Sunday Shopping

I woke up this morning not wanting to think about food. Planning the menus for the week and heading to the Hollywood Farmers Market felt like a chore.

But I knew if we didn't go, then I would end up buying produce at a grocery store. We can't go a week without fresh organic fruit and vegetables, after all. And while our garden is producing greens, berries and beans, we still need eggs and apples.

So we headed off through the June gloom — the downtown skyline barely visible through the mist — to buy directly from our favorite organic farmers.

And it was a good thing we did because Kuroda Farms was there for a rare visit. Their brown rice, chickpeas and black-eyed peas are staples at our house, and we had almost run out of chickpeas. We enthusiastically bought a bag. It always amazes me how inexpensive good organic protein is.

Here's what else we bought this week: cilantro, radishes, cauliflower, tuscan kale, onions, pink lady apples, eggs, santa rosa plums, yellow peaches, cremini mushrooms, oranges, avocados

Beet Salad with Asparagus

In warm weather, a vegetable salad makes a good dinner. Vegetables are healthy, filling and pretty to look at. They make the meal interesting, even when it's too hot to have much of an appetite.

I made this colorful salad of beets, red butter lettuce, asparagus and watercress the other night. A citrus dressing added perkiness, and I puréed one of the cooked beets to make a red dressing that I served on the side. It was both delicious and colorful. I took the leftovers for my lunch the next day. I really like meals that stretch.

Beet Salad with Asparagus
4 medium-small beets
20 spears asparagus, trimmed
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1/3 cup olive oil
large handful of watercress
red butter lettuce to line the plate

Scrub the beets, place in a steamer in a large pot over medium-low heat, and steam until tender, probably about 45 minutes depending on the size of the beets. When a thin knife can pierce the center of the beets, they're cooked. Remove the steamer from the water and set aside to let them cool a little.

Cook the asparagus in a little boiling water 3-6 minutes until tender-crisp. Drain, plunge into ice water to stop the cooking, drain again and set aside.

Whisk together orange juice, vinegar and shallots. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until it's emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour half the dressing in a blender. Peel and chop one of the beets and add it to the blender. Purée into a gorgeous purple sauce. Pour into a jug.

Line a plate with the lettuce. Peel (if desired) and slice the beets and arrange around the edge of the plate. Cut the asparagus in bite-sized pieces. Toss with the watercress and some of the first dressing (the one without the beet) — enough to coat the leaves. Pile this into the center of the beets.

Drizzle the beet dressing over the salad, and serve the extra on the side.

Serves 3-4

Peach Ice Cream with Berries

Our blackberries and blueberries are just starting to ripen. I wanted to serve the first of the crop as dessert with our Memorial Day barbecue, but I knew it would just be a small bowlful of berries between us. A scoop of homemade peach ice cream under the berries sounded like just the ticket.

I don't like commercial peach ice cream — ersatz fruit flavor weirds me out. But the peach ice cream I make tastes of peaches and cream.

Plus, it's really simple to make. Purée peaches with a little sugar. Make a custard with eggs, milk and cream. Combine and freeze in the ice cream maker.

Yes, it's that simple to make ice cream that is better than anything you will find in the store.

And if you have fresh blackberries and blueberries to sprinkle over it, well, then you have something spectacular.

I still use the hand-cranked 1-pint ice cream
maker my mother gave me years ago.

Peach Ice Cream
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar, divided use
1 lb peaches (3-4)
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp almond extract

Heat milk and cream in a heavy saucepan until steaming and small bubbles are forming around edges. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar and a dash of salt. Beat with handheld electric beaters until light and lemon-colored.

Very gradually, pour hot milk into eggs, in a gentle stream, beating constantly. This will temper the eggs without cooking them too quickly. Keep the beaters moving.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes until the custard begins to thicken. Set aside to cool.

Halve the peaches and remove the pits. Put the flesh (with skin) into a food processor and finely chop. Add sugar and lemon juice and purée again.

Stir the peaches and almond extract into the cooled custard. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

Makes 2 pints.

Fresh homegrown blackberries. Yum.

Potato Salad

I love a good creamy yet zesty potato salad. And that's what we had Sunday with our first barbecue of the year.

I stirred together keffir and mayonnaise for the dressing, added a little red onion, and then sprinkled over some snipped Egyptian walking onion greens for color.

It was peppy and comforting at the same time.

Here's the recipe.

Potato Salad
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
1/2 cup keffir (or plain yogurt)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 small clove garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 small red onion, sliced in thin strips
1 scallion or 1 leaf Egyptian walking onion or a couple of chives

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add some salt, bring to a boil, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the keffir, mayonnaise, vinegar, garlic and lemon juice. Add the warm potatoes, stir, and let rest a while, stirring occasionally. The potatoes will absorb a lot of the dressing, which is part of what makes this salad great.

When cool, stir in the red onion. Sprinkle with chopped scallion greens, onion greens or chives.

Serves 4

Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing

What greens are in this salad, Larry asked. Homegrown arugula, I said. Yes, but what other greens are in it, he persisted. Just arugula, I replied. Wow, he said in a surprised tone of voice, it's really good.

I understood his amazement because our arugula is exceptionally peppery. I usually add a few leaves to a green salad as a flavor boost or cook it with other greens.

But for our Memorial Day barbecue, I tossed handfuls of the leaves with a hearty balsamic vinaigrette that complemented their heat without overpowering it. With the sweetness of tomato and grilled red onion and the salty umami of a little shaved parmesan, the salad was a huge success.

The extra dressing lasts well in the fridge, ready to be poured over grilled vegetables or hearty grain salads.

Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing
3 slices red onion
olive oil
1 tomato
2-3 cups arugula leaves, tough stems removed
wedge of parmesan

Push toothpicks into the slices of onion so they hold together on the grill. Brush them with olive oil and grill over a medium-hot fire until they are soft and well-browned (not black and crispy), 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from heat, remove toothpicks, and cut in quarters.

Cut the tomato into bite-sized pieces.

Toss the arugula, onion and tomato together with just enough dressing to lightly moisten. Use a potato peeler to shave a few pieces of parmesan over the salad. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

Serves 2-3


Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Purée olives, mustard and garlic in blender. With the rotors running, gradually add the olive oil until it emulsifies. Add the balsamic and basil. Purée until mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

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

Memorial Day Barbecue

We had a wonderful Memorial Day barbecue on Sunday. Larry grilled a portabello mushroom to perfection (apparently his burger was pretty good too), and he grilled a couple of slices of red onion for our arugula salad.

It was a simple meal: grilled burger / portabello, black beans, potato salad, and homegrown arugula salad. Dessert was our first ripe blackberries and blueberries on homemade peach ice cream.

The mushroom benefitted from being brushed with a zesty marinade while it was cooking. It was juicy and flavorful. It would probably have been good on a bun, but I enjoyed eating it with a knife and fork.

Here's how we made it.

Grilled Portabello Mushroom
3 oz olive oil
juice of 2 limes
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 shallot, peeled and minced

Combine all the ingredients. This is enough marinade for 4 portabellos. Leftovers last well in the fridge and make a good salad dressing.

Remove the stem from the portabello. Brush off any dirt.

Put it on a grill over high heat. Brush with the marinade. Grill a few minutes, turning and brushing often. Larry's secret is he pours a little of his beer on it as well during the cooking.

Serve immediately.

I sometimes add a tsp of fresh chopped rosemary to the marinade, which adds a little more depth of flavor.

Sunday Shopping

We were uncertain how many farmers would be at the Hollywood Farmers Market this Memorial Day Sunday, but we headed there early in hopes of beating the rush. And almost everyone was there so we were able to load up on food for the grill.

We also stopped at Logan's plant stand to buy more basil, dill and cilantro plants. The birds (or slugs?) have been decimating mine, but I'm optimistically going to plant some more.

This is the delicious organic food we brought home with us:
romaine lettuce, red onions, cilantro, snap peas, a bunch of small red onions, portabello mushroom, pomelos, radishes, eggs, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, black beans, whole wheat sourdough baguette, plums, tomatoes, cucumber

Fusilli with Arugula and Tomatoes and Feta

Our arugula is starting to flower, so I harvested a bunch of the leaves and flowers the other night to try to encourage it to get bushy again. Once I discarded the tough stems, I had about 3 cups of peppery leaves and flowers. I tossed them with hot pasta, tomatoes and feta for a quick flavorful dinner.

It's a simple dish that can be varied in many ways. Cherry or grape tomatoes can substitute for the plum tomatoes. I used leaves from our homegrown Egyptian walking onions, but scallions are a good substitute.

This is fresh fast food at its best.

Fusilli with Tomatoes and Feta
8 oz fusilli or other pasta
3 tbsp olive oil plus more to drizzle
1 shallot, peeled and diced
3 Egyptian walking onion leaves, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 3/4 lb roma tomatoes
3 cups chopped arugula leaves
4 oz feta, diced

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until it's al dente.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the shallot, onion leaves, garlic and tomatoes. Sauté about 7 minutes until the tomatoes soften. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and return it to its pot. Stir in the tomato mixture and arugula. Drizzle in a little extra olive oil to make it all meld together. Stir in the feta and serve.

Serves 2-4

Morning Fruit

Every morning I cut up some seasonal organic fruit for our breakfast. Even here in Southern California we have seasons, which are sometimes easier to discern through our local produce than through the daily temperatures.

This week we're eating grapefruit, strawberries and blueberries.

Hopefully, next week we'll be eating our own blueberries and blackberries.

Cooking in the Time of Drought

I love my pressure cooker. It allows me to make dinner with nutritious beans in less than an hour.

My grandmother, who preferred to be vegan, gave me my pressure cooker on my 18th birthday. Many years later, it's still going strong. (I have replaced the seal a couple of times.) I used to bring down the pressure by running water over it. Now that I treasure every drop coming out of the faucet, I have learned to bring down the pressure quickly, but without water.

I put the sorted and rinsed beans in the pressure cooker, add cold water to cover by at least 4 inches, then cover and put on high heat until the pressure comes up to full. I turn down the heat until it's just simmering. Most beans take about 15 minutes; chickpeas take 22 minutes and soybeans would take even longer. When the timer goes off, I put the pot on the counter, aim the steam release in a direction where it will do no harm, and open it up. Steam flies. (I like to think it's steam cleaning my kitchen.) When the steam finishes, the lid unlocks and I can open it. I make sure to lift the lid away from me, because it's still mighty hot.

When the steam stops rising, I take out a bean and cut it with a knife to see if it's cooked through. If not, I put the lid back on, put the pot back on the burner, and let it simmer — not under pressure — another 3-4 minutes and then test another bean. They'll be done soon.

Then I drain the beans over my trusty pyrex jug. When the water cools I pour it on my plants.

Good beans, cooked quickly, with no water wasted.

Fast Food

Larry made dinner on Saturday night: defrosted red lentil burgers, baked potatoes, cooked carrots, and our own green/purple/yellow beans.

The burgers defrosted beautifully in the toaster oven. They were light, not too salty, and nicely spiced. Far better than the pre-made patties at Whole Foods or the hockey pucks in the freezer department.

I love it when we can eat our own fast food.

Greens

We have a variety of greens growing in our garden: kohlrabi, beet, chard, arugula, watercress and mustard. The other night I picked a few leaves of each and stirred them together for a great side with Teriyaki Tofu Steaks and brown rice.

Greens are full of nutrients but need a little salt and oil to break down the cell membranes so we can absorb them. (Unless you want to chew as much as rabbits or cows.)

This is my standard go-to greens recipe. We never get tired of it, probably in part because the greens change each time I make it.

Greens
large bunch of greens
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, slivered

Wash the greens well. Remove any tough stems and discard. Chop the leaves and soft stems into rough 2 inch pieces.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion until it's soft. Stir in the greens, making sure to get them coated in oil. Sprinkle a little salt over them and stir that in. Cover the skillet and let the greens cook over medium-low heat until they are soft and tender.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2 greens-lovers

Tofu Teriyaki Steaks

When I want a simple nutritious meal, I turn to tofu, brown rice, and cooked greens. This never fails to satisfy.

The other night I whipped up a quick teriyaki sauce to baste the tofu steaks with. It was also great drizzled over the rice and greens.

To give the sauce its glossiness, I added a little sugar to sherry and tamari. Normally I don't use sugar in my cooking, but I figured the fiber in the brown rice would balance it out.

And it sure tasted good.

Tofu Teriyaki Steaks
1/4 cup tamari (soy sauce)
1/2 cup sherry
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 tsp lemon juice
vegetable oil
1 lb block firm tofu

Combine the tamari, sherry, sugar and lemon zest in a small pot and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat about 5 minutes until fragrant.

Put the cornstarch in a very small bowl, add the lemon juice and stir to dissolve the cornstarch. Whisk this into the sauce in the pot and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat about 1 minute, stirring. Let it cool.

Warm a grill pan. (Or light a barbecue.) Lightly oil it.

Drain the tofu and pat it dry. Cut it in half horizontally. Brush one side with the teriyaki sauce, and place the pieces sauce side down in the hot grill pan. Cook it over medium heat, basting with the teriyaki sauce. Turn it after about 6 minutes and baste the other side. Cook until it's browned but not crisp. Don't use all the sauce.

Serve the tofu with the extra sauce on the side.

Serves 2

Sunday Shopping

It's peach season, which means we need to get to the Hollywood Farmers Market extra early to avoid the crowds. Fortunately the farmers were ready for us.

We chatted with Jimmy and Logan while we bought some eggplant plants for our vegetable garden. (I did not have good germination with my seeds this year, but fortunately Logan did.)

And Larry talked to a fruit-grower about how the crackdown on illegal immigrants has affected his orchards. He currently doesn't have enough labor to pick all his trees.

It always goes back to money, doesn't it? Fair wages for backbreaking seasonal work means the price of food rises, yet in this country we expect food to be inexpensive — or at least a minimal part of the weekly budget. It's a knotty problem. In the meantime, I gratefully put cash in the hands of small organic farmers.

Here's a list of the organic produce we brought home with us:
oranges, strawberries, beets, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, shallots, broccoli, red butter lettuce, eggs, pink lady apples, avocados, nectarines, peaches, mushrooms

Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad with Marjoram and Feta

I usually make this salad in the summer with fresh corn and sun-ripened tomatoes, but the knotted marjoram in our garden is about to flower and there are good cherry tomatoes at my local grocery store, organic corn in the freezer and feta in the fridge.

How could I resist making it to go with the Red Lentil Burgers we had for dinner the other night?

Marjoram adds a wonderful base note to the sweetness of the corn and the saltiness of the feta. It's worth growing this aromatic herb for this salad alone.

Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad with Marjoram and Feta

10 oz package frozen organic corn
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup diced feta
1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram

Cook corn briefly according to package directions. Drain and set aside to cool.

Whisk together olive oil and red wine vinegar. Stir in cooled corn, tomatoes, feta and marjoram.

Serves 2-3

Red Lentil Veggie Burgers

I love having veggie burgers in the freezer — not the hockey pucks found in supermarket freezers, but ones I make myself and then freeze. They defrost well for a quick nutritious dinner.

Sometimes I make them with leftover lentil loaf, sometimes with chickpeas. The other day I made them with quick-cooking red lentils and curry spices. Panko breadcrumbs made them light and airy, and eggs ensured they held together.

I served them with a Corn and Tomato Salad, and our homegrown bush beans.

Best of all, most of them are now carefully stored in the freezer, ready for when I need a quick dinner.

Red Lentil Veggie Burgers
1 1/2 cups red lentils
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped finely (3/4 cup)
4 medium carrots, finely diced (1 1/3 cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
3/4 cup plain panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Pick over the lentil and remove any small stones or debris. Rinse them well, then put in a large pot with cold water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a fine-meshed strainer. Set aside still in the strainer so they can continue to drain.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring frequently, until golden, about 5 minutes. And the carrots and garlic. Cook until the carrots start to soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in the cumin and cayenne. Remove from the heat.

Preheat the broiler.

Put the lentils in a large bowl. Add the contents of the skillet, the breadcrumbs, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir to blend.

Scoop out 1/4 cup at a time and put on 2 baking sheets lined either with sil-pats or aluminum foil. Gently pat into burger shape. You'll get 16-18 burgers.

Put one tray of burgers under the broiler for 6 minutes. Take it out and put the other tray in for 6 minutes while you flip the first lot of burgers. Repeat until all burgers have been cooked on both sides.

Serve warm.

Purple and Gold Beans

I planted some bush beans in early February, protected them with chicken wire, and crossed my fingers.

This week we ate our first harvest of purple, gold and green beans. Sadly, the purple ones turn green when they're cooked, so we end up with just yellow and green on our plates. But really, there is nothing better than freshly-picked beans.

I cooked them briefly in a little boiling water, and we ate them au naturel — they were so tender we didn't even need butter or salt and pepper. Yum!

Salad with Parmesan and Balsamic

I don't think I've ever bought a bottle of salad dressing. When I was a student I was too cheap to spend the extra money when I could just toss olive oil and vinegar on a salad. Then I started looking at the ingredients and realized a whole lot of stabilizers and emulsifiers are needed to make commercial salad dressing. So I continue to make my own.

I always have a bottle of my homemade honey-balsamic dressing in the fridge. Larry likes it on the salads he takes for lunch. (He carries a little in a small container and adds it to his salad when he's ready to eat.)

For my favorite simple side salad I make the dressing right on the salad. The balsamic and parmesan make it great with Italian food, and I served it the other night with the Whole Wheat Linguine with Broccoli and Chickpeas. It was a great match.

I used red butter lettuce because it has extra carotenoids from the red pigments. However, when coated with balsamic vinegar, it looks a little brown at the edges in low light. That's okay, it tastes great.

Here is the beyond-easy recipe, no emulsifiers or stabilizers required.

Salad with Parmesan and Balsamic
Butter lettuce for 2 people
wedge of parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp olive oil

Wash the lettuce and dry it completely. Tear it into a bowl. Use a vegetable peeler to sliver 3-4 thin pieces of parmesan onto the lettuce. Sprinkle the vinegar over the lettuce along with a dash of salt. Toss well. Drizzle the olive oil over the salad and toss again.

Serves immediately.

Serves 2

Cooking in the Time of Drought

I pour cooking water into the pyrex jug, and
when it cools I use it to water our plants.

We're still in a drought here in Southern California. Yes, we had 18 inches of rain last winter, and the snow pack is looking good, but the reality of low-water living is setting in.

We put plastic bottles in our toilet tanks to lower the amount of water used with each flush, learned to enjoy 3-minute showers, and bought a low-water washing machine.

However, I am still watering my garden. I use a drip system, started a rain farm, mulch a lot, and encourage my plants to grow long roots deep down into the cool earth and away from the hot sun.

I also started saving my kitchen water to put on my plants.

Ideally, we would have a grey water set-up where I could flick a switch at the kitchen sink and run the waste water directly into our garden. Unfortunately, we haven't yet figured out how to do this. So I've started small with a jug that I pour our cooking water into and then carry outside to water the plants.

The amount of water adds up. The kumquat gets at least a quart a day just from our morning boiled eggs. Plus it gets extra nutrients from the water I've cooked beans or vegetables in.

Whether rinsing greens or scrubbing carrots and potatoes, I used to take that clean water pouring out of the tap for granted. But it's actually a valuable resource. So I now catch the water in my large pyrex jug and reap   more benefit from each drop — first in the kitchen, and then in the garden.