You can only eat fried green tomatoes so many times before that best of unripened delicacies starts to wear on the nerves and the stomach lining. Here, courtesy of urban gardener and farmer’s market maven Zoe Plaugher, is a sticky, brown, vinegary, sweet, spicy and tart chutney that will put those last premature tomatoes to excellent use. The result is reminiscent of a more complex tamarind chutney and it goes great with latkes, roast meats or couscous.
Green Tomato Chutney
Approx 3lbs of green tomatoes ~ 5-6 cups, cored and chopped
2/3 c water
2 c sliced shallots
½ c minced ginger
1 c dried cherries (tart or extra tart are best, but use sweet if that’s what you have)
2 c cider vinegar (more if needed)
1 c honey (may be adjusted depending on sweetness of cherries)
1-2 jalepenos, cherry bombs or any other medium-hot pepper. Adjust up or down to your liking.
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Sweet potatoes could be the mascot of the sustainable foods movement. Packed with nutrition, including more than twice the daily suggested serving of vitamin A, antioxidants, protein, iron, potassium and other hard to get minerals, sweet potatoes provide a huge benefit to calorie ratio. They taste wonderful, they’re even anti-inflammatory, which can help mitigate inflammation-related diseases like asthma, arthritis, and heart disease. Because they’re root vegetables, they absorb everything (including pesticides and chemical fertilizers) that’s in the soil around them, so it’s important to get organic sweet potatoes so you can eat the nutrient-rich skin. Finally, sweet potatoes come into season right now, in November and December, just when straight-off-the-farm bounty starts to wane. At your farmer’s market, you should be able to find just-dug sweet potatoes. Prepare them by poking a few holes and baking them in the oven or by boiling them, then use the starchy, nutrient-rich water in soup or other recipes. Straight up is the best way to enjoy these excellent roots, since they taste great with nothing at all added, but they drop jaws and fill bellies in this sweet and savory pancake recipe.
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Once upon a time - not that long ago - Sundays were my favorite day to hunker down in the kitchen, tune into NPR, whip out the leftover CSA vegetables, and cook/bake a few delicious dishes with leftovers that would keep me happy all week. But not these days. These days, my Sundays are crammed full with details for my wedding, which is coming up two weeks from today.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly psyched to put together table seating charts and delegate sheva brachot, but it doesn’t leave much time or mental space for things like, say, remembering to take a batch of cookies out of the oven or stir a pot of chili before it scorches. On Sundays like these, I need much quicker recipes - ones that will taste great and sustain me as I check off the last to-dos before the big “I do.”
Hopefully I’ll get my (our!) Sundays back in the near future. Until then, here’s my recipe for the supremely fast and fool- proof, not to mention nourishing and delicious, warm barley salad with apple & feta.
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Tonight I made myself a very simple, and surprisingly wonderful dinner: roasted potatoes with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, chives and parsley in a lemon olive-oil vinaigrette. It was so simple, so fast - and the contrast of the warm, creamy potatoes with the crisp cucumber and acidic tomatoes was perfect for a summer evening. I finished off my meal with a few slices of locally grown (and very tasty) watermelon.
The meal was a reminder to me about the beauty of eating fresh, local produce. And while I know it’s not the most well-balanced meal, I was eating alone while I cleaned out my apartment before moving from Chicago to the East Coast.
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I made mozzarella cheese last night. This is not a shechechiyanu moment - I’ve done it before, using this, highly recommended, cheese making kit. But every time I accomplish the feat of turning a gallon of milk into two fistfuls of salty, stretchy, kosher cheese, it feels rather profound.
It also feels a little wasteful, as in, “I go to the trouble of pouring a whole gallon of milk into a pot, heating it 88 degrees, and stirring in vegetable rennet, and this is the thanks I get? A bunch of wasted whey?” I know I could probably save the whey that separates from the cheese curds, and use it for a million different things (suggestions welcome). But aside from pouring about 1 cup worth into my grateful plants, I dumped the rest of it down the drain. I thought my roommates might not appreciate two large Tupperwares full of yellow cheese-water crowding up the fridge.
So why did I go to all this trouble to make my own cheese? Well, to impress my Shabbat guests, of course - and also to make an “Israeli caprese salad,” which is a simple tweak on the Italian classic of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, but might just be an entirely new creation.
Perhaps I should say a shechechiyanu afterall? Recipe below the jump.
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Little known fact: I was actually on the Food Network once. The show was an Al Roker on the Road special about food clubs, and I was featured in a segment about a group called Girl Friday in Iowa City. Unfortunately, the episode aired on the first night of Pesach in 2004, so I’ve never seen it.
We made a bunch of great recipes the night they filmed us, and one of them has become a standard in my kitchen. It’s really easy, gorgeous, and very tasty. The recipe comes from Thisbe Nissen, who co-wrote The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook, and is generally awesome. While we were boiling the beets she kept encouraging someone to use the water to dye her hair purple. Also, I’m pretty sure she got me to say on camera that beets are really sexy.
Anyway, this salad is perfect for brunch or Shabbat lunch. Adding the cheese at the end saves it from turning pink, but if you’re not bothered by fuschia cheese you can add it whenever you want.
Recipe after the jump! Read more »
When I have people over for Shabbat dinner during the winter I always make some kind of kugel as a side dish. But in the summer, nobody wants a warm kugel, so I have to come up with a nice rotation of cold salads that don’t bore me to death.
This one I got from my ex’s mom. She didn’t like that I was dating her son, but she really didn’t like that I had never cooked with black eyed peas, so she taught me this recipe, and it pleases guests long after I split with her little boy.
Recipe after the jump. Read more »
Thanks to Rhea Kennedy for this post. Rhea blogs over at You Are Delicious.
As a kid growing up in New York’s Hudson Valley, I learned a lot about the Iroquois, the group of Native American tribes indigenous to that area. I loved to hear about the stories, beliefs, language, and everyday practices that made up the traditional Iroquois way of life. But what fascinated me the most was, not surprisingly, their food. “They used every part of the animal,” I remember an elementary school teacher explaining to my class. “The meat, the hide or the feathers, the bones—everything!”
Now that I think of it, this was probably my first lesson in sustainable eating. And I was mesmerized. Those traditional Iroquois, as far as I was concerned, were the coolest thing ever.
More and recipes, below the jump…
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I used to not really get quinoa. I’m sure there are some of you nodding your head in agreement. It’s hard to get excited about something that has so little taste.
But that’s because I had only had it mainly by itself. Quinoa is so ubiquitous here in the Bay Area, that once my friend Dorit showed up at a potluck announcing “I brought the requisite Berkeley quinoa,” and we all knew exactly what she meant. A Berkeley Jewish potluck isn’t a potluck without someone making quinoa.
But I digress.
I have since come around on the neutral little seed. First of all, it has protein. Second, it takes on whatever flavor you put with it. It mixes well with other ingredients and doesn’t dominate. And, it cooks in only 15 minutes.
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Approx. 3 1/2 cups of pureed winter squash
3/4 cup apple juice or cider
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Juice of half a lemon
Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently. Adjust spices to taste. Stir in lemon juice, or more to taste.
Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for months.
To preserve:
Spoon hot pumpkin mixture into hot jars, filling to within 1/4 inch from top. Remove air bubbles; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Not only will these methods make your decorations serve dual functions (a help for small budgets in rough times), they’ll also reduce the amount of space in your house dedicated to storing boxes of tinsel. Write in with your own ideas for how to make your Sukkot bounty last all year.
Adapted from AllRecipes
Photo credit: Fat Free Vegan
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Sassy Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Epicurious. Romas (aka plum tomatoes) work best for sauce, but any kind of tomatoes you come across this fall (or high quality canned tomatoes) will work. Use this sauce to make shakshuka for your Rosh Hashanah guests. The sauce keeps well in the fridge thanks to the peppers’ antimicrobial properties, and of course stays fresh even longer in the freezer. You can make a big batch of this, then freeze in glass jars (leave plenty of headroom!) to use through the winter.
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 fresh red cayenne peppers, with or without seeds removed, depending on how spicy you want your sauce, diced (wear a plastic bag or latex glove over the hand that will come in contact with the pepper)
3 tsp. dried herbs (mix and match oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram or others)
2 lbs plum/Roma tomatoes (about 16 tomatoes), washed and tops cut off or scooped out with a tomato shark. You can also use 2 28-ounce cans canned tomatoes.
1 15-oz can crushed or diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional)
Salt to taste
Skin the tomatoes by blanching them in boiling water for a minute or so, until the skin bursts. Remove from the water and, when cool enough to handle, remove the skins. Then chop the tomatoes, discarding the seeds and juice that will run off onto your cutting board.
Heat olive oil on medium in a large saucepan with a heavy bottom. Sauté onions until translucent, then add garlic and Serranos and sauté until the garlic is fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how much time you have and how thick you want your sauce!
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6 baby pumpkins-tops cut off and reserved, hollowed out to create a cavity
2 T. butter
2 T. Olive oil
1 shallot chopped
1 clove of garlic-chopped
1 ¾ cups Arborio rice
2 pints boiling vegetable stock
1 cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup of cream
3 T. Mascarpone cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese
¼ cup fresh herbs for garnish
Toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook over low heat until translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with the butter.
2. Add stock by the ladleful and stir completely until each addition has been absorbed. When the rice has become al dente (about 15 minutes) add the pumpkin and mascarpone and stir to combine. Then stir in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese and herbs. Ladle into prepared pumpkins and serve garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds.
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Bitter Green Salad with Roasted Pears
For the salad:
8 firm Bosc pears, peeled, cored and cut lengthwise into 8 wedges
11/2 Tblsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sm. head chicory
1 sm. head escarole
1 sm. head radicchio
1 bunch watercress, coarse stems discarded
1 bunch mizuna, coarse stems discarded
1 sm. head romaine
For the dressing:
1 Tblsp. finely chopped shallot
21/2 Tblsp. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. honey
¼ tsp. salt
¡ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ c. plus 1 Tblsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Set the oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425? F.
Place the pears in a zip-close plastic bag and add the oil. Toss to coat, then arrange the pears in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.
Roast pears, flipping twice, until they are tender and beginning to brown, about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool about 15 minutes.
While the pears roast, tear enough tender chicory and escarole leaves (discard tough ribs) into bite-size pieces to measure 6 cups. Tear enough radicchio, watercress, mizuna and romaine into bite-size pieces to measure 10 cups.
In a large bowl, toss the greens. Set aside.
To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the shallot, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. In a slow stream, while whisking, add oil. Continue whisking until emulsified.
Just before serving, add the roasted pears to the greens, then drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Much of this salad can be prepared in advance. The greens can be washed and dried a day ahead, then chilled, wrapped in paper towels in a sealed plastic bag. The pears can be roasted four hours ahead and kept at room temperature.
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Braised Carrots with Olives and Mint
Serves 6
3 pounds carrots peeled
3/4 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large sprig of mint plus mint leaves for garnish
11/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1, 2 inch piece cinnamon stick
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup oil cured black olives, pitted
1. Quarter the carrots lengthwise and cut into 1 inch lengths
2. Combine the carrots in a sauce pan with coriander, cayenne, mint sprig, lemon juice, honey and water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the carrots are tender. Discard the mint sprig and cinnamon stick.
4. Transfer the carrots with a slotted spoon to a serving dish. Pour back any juices into the pan. Set the pan over high heat and boil until reduced to 3 tablespoons.
5. Stir vinegar and olive oil into the reduced pan juices.
6. Toss the carrots with the pan juices. Stir in the olives and season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with chopped mint.
