Improbable Pantry

Roasted Kabocha Squash Slices with Puzzling Seasoning that Will Blow You Away

2011-12-06T21:44:00.001-05:00

The nice thing about kabocha squash is that half a squash is usually enough for a family dinner, so there's another half sitting in the fridge for more just a few days later. Of course, Susan always complains that I don't make enough of them.

After much experimentation, I now have the formula down to perfection:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Wash the outside, but do not peel.
Cut in half and remove seeds, and turn cut side down.
Slice crescents, about 1/8" thick. Don't worry too much about the dimension. Try a variety. See if you like them better crisp or soft. The thin ones will crisp up nicely to potato chip consistency while the thick ones will stay moist and pliant. People do not agree on which are best. So, make everyone happy.
Line baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil. Brush with about a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
Lay the crescents on the oil. Lay them in tight, but don't overlap. Brush with some more olive oil. Be generous. There should be some puddles on the baking sheet, but the slices don't need to swim in it.
With approximate quantities, to your own taste, mix in a small bowl a teaspoon of freshly ground fennel seed, half teaspoon of ground coriander, half teaspoon of garlic powder, teaspoon of oregano, half teaspoon of salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper. Sprinkle over the top of the crescents.
Put in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.
When the buzzer goes off, go see how they're doing. They're probably not done yet, but you want to get a sense of where they are.
They're done when most of them have edges that start to crisp up. If you use a spatula and peek underneath, they'll be a nice dark brown. Some may even go into burned territory--that's ok. Last time I did them they took about 25 minutes.
So go back and check them every five minutes or so. Pull them off before they burn.
Layer on a deep blue plate. I love the way they look with the orange and the blue. Reminds me of the NY Mets when I was growing up!

If you get distracted and burn them, do not throw them away! They're excellent burnt. Not as good as taking them off at just the right moment, but still better than most things you'll put in your mouth.

The last of my kabocha squash posts was over here at Asian Fling, where I gave proper credit for the recipe that came from Jaimie Oliver by way of Chowhound. But I'm hard pressed to think abou this as Asian anymore, other than the best supply of kabocha squash seems to come from the HMart. They always have them. With the garlic and fennel, it seems more Italian. Probably just inspired American. When I first saw the blend of spices, I did not have high hopes. I tried something different once, with some cumin. And just came running back to this. Let me know if you do further experimenting.

I'm always hesitant to say something is the "best" of anything. But, as of now, I'd say this is the best thing I make. Sweet, salty, a little unctuous with the oil, crisp, deep complex flavor. Perfect finger food. A crowd pleaser. Make a second tray, because the first will go fast. And in the summer, do them on the grill (still use the baking sheet).

So there. My love note to Kabocha squash.

(Note. Most Kabocha squash has a deep green skin, like an acorn squash. This one had an orange skin. Tasted the same, just a different look)

Market Meal

2011-07-10T21:54:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday was a great day for the Medford Farmers Market. Lots of vendors,lots of people,some energetic young folks pedaling their way through the summer, bicycle themed exhibits, and the band powered by onlookers pedaling.

Dinner was a market meal -- 100% from the market (except for the basil I clipped from the garden):

From Spring Brook Farm: Carrots, zuchini, corn.
From Clearview Farm: Spring onion, brocolli, fresh garlic (from the week before)
From my garden: a few handfuls of basil, leaves whole
From When Pigs Fly: Sundried tomato bread

All but the corn (and bread...though adding the bread to the vegetable mixture might be a good idea!) cut into pieces that promised to cook at the same rate after a light coating of oil on the grill, in the grill wok. For the spring onion, I cut from the stem (picture a really hefty scallion) and sliced thinly. For the fresh garlic, I also cut from the stem, but shaved it all very thin -- about a tablespoon or two -- it was intense. About 10 minutes in the grill wok over low heat was enough, tossing and turning.

On the other half of the grill I did the corn, shucked, coated lightly with oil, and turned a couple of times to prevent over-charring.

A little salt and pepper to season, and we were ready to go with a simple meal, all from the market. Simple, naturally, sweet, and filling -- perfect for a summer day. And I avoided using the stove yet again.

2011-03-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

It's probably bad form to cross post between my two blogs, but this one deserves to be on both sites. Follow my newest exploration with kabocha squash.

Posting again! Squash soup

2011-03-22T21:57:00.001-04:00

Have you been posting to your blog lately? No.Why not? Dunno. What have you been doing instead? Dunno.

Funny how one can get out of the habit. But a 3+ month hiatus deserved some attention. Perhaps a little daydreaming.

Daydreaming is where a lot of my cooking ideas come from. What's in the fridge? What's in the freezer? What have I had lately? What have I read about? What have I been wanting to play with for awhile? Then, slowly the ideas start to form.

Squash. I saw the cubed squash in the freezer the other day. What the heck was I going to do with that? I love roasted squash, but I was afraid that defrosted squash would lose it's structural integrity, and just turn to mush. Turn to mush, eh? How 'bout if I just go with that idea? If it's going to turn to mush anyway, just mush it some more. And I get to use my immersion blender -- bonus!

Cilantro. There was cilantro in the crisper, leftover from over a week ago. But hanging in there pretty well in an open plastic bag with a paper towel. (Note to self -- that's a good way to keep cilantro.) But it's not going to keep forever, so what can I make that uses a LOT of it? I could see putting a good fistful of cilantro into a squash soup.

Peas. A sad bag of peas in the freezer, constantly passed over. Wouldn't those green peas look nice floating in a sea of orange?

Onions. Of course. And garlic. I almost went with part of the bag of leeks in the freezer, but didn't feel like dealing with defrosting those too and figuring out how to use them. Onions and garlic, sauteed in olive oil.

Flavoring. I originally thought of a cumin-coriander theme, but then when I actually got down to the cooking, saw some Ras el Hannout in a tower of spices Shira brought for us from Sofra. "North African spice blend. Use on chicken, meat and bean or vegetable stew." Squash soup seemed like it was in the genre. And there was a knuckle of ginger shriveling up in the fridge, needing to be used or tossed. Perhaps I can salvage a bit.

And tamarind. I sent Margie a recipe today for eggplant stew with tamarind. I have a jar of tamarind paste in the fridge that I rarely if ever use. Tamarind will be a project one of these days. Tamarind is in the fridge because of the interpreter of food desires. Whenever I'd ask him what's in this dish, it was a pretty good bet he'd say "tamarind" at some point. The sour notes of tamarind would work well with the North African Spice and the ginger.

And a pinch of cayenne, just to make things interesting.

Brightening. Lemon. Always good to brighten things up a bit. And Beverly had just told me the correct way to use my new lemon squeezer.

This all seemed like enough to go on. Probably not enough for a meal on its own, but with some crackers and cheese and salami, it would do well for an after-workout meal, with enough left over as a first course. So...

3 cups cubed winter squash
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp Ras el Hannout
4 cups boiling water
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1 cup cilantro leaves, reserving some for garnish
2 tsp olive oil
1 pinch cayenne (or to taste)
1 tsp salt

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the ras el hannout and toast in the oil, onion, garlic. Add squash, and saute for 10-15 minutes, until barely tender. Add the water. Add the cilantro leaves. When the squash is tender, use an immersion blender to puree (or, put into a blender, in batches, not filling up more than 1/3 of the way to avoid hot stuff splattering all over you).

Add the peas. Then start tasting to see what you've got. Add salt. Taste. Add the tamarind. Taste. Add lemon juice. Taste. Add cayenne. Taste. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve with cilantro leaves on top for garnish.

While tasting along the way, I was concerned that this was going to be a flop. Adding salt helped, but it was pretty flat. The tamarind was a wild card -- I was afraid to use too much. And I probably added a little too much lemon -- I just got carried away with the lemon squeezer. Go a little easier next time. But the bitter notes of the extra cilantro floating on top did a lot to counteract the sour of the lemon, and the sweet pop of the peas helped balance things out as well. So all in all, I think I got the flavor balance about right.

Things to vary -- lots of ideas. Go the cumin-coriander route. More ginger. Lots more. That was my original idea, but the poor shriveled ginger knuckle I was working with gave me as much as it could, and no more. More cayenne if you like things hot. Add a dollop of yogurt. Add some cream. Or coconut milk.

Enjoy!

Kabocha Squash Spread with Homemade Crackers

2010-11-30T19:40:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered the wonders of kabocha squash, so the next time I was at the market I picked one up. (Since it was at the HMART, I guess I can cross post to Asian Fling). Last time the texture when roasted was like a sweet potato, so I had the idea to mash it into something spreadable. After which I had the idea to make something to spread it on, like homemade crackers.

This time, the squash was not as dry when roasted. It had the usual wettish feeling of any other squash (but still tasted just as good). Undeterred, I continued with my plan and made a simple spread anyway. This involved mashing the squash with a potato masher and mixing in some flavorings. I've tried it three ways now:

Olive oil and pimenton (smoked paprika), for a Spanish theme
Sesame oil and sesame seeds, for an Asian theme
Plain.

All three were great. The plain may have even been the best. The squash has so much flavor, it doesn't need much help. And you can leave the skins on, since their edible -- it gives the dish a little texture. I found them good served at room temperature.

As for the crackers, there are many recipes out there, but I found this one from allrecipes.com to be easy and full of whole wheat. And, it turns out, tasty. I won't repeat the recipe here....go look at theirs. But consider this advice. The first time I made it, I didn't roll it thin enough. It was fine at the edges, but it was thicker at the center. They tasted good, but the texture was off. I compromised by calling them "flat bread".

The second time, I was careful to roll them very thin. The instructions say to roll them to 1/8". What's 1/8"? Can you even attempt to measure it with a ruler? No. Just roll it as thin as you think it should be, and make it thinner. I found I had to do the full recipe in several batches to get them to fit on a baking sheet. The second time I also added toasted flax seeds. About a quarter cup of them, half ground and half left whole. They gave the cracker a complex toasty taste that was a real winner. I also found that they took more like 30-35 minutes to bake, rather than the 20 in the recipe.

You could easily do the squash with storebought crackers or the crackers with something else entirely. Both are dishes I will turn to again.

Kimchi series at Improbable Pantry - Asian Fling

2010-11-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

I have a series of articles on Kimchi over at Improbable Pantry - Asian Fling. check them out:

Enough kimchi for a lifetime of exploration
kimchi stew
kimchi pancakes (stay tuned!)
and this extra article on the kimchi crisis in Korea

Improbable Pantry - Asian Fling: An Improbable Pantry Side Project

2010-11-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

You know how sometimes members of a band have side projects? Well, now I have a culinary side project focused on cooking with ingredients found in Asian markets. It's called Improbable Pantry - Asian Fling. The first post is about the Seven Brilliant Things About HMART.

I've got a couple of articles already written which I'll be rolling out in the next week or two. I'm excited about this project -- it's been great fun going up to the HMART and trying out all the new food there. The first article will be all about Kimchi. See you there!

Grab it and go -- what do I do with this Kabocha Squash?

2010-10-01T20:31:00.000-04:00

I was in Whole Foods the other day, stocking up, and there was a large display of winter squash. Summer being a distant memory, I thought it was OK to be thinking about the longer indoor cooking times dictated by these. I usually get butternut, since it's easy to peel (and I'm not big on roasting the acorns and scooping out the insides. There, on sale, was a kabocha sqaush. Never heard of it. I looked at the description, and one thing caught my eye -- the skin is edible. Even better than something that's easy to peel. I grabbed one. It looks something like an acorn, but larger and with flattened poles. It sat in the fruit basket for a few days.

Susan asked, "what's for dinner?" I answered, "leftovers." She looked sad. I poked around a bit, and eyed the kabocha, sitting in the fruit basket.

I grabbed the squash (which conveniently had a little label so I could remember what the heck it was), come to the computer and asked The Google about it. First hit -- wikipedia. Of course. Confirmed that the skin is edible. Discovered that it's often used in tempura. Has a consistency that's like sweet potato. Hmmm.

Next. Tiny Urban Kitchen. Seems I'd heard of that blog, but had never read it. The first line of the post Oven Roasted Kabocha Squash said, "It's official. I love love love kabocha squash. It's like candy for me." Voila.

Although Susan was drawn to the idea of the kabocha squash gnocchi like a moth to flame, I was draw to the pictures of the crescent shaped slices of kabocha squash with oil and an little pepper. Slice em up. Brush with a little oil. Salt and pepper. Into a 400 degree oven. Come back 20 minutes later. Enjoy. You can read the official recipe on Jennifer's blog, but really, it's that simple. Oh, be careful about cutting those squash open. An accident waiting to happen. Really.

The skins really are edible. The texture is a little chalky. Like a potato, or sweet potato. The first bite is a puzzlement. Then the complex sweetness takes over. Not too sweet. The texture fills your mouth and stays there a bit. Smile.

I didn't have truffle oil on hand, as suggested by Jennifer. I did have some olive oil, which was ok. And some sesame oil which was also good. I liked the sesame oil on it.

I know that there are other suggestions for how to make kabocha squash on Jennifer's site -- in the comments. I'll read them soon. Until then, Susan and I were brainstorming up some ideas. Cut in half and fill with brown rice, sausage and tomatoes (or roasted tomatoes!) Unlike and acorn squash, you wouldn't have to do any scooping. Just eat the whole thing. And maybe those gnocchi someday.

Late summer tomato and pasta collision

2010-09-22T21:21:00.000-04:00

It's cooling off enough to cook inside again (even though it was unseasonably warm today). The flip flops are stashed in the closet, and I haven't been wearing shorts too much any more. There's a brief period of time when fresh tomatoes are available, but it's cool enough to cook them. So last weekend I spent the morning hauling rock for next year's raised beds and roasting some plum tomatoes scored from Wilson Farm. I've written about the roasted tomato thing before, so I won't repeat. Go for the original Molly Wizenberg version -- that's what I did. Suffice to say, that roasted tomatoes on hearty bread, perhaps with some goat or other soft cheese is heavenly. I tricked the season a little by doing them on the gas grill outside, so it wouldn't heat up the kitchen.

But that effort only used up about 1/4 of the four quarts of tomatoes I brought home. What to do?
Susan brought home some fresh pasta (with herbs de Provence) from the Lexington farmers market from Nella Pasta -- a small pasta maker that uses the Crop Circles shared kitchen in Jamaica Plain. (More on shared kitchens in another post).
Enter the vegetable drawer in the fridge, with zucchini and summer squash, some garlic, onion, and a little time (not thyme), and it made the perfect accompaniment to the fresh pasta.
What I loved about creating this dish was how the vegetables changed over the half hour or so on the stove. At the beginning, it didn't look like much. And didn't taste like much. But a little simmering concentrates that tomato flavor, softens up the squashes, and melds in the onion and garlic. By the time the pasta was ready, the vegetables were soft but not mushy. And the few splashes of red wine added enough depth to really round out the dish. A little salt and grinds of black pepper finished it off for a fine dish. You could add some Parmesan cheese if you want, but really, the veggies tasted wonderful, so no real need.

1 medium onion, diced
1 zucchini, medium, diced
1 summer squash, medium, diced
6 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, lightly crushed, to stay in one piece
1 handful of swiss chard (from the garden!), chopped (stems removed...you can use them if you want)
olive oil
red wine
1/2 pound fresh pasta
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil gently, and add the garlic and onions. Let those cook easily while seeding and dicing the tomatoes. Add them when ready and continue to cook slowly. Start a pot of water for the pasta. Dice the squashes, and add them after about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic.

Continue to cook gently while the pasta water boils. After about 10 minutes or so, and add the chard. Add some more olive oil if desired, and a few splashes of red wine.

When the water boils, cook the pasta until it's done (only a couple of minutes if you're using fresh pasta).

Drain the pasta, and serve with the vegetables.

Celebrating Heirloom tomato season -- a season of it's own.

2010-08-12T19:01:00.000-04:00

Tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes. I wait for them all year, and when the season arrives, I have them just about every day. Because you can't get them the rest of the year. Make hay while the sun shines.

From Food Blog Pics

Sweet, with a depth of flavor and texture that demands being eaten simply. With a little sale (fleur de sel, perhaps) and pepper. Maybe a drizzle of olive oil, and maybe a lighthanded splash of balsamic vinegar. Perhaps some cilantro or parsley. That's it. Or, over a nice bed of greens for some textural variety.

This year, I have three tomato plants growing. One cherry tomato variety that brings in tomatoes smaller than grapes. But sweet and tasty. The other, called red zebras (pictured above, yellow and red stripes), modest size. And the Paul Robeson's which are supposed to be black, still ripening.

I usually get them at Verrel Farm in Concord, which specializes in them, and still sells them for $2.99 a pound -- the same price they've been for ten years. But the Davis Square farmers market had a few vendors with heirlooms, at just a few cents more and a lot less driving.

So, this post is just a celebration of the season, with a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

From Food Blog Pics

Salad with chicken rather than chicken with salad

2010-07-25T10:56:00.000-04:00

We'd spent the day at the Lowell Folk Festival, an annual celebration of folk music that we mark on our calendars early so we won't miss it. Last weekend in July -- check it out. It was hot all day, and we'd taken Gracie with us. Plus, we'd spent part of the day nibbling on festival food -- ethnic meat skewers, rice concoctions and the like, so we weren't up for much, but we had to eat.

The night before, I'd bought a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods. An experiment. These rotisserie chickens can be hit or miss at a lot of supermarkets, and my last few hadn't been good (from other markets). I was impressed that Whole Foods marks the time they put out the chicken, and this one had been sitting for less than half an hour -- a good sign. I'd had some the night before, while in even less of a mood to prepare food.

The great thing about these chickens, when they're good, is that they can last for a few days. So driving home from Lowell, I had in mind some hunks of chicken to be eaten by hand, with a little side of salad. By the time I was in the kitchen though, I noticed all the limes and avocados in the fridge, and the lettuce wouldn't last another day. And remembered the cilantro growing in the garden, and thought to turn this meal on it's head. Make it a salad, with some of the chicken cut up and laid on top.

It was a winner. A powerfully flavored salad with olive oil and half a lime drizzled on top of each bowl, a hearty handful of cilantro, and the other raw veggies. Avocados and lime. Like guacamole, but not so messy. It's all we needed, really, and took only a few minutes to throw together.

Oh...and here's some cute pictures of Gracie on her Festival outing. She was quite the attraction. I'm learning that if you have a dog, especially a cute dog, everyone's friendly to you!

Winding down, winding up. But then there's the food!

2010-07-14T22:20:00.000-04:00

This five month break is winding down. I go back to work in five days. Five days! Less than a week. I could get philosophical about this. And maybe I will. But not now.

Right now, I just want to enjoy the memories. And transition.

Intermission is ending, which means my travel blog, Intermission, is also ending. But I'm gearing up some other exciting activities on THIS blog about cooking and eating. So, stay tuned here, because this is where the action will be.

It seemed only fitting, then, to do a little tribute to the food of our trip, mostly in Europe, but some in North America and the Caribbean. Just a bit of fun. Enjoy!

Keep it simple

2010-06-20T12:37:00.000-04:00

I don't spend a lot of time reading about studies with the latest fad diets and health claims. It does seem like what was good for us yesterday is no good for us today. My favorite was when dark chocolate was declared good for you. I didn't hesitate to embrace that concept, regardless of what new research might come and say some years from now. A square or two a day keeps me happy! I don't remember where coffee is these days? Villain? Savior? Use in moderation and I think I'll be OK.

This article, Eating Brown Rice to Cut Diabetes Risk, in the New York Times caught my eye."Just replacing a third of a serving of white rice with brown each day could reduce one’s risk of Type 2 diabetes by 16 percent, a statistical analysis showed. A serving is a cup of cooked rice."

Pretty simple. Pretty low risk. Easy to try. Big payoff, because you can do so much with brown rice. The simple concept that I remember most vividly from my reading of the books by Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman about the health effects of a simpler diet was the difference between whole grains and processed grains, how our body handles them, and what it means for keeping weight in check. Whole grains and vegetables make you feel more "full", so you don't overeat. And if you DO eat a lot of these, they don't make you fat.

Brown rice is a perfect example. Brown rice is as easy to make as white rice, it just takes 45 minutes instead of 20. Make some extra and you'll have some for another meal or two, in different incarnations. It's a perfect start to any meal.

So, if you've been looking to make some changes, start with the brown rice. Give it a chance to shine in a tasty pilaf or cold rice salad with bold flavors. And once you get the hang of brown rice, you might find yourself wondering about other whole grains for variety -- wheat berries, buckwheat (kasha), quinoa, and more that I haven't tried yet. Get a cheap rice cooker, and you can do any of these grains as easily as you can do white rice.

Bittmans's book, Food Matters, suggests that entry to this world of whole grain, real food cookery starts with a pot of beans. Good idea. But a pot of brown rice may be so much simpler and less intimidating. Try starting there. It's simple.

Thinking one or two moves ahead

2010-06-19T15:19:00.000-04:00

I'm on a little weekend retreat on a lake in Maine. There aren't any grocery stores within easy driving distance, so I needed to do at least a little thinking about what food I'd bring, so I didn't end up eating crackers, cheese and peanut butter for two and a half days.

I didn't know exactly what I'd have, but I knew I had stuff in the fridge that could easily be transported in a cooler -- basically moving my food stores up north. But I had to be selective. And I only wanted to "cook" one night. So, the food puzzle became, "what food can a bring that will be cooked once, and lend itself to multiple interpretations?"

Into the cooler/provisions bag went:

Shriveling Asian eggplants (2)
Flat leaf parsley
One cup of brown rice tossed into a plastic bag
One avocado
One lime
One half a large red onion
One half a long English cucumber
One heckuva lot of marinating Korean style beef from the HMart, needing to be eaten.
Granola
Milk
Assorted fruits and snacks (which don't count for this little exercise)

One the way up, I thought some corn on the cob and tomato would be good too, in unspecified ways. I bought more corn than I needed for one meal, because cold corn cut into salads is fantastic.

There was plenty of meat for a crowd, so I figured if I grilled it the first night, it would be useful for several meals to come, in various ways. I'll probably end up bringing some home.

It was still pretty hot out by the time I was ready to cook, so doing almost everything outside made some sense. I got the rice going, because that would take the longest -- 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, I sliced the eggplant and brushed them with oil for grilling on low heat, and removed the silk from the corn to roast on the same low fire, encased in the silkless husks. The eggplant were ready in ten minutes, the corn in 15. I created yet another variation on the "dress the eggplant after you grill them" theme, this time with oil, cider vinegar, habanero pepper sauce (a few drops), regular paprika (didn't have smoked), garlic powder (forgot the fresh garlic, doh!), salt/pepper.

So the first night was pretty straight-ahead, after I grilled the meat.

For lunch today, I had a pretty good assortment of things from which to create something tasty. Cut the kernels off a couple of ears of the corn, chunked the avocado, diced some tomato, pulled the leaves off a good handful of parsley, tossed in about half the leftover corn, and remembered the red onion at the last minute. Dressed in a little olive oil, lime juice and salt/pepper and it was a meal, accompanied by a little beef sandwich. Forgot I had cucumber, which would have been a good addition -- perhaps for tonight's rendition. And the leftover eggplant is still waiting to be used.

Nothing fancy, but a satisfying lunch -- one that I'd pay for if I were out somewhere. I still have a couple of meals to go, and I now have the salad plus a few other items. No need to cook everyday, just leave some open ended opportunities for the use of the leftovers.

Back from Europe, Now Exploring Asia

2010-06-12T22:23:00.000-04:00

Wake up! Wake up!

While in Europe for 11 weeks, this little blog as been on sabbatical too. It's time to wake it up!

We had some spectacular meals while traveling. Some disappointments. And some that got us adequately fed to keep going from day to day. We discovered that it was tough to pick the memorable meals -- sometimes they just came out of nowhere and surprised us. Like the braised pork knuckle in the beer joint in Regensburg. Or the rotisserie rabbit from the chicken man in Ansouis. Or that dried out gnocchi that I discovered could be pan fried.

But it wasn't till we hit northern Europe that we found meal after meal of reliably great food. Like this one from a fabulous Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam. Unlike the France and Italy, which seem mired in the past, where you were hard-pressed to find any food other than French or Italian, the Dutch have embraced a wide variety of cultures, and their food has benefited from this. Even in the restaurants that were not primarily Asian or middle-eastern we found a sense of adventure and experimentation that led to fun, tasty meals, prepared by fun, energetic chefs.

I do prefer the bold, knock-your-socks-off flavors that come from Asia and the Middle East over the more subtle flavors of Europe. They take hold of your palate, shake it around, and don't let go. Yum.

Before we left, I discovered the HMart, a relatively new Asian grocery mega store in Burlington, MA. Every aisle is jam-packed with tasty goodies. And I don't know what to do with most of it. An opportunity!

Eleanor and I took our first visit since "the trip" a couple of days ago, and she was pretty good about keeping me for over-buying, saying several times, "Dad...remember, we've got to eat that stuff before it goes bad". Point taken.

My problem in the past with the HMart has been that I don't know what to do with anything. But then I don't remember what the possibilities are when I'm home preparing for the NEXT visit, so I'm never prepared. So this time, I snapped pictures of the stuff that intrigued me, and that I needed to learn more about. And I bought a book on Amazon, still to come, called, Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, which promises to help me figure some of this stuff out. Here's some of the stuff I've got my eye on...a SMALL sample. Greens galore. Tubers and roots and fruits and greens. Greens.

And the prices were very reasonable.

And fish. I'm very excited about trying out the fish. They have a spectacular fish counter with LOTS of fish, that mostly looks very fresh, which they will dress for you any way you want. Next time, I'll be prepared. I founds some good recipes in a book that Susan had on the shelf.

In the meantime, I had a lot of greens on my hands -- something called Yu Choy, which looked like a cross between spinach and mustard greens and bok choy. And Shanghai bok choy, which was smaller than regular bok choy, but bigger than baby bok choy. And some hen-of-the woods mushrooms. And a new tamari sauce. So I prepared what to me has been my go-to Chinese food preparation, which I haven't done much of in years:

Marinate thinly sliced meat (in this case, frozen chicken thighs from Trader Joes) in a mixture of a few tablespoons of soy sauce and dry sherry, some splashes of rice wine vinegar, and a teaspoon or so of corn starch.
Prep all the veggies in advance, minced garlic, bit-sized pieces of scallion, and the chopped greens.
Stir fry the scallions, then the garlic for 20 seconds or so, then add in the greens, and when the greens are a little wilted and bright green, pull them out of the wok and set aside.
Stir fry the chicken in a some oil and garlic in batches, until just done.
Add back in the veggies, turn the heat down, and add a sauce made of the same soy/sherry/vinegar/corn starch mixture as the marinade, till heated through and shiny.
At the very end, stir in a couple of teaspoons of crab paste. Secret ingredient.
Serve over rice (in this case, brown rice).

Anyway. There's a project a-brewing to experiment my way through the HMart. It may take a decade or two, but I think I'm up to it. Stay tuned!

Intermission

2010-04-04T14:49:00.001-04:00

For anyone that's following this blog, wondering what's going on, it's that I'm on sabbatical -- intermission. Blogging my way through that experience. Will return to this when I return home.

Follow me on Intermission:

Not just rice and beans

2010-01-21T22:00:00.002-05:00

Here's why I love cooking. Take a simple pile of dried beans and turn them into something sublime. Without a whole lot of muss or fuss.

A few months ago, I took the hint from a few of the blogs I follow to order some heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. There were so many beans, it was hard to choose, so I went for the starter pack, which had five types. Those beauties you see up there are cranberry beans. They were the start of the inspiration. It was MLK day on Monday, so I was home, and it was sleety and cold, and I was going to be around for awhile, so around noontime, I put a pound of the cranberry beans (about two cups) in with about four cups of water and a half an onion into the slow cooker on high for as long as it was going to take. This is the Rancho Gordo suggested method, which I'd used once before with good success. No soaking, no preplanning, just some beans, water and a half an onion, and a lazy afternoon.

I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but with a pile of cooked beans, there were options.

Click "read more" to continue...

As the day wore on, the dish started to take shape. And it was going to be simple. I was curious as to just HOW GOOD these heirloom beans were. They do cost several times the dusty beans you get at the grocery for about a buck a pound. I was curious whether I could really taste the difference in a simple dish.

I'm also in the mode of clearing out the fridge and pantry. Read my lips - no new shopping. I had to use up what I had. The day before I obtained a pound of nitrite-free, thickly cut, intense looking bacon, and only used half. Bacon and beans. A classic. So I had a half pound left.

As the beans were nearing being ready (about three hours later), I diced the bacon, added it to the skillet, and cooked them nice and slow till they started to crisp. This took about a half hour, drained about three quarters of the fat and added the cooked beans with some of the cooking liquid. I let those simmer for a bit, to blend the flavors and get hot (15 minutes or so), then added a half a bag of frozen chopped spinach (just to have some greens in the mix...they don't taste like much). At this point I added a judicious amount of salt (worried that the bacon would have added quite a bit) and some pepper. I hadn't salted the beans till now.

The inspiration though was the half-eaten bag of cooked chestnuts in the back of the fridge. I'd found these at an Asian grocery a few months ago, and they'd been languishing in the cupboard until Eleanor discovered them and opened them up. So they needed eating. Chopped roughly and added to get them warm just as I was ready to serve.

Plain brown rice was the bed (cooked in a mix of chicken stock and water -- there was a cup or so of stock in the fridge needing finishing), and chopped scallions the garnish (also languishing and needing attention).

The result was a plate of perfectly cooked, not too mushy, creamily textured beans, with little surprises of sweetness from the chestnuts and little surprises of onion-zip from the scallions and little surprises of barely salty but hearty bacon every few mouthfuls. But mostly, it was the earthy satisfaction of a terrific plate of beans. I added a tiny sprinkle of fleur de sel for a little more salt, but that was it.

I'd resisted the temptation to put every lingering vegetable in the fridge in the mix. And every lingering bottle of flavor stood on the sidelines watching. I didn't even use garlic for heavens sake.

Sometimes, simple is the best.

Linguine ala Carbonara - Extreme

2010-01-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

First of all, Happy New Year! I started this post just after New Year, and am just getting around to finishing it off.

My New Year's eve experiment was to do a recipe out of Jim Lahey's new book, My Bread. Walnut bread, with raisins and a subtle cinnamon flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Fortunately, it was fantastic!! My first foray beyond the pretty basic no-knead approach I'd been using since Bittman first popularized the technique a few years ago. But I digress. Hopefully, I'll make it again, and report back.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square, where I discovered fantastic sandwiches. Fantastic. If you've never been, go. You won't be sorry. It's hard to imagine getting wound up over a sandwich, but check it out, you'll see.

But it's called Dave's FRESH PASTA, so I thought if they were so good at sandwiches, they'd have to be wizards at pasta. I hadn't ever paid much attention to fresh pasta before, other than the gluey stuff you get at the supermarket. At Dave's they've got four or five basic pasta types (plain, black pepper, tomato, spinach). And they say a pound will serve 3 or 4. But when I saw the size of a half-pound black pepper linguine, I figured it would never be enough, so got another quarter pound The half pound would've been fine -- lesson -- listen to the experts.

I've been making Spaghetti Alla Carbonara for years, and it was always a family favorite. With bacon as a central character, how could it not be? This was to be different, however.

First, I used guanciale instead of bacon, that I procured on my last trip to Seattle, to Salumi. I'd been wanting to try guanciale for some time, and Salumi had some on their special board, so I picked up a quarter pound to bring home. Guanciale, by the way, is pork jowls. Cured.

So I got a pot of water going for the pasta, and got the diced guanciale going in the skillet. Meanwhile, I mixed two beaten eggs with a few glops of half-and-half, and a half cup or so of parmesan cheese made nice and fluffy by my new microplane and quite a few turns of the pepper mill.

When the guanciale was crisp, it was time to immerse the pasta for a couple of short minutes, until al dente tender, a quick drain, back into the pot and add the egg mixture and the guanciale. Stir quickly to let the eggs cook in the heat of the pasta, and serve while hot.

The pasta was unlike anything I'd ever had. It had taste. A depth of flavor that I really don't expect from pasta. And texture -- silky but with some backbone.. And the carbonara treatment was perfect to accentuate all the fun of the fresh pasta. I think I'm now spoiled. It's going to be difficult to go back, except that it's not as easy to keep fresh pasta in the cupboard for months on end.

Extreme Coffee

2009-12-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

I like coffee, but I'm not obsessed. A good brew from a good independent coffee bar usually is enough to satisfy me. Awful diner or convenience store coffee is a big turnoff.

Nothing prepared me, however, from an impromptu foray into the coffee temple that calls itself Barismo in East Arlington. Susan and I were next door in 13 Forest, checking out potential art, when I remembered that Barismo was right next door, and we had some time on our hands (unlike my usual visits to the area to Thailand Cafe, fantastic fast Thai food). Time is what we needed, because we found out that we knew NOTHING about coffee.

It's not immediately clear upon walking in what the business is. There are small bags of coffee on the shelves, along with a variety of coffee gear, none of which looks familiar. There is a whiteboard on the wall with different kinds of coffee you can get. Espresso, capuccino (I know that), then siphon and pour over. Huh? No tables and chairs either but two small batch roasting machines behind the counter, along with two friendly baristas, one of whom was happy to answer our many questions the first of which was "what should we order?" A question that was not as dumb as it sounds, because we were unfamiliar with the offerings.

And the answers. Well, I had to admit to our new friend that I hadn't understood most of what he'd just told me, regarding growing regions, roasting methods, grind, brew, temperature, equipment.

We started with an espresso. Which, we were told, would be of uncertain size, because they brew it for optimum quality, rather than for a particular cup size. OK. What we got was a thimbleful of espresso that had only what I could call a sour taste. Not bad, sour, necessarily, but not the usual bitter strength of an espresso. I thought it was a taste I could get used to, and maybe even like. Susan was turned off. But it was gone so quickly that it was hard to tell. (Well, we did share that little thimbleful).

Next, the siphon. Two cups for seven dollars. Actually two little glasses, probably 3-4 ounces each. It took our friendly barista about ten minutes to prepare the device and deliver the coffee. It was unlike any coffee I'd ever had. I'm sure there were a lot of adjectives I could have chosen. Fruity, floral, rich. It definitely changed taste as it went from hot hot to just hot, to warm. I'd tell you the kind of coffee they used, if I could remember. You can see the method below, from heating up the water to the prescribed temperature, to cooling it down with a wet towel to get the coffee to descend once the steam pressure subsides.

While we were finishing up these little glass they let us try a capuccino (pictured at the top), which was the best cappuccino I'd ever had. The foam was rich, not airy, and the taste complex. And the cappuccino art stayed intact to the bottom of the little cup. I'd have that again, for sure.

We didn't get to try the pour over method, which looks like using a hand-poured Melitta filter but the filter basket has deep ridges that allow the water to seep through the sides of the basket, not just the bottom, optimizing the flavor extraction. Next time!

So, if coffee is more than just of cup of joe, go here, at least once, just for the experience.

Slow roasted heaven...I mean tomatoes with goat cheese

2009-11-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

If you have an afternoon or evening free, to enjoy warm aromas in your house, then you must do this. The provenance of this is unclear, but all paths have led to Orangette. One via Bon Apetit, the other on her Orangette blog.. I tried the first one last year, and it ranks with the most tasty things I've ever had. So I tried it again this year, and it did not disappoint.

Start with one of those boxes of tomatoes you can get at the farm stand, the ones intended for sauces. I don't know what kind these were. They're the ones pictured in Bean and Green Saute with Tomatoes and Eggs. There may still be some at your farm stand, so hurry.

Slice them in half lengthwise, and pull out the seeds. (I may try this sometime without doing this step.) Put in a roasting pan. Pour oil to about 1/4 inch in the pan, and some more on top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle generously with dried oregano, then some salt and very lightly with sugar. Put in a 250 degree oven for an hour.

After and hour, flip them over, and put them back in for 45 minutes.

Flip them over again, and sprinkle on some minced garlic and return to the oven for 15 minutes. (The original called for adding the garlic after removing them from the oven, which is wonderful, but so garlicky you can't talk to anyone for a couple of days. The 15 minutes in the oven took the softened the edge of the garlic.)

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint, and let cool for a couple of hours.

Serve with a smear of goat cheese over crusty bread. Repeat.

When you get tired of it, try it rolled in a flatbread with labneh. Just as good!

Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

2009-10-31T10:43:00.000-04:00

The beans were great. But enough is enough. There were beans enough for another dish, and that other dish will come some day. Into the freezer they went, to emerge when some new inspirations strikes.

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

Check out the October blog carnival on legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.

Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3

2009-10-31T10:38:00.000-04:00

There were still PLENTY of beans left after the first two dishes this week, but I was in the mood for something a little different. Looking at the contents of the fridge, I found I had some vegetables that needed using up. Opportunity. Plus, the beans were comfortably bathed in lots of good cooking liquid. Soup, I thought.

What I had on had were some string beans, half a red bell pepper, and some more greens. I got the string beans and bell pepper going in a saucepan with a little olive oil and garlic, and cooked until they started to soften, about 10 minutes. To this, I added the beans and bean cooking liquid, and then added another cup or so of water while rinsing out the bean storage container. This was about right. Brought that to a boil, and then reduced to a simmer, for another 15 minutes or so.

Just before serving, I added the juice of one and a half limes to the pot, and after spooning the soup into the oversized mug, added a teaspoon or so of zest from the lime. This gave the whole dish a vaguely Mexican slant. The soup had earthy notes from the beans, mid-tones from the veggies, and high notes from the lime. I ate it accompanied by some bread, but serving it over a corn tortilla (or with tortilla strips) would have been entirely appropriate.

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.

Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, part 2

2009-10-30T15:44:00.000-04:00

Two containers of wet and wonderful beans from the weekend's cooking. What to do next? A new cooking challenge for me this fall has been a foray into the world of CSA -- community supported agriculture. I signed up with Enterprise Farm this summer, and as a result I get a box of produce each Wednesday, that demands attention, especially as the next Wednesday rolls around, and I haven't eaten everything that won't keep from the previous week. This week, it was dandelion greens. More greens.

So I had to use greens. And, I had bought a big box of field tomatoes from Wilson Farm that were going to be used for slow roasting (stay tuned!!), but I had plenty more to use. I've discovered only recently how terrific tomatoes are when they're cooked. Either a lot, like with slow roasting, or just a bit, when added to a saute pan with other things. Even so-so tomatoes burst into sweetness and complex flavor when cooked. Try it -- you'll see!

Beans, greens, tomatoes. A good start. Heat some olive oil, add a smashed clove of garlic and a couple of chopped tomatoes (seeds and all). Cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes start to reduce in size. If you cook longer, they'll practically disappear, concentrating the tomato flavor even more, but I was hoping to recognize the tomatoes when was done. Add the chopped greens and let until they start to wilt, and then add the cooked beans with some of the bean cooking liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer for as long as you can to meld the flavors.

Looking at all the soupy goodness caused two inspirations. One, was to serve it over polenta, which works well with anything runny. And the other was to poach a couple of eggs in the simmering pan, so that they'd ooze out all over when it was time to eat.

Seasoning was a salt, pepper and half teaspoon or so of chili powder. Mine came from Chimayo New Mexico, but whatever you have, I'm sure will be great.

This beat my expectation. The taste was great, but the texture was superb. The runny egg imparted a silky feeling to the whole thing, and a rich flavor to the concoction. I'll be trying that trick again sometime soon.

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.

Start with a pot of beans

2009-10-30T15:06:00.000-04:00

It's only fitting to start my new blog by telling the story of a humble pound of beans as they find their way into several dishes over the course of the week, and ending up with the last portion in the freezer, waiting for the appropriate moment. Legumes are the most basic of foods. Remember in Genesis when Essau sold his birthright for some lentils? And in Mark Bittman's Food Matters the very first recipe is for a Sunday pot of beans. And, I just bought my first box of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook. Here's the story of my Sunday pot of beans, made Saturday.

Beans and greens and shrooms

1 lb vaquero beans (from Rancho Gordo), about 2 cups dry, using about 2 cups of the COOKED beans for this recipe, and the rest, for the inspirations over the rest of the week

1/2 onion, chopped

1 large bunch red chard (or whatever greens you desire...I prefer sturdier greens)

1 medium shallot clove, chopped

3 or 4 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 small packet dried mushrooms (about an ounce)

Olive Oil, a tablespoon or so for the beans and another for the greens

Butter, a tablespoon or so

Salt and pepper to taste.

Seasoning, optional. Such as sesame oil, tamarind paste, smoked paprika, pinch of cayenne.

Cook the beans. I tried for the first time the Rancho Gordo suggested method, in a crockpot. Inspect the dried beans for stones and dirt, and rinse. Add 3-4x the amount of water, and sauteed onion. Cook on high. Mine took several hours, but not all day, so be careful. I was concerned that I'd overcooked the beans because they started to burst open, but once they burst, all that beany taste started melding with the water, which ended up working very nicely for the bean dishes over the course of the week. They were soft, but not falling apart. The beans were ready early, but they can sit for awhile. Actually, I think they benefit from that. Mine sat for a few hours waiting for dinnertime.

When you start getting hungry for dinner, wash and chop the greens roughly -- a broad chop for the leafy part, and a smaller chop for the stem part so they cook evenly.

Rinse the dried mushrooms in warm water, drain, then cover with boiling water for 15 minutes or more, until the shrooms are tender.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter, then the shallots and garlic, and cook until softened. Add the greens, and saute until they start to wilt. About 5 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cooked beans to the pan, stir and continue cooking. Add a few tablespoons of the mushroom liquid as well as the bean liquid, and keep cooking. Perhaps 10 minutes, until everything is hot.

With some salt and pepper, this is a very tasty dish. The beans and the mushrooms blend naturally into an earthy, satisfying meal. I was very happy with my first try with the heirloom beans, too, but use whatever you can find.

You can add some flavoring if you'd like, and I tried a few. Sesame chili oil was a little overpowering for my taste, but plain toasted sesame oil might be good. I tried a dab of tamarind paste on a small corner of my plate, and that worked well, but may not be to everyone's taste. Pimenton is always a good one.

Serve plain, or over rice, or other grain. You could even add the grain to the saute pan to blend all the flavors.

There was plenty of this dish left over for another meal or two. And, there were plenty of plain, cooked beans leftover for new experiments. See these recipes:

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

Improbable Pantry: Aspiration

2009-10-30T12:50:00.000-04:00

I can't draw a straight line. And I can't make music. But I can cook, and that's how I make art. In cooking, the pantry and farmers market are the palette from which I compose and create meals that improbably emerge from their humble beginnings of seeds, grains, legumes, roots, stems, and leaves. I also make art by taking photographs. With this blog, I plan to combine these two passions, and share my culinary adventures, from the mundane to the exotic. And I hope that you will share your adventures with me, in comments, links to your own blogs or your own discoveries.

By the time Michael Pollan declared, "Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants," in his In Defense of Food, it didn't take much to convince me. I had always eaten what my grandmother would recognize as food. Mostly. I did have a thing for Oreos, but still. And then Mark Bittman followed with practical eating advice along the same philosophical lines in his book/cookbook Food Matters. If you're unfamiliar with these books, go get them. You will never look at food the same way again. And that'll be a good thing.

I'm not a fancy cook. I don't spend a lot of time with fussy preparations or elegant presentation. I make basic home cooking that tends toward the aggressively flavored. I go for ethnic cuisines that don't hold back on taste. Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American foods and the flavorings they use show up often in my cooking. I am not averse to mixing and matching, and trying a bit of home-grown "fusion". Umami is my friend. Which is not to say I won't try a long-simmered batch of stew or simple plate of roasted vegetables with nothing more than salt and pepper, letting the natural flavor of the ingredients come through. But Ido tend to like flavors that hit you over the head.

I don't eat much meat anymore. Mostly a little, for a treat. For some extra flavor. I don't miss it, but I enjoy it when I use it. You will be surprised how far a little meat will go. I'm increasingly seeking out sustainably and humanely grown meats. Since I eat so little of it, the extra cost is not a barrier.

Organic. Plants and meat. When I can. There are a lot of farmers using integrated pest management, and I applaud their efforts and am happy to buy their produce. There are a lot of tradeoffs out there, and I'm happy to support the shift to more sustainable agriculture.

I've always been concerned that a mostly vegetable diet would leave me hungry all the time. But it hasn't. A variety of whole grains and hearty vegetables is enough to fill anyone up. And as Mark Bittman says in his book, if you eat this way, you can pretty much eat as much as you want. I've found that to be the case, but I really do not find that I overeat.

The Internet has changed the way I cook. Whereas I used to go to a few shelves full of cookbooks, now I search the web. I have a few go-to bloggers I like to check out, but am often surprised by new sources of great ideas. I'll usually scan a few ideas on a particular theme -- like "eggplant" -- and then synthesize something from the cooking techniques and flavorings that I've read about. Sometimes I'll use a recipe directly, but more often, it's a little of this and a little of that. Since I know what's in my pantry and my fridge, particular food inspirations usually come from a day or two of simmering in my brain, so by the time I'm in the kitchen, I have a pretty good idea about what I'm about to do.

So when I post a recipe here, it will rarely suffer from putting your own spin on it. And I'm eager to hear about how you have worked with the same themes.

The premise of this blog is this:

Explore how to use whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables when in season, well raised meat as much as I can.
Explore new tastes and new ideas.
Participate in and inspire a community of people that share a passion for simply prepared, tasty, healthy food.
Keep it simple. And fun.

So, the journey begins Your comments, suggestions and opinions are welcome, and we'll see what new food frontiers we can explore together.