Friday, December 17, 2010
Friday, July 17, 2009
summer school eclipsed my blogging habit. alas. today: cobbler!
This past week, we got some lovely peaches and so, I decided to go the healthy route (yeah, right) and make a cobbler. It came out great and tastes fabulous with vanilla soy ice cream. Be warned, however. It acts like a sleeping pill if you eat it after dinner. I'm talking asleep by 9:30 style. Anyhoo, here's the recipe (adapted from La Dolce Vegan):
Preheat oven to 375.
Fruit:
3-4 large peaches, pitted and chopped up
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. flour
Mix this stuff together and put into a lubed-up baking dish or pie dish.
Topping:
3/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
Mix the topping stuff together and then layer over the fruit in the dish. It should have a thick pancake batter consistency. Then, if you're feeling it, sprinkle brown sugar or candied ginger, or whatever makes you happy on top. Bake the thing at 375 for about 35 minutes. Enjoy w/ some of your favorite soy ice cream. We've been eating that Temptation brand from the Chicago Soy Dairy (yup, the same folks who bring us Teese, probably the most palatable soy cheese) and it's fabulous. Here's the link to their site. Rumor has it that Ipanema has the Teese :) I'm just saying. Happy nap!
Preheat oven to 375.
Fruit:
3-4 large peaches, pitted and chopped up
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. flour
Mix this stuff together and put into a lubed-up baking dish or pie dish.
Topping:
3/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
Mix the topping stuff together and then layer over the fruit in the dish. It should have a thick pancake batter consistency. Then, if you're feeling it, sprinkle brown sugar or candied ginger, or whatever makes you happy on top. Bake the thing at 375 for about 35 minutes. Enjoy w/ some of your favorite soy ice cream. We've been eating that Temptation brand from the Chicago Soy Dairy (yup, the same folks who bring us Teese, probably the most palatable soy cheese) and it's fabulous. Here's the link to their site. Rumor has it that Ipanema has the Teese :) I'm just saying. Happy nap!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
last night's delicious "quick" dinner from the farm!
scott, adam, and i were talking at the market about how much fun it is to cook from the farm, but how sometimes a "quick" meal is needed, due to our busy schedules and the like. scott has an amazing solar oven, which i'd love to know more about, and adam praised the crockpot.
inspired by the idea of a "quick" meal from "slow" food:) i decided to give an under 30-minute dinner a try with what we got from the farm yesterday:
basil (1 cup, chopped)
1 zucchini (cubed)
1 squash (cubed)
2 new potatoes (cubed and blanched)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tiny red onions, chopped
1 tbl. olive oil
i put put the olive oil and garlic in an iron skillet and let that go for about 1 minute and then added the rest of the stuff and let it cook down for about 10 minutes. the flavors were amazing and it was a simple dish. total cook time from prep-->table: 30 minutes
as a side dish, i took that amazing red kale and sauteed it with olive oil, garlic, and 1/4 cup veggie stock and 1 tsp. sugar, and then topped it with toasted almonds.
one thing i can't love enough is how eatin' from the farm has gotten me out of regular food ruts, has caused me to be creative with cooking, and as a result, has gotten us into eating healthier foods. it is a win-win situation. not to mention how fun it is to have this relationship with adam and darbi and to support their farm while meeting other farm-share folks and trading recipes. nice.
inspired by the idea of a "quick" meal from "slow" food:) i decided to give an under 30-minute dinner a try with what we got from the farm yesterday:
basil (1 cup, chopped)
1 zucchini (cubed)
1 squash (cubed)
2 new potatoes (cubed and blanched)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tiny red onions, chopped
1 tbl. olive oil
i put put the olive oil and garlic in an iron skillet and let that go for about 1 minute and then added the rest of the stuff and let it cook down for about 10 minutes. the flavors were amazing and it was a simple dish. total cook time from prep-->table: 30 minutes
as a side dish, i took that amazing red kale and sauteed it with olive oil, garlic, and 1/4 cup veggie stock and 1 tsp. sugar, and then topped it with toasted almonds.
one thing i can't love enough is how eatin' from the farm has gotten me out of regular food ruts, has caused me to be creative with cooking, and as a result, has gotten us into eating healthier foods. it is a win-win situation. not to mention how fun it is to have this relationship with adam and darbi and to support their farm while meeting other farm-share folks and trading recipes. nice.
the ribs!
so, the peahean is braising w/ bacon, so i have to return that favor w/ a vegan "solution" to a popular conundrum about swiss chard. we love the chard. especially fresh out of the ground like it came yesterday at the market (thanks, adam!). when fresh, it has such a different flavor than the grocery store variety (less bitter, more complex in flavor). so, i usually eat it raw or "braise tha roof" with it. but i never know what to do with the stems (or "ribs"). i'm flirting with the idea of eating the entire vegetable, so i came across this idea somewhere (can't remember where) about turning swiss chard stems into a "cream" sauce for pasta and have modified it here to fit a vegan palate.
i stemmed the chard (and sauteed the chard in good ole garlic and olive oil w/ lemon juice and red pepper flakes for a side dish).
then, i took the stems and chopped them up. about a tbl. of margarine in the bottom of a saucepan with garlic and chopped basil to saute for about 1 minute. then, i added a little bit of tapioca flour and nutritional yeast to make a "paste" and then made the "cream" sauce by whisking in a little rice milk slowly until i got the consistency i wanted. s/p to taste, and voila! the sauteed chard actually tasted good on TOP of the pasta, so it wasn't a side dish after all. (top dish?) some toasted pine nuts make it extra sexy, but that kind of sexiness can get expensive.
of course the "cream" sauce can be done with butter, heavy cream and cheese, in the way that we make moo-cream sauces (reduce, reduce, reduce).
i stemmed the chard (and sauteed the chard in good ole garlic and olive oil w/ lemon juice and red pepper flakes for a side dish).
then, i took the stems and chopped them up. about a tbl. of margarine in the bottom of a saucepan with garlic and chopped basil to saute for about 1 minute. then, i added a little bit of tapioca flour and nutritional yeast to make a "paste" and then made the "cream" sauce by whisking in a little rice milk slowly until i got the consistency i wanted. s/p to taste, and voila! the sauteed chard actually tasted good on TOP of the pasta, so it wasn't a side dish after all. (top dish?) some toasted pine nuts make it extra sexy, but that kind of sexiness can get expensive.
of course the "cream" sauce can be done with butter, heavy cream and cheese, in the way that we make moo-cream sauces (reduce, reduce, reduce).
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Braise tha roof!
Aside from the potatoes, this week is a study in roughage: turnips, squash, green onions, basil, and LOTS of greens: mustard greens, kale, turnip greens (I think), and mesclun.
What's a man to do when presented with this much green? The answer: braise the hell out of it. For a man as busy as the Peahen (think: eBay auctions; writing Missed Connections for myself; shooting spitballs onto 6th St; etc.), it's an easy hour that solves a lot of problems:
TIME: 45 minutes - 1 hour, largely unattended
Start with olive oil, one big yellow onion and a quarter pound of bacon. Put it in a dutch oven or big pot with a lid. Heat the oil and drop in the onion and bacon. When the onion turns color, add chili (either powdered or whole), herbs, salt and pepper. Lower the heat a touch and cook 'til the bacon gets crispy and pull out the whole mess with a slotted spoon. Leave as much oil and rendered fat as possible in the pot.
Next, turn the heat back up (medium-hot) and dump in all the greens. Cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to caramelize (a.k.a. brown) a bit, maybe 5 minutes or so.
Dump in the onion/bacon/herb mixture. Add the liquid (I used a big, flat beer that I'd been saving for an occasion such as this). Once there's a boil going, turn down the heat to "simmer" or "low," whatever heat is low enough to keep a bit of bubbling going on.
Put the lid back on. Let it cook for 20-30 minutes, until everything reaches the tenderness you want.
Serve over grain, as it will be saucy. Refrigerate the rest.
BOOM. Peahen out.
What's a man to do when presented with this much green? The answer: braise the hell out of it. For a man as busy as the Peahen (think: eBay auctions; writing Missed Connections for myself; shooting spitballs onto 6th St; etc.), it's an easy hour that solves a lot of problems:
- it can be eaten all week (best on top of quinoa, barley, rice, etc.)
- it takes care of a lot of produce in one fell swoop
- it takes stuff that is on hand (or should be, unless I've fallen down on the job)
- it's amazingly easy
TIME: 45 minutes - 1 hour, largely unattended
- Olive oil
- 1/4 lb good bacon
- 1 onion, diced
- salt
- pepper
- 2 tbsp herbs (I used the fresh basil and some dried rosemary, but you can experiment here)
- 2 tsp chili (powder or whole)
- 2 cups liquid (stock, white wine, red wine, beer...or just plain water)
- mess of vegetables (greens, root, whatever--just chop up anything non-leafy into 2-inch chunks)
Start with olive oil, one big yellow onion and a quarter pound of bacon. Put it in a dutch oven or big pot with a lid. Heat the oil and drop in the onion and bacon. When the onion turns color, add chili (either powdered or whole), herbs, salt and pepper. Lower the heat a touch and cook 'til the bacon gets crispy and pull out the whole mess with a slotted spoon. Leave as much oil and rendered fat as possible in the pot.
Next, turn the heat back up (medium-hot) and dump in all the greens. Cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to caramelize (a.k.a. brown) a bit, maybe 5 minutes or so.
Dump in the onion/bacon/herb mixture. Add the liquid (I used a big, flat beer that I'd been saving for an occasion such as this). Once there's a boil going, turn down the heat to "simmer" or "low," whatever heat is low enough to keep a bit of bubbling going on.
Put the lid back on. Let it cook for 20-30 minutes, until everything reaches the tenderness you want.
Serve over grain, as it will be saucy. Refrigerate the rest.
BOOM. Peahen out.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Woohoo, potatoes!
Yesterday was an interesting day for the market, considering it dumped rain on poor Adam in the middle of things. That didn't stop him and FCF from bringing the goodness again this week! We got another slew of fabulous greens (collards, kale, mesclun mix, mustard, chard), some potatoes, baby leeks, and squashes.
I also got another bunch of basil because I can't get enough of that stuff and b/c I was feeling lazy, I made a quick dinner this time.
Pesto Potato Salad:
2(ish) lbs of new potatoes
1 tbl. balsamic vinegar
baby leeks (about 5 or 6), chopped
pesto
Pesto:
1 1/2 c. basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
s/p to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
(process the basil, pine nuts, s/p, and garlic, then add the oil slowly until you get the consistency you want). I leave the cheese out of it :)
Quarter and boil the potatoes until tender and let cool. Then toss w/ the balsamic, baby leeks, and pesto. This is a great "garbage" salad because you can add sundried/sliced cherry tomatoes, olives, whatever. I served it up over some of the FCF's awesome mixed greens. The pesto is potent enough to handle just about anything.
I also braised the kale w/ onion, garlic, veggie stock, s/p, lemon juice and a little bit of sugar. The potato salad recipe serves about 4-6 folks as a side dish. Yum! liz
I also got another bunch of basil because I can't get enough of that stuff and b/c I was feeling lazy, I made a quick dinner this time.
Pesto Potato Salad:
2(ish) lbs of new potatoes
1 tbl. balsamic vinegar
baby leeks (about 5 or 6), chopped
pesto
Pesto:
1 1/2 c. basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
s/p to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
(process the basil, pine nuts, s/p, and garlic, then add the oil slowly until you get the consistency you want). I leave the cheese out of it :)
Quarter and boil the potatoes until tender and let cool. Then toss w/ the balsamic, baby leeks, and pesto. This is a great "garbage" salad because you can add sundried/sliced cherry tomatoes, olives, whatever. I served it up over some of the FCF's awesome mixed greens. The pesto is potent enough to handle just about anything.
I also braised the kale w/ onion, garlic, veggie stock, s/p, lemon juice and a little bit of sugar. The potato salad recipe serves about 4-6 folks as a side dish. Yum! liz
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