Beans and Greens

Dried beans and fresh greens are staples in our household. We eat them regularly, and rarely the same way twice. There are so many varieties of dried beans and fresh greens that the combinations are endless.

Here's the most recent one I made, combining curly kale, white lima beans, and canned tomatoes.

It actually tasted as good as it looks.

Here's what I did.

White Beans and Curly Kale Stew
1/3 cup dry white lima beans or canellini beans
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dried red chile pepper, crumbled
1 large bunch curly kale, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

Cook the beans in boiling water until tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain and set aside.

Warm olive oil in large sauté pan. Add garlic and chile pepper and cook over medium heat until fragrant. Stir in kale and vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the kale wilts, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes with their juice, cooked beans and thyme. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle stew into shallow bowls and serve.

Serves 4

Asparagus Frittata

Spring is here. The scent of freesias and orange blossoms waft around the garden. The hummingbirds are flirting, and squawking baby jays hide in the undergrowth.

Spring makes me think of young spears of asparagus and fresh eggs from happy hens. I bought some of each at the farmers market on Sunday and made this great sunday brunch frittata.

There's a lot of asparagus in this dish, and not very many eggs. The green flavor shines, but I did dampen it a bit with some aged gruyere - I thought this was a great combination. But a milder cheese, or even no cheese at all, would be fine too.

Leftovers were great for lunch during the week as well.

Asparagus Frittata
1 lb asparagus
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded gruyere

Snap tough ends off asparagus spears and cut the rest into 1-inch lengths.

Pour oil into a warmed 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt. Cook about 3 minutes until onion is softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in asparagus, reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 6-8 minutes until asparagus is just tender. Pour in eggs and cook until they are almost set but still runny on top, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese over top and broil until cheese is melted and browned, 3-4 minutes.

Serve in wedges.

Serves 6-8

A simple rice cooker meal

There's something cool about appliances doing all the work. I don't mean actually choosing my options - that's my job. But I do enjoy leaving dinner to cook without worrying about it burning or boiling over. It lets me go putter in the garden, knowing that when I'm ready for dinner, it will be ready for me.

The other night I made this great spicy mushroom rice dish in my rice cooker. I have a very low-tech rice cooker - turn it on and let it do its work. No fuzzy logic. No bells and whistles. And it works great. When the rice is done, the cooker turns to low and keeps it warm until I remember it's time for dinner. A simple salad or a steamed vegetable can round out the meal.

I sautéed leeks and mushrooms, added chipotles in adobo, then stirred in raw rice. I poured the whole thing into the rice cooker. When I have some smoked jack in the fridge, I stir in about half a cup diced at the end to add a "bacon-y" flavor. But the chipotles add enough flavor that it's not necessary. (Chipotles in adobo are dried smoked jalapeños in a spicy tomato sauce. You'll find them in cans in the international section of the grocery store. I use what I need then store the rest in a jar in the refrigerator where they'll last for a few months.)

Spicy Mushroom Rice
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 small leeks
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
8 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cups water

Warm the butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cut the roots off the leaks, then cut them in half lengthwise. Wash them well to get dirt out from between the layers. Thinly slice the white and pale green parts and add them to the warmed oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add the chopped chipotles, sliced mushrooms and chopped garlic. Cook until mushrooms darken and are tender, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the salt, pepper and brown rice. Pour into the rice cooker. Add the water. Lower the lid and turn on the cooker.

Serves 4-6.

This reheats well. It also freezes and defrosts well. It's a great go-to easy dinner dish.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Hunting through the fridge the other day, I found a couple of beets, a few small turnips and half a celeriac. Combined with a parsnip, carrots and some potatoes, these made a great simple dish of roasted root vegetables.

Roasting the vegetables in a covered casserole lets them steam more than blacken. The flavors blend, the olive oil, salt and pepper get absorbed, and the roots come out buttery and delectable.

Use whatever roots you have lying around. Peel (as needed) and chop enough vegetables to fill your casserole. Pieces of one inch or less are good because they cook more quickly. I always cut beets and turnips into small bite-size pieces.

Toss the vegetables in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them in the casserole, cover, and bake at 425°F for 30-45 minutes. The timing will depend on the size of your vegetables. They're done when they pierce easily with a knife.

Warning: this is weird

I like to vary the grains we eat: various kinds of rice, millet, quinoa, barley, and —last week — buckwheat.

Buckwheat is technically a seed, not a grain, and it's no relation to wheat. It originated on the Russian steppes and is a good warming winter grain.

It is strongly flavored — as you know if you've eaten buckwheat pancakes. I tend to serve it with mushrooms — a classic combination. Last week I cooked it up with potatoes to balance the intensity of the buckwheat. Served with steamed vegetables, it made a simple healthy dinner.

But there was a lot left over. I thought a bit, and then I realized it would be great for breakfast as a sort of hash.

Knowing this might be a little weird, I did not offer it to Larry. But I enjoyed it every morning for a week.

I scooped the grains and potatoes into my small cast iron skillet, fried them up, bashing them a little, and then added an egg — sometimes a hard-boiled one that I bashed into the mix, other times I moved the buckwheat to the side and fried an egg in the pan next to it. Salt, a good grinding of pepper and a drizzle of rooster sauce and I had a stick-to-the ribs-breakfast.

I encourage you to try it with whatever leftover grains you have in your fridge.

And if you want to try buckwheat with potatoes, here's the recipe.

Buckwheat and Potato Casserole
1 1/2 cups buckwheat (also known as kasha)
3 cups water
1 1/4 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces1 cup diced onion (1/2 large one)
1 tbsp organic canola oil

Bring the water to a boil, add a little salt, and cook the buckwheat, covered, 15 minutes. It should absorb all the water.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Drain and set aside.

Fry the onion in the oil until lightly browned.

Combine all together in a large bowl. Add 20 grinds of black pepper and a little salt to taste.

Scoop into an oiled casserole. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Serves 6-8

Cinnamon Tea

This has been a challenging winter - the weather is cold and wet, then hot, then wet again. My Canadian body, which is used to 6 months of ice, finds it's stressful to try to keep up.

As preventative medicine, on those damp chilly days when it feels like a virus might be floating around, I brew up a cup of cinnamon tea and snuggle under a blanket with a good book.

Cinnamon has been shown to have antibacterial and antiviral qualities. It's also a restorative, used for centuries in Chinese medicine to get the blood moving and restore strength to a body depleted by illness or stress.

It's also a sedative and mood booster. After a couple of cups of cinnamon tea and a good nap, the whole world looks brighter.

I usually drink it without sweetener, but a little raw honey, added once the tea has cooled a little so as not to destroy the beneficial enzymes, helps soothe the throat. I have teaspoons made from organic bamboo (from bambuhome.com). Unlike metal spoons, they stay cool while stirring the honey into the tea.

Of course, you don't have to be under the weather to drink a cup of this delicious tea.

(Organic cinnamon sticks are becoming more commonly available. If your local health food store doesn't have them, you can order them online at Mountain Rose Herbs. Buy raw honey at your local farmers market.)

Cinnamon Tea
2 2-inch organic cinnamon sticks (4 inches total)
1 tsp honey or to taste

Bring 2 cups cold water to boiling in a small saucepan. Add the cinnamon sticks, cover, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Your house will smell great.

Strain the tea into 2 mugs (or save half in the saucepan and reheat it when you're ready for a second cup). Sweeten to taste with honey.

Makes 2 cups

(I let the cinnamon sticks dry on a rack in the kitchen and use them for a couple more pots of tea before throwing them in the compost.)

Penne with Broccoli, Mushrooms, Rosemary and Thyme

I ventured out between the rain showers the other day to pick some rosemary and thyme to add vigor to this simple pasta dish. The aroma of the fresh herbs elevated this easy supper to another level, yet it was still quick to prepare.

One of the pleasures of living in Southern California is the ability to grow herbs outside year round. While they may not be at their most fragrant after all this cold rain, they still add pungency and freshness to a meal.

The broccoli and mushrooms cook while the pasta boils, and the dish is ready in under half an hour.

There is no real sauce per se, so save a couple of ladlefuls of pasta cooking water to add at the end to loosen it up if necessary.

Penne with Broccoli, Mushrooms, Rosemary and Thyme
1 (10 oz) head broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 dried chili pepper, crushed into pieces
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
parmesan to serve (optional)
1/2 lb penne pasta

Cut the florets off the broccoli stems and set aside. Peel any tough skin off the broccoli stems and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

Sauté the onion in the olive oil until it's browned around the edges. Add the chopped broccoli stems and stir for a minute. Add the mushrooms, salt, rosemary, thyme, chili pepper and sunflower seeds. Stir another minute or so. Add 1/4 cup water to the pan. Place the broccoli florets on top of the vegetables, cover the pan, reduce the heat and let it all steam, covered, 13-15 minutes until the stems are soft and the florets are cooked but still have some bite.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water, following the directions on the package. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water.

When the sauce is cooked, stir in the pasta along with a little pasta water if desired.

Serve sprinkled with parmesan if desired. (If you're not using parmesan, a little extra salt might be necessary.)

Serves 4

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.

Sunday Shopping

It is Oscar Day in Hollywood, so we made sure to get on the road to the Hollywood Farmers Market early. We could see the barriers a couple of blocks down Hollywood Blvd. from the market, but our shopping was not disrupted.

It was a quick shopping trip, too, because our winter vegetable garden is burgeoning. We really needed fruit and apples, and a few extra vegetables like spaghetti squash just because.

Here's what we bought:
3 sweet potatoes (the white kind), 3 Bartlett pears, 1 bunch tiny radishes, 1 yellow onion, 1 medium spaghetti squash, 2 dozen eggs, 2 avocados, cilantro, broccoli, 2 grapefruit, 6 large tangelos, 7 pink lady apples.

Risotto with Broccoli

We have been buying beautiful bunches of thin-stemmed broccoli from the South Central Farmers Cooperative at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

They have long slender stems, a few young leaves and small florets. I've steamed them and served them with lemon juice, tossed them with brown rice and lots of pepper, and the other night I served them on top of a simple risotto.

Broccoli is a wonderfully versatile green, and it helps keeps our estrogen levels balanced, so it's good to eat regularly.

This dish most decidedly does not taste like health food.

Risotto with Broccoli
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups vegetable stock and water
1/4 lb young broccoli
1 tsp olive oil
2 oz parmesan shavings
1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns

Bring the stock and water to a gentle simmer in a covered pot. Keep warm on a low burner.

Warm 4 tbsp butter in heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the rice until the grains are coated with butter.

Add a cup of stock and stir. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Repeat with another cup, and then the last of the stock, cooking about 25 minutes until the rice is tender but still has a little bite.

In the meantime, cut the broccoli in 2 inch pieces and blanch in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and toss in olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

Cut up the remaining butter and stir into the rice to make it creamy,

Spoon risotto onto 2 plates, top with the broccoli. Use a potato peeler to shave some parmesan over the top of each, then add a few grindings of coarse pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

Pasta with Beet Greens

The beets I'm growing in our vegetable patch have many more leaves than the ones I buy at the farmers market. In fact,  each beet has as many greens as I would usually get in a bunch of three beets.

So we've been eating a lot of beet greens. This isn't a hardship because they are sweet and versatile. I like them combined with chard or kale in a side dish of wilted greens. I've also stirred them into cooked brown rice for a simple casserole.

The other day I stirred them into pasta with garlic and olives for a quick but tasty meal.

In the past I've made this dish with chard and other greens. The beets were particularly yummy, I thought.

I used my large pasta pot with a strainer insert to cook the pasta. It took a lot of water, but it was easy to lift out the pasta and reserve the water - turned pink by the beet leaves - for watering my plants. I'm sure they appreciated the extra minerals.

Pasta with Beet Greens
1 lb beet greens (cut stems at bottom of leaves before weighing)
1 lb whole wheat penne pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped green olives
2 dried red hot chiles, crushed (or 1/2 tsp hot chile flakes)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Wash the beet leaves, cut coarsely and set aside.

Cook pasta in a lot of well-salted boiling water until almost tender. Add the beet leaves and cook another 2 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup water.

Meanwhile, warm olive oil in large saucepan. Fry garlic, olives, chiles, and salt and pepper to taste, until garlic is golden, about 2 minutes.

Add drained pasta with beet leaves and 1/3 cup pasta water. Cook, stirring, until well mixed and the liquid is absorbed. Add a few extra spoonfuls of cooking water if needed to make it moist and a little saucy.

Stir in the parmesan and serve.

Serves 4-6

Brussels Sprouts Leaves

The head on top of the stalk

I bought a Brussels sprouts head at the Hollywood Farmers Market the other day.

I have seen Brussels sprouts stalks before, but never the leafy head that grows at the top of the stalk.

It makes me want to grow some of my own just for the decorative and unusual plant in the garden. Sadly, our garden doesn't get enough chilling hours to make them grow really well. Instead I buy my sprouts from farmers in cooler California regions.

But this was the first time I was able to buy a Brussels sprouts head.

I cooked the leaves as I would cabbage or collards. The farmer suggested I could eat them raw in salads too, but they seemed a little tough for that.

And I steamed the little sprouts which were sweet and tender.

Altogether a very cool experience. I'll buy these again.

The upside-down head - see the tiny sprouts?

Sunday Shopping

It was a bit of an ordeal getting to the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning. First the on-ramp to the Hollywood freeway was closed so we took a very poorly signposted detour through the streets of downtown. As we drove the surface streets, we passed a car which had run off the road and hit a post near a homeless encampment. Larry got out to make sure the driver was okay, which he was, and we continued on our way, finally getting to the market after it opened at 8 a.m.

There were many more shoppers than we're used to, but we did not allow that to dissuade us from our perusal of the organic vegetables. An americano from the Cafecito Organico stand helped soothe our nerves.

I had a nice chat with a young man whose descriptions of the dried beans he grew were exceptional. I bought some scarlet runner beans which he said were very meaty and would be great in a stew on a cool evening.

And Larry played with a puppy in a backpack at the South Central Cooperative Farmers stall, where I picked up two bunches of huge beets with their greens and some beautiful broccoli.

I bought a lot of beets this week because we are going to be eating them raw every day as a way to cleanse our livers and gall bladders of all the stress hormones produced on our weekly trips to the market. 

Here's what we came home with:
1 dozen medium eggs, 2 grapefruit, 2 navel oranges, 24 small tangelos to juice, 1 bunch asparagus, 2 bunches beets with greens, broccoli, the top of a Brussels sprouts plant, 1 portabello mushroom, 4 cremini mushrooms, 2 onions, 3 small plain St. Benoit yogurt, Mike's firehouse cheddar from happy jersey cows, 7 red delicious apples, dried scarlet runner beans, 2 butternut squash, 1 red onion, 10 small sweet potatoes, 3 bartlett pears, 12 beets with no tops, 1 lb Finca Columbia coffee from Cafecito Organico.

The top of a Brussels sprout plant.

Dinner from the Garden

I went out into the garden yesterday afternoon and harvested dinner.

It is so exciting to be able to say that!

I picked two beets with masses of greens, a rutabaga with huge leaves, 2 mikado turnips with delicate leaves, and some leaves of chard, curly mustard and kale. These all grew on a layer of straw so I barely had to water them at all yet they were vibrant and healthy.

I rummaged through our potato bags for some potatoes. And on the way back up the steps I picked a few self-seeded nasturtium flowers to add color to the plate.

I steamed the roots and sautéed the greens, and we sat down to a simple dinner that was simple yet truly exceptional in its flavor. The beets were sweet and fresh, the turnips were spicy and juicy, and the greens were soft and tender with a little heat from the mustard greens and a couple of dried chiles from the ristra I made last fall with our harvest of peppers.

It was the first time we'd eaten a meal completely from our garden (with the exception of the olive oil, salt and pepper, and an onion), and we marveled as we ate it.

I'm still extremely glad I have the farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market to grow most of our food for us, but it was a satisfying experiment to eat hyper-local produce, all of which had been picked a mere couple of hours before we ate it.

I stacked layers of alfalfa then straw. I put a thin layer of mud
on top before planting my seedlings.

Turnips and curly mustard thrive. The cage is to prevent birds
from eating the seedlings and critters from digging them up.

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.

Vegetable Curry

Vegetable curry before the coconut milk

I pulled some odds and ends of vegetables from the fridge the other day to make this vegetable curry with coconut milk.

A curry is simply a spiced stew - there are as many variations on the seasoning that goes in a curry as there are cooks. For this version I ground fenugreek, cumin, coriander and mustard seeds in my mini coffee grinder, along with some dried turmeric and cayenne. It was a spicy well-bodied mixture with a hint of sweetness from the fenugreek.

I also added some leaves from my new curry plant (Murraya koenigii). Before Christmas when it was cold and dry, I bought a few spice plants to warm my spirits, including a tiny curry plant. It's supposed to grow well outdoors in southern California, so I'm hoping to have a grove of it one day. For now it's a sprig in a pot. The leaves are used in cooking and then removed, like bay leaves. They don't have the traditional curry aroma of cumin and turmeric. Instead they are floral and spicy. I'm quite excited by this, but I think the dish would be equally good without them. (Dried curry leaves can be purchased at Indian groceries.)

The coconut milk made a lovely sauce that coated the brown rice I served the curry on.

With a side of sautéed greens, this was a nicely warming meal on a cool evening.

Blanching the vegetables ahead makes it a quick dish to put together, even though it's a little tedious. It also helps to have the vegetables diced very small, so this is a good time to practice knife work. My grandmother used to make vegetable curry with a tin of mixed veg. I can see why.

But of course, there's nothing like fresh organic produce, even if it means a little more prep work in the kitchen.

Vegetable Curry
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp ground cayenne
3/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
3 cups diced potatoes
1 cup small cauliflower florets
2 small turnips, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cup peeled and diced celery root (celeriac)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 1 cup)
2 cups chopped cabbage
2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 sprigs of curry leaves
1 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
salt and pepper

Grind the coriander, cumin, mustard, cayenne, fenugreek and turmeric until powdered. Set aside.

Blanch the potatoes in boiling water until tender - about 5 minutes depending on the size of your dice. Plunge in cold water to stop the cooking, then drain and set aside.

Combine the cauliflower, turnips, celery root and carrots and blanch 2 minutes until tender. Plunge in cold water, drain and set aside.

Blanch the cabbage, cool, set aside.

Warm the ghee or oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook until the edges are browned. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Stir in the spice mixture and the curry leaves and stir until fragrant, another 30 seconds. Add the potatoes and mixed vegetables and sauté another minute. Add the coconut milk and let everything heat through.Stir in the cabbage and simmer a couple more minutes until everything is tender. Add extra water if necessary to keep a nice sauce.

Season with plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve over brown rice.

Serves 4

Sunday Shopping

It was already warm at 7:30 a.m. as we headed to the Hollywood Farmers Market. We saw some marathoners crossing a 110 overpass heading to downtown. By the time we were leaving the market at about 8:15 a.m., they were running along Hollywood Blvd. on their way to the Pacific.

The farmers market stays open on Marathon Sunday, but there are fewer shoppers because of the traffic closures and parking difficulties. We were glad our favorite farmers set up their stalls anyway.

I'm continuing this dangerous habit of shopping without a list. I plan to harvest our own greens this week, so I resisted the urge to bring some home with us. I was happy to see Koda Farms was there — they only come once a month and I've been waiting impatiently to buy more of their excellent chickpeas.

Here's what we came home with:

2lbs garbanzos from Koda Farms, 1 Tahitian pomelo, 1lb khadrawy dates from Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch, 3 small St. Benoit yogurt, 2 dozen eggs, 8 blood oranges, 6 page mandarins, 20 small navel oranges for juicing, 1 red onion, 2 brown onions, 6 potatoes, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 celeriac, 1 bag Bloomsdale spinach, 2 romaine lettuce, 2 small fuerte avocados, 2 limes, 6 large navel oranges for eating, 3 bartlett pears, 5 sundowner apples