Walnut and Sage Tapenade

On these warm summer evenings, salads make a great dinner. But sometimes the plate of raw vegetables needs a little something extra.

This non-traditional tapenade is a yummy way to boost the protein content of a meal. I especially like it spread on slices of baguette. It's also good on raw vegetables - try it on cauliflower. And if you feel like cooking, toss it with pasta. It lasts in the fridge for days, and can be frozen.

I first created this recipe when our niece Tracie brought a vegan friend to lunch. I wanted a simple make-ahead appetizer. It needed to be without dairy products, and hummus was not an option because I was serving beans for the main course.

Then I remembered a walnut-sage pesto I had served on spaghetti. I adapted it into this spread and it was the hit of the party.

The tapenade is oily, which is why it's good smeared on bread. But don't feel guilty about the fat content because walnuts are a heart-friendly food. They actually reduce cholesterol, and are a good source of tocotrienols - antioxidants in the Vitamin E family. Walnuts have been found to improve blood flow after a high-fat meal.

I buy walnuts from Rancho La Vina in the Santa Rita Hills. They have been farming walnuts organically since the 1800s, and they have a stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

The fresh sage adds a nice undertone, but leave it out if you can't find it. I use Baleine coarse sea salt which has a clean flavor but is not overly expensive.

Walnut and Sage Tapenade
1 cup walnuts
1 large clove garlic
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage (3-4 leaves)
1 tsp coarse salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet 5 minutes until they are fragrant.

In a food processor, combine the garlic, sage and coarse salt. Pulse a few times. Add the walnuts and process until chopped fine.

While the processor is running, add the olive oil in a slow stream until the tapenade reaches a spreading consistency. You might not need all the oil.

(If you're using it as a pasta sauce, add extra oil so it is more of a sauce.)

Spoon the tapenade into a bowl and add extra salt, pepper and sage to taste.

Makes about 3/4 cup.

Reducing pesticide exposure

I make a point of eating organically-grown food because it is better for me, the farmworkers and the planet.

However, I realize not everyone is fortunate enough to have a great farmers market nearby, or a family who is willing to eat seasonally.

Since it is always better to eat non-organic produce than to avoid fruits and vegetables, I present here a list of produce which is safe to eat even if not organic.

The list is compiled by the Environmental Working Group, which tests fresh U.S.-grown produce for levels of pesticide residue.

You can find their full report here. They mention that if you choose your daily 5 servings of vegetables from the Clean Fifteen list instead of the Dirty Dozen, you will reduce your pesticide intake by 92 per cent. That's worth doing.

New on the toxic list from last year: spinach, blueberries, potatoes and collard greens. Make sure to find those in the organic section of your supermarket. Grapefruit, mushrooms and cantaloupe are new on the safe to eat even if conventionally-grown list.

Dirty Dozen - eat only if organic
apples
celery
strawberries
peaches
spinach
nectarines - imported
grapes - imported
bell peppers
potatoes
blueberries
lettuce
kale / collard greens


Clean Fifteen - safe to eat even if not organic
onions
sweet corn
pineapples
avocado
asparagus
peas
mangoes
eggplant
cantaloupe
kiwi
cabbage
watermelon
sweet potatoes
grapefruit
mushrooms

Braised Turnips

If you're looking for a simple way to add fiber to a meal, choose turnips.

Turnips are an excellent source of Vitamin C, folic acid, fiber, and some trace minerals. They have less calories than a potato, but can replace them to fill out a meal.

This is a quick way to cook them while keeping their nutrients intact. They will have a rich buttery flavor softening the slight turnip acerbity. I think they're even better this way than roasted.

Braised Turnips
9 oz turnips (three small)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup water

Peel turnips and cut in 1 inch chunks.

Melt butter in a heavy pot. Add the turnips and stir until well-coated with the butter. Add water and a light sprinkling of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until the turnips are almost tender, about 10 minutes. Remove lid and let any remaining water boil off before serving.

Serves 2-3

Gorgonzola and Arugula Pasta

I planted some wild arugula a few years ago, and now it seeds itself around the garden in a most agreeable way. I picked some the other day to make this delicious pasta.

The dish is lively on the palate and quick to make, making it a good choice on these warm summer evenings when you don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

Gorgonzola and Arugula Pasta
1/2 lb pasta, whatever shape you like
1 generous tbsp olive oil
3 oz crimini mushrooms, quartered
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 bunch arugula, about 2 inches across at the stems, or a 2oz bag
1/4 lb gorgonzola, cut into large dice, about 3/4 cup
pepper

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.

Warm olive oil and sauté mushrooms 5 minutes. Wash the arugula and cut it into 2-inch pieces. Add the tomatoes and arugula to the pan and sauté until the arugula is wilted, about 2 minutes. Pour into a large pasta bowl and stir in the gorgonzola.

Drain pasta well and add to bowl. Season with plenty of pepper. Taste before adding salt - the amount needed will depend on the saltiness of the gorgonzola.

Toss well and serve.

Serves 2-3

Baked Chard with Feta

I had a great day working in the garden, and did not feel like cooking dinner. So I picked some Swiss chard on my way into the house and stirred together this one-dish meal. I cooked it in the toaster oven so I didn't have to heat up the kitchen. It has protein from the chickpeas and vegetables from the chard, so no sides were necessary.

Even though it's a simple casserole, it would be a good one to serve to guests, or anyone reluctant to eat greens. Larry said it smelled like pizza while it was cooking.

If you don't have chard, you could use spinach or another tender green. If your dill is more vigorous than mine, add a couple of tablespoons along with the chickpeas.

I used a can of chickpeas (this was lazy cooking, remember?) but you could use 1/3 cup dry chickpeas, cooked until tender but not falling apart.

Good feta is crucial to this dish. I have not found satisfactory organic feta, so I buy mine from the Aliki's Greek Taverna stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market. How poisoned can Greek feta be, I ask myself? Feta is usually made from sheep's milk, not high on the factory-farmed, hormone-added, antibiotic-inflicted list.

So use good feta and fresh greens, and you will relish this one-dish meal.

Swiss Chard with Feta and Chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup diced white onion
1 1/2 to 2 lbs chard
1 clove garlic, minced
14-oz can chickpeas, drained
3 oz feta, diced

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Wash chard, remove heavy stems. Chop about 1 cup of these stems into 1/2 inch dice, discard the rest.

Sauté onion and diced chard stems in olive oil until tender. Add chard leaves, toss well, cover and let cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Drain, squeeze out liquid with the back of a wooden spoon, and chop coarsely.

Toss the chard with 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic and chickpeas. Season to taste with salt and pepper, but remember the feta will add saltiness.

Spoon the chard mixture into a 6x8 inch pyrex casserole. Scatter feta on top and push into the greens. Bake 15-20 minutes until sizzling hot and aromatic. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

Blackberry Crumble

As July starts, our blackberry season comes to an end.

We have had a wonderful harvest this year - more than we could eat in our morning fruit. So I made a crumble, combining the blackberries (which might be olallieberries) with our own blueberries.

Crumbles are far easier to make than pies. A crumbly topping is spread over fresh berries and then baked. It's good with whipped cream or ice cream, or even plain for breakfast.

This crumble has a thick top crust, which I like against the juiciness of the berries. If you prefer more fruit than crust, use less of the topping.

This would be fine made with frozen berries. Defrost them first and pour off some of the juice from the blackberries. Or use mixed berries. With crumbles the possibilities are endless.

We ate our home-grown berry crumble warm with Julie's organic vanilla ice cream on the side. A true summer treat.

Berry Crumble
1 1/4 lbs berries
4 oz butter, softened
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Put the berries in a 6-cup casserole. Sprinkle with a little sugar.

Cut the flour into the butter until it resembles crumbs. Stir in the oats, sugar and spices.

Spread the flour mixture over the berries.

Bake until golden brown on top, and some of the juices are bubbling through, about 30 minutes.

Let cool a little before eating - the fruit will be very hot.

Serves 6. Leftovers are great for breakfast.

Summer Salad

One of my favorite cookbooks is A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. He has a gentle way with vegetables, making them tasty enough for his children to enjoy, yet allowing their flavors to come through.

His peach and lettuce salad tastes of summer and is great eaten outside with a dinner cooked on the barbecue.

It's also very healthy. A reduction of fresh orange juice replaces most of the oil in the dressing and enhances the flavor of the peaches. This recipe doubles easily.

Sometimes I use pumpkin seeds, and sometimes cashews. I like them both with the peaches, but last week I opted for the buttery crunch of cashews to enhance the soft crunch of the tender lettuce from Finley Farms.

Peach and Lettuce Salad
2 tbsp cashews
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 orange)
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp olive oil
4 cups lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
1 peach, halved, pitted and diced

Put orange juice in a small saucepan and cook until syrupy and reduced to about 1 tbsp, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Toast cashews in a dry skillet until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Whisk lime juice and olive oil into orange juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine lettuce, peaches and cashews in a salad bowl. Toss with the dressing just before serving.

Serves 3-4

Dry-farmed apricots

If you find dry-farmed apricots, snap them up.

Dry-farmed apricots are grown with minimal additional water, generally just the winter rains. So as the fruit is ripening, the flavor and sweetness get concentrated in the tissues. They actually taste of apricots, rather than the overly-plump and flavorless apricots that are commonly available.

I found some of these wonderful apricots at the Flora Bella stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market yesterday, and we ate them for breakfast with some sweet strawberries from Finley Farms.

Wow.

The Jamie Oliver effect

I wrote a few months back about Jamie Oliver's adventures with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

He came to LA to try to get better food in the schools' cafeterias, but was hitting roadblocks with the administration. In frustration, he staged an event where he poured 57 tons of sand from a dump truck onto a school bus to show how much sugar LAUSD students drink in flavored milk each week. (See here for Larry's re-creation of the event.)

Yes, LAUSD students consume 57 tons of sugar in flavored milk alone each week. Mind blowing.

The LAUSD ignored him.

But then a new superintendent was hired. One of John Deasy's first acts was to join Jamie Oliver on Jimmy Kimmel Live and announce his proposal to get flavored milk out of the schools.

In mid-June, the Board of Education voted on a new dairy contract which calls for no flavored milk.

The Los Angeles Times reports that this is just the beginning. Other unhealthy foods like corn dogs are being eliminated too, and more vegetarian options will be available. LAUSD is hoping to be the national leader in healthy food reform in schools.

Thank you Jamie!

Romantic Risotto

We took a spring trip to Paris. Then we watched Woody Allen's love letter to the city, Midnight in Paris. I was having Paris withdrawal, so last Friday night I decided we would have a romantic dinner under the stars on our fireside patio.

I planned to make Larry's favorite risotto. It's more work than most recipes I cook, but the flavor is worth it. And cooking risotto together, standing by the stove and stirring, with a glass of wine in hand, is a lovely way to start an evening.

But northeast LA is not Paris.

As Larry was preparing the asparagus purée that flavors the risotto, I looked out the window and saw black oily smoke. I rushed to the street and saw that a van down the block had caught fire. We joined the neighbors lined up on the street to watch. Two fire engines. Eight police cars. The obligatory police helicopter circling overhead.

It wasn't a hostage situation, but it was definitely a two-hour stand-off of some sort. We wandered in and out, cooked a little, turned off the stove and went out to check on the action, cooked some more. I learned that risotto is much more tolerant of abuse than I realized.

With the helicopter continuing to circle, we decided not to eat outside. We sat at the dinette, enjoying our risotto, but distracted by the noise and commotion. As we put down our forks, the helicopter went away, the police tape was taken down, and the neighborhood returned to normal, except for the burned out van and the scorch marks on the house it was parked in front of.

This is a good meal even without the show.

Risotto with Asparagus
1/2 lb asparagus
1 small potato, peeled and chopped
2 cups vegetable stock, approx.
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 small clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp butter
parmesan

Snap ends off asparagus. Cut off the tips and set aside. Chop the stems in 1-inch pieces.

Place the potato and stems into a saucepan, add 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt, and cook until tender, 10-15 minutes. Purée in blender.

Place the reserved tips in a saucepan, add 1 cup water and a pinch of salt, bring to a boil and cook 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside for garnish.

Heat vegetable stock until barely simmering, keep covered.

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add onion and cook gently until translucent. Stir in the garlic. Add the rice and cook, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add the wine. Allow nearly all of it to evaporate, then begin adding the asparagus purée about 1/4 at a time, adding more as the liquid in the pan evaporates. When you've added all the asparagus purée, start adding the stock a ladleful at a time. Cook, stirring regularly but not continually, until the risotto is plump and offers a little resistance to the bite. The risotto should be very moist. You might not need all the stock.

Stir in the butter and serve at once, garnished with the reserved asparagus tips and parmesan cheese on the side.

Serves 2-3

The Value of Land

In William Faulkner's The Hamlet, the boy Labove takes a job grading and building a football field in order to pay for his schooling at the University:

“He didn’t know then what a football field was and he did not care. To him it was merely an opportunity to earn so much additional money each day and he did not even stop his shovel when he would speculate now and then with cold sardonicism on the sort of game the preparation of ground for which demanded a good deal more care and expense both than the preparing of that same ground to raise a paying crop on; indeed to have warranted that much time and money for a crop, a man would have had to raise gold at least.”

Lemon Apricot Scones

I've always read that in baking one needs to be precise with the proportion of liquid to dry ingredients in order to get good results. Well I threw caution to the wind recently and substituted drained yogurt for the sour cream in a scone recipe, and it was a very successful experiment.

I pass the recipe on to you with the caution that not all yogurts are the same. I used a mellita coffee cone filter with a paper lining and drained for 20 minutes. I probably could have used thick Greek yogurt and skipped the draining, but I can't find that organically made. And I won't use non-fat sour cream - too many additives.

The yogurt, lemon and apricots combine to give a tart tanginess that raises the scones above the average.

Make sure to get un-sulfured apricots. They will be brown not orange. The sulfites used to preserve the orange color in the drying process are not food, plus some people are allergic to them. Better to use the natural kind. Apricots are high in iron, and contain good fiber in the form of pectins and cellulose. Snip them into small pieces with scissors.

Raisins are rich in calcium, fiber and antioxidants, making them the perfect sweet snack. I buy organic flame raisins from the Burkart stall at the Hollywood Farmers Market. They dry their own grapes to make the wine-iest most luscious raisins you can imagine. The downside is most of the raisins still have the stems attached, so you need to pick through them. Time consuming, but oh so worth the flavor.

This recipe makes a dozen scones. I froze half of them, and they defrosted really well.

I gilded the lily with a lemon icing. It's optional, but adds an extra sweet tangy kick.

Enjoy these scones at room temperature or slightly warm.

Lemon Apricot Scones
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel (divided use)
1 cup snipped dried apricots
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tsp lemon juice

Set the yogurt to drain in a coffee filter. When it's the consistency of sour cream, scoop out 1 cup for the recipe. Discard any extra, or save for another use.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two forks or your fingers until it reaches the consistency of bread crumbs.

Separately, whisk together drained yogurt, egg, sugar and 1 tsp lemon peel. Stir this into crumbs until just moistened. Mix in apricots and raisins.

Drop dough by 1/4 cup scoops onto the cookie sheet. Bake 20-22 minutes until scones are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a rack.

Optional glaze: Combine powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp peel. Stir in enough lemon juice to make a consistency to drizzle over the scones.

Makes 13 scones.

Split Pea Soup

Split peas make a wonderful smooth base for a vegetable soup. It's like a luscious cream soup with no dairy products.

I vary the vegetables depending on what I have on hand, but I think this is my favorite version. Turnips and dill are great together, and they really enliven the split peas.

They also add to the health benefits. Turnips are a good source of the insoluble fiber which helps prevent atherosclerosis. Dill is being studied for its effects on cholesterol and blood sugar. Split peas are rich in protein, fiber, and liver-supportive trace minerals.

The flavor of this soup improves as it sits, so I cooked it Sunday morning and then reheated it before dinner - adding extra water to make it soup-y. That's another bonus - because this soup thickens as it cools, you have to add water every time you heat it, increasing the number of servings you get from it. Split peas are inexpensive anyway, so this soup is a real budget stretcher as well as a yummy dinner.

Split Pea Soup
1 1/2 cups dried split peas, rinsed
6 cups water
2 onions, cut in large chunks (about 2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large tbsp chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried
1 lb (about 3 medium) potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/4 lb turnips (2 medium), peeled and diced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
salt and pepper and extra dill

Bring split peas and water to a boil in a large pot. Reduce the heat and skim off any foam that rises to the top. (This foam is why you should never cook split peas in a pressure cooker - the foam can block the vent.) You don't have to be obsessive about skimming - the foam isn't harmful, it's more an aesthetic thing.

Add the onions, garlic and dill. Simmer for one hour.

Remove from heat. Let it cool a little and then purée in batches in the blender until silky smooth. Return to a clean pot and add the potatoes, carrot, turnips, corn and 1 tsp salt. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. The soup is very thick and will stick on the bottom, so use a low heat and a heavy-bottomed pot, and keep an eye on it.

Season with salt, pepper and more dill to taste.

Serves 6

Real bread

It's hard to find real bread in grocery stores.

This is not a new problem, as shown by this excerpt from Up In The Old Hotel, a collection of New Yorker articles by Joseph Mitchell. Mr. Flood is talking about the bread made by Mrs. Palumbo in 1944:

Mr. Flood grunted, "Whatever to hell it's called," he said, "it's good. Mrs. Palumbo knows what she's doing. She don't take ads in the papers to tell big black lies about her vitamins, she don't have a radio program rooting and tooting about her enriched bread, she don't wrap in cellophane, she don't even have a telephone. She just goes ahead and bakes the way her great-great-grandaddy baked. Consequently, by God, lo and behold, her bread is fit to eat. I'm not against vitamins, whatever to hell they are, but God took care of that matter away back there in the hitherto -- God and nature, and not some big scientist or other. Years back, bread was the staff of life. It looked good, it smelled good, it tasted good, and it had all the vitamins a man could stand. Then the bakers fiddled and fooled and improved their methods and got things down to such a fine point that a loaf of bread didn't have any more nourishment than a brickbat. Now they're putting the vitamins back in by scientific means -- the way God did it don't suit them; it ain't complicated enough -- and they've got the brass to get on the radio and brag about it; they should hide their heads in shame."

Urban Goat Herding

Every year at tax time, Joy and I do an additional calculation on our household energy usage. With the rising price of gas, we felt it was time to become more sustainable at home, and get more serious about urban farming.

So we got a goat. Her name is Lucretia. She is a Nubian goat, a breed that has the best milk, according to the American Dairy Goat Association.

Even though people break municipal chicken laws all the time in our L.A. neighborhood of El Sereno, we wanted to be legal, so we had to learn how to apply for a city permit. In doing our research, we learned about the Goat Justice League in Seattle, where they pioneered the modern urban goat advocacy movement.

Since Joy was busy churning butter most days, I took on the job of learning how to milk Lucretia. Believe it or not, there was an iPAD app for that, which was very helpful until Lucretia chewed my iPAD, and I began to reconsider this lifestyle choice.

On behalf of Joy’s Organic Kitchen, I’d like to wish you a very happy April 1st.

Buy Land for Food

Without farmland, we have no food.

Smart investors are starting to realize this, according to an article in the LA Times, and are buying up land not for housing development, but for growing food.

This is a refreshing concept in a society which counts new housing starts (i.e. houses built on farmland) as an economic indicator.

Finally someone is realizing that there is money in food production. Money in the land. Money in farming.

If your mutual funds are tanking, maybe it's time to invest in something valuable: land for food.

Chipotle Sauce

Sometimes a simple condiment transforms a sandwich into a fabulous taste experience.

This chipotle sauce is in that category.

I used it in grilled cheese sandwiches recently, and they went from humdrum to out-of-this-world. I smeared the sauce on the bread, layered in cheese, red onion, and cilantro, and cooked the sandwiches in butter in a cast iron frypan until they were golden and the cheese was soft. Simple and delicious.

The sauce is also good stirred into stews or soups to add a spicy smoky tomato flavor. It will last at least a week in the fridge. I've frozen a little for longer storage.

Chipotles are smoked jalapeños. Look for them canned in adobo sauce at your local grocery store. Once you open the can, transfer them to a jar and they'll last for months in your fridge. I keep one jar of the whole chipotles in adobo, and another that I've puréed -- it's quite firey and I use it sparingly in anything that needs a kick.

The tomato paste in this recipe tames the heat but leaves the flavor intact, and the molasses deepens the smokiness like good barbecue.

Chipotle Sauce
chipotles in adobo
6oz can tomato paste
1/2 tbsp molasses

Purée the chipotles in adobo in a blender or mini food processor. Measure out 3 tbsp. (Store the remainder in a jar in the fridge for months.)

Add the tomato paste and molasses to the 3tbsp puréed chipotles. Stir well to combine.

Makes about 3/4 cup.

Pickled Okra Update

You might remember that when we went back East in September I tasted pickled okra for the first time and actually liked it. My previous okra experiences had been of the slimy kind. But when it's pickled, okra is crisp and tasty.

When I got back to Los Angeles, I looked for it in my local grocery stores, but couldn't find it. I feared I was going to have to make my own pickles this summer.

But I have good news.

My local supermarket is now carrying Talk o' Texas hot pickled okra.

I diced some up and added it to my lunch time bean salad. Yum. Not as spicy as pickled jalapeños, but more flavor than regular pickles. Okra has many benefits for the digestive system, so it's a good addition to a meal.

And now I don't have to make my own.

Oatmeal

On these cool winter mornings, I think there is no better breakfast than oatmeal.

There are many good reasons to eat oats. They lower cholesterol; heal ulcers; and restore thyroid, pancreas and reproductive gland function. They contain many trace minerals including silicon, a mineral which helps the body excrete aluminum and lowers levels of this toxic metal in the brain, liver, bones, spleen and kidneys.

Yes, we should all eat oats every day. And they're so quick to make, there's no reason not to.

I find the best oats for porridge are Bob's Red Mill organic Scottish Oatmeal. Any health food store that carries the Bob's Red Mill line will be able to order them for you -- and remember to get the organic ones. Studies have found that organically-grown foods have more minerals than non-organic, and that's what we want the oats for.

A key to my oatmeal technique is the use of a spurtle. This is the traditional Scottish oatmeal-stirring stick -- recreated by Lee Valley Tools. It's like a wooden spoon without the spoon end, and it makes great lump-free oatmeal.

A wooden spoon can be used instead.

Then pour the oatmeal into your bowl, add a touch of real maple syrup and a splash of organic milk, and settle in for a feast.

Oatmeal
1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill organic Scottish Oatmeal
1 cup boiling water
dash salt

Bring the water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in a little salt, turn down the heat, and sprinkle in the oats, stirring all the while. When all the oats are in, let them cook, stirring regularly, until they are the consistency you like, about 5 minutes.

Serves one.

Bubble and Squeak

There's something about mashed potatoes that soothes the soul on these cool winter days.

When I was a child, my mother would combine leftover mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage to make Bubble and Squeak, a traditional English dish made with leftovers from Sunday dinner. It gets its name from the sound it makes while cooking -- listen closely.

I made it the other night and served it with a mess of cooked mustard greens for a healthy meal that tasted like comfort food.

Cabbage is a true health food. People who eat it regularly have a lower incidence of colon cancer. It is rich in fiber which makes it good for constipation and colon health. It's also a good detoxifier, purifying the blood and removing toxins like free radicals and uric acid. It's rich in iodine so it helps the brain, nervous system and endocrine glands work well.

I try to eat cabbage or other members of the brassica family (broccoli, cauliflower) a couple of times a week. And this dish makes it easy.

Bubble and Squeak
1 lb potatoes
1/2 lb cabbage
1-2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Peel and chop the potatoes. Put in a pot of cold salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender. Drain and mash.

Slice the cabbage thinly and cut the ribbons in 1" lengths. Add to a pot with an inch of water boiling in the bottom, cover and cook until tender. Drain.

Combine the cabbage and mashed potato, salt to taste, and add liberal amounts of fresh black pepper.

Heat a cast iron frypan over medium heat. Add the butter and when it has melted add the potato mixture. Squish it together into a cake and then let it cook until it is crispy on the bottom, 5-8 minutes. Then flip the cake - I usually do this in pieces and then push it back together again. Or make it into two cakes, as in the picture, to make the flipping easier. Cook until crispy on the bottom, another 5 minutes or so. Serve with mustard or rooster sauce.

Serves 2-3

Variation: stir a tablespoon of mustard into the cabbage and potatoes before frying it.