

But my point is that there's very little to report these days, and the winter monotony has me still struggling not to get too down. (Though I do think the B12-and-herbs cocktail in my Deproloft is helping too). I guess I'm going to have to start buying vegetables from Garden Of Eden and Whole Foods, unless I can figure out a lot of creative ways to cook cabbage...and spring vegetables are still at least a month away.

Though I have learned to make homemade pita, using this Epicurious recipe, which is especially nice fresh out of the oven with the aforementioned goat cheese and zatar. (Thank you, Kitchenaid, for saving me from ever having to knead anything.)

NYC Rainy day photo from Hialean's Flickr page

Smoothie Stories

My mom and I were discussing smoothies recently (that's nothing new), and after we compared recipes, I realized how elaborate my smoothies have become since the Vita-Mix. Since they're so easy to make and I have everything easily at hand, I was surprised to find that the pictured pre-smoothie contained fourteen different ingredients, when, a year ago, my smoothies had four: strawberries, banana, apple juice, yogurt. This is a "wintertime" smoothie because I use winter vegetables and add spices for heat, and all the fruit is frozen. It may sound like a weird and gross combination, but...man, these smoothies are good, and they make me feel great!

Wintertime smoothie:
ginger
cinnamon
soy yogurt
small lemon slice
flax seed meal
bananas
curly kale
parsley
red clover sprouts
carrot
frozen mango
frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries
apple cider

I have expensive tastes

There are two types of carrots available at USG these days. One vendor's carrots cost $1/lb. and taste like perfume. So I've started buying Windfall Farms carrots, which cost $5/lb. Also, the only spinach I can find is $6 per $1/4 lb. At these prices, I guess I'm lucky there aren't a lot of options.

Good thing I really like carrots:
1.5 lbs. carrots
1/2 lb. baby spinach
1 box red clover sprouts
1 bunch tat soi
Total spent: $22

I also got the usual goat cheese, eggs, and apple cider...though the pricey carrots did eat up my Rick's Picks budget. I do have four half-finished jars in the fridge, so I suppose I can manage for a few more days.

There are still a few pounds of apples in the fridge, left over from a few weeks back (!), so I'm going to make another batch of applesauce today. At the moment, though, I have a batch of chili on the stove. My favorite moment in the chili-making process is after adding the garlic, cumin, and oregano to the softened onions and jalapenos - the second when it becomes aromatic, just before adding the tomatoes and beans. That moment might be my favorite smell in all of cooking.

Otherwise, I'm going to put the tat soi in our smoothies, make another borscht with some weeks-old beets, and pray for spring.

Super-delicious pasta

This turned out to be way more than the sum of its parts.

Summery wintertime hydropasta:
about 1/4 cup plain goat cheese
about 8 brine-cured kalamata olives, diced
2 tsp. olive oil (fancy and pungent if you have it)
1 hydroponic tomato (you could use a handful of grape tomatoes maybe)
fresh spinach egg linguine for two people (I used Knoll Crest Farms)

Put salted water on to boil. While it's heating, mix first three ingredients in a small bowl with a fork until cheese is smooth and olives are distributed. Dice tomato, removing seeds if you care. Cook pasta according to package instructions (2-3 minutes), drain, and immediately return pasta to pan. Toss pasta with goat cheese mixture, divide onto two plates, and top each plate with half the diced tomato. Add a few grinds of black pepper to each plate, and pow! Your awesome dinner is done in under ten minutes.

The olive oil flavor is really key here - the more "olive-y" the better. I used some of the Pasolivo I bought as a birthday present to myself. It's really good - if you've ever been skeptical about whether olive oil can have a real flavor impact, Pasolivo will convince you. It's quite strong, with lots of fruity, grassy notes. Plus Pasolivo is made in my homeland, the li'l old central coast of California. And look how lovely it is!

A skeptic relents: tomatoes in winter??!!

Another slim-pickins day at USG, which slimness was compounded by my late arrival (my usual vendor was even out of kale by the time I got there at 11).

I don't believe they were out of kale:
3 lbs. Nicola potatoes
2 yellow onions
1 1/2 lbs. carrots
1/3 lb. baby spinach
1/3 lb. baby red Russian kale
2 tomatoes
Total spent: $30

It was with a mixture of shame, hope, and confusion that I finally bought some tomatoes from the Shushan Valley Hydro Farm stand (this photo is from their website). Since they appeared a month or so ago, I've peered into their little plastic tent, even picked up then put down a bunch of basil once or twice, but haven't taken the plunge. Tomatoes in winter seem impossible, or at least ill-advised; I feel a bit like the sucker of a snake-oil dealer: "The taste of summer, yours year-round! Step right up, folks!" But today I needed inspiration (and I have had tomatoes on my mind since making the exquisite tomato soup from Veganomicon), so I went for it. I'm going to use at least one of them tonight in a quick sauce for Knoll Crest Farms spinach pasta, along with some black olives, spinach sautéed with olive oil and garlic, and Lynnhaven Farms goat cheese. So even if the tomatoes' soil-less cultivation has rendered them insipid, there will be enough flavor in the dish.

Other updates:
Pear pie = meh - I liked the pecan streusel topping, but the pear pie didn't quite work. Perhaps I needed more seasoning, or more lemon juice, or something: it was a bit overly sweet and one-dimensional, as my mother warned me it might be. Though it doesn't help that the pie crust was the toughest and worst yet! I am somehow regressing in pie-crust skill, and I don't know why. This week I will either go apple again or find a recipe for vegan banana cream pie.
I'm out of cinnamon so I had to order from Penzeys again. My order, which I am only listing because it's an eclectic bunch of mostly B-list spices I'm unsure about: allspice, cinnamon (Ceylon this time), vanilla beans (Madagascar), marjoram, zatar, tarragon, mustard powder (not hot), ancho chile powder, chipotle chile powder. I can't wait!
Veganomicon forays - So far I have made the chickpea cutlets, which are just as fabulous as I'd hoped, and the tomato soup, which is the type of tomato soup you'd get in a restaurant and say "this is why we go to restaurants - for tomato soup like this." But you're at home, so you just think "I am a genius," even though it's not your recipe. I still haven't made the autumn latkes - they'll happen this week.
More applesauce is on the stove, using last week's miscellaneous apples.

Warning: totally predictable.

Allow me to join the boring hordes and pledge my undying love to Veganomicon. Believe the hype - and I don't mean about Vampire Weekend, though you can go ahead and believe that hype too, they're pretty good - this is a great cookbook, with tons of recipes that even non-vegans will love.



More of the same:
3 beets
2 lbs. carrots
3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
1 box red clover sprouts
1 bunch kale
2 bags spinach
2 bags misc. apples
6 pears

I bought the pears for the pear pie I meant to make yesterday, using this recipe, but I didn't have time. I'm hoping I can make it happen this week, because Pear Pie with ginger and pecan streusel topping sounds about as good as it gets.

My first foray into Veganomiconing will be the Autumn Latkes, which are simply potato pancakes made out of other autumn vegetables instead of potatoes; the recipe calls for shredded beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes, but the previously mentioned dearth of sweet potatoes at USG means I'll be using regular Yukon Golds to replace them. Otherwise I want to try just about every single recipe in the thing, particularly the casseroles.

While we've been using the sprouts primarily in smoothies, where texture doesn't really matter, the red clover sprouts are more "hairy" and better for sandwiches than the mung or the lentil, so I think I'll only get them from now on. Since there's not really any lettuce to be had for our Tofurky-cold-cut-and-mustard sandos, the sprouts are essential for crunch and contrast.

The bad news: we had some of the carrots steamed alongside stir-fried seitan and brown rice, and they tasted like perfume. This happened a couple of weeks ago, and I stopped buying carrots from that vendor for awhile, but this time I didn't have another option. It doesn't taste chemical-y, just like these particular carrots have an odd flowery flavor. They're okay when combined with other ingredients and spices, but it's quite noticeable when they're steamed on their own. Weird.

In case you need a reminder that vegetables are funny

Natalie Dee has the funniest comics ever, and many of them treat fruit-and-vegetable-related subjects.

Ever-dwindling options

Even if I hadn't been anxious to get home to make my first-ever double-crust cherry pie (yes, I had to use canned and no, it wasn't pretty enough to photograph), I would have come home light-handed today. I couldn't even find any sweet potatoes!

I suppose this could make a nice soup:
2 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 bag spinach
2 bunches kale
2 yellow onions
1 box mixed red clover and mung bean sprouts
4 pears
Total spent: $22

Also, I forgot carrots. No big plans for this tiny haul (kale and sprouts for smoothies), though the pears are a bit newsworthy. I bought them because my photo assistant likes them, though I don't, and it seems like having fruit variety is good when possible (which it barely is at this point in the season). Well, we cut one up and had it with brunch (homemade veggie biscuits and gravy!), and...I kinda liked it. I'm used to pears being mealy and weird, but this one (from Terhune Orchards, of course) was crisp, juicy, and sweet. So maybe I like pears now. Don't tell my mom.

Which do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

Everyone always chooses the good news first, which is often essential, since the bad news generally correlates to the good. But in this case, that's not true. Well, it's kinda true.

The good news is that my ersatz carrot pickles totally worked! They're delicious, and the bonus is that my experiment taught me that I like pickled carrots (though it wouldn't be hard to extrapolate that conclusion from my loves of pickles and of carrots). I just peeled and "sticked" the carrots, stuck them into the jar of leftover Kool Gherks brine, topped off with white vinegar, put the lid on tightly and shook it all up, then let it sit in the fridge for about a week. Now I have bonus pickles.

The bad news is that my stomach is acting up pretty seriously again, despite my trip to the gastroenterologist and the resulting acid-reducing meds - perhaps my obvious unwillingness to give up briny and spicy foods is partial culprit. I've also been hit by a big heavy molasses-truck of depression this week, and I'm not sure if the stomach is the egg or the chicken here. (Metaphors fly thick and fast around here when I get to talkin' about the sads.)

Sprouts, pie, borscht (not in that order)

A quick and unexciting trip:
1 box sprouts (three types)
2 lbs. Carola potatoes
1 1/2 lbs. carrots
1 bunch Swiss chard
2 bags spinach
6 lbs. apples (Mutsu and Empire)
Total spent: $36

The sprouts make a pretty picture, though they pretty much taste like grass. I'm either going to hide them in smoothies, or use them to add actual nutritional value to our current addiction: sandwiches made with Tofurkey cold cuts.

What is exciting is that today I'm going to make a pie, including homemade pie crust from scratch! You may remember that my choice of store-bought pie crust induced a negative reaction in my mother; for Christmas, she gave me pastry-making supplies, so I wouldn't have to transgress so again. (It's important to understand that my mother has preternatural pie-crust-making ability, so the association between pie crust and difficulty eludes her.) Wish me luck.

In other news, I'm finishing up the batch of borscht I started a few days ago (I'm still trying to revise my recipe), and I'll be putting on a pot of chili at some point, too. And while all these things are cooking, I'm finally going to crack down and work on my application to the Natural Gourmet Institute. Fingers crossed on that, too!

Pre-Smoothie

This morning's smoothie, before I blended it. Contents: kale, spinach, carrots, bananas, frozen mango chunks, frozen raspberries, soy yogurt, apple juice, and ground flax seed. Verdict: delicious, from both myself and my photo assistant, who is pickier than I am about these things.

Apples, celebs: just another day at USG

Maybe winter's not so bad - the photo makes today's haul look almost...appetizing!

My hearty cold-weather cornucopia:
2 bags spinach
1/2 lb. Swiss chard
1 bunch curly kale
4 large beets
1 1/2 lbs. Carola potatoes
2 lbs. carrots
1 bunch celery
1 buttercup squash
Total spent: $35

The greenmarket today was a sea of apples - even the usually reliable Migliorelli Farm had little more than apples - but I managed to find some good-looking (but pricey) greens. I don't like the texture of curly kale, but I'm going to use it for smoothies, so it shouldn't matter. The other greens will be sauteed or steamed, per usual, I'll roast the squash, and the beets will go into borscht.

But the most exciting part of the greenmarket today was when I met celebrity picklemaker Rick from Rick's Picks, and got to talk to him and his coworker Allison about how much I love their beets. They were really friendly! I also bought a jar of whole dill pickles, and I've eaten about half of them already...I think I'm going to try to make ersatz pickled carrots with the brine after they're gone, per a tip on the Rick's website. We'll see how that works out.

At the moment I have (last week's) apples on the stove for applesauce. No big recipe plans this week other than borscht; tonight I may make colcannon with a side of veggie sausage and steamed carrots, or maybe oven-baked sweet potato fries with sausage and greens - cozy winter foods, as it's just around freezing out.

Dinner update - with recipe

After a lovely day of snacking and working on projects with Katherine, I made the previously-mentioned butternut squash-sage pasta dish for dinner. It turned out just as I was hoping, due largely to the deliciously pungent dried sage I ordered from Penzeys. The recipe is below - a very simple and satisfying meal. (I made this without dairy, but it would probably be fine, though richer, if you used dairy milk and butter.) This sauce is a beautiful orange color that looks terrific on green spinach pasta! Fresh pasta is ideal if you have it.

Butternut Squash-Sage Sauce for Linguine
2 1/2 tbsp. Earth Balance (or butter)
1 butternut squash, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/4 cup finely diced shallot (about 1 large or two small)
1/2 tsp. dried sage
3/4-1 cup soy milk
salt and pepper to taste

Melt 2 tbsp. Earth Balance in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add squash and cook, stirring frequently to redistribute cubes, until just tender, about 20 minutes (this will vary widely; check multiple pieces for tenderness, as it can cook unevenly). Set squash aside. Without cleaning skillet, melt remaining 1/2 tbsp. Earth Balance in it over medium heat, add shallots, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add sage and stir about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add half of squash cubes and 3/4 cup soy milk, season with salt and pepper, and stir until combined. Remove from heat, ladle mixture into blender, and blend until smooth. Return blended mixture to skillet over medium-low, add soy milk as needed for desired texture, adjust seasonings, and cook, stirring, just until hot. Serve immediately over pasta with fresh ground black pepper.

Ad astra per (vegetable) aspera

I couldn't find everything I needed at the greenmarket today, which was operating at about half-capacity in terms of vendors (and only about half those were selling produce vs. maple syrup, yarn, seriously good bacon, etc.). But I did my best.

Winter produce is so heavy:
2 bags spinach
1 bunch parsley
1/4 lb. arugula
1 butternut squash
1 1/2 lbs. carrots
2 yellow onions
4 large beets
1/2 lb. shallots
8 lbs. miscellaneous "bargain" apples
Total spent: $31.50

But my favorite greenmarket purchase by far was Rick's Picks pickled beets. Yes, the name makes me think of 1994 in a bad way, but they are so delicious that I can forgive the egregiously dated pun (not that I have anything against puns). Most pickled beets tend to be too sweet, but these have an ideal balance of sweet and tart, with a bit of spiciness from the unique herb combination. I think I could eat a whole jar in one sitting, but then I would probably pass out from acid overdose.

Though there was no garlic to be found (Keith's Organics has packed it in for the season, I guess), so I will have to give up on the garlic-braised greens recipe for now, I did think up an idea for tonights dinner: pasta with a butternut squash-sage-shallot sauce, over Knoll Crest Farms fresh spinach pasta. And I found arugula and parsley, which I'm going to use for the Very Green Rice recipe, probably served alongside sauteed spinach and veggie sausage.

But of course I am most excited about adding spinach, beets, and/or carrots to smoothies courtesy of my Vita-Mix! I will start out slowly with a handful of spinach here, half a beet there, since my photo assistant is a bit skeptical of the whole vegetables-in-smoothies idea, but I am really looking forward to it! I will post photos of the smoothies with the most zany colors.

My favorite new cookbook!

Someone wonderful got me Mollie Katzen's new cookbook, The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without, for my birthday, and I am utterly enamored. Not only is it really cute (hand-drawn illustrations and recipe titles circled by e.g. broccoli-floret motifs), but the recipes are simple, thoughtful, and (literally) mouthwatering.

I haven't had the chance to try anything yet, but tomorrow I am going to pick up some braising greens at the market, for Dry-Sauteed Braising Greens with Layers of Garlic, which includes both roasted and fresh garlic; others I'm looking forward to include Tarragon-Pecan Asparagus (!), Braised Brussels Sprouts in Maple Mustard Sauce, and Green Beans with Crunchy Peanut-Lemon Coating.

Tomorrow is going to be an early Greenmarket morning - I'll have to stock up on veggies for these recipes, and of course to test out my Vita-Mix...I can't wait!

Ah, sweet relief

Though Monday's Greenmarket pickings were verrrrry slim, I was so glad to be back that I barely noticed. I picked up some apples, spinach, baby bok choy, sweet potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash - nothing spectacular - but I'm very much looking forward to the spinach-and-veggie-sausage omelet with oven-roasted on sweet potatoes I'm planning to make tonight. And of course the apples are already simmering away for applesauce. California was great, but being home in my own kitchen is just lovely. And my Vita-Mix arrives Wednesday!!!

Winter is awesome

I take back what I said about winter. It's 60 degrees here, and I got a Vita-Mix for Xmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this my kitchen or Cute Overload??

These nested ceramic duckie measuring cups from Amanda are too cute to be real - but they are! They are probably too cute to use for measuring on a regular basis due to my own clumsiness, but I have visions of serving some sort of small, adorable dessert in them. (The cowboy in the photo to the right is my nephew.)

In other news, I'm going to California on Saturday for the holidays, so I will be out of commission for awhile.

Also, it is cold, my lips are chapped, and my nose is running all the time. Stupid winter.

Meme me

Ann from the fantastic Redacted Recipes tagged me for my first meme ever, and now that I've sat down for what feels like the first time in weeks (cookies are in the oven), I will tackle it.

What were you cooking/baking ten years ago? Ten years ago, I was a freshman in college, so I was cooking just about nothing - since I lived on campus and ate almost entirely foodservice meals. Though I did have an espresso maker (which I used every morning) and a mini-fridge in my dorm room. Mostly the mini-fridge held milk for my lattes, but at some point during first semester, one of my burnout dormies asked me to hold some LSD-soaked sugar cubes in the freezer for him. They stayed there until the end of the year, when he was, apparently, finally ready to party.

What were you cooking/baking one year ago? At this time last year, I was roasting a lot of cubed root vegetables with spices and olive oil; I baked barely any sweets, but did make savory biscuits and scones once in awhile.

Five snacks you enjoy: I love cheese and olives, pickled beets (these from Rick's Picks are my recent obsession), tamari almonds, sourdough toast with goat cheese and peach preserves, and, um, Snapea Crisps. The thing about me and snacks is that I will eat all of any snack food that is brought into the house in one sitting, so I tend not to keep it around.

Five recipes you know by heart: Chili, spicy stir-fry sauce, couscous with chickpeas and kale, vegan gravy, chocolate pudding

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire: A big kitchen with lots of space and lots of natural light; every fancy All-Clad copper-lined pan available (including the asparagus cooker!); a brick oven for bread and pizza; a six-burner range; and a dishwasher.

Five foods you love to cook/bake: Vegetables of all types in all ways, tofu, cookies, fruit pie

Five things you cannot/will not eat: MUSHROOMS!!! in any shape or form including blue cheese, meat of any sort including seafood, raw onions, turnips, cilantro

Five favorite culinary toys: my wonderful Global 8" chef's knife, long sturdy wooden spoons, Kitchenaid hand mixer, bread machine, and Oxo tongs

I'm not quite sure who to pass this along to, but I am going to try Polly and Abby, if they are so inclined. Thanks Ann! This was fun - especially the fantasy kitchen part.

Items

Re: the messiness of latkes (and the fact that my hair and my apartment both still smell like fried potato), Amanda put it well. "There are some things that are best just eaten at restaurants," she said. Though the latkes were delicious, they were an epic hassle to make and clean up after.

Re: my own burgeoning yuppiness - I wasn't quite so sure of it until I just got giddy after placing an order with Penzeys, and even expedited the shipping so it would definitely arrive before I leave for the holidays. Though I suppose using the phrase "butter-soft Catskills merino" in yesterday's post might be a clue as well.

Re: winter and its effect on my diet, it is getting difficult to get excited about more squash, more carrots, and more spinach. I have been trying to compensate for that by making too many rich dinners and too many sweet desserts, but now I just feel a bit blobby. Though I think my new favorite food, brussels sprouts with brown butter, would be okay for two meals a day, every day, I doubt anyone else would agree.

A day of varying priorities

These are the three prettiest things I bought at the Greenmarket today. Sorry, potatoes, you just can't compete with the butter-soft, naturally-dyed Catskills merino yarn I finally succumbed to this week.

I bought a lot of other things, but these are the vegetables:
2 lbs. Carola potatoes ("the potato lover's potato - how could I resist?)
I bag spinach
1 lb. Brussels sprouts
1 bunch carrots
1 Carnival squash
4 Poblano peppers
3 jalapeno peppers
5 Anaheim peppers
Total spent (on produce): $22

Among the non-produce items purchased were the above-pictured yarn (it is so unbelievably soft!), a container of rice pudding from Ronnybrook Dairy, 1 log of goat cheese and a container of chocolate chevre truffles (they are unreal, like tiny chocolate cheesecakes, but better) from Lynnhaven Farms, and 1 dozen eggs from Knoll Crest.

This time of year, buying a passel of peppers can only mean chili, and I'm looking forward to making my first batch of the season this week. I'm also very excited to try my hand at latkes. I'm thinking this recipe will be a good guideline.

And speaking of delicious wintertime meals, last night's dinner with three of my favorite ladies went wonderfully. I served the tawny borscht I made the previous night, which went over like gangbusters, as well as homemade macaroni and cheese, using a recipe I got from my friend Sohrab (it was amazing!), with my favorite Brussels sprouts on the side, and two types of homemade cookies for dessert. This was one of the best meals I've cooked or eaten in a long time (a large part of this was undoubtedly due to stellar company!).

Tawny Borscht

Oh look at that hearty miscellaneous-vegetable soup. It is quite beige, the color of most vegetable soups - and yet - despite its tawny color - the soup above, is, in fact, borscht. How embarrassing. The only beets I could find the day I first planned to make borscht were "multi-colored," and it turned out that they were mostly golden beets, with a couple of pink ones in the mix, but nothing dark and garnet-red like a proper beet. Hence the totally nondescript soup that ought to be electric magenta.

The soup turned out well, though I want more beets next time...probably about twice as many or more than I used here. It's definitely several steps away from coming close to my favorite borscht, the vegetarian borscht at Veselka. If they offered it all the time, I probably wouldn't even try to make my own - theirs is so delicious! - but I get cravings for it sometimes when it's not on the menu. And I do like the always-vegetarian borscht at B&H Dairy, but they don't use lima beans like Veselka does. I'm hoping the additional beet flavor will overpower the vegetable stock, which is a little too prevalent here. All in all, it's nice, but not exactly right.

Here's the recipe I used (all approximations) - I recommend lots more beets than you see here.

Anna's Borscht
6 small beets, cut into matchsticks
1 small onion, diced finely
3/4 cup celery, in approx 1/2" dice
2 medium carrots, halved and in 1/2" slices
3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, 1/2" dice
2 cloves garlic (I used Rocambole, which is quite mild)
6 cups vegetable stock
1 can lima beans or butter beans
2 tbsp. tomato paste
6 tbsp. fresh dill
4 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. butter or Earth Balance
salt to taste

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring, until onion softens, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and stir until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Pour in vegetable stock, add beets, and stir; bring to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes, or until beets begin to soften. Add carrots, cover, and simmer 20 more minutes, until carrots begin to soften. Add potatoes and dill, and simmer until potatoes start to become tender, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, lima beans, vinegar and salt (I used about 6 grinds of my sea salt grinder at this point), cover, and simmer at least 30 more minutes, until all vegetables reach desired tenderness; remove from heat. Taste for seasoning; add more salt, dill, or vinegar, as desired, let sit a few minutes, covered, and serve.

Soup, part 1

Today's soup is a potato and celeriac chowder/stew/thing from Crescent Dragonwagon. I used leeks instead of onion, but otherwise followed the recipe faithfully. The only issue I take with what is a relatively tasty dish is that I think the addition of 1/4 tsp. celery seed is overkill for an already quite "celery-y" soup (it calls for a whole celery root); the celery taste verges on metallic a tiny bit, and I think omitting the celery seed (or perhaps using just a pinch) would alleviate that. Though my celery-adoring photo assistant may love it as is, which is lucky, because the recipe made lots and I'm freezing most of it to feed him when he gets back from California. I might try pureeing the rest of the soup, as the celeriac didn't get quite as soft as the potato so there's a weird bit of textural dissonance going on. This photo is pretty pointless (thick whitish liquid with some unidentifiable chunks!) except for the opportunity to show off one of my prized Pea Soup Andersen's soup mugs. Tomorrow, borscht. And I'm not using a recipe for that one.

Genius Of The Day Award

The genius of the day award goes to Ann at Redacted Recipes for inventing this magnificent apple/cranberry crisp. My crisp isn't much to look at, but it's deliciously tart and spicy; in fact, I just ate two pieces and spoiled my dinner. I followed her recipe almost exactly (using Mutsu apples from Terhune Orchards), but I added about 1 tbsp. lemon zest to the topping, and used allspice instead of cloves (gasp!), because that's what I had on hand. Oh, and I chickened out and peeled the apples. Regardless, it's wonderful, and as an added bonus, my whole apartment smells like heaven now. Thanks Ann!!

Shepherd's Pot Pie

What happens when you make a pot pie, but instead of a top crust, you use mashed potatoes? It's exactly as delicious (and totally crazy) as it sounds. I didn't write down a recipe, but my filling was leeks, celery, carrots, and peas, with TVP, nutritional yeast, vegetable broth, tamari soy sauce, and some soymilk, seasoned with a few shakes of cayenne and some dried sage. I think any meat sub would have worked, though.

Recent recipe round-up

Butternut squash and kale risotto: I adapted this recipe, using spinach instead of the mysteriously-unavailable kale, and Smart Bacon instead of pancetta (I wanted to use seitan, but we were out). If I had cooked this as directed, the squash would have still been crunchy by the time the rice was done, but I caught it early and cooked the squash much longer before adding the rice. All in all, the risotto was quite nice, though a little sweeter than I had hoped - though I suppose that's inevitable, as it contains an entire squash; using kale instead of the milder spinach might have helped. I might try it again with kale and seitan, and maybe use a bit less squash.

Brussels sprouts with brown butter: I followed this recipe for sauteed Brussels sprouts last night, and to my taste, it was a success. The garlic butter cut the sprouts' bitterness perfectly, and they had a wonderful texture. My photo assistant, on the other hand, wasn't so enthusiastic. I think he has the same problem with Brussels sprouts as he does broccoli. That just meant more of this lovely dish for me, though, so it wasn't so bad.

Chocolate pudding: Okay, it's not vegetables, but this is the best chocolate pudding recipe ever. I tried it with soymilk, using a little less sugar than is called for, and it was perfect. The almond-milk version I made later was weird, but still good.

Ginger cookies: Similarly non-vegetable, but I've been on a baking jag, and I made these ginger cookies yesterday. The texture is perfect, but I would prefer a lot more spice. Next time I'll add more ground ginger, and take the advice of the commenter who recommended adding chopped candied ginger to the dough before baking.

Celeriac and potato soup: I scored a used copy of The Passionate Vegetarian for $12 (!!), and the first recipe I'm planning to try is a creamy celeriac and potato soup with leeks. First, though, I have to find out where I can buy evaporated skim milk.

Slim & Chilly Pickings

It was a freezing and sparsely-populated USG day today. Ice crystals clung to my spinach, lots of vendors were absent (even the stalwart Terhune Orchards), and - worst of all - there wasn't a leaf of kale to be found in the whole place. Brussels sprouts, which I had been avoiding while my stomach healed (since they can be tough to digest), are clearly on their way out, though I managed to find some good-looking ones. Otherwise, not a lot of interesting options, and the chilly air got into my brain and allowed me to forget beets - which means no beet and cheddar risotto, still!

My lightened load:
1 celeriac
1 bunch baby carrots
2 bags spinach
1 head Rocambole garlic
1 butternut squash
1.5 lbs. Brussels sprouts
1 Osage orange (cockroach repellent)
Total spent $28

The celeriac I'll use in risotto, and perhaps make another with the butternut squash; I'll either roast the Brussels sprouts or pan-fry them in butter with sage (along the lines of this recipe - anything to make them soft and caramelized. Perhaps I'll make a quick Dijon mustard sauce for them, like they serve at Westville.

Next time I can get apples, I'm going to make another apple pie. I've got a few recipe adjustments I'd like to try out...and I've quickly become a pie addict.

First Breath After (Food) Coma

The only reason I am awake to write this, despite seconds on Tofurkey and three helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy is because I wisely chose to have coffee with my pie. Dinner was great - the potatoes were buttery and abundant, the gravy rich and salty, the carrots tasted almost exactly like candy - but the pie was the real success story...store-bought pie crust notwithstanding, this was some good pie.

Here's a shot as it first went into the oven (my favorite butter application method is "dotting," by the way):
Why, hello beautiful (if I may quote Pioneer Woman):
And here's your extreme close up:
Man, I can't wait until breakfast so I can eat more pie.

Thanksgiving Pile

This homely heap of root and fruit will be transformed, tomorrow, into a multi-coursed Thanksgiving meal for two. It's a bit magical. (Not pictured is Tofurky, which, quite honestly, is round and brown and would have fit right into this shot.)

Our Thanksgiving menu
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Oven-Roasted Tofurky
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrot Coins

Apple Pie

Photo assistant isn't a huge beet fan, but I think the improved texture and sweetness of the roasted beets will help turn him on to them - and of course the perfect match with goat cheese.

I'm not doing a separate stuffing this year, because the Tofurky comes stuffed decently, and there are only two of us. Likewise bread: no dinner rolls or biscuits, though I've promised to make some biscuits for a leftovers meal with slices of Tofurky and lots of gravy.

The carrot coins are the main course's token nod to healthfulness, but because it's Thanksgiving, I'm going to nod back toward excess by serving them with a butter and brown sugar glaze (recipe, maybe, after I invent it).

Apple pie will be Dutch style, loosely based on this recipe, using Mutsu apples, but I will omit the allspice, and I may add a twince of lemon to the filling as well as using the called-for zest in the streusel. I had some delicious apple pie at Sweet Farm, and the filling had a zip that I think may have been due to a little lemon. We'll see. I did have to buy a frozen pie crust (my mom made gagging, then retching noises when I told her), due to lack of pie crust-making resources, but I think the filling will make up for it.

If we don't eat it all in seconds after it's done, I'll take photos. Good luck with that, us.

Risotto dreams and white rice reality

Yet another delicious-sounding risotto recipe that I am prevented from trying by my new (temporary, I hope) dietary restrictions. Tonight, instead of risotto with kale and butternut squash (I'd sub seitan for the pancetta, of course), I had white rice with steamed spinach and scrambled eggs, seasoned only with soy sauce.

Though I have been chalking this up to anxiety and hoping I can overcome with the power of my strong will and talent for self-analysis, yesterday's blazingly painful experience post-avocado made me think I'm going to have to embark on a course of gastroenterology (sung to the tune of Firewater's "Psychopharmacology", at least in my brain).

Hence no interesting photos or recipes lately...steamed carrots, steamed spinach, white rice, yogurt, and sourdough bread (the latter two - probiotic!) have constituted most of my diet for the past couple of weeks. It's really not so bad, because I like all those things, but it does get a little boring, especially when confronted by so many delicious recipes I'm yearning to try...

A mild day at USG

Saturday's trip had one goal: procuring a variety of fruits and vegetables that I can eat despite my stomach trouble. Results have been encouraging thus far, though a couple of hard lessons have been learned.

Nothing to see here, folks:
7 Mutsu apples
1 bunch carrots
1 bag spinach
1 bag arugula
3 sweet potatoes
2 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 butternut squash
1 head Rocambole garlic
Total spent: $30

My trip filled me with ambition, so upon arrival home I made myself a sandwich with the whole wheat sourdough bread I'd bought, Earth Balance, and arugula (from Keith's Organics). Delicious, but fat is a no-no, and the sandwich did me wrong: a few hours later I was in a lot of pain.

More successful were the applesauce I made, and the carrots, which I steamed and served alongside my staple, white rice. This gives me hope that the squash will be gentle to my stomach despite being fibrous...I'm going to try it tonight. I feel a bit like a parent introducing solid foods to her baby for the first time, except I'm the baby too.

In meals for the non-ailing news, I made polenta using this advice from The Amateur Gourmet, and it turned out very well. I'm going to fry up the leftovers and serve with over-easy eggs to the free eater/caretaker of the household. Isn't he lucky?

There is NOT a party in my tummy

There is, in fact, the opposite of a party. The mysterious and excruciating stomach pain started last Wednesday, and reached its full pain-and-nausea potential over the weekend...at the moment, I haven't been able to eat anything other than yogurt and plain starches like rice without hurting. I went to the doctor yesterday. Bloodwork has turned out normal, so tomorrow I have an appointment for an ultrasound to check my gallbladder maybe, or at least something gallbladderish.

Not totally vegetable-related, but it does mean I have to wait to try a certain recipe I've really been looking forward to. I also think this will mean no greenmarket trips until I can eat normal food again, though I do think I'll add some plain mashed sweet potato into my neutral dietary mix.