Sunday, September 30, 2012

What Is This Mexican Mystery Herb? Good Questions

2012_10_01-MexicanHerbSm.jpgQ: I received a a mystery ingredient in my CSA this week. The CSA folks call it "chipile" and say it a Mexican herb that is good in rice or chicken. I tried a search for some recipes involving this herb, and couldn't find anything by this name. What is this herb, and how can I best use it?

Vegetarian recipes would be much appreciated!

Sent by Jen

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Editor: Jen, it looks like you have a bunch of chipiln, a legume native to Southern Mexico and Central America cultivated for its leaves, which taste like watercress mixed with spinach. Here's a little more info about the plant and how to use it:

Ingredient Spotlight: Chipiln
Grow your own chipiln for tamales, pupusas at the Los Angeles Times

Readers, do you have any recipes or ideas for cooking with chipiln?

Next question?

Related: Recipe: Salvadoran Pupusas con Curtido (Masa Cakes with Cabbage Slaw)

(Image: Jen via The Kitchn submission form)


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Big Projects Weekend Meditation

2012_09_30-applesauce.jpgOne of the things I love about early fall is that it is an excellent time to take on big kitchen projects. The months of September and October are the perfect time to do this, when the weather has cooled some but the produce, at least where I live, is still rolling in strong. The kids are in school and the holidays haven't hit yet, so there's a little extra time to devote an afternoon (or an entire day) to the kitchen.

Yesterday I took a few hours to can up a small batch of applesauce just to get the ball rolling. I had a bowl of apples from the tree in my yard which yielded three pints of sauce in the end. It was fun but not quite enough to satisfy my itch. Local farms in my area are still offering U-Pick days for their San Marzano-style tomatoes, so now I'm starting to dream about canning up my own passata (inspired by Rohan of Whole Larder Love). And more applesauce, too, or perhaps even apple cider or perry (pear cider). I finally have a kitchen big enough for such tasks and with every spare minute, I'm antsy to get it messy.

And that's the other thing about big projects. They take over the whole kitchen and we have permission to make a big, crazy mess, all in the service of that final moment when the kitchen is clean again and a neat line of jars fills a shelf, or every cranny of the freezer is packed with freezer bags. Big mess, big payoff.

But my most favorite thing about big kitchen projects is that they usually cannot be done alone. Well, they can but they shouldn't be, if at all possible. Many hands make light work and the camaraderie of making that big mess together is only matched by sharing in the satisfaction of the final product. Not to mention the cleanup goes so much faster.

I hope you'll consider taking on a big project this fall. I mentioned passata and cider but there are other things as well, such as sausage making or one of those big vats of kraut (or both, since they go together so well). Just go ahead and roll up your sleeves and give up any notions of neatness. Let the tomato sauce splatter your walls and the compost bin teeter under the weight of scraps. Dirty every bowl and knife and stain all ten of your fingers the color of late season plums. Break a sweat if you have to. You (and your kitchen) will clean up just fine.

Related: Weekend Meditation: That Time of the Year

(Image: Dana Velden)


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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Recipes To Double and Freeze, Savory Oatmeal, Vegetarian Freezer Lunches, Smoothies, and Bath Towel Greens Most Popular Posts Published September 23 - 29

2012-9-29-hotposts.jpgHappy weekend, folks! Here's a rundown of our most popular posts from the past week, including a look at a few lovely non-apple pies to make this fall, the best way to freeze and thaw meat and fish, how to choose the right freezer containers, and 20 smoothie tips, hints, and recipes. Enjoy!

15. Freezer Savvy: The Best Way to Freeze (and Thaw!) Meat
14. Beyond Apple: 7 Other Lovely Fall Pies to Make Right Now
13. Freezer Recipe: Sausage and Vegetable Breakfast Casserole
12. Cheap, Convenient & Better Than Canned: Freezer Beans
11. No Refrigerator? No Problem: 8 Ideas for Vegetarian Lunches From the Freezer
10. Best Way To Keep Greens Fresh? The Bath Towel Method

9. Choosing the Right Freezer Containers

8. Miso-Maple Sweet Potato Tacos with Coconut-Cilantro Sauce

7. Rethinking Oatmeal: 7 Savory Morning Recipes

6. 6 Ways to Tidy Your Pantry in 10 Minutes

5. Jeanine & Jack's Zesty White Kitchen

4. 10 Ways to Eat a Potato (and Just a Potato) for Dinner

3. 5 Enviably Well-Organized Freezers

2. 20 Smoothie Tips, Hints, and Recipes

1. Cook Once, Eat Twice! 15 Dinner Recipes to Double and Freeze

Previous Hot Posts: Homemade Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte, 15 Tips For Better Weekly Meal Planning, and 20 Amazing Sandwich Recipes


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Friday, September 28, 2012

Italian Tile Style: Understated Yet Deeply Luxurious Tile for the Kitchen CERSAIE 2012

This past week I took a trip to Venice, Italy, and this included a short jaunt to Bologna to check out the huge European tile show, CERSAIE. This show concentrates primarily on the bath, but I came away with serious tile lust for a few designs from the Bouroullec brothers and others, designed for Mutina, a luxury Italian tile company. These tiles rely on texture to balance an understated use of color. Now, these may look a little boring from this vantage point, but click through and step closer...

...see? Texture!

I love understated tile like this. It makes you get up close, and it looks different from different viewpoints. It also emphasizes tile as a concrete, interesting object not just a smooth printed surface.

Textural tiles like these of course aren't always best suited for high-splatter areas like the backsplash, but a strip of tile can make a great accent behind a shelf or on a side wall in the kitchen.

TOP ROW
1 Pico Ronan and Erwan Bourellec for Mutina.
2 Pico - This line was released last year.
3 Pico - Up close, it's matte and textured, almost like cardboard with dots pressed into it.
4 Folded - Raw Edges for Mutina.
5 Folded - This tile looks like crumpled paper. Really, really gorgeous, and super hard to communicate in photos. Amazing in person.

BOTTOM ROW
6 Phenomenon - Tokujin Yoshioka for Mutina.
7 Phenomenon - I've been such a fan of this stuff for a while. It's lovely in person - so textured.
8 Phenomenon - Definitely not something for practical areas, but would make the most lovely accent.
9 Oversized Tile - from Petraluxe.
10 Oversized Tile - Now for something a little different. I really liked these enormous, wall-spanning ceramic tiles from Petraluxe. Think about having a backsplash of just one big tile...

High-end tile is generally best sourced and priced out through a distributor or a kitchen or bath designer (good luck finding easy retail access to these things!).

Related: Classic Design: A Gallery of Subway Tiles in the Kitchen

(Images: Faith Durand)


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5 Upside-Down Fall Desserts to Flip For

2012_09_25-cranberrycake.jpegFall and winter baking can get a little too serious at times. There are pies to make and come the holidays, parties to host and sweets to tote. But when it comes right down to it, for so many of us, baking is a way to relieve stress and put something together to give to others. So to take myself a little less seriously, I look to flippable desserts!

One of the most well-known flippable desserts is, of course, Apple Tarte Tatin. It's a goeey upside-down apple cake that's actually relatively easy although it gets a reputation as being difficult because of the small chance it could fall apart upon flipping. To solve this problem Gilt Taste writer Whitney Chen says, "You must flip with conviction. If you hesitate, the tarte will sense your trepidation and become a sloppy heap of apples and crust." So this fall, go forth with butter, sugar and conviction ... and flip away!

Try a Recipe:
Cranberry Upside Down Cake (pictured) - Vanilla Garlic
Tarte Tatin - Gilt Taste
Caramelized Pear Upside-Down Cake - Fine Cooking
Plum Upside-Down Pudding Cake - Coastal Living
Upside-Down Pecan Cake - Martha Stewart

Related: 5 Desserts to Cook in a Skillet

(Image: Vanilla Garlic)


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Late Summer at Quail Hill Farm: A Chat With Its Young Farmers A Year in the Life of a Farm

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When I first visited Quail Hill Farm in late March, the new batch of farm apprentices had only recently arrived. Farm work is typically a one-season contract, so young farmers move around a lot, working on new farms every year. I've always been curious: who are these young farmers who've signed up for a 5-8 month contract working on a CSA farm? How did they come to farming? Do they have time to eat what they grow? What do they think about city folk like me coming out to ask them a bunch of questions? Meet Barrie, Rachel, Kate, Sean, and Calvin.

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Name: Barrie Cohen
Age: 24
Originally from: Manhattan
At Quail Hill since: April 2012. This is her first full-season farming experience.

Why farming?
It was just always something that was so exciting and different from the way that I grew up. It's really nice to go from being in the city to being in this wide, open spaces. It's also really exciting to see where your food comes from and how it grows and all the work that goes into it.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about farming?
It's a lot of work, and I think that people don't understand what goes into it, how to maintain a plant and to keep it going, and how much weather really affects what's going on. I feel like I look at rain in a whole different way now. Something like tomatoes - people eat them and they don't understand how sensitive of a plant they are. So, that's really interesting. [But] I still think it's pretty romantic. It's beautiful to be surrounded by all this healthy food and this healthy lifestyle.

What's your favorite crop?
The husk cherries just came up... it's something I've never eaten before. They're really delicious.

Do you cook?
We'll get out and that's pretty much all I have energy for at the end of the day. It's really nice to use what you've produced. I just tried my first experience in canning. It was exciting. I didn't realize the process that went into it to sterilize the jar, and everything cooked down a lot more than I thought it would.

What's next for you after this farming season?
I think I'm going to move into the city for the winter and hopefully find a job that has to do with local food there. I'd really like to move West and find a farm in either Oregon, or Seattle, or California, and see what it's like over there... I think that farming gives you the ability to travel and see different places in a whole different way.

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Name: Rachel Klepner
Age: 23
Originally from: Upper West Side, Manhattan
At Quail Hill since: Since February 2012

Why farming?
I grew up in the city and knew nothing about farming. [Then] I went to [a small liberal arts] school in Indiana which is like a whole other world... There was a student run farm that part of the college owns... I lived and worked there for two years. They gave us a small amount of money to grow whatever we wanted, and growing in Indiana is a whole new thing. There's a lot of corn, a lot of soy beans, but really, the soil - there's so much nutrients in the soil that stuff just grows. You don't really have to do that much work, and stuff will just grow. The Midwest - you know stuff gets farmed there, but really, it's good land for farming. Anyway, and I just loved it.

There's a lot of romanticism now around farming. What do you think about that?
I think it's really strange. Here at Quail Hill there are a lot of tourists. It's, like, weird, because people want to ask you questions but they know you're working and they don't want to impose, but they're also very interested. This is like their field trip to the zoo! I'm not saying that in a patronizing way.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about farming?
This might not be so interesting to those who aren't farm-savvy, but [the fact that] every land you farm on is different, especially when you're moving from place to place. Like, learning about this soil: it's been potato land for so long and we have such a large problem with potato beetles. Things like that you can only learn by actually farming in that place. There's no way to get that knowledge without doing it.

Do you cook?
That's a good question! The funniest thing is that all farmers have appreciation for great food, and I think every farmer is more picky than most consumers. They know what it tastes like, they know what it tastes like at different times of the season. We're the most picky and we have very specific tastes about it. But the time we have... I mean, I've cooked so little, so, so little. It's, like, having a huge plate of food and you can't eat it! It's a huge irony and a huge joke. But we all know that, and we have to preserve for the future. We will have down time eventually and we do want to partake in it...It's a little sad to be, like, I've had cherry to,atoes for this long and I still haven't made a tomato pie. Will I get to? I don't know!

What's your favorite crop?
Honestly, and maybe this is just because I haven't had it yet and I haven't had to pick two acres worth of it, but I think I'm really excited for sweet potatoes. I've never grown them before. But they are such a long process, because there's also a curing process for them. They don't sweeten up until the nights get colder [in October]. So you really have to be patient.

What's the best part about farming?
I think [doing different things everyday] is the best part about farming, and the thing I like the most about it. You get to do a million different things everyday. I mean, there are some tasks like hanging garlic that we did for three days straight. But for the most part, you're doing so many different things. I'd really like to work with animals again. Livestock is a really integral part of this process, and it's really nice to have a more live aspect that you can interact with.

What's next for you after this farming season?
I think I'm going to move into the city for a little while... but I really would like to go out West. I've never been out there. I've heard very good things about Portland and near Seattle. I'm also really interested in this one farm that's right outside San Francisco.

2012-9-28-sean.jpg

Name: Sean Frazier
Age: 22
Originally from: Montauk, Long Island
At Quail Hill since: Early June 2012. This is his first season on a real farm.

Why farming?
I grew up playing around this farm. My parents were members when I was a kid. [But] I started doing it just for community service for high school, and I really liked it. I'd always been into doing outdoor work. I mostly did landscaping and lawn mowing in high school, but in college [at Princeton studying Physics], I did the exact opposite, really theoretical stuff all the time... I just needed something where I felt like I could see the impact of my work more, and I wanted to be outside, which is one of the main things... I guess I just fell in love with how much you can grow in a small space, and how beautiful it can be, and just being outside everyday and just learning so much while you're working. You don't even have to search for it. It's just right in front of you all the time.

How does the idea of farming differ from the reality of farming?
When I was at school all my friends [who were looking for really competitive jobs] would say "Oh, I wish I could do that," or something. And I know what they're saying; they like the idea of it. But, you can do it! You're smart enough, if you're in decent shape, you can do it. People just don't really mean it when they say that at all. They don't want the whole package. They only want part of it. It's, like, "Oh, I work in an office, you work outside, that sounds nice." But you sweat, you lift heavy stuff all day, you're dirty, you get paid much less than them. I mean, you can eat as much as you want, so that's not really a problem. But I think it's really romanticized. There's great stuff about it, but I think a lot of people wouldn't like it maybe as much as they think they would. Or, it's not that they might not like it, but they're not willing to make $7.25 an hour, and work and sweat all day. That's what it is. They probably would like it if they gave it a chance.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about farming?
I don't know if this counts as surprising, but something I'm constantly amazed about: how much grows per square foot. The bounty is constantly surprising. It's almost stressful because we can't harvest everything! It's easier to plant than to harvest. We plant a ton and we don't get to it all, and it bothers me all the time that there's stuff rotting in the field. I think that's just the nature of it, and you have to let it go. But it's always surprising to me when it's, like, thousands of ripe tomatoes that we are not going to have time to pick, and people would eat. And we're a small farm. It's just amazing how easy it would be to feed everyone if there was proper distribution and politics weren't involved.

What's your favorite crop?
I love sweet potoates in the fall.

What's next for you after this farming season?
I think I'm going to farm one more year. In the winter I was thinking of going to work on a boat, just to see what their life is like. But I have a friend in Maui who has sailing charters] so I might do that and surf in Maui. My other plan would be to see what it's like living in Manhattan in winter, but I think I might do Maui first and maybe Manhattan another winter.

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Name: Kate Rowe
Originally from: Outside Chicago
At Quail Hill since: March 2012. This is her first summer at Quail Hill, but her 7th year in farming.

Why farming?
I got my BFA in photography and then I went and got my MFA in historic preservation... When I needed to move back home, [working at an organic CSA farm] was the first job I got It was really close to where I grew up, near Elgin. I just loved it - the really, really hard physical labor that we were doing. That winter I took a business course at Angelic Organics, which runs a CSA learning center. They run a program called "Farm Beginnings" where you can learn the business side of opening your own farm. By the following spring [my friend and I] were running our own farm called Farm Girl Organics on 5-acres of leased land north of Chicago. We did that just for one season.

Would you like to run your own farm again?
I would love to, if I found the right person to start a farm with again. It's really hard work, and it's hard to find the right temperament in another person. You love them so much, but 24 hours a day is intense - really early hours, really long long days. That summer [in Chicago] we had 17 inches of rain in August, and then the mosquitos hatched. So, it was a really intense year. But we learned so much, and I've never been in better shape in my life because we did everything by hand.

There's a lot of romanticism now around farming. What do you think about that?
The interest I love, but you're right about city people who haven't really experienced the incredibly hard work that it is - the long hours, you're out in all weather conditions no matter what. It's not tiptoeing through the flower patch, which a lot of people think it is. I got a lot of comments like that when I sold at the market in Chicago, which I thought was really funny - comments like "Oh, it must be so nice to be at the farm, so relaxing." It is funny that people still have that view of the family farm, that it's so calm and serne. They've never been on a farm if they think that! There are times on a farm that are magic, like when you get up before the sun in the summer to go milk, for example. It's still totally dark out, 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. The birds are starting to wake up and you're walking, in darkness, to go out to the pasture to get the cows to bring them in. There's dew, mist rising. It is amazing. You can't replace the visual of that, and how it feels. [But those moments] are few and far between.

What's the hardest part about farming?
Honestly, you wouldnt' expect [finding the right mix of people] to be the hardest part of farming, but I honestly think it is - the right mix of people who can work together in a really tough environment, that really want to do physical labor 12 hours a day. Not everyone wants to do that. Especially with the resurgance and all the young farmers. I think if they haven't done any other physical jobs before, they don't know what they're getting themselves into, and I think it's a rude awakening, unfortunately, for some people. But other people, it really excites them and they feed off that energy and they really go for it, and they don't just do it because it's the cool fad. As an old man said to me at an event a couple weeks ago, "[We at Quail Hill] have made farming sexy" and I was really creeped out.

Do you cook?
There's no time during the season to cook. You're lucky if you get a break to eat lunch, let alone [to cook] at dinner. You're so tired. I'll eat anything raw that I don't actually have to cook or turn anything on, especially in the heat of the summer. I have a tiny little cottage. It's that, a glass of wine, and bed.

What's your favorite crop?
Right now during the heat and business of the summer, my go-to is always a caprese salad. I could eat it every night, with our huge fresh beautiful heirloom tomatoes. It's amazing when everything on the plate you've grown, touched, and nurtured, and you're eating it and it's nourishing you. It's a great feeling to have. [Also], a warm beet salad, just with a champagne vinaigrette and dill. So fabulous. I could eat that every day.

What's next for you after this farming season?
That is a good question. I would love to stay here, and hopefully we're going to work it out to have my position be a full-time, year-round position.

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Name: Calvin Kyrkosta
Age: 25
Originally from: Sea Cliff, NY
At Quail Hill since: March 2012. This is his first summer at Quail Hill, but his fifth year farming.

Why farming?
I've been farming for about five years, since I was a junior in college. I got into farming because on my spring break, my mom was, like, 'You're not allowed to live at home, you better get a job.' [I didn't know what to do so] she said, 'Well, you really love food, so maybe you should go grow some food.' So I moved to Minnesota and started growing food, and I've been doing it ever since.

There's a lot of romanticism now around farming. What do you think about that?
I think an interest in [farming] is better than nothing. I've only been doing this since 2007. A that point nobody farmed, and now you have a lot of people doing. So, the interest has piqued. I think organic food and well-grown local food is going to take over. The industry is going to do what the people want, and the more people know about it, the more they want the good stuff, the industry will turn around in terms of food if people want it that way. I mean, you have to pay a premium for it, but then you don't have to pay for healthcare afterwards, right?

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about farming?
I used to work on a beef cattle farm, so I'll talk more about meat production, but it's really not as bad as people think. I mean, it is really bad out in certain areas, like USDA choice stuff. But, is the slaughtering of chickens, and sheep, and pigs, and cows - is it such a horrible process? I think it's like a natural beauty thing. We're at the top of the food chain, and if you take care of your animals, they'll take care of you in terms of giving you sustanance. The same thing with vegetables. If you nurture the soil, the soil will give back to you. That's pretty much the most surprising thing I learned about farming. It's not just growing food; it's about working with the environment to help yourself.

Are you a cook?
I got into farming because of cooking. When I first started farming, I had no idea of the process. It's a 7-day week job. It depends on the markets you go to, but you have to do it every day. Food goes bad.

What's your favorite crop?
There's no better month of the year than August with tomatoes. There's just such a small window where you can get really, really good tomatoes, the way they're supposed to taste.. But I also love eggplant, I love peppers. I can't live without kale. Husk cherries are my new favorite thing this year. I like everything. My love for food is why I farm.

What's next for you when the farming season ends?
My girlfriend owns an Italian restaurant in NYC, which I will be bartending and waiting at [in the winter]. Farming is what I'll be doing with my life, it just depends on where. I don't really know. It changes season to season.

Thank you Barrie, Rachel, Kate, Sean, and Calvin!

(Images: Cambria Bold)

More posts in this series

A Year in the Life of a Farm

In the Mid-Summer Swing: July at Quail Hill Farm A Year In the Life of a Farm

You are at the last post.

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Unique but Crowd-Pleasing Signature Wedding Cocktails? Good Questions

2012-09-28-SignatureCocktail2GQ.jpgQ: We've decided to do "signature cocktails" at our wedding along with beer and wine. Here's our criteria: 1. uncomplicated but not dead simple, 2. not too strong, and 3. not cloyingly sweet or girly or tacky a crowd-pleaser without being overdone. Any ideas?

Sent by Kristin

Editor: Kristin also mentioned that her fianc has already settled upon the Moscow Mule (vodka and ginger ale) for his signature cocktail, so she'd like to do something with a different liquor base.

Readers, what are your suggestions?

Next question?

Related: Literary Drinks: 10 Famous Fiction Writers and Their Cocktails

(Image: Nancy Mitchell )


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A Romantic West Berlin Kitchen Kitchen Spotlight

This Green Tour from 2011 is one of my all-time favorite tours on Apartment Therapy. The airy home, located on the top floor of a 19th century apartment building in West Berlin, has a wonderful selection of both period accent pieces and modern furnishings. But it's the kitchen that really makes me swoon.

As Celeste writes:

A sense of preservation mingles with an air of progress in elegant rooms arranged sparingly with fine antiques. Surely museum-worthy, this lovingly amassed trove doesn't feel heavy with time. Instead, a vibrant creativity characterizes Noemi's artful displays. Beautiful old pieces are often re-purposed, or placed in unusual places to create an element of surprise. A Victorian dress form adds whimsy to the kitchenperhaps a tribute to the maids who once lived in these former servants' quarters (In Berlin, the well to do families lived in the front houses, while the back houses were reserved for staff)... A hand painted cabinet dating from the 1830s holds dishes in Noemi's modern kitchen...
Read More: Noemi's Romantic Biedermeier Apartment in Berlin Apartment Therapy

Related: Liz's Tiny Yet Well-Edited Rental Kitchen

(Images: Celeste Sunderland Apartment Therapy)


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Decorate Your Table With Fall Vegetables A Subtle Revelry

2012_09_28-SubtleRevelery.jpgOne of the best parts of fall (besides the flavors) is the abundance of root vegetables that are not only tasty meals, but also make for fabulous centerpieces. By now, we're not new to the idea of food instead of flowers, but it's a great time for a reminder!

Victoria over at A Subtle Revelry is always dressing up a pretty table, but recently she sent out a reminder to folks that you can make this pretty little setup with very little effort. While fresh-cut flowers will really only last a week, even with proper care, these vegetables will have more purpose than hitting the trash can when it's time to redecorate the table.

If your vegetables are coming from the garden, make sure and keep the roots. You can place them in a container of water to expose them and keep them fresh for even longer. Check out Victoria's tips on creating this look at home over at Subtle Revelry.

Read More: Fall Market Centerpiece from A Subtle Revelry

Related: Tip: Keep Herbs Fresh In Your Table Bouquets

(Image: A Subtle Revelry)


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Find Local Orchards, Pumpkin Patches and Scenic Drives

2012928KN2.jpegIf you're looking for an orchard or scenic drive to experience this autumn, here are some national and regional directories to check out.

Orchards, Pumpkins, Drives...
Apartment Therapy


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Sausage & Vegetable Breakfast Casserole, Sweet Potato Tacos, Turkey Wraps, Raspberry Bakewell Tarts, Bean Masala, Mushrooms on Toast and More New Recipes from The Kitchn

What's cooking this weekend? We're in the mood for fresh fall cooking, like these sweet potato tacos, glazed with miso and maple, and drizzled with coconut-cilantro sauce.We also had a recipe for simple bean masala, a hearty vegetarian stew draped over fragrant yellow rice. There were figgy bakewell tarts with raspberry jam, and the simplest recipe for any meal: mushrooms on toast. And you certainly should not miss this make-ahead, freeze-ahead brunch dish: sausage and vegetable breakfast bake. Delicious!

Sausage and Vegetable Breakfast Bake
Miso-Maple Sweet Potato Tacos with Coconut-Cilantro Sauce
Turkey Wraps with Honey Mustard Dip
Mushrooms on Toast
Mixed Bean Masala with Yellow Rice
Fig and Raspberry Bakewell Tarts
Homemade Membrillo
Beekeeper's Balm Cocktail

Last Week's New Recipes: Hot Nutella Sandwiches, DIY Pita Bread, French Dip Au Jus, Caprese Salad, Homemade Ketchup, Chickpea Pockets & Eggplant Sandwich

(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)


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What's Cooking This Weekend? Weekend of September 29-30, 2012


Fig and Raspberry Bakewell Tarts

What! It's the end of September already? Starting next week, it's open season on Brussels sprouts, folks. Not to mention butternut squash, pumpkins, crisp apples, and blushing pears. Maybe a bit of kale and chard, and a smattering of cabbage and endive. Fall food is here, and I can hardly wait to pick some up. What about you? Are you clinging to summer, or embracing fall? What's cooking this weekend in your kitchen?

(Image: Emily Ho)


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Plan Ahead! Freeze Whole Grains for Future Meals

There were not so distant times when a quick meal always meant a bowl of pasta. These were the days when everyone was touting fat-free eating and big bowls of pasta were seen as a healthy dinner option day in and day out. While I have nothing negative to say about a good bowl of noodles, whole grains are usually where I land for quick meals these days. As we find ourselves entering the cooler months, why not make bigger batches and freeze some for later? We showed you how to do this with brown rice, but it doesn't end there...

Many people don't know that you can freeze already-cooked whole grains. It's a great trick for days when you're not sure what to have for dinner and don't much feel like cooking: you pull out a package of frozen grains from the freezer, reheat them, and toss in a few extra veggies from the crisper, leftover beans or lentils and dinner is made. So does this work for all grains?

No. A good rule of thumb is that the larger, heartier whole grains will freeze well for use later. So amaranth and teff are probably out. But I freeze farro and wheat berries all the time and have great luck with them.

To do so, cook larger batches of grains and let them cool. Then store them in plastic freezer bags, laying them flat and stacking on top of one another inside the freezer. To thaw, microwave with a little water or heat over low heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan, adding a little liquid as necessary.

Some Grains That Freeze Well:
Barley
Buckwheat
Millet
Quinoa
Rice and Brown Rice
Rye and Wheat Berries
Bulgur Wheat
Farro

Related: Healthy Breakfast Recipe: Whole Grain Morning Glory Muffins

(Image: Faith Durand)


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What Are Your Top 5 Freezer Essentials?

CrowdedFreezer9282012.jpgA well-stocked freezer can spare a person a lot of late-night snack cravings or lazy days when you just don't feel like going to the store, and it's absolutely essential if you have friends who like to drop by for impromptu parties. (See our 8 staples for stress-free entertaining here, but be warned: the well-stocked freezer may cause this habit to develop in your friends.) But what constitutes "well-stocked" depends a lot on where we live, how we cook and entertain, and how big our freezers are. What are your essentials? Here are five of my own.

In a perfect world, I would have the following things in my freezer at all times:

Cocktail ice I love making fancy cocktails, and my favorite parties are cocktail parties. But a host always needs more ice than he or she thinks, so I like to keep on hand more ice than makes any rational kind of sense, just to be prepared. And of course I have to keep an ice ball or two around in case my father comes to dinner and wants one in his Scotch.

Frozen fruit Freezing summer fruit when it's in season is probably the only thing that gets me through the dark days of December, when the novelty of winter food has worn off and all I really want is a strawberry smoothie.

Homemade stock Homemade stock and broth makes such a difference in the way food tastes. I like to freeze mine in muffin tins (each muffin well holds 1/3 cup), then pop them out and store them in bags for later. And whenever we have meat, I like to store the bones in the freezer until there are enough to make a new batch of stock.

Ground pork My husband and I make a lot of Chinese food, and a lot of my favorite dishes, like dry-fried string beans, call for just a tablespoon or two of ground pork. Since I can't buy just a tablespoon of pork at a time, I like to freeze the rest in individual portions so it's all ready next time I need it.

Frozen snacks I am always happy knowing that there are single-serving pizzas or mini quiches or pork dumplings in my freezer, because it absolutely never fails that I will become suddenly ravenous at exactly the moment the very last delivery place closes, and that's not the time to start making a big meal. Frozen savory snacks are also good to have on hand when you have friends who like to drop by for cocktails. You have to have something to feed them, and this way you don't find yourself stuck in the kitchen making 12 grilled cheese sandwiches while there's an impromptu party going on.

What do you like to have in your freezer? Let us know in the comments.

Related: No Time To Shop? 8 Freezer Staples for Stress-Free Entertaining

(Image: Flickr member chippenziedeutch via Creative Commons)


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Fighting Hunger Through Soup: An Empty Bowls Gathering in Oakland

2012_09_28-bowlED.jpgAre you familiar with the Empty Bowls Project? I wasn't either until my neighbors, both amateur potters, hosted one in the courtyard we share. The premise is simple: Potters donate their handmade bowls and people are invited to a gathering where for a donation they choose a bowl and are served some soup to fill it up with. They can sit down with others in their community, share in the soup and company, and then take their bowl home with them when they are done. The money raised is donated to an organization that fights hunger. In our case, the event had raised $3000 for the Oakland Food Bank. Here's a closer look at the occasion!

My neighbors organized the event beautifully. They contacted their fellow potters and arranged for donated bowls. They also got donations of wine and bread, and many of us contributed stews to the event. (We did half vegetarian and half meat-based stews. I did this Chickpea Curry.)

They borrowed and set up chairs and tables, created a washing-up area, got ice from our local pizzeria (Pizzoiolo, who also donated the bread). Every detail was covered.

2012_09_28-bowls.jpgWhat I appreciated about this event is that it benefitted people on so many levels. Of course, the most important beneficiary was the Oakland Food Bank which will take that $3000 and turn it into $9000 worth of food to feed hungry people in our community. But all the participants benefitted as well, and by more than just being able to take home a lovely handmade bowl. We got to gather together as a community, share in each other's company and get to know one another better. And the potters can have the satisfaction that their bowls have a good home.

2012_09_28-neighbors.jpgEmpty Bowls is an international grassroots organization, with events taking place all over the United States and in at least a dozen other countries as well. Their mission is to fight hunger and raise awareness around hunger and food insecurity. From their website:

The largest hunger-relief organization in the United States, Feeding America, reports that the nation's food banks could soon be overwhelmed by demand. Statistics show that 1 out of 8* Americans struggle with food insecurity every day. Millions of people have lost their jobs during the most recent recession and the number of food stamp recipients has increased dramatically. Your help is needed now more than ever.

* The Hunger America website now says 1 in 6.

For more information: Visit the Empty Bowls website which also has a calendar to help you locate an event in your area. If you don't see one, consider hosting one yourself. It was a lot of work, but absolutely worth it.

Related: Call to Service: Feed a Neighbor

(Images: Dana Velden)


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