My friend Sierra writes a wonderful blog called “ChildWild.” I don’t even have kids and I read it fervently. This week she shared her 5 year-old daughter’s recipe for apples from their farm share: Rio’s Fried Apples for Friends. Check it out, and check out the rest of her blog while you’re there.
Inspiration, with Chicken
Inspiration struck on my walk home from work the other night. Sliced cooked sweet potatoes. Sliced avocado. Cooked chicken, shredded. Onions lightly sauteed. Drizzled with a terriyaki-ish sauce. It was delish.
I had forgotten how far a simple sauce could go to tie things together and give some zest. I rarely measure anything, but here’s my basic methodology:
Use a small, heavy bottom pan.
Cook over low heat until liquid is reduced to 2/3 or 1/2
Today was overflowing with food goodness – only some of which got its portrait taken. Breakfast this morning was nothing to write home about except that it didn’t break the bank and Joseph’s pancakes were enormous. Let’s just skip ahead to the cupcakes.
I’d read about Babycakes, and seen their cookbook. Reading has nothing on biting into vegan gluten-free cupcakes. This afternoon I had a pumpkin cupcake. This evening, I had a chocolate one in bed. Joseph had banana chocolate chip bread, and a cinnamon toasty. I heard “good,” “tasty,” and “mmmff.” They were a little heavier and more dense than the cupcakes I make, but mine aren’t vegan on top of being gluten-free. I also didn’t have to make these.
For lunch we walked up to S’Mac, short for Sarita’s Macaroni and Cheese. Their menu was amazing. We both ordered gluten-free versions (available for an extra charge for any of their dishes). Joseph had the Parisienne, “Mac-n-Cheese for the “upper crust”. Creamy Brie, roasted figs, roasted shiitake mushrooms & fresh rosemary. It’s addictive!” I went for the basic All-American, “Just the way you remember it as a kid! Nostalgia at its finest – a tasty blend of American & Cheddar cheeses.” The All-American was perfect. I declined the gluten-free breadcrumbs option and just focused on gooey, creamy, baked goodness at my place in a cast iron skillet. The Parisienne was remarkable. The tast combination was complex and compelling, although I found it bordering on too intense and a bit too sweet. Joseph, however, felt it hit just the spot.
I was tired come evening, so we headed back to the hotel and over for a quick bite at Mozzarelli’s. It was basically a glorified take-out joint with a few tables that were being cleaned and put away for the night just as we sat down. The pizza was quite good. Theyserve both gluten and gluten-free food, but carefully use different pans, different equipment. I’ve had Uno’s gluten-free pizza on two occassions in two different cities. This was better than either. The secret is probably in the flour. Mozzarelli’s makes their crust with garbanzo flour, pinto bean flour and rice flour. That gives it that bit of nuttiness that always helps fill the gluten-free taste gap on foods that rely so intensely on the flavor of wheat. My suspicion if that Uno’s uses mostly, if not entirely, rice flour.
Afterward we had a drink in a lovely dark bar with tin ceilings, wooden tables, and a strange playlist. It was our cue to leave when Billy Ocean came on. That’s when I came back to the hotel and had that chocolate cupcake. In bed.
I’ve had quite a number of homes over the years. Today I landed back in NYC for the first time in five years. I lived here for two years in the mid to late 90s and I miss it regularly. It still feels like home. We arrived late this afternoon and decided to head right for comfort food.
Dinner was at my favorite Japanese restaurant, Marumi. I’m not enough of a connoisseur to claim I can tell the “best” Japanese food or “best” sushi. But it is for sure my favorite. Partly, its the memories. I ate my first Japanese food here with a former roommate of mine. She was an exchange student from Seol, and took me out as a hospitality gift. I ate many meals here in graduate school when I lived just a block away. Hot mustard, wasabi and a bottle of Saporo got me through a few bad colds and a flu one year. Then there were the nights I sat at the sushi bar cramming the last few pages of reading in before my next class. Or the memory of my mom’s first attempt at salad with chopsticks.
Joseph gamely ordered my two favorite dishes that I can no longer eat: fried shumai with hot mustard, and yaki udon (now with organic chicken). I don’t believe he was at all disappointed.
I did not ask any gluten-free questions. I travel with my own gluten-free tamari. I settled in with a bowl of chilled edamame and some sushi. The salmon avocado sushi simply melted in my mouth. We shared a bottle of sake.
After dinner we took a walk through the village and stumbled on Varsano’s Chocolate. Having already gorged myself on sushi, a couple of cocoa truffles was more than enough for dessert. The discovery of an actuall bathtub in our hotel led to a brief detour by LUSH for the purchase of a bubble bar (there will be a full-on shopping excursion before the weekend is over) and we were back at our hotel.
A pretty good start to a few day getaway.
My first thought after pouring the last of the coconut milk into the soup? “Oh. You should have saved some of that to drizzle on top of the soup in some fancy pattern. You’re never going to catch on to this food staging business.” Luckily, that had nothing to do with how dinner tasted. That, after all, is the priority.
Tonight’s dinner held lots of bits of excitement all rolled up together.
For one, it was the second time I’ve used our brand new crockpot. My crockpot died a painful death a number of years back and I just never got around to replacing it. It was expensive. Where would I store it. I stopped eating meat. Recipes frequently called for things like canned soup that I can’t eat while gluten-free. Then we started eating some local meat. Then the peer pressure set it ( you know who you are). We bought it Friday. Saturday it was christened with a batch of stew. That batch of stew helped burn off all the weird chemical smells of the new appliance. Today we just got to smell dinner. Starting at noon.
Exciting bit the second, I found a new cookbook. I’ve had lots of cooksbooks over the years, and I simply rarely use them. Long ago I had some slow cooker cookbooks, but they just weren’t my style. Too many packaged foods used to cook food I don’t really like. On our way to buy the new crock pot we stopped at a bookstore to see what was out there now. We hit the motherlode. I discovered “Make it Fast, Cook it Slow” by Stephanie O’Dea – hot off the press. On page 4 of the introduction I see a subheading: Everything is Gluten-Free. I proceed to flip through the book and find the majority of her recipes use actual food ingredients. Then noticed many of her recipes are vegetarian. Since I couldn’t find the fabulous squash soup recipe I made up/cobbled together/wrote on the back of an envelope last year, I thought I’d try hers.
And third, we bought an immersion blender. Oh. My. Goodness. And on a friend’s recommendation we cleaned it by using it in a container of hot soapy water. I may never use my blender again.
So we made squash soup. I followed Stephanie’s recipe to the letter until the end. Well, except for adding a few cloves of garlic. And her recipe called for a butternut squash. I had two very small ones from the CSA share and a small acorn squash from our share a week or so ago. We used all three of them together. Then I added more cinnamon and a can of lite coconut milk. I almost didn’t use the apples, but we had some tart ones around and I threw them is. I’m glad we did. It added just the right bit of sweetness.
We made a batch of one of my favorite breads, the same artisan seed bread from this post. It was earthy and nutty, with 2 T of sunflower seeds and 2 T of toasted sesame seeds. In a shocking performance we whipped up the bread, set it in the warm oven to rise, dashed to the mall for errands, and made it back just in time to turn up the heat and set it to baking. A couple of emails and tweets later we were pulling fresh bread out of the oven and beginning our first session with the immersion blender. See above comment.
Dinner was on the table at a reasonable time, and despite making bread and soup, we didn’t actually spend all day at home making it. The soup and the bread were both vegan and gluten-free, which just expanded our potluck repertoire – as long as I remember.
I just received this notice today. I went to a similar but different event in the spring. This one is going on my calendar.
Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:30-5:30 PM
Women’s Community Building, 100 West Seneca St., Ithaca, NY
Consumers can meet at least 15 livestock producers from across our region, learn about their farms and products, and taste samples prepared by Chef Sean O’Brien of Serendipity Catering. There will be presentations on how consumers can process a whole chicken into smaller cuts, recipes for unfamiliar cuts, and other information on buying local meats. Producers of beef (grass-fed and natural grain/grass fed), pork, lamb, goat, chicken, rabbit, turkey and duck will be present, and some meats will be available for sale. Admission is $5/person. So that the caterer may prepare an appropriate amount of samples, please register in advance by calling Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County at (607) 272-2292. For additional information, please contact Matthew LeRoux at (607) 272-2292 or mnl28@cornell.edu.
Farms confirmed for the Meat Fair as of 10/5/09 AM:
1. Kingbird Farm, Berkshire, NY, Tioga Co.- Beef, chicken, duck, pork, turkey
2. Straight-Way Farm, Montour Falls, NY, Schuyler Co.- beef
3. McDonald Farm, Romulus, NY, Seneca Co.- Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey
4. Sabol’s Farm, Ovid, NY, Seneca Co.- Beef, chicken, duck, goose, goat, lamb, pork
5. Orchardland Farm, Interlaken, NY, Seneca Co.- beef
6. Porkchop Valley, Ithaca, NY, Tompkins Co.- pork
7. Ever Green Farm, Rock Stream, NY, Yates Co.- chicken
8. Birdsall Beef, Homer, NY, Cortland Co.- beef
9. High Point Farms, Trumansburg, NY, Tompkins Co.- beef, lamb, pork, chicken, rabbit
10. Quinn’s Irish Hill Farm, Freeville, NY, Tompkins Co.- chicken, lamb
11. Ort Family Farm, Bradford, NY, Schuyler Co.- beef, chicken, duck, lamb, pork, rabbit, turkey
12. Angus Glen Farm, Watkins Glen, NY, Schuyler Co.-beef, goat, chicken
13. The Piggery, Trumansburg, NY, Tompkins Co.- pork
14. Ellis Hollow Farm, Ithaca, NY, Tompkins Co.-lamb
15. Autumn’s Harvest, Romulus NY, Seneca Co – rabbit, chicken, pork & beef
Potato Leek Soup
It was the first cool weekend day that demanded fresh bread and homemade soup. We went to the market in the morning, picking up what felt like tons of food. When I could no longer figure out how to carry anything we came home (but not before tasting the chocolate-covered bacon at the Piggery). Joseph cooked us some brunch, and I went about preparing two batches of bread – a redux of last week’s sandwich loaf, and two loaves of the artisan seed bread. I toasted the sesame seeds for the seed bread, which really upped the flavor.
For dinner, there was soup. I was curious how the colors would work out with those brilliant purple potatoes, and in the end it did turn a bit brown. That just helped me resolve the question and decide to add some cream to lighten it up.
Potato and Leek Soup
Saute in large stock pot until soft:
Add:
Bring to a boil
Simmer 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft
Add pepper
Blend in blender in small batches
Stir in cream if desired
Fresh Baked
For a while I was fairly content with the gluten-free breads we were buying in the store, but lately I found I just wasn’t satisfied with them anymore. The frozen ones are abysmal, but the Le Garden bread made locally wasn’t too bad. I was always a bit frustrated that it isn’t vegetarian, and I’ve started to notice that the taste was overpowering anything I ate on or with it. I’ve been hearing good things about Udi’s breads, but they don’t sell them around here (although I think I read they might be coming to Wegmans at some point).
Today I finally tackled baking my own sandwich bread. I used my trusty Analise Roberts cookbook and tried her sandwich bread recipe. The one change I made was to use a vegetarian fruit gel instead of gelatin in the recipe. The results were outstanding.
The first post-baking project was a test with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was the closest to perfection I’d had in a long time. The bread toasted beautifully on the outside. The cheese melted just right. The texture was delicate and the taste was a little bland but really quite good. I might toss a bit of teff flour into the bread next time if I wanted it to have a heartier flavor.
Toasty
DandyID
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