Baked Tofu with Tamari-Ginger-Scallion Marinade

One of life's simple pleasures...baked tofu. Along with sprouted lentils it is also one of the easiest things to make. I like to prepare a batch on Sunday's and use it in my lunches for the week or add to salads and for quick snacks. Make a little or make a lot and share it with your loved ones.

Baked Tofu with Tamari-Ginger-Scallion Marinade

Preheat your oven to 325

Unwrap your tofu block and give it a gentle squish in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to remove excess water. Slice it into 10, roughly, 1/3-1/4" pieces, or thicker of thinner, its up to you. There are no rules here. Make 4 thick pieces or cubes or get real fancy and make crazy shapes. To-fun!

Next line them up in a baking dish. In a small bowl add 1/3 of a cup of gluten-free Tamari, 1-2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger (grated fine). Wash and remove roots or slimy leaves of 3 scallions and thinly slice, set aside. Using a pastry brush or a spoon brush/cover each piece with the tamari-ginger mixture, flip and do the other side. If you run out of sauce no biggie, just whip up more. Then sprinkle the scallions on top. Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes or shorter or longer depending on the thickness and shapes. The "look" you are going for is crispy edges...

Remove from the pan to cool and place in a container to keep in your fridge.

Other marinade ideas using Tamari as the liquid base:

Ginger-Garlic-Peanut Butter
Orange Juice-Ginger-Cayenne
Nori-Shitake-Ginger-Garlic-Oh my!
Curry Powder

The sky is the limit!

Sprouting Lentils

Hello! It's sure been a while. This year my sweetie and I have vowed to eat more legumes. However he and I have a very difficult time digesting legume proteins and have even omitted some beans from our kitchen pantry (bye-bye black beans). Lentils are a economical and animal-free way to add protein and fiber to your diet. By sprouting them you are essentially waking them up to a living food that energetically  boosts their available nutrients. Lentils are good for your heart, they lower cholesterol with the high amount of soluble fiber. They contain high levels of folate and magnesium, provide energy while stabilizing your blood sugar and high in iron. Basically you would be remiss to not add lentils into your pantry rotation.

I sprout 1 cup of french lentils about twice a week. This provides us with enough lentils to steam, saute, add to soups and salads everyday. We also make a Sprouted Lentil Kefir Sourdough with them as well, so, so delicious.

Sprouted Lentils, the easiest thing to do EVER

1 cup picked-though and rinsed Organic French, Brown or Beluga Lentils
1 large jar (like a mason jar) with lid
1 piece of cheesecloth, doubled
Rubber Band
Water

Pour lentils into jar, cover with water. Place on your counter overnight. In the morning remove the lid and place the cheesecloth over the opening and secured with a rubber-band. Pour out the soaking water into your compost. Next rinse the lentils with water, pour out and place in a dark cupboard. Repeat the rinsing and pouring off about 2-3 times a day. By the end of day two your will see some cute little lentil sprout-tails. Keep sprouting until a 1/4 inch long. Rinse one last time, cover with the lid and place in the refrigerator.

You should always steam sprouted lentils before eating or add them directly to recipes where cooking, baking or grilling is involved like soups, veggie burgers, stir-fry's and breads.

Aren't they lovely?

Garden Porn: Bounty Abounding...Still!!!

We had another amazing bounty this past weekend at the Eric Waller Community Garden. More delicious green beans, butternut squash, eggplants galore, Swiss chard, herbs and some hidden beets. We took down the sad looking tomato plants and harvested what was left of them. We all raved about the magic of using mushroom compost in our beds and once again talked about food as we worked.

If you are thinking of starting a vegetable garden next year we all highly recommend amending your beds soil with mushroom compost. In Maryland Hollins Organic is a great supplier.

Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes: Canning Workshop and Recipe

Robin, Paula, Meena and Doris (L to R)

On Saturday we had our second canning workshop for the community gardeners. Five ladies joined me in my kitchen to can 18 pints of Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes. We had a ball. Everyone made a portion of the salsa beforehand. We then combined everyone's, conducted many taste tests and proceeded to can. All the tomatoes, peppers and oregano came from the garden.

Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes
Makes 4-6 pints 

Chop into small pieces 6 cups of green and red tomatoes, 2 cups chopped red onion, 1-2 large green and/or red bell peppers, 1-? (how many can you handle?!) Jalapenos finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped, 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves chopped, 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon fresh or dried oregano (I added fresh whole leaves), 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Mix together, let the flavors meld and then taste test, adding more herbs or salt. Now this tastes great as is, but it will taste better in late February!

When your salsa is ready and your hot water bath is rolling proceed with canning... Click here to go to my post on canning basics.

Canning specifics for Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes:

We removed about 1/2 cup of liquid from each pint to pack in more salsa; save the juice for drinking, fermenting, soups and cocktails. Leave 3/4 of head-space and process in the hot water bath for 15 minutes. If you doubled, tripled or quintupled your recipe keep canning!

Enjoy! XOMC

Thank you to my friend Sarah for lending a helping hand and taking some great photos!

Assembly Lines work great!

You can can without wine but why?

Inside out

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk

The other evening I made the first soup of the fall season. Every early autumn I get these flashes of foods that I don't crave in the summertime; soup and fresh baked bread. Must be the hibernating creature in me coming out. We had two Butternut squashes sitting on the counter from the community garden, a half can of coconut milk in the fridge and some fresh cinnamon sticks. I loosely based this creamy vegan soup off of a Rebecca Wood recipe from her cookbook by adding the coconut milk, omitting the carrot and celery and using coconut oil. The result was the creamiest most perfect balance of warming spices and sweetness I have ever had in a butternut squash soup. And the best part was it took no time to throw together making this an easy weeknight dinner with leftovers for the next night. Or double this and freeze it!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk
Serves 4, heartily...

2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large butternut squash, seeded and cubed with skin on (trust me on this!)
2 teaspoons curry powder
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup coconut milk (full fat is best!)
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large pot melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Then add the cinnamon stick and swirl it around until it becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. Add your ginger and saute for another minute, next add the chopped onion and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the squash and stir the mixture well. Cover, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes, or until the squash flesh and skin looks softened. Add the curry powder and stir well to combine, let rest for 1 minute. Then add the vegetable broth and coconut milk, you want the vegetables to be submerged but not totally covered. Bring to a boil then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer, covered for 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat, remove the cinnamon stick and blend with a hand held blender or transfer to a blender, blend until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with warm bread or toast and a green salad.

Enjoy!
XOMC

How to Can Tomatoes

This past weekend I had a few gardeners over for a Mini-Canning Workshop. Every weekend while gardening at the Eric Waller Community Garden many of us talk about canning and preserving but we never actually get to share with others how to do it.  If you are not familiar with canning it can be a bit of a mystery and often seeing is believing and I think, well I hope, I dispelled the mystery for a few that day. We had a lot of fun and got to know one another a bit more while teaching and learning  a worthwhile skill.
Basically hot water bath canning is meant for high-acid foods like tomatoes, pickles, jams/jellies, fruit butters, sauces, salsa, chutneys and fruit. The concept and goal is to create a sterile and sealed environment to keep foods preserved without preservatives for months and even years. My canning experience goes way back to some of my very first memories; the basement pantry/cellar that housed my Mom's canned cache of tomatoes, carrots, green beans, pickled watermelon rind, salsa, beets, stews and sauces. Every visit to my Grandparents house out in the Minnesota countryside was not complete without Grandma Alice's apple butter pancakes and a double-dare visit to the seemingly endless cavern of her root cellar (and her incredible garden!). Before she passed away she gave me some Ball canning jars that belonged to her Mother. I watched my Mom pressure can green beans for the County Fair (she won blue ribbons) and helped my dad can an endless supply of salsa every late summer (everything from our garden of course). I think I lived off salsa my entire high school career. I tell everyone who is interested in learning to can that it is a lot of work, it takes time and care. Yet, there is nothing better in the whole wide world then using your own grown and canned tomatoes come mid-February in your stew or sauce. Nothing.

Get your can on here with these supplies....

How to Can: Tomatoes in their own Juice (adapted from the Ball Canning Guide) Makes about 6 Quarts or 12 pints

You will need:
A enamel water bath canner.
The wire rack that hold the jars (to keep them off the bottom of the pot and still while boiling).
Tool set: magnet tool for retrieving the lids from their sterile bath, head-space measuring device, jar grabber and funnel).

Next stop; tomatoes, lots and lots of 'em. The general rule of thumb is 3-4 pounds per quart. The water bath canner will fit 7 quarts at most, BUT it gets very, very full. I recommend doing 6 at a time. So if you wanted to can 6 quarts you will need about 18-24 pounds of ripe tomatoes. "That's a lot of 'maters..." as my Dad would say. So it can be worth your while and a friends to can together! Then split the profits. Also, it's nice to have some company while canning.

To Begin: 
Check your jars for chips, cracks, dirt, and other objects you don't want in your food. Run them through the dishwasher to be safe or wash them really well with water and soap. Make sure you have fresh lids and rings (never re-use a lid, the rings you can). Next, prep your water bath by placing the rack inside with your jars, fill each jar with water THEN fill the pot with water until the jars have about two inches of water covering them. With the help of a friend place the very heavy pot on the largest burner of your stove, cover with the lid and set to high to boil. Meanwhile bring another large stock pot filled with water to a boil. While you are waiting for the water baths, wash your tomatoes and remove the "belly button" from the tomato and any other blemishes. Then clear and clean your sink, fill it with cold water and some ice. When your small pot with water comes to a boil add about 8 tomatoes with a slotted spoon, count to thirty and transfer them to a colander set inside a large bowl, then dump them in your sink, repeat until all the tomatoes are blanched. Next, set to work on removing the skins, they should slip off quite easily. If not plop them back into the hot water for 10-15 seconds more. You can seed the tomatoes; keep in mind that when you do you lose about half of the tomato, frankly I don't mind the seeds so they stay.
Once the skins are removed, you can discard your small pot you used to blanch them in and replace it with a small sauce pan, place the lids that came with your jars (or from the pack) into the sauce pan and cover with water, set to a boil then keep on low until you are ready to use them.

Setting up your space: 
Key word: tidy. Canning is messy. So stake your claim on all the counter space you can get. Have a space on your counter with cork pads, a thick towel or a sturdy baking rack covered with a towel. This is your jarring station where you will park the jars, fill the jars and let them rest after you can. Next to this space is where your big beautiful bowl of tomatoes should go and your salt and lemon juice. Have extra towels on hand for spills.

Start Canning!
Once you have everything ready to-go the process goes quickly. Have a bowl of kosher salt ready with a 1/2 or 1/4 teaspoon and a liquid measuring cup of lemon juice with a tablespoon measurement. Your hot water bath should be rolling along nicely at this point. Carefully remove the lid from your bath and set aside. Using your jar tongs remove one jar at a time emptying the water from each jar and setting the jar on your designated work-space. Repeat until each jar is removed and cover your bath.
Next fill each quart jar with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, for pints a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Then add your tomatoes, starting with a few at a time. Press them down by using the head space measuring device or a wood spoon, repeat this until the juice does not allow you to add any more. Then remove some of the juice to a bowl so you can squeeze in a couple more tomatoes. Tip: I usually don't leave the tomatoes whole, I use my hand to "crush" and break them up a bit. If you want them whole then press them in just a little bit. Next, measure your head space; for a quart you want 3/4 of an inch for pints its 1/2 and inch. Tip: you want to get as much of the air out as you can, you do get a lot already when you pack the tomatoes, but just to be sure give each jar another good press and an extra pinch of salt and sprinkle of lemon juice.
THEN...Use a clean cloth to wipe up the rims and edges of each jar, then use the magnetic wand to fish out a lid from your sauce pan, repeat for each jar. THEN... place the rings on each but only finger tight. THEN...you are ready to place each jar into the hot water bath, remove the lid and...carefully...mindfully...pick up each jar with your jar tongs and slowly dip each jar into the pot going around and finally the middle (if you are doing pints). Cover and set your timer for an hour and a half for quarts and 1 hour for pints. Kick back and enjoy a cocktail!
When the time is up there are a couple of options. Option 1: Maybe you are still canning! Way to go! Carefully...mindfully remove each jar and set them in a designated space to cool. Then load up round two. Option 2: You are DONE. Leave the jars in the bath and turn off the heat. Remove after the water has cooled slightly or simply remove them and let them cool. When they are cool tighten the rings and date/label them. Place them in your pantry to ogle and ah at and show off to friends.
Tip: I leave the water to cool and pour it over my compost or potted outdoor plants.
Warning: Canning is not always fool proof. You want to make sure each of your jars seals. You may hear "pings!" or pops after you remove your jars from the bath. Or they may come out sealed. If they do not seal you can add them back to the bath to try again. After a second round and no seal make them part of lunch or supper. Botulism occurs when the jars have not been properly sealed and you did not leave them in the bath long enough to kill any harmful bacteria. The reason why you boil the jars and food is to kill anything that may rot it and of course seal the jars.

Any questions? Email me!

XOMC

By the way accidents do happen; in all my years of canning this was my first casualty. So take caution and be careful and no one gets hurt.

Garden Porn: Biggest EVER

Wow. I'm sure Google will bring many confused internet surfers to this post with that title...they may be a bit disappointed. This weekend was prime-time for the Community Garden and putting some food by. We had our biggest harvest yet to date this past Saturday; eggplants, butternut squash, green and red peppers, jalapenos, watermelons, beets, tomatoes, herbs, romaine and butter-crunch lettuce, Swiss chard and leeks. I also harvested the rest of my beets from the front yard garden to make room for my fall cabbages and kale. With all the delicious food-stuffs piling up in the kitchen there was much to can and ferment this weekend. Saturday after the garden three garden members came over to learn the basics of hot water bath canning. Each brought over about 8-12 pounds of garden tomatoes, already skinned. All together we canned 7 quarts and 9 pints of garden fresh tomatoes in their own juice. It was a lot of fun showing others how to can; its a relatively easy thing to-do, but its helpful to see the steps and how it works before venturing out on your own. I will post the How To and basic recipe later on...






















This weekend was also spent with a good new friend drinking Cherry Kombucha outside and making plans to take over the world (which is always easier to do with a buddy). We sipped our hot-red elixir from some fun little vintage Playboy Bunny glasses outside. It was such a perfect weekend for indulging in fortunate bounties of food and friends. I hope yours was just as wonderful....XOMC

Garden Porn: Bountiful Pleasures

This is probably the best time of the summer...Everything in the garden is practically busting with color and flavors, summers last hurrah before autumn and the long grey winter. This past weekend was a mini-celebration in all that the summer has to offer. A lot of harvesting was done at the Mount Washington Community Garden; tomatoes, Swiss chard, beets, leeks, butternut squash, basil, eggplants, romaine and butter crunch lettuce, red and green peppers, jalapenos and cherry tomatoes. We planted garlic and more spinach and lastly red clover crop cover. While we worked we all snacked on some tasty watermelon. Another lovely weekend workday at the garden!
On Saturday I canned 5 pints of roasted tomatoes with roasted garlic and oregano (all from the garden). Canning always takes SO LONG...But come January when we want some tasty tomato sauce or soup I have a whole pantry full of organic garden tomatoes ready to use. This week we also plan to can salsa, beets and possibly some green beans. Also on Saturday I planted some Winterbor Kale plants, green cabbage plants, some Heirloom Alliums from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  

The Color Red: New Kombucha Flavor & Lots of Tomaters

We had a busy weekend around the house...lots of sanding, painting, installing new bathroom and closet doors and finishing up the bedroom. All the little things are adding up and its starting to look really nice! Now with the ducks happily in their garden home we can relax a bit and get the rest of our home projects completed.
I wanted to share with you some of the flavors that appeared in our kitchen over the weekend; red was the default color of choice!
One of which is a new kombucha flavor that I am wild about. Cherry Chia with Yerba Mate (as opposed to black tea). The Yerba Mate gives the kombucha a less over the top tea flavor and instead allows the fermented flavors to sing. We are enjoying this batch of 'buch quite a bit; in fact I think it may be my best in a very long time. To make Cherry chia; add 1-2 teaspoons chia seeds to your bottle, remove the cherry stones from about 6 ripe washed cherries, cut into quarters, add the cherries to the chia and fill with brewed kombucha, swirl a bit of kombucha around to get the chia seeds wet, then fill to the bottom of the neck of your bottle. Cap and date...the cherries and chia become active really quickly (like minutes); burp your bottle the first couple of days and refrigerate for a couple days before you open; it's powerful!!!

The next flavor this weekend was tomatoes...lots and lots of juicy red-ripe tomatoes from the Eric Waller Community Garden and our front yard garden. I am letting them ripen just a tad more today before I can them whole tonight. We will have lots of delicious and local/organic tomatoes for winter stews! Yum!

XOMC

Tomato, Zucchini, Eggplant Tian with Rosemary, Sage and Thyme

Have a lot of tomatoes? How about that giant zucchini rolling around in your crisper? Don't know what to do with that beautiful eggplant you swooned over at the farmers market? Make Tian! Tian is basically a thinly layered vegetable dish that is baked with herbs. It's French, Provençal, and it's delicious. You can make tian hot or cold as long as it consists of thin layers of vegetables (I'm sure fruit tian would be amazing too!) We enjoyed ours with black rice, grilled pork loin spiced with  za'atar and sauerkraut. It makes a lot too, so now I have tian waiting for me for lunch.
All of the ingredients for this dish came from our front yard kitchen garden and the Mt Washington Community Garden...über local yo. Food is so awesome.

Tomato, Zucchini, Eggplant Tian with Rosemary, Sage and Thyme
Serves 4-6

3-4 medium to large ripe garden tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large eggplant or 2 medium sized eggplants, thinly sliced
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, two chopped (leaves only)
6 sprigs of fresh thyme, 2 stripped of its leaves
A handful a fresh sage leaves, or more!
About a 1/4 of olive oil
Real Salt and pepper
A large deep casserole dish

Preheat your oven to 375, lightly oil your casserole dish.
Add your eggplant and zucchini to a large bowl along with some salt, many generous grinds of pepper, olive oil and the chopped rosemary, thyme and sage leaves. Gently toss/mix with your hands or tongs until the eggplant and zucchini are well coated, salt and pepper more to taste.
Begin with a slice of tomato, then eggplant, then zucchini in the casserole dish. I found that making a stack in that order then placing it in the dish to be the easiest technique, slightly at an angle to the side of the dish, like you are spreading a thick deck of cards. Repeat and follow along the entire dish edge. Fill the middle with any remains and line the outside with your remaining thyme and rosemary sprigs. Pour over any juices left in your bowl and place it in the oven, uncovered for one hour and 30 minutes. Check periodically for even baking. Depending on your oven this may take shorter or longer. Enjoy with anything else your heart desires; I imagine this would be amazing with some hearty bread, a fried egg or just as is.

Enjoy!
XOMC

Sauerkraut

If you have never done a wild ferment before because you are afraid of  Botulism or mystery deadly bacteria and or stinking so bad that you scare away your friends and family, I am here to say; get over it.  It's so easy and risk free. Your gut will thank you and most importantly your taste buds will go wild! Not to mention your friends curiosity will be piqued with interest...you're doing what???

Be the envy of your agrarian social circle; make 'kraut.

How to make Sauerkraut 101...

You will need:
A Crock or other vessel like a large glass pickle jar, or large mason jars.
A plate that fits inside your crock/vessel that you can remove, or a root plug, which is a disc you can cut from a beet, turnip or even cabbage. This is used to place on top of your kraut to press it down so the brine covers it. A weight to place on top of your plate or plug like a jug or small glass jar filled with water, a zip-lock filled with water or salted water, a big cleaned rock. A towel to cover your kraut and a big rubber band or string to secure it.
You can make sauerkraut with one large head of cabbage or 20+. It all depends on the size of your fermentation vessel. We had 3 large heads of cabbage from the garden, we used our 5 gallon crock and it was only a third full. Salt; any salt without iodine will do, we always use Real Salt and some kosher salt. We also added whole caraway seeds and four apples, both are optional, in my opinion they add a nice balance to the cabbage. Shred your cabbage and apples with the blade attachment of your food processor, or your mandolin, or grated by hand or sliced by hand. We like ours thin. You may like it more chunky. There is no right or wrong way! Dump your beautiful cabbage-apple confetti into your vessel; start with a sprinkle of salt over it and massage the mixture with your hands. The goal is to break down the cellular walls of the cabbage to release its water content, the salt will help pull more water from the cabbage throughout the whole fermentation process, your hands are just getting it started. Optional, but a lot of fun, is if you have an old wooden baseball bat or pounding mallet, use that if your hands are tired or if you are fermenting a ton of kraut, clean it and pound away.

The goal is to create enough brine so when you place the plate or plug and press down the brine covers the kraut. Now taste test your cabbage, you want it just salty enough, kinda like how sea water tastes...too salty? Add some fresh water, let it set for a bit then drain, but the goal is to taste as you go and add, you don't want to lose any flavor by diluting it with extra water. Once the flavor is right add in some caraway, mix it in, then cover and press with your plate or plug. Enough brine? Good, add your weight, towel and secure it. Place in a cool area like your basement. Ferments will develop faster in the heat of the summer and should be consumed instead of stored for the long haul. In the fall you can put up kraut for the winter, it will ferment slowly and you can keep it in the vessel and take what you need.
In a couple of days taste it. There may be some white sheets on the surface of the brine, this is mold and is totally normal. Remove the weight and skim away the mold, if you don't get all of it, not to worry, go under the brine and pull up some kraut for your taste test. Mix in the mold, the anaerobic and lactic acid environment you created will kill it. Our Kraut took about 6 days to come to the flavor we liked, I could tell it was done when I could smell it. We skimmed off the mold and packed it into four quart sized mason jars. We will eat one now and place the other three in our cellar-like environment in our basement, dated for later use. If you don't have a spot like this in your house the refrigerator is the best place. Or give some away to your friends and have a bratwurst party!

Heres to your happy gut!
XOMC

Purslane: Portulaca oleracea

Sometimes we find things in our flower beds and vegetable gardens that we didn't plant; we call them weeds. And more often those weeds are a constant nuisance, poking up around our beds like a grade school bully. There is one such "weed" that is not really a weed at all, in fact you may already know what it is from seeing it snake over sidewalks, cascade over rocks or the pretty yellow flowers it sends up towards the end of its growing cycle. Purslane, pigweed, hogweed or verdolagas is commonly eaten in Mexico, Europe and Asia. It has a lemony flavor with a succulent like crunch. Purslane also has a mucilaginous quality that makes it a great thickening agent for soups and sauces. The leaves of the plant are also an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids and medicinally the leaves can be made into a tea and used to treat stomach aches and as a poultice to treat insect stings and earaches.

Its a free garden gift that appears July through September. Harvest up until it flowers. Dry the leaves and keep in your pantry for use in winter stews or for tea. But use it in its raw state for as long as you can! My favorite way to use Purslane is chopped, stem and all, then tossed into a simple tomato-cucumber salad with fresh mint or the leaves in a Caprese. Keep it simple, the summer is too hot for complexity. 

A word of caution however, be careful not to pick Purslanes look-a-like, Euphorbia, you will know it by the milky liquid it exudes when picked as well as having thinner stems.

This article from the New York Times from a couple years back offers a interesting recipe for Pickled Purslane. Urban Forager, From Sidewalk Cracks, a Side Dish

Enjoy!

XOMC

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Pan Fried Chickpeas in Coconut Milk

Sometimes the best dinners are the ones you come up with when you think you have to go grocery shopping but are too lazy to. This was the situation last night. After bringing the ducks up to the garden for a romp, coming home and continuing the duck house clean-up; I was rendered exhausted and hungry. Retreating to the kitchen I pulled out all the garden vegetables that were ready to be eaten. Eggplant, zucchini, large beefsteak tomatoes, cucumber, Swiss chard and garlic. I found a can of chickpeas and a can of coconut milk along with the delicious honey we picked up at Stone Barns. These things were to become dinner.

Roasted Eggplant & Tomatoes with Pan Fried Chickpeas in Zucchini Coconut Milk 
Serves 2

You will need:
1 medium sized eggplant
2 large hearty tomatoes
1 medium zucchini
4 large leaves of Swiss chard
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 can chickpeas
Olive Oil
Salt
Fresh black pepper
Half a lime
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Curry powder
Honey (to taste)
A few cloves of garlic with the skin on
1 small cucumber (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375 with the rack just one notch below the highest.
Slice the eggplant into half inch rounds then into half circles, place in a bowl and toss with a generous amount of olive oil and salt. Set aside.
Slice two tomatoes into half inch rounds and place on a baking sheet. Add the eggplant and drizzle both with more olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in oven to roast.
Slice your zucchini into 1/4 inch rounds and set aside.

Drain and rinse well one can of chickpeas, heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a skillet, set heat to medium. When hot add the chickpeas, sprinkle with salt and a half teaspoon of curry powder. Toss around to coat and let it fry for about 2 minutes, add another sprinkle of salt and another 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder. Fry for another 2 minutes. Add the juice from half of your half of lime, turn off the heat. Remove to a small bowl to cool, taste test for more salt.

Check on the eggplants and tomatoes, turn the baking sheet and add a few generous grinds of black pepper, add your garlic, whole, to roast.

Back in the skillet add another spoonful of coconut oil over medium heat, when hot add a teaspoon of grated ginger, saute for a few moments scraping up the curry chickpeas remains and add your sliced zucchini. Saute until the zucchini is soft but not all the way, add the coconut milk, and the lime (yes, skin and all), bring to a bowl. Simmer on low for a few minutes then turn off the heat, leave uncovered.

Meanwhile set your oven to broil on the high setting and finish off the eggplants and tomatoes, you want a nice brown crust on the eggplant. While they are finishing drizzle your chickpeas with 1/2 teaspoon of honey to start, toss and taste, add more if desired. Stir in a half teaspoon honey (or to taste) to the coconut milk and zucchini.

When the eggplants and tomatoes are finished, remove from the oven and add the roasted eggplant to the coconut milk and zucchini. Chop up two Swiss chard leaves for each person into a bowl. Pour over the chard the coconut milk zucchini eggplant mixture, add a couple slices of roasted tomato, a clove of garlic, a spoonful of chickpeas and thinly sliced cucumbers for garnish. Watch out for the lime you added!

Its many steps but in about 45 minutes you will have a healthy, local vegan dinner that is so freaking delicious. Double everything and you have leftovers or dinner for four.

Sorry there are no pics...I was too hungry, the images above were taken at Stone Barns in New York this past weekend, post on the Sandor Katz Fermentation Workshop to follow soon.

XOMC

Ferments: the first of Summer 2012

Omne vivum ex vivo

Yum to the yum! Fermenting is where its at! Easy. Extremely low on energy consumption. Tasty. Healthy. Crunchy. Salty. Dilly. Garlicky. Bubbly. Aids in digestion and its a quick and easy way to put food by. This summer I did my first ferments when we had no power on the Fourth of July and a week later they were tasty and ready to be eaten or placed into cold storage. I have stored fermented foods for over a year and they are crisp and delicious as the day they were jarred, albeit with a much different and alive flavor. Fermenting is a little bit of magic and a little bit scientific. A fermented food relies on the surrounding environment and the microorganisms that exist within that environment. By creating an anaerobic environment using salted water and fresh vegetables, lactic acid is formed and thus helps to begin the breaking down of the food causing that pungent, sour and fizzy flavor we associate with fermented foods.

Fermentation Equation
 
Or simply; fermentation is the conversion of sugar molecules into ethanol and carbon dioxide by yeast.


Paradoxically Louis Pasteur (the handsome dude above) who made great discoveries and contributions to modern medicine, vaccinations (rabies and anthrax) and the invention of Pasteurization, discovered how fermentation spontaneously "happened". He concluded that fermentation is the result of the growth of micro-organisms and growth of bacteria in "nutrient broths" is due to bio-genesis. Bio-genesis is the belief that "All Life is From Life". Now the paradox; he is also the fore-father of our modern day "War on Germs". 
Recently the New York Times published in the Opinion Pages an article about Dirtying Up Our Diets. I find this discussion very timely given the abundance of hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial soap and our over industrialized food industry. Read it....I'll get off my educational soap box now.

Simple Ferment

Salty Solution: 3 tablespoons sea salt (I love this salt) to one liter of filtered water. Make as much salty solution or as little as you like; it all depends on how much you are fermenting. If you don't use all the salt water, store it in the fridge for later.
Veggies like green beans, cucumbers, beets, radishes, turnips, zucchini fresh heads of dill and whole cloves of garlic
Pint size to quart size mason jars or any glass jar with a metal lid

Process:
Make salty solution
Clean and dry your jars
Wash your veggies
Peel your garlic and smash with the side of your knife
Add garlic and dill to jars
Add veggies to jars and leave at least 1.5 inches of head space
Press veggies down with your hand
Pour in Salty Solution and place lid on jar
Date the top and wait!

You will hear your jars "talking" after 24-48 hours, I usually "burp" mine by releasing the lid just a bit then tightening it. After three days I taste one and usually start eating from that jar. You can place the jars in the refrigerator after a few days but I usually eat them too fast to make it to the fridge. If you taste your ferment and like the taste place it in the fridge and that will slow the ferment way down so you keep that flavor. Each time you ferment the flavor will be slightly different... that's your micro-organism world speaking to you!

Enjoy!
XOMC

Power

Have I mentioned that it's hot here in Balmy-timore? Like the kind of hot that makes you feel like a bubble-head. Normally I enjoy the heat, but since the derecho last Friday which knocked out electricity for over a half a million people in Maryland alone (and many STILL without it), it's more than most people can take, including myself. However, this is a first world problem to be inconvenienced from our devices, to be without AC for a few days, to lose food, to be in the dark, to be without "power". Yet, most of the world deals with this sort of powerless-ness all the time. Frankly, I got tired of hearing people complain about not having "power" and how awful it was to be in the dark. I get that and I get being hot, but think about how this week has been refreshing as well. Maybe you spent more time outside, or more time with friends, patronizing your community or perhaps you got reacquainted with your natural bio-rhythms. We saw our electricity outage as Advanced Camping and it made me think about how much time and noise is consumed and produced by our devices of convenience. Sure there were a couple nights when I couldn't sleep because I was roasting and we lost some yummy Venison that my Dad gave us but I also got back in the studio, dusted off my bike and swam with close friends. So when the "power" returned yesterday after we came home from our second swim we both were a bit disheartened. Yet, right now it is a 110 degree heat index and temperatures are expected to stay in the triple digits through the weekend, so I am pretty stoked to have AC right now.

This past week at the Eric Waller garden we have been harvesting like crazy. The beans are in and I spent yesterday morning at the garden picking another bucketful for our donation to Our Daily Bread. The evening before 10 of us worked the garden and harvested zucchini, yellow squash and tons of green beans. I love being in the garden, pulling weeds, investigating the bugs, fungi and being close to the earth. Having such an amazing local food source during a time that we can't count on BGE to restore electricity in a timely way is pretty darn powerful. When I got home I immediately set to work fermenting the green beans, zucchini, turnips, beets and radishes from the harvest. Fermenting is a very resourceful way to put food by that requires no electricity or gas. Just the power of microbial action; lactic acid and a anaerobic environment.

After I returned home from the garden I took Earl out for a moonlit stroll. It was so incredible to be able to experience the full moon without light pollution. We bathed in the moonlit and slept like babies.

Breakfast Quinoa with Coconut and Fruit

OMG. I love breakfast. Always have. I am one of those people that cannot go without eating in the morning and I will never understand those who can wait until lunch or later. Sorry. Breakfast is where it's at.

Since we have been eliminating many foods I have felt like we have also added so much great food to our diet. Quinoa has always been in our pantry rotation for years, but since rice has been eliminated, quinoa reins. Many people have hopped on the quinoa train for many health benefits and as an alternative to grains that are high gluten (quinoa is not an entirely gluten free food). It also tastes delicious. Once called the "Gold of the Incas" quinoa is a recently re-discovered ancient grain, a relative to the spinach and Swiss chard family and treasured for its stamina increasing capabilities in Incan warriors. Who doesn't like stamina?!

Quinoa's highlights:

• A complete protein (contains all 9 essential amino acids).
• Contains Lysine an amino acid essential to tissue growth and repair.
• High amount of Magnesium, great for people with migraines, hypertension; cardiovascular support.
• Riboflavin; necessary for energy production in cells.
• Fiber and antioxidant protection from the high level of Manganese.

Breakfast Quinoa with Coconut and Fruit; serves 2-4 

2 cups Quinoa
1 tablespoon Unrefined Coconut Oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups filtered water

1/2-1 can Coconut Milk (low or full fat)
1-2 cups Unsweetened Hemp Milk (or milk substitute of choice)
1 Banana sliced
1-2 Fresh Dates chopped
Any other fruit you want to add...
Other Additions:
Raw sunflower seeds
Raw pumpkin seeds
Cinnamon
Maple Syrup

Prepare Quinoa: thoroughly wash the grain in a fine mesh colander to remove the saponin (a soapy like residue). Rub the grains over one another with your hands, taste test a few, if they are bitter, wash again.

You can prepare quinoa is a rice cooker this way:
1. Empty quinoa into the rice cooker, add the sea salt and coconut oil.
2. Add three cups water, cook.

Stovetop: follow steps one and two above, when the water comes to a boil reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes.

Whisk together the coconut milk and hemp milk to reach the consistency of cream. Scoop quinoa into bowls, pour over with the coconut cream, add toppings and enjoy.

You can keep quinoa on the counter and use it when you need to...add it to salads and as a side to your evening entree. Just use it within the first day and a half. Or store the remainder in the refrigerator.

XOMC

Raw Kale Salad with Pecorino

Word is getting around our small Mt. Washington Community that our garden is "Exploding!" "Radioactive!" and all out "Incredible!" Well, it is (besides the radioactive part)! Thanks to a dedicated crew that meet every week to garden, harvest and talk about food.

This week we harvested the first bounty of green beans, green cabbages, turnips, beets, cauliflower and the last of the broccoli; and once again we were able to donate a portion of our harvest to Our Daily Bread.

Even though we did not harvest kale this week, there was much talk about how to prepare it. Kale can be a bit of a tough one to pin down, especially when most of us are more familiar with seeing kale used as a garnish then as an actual dish or meal. Kale is a power house of a green, and if eaten on a regular basis can contribute considerably to lowering cholesterol and reducing your risk of the five most common types of cancers (breast, bladder, colon, ovary and prostate). Kale is considered one of the best foods out there, extremely high in vitamins K, A and C, dietary fiber, tryptophan, maganese...on and on and on. So why you may ask is it used as a garnish to highlight ham and mandarin oranges? Well, sometimes we are just afraid of something new.

Here are some cooking tips to maximize Kale's benefits and get you acquainted with preparing it:

Steaming: (for 1 pound of kale)

Rinse kale leaves under cold running water. Chop leaf portions into 1/2" pieces and the stems into 1/4" pieces. To get the most benefits out of kale, let sit for 5 minutes before steaming. Sprinkling them with lemon juice before letting them sit can further enhance their phytonutrient concentration.

Fill the bottom of a steamer pot with 2" of water. While waiting for the water to boil, prepare your greens. Steam for 5 minutes and toss with a simple dressing of 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 clove minced garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste.

Optional additions:Sliced onion (steam with kale)
chopped sun-dried tomatoes (toss with dressing)*
chopped olives*
Feta Cheese*
5 drops of tamari*
Some quick serving suggestions: (amount of kale dependant on how many people you are serving)
-Braise kale and toss with chopped apples, hearty splash of balsamic vinegar and chopped walnuts.
-Combine well chopped kale with pine nuts and feta cheese toss with whole grain pasta and olive oil.
-Steam with onions and tofu, add to cooked rice with a drizzle of flax oil, Braggs and pepper.
-chop up well, saute for 5 minutes in olive oil and 1 clove minced garlic, add 2 or more whisked eggs, cook until firm, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper... make an egg sandwich!

Raw Kale-for those who want to move from cooked kale to raw kale...
This by far my favorite way to eat fresh, raw kale. I try to use the smaller more tender kale greens from my garden. If young and tender is not available to you I suggest using the Lacinato Kale variety for this dish a.k.a Dino kale.

Raw Kale Salad with Pecorino
Serves 4 as a side dish
4-5 cups washed and spun kale cut into 1/4" ribbons (woodiest stems removed)
1/2 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch
1/4 grated pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon (scant 1/4 cup)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on your tastes)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place kale in a large bowl. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and salt to make a paste. Transfer to a small bowl. Add the cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, black pepper, pinch of salt, whisk well. Pour over the kale and toss well. Let sit for 5 minutes. Serve immediately with extra olive and cheese.

XOMC

Collard Rolls

For three weeks in a row our community vegetable garden,The Eric Waller Community Vegetable Garden , to be precise, has harvested an abundant crop of collards. Collards are a cruciferous vegetable and can boast about their high nutritional value here. Amazing huh? Cancer fighting, detox and anti-inflammatory. Lets grow more collards!
As the members of our flourishing garden stood around the leftover pile of kale and collards contemplating whether or not to take on the challenge of preparing the often over looked green, recipes started to fly. Personally I love collards, they're tough, flavorful and hold their own in any menu situtation. I hope we plant a late summer crop for the fall (hint, hint).

One of my favorite ways to eat collards, especially when you have giant collard leaves like we harvested this weekend, is to make Collard Rolls.
Its a fairly simple recipe, open to numerous interpretations, but the key is to not over blanch the collards!

I like to serve mine with a yogurt sauce mixed with fermented beets/turnips/onions, along with fresh French radishes from my front yard garden and mung bean sprouts to accompany the meal. Lets just say you'll feel like you can fly after eating this!

Collard Rolls
Serves 2-3 adults

You will need:
A large pot of boiling water
A large ice water bath
6-9 big collard leaves, washed, patted dry and the thickest part of the stem removed
Filling: (this is what i used)
1 cup brown rice
2 cups washed and chopped kale (from the community garden)
1 chorizo sausage cut into small pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped
Generous dash of paprika
1/2 of a squeeze of lemon

Saute the chorizo in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat until brown, add onions and saute until translucent, add a generous dash of paprika and lemon juice, saute 1 more minute and add the kale, saute until the kale is bright green and remove from heat, add the rice.
Prepare to blanch your collards. Using your tongs and one leaf at a time, dunk it into the water, count to 20, remove immediately into the ice bath (it helps to have this bath near your stove) transfer to a cutting board and proceed with the others until done.

Similar to spring rolls, roll em' up until you have enough for a meal (one adult can eat about 3). Serve with yogurt, fresh garden veggies and sprouts. Eat! *see pics above for rolling techniques...

Simple Stir Fry

Birthday Stir-Fry with Buckwheat soba & Umeboshi Plums

This is it. This is the basic food concoction that started it all for me. When I worked at the Wedge Co-op in Minneapolis I was introduced to so many wonderful new foods. Kale was one of them. Not really wanting to eat it raw I decided to use the suggested recipe on the back of the Lady Moon Farms label: Heat some oil in a pan, add minced garlic, wash and chop kale, saute, add a little lemon juice enjoy. Okay I remember thinking simple enough. Kablam! A whole new world was opened up to me. So after years (about a decade to be exact) I have perfected my all-time favorite default meal...Stir-fry. Usually when folks approach me about their first time foray into a new vegetable (and usually its Kale!) AND tofu I write this recipe down for them. I stay away from quantities because I have never measured this one out. And frankly you really don't need a recipe for this dish. Oh AND this is a GREAT meal to make on a Sunday night along with a pot of brown rice and eat from it all week long by refreshing it with steamed veggies! Can you say healthy and economical?

Simple Stir-Fry

serves as many as you'd like

You will need:

A large saute pan or wok

Oil (olive, unrefined coconut or ghee)

Garlic (about 2-3 cloves) minced

Fresh ginger, about 1 tablespoon, grated (powdered will work too)

Cayenne (to taste/optional)

Braggs or Tamari

Lemon Juice (optional)

Extra Firm Tofu drained, squeezed of its water and cut into one inch cubes

Washed spun dry and chopped (about 3-5 cups) Kale (any kind)
(Any green veggie will work, kale, collards, broccoli, bok choy and cabbage work great)

Carrots, julienned

One white or purple onion sliced and diced any way you'd like

You can keep adding to your hearts content...other great additions are pea pods, corn, mushrooms, peppers etc...

Have everything chopped, grated, minced and ready to go...

Heat the oil on medium to medium low heat. When hot add the garlic, ginger, cayenne and saute until fragrant (about one minute) add a splash of Braggs or Tamari and Lemon Juice. Add the tofu in an even layer saute/cook your cubes, flipping them over every 2 minutes for 8-10 minutes, adding a splash here and there of Braggs or Tamari. Then add your onions, saute until almost translucent, add your carrots, another spash of Braggs or Tamari and Lemon Juice, saute for 2 more minutes, add your kale and other healthy splash of Braggs or Tamari andLemon Juice cover and steam until the greens are bright or if using a wok saute until bright green. Serve over brown rice or buckwheat soba noodles.