Raw Summer Cereal

Last summer I posted this delicious and very healthy recipe for a raw/live cereal. With blueberries and peaches in season right now, this is the perfect time to make this! The oat groats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds can soak in water over night to "sprout" them and activate the energy in the seeds. You drain it in the morning and serve with yogurt and fruit. It is so refreshing, delicious and energizing to eat. I'm often partial to toast for breakfast, but when I remember to soak some grains and nuts for this wonderful dish packed with protein from the nuts and yogurt, I get up from breakfast feeling energized rather than sluggish.

Oat Groats are available from any health food store, and in the grain section of some regular stores.

For fruit picking info:
www.pickyourown.org

In CT:
www.buyctgrown.com

Enjoy!

Foraging Cherries in the City

Have you ever noticed something resembling fruit on the sidewalk, falling from a near-by tree and wondered if it was edible? Well recently, due to my love of food and my tight budget, I realized that I better start paying a lot closer attention to the free food growing all around me in my city neighborhood. I've written about snagging up free dandelion greens (from my chemical free lawn) and happening upon onion grass in the early spring...these are pretty safe plants, easy to recognize by sight or smell. But, earlier this spring a few houses down I finally decided to explore the cherry like fruits that fall from a huge dark purple tree, littering the sidewalk with it's squashed fruits. 

 

I'd picked a few of the fruits in past years and while they look like cherries, they never rippened like the tender cherries we are used to, and have an orangish flesh, more closely resembling a plum. This year I decided to scan the internet. Dozens of sites identified the fruits and the tree either as a sand cherry or sand plum, a few with "old timey" recipes for sand cherry jam, so I knew I was on the right track. I couldn't find any signs of warning, and honestly wasn't that concerned since they look exactly like a cherry...I know I was taking my life in my hands, and I do recommend that you all use the utmost caution in foraging and exploring new plants so that you are certain what you are eating is safe, but I felt fine about these, they were so clearly fruits, and figured they were better for cooking than eating fresh. I took a little nibble, the fruit was tart, sweet and watery. The flavor would do well with the concentration that would come from a long simmer.

I washed the cherries well, tossed them whole into a pot, added a little water, a few cups of sugar and let it simmer for as long as I could, praying that the seeds and skins would add enough pectin to thicken the fruit up to a syrup or jam. As luck would have it, it worked! I poured the cooked fruit through a stariner and we got a nice pint of cherry jam all for the cost of a little curiosity and a few cups of sugar.

Keep on the look out, wine berries are ripening now, and wild apples are on the way.....

Do you have any favorite wild edibles? Please share!

Kale Crazy

Among the healthy/ local food focused community there seems to be a bit of a recent infatuation with kale: cooked, raw or turned into chips. It's a leafy green, and is very green, so therefore really good for you, and it's also easy to prepare, you don't even have to cook it. I know, I didn't really believe it would taste good raw either, until I tried it. Kale, chopped and  "massaged" with a little olive oil, salt and lemon juice....and anything else you'd like is tender and delicious. My recent favorite version was kale tossed with a creamy avocado dressing made by blending an avocado with the juice and zest of a lemon, and some salt and pepper, topped with some toasted almonds. Simple and delicious, and nutritious, because it actually tasted great, so people ate it!

For the salad pictured above, I tossed the kale with olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper, then topped it with diced avocado and roasted pumpkin seeds. 

To prepare the salad, take one large bunch of kale and remove the thick part of the stems.  Roughly chop or tear the kale into 2-inch pieces. Toss with your favorite dressing or just a squeeze of lemon juice, oil and a pinch of salt which helps to tenderize the greens. Gently squeeze the greens with your hands as you toss. This salad is delicious with nuts or seeds, cheese, or other vegetables such as bell peppers or thinly sliced red onion. 

Enjoy!

Any favorite kale recipes? Please Share!

Blistered Smoked Potatoes

I finally got a grill.

Six years ago I got a backyard, but it took me a little while to fill in this important component: a place to cook over a fire.  My family opted for a basic fire pit with a grill top, which means we have to build a pretty big fire to cook over, but lucky for us there is a big pile of logs and tree cuttings in a pile next door, that need to be burned, so our food is getting flavored with real wood smoke, and it tastes a lot better than charcoal!

 One of my favorite grill top treats has been smokey roasted potatoes. I steam the potatoes in the kitchen while I'm making a marinade or salad, then heat my large cast iron skillet over the fire and toss the tender potatoes in with some olive oil, salt and pepper and herbs. The skins blister and brown, and the wood smoke infuses the whole potato. It really doesn't get much better than this. 

Blistered Smoked Potatoes

2 pounds small potatoes (fingerling, yukon golds or red new potatoes work well)

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

handful of fresh herbs such as marjoram, thyme, rosemary, etc...

1. Steam whole potatoes in a pot on the stove. Remove from pot when tender.
2. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet with a heat proof handle over a wood fire.
3. Add olive oil to pan and quickly toss in hot tender potatoes and season with salt and pepper.
4. Turn potatoes occasionally so that they brown on all sides.
5. When potatoes are nicely browned, add fresh herbs, toss and serve.

For the rest of the meal I usually add an assortment of grilled vegetables, and some marinated meat or tofu. For this meal we had chicken thighs using a garlicky marinade similar to the one in this recipe, and tofu with the same salty, sour, sweet marinade. 

The joy of building a fire, cooking over it, and watching the coals burn together with my family and friends has brought me incredible joy and made me thankful for all the simple blessings I have. Life can be very challenging at times, but sometimes it's the tiny moments of joy that help me to have perspective and give thanks. I know it seems corny to get all deep and mushy over a backyard BBQ, but  I hope all of you are blessed with more than a few moments of happiness and thanks for good food, family and community this summer.

Are you grilling this summer? Please Share your recipes, thoughts etc....

Strawberry Jam from the Archives

This Jam truly was the best I have ever had....so I must re-post it while the berries are still in season.

The recipe uses green strawberries, some lemon rind and seeds for pectin...so you don't need any special ingredients to make it. Herbs like Thyme, Basil or Verbena make the Jam really delicious and special! Enjoy!

Click Here: Strawberry Jam

Farmers' Lemonade - Great for Strawberry Season

The idea of adding cream to lemonade is a seriously bizarre concept I know. But this strawberry lemonade is delicious, unusual, and refreshing, a real special treat, and a great use of strawberries which are in season now. I have brought this to numerous picnics, parties and strawberry festivals and it is always a big hit!

I first came across this drink at City Bakery in NYC about 10 years ago, and have been making it ever sense. I love the strawberry version but it works great as a straight up lemonade as well.  Just for fun, I made one jar with cream and one without, the farmers' version with cream won out hands down! 

You don't really need to follow a specific recipe to make this, you basically add some cream to a fresh made lemonade. It's ok if you add a little more or a little less sugar, lemon juice, cream... just make it how you like it.

Strawberry Farmers' Lemonade

6 lemons (about 1 cup lemon juice)

1 pint strawberries

1/2 - 1 cup sugar (or to taste)

1 cup cream

6 cups water

1. Puree strawberries with two spoonfuls of sugar. Strain out seeds.
2. Squeeze juice from lemons and strain out seeds. Mix in remaining sugar, stir until dissolved.
3. Combine lemon juice and strawberry juice. Add six cups of cold water. Taste and adjust sweetness as desired. 
4. Stir in 1 cup of heavy cream and mix well. Pour over ice and enjoy. 

Note: you can use agave, stevia, honey or other sweeteners to make lemonade if you like. I didn't have cream when I was making this last batch of lemonade, so I used half and half, and it worked just fine as well. 

If you missed this other great lemonade recipe from last summer, check it out:

Bitter Lemon or Limeade

Any ideas for other delicious summer drinks, please share...

Strawberry Season Has Arrived!

The warm weather has brought the first berries of the season a little early this year and I can't wait to get out picking. The few rows of strawberries in my backyard are still mostly green, and I'm not sure that I'll beat the squirrels to the ripe ones (they seem to have finally discovered them this year). Whether it's a few strawberries from my yard, or 10 pounds picked at a local 'pick your own' farm, the taste of fresh strawberries, still warm from the sun is so exponentially better than the ones trucked in from California or Florida, that we eat the rest of the year, that I just can't wait to get to the fields this weekend! Check pickyourown.org for locations near you, and if you are in CT, you can also check out buyctgrown.com for info on local farms. I called Jones Fmaily Farm in Shelton, one of my favorites, and they are open for picking starting Thursday May 31, 8am-5:30pm. Call before heading you to check on picking conditions and weather.

I got lucky yesterday. While at a work meeting, wondering how I was going to fit berry picking into my busy weekend, not to mention the challenge of the impending rain, I got invited up the block to the Yale Farm to pick strawberries! What a fantastic gift! Food grown right where we live, a gift that we need to keep spreading around this city! (more on that in another post...)

Recently I submitted this recipe to the folks at BuyCTGrown to help them promote locally grown ingredients. It will be printed on their "Very Berry Cards" this season.

Strawberries with Lemon Verbena Cream 

Serves 6

1 quart strawberries*

3 tablespoons sugar (or honey)

4 lemon verbena leaves (mint or tarragon can be used as well)

1/4 cup sugar 

10 lemon verbena leaves (mint or tarragon can be used as well)

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or other strained yogurt)

1. Wash and slice strawberries. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar or other sweetener. Crush verbena leaves with your fingers, add to strawberries and sugar, stir and set aside.
2. Combine ¼ cup sugar with lemon verbena leaves in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until leaves are very finely chopped. Alternately, use a knife or a mortar and pestle to very finely chop leaves into sugar.
3. Mix heavy cream, yogurt and verbena sugar together. Using a whisk or electric mixer mix until thick whipped cream has formed.
4. Serve a small bowl of berries with a generous scoop of yogurt and verbena laced whipped cream.

Additional serving suggestions:  Toast slices of brioche or challah bread and spoon strawberries and cream on top of each slice for a fun and healthier alternative to strawberry shortcake.

 

* one quart is about 1 ½ pounds of strawberries

This recipe is also great served in homemade chocolate cups.

Want to get out picking? Find a location near you:

PickYourOwn.org - for national listings

BuyCTGrown.com - for CT listings

Have fun and please share your favorite strawberry recipes or photos of you picking!

Shakshuka

photo credit: Shiksa in the Kitchen

I have to tell you that this lovely picture is not from my kitchen, but borrowed from a fellow food blogger. My photo(see below), taken in bad light as I was rushing to serve dinner does not do this fabulous dish justice. However, Shakshuka is so delicious I just couldn't delay in posting it, so thank you Shiksa in the Kitchen for the great photo, and thank you to my Jewish heritage for exposing me to this great dish!

Shakshuka is eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, it can be eaten at any meal of the day, and you can adjust the spices and the spiciness to your liking. Generally it is made with some fresh hot peppers sauteed with onion and garlic, and some cumin and paprika. This time around, since my coriander and cumin weren't ground and I was rushing, I grabbed some already ground black pepper, cardamom, caraway, and a little sambar curry powder, the result was fabulous as well...so get creative, you can take the seasoning in any direction you like and have a fabulous and easy meal. I also added some kale to the tomato sauce before cracking the eggs on top, and served this with some toasted whole wheat ciabatta bread brushed with olive oil. Rice would make a nice accompaniment as well.

Shakshuka is typically served in Israel for breakfast, and it's origins are said to be from Lybia. In the wonderful and fun cookbook: New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven,  I developed for CitySeed a few years back, Amalya Brownstein, a local Jewish Day School teacher contributed her Shakshuka recipe from her mother who is originally from Yemen, and I was so happy to be able to share the joy of this dish with others through that book, and Amalya's family recipe.

If you are near New Haven and interested in learning more about the cookbook New Haven Cooks/Cocina New Haven, come to the Peabody Museum this Thursday May 10th, from 5:30-7:30pm (contact the museum to make a reservation). I will be speaking on a panel with two other local cookbook authors, Jason Sobocinski of Caseus and The Big Cheese and Claire Criscolo of Claire's Cornercopia. Food Tasting will be happening... but probably something a little less messy than shakshuka..

Shakshukah

(my adaptation...)

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

fresh or dried chili pepper, to taste

1 tsp. ground cumin (or curry, or other spices you like)

1 tbsp. paprika

1  28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes,

   undrained 

Kosher salt, to taste

1 1/2 cups kale (or spinach, broccoli, or zucchini) chopped

 6 eggs

1 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Warm whole grain bread, for serving

1. Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, chili pepper, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

2. Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 20 minutes. About half way through simmering, add the kale or other vegetable, stir, cover and continue to simmer until vegetable is tender. Season sauce with salt.

3. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce's surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with parsley and serve with whole grain bread or rice. Enjoy!