Cookbook Delight

Although it was hot and crowded at the used-cookbook stall at the Hollywood Farmers Market yesterday, we managed to find a few books to bring home with us.

These will be inspiring me over the next few months:
The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan (1973)
Long Ago in France by MFK Fisher (1991)
The Fiery Cuisines: the world's most delicious hot dishes by Dave DeWitt & Nancy Gerlach (1984)
French Cheeses: the visual guide to more than 350 cheeses from every region of France (1996)
Modern Mediterranean Cooking: a culinary collection of fresh flavors by Elena Balashova (2010)
Mediterranean Hot and Spicy by Aglaia Kremezi (2009)
Pasta Sauces from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library (1994)
Favorite Indian Food by Diane Seed (1990)
Sunset Low-Fat Vegetarian Cookbook (1995)
A Passion for Cheese by Paul Gayler (1999)
Hot Vegetables by Hugh Carpenter & Teri Sandison (1998)
Savoring Provence by Diane Holuigue (2002)

Sunday Shopping

It was already warm at 8 a.m. this morning, and the Hollywood Farmers Market was more crowded than usual. I think it was a combination of people wanting to beat the heat, and the attraction of the second-hand book sale. We browsed the books a little, but with the heat and the crowds I just wanted to buy our food and get home.

This is what we bought from the wonderful organic farmers who feed us:
2 cucumbers, 1 green pepper, 1 romaine lettuce, 3 bunches of fat asparagus, 3 red peppers, green beans, a dozen limes, 4 yellow apples whose name I forget, 4 tsugaru apples, 2 honey crisp apples, 15 oranges, cherry tomatoes, 6 ears of corn, a dozen eggs, an avocado, and 1 smallish watermelon.

Grilled Cantaloupe

I love grilled pineapple, so I thought grilled cantaloupe would be great too.

I peeled a section, sliced and seeded it, and threw it on the grill while we were eating dinner.

When it had grill marks - which took a while - we tried it. Bleh. It didn't do anything for either of us.

It turns out we prefer our melon chilled, not warm.

Trying new things is part of what I like about cooking. And if the experiment doesn't work, the compost pile is ready to accept contributions and turn them into excellent fertilizer for the other plants we grow.

Kale Salad with Grilled Carrots

Grilled carrots are really awesome. They're almost worth lighting a barbecue just for them.

Sunday night we cooked a full meal on the barbecue and I grilled some carrots and served them with a kale salad. The warm buttery carrots were a wonderful foil to the greens. And the salad made good leftovers for lunch the next day.

This is what I did.

Kale Salad with Grilled Carrots
Grilled Carrots:
6 carrots, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Kale Salad
juice of 1/2 lemon (and more to taste)
juice of scant half an orange
1 tsp chopped shallots
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch Tuscan kale

Cut carrots in half lengthwise. Blanch them in salted boiling water until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain and cool in ice water. Dry them off and toss with the olive oil, oregano and balsamic. Grill over medium-high heat until grill marks appear, 3-5 minutes. Keep warm.

Whisk together lemon juice, orange juice, shallots, balsamic, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper.

Stem the kale and cut the leaves in half lengthwise. Stack them together and cut them in 1/4 inch strips crosswise. Toss the ribbons into the dressing, massaging the leaves well to absorb the oil and soften.

Mound the kale on a plate and place the warm grilled carrots on top.

Serves 4-6

Good as cold leftovers.

Padron Chilies on the Barbecue

When we barbecued Sunday night, I tossed a few Padron chilies on the grill for a speedy appetizer.

I find barbecuing is conducive to appetizers, because cooking over fire tends to be a leisurely activity.

This veggie appetizer is low-calorie so it doesn't spoil the appetite, but it's fun to eat because while Padron chilies are generally mild, the occasional one has quite a kick. No way to tell without biting it.

I washed and dried the chilies, and then put them on the grill with no seasoning. When they were nicely browned in places, I took them off the heat, sprinkled them with a little fleur de sel, and served them with a few freshly-picked Chadwick's Cherries cherry tomatoes from our garden.

Summer suppers and simplicity really go together.

Sunday Shopping

It was cool and slightly muggy this morning at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

We were happy to see the stand of Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch. They were back with the fresh harvest, including some branches of unripe dates - which were delicious and less sweet than the fully ripe ones. The new almond crop from Yemetz Almond farm was in too, so we stocked up.

I also bought a basil plant because my basil is very small. I complained to the farmer about my slow-growing summer vegetables. I thought it was lack of water, but he said I should be feeding them every couple of weeks. I feel bad I'm starving my vegetables, and plan to rectify that this week.

In the meantime, I once again am exceedingly grateful that there are many professional organic farmers to grow my dinner for me.

Here's what we came home with today:
16 small oranges for juice, 1 small melon whose name I forget, 1 small cantaloupe, 1 red butter lettuce, 1 orange pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 large cantaloupe (I plan to try grilling slices of it for dessert tonight), 1 lb raw almonds, scallions, 2 dozen eggs, 1 zucchini, 4 small plain yogurt, 1 lb khadrawy dates, 4 ears corn that the farmer tells us is so young and sweet we can eat the whole thing raw - even the cob - we're dubious, 4 tsugaru apples, 2 gala apples, 4 small red potatoes, 4 mountain-grown peaches, 2 maui onions, 2 small eggplants, 2 avocados, 3 grapefruit, 1 bag mixed salad greens, celery, padron peppers to throw on the grill tonight as a simple appetizer.

Buy organic for the bees

Organic corn is grown from seed that does not have the
a toxic coating of neonicotinoids. All other corn
probably does, even if it's no-spray.

I just finished reading in the latest Rolling Stone a story about yet another link between agricultural pesticide use, bees and colony collapse disorder (CCD).

One of the latest agricultural pesticides to be used extensively (since 2000) are neonicotinoids, a derivative of nicotine.

These chemicals, also called neonics, are used as a seed coating. The plant that grows from a neonic-coated seed contains neonics in all its tissues. Insects try eating a part of the plant and die. The plant survives to bear fruit and go to market. Agri-business thrives.

A couple of questions though. First, what do neonics do to humans? They are neurotoxic, but we are assured that we are absorbing them in such small doses they won't hurt us. According to the article by Alex Morris, a 2012 US Department of Agriculture survey found neonics in 22 percent of cherry tomatoes and 25 percent of bell peppers. They're also found in baby food. Studies show that unless you eat solely organic food, you have these neonicotinoids in your blood. This might be okay for grown people, but potentially quite damaging to the developing brains of babies.

More urgently, they seem to be killing bees. They're not an instant killer, like many pesticides. Instead, the bees seem to survive a few weeks while dining on the flowers of the neonic-infused flowers. In fact, some observers think bees actually prefer these flowers - they are full of addictive nicotine after all. They take the pollen back to their hives - which means the honey is neonic-tainted too - but then after a few weeks they die while off on their travels, leaving the beekeeper to wonder what he has done to lose his bees.

Needles to say, these toxic seed-coatings have been banned in safety-conscious Europe pending future testing on the effects these chemicals have on humans and the environment.

In corporate-friendly USA however, the EPA has decided neonics are probably safe, and continues slowly investigating while agri-business uses them extensively. Neoniotinoid-coated seeds are being used in both Canada and the US.

Fortunately, under US and Canadian law, organic seeds cannot be coated with neonics or other chemicals.

This is yet another reason to support your local organic farmers.

Tofu with Lemongrass and Thai Basil

I braved our lemongrass thicket the other day to harvest a couple of stalks. They combined well with some Thai basil, serrano peppers and fish peppers from our garden to make our tofu dinner delicious.

Seriously delicious. Larry thought it was the best tofu ever, and he was an accomplished tofu-veggie stir-fry maker even before I met him.

It's a dry dish - no sauce to be soaked up by rice. I served it with a salad and some grilled vegetables for a light dinner that tempted the tastebuds on a hot summer evening.

Tofu with Lemongrass and Thai Basil
14 oz package firm tofu
2 stalks lemongrass
1 1/2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
4 red chiles - serranos and fish peppers are good
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scant tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup Thai basil leaves
3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts

Rinse tofu and press in a towel for a few minutes. Pat dry and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Peel the tough outer layers of the lemongrass, and grate the tender center part on a fine grater. Mix in a bowl with tamari, chopped chilies, turmeric and salt. Gently stir in the tofu and let marinate for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Warm oil over high heat in cast iron fry pan. Stir in onions, shallot and garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Push them to the sides of the pan and place the tofu cubes and marinade in the middle. Turn the tofu cubes occasionally as they cook until they are browned around the edges. Stir the onions too so they cook but don't burn.

When the tofu is lightly browned, and the onions are cooked, stir it all together, and add the coarsely chopped basil and peanuts.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

Sunday Shopping

The seasons have changed in the weeks since I last wrote. The greens and radishes of spring and early summer have gone and we're now into the season of stone fruit, melons and corn. At the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants glowed in the slanting August light.

This is the organic food we came home with:
1 cantaloupe, 4 small plain yogurts, cilantro, carrots, 2 shallots, 3 slender leeks, 1 yellow onion, 1 red onion, 1 cucumber, 1 very small butternut squash, 1 lb san marzano tomatoes, 2 early girl tomatoes, 3 limes, a small bag of mixed greens, heirloom cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, 9 oranges, 3 mountain-grown peaches, 1 bunch of beets with their greens, tuscan kale, 1 dozen eggs, 2 yellow zucchini, 2 avocados, 4 gala apples, 4 zestar apples, and 3 tsunga apples, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, green beans, 6 ears of corn.

And we rounded it out with a watermelon!

Isn't summer great!