vegetables Archive

for the brussels sprouts converts, i love you.

– January 17, 2011Posted in: tasty morsels

Brussels Sprouts are on the rise. It’s true.

They really have all the trappings of a little star, cute diminutive, round little rose shaped buds of cheery green.
The germans call them Rosenkohl, rose cabbage. Cute, right?
They are showing up on menus everywhere & in my own personal travels to potlucks & dinner parties, they are showing up all the time.

Today I want to say, Brussels Sprouts Converts: Good Job! Way to stare a childhood fear in the face and take it down in a roasting pan!

Most people exclaim such vitriolic devoted hatred for this little member of the brassica family. Though when you ask calmly and patiently, why? What did the cute little cabbage things do to you?

“My mom boiled them & they smelled gross & were army fatigue green & mushy. And I hate them.”

Well, there you have it. Who does actually like over-boiled unseasoned anything?

This little morsel of preparation notes is for those of you that are branching out & trying Brussels Sprouts in many new & varying manners. Like say, raw in slivers in a salad or slaw. For this you’ll want to just trim the tiniest sliver off the bottom, cut them in half, lay them on the flat half side then cut them from the top to the base in 1/8″ -1/4″ slices.

Halved & roasted with garlic and olive oil. In the oven or in a pan, with bacon and shallots or orange juice, tamari and walnuts. Simply trim the end & slice from the north pole to the south pole.

Or tiny & whole, simply tossed with oil and spices and roasted until tender then tossed with a handful of fresh herbs.The best way to make sure they get cooked through in this fashion is to simply cut a little “x” through the base so that the densest part of the vegetable gets cooked evenly along with the looser top.

Anyway you decide to prepare them, you will be happy you did. The biggest thing to keep in mind with this tiny vegetable is to not overcook them. The only golden rule, Do Not Overcook Brussels Sprouts. They taste nasty. The perfect doneness should have your paring knife slipping into the base of the sprout with a little resistance and the color should remain a rich range of dense bright greens ranging to a yellow-green inside.

Also keep in mind that this is a cold weather vegetable, they just do not abide the heat, so the best time to dive in is from Fall to Spring. Look for bright green, tight little sprouts no bigger than 1.5 inches in diameter. Try to use them within five days of buying them & do your best not to discard the outer leaves, as they are the most nutritious. If they are yellowing, discard those.
Whenever I have to trim them, I use the leaves with either kale or cabbage in a slaw or braise. Brussels Sprouts grow on a stalk between big leaves, so if you’re ever fortunate enough to find the leaves at a local farmers market, by all means, grab them up and braise them!

Bon apetit! Happy winter eating.

taking back the holiday table: green bean casserole redux

– December 21, 2010Posted in: eat/drink

The Case of the Vexing Mr. Green Bean Casserole

Okay, so here’s the haps. Casseroles may just be the bane of my existence. They vex me. Especially vexing is the Ubiquitous Green Bean Casserole.

I know we all have certain nostalgia for the stuff. It’s always a bit too soggy, a bit too creamy, and wow, what’s that shade of green exactly called? Because of the strength & conviction of the power of nostalgia on our tongues, many of us claim to actually love the stuff. But let’s talk about this for a second. As a professional recipe developer and person obsessed with food & food history, I have these little fantasies:

The scene: a handful of men in a dimly light conference room, c. late 1940’s-early 1950’s, a corner office in a newly erected industrial park in New Jersey. Somewhere in the distance, the moos of a cow at a local farm (soon to be grazed by construction) can be heard through the grumble of machinery below.

The men in suits sit with the ease and confidence of recently minted millions and are being tended to by a steady stream of coiffed women shuffling in & out. Some in lab coats and some with notepads and smart sweater sets. The air is thick with cigarette & cigar smoke. Mr. French is hosting. Campbell & Del Monte are just here for the scotch and the laughs. This onion guy always has something he’s cooking up.

“Listen fellas, these girls have been working hard down in the kitchens & we think it’s high time to give the great folks of the United States something they can call their own. We want to give them a holiday classic. The Green Bean Casserole!
And a crispy onion topping is just the thing to make it feel special, you know, Intercontinental. We give them a dish they can make with just 3 cans: Campbell, your mushroom soup, well, let’s face it, the stuff’s no good, it needs a good dance partner. And Del Monte, your beans look like the fatigues our guys just left behind. But say we mix them altogether & top them with my new onions & we got a hit. A real piece of magic Americana style. Margie, bring in the casserole…”

Then cut to 2003,  picture me, in the back of a cab in New York, a young energized chef, ready to take on the world of New American Cuisine. Talking, as I often did, late on a Friday night coming home after my second job of the day, with my cab driver, swapping stories of our lives, ambitions. We pull up to my Brooklyn doorstep and a thick bellowing laugh as yet another cabbie delights himself in his elaborately accented voice: “Oh, American Food, so you make Casseroles!” Hahahaha….Vexed.

I love green beans. I love mushrooms. I love crispy onions. And I love them fresh. With all the hues of greens & earthy browns. A bright tone of sage & lemon. Its winter, it’s still a casserole, yes, let’s face it, if I showed up with sautéed green beans for a Christmas or Holiday meal, I’d be booed out of the place.

So, I have conceded, I will make a casserole. Admittedly, they are easy to transfer & easy to roll out to a table full of hungry bellies & slightly tipsy guests. And, yes, nostalgia has a grip on me too, it just doesn’t seem like a winter gathering without heaping spoonfuls of mushroomy, creamy green beans with crispy onions.

Though this year, allow me to implore you: try this two-pan dish rather than the 3 can one. It’s really very delicious. Even my South American flat mate that finds most American food too heavy, too processed, loves this casserole. I love this casserole. Save the cans for an emergency or to prop your kitchen door open while the wafts of real cooking fill your home with tasty promises of happy bellies.

American food is about so much more than casseroles and canned convenience; we have the best ingredients you can find in the world. So, free them from their canned demise & share a little love this year.  I, personally, cannot wait to take over the spot on the holiday spread this year with a newly designed classic. Green Bean Casserole, I love you.

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Leeks

(click here to print!)

what you need:
2 saute pans including one 10”-12” oven proof sauté pan-cast iron is perfect
(a small oval baker will do also)
micro-plane zester
citrus juicer

ingredients:
cooking oil (canola or grapeseed, preferably)
2 medium/large leeks-white & bright green, sliced on a bias
scant ½ cup oat bran or unseasoned breadcrumbs***
¼ tsp smoked or hot hungarian paprika
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, optional

1 lb green beans-tough ends snapped & cut into halves or thirds
½ medium/large yellow onion- peeled & thinly sliced

12 oz mushrooms, mixed is best, sliced or chopped coarsely*

1 cup vegetable stock
½ cup milk, cream, stock or milk substitute **
1 Tbsp fresh sage, thinly sliced (5-10 leaves)
1 lemon, zest only
half lemon, juice

sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper

how to make it:
prep the veges:
-start by making sure all of your veggies are super clean. Just snap off the tough end of the green bean where it connected to the stalk, you can leave the tail unless it looks gross.
-trim the ends off & slice the leek lengthwise & rinse under cold water to remove all the sand & silt, trim the top third of dark green & reserve for making stock
-slice the white & bright green portion of the leeks into 1/8-1/4” thick slices on the bias
-mushrooms don’t necessarily need to be cleaned in water, just wipe off any loose dirt & trim the base. If you are using a cluster style mushroom, just tear it into bite-sized pieces, for domestic button or crimini mushrooms, just trim the end of the stem to remove any browning bits, then slice about 1/8-1/4”
-using a microplane, zest the bright yellow part of the lemon, trying to leave the white bitter pith. Slice in half to juice

cooking instructions:
-preheat oven to 365°F
-heat the larger (oven-proof, if you have it) skillet over a medium-medium-high flame, when warm, add about 2 Tbsp of oil to heat, add sliced leeks & season gently with salt & freshly cracked pepper
-stir occasionally until leeks are browning & crispy
-once done, remove leeks, while reserving as much cooking oil as possible in pan
-quickly mix leeks together with the oat bran/bread crumbs, add paprika, thyme & season with salt & pepper, set aside
-in the same pan you cooked the leeks, add a tablespoon of cooking oil, if needed, pan should just have a light coating of oil, heat over medium flame & add mushrooms
-season with salt & pepper, add thyme
-saute by stirring only occasionally, if the mushrooms start to stick , just add a little (a few tablespoons at a time) water or stock or white wine if you have it handy, and stir to release the mushrooms, sauté mushrooms until they release their liquid and begin to brown, 10 or more minutes
-meanwhile, in the other sauté pan, heat 2Tbsp of cooking oil over medium flame, sauté the thinly sliced onions until tender, about 5 minutes.
-once translucent, add the green beans, season gently with salt & fresh cracked pepper & stir. Once they begin to turn bright, add a half cup of stock & cover the pan to steam, about 5 minutes.
-once mushrooms start to brown, add the lemon juice to pan & stir well so mushrooms evenly absorb. Add the other half cup of broth & simmer
-after the green beans are steamed & almost tender, they should still have a crispness to them, combine them in the oven-proof pan with the mushroom mixture, stir in lemon zest, sage & half cup of milk or cream, taste & adjust seasoning if needed
-if you are using a separate baking dish, you may want to gently coat it with cooking oil.
-sprinkle over with crispy leek mixture & bake for 15 minutes or until slightly browning on top.
-serve warm.

NOTES:
*MUSHROOMS: use fresh mushrooms you can find, I am lucky to have a mushroom guy at my farmer’s market that always has great mushrooms at a great price, though I have made this with a simple mixture of domestic white & crimini. If using grocery store selection, I would strongly urge you to add some shitakes to the mix because they add such great flavor.
**MILK: okay, the simple fact is, I can’t have very much dairy, it is really bad for me in particular, but I don’t want to keep you from your lactic loves, so go for it if your belly & sinuses are down with the dairy, I use unsweetened oat or almond milk & have best luck with oat, but its not mandatory
***BREADCRUMBS OR OAT-BRAN: I genuinely love oat bran. Its’ super good for your heart, it tastes delicious & you would never know its “healthy,” if you use breadcrumbs, please use high quality unseasoned

eating seasonally: late autumn, early winter

– December 2, 2010Posted in: eat/drink

Eating seasonally starts with knowing what’s in season.

Maybe it sounds like I am being redundant or saying this while looking down my perfectly nourished nose. Neither of these is the case.

It’s not as easy as it seems. When I first put myself up to the challenge of learning to eat with the seasons some decade ago, it became a wild ride in consternation, frustration & ultimately found myself feeling maddeningly bamboozled by my local grocers. I wanted to support diversity & the grand potential of our agricultural offerings and was greeted with a staggering display of sameness.

Your local grocery store chain may carry a seasonal display of butternut, acorn & spaghetti squashes, all arriving at the same week just after the Halloween pumpkins. And they are large. Uniformly so. The same large, stuffable squash specimen they will continue to be until they are cut-off by truckloads of strawberries in early spring. Too early, Spring. (there’s no such thing as a ripe strawberry in March, or at least, not in our hemisphere.)

It’s hard to know what is genuinely in season when year round we are entreated to the same array of: red bell pepper, green bell pepper; red cabbage, green cabbage; zucchini, asparagus: sometimes thin, sometimes thick; red apples, green apples.

Brown potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes. Basically, that’s what you get, with the occasional variation. These variations usually accompanied with the springing up of paperboard signs telling you not to forget to reserve your turkey, your gefilte, your ham. It’s hard to know what is genuinely in season when our grocery stores have traded in the sometimes temperamental timeliness of nature with the rolling calendar of their advertising outputs.

When a person decides to try & eat seasonally, we are left trying to piece it all together with vague recollections of specific ingredients enjoyed some distant August ago. Or at the celebratory holiday spreads from Independence Day to Thanksgiving. However, really, many of us have been lead astray by a universe of grocery store mono-culture.

So, I guess, today I am here to say, don’t give up. If you’re even remotely genuinely interested in seasonal food, sustainabality, agricultural diversity, local food, the healthiest most delicious food available, whatever your motivation: don’t give up. There are trained chefs that don’t know what’s in season, I promise. Your local farmers market is the best place to start. Even if you can’t find one, which many of us cannot, use your dollars to support produce in season wherever you find it.

Below you’ll see a list I’ve compiled of seasonal foods. Just know that I am working with a broad guideline because we all live in wildly different regions & seasonality is known to change with even the teeniest microclimate. What is in season also has so much to do with what the farmers in your region practice, or shipping companies, it all depends. I don’t make judgments, I can attest to a great appreciation on occasion for kiwi fruit & exotic mango varieties.

I also happen to live in a state that has multiple growing seasons per year, so it can be a bit dizzying. Without the marching band precision of seasonal change, it can be hard to track the passage of time here in Southern California. Though, if we care to, we can trace the lineage of a year by the meals that grace our tables night to night, from month to month. Or at least, that is the sort of meal-driven utopia I am striving towards.

The table I have put together for what is in season for the next few weeks. Some things are hugely dependent on your region. Like say here, in California, we don’t have quince. I miss them. Stewed, poached, compoted & chutneyed, I miss that knobby fruit. Although, here have grapes. Actual grapes. Sweet delicious grapes for a few more weeks. And, did you know that meat has a season? It does. Turkey. Prime Example.

In any case, I hope this helps. And I would really love to hear from you what you see in season in your region & what you love to make with it all. We’re heading toward weeks/months with such lean offerings, we all need a little inspiration. Right now, my favorite thing from the list below is garlic mashed rutabaga & radicchio, charred then drizzled with honey & vinegar.

seasonality chart: late autumn/early winter

(click here to print!)

fruit:
apple
blood oranges
coconut
cranberries
dates
fig
grapefruit
grapes
meyer lemon
oroblanco
papaya
pears
persimmon
pomegranate
quince
tangerines		 vegetables :
bok choy
broccoli
brussels sprouts
cabbage
cauliflower
celery root
chanterelles
chicories
daikon
fennel
garlic
kale
leeks
mâche
mushrooms
onions
peppers
potatoes
pumpkin
raddichio
radishes
sweet potatoes
squashes
truffles		 meat & seafood:
capon
caviar
duck
eel
foie gras
game
herring
lobster
partridges
pheasant
quail
rabbit
shellfish
squab
swordfish
turkey
venison		 edible miscellany:
beans: green  & lima
black & pinto
buckwheat
chestnuts
garlic
lentils
most nuts
nut oils
maple syrup
rosemary
sage
savory
thyme
walnuts

salad for the thanksgiving hangover

– November 30, 2010Posted in: eat/drink

Holy gluttony, Pilgrims!

That was a lot of turkey. And stuffing. And cranberries. And greens.
And pie. My favorite pair of corduroys can’t take much more of this.

I was the lucky guest at three tables this year. One of them: a day-after leftovers table that introduced me to Brussels sprouts roasted with vanilla and pomegranate. What? Oh, heck, yes. Another was 30+person soiree of with a freaking delicious array of homemade food & a deep fried turkey. The official Thursday affair was a long table filling an entire room with 18 TDay orphans. All of us with family elsewhere came together and put on a stellar spread. I made so much gravy last week.

Yesterday, I ate the last bowl of turkey noodle soup. It was really quite delicious, even if it was my fourth bowl in two days. Having always been a devotee to the traditional turkey noodle soup with thick handmade egg noodles, this year I discovered that mustard spaetzle is the long lost lover of homemade turkey broth.

At some point during lunch yesterday, it dawned on me, mid-turkey spaetzle slurp, this Thanksgiving holiday season I have eaten: 3 turkeys, 4 different kinds of stuffing, 3 different mashed potatoes, 2 sweet potatoes, 3 cranberry sauces & 4 varieties of gravy. One of which was a vegan mushroom gravy that I hope to never cross paths with again. It was weird. It was not homemade, so I do not feel bad dissing it.

That, my friends, is a lot of food. So much food. Moreover, that is not counting the 4 different kinds of pie & 2 varieties of whipped cream. It is unending. I did love the favorable trend of Kale! I have had 3. Three different kinds of braised kale. I have somehow managed to beat my corduroys past their favorable habit of stretching throughout the day & they are now like dexterously acquiescing sausage casing. I ate too much. It hurts.

This is why today I am only eating salad. Thank you. I gathered up all the bits leftover from thanksgiving preparation & made a superfood salad full of greens & pomegranate seeds & the sweet aromatic crunch of fresh fennel. Kale & Brussels sprouts love citrus to help absorb all their super vitamins & minerals, so I used an orange left over from cranberry sauce preparation. This salad is making me happy. Very, very happy. Bright, crunchy, fresh.

My corduroys will be happy for it too. Hoping next time I put them on I won’t be insisting they stretch their cottony borders so much. Besides, I gotta make room for the Hanukah & Christmas chow downs this month!

crunchy greens & pomegranate salad

for 2-4 servings

what you need:
no special tools required

ingredients:
4 leaves curly kale
5 large Brussels sprouts
a large handful of arugula
a small handful of fresh parsley leaves or basil
1 small head of fennel
1 large or 2-3 small radishes
1 small pomegranate, seeds only
1 small crisp apple, cut into sticks
½ cup walnut pieces

for the dressing:
3 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
a few Tbsp of coarsely chopped fennel fronds
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
salt & freshly cracked pepper

how to make it:
-make the dressing:
~*pour juice & cider vinegar over fronds in a small bowl, season with salt & pepper & leave to steep for 15-45 minutes before whisking in oil to taste. Make sure to taste the vinaigrette as you are making it to check for balance between acid & oil, I prefer a tangier dressing

-clean & prepare all greens:
~*kale: remove the fibrous stalk & chop or slice into bite sized pieces.
~*brussels sprouts: trim bottom, cut in half through base & slice into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
~*arugula: chop coarsely if large, otherwise, leave whole
~*herbs: remove stems & coarsely chop
~*fennel: trim green stalks & reserve a few fronds, cut in half through base &  slice into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
~*radishes: trim & slice into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
-peel pomegranate & remove seeds
-cut apple away from core in ¼” slices & cut into sticks
-place all ingredients into a large bowl, scatter walnuts over & season with salt & pepper
-gradually add dressing to coat; taste as you go along

~*if you dare shove another piece of turkey in your gullet, it is an excellent addition to the salad.

hooray for little sprouts!

– November 9, 2010Posted in: eat/drink


You know how there
was that awkward kid in school?

The one for which “the ugly duckling” was dreamed up? That kid who talked to him/herself in different accents in the back row of class? The one that kept a secret stash of eight sided di & “magical amulets” in their cubby?

Or the one that got tall really quick over one summer and came back as a veritable giant on twig legs? Or the one that just never quite fit into the hand-me-downs they were dressed in & were always tugging at some sleeve or cuff or waistband?

I imagine the Brussels Sprout to be that kid of the vegetable world. The mere mention of them makes most people uncomfortable. They see them, then curl up their nose & almost instantly feel the need to point fingers & gather the cool kid wagons to hurl up a big guffaw at Brussels Sprout’s expense.

Really, it’s not the little guy’s fault. It fell victim to multi-decades long blaspheme called American Vegetable Cookery: a.k.a. Boiled, Not Salted. Everything tastes bad like that. Name me one dish & I’ll give you a present. A huge one. Or wait, maybe I won’t give you a present, because that just seems a mean thing to do to food. Boiled, No Salt.

I am an equal opportunity vegetable lover, I even love broccoli when it doesn’t love me back. I used to hate these cute little cabbages. Used to hide them in my napkin or discreetly spit them into my plastic milk tumbler & hop up, first to volunteer to clear the table, a.k.a. Dispose of Evidence.

A good friend of mine whose mother learned it from a healing foods practitioner taught me a version of this recipe. It is said to have magical healing properties. I can dig it. It is a rather genius simple method using fresh orange juice, a dash of tamari sauce & high, quick heat.

I have used this method to make other vegetables, including cauliflower & broccoli, and it always pleases. In fact, I would go so far as to call it The Best Brussels Sprouts Ever recipe. I have dressed it up some with walnuts & fresh parsley, because I love good accessorizing as a rule.

Therefore, in honor of outgrowing awkward phases and finding your own lovely charm, I offer you this delicious simple recipe. It is easily adjustable to feed one or ten, which makes it a great dish for the holidays, see below for holiday preparation tip.

Hooray for Little Sprouts! Long live the Ugly Duckling.

The Best Brussels Sprouts Ever

serves 4

what you need
wide sauté pan w/tight fitting lid

ingredients
½ cup walnut pieces
3 Tbsp grapeseed or other cooking oil
10 small sprouts or 5 medium sprouts per person (20-40 sprouts)
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp tamari or soy sauce (Bragg’s amino acids will do also)
½ cup filtered water
handful of flat leaf parsley

how to make it
-prep sprouts by trimming the base of any dried up or browning bits
-if the sprouts are larger, cut them in half lengthwise, if they are small, cut an “x” into the base so they cook evenly
-combine strained orange juice, tamari & water
-coarsely chop the parsley
-heat a skillet large enough to hold all sprouts over a medium high heat
-brown walnuts in the dry pan until just brown, about 30 seconds -2 minutes depending on the heat of your pan
-remove walnuts, set aside, add cooking oil to pan & swirl
-when oil is hot, add the sprouts & distribute evenly, leave the flame at medium high heat
-let sprouts char slightly & toss every few seconds to evenly heat
-once bright with little black bits on it, add the liquid mixture & cover immediately
-reduce heat to medium and steam 5-7 minutes, check at 5 minutes for doneness

-once done, they should be easily pierced with a sharp paring knife, but not mushy
-quickly toss with walnuts & parsley & serve
-season with salt & pepper as needed or desired

tips for holiday service:
I know everyone is planning for the holidays. If this were something you’d like to serve as part of your holiday meal, I’d recommend preparing the sprouts to the point just before adding the liquid.
Char the sprouts earlier in the day & set them aside to cool. Do not refrigerate, though do not keep them near the cooking heat either as you run the risk of them turning army green.
About 10 minutes before serving, go ahead and heat your pan then add the room temperature sprouts to pan & add liquid. It may take slightly longer to steam, but not much. Voila, happy dinner.