This meal was not really local at all, but instead of hiding our non-local . . . → Read More: The Doldrums]]> If local food folks call winter the “Dark Days”, I’m going to call spring the “Doldrums”. Stagnation, indeed! Watch out, strawberries and lettuce! I’m going to snap you up in a couple of weeks. For now, I’m thankful to have several places to by fresh, quality food, and for the skills and time to cook, so I won’t complain too much.

This meal was not really local at all, but instead of hiding our non-local eating and then forgetting to post this recipe later, I’m just going to post it now. I hope you forgive me once you try it. It’s easy peasy and delish, combining several of my favorite things – greens, soft-cooked eggs, yogurt, and butter. Mmmmmmmm! It does take a little more time than your usual egg dish (roughly 30 minutes), because the eggs bake in the oven, but you can just set a timer and then go on with your business.

Look at those yolks!! We only took one photo, because the yogurt and butter totally covered the eggs and greens making for a pretty unappetizing picture. Yummy yummy in my tummy, though!

This recipe is minimally adapted from Plenty to use ingredients we generally have on hand.

Baked Eggs with Arugula and Yogurt

Makes 2 servings

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. I used our 12-inch cast iron skillet. Add the arugula (and maybe spinach) and a pinch of salt and saute for 5-10 minutes or until the greens wilt and there’s a puddle of liquid in the pan.
3. Transfer the greens to a small oven-proof dish using tongs to squeeze some of the water out. Leave that puddle of liquid behind on the pan. Create 2-4 divots in the greens and crack an egg into each. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until the whites are white (not clear). The baking time will depend on the size of your eggs.
4. While the eggs are baking, mix the yogurt and finely minced garlic together with a pinch of salt. Although I don’t love my garlic press, this is a good time to bring it out, so that there aren’t any large pieces of garlic. A good knife job will work just as well, though.
5. After the yogurt is mixed up, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the dried chiles, sweet paprika, sage (which I cut with a kitchen scissor right into the pan), and a pinch of salt. Let it all fry for a minute or two, then turn off the heat.
6. Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, remove them from the oven and divide among two plates or bowls. Top with the yogurt and drizzle with the butter sauce. Dig in with a spoon, fork, or generous slice of crusty bread.

Hello again! We’ve finally emerged from our early spring slump. Our CSA ends in March and our farmers’ market closes for the season in mid-April, so we enter this confusing 6-week period where we have to shop at the regular grocery store to supplement what we can get at our neighborhood’s small local foods market. It’s very uninspiring.

We still aren’t quite into the summer harvest season, but Erik picked up some delicious . . . → Read More: Quick Asparagus and Hazelnut Pasta]]>

Hello again! We’ve finally emerged from our early spring slump. Our CSA ends in March and our farmers’ market closes for the season in mid-April, so we enter this confusing 6-week period where we have to shop at the regular grocery store to supplement what we can get at our neighborhood’s small local foods market. It’s very uninspiring.

We still aren’t quite into the summer harvest season, but Erik picked up some delicious local greens and asparagus this week that motivated me to get moving in the kitchen again. It was also 80 degrees yesterday! Crazy! The combo of perky veggies and a warm breeze have shaken me out of my funk enough to dig up an old favorite recipe. I’ve got a file folder full of recipe clippings, so I’m not sure where this one came from, but it was probably Real Simple or Whole Living. On a side note, it’s weird how you get to know a magazine’s font and layout after a while, isn’t it? Useless knowledge, but it sticks in my brain somehow. Anyway…I changed up the recipe to serve two and use more veggies and a leeeetle bit less pasta. The pasta adjustment is mostly because we have a FANTASTIC Italian grocery store nearby that sells dirt cheap, high quality, super delicious fresh pasta and I feel silly asking for 9 ounces of pasta, so I just get half a pound (which is 8). We’ve stopped making our own pasta, because this place is so great!

Besides being yummy, this is a very quick meal. If you start the water heating and the hazelnuts toasting before you slice the asparagus, you can have dinner ready in just about the time it takes to boil a pot of water. If, like me, you forget to start the water until you’re done prepping the asparagus, it’s still pretty fast.

Pasta with Asparagus and Hazelnuts

Makes 2 hearty or 3 smaller servings

Directions

1. Start heating a large pot of water on high heat. Give it a good pinch of kosher salt, if you’d like.
2. Heat the oven to 350. Put the hazelnuts on a small baking sheet and toast them for 10-15 minutes or until fragrant and the skins are starting to darken. Once they’re toasted, give them a rough chop and set aside.
3. While the water is heating and the hazelnuts are toasting, slice the asparagus as thinly as you can stand, lengthwise. You can use a vegetable peeler for this, if you want. I usually cut each spear in half lengthwise, then, placing the cut edge flat on the cutting board, cut each half into 3-5 long strips. The texture is best with thinner strips, but it’ll still be tasty if you lose patience.
4. Once the water comes to a strong boil, add the asparagus and set a timer for 2 1/2 minutes.
5. After the asparagus has cooked for a minute (1 1/2 minutes left on the timer), add the pasta to the same pot. Give the whole thing a stir so that the pasta doesn’t clump up.
6. Once the pasta and asparagus are done, drain them and put back in the pot. Add the chopped hazelnuts, oil, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to distribute evenly. I normally use tongs, because they help to integrate the asparagus into the pasta.
7. Put the pasta on two or three plates and grate or crumble the cheese on top. I like to use a vegetable peeler to carve nice long ribbons of Parmesan. Eat up!

We’re leaving for Florida early this week and received a shocking amount of food from our CSA, considering it’s still the winter season and it was the second-to-last pickup. Four pounds of onions, four pounds of beets and radishes, five pounds of apples… you get the picture. We’ve certainly gotten our . . . → Read More: A Busy Day Working with and Against Microbes]]> Lindsay and I had a busy day. But we had a lot of help in the form of pressurized steam, yeast, and lactobacillus bacteria.

We’re leaving for Florida early this week and received a shocking amount of food from our CSA, considering it’s still the winter season and it was the second-to-last pickup. Four pounds of onions, four pounds of beets and radishes, five pounds of apples… you get the picture. We’ve certainly gotten our money’s worth this year! But with all this food on top of what we already had, we needed to prep some for storage.

To deal with the four pounds of fingerling potatoes (which we already had a bunch of), Lindsay used our pressure canner for the first time:

Regular water-bath canning limits you to recipes that are acidic or briny enough to kill off botulism. 212-degree boiling water will kill off everything else, but botulism can survive (see our rules of canning, which we will need to update to include a guide to pressure canning). Pressure canning uses pressure to get the temperature high enough to kill absolutely everything, which means that you can do absolutely anything you wants.

And it’s a two-fee: it cooks at the same time it preserves. In six months, if we want to make potato salad, we can just reach for one of these jars. Lindsay will have to write-up the process of pressure canning. Even though it was perfectly easy and safe, the first time is still scary and intimidating, even for someone comfortable with canning. Just look at this steampunk contraption:

Second, to deal with the two heads of cabbage we weren’t going to eat, Lindsay made (actually, is still in the process of making) sauerkraut. Our CSA this year has given us a lot of cabbage (both red and green), and we’ve found that we waste a lot less of it by taking an hour to make one large batch of kraut which will supply 5-10 quick dinners down the line. We even decided to invest in a ceramic fermenting crock that has a water moat to allow it to “burp” while fermenting while still enduring that no nasty microbes can get in:

Finally, speaking of fermenting, I made a batch of beer this weekend. I plan to take more photos down the line and do a real post once I get the hang of the process, but for now, here’s a preview:

It is an all-grain (from malted barley) recipe and we decided to save the “spent grain” that is left over. This grain has been crushed and steeped in hot water to convert and extract all the sugar from the starches, but what’s left over still has flavor. We used our dehydrator to dry it out so that we can store it. It goes great as an added crunch to granola (reminds me of grape nuts) and we also plan to crush it into flour and make some spent-grain baked goods:

Smoothies are an easy way to cram more veggies into your day. A little fruit covers . . . → Read More: How to Make a Winter Smoothie with Local Ingredients]]> In the winter, I usually crave hot breakfasts. Oatmeal with applesauce and peanut butter, eggs of all sorts, or pancakes. Recently, I haven’t been eating particularly well, so I’ve been trying to get a little “insurance” at breakfast to make up for the Pad Thai at lunch and burger, fries, and a shake at dinner. Yep. That was yesterday.

Smoothies are an easy way to cram more veggies into your day. A little fruit covers up the healthy taste and if the green color bothers you, just avert your eyes. This has become my go-to recipe, but you can make some tweaks if it’s not sweet enough for you. Add a tablespoon of maple syrup or use a whole peach/banana instead of half.

We don’t have a fancy blender…although I really really really want one, I can’t justify the crazy price. There’s an easy technique for making a good smoothie with a normal blender. Check out this video from Good Eats – the technique info starts at about 4:22.

My blender has four speeds. I run it on the first until the vortex starts, then each higher speed for one minute. If a bubble forms, I turn off the blender, give it a little shake to encourage the “burp”, then turn the speed back up. It takes about 4 minutes of blending, but that’s enough time to put away the ingredients and make a cup of tea.

If you want to get crazy, add half an avocado to the mix. We ordered a box of them from California Avocados Direct, a responsible family farm, and were blown away.

Local Winter Smoothie

Makes 1 large smoothie

Directions

1. If you are organized and want to be like Alton Brown, prep your smoothie the night before. Put everything except the ice cubes into the blender (in order) and stash it in the fridge. In the morning, add the ice and blend, following the directions above. Make sure all the spinach/kale blends in. Sometimes a leaf or two will stick to the side. This is a great way to have a nice smoothie even on a busy morning.
2. If you, like me, are usually not that with it at bedtime, make your smoothie when you’re ready to eat it. Add all the ingredients to the blender (in order) and blend, following the directions above. It might take a little longer for the vortex to form, because the fruit is still frozen, but you can get it going by stopping the blender and smushing the spinach/kale down toward the blades. When you start up the blender again, the smoothie should start moving. It might take a couple of tries. If it’s really giving you trouble, add a little more water/juice/milk. It’ll thin out your smoothie, but usually does the trick.

But now it’s . . . → Read More: Mujaddarah (or How the Heck is This so Delicious?)]]> Happy Monday! Except for the fact that Erik stayed in NYC, this weekend was fantastic. The kind of fantastic that involves watching bad movies with a pint of ice cream and playing card games with friends over strawberry-vodka slushies. The kind of fantastic that alternates staying up too late with avoiding the gym at all costs. The kind of fantastic that ends with perma-heartburn and a squishy-squashy tummy that makes unhappy noises.

But now it’s Monday – the favorite day of resolution-makers – so I need to get back on track before I have to buy a whole new wardrobe. However, as I’ve mentioned before, I struggle with healthy eating when Erik’s gone. It’s got to be super tasty, easy to cook, require minimal clean-up, and reheat well or I just won’t do it. Luckily, I ordered delivery from a Middle Eastern restaurant last week and remembered how awesome mujaddarah is – a delicious, simple, two-pot, perfect-for-leftovers rice and lentils dish. You won’t believe me until you try it, but the final meal is so much more than the ingredients imply. Somehow, sauteing thin onion slices in a pool of olive oil until they’re brown and crispy adds an incredible amount of flavor to rice and lentils. It’s earthy and satisfying and totally not guilt-inducing.

This makes a great lunch or dinner – add a salad or sauteed greens if you want some veggies. My FAVORITE way to eat this, though, is topped with scrambled eggs and a drizzle of sriracha or plop of yogurt. Yum yum yum!!

[Please excuse the iPhone photos!]

Mujaddarah

Makes about 5 cups (4-6 servings)
From Simply Armenian

Directions

1. Pick through the lentils to remove debris. Sometimes little rocks and sticks hide, which aren’t fun to chew on. Rinse them well.
2. Add the lentils and 3 cups of water to a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat so that the water simmers gently for 20 minutes.
3. Rinse the rice well and let it drain while the lentils cook.
4. While the lentils are cooking, slice the onions into thin rings. Heat the olive oil in a skillet (not non-stick) over medium heat and add the onions. Stir them every now and then until they’re dark brown. It should take about as long as the rice and lentils.
5. After the lentils have cooked for 20 minutes, add the rice and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the rice and lentils are tender
6. Add the cooked onions and salt to the lentils and rice. Pour in any oil that’s left in the skillet, because it’s tasty. Mix well and serve hot, warm, or cold.

We’ve finally dug out of the snow and are starting to normalcy. We actually had a lovely weekend! Erik and I both got home in plenty of time on Friday afternoon to hunker down. Our neighbors across the street had a blizzard block party, so we spent Friday night pretty much ignoring the blizzard in favor of drinks and games. When we headed home around midnight, the streets had completely vanished and we waded . . . → Read More: Surviving Nemo + Blizzard Pancakes]]>

We’ve finally dug out of the snow and are starting to normalcy. We actually had a lovely weekend! Erik and I both got home in plenty of time on Friday afternoon to hunker down. Our neighbors across the street had a blizzard block party, so we spent Friday night pretty much ignoring the blizzard in favor of drinks and games. When we headed home around midnight, the streets had completely vanished and we waded home through at least two feet of snow.

When we woke up on Saturday, our little cul de sac had filled with more than three feet of snow and the wind was still howling, so we had a lovely breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup, cherry syrup, and bacon. The pancakes were cakey and fortifying enough for the hour or two of shoveling that followed. Luckily, our great neighbors came out at the same time, so we attacked the snow as a unified force.

That evening, with public transportation still shut down, we bundled up and walked a mile and half over minimally plowed roads to our friends’ house for a fantastic dinner. They made lamb shanks, mashed potatoes, and kale. Just the kind of roaring fire, cashmere sweater, warm slippers kind of food we needed after that walk. They topped it off with a delicious cake, ice cream, and homemade chocolate sauce. Once we were warmed to our toes with food and conversation, we layered up again and hiked back home.

This morning, we slept incredibly late. I guess all that fresh air tuckered us out! Not a bad way to end a very strangely enjoyable weekend. Tomorrow, we’ll get back to real life, I suppose.

If you make these pancakes by weight, it’ll be faster and you’ll have less to clean up, which is particularly nice on a lazy weekend morning. I’ve included the volumetric measurements, in case you don’t have a scale.

Blizzard Pancakes

Makes 10 medium pancakes

Directions

1. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly.
2. Combine the rest of the liquid ingredients (i.e. not the flours and baking soda) in a small bowl and whisk until well combined. Add the melted butter.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flours and baking soda.
4. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat and give it a little slick of oil. If you happened to make bacon that morning, as we did, the bacon drippings work really well.
6. Put a sheet pan in the oven and preheat it to 200 degrees. Unless you have a big griddle, you’ll probably have to cook your pancakes in batches. Too keep them warm, stick them on the sheet pan and cover them with a towel. They’ll stay warm and won’t dry out.
7. Once the pan is hot (a few drops of water will sizzle and skip), drop 1/4 cup portions of batter onto the pan. Cook until bubbles appear around the edges, then flip and cook for a few minutes more. My stove doesn’t heat evenly, so I give the pancakes a 180-degree turn midway through cooking each side. This gives them a more even color, but is only necessary if you’re a little bit of a perfectionist and have a wonky stove.
8. Repeat with the rest of the batter and eat a stack wearing pajamas curled up on the couch.

This year we wound up accidentally stockpiling certain root vegetables from our winter CSA. Rutabagas. Parsnips. Turnips. The good news is that they last a log time. The bad news is, that takes away any imperative to use them up. The next thing you know, you crisper or root cellar (or wherever you keep them) is about to burst. We found this recipe in an attempt to use them up in volume to take . . . → Read More: How to Use Up Your Winter CSA / Rutabagas / Parsnips / Turnips and Make a Great Winter Vegetable Casserole]]>

This year we wound up accidentally stockpiling certain root vegetables from our winter CSA. Rutabagas. Parsnips. Turnips. The good news is that they last a log time. The bad news is, that takes away any imperative to use them up. The next thing you know, you crisper or root cellar (or wherever you keep them) is about to burst. We found this recipe in an attempt to use them up in volume to take care of the issue.

This recipe can be used with any winter root vegetables that you might have. Don’t limit it to the ones listed above. As you can see, I accidentally included some radishes that I though were turnips until I chopped them (watermelon radishes are green on the outside and they’re huge – tricksters!). As long as you get to three total cups, it works with any mix or ratio. However, I would suggest keeping it at least 75% “mild” ones (i.e., not radishes).

In order to use up as many of these vegetables as possible, we actually doubled this recipe and made two casseroles in separate casserole dishes (which, Lindsay informs me, are just called casseroles, but I reject that terminology). It wasn’t much more work than just making one (no more actually, outside of the peeling and cutting, but that is the bulk of the effort). We froze the second, right in the dish (covered with foil) and ate it a few weeks later when we didn’t feel like cooking dinner. This recipe stores and reheats well from the freezer as well as the fridge. (Please allow it some time to thaw!)

It’s easy, versatile, scalable, and stores well, including freezing. That’s the recipe for a go-to…recipe.

Now that I’ve made this (doubled) recipe a few times, I don’t bother to measure the chopped vegetables. Measuring cups of 1-inch cubes is a pain. I just keep going until the pot is as full as pictured. Keep in mind, though, that the pictures are of a doubled recipe.

Winter Root Vegetable Casserole

Makes 1 Casseroles / 4-6 servings

Directions

1. Chop the three cups of root vegetables into cubes of equal size (1 inch). Chop the carrots smaller (about a quarter-inch dice). Put them in a large pot, add 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce it to a simmer and leave it until everything is tender enough to mash (12-15 minutes). Drain off the water

   

2. Once the vegetables are coming to a boil, turn the oven on to 375 degrees.
3. While the vegetables simmer, chop the onions and melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Saute the onions and set aside.
4. Measure out the nutmeg, salt and pepper in to one bowl. Measure out the breadcrumbs into a second bowl. Beat the egg into a third bowl. Have all three ready to go when the vegetables finish.

   

5. Once the vegetables are done and thoroughly drained, add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the pot. Mash! My trusty masher tool makes pretty quick work of it all. The carrots will probably not fully mash and incorporate but everything else will, which makes for a nice textural difference. Also, don’t over mash. You’re not making whipped potatoes; accept the lumps. If you push the boundary you might wind up with something more resembling paste.

   

6. Add the onion, eggs, and breadcrumbs and mix until gently fully incorporated and even. (See how much more yellow it is now?)

   

7. Grease a casserole dish or something similar (whatever you prefer – butter, canola oil spray, etc.) Fill the casserole dish with the mixture. Once the oven is at temperature (if it’s not already, put it in, uncovered, and bake for 35 minutes.

   

8. After 35 minutes, remove the dish, sprinkle on the grated cheese, and put it back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until it’s the way you like it.

   The photo on the left shows the dish after the 35 minutes (notice the nice dark crusting around the edges – a sign you’re almost done. The one one the right is done, after cheese +10 minutes.

   

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

For us, New Year’s Eve is an excuse to host a dinner party, so we invited our closest friends over and had a low key evening. We started with homemade French bread (recipe to come) with local butter and quick-pickled radishes. Then we had braised pork belly with turnips and an arugula-parsley salad. For dessert, Erik fried Twinkies. Yeah, we had fried Twinkies after such a homemade old-school meal. They were . . . → Read More: What to do with a half-drunk bottle of Champagne?]]>

Happy New Year!

For us, New Year’s Eve is an excuse to host a dinner party, so we invited our closest friends over and had a low key evening. We started with homemade French bread (recipe to come) with local butter and quick-pickled radishes. Then we had braised pork belly with turnips and an arugula-parsley salad. For dessert, Erik fried Twinkies. Yeah, we had fried Twinkies after such a homemade old-school meal. They were fantastic. He promises to post the recipe soon.

The pork came from this great, relatively new butcher in our town. He sources from small, local farmers and is really knowledgeable about his art. He tries hard to sell the whole animal, even the parts that aren’t so popular, so the shop is full of cookbooks and he’ll suggest ways to prepare, for example, trotters (pig feet). When there wasn’t enough pork belly in the case, he shouldered half a pig and filled our order right there and then. Take a look!

Anyway…after dinner, we rang in the new year with Champagne from Westport Rivers in southern Massachusetts. Since none of us are huge Champagne fans, we awoke this morning to at least half a bottle of warm, kind of flat Champagne sitting on the kitchen counter. As you know, I have trouble wasting food, so I found two recipes for using the last bits of Champagne in the bottle.

The first, Champagne vinegar, isn’t much of a recipe. For every cup of leftover Champagne, add one tablespoon of homemade apple cider vinegar or a store-bought apple cider vinegar with the “mother” (Bragg is a good brand). Pour the mixture back into the bottle and cover the top with a thin towel or cheesecloth, secured by a rubber band or piece of string. Let it ferment in a dark, cool place for a month or so. It’s ready when you like the taste.

The second, Champagne sorbet, is from the Flour cookbook, which I LOVE for special occasion baking. It has a nice Champagne taste, but it’s not overwhelming. We might make it next year for a fancy-schmancy New Year’s Eve dessert – we certainly can’t get less fancy than fried Twinkies.

Champagne Sorbet

Makes a generous 2 cups

Directions

1. Combine the sugar and water in a small pot and heat to boiling over medium-high heat.
2. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. When you think it’s fully dissolved, turn off the heat and wait a minute until the water is still. Check the bottom of the pan for undissolved sugar. If you spot some, bring it back to a boil for another couple of minutes and then check again.
3. Let the syrup cool in the pot. Transfer it to a small bowl and refrigerate for two to three hours.
4. After the syrup has chilled, add the Champagne, lemon juice, and salt.
5. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the maker’s directions. For ours, this was 45 minutes.
6. If you want a firmer sorbet, pack into a freezer-safe container (we used a pint jar) and freeze overnight.

Merry Christmas!!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day – whether celebrating the holiday or just enjoying a day off. We get to see both sides of the family today, so it’s bound to be a good one.

Since we’re traveling this year, I didn’t do a lot of Christmas baking, but I did squeeze in these “Massachusetts shortbread” cookies right before we left home. “Massachusetts” because of cacao nibs from . . . → Read More: Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Cacao Nibs]]>

Merry Christmas!!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day – whether celebrating the holiday or just enjoying a day off. We get to see both sides of the family today, so it’s bound to be a good one.

Since we’re traveling this year, I didn’t do a lot of Christmas baking, but I did squeeze in these “Massachusetts shortbread” cookies right before we left home. “Massachusetts” because of cacao nibs from Taza Chocolate and dried local cranberries. “Shortbread” because of the slightly crumbly texture (as opposed to chewy or crisp). They’re a little sweeter than your standard shortbread, but not overly so. The dried cranberries add a nice tang and the cacao nibs are more nutty than chocolate-y. They’re the perfect cookies to accompany an afternoon tea. If you want something a little more luxurious, drizzle some dark chocolate over the top.

I made them small and kind of fat, but you could roll the dough into a log, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a bit. Once it’s nice and cold, cut thin discs off of it and bake them for 10 minutes or so. This will give you a thinner and bigger cookie. With the assistance of a kitchen scale, you can prep these even before the oven has preheated.

Cran-Nib Cookies

Makes about 45 small cookies

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat the sugars and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
4. Add the flour and salt and mix well.
5. Add the dried cranberries and cacao nibs and mix gently to evenly distribute.
6. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll about 2 teaspoons of dough into a ball. Place it on the pan and flatten it gently with your palm. Repeat with the remaining dough. You should be able to fit about a dozen cookies per pan.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pans in the middle. To rotate the pans, (1) switch the top and bottom pans and (2) turn the pans so that the cookies in the back of the oven are in the front. The cookies should be just a little golden around the edges.