Stir-Fry with Cellophane Noodles

Back in the '70s, when woks were taking North America by storm, my parents bought a hand-beaten tempered steel one in Chinatown (possibly in Toronto, but maybe in Montreal - memories are unclear). It came in a burlap bag with a split bamboo scrubber and a metal spatula.

Last time I visited my mother, I found it hanging in her basement, still in the original burlap bag. She had used it a regularly for a while, but when it didn't fit on her new stove it got relegated to the basement. I put it in my suitcase and brought it back to LA.

It works great on my gas stove, and has made my leftover-rice dinners exceptionally easy to cook.

Recently I found organic cellophane noodles at my local Chinese pharmacy. They are grown by a company in Taiwan called Long Kow Bio Garden, and are certified organic by the USDA and CERES - the European organic certification body - so I feel pretty confident they are not grown in toxic soil.

Cellophane noodles are made from beans, not grains, so they make a nice change from pasta or rice. Plus they cook very easily - just a soak in hot water will do.

I made stir-fried greens and noodles for dinner on Oscar night. The greens were broccoli, collards and the greens from a daikon radish. Bok choy, chinese cabbage, snow peas, mung bean sprouts or other greens would be fine substitutes. Also, if you have spring onions, substitute a bunch for the chopped onion.

Stir-Fry with Cellophane Noodles
2 cups broccoli florets
6 oz package cellophane noodles
2 tsp organic canola oil
2 tbsp chopped onion
6 leaves collard greens, sliced thin
6 leaves daikon greens, sliced thin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp grated ginger root
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup peas
2 tbsp tamari
1/4 cup peanuts, lightly toasted

Heat an inch of water in the wok (or skillet) and cook the broccoli, covered, until tender, about 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Separately, cook the noodles according to the directions on the package. Set aside.

Heat the wok (or skillet) and add the oil. Add onion, collards, daikon greens and salt. Stir over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.

Add garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring, until the greens are limp.

Add broccoli, tamari and peas. Stir until warmed through. Then add the cellophane noodles and the peanuts. Toss to mix well, and serve.

Serves 3-4

Fair Wages for Migrant Workers

One of the benefits of shopping at the Farmers Market is I get to put my food dollars directly into the hands of the organic farmers who grow my food.

Family farmers are small businessmen. They pay their workers, choose their crops carefully to appeal to their customers, work long hours, and hopefully make enough money to support themselves and their family.

With the new crackdown on immigrants by the current administration, many California farmers are concerned they won't be able to get the seasonal migrant laborers they count on to work in their fields. The workforce is expected to be much diminished as fears of immigration enforcement keeps the laborers out of work.

An article in the Los Angeles Times on Feb. 9th told the story of how one Gilroy garlic farm is ensuring a steady workforce.

Christopher Ranch is raising the wage it pays its workers from $11 an hour to $13 an hour. And it will raise that to $15 an hour in 2018. The vice-president, Ken Christopher, told the LA Times that since the increase in January, they have been flooded with applications from people wanting to work in the fields and processing plants.

I think it's great that the people who grow the food will be getting a fair wage. And if the price of garlic goes up a little because of it, in fact if the price of all real food increases a little, I'll be fine with that. Because I want to feel good about the food I eat and the way its production impacted the earth, the people who grew it and brought it to market, and my body.

Fair wages for farmworkers is a good thing.

Sprouts!

Watercress, alfalfa, and a sandwich mix
from Botanical Interests.

There is nothing like a handful of fresh alfalfa sprouts on a veggie pâté sandwich, or the crunch of mung bean sprouts in a stir-fry.

For years, however, I deprived myself of sprouts because the ones from the store tended to be slimy, or taste a little off. Or I was scared off by stories of bacteria and mold in the sprouts.

Then I saw this three-tiered seed sprouter for sale on the Mountain Rose Herbs website and thought I'd give it a try. (The fact the product is manufactured just outside Montreal probably helped my decision!)

Since then we have been enjoying fresh sprouts on our salads, in our sandwiches (marmite and radish sprouts on sourdough rye bread - a real treat!), and added as a quick crunch to dinner.

I'd experimented in the past with sprouting in jars - washing the seeds with water, letting them drain, repeating the next day, but the seeds would clump together and get moldy. Plus there was something unappetizing about a clump of sprouts in the bottom of a canning jar.

With this sprouter, my little seed garden is spread out on trays, the stems and leaves pressing upward, sometimes even lifting the lid of the sprouter if I don't eat them quickly enough. Harvesting is easy - I remove the lid and grasp a handful. They make a healthy snack eaten straight from the sprouter: crisp and fresh, and a little zingy in the case of radish, watercress or broccoli.

I try to rotate through the trays, seeding one a day so I get a staggered harvest. And while the instructions call for watering every 4 days, I've found that in cooler weather the enclosed humidity is enough after the initial watering. In hot weather the sprouts need to be stored in the fridge after 4 days.

Because you're harvesting the sprout in its first few days, you don't need to add fertilizers - all the nutrients the seed needs to grow are within it. It's actually quite a miraculous thing to watch. And it only takes up 8" of counter space.

Sprouts are also highly nutritious. They are high in enzymes which aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, so they help you get more benefit from whatever you're eating them with. They have chlorophyll, which helps alkalinize the body. They contain protein, vitamins and minerals galore.

Just make sure to get organic sprouting seeds - so you know you are not eating gmos. They're readily available at health food stores and some garden centers.

It's a fun adventure to embark on. And with sprouts on hand, there's always something good to eat.

Vegetarian Posole

I got an awesome gift for Christmas: dried blue posole from Rancho Gordo.

I had never cooked posole before. In fact, I hadn't even eaten it, because local versions always include some meat.

But I found a recipe for vegetarian posole on the Rancho Gordo website, and dove right in.

(If you have not visited their site, it's worth it just for the photos of their beautiful dried heirloom beans - real bean porn. Then you'll probably feel the need to buy some of their beans, and then you will have the foundation of many wonderful meals.)

Posole, like hominy, is corn that is dried, then cooked, then treated with calcium hydroxide (lime) so the skins come off when they're rubbed. The corn is then dried again. This is a traditional process that makes dried corn - hominy, posole - that cooks up into a fabulous thick soup.

This is a soup with endless varieties. Start with the dried posole and some dried beans. Add a few vegetables. Simmer it all together and you'll have a fabulous stick-to-the-ribs meal. Serve it with warm corn tortillas for pure heaven.

I used zucchini in my posole even though it's winter. My freezer is full of blanched diced zucchini from plants that grew vigorously in my garden last summer. I grew four seeds of the Italian heirloom Trombetta di Albenga, and the vines romped up and over my rain barrels, through the fig tree and the neighbor's yucca, producing yard-long zucchinis that were tender and delicious, but a little overwhelming to this family of two. Fortunately, zucchini freezes well, so we've been enjoying it this winter in soups and stews like this one.

If you do not have a freezer full of zucchini, you could use green beans in this recipe instead.

Vegetarian Posole
1 cup Rancho Gordo dried blue posole
1 cup dried yellow beans (or pinto or other heirloom beans)
1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp red chile powder (the kind that is pure chile)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seed
3/4 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 to 3 cups diced zucchini
14 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained
cilantro and warm corn tortillas to serve

Soak the posole in water to cover for 6 hours. Drain. Cook in plenty of fresh water, simmering but not boiling, for about 2 hours until tender.

Meanwhile, rinse the beans and put them in water to cover by a couple of inches. Let soak for 6 hours, then pour them with their water into a large pot. Do not drain them.

To the beans in their soaking water, add the vegetable stock and enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring to the boil and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or two depending on the age of the beans. Do not drain. Turn off the heat and set aside until the posole is ready.

Sauté the onion, garlic, chile powder, cumin seed and dried oregano in the oil until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the zucchini and tomatoes. Cook another 5 minutes.

Add the cooked vegetables to the pot of beans. Then stir in the drained posole. Simmer about 30 minutes, adding water if it's too thick.

Serve in bowls, sprinkled with cilantro, with warm corn tortillas on the side.

Serves many. Fortunately it freezes well.

This zucchini grew on top of my rain barrel, which is why it has this great shape.