Autumn vegetable and chicken curry stew, served in kabocha squash bowls

Here's a fine fusion dish for a cold autumn day. Find small, round, blemish-free kabocha squash, one per person. Carve off the tops as if you were carving jack-o-lanterns, and remove and discard the seeds. Save the tops (if they are particularly thick, cut off a bit of the flesh for cooking into the stew; sprinkle the inside flesh of the tops with a little apple cider vinegar if you're worried about letting them sit out for a while). Rub some salt into the flesh inside the squashes, wrap the outsides of the squashes with foil, and back upwards of an hour in a medium-temperature oven. You want the flesh to be tender, but the sides to retain their integrity, so check regularly with a fork.

Meanwhile, prepare the stew. Begin by sauteing onions in olive oil with some salt, a bit of ground allspice, and plenty of curry powder. Then add a few sour green apples, chopped up, and some peppers, and any other fall veggies you might happen to have (e.g. the extra squash from the top of the jack-o-lanterns). After sauteing a bit, add some vegetable or chicken stock, or, better, some blended squash soup (we found some in the freezer). (If you have lots of extra winter squash, you can make this soup before making the stew: onions, squash, broth, a little salt, cooked until tender and then pureed.) Bring the stew to a boil, and then stir in some pieces of chicken, to poach. Once the chicken has cooked, taste the stew and adjust the seasoning.

When the flesh of the kabochas is starting to get tender, remove the "bowls" from the oven and fill with the stew while still very hot. The heat from the stew will help cook the insides of the squash even more. Replace the tops and serve.

The point is to eat the soup, and also eat the bowls mixed into the soup from the inside out. We had been intending this for our Hallowe'en dinner, but ended up pushing it to All Saints' Day instead. This stew can go with almost any wine, depending on how cold it is outside.

Stuffed delicata

Wash, remove the tips from, halve, and scoop out the seeds from two delicata squash. Rub some salt inside the squash, place the squash halves face-down in an oiled glass pan, and bake ten to minutes. Meanwhile, in a food processor combine onion, apples, walnuts, mushrooms, and a little salt and oil, until coarsely chopped. (If the onion is particularly piquant or the mushrooms a little touch, saute them first.) Remove the squash from the oven, turn upright, and stuff with the onion-and-walnut mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese on top, and return to the oven for half an hour.

Pizza with apples, walnuts, and blue cheese

This pizza, with sauteed apples, mozzarella and blue cheese, and walnuts was very tasty, but would have made a better lunch that dinner. Somehow, without the tomatoes or another sauce (sauteed onion would have works well), the pizza didn't really feel full enough for a dinner. But it was very good, and I do recommend the combination: in general, anything that can go on a salad can go on a pizza.

Long time ago: Greek Dinner for Columbae

I was recently going through some very old posts at a different web journal. I came across this collection of recipes, and I do not think I have posted the here. The following is from May 14, 2005.

At a recent bookstore sale, I picked up two vegetarian cookbooks, each for $6 (one normally goes for $13, the other for $28). The cheaper one looks especially like a keeper: called Vegetarian's A to Z Guide to Fruits & Vegetables, it provides a number of simple but yummy-looking recipes for each vegetable (the veggies are alphabetized by name), as well as nutrition information for each recipe and discussion of the vegetable's properties, time of year, location, storage, etc. I can imagine living near a local organic farm and subscribing to a weekly produce box that would provide me with seasonal produce with, at any given time, a small selection. In such a situation, a book like this would be a lifesaver: we're eating cucumbers for a week? Fine, let's see what we can do with cucumbers. The farmers decide to grow Batavian endive? We can look that up too.

In theory, Columbae would opperate that way, and we do try to keep to local seasonal produce. That said, I've been looking forward to preparing a traditional (well, with vegan modificaitons) Greek feast tomorrow, and although we did get baby spinach from the local organic supplier, I wanted celery, cucumber, grapes, all of which are seasonal in mid- to late summer. Our produce manager, however, is currently my most favoritest person in the world: she got me a couple heads of celery, a big box of grapes, and a big box of cucumbers, all conventional. So I'll have to wash everything, and the cucumbers are probably waxed, which is a shame, because the skins are the healthiest part, but still.

I have filo dough, which I need to remember to move to the fridge tonight to defrost, and I have my veggies and recipes. I need to soak the beans, too, and look up the spices suggested for apple rather than pear filling for the desert (pears aren't in season, whereas we have a hella lot of apples, but apples aren't as delicate, so require more spicing). I don't get olives --- dry goods and dairy came through for me with the feta but not with everything --- but oh, well. It will be good.


Soup: Fassolada me Spanaki Serves 6-8

Soak for 4 hrs, drain, boil, and drain

• 1.5 cup dried cannellini

or open

• 2 cans beans

In a large saucepan on medium heat, saute in plenty of olive oil for 30 minutes

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 4 medium carrots, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced

Add, and bring to poin, cover, and simmer

• 4 sprigs celery leaves (optional)
• 2 large cloves garlid, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried thyme (and/or greek oregano)
• 1/2 a medium bunch of fresh parsely, coarsely chopped
• the beans, if used dried
• 8 cups water or light vegetable stock
• 1 large can diced tomatos (or skin and dice three large tomatoes and let sit salted 15 minutes)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste diluted in 3 Tbsp water
• 8 oz spinach, cut in thin ribbons

Simmer perhaps 20-30 minutes, adding the tomato paste and spinach in the last 5-10 minutes. Stir in

• another 1/2 bunch of parsely
• a little more oil

Serve hot, with

• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

sprinkled over each bowl.


Bulgari Pilafi Serves 4

Heat gently in large saucepan

• 3 Tbsp olive oil

and saute until translucent

• 1 large onion

Break up with fingers into roughly 2-inch pieces

1/4 cup thin spaghetti, vermicelli, or angel's hair

and add to onion. Continue stirring until pasta is pale golden and arromatic, 2-3 minutes.
Soak for a few minutes to enlarge, then rinse in a fine sieve under running water

• 2 1/4 cup coarse bulgar, picked clean

and add to pan, stirring, and add

• 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock (scale sublinearly)

Cover and simmer gently 7-8 minutes, until mixture looks almost dry. Cover with cloth, replace lid, and let stand off heat at least 10-15 minutes, or up to 1 hr.


Spanakopita Fills 13x15 lasagna pan, enough for 8 people as a main course

Make sure to have left the filo dough out to defrost to room temp 5 hrs before use.
Chop into uniform 1/4-1/2 inch cubes

• 1 large onion

and saute until clead. Add

• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 2 lbs fresh or frozen spinach

and saute until limp.
Mash to chunks less than 1/2 inch

• 16 oz firm water-packed tofu (frozen and defrosted if you have time)

and add to pan, along with

• 2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tpsp oregano

Remove from heat and drain excess water. Let cool slightly.
Preheat oven 350°F, oil a large lasagna pan, and get ready to work with filo dough: as the dough will dry quickly, don't open the package until everything is ready. Have 3-4 people working. Each sheet should be lightly oiled (so keep a brush and a bowl of oil handy) after it's placed in the the pan, and someone should keep a clean, barely moist towel over the unused dough. Anyhoo, when ready, cut open

• 1 pound filo dough

and place individual oiled sheets, with edges hanging over edge of pan, in varying directions. Use a third of the dough (roughly 6 sheets), then fill in half the spinach, then a third of the dough, then the other half spinach, then the last third of the dough. Fold edges over or in, make sever slashes through the top of the pastry to the filling, and bake 45 minutes to 1 hr, until golden brown.


Apple filo strudel makes 3 rolls (?)

Preheat oven 350°F.
Wash, peel, core, and dice

• 10 medium apples

to get about 14 cups. Mix in

• 6 Tbsp lemon juice
• 8 tsp cinnamon
• 5 cups walnuts, chopped or cuised
• 2-3 Tpsb white sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar

Prepare to work with filo dough (see above), and stack 4 sheets, individually oiled. Spoon some filling along one long edge, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold filo dough over filling, tuck in ends, and roll up. Brush with canola oil. Place rolls seam-side down on greased baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Slice into 1.5 inch pieces half way through roll. Bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown.


Greek Salad

We will be using

• mixed greens
• celery
• onion
• shredded carrot
• grapes
• feta on the side

Traditionally a summer salad would also include

• kalamata olives or possibly capers
• tomato
• possibly bell pepper

whereas winter salads are normally cabbage-based. Dressing is always olive oil mixed with lemon juice; one would normally place slices of feta on top of the salad, sprinkle everything with dried oregano, and then pour the oild and lemon juice on top, but I'm going to use crumbled feta and mix the oregano into the dressing. Grapes wouldn't normally be in the salad, but I don't get olives, and it will be yummy.

Salad with walnuts and blue cheese, mashed butternut squash

The salad had a fine blue cheese, very fresh walnuts, halved grapes, sliced apple, and a lemon-garlic dressing, if I remember correctly. Serve next to mashed butternut squash: roast halved squash for forty to sixty minutes, let cool enough to handle, peel, and mash with a little butter or olive oil and some salt.

Leek tart and Autumn salad

We've made this leek tart, from Chez Panisse Vegetables, before, but I don't think I've posted the recipe here. Make a galette dough with 2 cups white flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 6 oz room-temperature butter, and 1/3 cup cold water. (Combine dry ingredients, then cut in half the butter, then add the rest of the butter in small pieces and add the water; at best, let everything relax at least an hour, or in the fridge all day, or frozen for as long as you want.) Sauté the whites of three leeks in olive oil with some salt and fresh thyme. Roll out the dough, transfer to a cookie sheet, top with the leeks, and fold over the edges. Brush the crust with an egg wash, and bake 400 degrees F for 45 minutes.

The second dish tonight was a luxurious salad. In the bottom of a large salad bowl, crush three small cloves garlic, and combine with salt, plenty of olive oil, and a splash of sherry vinegar. Then assemble the salad out of:

• One bulb fennel, washed and shaved (the trick is to cut off the stems and then use a vegetable peeler, holding the base of the bulb and shaving from the top down).
• Four heads baby gem lettuce, carefully washed and dried.
• 1/2 pound green beans, tips removed and cut into 1-inch pieces; boil a few minutes, then plunge into ice water a few minutes before drying.
• Four small asian pears, cut into thin slices.
• 1/4 pound shelled walnuts.
• 2 oz shaved romano (or parmesan; use the vegetable peeler).
• Croutons, made by chopping old bread into small cubes, tossing with oil, salt, and dried basil, and baking 10-30 minutes.

February 12: pan-fried fish, mashed potatoes, and cabbage cooked with apples, butter, and lemon

Pan-fried sardines and cole slaw

First prepare the cole slaw, since the fish should be served hot. Wash and thinly slice four crisp apples (from storage) and one bulb of fennel, and toss with some lemon juice to prevent browning. In a large fry pan, cook one head kale, washed and sliced: first steam it with the cover on in the liquid clinging from washing, and then saute briefly in olive oil. Finish the slaw with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, and a healthy handful of golden raisins.

Clean and fillet six sardines, rinse, and coat with rolled outs and then flour. This can take a while if you don't have a lot of practice cleaning fish, but it's supposed to be very fast. Pan-fry in olive oil a few minutes to a side, until the oats start to brown and the meat is cooked throughout. Serve with wedges of lemon.

Salad with apples and blue cheese; new camera cable

Hello world! My boyfriend and I were in Oregon this weekend, where we stole an extra camera cable. I hope to start posting daily dinner updates. I also discovered that my camera was housing more than seven hundred photos, dating back to when I lost my cable on our January trip to Fiji and New Zealand. I hope to post some of those eventually too.

Tonight we were tired from the plane, and overheated from the summer. So we elected to have a dinner salad.


Included in the salad:

• Apples from Berkeley Bowl (the Farmers' Market is not until tomorrow).
• Bagged hearts of romain lettuce, from Earthbound Organics (also from Berkeley Bowl). Of the three heads, one was infested with little green bugs, and the other two were fine.
• Wax beans, tips removed and blanched for two minutes and chilled in ice water, from Farmers' Market last week.
• Blue cheese from Cheeseboard.
• Torpedo onion, from Berkeley Bowl, macerated in:
• Olive oil.
• Juice of one lemon, from the tree of a friend of the mom of a friend of mine.
• Salt.

We also had a loaf of sourdough bread from Acme.

27 October 2008

Tofu Reuben, with a side of sautéed beet greens and apples. I liked the reubens a lot, but my boyfriend didn't.

Apple, honey, and cheese tart

Here's a breakfast/dessert based on this recipe from the LA Times. It's as good as a newspaper recipe can be expected to be, which means I didn't follow it precisely. For example, they spend hours with the pie in the refrigerator. That's silly.

Preheat the oven 350°F. Prepare enough pie crust for the bottom of an 8-inch pie: combine

• 1 cup white flour
• 1 pinch salt

in a kitchenaid with the whisk, and then cut in

• 1/2 stick butter, in pieces.

When butter has been incorporated, add

• 3 Tbsp water

and roll out the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface.

Meanwhile, wash, core, and thinly slice

• 2 large Pink Lady apples (mine are from market, harvested in November and kept on the farm in storage; they are still crisp and tasty)

and sauté in a Tbsp or two of butter until golden and starting to brown. Remove from heat. Also slice/crumble

• 8 oz cheese.

What kind of cheese is a matter of taste and season. I used more of this hard sheep's cheese, but the recipe calls for a soft chèvre. In the winter I'd use a sharp cheese and add some cinnamon to the apples. If I were making this again this summer, I might use soft cheese, pears rather than apples when they come in in September, and perhaps a hint of lavender.

Anyway, layer the pie with cheese, apples, and

• a healthy splash of honey

and bake twenty minutes. Allow to cool enough to slice; pie will be sticky from the melted honey.

Cabbage with apples, Sausage with beans

Last night's seitan sausage is especially good sautéed in olive oil. Add a little dried oregano to the oil for good measure, and chop the sausage into pieces. I had set a large pot of dried cannellini beans, along with a bay leaf and a few black pepper corns, soaking last night, and boiled an hour or two upon arriving home (never cook beans in salted water; it toughens the skins). Once the sausage had sautéed a little, I added the beans and some salt to the pan and cooked on medium-high, stirring constantly, until the beans started to brown slightly with the tasty oil-and-bean-starch cake on the bottom of the pan.

We will be getting vegetables tomorrow, and the refrigerator is almost out. For some green food, I washed, cored, and diced a granny-smith apple and half a green cabbage. These went in a sauce-pan-with-well-fitting-lid, along with a healthy splash of lemon juice and a small squeeze of red wine. (When cooking vegetables with an acid, it's generally best to put the acid in the pan first, and add the veggies as soon as they have been cut, even if you will not cook them right away. This controls oxidization, keeping the apples green, and keeping, e.g., onions from emitting too much eye-watering aromatic.) A small handful of salt and ten minutes on high with the lid on cooks the cabbage.

Lavender and Apple: Crisp and Iced Tea

Before starting this blog, I would post recipes on various other sites on the internet. In the interest of compiling all my food postings on one site, I repreint it here. This article concerns the TGRWT series, started by Khymos, and was my first and so-far only entry to such an event. I intend to also enter TGRWT 9: Parmesan and Cocoa. This entry was originally from 14 September 2007.


I was very concerned when I saw this month's They Go Really Well Together: Apples aren't in season! I thought. It's the start of September. We're still eating peaches and tomatoes. I had not contributed to any of the previous TGRWTs: one was inconveniently timed, and most included ingredients I was not a fan of. But apples and lavender! Those ingredients are amazing! If only she had waited a month.

Little did I know that Nature and the Farmer's Market had conspired to force me to enter. That Saturday was the first day of apple season: every stand, all of a sudden, was overflowing with amazing apples. I bought close to a dozen. Lavender grows near my house, but one stand also had bunches of gorgeous dried lavender. So I came home that Saturday with all the ingredients I needed.

Besides, my roommate and I were planning on going out to Lavender Country Contra Dance, which was to begin with a potluck. What better to bring than an entirely experimental dish? I ended up making two recipes: the Vegan Apple Lavender Crisp I brought to the contra dance, and a Lavender Apple Iced Tea that I've been enjoying at home. I'll end with Reviews.


Vegan Apple Lavender Crisp

Preheat oven 350°F. Line a 9x13-inch pan with aluminum foil for ease of removing the crisp later.



Slice

• 4 cooking apples.

Take six stalks dried lavender; chop and mortar-and-pestle the flowers. Makes

• 1 Tbsp dried lavender flowers.

Toss with apples. Also toss in

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Pour apples into prepared pan.

In medium bowl, combine with fingers

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Sprinkle over apples. Bake 350°F for 35 minutes, or until crust turns golden.




Lavender Apple Iced Tea

If you buy dried lavender, you will find yourself wanting to use the flowers in recipes, but most of what you bought is stem. Here's a recipe that can perfectly use up the extra.

Cut lavender stems into two-inch pieces.



Place in a half-gallon container.



Also add

• 1 bag plain black tea (I use PG Tips)
• 1 packet instant hot apple cider powder (it's cheating, but I had some lying around)

and fill with water. Refrigerate over night.


Reviews

The apple crisp was a huge hit at the dance. It did taste overwhelmingly of lavender, and it's not clear that the apple and the lavender married well. The cinnamon and lemon also each add their own zing; the four main flavors did make for a nice ensemble (and I'd be curious to try this with more honey in the crust). Overall, there were many compliments, and even more comments of the form "this is really weird". I liked it.

The iced tea, on the other hand, was divine. Without straining, you do get the occasional sip full of stem, but the flavors married amazingly well: it tasted of lavender and apple and tea without tasting of any of these individually. The adjective that comes to mind for the flavor is "smooth".

On the other hand, now a week later, the crisp is gone, and the drink tastes mostly of the tannins in the black tea, and the spices in the cider. C'est la vie.