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Slow-Roasted Grape Tomatoes (For pasta, bruschetta or sandwiches)

3 Aug

Here is more to do with those gorgeous tiny tomatoes that are so abundant and sweet at this time of year!

I’ll give you the link for the original recipe which I didn’t have time to do completely. I saw it in The New York Times recently, but didn’t have time nor basil to prepare the special oil, so I modified to suit what I had at home, basically eliminating a step and that’s the recipe you’ll find below. Here’s the original  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/health/nutrition/26recipehealth.html

My version is lovely summer fare – bright and sweet and yet with depth. It also requires very little work and I did it successfully in the toaster oven, limiting the heat index in my kitchen! You can serve it on crusty bread or over pasta, but I popped a fair few into my mouth just as they were….
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Italian Seasoning

1 pint grape/cherry/Sun Gold tomatoes

1 pinch salt

1 pinch sugar

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1-2 Tbs Italian herbs/Provencal herbs

Preheat oven to 300°F. Line an oven dish with aluminum foil and spread tomatoes in a single layer. Sprinkle with sugar and salt, then coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with herbs and roast for about 30 minutes, so that tomato skins are crinkling and splitting, but not fallen apart. Cool and serve on garlicky toast as bruschetta, as sandwich spread or mixed into hot pasta.

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Best Book for Maximizing the Farmer’s Market/CSA Experience!

28 Jul

 

DON’T PANIC and Always Bring a Reusable Bag

The more farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture farms that pop up all over Long Island and its environs, the better we like it. There is better, fresher produce, we can support the local economy and we can feel healthy and virtuous as we bring our boxes of glorious stuff into our kitchens to be converted into all manner of delicious dishes.

But ‘fess up…sometimes you have no idea what that lump of vegetable with the fan-like greens is, much less what to do with it. How do you store it? How do you prepare it? What is it called?

Well, DON’T PANIC. As The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is to interplanetary travelers, so is the Field Guide to Produce to intrepid locavores.

This handy guide to most any fruit or vegetable you might encounter at a greenmarket or specialty supermarket will fit in your backpack or good-size handbag (or your reusable bag). It has more than 200 color images of produce, as well as information on the history and lore of each (e.g. “The ancient Egyptians and Greeks ate wild asparagus shoots as a rare spring delicacy” and “In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve covered their bodies with fig leaves, and Cleopatra hid the poisonous asp she used to take her life in a basket of figs”).

The nitty-gritty is right there with the history lesson; Green tells you how to select the produce at its peak, how to store it (and whether it can be frozen) and basic guidelines on what to do with it when you are ready to slice, dice and create something delicious. For the independent traveler, she includes flavor affinities for each item (e.g.  parsnips: “apples, brown butter, brown sugar, cream, curry, leeks, oranges, root vegetables, stews and ragouts, truffles.”)  setting you off on your own path to culinary greatness.

Before Field Guide to Produce, I pretty much sautéed anything I didn’t recognize from my C.S.A. pick-up in garlic and oil and called it a day. If it was particularly nice-looking, I’d stick it in a vase for a centerpiece that looked great, but never got eaten. Now, emboldened by my trusty Guide, I am roasting, stir-frying, steaming and experimenting with great confidence and a certain savoir faire that I didn’t have before. And where I used to ignore the vegetables that stumped me until they got rather nasty in the fridge, now I am using every bit of my weekly take, either fresh or in frozen form. Come the long, cold winter, I will be pulling great Long Island summer flavors out of the ice box, thanks in part to Aliza Green. Share and Enjoy.

Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market by Aliza Green, Quirk Books 2004

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Asian Stir Fry Sauce (this time with vegetables and your choice of noodles or rice)

27 Jul

One of my favorite prepared sauces comes from Sang Lee Farms in Cutchogue, on the North Fork of Long Island http://sangleefarms.com/. Their Asian Stir-Fry Sauce is all organic and adds incredible Asian pop to stir fry dishes, without the annoying cloying sweetness and goopiness of other seasonings in a bottle.

However, I run out of it pretty fast, so I am in the process of trying to recreate it at home. I haven’t quite got it, but this version is very yummy and does the job pretty damn well. When I hit exactly the combination I want, I will make larger batches, but for now, the amount in this recipe will season a couple of pounds of vegetables – enough for two to four people, depending on what you serve it with.

We used soba noodles (Leandro’s request, cause the curly noodles and Japanese writing on the package caught his eye and he absolutely loved them). We also had enough left over to drizzle over some cold chicken wraps I made the next day (and which will be the next post, haha!).

Do you make your own stir fry sauce? Please add your ideas in comments in this post!

Soba noodles make a worthy (and fun) accompaniment to stir fry veggies

Asian Stir-Fry Sauce

¼ Cup soy sauce or tamari (preferably low-sodium)

½ tsp crushed garlic

Scant ¼ tsp sesame oil

¼ tsp grated ginger

½ tsp lemon juice

Mix ingredients together and refrigerate overnight if possible.

When you are ready to cook the dish, begin preparing a cup or two of white rice or a package of soba noodles or other pasta of your choice, following package instructions.

Vegetables

2-2.5 lbs mixed stir-fry vegetables, cut into ¾ inch pieces (we used onions, carrots, some leftover chard stems and a beautiful purple pepper, all from Restoration Farm, plus broccoli from the supermarket)

Generous ½ tsp sugar

Heat the  vegetable oil in a 12 inch skillet with a heavy bottom, until just rippling and just beginning to smoke. Add vegetables and sprinkle the sugar over, coat with the oil and cook, stirring frequently, for about eight minutes, looking for caramelization on the vegetables. Lower the temperature to medium if you get a lot of sticking.

Push vegetables to the side and add a tablespoon of the stir-fry sauce , stir to heat, then mix with the vegetables. Add two to three more tablespoons as desired, being wary of making it too salty.

Serve over rice, noodles or pasta.

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Heat Wave Solution: No-cook Pasta Sauce – with tiny tomatoes!

23 Jul

Oh this heat wave is tough. I’ve been cooking as little as possible, trying to limit turning on the stove and oven and trying not to eat food that is hot and heavy. Simple wrap sandwiches of veggie spears and hummus, apple slice dipped in hummus, cherry and Sungold tomatoes just popped into my mouth straight from the fridge.

This is a go-to no-cook pasta sauce that, yes, requires you to cook the pasta, but is fresh and cool going down. It’s done in an instant, and takes full advantage of the sweet little tomatoes and basil that are starting to hit their stride right about now. This sauce ends up with a silky sweetness that is almost buttery, but there is no dairy involved – unless you choose to add cheese…

Here’s wishing you a cool weekend!

Cool pasta for hot days

Raw tomato sauce for pasta

1 pound pasta (penne or other short pasta preferred)

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 pint cherry/grape or Sungold tomatoes, cut in half (the sweeter the better)

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup basil leaves, chopped

Salt to taste

(Grated cheese for serving, optional)

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain (reserving a few tablespoons of pasta water, just in case) and place in large serving bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients (including pasta water if the mix seems too dry). Serve with optional grated cheese.

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Zesty Zucchini and Sizzling Squash with lemon and oregano

21 Jul

This is a simple seasonal recipe that highlights the flavors and freshness of summer (and can be done in a jiffy at a campsite).

Summer squash refers to vegetables such as zucchini and yellow squash, that look like gourds, but have thin, tender skins. Right around this time of summer backyard gardeners start to harvest so many of them, they will be giving them away. This is a fast and easy way to take advantage of the bounty without working too hard!

How this dish looked at our campsite on the beach

Sauteed Summer Squash with Oregano and Lemon

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, peeled and diced

2 medium summer squashes (yellow/zucchini), quartered lengthwise and sliced

Tsp dry oregano

Juice of half a lemon (you may add by teaspoon to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet at medium high until liquid and fragrant. Add onions and stir to coat. Add zucchini and stir to coat. Lower heat and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add oregano, lemon and salt to taste and cook until flavors are blended, just a minute or two, longer if you want it very tender. Serve over rice, with pasta or just on its own.

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De-Friended by a Vegetarian!?! (plus: new poll on your food choices!)

19 Jul

A vegetarian recently de-friended me on Facebook. She was unhappy with my posts on the pastured chickens at Restoration Farm and found them too painful, so she apologized (sort of) and pulled the plug.

I wasn’t particularly offended — to each his/her own — but it got me thinking about the food choices my readers make. So out of curiosity, I put together this quick poll. Please let me know what you will and won’t eat. I welcome comments on why as well!

I, in case you haven’t noticed, am an omnivore, but I try to limit my meat, fish and poultry consumption to organic/sustainably harvested products.

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Roasted Beet Salad with Orange and Beet Greens

16 Jul

We’ve been away on a camping trip for a week, but starting back up with a bang….BEETS!

Wacked-out color, floppy texture, weird vegetable discs out of a can. Ick.

That about sums up what I knew about beets as a kid. Later I got into the occasional fresh carrot, beet and apple frappés at farmer’s markets in Puerto Rico, but that was more a Saturday morning hangover-helper type thing as I was shopping for vegetables than a real affection for beets themselves.

It wasn’t until many years later that I had a food revelation at Blue Hill restaurant in Greenwich Village. I was doing a story on Chef Dan Barber for Le Connoisseur, a Puerto Rico food and wine magazine. He is a locavore chef in the tradition of Alice Waters and even owns his own farm. His other Blue Hill is located at Stone Barns, the Rockefeller organic farm center right by Sleepy Hollow, north of New York City http://www.bluehillnyc.com/.

So the chef trotted out a number of tiny dishes, including a single square of beet on a skewer. It looked like a precious jewel and the flavor was giant: intense, concentrated, sweet. I was hooked in a single morsel.

However, it wasn’t until getting involved in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that I actually had to figure out how to prepare them myself. Like, do you actually cook them? How? Do you peel them first? What about the greens?

Here are some short answers, followed by a showstopping roasted beet recipe.

Trim off the greens about an inch from the actual beet. You can eat them and they should be used within a day or two, taking out larger ribs before cooking. They can be used like most other leafy greens.

The unwashed beet roots will last about three weeks in the fridge. To use, scrub gently and do not remove the root. Do not peel before cooking. You can wrap in foil and roast at 400°F for 1-1.5 hours or simmer in salted boiling water for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Another option is to steam in a vegetable steamer for 30-45 minutes. the beets are done when a fork goes easily through the center. The skins will come off easily and should be removed while the beets are still warm. Use kitchen gloves or put your hands in plastic bags to handle them, as they will stain*. Flavor affinities include goat cheese, tarragon, herring and ham.

I have toyed around with this next recipe for several years now, and I think I have finally hit just the right balance of sweet and sharp. It also takes advantage of the beet greens. It is a gorgeous looking salad and the taste is, well, revelatory.

El amor entra por los ojos -- This dish is love at first sight!

Roasted Beet Salad with Orange and Beet Greens

6 medium beets with beet greens attached

1 large navel orange, peeled, separated into segments, pith and white removed

2 shallots, peeled and chopped fine

¼ -1/3 Cup red wine vinegar

¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 tsp grated orange peel

Preheat oven to 400°F. Trim greens from beets. Cut off and discard stems. Coarsely chop leaves and reserve.

Wrap each beet loosely in foil. Place on oven rack and roast until tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool, then peel beets (use gloves or small sandwich bags to protect fingers from stains. Cut into eight wedges and place in medium bowl.

Bowl four cups of water, then add beet greens and cook until tender, just 2-3 minutes. Drain, cool and squeeze out as much water as possible. Add greens to beet bowl. Add orange segments (you may break them up) and shallots to bowl. Whisk vinegar, oil, garlic and orange peel in a small bowl to blend well and add to beet mixture. Stir to coat, season with salt and vinegar and allow to stand for at least an hour at room temperature before serving.

*You may notice that beets add color to your subsequent bathroom visits. Do not be alarmed! And kids find it very amusing.

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No-cook Cannellini and Garlic Scape Dip (fast and seasonal)

26 Jun

Garlic scapes are the gorgeous twisty tops of garlic plants as they begin to mature in late spring. They need to be removed from the plant so they don’t take growing power away from the bulbs still developing underground.

They are so good to look at that I actually stick them in vases and use as centerpieces when they are in season, but of course I pull them right out of their decorative function whenever I need garlic flavor, which is what garlic scapes give you. You top and tail them to remove the crown and any woodiness at the bottom of the stem, slice and voila! fresh tasting garlic. When I have had overabundance, I have diced and frozen them to good effect.

This is a recipe that Caroline Fanning, head grower at Restoration Farm, suggested I play around with, as the farm had just such an abundance this year. I added the oil and thyme; You can really experiment with whichever herbs you like. Basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, savory, and sage all complement the nuttiness of cannellini beans.

You can use this as dip or spread on sandwiches or wraps, to add flavor and creaminess to other ingredients. Great party dip! I served them as an appetizer, using teacups for individual servings of dip with cut vegetable dippers stuck right in!

No-cook Cannellini and Garlic Scape Dip

4-5 garlic scapes, crown removed and stem trimmed of any woodiness at the bottom

2 15.5 oz cans cannellini (white) beans, rinsed and drained

1 generous Tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp dried thyme (4 tsp fresh)

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Serve with baguette toasts, crackers or fresh vegetable sticks.

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Asopao de pollo (Soupy Chicken and Rice) with Pastured Bird!

23 Jun

Sooooo, I managed to get to Restoration Farm in time to see the very tail end of the first processing (meaning when the birds are killed, plucked and eviscerated, lest I be accused of euphemism).

I did NOT take Leandro; I wanted to see things for myself and not have to focus on keeping him out of trouble. More on his reaction to the chicken in a moment.

First I want to say that the atmosphere at this first round of chicken processing was so calm and cooperative and lovely. The team of Trisha, Lucille, Steve, Brian, Denis, Dan and Caroline was tired, but elated, but not  giddy or punchy, after seven hours of chicken guts under the trees. Dan and Caroline’s two kids were there; two-year-old Ada was calm as could be in the face of all the activity.

My first bird

The chickens — all 35 made it to processing! – weighed in between 4. 16 and 6.65 lbs. As a note, these are not certified organic birds (that’s a whole ‘nother process), but they have been raised according to organic practices – from their feed to their pasture; they just don’t have the stamp.

I also forgot my bloody camera! I wanted to shoot myself (since I couldn’t shoot pictures). So you will have to wait and see whether someone is able to send me photos; then again, perhaps you don’t care to see the goings on. Anyhoo, it was clean and well-organized.

So I brought home bird #22, weighing 5.75 lbs. I picked up the necessary ingredients for asopao from the Compare (Latino) supermarket in Farmingdale on the way home. My dad, Pedro, roused himself from the NYTimes crossword puzzle to separate the bird (we saved the breasts for another meal cause this bird was so big!) and I went to work while Leandro was still across the street at a playdate. It was beautiful to work with. So clean.

Asopao isn’t really Hot, Cheap & Easy, except for the hot, sweaty work if you want to do it right (and I did). Perhaps I will invent a shortcut version one day, but not with this special bird. And really, my mom and dad were taken back to the days of my great-aunts cooking all day long…I really got it right. The chicken gave so much real flavor; it is certainly not as tender as factory-farmed, but it is really good. In the next few posts I’ll talk about some of the more unusual ingredients here and what to do if you can’t find them.

Leandro sat down to eat and said, “These are the little chickens that got big?”

and I said “Yes, Trisha and everyone killed them today so we could eat.”

“Oh. You went to see?” he said, and I said yes.

He stuck a big bite in his mouth and said, “Delicious.”

I forgot to tell him not to speak with his mouth full.

Asopao de Pollo (Soupy Chicken and Rice) Serves 6-8

Dedicated to my tía-abuelas

A – Three pounds chicken (may be whole chicken or, if you have a big bird, reserve the breasts for another meal. MUST HAVE BONES!!! Should have neck, heart and liver as well) cleaned and separated into drumsticks, thighs, wings (separated and tips cut off and reserved for stock), backbone, etc.

B – ADOBO (pound all ingredients in B in a mortar and pestle into a smooth paste)

  1. 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  2. 2 black peppercorns
  3. 1 tsp dry oregano
  4. 2.5 tsp salt
  5. 1 pinch (1/8 tsp) turmeric or sweet paprika (Turmeric stains, so beware!)
  6. 1.5 tsp olive oil
  7. ½ tsp vinegar

C – 2 Cups white rice (less if you want soupier soup.Sometimes the rice takes over.)

D – 9 Cups water and 1 Tbs salt

E – SOFRITO 1

  1. 3 Tbs olive oil
  2. 3 oz ham steak or jamón para cocinar, diced
  3. 1 oz bacon, chopped rustically
  4. 1 green cooking pepper (cubanelle or Italian pepper), diced
  5. 1 large onion, peeled and diced
  6. 6 culantro leaves (recao), minced
  7. 4 sweet small peppers called ají dulce in Hispanic markets (do NOT purchase Jamaican ají or scotch bonnet! They look the same but the Jamaican/scotch bonnet are HABANEROS, deadly hot and inappropriate for this dish!) seeded and minced
  8. ½ Cup cilantro leaves, minced
  9. 2 Tbs vegetable oil (seasoned with achiote, for the more expert criollo cook)

F – SOFRITO 2

  1. 1 Tbs capers, drained indifferently
  2. 1 tomato, seeded and diced
  3. 1  8 oz can Spanish-style tomato sauce
  4. 4 oz roasted red pepper, drained indifferently and diced
  5. 10 pimiento stuffed green olives
  6. 4 oz Spanish dry, cured chorizo sausage

G – ½ Cup light red wine

H –  OPTIONAL – in Puerto Rico we decorate and cool off the soup by topping with a can of petit pois or asparagus. Today’s foodies are not so hip to those particular vegetables in their mushy canned form. I leave it up to you.

Instructions

  1. Separate chicken parts into two large bowls. The back bone, neck, wingtips, liver, heart, and kidneys go in one for the stock. The meatier drumsticks, wings, thighs, and breasts (if using) go in the other. I remove most of the skin and cut off much of the fat. Season all pieces with the ingredients in B. (Adobo).
  2. Soak the rice in abundant water while doing the rest of the prep and cooking.
  3. Place the ingredients in D in a large (6 qt) saucepan. Add the stock chicken pieces, cover, bring to a boil at medium high, boil for 15 minutes, then reduce heat and simmer for an additional 30 minutes, covered.
  4. In an even larger pot, place all the ingredients in E (Sofrito 1), and sauté at medium high until vegetables begin to wilt. Add all the ingredients in F (Sofrito 2) and continue stirring until combined and beginning to stick. Add wine and scrape bottom of pot. Add the meaty chicken pieces and cook at medium, turning frequently to coat well. Cover and cook for 30 minutes on medium low.
  5. When the stock and chicken sofrito are ready, drain stock into chicken. From the stock, reserve the back and wings and get as much meat off them as you can, adding to the soup, discarding the bones. You may add heart and liver to the soup as well.
  6. Bring to a boil.
  7. Drain the rice, stir into the soup, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, covered until rice is cooked (start checking in 10-15 minutes). Serve with roasted red pepper, peas or asparagus garnish. If the rice takes over, just add water.

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What Produce to Buy Organic (and Chicken Update)

21 Jun

If, like me, you are concerned about chemicals in  food, but don’t have the cash to buy all organic, you need to look at the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/). The 2011 guide has just been posted. It includes a short list of the Dirty Dozen most pesticide laden produce (so you should buy them organic) and The Clean 15 (15 fruits and vegetables that are conventionally grown yet low in pesticides). You can print out a small version to carry in your wallet!

If you don’t have the time to click on the link: Top three dirty products: 3) strawberries 2) celery and 1) apples!

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

And on chickens: Tomorrow is processing day for the first round of Trisha’s pastured chicken project at Restoration Farm. Dan and his merry band of volunteers and assistants were busy with the tractors, clearing space for the processing, while Trisha went over each step she’ll take in the processing of more than 30 birds. Very exciting stuff; I will try to witness some of it tomorrow, but will draw the line at having Leandro there, at least this time! I want to watch the process, not have to mind him!

Shout out to the folks from Whole Foods who had a team building thing at the farm today and in the process cleared out the weeds that were choking the asparagus beds!

Meanwhile, just to show you how nicely we farm people clean up, I include a picture of Trisha and Lesly, purtied up for the gorgeous potluck on Sunday.

Trisha (left) and Lesly

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