My regular running route takes me past the NECCO Candy factory and the aromas of Canada Mints and Necco Wafers fill the air. A few blocks down the road, I pass the Chocolate Factory… a condo-building aptly named because it used to be… a chocolate factory. When the streets closer to my house began to waft chocolate scents, I didn’t really think much of it, other than, “mmmm, heavenly aromas…. Much…. Better… than…. Mint……” It really made sense to me.
As it turns out, the chocolate scents were coming from my neighbor’s yard – in the form of Cocoa Shell Mulch. Essentially, expired cocoa bean shells are repackaged and sold as mulch. Brilliant, if you ask me! But I wonder, if the whole neighborhood used cocoa mulch… what would happen to all the neighborhood dogs?
Do you remember the girl scouts that came knocking on your door? Every spring, I waited with bated breath for them to appear with their fold out catalog, and color coded order forms that brought promise of thin mint and peanut butter cookies. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to be a girl scout too!
Every Fall they still come, like pilgrims, with menus of cookies, candy bars and magazines we never read. While the cause of supporting our children and their education remains important, I’ve become more aware of not only my food choices (have you read the labels of the girl scout cookies??) but also of issues surrounding sustainability and fair trade.
Today, fortunately, we have a new choice. We can support the neighborhood kids’ without sacrificing our interest in quality foods and goods. Equal Exchange is paving the way for better fundraisers, one even a foodie could love.
Dark chocolate bars with real cocoa butter, even 71% cocoa, Arabica coffees roasted by Equal Exchange, healthy snacks (almonds, roasted pecans & sweetened, dried cranberries) from US family farmers, and teas from DarJeeling & South Africa and a rooibos that heals! And for the bottom-line parents, the profits for the school from this fundraiser are competitive with conventional fundraisers. You can do well by doing good (or is it the other way around?), and eat better chocolate, too!
If you’re a teacher or have kids in school, be sure to check out the fundraising opportunities at Equal Exchange.
Equal Exchange is committed to the learning in addition to the taste. You can check out their free downloadable educational tools for teachers or parents who want to help bring the challenges of being a player in a global marketplace to kids in age appropriate ways. Learn more about the: why, what, who, so what of our global marketplace. See, hear, taste the Equal Exchange story, one that aligns well with foodies, aggies and fair traders out there.
Perusing the seeds display at the market last spring, I tossed into my cart a packet Tuscan Kale. I hadn’t thought much about the garden yet, but for $1.29, it seemed worth the potential. In March I planted them in the shadiest spot in the garden… primarily because I wanted to save the limited, but prime sunny locations for the cherished tomatoes. I also know that greens don’t like the heat, and I hoped that the cooler location would prevent the kale from going to seed in the summer – turning the plant bitter and grinding production to a halt.
I planted 4 rows and harvest my first bunch in June. Since then, I’ve been cooking up kale as a side dish for many meals… sautéed in all manner (with bacon, garlic and chile flakes, and mushrooms) and pureed in dumplings. I even froze 6 quart bags of wilted leaves. And now into the first week of fall, the plants show no sign of weakening. They survived the heat, the rains, the drought and the aphids.
You better believe it’s going in again next year! Talk about bang for your buck.
Last night I made a favorite dish that straddles fall and summer… a Balinese inspired curry with kale, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. The kale and tomatoes came from the garden (as well as the scallion garnish).
Coconut Curried Vegetables I prefer sweet potatoes, kale and tomatoes in this recipe for the flavor, color and textural contrasts, but you could use any you like.
1 tbs. plain oil ½ onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tbs. Lan Chi chili-garlic paste (more or less to taste) 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed 1 can coconut milk 1 bunch kale, washed and coarsely chopped 2 roma tomatoes, chopped 1 tbs. fried shallots or onions Salt or fish sauce to taste
1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and onions and cook until they wilt and start to brown. 2. Add the chili paste and sweet potatoes and stir to evenly mix everything. Cook for 2 minutes to toast the chili paste and bring out its flavor. 3. Add the coconut milk and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt or fish sauce. Cook, covered, until the sweet potatoes are just tender, about 15 minutes. 4. Add the kale and tomatoes and cook until the kale is wilted and tender, about 5 minutes more. 5. Sprinkle fried shallots on top. Serve over steamed rice.
I’m submitting this recipe to Grow Your Own — a blogging event that celebrates home gardeners and foragers. It was started by Andrea and is being hosted this month by Dido. Check out Dido’s blog on October 1 to see what great things are being cooked up.
Every spring when I see garlic scapes at the Farmers’ Market, I slap my forehead wondering how I could forget again to plant garlic. Garlic, like Brussels sprouts, has a 6-month growing season. But unlike Brussels sprouts, which I see at the market when I’m gathering my other spring and summer crops, the garlic goes in when I’m cleaning up the gardening in preparation for the winter. Specifically, it’s planted four weeks before the ground freezes.
This year, I put the date on my calendar. September 24th: Plant Garlic. Thankfully, I received an email reminder from Seeds of Change to order my garlic seeds.
Garlic bulbs grow from the previous season’s cloves. But, you can’t just pick up a bulb from the local market. Not all garlic will sprout. Nowadays, much of the supermarket garlic is bred to not sprout. And most likely it is not organic. So, I accept that I will order garlic “seed” on-line. That was an easy decision.
Hard Neck vs. Soft Neck The hard neck garlic produces the scape – the garlic flavored green shoot that sprouts up before the bulb is mature. The bulbs, once harvested, can be stored up to six months.
The soft neck garlic doesn’t produce the scape, but they have a longer storage life – up to one year.
Beyond that, there are about a dozen varieties of each. Purple skin, white skin, large bulb, small bulb. Spicy, mild. Suitable for warm climates, cold climates. And it’s unclear if I’ll actually get what I order… Seeds of Change does not guarantee quantities of any variety, so I threw a dart to the wall to decide.
I ordered one “unit” of soft neck and one “unit” of hardneck. Each unit has 3 bulbs, totally approximately 20-30 seeds. I'll be safe of vampires next summer. Stay tuned…
And to get in the mood for garlic, here’s a variation on the classic Spanish Garlic Soup.
Garlic Soup with Romesco
12 + garlic cloves 8 slices bread 1/4 cup olive oil 8 cups chicken stock 3 tbs. sherry fino 3 eggs 2 tbs. cream salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add garlic and cook until it begins to brown. Remove. 2. Fry bread in oil. Set aside. 3. Return garlic to pan, add chicken stock and sherry. Simmer for 20 minutes. 4. Puree. 5. Beat eggs with cream. Slowly pour a ladel of soup into egg mix. Whisk into remaining soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat to just below simmer. Garnish with Romesco and Parsley
Romesco 1 red peppers 1 hot pepper 1 shallot, diced 1 garlic clove, 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tomato 1/4 cup almonds balsamic or red wine vinegar salt and pepper to taste
1. Seed peppers and cut into quarters. Cut tomato into quarters. 2. Put all ingredients, except vinegar, in a pot. Roast until peppers begin to brown. 3. Drain oil and reserve. Puree remaining ingredients. Drizzle in oil. Adjust seasoning with vinegar, salt and pepper.
That extra loving touch: In a skillet, add 1/4 cup olive oil. Fry almond slices, garlic slices and parsley leaves. When garlic begins to brown, drain on a paper towel and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish crouton with crispies.
An old client Tina first introduced me to “gnudies.” She recalled enjoying them on a vacation to Italy, and then trying them at home, unsuccessfully. We talked about making a batch together, but she couldn’t imagine how they would be easy enough to justify the effort.
As I work on recipes for Restoration Farm’sCSA cookbook, I scour for ideas that use chard, kale and other cooking greens that seem to baffle so many home cooks yet make regular appearances in CSA boxes. In my recipe folder of dishes I want to try is a recipe for Gnudies. I clipped it out many years ago with thoughts that I’d make it with Tina… and then with thoughts that I would try it on my own. Now, when I scan the folder for new ideas, my eyes glaze past this one.
Until now.
Gnudies are Italian dumplings, a variation on gnocchi, made with ricotta and wilted greens. The kale in my garden continues to produce enough to try out this recipe. The flavor is wonderful – a masterful blend of light and rich, filling without being heavy. I served them with Bolognese Sauce.
Ricotta and Kale Gnudies In the future, I would puree the greens finer than I did on my first test-run.
1 pound swiss chard or spinach, or 1/2 pound Tuscan kale to make 1 1/3 cups squeezed cooked greens, washed 1 tbs. olive oil 2 – 3 chopped garlic cloves 1 teaspoon salt, plus extra for the cooking water 1 cup ricotta, drained in a metal sieve if watery 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano 2 eggs ½ cup flour 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon or chili flakes (depending on your mood)
FOR THE SAUCE: 1/4 cup melted butter or 1/2 cup tomato sauce (mixed with pinenuts and raisins) or 1/2 cup homemade tomato-meat sauce 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add olive oil and garlic. When garlic becomes fragrant, add greens. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until bright green and wilted. Remove the greens and place them in a colander. Let cool. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to cook the greens in several batches
Divide the cooked greens in three parts and squeeze between both hands to form balls and remove all excess water. Squeeze hard! Reserve the liquid to add to sauce.
Measure 1 1/3 cups of the cooked greens. Coarsely chop the greens with a knife, and then finely chop in a food processor. To the greens, add the ricotta, Parmigiano, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, nutmeg and lemon zest and process to form a smooth paste. Fold in flour.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt. Transfer the paste to a pastry bag with a large tip or a medium-sized plastic bag with a 1/2-inch corner cut off. Pipe out ½” dumplings. Alternatively, use two spoons to form dumplings and drop into water.
Poach 8-9 dumplings at a time, for 2-3 minutes or until they float to the surface of the water. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large baking dish.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Drizzle the nudies with melted butter, or tomato or meat sauce, and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned and cheese has melted and serve.
Note: Dumplings can be made a day in advance, up to step 6, and heated with the melted butter or sauce and cheese before serving.
My adopted blogger Katie from Eat this. favors honey in her cooking because it’s an unprocessed sugar source. And Tupelo honey, which is derived from bees buzzing around the Florida Tupelo trees, is considered to be one of the best in the world. She deftly describes its virtues here, so I won’t repeat. But suffice it to say, it’s delicate flavor is delightful.
Katie very graciously shared a few bottles with me. Of course, the first thing I had to make was honey cake. Though I typically only eat it at Rosh Hashanah, I love it year round.
Honey Cake This recipe comes from Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America. I modified the ingredients by using raisins instead of the recommended almonds. Also, I did not have a bundt pan so I used a 9-inch square pyrex dish. I baked it for the first 30 minutes at the recommended 350, and then an additional 40 minutes at 325.
3 ½ cups flour 2 ½ tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. cream of tartar 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon 3 eggs, separated 1 tbs. lemon juice zest of 1 lemon 1/3 cup oil 1 cup honey 1 cup black coffee ½ cup raisins
1. Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cream of tarter into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the sugar, cinnamon, egg yolks lemon juice and zest, honey, oil, coffee and raisins. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry.
2. Whip the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold into batter. Pour into a greased 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
How do you smoke a turkey? From the butt-end…. ba-da-bum! (Thanks goodness I have a day job!)
When I preserve tomatoes for the winter, I stew a case for all-purpose cooking, and smoke a case for a more jazzy supply. The smoked tomatoes add depth to so many of my favorite dishes, including — Beef Stew, Chicken Enchiladas, Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Sauce.
I don't have a proper smoker, but I use my Weber Charcoal Grill. While the fire is blazing in the grill, I soak 2 cups of apple wood chips in water or wine. Just as the fire starts to wind down, I drain the wood chips, and toss them on the smoldering charcoal. I replace the cooking grate, and fill it with tomatoes (and as I did the other night — also jalapenos and chicken). I'm careful to place the food away from the direct heat. I don't want the food to cook too quickly. And, should there be a flare-up, I don't want the food to burn. I cover the grill, leaving the vents just cracked open… and walk away for at least 30 minutes. With the smoked tomatoes, I make another summer-time favorite, enjoying the last few sparkles of the warm weather…. Roasted Wellfleet Clams with Smoked Tomatoes and Grilled Bread 2 tablespoons butter 1 onions sliced 3 cloves garlic 2 dozen Wellfleet or other littleneck clams 3 smoked tomatoes 1/4 cup white wine 4 slices of crusty bread for grilling
1. In a large skillet, over medium – high heat, melt butter. Add onions and garlic and cook until they're soft, about 5 minutes. 2. Add clams and toss in butter/onion mix until well coated and the clam shells begin to roast 3. Add tomatoes and white wine. Cover pan, and cook for 5 minutes or until all the clams have opened. 4. Toast or grill bread 5. Serve clams with grilled bread for soaking up all the yummy juices.
Long gone are the days when people shop daily for provisions – making separate stops at the produce market, fish market and butcher shop. Too often, convenience trumps tradition. And supermarkets push out the fishmongers and butcher-shops. A few relics of this by-gone lifestyle remain in Wellesley, MA – Capt. Marden’s (fish market) and John Dewar for meat.
On Tuesdays, I teach at Babson College just a mile away from Capt. Marden’s. I always make sure to stop there on my way home for provisions. The freshness and quality always surpass Whole Foods (which is my usual marketplace) and the selection can’t be beat! This is their advantage of also running a wholesale division which supplies many of the fine-dining establishments in Boston.
1. Mix lobster with the first six ingredients, and let marinate for at least 30 minutes. 2. Mix pork with sugar and salt. 3. In a large skillet over high heat, add 1tbs. of oil. Add 1/2 the garlic and ginger, and saute until aromatic. Add pork and cook until it loses the pink. Add the eggs and cook until scrambled softly. Remove and set aside. 4. Remove lobster pieces from marinade, reserving the marinade. 5. Wipe the skillet clean. Return to high heat and add remaining oil. Add remaining ginger and garlic and cook until aromatic. Add the lobster and spread out in a single layer. Let the shells roast for a few minutes and turn bright red. Add the gin and the reserved marinade. Cook for 3 more minutes. 6. Add the pork mixture back to the pan, along with scallions. Continue cooking until just heated through. 7. Garnish with cucumber slices.
By some strange miracle, the blight never struck my tiny patch of soil. In fact, I have more tomatoes than in any other year before. This year, when I transplanted the tomatoes in the spring, I recalled a friend's advice: Prune the bottom two leaves and bury the root mound deeper than usual to allow for extra root growth and stability. Could this have made the difference? Thankfully, friends are quite enthusiastic about relieving me of my bounty.
Every meal this week has a variation of tomatoes, basil, bread and mozzarella. Who knew you could make so many different variations with the same four ingredients.
Panzanella… Bruschetta… Strata… Panzanella Recipes abound for panzanella. Most suggest that stale bread needs to be soaked in water and then squeezed out. I don't fully understand the purpose of this step — obviously, the bread needs to soften up. But why not soften it in tomato juice?
2 cups cubed bread — stale or toasted 1 large cucumber 1 tsp. salt 2 tomatoes 8 oz. fresh mozzarella fresh basil, chopped 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper to taste
1. Slice cucumbers. Toss with salt and let sit for 30 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, cube tomatoes and set aside in a small bowl. Cube mozzarella. 3. Drain excess water off of the cucumbers. 4. The tomatoes should start to give off water after 15 minutes of sitting. Take this liquid and toss with bread cubes. 5. Mix the remaining ingredients together just before serving. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Tomato Mozzarella Strata Strata is a breakfast dish, similar to a quiche or frittata.
1. Melt butter in a 9" x 9" pyrex dish. Lay bread slices on top of melted butter. 2. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, herbs and celery. Season salt. 3. Pour egg mix over the bread. 4. Layer tomatoes and basil on top. Sprinkle with a little extra salt and pepper for seasoning. 5. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until eggs are set. Serving immediately.
I have few memories of the year my family lived in Israel when I was 3-years old. But I remember the memories, and they have tinted the stories of my childhood when we were back in the States. The Passover story, recited every year at the Seders around the globe, tells of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt during the time of Pharoh. For most of my youth, I thought we were actually part of that exodus – and that’s why we were in Israel. And when my father served us camel-chini at dinner, instead of the usual zoo-chini, it made sense that we would eat that because we used to live in the Middle East.
When I returned to my garden after a week on the farm, I didn’t know what to expect. I forgot to follow the weather to see if it rained, though I believe the temperatures were a scorching 90+ for several days. Would the tomatoes wither from the blight? Would I finally have zucchini? And would my tiny little lettuce seedlings that I planted the week before survive?
I had two zucchinis the size of baseball bats. Maybe these were the storied camel-chini of my youth? I immediately sliced up the first for that night’s dinner. It was tough and woody – not pleasing at all. With all sorts of zucchini breadrecipes popping up all over the blog-o-sphere, I realized that grating was the only way to combat the texture.
Yesterday, I tore out the zucchini plant. While I had hopes of a bumper crop, I only harvested those two overgrown specimens. And I’ve come to realize this happens because of where I planted the seeds. I’m so concerned about overgrown plants, peddling zucchini plants on my street, that I plant them in the least sunny patch of the garden. And with the torrential rains this summer, I discovered that location also gets the most run-off. If I’m to plant zucchini again, I need to commit to a sunnier location.
2 to 2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini 1 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups sugar 3 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9? x 5? bread pans with nonstick spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Beat sugar into mix until it is thoroughly creamed.
Once liquids and sugar are well mixed, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until batter is well blended and even in texture. The batter should be smooth, outside the zucchini shreds. If it’s not, add a little juice from the zucchini. Pour batter evenly into pans.
Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until bread is brown and springs back when gently pressed in the middle.
My regular running route takes me past the NECCO Candy factory and the aromas of Canada Mints and Necco Wafers fill the air. A few blocks down the road, I pass the Chocolate Factory… a condo-building aptly named because it used to be… a chocolate factory. When the streets closer to my house began to waft chocolate scents, I didn’t really think much of it, other than, “mmmm, heavenly aromas…. Much…. Better… than…. Mint……” It really made sense to me.
. I modified the ingredients by using raisins instead of the recommended almonds. Also, I did not have a bundt pan so I used a 9-inch square pyrex dish. I baked it for the first 30 minutes at the recommended 350, and then an additional 40 minutes at 325.
. While the fire is blazing in the grill, I soak 2 cups of apple wood chips in water or wine. Just as the fire starts to wind down, I drain the wood chips, and toss them on the smoldering charcoal. I replace the cooking grate, and fill it with tomatoes (and as I did the other night — also jalapenos and chicken). I'm careful to place the food away from the direct heat. I don't want the food to cook too quickly. And, should there be a flare-up, I don't want the food to burn. I cover the grill, leaving the vents just cracked open… and walk away for at least 30 minutes.
for a Cantonese preparation. 
, via