Heirloom Seeds

I have yet to post anything online about gardening, but now that we live in the Northeast and it has become possible to put in some crops, I am dreaming about home grown produce. So far this year we have decided only to deal with perennial flowers and herbs - it was a cost and time issue. The plan this summer is to build a raised bed on our property and prepare the soil for next year's adventures in edibles. For now, we have our IKEA shelf, grow lamp and two flats of seedlings. We are growing a multi-headed sunflower, some winter thyme, sage and Icelandic poppies with two more crops in the works.

But my real reason for writing this post was not to update you on our own humble agrarian adventures but to pass along the website of an heirloom seed company I came across today. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is based in MO and ships rare seed varieties around the country. If you are unfamiliar with heirloom produce, I can tell you that it is astonishing in its variety and flavour. If you are looking to include more vegetables in your diet, seeking out heirloom varieties will give you so much more in taste and choice than conventionally grown produce. And what better way to source it than to grow it yourself?

Green Bean Salad

As promised here is the green bean salad we made last week. If you are ambitious enough to cook it along with the curry - it will make a wonderful accompaniment.

And it really isn't that hard.

1 pound green beans

3 Tbs. sesame seeds

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 green chilies, serrano or jalapeno, seeded and sliced into rings

1/2 tsp salt

2 to 3 Tbs. of fresh lemon juice, to taste

chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook the beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender - about 5 minutes. Drain them, then run them under cold water to "refresh" and cool them. At this point, trim the ends and cut the beans into 1" lengths. Set them aside in a bowl.

Heat a dry thick-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir these constantly as they will be prone to burning. Roast the seeds until they are slightly golden. Transfer them to a coffee or spice grinder and pulse them until they are a fine paste.

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Toss int he chopped chilies and saute for 30 seconds. Pour the hot oil and chilies over the green beans and toss. Add the salt and sesame seeds to the mix and toss again. Lastly, dress with fresh lemon juice. You may add chopped cilantro to the salad before serving. Et voila!

Potato Curry and Green Bean Salad

I don't usually post a recipe without first testing it, but this week you get to cook alongside me. We are planning to make a lovely Indian potato curry from the gorgeous book by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid entitled Mangoes and Curry Leaves - I am a fan, to say the least. When we make it, we intend to throw the green beans into the curry to cook amongst the potatoes. But here I will post a second recipe for a green bean salad which you could also make. We tried it last week with a grilled chicken, and it was light, cool, and delicate.

2 Tbs. raw vegetable oil or ghee*

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 pound waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 pound green beans, topped, tailed and cut into 1/2" lengths (optional)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I use 1/2 a can of diced)

2 green hot chilies - like serrano or jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

you can purchase cumin whole and grind it yourself. We keep an
old coffee grinder around to pulverize spices - Look for cumin in bags in
the international food section of your grocery store. It will be a lot
cheaper.

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. salt or to taste

Heat the oil or ghee in a wok or a wide pot over medium heat. Add 1 tsp garlic and cook until you smell it about 30 seconds, then add the onions, potatoes, and green beans (if you are not making green bean salad). Stir-fry for several minutes, until the onions have softened, pressing the potato cubes against the surface of the hot pan. Then add the chopped tomatoes, and the chili. Stir.

Add turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, and the remaining garlic and stir. Add the water and salt and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan tightly and cook at a high simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Halfway through the twenty minutes, check to make sure you have sufficient water and that nothing is sticking to the pan. Add a little more water, if necessary.

Serve with 3 cups basmati or brown rice and green bean salad, if you like.

*If you are keen to make your own ghee, it is possible - and not that hard. Ghee is a common fat in Indian cooking. It is actually just clarified butter with one subtle difference - the milk solids are allowed to brown imparting a nutty flavour.

To make your own ghee you will need a light colored saute pan, butter, strainer, and coffee filter.

When you clarify butter, you will evaporate much of the water in it and decrease its volume. Therefore, double the amount of ghee in the recipe and you have your measurement of butter. To create the preceding recipe, place 4 Tbs. of butter in a light colored skillet and place over low heat. The butter will melt, then sizzle - and once all of the water has evaporated, it will become quiet again. It needs careful watching at this point. Have ready your strainer lined with a coffee filter suspended over a bowl. In the skillet you will see milk solids that have settled on the bottom of the pan. These will begin to color. Allow them to become a nice golden color - like the color of fried chicken. Then take the pan off the heat and pour the butter through the filter. What collects in the bowl below is ghee.

Quick Thai Red Curry

This recipe is adapted from one of my all-time favourite cookbooks, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Part travelogue part recipes it really takes me back to South East Asia. Some of the ingredients can be hard to come by at a local grocery store, but Lee-lee's in Mesa, AZ should be able to provide everything you need. And you can freeze most of the exotics like lime leaves or curry leaves which means you can visit once every few months and stock up for loads of Asian cooking.

5 cups canned coconut milk divided into 1 cup thicker and 4 cups thinner milk (This is about 2 cans)

3 Tbs. Red Curry Paste (this will keep indefinitely in the fridge once opened)

1 pound green beans topped, tailed, and chopped into 2 inch lengths

1 tsp. salt (or more if necessary)

4 wild lime/kaffir lime leaves or the zest of one lime in a pinch

1/2 pound shrimp (optional)

you could replace the shrimp with 3/4 pound Thai eggplant if you want a more vegetable -full curry. Cut the eggplant in half.

2 red chilies (I buy a packet of the small Thai bird chilies and keep them in my freezer as well)

1/2 cup Asian basil (optional but yummy)

1 cup Jasmine rice

for the rice

Start by washing the rice under running water. We place the 1 cup rice in our cooking pot and turn the tap on low then stir the rice with our hands allowing the pot to overflow with water. We then occasionally dump this water out and begin refilling and stirring. Continue this process until the water runs clear. To cook jasmine rice add "enough water to cover the rice by about 1/2 inch, measured by placing the tip of the index finger on the surface of the rice and adding enough so that the water comes to the first joint". Place the rice on high heat and once it comes to a boil cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and turn the heat to low. Set the timer for ten minutes. After ten minutes, leave the lid on the rice, turn off the heat, and allow it to sit this way for five minutes. It is now ready to serve.

for the curry

Heat a wok or a heavy-bottomed large pan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup of the thick coconut milk. When it is melted and bubbling add the curry paste and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of thick milk and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until the oil begins to separate - this isn't terribly noticeable, but the consistency of the milk will seem to change. Add the green beans and eggplant, if using, stir well to coat in the oil and cook over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the remaining 4 cups of thin coconut milk and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, stir in the salt and lime leaves or zest simmer for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. If you are using shrimp, you would add them at this point and stirr occassionally to ensure they are cooking evenly. Just before serving stir in the chili and the basil.

Pasta Primavera

Admittedly I am not a fan of the primavera you can order in most Italian restaurants - the vegetables are likely steamed and insipid - heavy on the water content and light on flavour. But this variation was cooked up for me during a lovely dinner party in London many years ago by a dear friend from Books for Cooks. It is straightforward enough for a mid week meal and can be made with an endless combination of vegetables. Simply think of color and organize your cooking by parboiling those fibrous roots before roasting them in the oven.

The Goddess of Spring in honour of primavera.

a selection of vegetables for roasting cut 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch

we like asparagus, red onion - cut as if for shish kebabs, fennel, butternut squash, and cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup evoo

freshly cracked pepper

kosher salt

1 pound rigatoni or other shaped pasta

1/3 cup kalamata olives

(optional 1/3 cup diced proscuitto for any non-veggies out there)

2 - 3 Tbs of good evoo that you would use for salad dressing

fresh basil, if possible

good good Parmesan for grating / parmigiano reggiano,

( if you can throw down for it)

*A note about ingredients - while it's always best to buy the highest quality you can afford, I think it is doubly important when cooking vegetarian. You are cutting out some of the foods with the highest fat content - and unfortunately our taste buds are wired for fat. So make sure at least some of the item you are still eating are impeccable.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. If anything needs parboiling start a pot of water, chop, then cook the veg for 5 -10 minutes. From the list above I would recommend treating the squash and the fennel this way. The squash can go into the water first, then five minutes later, add the chopped fennel.

Combine the chopped raw and parboiled veg in a bowl. Add the 1/3 cup evoo for cooking, the kosher salt, and the fresh cracked pepper. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and bake the vegetables until they can be easily pierced with a fork - about 30 minutes. I recommend checking a few types of veggies to be sure that you are ready to eat.

Meanwhile start a large pot of salted water boiling for the pasta. As Marcella Hazan says, water for pasta shoudl be as salty as the Mediterrenean. Chop the proscuitto, if you are using it. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the directions on the box.

The best way to allow pasta and sauce to meet is by removing your pasta from the water while it is still a little more al dente then you prefer - about 1 mintue less than the recommended cooking time. Have your sauce ready in a large pan on low heat. Add the pasta to the pan holding the sauce, a little residual cooking water is okay if it sneaks in, this will help the pasta and sauce to comingle. Toss the pasta in the sauce and continue striring occassionally allowing the pasta to finish cooking.

Add proscuitto, olives, and basil. Toss with remaining 2 tablespoons of really good evoo. Grate with parm - et voila!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Chickpeas

When I was asked to contribute some vegetarian favorites to this food blog, my mind went first to those recipes I consider "staples", those that I make once a month, or even once a week. This is one of those; it is flavorful, nutritious, and simple, everything that you need on a busy weekday night. The recipe comes from the Deborah Madison cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers, a well-loved book that is now held together by binder clips and dotted with post-its.

For the pasta, Deborah, and I, suggest the brand Bionaturae, from Italy. Their whole wheat chicocciole are the perfect size and shape for a chickpea or two to nestle into the end, and it is the only whole wheat pasta I've found that can be cooked to a good "al dente", rather than getting mushy. As a variation, I've added some dark leafy greens - a big bunch of kale or chard - to the ckickpeas near the end; simply cut the leafy parts away from the stem, then chop coarsley and add to the pan, putting a lid on for a few minutes to let them wilt. Also, the leftovers make an excellent lunch, either warmed, or eaten cool with some lemon juice and extra olive oil sprinkled on top as a salad.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
a few pinches of hot red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 15-ounce can (I like Westbrae Natural)
1 big bunch of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves stripped from the stems
3 plump garlic cloves
small handful of sage leaves
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 lb. whole wheat pasta shells
freshly grated Parmesan for topping

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta

2. Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the onion and pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes, then add the chickpeas. While they're warming, chop the parsley, garlic, and sage together, then toss a third of it into the pan. Season well with salt and pepper, and add a little water or chickpea broth to the pan, and cook slowly, adding more liquid as it cooks away.

3. Salt the pasta water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. When done, drain and return it to the large pot, and add the chickpeas, the parsley mixture, and extra olive oil to taste. Toss well, and taste for salt and pepper.

4. Serve in large bowls, with grated Parmesan and additional pepper flakes.

hope you enjoy!

Mindy

Butternut squash soup

I haven't been posting for a while on this blog due to a demanding graduate school schedule; but a dear friend of mine is joining the world of vegetarian cooking. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back to food by posting one favourite all vegetable recipe a week. This recipe comes from Robert McGrath's American Western Cooking. Happy cooking.

not my picture

1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, butternut squash, cut in halves

1 Tbs. dark chile powder

kosher salt

fresh cracked black pepper

water (to spin the squash in the blender)

2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

2 Tbs. toasted, seeded, and finely chopped Chile Ancho

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup roasted garlic puree

This can be roasted at the same time as the squash. Simply wrap a head of garlic in foil. It is finished when soft and should take approximately 30 minutes.

1 tsp. toasted and ground cumin seed

Heat a clean dry skillet over high heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir them constantly until you can smell them - about 1 minute. Take them out of the pan and set aside.

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Season the squash with the chile powder, salt and pepper. Roast the squash, seed side down on an oiled aluminum covered sheet pan. The squash is done when the thickest part can be easily pierced with a fork - about 35 minutes. Remove the squash and allow it to cool to room temperature. Scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender with just enough water to spin the squash, season to taste with salt and pepper. The soup can be done to this point the day before, if you like. In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Saute the diced onion and chile ancho until just tender. Add the squash puree, broth, roasted garlic puree, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Allow the soup to simmer slowly until it has reduced in volume by 1/4. Puree the soup in a traditional blender or with a handheld immersion blender. Finish with 1/2 cup of cream and season it to taste with salt and pepper.