Summer Cravings

After four days of day dreaming about this meal, I gave in and had it for dinner last night. I've been waiting patiently until the heirloom tomatoes were colorful, striped, and bumpy enough to eat. It's still a bit early here for them but a few are showing up in the markets. This particular tomato was a lovely shade of red with some hints of purple. I don't remember what variety (bad food blogger!). I tore up a good sized chunk of fresh mozzarella and scattered some shredded basil over the plate. A drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt and I had a light and delicious summer dinner. I skipped the balsamic vinegar because in truth, I don't like it much.

Oh, and don't forget the rose...

Update: The Kitchen Garden

Alternate (and appropriate) titles of this post:

• The Chard Stands Alone
  

• Death and Destruction


• And then there were none

Yeah, the kitchen garden didn't really pan out, sadly. I lovingly watered my little seedlings and they grew indoors for a few weeks, then I transplanted everything outside. The beet sprouts didn't really take once they were outside and died. I pulled them out, then planted seeds directly in the outdoor planters and they seemed to like that much better. The radishes thrived and grew big leaves right away. The chives didn't like sharing a container with the parsley for some reason. The parsley didn't grow much at first but then started to steadily grow after a few weeks outside. The rainbow chard seedlings went into a large container on my front porch, which gets less sun. I have read multiple times that chard is really hardy so I stuck it in a place with less sun. I planted some lettuce from seed directly into pots and that did amazingly well. It sprouted within a few days and was almost ready to eat.

And then...

I went away for six days. And it turns out that those six days were the most horrible, brutal, hottest we've had all summer. I didn't check the weather report before I left and figured that since it had been raining some at night, my plants would be fine without me. Halfway through my trip I thought better of that and left my roommate a message asking him to please give my plants some water. Well, he knew there was a big planter of something out front, but missed the pots of lettuce, herbs, beets, and radishes outside of the back door. The back door that he uses at least twice a day. Yeah.

When I got home to sweltering PDX heat late on a Sunday night, I was greeted with the carnage. All my plants (except the parsley, strangely) had withered and died. They were limp and brown and sad, hanging over the side of their pots. I cried.

It was own fault really, for not thinking this out ahead of time. A smart gardener would have asked her female neighbor to look after her plants, or given her male roommate step by step instructions on exactly which plants to water and when. A smart gardener would not have left her little baby plants alone, parched, in the blazing heat for six days. A smart gardener I am not.

Most of these plants (except the herbs) are plants that do not like the hot weather. Beets and radishes and lettuces do much better in the late spring/early summer or in the fall when the weather is mild. So starting over mid June to harvest bitter veggies in July or August didn't really make sense. I guess I'll see how the chard fairs and try again next year.

Banana Bread

In my junior year of college I took my one and only creative writing class. It was one of the best classes I took. The teacher was wonderful, creating a comfortable atmosphere for sharing and critiquing work, and I produced some writing that I was really proud of and got to read some wonderful stuff by my classmates. The classmates were another thing I loved about the experience and I felt like we all connected as a whole. My favorite classmate was someone named Sabrina. She had wild and curly blond hair and lots of green clothing. We often partnered up to trade writing and ended up becoming friends. My masterpiece story was about a young woman who falls in love with her toaster oven, which Sabrina loved because, like me, she loved food. The first time we got together outside of class we cooked. She made me her special roasted vegetables and we baked this delicious banana bread that has been my ultimate go to banana bread recipe for four years now.

The original recipe was from a Cooking Light cookbook, I think. I have stuck pretty closely to the original recipe, but pared it down some. I don't always want nuts and chocolate swirls in my banana bread. With banana bread I think the simpler, the better. This banana bread is dense and flavorful without being as heavy and cake-like as most quick bread recipes. Yogurt replaces some of the butter and it doesn't call for any oil (I hate using vegetable oil in recipes). It is a bit heavy on the sugar, but could be much worse. I always use whole wheat pastry flour to make this a whole grain bread, with great end results.

Now, I know it sounds fairly crazy asking you to turn on the oven in this heat. But it's worth it, I promise. I've eaten this loaf mostly for breakfast, toasted, with a bit of butter or homemade apricot jam. And I think that it's cool enough at 7:15am to justify eating a slice of warm, buttery bread for breakfast.

For this go round, I was actually (shockingly, momentarily) out of my beloved whole wheat pastry flour. But I didn't want to go to the store, so I subbed in a combo of amaranth, all purpose, and mesquite flour. It was fine, but I much prefer the whole wheat version. The mesquite flour was overpowering and there wasn't enough banana flavor shining through. Plus, it darkened the bread considerably, making for a less gorgeous bread photo. Don't be like me--use whole wheat pastry flour.


Banana Bread
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 overripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread pan.

Combine flour, salt, and soda in one bowl; set aside. Cream butter and sugar, then add banana, eggs, and yogurt, and mix well. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. At this point you can add any nuts or spices that you like.

Bake for an hour and fifteen minutes or so, until a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

Heidi Swanson's Sushi Bowl

I have spent days mentally preparing a lovely post about my Dad and M's wedding and all the lovely things we did and ate, with pictures to accompany. Unfortunately, the computer gods are conspiring against me, and the disc I have of wedding photos is not jiving with my computer. My computer will show me the photos, but will not let me copy them. Hmmmm. As soon as I figure a way around this I will put up some wedding photos.

Wedding Week was hectic and fun, and food filled; family dinners and party after party. It was wonderful to catch up with family and friends over food and wine. There was a lot of catching up, and there was A LOT of food and wine. I left one party early because I was falling asleep at the table from being exhausted and absolutely stuffed. Classy.

When I got back to Portland I was craving simple, light, summery, vegetarian food. So I whipped myself up this lovely sushi bowl for dinner. I didn't have all of the ingredients the recipe called for on hand, but I did have a fridge full of vegetables and decided to just sub in what I had rather than go to the store. The meal was vibrant and refreshing and didn't leave me feeling weighed down.

A few notes: I doused everything in the citrus-soy dressing, even though the recipe only says to put it on the rice. I wish I had followed directions because it made everything taste like the dressing and it would have been nice to have the contrast of flavors. I also would have put a tad more (1/2 tbsp.) soy sauce into the dressing. I sauteed up some rainbow chard with a pinch of salt and put that in the bowl, as well as some raw zucchini cut into matchsticks, and some scallions. I also halved the rice portion of the recipe because it calls for an insane amount of rice.

Sushi Bowl
Adapted from Heidi Swanson's Sushi Bowl with Toasted Nori, Avocado, and Brown Rice, from Super Natural Cooking

Rice
1 cup short grain brown rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Rinse and drain rice. Combine rice, water, and salt over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender, 45-60 minutes. Set aside.

Dressing
zest and juice of one orange
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Combine orange juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for a few minutes, then add soy and vinegar. Return to a gentle boil and cook until slightly thickened, another few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in zests.

Tofu
Slice tofu (as much as you want) into 1/4 inch thick slabs. Pat dry. Heat a nonstick pan on medium high heat until fairly hot (sprinkle a little water and there and see if it sizzles). When pan is hot, cook tofu until slightly browned, a few minutes per side. Remove from heat and slice into thin strips.

Pour citrus dressing over rice to taste (start conservatively and taste as you go). Add tofu and whatever veggies, cooked or raw, you like to your bowl. Eat.

Girl gone Wild

Just another wild and crazy night at my house...

Making apricot jam (recipe coming soon)...

Seasoning my new cast iron skillets...

Getting rhubarb ready for the freezer (blanching and drying).

I'm off to Denver for the rest of the week and will surely have many tales of eating and drinking and more eating when I return!

Lamb dinner with S. Compton

My dear friend S. Compton and I cooked up this awesome dinner sometime last week. S. Compton is one of my favorite food buddies. She's always good for some adventure and encouragement. And she's a meat eater from way back. None of this vegetarian/vegan nonsense for her. Not ever. On her roller derby resume one of her qualifications was "eats red meat." Can't argue with that.

And not only is Ms. Compton an expert meat eater and cooker, she has a good source. Her Dad's farm in Elkton. Every time she goes home, she comes back with large quantities of frozen lamb which she kindly shares with her hungry friends and roommies.

For this dinner, S. Compton was in charge of meats and veggies while I was in charge of drinking rose (my summer 08 love) and making these fabulous potatoes. Rough life, eh?

First my friend whipped up a quick mint sauce with sugar, vinegar, and fresh mint. Don't tell her, but I was a little unsure about this concoction until I tried it on my lamb. Then I was in heaven.

Then she put two cast iron skillets over high heat and warmed those babies up good. In went the lamb (shoulder chops) to sizzle and brown for a few minutes. After one side was good and brown, she flipped them to finish. While the meat was resting, she sauteed up some broccoli until crisp-tender (my favorite vegetable state). We pulled our taters out of the oven and had ourselves a tasty meal.

Thanks for the food and love S. Compton! Let's render lard soon!

Warm Lentils with Bacon

This recipe was my starting point, although I didn't even read the recipe all the way through. I was attracted by the title as I just happened to have both lentils and bacon at home. I'm always drawn to simple and satisfying recipes since I do cook nearly every night. I'm also drawn to recipes that are very forgiving on specific ingredients and proportions and that work well in both large and small quantities. I've made this twice this week, once for dinner and once for lunch. The first time I didn't measure anything and it turned out great. The second time I did measure (uh, sort of) for the sake of blogging and it was also great. So the quantities below are roughly what I used to make one serving and they can easily be doubled or quadrupled and adjusted. Mmmmm....

Warm Lentils with Bacon

1/2 cup green lentils (not those mushy little red ones)

water to cover

pinch of salt

2 strips bacon
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

scant 1/4 cup chopped purple onions

small handful parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon olive oil

Bring lentils, water, and pinch of salt to a simmer and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.

Make dressing by whisking together mustard, vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

When lentils are almost done, cook bacon over medium heat. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Pour of most off the bacon grease, leaving a thin film in the pan. (I'm decadent and save my bacon grease for other uses.) Chop bacon and set aside. With your yummy bacon grease pan over medium heat, add garlic and onions. Don't cook them too much or the purple onion will lose its lovely color. When garlic and onion are just soft, add the finished lentils and bacon. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and dressing. Stand back because vinegar steam is nasty in the nose.

A note about salt: I only added a tiny bit to the cooking lentils and none to the dressing or onions and garlic. The bacon and bacon grease have enough salt for the whole dish.