Post Number 100! And a crazy idea...

First of all, happy 100th post to me! Huzzah.

Although I've been more or less absent on here of late (busy taking care of my grandfather, for one thing...), I have been cooking quite a lot.

So here's my thought... I will try to post, more or less regularly, pictures of what tasty tidbits I've concocted in the kitchen. Ideally this will be a weekly occurrence, but frankly I'm not going to tie myself down to that just now.

The idea here is threefold: 1) It will get me to actually post something, even though I'm not currently working on a farm and unfortunately too busy to delve into researching sustainable agriculture-related issues; 2) It will help me practice taking attractive pictures of food; and 3) It will hopefully get me to care more about food presentation. Which, most of the time...... I don't.

So without further ado, here are the pictures for the week of January 30! (And maybe a couple from before that.)

Roast Beef in Red Wine (Julia Child recipe)

White Bean, Potato, Carrot and Kale Soup

German Pancakes with Apples

Roasted Broccolini

Belgian-Braised Beef Stew (Julia Child recipe) (And yes, I know the picture is hideous. But it tasted great!)

Pear and Apple Tart with Walnut Crust (picture taken pre-cooking)

Clockwise from upper left: Roasted Cauliflower, Panzanella Salad (courtesy of my friend Steve), and Orcchiette Pasta with Sundried Tomato Pesto

If anyone every has suggestions for how to make the pictures and/or the food look nicer, do share! I'm always striving to improve.

If We Cantaloupe, Lettuce Eat Gourmet Salad

What is "gourmet"? What does it really mean?*

For me, it evokes a sense of culinary decadence. Pretension, even. I picture a sliver of duck confit garnished with two slices of radish and a candied tulip, drizzled with a tablespoon of mysterious sauce, surrounded by an ocean of empty white plate, and served with a $300 Bordeaux.

On the other end of the spectrum, “gourmet” has suffered the unfortunate, but not uncommon, fate of being used to tart up some very un-gourmet food products in unscrupulous marketing campaigns across the nation. Seeing the word “gourmet” on a label does not guarantee a high quality product these days. Just look at the line up: Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, Jelly Bellies, and Walmart. Need I say more?

So when Susan decided to sell some “gourmet salad mix” at the Charlottesville farmer’s market last Saturday, I asked about it. What makes her salad “gourmet”?

Her answer: “If it’s good quality and it has some unusual items in it, I think it’s fair to call it gourmet.” 

This particular salad mix was the last of a few rows of lettuce, harvested by yours truly, before they submitted to farm reincarnation (tilling and planting something else). It consisted of a few varieties of baby lettuce, miner’s lettuce, feldsalat, lamb’s quarters**, and some brassica blossoms – arugula and tatsoi, primarily. When arugula and tatsoi go to seed, they shoot out some beautiful yellow flowers that happen to be edible, and make that gourmet salad mix shine. Susan sold out of ours by 10:30.

So I think I’ve arrived at three rules of thumb for creating your own gourmet salad mix.  

Rule number one: Go off the beaten path. Gourmet folks apparently love the unique, the atypical, the curious, and sometimes the just plain weird. Weeds are great for this, especially edible ones. Try some unusual tastes too – toss in some fresh herbs.

Rule number two:  Presentation is everything. To that end, use flowers as garnishes... preferably edible ones. They add color, even though they don’t always taste like much.

Rule number three: I suppose it helps if it tastes good.

So with these rules in mind, I made my own special gourmet salad tonight. (I can’t claim it as my complete intellectual property, though, since I’m basing it off one Susan made last week.) Ingredients: lettuce mix, fresh mint, fresh cilantro, arugula blossoms, and wild violets.

Of course, taking pictures slightly yet artistically askew helps further the correct impression.

*According to Wikipedia, gourmet is “a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts…characterized by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses.” Yes, I fact check with Wikipedia. Climb down off that high horse.

**Miner’s Lettuce is a plant native to California that happens to be edible. It’s a very attractive plant with a cluster of long, elegantly draping stems, each capped with a green diamond-shaped leaf. It’s pretty tasty. Feldsalat, known as “corn salad” in the US, is an edible weed with a nutty sort of taste. At least, so says Susan. I just taste plant. But it was tasty plant. Lamb’s Quarters is another tasty, edible weed. Spotting a trend here?

Mango Chutney Madness

Due to an abundance of mangos in last week's Green BEAN box, I decided to ignore the obvious impossibility of mangos in Indiana in March (or EVER), and go balls out by making an exotic mango chutney.*

I looked at a few different recipes online before making my decision. Most of the recipes had what seemed to me to be an appalling amount of sugar - up to 2 cups, in one case. The original recipe I used called for half a cup of brown sugar, which I further reduced to a third of a cup. Mangos and raisins are sweet naturally, and along with the apple juice I figured the chutney would be cloyingly saccharine enough to suit even my sweet tooth.** I was also lacking a few ingredients (e.g. fresh ginger), but I made do with what I had available in the pantry.

 Courageous Mango Chutney

Ingredients

3 fresh mangos, ripe but not too soft

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 medium red onion, diced

1 cup apple juice

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp yellow curry powder

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup raisins

Cut the mangos into medium to large chunks.

In a 12-inch skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add red pepper and stir until fragrant. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft. Add mango and let cook for one minute.

Seperately, mix the apple juice, cider vinegar, brown sugar, curry powder, ginger and cinnamon. Add to skillet and bring to a slow simmer. Let simmer for about 30 minutes, until juice mixture has reduced to a sauce. Stir frequently.

When chutney has reached the desired consistency, add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in raisins and serve. 

This recipe would be really good on pork chops, roast or pan-fried chicken, and some types of fish. I paired it with baked tilapia - my parents really liked it, but I thought the tilapia was a tad bland. Maybe grilled or pan-fried. At any rate, the chutney itself was very good, and just sweet enough. In the future, I'll make extra and jar it for future use, or to use as gifts.

Additionally, next time I will not serve mango chutney on yellow plates. My food presentation skills leave a lot to be desired.

*Once again, fail to Green BEAN Delivery for sending us food that is neither seasonal nor local. These were from Peru, for crying out loud. However, since I love mango chutney, I choose to magnanimously forgive them.

**As a child, I was caught in the bathroom, eating sugar by the spoonful. Multiple times.

Recipe: Academy Award-winning Hummus

Om nom nom.

A few days ago, I was flipping through one of those nice glossy magazines my mom buys with giant pictures of food that always look superb and far more presentable than anything I ever make. I came across a recipe that said, simply, "Hummus". And it looked delicious. And not too hard, either. So I decided to make some for tonight, when I join my friends to watch the Oscars.

Well, actually what happened is that when I ransacked Trader Joe's yesterday in search of ingredients for white chili, I managed in a fit of incredible ineptitude to grab Garbanzo beans instead of Great Northern. It even says GARBANZO! in really big letters on the can. So I decided to make lemonade out of lemons.... or, in this case, hummus out of garbanzo beans.*

It wasn't hard. It took me longer than it probably should have, since I had trouble with the blender and I insisted on squeezing actual lemons instead of just using lemon juice, because I have issues like that. But it tastes good. Too bad mine doesn't really look anything like the picture... isn't there somewhere I could take a class on making my food look like it does in the glossy magazine pictures?**


I bet my hummus will look exactly like this.

So here's the recipe. I made a couple changes, mostly due to my lack of sambal oelek, a bright red chili sauce that the magazine rather unappetizingly descripes as a "chunky condement". Maybe I don't want it in my hummus after all.

The original recipe can be found in Mother's Best Comfort Food: Wholesome dishes that take you back home. (And don't tell my mom, but I spilled tea all over its glossy innards while writing this. Whoops.)

Hummus

Ingredients

2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water

5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

2/3 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 medium lemons)

2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/3 cups tahini (sesame paste - check the international aisle of your store)

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes

Half an hour before making the hummus, set the sundried tomatoes to soak in the cold water for at least 30 minutes. 

Note: I added some extra water that I froze for later- soaking the tomatoes makes the water all nice and flavorful, which is good for making soups down the road.

Drain sundried tomatoes and set aside, reserving water. Place the garbanzo beans, water, garlic, lemon juice, salt, tahini and cumin in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth, at least 3 minutes. (Or, if you're me..... maybe 20 minutes, because you fail at using blenders.) You may have to stop to scrape down the sides and stir the mixture. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if desired.

To serve, spoon hummus into bowl or platter. Sprinkle the sundried tomatoes in the middle of the hummus. Let it come to room temperature, and eat with warm pita bread or raw vegetables.



What do you mean, it doesn't look like the magazine picture?

As I mentioned, the original recipe calls for sambal oelek and chopped olives for garnish, but hummus is one of those recipes that is perfect for creating endless variations. Hence, the sundried tomatoes, which I love to snack on and therefore have hanging around in droves. For future recipes, I'm going to look up some versions that don't require as much tahini, since that stuff is pricey.

I think it turned out well, but I will have to see what the judges think.

*I sent my brother to the store to get the appropriate white beans, and the day (and my chili) was saved. I know how worried you were about that.
**It's called culinary school.