Standard fall fare

Tonight we had pan-fried glazed tofu sauteed with spinach, and spicy roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes, which I made using this recipe, which I've used before and love. Dessert was sliced apples - Fujis, which, the fellow at the apple stand said, came off the tree this morning. I was a bit hesitant to post this photo, as it looks a bit too homogenous - and the shape of the tofu triangles give it a very stereotypical "boring vegetarian food" look. But it was actually quite tasty, and the root vegetables are a lovely color.

Nothing to see here...

It was pretty much same old, same old this week...and winter vegetables just aren't as lovely or varied as summer's crops. So I'll have to start taking photos of our meals instead, though it's tough to wait to eat them! Today I was on a budget, but still managed to get (almost) everything on my list.

This week's pickings:
1 butternut squash
1 bag spinach
1 bunch red chard
1 bunch carrots
3 sweet potatoes
2 zucchini
1 head Rocambole garlic
6 apples (Macoun, Empire, and Fuji)
total spent: $19

Last week, we had an assortment of what I have mentioned before has become the fall/winter standard meal: sauteed greens with tofu or grain sausage and roasted root vegetables. Though I am still making pots of black beans for burritos or with rice, which we also pair with spinach or chard...I'm thinking of making some chili next week, though. It should ease my transition into full-on winter's requisite soups and stews.

However, the celeriac risotto, which I made, as promised, from this Epicurious recipe, was fantastic. It was extremely rich and creamy, though I only used 1 tbsp. of butter, substituting olive oil for the other 2 tbsp. called for in the recipe. When I make it again, I'll use all olive oil. (One caveat: the celeriac doesn't get tender in 10 minutes, as the recipe claims - it takes 20-25, so the recipe is a bit more time-consuming than stated). I've got a leek and a celeriac leftover from last week, so I may just make it again. It's definitely not a low-fat recipe (lots of Parmesan), but it's extremely comforting on dark and rainy days like we've been having recently.

As I mentioned, I had a list today, and wasn't adventurous - but next week, I'm going to try spaghetti squash. Recipes are totally divided as to the best way to prepare it (in order to avoid mushiness), but I found one on Recipezaar that has lots of positive feedback, and seems rational. But for now, I'll stick with butternut - it's easy to roast, and tastes a lot like sweet potatoes.

Celeriac and friends

Nothing really photo-worthy today, other than this gorgeous monstrosity... I am still sick, and I was feeling a bit grumpy, so I made a list (!) and stuck to it.

Today's (small) greenmarket haul:
2 big celeriac (about 3 lbs.)
5 sweet potatoes
1 butternut squash
1 bag spinach
1 bunch green chard
1 bunch red chard
1 extremely expensive organic leek
4 Empire apples
total spent: $25

Plans include: celeriac risotto, finally, which will use the celeriac and leeks; spicy oven-roasted sweet potatoes from a Recipezaar recipe; oven-roasted butternut squash; and I'll have greens and white beans, tofu, or grain sausage alongside. It's going to be a good week, I think.

Frozen spinach: meh

Shocking news: frozen spinach sucks compared to fresh spinach.

Okay, I'm not surprised. But I had the Trader Joe's "organic flash-frozen" kind left over from the e.coli scare, and wanted a green with dinner...it was okay, but it was just so...blah. I sauteed it like usual, and it didn't take long - and when it cooked up, it certainly looked like regular cooked spinach - but the texture was a bit spongy, and the taste just bland. Meh.

Acorn squash: meh

I think acorn squash, the very mention of which sends my dear mother into raptures, is one of those things that needs piles of seasoning and butter in order to taste good. We had it baked last night, and it was fine, but just not...powerful. Then again, there's also the chance that nothing is quite tasting as much as it ought to me right now, since I'm sick.

Luckily, I realized that today before overseasoning my black beans into oblivion. Though I don't think I had quite enough peppers for this batch - four jalapenos, two roasted Anaheims and two roasted poblanos. I needed something with more punch.

But I do like baked things in fall, and as my veggie options are rapidly becoming limited, I will undoubtedly try acorn squash again. Butternut has been getting nothing but raves, so tomorrow I'll pick up another, and try the latest squash variety I've got my eye on: spaghetti. I'm also planning on getting more celeriac (a surprise hit!) to make the risotto recipe I found on epicurious, though it includes a weird-sounding "pesto" made of the celeriac tops...which I will eschew this time, not least because I have no food processor.

And sweet potatoes. I have about 20 delicious-sounding sweet potato recipes. I see my fall/winter meals shaping up to be basically all the same: starchy squash/root vegetable dish of some sort, dark green leafy, and a protein - tofu, other meat sub, or beans. Perhaps I'll be able to branch out into soups soon enough...

Too many guests, not enough time

We had multiple houseguests this weekend, which meant no room for photos on Saturday morning...and no time to describe the goods. However, here's a recap.

Monday evening, we had roasted winter vegetables, from guidelines I found on Recipezaar: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and celeriac, all cut into 1"-ish cubes, drizzled with olive oil and tossed w/ salt and pepper. Accompanying were sauteed chard and pan-fried tofu. The vegetables turned out wonderful - and the celeriac was loved all around, so I'll have to get more next time. It was quite satisfying to peel off the hairy rooty outer layer and make a smoothly faceted orb.

Last night we had oven-roasted green beans with crispy, browned garlic slices and parmesan alongside our ravioli with tomato sauce; I'm so glad it's roasting season, so I can make my favorite green beans again! I roasted nearly two pounds, thinking we would have leftovers...but instead, we ate them all. For dessert, baked apples - I used the Mutsus, cored them, cut away a 1/2" strip around the middle to avoid splitting, rubbed the insides with cinnamon, stood them up in aluminum-foil cups in a baking dish, and filled the centers with brown sugar and a little butter.

Otherwise, we've had greenmarket baby lettuce salads for lunch, and greenmarket spinach everywhere possible...tomorrow night, I'll be trying out the Brussels sprouts recipe my friend Kris gave me, along with acorn squash, last week's tricolor fingerling potatoes, and some grain sausage.

More guests this weekend, but I'll try to do photos nonetheless.

World's greatest leftovers

Butternut squash risotto is terrific leftover, which is lucky because my recipe ended up making about 8 servings. I had some for lunch today, topped with cooked spinach, and it was perfect. This week has been hectic, but tonight I'm going to prep some lunch veggies and make plans for Thursday dinner...

Risotto & dinner success; deals; grapes

Last night's dinner was a smashing success. Our apartment was too dark for effective picture taking, but the butternut squash risotto alongside garlicky spinach with grain sausage plated quite prettily. The risotto was very good, but next time I'll change a few things - add a little squash, simmer the squash innards with the broth as the recipe instructs for flavor, and use 1/2 to 1/3 the lemon juice I used this time. The slightly too bright flavor imparted by the lemon juice isn't bad, or bitter, as I feard it might be, just a little too much.

And, speaking of spinach, I weighed the $2 bag of "tender young spinach leaves" I bought at the greenmarket, and found that it's about 17 oz - so I used 1/3 of it for last night's repast. But what a deal! Usually, a 6 oz. back of baby spinach leaves is around $2.50 at Trader Joe's, and $4 at most stores. And this spinach was really terrific, and even pre-washed (though I did rinse and spin it again). Not to mention, it's locally grown, so won't have come from one of the Salinas Valley farms that supplied the e.coli-contaminated bagged spinach. (Don't get me wrong; I love the Salinas Valley. But those are some big farms - anyone who's driven the 101 a few hundred times knows it.)

We brought some of the grapes to the movies last night, and this morning I remembered the name of the variety - Canadice - which have an odd woodiness or spiciness to them, but which are quite good nonetheless. Their insides are softer than ordinary table grapes, so they "peel themselves" when you bite down on them. Luckily their peel has a nice tart flavor. I need to investigate the grape season, to see how long we'll have this fresh fruit option. I don't want to think about what's going to happen when there's nothing left...

A chilly autumnal harvest at USG

It was a chilly morning, and I was sleepy and underdressed, hoping it would warm up (no dice). But once I had some coffee (at Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man choco-emporium), I felt better. And once I walked into USG and noticed all the new fall vegetables, I got excited, for the first time, about the prospect of squash, root vegetables, hearty greens, and - of course - more apples.

Today's cornucopia:
Dried oregano and rosemary
1 butternut squash
1 bunch carrots
1 lb. green beans
1 bag spinach
3 heirloom sweet potatoes
1 lb. mixed fingerling potatoes
1 basket shallots
1 lb. red seedless grapes
8 apples (Mutsu, Honeycrisp, Jonamac, Empire)
Total spent: about $37

I've got a Cook's Illustrated recipe for butternut squash risotto, so I'll try that - perhaps served with grain sausage and spinach. The green beans and apples are for lunches, and I'll roast the carrots. Sweet potatoes will be baked and mashed, while the adorable tiny tri-color fingerlings I'll just roast with olive oil, rosemary, and salt.

The proliferation of oven-ready vegetables is a good indication of my current mindset - I'm ready to hibernate, but since I can't, cozying up with a blanket on the couch while a low-maintenance dinner spends an hour or so in the oven is the next best thing.

Last week's promises proved empty: I didn't get any celeriac, because I was tempted by squash and sweet potatoes and didn't want to go overboard; and applesauce will have to wait another week. I just didn't have it in me to carry all those apples along with my already-heavy haul. Though I'm thinking a combination of Mutsu and Macintosh will make a lovely sauce, when I do get to it.

Items: spinning greens; brown rice

Item: I caved and bought a salad spinner. It's come in handy pretty much every day since I've had it, for salads and for greens. As I was spinning my de-stemmed tat soi dry this evening, I realized I haven't mentioned this yet. Even better, I bought it at the luxuriant Sur La Table; it's Oxo and terrific (see photo). There, are you happy? I have a salad spinner, and I'm not ashamed. Okay, I'm a little ashamed. But I'm working through it. [In related tat soi news, I have been scooped by Jack Bishop in A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen, who recommends tat soi for all the reasons I'm trying it.]

UPDATE: Tat so and tofu stir-fry was perfect. Tat soi is delicious and mild, with a spiciness that complements the Asian flavors of soy sauce, garlic, and honey. I'm going to have to get more this week.

Item: Every cookbook/recipe seems to have its own method for cooking "troublesome" brown rice. I don't get it. Cooking brown rice is easy, so long as you don't cook too much at once, or try to cook it too quickly. Plus, since brown rice isn't just starch, you can stir it without fear of turning it mushy. Here's my brown rice method, which has never let me down, and which doesn't take the "at least 40 minutes" most folks claim it needs - just don't cook more than a cup (which will serve at least four people) at a time - and you'll be fine. I can't remember where I learned to saute the dry rice in oil before adding water, but it makes all the difference in the world as far as flavor and even cooking.
Foolproof brown rice:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup brown rice
2+ cups water
salt to taste (1/4 tsp or so)
Heat oil at medium-high in straight-sided 10" saute pan (preferred) or heavy 3-quart saucepan. Add rice, stirring, until most grains are browned and rice smells nutty and delicious. Turn down heat to low and add water - be careful! The pan is still really hot, and water will steam. Add salt, stir, and cover pot. Simmer until water is nearly gone; test a few grains for doneness; if still crunchy, add a few tbsp. water and continue cooking until done, about 20-30 minutes total.

I love peppers! And dinners!

Saturday afternoon, I roasted peppers and called my mom. When I told her what I was doing while we were on the phone, she said "weren't you doing that last time we talked?" She was right - I roast peppers pretty much every week now, and I talk to my parents on the phone every week. They're easy things to do at the same time.

This time, I was roasting the three poblanos, two Anaheims, and three "El Diablero" peppers. The Anaheims were hotter than I expected - about the same as the El Diableros - so I ended up only using the poblanos, Anaheims, and one of the El Ds in my big pot of black beans (5 cans; I make extra to freeze), as well as three small, unroasted jalapenos. So I have two leftover roasted peppers for the next giant pot of black beans. This batch was especially great. The combination of all the different peppers made the beans spicy and smoky - just extremely flavorful. Otherwise, just shallots, garlic, cumin, and oregano - the chiles did most of the work.

So for dinner Saturday night, we had black bean tacos with garlicky chard and golden tomatoes. Wonderful! I suspected that the chard's hearty texture would work well with the black beans, and I was right. Usually I add spinach to my black bean tacos, but the chard was even better in this case; its natural bitterness was mostly masked by the flavorful beans. I would have taken photos of our colorful plates...but everything smelled too good to wait.

Sunday night we went to Diner in Williamsburg, where I hadn't been in a long time. Their menu is quite meat- and seafood-heavy, but can always be counted on for some excellent vegetable dishes. We shared a cheese plate, and I had a brilliant tomato salad with black olives and grilled haloumi, a Greek cheese I've wanted to try since reading about it in a cookbook, as well as a side of greens. The tomatoes were terrific on their own, but the salty/meaty olive tapenade and the smoky grilled cheese combined to make the salad spectacular. We were so pleased with ourselves for our healthy restaurant dinner (he had tomato-eggplant soup and a green salad) that we went a bit crazy and got the chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Of that, the less said the better - it was extremely delicious, what with the fresh whipped cream and all.

Thursday I'm planning the tofu and tat soi wraps, or maybe we'll just have a simple stir-fry over rice. I hear spinach is back some places, but I've been meaning to try new dark green leafies regardles...

One faux pas, but an otherwise uneventful trip

Green, green, green. Everything other than the squash is green these days, and half of it is bell peppers (which I hate), and broccoli (which I love, but which I can't buy because my photo assistant hates it). Maybe it was because I got up too early, but I had an unfortunately blah trip to the USG today...but I still managed to make some interesting choices.



Today's (mostly-green) selections:
1/2 lb. salad mix
1/3 lb tat soi
1 bunch Swiss chard
3 zucchini
4 assorted peppers - Anaheim and "El Diablero"
3 poblano(?) peppers
1 lb. seedless green grapes
1.5 lbs. nectarines
10 assorted apples - Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Macintosh, Macoun
1.5 lbs. whole wheat flour
Total spent: $36

The apples are for lunches - though I'm almost ready to settle down and make some applesauce. Maybe next week...though I don't look forward to carrying 15 lbs. of apples home on the L train! The Mutsus seem to be likely applesauce candidates, but I'm trying multiple varieties this week. Usually I use two types of apples in my applesauce, and nothing else.

I'll use the peppers like I did those from week before last - roasted in a big pot of black beans. The combination of poblanos and Hatch chiles I had last time was terrific, so this time I wanted to try new varieties. The Anaheims are mild, and the "El Diablero" were labeled medium, despite the ominous name. The poblanos I bought bagged, and there's about a 30% chance they're actually just very-dark green bell peppers. Luckily I have peppers to spare, in case they prove unusable.

The two dark green leafies will, once again, be used instead of my dear spinach; last week's chard wasn't as bitter as I expected. I heard about tat soi on a food blog message board as an alternative to spinach. Raw, it tastes a bit like a really mild sorrel. The tat soi, which I got from the weirdly antiseptic "microgreens" vendor I'd never bought from before, was the reason for my USG faux pas. I picked up a leaf to sniff it, to see if it smelled bitter or spicy, when one of the proprietors ran over. "Please don't touch anything!" she said, in a terribly alarmed tone, and threw away the leaf I'd touched. "Everything's washed." I apologized, and wanted to leave without buying anything, because of her unfriendly, accusatory tone, but I had to try the tat soi. Her attack wouldn't have been so offensive if there had been any signage up anywhere in their stand notifying customers not to touch the produce, but there weren't. It's the greenmarket. People touch stuff! But all their produce looked nice and clean, so maybe she had a point.

I'm not a huge fan of grapes, but my photo assistant is, so I bought him some seedless green ones (next time I'll remember the exact variety) as a surprise. We'll see what he thinks. The sample I had just tasted like grapes. As far as fruit goes, the options are rapidly diminishing. Peaches weren't looking very inspirational, so I went with some little organic nectarines - the kind that are "so organic that they're all blemished, but in a lovable way" - as well as the aforementioned apples and grapes.

In general, I've known "the change" would happen - fall, then winter, with fewer and fewer produce options - but that doesn't make me any happier about it. I'm going to have to start researching squash recipes in earnest; pumpkins and the like have been taking up more and more greenmarket real estate every week. Though I'm looking forward to getting to make soups, stews, and baked goods now that the weather's cooled off, it's hard to accept that berries are gone until next year, that tomatoes will soon be unavailable, that soon enough the last of the corn will disappear. But I'm optimistic that fall/winter will force me to try/enjoy more new vegetables than ever...next week I'm starting with celeriac!

"Honeycrisp" indeed!

Yesterday, I cut up one of the Honeycrisps for my lunchtime apple slices - a more aptly -named apple has ne'er been seen. I shared with my record-store coworker Koen, and we were both enamored of the things. So crisp, so sweet, but with enough tartness to keep things interesting - I'll definitely be stocking up on this apple next week!

Getting out of my USG rut

It sounds simple, but I started on the other end of the greenmarket today. Usually, by the time I slog my way through from the lower, southwestern corner, up to the bend, I've already got bagsful of produce - out of room, patience, and money. And it worked! I ended up finding lots of new apple varieties, and buying my "staples" from different vendors than usual, with the exception of peppers (I had a great conversation with the fellow at my usual pepper stand), shallots, and herbs.



My more-eclectic-than-usual take:
1 bunch fresh basil
1 bunch fresh oregano
6 apples, various types (among them Honeycrisp, Macintosh, Jonamac...)
3 peaches
2 purple plums
2 nectarines
4 shallots
2 heads Rocambole garlic
1 lb. green beans
1 bunch kale
3 Poblano peppers
3 Hatch chiles
5 jalapeno peppers
total spent: about $28

Three of the shallots, half a head of garlic, and most of the fresh herbs have already been simmering in my tomato sauce for a few hours, with unsurprisingly delicious results. (And I now know why most people don't use fresh oregano - after you've rinsed and dried what feels like 1000 little stalks, you have to pluck ten or so delicate, fuzzy leaves from each, then chop all of it somehow.)

Kale was a risk, but since I don't like Swiss chard, and spinach might poison me, I had to do something green and leafy. Luckily, Recipezaar provided a really great-sounding recipe for white beans and kale, so I'll try that one of these nights. The recipe couldn't get more wintry, unless it were served in a butternut squash bowl.

The green beans will have their usual fate - blanched, cold, for lunch snacks - and all the peppers will end up in a gigantic pot of black beans. I'll roast the Poblano and Hatch (as my pepper guy instructed), and probably won't use all the jalapenos, though they are little (and were 5 for $1).

Last week's early goldens weren't as crisp and sweet as before I went on vacation, so I eschewed them entirely in favor of a mixed bag of "crisp"-promising varieties. The Macintoshes I picked up last week were terrific (and I got a couple more this time around), though I feel a bit mainstream saying so.

Speaking of mainstream, I bought Kitchen Confidential today, and I'm devouring it, despite Bourdain being a semi-sexist vegetarian-hater. (I think he just hates vegetarians who are irritating about it when they're at restaurants. But who doesn't?)

Drool-worthy heirloom tomatoes

These lovelies were harvested by pal Matthew Taylor in his New Mexico garden (not only a green thumb, but a talented member of rock band Bellini). Tomato varieties include black plum, green zebra, roma, yellow pear, and sungold.


Here's a shot of some of his tomato plants and basil plants (he grows three varieties!) growing together.

Just my luck

Of course all my plums ripened at the same time. After the tragic loss of two peaches to some sort of gross fuzzy mold thing, I have been longing for some fresh fruit for dessert...and now I've got it tenfold. The "yellow egg" plums are tasty - not superior like the Green Gage, but still very flavorful. Good thing, too, since I have five of them to eat with lunch!

How can I miss you if you don't go away?

Back to the dear, dear USG today after weeks of questionable eating. But while in Cali, I had some really delicious strawberries and pluots (sexy hybrids like that never make it eastward, it seems), as well as all the ripe, buttery avocadoes I wanted, which was lots.


I came home with:
4 "Early Golden" apples
2 Macintosh apples
2 zucchini
1/2 lb. yellow snap beans
1 1/2 lb. green beans
3 peaches
1 lb. "Yellow Egg" plums
2 ears yellow corn
3 tomatoes
2 Poblano peppers
1 Anaheim chile
1 lb. fingerling potatoes
Total spent: about $30

The peppers will go in a pot of black beans, the tomato, corn, and zucchini will comprise another (late-)summer saute, and I'll roast the potatoes in the oven with olive oil and salt (as the sign over the bin recommended). I usually try to avoid the simple starches, but the potato vendor had so many beautiful varieties that I couldn't resist, and it was easy to choose fingerlings of the same size for even roasting.

I'll boil the green beans quickly with salt, and keep them cold for lunches, as a substitute for edamame (we eat quite enough soy in this family) - and, of course, the apples will be slices for lunch. The Early Goldens are absolutely my favorite - so crisp and sweet-tart! - so I hope they stay around for awhile...but I'm going to try a different variety also each week.

The plums were a total gamble - I have no idea what they'll be like, but their color was similar to my beloved Green Gage plums, so I went for it. You'd think my spotty plum history would advise caution in this type of decision, but I was still dizzy with joy at my return to the greenmarket when I hit the Red Jacket Orchards stand. The yellow snap beans were $6/lb., but I couldn't resist getting a few - and, once again, the boy who sold 'em to me was a bright-eyed cutie of about 22. What is it with snap beans and good-looking boys?

vegetable vacation

No Greenmarket this week. I'll be in sunny California, eating peaches and avocadoes by the dozen!

I was so wrong!

I take back everything I said about you, plums. These Green Gage plums are so delicious. Forgive me!!!

Beets update

If someone had told me 20 years ago that cooked beets just taste like corn, but purple and with a hint of dirt flavor, I would have been eating them this whole time. I like beets! I'm not afraid to say it, people. Beets are delicious, and I like them. And my weird dinner isn't so weird, after all. It looked quite traditional on the plate.