making do makes awesome

i love cooking. and i love trying new things. but i hate making umpteen trips to the store—and try as i might, i never seem to be able to get it all in one fail swoop.

so what happens? this leads to:
a lot of riffing on recipes.
and a lot of trips to the store.
a lot of ingredient-specific schemes.

sunday night, was an extremely rare occasion where i cooked an entire amazing meal without having to leave my house for a single ingredient. three cheers!

what did i concoct?

• using two frightingly large zuchinni's that i let get away from me, and some whithering green onions, i whipped these zuchinni fritters out. 
• tomato salad: finally hot enough, we are awash in tomatoes and a smattering of basil. basil, tomatoes, stale bread? check!
• two weeks ago at the market i bought green beans. last week, potatoes. scrounge up the last of my garden arugula and plain yogurt, and the green bean potato salad was in business.
• thank goodness for some awesome cut-and-come-again kale, and having my own chickens: this kale slaw was awesome. [i forewent the anchovies, for the sake of convenience and my vegetarian friends.]
• and then, meatloaf. this is the best recipe i've ever used meatloaf.

Dark Days #2: Refreshing solstic breakfast

this morning i was up at 5 am and out the door to a Winter Solstice celebration put on by a friend—108 Sun Salutations to clear out the cobwebs of negativity and move into the new year revitalized.

it was oh so heavenly.

i came home feeling so lovely and calm and bright.
and i thought, today is an 'only good stuff' day.

so today i nourished my body with homemade yogurt and granola with frozen raspberries.

the yogurt i made yesterday—in fact i pulled it from its incubation right before i left for yoga. the milk is from a dairy in touchet, which is only 15 minutes away and i used a starter my parents gave me. after all my intimidation, making yogurt was incredibly easy and i am so happy to have had a successful first go of it.

the raspberries came from my grandmother's backyard and we're frozen for future deliciousness.

the granola i made up specifically for dark days: bob's red mill oats (closest to local), homemade fruit butter and honey, and a smattering of spices (nutmeg, cinnamon). i used this recipe as an approximation (i left out the fruit and nuts, although i have a source for local walnuts for next time):

Fruit Butter Granola

• 5 cups rolled oats

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• ¾ tsp. salt

• ¾ cup brown sugar

• ¾ cup fruit butter (blueberry, pear)
• ¼ cup maple syrup
 (honey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins)

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, fruit butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist. Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven, stir in dried cranberries and almonds. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Winter Solstice to Everyone! The days will only get longer now!

homemade christmas

i've been a flurry of homemade gift activity.

i think part of it is that i fret that a jar, or two, of something handmade won't please my family. i think my friends will appreciate it, but my family—well i've known them since the age of rampant materialistic gift-giving so i haven't quite gotten it out of my mind that that is what they want.

so thursday night i put on some music and whipped up some:

• homemade peanut butter doggy treats for my fur-loving friends
• homemade playdough for my neice and nephew
• lavender-vanilla simple syrup

this weekend i'll have a few more items i want to make, as well as coming up with recipes and labels for the items i am giving away. i have a busy weekend of holiday social parties so i am not sure how i will fit it all in. its hard to want to do two such different activities at the same time.

if i had thought ahead of time, i would have kept track of everything i've spent. but given that i have enough items to gift dozens (yes, multiple!) of friends and family, i think i am still ahead of the game.

winter recipes

i did more than just watch the birds over the holiday break.

Roasted Parsnip Soup

• 2 pound(s) (small) parsnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup(s) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
• 2/3 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 1 stalk(s) celery, cut into small pieces
• 1  bay leaf
• 1 1/2 quart(s) vegetable broth

Toss the parsnips in olive oil and salt, and Roast in the oven at 350 degrees F. Shake the pan or occasionally to turn them, until tender and easily pierced with a fork — about 60 minutes.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook until translucent and softened — about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsnips, bay leaf, and broth, and increase the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low, partially cover the pot and simmer until the parsnips fall apart easily — about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

Puree the mixture in a blender, in 2-cup batches, until smooth. Return the soup to the pot over low heat and stir occasionally until warmed through. You can use milk or water to thin it out. Soup may be cooled and stored refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Garlic Mashed Parsnip Potatoes
Boil peeled and chopped parsnips and potatoes (3 parsnips for every two potatoes) with 3 cloves of garlic until tender. Drain. Mash with 2 tbsps of butter and 1/4 tsp of salt.

Pumpkin Butter
3 ½ cups fresh pumpkin purée*
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place all the ingredients in a medium saucepot and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Reduce the heat to low and, stirring often, simmer until thickened and glossy, about 10 minutes if using canned pumpkin and 20 minutes if using fresh. Cool to room temperature. Store in airtight containers (see note) in the refrigerator.

*Now, when I made the puree, I drained it as per the instructions at local kitchen. So when I put everything together, it didn't look like anything that would 'boil'. Several times I added some of the pumpkin juice that I had drained off and if you don't have that handy, I would go for apple juice or cider. In the end I cooked it until it was nice and glossy and I liked the flavor (I added pinches of nutmeg, cloves and ginger).

fall weekends

spent a weekend canning.

• ginger garlic plum sauce
• plum chutney
• applesauce
• dilled tomatoes
• curried tomato relish

the entire endeavor becomes meditative when you have an entire day to dedicate it (or two.) it becomes cycles of chopping, simmering, boiling, pouring and timing. much of it could be done from the comfort of my couch, lazy dramas playing out on the television and fall scenes playing out the front door.

the applesauce came out pink, which tickles me likewise. the plums smelled heavenly as they simmered, and i think i can rest easy that i have put my green tomatoes to good use. my cabinet is filled with beautiful jars.

it was a weekend well spent.

an ambitious fall

perhaps i just do better in fall. but, perhaps i just can't remember last summer.
either way, i feel infinitely more in tune with september. i have five quarts of tomato sauce in the freezer, four quarts of frozen corn, four jars of pickles and seven jars of salsa.

and i'm not done yet—!


starting on monday and continuing through the week i have plans to make:

• applesauce
• curried green tomatoes
• canned tomatillo salsa
• pickled jalapenos
• pickled red onions
• nectarine jam (or jelly?)
• whole tomatoes
• (possibly) more salsa or ketchup?
• infused liquors (pear, hot pepper, other)

roasting a chicken on monday too. looking forward to it.

somehow the whole allure of canning—rooted to the kitchen, doing as much as you can before things go bad, looking towards the colder months on the horizon—resonates with me.

cooking from the market

my recent trip to seattle kicked off my farmer's market season and i've been dutifully following up in town. it is such a refreshing change of pace to buy fresh vegetables every week and create meals accordingly. eating seasonally is so joyful, each month brings a new surprise.

i thought i would share some of what i've been whipping up in the kitchen.

yellow curry with broccoli raab, leeks and potatoes
1 bunch broccoli raab cut into 1" pieces
2 small leeks, sliced
5 small potatoes in 1" chunks
garlic
ginger
jar of Trader Joe's yellow curry sauce
plain yogurt
white rice

• blanch broccoli raab and submerge in cold water, drain and set aside.
• add 2tbs of oil to a wok, add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant
• add leeks and cook a couple of minutes
• add potatoes. stir and cover. cook until soft, stirring occasionally.
• in a bowl, mix curry sauce with 1 c. yogurt and .5 cup water—add yogurt or water to adjust consistency and mix well.
• add sauce into wok and heat through.
• add raab and heat through.
• enjoy! serve with white rice.

nettle pesto on angel hair pasta
1 bag of stinging nettles
1.5 c. toasted walnuts
1 c. asiago cheese
garlic clove
olive oil

• carefully steam nettles for 5 minutes (don't touch them!)
• place steamed de-stinging nettles with walnuts, cheese and garlic in a food processor and pulse until well chopped.
• add olive oil while running food processor to achieve desired consistency
• viola!

roasted sunchokes
sunchokes
olive oil
fresh rosemary
garlic

• scrub sunchokes well and cut into even sized chunks
• toss will olive oil, salt and chopped rosemary
• spread on baking sheet with whole, peeled garlic cloves
• bake in oven at 400 under crispy and tender inside

rhubarb simple syrup
4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

• boil sugar & water until clear
• add rhubarb and simmer until rhubarb has broken down
• remove rhubarb and/or strain
• use in cocktails or to make fresh rhubarb lemonade

this week i bought spinach, rhubarb, onions and dried local chickpeas—and am still working on the hummus, radishes and arugula from the week before. (i even have a few sweet potatoes from seattle.) next weekend i'll be in portland and i am really hoping to find some fava beans and pea shoots more than anything. oh, and pine state biscuit of course.

i highly encourage folks to shop their markets and eat accordingly. it is a lot of fun and instills a sense of adventure in the kitchen. i'd love to hear what everyone else is coming up with too...do tell!

souplalalouza

it all started with Not Eating Out in New York—the blog, not the act. (though i will say that i really truly wanted to go to New York and cook my meals and no one was interested, despite all being poor and hip epicureans.*)

last week i caught their post about the yellow split-pea soup with smoked paprika and crisped leeks. it looked good, i tagged it for further review. a day later i check it out again and it simply sounds amazing, and i think, i've got to make this.

not long after i begin plotting to make some delicious split-pea soup, did the words 'celeriac soup' pop into my head and were shortly followed by 'white bean'. and suddenly Souplalouza (aka souplalalouza) was born.

my initial intent had been to hole up in my house and cook, cook, cook.
but my twenties got the best of me, and instead i slowly puttered here and there with the soup—taking the easy way on the split pea soup and using the slow cooker, cooking the beans two days before the squash—you get the drift.

i finally completed all the soups this monday evening while cleaning the house after a fairly raucous sunny sunday. my slow, drawn-out, process made for a slightly less impressive post but life is life, and i still found it to be a superbly satisfying sensory experience.

yellow split-pea soup ala slow cooker
2 cups yellow split peas
6 cups of vegetable stock
2 cups of water
1 white onion (sliced thin with the food processor)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste
*my homemade stock was heavy on the thyme, so i didn't use additional seasonings, but go for it!

• place all ingredients in slow cooker.
• cook in slow cooker on low for 10 hours.

for the topping
1 leek, sliced

• preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
• coat the round slices of one leek with olive oil and place down on a roasting tray. sprinkle with salt. 
• bake about 15 minutes, checking after 10 minutes. 
• remove from oven and let cool once evenly brown.

white bean and squash soup 
(inspired from Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food)
2 cups of white beans (navy), soaked overnight
3 cups of vegetable broth
1 medium squash (sweet meat), peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3-4 sage leaves
2 bay leaves
1 large onion, sliced thinly

• cook soaked beans in broth, adding 4 cups of water. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, begin checking after 20 minutes for tenderness. save cooking liquid.
• sautee sage, bay and onion in olive oil until onions are tender.
• add squash, sauteeing five minutes and salting to taste.
• add six cups of cooking liquid from the beans to the pot and simmer until squash is tender (15-20).
• once tender, stir in the beans and season to taste.

roasted celeriac soup ala slow cooker
(what can i say, slow cookers are simply awesome for soups)
1 celeriac (about 1.5 lbs before trimming and peeling), peeled and chopped

3 leeks, white and light green parts sliced

1 small potato, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

2 1/4 c vegetable broth

salt and pepper

• preheat oven to 350ºF. toss celeriac with 1 tbs oil and roast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
  
• add celeriac to slow cooker with remaining ingredients, cook on high for 3 hours (until tender).
  
• once tender, use immersion blender to puree soup.
  
• if desired, add cream or milk and blend. season to taste

*scratch that, i did have one home-cooked pasta meal before rushing out to an improv show, kudos laurel!

vegetarian enchiladas

until last thursday, i had never made enchiladas in my life.

when i searched my go-to recipe books: The Joy of Cooking and Best New Recipe, and found nothing—i was miffed. when the inquiries to friends and family came up empty, i was intimidated. i just make them. she just makes them. just stuff tortillas and cover them in sauce. 

turns out that i don't start well without instruction.
the vegetarian requirement wasn't helping me out much either.

eventually, i just jumped in. and this is what i came up with:

enchilada sauce (c/o emeril lagasse )

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup chili powder (could easily use less)
• 2 cups chicken (vegetable) stock
• 10 ounces tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

in a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. cook for 1 minute. add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. stir to combine. bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. the sauce will thicken and smooth out. adjust the seasonings. serve atop your favorite enchiladas.
enchilada filling

• 1 med/large onion, chopped
• 1+ cup (frozen) corn
• 1 can black beans, rinsed thoroughly
• 3-4 cups spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 2 cups cheese, shredded (pepper jack, queso fresco, cheddar—any will work)

in saucepan, heat a tablespoon or so of oil. add onion and cook until soft and translucent. toss in frozen corn, stir and cook a bit longer. after a few minutes, add beans. after a few more minutes, add chopped spinach and stir. allow spinach to wilt a little and turn bright green—i like to turn the heat off and cover with a saucepan lid for a few minutes. once the spinach bright and limp, remove pan from heat.

assembly

using a frying pan or oven, heat up corn tortillas until soft enough to mold. fill each tortilla with filling, add some cheese and place in casserole. filling should easily fill 8-10 corn tortillas. cover tortillas with sauce, and additional grated cheese. cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbling with melted cheese. let set for a few minutes before dishing up.

my only notes would be that the sauce was very spicy. it could have easily been made with less chili powder and in the future i might sauté some peppers before getting it going for an additional level of flavor. otherwise, quite delicious. already making plans to cook up and freeze several batches.

success!!!

my basic quiche

i am always surprised when i bring a quiche and am received with ooh's, aah's and recipe requests. but then i remember that there was a time when i referred the recipe books for quiche. i think that was about two years ago.

i expect my basic quiche resembles this:

• 7-9 eggs + 1-2 cups of milk, whisked together thoroughly
• 1 onion, sauteed + additional vegetables, also sauteed.*
• 1 cup of grated cheese
• 1 pre-made pie dough shell (i get plenty of compliments)
• herbs. garlic? thyme? sage? rosemary? dill? fresh? dried?
• smattering of salt and pepper
  

*sauteing vegetables pulls some of their water content out, helping keep your quiche from being soggy.

combine all the above in a pie pan and bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean—viola!

the only other tricks i have to share is that i have been known to do an egg wash (yolk+water) on the pie shell before adding the filling and i often use a baking stone in the oven, allowing it 30 minutes or so to warm up in the oven. both of these are touted as helping keep the bottom crust from being soggy.

beyond that i am simply creative based on what i have on hand, what sounds good and what is in season.

Dark Days #10: Quiche with Carmelized Onions and (Oven) Dried Tomatoes

at the start of the (literal) dark days i was lazy and did not outfit my chickens with a light—boy, did i feel the pain.

after a couple of weeks where two eggs a day was a miracle, i gave in.
and was rewarded in abundance:

i'm collected approximately fourteen eggs a day

so for this week's Dark Days Challenge i thought i would make quiche. it is an old standby of mine, but the Dark Days Challenge threw me the new experience of making pie crust from scratch.

and...well, i cheated. after diligently reading Julia Child's pate frisee recipe i admited to myself that i just didn't have the attention span. so i pulled out my food processor cookbook and whipped up some pie dough in a matter of minutes. given that i also made bread, applesauce and one napkin this weekend...i think a shortcut to some pie dough is reasonable.

so sunday afternoon after a leisurely (and chilly) bicycle ride around town, i came home and rolled out my dough while the red onions we grew at the farm slowly carmelized in the pan. towards the end of their cooking i threw in some garlic grown over at milt's farm in milton-freewater and the tomatoes that i had grown and dried myself this summer.

the eggs were from my backyard and the milk once again from pure eire.

quiche is easily one of my favorite foods and i make it often enough that my recipe resembles an experiment each time. i will make sure to post my method soon, but for this evening i don't have enough energy.

given that i have six dozen or so eggs still awaiting my attention, i am sure that i will have many more chances to go into greater detail. for now, just know it was delicious.

Dark Days #6: Pumpkin Curry Soup

so i missed the last two weeks of the Dark Days Challenge. i think if i missed any more the project would be dead in the water, so i am pushing myself to complete the challenge this holiday week.

there is nothing more cold-weather than a hot bowl of soup.
this winter so far i have already made tomato soup, lentil soup, cream of broccoli soup and cream celeriac soup. two of these were Dark Days meals. i have mixed feelings about this. am i using soup as a crutch? well, a crutch: a thing used for support or reassurance. my pumpkin curry soup got me through a hard spot of Dark Days meals, so i'll concede it to be a crutch and be thankful for it.

...of course this means that my meal next week better be no less than awesome.

pumpkin curry soup
8 cups chopped fresh pumpkin (about 3 pounds)
4 cups vegetable broth
3 small tart apples, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tsp. curry powder (or to taste)
1 tbsp. fresh minced ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cayenne
pinch of cumin

In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine all ingredients.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pumpkin and apples are tender.
Blend using a stick immersion blender, garnish with roasted/salted pumpkin seeds.

it was spicy—! but delicious. and i have to admit that i felt like i was cheating since i used a slow cooker.

but i didn't, because all the ingredients (save for the broth, spices and the pumpkin seeds). the apples came from davis farms and everything else came from sarah's. i actually planted, ho'ed and harvested the pumpkin which i made into this delicious soup. i have to say that feels nice.

Dark Days Challenge #3: Cream of Celeriac Soup

a good friend made this soup and ever since that night i knew it would make it to my dark days menu, but had yet to find the time to focus on the recipe and do it well. after the rush of the holidays, i decided this week was the one.

cream of celeriac soup
4 tbl butter and 4 tbl flour. make a rue.
add 1 cup chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic. sautee for a few minutes.
add 3 cups of milk and stir for 15 minutes until thickened.
add one pound of chopped celerac 1/2 cup of diced carrot and 1 cup of broth.
cook for 20 minutes.
season with salt and pepper.
add 3 ounces of cream.
blend with the immersion blender and add more broth if needed.

i decided to keep it simple and served it with baguette from the delicatessen from downtown with melted cheese. and then, while i was thawing the large container of homemade vegetable broth that i made awhile back i thought what the heck?! let's do stuffing! and that got thrown into the mix as well. here is the recipe, (which i halved on the butter and bread) with my own changes added in italics:

vegetarian stuffing
the best vegetarian stuffing ever
provided by Emily Farris, author of "Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven"

2 sticks salted butter
3 tablespoons fresh, chopped sage
1 large, white (red) onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
3 stalks celery finely chopped (omitted)
(half of a turnip, chopped)
2 apples, chopped (with skins)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 loaf day-old french bread (local harvest wheat bread)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (omitted)
salt
pepper

preheat oven to 350ºF.

melt butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. when the butter is melted add one tablespoon of the sage, the onion, celery and the carrot. when the onions become translucent, add the garlic, apples and salt and pepper generously, very generously. after the apples have cooked for about 2 minutes, pour the vegetable broth into the pan, season with the cayenne and more salt and pepper as needed, and let the mixture saute for 1 to 2 more minutes.

tear the bread into approximately 1/2-inch squares and place in a 2-3/4-quart casserole dish. add the cranberries and sage. remove the mixture from the stove and pour it over the bread. mix well and bake uncovered at 350ºF for about 45 minutes to an hour. for best results, stir at least once.

surprisingly, i whipped it (and dessert, cinnamon apple crumble) all up in about two hours. we enjoyed Farmstead cider from the Blue Mountain Cider Company with it.

everything was delicious. i was grateful to have made broth a few months back which immediately sent me on a hunt for a pressure canner so that i can can my own rather than freeze it (so much faster.) on other occasions we've garnished the soup with lemon and a parmesan or pecorino cheese, but i omitted both.

all the bread came from the newest bakery in town the Walla Walla Bread Company, on the baguette i melted Farmer's Cheese from Juniper Grove Farm which is outside of my zone but the cheese came from a friend who vacationed there, so again i'll make an exception.

the vegetables (celeriac, turnips, carrots, garlic and onions) came from Sarah's farm Ideal Organics; the sage from my backyard; and the milk and cream from Pure Eire Dairy. dessert was apples from Davis Orchards in Milton-Freewater and granola made locally. the butter? tillamook. not quite local and probably not quite organic, but i'm a sucker for it and it's widely available.

all in all? delicious! especially with it being 20° outside. a perfect winter meal.

Dark Days Challenge #1: Moroccan Spaghetti Squash, Roasted Beets and Garlic Lamb Sausage

as my garden waned and fall came into its full, i decided to make a bold move and sign up for the Dark Days Challenge. for two winters now i have hibernated, sedately watching dvds in my living room and bemoaning that it is dark when i leave work.

i wanted this year to be different.
i wanted to challenge myself and remain intrigued and involved in food, even if i couldn't be growing it just then.

i will readily admit that i have so far spent a fair amount of time mulling over the possibilities. realizing the foods that won't be able to make it to my S.O.L.E. table—rice was the one that came to me most recently—as well as congratulating myself on working so hard this October to put up so many tomatoes.

as of a couple of weeks ago i decided that it was fate that the Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash recipe on Smitten Kitchen fell into my lap. i have several from the farm and had been wondering what i would do with them. as a child i loved spaghetti squash for its novelty factor but as i've grown older i've mostly lost interest.

but then, i've never done much with it besides butter or tomato sauce, like i did as a child.

so i started with that and then added items as they came to me. roasted beets because they needed to be eaten and some garlic lamb sausage from Thundering Hooves to round things out.

i will throw out there that i feel incredibly lucky to be living in Walla Walla with so many wonderful local farmers and artisans around me. i have access to delicious free-range organic meats, cheeses and milks, and a bevy of organic farms and orchards in the region. my greatest hurdle will likely be grains—although i may make exceptions for locally made bread and there is a regional grain producer about 250 miles away, so there may be some stretching there. if needed.

this week has been an oddly busy one, so i didn't get myself into the kitchen until Saturday afternoon. however, i know my way around a spaghetti squash and a handful of beets, so things went quickly. i will admit i chose sausage in part because of its quick and simple preparation—but hey, i knew my week was busy.

the cooking was a chaotic experience, roommates and friends in the house fixing up their own grub (cheesy broccoli, mashed potatoes and fried chicken at that). i was admittedly both rushed and slightly inattentive.

the beets (variety: cylindra) were roasted in the oven after being tossed with olive oil and salt (neither local). i let them roast until i was almost ready to eat and then tossed them with basalmic vinegar that i had cooked with sugar and cumin in a failed attempt at a reduction sauce.

the beets in all their glory

this may speak volumes of my effort but the sausage was both the easiest and the tastiest item on my plate. i simmered it in a small frying pan in a water/cabernet juice mixture, the juice from a local wine maker. as a garnish i used a lavender mustard made from the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm.

the meal in all its glory

in the end, the initial dish—the squash—was disappointing.
verdict? mixed bag. for one, i think it was over cooked and therefore had none of the strand-y texture i was anticipating. the spice was a welcome addition but others partaking found the cumin overwhelming. perhaps i would try it again a little simpler: butter, salt, and cayenne. either way, the recipe is posted below.

i ate the meal with a friend, with our laptops on the kitchen table along with a camera, a box of satsumas, a roll of paper towels, and the makings for a gin and tonic. funky indie music, youtube videos and impromptu photoshoots were the entertainment.

to our credit, we sipped raspberry apple cider from Blue Mountain Cider Company to complete the local vibe. it was delicious.

so in the end it was not as much of a stretch to eat local but i will say that i didn't execute my game plan very well. or if it was, it wasn't very tasty. there is always next week.

recipes:
moroccan spiced spaghetti squash
1 (3 1/2- to 4-pound) spaghetti squash
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley (omitted)
Cut the squash in half length-wise, remove seeds with a spoon and roast, cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet in the oven. 375 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.
While it roasts, melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until it is barely golden. Stir in spices and salt. Remove from heat.
When the squash is done, scrape sides with a fork to loosen the insides into spaghetti-like strands.
Toss strands with spices and butter.

fall kitchen: october

last week i made a few of delicious fall dishes: tomato tart, spinach quiche, and bean soup.

the spinach quiche was loosely based off of one i found at Smitten Kitchen but either through my poor execution or the fact that it got a little singed made it mediocre compared to my other quiche endeavors. i'm not sure i am entirely sold on beating the egg mixture (perhaps they didn't mean an electric beater?)

the bean soup was based off of bob's red mill bean soup mix, with a couple of adjustments. i like having some hearty soup on hand in the fall for quick lunches. if its packed with vegetables, all the better.

bean soup recipe
2 cups 13-bean soup mix
1 tablespoon bacon grease
1 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp to 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves

wash and soak 2 cups 13 bean soup mix overnight, or fast soak.
melt bacon grease in pan, add onions and sauté until soft
bring

in a large pot, bring 2 1/2 quarts water to boil with beans. reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. add onions, and remaining ingredients. simmer 30 minutes. makes about 8 servings.

the real star though, was the tomato tart.
Elephant Delicatessen in Portland, Oregon makes a fantastic one—this is the closest i have come to replicating it.

tomato tart

tomato tart recipe 

1 pie crust
5 tomatoes
2 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 cup of gruyere, grated
1 cup of parmesan, grated
basil pesto

preheat oven to 375F.

roll out your pie crust and fit it into a fluted tart pan or pie dish.

spread your mustard on the bottom of the pie crust, follow with basil pesto or a layer of basil leaves, and top with grated cheese.

place your tomatoes in an overlapping design making a concentric circle.

top with basil, and more grated cheese

bake until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown—30 minutes or so.

fall kitchen

no sooner did i bemoan my lack of green in my kitchen than did i stumble upon two overlooked csa shares that were forgotten by their owners—score! spinach, salad greens, garlic, delicata squash and leeks, music to this girl's heart.

last night i whipped together a tasty fall quiche.

sauteed onions and leeks, a touch of garlic, wilted spinach, steamed broccoli and delicata squash. a touch of smoked aged cheddar and some backyard-fresh eggs.

i also made potato leek soup. it made the house smell amazing, but the photos weren't very enticing. i used Alice Water's recipe from The Art of Simple Food with a couple of upgrades:

2 lbs leeks, rinsed and chopped
2T butter
1 c. bacon chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1.5 lbs of potatoes, peeled and diced
6 c of broth or water (2 c. broth, 4 c. water)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
optional: 1/3 c heavy cream or evaporated milk

fry the bacon over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. add the leeks, thyme and bay. add a fair dusting of salt. saute until the leeks soften, about 10 minutes. (i threw in a little butter too.)

add the potatoes, salt them and cook for about 4 minutes. add the broth/water and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. cook until the potatoes are tender, but not quite mushy, about 30 minutes.

remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprigs. using an immersion blender in the pot, puree about half of the soup and return the puree to the pot. stir in the cream if desired, taste the soup and add salt and pepper until it is just right.

potato soup is one of my favorite fall and winter meals, i'm looking forward to lunch.

my first pickles

two weeks ago i helped harvest more than twelve bags of cucumbers from the farm, mainly picklers, and so naturally, pickles followed.

i decided to use a two-day method which sounds daunting, but isn't. (the first day all you do is brine them overnight.)

to be exact you clean up the cukes and layer them with ice, then pour cold water and 1 c. of pickling salt over them until they are covered and let brine over night. you can use a plate to keep them under the water.

i used a recipe from the ball home canning guide:

brine

• 2T pickling spice
  
• 8 c. water
  
• 6 c. white vinegar
  
• 3/4 c. pickling salt
  
• 1/4 c. sugar
  

per jar additions

• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
  
• 1t mustard seeds
  
• 1T dill seeds

after at least 12 hours (but no more than 18) i drained them, packed them in the jars and topped them with hot pickle brine. gave them the standard 1/2" headspace and water processed them for 10 minutes.

ta-da! aren't they beautiful?

tasty tuesday dinner

last night i made shredded chicken tacos. super easy.
simmered chicken thighs in water with: two bay leaves, salt, pepper, a red onion peeled and quartered, cumin and corriander. the original recipe i used said thirty minutes but i let it go an hour or longer—essentially simmering them as i cleaned the kitchen and sliced up peppers.

while the chicken cooked and cooled, i sliced up different peppers from the garden: banana, corno di torro and ancho. then i moved on to some salsa: heirloom tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, cilantro, lime, salt, pepper and one bulgarian carrot pepper (forgot the onions, whoops!).

sliced up some (purple) cabbage real thin.

threw together a simple arugula salad as well topped with lemon juice and olive oil, tossed with pine nuts and pumpkin seeds.

by the time folks arrived, the kitchen table was filled with small bowls of colorful vegetables and the chicken was ready to be shredded. with a knife, fork and little elbow grease, the chicken was ready for snacking.

tortilla+chicken+peppers+salsa+cabbage+sour cream+cheese=dinner! viola!

freezing eggplant

my past weekend was a mess of debauchery and youth.

driving out to dayton in the late evening is a beautiful experience, especially during harvest. the striped hills are like enormous polo shirts heaped across the landscape. as the sun goes down, the light makes everything look like a pastel painted jane austen background.

it was a lot of fun, but tiring, and i was glad when sunday rolled around.
my project for sunday night: blanching and freezing eggplant.

i followed these directions but after the experience i believe these may be better.
looking at the state of the eggplant after steaming them, i think 4 minutes was a little long and that the 2 minutes listed on about.com is a better choice. similarly, the second set of directions explains to put the lemon juice in the cold water bath, which also makes more sense to me.

still, they turned out all right. they will be useable and that is what counts.

and there will be plenty more chances. last night i processed six bride eggplant, one thai green eggplant and one large white patty pan squash. outside i have at least four sizeable globe eggplants that will need to be used, but i am thinking eggplant parmesan for those.

look at those beautiful babies growing

tonights project is multi-fold: freeze green beans, freeze squash, plant for fall.

cooking during the week

last night i made a tasty dinner.

caprese salad with tomatoes from the garden. i wanted to make this one from smitten kitchen, but chickened out at the last moment and went with a basic one. it was still delicious. can't go wrong.

roasted asparagus, fresh corn from the farm.
biscuits stuffed with cheese and sage. (trick? use canned biscuits and stuff/wrap them!)

and the pièce de résistance, balsamic poached chicken.
its from a recipe i found in real simple a couple of years ago. i highly recommend it.

the dinner was simple, fresh and delicious.