beautiful borscht

This is not anyone's traditional borscht. This recipe was not handed down by anyone's grandmother. This did not come from a cookbook of Eastern European food. It just came from having too many beets lying around and a craving for borscht.

I used:

• 5 beets
• 2 carrots
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• vegetable oil
  
• several cups chicken broth (but beef might be better, or veggie if you swing that way)
• cumin to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• use a cup or two shredded cabbage if you have it, I didn't
• cilantro to garnish
• plain yogurt (or sour cream) to garnish
  

1. Boil beets until they are tender (easily stabbed w/a dinner fork)
2. drain beets, reserving a cup or so of cooking water, and let cool
3. in large cast iron skillet sautee onions in oil
4. add garlic to onions after a few minutes
5. (if you have cabbage add it now)
   
6. add carrots and sautee until barely tender
7. add cumin and can tomatoes (un-drained) to skillet and reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes
   
8. meanwhile cut cooled beets in to pieces your blender can handle (peel if desired)
9. remove skillet from heat and let cool
10. place beets, tomato mixture, and broth in blender, reserving a few scoops to add texture
    
11. blend the dell out of it
12. add more broth and water from beets until borscht is the desired consistency
13. stir in reserved veggies
    
14. serve topped w/ a scoop of yogurt and pinch of chopped cilantro

This made enough borscht to feed two people bowls at least once a day over four days

appetizer as dinner

I've been trying to bake bread. So far it's hit or miss, with the hits coming almost solely from the no-knead bread recipe full deserving of it's fame.

Last week I tried to make some french baguettes from Mark Bittman's excellent book "How to Cook Everything." They weren't awful, just a little denser than I'd like (I think more yeast next time or starting w/ slightly warmer water will help.)

So I had a meh baguette and lots of veggies from the farm box and about zero desire to cook dinner- what to do?

easy-peasy bruschetta to the rescue!




You'll need:

• baguette
  
• olive oil
• garlic
  
• haricots verts (green beans, I'm just feeling fancy today)
  
• salami
  
• garlic
• tomatoes (I had small yellow cherry tomatoes)
• salt & pepper to taste

1. cut baguette into slices on the slight diagonal
2. drizzle cookie sheet w/ olive oil, place bread on top and drizzle w/ more oil
3. broil bread until golden brown

I was really lazy an not in the mood for complex cooking so did this the easy way, but you could be far more gourmet about it than I was

1. chop haricots verts into 1/2 inch pieces
2. chop salami into small cubes
3. put beans and salami in microwave steamer and nuke until beans are just tender but still have a some crunch
4. mince garlic
5. thinly slice tomatoes
6. add tomatoes and garlic to beans and salami
7. add a little olive oil
8. salt & pepper to taste
9. microwave another 30 seconds or so
10. place bread on plates
11. top w/ veggie-meat mixture
12. serve
    

po-ta-to (say it like a hobbit)

One of the things that makes me feel best as a cook is when someone says "I don't normally like _____, but this is great."

There are a few things I feel that way about too (my friend Steve's tiramisu is fantastic, tiramisu in general - meh) and potato salad is probably number one on the list. Only my feelings for it are more passionate than "don't like"; normally I can't stand the stuff.

Which is why I was amazed the first time I made this potato salad (to bring to a BBQ, it's traditional so somebody must like the stuff, right?)



Now I make it almost every summer, and just heard those encouraging words again last weekend, "I don't normally like potato salad, but this is really good!"

Potato Salad, adapted from Intercourses: an aphrodisiac cookbook (not sure about the aphrodisiac part, but everything I've made out of here has been fantastic)

You will need:

• 1 lb small potatoes, red, fingerling yukon, anything that boils up tasty w/out falling apart. (or more, depending on how many you're serving.)
• 1/4 cup mayo, regular light or some combo of the two (not ever ever ever miracle whip)
• 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2/3 Tbsp dijon mustard
  
• lots of lemon pepper
• 1/8 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1 or two hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (I've found the pricier ones are worth it)
  
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 small chopped dill pickle (absolutely must be the crisp refrigerated kind)

1. boil potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, cool and cut into bite size pieces
2. in large bowl (not metal) mix together mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard and dill
   
3. add lemon pepper to taste
4. fold in egg, artichokes, red onion and pickles. add lemon pepper to taste
5. fold potatoes into mixture, working in batches to get them thoroughly covered in sauce
6. chill until you're ready to serve

almost summer strawberry salad

This week we received two baskets of strawberries in our farm box- with the warning to EAT RIGHT AWAY since late rain can make the fruit spoil quickly.

I decided to make a salad with some of them and it was fantastic!

You're going to need:

• lots of delicious ripe red strawberries
• a clove or two of garlic
• anchovy paste (really, trust me, unless you're a vegetarian, then leave it out)
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• mixed greens (spinach, red leaf lettuce, etc I think any leafy greens except iceberg lettuce will work)
• raw almonds
  

I started by mincing the garlic clove with the anchovy paste (maybe 1/8 a tsp worth) in the awesome garlic mincer J. got me. If you don't eat meat (or are afraid of anchovies) I'd use just a little sea salt in place of the fish paste.

Then I put the garlic anchovy mixture into a large bowl and whisked in about three Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Next whisk in a Tbsp of balsamic vinegar.

Now slice or chop up your strawberries into sizes and shapes that make you happy. I cut mine in half the long way then made little half moon shapes out of those. I used about 2/3 a little green basket of strawberries.

Toss the berries in the vinaigrette and let the marinating begin. I kinda randomly mashed at a the strawberries a few times to encourage their juices to flow.

Grab a large handful of raw almonds and smash them up into little pieces (I use the side of a ball-peen hammer and a ziploc bag I keep on the counter solely for nut smashing) or you could be fancy and buy almond slivers.

Toss torn hand-fulls of your greens into the large bowl with the dressing, mixing as you go.

To finish it up sprinkle the salad top with the almonds, either in the large bowl if you're serving it that way, or in individual bowls if you swing that way.

Enjoy!

(Feeds two adults one heaping bowl each)

I've been terrible about taking pictures of food lately, so you'll just need to imagine how vibrant and beautiful it was.

changing expectations of gingham

Keep watching, trust me

today

Yesterday started w/stepping my barefoot into a shoe w/cockroach, ended finding my newly transplanted strawberries burnt to death; hope today is better.

American Apparel is run by a-holes

A clothing company known for its racy ads is fighting a $10 million lawsuit brought by Woody Allen, arguing that it can't have damaged his reputation by using his image because the film director has already ruined it himself.

Basic rule: if you don't have permission to use someone's image don't do it.