Persephone Eats

Weekday Vegetarian

2011-11-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Homemade pasta with Brussels sprouts and toasted pecans.

I’ve always wanted to be a vegetarian, but I just can’tpicture myself having my last cheeseburger ever. A few weeks ago, Trevor sharedthe concept of a TED talk he’d heard. Basically, you become a weekdayvegetarian, but still eat meat on the weekends. He said he wanted to try it.And it was something I could get behind, too. We’d be eating more healthfully, savingmoney, reducing our environmental impact and giving way less money to companiesthat treat animals inhumanely. And I’d never have to completely give upcheeseburgers.

Spicy cauliflower pasta

We had already incorporated many vegetarian dinners into ourrepertoire, but it’s been a challenge to find more tasty meatless meals. TheMoosewood New Classics cookbook has been our go-to book. But I was getting alittle tired of it, so I started looking through my other cookbooks thatweren’t necessarily vegetarian. In our giant Pasta cookbook, I found a spicycauliflower pasta. With homemade noodles and Persephone golden cauliflower, itwas a keeper.

My Martha Stewart New Classics cookbook had a section onmeatless main dishes and number of tasty soups and pastas that fit into ourweekday needs. Trevor filled in at Hollywood Farmers’ Market on Saturday, sowe’re stocked with lovely fall produce from Persephone, including my favorite,Brussels sprouts. Martha had a wonderful recipe for Brussels sprouts withwalnuts and pasta. Since Trevor can’t eat walnuts we used toasted pecansinstead. And I out Martha-ed Martha by using homemade fettuccine instead ofstore-bought, dried pasta.

For the pasta, the Brussels sprouts are cored and then theleaves are pulled off. They are sautéed in butter with red onion and garlic.Fresh sage and thyme added even more fall flavors to the mix. Then the pasta isadded to the Brussels sprouts and it’s topped with browned butter, pecans andgrated cheese. (I used less butter than called for – ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons.)We used Parrano cheese instead of Parm. I served it slices of wheat baguette,roasted Persephone delicata squash, and Trevor’s Persephone mixed greens. Itwas unbelievably good. Probably one of the best meals we’ve had lately —vegetarian or not.

Link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html

Canning Roundup

2011-10-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dilly Beans!, Bread & Butter Pickles and Kosher Dills.

After trying out several recipes from Canning for a New Generation last summer and fall, Trevor and I decided to do even more canning in the following year. We’ve made good on the promise and we’re running out of room for all of our beautifully filled glass jars.

Trevor is not working for Persephone Farm this season, but does occasionally fill in when someone needs a day off. Last Saturday was one of those days, so we stocked up on a boatload of veggies while he was at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, especially tomatillos for Salsa Verde and the last of the season’s tomatoes.

Our friends Paul and Meredith mentioned they’d tried the ketchup recipe from Canning for a New Generation and that it was unbelievable. I decide try it with the Persephone tomatoes. They did mention that they’d cut back on the allspice, so I omitted it and I added a little extra apple cider vinegar for more tang. I also reduced the amount of cinnamon. Even though it took a couple of hours for the seven pounds of tomatoes to cook down to three cups, I think store-bought ketchup is ruined for me now.

Green tomatoes soaking in lime.

We also tried Green Pickled Tomatoes for the first time. I had a slew of green tomatoes still on my plants and decided to not let them go to waste. The sliced tomatoes are soaked in a pickling lime solution overnight, rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, topped with brine and canned. The result is firm, sweet and tangy pickles delectable on grilled cheese or a turkey sandwich. Pickling lime was a little hard to find, but I eventually found it at a wonderful new store in Sellwood called Portland Homestead Supply Co. It takes a lot of self-control for me to not buy everything in that store! Earlier in the summer, I was able to can a batch of Crushed Tomatoes from our garden, too. I found citric acid at Portland Homestead Supply, too.

Pear-applesauce, Plum Filling,Spicy Carrots,
Green Tomato Pickles and Ketchup.

We also made two batches of Spicy Carrots that remind me of the giant crock of pickled carrots, jalapeños and onions my grandfather used to make. One bite of our carrots thoroughly clears your sinuses. These might be the prettiest jars in our collection. The thyme sprigs and dried red chiles stand out against the bright carrots.

Zucchini pickles are really good on
ham-and-cheese sandwiches.

Earlier in the summer, we made bread and butter pickles from homegrown zucchini. They tasted just as good as the cucumber version we made last summer. And it was a great way to use up a lot of zucchini. And we canned four batches of Dilly Beans!, probably our favorite canning project from last summer.

Brandied cherries, yum!

Disappointingly, our all the apples on our apple tree had worms. We had to get apples from the Fruit Loop in Hood River to get our applesauce fix. We got a great deal on pears, too. So this year we canned chunky pear-applesauce. But the good news is we discovered that our plum tree gives an incredible amount of fruit. We canned pie/cobbler filling. I used the first jars of filling this week and it hasn’t taken long for us to finish off the plum cobbler with fluffy biscuit topping. We also canned Brandied Cherries made partially with cherries from our tree. We spoon the cherries over vanilla ice cream or toss them into Sidecar cocktails.

Our cupboards also hold Charred Tomato Salsa, Peach Cilantro Salsa and Quickest Kosher Dills. Our extra work will pay off when we’ll be enjoying green enchiladas made from Salsa Verde, crisp Dilly Beans! and plum cobbler for the rest of fall and winter.

Plum cobbler with biscuit topping.

Links:

http://www.homesteadsupplyco.com

Green Eggs

2011-10-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

Weekday breakfasts usually mean a quick egg-and-cheese burrito for me and a bowl of Kashi GoLean! for Trevor. But Sundays are a different story. Sometimes I’ll mix up pancakes from scratch. But Trevor usually makes a big feast that involves Huevos Rancheros or fried potatoes. A couple of weeks ago he started morphing the two with really good results. Instead of frying up some flour tortillas and placing salsa, poached eggs and cheese on top, he piled up the toppings on fried potatoes from Persephone Farm. Since we used green salsa made from Persephone tomatillos and onions, we gave the dish the Seussian title of Huevos Verdes, which translates to green eggs.

When the poached eggs are broken and mixed into the piping hot potatoes it thickens up the salsa into a silky sauce. When Trevor first sets a heaping plate in front of me, I usually think there’s no way I can possibly eat it all. Five minutes later the plate contains only a little smear of yolk and a couple strands of grated cheese.

Recently Trevor made a roasted veggie version. He placed a poblano chile, the last of our garden’s ripe tomatoes and chopped onion in the oven to roast and char lightly. He put the veggies on top of the crispy potatoes and poached eggs, and grated some pepperjack cheese on top. It looked so good I forgot to take a picture of it! The roasting brought out the sweetness of the tomatoes and onions. And the poblano was just slightly spicy. Again, nothing was left on either of our plates.

Hitting up the Pantry

2011-08-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

After mimicking the menus of pricey restaurants in Portland, we needed to cook some meals that were a little easier on the wallet. Since we cook so much, we have a small arsenal of spices and condiments and an assortment of grains. So I took stock of what we already had in our cupboards and garden and planned some tasty, cheap meals.

Since we had rice wrappers, thin rice noodles, fresh herbs, daikon and carrots we made Vietnamese Summer Rolls with a tangy soy dipping sauce from a Martha Stewart recipe. The Zucchini Pizza we made from the Moosewood New Classics cookbook is now one of our favorite easy summer meals. But my very favorite meal was a recipe also from the Moosewood New Classics cookbook for Red Risotto. It called for Arborio rice, stock, wine, tomato paste and radicchio, all things we has on hand. I ended up buying a can of small red beans, but that was a very economical addition.

Risotto is a comforting and creamy dish. With the red beans, it became even more filling and homey. Below is a link to a similar risotto recipe. To make it more closely resemble the Moosewood recipe, add 2 tablespoons tomato paste, a pinch of thyme and a can of rinsed and drained small red beans with the last ladleful of broth. The wine, slightly bitter radicchio and flavorful stock give this risotto a lot of depth. And the cheese and beans add a creamy softness. We’ll be making this risotto many more times.

Links:

Red Risotto

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Radicchio-Risotto-1232

Menu Mimicry, part 2

2011-07-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Roasted beet salad with candied pecans and blue cheese

Last week I mentioned some of the dishes we recreated from reading menus of the best restaurants in Portland. We finished out the week with some outstanding salads. I feel like I did a good job of recreating the Insalata Nostrana’s creamy Caesar dressing and Trevor made a really good version of clarklewis’ roasted beet salad. We used Persephone Farm fennel, beets and radicchio. Here’s how we did it.

Radicchio Caesar salad with herbed croutons

Please be aware that this recipe uses a raw egg yolk, so eat at your own risk. Pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems definitely shouldn’t consume raw eggs.

Serves 6 to 8

1 head radicchio (preferably from Persephone Farm), halved

6 to 8 slices of day-old white bread

6 fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

cooking spray or olive oil

1 egg yolk

¼ to ½ cup grated or shaved Parmesan cheese

1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup to ¾ cup olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place radicchio in a large bowl of cold water and allow to soak for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 400˚. Rub 4 sage leaves on the bread slices. Cut bread into small cubes, spray with cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Finely chop 2 remaining sage leaves. Place bread cubes on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray or brushed with olive oil. Sprinkle sage and rosemary over bread cubes. Season lightly with salt. Bake for 5 minutes, toss bread cubes and bake for another 5 minutes until cubes are lightly browned and crunchy. Cool and set aside.

To make dressing, place egg yolk, garlic, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese and Dijon in a food processor or blender. Turn on food processor and slowly drizzle in olive oil. Once dressing becomes thick and creamy (almost like mayonnaise), you can stop adding olive oil and stop the food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add more garlic, Dijon or lemon juice if desired and pulse a few more times.

Rinse radicchio, chop and spin to dry. Place in a large serving bowl. Add enough dressing to lightly coat the radicchio and toss. Top with Parmesan and croutons.

Roasted beet salad with candied pecans and blue cheese

We used a sweet (dolce) Italian Gorgonzola, but you can use whatever kind of blue cheese you like. Oregonzola blue cheese, is also a great choice.

Serves 4

1 bunch beets, (preferably from Persephone Farm) stems and roots cut off

1 bunch arugula, washed and dried with stems cut off

1 cup of fennel, (preferably from Persephone Farm) very thinly sliced

½ cup pecan halves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

sherry vinegar

olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 ounces of Gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled into small pieces

Preheat oven to 425˚. Place beets in squares of aluminum foil, sprinkle with olive oil and wrap up tightly. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until fork tender. Allow beets to cool enough to handle, then slip skins off using paper towels to keep your hands from turning red. Chop beets into bite-size pieces.

While beets are cooking, mix together brown sugar and water. Toss mixture with pecans making sure each piece is coated. Spray a piece of foil with cooking spray, place pecans on foil, sprinkle lightly with salt, and bake on a baking sheet in a small toaster oven at 350˚ for 6 to 10 minutes. Check on the pecans after 5 minutes, toss and allow to bake until a pecan piece broken in half is golden brown. (You can also bake the pecans in the oven with the beets, but you will need to cook them for less time and watch them more carefully. Pecans and other nuts can go from not quite done to blackened very quickly.)

Assemble salad by tossing arugula and fennel with sherry vinegar and olive oil and seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Divide arugula and fennel into bowls, top with beets, pecans and cheese. Enjoy.

Links:

Clarklewispdx.com

Nostrana.com

Menu Mimicry

2011-07-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Rock fish with braised fennel and potatoes

Last Saturday we had an amazing dinner at Nostrana in SE Portland with our friends Sara and Courtland. It was the first time we’d eaten there and everything was delicious. The food was simple, but what made it memorable were the choice ingredients and inventive combinations. For example we started with pizza topped with shiitake mushrooms, arugula, house mozzarella, lemon oil and pecorino cheese. The Insalata Nostrana was an interesting twist on a Caesar salad — it featured just slightly bitter radicchio instead of romaine lettuce.

Between all the food and the wine, we had quite a hefty bill, which was somewhat alleviated by a $50 coupon and some well-spent roulette winnings. Still, it was a splurge and the kind of dining experience we could not replicate every night. Until Trevor had an idea. We’d scour the menus of the best restaurants in Portland and try to create dishes based on the brief descriptions in the menus.

This has been our first week of cooking off the menus without any sort of recipe. And so far, we’re four for four. We look at the ingredients and descriptions (braised, crisp, roasted) and try to imagine how the chefs would prepare them.

We started with halibut with braised fennel, green garlic and gold potatoes from the clarklewis menu. We substituted rock fish for halibut, since halibut was $20.99 a pound at the farmers’ market. Trevor’s not working for Persephone Farm this season, but we always stop there first to load up on organic vegetables when we hit the PSU farmers’ market. We got our fennel there. Trevor followed Martha Stewart’s Cooking School directions for braising fennel and potatoes. It came out silky and creamy. We dredged the fish in flour and pan fried it. The slightly crisp exterior played off the creaminess of the rest of the dish. I also made a little kale on the side.

Next we made a roast chicken salad with peppered bacon and avocado from the menu of Bunk, our favorite sandwich joint. We cheated and bought a rotisserie chicken for the salad, which we shredded and mixed with mayo and some fresh rosemary. Then we fried up thick-cut pepper bacon and sliced the avocado our neighbors had given us. We threw a little Persephone speckled lettuce on there for good measure. It was a big, delicious sandwich.

As I was shelling the fava beans I thought
of that line from Silence of the
Lambs, "I ate his liver with
fava beans and a nice chianti."

The next dish was a real stretch because neither one of us has ever eaten or prepared fava beans. I’ve seen several cooking shows that showed how to prepare them, so I knew it was an involved process. We were going off the Nostrana menu, which listed a fava bean salad with prosciutto, lemon and pecorino. Fava beans are in season and cheap at the farmers’ market. To prepare them, you shell the beans from the pod, then boil them for about 10 minutes. Then you remove the tough outer shells from the beans. We may have overcooked the beans slightly, because we had to remove the skins very carefully or the beans turned to mush. Then we tossed the beans with lemon juice, olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese (We were buying lots of pricey specialty cheese for this experiment, so we decide to swap good imported Parm for pecorino.) Then we topped the beans with crumbled pan-fried prosciutto. Yum.

Orecchiette with polpetinne and arugula

Last night we made orecchiette, a small ear-shaped pasta, from scratch just like they do at clarklewis. (We tried a new recipe for the pasta, and weren’t completely happy with it. The pasta was a little too chewy.) We also made pork polpetinne (tiny meatballs) to throw in the pasta. For the meatballs, I put one boneless, country-style pork rib in the food processor to grind it up. To that I added the little bit of ground beef we had in the fridge, dried breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, minced fresh sage and parsley, one egg, salt and pepper, and some water. We made tiny little meatballs and cooked them in a pan with a little olive oil. I also sautéed some shallots. We mixed the hot pasta, shallots and meatballs with arugula, grated taleggio cheese, parm and some pasta cooking liquid. The taleggio is a really good melting cheese, so it blended with everything and made a thick cheesy sauce.

Despite a few smushed fava beans and not-to-tender orecchiette, we’ve considered our menu mimicry a success. By trying to think like the top chefs in Portland we’ve tried new foods, learned new techniques (braising fennel), and picked up great ideas for simple quick dinners (store-bought pasta mixed with taleggio will make a fast, satisfying weeknight dinner).

Links:

Clarklewispdx.com

Nostrana.com

Bunksandwiches.com

St. Patrick's Feast

2011-03-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Slow-cooked, beer-braised corned beef and vegetables.

Nothing says “Happy St. Paddy’s Day” like corned beef and cabbage. Except for maybe green beer. I did a test-run corned beef in the slow cooker last week and it was delicious — tender and salty with flavorful braised veggies. Trevor was so excited about it, we bought two more corned beef roasts when they went on sale. This St. Patrick’s Day, this is what we’ll be eating for dinner.

I love my slow cooker!

And the best part is the slow cooker does all the work, which is especially nice since I just got a job as an editor for a Web site. But working outside the home doesn’t mean we’ll be doing lots of fast food. We’re already getting good at making quick meals such as stir-frys. And with some night-before prep, the Crock Pot has been cooking up some really great roasts, chili and soups.

Persephone Farm potatoes and
onions with corned beef.

Actually the best part may be having leftovers for corned beef hash. We had a little trouble with the recipe from The Breakfast Book, but on the second try the next day the hash was crispy and not burned. It may have had something to do with the fact that we halved the recipe. I’m sure we’ll get around to perfecting the hash this weekend with our leftovers.

Links:

Slow Cooker Corned Beef

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=65440

Dinner Disaster

2011-02-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

Not every meal can be a masterpiece ...

As formidable home cooks, sometimes it’s easy to get a bit cocky. But then, a series of events humbles you and you’re forced to eat disgustingly mushy broccoli.

Last Sunday we had an “easy” meal planned. Parmesan Herb Baked Flounder is a Cooking Light recipe that we’ve been making for years. I admit I really don’t like most seafood. Even the freshest piece of salmon smells fishy to me. But I’ll eat white fish like cod and halibut somewhat grudgingly. Trevor loves fish in all shapes and forms and is constantly trying to get me to cook it more often. When Trevor brought it up this week, I saw frozen cod fillets were on sale so I said we could do the Cooking Light recipe.

Because we’ve made it so often and always have the ingredients on hand, I didn’t check the recipe before going to the grocery store. I didn’t put green onions and Parmesan cheese on my shopping list. I thought I had the cheese and completely forgot green onions were called for. That was misstep number one. When I got home, I put two fillets in a bowl of cool water to defrost. When we got ready to make dinner, they weren’t completely thawed. We should have put them in the microwave to defrost them a tiny bit. That was big misstep number two.

Trevor made the topping without reading the recipe and mixed all of the wet ingredients with breadcrumbs. We did stop and correct that. Although I grated the tiny bit of Parrano cheese we had left down to the rind to have a scant amount of cheese for the second attempt. At this point, things already were not looking good. This was supposed to be an easy, quick meal. We’ve made it a million times and it’s always tasty — even to someone who doesn't like fish.

I had held off making the sautéed broccoli we were having on the side until the Persephone Yellow Finn potatoes I was boiling were almost done. We held off putting the fish in the oven, too since it usually takes 10 to 12 minutes to cook. Once the fish went in, I sautéed garlic slices in olive oil and added the broccoli, salt and red pepper flakes, then added about ¼ cup water and covered. It takes about 7 minutes with the heat turned to low. The broccoli should be bright green and crisp tender when done. I'd timed it to be ready when the fish came out of the oven. When the fish should have been done, Trevor stuck a fork in it and realized it was still frozen in parts. So it went back into the oven.

I had tossed the potatoes with a quick vinaigrette of red-wine vinegar, grainy mustard, olive oil and salt and pepper. I loved boiled potatoes with lots of vinegar and a bit of oil when I was little, but it’s not something I eat often now. With lots of potatoes in our root cellar, I thought they’d be a good quick side. Trevor had the idea of adding some crumbled bacon on top. That made them even better.

As we were waiting for the fish to cook, I turned the broccoli off, but kept the lid on to keep it warm. I’ve lost count of what misstep this is, but that was another one. As we were waiting for the fish, we started picking at the potatoes. I took one, then Trevor accused me of eating a bunch, so he took several bites. The fish still was not done and we were running out of potatoes.

Finally the fish was out of the oven. But when I went to put the broccoli on the plates, I realized it had kept cooking and was an unappetizing olive green. But at this point, we’d gone too far to call it quits. We ate our fish, remaining potatoes and mushy broccoli, shaking our heads and laughing at ourselves for making the sorriest looking meal we’d had in a long time. (And Trevor's fish still had a few parts that weren't quite done!) The Persephone potatoes were the only bright spot. They were tangy and salty with a little crunch from the bacon. And although we completely biffed the fish this time, it is a recipe worth trying. And it’s one we will eat again — when we’re sure the fish is completely defrosted first.

Links

Parmesan Herb Baked Flounder

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000577222

Labor of Love

2011-02-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Food and love are inextricably knotted together. Think of a favorite childhood memory and it’s probably tied to food: baking cookies with your Grandmother, your mom making your favorite meal for your birthday. As a child, I had the most fabulous birthday cakes because my Aunt Sally was a supreme cake decorator. The one I can picture most vividly right now was a four-part choo-choo train. It was frosted in pale orange with the wheels and windows outlined in flourishes of a darker pumpkin-colored frosting. The cars of the train held mounds of candy “cargo” – licorice pieces, and I think those chewy candies in the shape of peanuts. Somewhere in my parents house is a picture of me with cheeks puffed out trying to blow out the candles on this fantastic cake train. What an ultimate display of love to take the time to create such a detailed and artistic cake.

Bechamel Sauce

Making and serving food to your loved ones says, “I love you so I want to nourish your body and give you pleasure.” In a microwave-fast, out-of-a-box, drive-through food society it’s something that’s easily forgotten. Food isn’t just calories and fuel, it’s love.

This Valentine’s Day, Trevor and I celebrated at home. Sometimes when we’re flush we’ll take a weekend trip or try a fancy restaurant we’ve heard good things about. This was not one of those years. But it wasn’t any less special. I said I’d make Meat and Spinach Cannelloni from Lidia Bastianich’s Italian-American Kitchen. And Trevor was in charge of picking up some dessert.

Lidia’s cannelloni is truly a labor of love. It takes about four hours to make, even for someone who is quick in the kitchen. But it’s a meal that just can’t be rushed. Chunks of pork butt, carrots, celery, onion (there’s the trinity again) and refreshed dried mushrooms are slowly braised in the oven with chicken stock and wine. And the liquid that remains in the pan is reserved. Then fresh pasta squares are needed. And creamy béchamel sauce has to be made. And once the meat and vegetables have roasted and cooled, they are ground up with spinach to make the delectable filling. I actually roasted the meat and veggies the day before to speed up the process a little. And as I was grinding up the filling, I couldn’t help but eat a few spoonfuls before rolling it up in the cooked pasta squares. OK, several spoonfuls.

From all that, I probably don’t even need to go into how good it tastes. It’s probably the best-tasting meal we make. And the homemade pasta elevates it even higher.

I also made Trevor’s Valentine’s Day card. What I should have put on it was, “Valentine, our love isn’t an out-of-the-box-into-the-microwave love, it’s is a four-hour plus cannelloni love.”

Rolling up the cannelloni

Ready to be topped with more Bechamel

Versatile Sweet Onions

2011-02-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Caramelized Onion Tart

I’ve been trying to use or preserve our windfall of onions from Persephone Farm before they go bad. When flipping through Canning for a New Generation, I read a great tip for using lots of onions. The author suggested caramelizing about 5 pounds of onions and then storing the onion in 1-cup servings in the freezer. I though this was the perfect idea. I love the sweet taste of caramelized onions and they are so good on pizza, mixed with bulghur, or spread on a baguette slice and topped with a sharp white cheddar cheese.

So I cooked the onions in a Dutch oven over low heat for about an hour and a half. At the end, I had sweet slices of onions that practically melt in the mouth. I tucked them away in the freezer knowing I’d find a good use for them.

A couple of days later I had the perfect excuse to get some out. Some friends had invited us over for a game night and I wanted to bring something to share. It was the perfect excuse to try a recipe for Caramelized Black Bean Butter that my friend Autumn had shared on Facebook. So I defrosted the onions for a minute in the microwave, then blended them with black beans and spices in the food processor. Thanks to the onions in the freezer, a yummy dip for tortilla chips was ready in just a few minutes with no cooking! And it was vegan.

Later in the week, I thought I’d make a Caramelized Onion Tart from the Moosewood New Classics cookbook. It’s a lovely, creamy quiche that works equally well for dinner or brunch. Or it’s a great addition to a party buffet that you can make a day ahead and serve at room temperature. And vegetarian guests will be happy you have a hearty, delicious dish for them to enjoy. Again, because my onions were already caramelized, it came together very quickly. (And not to waste anything, I made little cinnamon cookies from the pie dough scraps.)

Red Onion Marmalade

Finally I canned some Red Onion Marmalade from Canning For A New Generation. It’s sweet and tangy with a hit of cinnamon. You can serve it with roast meat. Or it’s really nice on a baguette slice with sharp cheddar or your favorite creamy cheese.

Lightly cooked onions are wonderful in a number of dishes. But when you cook them for a long time to bring out their sweetness and complexity, they become even more versatile.

Links:

Moosewood New Classics Caramelized Onion Tart

http://ilovefood-foodilove.blogspot.com/2008/11/evening-affair.html

Caramelized Black Bean Butter

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001065536&cookbook_id=5988317

Doubling Down on Sauce

2011-02-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

Left to right, tomato sauce and Bolognese sauce

This week my grocery list included the ingredients for mirepoix or the “trinity” — onions, celery and carrots. Because it’s winter and Persephone Farm isn’t doing any farmers’ markets right now, I’ve been getting produce from a grocery store. (Although, I still have plenty of onions in my root cellar!) Grocery-store produce just can’t compare to Persephone’s fresh-picked taste and overall goodness. Also, stuff I get from the store doesn’t last as long in my fridge, so to get the most for my money, I use the produce I buy quickly and in more than one meal.

Since I needed carrots and celery for cannelloni, I decided to make Bolognese and tomato sauce, too. I hadn’t planned on making both sauces on the same day, but I started to get out the ingredients for the Bolognese (a savory tomato sauce with ground pork and beef) and realized it’d be silly not to make both sauces at once. They both start with the trinity, so if I was going to chop up celery, onion and carrots for one recipe I figured I might as well do it for both.

Mirepoix - onion, celery and carrot

I usually don’t get out my Cuisinart food processor for chopping small amounts, but since I was doing large quantities I knew it would save time. I was following Lidia Bastianich’s recipes. But I did tweak the Bolognese recipe. I doubled the amount of mirepoix and crushed tomatoes, while keeping the amount of meat the same. I also mixed a little beef broth concentrate into to the water the recipe said to add every so often to keep the sauce around the same level.

Huge can o' tomatoes

With the intent to make sauce, I picked up a huge can of crushed tomatoes from Costco, where I go every few months to stock up on things such as toilet paper and dish detergent. (I normally don’t buy much food from Costco since we don’t eat a lot of processed food.)

The tomato sauce finished cooking first. The Bolognese cooks for two to three hours, so I’d just give it a stir every once in awhile and add broth as needed.

The Bolognese turned out perfectly. It was meaty and rich. We could have skipped the gnocchi and just eaten it with fresh-baked bread and grated cheese. We’ll put both sauces in the freezer and cut off chunks as needed to sauce fresh pasta or spread on pizza crust. So I saved time by making both sauces at once — and money by not letting produce go to waste. This also means that in the future we’ll have delicious, healthful meals with a slow-cooked taste in the amount of time it takes to defrost the sauce and cook pasta. Double the sauce, double the bonus.

The Bolognese simmered for three hours

Links:

Lidia's Bolognese

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/9735848

Noodling Around

2011-02-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

I’ve had my eye on the Kitchen-Aid pasta roller and cutter attachments for quite some time. And thanks to the generosity of my in-laws, we finally get to enjoy fresh homemade pasta.

Since I had some spicy, peppery arugula from our surprise Persephone Farm delivery, I decided to make some pappardelle noodles with my new toy. We’d made Summer Pappardelle with Tomatoes, Arugula, and Parmesan from Cooking Light before and I decided to adapt it to become a winter dish.

Making the pasta isn’t hard, but it’s time consuming. After initially kneading the dough, it has to rest for at least an hour before you can roll it out. I followed the pasta recipe from Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen and used Martha Stewart’s Cooking School as a visual guide because it has such lovely step-by-step photos. The recipe called for four eggs, and I had one Persephone Farm egg left, which I used. If you look at the photo of the yolks, it’s easy to spot which one is from a chicken that roams around eating organic grass and bugs. It’s obviously a much richer yellow.

Rolling the pasta out with the attachment was fun and I was able to do it quickly by myself. I used a pasta cutter that looked like a mini-pizza cutter to make 1-inch wide pasta ribbons. (This cutter also has a fluted-edged cutter that I’ve used for ravioli — and Trevor and my dad have used to seal a window screen, but that’s another story.)

Also, I cut some large pasta squares that I’m drying and will use it to make cannelloni for Valentine’s Day. Lidia’s homemade cannelloni is one of the reasons I wanted to get this pasta roller. I rolled out pasta by hand with a rolling pin for that meal and will never do that again!

Once the pasta was cut and rested, I made the quick sauce. Instead of using out-of-season cherry tomatoes, I used about 1 ½ cups of homemade garden tomato sauce that we usually have in the freezer. And I sautéed the arugula to wilt it slightly. I really can’t say enough about the homemade pasta. It’s completely different from commercially made dried pasta. It was flavorful, silky and light, and really let the flavors in the sauce shine. I don’t think we’ll ever go back to pasta from a box.

Links:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001572209

Old World Ways

2011-01-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

Deep inside me lives a grandmother from the Old Country. She comes out when I’m cooking. She doesn’t let me waste anything — a chicken carcass, gizzards, tops of leeks, wilted celery and carrot peels become rich stock. She reminds me when people had less, nothing could afford to be thrown out. So I mix in a tablespoon of rendered chicken fat from the stock with mashed potatoes and discover it produces the most flavorful potatoes ever! She also insists homemade is much better than store bought.

This week my inner grandmother is from Korea. She emerged when we received a surprise bounty from Persephone Farm: a burlap sack of potatoes along with more sacks of red onions, yellow onions and garlic — and several heads of cabbage, some leeks, a loaf of sweet bread, farm-fresh eggs and winter braising greens. I saw the lovely wrinkled leaves of the Napa cabbage and knew kimchi was in my immediate future.

I can vividly picture what this inner grandmother is like. Mrs. Kim carries a navy blue umbrella with lilac flowers printed on it. She’s tiny, but fierce. And refuses to eat the commercially prepared kimchi her sons’ wives try to serve her. She only eats her own kimchi that comes from a giant crock that once belonged to her grandmother. She once had the recipe on transparent, faded paper that since has disintegrated, but by now she knows the recipe by heart.

So at the urging of Mrs. Kim, I’m making kimchi — a salty, spicy, fermented condiment made from cabbage — for the first time. (With the rest of the cabbage, another inner grandmother from Italy will take over to make a cabbage, leek and sausage pasta dish — she looks a lot like Lidia Bastianich.)

I’m following the recipe from Canning for a New Generation. I hunted down Korean chile powder and daikon at Fubonn, a giant Asian grocery store nearby. After soaking the cabbage and daikon in brine overnight, I followed the directions and mixed up the anchovies, garlic, ginger and chile powder. Then I tossed it in with the drained cabbage. I now have two jars of kimchi-in-the-making sitting on my counter. After a week, it’ll be ready to eat. I’m already planning on making pork-and-kimchi dumpling, also from Canning for a New Generation. I think my inner Korean grandmother will approve.

The Most Misunderstood Vegetable

2010-11-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

I haven’t been posting lately, but I’ve definitely been eating. And fall meals are so delicious. It might be my favorite eating season. We’ve been feasting on Roasted Pumpkin Penne with Autumn Pesto, Butternut Squash Risotto with Pancetta, Eggplant “Meatballs” with Arugula and Shaved Fennel Salad. And Trevor has been making his own salad mix with numerous spicy winter greens.

The fall vegetable from Persephone Farm that we’ve been enjoying the most is one that many people hate: Brussels sprouts. When I posted on Facebook about the delectable Brussels sprouts we’d had for dinner, I got a firestorm of responses. A few people could not believe we found them tasty. But most of my friends professed their love for the cruciferous vegetable.

I think they’ve gotten a bad rap because if they are overcooked they can be downright hideous. I actually never ate them growing up because my mom hated them! I only tried them a few years ago when Trevor brought home a big stalk after his shift at the Farmers’ Market. But treated right, they are splendid!

We followed a recipe from Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso’s New Basics cookbook. It called for the leaves to be pulled from the Brussels sprouts and lightly sautéed in butter, olive oil and thyme. We’ve found that quartering the sprouts and cutting out the core saves a lot of time and lets plenty of leaves get separated. Which means some of the leaves get a little crispy and brown, and that's the best part.

Other suggestions: Roast in the oven with olive oil, sautée with garlic, crisp up some pancetta then sauté leaves in drippings and add crumbled pancetta to each serving.

Of course, other parts of the meal are important. With my Brussels sprouts I made, a Pancetta Wrapped Pork Roast from a Martha Stewart recipe and some roasted acorn squash also from Persephone Farm. It so good, I made the same meal again a few weeks later for my friend Maureen’s birthday.

So if you have shunned Brussels sprouts in the past, I say put aside old prejudices and give them a second chance. You might discover your new favorite vegetable.

Links:

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Roast

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pancetta-wrapped-pork-roast

Saving up for Winter

2010-09-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Spiced Apple Butter, Pickled Beets, Dilly Beans!, B&B Pickles

So I feel like a squirrel. But in a good way.

Trevor and I have made our third attempt at canning and are finally seeing some success. In our prior attempts, we used recipes from cookbooks not specifically about canning and preserving. After our neighbors offered us all the apples we could pick from their tree and we realized the apple tree in our backyard was also producing, we didn’t want the apple windfall going to waste. So I started looking for a good canning book.

I browsed through several canning books online and read a few recommendations from The Oregonian. Then I went to the bookstore and decided on purchasing Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry by Liana Krissoff. What I liked most about the book was that it doesn’t scare the reader away by making home canning this scary, arduous process. Some books made it seem as if you needed a laboratory and science degree to can safely. I felt that if people have been canning for generations, then it must be safe otherwise people would stop doing it.

Also, the author has a sense of humor. And it’s beautifully photographed and packed with recipes for every season that I couldn’t wait to try.

We started off making Spiced Apple Butter. After reading the book carefully, I realized I needed some sort of strainer or food mill. The Squeezo strainer recommended by the author cost about $200. So that was out. Then I remembered that there was a fruit and vegetable attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer that I didn’t have, but it worked with the food grinder attachment I did have. And it was around $50. It meant I didn’t have to peel and core six pounds of apples. Sold!

I followed the slow-cooker method for making the apple butter and it worked perfectly. When Trevor came home from work the apple butter was ready for canning. It’s much easier to can with two people. We finished up pretty quickly thinking, “That wasn’t too hard!”

The following weekend Trevor wanted to make Honeyed Bread-and-butter Pickles, Dilly Beans! and Pickled Beets. He brought home Persephone pickling cukes, dill, green beans and beets after his shift at the farmers’ market. Then we got to work.

2nd round: pickled beets & carrots

The pickles and beans turned out perfectly. The Dilly Beans! are my new favorite snack. I used to buy olives from the olive bar at my Fred Meyer to nibble on while making dinner. The Dilly Beans! have taken their place. Along with the Spicy Carrot Pickles we made the following week.

We did mess up our first batch of beets though. We were both working on the brine, (the hot, salty vinegar mixture that’s poured over vegetables to pickle and preserve them) and neither one of us added the water the recipe called for. That makes for very vinegary beets. We did a do-over and they should be fine.

What we learned from Canning for a New Generation and pickling our own vegetables is that we have some freedom with changing the spices if we keep the brine the same. We will be making many more recipes from this book. Also, it’s very satisfying to see the beautiful glass jars lined up on the shelf. That’s what I mean by I feel like a squirrel. Come February when fresh green beans are a distant memory, I’ll be able to pop open a jar of Dilly Beans! and crunch into a wonderfully preserved memory of summer.

Fennel Pie

2010-09-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last night I had planned on making a Caprese pasta with fresh tomatoes from our garden. But since we’ haven’t had too much sun this week, I didn’t have enough ripe tomatoes to harvest. So I rooted around the fridge to figure out what else I could make. I had fennel, kale, zucchini, feta cheese, fresh mozzarella and a little bit of onion. I realized I could make the Moosewood New Classics Fennel Quiche with some sautéed kale on the side. Perfect.

This meal was a little more work than I felt like doing, but it wasn’t too arduous. The most time-consuming part was making a piecrust. But I used a trick I’d just seen on the cooking show Ciao Italia. Grate frozen butter on a regular cheese grater and then mix it into your flour. Since keeping the dough cold is the key to flakey crust, this struck me as an excellent idea. Also, I buy butter in bulk and always store it in the freezer. And it worked out perfectly. The dough felt cold to the touch as I rolled it out on a piece of parchment paper.

The Moosewood recipe called for sautéing the fennel, onion, tomato and zucchini before putting it on the piecrust. And you make rich custard from feta cheese, tomato juice and eggs in a blender. Then you top the veggies with cheese, pour over the custard and bake. It smells heavenly while cooking. And makes a tasty lunch, or even breakfast, the next day. Plus it was a great use of Persephone Farm fennel, eggs, onion, zucchini and kale.

Links:

http://www.ciaoitalia.com/

Slow-simmered pork

2010-09-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

When the weather starts getting cooler, I happily get reacquainted with my old friend the slow cooker. And after Trevor brought home a couple of pounds of tomatillos, cilantro and several onions after working at the Persephone Farm stand at the PSU Farmers’ Market, I couldn’t wait to make chile verde.

Chile verde is home-style Mexican cooking at its best. It’s versatile — eat it as a stew, wrap it up in a flour tortilla, or make enchiladas with the leftovers. It’s filling and comforting — the pork falls apart when touched with a fork. And it’s healthy — a serving is a moderate amount of lean pork swimming in a sea of vegetables. Serve it with corn or flour tortillas, homemade gorditas or even with some Spanish fried rice.

Slow Cooker Chile Verde
Serves 6 to 8
I adapted this recipe from a Cooking Light recipe. I like to use a mix of Anaheim and poblano chiles. Sometimes the chiles are hotter than other times, but this dish isn’t supposed to very spicy. You can also make this on the stovetop, so I included a link to the original version below.

2 tablespoon canola oil
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins or pork sirloin roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup water
4 cups onion, chopped
2 pounds small tomatillos, husks and stems removed and quartered
1 pound fresh Anaheim or poblano chiles (about 4 medium), cut into 1-inch pieces
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup water

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the pork evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork to bag; seal. Shake to coat. Add pork to pan, and sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. This may need to be done in batches. Add more oil if necessary. Remove pork from the pan and place in a slow cooker. Add ¼ cup water to the hot skillet to deglaze it. Use a wooden spoon to loosen all the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Add water and browned bits to slow cooker.

Add onions, tomatillos, chiles, garlic, chicken stock, cilantro, cumin and oregano to the slow cooker. Stir to combine ingredients. Cover and cook for desired amount of time. (I usually cook on the high setting for 4 to 5 hours, but you can use the low setting and cook for 8 to 10 hours.) 1 hour before chile is finished cooking, use a fork to mix together 2 tablespoons flour and ¼ cup water. Mix until there are not any lumps. Add mixture to slow cooker and stir. Cover and let cook for remaining hour. Taste chile verde and add salt and ground black pepper as needed. Enjoy!

Links:
Chile Verde
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1054864

Dancing Ravioli

2010-09-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Several years ago when I was living in California, I was at a party in which one of the hosts started making fried ravioli late into the night. He was dancing around while breading up the ravioli and deep-frying them. He wasn’t someone who had the reputation of being a “ladies man”, but nevertheless he soon had a crowd of hungry girls dancing around the kitchen with him — and eating the crispy ravioli as soon as they were cool enough to handle.

I think that was the last time I’d indulged in deep-fried ravioli goodness. So when I saw a recipe in Cooking Light magazine for Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce, I wondered if this version could match my memory of the decidedly "unlight" version.

And I have to say, the light version met that same incredible combination of crunchy breading and oozing, melted-cheese filling I remembered. For the sauce we used two pints of super sweet Sungold tomatoes straight from our garden and Persephone Farm garlic. We added fresh basil to the sauce as well since it’s just going crazy in our garden right now. And the combo of fresh tomatoes and fresh basil is hard to beat.

The recipe called for refrigerated ravioli, but I had some frozen ravioli that I used instead. We just cooked them in boiling water before draining them and breading them. They worked out just fine.

This meal was cheap, fast and utterly delicious. Definitely a reason to dance around the kitchen.

Links:

Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2011033

Ravioli

For the Love of Old Bay

2010-08-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

If you are from Maryland, as Trevor is, it is a requirement that you love Old Bay. This salty, spicy seasoning is most recognizably paired with crab, but it can add some kick to other dishes, too.

Trevor recently found a recipe for Tilghman Island Stew in our Moosewood New Classics cookbook and decided we needed to make it. Tilghman Island is in the Chesapeake Bay. And not surprisingly, the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning.

And also not surprisingly, this veggie-packed stew was delicious. It called for eight different vegetables. We used Persephone Farm zucchini, kale and green beans. It’s one of those meals that makes you feel good after eating it.

We rounded out the stew with homemade cornbread. I’ve used the Albers recipe from the side of the box for as long as I can remember. And it’s always good. I’ve tried other recipes with diced peppers or fresh corn, but I think this recipe stands out in its simplicity. All you need with it is a pat of butter.

We loved this Chesapeake Bay-inspired meal. It’s one we will be making again soon while the zucchini and green beans are still in season. And it goes to show you can take the boy out of Maryland, but you’ll never take away his love for Old Bay.

P.S. Thanks to my mom for the beautiful quilted table runner she made for us that's in the first photo.

Links:

Old Bay Seasoning

http://www.oldbay.com/

Albers Cornbread recipe

http://www.alberscorn.com/recipes/cornmeal/AlbersCornBread.aspx

Vegan, really?

2010-07-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

OK, I love to eat meat. While I’ve flirted with the idea of vegetarianism, I’ve never been able to go fully meat free. Mainly, because I love cheeseburgers. But since reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, I have cut the amount of meat I consume and make the effort to buy grass-fed beef or free-range chicken whenever possible. (And by the way, homemade burgers made with grass-fed beef and a pinch of chopped sage are really, really good.)

Trevor recently read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Pollan, and made horrified gasps and exclamations as he was flipping the pages. And now he’s really determined to know exactly how the meat that makes it to his plate is being raised.

So to fit the more expensive (and humanely raised) meat into our budget, we eat less of it and more meals that are meat-free. And now that Persephone Farm has more produce at the Saturday PSU Farmers’ Market, and Trevor is working the stand again, we’ve got a lot of ingredients to make fabulous vegetarian meals.

Last night we tried a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine’s July 2010 issue: Chickpea Bajane. We used Persephone garlic and spinach, and thyme from our own garden. Trevor insisted he didn’t really like quinoa, a slightly nutty grain, but once we started eating this meal, he decided he like this quinoa. The recipe is time-consuming, but not too hard. And it was so tasty it was hard to believe it was vegetarian, let alone vegan.

Links:

Chickpea Bajane

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dynaction=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1995734

Napkin by Rustbelt Fiberwerks http://www.etsy.com/shop/rustbeltfiberwerks

Why I Love Trevor: Reason #62

2010-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

He makes cherry pie. Do I need to elaborate? I guess I should say it is the best cherry pie in the world. The Hood River cherries were in full force at the Farmers’ Market last weekend, so Trevor bought enough for a pie.

The cherries were a glorious claret color. Their juice was so dark that after helping pit them, my nails were stained for a few days.

Trevor followed the Joy of Cooking for the filling and crust. But we made a slight swap in the filling. He used amaretto instead of almond extract and added a few squeezes of lemon since our cherries were sweet, not tart. When it comes to crust Trevor does not skimp on the fat and the result is worth it. The crust almost falls apart before you can get a bite into your mouth.

My parents were visiting Portland, so they were lucky enough to get some of Trevor’s pie. And they raved about the pie as much as I did. They still talk about a Concord grape pie he made several years ago. I have a feeling they’ll be talking about this cherry pie for years to come, too.

One a side note: I’ll be posting more about Persephone Farm produce in the coming weeks. Because of the heavy May and June rains, the crops couldn’t get planted at the usual time. That means not as much produce as normal for this time of year. But Trevor will be back at the stand in a few weeks and I’ll have more to write about. And, of course, eat.

Who's Crabby?

2010-06-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

Dinner doesn’t get much simpler than homemade crab dip, sliced baguette and a lightly dressed green salad. That’s what Trevor and I had over the weekend. But if the crab is from Linda Brand Crab sold at the PSU Farmers’ Market and there’s a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, it’s a pretty remarkable dinner.

I didn’t think I liked crab until I tasted this dip. It’s our variation of Trevor’s mom’s recipe. If you want to make this dip truly decadent, use Jacobs Creamery cream cheese instead of the foil-wrapped block you’d find at the grocery store. The photo above shows a small serving of dip. And it’s in no way representative of the amount I actually ate! Try it and you’ll understand why.

Crab Dip

Serve with sliced baguette or crackers.

8 ounces cream cheese

a few dashes of Tabasco sauce

dash of Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon diced shallot

½ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon flour

12 ounces crab meat

Slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325˚ F. Spray a glass pie plate or 8-inch square casserole dish with cooking spray.

Mix first seven ingredients together (cream cheese through flour). Gently fold the crab into the cream cheese mixture. Spread mixture into prepared pie plate. (It will only be 1 to 2 inches deep.) Sprinkle with almonds. Bake for 30 minutes.

Links:

Linda Brand Crab

http://marketnavigators.com/

Jacobs Creamery

http://jacobscreamery.com/find-us.html

Sausage in Salad?

2010-05-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market, Trevor and I picked up some delicious German sausage from Sweet Briar Farms. Slathered with grainy mustard, they made excellent sausage sandwiches. I stuck the remaining two sausages in freezer.

Later in the week we were given some tender, red-speckled butter lettuce and tasty yellow-fleshed potatoes from our friend Paul who runs an amazing CSA program at a local high school. I knew we could make an excellent salad with these ingredients.

Trevor and I had prepared Cooking Light’s Chicken, Red Potato and Green Bean Salad many times before. It’s like a German Potato Salad on top of greens. And it’s dressed with a tangy whole-grain Dijon vinaigrette. But this time I decided we’d swap out the chicken for one of those Sweet Briar sausages we had tucked away. And it was phenomenal! The mustard in the vinaigrette was so good with the salty sausage.

It was a quick-to-prepare, hearty meal perfect for a warm evening. And the next morning, Trevor pan-fried some of the leftover cooked potatoes with a little dried rosemary. Then he topped them with poached eggs and sliced up sausage. The slightly runny yoke became a silky sauce when mixed with the hot potatoes. We first named it “German Farmhouse Breakfast,” then we decided we liked the name “Hausenfrites” even better. Either way, it was a keeper.

Links:

Chicken, Red Potato and Green Bean Salad http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=630132

Sweet Briar Farms, Eugene, Ore.

http://www.sweet-briar-farms.com/

Whaddya Do with Parsnips?

2010-05-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Portland has been keeping the weather weird. Rain, sun, thundershowers, hail, rainbows – all in a single day. And today’s high promises to be a record setter – for the coldest May 4.

So the early spring we saw in March is long gone. And it’s time to get back to casseroles. Before Persephone Farms’ last day at the Farmers’ Market until July, Trevor brought home some potatoes, parsnips and rapini – a slightly bitter green. We used the root vegetables for one of our favorite recipes from the Moosewood New Classics cookbook, Potato Parsnip Gratin. This cheesy dish is perfect for cold winter – or spring – nights.

The trick to making this gratin is to slice the potatoes and parsnips as thinly as possible. You can use a mandoline or really sharp knife. Trevor does a much better job of making really thin slices than I do with his Victorinox /Forschner Chef’s knife. We’re always fighting over who gets to use that knife.

The other trick is adding about 1 cup of cubed ham steak to the gratin. It’s not needed, but it sure is good!

This recipe also calls for thyme, which we have in our herb garden, and shallots and garlic, which still have in our root cellar. When we last made this recipe we used some pink-fleshed potatoes along with Yellow Finn and I think it made the casserole prettier.

We also lightly sautéed some rapini and garlic to eat with the gratin. It’s important not to cook the rapini for too long otherwise it will become bitter. While I love casseroles, I’m definitely looking forward to warmer weather and eating more spring vegetables. Since Persephone won’t be at the market until the summer, we’ll be shopping at other stands. And reporting in on what we make.

Links:

Crispy Cravings

2010-04-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

As I was out running errands today I had a huge craving for McDonald’s. The more I eat healthy organic produce, the less and less I crave overly processed fast food. But today for, some reason, it just sounded so good. Then I thought about it for a little while and realized what I really was craving was some French fries. So I decided to bypass the drive-thru at the Golden Arches and make some fries when I got home.

We have a few Persephone potatoes from last season, so I sliced them up and heated up some olive oil in a small skillet. I’d made Mushroom Pecan Burgers from Moosewood’s New Classics cookbook for dinner last night and had a cooked patty ready to be heated up. I’d used Persephone onions and shallots for the veggie burger mix.

The Mushroom Pecan burgers taste nothing like beef burgers, but are delicious in their own right. The mushrooms are nice and earthy, and the pecans add a hint of toastiness. And with oatmeal and brown rice used to bind everything together, they’re also packed with fiber.

The Yellow Finn and rose-fleshed potatoes I used fried up beautifully. I sprinkled them with a bit of kosher salt after I took them out of the skillet. A little bit of work and I had a lunch that satisfied my craving and was much more healthful than a Big Mac and fries.

P.S. I've added an Amazon tab to my blog. If you want to purchase one of the cookbooks or kitchen tools I frequently use and mention, you'll have easy access to it. And I'll get a percentage of the sale. Win-win.

Spring Forward

2010-03-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was the first day of the 2010 Portland Farmers’ Market in the South Park Blocks. And the weather couldn’t have been more gorgeous. Trevor is back at the Persephone Farm stand and that means more fresh veggies for us. It is still a little early in the season, so all the Persephone greens were snapped up pretty quickly. But there were plenty of leeks and a few heads of cabbage, so I threw them in my market bag with a Lidia Bastianich recipe in mind: Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage, Leeks and Fontina.

It’s a wonderfully flavorful vegetable-packed pasta dish. If you love pasta, but get tired of tomato sauce, give this a try. Leeks and shredded cabbage cook down to an almost silky texture. The sausage adds some heat and the whole-wheat pasta is really filling.

This recipe was published in Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen and Cooking Light magazine. I’ve included the link to the Cooking Light version since it’s available. The recipe in her book calls for more olive oil and three links of sausage instead of one, and more cheese. I used the version in her cookbook and chose leaner turkey sausage instead of pork. Either way, the dish is delicious.

Links:

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage, Leeks and Fontina

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=833349

Good Garnish

2010-03-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

While I grew up in a Mexican-American family, Tortilla Soup was never on menu at my house. I first had it at the chain restaurant El Torito. And I’ve liked it ever since. I found a great recipe for it in the Los Angeles Times, but lost it years ago. So when I was craving a rich, steaming bowl of tortilla soup I had to develop my own recipe.

I know red bell peppers aren’t in season, but I was able to make good use of the Persephone Farm onions, shallot and garlic I had in the “root cellar.” Plus, I had some delicious corn tortillas freshly made at the Mexican bakery in my neighborhood. Nothing beats a good fresh corn tortilla. When I was little my dad would only eat tortillas from La Central bakery. Sometimes my Aunt Esther would make them at home and that was even better. So I never ate the pale imitations of corn tortillas sold at the grocery store until I was an adult and didn’t make the extra trip to the panadería. I’m so happy I live close to one now!

The ingredients that make this soup subtly smoky are the roasted red peppers, cumin and pimentón — a specialty Spanish paprika. It’s so flavorful you only need a little. Don’t try to swap it for regular paprika; it just won’t taste the same.

The fun of tortilla soup is the garnishes. I love to add Cotija cheese (a crumbly cow’s milk cheese) for the saltiness, avocado for it’s silky texture, tortilla chips for crunch, and cilantro for a hit of freshness. But you can play around and add other toppers such as sour cream or leftover roast chicken.

Tortilla Soup

Serves 6 or more

Soup

2 red bell peppers, roasted with blackened skin, seeds and stem removed (see link below for instructions)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, smashed

¼ cup shallot, chopped

1 cup red onion, chopped

1 cup yellow onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon pimentón, Spanish smoked paprika (I used sweet pimentón)

1 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes

6 cups homemade chicken stock

4 corn tortillas, torn into pieces

Optional garnishes

Cotija cheese, crumbled

Tortilla chips, store bought or homemade

Cilantro, chopped

Avocado, sliced

Sour cream

Heat olive oil in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic, shallot, onions and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently until tender and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add cumin, oregano and pimentón, stirring for about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, roasted red peppers and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Stir in tortillas. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes.

Remove pot from heat. Fish out the bay leaf and discard. Allow to cool just slightly, and then use an immersion blender to blend soup until it is smooth. Return pot to heat to bring back to desired temperature.

Garnish each serving with your choice of toppings. Enjoy!

Links:

How to Roast Red Peppers

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Roasting-Peppers/Detail.aspx

Eat Like the Irish

2010-02-24T15:01:00.000-08:00

I spent a good part of my 20s frequenting an Irish pub walking distance from my apartment building. When it was that lean time right before paydays, my neighbor Kathy and I would scavenge in coat pockets, raid our laundry funds and check the couch for spare change so we could walk down for a pint of Harp or Newcastle, some live music and a chat with some Irishmen. As a result, I have an affinity for all things Irish.

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up (which was the only day of the year my neighbors and I ever ventured to English pub across the street), I was happy to find a fine Irish recipe for soda bread in this month’s issue of Cooking Light. This is a real thick, dense bread delicious slathered with butter. It has great texture from the steel-cut oats and whole-wheat flour. (I used locally milled Bob’s Red Mill flours.) It’s the kind of bread I picture Frank McCourt drooling for in the book Angela’s Ashes.

And even better, the issue contains a recipe for a Ploughman’s Lunch Platter. This was on the menu back at Irelands 32. Admittedly, the only time I really ate at Irelands was when my friends and I could talk Kevin the bartender/cook into making us “chips” after the kitchen was closed. But seeing the recipe made me want to try it with my freshly baked Brown Soda Bread.

The Ploughman’s Platter ended up being an economical use of odds and ends in the fridge. The recipe called for homemade tomato chutney. I swapped it for some mango chutney I had. (Even if you don’t make a platter I highly recommend eating the soda bread with Cheddar and chutney. It’s unbelievably good.) We almost always have sharp Cheddar on hand as well as some salad greens and pickles. I happened to have some chicken sausage in the freezer. You could always use a couple of hard-boiled eggs instead. It was a tasy and filling lunch. I can see why Irish wives fed this to their hungry farmer husbands. It’s cheap, healthy and fortifying.

Links:

Brown Soda Bread

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1963985

Ploughman’s Lunch Platter

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1963986

Golden Bowl

2010-02-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

Trevor and I first made Sheila Lukins’ Elegant Butternut Truffle Soup for Christmas 2004. We’d traveled east to spend the holidays with Trevor’s family and decided to make a feast with the help of his brother and sister. The soup was one of the dishes included in the “Extremely Merry Christmas” menu in Lukins’ Celebrate! cookbook. The other parts of meal included endive salad with Roquefort vinaigrette, a standing rib roast with horseradish cream, chanterelle risotto, Apple Brown Betty, and her wine suggestions Grand Cru Chablis and Pessac-Leognan. Lukins was right, it was an extremely Merry Christmas.

And the meal was a real group effort. Because we were flying in on Christmas Eve, Trevor’s parents bought all the groceries in Maryland and drove them up to Massachusetts in two large coolers. Trevor’s dad even made up menu cards that read “Denise and Trevor present Christmas dinner 2004 at Chez Carolyn” and listed the courses.

The butternut soup is the one recipe from that menu that I’ve made over and over. As soon as butternut squash is in season I remember this soup. It’s relatively simple to make (especially if you use an immersion blender instead of a food processor). So when I was down to my last butternut squash from Persephone Farm, I knew what to do with it.

I think what sets this soup apart from other butternut squash soups is the use of mace and the dab of truffle oil used to garnish. The unbelievable earthiness of the oil plays so well against the sweetness of the squash. Truffle oil can be tricky to find, but a gourmet shop, or well-stocked grocery store will have it. And it’s pricey, but a little goes a long way, and it adds extraordinary dimension to your dish.

And of course for me, each spoonful of this soup reminds me of that memorable evening.

Links:

Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins

http://www.amazon.com/Celebrate-Sheila-Lukins/dp/0761123725

New Favorite

2010-01-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

Looking at the wealth of Persephone onions we had in the root cellar, i.e. garage, I knew I had to try out Mary Ann Esposito’s recipe for Roasted Onion Soup. The soup had a couple things going for it. One, when onions are slow-roasted they transform from bitingly sharp to sweet and mellow. And two, lots of red wine.

I followed the directions and oven roasted the assortment of red and yellow onions, leeks, and fresh thyme from my garden. Then added the two cups of red wine to the rimmed cookie sheet. The smell in my kitchen was heavenly. After most of the wine reduced, I added the onions to a soup pot with beef broth and few seasonings.

I did modify the recipe slightly. It called for each serving to be topped with a slice of bread, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and broiled. I wasn’t sure my bowls could go in the broiler. So I tossed some bread cubes I had stashed in the freezer with olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt and toasted them in the oven until they were golden and crunchy. Then I topped each bowl with the croutons and cheese. It definitely worked and the croutons added a nice crunch. This soup of very simple ingredients was incredibly savory and rich. I think it’s my new favorite.

Links:

Roasted Onion Soup

http://www.ciaoitalia.com/Recipes.aspx?id=1258

Freestyle

2010-01-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

I used to experiment a lot in the kitchen, making up my own recipes. But Trevor kind of got me out of that habit. He used to be a strictly by the book cook. He’s loosened up a bit, so I now do a little more “freestyle” cooking.

I saw a couple of PBS cooking shows last year that featured stuffed winter squash: “Totally Vegetarian” and “Caprial and John’s Kitchen.” Both gave me the idea to try my own version. I used several ingredients I had on hand — onion, shallot and garlic from Persephone, prosciutto, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.

The great thing about this dish is that you can really play around with this recipe. Try cooked quinoa, barley or millet instead of a wild rice blend. Nutty Gruyere or Asiagio cheese would be great instead of Parmesan. Use pecans or walnuts. Cooked crumbled Italian sausage would be delicious instead of prosciutto. Or omit the meat altogether and it’s a perfect vegetarian meal. Mushrooms would be a good addition, too. The idea is to use great winter flavors that work well together. Also it’s OK if your filling is a little salty because the sweetness of the cooked squash will balance it out.

Freestyle Stuffed Winter Squash

Serves 2 to 4

1 buttercup, acorn or kabocha squash, about 2 ¼ pounds

olive oil

kosher salt and black pepper

Filling

1 4 oz package of wild rice blend

1 tablespoon butter

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

kosher salt

½ teaspoon each dried thyme and dried sage

olive oil

2 cups of chard, spinach or kale, thinly sliced

red pepper flakes

3 oz of thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped

3 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs (optional)

Sauce

½ cup white wine

¾ cup chicken or vegetable stock

2 tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 400˚ F.

Cut squash in half from stem to bottom to form two “bowls”. Scoop out seeds with a spoon. Slice off a small sliver from the bottom of the “bowls” so they will sit evenly on a cookie sheet. Place halves on rimmed cookie sheet and brush all sides with olive oil and season lightly with salt and black pepper. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the flesh is fork-tender in the thickest part.

While squash is in the oven, follow package directions for rice, omitting seasoning packet. Add a pinch of kosher salt instead.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot, onion and garlic. Season lightly with salt. Cook 10 minutes until soft and slightly browned. In the last minute of cooking add sage and thyme. Remove from pan and add to a large bowl. Put skillet back on heat and add a little olive oil. Add chard and a light sprinkle of red pepper flakes and salt. Cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add chard to bowl with onion mixture. Put pan back on heat and add a little olive oil. Add prosciutto to pan and fry until crispy and brown. Add prosciutto to bowl.

When rice is done, add to bowl with other filling ingredients. Add pine nuts, ¼ cup Parmesan and bread crumbs. Mix together. Taste and season as needed with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.

In the same skillet you used to fry prosciutto, add wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add butter and stock, simmer until lightly reduced and thickened, adding salt if necessary.

Leave squash on the cookie sheet and stuff cooked squash halves with filling. (You may have a little filling leftover.) Top with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Place under broiler and broil until cheese is melted and lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes at most.

For a very hungry person, one stuffed half is a good serving. But you can cut the half in half and it’s still a filling portion. Spoon sauce around squash on plate and enjoy!

Magical

2010-01-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

The most amazing thing happened on Saturday. A huge bag of vegetables showed up unexpectedly on our doorstep. Our very own veggie fairy left us onions, cabbage, leeks, winter squash, potatoes, parsnips, farm-fresh eggs and what we think is a turnip. We are planning on putting this bounty to good use making Roasted Onion Soup, Stuffed Acorn Squash, Roasted Parsnip Bread Pudding and Butternut Truffle Soup. We made Moosewood’s Roasted Winter Vegetables last night in which the veggies are coated with a healthy dose of sage, thyme and olive oil and roasted in the oven. It was delicious.

And we had another magical food experience on Saturday night that also involved Persephone Farm. To celebrate our six-year anniversary Trevor and I went to Clarklewis, one of the restaurants that helped establish Portland as a foodie Mecca.

We went with the intention of really splurging. Every course was amazing. Even the bread and butter. Fleur de sel or some sort of specialty salt was sprinkled on the butter and it made every bite sing in my mouth. We ordered the cheese plate to start. Usually Trevor and I don’t like the same cheese, but we agreed each cheese was outstanding. I think my favorite was the Tasmanian blue cheese. But the Taleggio and cow-sheep blend cheeses were excellent. And the fried almonds. And it was made even better with a glass of a slightly minerally, non-oaky Chardonnay.

Unfortunately they were out of the crab-stuffed endive salad, so I got a basic mixed greens with walnut salad. And Trevor tried the beet terrine salad that utilized Persephone beets. The thin layers of beet and cheese brought out the best of both ingredients.

Clarklewis sous chef Kai (hopefully I am spelling his name right) who is a regular customer at Persephone’s stand in the Farmers’ Market recognized Trevor and came out to greet us. Then he sent us a plate of gigantic gulf shrimp swimming in Meyer lemon sauce with pine nuts and a perfect dab of winter squash puree. I don’t even like shrimp and I scarfed it down. Trevor said, “This doesn’t even taste like shrimp, it tastes like lobster!”

Next up we had orecchiette with sausage-like meatballs and hedgehog mushrooms. The tender little ear-shaped pasta perfectly held the sauce. And the entreés did not disappoint. I had the double pork chop, which came with this wonderful corn cake that was a cross between cornbread and a soufflé. The savory center was like a custard. Trevor had the steak (topped with an outrageously good seasoned butter) and fingerling potatoes.

I protested when it came to dessert, but Trevor was determined. The kitchen was out of his first two choices, but the chocolate rum gelato was still a winner. I think we were in the restaurant for close to three hours! But it was perfect, the food, the ambience, the wine. Like I said. Magical.

Links:

Clarklewis restaurant

http://www.clarklewispdx.com/

Moosewood Restaurant and Cookbooks

http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/

Nostalgia on a Cookie Sheet

2010-01-13T14:57:00.000-08:00

I grew up baking with my Aunt Esther in my grandmother’s kitchen. We’d hang up a sign on the kitchen door reading “Ye Olde Bake Shoppe” and make something delicious. So I was a baker long before I became a serious cook.

My Grandma Lupe didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, except for her favorite: peanut butter cookies. She’d magically appear right before the first batch came out of the oven and sneak one off the cookie rack as they were cooling.

Not surprisingly, peanut butter cookies became my specialty. I always entered a variety of my baked goods at the Ventura County Fair and I won many ribbons. But I earned blue ribbons for peanut butter cookies a total of five times. For three years in a row I was unbeaten.

I had the Betty Crocker recipe memorized for a long time. Of course, I did a few minor tweaks to it to make the cookies softer and sweeter.

When I was baking peanut butter cookies this afternoon, all these memories swirled up as my Kitchen-Aid beat the butter and peanut butter together. Unfortunately I don’t remember the recipe by heart anymore. I had to go by the Joy of Cooking’s recipe, which is not bad. But at least I do remember my tweaks.

So no produce from Persephone Farm in this recipe, but I did use locally ground flour from Bob’s Red Mill. Better go make a sign to show the Bake Shoppe is open.

Links:

The Joy of Cooking

http://www.thejoykitchen.com

Bob’s Red Mill Flour

http://www.bobsredmill.com

Pork with Pork

2010-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

If, like Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction, you don’t “dig on swine,” I feel sorry for you. I’m with John Travolta’s character, “Pork chops are gooood. Bacon is goooood.”

The only better thing than pork, is pork with pork. As in pork scallopine Saltimbocca. It’s a boneless pork loin chop pounded good and thin, then topped with sage leaves and prosciutto. Yum. This is another Lidia Bastianch recipe. And one of our all-time favorites. It’s the kind of meal that makes you want to clean off all the crap on the kitchen table, light some candles and use your good cloth napkins.

Lidia recommends pairing the scallopine with polenta, but I first made it with Parmesan mashed potatoes instead and have never looked back. We also sauté some spinach and garlic with olive oil as she recommends.

And it’s not too hard to prepare. The pork sautés quickly, and the tantalizing wine sauce just takes a few more minutes. For this meal, the potatoes take the longest. I do have one tip, though. If you are using frozen pork chops, made sure they are completely thawed before trying to pound them out. If they are still frozen in parts, you won’t be able to pound them evenly. You’ll have big hunks and then holes in other spots. Also, use the bumpy side of the tenderizer just for a few whacks, then switch to the smooth side to avoid getting holes in the meat. But really this is a relatively easy meal that is fancy enough for company. But it’s great anywhere, anytime. We even made this on a camping trip once.

Links:

Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen

http://shopping.lidiasitaly.com/books.aspx

Rhymes with pokey

2010-01-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

We’re heading into the bleak season for locavores. The PSU Farmers’ Market is closed until spring and opportunities for getting local food are fewer and far between. But I’m thankful for two things. 1. The Hillsdale Farmers’ Market is open two Sundays a month until May and 2. Trevor’s early Christmas present to me: a burlap sack filled with Persephone Farm potatoes, onions, shallots and a few winter squash.

We will be eating a lot of potatoes this winter. But when it’s cold and gray outside, steaming potatoes in just about any presentation are so filling and warm. One of the best uses for all these potatoes is gnocchi. We get our Potato Gnocchi recipe from Lidia Bastianch’s Lidia’s Italian-American Cookbook. I think I’ve mentioned how Trevor and I had a love-hate relationship with this book when we first started cooking with it. Well it’s now changed to a walking-around-in-a-daze, almost-too-infatuated-to-eat, straight-up love relationship.

But the first time we made gnocchi, I think I was cursing Lidia’s name. Our first ill-fated, gnocchi-making adventure lasted about six hours. By the time we were finished, the kitchen was covered in tomato sauce, and Trevor had sustained a deep gash in his hand and had bled all over his shoes. It’s really a testament to the strength of our relationship that we remained married after that ordeal. And somehow we decided it’d be a good idea to make gnocchi again.

To be fair, our main frustration in making the recipe that first time is that we didn’t know what was (or have) a potato ricer. I had a vague idea, and Trevor attempted to fashion one from a can — hence blood-covered shoes. A potato ricer looks like a giant garlic press. Peeled, hot boiled potatoes are squished through it and fluffy little strands of potatoes come out. Another key to good gnocchi is making sure the potatoes are completely cool after they are riced.

And getting the right amount of flour can be tricky. I’ve learned with this recipe to measure out 2 cups of flour, set a timer for 10 minutes and then slowly fold/knead in the flour a little at a time until the time is up or almost up. The dough shouldn’t be too sticky or too dry. The only way to really learn how to get it right is to make the gnocchi a few times.

Happily, today we are gnocchi pros. It’s still time-consuming (more like two hours instead of six), but we put the extra gnocchi in the freezer and have many more meals that take only as long as it takes to boil water and heat up sauce.

Usually we have Lidia’s tomato sauce with the gnocchi, but a few weeks ago we decided to try her Gorgonzola Sauce, also in her Italian-American cookbook. It took our gnocchi to a whole new level. Of course, how could a sauce with butter, two cheeses and cream not be heavenly? Especially with Rogue Creamery’s Oregonzola cheese. It was like the best mac and cheese you’ve ever had in your life. I highly recommend it for your must-try list.

Links:

Lidia’s Italian-American Cookbook

http://shopping.lidiasitaly.com/books.aspx

Oregonzola cheese

http://www.roguecreamery.com/product.asp?specific=109

Thankful

2009-12-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Which means less time for everything else, such as blogging. But even though it’s a few weeks late, I had to talk about the wonderful Thanksgiving feast I attended this year.

With moving into a new house and my looking for a job, it didn’t seem like we’d get to fly to be with family for Thanksgiving this year. So Trevor and I decided to stay in Portland. Upon hearing this, Paul, another Persephone Farm cashier and fellow foodie, invited us to his place for Thanksgiving.

It was such a great evening. We met new friends and the food was incredible. First off, our thanks goes out to Julie and Cory who not only slaughtered the turkey we ate, but drove it up to Oregon from Colorado packed in dry ice. It was the most flavorful and juicy bird ever.

We also had Roasted Parsnip Bread Pudding that Paul made. It was a Martha Stewart recipe that I will definitely try. It was creamy and satisfying. And there were delicious homemade rolls, stuffing, fancy deviled eggs with smoked trout, and cranberry sauce. Trevor and I brought Sweet Potato Butternut Mash, Mashed Potatoes with Leeks and Fennel (a Moosewood recipe) and some homemade vegetable stock. The sweet potato mash infused with sunny orange rind and maple syrup has become a Thanksgiving staple after we received the Celebrate cookbook by Sheila Lukins for our wedding. I love this cookbook and highly recommend it.

And for Trevor, it would not be Thanksgiving with out Ham Roll-Ups. They are basically sliced ham spread with cream cheese, then a dill pickle spear is placed in the middle and rolled up. Then you slice them into bite-size pieces. Oh and I can’t forget the delicious cider gravy Julie and Cory made, with a little assistance from me at the end. Much of the bounty we ate came from Persephone Farm, and for this I am especially thankful.

The dessert spread was expansive, too. Pumpkin pie, rhubarb pie and the sinfully rich Chocolate Espresso Pecan Tart Trevor heard about on Good Food and had to make. I cannot even begin to say how good it was. As one person put “This pie is fulfilling all of my needs right now!”

It’s good to fulfilled and thankful.

Links:

Chocolate Espresso Pecan Tart

http://goodfoodonkcrw.vox.com/library/post/chocolate-espresso-pecan-tart.html

Roasted Parsnip Bread Pudding

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/roasted-parsnip-bread-pudding

Celebrate by Sheila Lukins

http://www.amazon.com/Celebrate-Sheila-Lukins/dp/0761123725

Twice As Nice: Meat and Potatoes

2009-11-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

Trevor was in the mood for splurging last week and bought a beautiful roast from Highland Oak Farm, our favorite purveyor of grass-fed beef at the Portland Farmers’ Market. But it actually turned into several meals, so it wasn’t really a splurge after all.

I followed the Joy of Cooking guidelines for roast beef, but studded the roast with cloves of garlic and dusted it with kosher salt and pepper. Our meat thermometer kept saying it wasn’t to temperature, so we kept cooking it. It ended up a little more well done than we desired, but that didn’t stop us from devouring it. I made mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts sautéed in butter and thyme to go with the roast beef. And gravy with the pan juices and some concentrated beef stock from Trader Joe’s. As much as I like to make stock, beef stock is little beyond me.

Two nights later I used the leftovers in recipe that I’d wanted to try. I love to watch PBS cooking shows. I’ve been a fan Ciao Italia for some time, but had never tried one of the recipes. After seeing a show on potato casseroles, I knew which recipe to try first: Piedmont Potato Casserole. It’s basically leftover roast sandwiched between layers of cheesy mashed potatoes. How could it not be good?! I wasn’t disappointed once it came out of the oven and served it alongside crispy kale. Although, the next time I make it, I’ll add some sautéed kale or spinach to the meat layer so it can truly be a one-dish meal. And maybe some chives or green onion to the potatoes for an extra punch of flavor.

This roast also provided a delicious lunch. I warmed up leftover roast with leftover gravy and poured it onto a toasted hoagie roll dabbed with mayo. I topped it with lettuce and tomato. It was reminiscent of a mouth-watering roast beef po’ boy I’d had at Bunk sandwiches in SE Portland. It would have been perfect if I’d remembered to add sliced pickles to the sandwich. It needed that extra salty element.

For all these meals, we used garlic, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, kale and lettuce that Trevor brought home after working at the Persephone Farm’s stand at the Saturday Farmers’ Market at PSU. And I realized spending a little extra proved to be worth it with the creative use of leftovers.

Links:

Piedmont Potato Casserole

Highland Oak Farm

Slow Cooker Goodness

2009-11-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

When I was packing up for our move to a new house, I made sure I clearly marked the box that held our Crock Pot. I planned to make some no-fuss food after we moved in. With the kitchen in boxes, we’d been fast-food slumming and were ready for something tasty and healthy.

I can’t expound enough on the merits of the slow cooker. It was so easy to chop up some veggies, pour in stock and voilà a few hours later you have rich soup. No standing over a stove, no stirring. Perfect when you need your hands free to unpack the mountain of boxes still in your kitchen!

The day after we moved I got out my trusty Crock Pot. I chopped up red onion and garlic from Persephone Farm and tossed them in the slow cooker. I added ground beef, 2 cans each of tomatoes and red kidney beans, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika and a little cayenne pepper. (I usually add a little red wine to my chili, but we didn’t have any.) I set it for 6 hours and by dinnertime, we had a hearty chili. We toasted a bake-at-home baguette and had a home-cooked meal that only took about 20 minutes of hands-on prep time. There was plenty left over for lunches and topping a baked potato later on in the week.

The next day I made chicken soup in the slow cooker. You can use whatever vegetables you prefer. I threw in Persephone onions, garlic, celery, kale and potato. I also added carrots, frozen peas and corn. I used the frozen vegetable stock I had on hand and added water, too. For seasoning I added 2 bay leaves, thyme and a pinch of sage, and salt and pepper. I browned the chicken before adding it to the cooker, but you don’t have to. Then I deglazed the pan I cooked the chicken in with water and added that to the pot as well.

And as added bonus, the Crock Pot filled the entire house with the smell of home cooking, all with minimal effort on my part.

P.S. Check out this article in the Oregonian about another Persephone stand employee, Paul Hudak. He's doing great things at Terra Nova High School!

Moving On Up

2009-11-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

Getting the keys to your first home is something to celebrate. With Champagne. And since most of our kitchen was packed into boxes, pizza was an easy prep meal. Not your run-of-the-mill pepperoni, but a Special Occasion pizza. Caramelized Onion and Fig Pizza with Havarti.

On a trip to San Francisco a couple of years ago I had the gustatory pleasure of being treated to meal at Greens in Fort Mason. I had a fresh, tasty sampler platter, but Trevor ordered the most delicious pizza with caramelized onions and fresh figs. As I tasted it I knew I’d have to try to recreate it at home.

Caramelizing onions is easy, if a little time consuming. But the result is so delicious. The onions cease to be oniony and take on a sweet flavor that's completely alien to raw onion flavor.

I usually make my own pizza dough in a bread machine, but my 12-year-old bread machine died when I got it out to make the dough. It served me well and couldn’t have gone at a better time. (I didn’t have to lug it to our new place only to have it die on me there.) RIP Oster bread machine. I ended up making pizza dough in my food processor and it worked OK, but I prefer the ease of putting all the ingredients into a bread machine and forgetting about it until I hear a triple beep.

Below are my recipes for pizza dough and our fig pizza. For this meal we used Persephone Farm onions. And we got our wonderful Havarti from another PSU Farmers’ Market vendor, the Willamette Valley Cheese Co.

And coming soon … your absolute best friend in a move: the slow cooker.

Pizza Dough

Makes 2 large thin-crust pizzas or 4 small thin-crust pizzas.

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ½ cups stone-ground all-purpose flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill

½ cup stone-ground whole-wheat flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill

2 teaspoons (or 1 packet) quick-acting yeast

¾ teaspoons salt

Add all ingredients to the bowl of a bread machine following your manufacturer’s instructions. Select and start dough cycle. Rough is ready when cycle is complete.

Caramelized Onion and Fig Pizza with Havarti

Makes 1 14 ½-inch diameter thin-crust pizza. I used Mission figs for this recipe, but any kind will work.

½ pizza dough recipe listed above

1 tablespoon butter

1 ½ to 2 large onions, sliced

1 ¼ cups dried figs

2 cups Havarti or Fontina cheese, grated (or as much as desired)

¾ cup Mozzarella cheese, grated (or as much as desired)

all-purpose flour for rolling

nonstick cooking spray, such as Pam

cornmeal for dusting pizza pan

Place figs in a bowl of warm water and let soften up while you are cooking onions.

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted add onions. Cook for about 10 minutes until onions are soft and wilted. Turn heat to low and slowly cook the onions stirring occasionally for 30 to 40 minutes. Don’t rush the onions. As they cook they will turn a caramel brown and become sweet. Set aside when done and allow to cool.

Heat oven to 475˚ F. Drain figs and pat dry. Slice into ½-inch thick slices. Set aside.

Dust work surface with flour and roll out pizza dough to fit a large, round pizza pan. Alternately, you can use two cookie sheets and make 2 smaller, rectangle-shaped pizzas. Spray pizza pan with coking spray and dust with cornmeal. Place dough on pan. Top with onions and figs then cheeses.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Links: www.wvcheeseco.com

www.bobsredmill.com

A Serving of Comfort Food Coming Up

2009-10-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

With the rainy season in full swing, I’ve been preparing more homey, comfort meals like Moosewood’s Homespun Pot Pie. When it’s gray and drizzly outside you’ll be glad that you are inside eating this cozy dish.

This pot pie has biscuit-like topping as opposed to a flaky, piecrust topping. And it’s a nice, fluffy biscuit, too. Next time I might try mixing grated cheddar cheese into the topping batter.

A wide array of vegetables is packed in the pie. And while the recipe would be filling as is, I sneaked a little chicken breast, too. The prep time is a little long, but the end result is really tasty and completely worth it. It makes a lot and is great for lunch the next day.

We used Persephone Farm onion, garlic, potatoes and parsnips. I’ll be mentioning another dish that highlights the underrated parsnip soon. This meal is yet another reason to check out The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook!

And if you’re in the Portland area this weekend, I really recommend stopping by the Persephone Farm booth to check out Trevor and company in their Halloween costumes. I promise it will be highly entertaining.

You Can't Eat Just One

2009-10-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Meatloaf and leafy greens may not sound like a tasty meal to some people, but I beg to differ. When the meatloaf is juicy and flavorful and the kale is as crisp as a potato chip it’s a standout meal.

I first started making crispy kale after watching Jacques Pepin prepare it on his TV show Fast Food My Way. He admitted that he stole it from another chef, so I’ll detail how I make it at home, too. It’s so good that Trevor and I will eat one whole bunch of kale between the two of us in one sitting. And usually we’re lucky to get any on our plates, because we start eating it as soon as it’s out of the oven! And luckily Persephone Farms always has lots of kale for us to take home and enjoy.

For the meatloaf, I played around with what we had in the fridge. I gave it a Southern feel by adding BBQ sauce and finely chopped greens. And some mashed potatoes on the side rounded everything out nicely. For this meal we used Persephone onions, kale and potatoes.

Crispy Kale

Serves 2 to 3. Really dry kale is the key to making it crispy. Also, this is one of the few dishes in which I use table salt instead of Kosher. Kosher salt crystals are just too big and don’t disperse well. The use of the cookie rack helps air get under the kale as it’s baking.

1 bunch curly leaf kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped into bite-size pieces

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

table salt

Preheat your oven to 225˚ F.

Thoroughly wash the kale and then dry it in a salad spinner. You may need to do this in two batches. Pat off any excess water with a towel. Place kale in a large bowl. Sprinkle olive oil over the kale and toss well with your hands, ensuring each piece is coated with oil.

Place a cookie rack over a rimmed baking sheet. (Prepare two racks and two sheets, if you have them. Otherwise work in batches.) Spread kale in a single layer over the rack(s). Don’t over crowd, or the kale will not get crisp. Lightly sprinkle salt over kale. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until kale is crisp. Check it when you start to smell it, it may be done sooner depending on your oven. Crispy kale is best eaten immediately!

Southern-Style Meatloaf

Serves 2 to 3. Adding vegetables stretches out the meat and adds flavor and moisture to the meatloaf. I didn’t really write down the exact measurements as I was making this meatloaf. But meatloaf is pretty forgiving and these estimates should work.

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup dinosaur kale or collard green, finely chopped

1 pound ground beef, preferably grass-fed

1/8 cup BBQ sauce, such as Sweet Baby Ray’s

Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 egg

1/8 cup dried breadcrumbs

scant 1/8 cup water

olive oil, optional

Preheat your oven to 375˚ F. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Spray a small skillet with cooking spray and sauté onion and kale over medium heat until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In large bowl combine, ground beef, BBQ sauce, salt, pepper, egg, breadcrumbs, water, onions and kale with your hands until just mixed. (Don’t over mix or the meat can get tough.) Shape meat mixture into a small loaf shape and place on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil if desired.

Bake for 25 minutes or until thoroughly cooked, but still moist. Enjoy!

Tacos Like My Momma Used to Make

2009-10-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

My mom is one of those people who can hear a piece of music then whip out her violin, guitar or keyboard and play it back for you. Pretty amazing. But when I was growing up, her talents did not extend to the realm of the kitchen. She did have a few standbys that I did always look forward to. And tacos were one of them.

Unfortunately most people think of tacos as tasteless packaged shells with some bland ground beef thrown in. But for us, back before anyone worried about heart disease or diabetes, tacos were fresh tortillas from a local Mexican bakery filled with seasoned beef and fried at home. I never ate Taco Bell until I went to college.

A couple of months ago I had a craving for good homemade tacos. I don’t normally fry too much, but we’d just purchased some grass-fed ground beef so I hoped that sort of made up for the frying. Then I re-created one of my favorite meals. Trevor had never had tacos this way before. The crunch of the fried tortilla and well-seasoned ground beef won him over and he will not be going back to prepackaged shells.

This week Trevor bought some more grass-fed beef from Highland Oak at the PSU Farmers’ Market after working at the Persephone Farm stand. And he had tacos on the brain. We used onion from Persephone. And Trevor made a delicious salsa with Persephone sunburst tomatoes, shallot, garlic, jalapeño and cilantro.

The key to these tacos is making sure your oil is hot enough. Warm it up slowly over medium heat. I use the Rachael Ray trick of sticking the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil to see if it’s hot enough. If bubbles form around the handle, it’s good to go. Also shape the beef into flat little ovals, that aren’t too thick so they will cook quickly.

Homemade Tacos

Serves 2 to 3. Please be very, very careful when frying. Make sure all handles are facing in toward your stove. Keep all small children and pets out of the area and wear shoes. Trust me on that one.

canola oil or other frying oil

½ pound ground beef, preferably grass-fed natural beef

6 corn tortillas

¼ cup onion, diced

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

¾ cup grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

1 medium tomato, chopped

½ cup lettuce, shredded

salsa to taste

Fill a large skillet about 1 to 1½ inches of canola oil. Heat over medium heat until bubbles form when the handle of a wooden spoon is dipped in.

Combine, ground beef and onions. Add salt and pepper to taste. Form six flat, oval-shaped patties that will cover one half of the tortillas.

In another skillet, heat tortillas until they are soft and pliable. Working quickly, place one patty in each tortilla and fold the tortilla in half. When all six on finished, carefully place as many tacos as will fit into the skillet with hot oil. Cook about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Adjust the heat as necessary. If it’s bubbling very rapidly, turn it down a little; just a few bubbles, turn it up slightly. Tortillas should be crisp and lightly browned. When taking each taco out of the oil, carefully tip it to each side to allow excess oil to drain.

When tacos are done, place them on a cookie rack with paper towel underneath. You may pat them lightly with a paper towel to removed excess grease. While tacos are still warm, open them slightly and fill with grated cheese.

Once all the tacos are finished cooking, you can fill them with tomatoes, lettuce and salsa or any other topping you desire. Enjoy!

Strawberries and Cream

2009-10-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

I love when Trevor is in a dessert-making mood. Last week, he brought home some absolutely beautiful strawberries from the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market and was inspired to make shortcake. (He forgot to get apples from Persephone Farm and needed a fruit fix.) He busted out the ultimate cooking reference book, Joy of Cooking. If you want to know how to make the perfect white sauce — or skin a squirrel — the Joy of Cooking is your book. And of course there’s also a recipe for shortcake.

The shortcakes came out of perfectly fluffy, but the bottoms were a little too dark. Not that that stopped us from scarfing them down! But next time we’ll remember to use our Silpat baking mat and they should be perfect.

We topped the strawberries and shortcake with homemade whipped cream. It worked out perfectly that we had some extra whipping cream on hand. There is just no substitute for real whipped cream. As much fun as those spray whipped-cream cans are, it’s always better to make your own. These were probably the last strawberries we’ll see until next year, but we definitely made the most of them!

Link:

Joy of Cooking

Tastes Like Fall

2009-10-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

Before moving to Portland from Southern California I never really knew how good fall could be. In the Valley it went from sweltering to pleasantly sunny. But in Portland there is a definite change in the air and I’m treated to a view of trees exploding in Technicolor gold and fiery red.

The squash changes color, too. It’s the time of year for sweet, nutty winter squash in beautiful, vibrant shades of orange. I never appreciated butternut squash until I moved here.

And I first discovered the deliciousness of delicata squash at the Persephone Farm stand four years ago when Trevor first started working there. So when last weekend Trevor said the first of the delicata arrived, I made sure we took some home. Delicata has a thin pale yellow skin with dark green stripes. There’s no need to peel it when you roast it in the oven, the skin is edible and tasty. The cantaloupe-colored flesh is sweet and mellow. This week I swapped it in for butternut in Pasta with Winter Squash and Pine Nuts and Trevor liked it even better this way. (I did have to peel the delicata for this particular recipe.) I also used mini farfalle instead of penne because it was on sale and I like the way it holds the sauce.

This dish is so simple and just plain delicious. The fragrance of sage and garlic just dances around your kitchen in the most lovely way. And the sharp Parmesan cheese is the perfect foil to the delicata. It’s like fall in a bowl. Try it soon. And I’ll fill you in on what Trevor made for dessert next time: Shortcake with Winter Berries and Cream!

Link:

Pasta with Winter Squash and Pine Nuts

Please leave a comment! I’d love to get your feedback.

Happy Meal

2009-10-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last night Trevor and I didn’t really talk while we were eating except for the occasional exclamation of “Oh my God, this is so good!” or “Mmmmmm!” The meal that had us so happy and full was from Cooking Light’s 2009 March issue. We had Tomato Poached Eggs, Zucchini and Mint and homemade focaccia.

We’ve made this meal several times since we got the issue in the mail. The recipes are based on traditional Sardinian cuisine. Sardinia is a “Blue Zone” with a higher-than-normal amount of residents living to be healthy 100-year-olds. As Cooking Light reports, one of the secrets to this longevity may be a plant-based diet in which meat only plays a small role.

And this meal is definitely worth sticking around for! We did slightly modify the recipe. Instead of the traditional Sardinian music bread, we made focaccia with stone-ground flour from Bob’s Red Mill. For that recipe we swapped the dried herbs for fresh rosemary and basil, and added thinly sliced onions, too. And we used homemade tomato sauce we had on hand instead of making the sauce. But we have made the sauce in the recipe before and it’s delicious.

We used zucchini, garlic and onion that Trevor brought home after working at Persephone Farm’s stand at the PSU Farmers’ Market. And we picked all the herbs from our garden. Ricotta salata is a firm, salty version of creamy ricotta. This cheese can be difficult to find, but it’s available at New Seasons stores in Portland.

This meal is so good, we forget it’s vegetarian. It’s so homey and satisfying that even a staunch carnivore won’t feel like something is missing from his plate.

Links:
Tomato Poached Eggs
Zucchini and Mint
Easy Focaccia
Bob's Red Mill

Tasteful Economy

2009-10-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

The smell of a chicken roasting in the oven is one of life’s simple pleasures. It’s even better when that 4-pound chicken was less than 4 bucks on sale, and you can get several meals from it.

First, I loosely followed Martha Stewart’s guidelines for roasting a chicken. Her book, Martha Stewart’s Cooking School is a great reference for the home cook. However I used a lot more herbs than she calls for. I snipped about 1/3 cup sage, thyme, basil and rosemary from my herb garden. I placed some of the herbs, lemon slices and garlic in the cavity, and stuffed some under the skin, too. I also rubbed some butter on the outside of the skin.

To make a kind of a rack for the chicken to rest on, I cut some celery stalks in half and put them on the bottom of my cast-iron skillet. And to make this a one-pan meal, I quartered some potatoes and a cipollini onion, and scattered them around the chicken. About an hour later, I had a beautiful roast chicken. (But I do admit when we started carving it, we realized it still needed to cook a little longer. But it wasn’t a big deal — I just put it on a baking sheet and put it back in the oven for a few minutes.) And I made some gravy from the pan drippings. For this meal I used Persephone Farm celery, onion, garlic and potatoes.

After we’d enjoyed our chicken dinner, I wrapped up the chicken carcass and put it in the fridge to use to make stock later. As you’ll soon discover, I really, really hate to waste anything.

The next day for lunch, I shredded up chicken breast to make a chicken salad. I’d had one from Trader Joe’s a while ago that I really had enjoyed; luckily I had the ingredients on hand to recreate it. I added chopped fresh rosemary, light mayo, diced dried apricots and diced Persephone celery to the shredded chicken. The apricots and celery added flavor and crunch and stretched out the chicken. I even had enough left to have as a snack on crackers.

For use No. 3 of this roast chicken, I made chicken stock. Making stock is so easy. And it has so many benefits. 1) You save money. 2) You can control the amount of fat and salt. 3) You don’t waste any parts of the chicken. 4) The taste of homemade stock blows away the canned versions. Again Martha Stewart’s Cooking School is a great reference for stock making.

Also, making stock is a great way to use up vegetables and herbs that might be toward the end of their lifespan. If your carrots or celery are a little limp, they’ll still be tasty additions. You can also use parts of vegetables that you’d normally discard, like the dark green parts of leeks. I’d saved a few such items in my freezer and then threw them in my stockpot.

Here’s what I used in my stock today: 3 carrots, spring onion tops, some leek tops, fennel stalks, 4 stalks of celery, ½ a large onion, 6 cloves of garlic, fresh thyme, fresh sage, fresh chives, fresh rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 6 peppercorns, gizzards from the chicken, the chicken carcass, two wings and kosher salt.

I like to add a little olive oil to the pot and brown up the onions, garlic and celery before I add the rest of the ingredients. It just adds more depth of flavor. Once you add the rest of the ingredients, add enough water to cover everything by an inch or so. Then bring it to a boil and skim off any foamy bubbles that appear on top. Then you just lower the heat and let it go at a low simmer for an hour to an hour and a half. You don’t need to do anything to it except skim it if you see more foam. The skimming is important because if don’t do it, you’ll get cloudy stock.

Once I strain out the solids and discard them, I divide the stock between sandwich bags then place them on a cooking sheet and freeze. Once the stock is frozen, I take the bags off the sheet and stack them easily in the freezer. I divide the stock in ½-cup and 1-cup portions, since most recipes call for small portions. The flavor that homemade stock gives to recipes like risotto or soup, or even steamed brown rice is indescribable. I hope you’ll try it soon.

Soup Belly

2009-09-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I made a very satisfying soup from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook: Spanish Bean Soup. It was the first real day of fall weather in Portland, so a comforting bowl of soup and warm-from-the-oven bread sounded like the perfect dinner.

This meal was a great use of Persephone Farm's produce. It called for collard greens, garlic, onion, celery and potatoes. I did modify the recipe a little. It originally asked for soy sausage, but I used a mild Italian turkey sausage instead and decreased the amount slightly. Spicy Italian sausage would be equally good.

I had the soup for lunch the past couple of days and have not grown tired of it. The flavors married and intensified — and it tasted even better as a leftover. Another winner from our Moosewood cookbook!

Sunday Best

2009-09-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, Trevor woke up ready to eat. He looked through our fridge, some cookbooks, and decided on his plan of action: Huevos Rancheros. He figured he might as well fry up the last couple of pieces of bacon, too. And he’d just picked up potatoes from the Persephone farm stand at the PSU Farmers’ Market, so why not toss them in some hot bacon grease?

The result was one cheesy, crispy, flavorful breakfast that we’ll be making again and again. He used the recipe from our Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook. It's basically a toasted tortilla topped with a poached egg, salsa and cheese.

We’ll be cooking several recipes from Moosewood this week. Each recipe in the book calls for an abundance of fresh vegetables. So it’s really perfect for our situation — trying to build meals from the free vegetables we get from Persephone Farm each week Trevor works at the stand. Most of the recipes are really delicious vegetarian dishes with influences from around the globe. Although, sometimes, we do make Moosewood recipes and say “Wouldn’t this be really great with some ham?”

Local Doesn't Just Mean Lettuce

2009-09-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about the Saturday Farmers’ Market at Portland State is the sausage sandwich by Salumeria di Carlo. You can smell the spicy and sweet sausages cooking the minute you hit the market. Topped with your choice of spicy or regular mustard and in a soft bakery bun, these sandwiches by the Dundee, Ore. sausage makers are hard to resist. And better yet, you can buy frozen packs to take home.

So when I saw this recipe on the Rachael Ray show last year, I immediately thought of Salumeria di Carlo sausage and Persephone Farm fennel. Fennel seed is a common flavoring for Italian sausage, so I knew fresh fennel had to make a sausage sandwich out of this world. I warn you — it has dumb name — but it blows away the normal onion, bell pepper and sausage combo. Here’s the link to Hot Diggity Dogs.

We were able to use fennel, red onion, parsley, and garlic from Persephone Farms in this recipe. This is a perfect kick-up-your-feet and have-a-beer-on-a-Friday-night kind of meal. We washed down our sandwiches with Green Lakes Organic Ale by Deschutes Brewery, another local pick. You can round out this meal with oven fries or chips.

Contact info: Salumeria di Carlo, Dundee, Ore. 971-570-3720

Heaven in a Slow Cooker

2009-09-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

After seeing an episode of Cook’s Country on PBS, Trevor got really excited about one of the recipes they demonstrated. And it was easy for me to see why. It contained flank steak, two kinds of Italian sausage and country-style short ribs. The sheer amount of meat had me baulking a little at the idea, so I said, “OK, you’ll have to make it, though.”

So this past Saturday at the Portland State Farmers’ Market, Trevor took home extra onions and garlic from the Persephone Farms stand where he works. The Cook’s Country recipe Sunday Italian Gravy called for plenty of both in addition to all that meat. He also got some radicchio, a slightly bitter, purple-leafed plant to broil and eat on the side.

The recipe itself was really easy. Brown up the sausage, onions and add them to a slow cooker, mix in all the ingredients. Then you let the Crock Pot do its thing. It started smelling like heaven about two hours into cooking. Four hours later we had this rich meat sauce which tasted as amazing as it smelled. The flank steak and ribs shredded at the slightest touch of a fork. I’m drooling a little just thinking of it now.

I've include a link to Cook’s Country. You do have to sign up to get access to the recipes. It’s free if you cancel before they start charging at 14 days. And this recipe is worth the extra work of registering. I've also included a link to the radicchio recipe we used.

Even though we halved the recipe, we’ll still get two dinners (for two) and two lunches from it. We ate it on warm baguette topped with Parmesan cheese last night. I think I liked it even better that way. It had the sauciness of meatball sub, tenderness of a pulled pork sandwich and spiciness of an Italian sausage sandwich. All in one sandwich.

This recipe would be great for a dinner party. All the work is done in advance, so you can hang out and have a drink with your guests when they arrive instead of furiously trying to finish cooking. It’d also be great for a casual Christmas dinner. You can start it after opening presents, lounge around all day, then eat this spectacular sauce with your family for dinner.

Zucchini Part Deux

2009-09-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

I always get the late afternoon munchies. Instead of going for a tasty baked good, I looked through my fridge and found some zucchini. I remembered a delicious slaw I had recently had at a bakery in Corvallis, Ore., and decided to duplicate it. It took just a few minutes to make. My salad was fresh and satisfying. It’s a great way to use up all that zucchini that’s around this time of year.

I’ll be playing around with different variations of this salad and I hope you do, too. I’m especially excited about trying it with ricotta salata — a hard, salty version of creamy ricotta — and fresh mint. And maybe some roasted garlic. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Zucchini and Red Pepper Slaw

Use a food processor with a grater attachment to make quick work of the grating. Bottled, roast red bell peppers may be a little zesty, so you may need less vinegar. Adjust to your taste preference. Serves 2.

1 large zucchini, grated (2 cups total)

½ cup roasted red bell peppers (bottled or roasted at home), cut into ½-inch pieces

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

_1/8 cup pine nuts, toasted

¼ cup grated or shaved Parmesan cheese

Combine zucchini, red bell peppers, vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl. Top with pine nuts and cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Cleaning Out the Cupboards

2009-09-16T22:26:00.001-07:00

When I was making up my shopping list last week, I looked around the kitchen to see what I had on hand. I spotted some dry lentils and remembered a tasty recipe from Cooking Light— Bacon, Onion and Brown Lentil Skillet.

I’d never enjoyed lentils all that much until I made this recipe. And this is one of those recipes that may not sound all that appetizing, but once you smell the onions hitting the bacon grease, you know it’s going to be great.

In addition to the lentils, I also had some carrots, chicken broth, bacon and lots of fresh thyme. So I knew it’d be an economical meal that I could round out with produce from Persephone Farm. So we grabbed Persephone onions, garlic and parsley for this dish — and some Swiss chard and shallot to go on the side. I used some of the extra bacon grease to cook the chard in, too. Below is my variation of a recipe handed out at the Persephone stand.

Tasty Sautéed Greens

Feel free to use kale or collards instead of the Swiss chard. And you can use a combination of onion and garlic instead of shallot. Serves 2.

1 bunch Swiss chard, chopped and thoroughly washed

2 tablespoons bacon grease or olive oil

¼ cup shallot, sliced

salt to taste

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

a splash balsamic vinegar

Bring 1 cup water to boil in a 4-quart stockpot. Stir in chard, reduce heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Add grease or oil to large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and red pepper flakes, cook, stirring, until shallot is tender, about 4 minutes. Add greens to skillet and reserved cooking water. Add salt to taste, sauté about 10 minutes or until desired degree of softness. Finish with a splash of balsamic vinegar. Serve and enjoy!

Zucchini Overload

2009-09-14T11:24:00.001-07:00

It was August when Trevor and I moved to Portland. The sun was shining in a way that made me doubt Portland could ever be cloudy and drizzly for a good eight months out of the year. And it was peak zucchini season. We walked by a bus bench on the way to explore our new neighborhood and noticed a plastic grocery bag sitting on the bench. When we returned home, the bag was still sitting there. Curiosity got the best of us and we opened it up to discover a bag full of gorgeous green zucchini. And a desperate note: Please take. So we did.

When we got home, I searched through my Cooking Light magazines for some recipes to use up the gift squash and found Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1809024 I thought, “Perfect!” It’s been a favorite ever since.

Summer squash season is still going strong at Persephone Farm, so we had a large selection this week. I grabbed a few extra to make this wonderful snack bread. I did “unlighten” it though. I didn’t have applesauce on hand so I increased the grated zucchini to 2 cups, upped the oil to 1/3 cup and added 3 tablespoons of light sour cream. I also swapped 1 cup of all-purpose flour for 1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. It still was moist and delicious

I’ve still got more squash in my fridge, so later this week I’ll post my Zucchini Slaw recipe that I developed after tasting a wonderful salad at a bakery in Corvallis, Ore.

The Beginning

2009-09-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

I love food. And because of that, I became a locavore without even realizing there was a whole movement of people eating food straight from their communities – whether to reduce carbon emissions, keep money in the local economy or stay healthy. I just did it because the freshest food always tastes best to me, and you don’t get much fresher than something grown an hour away and picked the day before it’s brought to you. (Although stepping out to your patio and picking vegetables and herbs from your own little garden, is fresher, and we do that, too.)

Of course local, organic food can be a bit more costly than produce you can find in the grocery store. Luckily, my hardworking and equally food-loving husband was offered a job at the Portland Farmers’ Market. So he gets up at an ungodly hour for a Saturday and unloads a truck of veggies from Persephone Farm in Lebanon, Ore., and then sells them. So he makes some extra money, but the true payoff if that we can take home anything that’s still around right before the market closes.

So I’ve decided to document our attempt to work in as much produce from Persephone into our diets and thereby reduce our food expenses. I’ll post photos of meals, detail what ingredients are from Persephone Farms, tell which cookbooks we’ve used — or jot down the recipe if it’s one from our repertoire.

Summer Tomato Gazpacho

We used Persephone’s tomatoes, onion, cucumber, garlic and parsley, and basil from our garden. Serves 4.

5 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded (see note)

1 large cucumber, peeled and seeded

½ cup red onion

½ large red bell pepper

2 small cloves garlic

5 basil leaves

¼ cup parsley

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt and black pepper to taste

extra virgin olive oil

packaged croutons, optional

Note: To peel tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to boil. Slice an X into the bottom of the tomatoes. Have a large bowl of ice water nearby. Place tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until skin starts to peel off. Place tomatoes in ice water. Peel. Slice in half and scoop out seeds.

Place first seven ingredients (tomatoes through parsley) in the bowl of a food processor or blender. (This may need to be done in two batches.) Blend until smooth. Add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and pulse a few more times. Divide among four bowls. Top with croutons and olive oil if desired. Enjoy!