Thursday, December 27, 2012

Another Vegetable Stew Variation

More vegetable stew... on a dark and stormy night. Put in pretty much everything possible. (Not the pineapple.) The sweet potato really made this interesting. Onion, carrot, rutabaga, radish, potato and sweet potato, mushrooms, tomato, beans, barley, kale, sprouts...



Blizzard Afternoon

A bit of comfort food before I go shovel & plow... chopped kale on top this time. Fast (if you have dough in the fridge) and wonderful on a cold day.


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Dinner

We made a bean-potato loaf that was adapted from Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Our own dried Jacob's Cattle beans, cooked for an hour, along with grated sweet potato, chopped onion, some chili powder, salt, pepper, mustard... I wish I had used more chili powder.



Shredding the potato is sort of fun...


Saute the onion and potato with the spices. Add the mashed beans and form into a loaf (or make burgers, which I think I will do next time). Bake for 45 minutes at 350F.


Winter squash on the left. On the right: rutabaga, carrot, sweet potato and radish - bake for 1 hr at 350 in a bit of olive oil and salt. Everything just starts to carmelize. It is wonderful.


Frozen brussel sprouts - - right out of the garden! Had to tidy them up a bit but they were excellent.


I forgot to make cranberry sauce. Otherwise quite a perfect meal. Squash pie for dessert.


Monday, December 24, 2012

Malus domestica

"If you're not hungry for an apple, you're not hungry."   - Mark Bittman


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Winter Tuber Soup

Potato, carrot, rutabaga, enormous radish, onions of both kinds, some left over squash and, astonishingly, kale picked out of the frozen garden. Salt, sage.


Barley cooked separately & added at the end. Served with popcorn. Very substantial. You know it's winter.



Thursday, December 20, 2012

Black Bean Chili

Just a nice variation on one of the staples. These nice small black beans take about 35 minutes to cook at a moderate simmer.


When the beans are about ready, add tomato, onion, garlic, green pepper, chili power, cumin and some salt and cook at low simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes. Rice cooked separately can be added to stretch the chili. The whole thing takes less than an hour.


We had it with griddle bread (recipe here) and carrot&cabbage salad and some greens from the last farmer's market of the season, sadly.


Really, it's an awfully nice meal. And there's plenty left for tomorrow. The last of the squash pie for dessert.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Virtues of Dirt

Dirt and soil are, properly, two very different things. We confuse them - and we say soil can make you dirty. But even a little real "dirt" in your food seems to be crucial for the development of the immune system. So the current American horror of "bacteria" and "dirt" turns out to be an over-reaction to the threats to health from the real pathogens. If you eat food from an organic farm, where antibiotics in animal feed haven't made the pathogens they carry resistant to treatment, you may be better off not washing your food so thoroughly.


Don't miss this article from the NYTimes, it will be a real eye-opener for a lot of people: "...public health measures like cleaning up contaminated water and food have saved the lives of countless children, but they “also eliminated exposure to many organisms that are probably good for us." - from A Little Dirt is Good for You. And then there is the psychology of it all: “The archetypal link between dirt and guilt, and cleanliness and innocence is built into our language — perhaps into our psyches.” from The Dirt on Clean reviewed in the NYTimes.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Squash and Spelt Soup

We use spelt (a species of wheat) as an occasional alternative to rice or barley. It's quite sweet. It takes a bit of cooking - about 40 minutes will do. We cook it separately and put it in with the squash soup: we used kabocha squash (Johnny's Seeds Scarlet Sunshine), potato, carrot, onion, salt, a bit of chili powder and a generous amount of chopped ginger. Cook the squash and carrot for 15 minutes before you add the other ingredients, then simmer another 20 minutes or more.





This was a really fine sweet and spicy soup if I do say so myself, and quite simple - though peeling the squash is a bit of a challenge. For dessert, squash pie.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Easy Pizza

This doesn't require any comment. The only trick is handling the dough - the same we use for griddle bread - recipe here. Be sparing with the tomato since you don't want to make the dough wet. Everything goes on at once, uncooked. Sprinkle just a bit of olive oil on top. You can put pretty much anything you want on it but we like it simple. Bake for 20 minutes at 450F. Eat.







Sunday, December 16, 2012

What to do when it's 12F outside




About Changing Your Diet

We've been mostly vegetarian for more than 25 years - maybe even 30. We used to raise chickens until a couple years ago, and I have butchered a few. Which I do not like one bit - but if you are going to eat meat you ought to know firsthand the realities that it entails. And I will eat a piece of meat now and then if the occasion arises. I had a bit of absolutely superb jamon near Ronda in Spain last year.


And we eat seafood now and then. In Madrid we shared an astonishing paella that was an invertebrate zoologist's delight.


I ate quite a lot of chicken, both very good and not-so-good in Ecuador this past fall.


But at home, we don't do meat. And do not miss it at all. I started avoiding it in 1978 when I realized that my then-daily five-mile run was considerably harder after a day on which I ate meat. And Joan stopped many years ago after visiting a feedlot. That gets your attention. It's not unusual to be a vegetarian these days, but it was when we began. Most people now know that meat is neither necessary nor particularly healthy. And more are realizing that it makes no ecological and environmental sense.

But I don't want to make those arguments here. I just have some anecdotal personal observations about another change we recently made that might address the general difficulty of changing your diet. Telling people what to eat is about as effective as telling them what religion to follow. Food habits are very deeply embedded in most people. And now it has become a political issue, since no country can afford the health care costs of a populace fed on processed foods. But even the slightest hint of government control of the slow motion catastrophe that is the industrial agriculture juggernaut causes revolutionary fervor among right-wing Republicans and libertarians. So it seems that since The Government can't easily force The People to save their own lives or those of their children, anything that can be done to clear the way for everyone to want to do it for themselves is worth trying.

My very modest purpose at the moment is to point out that changing your diet for the better can not only be easy, it can also be pleasurable. A couple of years ago Joan's diligent research made it clear that we were eating far too much animal protein, sugar and fat. We slowly phased these things out. I resisted of course, because it is my nature to do so, and in any case I like fats & oils and sugars. I was using far, far too much oil in just about everything I cooked. It was a habit. It was actually fairly easy to do without eggs and milk. We used almost no milk anyway since it causes obvious allergies in at least two people in the family. I had to train myself to stop with all the oil, and there are some fried foods I miss a bit (fried and breaded sliced zucchini is near the top of the list). Maple syrup is our only sweetener now, and that is fine in everything we make. It has the virtue of being rare and expensive (we used to make our own, but it's too much trouble) like refined sugar used to be, so we can't help but be sparing with it.

The point I want to make is that it slowly began to become clear to me that everything I was eating tasted better. I really started to enjoy foods that before I had mechanically tolerated, and only grudingly "liked." Everything tasted more complex, more interesting, even sweeter. I am confident that this happened because I was no longer myself saturated with fats and oils and sugars and salts. Your body becomes more sensitive to the pleasures of eating when you are not bludgeoning it with those few substances that we evolved to crave because they were rare and hard to find. I enjoy my meals more now than I ever have in my life and am far more sensitive to the subtle variety of flavors that exists in even the simplest diet. And on those rare occasions when a truly excellent piece of meat does present itself - as it did in Ronda - then the experience is magnificent indeed.

Oh, and I might mention that I also magically lost over 25 pounds, while eating more food than I ever have. You can eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and not gain any weight.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Winter Stir Fry

This is one of our staple meals. We eat a great deal of stir-fry. We never tire of it. It is quick and easy to prepare, it is always delicious, and it is wonderfully variable with the seasons and will accommodate a near infinite variety of ingredients and spices. Tonight was a very quick (40 minutes?) winter version. Start the rice - 2 1/2 cups of short grained rice to 4 cups water. Do last night's dishes, and then get to work. Chop the carrots - they go right in the hot pan with a bit of olive oil.


While the carrots cook, chop the fresh ginger and some garlic. The brussels sprouts are still coming out of the garden, though they do need a bit of cleaning and picking over. This all goes in the pan when the carrots have cooked a few minutes. Add a bit of tamari and cook covered while you chop the other things. Move right along because it's important not to overcook these vegetables.


Green onions from the farmer's market go in with the ginger and garlic.


The ginger in this mix makes it smell marvelous. Add a bit of wine or water to help it steam with the cover on.


The garden is still also home to some kale, which, chopped fine and cooked for a couple of minutes is quite good, though certainly a bit tougher than it is in the warm months. At the last add the Chinese cabbage and let it all simmer covered for a few minutes more. If you didn't hurry too much doing the dishes, by this time the rice will be done and you can eat.


Though I didn't get it in the picture we added an arugula mix from the farmer's market at the table - no point in cooking such delicate greens. It was a very excellent meal in about 40 minutes, or maybe less - I'll have to remember to time myself. "Fast food" I guess.


Friday, December 14, 2012

Organic Chocolate in Ecuador

One of the highlights of our trip to Ecuador in October was a visit to the Mindo Chocolate "factory." It's marketed in the US and is really superb. Mindo itself is a premier birding location and one of my favorite places in Ecuador.








Reality Check: Leftovers

Leftovers every other day? That's about right, I suppose. So tonight I made some more cabbage & carrot salad, and four more griddle bread "chapatis" - this time rolled out instead of literally by hand, and the simple machine makes a more consistent bread. Just warmed up the chili & rice and dinner was ready in about 30 minutes. At least as good as last night. We don't mind the repetition at all, and with fresh bread it doesn't really seem like leftovers.




Thursday, December 13, 2012

Chili with Griddle Bread

There are lots of variations of this meal, and it is one of our favorites. This took about 45 minutes - the beans were cooked the night before. Before you start the chili, get some rice cooking - this night we used long grained rice: 2 1/2 cups rice to 4 cups water - it takes about 35-40 minutes at a low simmer.


For the chili : cooked organic soldier beans (many other kinds will do nicely), onion, garlic, green pepper (frozen), tomatoes, mushrooms, cumin and chili powder, and a bit of salt


Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until they start to brown - add the green pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and seasonings - simmer a few minutes and add the beans. Keep it on low heat while you make the bread.


The bread dough is an adaption from a recipe for Whole Grain Artisan Loaf by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (recipe here). It is stored in the refrigerator like a sour dough. It's very wet so you will need some bread flour on hand to make it workable. A heaping tablespoonful of dough onto a bed of flour is about right. Then add a bit more flour on top and work it in with your hands until the dough can be handled. Then roll, or better, pat it out with your fingers.


Like so:


Pre-heat a griddle over low heat. Covered is best - that way you will steam the bread.


Drop your dough onto the pan, cover and cook for about a minute or two, then flip it over and do the other side.


We served this with greens, cabbage salad and, of course, hot sauce. Assemble it anyway you want - the chili can go on the bread like a tortilla, or I prefer to use the bread as a second utensil. The bread is  wonderful, very chewy and yeasty and really makes the meal special.