up to the end of 2008!

We had a huge pile of mushrooms from Costco. So on Monday night, I made mushroom stroganoff with most of them, then used the rest in salads the next couple of nights. For the stroganoff, I basically sautee onions, add mushrooms and cover. Then I take some of the mushroom juice out and mix it with a little flour (and perhaps some cayenne and other spices), and return the mix to the pan. Stir in sour cream (I used "light") and voila. We served it over whole wheat spaghetti.

For sides, I steamed asparagus (not from around heah, bad locavore), then tossed it with toasted sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce. We also had a fairly elaborate salad.

Last night, we used the non-peppered half of the roasted smoked salmon. I heated it up and served it over whole wheat fusilli. I topped it with cilantro paste mixed with sour cream ("light"). The paste was a frozen leftover from this summer; I use just a little at a time. And frankly, over the salmon, it was hard to taste, but it was great mixed in with the pasta.

For sides, I steamed broccoli and tossed it with chopped ginger, umeboshi plum paste, tahini, and soy sauce. And there was an elaborate salad.

Tonight, New Year's Eve, we were supposed to go to a fancy dinner at a friend's house. With scary reports of a terrible snow storm, the dinner was postponed and we'll be unable to attend. But because it was snowing, I didn't want to stop too many times or for too long to pick something up for dinner. So I made an emergency stop for champ-er- sparkling wine and came right home.

For our NYE dinner, I fried some potato and cheese pierogis that widowed grandmothers made with their own hands for the local Russian Orthodox church fair. (Well, I don't know if they're actually widowed, but that's what I imagine, and they probably wear black, too. No one else could make such perfect little pierogis.) For appetizers, we ate steamed vegetable dumplings with a secret sauce made of soy, vinegar, scallions, ginger, and perhaps something else (Mr. P was in charge of the secret sauce). Then we served an elaborate salad on the side, but that's the last time we'll have salad until we go shopping again.

Oh, and for dessert, I found some fairly good birthday cake from 11 months ago, way in the back of the freezer. Yum. There's more back there too, and we'd better eat it up before the next birthday smacks us in the head.

I keep stumbling on frozen hot chili peppers from the farm. I'm thinking of trying to bake them and process them somehow. They're taking up a lot of space and they're not very usable in their current state. Perhaps that will be one of my projects this weekend.

Otherwise, the kitchen is likely to be closed for a couple of days. We are attending a NY party tomorrow and it's unlikely we'll be hungry afterwards. It's probably time, however, to do something with rice (like make some up and eat it) -- for some reason, we haven't had rice for a while now. We have some good (homemade) frozen food at this point -- stuffed shells, spanekopita, soup base, possibly a few other things. We also have some paneer but we need some veggies to go along with it. I'll do some archaeology soon and figure out what else we can take out of the freezer.

cold food, warm night

The temps were up in the low 60s today, the last bit of Indian Summer (or perhaps Indian fall) before our plunge into January and February. On a trip to Costco, we picked up a rare treat -- a pound of smoked roasted salmon, half plain, half peppered.

Tonight we used the latter half in a salad, which included lettuce, raw turnip, radish, boiled portato, carrot, capers, half an avocado, non-marinated artichoke hearts, feta cheese, and scallions.

And it was good. We need to use the other half soon and NYE will interrupt our usual pattern of cooking at home. So we may attempt a warmed salmon dish on Tuesday night. For tomorrow, Monday, we will probably use most of the humongous bin'o'mushrooms also procured today, perhaps by making a mushroom stroganoff. It all sounds very yummy.

Last week and a blow-out Christmas dinner

We've had some elaborate dinners and some easy-peasy dinners of late, crowned with a pretty fancy spread last night.

Recently, I've made enchiladas stuffed with cheese, roasted squash, onions, and cabbage and topped with a New Mexican chili sauce. Another night we had pizza with onions, capers, tomato sauce, and cheese. Last weekend, I made up a whole batch of baked stuffed shells, most of which I froze. We topped the ones we ate with a homemade tomato sauce. We've also had stuffed cabbage that I'd frozen a while back. One morning last weekend, we had a miniature dim sum with steamed vegetable dumplings and sticky rice with bean paste.

Last night, we had two friends over for Christmas. One friend brought frozen hors d'oeuvres, which we heated up here -- tasty. Robert and I made spanekopita, one of my favorite dishes, and fortunately something everyone else likes too. I use the Moosewood recipe and the Moosewood Low-fat technique (use a mixture of oil and butter and spread it on every three leaves, not the traditional every single leaf).

We also served a huge salad, mashed sweet potatoes, and a cauliflower dish with peas and onions, with toasted cumin and mustard seeds. Then for dessert, we had homemade pumpkin pie (which was ok, not my best, but not too bad) and a wild Trader Joe's flan parfait cake that one friend brought.

Tonight, we're taking a salad and some leftover dessert to a friend's house and tomorrow we'll probably eat out before a contra dance. And then it's Sunday, so I'll need to think of something tasty to make, along with ideas for the coming week.

last week and the beginning of this

Last week, I was in a class and got progressively more exhausted as the week progressed. Somewhere, in the beginning of the week, there were fresh rolls one night, served on the side to accompany -- I can't even remember what -- and a fairly elaborate side of sauteed vegetables another (zucchini and corn from the farm, onion, edamame, and tree ears). By the end of the week, Mr. P had taken over and made nachos, which weren't bad -- blue chips with brown rice, black beans, salsa, a little feta, and some grated cheddar cheese.

Last night, Mr. P made hot and sour soup, which was yummy. We don't often get it when we go out because it's usually made with chicken stock. Mr. P's version is entirely vegetarian and has a lot of textures and tastes.

Tonight's dinner was fairly simple -- brocolli, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and scallions steamed and tossed with tahini and umeboshi plum paste, then served over whole wheat spaghetti with a side salad (lettuce, red pepper, cucumber, carrots, radish, scallion, raw mushrooms).

I have some ideas for this week's dinners, though tomorrow I'm being treated to dinner, so the kitchen will be closed, at least as far as I'm concerned.

not that exciting but still good.

Whole wheat fusillie with leftover (but still very tasty) marinara sauce (with tofu, herbs, onions, bamboo shoots, and some other tasty unidentifiable veggies).

crankin' em out

Last night: stuffed shells with marinara sauce. Actually, the shells were the last of a batch that I made and froze a while back. I steamed them back to life. The marinara was made with my favorite organic canned tomatoes (Muir Glen), some chopped frozen bamboo shoots, onions, and grated zucchini that I froze from last summer (ssh, don't tell Mr. P). And it was all good.

Tonight: Inspired by the bamboo shoots, I meant to make yu-siang eggplant. The store I stopped at on the way home had many tasty produce selections but no eggplant. And I wasn't going to stop at *two* stores. Instead, we had a stir fry of onion, bamboo shoot, three kinds of mushrooms (crimini, portabella, shitake, all fresh), and broccoli. I tossed it with a weird sauce -- umeboshi plum paste mixed with some frozen cilantro paste. It kind of worked. Actually, I liked it a lot, not that I could ever reproduce it. We served the whole thing over rice.

Tomorrow and the next night will be dinners out (musical performance in town tmrw; dance in western ma saturday). Kitchen will likely reopen on Sunday.

two decent dinners in a row

On Sunday, we roasted an acorn squash. Monday night, we stuffed it with -- what else? -- leftover stuffing layered with cheese, baked it, and topped it with toasted pinenuts and pumpkin seeds.

Yesterday, it was time to use up the last of the chard from our final harvest pickup at the farm. It's been cheerfully waiting for us, but I wanted to eat it before it went bad. I surfed for some chard recipes and adapted something that sounded intriguing. It worked.
I prepped in three parts, then mixed it all together in the end:
. Chickpeas tossed with chopped garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, chili, then roasted for about 40 minutes
. Sauteed onions, steamed with chopped chard
. Chopped herby feta cheese

The prep was a little involved but not hard; the results were yummy, and I suspect that we could have lots of variations on the theme. It would make a great side dish with more green vegetables and perhaps less (or no) chili. It is enhanced by, but doesn't need the feta. It could stand to have a little balsamic vinegar drizzled on top.

With that, we've finished nearly every last bit from the farm, save a couple of lonesome turnips and a little bit of garlic. We've been doing more shopping at the grocery store in recent weeks, but now we're officially dependent on stores for our food. I may do a "drive-by" shopping trip tonight for a few salad items. Then again, I may be extremely lazy and start in on some of our freezer goodies. I think I hear some frozen stuffed shells (stuffed by moi) calling me.

soup, (fresh) rolls, TG sides

Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, we cleared out dribs and drabs in the fridge, designating some items for compost and some for the soup. Into the soup went some stock that I made and froze earlier this summer, NM chili powder, leftover vegetarian stock, some Chinese noodles, onions, carrots, leftover roasted parsnips, dried Chinese mushrooms, and I'm sure there were a few other goodies. The soup came out really well and had started to thicken a little by the time we ate it.

I was also in the mood for fresh rolls. I put in some Belgian endive, thinly sliced yellow pepper, thinly sliced carrots, cucumber, avocado, and Chinese noodles (the real reason I cooked up the noodles). The rolls were messy and good.

Last night, we attended a rather formal and traditional sit-down Thanksgiving dinner. There were 12 of us, self-named "the usual suspects." Mr. P and I are late arrivals into the crowd, but there's always a surprise guest, someone who would otherwise be alone on the holiday. There was turkey, stuffing, and gravy. Mr. P and I brought three vegan dishes -- green beans with almonds and garlic, veggie stuffing with mushrooms and chestnuts, and mashed sweet potatoes. I would usually be sneaking butter into all of those dishes, but at least one of the USs is mildly lactose intolerant, so we used oil and almond milk as appropriate. Still, very tasty.

Other dishes last night were mashed white potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, lots of wine. For dessert, there was more mine, three kinds of pie, and of course, chocolate. There was great conversation -- politics, travels, depression, health, illness, geekiness -- the usual.

This afternoon, we're reprising our stuffing and sweet potatoes dishes at the house of other dear friends who typically invite a handful of families with college-age kids and Mr. P and me. We tried to bring two college freshmen so we wouldn't feel quite so left out, but they had other plans, so we will be bringing ourselves and some food.

Speaking of which, the sun is out, and it's time to get going.

easy and yummy

Two nights ago, we had pizza with one of those prepared crusts. I hadn't realized that the package didn't contain one thick crust - it contained two thinner crusts. We added a thin layer of marinara sauce, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and a mix of cheddar and mozarella cheeses. And there was a side salad in there (lettuce, cabbage, avocado, carrots, tomato, a little extra cheese, cucumber, possibly something else). We used up a lot of "last bits" of food, clearing out a little space in the fridge.

Last night, I tried a "frozen meal in a bag" -- ravioli with a tomato sauce. I had bought it for a house sitter who ended up eating something else. You basically open the bag, pour the frozen bricks -- ravs, lots of sliced garlic, and sauce-disks -- into a pan, cover, heat, and 10 minutes later, you're eating. It was surprisingly good, nearly home-made tasting. For a side dish, I steamed some broccoli and garlic slices (hmm, a theme), added in some toasted pinenuts, then tossed in a sauce of tahini, umeboshi plum paste, and soy. That was delicious.

Tonight... maybe a soup. I have some stock in the fridge and in the freezer, and they'd work well together. It's all about clearing out more space.

miscellaneous this and that

A few nights ago, I made one of those Trader Joe's simmer sauces. I added tofu, kale, onion, mushrooms, and carrots. The sauce is not strong enough, so I spiced it up a little with cayenne and cumin. Served over rice -- very good and quite easy.

Last night, we dined with friends and brought one of our kitchen-sink salads. One of the friends doesn't eat hard foods, so no seeds or nuts. We carefully washed the peppers and cukes after seeding them. She was grateful.

And tonight, we had a very lazy, laid back dinner. We had loads of parsnips, so we cut them into sticks, tossed them with oil, salt, pepper, and chipotle chili powder, then roasted them. We chopped the last of the farm kale and gave it the same treatment, roasting it for about half the time. And we were in the mood for bruschetta but didn't have the right bread. So Mr. P used the last of the multigrain tortillas, to which we added mozarella cheese and kalamata olives. We toasted them, then added salsa.

Tomorrow, I think we'll use a pizza crust we just bought and make a salad. In fact, I expect to cook rather lazily for the next few nights. Then on Thursday and Friday, when we're invited to feast at friends' houses, we'll make some side dishes. We'll enjoy the turkeys visually and leave the bird-eating to the other assembled guests.

fall harvest enchiladas

Last night, I got ambitious and made enchiladas with chili sauce made from New Mexico chili powder. I started with a sautee of onions, mushrooms, turnips, rutabaga, carrots, and kale. I stuffed veggies and cheese into multigrain tortillas, which I gently folded. Then I covered the whole thing with chili sauce and baked for about 15 minutes. Very yummy.

What's the Indian word for Chard?

What happens when you have an abundance of chard and a hankering for Indian food and you just happened to pick up some tasty little fingerling potatoes? Whatever it is came out kind of like palak paneer -- just using chard instead of spinach. Here's what went into our main dish tonight: spice (cumin seed, mustard seed, turmeric, cayenne) -- heated until popping, onion, bits of fingerlings, (a little veggie broth and some steaming to cook the spuds), then mushrooms, paneer, a few tablespoons of marinara sauce, and chard. Came out well.

We served it over rice with a side salad.

Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow night, maybe something vaguely New Mexican, maybe not.

a little too much excitement in the kitchen

Last night, I came home to cook up that beautiful, plump, organic, green head of broccoli I got at the farm and as I was cutting into it, noticed a little movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a beautiful, plump, organic, green caterpillar, just waking up from its refrigerated slumber. I gave a slight shriek and continued to cut up broccoli. When I noticed the second caterpillar, I gave up, got the whole mess into the compost bag, and started over again. Ick ick ick ick ick. I thought I was pretty brave after the first one, but the second one sent me over the edge.

Plan B. I cut up a bowlful of kale, chard, and some other weird green and microwaved it along with some minced garlic. Then I tossed it with cilantro pesto and whole wheat pasta and served it with Romano cheese on top. Quite decent.

Tonight was far less eventful. Mr. P, who is *still* sick, kindly made rice. He also cut up some small squashes, covered them with olive oil, pepper, and salt, and roasted them. (Oh, and unlike a few nights ago, when he tried to help with dinner preparations and cut himself, he managed to escape unscathed tonight. We take signs of healing where we can get them.) When I got home, I tossed some frozen Costco spanekopita into the already-hot oven and relaxed for a bit. The pies, squash, and rice made for a rather nice and very easy dinner. First time ever that we were sitting down to eat 45 minutes after I left work.

Tomorrow will be another long and soul-sucking day, so we're definitely going out to eat. If Mr. P isn't up for the adventure, then we'll get take out. And that's that.

fall bounty

I went to the farm today for our fall harvest pickup. I brought home all sorts of greens -- kale, chard, broccoli -- and squash, brussel sprouts, two types of cabbage (plain and savoy, which Mr. P calls poodle cabbage), rutabagas, carrots, onions, garlic, parsnips, and probably more.

I cooked up the Brussels sprouts. You have to understand that Mr. P is a hero to his two siblings because of a projectile vomiting incident involving Brussels sprouts years ago. Thus ended the strict adherance to the "several bite" rule that at that time ruled the family. But Mr. P will eat my Brussels sprouts. I basically just sautee them in a little olive oil and butter, along with pine nuts, until brown. And because they are so very fresh from the farm, I can err on the side of undercooking because we both fear the aforementioned results of overcooking. They were good tonight.

I also made stuffed poodle cabbage. I sauteed onion, mushrooms, rutabaga, parsnip, carrot, and green pepper, and added a little tamari. then I steamed individual leaves of cabbage, cut out the tough end, and rolled the mixture and a little grated cheese into each leaf. The stuffed leaves went into a pan, covered with marinara sauce, and I baked until the sauce bubbled. We served it with a little Romano cheese on top.

There was so much extra stuffing that I made more leaves, and they're now in the freezer awaiting a busy night when we need to make an instant meal.

It was a fairly elaborate meal, and a tasty one. Tomorrow, I'm thinking we'll do something simpler, perhaps steam some broccoli and greens, toss in some of the frozen pesto we have (this year I made both cilantro and basil pesto) and serve it all over pasta. Easy and done.

bonus recipe - Greek potatoes

Another recipe by my friend Read W, adapted from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. I haven't made this dish, but I got to taste it on Saturday night. The potatoes come out so tender that at first I thought they were gnocchi.

3 lbs potatoes, diced (boiling potatoes would be best for texture, [Read] used Yukon gold)
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 oz olive oil
1 tsp salt (more if your liquid is unsalted)
1/2 tsp pepper
1-1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups boiling water (or stock; I used boiling water and some shoyu)
Parsley, chopped
(Feta, crumbled)
Oil a large shallow baking dish. Combine the first 7 ingredients, set on a middle rack in a 500F oven, and pour in the boiling water. Bake, uncovered, about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more boiling water if needed until potatoes are cooked through, but you want the water to boil away by the time the potatoes are done. Add the parsley, and the feta if you want it to be more of a main dish.

chipotle sweet potato soup

My friend Read W passed this recipe along. Of course, we used extra garlic, ginger, and chipotle peppers. The hardest part was waiting for the proto-soup to cool enough so that we could put it through the blender. We don't have one of those modern stick blender thingies.

1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic (we used five)
1 tsp dried ginger (we used fresh)
3 very large sweet potatoes, the redder the better, peeled and diced
1 canned chipotle, minced, with adobo (happened to have a can; we used two peppers)
vegetable stock to just cover
1 cup or so milk/soy milk [edit: a can of coconut milk is really good (which is what we used)]tamari to taste
1 large (approx 22 oz) can black beans, rinsed (we used a 15 oz can)

Saute the onion in the olive oil with the salt over medium-low heat till well softened. Add the garlic and ginger, and saute a few minutes more. Add the sweet potatoes, chipotle, and vegetable stock. Simmer, partially covered, till the potatoes are very tender. Puree (a stick blender is easiest) and add milk to thin as you like. Taste for salt/tamari & heat (you can finely mince more chipotle or just use the adobo if you want more heat). Stir in the black beans and heat through.

The extra canned chipotles: I [Read; I did this too] put individual chipotles on plastic wrap and spoon their adobo over, and then freeze hard. Once they're frozen I wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store in the freezer.


It was delicious. We served it with some fancy multigrain chips and a small side salad.

Best. Pizza. Ever.

Last night, we were both tuckered out, so we had leftovers and called it a success. We ate only the best leftovers and tossed everything else, so we now have a clean slate.

This afternoon, I went grocery shopping and picked up salad ingredients, most of which I haven't bought for months because we've had such great produce from the farm. I made a smallish salad -- lettuce, red pepper, scallion, carrot, plum tomato, raw shrooms.

And we made a pizza. I spread about 3 tablespoons of marinara sauce on top of a pre-made multi-grain crust. Then I layered on chopped mushrooms and garlic that I'd tossed in olive oil, some chopped kalamata olives, and topped it all with goat cheese. Did you know you can freeze goat cheese? And it's very easy to cut frozen goat cheese with a bread knife -- you get thin shavings, which are great on a pizza. Anyways, Mr. P thought it was the best pizza I'd ever made.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to an "elegant potluck" preceding an elegant old fashioned ball, where we'll dance early contra dances, a little closer to English dancing than to our modern contras. I thought I'd make my signature dish, macaroni and cheese. I'll use my favorite whole wheat pasta, make a white sauce, and carefully stir in grated cheddar and grey poupon mustard. I think it will be a hit -- it usually is.

Alas, poor Mr. P is under the weather, so I'll set some mac&cheese aside for him to enjoy while I'm out.

vegetable heaven

Last night, Mr. P ended up cooking. It was an Indian dish that cooked up rather quickly -- curried cauliflower, potatoes, paneer, and peas. Oh yum. We threw some toasted cashew nuts on top and served it on rice with a side of chutneys.

Tonight, I made a vegetable stir-fry, which I served on top of pasta -- no fresh rice and no patience to wait for it to cook. I cooked rice anyways, so it'll be ready to go tomorrow. The stir-fry had onions, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, frozen corn, frozen peas, pinenuts, salty black beans, a little hot oil, and hoisin sauce. It was weird, but actually not bad "once you got used to it," according to Mr. P.

not bad and quite quick

This evening, we had a bunch of cilantro lying around, cilantro that Mr. P had forgotten to use on his potluck dish last week. So I made a cilantro pesto -- herb, olive oil, romano cheese (pre-grated), and pine nuts, chopped up in the food processor. I put most of it in a plastic bag in the freezer for consumption later this winter; the rest went into a bowl.

Then I mixed in some filled gnocchi which I had heated up and steamed broccoli, mushrooms, and garlic. Mixed the whole dish and served it with Romano cheese on top.

On the side, we had a little salad of fresh mozarella, plum tomatoes, carrots, and scallions.

A good quick meal; quite satisfying, actually.

Mr. P takes a turn in the kitchen

Thursday night, Mr. P needed to make a potluck dish for work the next day. I suggested that he make dinner too, which he willingly did. I went shopping on Tuesday and when i got home latish on Thursday, he was busy making one of my favorite dishes -- ma po tofu. He uses Chinese pepper and beans in black chili sauce and he usually adds some random vegetables (like corn). Then we top the whole thing with more black pepper and chopped scallions. Frankly, I've nearly lost my taste for the dish in restaurants because Mr. P's version is so good.

The reason he didn't just double the potluck recipe is because I haven't much liked the dish he was making to share with coworkers. But last night, after the last urchin had come by to treat (hopefully no tricks this year), we were pooped and there was extra potluck food. So we had that for dinner. It was really good and I figured out how we can make it so that I like it. The dish is similar to dosas -- except that instead of white potatoes, you curry sweet potatoes and wrap it in lavash bread (not homemade Indian bread). And I finally figured out that the dish calls for too much clove. We'll cut back on it or eliminate it next time and perhaps put curried sweet potatoes on the rotation.

I expect that the kitchen will be closed at least tonight and possibly tomorrow night, when we'll be in Boston for a performance.

And perhaps a trip to the grocery store is in order. After 20 weeks of getting most groceries at the farm, I need to get back into the habit of actually shopping for our meals. Fortunately, there are a few places I can stop off on the way home from work if the larder gets especially empty.

two wildly weird dinners

Last night, we had a bunch of farm beets -- deep purple, orange, and white -- and not much else. I made a strangely satisfying and delicious dinner with sauteed onions and beets and potatoes that I steamed in a little apple cider. Then I mixed in some coriander and yogurt. It was very tasty.

I'd been craving cauliflower, but had not wanted to buy any because we were so overwhelmed with farm food. So tonight, I tossed cauliflower, onions, and potatoes in a little oil and melted butter and a lot (too much; I'll use less next time) Chipotle chili powder. Then i roasted the whole thing. At the end, I tossed in some toasted almonds and peas. Because of the heat, we served it with Greek yogurt on top. Oooh. Yum. Definitely a repeat, perhaps with less chili next time.

dinner, we have improvements

Last night's dinner was a disaster as far as I was concerned. Mr. P was so congested that he couldn't tell, poor dear. The individual flavors worked. I liked the mushroom stroganoff -- many shrooms, onions, some cayenne, and sour cream. I liked the gnocchi, stuffed as they were with tomato and mozarella. But the combination, which Mr. P was quite eager to try, was dreadful. I just tried to eat them separately, which helped a little.

Tonight was a lot better. We got the last official farm delivery today. There's a delivery in mid-November which we usually pay extra for. But this year, there were some disasters on the farm, so they're giving us that last delivery for free, which I think is over-the-top generous.

Tonight, we had savoy cabbage -- crinkly sweet stuff -- made into Thoren -- that South Indian dish with coconut, hot stuff, toasted rice, and curry leaves -- served over rice. I made two side dishes: a salad of fresh mozarella, tomatillos and green pepper tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and potatoes steamed with garlic and tossed with spices and butter. I think I used cayenne, cardamom, and ginger. It was all very good and the combinations really worked. Phew.

Mr. P found a recipe for a winter squash curry, so we may try that tomorrow night.

and tonight's dinner was...

... small bowls of pickled and spicy bamboo shoot that I found in the Chinese grocery store.
... Steamed vegetable buns surrounded with raised rice dough, and a sauce (soy, vinegar, ginger, scallion) by Mr. P.
... Eggplant dip -- roasted eggplant and garlic combined with one clove raw garlic, tahini, lemon, soy. Not quite baba ganoush, but dangerously good.
... fresh rolls -- thin rice paper wrapped around fried tofu, shitake mushrooms, barely cooked baby bok choy, barely cooked scallions, sesame seeds, and rice noodles.

... hot cider and a little chocolate for dessert


The mushroom stroganoff seemed too much of a good thing for tonight, so we're likely to have it tomorrow night.

awesome

Since our return from vacation, I've cooked tired, I've cooked inspired. We had our first fall soup of the season with lentils and some tomatoes, potatoes, and tomatillos that I roasted. I had meant to make a tomato sauce, but the potatoes didn't work too well. So it became a soup stock, some of which is frozen for a rainy -or snowy- day. I made a rather successful palak paneer (that yummy Indian spinach-cheese cubes dish). We've had steamed greens made with fall kale and used up lots of baby bok choy in numerous inventive ways.

The other night, though, I cooked something so good that my first impression was "I didn't know I could cook something that delicious." Believe me, this is not arrogance but incredulity, and I probably won't repeat that level of success for a long time to come.

I roasted winter squash, potatoes, and onions -- cube, toss in a bit of oil and salt, and cook in the oven until a little brown. Then, I put a little vegetable mixture into whole wheat tortillas, along with some fat-free sour cream, grated cheese, and canned green chiles. I didn't roll the tortillas -- just folded them in half and overlaid them in a glass pan.

Then I made chili sauce -- browned some flour in hot oil, added a couple of Tablespoons of chili powder made from New Mexican-grown chilis (a find on a post-dinner trip to a grocery store one night), added a few cups of water and some minced garlic, and stirred until thick. The sauce went on top of the tortillas, and the whole thing went in the oven.

We served it with a side of guacamole and more sour cream. It was border-line hot (so less chili powder next time - maybe add some cumin?) but oh so good. There are leftovers which might just become lunch one or two days this week. Yum.

Tonight, we're planning on making fresh rolls. We have some yummy ingredients -- fried tofu, dried mushrooms (which we'll reconstitute), more baby bok choy -- maybe some quick dipping in boiling water will help, rice noodles, and hoisin sauce (in a squeeze bottle, no less) to go on top.

I'll also attempt baby ganoush with some eggplant and garlic that I roasted a few nights ago. We'll add a little tahini, half a lemon, perhaps a little cayenne or other chili powder.

And we have a lot of mushrooms (a Costco find), so perhaps I'll cook some of them up for a side dish. Or... maybe a little mushroom stroganoff, which is always yummy, especially since we have that terrific fat-free sour cream just taking up space in the fridge. We'll work something out.

easy-peasy, with Mr. P in charge

Mr. P got home slightly earlier than I did this evening and defrosted our frozen spanekopita that we made a few weeks ago, made rice, and made a tasty salad. Very easy, especially since I just had to wash a few dishes at the end. And quite tasty.

wrapping up at the farm

We have a few more weeks to go at the farm, but things are definitely winding down. We're getting a last push of greens, but this year, the tomatoes and basil just aren't producing like they did last year.

Two nights ago, we had an easy melange, mostly based on kale and "tween greens" -- a nice mix of young greens just right for a quick cook. I threw in the last of the salsa (which after all, was mostly onions and tomatoes with a little spice) and some onions and mushrooms, then at the end, tossed it with a little tahini. We served it over rice and it was definitely a repeat.

Last night, I pulsed a few not-quite ripe tomatoes, some onions, a seeded jalapeno, and a few tomatillos in the food processor, then sauteed it, added in new greens -- chopped chard, I think -- and some chick peas, cumin, and garlic. We served it over whole wheat pasta. It was very tasty.

In a few more days, we'll vacate the kitchen and pick up new cooking inspirations in the American Southwest. Our house sittter will be carrying on, cooking up his own personal inspirations in our absence.

dinner review

Last night's dinner was a huge success. By accident (whoops) I put an entire jalapeno in each salsa, making it hot enough to buzz my nose but not so hot that I couldn't taste anything. And tamale pie -- you start with a crude polenta, which is the "crust", then make a filling. In this case, I sauteed the remainder of the purple onion and a small white onion, some kidney beans, sliced olives, and part of a green pepper that I barely cooked. After the sauteeing was done, I tossed in grated mozzrella cheese and covered the whole thing with more polenta. By the way, the crust had lots of cumin and chipotle in it. Then I covered the dish and cooked about half an hour. So good.

We put out chips for more salsa and guac dipping. Our guest had seconds and took home some of the salsa with him. Mr. P forgot to sneer at my attempts, saying that it all tasted far more authentic than northern style tex-mex usually does. (Actually, he doesn't sneer outwardly, but I can tell that he's being slightly dismissive. I usually ask him to make tex-mex because I know that I'm doin' it wrong.)

For dessert, we had cut up watermelon, store-bought carrot cake, and a very cool mixed lemon gelatto and vanilla ice cream.

Definitely a repeat menu, though with less adventuresome friends, maybe I'd back off a little on the hot stuff.

farm bounty and beyond

Things seem to be slowing down ever so slightly on the farm. On Wednesday, I made a fairly passable baby eggplant curry with paneer. Flavors and textures melted together. Served over rice with a small salad.

Last night, I seemed to be suffering from extreme overload. We went out for fish.

Tonight, a guest is coming over. This particular person hates goat cheese and cilantro. I'll make tamale pie, two kinds of salsa, guacamole, and a side salad.
Salsa one has: tomatoes, chipotle (powdered from actual chipotle peppers), lime, a little purple onion, salt, half a seeded jalapeno
Salsa two will have: roasted tomatillos, lime, a little purple onion, salt, half a seeded jalapeno
Guacamole will have: lime, a little purple onion, avocado, a little tomato, cumin

Tomorrow, we're attending a dance that has a dinner in the middle. We're allowed to bring a side dish, so we'll make salad and probably bring store-bought dessert leftover from tonight.

almost too weird for words

My farm share partner has asked for no peppers and no tomatillos. Consequently, I brought home 1.5 pounds of tomatillos today. I gave half to my neighbors who were curious and up for an adventure.

Mr. P said "salsa verde". Into the food processor went tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers (with just a little bite), some cilantro paste I'd made, and a-pulse, and a-pulse, and a-pulse. Mr. P fried up tofu (making a horrific mess in the process, but oh well, it was for art, or at least for dinner) and threw in some garlic at the last second. We served it in layers -- pasta, tofu, salsa verde, toasted cumin seeds, and Greek non-fat yogurt, which tastes like sour cream. It was too delicious to stop eating, but awfully weird. We dragged out some chips and finished off the salsa and most of the yogurt.

Not sure it's a repeat. Not sure what we learned from the experience, but we may try a variation on the theme before the rest of the tomatillos go bad.

eggplant!

I attempted another yu-siang eggplant tonight. It didn't come out exactly like it does in restaurants, but it was still tasty. The whole point of the exercise was to use up an eggplant before tomorrow's farm deluge. I got most of the way through the prep work before realizing that the eggplant on hand was old and too tired to use. A quick call to Mr. P on his way home brought the promise of a new eggplant from the very place where, just an hour earlier, I had bought onions, mushrooms, and water chestnuts, and scallions.

I sauteed onions, mushrooms, and water chestnuts, then chopped the eggplant and added to the pan along with a secret sauce -- vinegar, water, sugar, soy sauce, evil hot Chinese chili bean sauce. Then I covered the pan and simmered for quite a while, stirring occasionally when the mood hit.

We served it over rice, and as I say, it was good -- enough so that I wanted seconds and may take the leftovers to work tomorrow.

We served it with a side salad -- the last of the poodle lettuce, scallions, avocado, cherry tomatoes, homemade mozzarella (but not made in this home), tomatillos, the last greenish-reddish pepper.

For dessert, we had the last of last week's watermelon, which wasn't as tasty as some melons have been. So I added some maple syrup and (ok, weird) salted toasted sunflower seeds. Not bad.

stir fry

The weather has turned dramatically. Last night felt like a good time to make a stir-fry. I started up a pot of rice.

Then I sauteed mushrooms, added a can of drained rinsed chickpeas, and chopped up the last of our farm carrots (there are more coming this week). When they'd gotten a good head-start, I added some Trader Joe's simmer sauce (I think I used masala) and a little water, then lowered the heat, covered, and simmered.

About 15 minutes before the rice was done, I added a grated squash (a fat round light green squash that I've heard is popular in Lebanon), chopped chard, and chopped garlic, all from the farm, then covered and returned to low heat. Oh, I added a small amount of hot oil, too.

It came out well, especially with the addition of a little salt and pepper.

We served it with a side salad -- lettuce (it's not frisee, but it has lots of indentations, so I call it poodle lettuce), tomatillos, lots of cherry tomatoes, fresh green peppers, avocado, and feta cheese.

Tonight, we'll have another salad and some kind of eggplant stir-fry, perhaps a reprise of that yusiang eggplant I made a few months ago. At that point, we'll be totally done with this week's farm goodies, just in time for our next pickup tomorrow.

leaky leeks and quiches

A friend suggested that I attempt a leek and goat cheese quiche, so I did just that last night. It was part disaster and part so delicious I wanted to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

The parts that didn't work so well were that I shouldn't have started it so late on a weeknight. These things take a while. Next time, I'll either make half the night before or try it on a weekend. Ah well, while eating late, we just pretended we were in Spain. Another thing is that it was full of liquid, even after being cooked thoroughly. I think the veggies were wet and I didn't let the quiche sit long enough after taking it out of the oven. And also, the goat cheese I used would be fine on crackers but it wasn't "goaty" enough. Next time -- skip the Trader Joe's and go straight to the Costco cheese. I might actually consult a recipe next time, at least for some guidelines.

That out of the way, what did work? I made up the pie crust recipe and though I couldn't roll it and had to press it into the pie plate, it came out really well, very tasty and the right texture. For veggies, I used leeks and chard, which were tender and flavorful. The cheese, while not extremely flavorful, was creamy. The eggs and milk also had a nice texture. We both wanted seconds, though we didn't manage to completely consume the entire pie.

Dinner was served with a small salad -- lettuce, tomatillos, carrots, fresh dill and cilantro, mushrooms, and fresh mozarella. All but the shrooms were from the farm, meaning they were very fresh and organic.

A very good dinner and a dish I'm willing to keep working on.

farm night

The take from the farm seemed a little slight today until I divvied it up to take half the share to my share mate. Then it seemed like I was lugging pounds and pounds. And because of the rain, I didn't even pick three quarts of cherry tomatoes and two quarts of beans; that will wait until Friday when it's a little dryer.

For dinner, we had the last farm corn of the season, though corn will continue to be available at other farms until first frost and maybe a little beyond. Tonight's ears were small and oh so sweet. We also had a small amount of basil on hand, so I made the first pesto of the year and we ate half of it with potato gnocchi and chard. The other half is in the freezer for a day when we need to recall the delights of summer. For pesto: Olive oil (preferably organic; ours is from Costco), fresh basil, garlic (we have some from the farm), Costco pine nuts, and Costco Romano cheese -- whir whir whir in the food processor until it's a paste. Oh yum.

A friend suggested that our leeks might go nicely into a goat cheese / leek quiche; perhaps I will attempt it tomorrow night, assuming I can remember to pick up milk on the way home.

eggplant and salmon...

... but not in the same meal.

I mentioned in an earlier post that last night, I made the foundation for a tomato sauce. We've been getting so many cherry tomatoes (about a quart and a half) each week that it's hard to also use the plum tomatoes. So last night, I cut up the plums, tossed them with some chopped chard and garlic, along with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some dried herbs, then roasted it all in the oven. When it had cooled, we stored it in the fridge. Today, I "pulsed" it in the blender to get a lovely looking and smelling sauce.

I also lightly coated slices of eggplant with olive oil and roasted those for a while. When they were done, I made sandwiches of eggplant with a mix of ricotta (which I used instead of cottage cheese in the spanekopita last night) and shredded mozzarella. There was too much "sandwich" stuffing, so we put little poofs of it on the top slice of eggplant, then put about half the tomato sauce on top of that and covered with aluminum foil before putting it all in the oven. We can put more sauce on top when it's on our plates.

We'll serve that with a small salad on the side. I think that tonight's version has lettuce, org. carrots, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, avocado, tomatillo, cucumber, mushroom, and rye bread croutons.

----
A few days ago, Mr. P went to Costco and picked up a package of roasted smoked salmon. Several nights ago, we had a traditional lettuce salad with the non-peppered half cut up and mixed in.

Tomorrow night, we'll try an experiment -- steamed and cooled brocolli, peppered salmon, a little seaweed (requested by Mr. P, hater of seaweed), sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil, scallions, and maybe other goodies as they occur to us. We'll possibly have cheese and crackers on the side.

We have a handful of beans left over, so I'll steam them and either serve them on the side or just cool them off and mix them in with the salad.

----
At that point, we'll be at the starting point of the farm week. We may be getting one more week of corn, perhaps more melons (which are just delicious this year), possibly more tomatoes if the latest storm didn't wreck them, and who knows what else.

leeky brain

How could I have forgotten the leek soup? One day, we had some leftover milk -- we never buy milk but had had some teenage boy visitors so had stocked up -- five farm leeks, farm potatoes, and some onions. I quickly scanned through some internet recipes and came up with the following:

Wash leeks. The ends can fill up with grit, so I sliced off the root, then made a small slice orthogonal to the root and fanned the leek layers under running water. Then I made thin leek slices and chopped the onion and sauteed in a pot with a little butter and oil.
Wash and chop potatoes. Add to leek mixture, barely cover with vegetable broth, bring to a simmer, and cover pot.

I let it all cook at a very low temperature for about 30 minutes. I loosely mashed some of the potatoes, then added maybe a pint of milk (whatever I had left) and warmed, stirring occasionally, adding salt, pepper, oregano, a pinch of cardamom, oh, and a tiny amount of hot oil.

It came out very well and would go nicely with a green salad. The part of the potatoes that got mashed ended up thickening the soup but not too much.

long silence through many meals

For so many nights in the last few weeks, I've been way too tired to update my account of what we've been eating. The farm has been extraordinarily productive and we've been keeping up, but barely. One week, I could barely carry my half share. In the last few weeks, we've had a lot of salads for dinner, often with cheese added in. We've been eating a moderate amount of delicious, organic corn.

One night, I suggested we go out and Mr. P jumped at the idea, saying that he could use a break from cucumbers. That's when I realized that I'd served a cucumber a night for the previous five nights (usually in a salad) and we still hadn't worked through our supply. So one week, when the farm gave us the choice of cucumbers or something else, I took something else.

We had the last of last year's pesto with pasta and steamed chard and garlic. We tried making Thoren (that coconut flake curry with green vegetables) with carrots, which came out very well. I made a reduced fresh tomato sauce, and one night we had greens with balsamic vinegar served over rice.

Last weekend, we went to four parties. We were specifically asked not to bring food to one of them (it turned out that many people there were either kosher, had food allergies, or both). But we made two gigantic vegetable salads and one huge fruit salad, all of which were quite popular.
Last night, because the oven was on, I roasted tomatoes, garlic, and chard for a future sauce.

Last night, we had guests for dinner. The request was all vegetarian (easy in this household), no beans, mint, or cilantro. One of the guests is pregnant, so though she eats dairy, she can't eat soft cheeses, goat cheese, or feta unless it's pasteurized or cooked. So I came up with a good menu, I thought.

We made a vegetable salad (and used up almost all the farm veggies in the process -- I actually had to buy some produce at the store), with no cheese. We served spanekopita (Greek spinach pie), which was a huge hit. And for dessert we served a big fruit salad (some of which was from the farm) and bakery-bought brownies and macaroons. (When you have a bakery this good close by, it seems pointless to make dessert.)

Oh, and our friends' two-year old got hummus and crackers. He ate a couple of crackers, dipped his cracker into the hummus and immediately asked his mother to wipe the hummus off. And he loves hummus. Go figure. Then for dessert, he announced he was getting ice cream. Fortunately, we had a tiny amount in the freezer. Phew.

Here's a tip for working with phyllo dough. It helps to have two people on hand.

Melt about 4T of butter, then add about the same amount of canola oil. (The original recipe calls for two sticks of butter. We had a bunch left over at the end.) Wipe down the counter. Prepare the fillo stuffing, then place the pan between the stuffing and a clean tea towel. Unfurl the defrosted fillo onto its own wrapping on top of the towel, and immediately place over it a piece of waxed paper and a wet, wringed tea towel.

Spread a thin layer of oil-butter on the bottom of the pan. Then one person lifts three sheets of fillo at a time (traditionally, you use one sheet at a time) into the pan and immediately covers the remaining fillo to keep it from drying out. The other person spreads a thin layer of oil-butter onto the top layer. I think we did something like 3 layers, oil, 3 layers, oil, half the filling, three layers, three layers, the other half of the filling, and then we went by 3s until we had used up all the fillo.

Dinner was really tasty and in between bouts of the child being a two-year old, I think our guests were happy with the results too.

Last night's dinner was full of farm veggies. We had four ears of corn -- creamy white and very tasty. (Even the organic farm stand that I go to has the mixed yellow and white corn, which is good, but it's kind of fun to go back to an older variety.) I made a tiny salad with a little lettuce, a cucumber, a spicy red pepper, and goat cheese. And I made carrots and potatoes steamed with olive oil and butter, and I added a small chopped summer squash and some chopped fennel at the end. For dessert, I had a peach (not from the farm) and a banana (ditto) and some chocolate and crystallized ginger. Very tasty and even after a long swim, I'm still a little full.

peppery eggplant and more vegetable fun

Last night, I sauteed a big sweet onion, then added a diced hot pepper and cut up eggplant (the cute thin kind) and cubed potatoes, all organic. When things were fairly well acquainted, I glorped in part of a bottle of Trader Joe's black pepper sauce and a little water, covered, and simmered for perhaps 25 minutes. We served it over rice with a small side salad that used up nearly all the remaining vegetables from last week's farm trip.

It was very tasty and kind of spicy. I'm already thinking about a do-over for this dish. It could use some greens, perhaps frozen edamame thrown in toward the end. Alternatively, it would be really good, especially in the fall or winter, with chickpeas added in.

Today, we got more goodies from the farm. I'm thinking we'll use the four ears of fresh corn we got. Maybe I'll cook up some carrots in olive oil and a little butter. We have loads of cucumbers, so either a small salad or a tiny stir-fry (summer squash, anyone?). Hmmm. Maybe cucumbers, goat cheese, peppers, and a little lettuce?

We'll soon be away for a few nights, so we'll have to get creative when we return.

kitchen has reopened

The kitchen was closed for a few nights. Wednesday, I met a friend for dinner while Mr. P foraged for leftovers. Thursday, at the end of a long stressful work week for both of us, we threw in the tea towel and went out. Friday was our usual going out night.

But last night, we'd invited a friend over for dinner, so we cooked. This was the menu:
. Brown rice with wheat berries.
. Green bean thoren (with coconut and curry, fast becoming a staple chez Dinner Report, made with fresh-picked farm green beans)
. Summer squash curry. Mr. P found an intriguing recipe that involves slitting the squash without cutting through, stuffing it with a spice mixture -- we cheated and used fresh garlic and ginger instead of powdered -- then making a tarka (frying spices then cooling down with onions), adding a little water, and steaming the squash. The vegetables were mostly from the farm. We're already thinking about what else we could stuff and how to vary the recipe. We once made a variation on this recipe in an Indian cooking class, where the teacher had grown up in Kenya. It involved tiny blue potatoes stuffed with a spicy crumbled peanut mixture.
. A side salad of farm vegetables -- cucumber and tomatoes -- with some chopped feta and a sprinkling of herbs and salad dressing.
. Sides of Indian chutneys (not home made).
. For dessert, we had a chocolate pie whose other two main ingredients are tofu and graham cracker crust, along with a little flavoring. Mr. P used enough vanilla to make the kitchen quite fragrant.

Our guest had offered to bring something, perhaps summer squash, but settled for raspberry sorbet and vanilla yogurt with raspberry swirls, both of which accompanied the pie ably.

The rest of the pie has made its way to a board meeting today, along with a second companion pie. It was requested twice by the same person, so -- oh well -- we just had to make it.

Dinner was really good. We both worked on prep and Mr. P handled the final cooking. It all seemed to go over well with our guest, and we certainly enjoyed it (and our company)!


Today, I've shredded the remaining summer squash and am flash freezing it before saving it for a winter stir-fry or soup.

Tonight, I think we'll have a variation on last night's salad -- cucumber, tomato, feta, beets, capers, fresh herbs. And I'll get some corn on the cob to go along with it.

Not sure about tomorrow night or what the farm will produce for Tuesday. The kitchen will be closed for a few days this week, with the Dinner Report to resume at an unspecified date.

More farm stuff

Been eating lots of salads and a tremendous number of fresh cucumbers. This is not a burden.

Tonight we had summer squash pancakes -- pretty much like potato pancakes. We used four small yellow squashes and still have a fair number left to go. Mr. P liked it, despite his aversion to summer squash. Dinner was accompanied by a salad of cucumber, tomatos, chopped basil, parsley, and tomatillos.

Last night, we had a surprise dinner guest who brought fresh corn and dessert. He also brought a half-dozen or so yellow squashes (hence the inspiration for tonight's dinner). So we had corn, alio & olio (with an entire head of garlic, chopped and lightly browned) and a really good salad with goat cheese, some steamed potatoes, salad, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, chopped squash, and probably a little more. For dessert, we had fairly good store-bought carrot cake.

Sunday, we came home late from a weekend away and had spanekopita, brown rice, and a light stir-fry-and-steam (onions, squash, chard, and I'm not sure what else) tossed in soy sauce, vinegar, and toasted sesame oil.

Thursday night, before we went away, Mr. P made salad and our usual pesto delight with garlic and chard. I came home latish and we had a play to catch. Mr. P did well and it's nice to have a familiar dish with someone else's touch on it.

I can't even remember what we had last Wednesday night but I do remember it was tasty. Tomorrow, the kitchen is closed while I dine out with a friend.

And today at the farm, we got MORE SQUASH!! (Is there an Indian curry dish we could make with it? Perhaps I could puree or shred it, then freeze it for inclusion in winter dishes? Yikes! Zucchini bread anyone?), MORE CUCUMBERS!! (mmm, more cucumber salads. ooh. Cucumber soup, perhaps?), a quart of cherry tomatoes and a few plum tomatoes, a handful of charming little beets, just a little lettuce, a quart of string beans. The basil is starting to come in and pretty soon we'll be making pesto again.

flavor of the day: cumin

Farm day today. We seem to be just starting to get cherry tomatoes. I picked two quarts today and saw loads of flowers and green tomatoes on the vines. This could be The Summer of the Tomato, though last year, we had plenty, too.

I was all set to make a curry tonight except that it was too hot. And I was going to make raita -- usually "stuff" (often cucumbers) with yogurt. I got most of the way through the raita only to discover that our yogurt smelled like bad cheese, so we made an abrupt executive decision and had something similar but not quite.

The salad portion of the meal included:
- cucumbers from last week, peeled, quartered, seeded, and sliced.
- micro-steamed cubed potatos, super sweet beets, and garlic, then rapi-cooled
- sauteed cumin and mustard seeds and half an onion (oh yeah, the other half went into that cole slaw I made on Saturday), cooled
- halved cherry tomatoes
- feta cheese
- chopped parsley
All tossed in a light vinaigrette. Turned out well.

On the side, I served rice and tiny sliced carrots, which I'd steamed along with olive oil, butter, more cumin seeds, and a little cardamom.

We had a fresh peach, grapes, and chocolate for dessert.

Another success.

This week's farm share will be easier to get through because my share partner is back from vacation, so we'll only be faced with half of it once again. We'll have no trouble eating the tomatoes (though maybe I shouldn't speak in the plural). We have a smaller amount of lettuce to go through than in past weeks, a lot of carrots and cucumbers, some fresh mozzarella, a few herbs. We also have another huge beautiful onion, some rainbow chard, and a little summer squash.

MMM, maybe a little sautee with squash, onion, and tomato would be good, with some minced garlic and ginger thrown in at the last minute. Or maybe all that with chard instead of squash.

Thursday evening, I'll need to plan something quick because we have 8pm theater tickets. I'll see what else inspires me during the week. (oh! pesto! We're still working on last year's batch with this year's bounty just around the corner!)

yummy eggplant

At the farm stand yesterday, I couldn't resist three tiny baby eggplants. They were so cute! And purple! Suddenly I wanted yu-siang (sp?) eggplant -- that tangy, sweet, salty dish that's sometimes actually good. Mr. P has a huge Chinese cookbook which I consulted and tried to follow (I'm not all that great at precisely following recipes ). To the recipe, I added onion (actually, a huge gorgeous organic onion from last week's farm run), which I sauteed and set aside. Then I cut up eggplant rectangles and sauteed them on fairly high heat for a while. The recipe called for two cups of oil (YOOOWWW) and I did use more oil than I usually do, but not nearly that much. I cooked the eggplants until tasty and not overcooked.

You remove the eggplants from the heat, and in very quick succession cook minced garlic and ginger, add eggplant, toss, add a sugar-soy mixture, combine, stir in some vinegar, let it steam off, and at that point, I removed it from the heat and added toasted sesame oil and topped with chopped scallions.

We served it on rice with, what else, a side of salad (including some homemade mozzarella, not made in this home).

It was delicious, certainly not bad for a first attempt. The only thing I'd add on the second attempt would be something spicy -- Chinese pepper, chili sauce, or hot oil. But otherwise, wow. I didn't know I could make that.

The farm supplies from last week are almost gone, except for a huge pile of cucumbers and a smaller pile of carrots, and a few odds and ends. Maybe we'll have raita tomorrow night, which might require us to cook something containing paneer, which implies something curried. We'll see what we pick up at the farm and go from there. If cauliflower, then it'll be easy to add a couple of potatoes, maybe some peas, paneer, spices, and we'd call it a meal.

first corn of the season

This afternoon, I drove over to the local organic farm stand and picked up some corn. For dinner, we had two ears each plus a lot of salad, for which I steamed, then cooled, a small potato and a couple of beets. Our salad also included Feta cheese and half an avocado.

Oh -- cooking corn. I shuck it, wrap each ear in wax paper, and pop them in the microwave for about two minutes each. I like it with butter and salt; Mr. P likes it with olive oil. First corn of the season is such a treat, an exciting and notable occasion.

dinner - yum

Lots of good fresh food lately, supplemented by a raid on the grocery store for a few out-of-season, non-local items I was craving.

We've been eating salads nearly every night. I'm starting to think of them as "kitchen sink" meals because we load them up with just about anything we can think of -- lots of farm lettuce, leftovers, various cheeses, steamed and cooled vegetables, and so on. Salads around here are not boring.

One night, we had a tiny salad with farm cucumbers, farm carrots, and a store tomato, with a dressing of vinegar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. Very tasty.

It's been fairly cool, so we've also been cooking. One night, we had alio y olio -- pasta with olive oil sauteed garlic (store bought but organic) and farm peas, topped with romano cheese.

Tuesday, farm day, Mr. P made string bean thoren, that delicous south indian dish that includes shredded coconut and sauteed rice and mustard seeds.

A few nights ago, we had summer squash canoes -- hollowed out summer squash, topped with sauteed onion, garlic, and multigrain bread, then roasted for a short while under tender but not mooshy. Mr. P thought they were delicous, despite his antipathy toward zucchini and its ilk.

Last weekend, we attended a potluck party to which we brought a salad (natch) and a dish made of cubed watermelon, blueberries, feta cheese, and fresh mint. Although some people were a bit cool to the fruit dish, a few people raved about it.

Today, we're off to a party to which we'll bring cole slaw, mostly because we have a head of farm cabbage in the fridge and after getting no carrots at the farm, I bought a bunch, only to get a load of farm carrots this week. I think I've found a decent recipe for dressing that is vegan, so I'll give that a try (oil, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seed, salt, chopped onion).

last few meals

I've been a little lame about posting. The farm is really starting to explode and we've had loads of salad of late. Sometimes I put in leftover rice. For one salad, I steamed, then cooled, chopped, and added a bunch of potatoes, beets, and cauliflower. Last night, we added homemade mozzarella cheese, which I occasionally pick up at the farm.

A few other meals:

• Roasted cauliflower -- chopped cauliflower, onions, and paneer tossed in olive oil, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, and cayenne, then roasted in then oven. That night, I also sauteed (but did not pop) a lot of mustard seeds, then added chopped greens, lowered the heat, and steamed for a while. We tossed the greens with tahini and umeboshi plum paste and served brown rice on the side.
• A variation on the pasta and pesto meal. This time, I sauteed onions, then added greens broccoli, and cauliflower, and covered. When done, we tossed everything together. We *still* have pesto from last year and I imagine we'll start getting basil in large quantities soon.
• Tuesday, I made a shredded salad that looked rather festive. I got out the food processor and used the grating disk, processing summer squash, beets, and carrots. I chopped cucumber and some fresh green beans and we peeled some fresh peas and added some fresh herbs. The dressing was carrot juice, peanut butter, a little vinegar, some cayenne, and we added small amounts of chopped cheddar cheese at the table.

I'm finding that we're barely keeping up with our half-large share at the farm. I can't imagine taking on a small share by ourselves without giving or tossing away some of it. Right now, we're getting loads of lettuce and greens, radicchio, herbs, many kinds of summer squash, carrots and beets are starting, cucumbers, broccoli (though none this week - I took kale instead), snap peas, green beans, favas, fresh flowers. This week, I took home three very full grocery store plastic checkout bags and gave another three equally full bags to my share partner. Next week, my partner is away, so I get the entire large share to myself. I suspect I'll be handing a good deal of it out to neighbors or friends.

farm and dinner

The tyranny of vegetables has started at the farm, so much so that I didn't take everything we were offered yesterday. I did take extra cauliflower, though (there was some on the "free table"). It's sooo tasty. The clusters are looser than what we get in the store, and the flavor is subtle and delicious. Oh gosh, we got peas, lettuce, chard, bok choy, kale, cabbage, squash, herbs, and I'm sure I'm leaving something out. Garlic scapes and strawberries appear to be done already.

Last night, it was terribly hot so we had a giant salad again, including some store-bought veggies. We threw in peas, lettuce, cabbage, feta cheese, brown rice that I'd tossed with toasted sesame oil, radishes, mushrooms, and some chopped herbs. I also steamed a little cauliflower, cooled it down, and added it to the salad. Oh, it was tasty. Yum.

If it's hot again tonight, we'll have more salad. However, I'm dying to roast the cauliflower. I bet it would be good covered with oil and cumin seeds before roasting. We also have a mess of greens to eat up. I'm hankering for my tahini-umeboshi plum sauce again.

I find that most years, the summer zooms by. With the farm, at least I notice that the summer is happening, from tender green of the spring to deep yellows and oranges of the fall.

been cookin'

The weather has cooled off enough that we've actually been eating some warm food for dinner.

A few nights ago, I used up half a farm cauliflower, along with sauteed onions and edamame from the freezer in an Indian simmer sauce -- one of those jarred sauces that are really tasty. I supplemented the taste a bit by toasting cumin and mustard seeds before adding the onions. Later this summer, we'll have a few weeks of farm edamame, but they're not ready yet.

Two nights ago, I used farm broccoli, chopped kale, and garlic scapes, along with onions, to make a weird broccoli with bread crumb dish. The bread crumbs were mixed with farm parsley, some pepper, and a French herb mix, oh, and some Romano cheese. When all the ingredients were "well acquainted," I sprinkled on some lemon juice. The whole thing was fairly moist. Next time, I might mix the Romano in separately or sprinkle it on top, but the dish was fairly good anyways.

Last night, Mr. P made cabbage thoren. We had loads of farm cabbage (regular and napa) and a great thoren recipe. Given that we never see thoren on Indian restaurant menus, it's probably the reciped Indian dish we make the most. It has shredded coconut, toasted brown rice, and toasted seeds and it works as well with cabbage as it does with asparagus or green beans. Yum.

We served all dishes on brown rice, with a tasty salad to accompany.

Despite our massive salad consumption, we'll likely have leftover lettuce at the end of this week, so we may end up tossing it in favor of the next fresher batch. I guess this is a good year for green stuff! But tonight, we'll probably have a tasty salad, with additions from the grocery store, things that aren't in season yet or won't be -- peppers, shrooms, feta cheese, scallions (which are in season but we only got them one week -- maybe it was a "thinning" batch?).

And then tomorrow is another farm day -- hooray!

many meals

Thursday, we were running a little low on salad supplements, so I stopped in at our local independently-owned health food store and stocked up on an avocado, some organic cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, a red pepper, and a lot of organic broccoli, which I'd been craving. Now that I work in the neighborhood, I forget how easy it is to stop off on my way home, quickly snag some produce, pay, and dash out. It's maybe an extra 7.5 minutes off my evening. And they're *so* nice there! It's also a good incentive to leave work at a reasonable hour.

That night, we indeed had a fresh salad with the rest of the smoked salmon, some fresh mozzarella, lots of fresh lettuce, garlic scapes, tomatoes, some of the pepper, mushroom, and avocado.

Friday and Saturday, I had dinner with friends but I did get that omelette in, a little two-egger filled with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and parsley, with cheddar cheese.

Sunday night, we had another salad. I made a tiny stir fry with onions, chopped baby beets, mushrooms, and fresh peas I'd picked the day before. We also had strawberry soup -- fresh strawberries, yogurt, mint, and water put through the food processor. It would probably be good with a little sour cream on top, too, but there was none in the house. For dessert, we had fresh baklava, brought back from Mr. P's trip to New Jersey. The rest of the baklava went into the freezer. We'll eat it over the course of the next few months.

Monday, we had pesto-stuffed gnocchi (Trader Joe's) with broccoli (finally), ginger, and my own pesto. I was so stuffed that I didn't want dessert. Based on a recipe in the farm newsletter, I made a quart of pickled broccoli, which we'll eat in a week. It might be horrible, in which case we'll never have it again.

And last night was farm pickup night. We had a big salad with fresh strawberries, romano cheese, turnips, garlic scapes, the rest of the red pepper, some fresh peas, fresh herbs (probably basil and parsley), and raw pine nuts.

I also made a little stir-fry over high heat of fresh zucchini, garlic scapes, and chopped spinach. Mr. P typically hates zucchini and says the stuff should be licensed. I never buy it. It is good raw and I might grate it into a salad later this summer. But I thought I'd try cooking this little guy. And it worked! Mr. P got to the seconds before I could and said "Can I finish it?" and then realized what he'd said. He couldn't get over how much he liked it. (Tiny victory dance.) We'll probably have an opportunity to try the same trick with brussels sprouts later this summer.

Not sure what's up for the rest of the week. We now have some yummy cooking vegetables in the house -- broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale. Depending on the misery index (temperature plus humidity), we may cook some of it up and eat it cold later.

More green food

Tuesday night was farm pickup day. I got there in the late afternoon just as a line of storms was coming through. There was a lot of thunder and lightening close by so we couldn't even go into the fields to pick. Then the heavens opened up while I was gathering the produce that had been picked for us. I'll go back tomorrow for strawberries and snap peas -- yum. But we did get a lot of goodies, including several kinds of lettuce and kale, napa cabbage, zingy radishes, tiny beets that had been thinned out, fresh herbs, and some fresh mozzarella (which you pay for separately).

Oh, and garlic scapes, which are the flower stalk and bud that come shooting out of garlic plants. I think they cut them off to send more of the growing energy to the bulbs. Mr. P says they taste "oniony and peppery." They also taste like garlic without giving you that raw garlic burn. I use them in salads and stir fries.

Tuesday, I marinated tofu (hot oil, vinegar, tamari) and cooked up some onions and mushrooms, then added in the tofu. Then I mixed in and steamed (just by covering the pan) three kinds of greens -- tender beet greens, napa cabbage, and kale. I served it with a sauce of Chinese sesame paste, brown rice vinegar, and tamari over rice.

Last night, we had a small salad -- three kinds of lettuce, radishes, basil, parsley, garlic scapes, and fresh mozzarella (all from the farm) accompanied by pasta, greens, and pesto. In the last few seconds of boiling the pasta, I threw some chopped kale, napa cabbage, and mushrooms into the boiling water. When everything was cooked, I drained the pasta and veggies and tossed with the pesto.

We still have a few servings of pesto left from last summer, and now the race is on to finish it before the basil comes in in quantity. Or maybe not. Having pesto once a week throughout the year is not such a bad thing.

This time of year, meals are fairly quick to put together. Sometimes there's a lot of chopping, but there's usually not all that much cooking.

Tonight, we'll probably have the rest of that smoked and roasted salmon, which means (*sigh*) another fresh salad, perhaps with more of that yummy mozzarella. If I get a chance, I may stop by a grocery store and pick up some cherry tomatoes on my way home.

I'll be in bachelorette mode this weekend; perhaps a few simple and extremely quick meals are in order. I've been craving an omelet lately.

pretty darned good meals

On Friday night, my mother arrived after a long trip. I made dinner so we could relax and be flexible. We had spanekopita (from Costco -- they come as little triangle appetizers which you just need to bake), fresh tasty salad, and rice. I also made a stir fry of onions, mushrooms, baby turnips, and a little chopped spinach, tossed with toasted sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, and soy sauce. I took three pieces of chocolate hazelnut birthday cake out of the freezer and we slowly and dreamily ate cake for dessert. Definitely a successful meal.

Saturday morning, I made a little fruit salad from strawberries (picked at the farm), kiwi, and apple. We served it with granola, yogurt, and maple syrup. This is a favorite weekend breakfast.

And this evening, I made a light salad -- the last of last week's farm supply of greens -- escarole, red leaf and green leaf lettuce, some chopped turnips (from the farm), a cubed steamed potato, scallions (also from the farm). I tossed it with pitted black olives and capers and a dressing made of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and grey poupon mustard. Then I sliced roasted smoked peppered salmon (a great Costco find -- it comes as a pound package, half peppered, half plain) on top.

It was supposed to be a pseudo salade Nicoise, but we were missing the blanched green beans, the hard-boiled eggs, and the cherry tomatoes. No matter; it was delicious. And gosh darn it, the instructions on the salmon say to eat the rest within four days, so I might get another chance to achieve perfection before the week is out. Perhaps I can keep missing by a little bit each time so that I continue to have something to strive for.

greens greens greens

Last night, I chopped up a bunch of greens -- collard greens, a little cabbage, some spinach, rainbow chard, and escarole -- all from the farm -- then added them to a big bowl along with chopped garlic and ginger. I did a microwave steam -- didn't really need to add water because I had rinsed them earlier, so the steam came from the little droplets of water. Tossed with pesto (still more of that to use up before this year's crop comes in!) and served over rice with cheese and crackers on the side. The veggies were really tasty.

salads! fresh, green, and crunchy.

We've been eating enormous salads recently. Last night, we finished up the last bits of last week's farm goodies; tonight, we started in on this week's. I'll see if I can recreate what we put in the salad bowl tonight --
From the farm, picked today -- red leaf lettuce, escarole, spinach, turnips, scallions, fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, cilantro)
From elsewhere -- red pepper, mushrooms, grated cheddar cheese, half an avocado, cucumber
We used bottled honey-mustard vinaigrette. We had bread dipped in aromatic olive oil on the side and fresh strawberries for dessert, along with some chocolate and candied ginger.

It was all so fresh and sparkly-tasting, at least the produce part.

Tomorrow, I'm going out to dinner with a friend, one of the BTWs -- Bad (attitude) Technical Writers.

Thursday, I expect we'll try to make a dent in some of the cooking greens, including collard greeens (not sure what to do with them but we'll see if I do the right thing -- probably I'll steam them), the rest of the spinach, some escarole, and we'll see what else -- oh, rainbow swiss chard, too. No broccoli this week, but I suppose every now and then I need to eat something besides broccoli. We also have a mess of turnips. Last year, I did a cool thing where I cooked them in butter and sugar and they were quite yummy.

The game with the farm is to finish up the previous week's yield before the new week's arrives. It's so early in the season, but we're already reeling under the amount of produce we're getting. Go farmers go!

coupla nights worth

The thing that's in right now at the farm is GREENS!! It's ever so slightly overwhelming. But we're making good headway, just in time for our next delivery this coming Tuesday.

Wednesday night, we had an old favorite -- pesto, vegetables, and brown pasta. But this time, the vegetables were mostly from the farm and had a very fresh taste -- broccoli, baby bok choy, escarole, arugula, all chopped up and steamed in the microwave. I also chopped up the little bit of remaining fresh spinach.

I also cooked brown rice; it was finally cool enough to turn the stove on, so I thought I'd take advantage of the temperatures to cook ahead.

Thursday, we had more steamed greens along with chopped ginger and garlic, folded into sauteed onions and tofu, and tossed with a sauce I make of tahini, soy sauce, umeboshi plum paste (you don't use a lot at a time but it lasts forever), and a little water. We served the veggies over about half the rice.

Tonight, we had leftovers, supplemented by a small dish I made. I chopped the last of the broccoli and bok choy and some mushrooms I bought recently. I microwaved a little water and some salty chinese black beans, then added the veggies and steamed them in the microwave. I tossed in a sauce of brown rice vinegar, chinese toasted tahini, and soy sauce, adding in some of the microwaved water. The sauce was thick and delicious; the veggies were the best part of the dinner. We finished the rice tonight.

Tomorrow, we'll probably have salad. I've bought some fresh veggies to supplement the farm greens, though I think we just have a little basil and a bunch of lettuce left. Phew. I love huge dinner salads in the summer. They're refreshing and crunchy and cooling.

During the summer, I like to make iced tea. This week's edition is roasted barley ginger mint. I bought some roasted barley for tea at a Chinese grocery a while back. To boiled water, I added a couple of tablespoons of barley, some chopped ginger, and some chopped mint from out back, then let steep for a few hours until cool. I make about half a gallon of tea at a time, sometimes using pre-bagged tea, sometimes getting more creative. When it's iced, I often find it more refreshing than water. This week's recipe will probably be a repeat. Despite Mr. P's initial skepticism, even he admitted it was fairly good.

too hot to pop

Cold food again for dinner tonight. It was 112 degrees in the parking lot when I left for the farm and I actually did a little picking. (OK, it was 15 degrees cooler at the farm, but still.)

I brought home kale, two kinds of broccoli, two kinds of radishes, lettuce, escarole, tiny amounts of parsley and basil. So we had a big ol' salad with the herbs and fresh mint from the back patio. I added some low-fat mozzarella for protein and some toasted pecans for crunch. Oh, and I picked a quart of strawberries so we had a few of those for dessert. And chocolate, of course.

The temps have now gotten down to 89 degrees upstairs. This whole misery is supposed to break tonight with some thunderstorms -- hooray! Tomorrow should still be hot, but a lot cooler than it was in that darned parking lot today.

a dish best eaten cold

The title of this post refers to any dish eaten today, when the highs today reached well into the upper 90s, at least on home turf. Simple dinner tonight. I steamed some broccoli in the microwave, then plunged it into ice water to cool it off quickly. To a bowl, I added some cubed tofu, tamari, brown rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil, tossed, added the drained broccoli and some sesame seeds, tossed again, and placed it in the fridge. We ate it on top of cold rice. It was tasty but would have benefitted from some grated ginger.

First farm pickup tomorrow! Time to get creative!

easy dinners

Last night, I set out some pesto to melt, steamed some brocolli and mushrooms, boiled some gnocchi, and mixed all the ingredients together. Easy. Delicious.

The gnocchi, from Italy via Trader Joe's, had been highly rated in a blind-taste experiment several months back. It comes in a little shelf-stable package. The gnocchis are tender and fluffy, oh so good.

We're in a bit of a race with the pesto. It seems like we still have a supply left and farm season is about to start up. I don't think we'll be getting basil for another month, but still.


Tonight, we attended a local art opening curated by a friend. We got home late. So I sauteed some chopped onions, added mushrooms, cooked covered, added a little water, some frozen edamame, and some frozen pierogi, and covered, cooking over low heat for 10-15 minutes.

I bought the pierorgi at a local church fair. They were made with love by local Slavic women and they're tender and tasty. I only bought two packages, so we'll save the other one for a special occasion.

Anyways, we flavored the dish with some ground pepper and some Bragg's, and it was perfect comfort food for a cool rainy night.

christmas in june tomato sauce

I made a simple tomato sauce tonight to go on top of whole wheat spaghetti. I chopped an onion, some garlic, about ten shrooms, and a couple of handfuls of spinach. I cooked the onion, then the shrooms. Then, when the water had boiled and the ten-minute pasta had started, I added the garlic, stirred briefly, added the spinach, stirred until just wilted, and added some chunky tomatoes (Muir Glen organic). I cooked the mixture until everything was hot, then turned the heat off on the sauce. Oh, and I added some soy sauce -- what's tomato sauce without a little soy added in?

The red tomato sauce, flecks of green spinach, and white garlic were very pretty. And the dish was tasty.

initial guess at saag paneer

Last night, I got to play in the kitchen for the first time in a while. While the kitchen has been upside down, we've either eaten out or eaten leftovers.

I tried to make Saag Paneer by guessing at the recipe. Not bad, but I have some improvements to try for next time.

Saag Paneer is that yummy creamy Indian dish made of spinach and cheese cubes. Here's what I did:
. Put fresh spinach (minus stems) in a food processor with a few Tablespoons of yogurt and some garam masala (like a curry mix). Whirred until smooth.
. Chopped an onion. Chopped some fresh paneer.
. Prepared some fresh garlic -- put it through our "indispensable tool," a Cuisinart minichopper -- until it was reduced to tiny pieces of garlic.
. Prepared fresh ginger and turmeric the same way -- chopped it to little bits.
. In a pan, heated oil, then added cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and cayenne; let them pop, threw on the onions to cool things down and lowered the heat. After a few minutes, added the paneer and let that cook with the onions.
. When the onions were cooked, added the garlic, cooked briefly, then added the spinach mixture, then the ginger and turmeric. Turned the heat way down and let things just mingle until hot.
. Served over rice with some Indian bread we had in the freezer and mango chutney.

It was fairly good. Next time, I'll probably cook the spinach a little -- maybe steam it in the microwave -- before putting it in the food processor. And I'll add some salt while cooking. Adding salt at the table vastly improved the taste.

Definitely a repeat. Perhaps I'll look at a recipe between now and then to get more ideas.


Tonight, we worked long enough to put the kitchen back together that we ended up ordering takeout. It was yummy. But we'll have more homecooked food soon.

gone fishin'

The kitchen is closed for a few days while we reorganize things a little.

ameri-mex

Last night, we had burritos again. It all started with a ripe avocado, bought on impulse, and a request that Mr. P take over the kitchen. Mr. P reported that the avocado was perfect in all ways; the guacamole he made came out creamy and wonderful. I know there was fresh cilantro and salt in there, not sure what else. It helps that mother P was raised in West Texas and makes some of the most outrageously delicious guac I've ever tasted. It's so automatic for her that she can't even tell me what she does. Somehow, Mr. P has picked up the technique through osmosis.

The beans were yummy -- left whole (not mashed), with onions, freshly ground cumin seeds, and probably other secret ingredients. We had whole wheat tortillas, chopped celery (for crunch), chopped black olives, smoky spicey chipotle salsa, grated cheese, and more fresh chopped cilantro, with blue chips on the side.

Oh, and because there was extra cilantro left over, I put it and some olive oil in the food processor, ground it up, and made a paste to freeze for some future project. Maybe we'll put it on top of fresh tomatoes, or mix it with toasted walnuts, or add some hot spice to it. We'll see when the time comes.

lazy night

Another pesto night last evening. To steamed broccoli and mushrooms (add vegetables and a splash of water, cover, and microwave for a few minutes), we added home-made pesto and cooked whole wheat pasta. Stir and serve. Yum.

We probably have six more servings of pesto, which I hope to finish before this year's crop of basil comes in. Mr. P is at bat tonight.

multicultural collaboration

OK, it may sound a little weird, but tonight we had this dish:

I sauteed onions, added paneer (that Indian cheese) and browned it, then added asparagus, covered the pan, and turned down the heat. Meanwhile, I cooked 9-minute whole wheat linguine. About 4 minutes in, I added chopped ginger and garlic to the veggies and covered again. Served the veggies over the pasta. It was a good mix of flavors.

Za night!

I occasionally buy a whole grain pizza crust and then go to town. Trader Joe's sells 'em, as does the grocery store and the local natural food store.

Tonight I brushed the crust with olive oil, opened a can of diced tomatoes (I buy Muir Glen tomatoes--they're delicious) and put on a thin thin layer. Then I added sauteed onions, chopped garlic that I'd marinated in olive oil and salt, rinsed capers, chopped mushrooms, and grated mozarella cheese. I baked the whole thing for about 12-15 minutes, until the crust was done.

Mr. P nearly inhaled his first slice. I will admit that it was quite tasty.

For dessert, we had sliced strawberries -- from California, but still tasty -- topped with non-fat yogurt that I'd beaten into creamy submission, mixed with vanilla and maple syrup. Perfect.

cooking class with Nyep!

One of our favorite restaurants is the Elephant Walk, which serves French and Cambodian cuisine. Happily, they also offer cooking classes. Today, Mr. P and I took a vegetarian and vegan Cambodian class.

The classes at EW are some of the easiest of all the cooking classes I've taken. They often prep, and even measure, most of the ingredients before the students get there. They even wash the dishes for you. So you come in, have delicious coffee to get going, get a run-down of how to make each dish, learn about some of the special ingredients (and you get to see them, too, so you know what to look for in stores). Then you split into teams, do the rest of the prep and start cooking.

Of course, we were in one of the restaurants, so we got to work in a professional kitchen, which made it even more fun. The founder of the restaurant and an assistant watched over us, answering questions, demonstrating what size to chop each item, helping with cooking temperature, and adding final touches.

In these classes, Mr. P and I usually join different teams so we can have twice the experience. I worked on a delicious dish that started with a paste made of dried chili peppers, shallots, galangal, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, and probably a few other ingredients. Then we heated oil, poured in the paste and unsweetened coconut milk, which made something like a red curry. To that, we added vegetables -- king mushroom, bamboo shoots, sugar, salt, lime juice. It was delicious and the taste stayed with me for hours (a good thing).

Mr. P worked on a tofu dish made with cubanelle peppers, tomatoes, minced garlic. There was a caramelized sauce with quail eggs and bamboo shoots. And there was a salad made of tomatoes, English cucumber, rice stick noodles, and a simple dressing.

When all the dishes were done, we plated them and served the food buffet style with wine -- basically having a big old dinner party for 16. I'm always astonished that I'm able to produce food that's so tasty and attractive.

After the class, we decided to stroll around the neighborhood before heading home. The day had started out slightly damp but turned beautiful while we were indoors. It was wonderful being in the sun, taking in the urban scene.

A very nice day indeed.

omelet

We had theater tickets last night, so we needed a quick dinner. At the last minute, Mr. P called to tell me of a crisis at work. He thought he could make it to the show but I'd be dining solo.

I made a one-person omelet -- sauteed onions and mushrooms, cleaned out the pan, cooked two beaten eggs, flipped, grated cheese right onto the cooked side, added onions and mushrooms, and eventually folded the omelet in half. Served with some warmed rice and a tiny serving of steamed broccoli with Bragg's and toasted sesame oil on top. It was what I was planning to serve to the two of us anyways, but I just halved everything.

I got to the theater on time. Mr. P slid into his seat less than a minute before the lights went down.

lazy comfort food

Tonight was busy and time to prepare dinner was short. A few weeks ago, the Boston Globe reported on a gnocchi test and concluded that Trader Joe's is best. So we bought two bags and had one left in the freezer.

I started some pesto thawing. I boiled water, chopped broccoli, and put the gnocchi and broccoli in the water for about four minutes. (The instructions say to cook until the gnocchi floats.) Then we drained off the water, combined all three ingredients, mixed, and served with a little grated romano cheese on top. Heaven.

weird asparagus dish, vaguely Moroccan

Mr. P thought that tonight's dinner was Moroccan because of the combination of toasted cumin and tahini. It all started out with a recipe and took a left turn at the asparagus, which wasn't even in the original recipe (green beans were, but we often use asparagus instead).

I had half a brick of tofu left from another dish, which I cubed and marinated in soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, and Chinese hot oil (I've labeled its jar HOT HOT HOT and keep it in the fridge -- you use tiny amounts at a time. Oh, and it's bright red and not artificially colored, so far as I know.)

Meanwhile, I toasted cumin and mustard seeds in oil, then added and sauteed strips of onions, followed by carrots that I'd cut into tiny matchsticks, and a little later, the tofu and its marinade. Eventually I added asparagus cut into 2-inch lengths, stirred, and covered, letting the asparagus steam itself.

While that was all happening, I made a sauce (told you it got weird) of tahini, toasted sesame oil (from a chinese store -- I don't like Trader Joe's attempt), a dash of soy sauce, and juice of half a lemon.

When the asparagus was cooked, I put the veggies in a bowl, and stirred in the sauce. We served it over brown rice, so now we're down to just a quart of rice for the rest of the week.

And despite its strange mix of flavors, it was really good and there were no leftovers. Mr. P thought it would be especially tasty over soba -- Japanese buckwheat noodles. We could also try it over whole wheat spaghetti.

Not sure if I can ever reproduce this one, of course, but I'm sure I can at least make variations on the theme.

Tomorrow night, kitchen's closed while I go off to a professional meeting. Mr. P is invited to eat leftovers, but it's more likely that he'll indulge in hummus and chips, one of his favorite bachelor meals.

simmer sauce

The kitchen was closed Friday and Saturday for our weekly dinners out. Friday, we journeyed to the not-very elegant town of Billerica to try a new Indian restaurant that's replaced a favorite old Indian restaurant. The place has been spiffed up with cloth tablecloths and actual design intent -- looks great.

The service is meant to be all sorts of fancy -- wooden carts to bring the food -- that sort of thing. The actual people service is still a little rough. For example, when the waiter came over three or four times before we were ready to order and I said we weren't ready, he'd just stand there waiting until I ordered. Several times I'd smile sweetly and say "You'll have to come back when we're ready" which seemed to get through. In their favor, I think English was not their strong suit.

But the food is quite good. Everything tastes like it's made from scratch, and the tastes are a little different from, and a little more delicious than, what we're used to. We learned a few years ago that Chinese food with an Indian flavor is very popular in India as fast food, and this restaurant serves several Indo-Chinese dishes. So we had a sweet-and-sour dish over vegetable patties -- a nice marriage of two cultures. I'm sure we'll go back and try more of the regions represented.

Oh, the restaurant is Pongal, which is the name of another dish we had -- transporting. If you go to the web site and read the "About" page, you'll see what I mean about the English -- charming and ineffective, but as they say, the dish is very good.

~~~~
Anyways, last night, we used some Trader Joe's simmer sauce as the base for our dinner. I put some brown rice on to cook. Then I sauteed onions and paneer* while chopping mushrooms, cauliflower, butternut squash (confession: I sometimes buy the shrink-wrapped peeled, seeded kind just because we don't use it all up fast enough). Potatoes would have been good but we didn't have any.

Then I put the veggies in the pan with the onions, along with a block of frozen tomatoes I had from last summer. I added the simmer sauce (I think it was the Punjab spinach variety), lowered the heat, and covered.

When the rice was done and needed to sit for 15 minutes, I threw in some frozen peas, chopped garlic, turmeric (I have some fresh -- it looks like ginger root on the outside but not on the inside), and chopped ginger and covered and simmered until the rice was done. At the end of the 15 minutes, I stirred everything thoroughly.

It was very tasty and we had lots of leftovers. However, for some reason, we ended up eating so much rice that I made another batch after dinner. Now we probably have more rice made than we'll go through this week. Oh well.

* Paneer is that delicious chewy Indian cheese. We buy it at an Indian grocery store, cut it into cubes, and freeze it so that it's ready to use when inspiration strikes us. We probably use a quarter of a block in any given two-person meal. The paneer holds up well to heat -- it doesn't melt. It's become a favorite staple because, through lack of planning, I find it hard to anticipate when I'll want to use it.

Chinese-like broccoli

We finally got to the broccoli tonight.

Prep:
. Chop an onion.
. Slice four cloves of garlic.
. Cut broccoli into bite size pieces and put in a bowl with a splash of water.
. Chop tofu and marinate in brown rice vinegar, tamari, and olive oil, cover with toasted sesame seeds.
. Chop mushrooms.
. Boil 1/2 cup water; soak "dried black beans" (which are salty, from a Chinese food store) and dried shitake mushrooms (from Costco).
. Put cooked rice in another bowl.

Cooking:
. To an oiled pan, add tofu, but not the liquid. Stir frequently until brown and hot; set aside.
. Sautee onion. Meanwhile, microwave broccoli for a couple minutes.
. Add mushrooms. Cook a bit.
. Microwave rice.
. Add the other ingredients including soaking water, but not rice or broccoli water.
. Cook, stirring, until (as Moosewood would say), the ingredients are well-acquainted. These being friendly ingredients, the final cooking took almost no time at all.

Serve vegetables over rice, topped with more toasted sesame seeds.

This came out well. The garlic was cooked enough not to taste raw but still had a nice nutty flavor. The tofu added some body. The broccoli was still bright green -- not overcooked at all.

fried rice

Somehow, I got confused about the company meeting. It was scheduled for today. As an aside, it was the most professional meeting of this type that I've ever attended. They even flew a customer out from Los Angeles to talk to us. Then they served a huge dinner which I tried to sample lightly. Our company lawyer is retiring to Montana, so the whole theme was country-western (music, boot-shaped balloons, horse-shaped balloons, plastic saloon doors, a Montana flag) and barbeque. The trimmings were good.

When I got home, fried rice seemed like a good dish to make because you don't have to take a pre-set portion. I was a little hungry, but not dinner-sized hungry.

I chopped and set aside onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, napa cabbage, carrots, a tomato, and six small mushrooms. We opened a small can of sliced water chestnuts. In a small bowl, we beat two eggs with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. I got out the rice that I cooked last night.

Then cooking went fairly quickly. Over medium heat, I added vegetables in this order: onions, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, water chestnuts. Then I dumped in the eggs and some cracked pepper and made sure the eggs cooked up (scrambling them) and then threw in the rice, garlic, and ginger and cooked until warm. At the last minute, I stirred in the cilantro.

It came out well, a little nutty, perhaps because of the ginger and cilantro combination. And the dish is good comfort food.

bachelorette

Mr. P is working late tonight, so I was on my own. To barely defrosted frozen peas and corn, I added the leftovers from last week's pasta & pesto and some leftover chopped tomatoes from the Sunday-night roll-er-burritos, then microwaved til warm. I topped it off with grated Romano cheese (a great find from Costco). This would have been good with artichoke hearts, which I didn't have (but Trader Joe's sells them frozen -- yum) and some grated pepper, which I didn't bother with. At least I ate at the table, not over the sink.

I also made rice for our next dinner, which will probably involve brocolli, mushrooms, and garlic (we have a lot of those three vegetables) and I'm not sure what else.

Thursday, I have a late-afternoon meeting at work, after which dinner is often served, so I may have a nosh at work and cook something simple once I get home, maybe fried rice.

asparagus night!

But before I talk about asparagus, let me just mention that I was busted by an authentic Californian over calling last night's dinner "Mexican rollups." I checked with Mr. P and they were burritos. Phew.

So, asparagus. I have a guilty secret. Before the local stuff is ready to be picked, late spring supermarket asparagus is darned good. I rinse it off, then snap off the ends. They always snap to the place where the tenderness begins. I have some pyrex bread pans with glass lids -- I put the asparagus in a bread pan along with a little water, cover, microwave on high for a few minutes and they're good to go (or eat, in this case). And Miss Manners says that it's perfectly respectable to eat asparagus with your fingers, so it's fun food.

Tonight I cooked some asparagus and after it had cooled enough to handle, put it in a greased glass square pan. Into a bowl, I added bread crumbs (whole grain), shredded cheese, chopped ginger, chopped garlic. I tossed the mixture with juice from half a lime, olive oil, and Bragg's (which is a little like soy sauce but not fermented). I mixed everything up and put the contents of the bowl over the asparagus.

Then I cooked it in the oven at 350 degrees until hot, and put it under the broiler until it was brown but not burned. I served it over rice (from last week -- it's still good).

Delicious. Further improvements could involve the addition of chopped walnuts or pecans. It strikes me that this mix would be great over fish, holding in the moisture while adding a tasty topping.

This is one of those recipes that I thought up just before I left work. I jotted down a few notes, then enhanced it when I got home and assessed what other ingredients might work well in the mix.