Beet It!!!!! But you want to eat bad, so Beet it!

When the mister and I went on our honeymoon, we stayed at essentially a family's house on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. It was gorgeous...no tourists, monkeys in the trees, and the most wonderful, fresh, local food. It was amazing. In the evening, we would gather for supper, maybe the 20 of us that were at the lodge. Well, the dear mister, knowing how I like to cook, arranged for me to shadow the chef, Jose, when they were making dinner one night. I spent the afternoon in an open-air kitchen, with macaws out the window, listening to a man who spoke no English tell me what he was doing, as I laboriously tried to take notes. There was a lot of pointing, of going into the pantry and bringing out the jar of whatever he had just put in for me to taste and then decipher, sweat and excitement knowing that I was going to eat a meal made by Costa Rican hands that I had helped with!!!!!!

This recipe is for beets. I had never had a beet before, because my mother had never had a beet because her mother told her that eating beets would make her have her period. Needless to say, I am glad Jose taught me to love the beet.

Beets, Tica Style

1 large beet, sliced and cubed. Either wear plastic gloves or prepare to have stained hands for a couple of days.

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbs. butter
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup chopped walnuts, roasted in oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Heat a saute pan. Add all of the ingredients, except for the roasted walnuts. Simmer on low, covered until the beets are near-tender (maybe about 15 mintues). Take the lid off, turn up the heat and saute until the sauce base thickens. When it's done, toss with the walnuts.

The mister even had seconds. That's no joke and a testament to how delicious it is.

Crazy Swayze Noodles

Like many of you, I am saddened by the death of Patrick Swayze...Point Break, Road House, Ghost, Dirty Dancing.....I loved him in all of them. I saw Dirty Dancing the musical, bought anything that was embellished with Swayze's fine silhouette, have home video footage of me singing She's Like the Wind with my friend Perry and dancing and lip-syncing to (I've Had) The Time of My Life.

This world will not be the same and I hope that in heaven, if there is one, he and Baby are dancing.

Crazy Swayze Noodles (See lettuce wrap recipe below for farm information)

1 package lo-mein noodles
4 cups of chopped veggies-in this I used bean sprouts, tofu, carrots, green beans, sweet potatos, tomatoes and onions
2 tbs. green peppercorns
2 tbs. chopped garlic
1 tbs. chilis (either fresh or chili paste)
1 1/2 tbs. oyster sauce
3 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs. fish sauce
2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cider vinegar
4 tbs. water
thai basil (or regular basil), about a handful, sliced

Prepare the noodles according to directions. Drain and set aside.

Combine the oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar into a bowl. Keep near the wok.

Heat wok. Add oil, garlic, chilis and peppercorns. Saute for about 30 seconds. Then add the veggies and water and cook until almost done, but not quite.

Add noodles and, quickly working, mix with either tongs or a pasta fork. You want to get the noodles a little browned. Add the sauce mixture and fry on high heat for about 1 minute. Add the vinegar and basil at the end. Remove from wok and serve.

Then watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlvYoD1RXWA

Thai Lettuce Wraps

After a weekend of celebrating and consuming, I thought I should flush out my system with some easy lettuce wraps. This is a good way of using up any leftover veggies you might have laying around. I made a chicken filling and a tofu filling, as well as a peanut sauce (see below for recipes) to go with it. I also served a sweet chili sauce, but that came from a bottle that doesn't have a speck of English on it, so I can't suggest it.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

1 1/2 c. bean sprouts
1 c. sliced red cabbage
2 avocados, cut into small bites
1 c. red bell pepper, sliced thin (Full Harvest Farms)
1 c. julienned carrots (you can use shaved carrots or pre-shredded carrots) (Green Acres)
20 lettuce leaves, big enough to put a couple of spoonfuls of food on (Wind N Oak Farm)
1/4. c. peanuts
Tofu or Chicken Filling
Peanut Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce

It does take a while to prepare all of the veggies, what with the slicing and the julienning and the hand-selection of lettuce leaves. But after that, all you do is assemble to your liking and enjoy!


Marinade for Tofu or Chicken

1/2 c. chopped onion (Genesis Growers)
3 cloves minced garlic
2 jalapenos (We like spice!)
2 tbs. canola oil
2 tbs. soy sauce
a squirt of rooster (Sriracha) sauce...the kind that's in the bottle with the green top and a rooster on the front)
dash of salt and pepper

Marinade for at least one hour. Then pour into a saute pan and cook until it is done. The chicken will need to be cooked longer than the tofu, but you can leave the tofu on a little longer if you want it to be somewhat seared.


Peanut Sauce (taken from a Vegetarian Times recipe)

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tsp. cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• Pinch cayenne pepper

Whisk peanut butter with 1 cup hot water in bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Season with salt. Place bowl in center of serving platter, and arrange broccoli around it.

Pizza!

I grew up on square cut thin-crust pizza. The kind that is so greasy it leaves a puddle on the cardboard tray underneath. I remember once, after a bout of the flu and not eating for four days, I ate an entire 14" pizza in about 10 minutes from Jake's Pizza. Then, as the dough started to expand, and the salt entered my bloodstream, I had the pizza-sweats, which are not unlike meat-sweats. I lay on the floor, my breathing labored, oregano and garlic-scented sweat upon my brow. But it was worth it; that's how much I love pizza.

We used to get pizza from Calo's or I Monelli (where the guys speak pretty much only Italiano! Pizza Pie!), but then we moved and sadly, they don't deliver south of 32oo North (think Elaine squeezed into a broom closet). And while I have tried a few places, I prefer to make mine. It's not as good as the places mentioned above, but it's better than spending 20 bucks for a mediocre pie.

There are a couple key elements to my pies: my grandma's pizza pan, which is relatively thick and somewhat heavy-perfect for even cooking, and my use of the Pastorelli pizza dough kit. While I have made my own pizza dough in the past, this is pretty much the best one I've had. Trader Joe's sells a ready-made refridgerated dough ball for about a dollar, and that's a good bet, too.

Pizza Formaggi & Funghi

1 batch of pizza dough
2 tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. red pepper flakes
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil (or you can leave the leaves whole)
1/2 sliced onion (Genesis Growers)
1 c. chopped mushrooms (River Valley Ranch)
8 oz. buffalo mozzarella, sliced
1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
3 lb. fresh tomatoes, blanched and crushed (Lehman Orchards)


Prepare the dough according to directions. Let it rise, punch it down, let it rise, punch it down and then roll it out. You can make it round, square, rectangular, 1 pie, 2 pie, 3 pies, whatever you want!!!

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Brush the dough with the olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and red pepper flakes evenly across the dough.

Bake dough for about 5 minutes. Pull out and pierce any bubbles that have formed.

Then spread the crushed tomatoes over the pie, stopping short of the edges so you have a little bit of crust. Then top with the basil, then onion, then mushroom and cheese last.

Put back in the oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. If you like your pizza extra done, with the cheese a little browned like I do, leave it in an extra 5 mintues. But KEEP YOUR EYE ON IT!!! It only takes about 1 minute at this heat to go from well-done to burnt.

Let sit for about 5 minutes, then cut into squares for easy eating, or big slices for folding.

Look at My Bundle of Joy!!!!!

Can you believe these gorgeous carrots? No, can you? They smell of the earth. It makes me want to dress up like Anne of Green Gables and ride my bike through the pasture with my carrots in a wooden basket.

The mister is just finishing up grad school tomorrow. That's it-he's done!!!! So I think I am going to make him a special dinner with MEAT. If I can get my hands on a local chicken, I might try to do a stuffed bird with roasted carrots and onions, side of green beans. Of all of the dishes I make with green beans, he really likes them in garlic and olive oil. Why mess with perfection? When I make the beans, I like to give them a quick steam while covered before I add the oil. I find that if I cook them solely in oil, they get kind of wampy and sad looking on the plate.

I also got a great head of lettuce from Manhattan (Illinois that is!) and tonight I'm going to make some thai lettuce wraps, but I want some tofu, which would require me going to the scene that is Whole Foods because that is the store within walking distance. I miss my Koreatown on Broadway and Argyle! I suppose because even though it might have been a "scene", it was a Korean scene which I had no awareness of. Whole Foods is just....too...cool...for...school.

Where's the box?

You might be wondering where the recipes for the last week have been. Well, silly me. I forgot to order the box for last week! So here I am, saying that I'm going to do all of these MAHvelous things with the food and I forget to actually get the food.

In any case, tomorrow is a new day and with it brings a new shipment of goods. I bought some Red Snapper at the fishmonger (Trader Joe's freezer), so I am hoping for a nice pairing.

If anyone out there is interested in doing wine pairings with the food I make, let's hook it up! I know nothing of wine, except how to drink it, and whether or not I think the label is cute.

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches with Potato Chips

I know, I know, how unique and interesting are veggie sandwiches? Um, not really. They are a fallback. A no-brainer. A reason to lug out my cast-iron frying pan that has been painstakingly seasoned.

However, I decided that I would outdo myself and make the bread and some homemade potato chips to go with it. I like the idea of keeping french bread dough in the fridge or freezer, because since I live here in America and there isn't a boulangerie on every corner, I would have to go to a generic grocery store and get their generic (but perfectly shaped) bread. It tastes like shoes to me.

I'll upload my recipe for bread at another time, but really any recipe works. One of my all-time cookbooks is Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, and in it, she has many great bread recipes. Remember-flour, yeast, water, salt and a little butter or olive oil. That's the ticket! Now go experiment.

Grilled Veggies for the sandwiches (serves 2) FOR POTATO CHIPS SCROLL DOWN

2 chocolate peppers (or any bell pepper), sliced

1 medium onion, sliced

2 small zucchini or squash, sliced

10 button mushrooms, sliced

4 slices Swiss or Provolone Cheese (optional)

2 tbs. olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

Dash of salt and pepper

In a pan, heat up the oil with the smashed garlic in it. After a few minutes, when the garlic begins to release the flavor, remove the cloves from the oil. Do not let the garlic brown in the pan as it will create a bitter flavor if cooked too long.

Add the veggies, salt and pepper to the pan and cook on low until tender. I personally like a little carmelizing on the veggies, so when they are near done, I crank up the heat to get a little browning going on. But if you do this, keep a careful eye on it as it could burn and then you would have to order out.

When veggies are done, remove from pan and put aside. Keeping the heat on low, put two bread slices down in the pan and layer 1 slice of cheese on each. Cover with a lid. When the cheese is melted, layer the veggies on top of the cheese, put the other slice of cheese on top of the veggies and then top it off with the other piece of bread. Cover with a lid again. When the cheese on top is melted, flip the sandwich so that the other piece of bread browns in the residual garlic oil. Wait until the cheese is melted, otherwise when you flip, all of the veggies will fall out! Yikes!

Homemade Potato Chips

2 lbs red potatoes

2 cups peanut or canola oil

sea salt

Using a mandolin, slice the potatoes into thin pieces. You can adjust a mandolin so that the width of your chip is to your liking. If you don't have a mandolin, there is usually a similiar grater on one side of a box grater. While you could hand-slice them with a knife, I have a hard time getting them thin enough this way.

When your taters are sliced, lay them out on paper towels and blot them as best you can, trying to suck up the moisture.

Heat your oil in a deep pot or a fryer. You can use a frying pan, but you'll have lots of splatter to clean up afterwards.

When oil gets to about 375 degrees, layer the tater slices in so that they are submerged for the most part and not stuck together. You will probably have to make several batches-don't put too many in at once or they won't cook right. They will still be good-yummy fried goodness-but they won't really be potato chips.

When they begin to brown on both sides (about 3-5 minutes), scoop them out with a bamboo strainer/skimmer. Let drain on paper towels or paper bags. Immediately sprinkle sea salt on them. YUM!

And remember: you can forego the sandwiches, just make the chips, uncork some white wine and catch up on all of your Lifetime/Oxygen shows on your DVR.

All I Got's Gone

Well, I have 3 eggplants and 4 pattypan squash, and 2 chocolate peppers (which I am having after work for a snack), but if any of you have suggestions for something aMAIZing, let me know!

But I'm so, so tired and my feet hurt and the mister will kill me if I make him do anymore dishes today, so we are dining out tonight.

I will see you all next weekend!!!!!

End of Summer Minestrone

It's been chilly here in the Windy City so I thought "I really need a pot of soup". I absolutely love the fall and here is my autumnal happiness list:



1. Apple picking

2. Apple cider

3. Wood-burning fires

4. Leaves

5. Tights

6. Tall boots

7. That great vintage coat I found in Portland

8. Halloween with the mister.

Okay, you don't really care about my list. What you are here for is the recipe. For the farmer links, see the eggplant recipe below.


End of Summer Minestrone


1/3 c. olive oil
1 tbs. sea salt
1 tsp. pepper
1-28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
1-15 oz. can cannellini or Great Northern beans, rinsed and strained
4 cups water
1 tbs. Better than Bouillion Chicken Paste (this is optional; you could use a vegetable bouillion cube, too)
2 tbs. each of oregano, basil and parsley, de-stemmed and minced
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2/3 c. cut green beans
2/3 c. corn, or approximately 1 ear of corn with the kernels sliced off
1 c. squash or zucchini, diced
1 small jalapeno, chopped
1 c. amaranth, chopped
2/3 c. elbow pasta (or some other small pasta fit for a soup)



Heat oil on medium in a large soup pot (I used my pasta pot). Make sure it has a thick bottom so the soup won't burn.


Add onion and saute until it is translucent. Add the potatoes and carrots, cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredientsexcept the pasta. Let simmer on LOW (put on smallest burner) for several hours. Add the pasta during the last hour otherwise it will get overcooked and turn to mush.


Suggestions and Options:

You can use a slow cooker, but you will want to cook the veggies a little in the oil first before putting it into the cooker. You'll also want to add a little more water (maybe a cup) and wait until the last hour to add the pasta if you won't be around to watch it. I've had bad luck with slow cookers myself-lots of burning and coagulated messes-but that's just me.

You can really use whatever vegetables you have or like. Veggies that are on their last leg are good soup options, so long as they aren't actually rotten.

You can substitute any leafy green for the amaranth: spinach, kale, collard greens, etc.

The trick to having a good soup with depth includes two things:

1. FAT. You must have ample fat, either in the form of oil or animal fat. In minestrone, you can always cook up some pancetta in the pot with a little bit of oil and make that your base.

2. SALT. So often, soups are flavorless because not enough salt was put in at the beginning of the cooking process. Test your soup about an hour into the cooking process to decide if it needs a little "something". If it does, your best bet is to add a little more salt, rather than waiting until the end.

3. I know I said two things, but the third is LAYERING WITH LOVE. I am convinced that my dishes turn out better when I give the same time and attention to each vegetable. So I add ingredients in one at a time, not rushing them and making sure they have ample time to get to know their new neighbors. Think melting pot rather than salad bowl if you get my drift.

Panko-crusted Eggplant with Cherry Tomato Sauce and Frizzled Amaranth

Here it is, my first recipe dreamed up by my brain and stomach using the contents of

THE BIN.

I'm not a big eggplant person, and the mister even less, however everything tastes great fried! And I think that you would all agree. When I first made it, I was short on oil so I dumped some coconut oil into the canola (it was the closest thing to me at the moment) and while to the average consumer it tasted fine, DO NOT DO THIS. It tasted like suntan lotion to me. Also, amaranth is a cooking green and has a deep, earthy flavor.

Since we are deep-frying for the most part, it's important to use an oil that has a high heat factor so that it doesn't begin to burn before you're done cooking. Vegetable, corn, peanut and canola are all good oils for frying.

Here's the recipe!

For the tomato sauce:


1 lb. cherry tomatoes (Green Acres)
1 tbs. olive oil
dash of salt and pepper


1/2 c. crushed tomatoes
3/4 c. onion, chopped (Genesis Growers)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped (I used the Pistou variety that I bought at the Madison Farmer's Market)
1/4. tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbs. olive oil

To roast the tomatoes, preheat oven to 350 and put tomatoes on a lipped cookie sheet so they won't roll off! Toss with 1 tbs. olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool until you can take the skins off.

In a pan, saute the onion, garlic and basil in 2 tbs. olive oil. Add the roasted tomatoes, crushed tomatoes (I used canned because I didn't have any tomatoes left, but you can use and extra 1/2 1b. of fresh tomatoes), salt, pepper and sugar. Let simmer on low for about 15 minutes. Your sauce is done, so you can set it to the side or put it in the refridgerator if you are making this ahead of time. The sauce can be frozen also.

For the frizzled amaranth:

10 leaves of fresh amaranth (about 1 cup) (Harmony Valley)

2 tbs. olive oil

Chiffonade the amaranth by rolling up the leaves into a cigar shape, then slice diagonally every 1/4 inch. This will make the amaranth have a "ribbon" look to it that when frizzled, is quite unique.

Heat the oil until smoking. Drop the amaranth in and it will sizzle up fast. Immediately remove and let drain on a paper towel or parchment paper.

For the eggplant:

2 eggs

1 c. cornstarch

2 c. panko breadcrumbs

4 medium Japanese eggplants (Green Acres)

2 c. canola oil for frying

Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch pieces. Cover both sides with salt and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour. This will take away any bitterness and help keep the eggplant from absorbing too much oil.

Make a 3 component dredging station of cornstarch, eggs and panko breadcrumbs.

Wipe off the eggplant slices and pat them dry.

Heat oil. It is ready when you can drop a breadcrumb in and it sizzles, but if you are using a thermometer it should be between 35o and 375.

Dredge eggplant in cornstarch, then egg, then panko breadcrumbs and put into oil. These cook fast so don't go anywhere! Fry them for about 1 minute per side, depending on how well browned you want them to be. Let drain on a baking rack (not on towels as it will make them soggy).

To plate:

Put sauce on plate. Stack eggplant in an artistic way, or just throw it on there! Sprinkle frizzled amaranth on and if you'd like, sprinkle a little parmesan cheese right before serving.

Enjoy!

Thought about it all day at work

And I'll tell you why I'm excited: the mister and I were trying to watch our money so we had cancelled the Fresh Picks boxes. Why on earth would we have done such a moronic thing? But now, we are two days away and the website tells me that I should expect:

Sun Sugar tomatoes, broccoli, japanese eggplant, Amaranth cooking greens, green beans, sweet corn (oh heaven!), Patty Pan squash, Chocolate Peppers, Onions, Cilantro and a fun-sounding Poonahkheera cucumbers! The cuc's are heirlooms, orignally from India, I think. If it's what I think it is, then it's a brown cuc and not a green one. I HEART NATURE!

What shall I make? What shall I make?

Awaiting The Bin......

After researching several CSA's, I found several things to be true about myself:

1. I can only commit to approximately 40 bucks at any given point at the grocery store.
2. Though I want to be the girl who loves nature I love the IDEA of nature-unless it is in Victorian England, and I have a nice country home with lace curtains, and some sheep for pets, maybe a duck or two.
3. I like dabbling in a bit of everything.

This is why, when I discovered Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks, I found paradise in a grey bin delivered to my door. No more waiting in line at Whole Foods, watching your paycheck disappear before your eyes. No more strategically planning your route for the weekend's farmer's markets, only to find that once again, the tomato guy sold all but three of his harvest.

But then, what DO you do with five pounds of kale? If you're me, and you have a mister at home who would rather not eat it (but he will because that's what spouses do), you put it in everything: smoothies, pasta, pizza, sauces, tacos, stuffing, make a pesto out of it. And you just hope that he doesn't pause and say "Is there kale in this"?

There are several months left of the midwestern harvest season. Every Thursday I will get a bin of fresh produce. I will spend four days using the products in the bin to make fabulous, gourmet recipes. Some of these recipes will be healthy. Some will have cream and butter and oil. Some will be vegetarian main dishes. Some will probably be best as sides for meat dishes (the mister can't subside on greenery and berries alone). But they will be divine.