On my way to the Farmers' Market today

I heard this wonderful story on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday. It's vegetables. It's mediterranean. It sounded amazing and this is a picture I pinched from website.



It's Plenty, a new book by London chef Yotam Ottolenghi.


You can listen to the story or read it, too, and there are two recipes: Green Been Salad with Mustard Seeds and Tarragon; and, Burnt Eggplant with Tahini.

Wide-mouth Pint and a Half Jars for Canning

Last jar of Crunchy Dilly Beans
It is almost 7 inches tall and 3-1/4 inches in diameter
Jar on left is a Classico Mason Jar for comparison

The Ball wide-mouth pint and a half jars hold 24 oz. with about a 1/4-inch of headspace. The markings on the jars are not very distinct. It looks like it shows 2 c. and 500 ml markings and a fill-to line for freezing (just below where the band rests when it is screwed in).

Last summer I put up some green beans using a recipe from Sunset Magazine
and the result was crunchy, garlicky, dilly beans.

I used some lovely Ball jars from my jar stash that are 1-1/2 pint capacity. They were perfect for green beans and would have been great for asparagus. Of course, they made wonderful spontaneous hostess gifts. Soon I had only a couple of these jars left. I went to my local Ace Hardware stores (and my True Value, OSH, etc) searching for replacements. All winter long I kept checking at likely sources -- hoping to get a jump on the first jars to hit the shelves for canning season. Guess what? These jars are no longer being made. I think I learned this first from the Garden Web Harvest Forum, a great source of information about what to do with the bounty of your garden.

I wrote several letters to people at Ball Corp. and Jarden, the current manufacturer of Ball jars, telling them what a great size this is for beans, asparagus, etc., and what a great gift home preserved food is, especially in their lovely jars. I reminded them that home preserving is experiencing a surge of interest. I told them how much I loved the cute, squat jars in the Elite Collection.

I received this note:

"We appreciate your interest in Jarden Home Brands products. The 1-1/2 pint size jar was discontinued several years ago and our inventory has been depleted. We received several inquires from consumers regarding this size jar. If enough interest is generated, our marketing team would consider bringing this jar back.

Please send them an email at

JHBFreshPreservingInfo@jardenhomebrands.com

It's too late for canning season in North America but who knows, maybe they will surprise us for next year?

VIC Set-up: Lunch

Chilaquiles en Salsa Chipotle

Chips tossed with a chipotle purée, garnished with cotija & crema

We had to take a break for lunch so we strolled from the Convention Center down Washington Street, through the Farmers' Market over to 8th Street and Tamarindo.

We also had Tacos del Campo (three tacos made with hand-made tortillas topped with fresh salsa: 1 each, Asada, Carnitas and Pollo Asado ( I forgot to take a picture of this one).


And something like "huaraches" that I didn't write down. They were corn patties with two different toppings: chorizo and potato; and rajas (poblanos) with black beans and cotija and other yummmy stuff.

This was a delicious strawberry agua fresca.
Highly recommended!

Brunch

My friend Carol gave me this luscious book by Gale Gand for my birthday.

After taking Andrew to SFO, SOB!, I made a version of the cover egg dish for Steven for breakfast. (Did I mention that I've read the whole book!) I had some Canadian bacon that I needed to use up so I diced it and put it in the bottom of a ramekin in place of the ham shown in the picture. I put in the dollop of pesto and two eggs (another gift of local eggs--beautiful orangey yolks!); I didn't have any fresh mozzarella so I used some sharp cheddar that Steven likes and chopped up and added a small tomato. I baked it at 375 for 15 minutes and promptly forgot to take a picture of it before he devored it. We were both impressed. It's a keeper! I'm looking forward to making it again.

My Bread by Jim Lahey

I was unable to resist.

I have been a big fan of Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe ever since Mark Bittman wrote about it in November, 2006.



I can't believe it has been almost 3 years. In that time I've become a baker. I have baked hundreds of loaves of this bread my way. I feel as if Jim Lahey is my bread mentor so it seemed only fair that I should buy his book. Lahey started out as a conventional artist but he became a bread artist. His story is explored in the beginning chapters of the book. It is very inspirational.

I bake a half-size loaf using a starter. I have made my own starter (and lost it) so many times that I can't remember. I end up not baking over the summer and either I'm not patient enough or unsure about it's qualities that I end up starting over. I currently have a starter that Linda made using Nancy Silverton's protocol with organic grapes.

My real quest is to figure out how to make Nancy Silverton's whole grain bread no-knead. That is why I bought Jim Lahey's book. Autumn is the perfect time to begin a bread quest. I spent almost all of yesterday reading his book and creating my own recipes. Let the testing begin.

Pan-baked Lemon-Almond Tart: A Dessert Frittata?

I'm still trying to clean up and organize my "studio" (which seems to have proliferated far and wide) but ya gotta eat. I tried this NY Times recipe (there's a cute video--be sure to watch it but use the measurements in the recipe) last week and taste-tested it for dessert with the Wednesday quilters. It was quick and easy.

My first outing was not without its problems: I used a 10-inch pan because for some reason I didn't think I could use a non-stick pan in the oven; and as Kathy said, don't take your eye off it when it is under the broiler... I repeated it for Saturday breakfast with an 8-inch non-stick pan--much better: it makes a thicker tart and much easier to get out of the pan. We both loved it. I think it's a keeper. I toasted the almonds and be sure to use extra sliced almonds on top. A little crunch is a good thing. As Mark Bittman says, it's great for "a decadent breakfast, a new twist on a classic coffee cake, or a last-minute dessert."

A Big Tomato Sandwich

We still have lots of tomatoes in the garden so tonight we had this.

I used a recipe from Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison. It is such an inspiration. Each picture just makes you want to try it.

I started with a 1 lb. loaf ciabatta. You want a crusty, strong-textured bread. In the book she shows a round loaf which looks lovely. I sliced off the top third of the loaf and pulled out the inside to make room for the filling. I "painted" the inside of the bottom of the loaf with an herb vinaigrette (1/4 c. basil leaves; 1 T. chopped oregano (she suggests marjoram but I had none in the garden); 1 T. chopped parsley; 1 small clove garlic, minced; 1/3 c. EVOO; 4 t. aged red wine vinegar; 1/4 t. Salt, and freshly ground pepper.)

I alternated layers of sliced tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and 4 oz. fresh sliced mozzarella, on the bottom 2/3 of the loaf. After adding each layer I "painted" the vinaigrette on and seasoned with S&P.

Delicious!

Got Tomatoes?

Tonite I made the Pasta Primavera from this cookbook
http://tinyurl.com/lbvjps

The authors indicate that "this is the authentic Italian recipe for Pasta Primavera, which is called spring pasta because it utilizes the first tomatoes that come in." I love this recipe, even though I've been picking tomatoes for several weeks.


Here's the recipe:

4 c. coarsely chopped fresh, garden-ripe, never-been-refrigerated tomatoes
4 T. EVOO
4 T. fresh basil, chopped
1 T. Italian parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped, or more, to taste
S&P (freshly ground P)
1 lb. spaghetti
EVOO, for garnish

In a food processor, combine the tomatoes, oil, basil, parsley, garlic, and S&P to taste; pulse to blend.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook. Drain the pasta and toss it in a serving bowl with the raw sauce. Garnish each portion with a dribble of EVOO and serve immediately. Serves 6.

I made fettucine dough in the food processor this afternoon and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. (1 c. unbleached AP flour; good pinch of salt; 1 large egg; 1 t. olive oil; a few drops of water). While the water was coming up to a boil, I cut the pasta with the pasta machine and tossed it with semolina flour to prevent it from sticking together. It was so quick. I made about 7 oz. of fresh pasta for two of us and I halved the above sauce recipe. The fresh pasta takes about a minute to cook. If you have the tomatoes and basil and garlic and parsley chopped, the sauce comes together in a flash.

I wish I would have made a loaf of bread to sop up the leftover sauce. That would have been great! I'll have to get my bread baking back in gear.

I served this with Janine's Bean Salad. I'll post the recipe for that later this week.

Julie & Julia: Croutons or Toasts?

I loved the movie. I would see it again. I am not trying to quibble, but this, a crouton (or is it a toast?) is in the book.

This is not.



It looks delicious and you can almost taste it in the movie.
It seems okay to have it in there because Julia did live in the south of France. But it's not in Vol. 1 nor is it in Vol. 2. In fact, neither book has much at all on tomatoes. So if you go to see the movie and it's a matinee, you will be walking out and everyone will be wondering what's for dinner. And somehow boning a duck will not seem very do-able. And that roast chicken looks excellent, too! But...

This seemed much easier. I couldn't resist trying Julia's method. You will need to clarify some butter. Then slice some 1/4-inch thick rounds from a nice rustic loaf of bread. We used a Semifreddi sour batard but a baguette would have been better. Heat the clarified butter and saute the rounds on each side until very lightly browned. Then, to be authentic, just eat it or treat it as a canape and top it with some diced garden tomatoes, a little fresh basil. Now go see the movie!

Blackberry Jam and Bread

Preserving

It's blackberry season hereabouts. I found these cute jars that just wanted to be filled with blackberry jam. I have a loaf of bread in the oven. I'll open the first jar this afternoon and check it out. Someone has to sacrifice herself for the good of the pantry.

Pickled Green Beans

The July issue of Sunset magazine has a great feature on canning. Pictures of sparkling jars of preserved food always get to me. My friend Alice had a surfeit of green beans and she alerted me to their recipe for Pickled Green Beans with Dill, Tarragon, Garlic and Peppercorns. She also gifted me with about 3 pounds of beans. I modified their recipe slightly to make these.

I also liked this recipe at Downstairs Recipes.

I used Three Monks vinegar and more salt than the Sunset recipe. I made some of the jars with these jalapenos from our garden, omitting the tarragon in those jars.


It is all experimental. The bigger jars are 1-1/2 pt. which is a nice size for long beans. I processed the jars at 180-185 degrees for 30 minutes (rather than 5 minutes at boiling) because the Sunset recipe promised a crunchy bean. Of course I will have to wait about a month to check out my bean stash. Makes me think I should plant a crop of beans of my own

Sunday Pizza

I'm actually starting to make round pizzas! This is our all allium, all the time: green garlic, young leeks, and spring onions (plus some mushrooms, mozzarella fresca, tomato sauce, and fresh oregano).

Blogging, Clementine 1, and Birkat HaChama

Clementine 1

I have been avoiding reading the quiltart posts about whether or not blogging is still personally compelling. I have been questioning what to do with my blog. I initially started it in January 2005 because I couldn't figure out any other way to post comments on other blogs. Am I having fun? I love being able to look back and find recipes or planting dates but my inconsistency is frustrating.

I had thought that the blog would be a kind of journal for my interests but I struggle with writing. I struggle with all kinds of self-expression. I am posting this photo because there has been so little quilt content of late. This is a scan of a piece that is about 10" x 10".

Even so, this piece has been finished for months. I showed it at the G6 in January, I think. This was back when I had a temporary mania for needle felting but couldn't rationalize buying another machine.

I sketched out a series of additional clementine pieces and got stalled, again. The blog doesn't just write itself, nor does the work get done just wishing it would.

I missed the sunrise today because it was raining--wonderful rain that is soaking the soil. I am not Jewish but I am blessing the sun today and celebrating Birkat HaChama. According to the Talmud, today marks the completion of the 28 year solar cycle. Who will be around for 28 years from now on April 8 for the next Birkat HaChama? I am also celebrating spring and marking the Passover by making Rose Levy Beranbaum's Mediterranean matzoh (not exactly kosher with olive oil and rosemary) but delicious somewhat of a ritual.

Yum!

I made a fabulous lunch today that was so easy. After a trip to the Berkeley Bowl, I was famished. What I needed was something quick. One of my favorite food blogs is Orangette. I had read about her cabbage with hot sauce and had picked up some sambal oelek at the Bowl. My plan was that it would be a quick vegetable dish for supper. This is all that was left when I remembered to take a picture.

A quick stir-fry of sliced cabbage, fennel, sambal oelek to taste (I started with 1/2 teaspoon) and soy sauce...

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's our first Thanksgiving without the boys. Andrew is in New York and Steven is in Boston. Rick and I are going to Linda (of G4 fame) and Richard's. I guess maybe I'm over compensating but it has been great fun making a bunch of stuff, none of which is necessary.

I've been watching Spain On the Road Again so I decided to try to find some Cava that Mario was going on and on about. With bubbly, one needs nibbles and I've been addicted to David Lebovitz's Spicy Glazed Nuts recipe so I had to make some of those. I had all of the ingredients in my pantry except the small pretzel twists (someone must have gotten into them...) and I was too lazy to make a trip to the market. Oh well, a new variation.

I always like to make and eat cranberry chutney, in addition to the more traditional cranberry sauce. One can never have too much cranberry garnish on the great day. I found a terrific recipe for Cranberry Chutney with Chrystallized Ginger and Dried Cherries on Orangette's blog. I made it on Tuesday and I was worried that the ginger was overpowering. I brought some to my Wednesday Quilt Group and Susan and Suze reassured me that it was okay. On a whim, I added some cayenne to a small portion. I tasted both today and the harsh ginger overtones have evened out. I really like the heat from the cayenne.

Originally, Linda had been thinking about making Chocolate Espresso Pecan Pie and I was going to contribute a pumpkin cheesecake. When I saw the picture of the pie (from Fine Cooking, Thanksgiving 2007), I begged her to let me make that instead. She made it last year. I made the pastry last night and baked it blind. I got up this morning and made the filling. The recipe seems really good. I am looking forward to tasting it.

Last month, I discovered Clothilde's recipe for Chocolate Frozen Yogurt at Chocolate and Zucchini, another of my favorite food blogs. It is fabulous. I raved about it when our book club met and Robin said, "That's what you should bring for Thanksgiving." It seems a bit like gilding the lily but maybe it will be a comfort to someone. Who said Thankgsiving dinner is the superbowl of meals?

Sprouting 101

I can no longer buy sprouts in bulk at my local market. They come pre-packaged. So the drill is, search around for the package with the best sell-by date, (were they really $1.50?); take them home; put them in a sandwich or a salad. In a couple of days they seem funky.

New Victory Garden activity: grow your own sprouts in your kitchen! Before kids, Rick was a sprouts grower, hobbyist variety. I found some tops from that era that never got tossed. They work great with a mason jar.


You can get a whole sprouting setup at Pinetree Seeds or you can buy just the seeds and the Sprout-Ease tops.

Sprouting is really fun. Measure out about 1 T. of seeds for starters. Place them in a wide-mouth jar (use a jar that holds at least 20 oz.). Cover with about 3 inches of water. Use the appropriate jar top, depending on the size of the seed. Soak overnight. The next morning, drain off the soaking water, rinse, drain, and place the jar at a 45 degree angle in a bowl (so that the water can drain out), in a dark cupboard. Morning and night, for the next 2-5 days (depending on the seeds), rinse and drain, and then return to the dark cupboard. During the last two days of their growth, the sprouts can be grown in the light and they will green up. You can change the jar top as the sprouts grow, using a top with larger holes so that you can flush out seed hulls while rinsing.

After ordering seed from Pinetree, I discovered a wonderful new-to-me health food store, Harvest House, in Concord, CA. They have seeds in bulk as well as all of the sprouting paraphernalia, and a seed mix, Zesty Sprouting Mix, 16 oz. for $4.99. The mix contains radish, crimson clover, fenugreek, and alfalfa seeds.

As soon as I started eating/harvesting the first batch of sprouts, I started growing a second batch. If you wanted to grow the individual seeds to see the differences in taste and germination times, you could have three batches going at once. It's a simple pleasure...

New York, Day 1

We are in New York!

This was the first time Robin, Linda, and I had traveled together. We have been talking about this trip for a long time but none of us had been to New York recently. We agreed about museums, shopping, the theater, walking, eating, and we are very compatible, but Monday was the day that we had to actually do it. We had a plan: Coffee! Walking! Museums!

We knew Starbuck’s could be our fall back coffee position, but we really wanted to go local. Monday was experimental. We needed coffee and we picked the first coffee place that seemed local – I think it was PAX. Research would continue.

MOMA is open on Mondays! The Met, the Whitney, the American Folk Art Museum are not open on Monday! We walked to MOMA at 53^rd and Fifth, stopping into St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the way. We got to MOMA just as it was opening, actually, just as Café 2 was opening. We made a quick decision to combine breakfast and lunch while there were no crowds.

Café 2 is really just a museum cafeteria but as they say, "taken to sophisticated new heights." It features "rustic Italian cooking of the Roman cantinetta or rosticceria style of seasonal Italian foods with handmade pastas, cured salumi, artisanal cheeses, panini, salads, soups, and simple desserts." It was perfect! I think we could all recommend it, especially if all you've had is bad coffee on your first full day in New York.

We all had the bruschetta plate with a choice of three from a selection including mozzarella with olive tapenade, tomato jam, cured tuna with black olives and lemon, broccoli rabe, prosciutto with roasted butternut squash) and we shared a salad of cannellini and fava beans.

We saw the show, “Color Chart: Reinventing Color 1950 to Today.” It explores the the “lush beauty that results when contemporary artists assign color decisions to chance…” and was hugely inspirational. More than forty artists were represented, including Ellsworth Kelly, Gerhard Richter, Frank Stella (“Straight out of the can; it can’t get better than that.”), Andy Warhol, Sherrie Levine, and Damien Hirst.

Then it was on to see our favorites from MOMA’s amazing collection including Cezanne’s The Bather, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, the Fauves, the Impressionists, the surrealists, until we were exhausted. I should have Robin prepare a post about how she discovered that she could use her iPhone to access the museum’s audio tour. We shopped at the museum stores and then I think we began our cupcake research (it is all beginning to blur). Could we have done that much in one day? Was Cupcake Café (9^th Avenue between 38^th and 39^thStreet) on Monday or Tuesday? It was not worth remembering, anyway – okay coffee and pretty cupcakes but forgettable in the taste department.

Andrew met us after work for dinner at Mesa Grill. This southwestern-style restaurant by celebrity chef Bobby Flay sparkles on Fifth Avenue between 15^th and 16^th.

We started with goat cheese “Queso Fundido” with rajas and blue corn chips, barbecue pork and Oaxaca cheese quesadilla with hot sweet cabbage relish, and grapefruit, Peach, and Flay’s prize-winning margaritas.

Robin had ancho chili-rubbed chicken with roasted tomatillo sauce with queso fresco, which was yummy! Andrew had the grilled lamb chops with cilantro-mint chimichurri and potato celeriac Anaheim chile gratin. Linda and I had the New Mexico-spice rubbed pork tenderloin with bourbon ancho chile sauce which was served with a sweet potato tamale with crushed pecan butter. We ended our meal with the delicious chocolate, brown-sugar souffle pudding with pecan flatbread crunch, but I don't know how we ever ate another bite. We walked back to the hotel. Weather: a little warmer than Sunday.

Girls’ Trip to New York, Chapter 1

On Sunday we flew from Oakland to JFK on JetBlue and arrived in New York on time at about 5 PM. Is every airport in the country in a constant state of construction? We had to take a shuttle from our gate to get into the terminal. But NY is very organized. We went to Ground Transportation and a line of travelers were efficiently ushered into waiting cabs. It was overcast and threatening rain, but none appeared. The drive from Kennedy to Manhattan was remarkable for the traffic in Queens which our cabby dodged and the many flowering trees. April is a wonderful time to go to New York!

By the time we reached the New York Helmsley Hotel on east 42^nd Street, we barely had time to change out of our travel clothes and dash to meet my son for dinner. He was waiting for us at craftbar, Broadway and East 20^th . This is the more casual Tom Colicchio restaurant my travelling companion Linda and I had learned about as avid Top Chef viewers. My handsome son, Andrew, was waiting at the bar and we were shown to a spacious banquette. We were sustained by wonderful breadsticks while we perused the menu. We loved the pecorino fondue with hazelnuts and honey appetizer.

Robin had the escarole soup and the orecchiette with fennel sausage, roasted tomatoes, and ricotta salata (which was delicious!). Linda and I had the baby beets with blue cheese and walnuts, and the daurade with potato gnocchi, morels, and ramps. Andrew had the sirloin with smoked mushrooms, jalapeno, and lime; and the crispy potatoes.

Since it was our first night, we had to have dessert. We shared the butterscotch pudding with gingersnaps and the hot fudge sundae with coffee crunch ice cream. Ah, excess!

So we walked 24 blocks up Park Avenue, back to the hotel, with a slight detour at Grand Central Station and called it a day. Overcast, chance of rain, high of 53°F, low of 40°F.

Homemade Power Bars version 1.2 MOCHA

I'm just back from a whirlwind visit to New York. Before I left, I made a batch of power bars so I could bring some to Andrew. I finally made the recipe with mini chocolate chips. I added ½ cup to the dry ingredients. When I poured the hot syrup on, as you would expect, the chocolate chips melted. There was no visible evidence of the chips when all of the syrup was incorporated. The interesting thing was that the coffee flavor was enhanced. Two tasters asked whether I had increased the amount of ground espresso. I had not. I would not say that the flavor was chocolate-y with this amount and this kind of chocolate (I used Nestle’s minis because I felt the scale would be right.)

I will try it again with other kinds of chocolate, like Ghirardelli dark chocolate (baking bar) because I love that chocolate. I will roughly chop it but I suspect it, too, will melt. There is no advantage to using chips except ease of mixing and I’d rather go for great flavor.

Version 1.2 adds 400 calories to the recipe or 25 calories per bar if you cut it into 16 bars.