Your Simple Feast

Cooking What You Have In The House

2012-02-04T14:12:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite ways to cook is to see what's on hand and cook up a surprise. Had heard someone talk about how they love to use the slow cooker (aka crock pot)recently. I have a cookbook 175 Essential Slow Cooker Classics by Judith Finlayson, so I pulled it off the shelf and looked up the Meatless Mains section. I really did not want to go out to shop, so it would have to be something we already had on hand.
Noticed a few recipes with potatoes as the basic starch, and decided on the Onion Braised Potatoes. What caught my eye about this one was the spices used: fresh ginger,cumin,black pepper, cardamom. I love this kind of flavor mix, with an Indian flair.
I admit I had to adapt, as I didn't have everything in the list. I sauteed 2 onions slowly and then added garlic,minced ginger,black pepper,cardamom along with 14 oz. canned tomatoes and about 1 cup of crushed tomatoes and 1 cup water. The recipe calls for vegetable stock, something I've been meaning to make, but haven't. To give more flavor I add about 2T Sweet Brown Miso as a base. All this is brought to a boil and then added to the crock pot. Meanwhile I quartered 1 pound russet potatoes and added it to the pot.
After this cooked on high for at least 4 hours, I diced 2 large carrots and a few handfuls of white mushrooms sliced. The last thing to go in was a can of chick peas.
The smell and flavor of this stew was delicious. It gets even better when it sits overnight. At serving time I like to add a few dollops of plain yogurt.
You may wish to add more liquid as it cooks,depending on how thick you like it.

Tasty Winter Dish: Stuffed Savoy Cabbage

2011-12-27T16:04:00.011-05:00

With the exception of the October snow blast, we've been having very pleasant weather here in November and December. This means some of the fall crops are still producing.

Recently I visited the City Seed Farmers'Market in New Haven. What great finds- savoy cabbage like I have never seen before, grown in Shelton,CT by Stone Gardens Farm(www.stonegardensfarm.com). The first day I made a simple slaw with carrots,onion and garlic. The taste was so fresh, my friends were very impressed.
Still had quite a bit of the leaves left. They were tender and large, just perfect for stuffed cabbage.

First I steamed the leaves for about 1 minute and then plunged them in cold water to stop the cooking. I had cooked about 1cup of basmati rice mixed with 1/2cup of Lundberg's wild rice mixture. I sauteed a mix of onion, mushrooms, garlic, the rest of the cabbage head,chopped, and then added about 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese along with 1/2cup of chopped walnuts. After mixing the saute with the rice, I laid out the steamed cabbage leaves and stuffed them with it.
I pureed 1 1/2cups of Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes, to which I added 2 Tablespoons of arrowroot to thicken it. I also added the same amount of arrowroot to 1/2 cup yogurt from Trinity Dairy Farms (buyctgrown.com/smythstrinitydairyfarm).
These two sauces I drizzled over the stuffed cabbage after placing them in a large baking dish.
I cooked them about 30minutes at 375 degrees, then uncovered for about 10.

This was a bit of work but what a tasty dish! I just had the last portion today and had to write about it.

Feeling Snowed In? Make Homemade Applesauce

2011-01-27T11:56:00.004-05:00

We've had around 50 inches of snow this month
and there's still a few days left! I've often told my complaining friends and acquaintances that I love snow!
But we are all starting to feel a bit hemmed in, not to mention the aching back and arms from shoveling.
So I decided to take some of the apples left in the frig since fall and make applesauce. It could not be easier, and the smell of the apples simmering along with the cinnamon and fresh nutmeg just lifted my spirits. Even my dog was enjoying the scent.
I peeled and cut up 8 small to medium apples. Put about 1 1/2 cups of water in my saute pan, so I could have a single layer. (The recipe I used suggested apple juice as the liquid, but I didn't have any).
Once the apples began to simmer, I cooked them gently for about 5 minutes, then added 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Removing them from the heat I grated some nutmeg over the pan, and they were done!
The flavor was delicious, no need for any sweetener. This morning I enjoyed them with a bowl of millet(oatmeal would be great too).
While I was reading I saw a recipe for apple cake, that may have to be my next project.
I hope this helps you to realize that you can make simple foods that are healthy and tasteful without sugar and other additives, while making the winter seem a little bit warmer.

Heavenly Bread

2010-12-30T08:43:00.010-05:00

It's safe to say I am obsessed with bread-eating it and making it. Lately I've been using wild yeast only, and refreshing my starter weekly. Which is to say, I must bake bread weekly. I may have been affected by reading 52 Loaves (William Alexander), the story of another bread obsessed person who also baked bread weekly, and traveled around the world while doing so.

Recently I discovered a great resource: Tartine Bread by bread baker, Chad Robertson. Chad has his bakery in San Francisco, and my niece confirmed that a line forms around the block to buy his bread.

The technique that Chad uses which is different from many books on bread: he doesn't knead the bread. I have discussed this fact with other bread bakers who will insist, "You have to knead bread." But I have learned that another way of handling the bread is to fold it throughout its rising. The result- you get a bread with much larger holes, which for me was a quest. I am pleased to report that following Tartine methods I am now making "holey" bread.
The recipe I wish to tell you about is Tartine's olive bread. It is safe to say that olive bread is one of my favorites, but this one is superb. The secret ingredients are lemon zest and walnuts, which I had not seen before in olive bread. I made it for the recent Christmas holiday and got rave reviews, including one which described it as sweet! In addition I added green and black olives, because it's what I had in the house, and because I wanted to try the green ones in my bread.

I highly recommend you take a look at this book, it is a great reference and has wonderful pictures (Eric Wolfinger is a baker and photographer). Chad and Erik knew that they wanted to write this book and took many photos over the time it was coming together. The result is a very intimate and realistic description of their bread-making process. Full disclosure, the bread pictured above is taken from the Tartine web site-my bread didn't last long enough to photograph.
I also recommend you make this bread at your earliest opportunity, or get to San Francisco and buy some!

Caramelized Onion Tart

2010-12-06T09:56:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year when we go to parties, eat more and maybe exercise less. I am taking a class called "Artisan Bread" taught by a local French baker, Denis Niez. We have been painstakingly learning the art of making croissant and puff pastry dough. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that puff pastry can be made from very simple ingredients: flour, water, butter and salt. While the process is time consuming, and somewhat energy intensive (the human kind of elblow grease) we can eat this treat without feeling like we have eaten something from the chemistry lab.
My point being, I had checked the ingredient list of puff pastry I found in the frozen food section of the grocery store and was offended by the things I saw:
Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1)Riboflavin) Vitamin B2)Folic Acid)Water, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening (Soybean and Cottonseed Oils Colored with Beta Carotene)2% or Less of: Gluten, Mono and Diglycerides (from Hydrogenated Soybean Oil)Soy Lecithin..
Where's anything recognizable?
With my pastry I made in class, I was able to make 4 good sized apple "strudel" and the onion tart. All of this from 4oz of butter, which should not make anyone feel guilty about having a taste. And no hydrogenated anything!
Here's the recipe for the tart, which I altered slightly. This came from MarthaStewart.com.
Carmelized Onion Tart with Olives
2 T olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
Fresh thyme
1 sheet puff pastry (flour, cake flour, water, butter, salt)
1/4 c cured olives, pitted and cut in half

Cook onions and thyme in oil, until golden and soft about 10 min. Roll out pastry on floured surface to about 8 by 15 inch rectangle. Place just the pastry on parchment lined baking sheet, in a 425degree oven which you have preheated, then immediately reduce temperature to 400. Bake about 12 min till pastry begins to rise.
Arrange onions around the prebaked pastry leaving a 1 inch border on all sides. Top with olives and bake at 375 about 15 min.

Sicilian Eggplant Sauce

2010-11-19T12:43:00.038-05:00

Another favorite of mine is eggplant. Recently I read that many of the important nutrients are in that beautiful purple skin, so don't peel! This style of tomato sauce,which is made richer with the addition of ricotta cheese, is not new to me.

The first time I made this recipe, it was for the winner of a raffle held at Lime Rock Park, sponsored by my friends at Attitude Garage.com. I participated, donating my personal chef services to the Lombardo family of Ultimate Restoration (Photo below)

I roasted the eggplant for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees. (Simply split it in half lengthwise, place a slit down the entire length,spray with olive oil, and place it face down on a baking sheet)
I cut a medium onion, sauteed it with 2-3 cloves of garlic. Then I added a can of whole plum tomatoes, which I did crush somewhat(I love the San Marzano ones)and cooked gently for about 15 minutes. About 3 T of skim milk ricotta and 1/2 cup of asiago is added just before serving, stirring well to incorporate it.
Meanwhile I had a large pasta pot ready to cook fettuccine. When the pasta was done, I drained it, and added the sauce.
The combination of the cheese and the eggplant makes a delicious dish.

Tomato Pesto

2010-11-11T13:30:00.006-05:00

You must realize by now how I love tomatoes. Since we are into November now, the fresh ones are just a sweet memory. Was stretching to think what ingredients I had at hand to make a quick dinner. Potatoes, tomatoes, a bit of parsley and basil from the garden...
Had seen a recipe from Back To The Table: The Reunion of Food and Family by Art Smith. His version of scalloped potatoes uses sun-dried tomatoes in oil. I felt that I could not sacrifice 2 cups of these so I decided, why not try canned plum tomatoes? (I also have roasted tomatoes in the freezer but wasn't quite ready to give those up yet either-it's a long winter around here).
The recipe is simple: garlic, fresh basil, asiago cheese, the whole tomatoes without the juice, parsley, and lots of black pepper. Put it all into the food processor and give it several pulses.
Then I sliced my purple potatoes very thin, added a leek and a half an onion and began to layer the veggies,topping them with the "pesto" and then adding another layer of veggies, repeating for several layers. I did decide to add a bit of the tomato juice left from the plums, just to keep it moist.
I covered and baked slowly at 300 for about 90 minutes, then uncovered and added panko crumbs and grated Parmesan, turned the heat up to 375 so I could get a nice browned crust.
A great meal for a cold New England evening.

My Little "Greenhouse"

2010-10-21T20:28:00.016-04:00

Back when the winter winds were still blowing I mentioned that I would like to install a cold frame in my garden. Well, today I finally placed one there, and transplanted Swiss chard, spinach, parsley, cilantro and oregano from the garden and from seeds I planted in August and September. Just in time, too as there is a frost predicted in the area tonight.
We used Eliot Coleman's instructions which are very clear and straightforward. I loved reading his books Four Season Harvest and The Winter Harvest Handbook.He really motivated me to try it, along with Sharon Astyk's Independence Days. A friend built the cold frame for me and did a great job. We used lexan instead of glass, lighter and safer I believe.
It's always sad to see the garden die off in the fall, and the plants we nurture for more than 6 months become wilted and black.
I'm more and more committed to growing as much of my own food as I can, or buying it from the CSA and the farmers' markets. I guess I am tired of getting produce from thousands of miles away, and not really being sure of its quality. And conserving my resources and causing less fossil fuel to be burned.
So I'm optimistic about having beautiful greens and herbs throughout the winter months. As I mentioned before, and reading Eliot reminded me of this: the flavors of greens grown in the coolness of winter are sweet and pungent.
In honor of the winter greens I offer you the following recipe which is based on an Italian favorite: Escarole and Beans. However I adapt this simple recipe to whatever greens I have on hand, in this case Swiss chard. I prepare the greens and beans and serve over whole wheat pasta. Try it, you may be surprised, and it's very nutritious too!
Swiss Chard, Cannellini beans and Pasta
Rinse the chard well, chop the stems and leaves into bite size pieces.
Chop a medium or large onion, and about 3-4 cloves of garlic. Saute the onion till it almost begins to caramelize, add the garlic and immediately add 1 can of cannellini beans, which is about 15 oz or about 1 1/2 cups cooked. Add enough water or stock to make a thick soup like liquid, and slowly let the beans take on the flavors of the garlic and onion, about 10-15 min. I like to add a few hot pepper seeds here too, as well as salt and pepper. Meanwhile boil your pasta water and be ready to cook it. About 5 min before the pasta is ready, add the chard to the bean mixture and let it lightly steam. Just before serving, mix the greens into the bean mixture so it gets a good coating. You can mix it with the cooked pasta or simply serve on top, but be sure to add a generous sprinkle of asiago or Parmesan cheese before serving.

Pizza and other Creations

2010-07-16T07:37:00.006-04:00

In spite of the heat we've been having, our garden is the best we've seen in years. There's nothing quite like spending an hour or so there, tending to what's growing and then harvesting what's ready.

We planted a yellow cherry tomato this year, and have been picking for a few weeks now. These tomatoes, which we bought from Shortt's Farm and Garden Center in Sandy Hook, are huge and sweet. By the way, let me encourage you to stop by the Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market on Tuesdays from2-6PM, on the Fairfield Hill Campus, Mile Hill Road in Newtown CT. Shortt's and other farmers have wonderful produce grown local and organically. Which to us is very important.

Our CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture), Waldingfield Farm in Washington, CT provides us with many types of summer squash, as well as many other great varieties of tomatoes, beans, greens, potatoes. Patrick and Quincy Horan do a great job, and I am pleased to share in their farm's harvest. You can visit Patrick also on Tuesdays at the farmer's market.

A few nights ago we decided it was time to use up all the squash we've been getting.We sauteed half a red onion in olive oil, sliced the yellow squash lengthwise, about 1/4inch thick. We stretched the whole wheat dough out gently onto a large sheet pan. (We cheated here, bought the dough at Caraluzzi's market). We have some great goat cheese that comes in crumbles, and we spread that around the stretched dough. Then we laid down the sauteed onion, the squash, the red and yellow cherry tomatoes, a few oil cured olives to give a hint of saltiness, and finished with another round of goat cheese and some grated Asiago cheese.

The pie baked at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes. A very simple but colorful supper, alongside a salad of arugula, butter crunch, baby spinach,avocado, and more of those cherry tomatoes.

The nice thing about a pizza like this is that the cheese gives flavor but is not overwhelming, and the fresh tomatoes keep the pie from getting soggy. Plus there's no extra step of making sauce. If you use jar sauce, please let me know what kind, because I've never found one as good as the homemade variety.

Spring. The Garlic is here...

2010-03-21T22:02:00.002-04:00

Until I began to grow garlic, I never knew it was one of the first things to sprout in the garden. After the ups and downs of winter, it's such a pleasure to witness the first warm days of spring, and to spy the garlic shooting up. Those of you who don't plant your own may not realize that, like tulips and other bulbs, garlic is planted in the fall, and covered over with a mulch of leaves, to winter over and revive in spring. Each head of garlic is formed from one clove of garlic. The best type of garlic for your growing conditions depends on where you live: for us, the hard neck variety can tolerate our winter conditions.

I am so looking forward to the harvest which will be around July, although before that we can harvest the garlic scapes, which are becoming quite popular to eat. Last summer I bought some because I didn't want to cut mine, and they brought quite a price at the farmer's market. The garlic is dried well, and will then keep for several months. That is, if it's not all eaten before that!

Tassajara Bread

2010-03-12T10:35:00.000-05:00

Some of you will remember Ed Espe Brown and his wonderful Tassajara cookbooks. Recently he has published a new edition of the Tassajara Cooking, as well as The Tassajara Bread Book. Ed started out working as a dishwasher at Tassajara, located in Monterey County, California. He quickly learned his way in the kitchen and became the head cook. His influence continued as he later became involved with The Greens, another well known eatery in California. I've always loved his relaxed approach to cooking. His recipes give you room to improvise with what you have in the house.
One of my great passions is making bread. I wanted to try his recipes again, so I started with what he calls "the fundamental Tassajara yeasted bread." Of course, I adapted his method to what I have on hand, and perhaps a bit on the healthier side. I used agave as a sweetener, and reduced the amount. I added buttermilk as part of the liquid, used olive and canola oil instead of butter. I also wanted to see what effect I could get using a combination of whole wheat bread flour, stone ground wheat flour, unbleached white bread flour, and brown rice flour.
His method calls for making a sponge with the whole wheat, the yeast, the sweetener, and lukewarm water(I also added the buttermilk at this stage). This is mixed well and let sit for at least an hour. Then the salt, oil and remaining flours are added. The bread is kneaded about 15 minutes, then let rise in a warm place for 50 minutes. After punching it down, another rise takes 40 minutes. At the end of that time, the dough is formed into loaves and proofed for about 20 minutes. I put a pan of water in the oven, preheated to 375 and let them bake at that temperature for 10 minutes, to try and get a nice crust. The loaves can finish baking at 350 degrees for another 50 minutes.
This bread has a light textured crumb, while still being a whole wheat bread. I want to experiment further with additions like millet and sunflower seeds.

Winter Greens

2010-02-18T07:20:00.000-05:00

With so many reasons to incorporate greens into my meal planning,it's great to learn that local farmers are responding with such wonderful produce in winter, grown in their greenhouses.
Recently I heard about the spinach grown at Holcomb Farm CSA , and wanted to find out more. The farm is located in West Granby,CT and has been operating a CSA program for about 16 years through the Hartford Food System, leasing the land from the town of Granby. In January 2010 they underwent some organizational changes, but that is not what I want to tell you about.
While I've not tasted the spinach from Holcomb, I heard Chef Chris Prosperi of Metro Bis restaurant talk about it on the Food-Schmooze, a weekly radio program devoted to food. He described the flavor of the spinach as sweet, due to its moderately cold growing conditions.
Closer to home, Fort Hill Farm in New Milford has been delivering their spinach to New Morning Market in Woodbury.
I have recently used lacinato kale from Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britain, and I was more than pleased with the results. This was young kale, dark green and tender.
The radio program also touched on another topic of interest to me: cold frame growing. I'm hesitant to admit that I have some old windows that I've wanted to use to build a cold frame, but have yet to act. This may be the year.
Here's a simple recipe to try the greens:

About 3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup parmesan or asiago cheese,chopped somewhat or grated
1/2 cup olive oil
Spinach
1 lb pasta
Prepare the "pesto" by chopping the first three ingredients in the food processor. Slowly pour the oil in while the processor is running. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook your pasta and after draining, toss the greens and the pasta together in the pot. (You can reserve a bit of the pasta water to give the dish some moisture). Add the pesto ingredients from the processor, toss well and eat immediately.
If your greens are small and tender, the heat from the pan and pasta will wilt them. If the leaves are large, you may wish to chop them first. You can also throw them into the pasta water right before it's done- we do this with broccoli for about 2 minutes and it's just right.

Danish smoked cheese (Rygeost)

2010-02-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

Watching a TV show called "New Scandanavian Cooking with Claus Meyer" on Create, I saw him make a cheese and it looked very easy. He combined cow's milk with buttermilk (10% by volume I believe) and let it sit overnight. The product resembles clotted cream at this point. He then poured the curds into cheese baskets and let it sit another day, the cheese sets up into nice round shapes. He made a smoking pit with a metal cylinder (not that large) and filled it with straw. (He rolled some green nettles in the middle, says this gives the smoke a good flavor). The cheese smokes very quickly. When the spring arrives I'll be trying this, and I'll keep you posted.

Northeast Locavore's Feast

2010-02-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Recently I made great new friends thru the Web, all serious locavores and bloggers.

Sophie of Late Bloomer's Farm invited us to join her in the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, shopping locally or using ingredients preserved from the growing season. We spent a cold Sunday afternoon at her home, and must admit I love sharing food with those who really enjoy making it as well as eating it. Guests included Kaela and Tai from Local Kitchen, Alicia and Renato from Local Food Rocks , Zoe from Nutmeg Kitchen, Ceclia visiting from out of state, and myself.
This was a feast in the true sense of the word! An additional challenge was including gluten free, vegan and vegetarian choices. This group was definitely up to it.
We enjoyed Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple salad with buttercrunch and sorrel, Leek and Potato Soup, Roasted Rosemary Potato chips, local cheese and freshly made butter (raw milk)and Quinoa fritters. And that was just the beginning...
Local beers included Sea Hag Ale (New England Brewery)and Arch Amber from the Hartford Beer Company. Sophie and Cecilia have been adventuring around the area visiting our state wineries, so there was quite a wine selection to choose from: Cabernet Franc and St. Croix from Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Vista Riposa from McLaughlin Vineyards, and Rochambeau from Heritage Trail Winery.

The next courses were varied but so fun to taste. Sophie made Chicken Scarpariello, Zoe made homemade(of course)ricotta gnocci with pesto. My contribution was a Kugel gratin with baby kale, wild onions and goat cheese. To give color to the plate we added Alicia's Roasted root veggies and Zoe's Thai Squash Curry with Tofu. Kaela baked Scottish Baps rolls(honestly we ate those hot out of the oven when we first arrived).

As if you could top this, the meal finished with Kaela's Glazed Blackberry tart with ice cream from our own local Ferris Creamery. Sophie offered expresso with beans ground from a recent excurson.

A local vendor, Lisa of Goatboy Soap loved the idea of our Feast so much she offered favors to take home: her lovely soap in the shape of a goat face.

Shopping the Winter market

2009-12-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

Visited the City Seed Farmers Market on Saturday morning. It was quite cool but sunny and as usual the mood was bright. I saw lots of root vegetables: turnips, carrots, several types of winte squash, some greens and kale. The purple kale I bought from a farm in Simsbury-I hope it tastes as good as it looks. Did I mention brussel sprouts? They are missing in my picture because I had them on Saturday for dinner. I also visited a market in the Wooster Street area on Grand Avenue called Ferraro's. This is not a place to find local food per se, but the cheeses and other specialty items are quite wonderful.

Oatmeal cookie recipe

2009-11-30T11:22:00.000-05:00

What tastes better than an homemade cookie? My favorite is oatmeal raisin. Recently I made a batch from The Silver Palate cookbook. As I blended the ingredients I had a suspicion something was not right. It called for 3 cups of oats and only 2/3 cup of flour.
After they were baked I checked online, and sure enough, there appears to be an error on the amount of flour. There should be almost 2 cups of flour to give the cookie some body and match the 1 1/2sticks of butter.
So I made them again. This time I made the following adjustments:
1 stick butter, 1 2/3cup flour, 2 cups oats (I used regular organic oats and ground them in the food processor to resemble quick cooking oats) 3 T water and about 3 T olive oil.
All other ingredients remained the same. I used parchment paper instead of greasing the pan.
These cookies are delicious! This size batch makes about 3 to four dozen small cookies.