Cooking in the Time of Drought

I think I bought this pasta pot when I moved into my first apartment, oh so long ago. It's followed me around ever since even though I rarely use it. A smaller pot suffices for pasta for one or two people.

However, I'm using it more in this time of drought because even though it takes a lot of water to fill it, the draining insert makes it really easy to save the pasta water to put on the plants.









The other night I pulled it out of the cupboard to cook tagliatelle with arugula (yes, our arugula patch keeps on giving!) and cherry tomatoes.

It took many kettles of water to fill the pot, but I persisted.

Then I added tagliatelle from Italy.



When it was cooked halfway through, I added the arugula to the pot, and cooked it all for another 5 minutes, until the pasta was al dente. I then lifted up the insert and let the water drain back into the pot.













Meanwhile, in a large skillet, I had fried cherry tomatoes and garlic in olive oil. I poured in the drained pasta and arugula, and tossed it all together.

Then we sat down to a simple meal.

While we ate, the pasta water in the big pot gradually cooled down. When it was at room temperature, we took it outside to water our little kumquat tree. I'm sure the extra vitamins from the arugula will be especially nourishing for it.

Black Beans

Long-time readers know that Larry prefers to eat his barbecue hamburger with black beans on the side. While I think that's weird, I never turn down an opportunity to eat beans. I cooked our standard go-to black beans for our Memorial Day barbecue on Sunday. They are easy to cook and always get rave reviews.

They also freeze and defrost well, ensuring excellent feasts in the future.

I used a roasted poblano from my freezer. I usually use a chopped green pepper when they are in season — a couple of months away yet. Also, the birds / slugs have eaten my parsley to stalks. Otherwise I would have added 1/3 cup chopped parsley with the cilantro.

Black Beans

2 cups black beans

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 roasted, peeled poblano, seeded and chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano

2 tsp salt

pepper

1/2 cup white wine

Soak beans in water to cover by 2 inches for 3 hours. Drain. Put the beans in a large pot with the onion, pepper, and water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour. Turn off the heat and set aside. Do not drain the beans.

Warm the olive oil in a small frypan over medium heat. Add the garlic, cilantro, sugar, cumin, oregano, salt and a dozen grindings of pepper. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is golden, about 10 minutes. Add the white wine. Simmer over high heat until the wine is reduced by a quarter, about 5 minute.

Stir the contents of the frypan into the beans. Cook over medium heat, uncovered, until the liquid has evaporated and the beans are yummy, about 15 minutes.

Serves 6

Whole Wheat Linguine with Broccoli and Chickpeas

We don't eat pasta very often, so I tend to buy organic Italian durum wheat (white flour) noodles. After all, if it's a splurge, we might as well go all out and eat white flour.

However, the other day I felt organic whole wheat linguine would be a better fit with the robust flavors of broccoli, chick peas, smoked chili peppers and lots of garlic. I was right — the whole wheat added a nuttiness that contributed beautifully to the overall dish.

Canned chickpeas are a time-saver, but I so prefer home cooked beans. The flavor and texture are nuttier, and there's no need to rinse off the tinniness. Fortunately, they cook in 22 minutes in the pressure cooker — no pre-soaking needed. I cooked the chickpeas a couple of hours ahead, drained them, and left them on the counter until it was time to throw dinner together. They were great.

The smoked chili flakes add another dimension of flavor. (Probably carnivores would add bacon instead.) I buy mine from Mountain Rose Herbs. You can substitute un-smoked chili flakes if that's what you have. It will still be an awesome dish.

Whole Wheat Linguine with Broccoli and Chickpeas

1/3 cup chickpeas (or 1 can, drained)

1 1/4 lbs broccoli

4 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup chopped garlic (8-10 cloves)

1/2 tsp smoked chili flakes

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 lb whole wheat linguine

Pick over the chickpeas to remove any stones or debris. Rinse. Either cook in plenty of water until tender, 2-3 hours, or cook in a pressure cooker covered by at least 2 inches of water and time for 22 minutes once pressure is reached. Let the pressure cooker cool by opening the vent — keep away from the steam! — then carefully open and check the texture of the chickpeas. If they're tender, drain them and set aside. If they're not quite cooked, replace the lid and simmer another 5 minutes before testing again. Drain the chickpeas and set aside.

Cut the broccoli florets into large bite-size pieces. Peel the tough stems down to the pale green center and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden, about a minute. Add the broccoli and salt, stir well, add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed, until the broccoli is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and cook until they are warm.

Meanwhile, cook the linguine in lots of salted water according to the package directions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Add the linguine to the broccoli. Toss well, adding the reserved water if needed. Keep tossing over medium heat until all is warm and well-mixed.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle on some grated parmesan if desired.

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.

Green Spaghetti Squash

I found a bunch of cilantro, a few fronds of dill, and some parsley in the fridge so I decided to purée them into a version of chimichurri sauce and stir them into spaghetti squash.

I have to say, it worked very well.

The key is not to call it pesto. That makes diners imagine glorious piles of pasta with fragrant basil and garlic sauce. Green spaghetti squash would be a disappointment.

However, call it spaghetti squash with garlic butter, hazelnuts and green sauce, and it goes down very well.

I don't have a recipe, but this is what I did.

I washed a medium spaghetti squash, pierced it a few times with a knife, and baked it at 375°F for 45 minutes until it was soft. I cut it in half lengthwise and let it cool a bit. Then I scooped out the seeds and discarded them.

In the blender, I puréed cilantro, parsley and dill with a red jalapeño I pulled from the freezer, a little olive oil and a good amount of salt and pepper. Then I whirred in some water to make it more of a sauce than a paste.

I melted some butter in a skillet and added a couple of mashed cloves of garlic. I coarsely chopped a handful of hazelnuts and tossed them in when the garlic was fragrant.

I scooped the strands of spaghetti squash from their shell into the pot and tossed them in the garlic butter. Then I poured in the green sauce and stirred it together. I let it heat fully and then served it as a colorful and flavorful side.

Rutabagas in Garlic Butter

Flora Bella has the most beautiful rutabagas I've ever seen.They're small — about 3 inches long and an inch or so across — and come with their beautiful green leaves attached. When I saw them the other day, I snagged a bunch, and came home pondering what to do with them.

I love rutabagas for their flavor, but they are also a good source of minerals like calcium and magnesium, fiber, B vitamins (especially B6 — good for the nervous system) and beta-carotene. Of course, all vegetables are full of nutrients. The key is to eat a variety of them to get a good selection of the diverse nutrients we need to keep our bodies running smoothly. I recommend rutabagas as part of that diversity.

My favorite rutabaga recipe is Bashed Neeps, but I make that with large tough rutabagas. These seemed much too tender for that treatment.

While I pondered, I combined the rutabaga greens with some mustard greens for an excellent dish of sautéed greens. Rutabaga greens are soft and vaguely cabbage-y, I found.

Then inspiration struck with the rutabagas. I peeled them and chopped the one large one in half so they were roughly the same size. Then I cooked them in a pot of boiling water until they were tender, about 15 minutes. I drained them and set them aside until the last minute before I was serving dinner.

Then I melted some butter in a pan, mashed a peeled clove of garlic with a little salt on my chopping board and added it to the butter. When the garlic released its aroma, I added the rutabagas, stirred to make sure they were all buttery, and let them cook gently until they were warmed through.

I served them as a side dish with a meal of baked squash, sautéed greens and homemade veggie burgers. Larry said they were the best rutabagas ever, wonderfully tender and buttery.

I hope Flora Bella has more of these beauties next week, so I can serve up another batch of these delicious and healthy roots.