Sweet Potato Fries

I love sweet potatoes, they're like nature candy. I remember in high school bringing baked sweet potatoes to school for lunch (split with a little butter and a pinch of salt). I'm sure I got funny looks from other kids...but that was a normal occurrence anyway. Roasting sweet potatoes is simple and very delicious. We often call these "fries" even though they are baked not fried. All you do is slice sweet potatoes (skin on) into wedges or any other shape you like. Toss them with a little oil, salt and pepper, spread them onto a lined baking sheet or roasting pan and roast at 450 degrees until lightly brown. About 45 minutes for large wedges, shorter if you cut them smaller.  Sweet potato fries are a great addition to any meal, but good luck getting them to the table, this pan was eaten before we even started dinner.

This recipe is also in the New Haven Cooks Cookbook, available at CitySeed (my employer). The recipe was submitted by the Fair Haven Community Health Center, where they teach this recipe as part of the nutrition counseling and cooking classes in their WIC office.

Sweet Potato Fries

Four servings

2 pounds sweet potatoes            

3 tablespoons oil, safflower, canola or olive            

Salt            

Pepper           

1. Scrub sweet potatoes and dry.  Cut into long wedges, place in a large bowl and toss with oil, salt and pepper.
2. Lay potatoes in a single layer on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
3. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.  Check half way through and rotate if necessary.

Note: Try roasting other vegetables this way as well: carrots, parsnips, pumpkin, onion and even apple or pear, can be tossed with oil, salt and pepper and placed in a glass baking dish or lined baking sheet to roast. You can add herbs and spices as well. 

Have you been roasting anything interesting this winter? Please share....

Tortilla Pizzas and TV

I've been avoiding it for years, but finally did it, I braved the TV cameras, and did a cooking spot for Television! And you know, it really wasn't so bad, I'm not sure what I was so nervous about. They asked me to do a segment on cooking for kids, and there was one recipe in particular that I knew would be great. It is simple and invented itself out of pure necessity and hunger:

Chef Tagan Engel : wtnh.com

Picture this:

I'm tired after a long day of working on multiple food related projects and trying to find funding to pay myself (stressful to say the least). I pick up kid #1 from school giving him a big hug and a snack, go to another school to pick up kid #2 who is finishing snack. We arrive home, both kids are tired and fussy, and despite the fact that they have both eaten a snack within the past hour, they are seriously hungry and not afraid to let me know it. This is not one of those good nights that I preach about where I've managed to have some leftovers or bits and pieces of a meal like steamed broccoli, or cooked whole wheat pasta in the fridge that I could use to throw dinner together. On this night, my cabinets are nearly bare, and I have to get creative. I do have a few good staples in the house: whole wheat flour tortillas (I keep extra ones in the freezer), a block of extra sharp cheddar cheese (the generic one is cheaper and tastes great), a can of black beans, some frozen peas, corn and green beans.  And so, Tortilla Pizzas were born!

Rather than plopping my kids in front of a video, like I often do to get dinner ready, I decide to have them help cook. They wash up, drag stools noisily across the kitchen floor and start sprinkling veggies and beans over the tortillas. I hand them some thin slices of cheddar cheese, which I make with a vegetable peeler, to top off the veggies, and we put the "pizzas" into a 450 degree oven, until the  cheese is bubbling and brown. We cut the tortillas into wedges and dinner is served.

It would have been great with a dollop of yogurt, lettuce or guacamole, none of which I had that night, but I settled for a few drops of good hot sauce, and my two very hungry kids dug in with pleasure. They'd helped cook themselves a delicious, nutritious and satisfying dinner. 10 minutes of work, less than $5 dollars worth of ingredients for all three of us, and a heck of a lot more nutritious than eating out. Now that's my kind of "fast food"!!!

My boy helping out with the cooking demo, he was so excited!

Tortilla Pizzas
4 Whole wheat flour tortillas or 6 corn tortillas
6 oz Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese (block, not shredded)
1 can Beans*-  rinsed and drained
2 cups Vegetables of your choice, fresh or frozen: spinach, corn, peas, peppers, broccoli, etc.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1. Line 2 baking sheets with foil (optional) and rub with oil. Place tortillas on the baking sheet in a single layer.
2. Top tortillas with beans and vegetables. Leave some space between the toppings so the cheese can melt down into them and get crispy and delicious.
3. Using a vegetable peeler, slice long thin strips of cheese off of the block. This technique allows you to use less cheese than cutting with a knife, and is easier than cleaning a grater. Top each tortilla with a single layer of cheese. Place pans in the oven until cheese is melted and browned, about 5-7 minutes. 
4. Finished tortillas can either be sliced in triangular wedges like a "pizza" or folded into quesadillas or tacos. The tacos work especially well with the corn tortillas: top them with a dollop of yogurt, some shredded lettuce and hot sauce. Salsa, pickled onions and guacamole are also great additions. 

          Some great combinations are: 
          black bean, corn, broccoli
          spinach, tomato, black bean
          red bean, peppers, corn, spinach
          or for something a little different try: turkey, apple, broccoli and cheddar
* Canned beans are easy and part of my life as a busy parent, but I often cook dry beans which are much cheaper, delicious and easy if I plan ahead. Try this recipe for the basics on working with dry beans, it's easier than you think! I often make a big pot and freeze individual portions in bags or containers so they are easy to pull out of the freezer when I need a quick meal.

Please leave any comments below! 

Bringing 'New Haven Cooks' to WIC Offices

photo credit: Uma Ramiah

Finally after a year of waiting for some logistical issues to be worked out, New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven is finally getting out to all of the New Haven WIC (Women Infant and Children) offices, and I get to go with it! WIC offices provide low income women and children with food assistance and nutrition education. The cookbook that I poured my heart into for a year and half through an incredible CitySeed project funded by the CT Department of Public Health is a bilingual community cookbook with a wide range of recipes all featuring fresh fruits and vegetables, and it is packed with tons of other info on cooking and eating fresh foods and helping kids (and adults) eat more veggies. We packed so much info into this little book, that I just couldn't imagine dropping off hundreds of cookbooks to health centers with no instructions or info on how to use them. I gave so many months of donated time to finishing this book, and I just couldn't afford to do that any more, so, very lucky for me a wonderful local doctor and colleague of mine donated a small amount of money to help make this process happen.

Starting last month 400 copies of New Haven Cooks have been delivered to each of the New Haven WIC offices, as well as 2000 copies through wellness initiatives in the public school system. I have had the wonderful opportunity to do a 45 minute workshop with each group of people who will be giving out the cookbooks, and trying to engage their clientele in healthier eating habits. Having just this small amount of time to discuss with them the 100 or so community members and organizations that made this book possible, and the sections of the book with info on cooking fresh for the week, cooking with kids, local help with growing your own food, free and low cost places to exercise and more, truly helps to bring the book to life for these amazing community workers. It has been a thrilling month for me, and the connections with really positive people who will be helping to get the cookbook out to the community, is deeply satisfying. I look forward to the exciting work that is to come!

Thank you to Uma Ramiah, from the New Haven Independent for this article on 

my visit to the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center.

Tagan's Kitchen Turns One!

As I was plowing my way through Thanksgiving and glancing at photographs of food from last year, it dawned on me that it was exactly one year ago that I started this blog. It is exciting to think that in these digital "pages" there is an entire year of food, thoughts, creativity, cooking and activism. It has been a very full year with some major accomplishments and a lot of hard work.  There are links below to many of the exciting events of the year; I traveled to the White House for Michelle Obama's launch of Chefs Move to Schools, I now chair the New Haven Food Policy Council where we are working on many policy issues that affect our local food system, New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven was published and is now being distributed for free to low income families and individuals in the city, Tagan's Kitchen is featured in the New Haven Register's Community Media lab, I created a new sustainable food menu for a local cafe, and I get to work with and go to lots of meetings with great community folks trying to start urban farms, improve kid's exposure to food and agriculture, and improve access to good fresh food by creating a new food coop.  It is almost comical to think of doing all of this and being an engaged and caring spouse and parent of two kids. Modern life is challenging to say the least. This year has been a thrilling and sometimes rough ride, but the food movement is surging ahead and I am trying to ride the wave and find a little balance along the way.

I started Tagan's Kitchen - the blog so that I could have a public place to express my own ideas and thoughts on food. For me it is more like an art project or journal than a media venue. When I say that my life revolves around food, I truly mean it; so, having a place to post photos and thoughts about food is more of a gift for me than work. While it is a challenge sometimes to find the time to put a blog post together, the joy I feel in completing a post and then sharing it with all of you is enormous! Thank you all for your heartfelt comments and support both on the blog, on facebook, by email and in person. I am so happy that you take pleasure in reading and cooking from this blog. Please continue to share your thoughts and comments, by doing so you are helping to create a community centered around food, and it is delicious!

To support Tagan's Kitchen, please post your comments or thoughts at the end of blog posts and share the blog with friends and colleagues. Many thanks!!! 

Here are a few highlights from the first year of Tagan's Kitchen:

Cookbook published: 
New Haven Cooks - cookbook published and on sale! February 2010
 
New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven is available online at CitySeed.org or in person at the CitySeed Farmers' Markets.

Recipes:
Burgers with Sneaky Greens
Spiced Curry Rice
Rosemary Brown Sugar Chicken or Tofu
Red Lentil Soup with Greens
Latkes (potato pancakes)
Buttermilk Muffins
Peach Raspberry Pie
Blueberry Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

Thoughts on Food:
Candy - the enticement of sweets and old-time candies
Food Activism  - the busy life
Strawberry picking - Pick Your Own
Creating a new sustainable food menu for a local cafe - Blue State Coffee
Peanut butter balls and a family sweet tooth
 The Dirty Dozen - pesticides on produce

Travel:
Visit to the White House - Chefs Move to Schools
Amsterdam - a trip back in time with my Oma (grandmother) for a Holocaust memorial
Brooklyn playground and Atlantic ave
Dance Camp - where I first started cooking, many many years ago

Gardens and Farms
Building Raised Garden Beds - a detailed explanation 
A reality check from Farmer Dan - a farmer with a great farm and great humor
The Massaro Community Farm - a cool new farm, and judging a condiment contest
A Farm in the City - Common Ground High School
Cooking from the Backyard Garden - quick pickle

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support this year! 

I hope you will continue to join me on the 

adventures in food that lie ahead! 

Many Thanks and Happy Cooking! -Tagan

Food Activism on the Move

I don't know if I can even begin to write down all of the work I have been doing lately. Amidst the new menu I finally got launched for Blue State Coffee (blog post coming soon), New Haven Food Policy Council work, a feast from the fields fundraiser for Common Ground School on their urban organic farm, (post also coming soon) a community meeting for the coming Elm City Market - food coop, parenting, and the first colds of the season, there has been more than too much to do, and an incredible amount of great local food activism going on. I don't have many good pictures from all of this since I have been far too busy being involved in it all, but wanted to share a little about this part of my food life, none the less. The sustainable food movement has been evolving and becoming more visible recently, so I thought I'd try and lay out some of the concrete ways this work happens on the grassroots level. 

Elm City Market 

a new food coop coming to New Haven, CT in the 360 State St building.

Photo credit: Thomas MacMillan, New Haven Independent 

community member Tambira Armmand speaking her mind at the community meeting

I had been hearing rumors of a new grocery store coming into the ground floor of this new high rise in downtown New Haven for much of this past year, but it wasn't until a few months ago that I knew anything concrete. I was invited along with a few dozen other community members, food folks, and community leaders to be part of a "core leadership team", a group of community members whose purpose is to help bring the community of New Haven into this new food coop, so that the store can be a resource to a wide cross section of New Haven and help to fill the needs of people of different cultural and economic backgrounds. I will do a whole post on this in a while, but if you want to check out some newspaper articles on the recent community meeting about the Market, check out the NH Register or the NH Independent.  There was  a great turnout at this meeting, and a fair amount of enthusiasm and healthy skepticism. Over all, my take is that it will be great to have a full service grocery store in New Haven and not have to drive to get to it, and I hope that a broad and diverse group of New Haven residents will shop there and become member/owners. If you care about food in New Haven, please get involved, and make this market ours. To become a member/owner of this new market/coop click here. There are a variety of ways to join, and it will help get the market open!

Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners and Smart-Cookin' Mamas

Mark Winne - national food and food policy activist

Mark Winne started the first Food Policy Council in the country in Hartford, CT. He ran the Hartford Food Systems organization, and now runs the Community Food Security Coalition, and consults nationally with food policy councils and similar groups.

Mark was in town as part of a panel on grocery stores hosted by the Yale Sustainable Food Project. The New Haven Food Policy Council also hosted an event at the main branch of the Public Library for the launch of his new book (pictured at right). We had a good turn out, and it was great to hear someone with as much experience over time as Mark has talk about our food system and it's successes and failures.

Mark also made time during the day to meet directly with the members of the New Haven Food Policy Council which I now chair. It was a very inspiring meeting, and we all came away from it with a lot of good ideas and inspiration about making the work we do more affective and visible. Thank you Mark!

CT Local Food Summit
Billings Forge & Wholesome Wave
Guest Speaker: Shira J. Gans, Manhattan Borough Presidents office

Following right on the heals of Mark Winne's talk, I headed up to Hartford the next morning for the CT local food summit hosted by Billings Forge and Wholesome Wave. It was a great gathering of about 50 of the key players in sustainable food in the state. Some good conversations and inspirational talks. It was great to make connections with people doing similar work in various parts of the state to share ideas and strategies. Hopefully some larger networks and change will come from it.

Shira Gans from the Manhattan Borough President's office was the keynote speaker, and hearing about all the forward thinking work they are doing and the huge staff they have was incredible. We are doing so much of the same work here, some of it inspired by NYC or other cities, and some of it emerging right from the roots of our own community. What is going on in NYC is pretty exceptional right now though, the leadership of the city is really pushing a good food agenda for all people.

Feast From the Fields

Common Ground School - dinner, fund raiser and auction

A wonderful fund-raising event at one of the most special places in town. For those of you who read this blog often, you have heard me gush about Common Ground School before: An urban charter school with an organic farm and tons of great community events and programs. Many Chefs came out to make the night a success. I had the honor of cooking the main meal together with Jason from Caseus and Rhonda from the Common Ground kitchen, using lots of produce from their garden. It was a thoroughly delicious night with a huge number of fabulous teens from the school who volunteered to work the whole party! And, we helped them raise $40,000. A blog post detailing the event coming soon.

Chefs Move to School and Health Heroes - TODAY - October, 20, 2010

A great event happening today, Wednesday Oct 20th. The launch of these two programs in New Haven will shepard in some great new energy into the schools to get kids (and teachers and parents) to eat healthier foods, get exposure to fresh veggies, gardens, and other healthy and delicious activities. I will be joining Chef Tim Cipriano for the local launch of the Obama's Chefs Move to Schools initiative in New Haven. For the simultaneous launch of Health Heroes in 4 New Haven public schools, we will be giving out 1,500 of the New Haven Cooks cookbook I developed with CitySeed to low income children and families as an incentive to enroll in the healthy living and eating program. If you are a chef, come down to the Barnard School Garden Wednesday morning at 10am, and wear your chef coat!  I'll follow up with a blog post soon...

Stay tuned for more on my crazy (but exciting) life in food. 

note: blogspot is messing up the post date and won't let me change it. This was posted on Wednesday morning October 20th. 

Simple Red Lentil Soup with Greens

In a few minutes, I am off to the local public library (see post below for all the details) to do the last of three cooking demonstrations connected to the cookbook I developed: New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven. For tonight's event we will be cooking Seven Pepper Collard Greens with guest Tabitha Carter who submitted this recipe to the cookbook. They are not your average collard greens!  I will also be demonstrating two "sneaky greens" recipes that help people "sneak" a few more greens into their meals. All these recipes can be found in the wonderful bilingual community cookbook. Also, not your average community cookbook.

At some point I will post all of those recipes, but for a moment I want to sing the praises of one, the red lentil soup. Lentils are very inexpensive, incredibly tasty, nutritious and  easy and quick to cook.

If you have ever had dahl or lentil soup at an Indian or Middle Eastern restaurant this soup will be familiar to you. while those soups may have some spices such as cumin and coriander added to them, the bulk of the flavor is derived from those tiny red lentils.

For this recipe, you just put 2 cups of red lentils in a heavy bottomed soup pot, add 6 cups of water a finely chopped small onion, a few pinches of salt and let it simmer away. in about 30 minutes you will have a delicious soup. Finely chop some greens such as spinach or kale, toss into the soup simmer a few minutes until the greens are tender (about 1 minute for spinach, a little longer for kale).

If you want to add more complexity, try adding some cumin seed, hot pepper, chopped tomato or any other spices you like.

After tonight I'll have some good pictures (I hope) of Tabitha cooking her collards, so check back for that recipe soon.

Three Bits of Food News

New White House Initiative to End Childhood Obesity:

 

Chefs Move to Schools is a new initiative of Michelle Obama, White House Chef Sam Kass, and the US Department of Agriculture, to connect Chefs with schools in am attempt to end childhood obesity by introducing kids to the importance and deliciousness of fresh healthy foods. 

For more info, check out this post on the White House Blog about the new program or on the New Haven School Food Blog run by Tim Cipriano, the Executive Director of New Haven Public Schools food service program.

  
Check out Tim Cipriano, White House Chef Sam Kass, John Turenne of Sustainable Food Systems meeting in D.C.  Notice the cookbook in Sam's hands, New Haven Cooks!

We've been working on promoting healthy delicious fresh foods to our community and schools, it's great that the whole nation is getting mobilized too!

 _____________________________________________________________________________

Cooking demo from New Haven Cooks cookbook

Wednesday May 19th @ 6pm - Mitchell Library, New Haven 

Seven Pepper Collard Greens and other Sneaky Greens recipes 
with Chef Tagan Engel and guest Tabitha Carter

The last of 3 cooking demos at the Mitchell Library in New Haven. Join us to learn about delicious easy recipes using greens such as collards, dinosaur kale and spinach. If you are in New Haven and aren't going to the Taste of the Nation event, (see below) or don't mind showing up a little late, stop by and see what's cooking. New Haven Cooks will be available to purchase at this event, it is also available online, all proceeds go to support CitySeed.

__________________________________________________________________________

Taste of the Nation - Delicious Fundraiser to End Childhood Hunger in the USA

"Savor the finest food, spirits and wine from the nation's hottest chefs and mixologists. 

100% of ticket sales supports Share Our Strength's efforts to end childhood hunger." 

If you are in New Haven:
The Taste of the Nation event is this Wednesday May 19th from 6-9pm at the Yale Commons on the corner of Grove and College streets. Tickets are available for this fun and important event. 

If you are elsewhere in the country: 
Check the Share Our Strength Website for dates and locations in your area.

Taste of the Nation is a nationwide event run by Share Our Strength to raise funds to fight childhood hunger. Chefs and restaurants donate food for a fun evening of tastings and socializing. Participants purchase tickets for the event and profits are distributed among local organizations who work to combat childhood hunger. Many of these events around the country are happening this spring and summer. Check the website for dates in your area.

Cooking Demo - Wednesday 6pm - Bombay Sandwiches with Cilantro Mint Chutney

This Wednesday May 12th I will be doing the second of three - free cooking demos and tastings at Mitchell Library in New Haven, CT at 6pm. Come join me and my guest, Sadna Chopra to cook her recipe from New Haven Cooks, a delicious collection of recipes from great people in our city!  I will also be demonstrating a variety of ways to use the chutney to liven up other meals, and how to make a simple and delicious red lentil soup.

Cookbooks will be available to purchase as well. All proceeds from the books go to support CitySeed.

Wednesday May 12th @ 6pm
Mitchell Library
37 Harrison St, New Haven, CT
203. 946.8117

Upcoming Cookbook Events:
May 19th - Collard Greens with Seven Peppers and "sneaky" ways to get more greens into your diet. Guest Tabitha Carter.
Mitchell Library 6pm 

May 26th - Meal planning for Health and Budget - Talk at the Main Branch of the NH Public Library with Wendy Battles and myself. 6-7pm. 

New Haven Cooks is a Project of CitySeed, developed by Tagan Engel and funded by The CT Department of Public Health.

Bee Bim Noodles - first outdoor meal of the spring

As the weather turns warm and we move our lives out doors, we look forward to more and more meals eaten at our weathered picnic table, our vegetable garden sprouting up a few feet away, kids playing in the sand pit, and sounds streaming over the fence from our neighbors yards.

Sunday night we had our first meal of the season outside. It was an impromptu dinner with my mother and stepfather joining us from next door, and many bits of food pulled together from the assortment of dishes I was preparing for the week. It turned out to be a more elaborate and special meal as it evolved, I suppose fitting for the first official picnic table dinner of the spring.

I love Bee Bim Bop the Korean meal that translates as "mixed up rice" because you surround a pile of rice with sautéed vegetables such as spinach, carrots, mung bean sprouts, marinated and browned meat and a fried egg sunny side up, top it with hot sauce or kim chee, and mix it all up. There is a great recipe for a traditional Bee Bim Bop in New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven, which was submitted by Yoon-Ock Kim the owner of the Oriental Pantry on Orange St in New Haven, CT.  Her marinade for the beef includes a crushed kiwi or asian pear which adds a delicious sweetness and complexity to the marinaded and helps the meat brown perfectly. She serves it up (with beef or tofu) in her shop for lunch or dinner. On occasion I make a traditional version of this dish, my kids love it, and we even have a kids book about it: Bee Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park  (which I discovered a few summers back at the story hour at the Eric Carle museum in Amherst MA, if you are ever around that area, the story time is great there, and the museum is nice for adults and kids.)

Sunday night's dinner was inspired by this traditional dish, but we skipped the fried egg and served the dish up with rice noodles and some additional vegetables I knew my kids would eat. We don't eat a lot of meat in our house, but when we do I try to purchase it from farmers or stores that are treating the animals well and not pumping them with hormones ad antibiotics. While it is not my ideal, I do buy some of the less expensive cuts of meat at Trader Joe's when it is labeled "animals never confined to feed lot, given all vegetarian feed, and not given antibiotics or growth hormones. " It is sometimes hard to decipher all these labels, if you want to know more about these terms check out the sustainable table issues page where you can get more info by clicking on the topics listed in the side bar.

The meat I used here was a shaved beef that I sliced into very thin pieces and marinated in a mixture of Soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and a pinch of sugar (just mix it till it tastes good to you). I didn't have any kiwi this week, and was going for a quick and simpler meal. I used some of this marinade for the tofu dish as well. The noodles are pad thai style rice noodles, we also had a stir fry of tofu and vegetables, sliced lettuce, blanched broccoli and cauliflower, and some carrot "ribbons' made using a vegetable peeler. The great thing about this dish is that the meat is so flavorful, that a very small amount of it flavors a whole bowl of food, which is good for your health and your bank account.

Cookbooks at the Farmers' Market Tomorrow

New Haven Cooks will be on sale tomorrow at the CitySeed Wooster Square Farmers' Market!

Saturday April 3rd from 10am-1pm. Chapel St. near Wooster Sq. Park.

The market will be filled with beautiful flowers, fresh vegetables, greens, eggs, milk, meat, cheese, honey, Easter cupcakes, grilled cheese, bread and so much more! I will be there selling cookbooks, so come on down and enjoy the market and pick up your copy!

To receive the great CitySeed newsletter with detailed information about what is available at the markets and other special events, click here.

New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven

is a beautiful and delicious bilingual community cookbook which celebrates the cultural richness of New Haven through food.  The book is packed with wonderful and intriguing recipes featuring fruits and vegetables. Over 100 people in our community donated time and talent to making this book such a successful collaboration!I spent the past year and a half working on this book and am thrilled that it is making it's way out into the world.

If you are not located near New Haven:

To purchase New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven online click here.

Copies of the Book are selling for $14.95 plus tax (total 15.85). All proceeds go to support CitySeed which is a non-profit organization.

In the late spring we will be distributing 5,000 copies of New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven to low income families through WIC and SNAP offices, Health Centers, Nutrition Classes and School based wellness activities.  Four recipes from the cookbook are being incorporated into the NH public school lunch program. The Cookbook and related projects were funded by a grant from the CT Department of Public Health.

Spiced Curry Rice

Around 4:45 each night I start warding off hungry children with small bowls of sliced veggies or nuts to munch on until I can get dinner ready, and hopefully hold them off until Papa is home to join us. This means that cooking dinner on a weeknight is usually a quick event consisting of bits of leftover rice or noodles, a bunch of vegetables, or a few dishes I managed to cook ahead on Sunday afternoon. Spiced rice is a great solution for this sort of dinner. For this dish, I was inspired by a recipe from Khadija Gurnah in New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven, the community cookbook I developed, and by a great dish served up at Thali Too, a fabulous Indian vegetarian restaurant in New Haven, CT where the use of spices is superb, and everything on the menu is under $10. 

For this rice dish I added tofu and almonds for some protein, and some broccoli for the vegetable part of the meal. The kids and I nibbled on cucumbers, and a few slices of red peppers while dinner was cooking. you can get very creative with additions to this dish. any protein would work well: slices of chicken, beef or shrimp, or even chickpeas could be nice, and peas, peppers, greenbeans, or cauliflower would all be good additions as well.

Spiced Curry Rice

Cooked basmati rice (white or brown)

Curry powder

Extra spices of your choosing (cardamom pods, cumin, corinader, cinnamon, clove, hot pepper, tumeric)

Onion, finely diced

Garlic, minced

Fresh ginger, grated or minced

Tofu, cut in small cubes

Almonds, toasted

Raisins

Broccoli, cut into small floretts

1. In a large high-sided frying pan, sauté onions in a small amount of oil, add garlic and ginger, a pinch of salt and cook until onions are translucent and garlic and ginger are fragrant.
2. Add broccoli and saute for a minute. Add spices and tofu and saute for another minute. Add rice and Raisins and sauté on low heat until rice is warm. You may need to add a sprinkle of water to the pan at this point to make the rice tender if it had been in the refrigerator.
3. Continue stiring the rice gently  over low heat until warmed through. Toss in some almonds, adjust seasoning, and serve. 

If you'd like to leave a comment, click the word "comment" below

First Press on New Haven Cooks

Beautiful day at the CitySeed Farmers' Market. Our Cookbook took it's first step out into the world today and was greeted with such warmth and celebration. It was an exciting day. Looking forward to a big official book launch party soon, and to getting the books out to local health centers, WIC offices and other spots in a few months. Such a great community project!

To read the article in the New Haven Register by Elizabeth Benton, click here.

New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven - On Sale Now!

This fabulous New Haven Community Cookbook will be on sale for the first time tomorrow Saturday, February 20th at the CitySeed winter farmer's market located in Wooster Sq. 10am-1pm. It will be available soon on the website and at some local stores. Come on down to the market tomorrow, I'll be there handing out the first copies. Dozens of community memebers donated time and talent to create this wonderful book. I have been working on it for the past year and a half, and am very excited to see it move out into the community and be a usefully and delicious tool to help people cook and eat more fruits and vegetables!

here's the info form the cityseed website:

ON SALE NOW - Currently available for purchase at CitySeed's Winter Farmers' Market (open this Saturday, February 20 from 10am-1pm) or the CitySeed office - 817 Grand Ave. in New Haven (Tues. - Thurs. 9am-5pm). Price: $14.95 + tax

Thank you to everyone who submitted recipes for the New Haven Community Cookbook and sharing your favorite fruit and vegetable recipes!

In an effort to learn from each other and share home-cooked good-ness, CitySeed has compiled New Haven Cooks / Cocina New Haven, a New Haven Community Cookbook to celebrate the cultural richness of our city through food! The cookbook is packed with recipes featuring fresh fruits and vegetables submitted by families and individuals throughout New Haven. New Haven Public Schools will also be including at least two recipes from the New Haven Community Cookbook into the school lunch program.

In an effort to get this great cookbook to low income families in our community, CitySeed will be distributing 5,000 copies of New Haven Cooks / Cocina New Haven for free through Community Health Centers, WIC offices and public school health events.

Get some fresh fruits and vegetables, Get inspired, Get Cooking New Haven!

Bean Burgers with Squash Soup, a quick dinner

Because I am a professional chef and an attentive mother, people some times fantasize that I am some kind of miracle worker, that dinner at our house every night must resemble the fancy food I cook at work or the dinner I cooked for a celebration with friends, and that my children love everything that I cook.

Let's be clear: I am not a "wonder" mom or a "wonder" chef. I do not miraculously cook elaborate perfect meals every night for my family. In fact, when I was cooking full time professionally (which is always more than full time) when I got home, my feet hurt and I was tired, really tired, so my husband did most of the cooking. Recently, since I still have 2 young children, I have been doing food work that is oriented out of the kitchen: cookbook writing, food policy work, improving school food and many other things. All of this has left me more energy than ever to cook at home, a welcome gift.

Life is still exceptionally busy, but the inspiration and desire to cook is constant, and the need to pull my self out of a boring-dinner-cooking-rut a welcome challenge. Often as I am racing from one place to another either for work or for kids, I start thinking about what ingredients reside in my fridge or freezer and how I might combined them into something delicious and nutritious...and something different than what we've eaten for the last 3 nights. On many evenings this thought process revolves around a partially empty fridge, a stray carrot, some broccoli or frozen corn, some dry grains, a small piece of meat or a block of tofu and lots of condiments and spices. The essential question: How can I make something from virtually "nothing"?

The answer to this question has yielded some fabulous results at times, one night we had sushi from a cup of rice, 2 carrots, 1/2 a zucchini, and 6 frozen shrimp, another night: corn pudding, black beans and garlic sautéed broccoli using frozen corn a few eggs, 1 can of beans and 1/2 a head of broccoli. Tonight's meal had a prize ingredient of a whole butternut squash, a luxury these days, so not a meal from "nothing" but these bean burgers certainly fall into that category. They were a welcome change from the usual plate of rice and beans, and the kids loved them!

Bean Burgers with Squash Soup

Recipe:
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 egg
1/2 cup cooked rice (reheated)
1 scallion (or 1/2 a small onion, finely diced)
2 sprigs cilantro (optional)
1/2 cup flour (any type is fine)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
salt and pepper to taste (and garlic powder if desired)

1. mash everything together with a fork until well combined.
2. in a preheated frying pan over medium heat, add a small amount of oil. scoop about 1/4 cup of the bean mixture into the pan and flatten into a burger about 3 inches wide and under 1 inch thick.

3. cook burger until well browned on one side, flip over and press slightly with the spatula to flatten the burger. Repeat until you have used all the batter. If the burgers seem in anyway too soft in the center, you can bake them in the oven for a few minutes to dry them out. This batch can out great, so I hope yours will too. This is a great base recipe to add any sort of seasoning you want, ginger, lime, garlic, curry or anything else. You can shred some spinach, toss in some corn, red pepper or broccoli as well to get some more vegetables into your meal.

makes about 8 medium sized burgers.

I also made some quick squash soup with a butternut squash I had roasted off the night before.

1 squash
6 cups liquid (divide between water and stock to your liking, or even add some milk if you want)
1 onion
salt and pepper

1. cut squash in half lengthwise. rub with a small amount of oil, season with salt and pepper and put on a baking pan cut side down. roast in the oven at 375 until soft when poked with a knife or fork, about 40 minutes.
2. cut onion and saute in a pan with a little oil or butter. season with salt and pepper.
3. scoop squash out of the skin and add to the pot along with the stock and water. simmer for about 15 minutes. puree with a stick blender if you have one, or in a regular blender. serve

My kids enjoying dinner. Papa works late on Mondays so I was flying solo.

Again, this is basic simple recipe that you could add a lot to. roasting some apples or celery root with the squash adds a wonderful twist to the soup, fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary are great too. peanut butter and cilantro would put a Senegalese twist on it too. A recipe for squash and peanut soup from the Fair Haven Community Health Center appears in the cookbook I just finished, New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven.