We call them burritos. The Brits say they’re foldovers. I just know this recipe, from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg cookbook, is delicious.
Let’s talk dirt? You know, that soil hugging a carrot just pulled from the garden. The stuff hiding in the crevices of leafy Red Romaine lettuce. And don’t forget the leek. Those babies pride themselves on clinging to the sandy soil they love. Not to mention, so I won’t, a radish bunch. For the past two weeks, that’s been my #1 dilemma. (The world should be so lucky, right?)
The solution: Oxo Good Grips Flexible Vegetable Brush. $4.99. Sold everywhere. Buy two.
My first bounty from Talley Farms’ Fresh Harvest produce box.
For several months I’ve been cooking with other bloggers from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “River Cottage Veg, 200 inspired vegetable recipes.” Hugh’s a Brit, an award-winning food writer who has garnered a huge following from his popular BBC River Cottage TV series/books. Touted as a ‘pioneering champion of sustainable foods,’ he’s my idea of a celebrity chef.
Fresh squeezed orange juice is a morning treat.
Recently Andrea, who created our group and blogs as The Kitchen Lioness, asked us to not only cook from Hugh’s book but also highlight our sources. “One of the express goals of the members of The Cottage Cooking Club,” she explains, “is to make an effort to use as much local, regional, organic and also seasonal produce as is reasonably possible. Do you know and make an effort to understand where some of the food that you buy comes from?”
Week #2’s motherlode.
My answer was, “Uh, no, Andrea, not really.”
My dinner’s foldover, topped with sour cream, red onions and avocados, gets ready for its fold. (Notice my new Tom’s shoes? Sorta wanted to show them to you.)
For me, another you-talk-the-talk now, walk-the-walk moment. That’s why I recently joined Talley Farm’s Fresh Harvest produce box program. TFs, founded in 1948 by Oliver Talley, is based in the Arroyo Grande Valley on California’s Central Coast. Every week a $26 box, containing anywhere from 9-12 different fruits and vegetables, is delivered for me to my Cambria pick-up site. (In March I will receive the $19 Singles Boxes with fewer products.)
After I sliced the steamed artichoke in two, I needed to scrape out the choke (the fuzzy center.)
TF’s also supports each box with an informational website telling me how to store, maintain and cook with each product. They send me a head-up list so I have advance notice of each box’s contents. That’s when I pull out my River Cottage Veg cookbook and do menu planning. No matter the veggie, Hugh’s book offers me simple options for its use. Besides being a nutritious and delicious adventure, it’s great fun.
I mixed together 2 sliced garlic cloves, 1 Tbs, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper and 2 TBS olive oil. After brushing the entire artichoke halves with the mix, I grilled them for 6 minutes, 3 minutes for each side. No condiments needed for serving…so good.
This coming week I look forward to receiving more user-friendly local foodstuffs. My family was here when I picked up my first box so the fresh food was gobbled up. Using the black kale, Melissa, the mom, made kale chips. With the bags of oranges, Clara, 11, and I enjoyed freshly-squeezed orange juice each morning. We steamed the three artichokes and devoured two immediately. I grilled the leftover one for lunch this week. Unfortunately Emma, 13, didn’t share many blueberries. With the broccoli and leeks, I made soup. The spinach? Nothing beats Dorie Greenspan’s lemon steamed spinach. I claimed most of the carrots, radishes and cauliflower. With the lettuce, Melissa made salads, even for breakfast. Voila.
Last week I visited the Pacific Wildlife Center in Morro Bay, a site opened in 2007, all donor-financed and opened 365 days a year to all injured wildlife except grown bears. Last year they cared for 2014 reptiles, mammals and birds. Recovering here are a northern California brown pelican, Heermann’s Gull and a Royal Tern.
For this month’s recipe from River Cottage Veg I substituted leeks from TF’s for the onion. The recipe, Refried Beans Foldover, raises the bar on refried beans. I was put off by the refried beans moniker but charmed that the Brits call burritos, foldovers, so I soldiered on. Readers, this is an example of what an onion (I used leeks), a tomato and a can of cannellini beans, mixed together with the right seasonings, can create. Savory. Nutritious. Satisfying. Filling. Delicious. Company-worthy. And, pretty. Since the recipe is already blogosphere material, I may share it with you.
Refried Beans Foldover
REFRIED BEANS FOLDOVER by Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall, River Cottage Veg
Serves 3
INGREDIENTS
2 Tbs canola or olive oil
1 small onion or 2 leeks, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
1 can (14-ounce) of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 to 1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika or cayenne pepper
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 to 3 Tbs Sour Cream or Yogurt (I added Penzey’s Chip & Dip Seasoning)
Soft flatbreads, Naan, flour tortillas or tortillas chips
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
Grated cheddar or hard goat cheese
Sliced or Diced Avocado
Thinly Sliced Red Onion
Guacamole
DIRECTIONS
1. Sauté the sliced onion or leek in a frying pan with medium-heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, chile and oregano, if using it, for the last minute or two.
2. Halve the tomato(es), grate the flesh directly into the pan. Discard the skins. Let the mixture bubble and reduce for a few minutes before adding the beans.
3. Add the beans and cook gently while crushing them with a fork to make a coarse purée. Season well with salt and pepper. Add cayenne or paprika for more heat.
4. Lay a healthy tablespoonful of the mixture on the flatbread. Top with a generous dollop of sour cream or yogurt before adding any extras you (or, your guests) choose.
5. Fold and eat.
Note: After making this mixture and without any of the toppings, I stood at my stove, fork in hand, and ate lunch. I waited to make the foldover until dinnertime. I am not particularly proud of that, just sayin’.
Cottage Cooking Clubis an international group of bloggers which is cooking its way through “River Cottage Veg, 200 inspired vegetable recipes” by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. If you’d like to join CCC or see what my colleagues cooked this month, go here.
Tag Cloud for Vanilla-Butter-Braised Lobster: Exquisite. Delicate. Aromatic. Heavenly.
How often do you serve lobster for dinner? My answer is not very. Geographically a born-and-bred Iowa girl, lobster was not a food choice in my youth. When I was a working girl, wife and mother, lobster was not a food choice in my budget. As I became more worldly and sophisticated (using the sarcasm font), lobster was a restaurant choice but always the priciest option. Since my Mother taught me to never order the most expensive item on the menu, lobster was not an option. Period.
I approached this week’s FFWD’s recipe choice, Vanilla-Butter-Braised Lobster, with trepidation. How the heck was I going to pull this off? That’s when Susan and John Lester, longtime French Fridays colleagues, threw a lifeline, inviting me to spend Valentine’s Day Weekend with them in southern California. Last Saturday evening, we enjoyed an elegant, delicious dinner: Vanilla-Butter-Braised Lobster served on a bed of Risotto alla Milanese (Risotto with Parmesan & Saffron), and lemon-steamed spinach. The wine, Chevalier de Bayard Blanc, a perfect choice. For dessert, See’s chocolate, a heart gift from John.
If you wish, freeze these in a plastic bag until you have enough seafood shells to make a flavorful broth.
Basically lobster tails are precooked for 3 to 4 minutes in well-salted, boiling water before being separated, meat from shell. Now, clarify 6 sticks of butter. Holy Cow, that’s not happening in my kitchen. (Cut that amount in half.) We short-circuited the clarifying technique by slowly melting the butter, straining it through dampened cheesecloth before returning to the sauce pan. Scrape the pulp and seeds from two vanilla pods Add that, including the pods, to the butter. Warm the mixture to infuse the flavors before adding the lobsters. Cook for about 4 minutes before serving.
Spice Envy: Susan and John’s Inventory.
Please link to Susan and John’s blog, Create Amazing Meals, for a more detailed version of this recipe.
CALIFORNIA’S GALAPAGOS
It was only last year I discovered California’s Galapagos. Never mind that in 1976 this unique environment became part of the UNESCO International Biosphere Preserve Program. Never mind that in 1980 Congress established the very precious Channel Islands National Park and National Marine Sanctuary. Never mind that I maintain a continual pout because I haven’t yet visited Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Lesson learned, look in your own backyard.
I shared this news flash with Melissa, my Cali daughter. “Oh, yeah,” she said, “there’s great scuba diving in the Channel Islands. Stephen and I are going there next year for our 25th wedding anniversary.”
Then the Lester’s who live in Oxnard told me the boats to the Islands left from the Ventura harbor, a 10-minute drive from their home. “When you visit us, we’ll go,” they promised.
Keeping a promise made to me a year ago, Susan and I are ready to go aboard the Island Packers. John Lester Photo
Californians must be keeping the Channel Islands as their own well-kept secret because many of my friends were as clueless about these Islands as I. Right here and now, let’s put an end to that.
We watched hundreds of dolphins swimming in the Santa Barbara Channel. Susan Lester Photo
Because pictures speak volumes, let me be brief. Last Saturday morning, following a 30-minute boat ride across Santa Barbara Channel during which we watched countless pods of Common Dolphins frolic while California Brown Pelicans, Western Gulls and Double-Crested Cormorants basked in the sun, we landed at Santa Cruz Island.
Seeing this little guy, the Island Fox, was the highlight of my trip. Endangered, by 1999 their numbers had declined by 95%. They are slowly recovering. Each of the 5 islands has its own subspecies of the Island Fox. They are found nowhere else on earth.
Santa Cruz, about three times the size of Manhattan, is the largest of the five protected islands. On this particular island there are 600 plant species, 140 land birds, 11 mammal species, large colonies of nesting sea birds, breeding seals and sea lions, three amphibian and five reptile species. Due to millions of years of isolation some of these animals and plants are found only on this island as is true with each of the five landforms. Its cultural history is rich, having been home to the Chumash Indians for 10,000 years and European explorers for 150.
Wild mustard was in full bloom and gorgeously displayed on the island’s interior hills Susan Lester Photo.
These primitive and pristine islands seem wrapped in a cocoon of reverence. There’s an aura about these wild places. My fellow visitors, I sensed, were southern Californians. Young families. Kids, carrying enormous back packs, on weekend camping trips. The excursion is not for the faint of heart. After the boat landed, we had to scramble up a forbidding-looking iron ladder to reach the pier. There are no services on the islands which must explain the dearth of older tourists. However, the day was not long enough. I was sad to leave.
Hoping to return.
FRENCH FRIDAYS LUNCH
For the past four years I’ve virtually cooked-the-book with other French Fridays with Dorie colleagues. During those years, we’ve made an effort to also know each other personally. Thus, the Lester/Hirsch friendship. Susan invited the southern Cali “Doristas” for Sunday lunch. John made delicious pork carnitas tacos and served them with his very drinkable sangria. It was a 90-minute drive and effort for both Katie, a UCSB professor and Diane, a dietician/nutritionist, but a great time was had by all.
Susan, Katie, Diane and Mary , French Fridays with Dorie colleagues. John Lester Photo
French Fridays with Dorie is a international group cooking their way through Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours, written by Dorie Greenspan. Find our Link here.
Chicken Couscous, the French Fridays recipe this week. Serve it with Naan, a Persian flatbread.
More times than you might guess, someone says to me, “I’d like to have people to dinner but I can’t ever decide what to serve.”
While that may seem absurd, with all the cookbooks and blogosphere recipes available to us, choosing a menu can be daunting. After just checking my computer’s slow cooker folder, I found ninety-three untried recipes. My cookbooks are weighed down with must-try Post-Its. Italian Chef Giana Ballesteros wore a knockout dress on last week’s show, enticing me to print out her recipe as a make-now choice. (There’s logic there. Think about it.)
Readers, let’s solve this dilemma.
Let me suggest you need a main course that is tasty, simple, do-ahead, a people-pleaser, caters to various food sensitivities, hits a price point that isn’t a budget buster and allows you to enjoy your party also. Although Michael and I entertained often, I never threw a dinner party together easily. Nervous wreck was the phrase. Once our guests arrived, however, it was party time. Promise you this, no one every enjoyed our gatherings more than Me.
This week’s French Fridays recipe choice, Chicken Couscous, hits all those buttons. Of the twelve chicken recipes Dorie included in “Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours,” this is my favorite. “Couscous is the name of both a teensy grained semolina pasta and the fragrantly spiced North African stew that’s served with it,” she reminds us. “It’s a congenial dish.”
Three cheers for anything that is congenial these days.
While you’re making Chicken Couscous, you will enjoy the aroma from this mixture of spices and herbs.
First, let’s get this Chicken Couscous made. The recipe is printed below but we’ll walk the walk anyway. Mise en Place, Readers. That means to have all ingredients on your counter/in your fridge, prepared and ready to go before you begin. If you wish, the day earlier, mix together your spices: ginger, cumin, turmeric, saffron, cinnamon, garlic, salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven heated with butter, add the chicken pieces (skin on) to the pot and sprinkle the spice/herb mix over the chicken. Lightly, lightly brown the chicken.
After browing the chicken, add the brother and, then, most of the vegetables.
Pour chicken broth into the pot, bringing it to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer while adding the leeks, onions, celery, carrots and turnips and cook about 15 minutes. Here’s when, if making early, you can separate the broth from the chicken and vegetables and refrigerate. Next, transfer 3 cups of broth to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in quick-cooking couscous, simmer gently for a minute, stir, turn off the heat and cover the pan for five minutes. To finish off the stew, drop in the zucchini (skins on) and chickpeas and cook about ten more minutes.
Buy Naan, a Persian flatbread, at your local grocery store. If not available look for another flatbread on the shelves.
Tip: If your guests include Vegetarians, roast some of the same veggies, make additional couscous in vegetable broth and serve in the same manner. Get your guests to the table. Into ONE large bowl or plate, spoon the couscous with chicken and vegetables. With a ladle, add the broth. Serve this Chicken Couscous piping hot. Scatter small bowls of raisins, apricots, sliced almonds and harissa (optional) on the table.To accompany the couscous, look for packages of Naan, a Persian oven-baked flatbread, available in your grocery frozen section. Bring out your favorite wines and beers. For dessert, run by your local bakery, buy something luscious and, while you’re out, get a manicure.
I’ve always thought inviting people into my home for a homemade meal is the highest compliment I can offer a friendship. When you get one successful, delicious dinner gathering under your toque, it only gets easier.
Horned Grebe – Grebes appeared in the fossil record in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene Period, around 23–25 MYA and were probably here earlier. I see grebes here on the Central Coast and will most likely see even more on the Channel Islands. Moonstone Beach, Cambria
John and Susan Lester, French Fridays with Dorie colleagues, have extended that offer of friendship, inviting me into their home this upcoming weekend. It’s no secret I wholeheartedly embrace the Valentine’s Day holiday. Susan decided, since I live nearby, I might enjoy spending it with them. As you’re reading this Post, I am making the three-hour trip to Oxnard from Cambria.
Common Loon, another prehistoric bird. There is a reason Loons and Grebes are the first two Families mentioned in every bird book. These beautiful creatures date almost before time itself. Morro Bay National Estuary
The Lesters have put together an ambitious itinerary. Sleeping and relaxing are not included. Among the planned activities, on Saturday they’re taking me to the Channel Islands. To those of you unfamiliar with this national treasure, think Galapagos Islands. Thanks to environmental groups and the state and federal governments, we will experience coastal southern California in the magnificence it once was. Like the Galapagos, the isolation of these five remarkable islands has allowed evolution to continue autonomously with its 600 plant species; 140 land birds, 11 land mammal species; three amphibian and five reptile species and large colonies of nesting seabirds, breeding seals, and sea lions, among the largesse.
Elephant Seal, male – I’m thinking this fellow is so weary because he’s been around for such a long time! Piedras Blancas Rookery, San Simeon.
The Valentine’s Day of my dreams.
To see how my colleagues will celebrate Valentine’s Day, go here. French Fridays with Dorie is an international group of food bloggers who are cooking their way through Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours. Happy Heart Day, also, to all you loyal readers.
Chicken Couscous by Dorie Greenspan
INGREDIENTS
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger or 2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 – 1/2 tsp saffron threads, pinched between your fingers
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to Taste
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 chicken, about 4 pounds, pieces or chicken thighs, patted dry, at room temp
6 cups chicken broth
2 leeks, white and light green parts, split lengthwise, cut into 2-inch pieces
8 small white onions
2 celery stalks, trimmed, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 medium turnips or potatoes, trimmed, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking couscous
2 slender zucchini, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, SKIN ON
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
FOR SERVING
Golden raisins, Dried Apricots, sliced Almonds, Harissa (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix the spices together in a small bowl.
2. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken pieces (working in batches, if necessary) and scatter spice mix over top. Cook, turning pieces so they pick up the seasoning mix, just until they loose their raw texture. They don’t have to be browned.
3. Pour the broth in to the pot, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer to add leeks, onions, celery, carrots and turnips or potatoes. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
4. Transfer 3 cups of broth to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in the couscous and simmer for a minute. Turn off heat, cover and let stand for five minutes, or until the broth is fully absorbed.
5. Add the zucchini (with skin on) and chickpeas to the stew and cook until zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes.
6. Fluff the couscous with a fork and serve the stew over the couscous. Pour the extra broth into a pitcher to pass as the table. Serve the chicken couscous piping hot.
Croquants, this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice.
There’s no reason to not take five minutes right now and read this blog. I guarantee you’ll want to run to your kitchen, pull out nuts (any kind), sugar, 2 eggs (whites only, freeze the yolks) and flour. Within ten minutes, no KitchenAid needed, you’ll have mounds of these little darlings on parchment-lined baking sheets ready to pop into the oven. No butter, oil, salt, extracts or leavening required.
Add egg whites to the sugar/nut mixture and blend.
Besides turning into Cookie Monster this week, my first month in Cambria officially ended. It’s been productive and quite wonderful. I hesitate to throw out those adjectives because I don’t want to whammy myself. Have you ever felt like that? It’s always seems whenever things are running smoothly, on an even keel, I relax, get complacent, a little cocky. Until things take a bad turn or two or three and I am forced to change gears. That’s just Life, isn’t it?
After the flour joins the party and is blended, the mixture turns thick.
Michael’s last ten years were all bumps and bruises and disasters. While I did many things right in those ten years, I never handled those many crisis well. As I’ve often said, when my second grade teacher asked who wanted to be a nurse when they grew up, I never raised my hand. I was unequipped and lacked the knowledge, tools and DNA to be a caregiver. Oh, I tried, would smile and soldier on but no one ever mistook me for Florence Nightingale.
Bring on the heat.
I wasn’t a total loser, however. I was all about running our affairs with their many complications and intricacies, keeping us afloat. Organization is my forté. Never underestimate the importance of that. When a critical issue had to be solved, I would seek advice and help. The final decision, however, was mine alone and I made it. I really never gave up hope we could beat this disease until Michael entered the Memory Care unit. I never cried much throughout this entire journey but that day I sat by his wheelchair and sobbed.
After removing the cookies from the oven,transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
After Michael died, it was my job to create a Lifestyle for myself. This, I could do. I had the knowledge, tools and DNA to build a business. The business of living, if you will. The majority of spouses who become longtime caregivers can never reestablish a contented life. Either they do not have the energy or health or resources or will to jump back into life after so many years. It’s too overwhelming or they don’t know how.
Croquants are sold in speciality shops all over France.
Sometimes I wonder if my friends, family or you readers find it puzzling or odd or weird that I appear so happy and content and laugh so easily. How could someone who lost a spouse of 25 years bounce back so quickly. Does she ever feel sad or grieve? (This quiet month in California has given me thinking time, do you get that?) What I’ve chosen to remember and celebrate are the 15 good years. Returning to Aspen has given me that gift. I used up a lifetime of sadness and grief during Michael’s illness. There is none of that left in my tank. Plus, it’s not my nature. My good times will continue to roll, hopefully, just as they have the past two years. That is my hope for all caregivers who walk this road.
Great Egret, Fiscalini Ranch, Cambria, California
I haven’t, however, used up my fondness for cookies. In all modesty, I admit that Mary Hirsch knows her cookies. Although pies, cakes and pastries don’t tempt me, dare not get between me and a cookie. My mom’s speciality was Hermits, a spicy New England classic. When her cookie jar was empty I was partial to Archway’s crispy Windmills and, twist my arm, Oreo’s. My friend, Jane Carey, makes me Mexican Wedding Cookies but only at Christmas. In Aspen I now live a 5-minute walk away from my favorite cookie bakery. Buy two, get the third free….Peanut Butter, Molasses and Snickerdoodle. It’s a blessed Life.
Bald Eagles, Lopez Lake, California
Can you understand why I don’t often bake cookies? That may change with today’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe. A Croquant is a crispy morsel that doesn’t know if it’s a macaroon or meringue.They are readily available in France at boulangeries, patisseries and supermarkets. I was once in Paris with a friend who loved ice cream. Everyday she and I would walk to Île Saint-Louis where France’s well-known glacier, Berthillon’s, had a store.I would buy a Chocolate Noir ice cream cone. While every lick was heavenly, it was the little crunchy wafer stuck in the ice cream that I loved most. With all its leftover egg whites, Berthillon’s makes Croquants. Genius.
Snowy Egret, Fiscalini Ranch, Cambria, California
The recipe is below. Here are some tips. Unskinned hazelnuts and/or almonds are the classic nuts of choice. For fun, Dorie suggested cashews. I loved that. Chop the nuts the size of chocolate chips. NO smaller. The recipe makes 4 dozen delicious cookies.
Great Blue Heron, Moonstone Beach
CROQUANTS by Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table cookbook
INGREDIENTS:
3 ½ ounces (about a cup) of nuts, coarsely chopped (I used cashews)
1¼ c. sugar
2 large egg whites
½ c. plus 1 Tbsp. flour, sifted
DIRECTIONS:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
2, Put the nuts and sugar in a medium mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, stir together. Add the egg whites and stir so the nuts are evenly coated. Add the flour and stir to blend until you have a thick mixture.
3. Measure out a teaspoonful of dough and put the little mounds on the parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
4. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through, until puffed, crackled and nicely browned .
5. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack, and let the cookies stand for about 10 minutes, until you can easily peel them away from the parchment. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack, and allow them to cool to room temperature.
6. Store in a dry, covered container, not in a plastic bag or plastic wrap, or they will lose their crunch. They will keep for a week.
Portobellos, my fungi choice for Big Baked Mushrooms
A talented, rather shy, German food blogger named Andrea Mohr, aka The Kitchen Lioness, is inspiring an international array of cooks (including this Iowa-born-and-bred woman) to veg-ify their palates. Every month she tosses ten recipes from Hugh Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg on the table and says, make your picks. At the end of that month, we post about our choices on a link, The Cottage Cooking Club. Oh, forgot to mention, she cooks all ten.
Dot these big guys with butter, garlic and S&P before cooking them in a 375 degrees oven for 15 minutes,
Of the many food bloggers I admire and aspire to becoming, Andrea rises to the top. Although I’ve never possessed an Envy chromosome, there is much to learn from The Lioness. She not only serves delicious and beautifully plated food to her family of six, but her food staging and photographs are exquisite. After reading her posted results (all ten) and then glancing back at mine (my two, maybe three choices), I’m already thinking, “How did she pull that off?”“Why didn’t I think of that?” and “Back to the cutting board, Mary.”
Then, again, what does Envy feel like?
If you wish to add cheese to the baked mushrooms, just sprinkle on grated cheese and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.
Today’s Post is more photo album than commentary. You can make Whittingstall’s recipes primarily from these pictures and my short explanations. While I do love cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi’s and Deborah Madison’s vegetarian cookbooks, their recipes are often involved, complicated and require prep, prep, prep. With Whittingstall, you receive get-those-veggies-on-the-table fare.
Obviously, I liked.
You’ll like my choices this month: Big Baked Mushrooms, Artichoke & White Bean Dip and Curried Bubble & Squeak (Heck, I first thought Bubble & Squeak was a dance.). Bonus Time: Hugh showed me the path to poached eggs perfection. I share.
I added the leftover Portobello to last week-end’s pizza.
I used Portobello mushrooms for my BIG BAKED MUSHROOMS entrée although any sized fungi will work. As the saying goes, choose your poison. Oops, perhaps not a good word choice when speaking about mushrooms. This is delicious without the added cheese but scrumptious with it. Your calorie preference. Since I wasn’t serving to guests, I left some stem intact.
I prefer a coarse purée but it’s the cook’s choice.
ARTICHOKE & WHITE BEAN DIP, Hugh explains is ‘a rich, creamy savory dip, wonderful with crudities, dolloped onto warm flat bread and works well served on crisp lettuce as a salad.’ To me this is what you hurriedly make when hummus or store-bought dips aren’t nearby. Serve warm or cold with roasted walnuts scattered on top.
Grab a jar of marinated artichoke hearts and a can of cannellini beans. Drain and coarsely chop the hearts. Drain and rinse the beans. Sauté an onion and garlic in olive oil before adding them and oregano to the pan. Pour these heated ingredients into a processor with lemon juice, chili flakes and enough yogurt for a chunky puree. Do your salt/pepper jig before adding that leftover artichoke marinated oil for any needed texture.
Curried Bubble and Squeak, adding spice to this English classic
BUBBLE & SQUEAK is a classic English dish first created in 1806 by thrift conscious Maria Rundell. It’s perfect for leftover cooked veggies and potatoes and was extremely popular in World War II during rationing and food scarcity. To me, it’s a frittata cloaked in a quirky name. During the cooking process this recipe is supposed to make bubbling and squeaking sounds. Thus the name. Not a peep out of mine.
Whittingstall holds the eggs but later adds a poached topping. He throws a healthy dollop of curry powder into the sautéed onion and garlic before adding the cooked potatoes and leftover vegetables which have now been shredded. After seasoning to taste and, if desired, add a poached egg.
Take a few minutes to admire my poached egg.
Now, Readers, in your Life have you ever seen such a perfectly poached egg? Modestly speaking, that’s an Alice-Waters-eat-your-heart-out poached egg. Here’s the tip. Carefully break an egg into a small bowl. Bring 2” of water to a rolling boil. At that point ‘stir it fast in one direction with a wooden spoon to create a vortex or whirlpool on the center.’ I admit hearing bubbling and squeaking during this process. But, I digress. When you see a distinct vortex, pull the spoon out and slide the egg into the center. Turn off the heat, lid the pan, and leave for exactly 2 1/2 minutes. Then, using a slotted spoon, carefully scoop up the egg, drain any excess drips and serve.
It’s our third fishy French Fridays in January, but we’re not talking mussels this week. Spice-crusted Tuna is today’s headliner. The caveat to this delicious recipe, however, is that it’s more about bold and brazen spices than tuna. Poor Charlie, shoved to the back of the boat again.
Spice-crusted Tuna with lemon wedges and Roasted Vegetables
I bought this week’s tuna at my local seafood store but when I was lucky enough to be in Sanary-sur-Mer, it became an off-the-dock purchase. A tiny fishing village founded in the 16th century, Sanary is a dream destination in southeastern France.
Le Thon, fresh off the boat, is for sale in the harbor’s daily market. Sanary-sur-Mer
Spice-crusted Tuna can be midweek fare. It takes only 15 minutes to plate this entrée. First, put cardamon seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, fresh ginger slices and salt into your mortar and pestle. I also added Dukkah, a nut and spice blend containing almonds, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, (more) coriander seeds and anise seeds. Pound the spices until coarsely broken but not pulverized to a powder.
Fisherman and Fishmonger, rolled into one. Sanary-sur-Mer
Rub the tuna with olive oil and then sprinkle the spice mixture on both sides of your tuna and press slightly to stick. Pour olive oil into your skillet and, when hot, add the tuna. Two minutes on each side. Done. Think pink. I served it rather plainly, a drizzle of olive oil and some lemon wedges. Fruit chutney or salsa would be a tasty addition also.This is tuna with personality, a guaranteed palate pleaser.
With my leftovers, today I am slicing it thinly and making Salade Niçoise, a composed salad of tomatoes, tuna, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, capers and anchovies, dressed with a vinaigrette and served on a bed of lettuce.
I’ve continued to march onward in my Winter of Wanna Do’s quest. (Need an explanation? Click here.) Most food bloggers admit the easiest part of blogging is making the recipe. What’s most difficult is writing, photographing and posting about it. It’s astounding to me that so many bloggers do this well.
The spices and ginger slices are thrown into the mortar and coarsely crushed with my trusty pestle.
As for me, I love the writing. The posting with its high tech mumbo jumbo drives me bonkers. There are times I curse Steve Jobs (May he rest in peace.) and despise Bill Gates. However, it’s the photography that I wanna do better. This winter I have a plethora of pictorial opportunities so here’s the plan.
Since arriving in California, I’ve taken a photograph each day, representing something, anything or, even, nothing about this area. At the end of the winter, each of the 90 photos will be a fond memory. What I’ve already discovered is becoming more aware of and curious about my surroundings. During the past 12 days I’ve not only captured food and landscape images but also zebras, elephant seals and a turkey vulture eating carrion. (not food blog-appropriate)
Here’s the tuna just after I poured the spice mixture on both sides. After taking this picture, I lightly pressed the spices into the tuna. The olive oil provides the glue.
For example, here’s Day #11 Photo.
Factoid: The eerily beautiful plant hanging from this dead sycamore tree is not, as commonly thought, California Spanish moss or fishnet moss. It’s really Lace Lichen, Ramalina menzieslii, a combination of fungus and algae and not a moss.
Sprinkled throughout this Central California coast area are thousands of these nondescript white boxes which are visible from the highway. They contain honey bees. While not image inspiring, they are a reality so I stopped at several sites for photographs. Through research I found their story to be incredibly inspiring. The bee hive boxes are trucked here to spend a warm winter before almond pollination begins. In total, 1,800,000 hives are estimated to be in California (54 billion bees). Unfortunately, the United States lost over 30% of its honey bee colonies last year. Since our top 100 human food crops, 70 of those crops supplying 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, need bees for pollination, let’s keep these little honeys alive.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international online cooking group making it’s way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. To see what my colleagues photographed this week, go here.
