For the past few weeks I’ve been cooking up an South Asian storm. I love the flavors and spices in all types of South Asian food – and use many traditional ingredients in my everyday cooking – a lot of ginger, turmeric, cumin, and coconut milk to name a few.

I just wrote my first review up at The Good Taste Review for Ruta Kahate’s book ‘5 Spices, 50 Dishes’. Head on over and let me know what you think!

I didn’t want to leave you all hanging, so this chickpea recipe is one of my favorites that I tried from the book. I love chickpeas in any permutation, but this recipe was particularly fresh and light. It could either make a nice side dish, or a good vegetarian meal if served over rice. When I first made it, I ate it as my dinner, and was quite satisfied.  Although the recipe called for canned chickpeas, I made this with Rancho Gordo chickpeas that I had soaked overnight and cooked.

Chickpea Curry with Fresh Dill Leaves

from ‘5 Spices, 50 Dishes’, page 42

Serves 4

This recipe traditionally uses a split and skinned Indian chickpea called chana dal, but I’ve found that canned chickpeas work just as well – which makes it possible to create this dish in minutes. The other interesting thing is that it uses dill leaves in the typical Indian style – as a vegetable, rather than as an herb. Serve with Marathi Yellow Fried Rice (page 103), and Roasted Onion Raita (page 98) for a hearty vegetarian meal.

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne (or less)
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, finely ground
• 1 teaspoon finely grated garlic (about 2 large cloves)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger (about 2-inch piece)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 medium tomato, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 cups finely chopped dill leaves and tender stalks (about 2 bunches)
• One 15.5 ounce can low-sodium chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and sauté the onion over medium heat until it has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cayenne, coriander, garlic, ginger, and turmeric and stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in the tomato and cook until it is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the dill, chickpeas, water, and salt, and simmer until the dill is soft and tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Serve warm.

I’ve been spending a little bit more time over at www.healthylunchidea.com in the past few weeks, because I’ve newly committed myself to the ultimate health accountability – blogging my every meal, and documenting my exercise as well. I’m beginning to suspect that this will be a crazy adventure, but so far I have been having fun with it. If you have any inclination of following the efforts of a looney woman, I encourage you to head over there or subscribe to my RSS!

The Second Lunch is going to still be devoted to the city, restaurants, travel, and where I will post most of my recipes.

Here are some shots from my other site, and some others from the city that I haven’t posted anywhere:

Today’s breakfast hack: Oatmeal in a Nutella Jar! (more photos here)

Last night I attended a study group for my Integrative Nutrition program at Cafe du Soleil on Fillmore – for some reason I’ve never walked over that way, but it’s less than two miles from my house. I had a glass of mint tea with some steamed soy, and it seems like a nice place to meet a friend for a beer or a cup of coffee:

A Rocher from Tartine (meringue filled with cacao nibs) :

Veggie Delight sandwich from Dolores Park Cafe:

The San Francisco view from the top of Dolores Park:

Ritual Roasters:

and some coffee from Ritual:

Kermit Lynch, the wine aficionado came to visit us Omnivore Books:

This is about half of the corks from the free wine tasting! We had a lovely 2007 Meyer-FonneMuscat Katzenthal, and a bold Côtes du Rhône.

A Chicken and Chicken Pate Banh Mi from Bi-Rite:

Lisa Schwartz from Rainbeau Ridge Farm discussing her new book/cookbook about sustainable farming (over some snacks of some local bay area cheeses) :

As you can see I’ve been busy!

I’m also going to be posting some cookbook reviews over at the Good Taste Review, and I’ll keep you all posted.

More to come!!

This week, the food gods aligned yet again: Food Fete, the Winter Fancy Food Show 2010, and a last minute trip to the East Coast coincided all at once! It’s safe to say that I’m feeling stuffed and looking forward to a week of leafy greens and light broths to get back to feeling normal!

The week started off with Food Fete, a media event featuring new and delicious products to sample. Some of my favorites included the blue cheese stuffed figs from the California Fig Advisory Board, the frozen quinoa from Village Harvest and Sweetwater Spice Co.‘s fajita bath, an incredible meat marinade. But I will say that the hugest surprise were the various sausages and products from the Field Roast Grain Meat company, which, being a vegan meatless product made of grains (alas, not gluten free) were perhaps the tastiest meatless products I have ever eaten. I was honestly shocked!

After a lovely evening, I went home to prime my stomach for day two, a full day at the Winter Fancy Food Show. The Fancy Food Show is the ultimate food discovery event – over 1300 vendors show up to share their products. Even pacing myself, I’d say that I may have had about 75-100 samples over the course of the day, but these were some of my favorites:

Happy Goat – Goat Milk Caramels. A smash hit. These caramels are made in tiny batches in the Bay Area, out of goat milk, organic sugar, and vanilla. Pop one in your mouth and you experience what I like to refer to as “SQUEE!!!!” : becoming completely unable to focus on anything other than how wonderful these are. And if say, you happen to have a morning caffeine habit, these taste absolutely delicious when stirred into coffee.

Cowgirl, Bellwether Farms, and Cyprus Grove Cheeses: it’s safe to say that these bay area favorites are some of the best cheeses around. I was excited to try Cowgirl’s new Devil’s Gulch cheese, which is only available for the next few months (it’s in a test phase). Bellwether’s sheep milk ricotta is always delightful, and Cyprus Grove’s Humboldt Fog is one of my favorites.

Secret Stash Salt: Having good salt is an invaluable part of any kitchen. I’m a big fan of Maldon Sea Salt, various coarse sea salts, but was completely wowed by the incredible flavors of Secret Stash – particularly the lavender, and the truffle salts.

Sam Adams Utopias: I’ve been trying to get a taste of Utopias for years, and was overjoyed to get my sip after asking coyly if they were still sampling it (there were no bottles left when I got there) – but the kind rep pulled out an unopened one and poured it for me! This stuff is touted as the strongest beer (at 27% alcohol), but tastes more like a fine liquor than a beer. In the future, when I can throw around mass sums of cash without worry, I’ll keep this in stock in my liquor cabinet. Smooth, potent, and delicious.

Black Garlic (see photo at top) – Black garlic, a fermented garlic product which tastes sweet is delicious! The fermentation process adds extra health benefits, and mellows the garlic flavor, producing a sweet product, almost like dried fruit. I’m thinking spread on some warm toast, this would be delicious.

Fentiman’s Shandy – Fentiman’s brand of fermented natural sodas are truly spectacular. They have them at Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, but come originally from the UK. I was psyched to finally try the Shandy – a beer and lemony soda mix which is refreshing and delicious.

Kodiak Cakes - After seeing Jenna from Eat, Live, Run feature these regularly on her blog, I was excited to try some of their pancakes. Normally I’m a “from scratch” type of gal, but this mix is going to become a regular staple in my household – and I’m looking forward to trying more of their products. As I’m also particularly interested in the business of entrepreneurial food companies,  Joel from Kodiak was really kind to  give me a copy of the ‘History of Kodiak Cakes‘ which I’ve been making my way through.

Barney Butter – I stir nut butter into my oatmeal, on toast, and even into savory soba noodle salad. Recently I switched from peanut butter to almond butter, which is slightly more nutritious and in my opinion more filling. Barney Butter is a brand of almond butter which I find particularly tasty, and was happy to see that they were at the show, and sporting a cute new look.

Stonehouse 27 Spice Co: While I’m most likely to make my own cooking sauces when creating Indian dishes, I was completely impressed by these flavorful sauces created by a sweetheart entrepreneur named Sharon Fernandes. The sauces are salt-free and bursting with flavor. I tried as many as I could, my favorite being the cashew cream. These are definitely going to be in my cabinet.

Nutmeric - Turmeric is a staple in my kitchen, and I was excited to see this nut butter product with turmeric at the show – nutmeric was developed by a chemistry professor, which touches at my heartstrings, and made me chuckle. There is a huge* crossover between science people and food people…(I heart all my former science profs!)

Other favorites included Kikkoman’s new yuzu ponzu sauce, yuzu being a delicate citrus, which they served with tempura shrimp and avocado. I’m looking forward to seeing this product on the market. Yuzu also showed up with Yuzusco – a liquid spice… And I also quite enjoyed my Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the savory macarons by Fabrique Delices, and some delicious Nueske’s bacon.

Finally, I was happy to see some hometown favorites from New England, including Stonewall Kitchen, Lollipop Tree, Stoneyfield Oikos yogurt to name a few.

They came!!!  A box full of Rancho Gordo beans in many colors and shapes and sizes! Think of the possibilities! I’m getting so hungry! I ordered these as a reward for some hard work in the “personal wellness department” – nothing like rewarding yourself with something healthy, tasty and delicious. They also make great unique gifts.

When I posted my bean soup a few days ago, I actually got private emails from people confiding that they had no idea what to do with beans, and asking what I did with them other than the spicy bean soup and chili. For me, beans are pretty much a daily food, and I’m almost never eating the same bean dish twice!

At the beginning of the week, I like to cook a batch of dried beans. Canned beans are fine (I tend to have a few cans of organic beans in the pantry for emergencies) but dried beans are so much better – particularly organic and heirloom varieties – they just taste better and have more texture. They also have much lower levels of sodium, which is added to the cans as preservatives – so if you do use canned beans, make sure to give them a rinse before cooking. I like to buy my dried beans from Rainbow in San Francisco, Phipps Country Store, or from bulk bins in a store that has large turnover to ensure freshness. Heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo are great because they are less than a year old, and the fresher the bean – the more nutrients, the better the taste and the quicker the cooking time. All it takes is a soak over night and a few hours in some boiling water – it’s mostly hands off. They are also perfect for slow cookers, so theoretically you wouldn’t even have to be at home while they cook.

For those of you concerned about the, erm.. “Musical Quality” of beans – there are a few things that you can do – try boiling your beans with a strip of Kombu (kelp – from which the taste Umami was discovered), or the Mexican herb Epazote, both of which help break down certain chemical compounds in the beans and reduce the post-bean-consumption concerts.

I like to alternate different beans each week for variety. My current favorites are Borlotti beans (cranberry beans), garbanzos (chick peas), and Christmas Limas, but I’m always out on the hunt for new varietals that I haven’t tasted. After cooking my batch at the beginning of the week, I add the cooked beans to soups, salads, mash them on sandwiches, throw into omelets, mix with salsa and top with some cheese, or dress them with a vinaigrette. I also like tossing them with roasted vegetables, making chili, and eating them with dark leafy greens such as collards, kale, or chard. I get a lot of great ideas from Mark Bittman’s Books – How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. And from the cookbook “Heirloom Beans” by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo, and Vanessa Barrington.

Another trick I use to make beans (or anything else for that matter) interesting is my “pick an ethnic cuisine, and use the right flavors from the condiment collection to flavor the food in that way.” Every culture has recipes for beans, and it’s fun to experience a global bean perspective. This is where having a good pantry comes in handy. For instance, I might decide that I want my beans to taste Moroccan – so I might pick lima beans, and flavor them with cumin, cinnamon, and pepper, and serve it over cous cous. Or I might want to go Indian, and choose kidney beans and lentils with curry powder and garam masala. Mexican? Maybe saute some onion and red pepper, and add black beans with oregano and mexican red chile. It’s not a perfect science, or perfectly authentic, but it’s a great way to mix things up and keep the taste buds excited.

When in doubt, I crack out some of my great regional cookbooks, or look on the blogs for new ideas. I recently made Red Beans and Rice, adapted from John Besh’s really fantastic My New Orleans Cookbook (ok, I didn’t have ham hocks but I used andouille sausage). Elise from simply recipes also has a great recipe for red beans and rice. I also love making Turkish dishes like Kuru Fasulye, simmered white beans and meat, (a good recipe from Zerrin’s blog), or Barbunya Pilaki - a cold bean salad in olive oil, like this one from Almost Turkish recipes. Or, you can go for the baked beans route – not totally traditional, but I happen to really like Heidi Swanson’s Beer Baked Beans.

Some more bean ideas:

1. Make your own hummus – mash cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas) with a spoonful of tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. You could also do it with cooked white beans, and bonus points if you top it with some pine nuts, a dusting of cumin, and fresh mint or parsley.

2. Refried beans – works great with cooked pinto beans or black beans – heat some oil/lard/or butter in a skillet, saute some onion (optional), and add mash your beans into it with a little bit of water. Cook until everything is warm, and season with a little salt, and maybe some cheddar or tapatio sauce if you have it. Top maybe with salsa and guacamole if you want, and eat with a warm tortilla.

3. Beans and a fried Egg – top plain beans, refried beans, bean soup, bean mash, you name it – with a fried egg. Poke egg, and stir into beans, and it’s just plain delicious. Although, frankly you top a good, organic, pastured egg on pretty much anything and it’s delicious.

4. Beans and Pasta – you could add cooked cannelini (white beans) or borlotti (cranberry) beans to your spaghetti and red sauce, or toss them with garlic and olive oil with some short pastas like campanelle or penne and top with a good dusting of black pepper and Parmesan.

5. Beans as a side dish – one of my favorite preparations of really any bean is simply tossed in a simple vinaigrette. This works best when the beans are still warm from cooking, but after tossing you can whack it in the fridge until about 20 minutes before you are ready to eat, at which point you take them out and let them get to room temperature. You can add freshly chopped vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumber, red bell peppers, and trim in fresh herbs like parsley and mint, and add in some salty cheese such as feta, or even hard cheeses like an aged parmesan.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Seriously folks, the possibilities are limitless. Just get a pound of beans and go for it.

Ok… I may have… in a fit of passion… ordered a massive quantity of beans two days ago from Rancho Gordo. And by massive quantity I mean… 15 pounds of beans. So, I’m going to do my best in the next few days to reduce my current bean pantry, and hopefully share with you all some of my results.

This morning I was surfing around the interwebs and found a recipe called “Good Soup for Sick People” on Heidi Swanson’s site ‘101 Cookbooks‘ and even though I’m not sick, it sounded like a good soup for cold people, tired people, and people on their day off work huddled on their couch, (ie: me.)

Heidi makes hers in the oven, using her nice Le Creuset pot, [which I'm about to be blessed with for the holidays but I'm having trouble currently making the choice of color and size (Dijon? Carribean? Onyx? Advice anyone?)] but as I don’t have one yet, I had to make do with the stove top. It works out just fine.

This recipe basically has 6 ingredients,  all of which were in my pantry, and is completely hands off. Prep time? About three minutes. And it’s pretty flexible – if you have shallots instead of onion, you could do that, or if you need to use canned stock, that’s fine too. Although I’d go for a low sodium variety so that you can adjust your own seasoning. No chipotle in adobo (although really you can get these everywhere)? – go for a dried chile.

So you put it all in a pot. And you wait. And then what you get at the end is this savory, spicy, and hearty soup – the beans will have plumped up and the onions and garlic become so soft they melt in your mouth. It tastes a little bit like french onion soup… with a kick! Believe me, that chipotle really fires you up! I think this one is going to go into heavy rotation in the next few weeks.

Spicy Bean Soup (Good for Sick People)
adapted from 101 cookbooks
serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup of dried borlotti beans (or other cranberry beans), preferably that you have soaked overnight*
1 large onion, sliced or roughly chopped
8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled, whole, trimmed
8 cups of stock (I used home made turkey stock)
1 chile pepper in adobo
1 bay leaf

To serve : (optional, but highly recommended):
fresh cilantro
freshly grated parmesan

1. In a soup pot, add all of the ingredients, and bring to boil. Cover, turn down the heat to a simmer, and let it go for an hour or so. After the first hour, check to make sure your liquid hasn’t decreased too substantially, and add water if needed. Let the thing simmer for a second hour until beans are tender, and you can’t hold yourself back from eating it all.

To serve, top with some fresh cilantro, and a shaving of Parmesan.

Eat. Feel restored.

*Note: I didn’t soak my beans. They were done in just over 2 hours. But then again, that’s because I buy them from Rancho Gordo, and they are fresh, fresh, fresh!

This week one of those hokey “name 3 things you like to eat, 3 places you’ve lived, and forward it to everyone!!!” emails circulated throughout my friends, with one noted similarity between all of our responses: It seems that we all have a voracious passion for bacon.  Clearly our love for bacon will unite us for all time in friendship, so that’s exciting. And really who can blame us? There is so much you can do with the product – one slice lends entire flavor to soups, served crisply with eggs it is a miracle, even covered in chocolate there is demand.

At the bookstore we have been selling copies of “Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon”, a rousing tour of bacon’s history (which for $300 you can get yourself a pigskin bound copy), as well as the Bacon Cookbook, which should have a prominent place in every bacon lover’s kitchen. In an unscientific poll that I’ve conducted, those most likely to buy these books were in a sub-set group of customers of which I include myself: the “JPAB’s”, say it: “Jay-Pab’s” or “Jews passionate about Bacon”. Maybe being deprived of bacon as a child led to my obsession, but really I think it’s actually a mix of deprivation and a greater cultural legacy- we Jews have a penchant for perfect savory brunch food – lox, whitefish, chopped liver, cream cheese, bagels – it’s no wonder that bacon sneaks itself in somehow.

(Photo Helen Rosner/Eat Me Daily)

I’m always looking for new ways to use bacon, and most recently stumbled across a miracle in my new Momofuku cookbook – Bacon Dashi. Dashi, a traditional japanese stock made of konbu (kelp), and bonito flakes (dried fish, which has been powdered), is a staple broth that can be used in a myriad of ways. In the Momofuku cookbook, (of which a brilliant review can be found at Eat Me Daily), David Chang substitutes more easily findable smoky bacon for bonito, to create of this ever useful base broth. I made a batch last week, and have been using it in everything.

Things to use Momofuku Bacon Dashi for:

:: As the liquid for any soup, stew, grain, rice, or polenta. ::

Or:

1. Bacon Dashi over “stuff”: Slice shiitake mushrooms and green onions (scallions) in a bowl, and some silken tofu if you have it. Ladle hot Bacon Dashi over the contents of the bowl. Sit. Drink with glee. You know, I haven’t tried this, but I bet if you were to crunch up some of those onion strings that people put in green bean casserole in the bowl as well – it would taste good too.

2. Bacon Dashi Miso Soup – use the Bacon Dashi in this perfect and easy recipe for miso soup from Maki of Just Hungry.

3. Quick Bacon and Cabbage soup: Chop one strip of thick cut bacon and cook over medium high heat in a large soup pot. Add in one chopped onion and three minced cloves of garlic, and cook for about 4 or 5 minutes until slightly tender. Add in one chopped carrot, and rip in three leaves of sage. (If you have a potato, cube it into really small pieces, and add it here). Add a tin of cannelini beans, or great northern beans. Cook for about two minutes, and add 6 cups of Bacon Dashi – or a mix of water and dashi if you don’t have enough bacon dashi because you have used most of your double batch in the past few days. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add in a half head of cabbage, roughly chopped, and 1 tablespoon of white miso paste and simmer for 10-15 more minutes. Season with some pepper, and serve.

*If you don’t have white miso paste, you could just salt at the end, but it wont have that nice unctuousness and depth that the miso adds to the soup. Buy yourself a little tub, and use it!

Momofuku Bacon Dashi
from the Momofuku Cookbook
Makes 2 Quarts

Two 3-by-6-inch pieces konbu (kelp)
8 cups water
1/2 pound smoky bacon, preferably Benton’s

1. Rinse the konbu under running water, then combine it with the water in a medium saucepan. Bring the water to a simmer over medium heat and turn off the stove. Let steep for 10 minutes.

2. Remove the konbu from the pot and add the bacon. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down so the water simmers gently. Simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Strain the bacon from the dashi, and chill the broth until the fat separates and hardens into a solid cap on top of it. Remove and discard the fat and use the dashi or store it. Bacon dashi will keep, covered, for a few days in the refrigerator.

*Notes: All Asian grocery stores and most health food stores will carry dried konbu (kelp), although increasingly it is found in the Japanese part of the “world” section of the American supermarket. As to the bacon, I used Niman ranch thick cut apple-wood smoked bacon, and it worked out just fine.

*Also, you can half this recipe, or if you are smart, double it.

*Also, you can eat the konbu for snack instead of throwing it out. I wouldn’t advocate the same with the boiled bacon.

Other people using Bacon Dashi in creative ways:
Anticiplate: Southern Style Shrimp ‘n Grits
Inuyaki: Bacon Agedashi Tofu

A few weeks ago we headed down the California coastline to a tiny town named Pescadero, on a quest for beans. Pescadero, at the midway point between San Francisco and Santa Cruz – is known for a lovely beach, antiques, the historic artichoke soup at Duarte’s Tavern (which apparently Guy Fieri is a fan of), and the burrito joint in the gas station – but if you drive farther down the road you will get to a mystical and magical place named Phipps Country Store, which has both an unusually large selection of beans, and an unusually large selection of birds, small furry animals, livestock and antique stoves.

So, truthfully, I drove over an hour just to buy beans. But, oh what beans!!! Phipps brags over 50 types of beans, most of which are grown by them, using no sprays/chemicals. While I was there I picked up some chickpeas, runner beans, soup mixes, and chestnut runners, all glorious stuff.

Included in my purchase was one really great package of red lentils and barley – that came with a recipe which I adapted for dinner.

This soup is perfect for the winter weather, and like most soups, tastes absolutely delicious for lunch the next day even if you are eating it cold. My twist is the miso – I use white miso, which adds a really nice depth of flavor to soups without it tasting miso-y or exotic. You can easily find white miso paste in the refrigerator section of any asian market, and I would highly recommend buying it to have on hand. If you can’t find miso, you could substitute bouillon.

Phipp’s Red Lentil Barley Soup
makes 8-9 1 cup servings

1 slice thick cut bacon (I use Niman Ranch)
1 cup (or 1 large) onion, chopped
1 cup (or three stalks) celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes, or 4 cups diced fresh tomatoes
3/4 cups red lentils, rinsed
3/4 cup pearl barley
4 cups water
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon white miso paste
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup shredded swiss cheese, or sharp cheddar (optional)

In a large heavy bottomed soup pot, place the slice of bacon over medium heat, until most of the fat is rendered. Add in the onions, celery and garlic, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the water, chicken broth, miso paste, tomatoes, lentils, barley, rosemary oregano, carrots and pepper. Bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat and simmer gently for 40 minutes or until the barley, lentils and carrots are tender. Top with swiss cheese or sharp cheddar if desired. (It goes well with or without!). I made a small batch of salt and olive oil rolls from my refrigerated master dough from “Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day” and it went perfectly with this.

Nutritional Information: (Per 1 cup serving, not including cheese) Calories: 158, Total Fat: 1.6 g, Sodium: 115.9 mg, Total Carbs: 29.3 g, Dietary Fiber: 6.5 g, Protein: 7.7 g

Phipps Country Store and Farm
2700 Pescadero Road, Pescadero, CA 94060
(650) 879-0787
Hours: 10:00 – 5:00 during winter, Closed Mondays

Farro is an interesting grain with a nice bite, that is well suited to easy summer salads. I use it in recipes that call for wheatberries, green lentils, bulgur or even barley occasionally as a replacement, but I find that I love it best in this salad with tomato, basil, feta, and a balsamic vinaigrette. I’m lucky to find farro at Rainbow Foods in San Francisco, but in some places, farro can be pricey – try shopping for it in stores with bulk bins, at trader joe’s, or even online.

Farro is an Italian word, and when I eat this grain, I find myself transported to Tuscany, sitting in the garden of my imaginary apartment, eating blissfully, drinking a glass of wine, and contemplating nothing but relaxation.

As usual, I use Mark Bittman’s pretty foolproof way of cooking most grains – put one cup of the grain in a small pot, and cover by at least an inch of liquid – bring to a boil, and turn down, cover, and simmer for 30-35 minutes without touching it. Then you can test it – if it’s not done, just add a few more tablespoons of liquid, and leave on the heat for ten more minutes. Unlike rice, don’t worry if there is extra liquid after the cooking time, just drain it.

MASTER RECIPE! Variations: This salad is also a great vehicle for crunchy vegetables – feel free to add fresh corn kernels (you don’t need to cook them!), black beans, bits of chopped red pepper, cucumber, shavings of carrot, chick peas, or even little cubes of summer squash to name just a few! Also, you can punch up the herbs with some fresh parsley or fresh mint (or both) to give it some extra green. No balsamic on hand? Just make a simple lemon vinaigrette with the same proportions of lemon to olive oil.

Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Basil, and Feta
serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

Ingredients:

- 1 cup farro
-  enough salted water or chicken broth to cover farro by one inch in pot (about 2.5 cups)
- 1 large heirloom tomato, chopped (ripe! uglier the better!)
- about ten leaves of basil, rolled into a cigar shape and chopped
- salt and pepper
- 2 ounces feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the farro and enough water (or chicken stock) to cover farro by an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the farro is tender, about 35 minutes. Drain, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, add the chopped tomatoes, basil, and feta, and cover with the slightly cooled farro. In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Pour into the farro salad, and toss to coat. You can eat this warm, or it can be made in advance and popped in the refrigerator. Just let it come back to room temperature when you want to eat it, and make sure to re-toss it!

I’ve been working all week long in the bookstore (Omnivore Books on Food), while Celia, the owner is away in Paris (so jealous!), and find myself spending the entire day pouring through cookbooks and food memoirs, only to find myself hungry and a little exhausted by the time I get home for dinner.

While I don’t subscribe to the 30 minute meal mentality,  I am enamored by recipes that take no more than 15 minutes to put together, and then cook on the stove for an hour or more with little to no fuss – enough time for really rich flavors to develop, and delicious aromas to perfume the house. I’ve been on a bit of a Mexican kick for the past few weeks, reading through our selection here in the shop, and came up with this Pozole – drawn from many sources and adapted for my own kitchen.

This is one of those great recipes where you need a big pot and a cutting board and really nothing else. It’s really a pantry recipe, and it’s basis is the hominy, which is made from maize but almost has the consistency of potato. Add the growers trinity (three sisters): beans, corn, and squash, and you have a delicious stew. They say what grows together goes together, and its certainly evident in this dish.

I get this started the moment I walk in the door, and then have a good amount of time to wind down, organize myself, read my email, and check in with my friends and family before dinner.

An Easy Pozole
serves 4

Ingredients

- 1 29 oz can white hominy
- 1 15 oz can white kidney beans (cannellini beans)
- A corn cob, kernels stripped, cob in the pot as well
- a 1/2 pound of green beans or romano beans, cut into 1 inch strips
- 4 or 5 pattypan squash, cubed
- Ham steak, cubed (the 1 inch thick prepackaged variety works fine)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, smushed with your hand, or the flat of a heavy knife
- 1/2 teaspoon of dry marjoram (or a large sprig of fresh)
- 1/2 teaspoon dry oregano (or a large sprig of fresh)
- a teaspoon of chopped chile (or red pepper flakes)
- 3/4-1 Tbs. Cumin
- salt and pepper to season

Method

Add everything to a big pot, cover with water, to about an inch over everything, gently bring to a boil on medium high heat, and then turn heat down to medium low, cover loosely leaving the lid just a tiny bit ajar, and simmer an hour or more,  stirring every once in a while, until you are too hungry to wait any longer. Take out the corn cob, and serve.

Serve with Lime and Cilantro, for garnish, and some warm tortillas for dipping.

Variations: Consider this a recipe that you can easily adjust based on what you have in the kitchen or on hand. I’d keep the onion and spices the same, but feel free to vary the amount of squash (any type of summer squash would do), and the types of beans, etc. You can pop in more vegetables if you’d like, such as chopped red pepper, tomato, or even leafy greens. You can also kick up the heat by adding more pepper – it’s really good hot!

I’ve been reading the Pioneer Woman religiously for several years now, and she is always reminding me of the beautiful things in life – love, the land, family, food, and friends.

Last month her friend Pastor Ryan of This is Reverb came to visit her, and made the most delicious looking shrimp risotto – I knew I had to try it. I had just purchased some beautiful asparagus at the farmers market, and decided to add that to the pot. This stuff is so incredibly good I can’t stand it.

Pastor Ryan is a hip, tattooed, man of god, with the most adorable daughter Ava Beans – he also happens to cook exactly how I want to cook – flavorful, painfully delicious food that is created without recipes, but with a basic foundation for your starting point and then just go! He’s been advocating Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio – which is next on my to read list.

Aren’t they beauties? I was so excited to use them. A note on choosing asparagus: These were not too thick (sometimes the stalk gets really thick in late summer, in which case I would have used a vegetable peeler to peel them so that you aren’t trying to gnaw through the tough exterior), and the tips were tightly together, rather than splayed out or slimy or soggy which is a sign that they aren’t fresh.

This dish seems labor intensive from the recipe, but don’t let it scare you. The entire process takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, and it just requires gentle coaxing and will reward you immensely.

Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto
adapted from Pastor Ryan of This is Reverb
serves 2 (plus one lucky person for lunch)

For the shrimp:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or salted)
several good glugs of  worcestershire sauce
3 cloves of garlic
1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp, ends removed
a lot of seasoning of your choice (lemon pepper, old bay)

For the risotto

a few good glugs of olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio Rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups organic chicken broth

1 bunch asparagus, steamed, cut into inch long pieces

Method:

1. In a small pot, warm the butter on low heat, and add in the worcestershire sauce, and a few cloves of garlic. (I smushed ‘em with the heavy side of my knife and then chopped them really finely before dumping them in.) Let that all mellow together on low while you peel the shrimp (and devein them – although I usually like to purchase them cleaned) – and then in a shallow bowl, spoon the sauce over the shrimp and let sit while you start your risotto.

2. In a heavy bottomed pot, sautee the large shallot in a few good glugs of olive oil. After a few minutes, throw in your arborio rice, and a half cup or more of white wine. Now this is a bit of a process – add your broth in, about a half cup at a time, stir, and let it cook down slowly (a few minutes each time) before adding the next half cup. – this whole process takes about 30 – 40 minutes or so – but don’t feel like you have to be stirring the whole time. (when you have about a cup of broth left, start back on the shrimp)

3. Shrimp, part two. Now that the flavors have been mellowing, heat up the grill. (Or in my case, a grill pan). Before puttting the shrimp on, toss in some of your favorite seasoning into the shrimp mixture – I used my grandmother’s super special seasoning mix – but lemon pepper or old bay would work absolutely fab here. Toss them onto the grill, and cook just a couple of minutes on each side. When done, chop up about three quarters of the shrimp, and save the rest whole for garnishing.

4. Steam the asparagus – just cut them into couple inch long pieces, put them in a pyrex in the microwave for five minutes with an inch of water and covered with a lid or some saran wrap.

5. Ok! Back to the risotto! I hope you have been stirring occasionally! Now add in your chopped shrimp, and your steamed asparagus – take a little taste – and season with some salt and pepper if it needs it. (The flavors from the shrimp should usually do it, but it might need just a tad more. Pastor Ryan adds in some green onions here… but I erm… don’t like them very much, so I omit them. I’m sure they would be good if you enjoy them though!

Serve, with the whole shrimp on top – man the stuff is good.

Thoughts – for next time – I think I might add in some chopped kielbasa – and you could theoretically do this with any seasonal vegetable you have and it would be pretty delicious. You could also do it with lobster I would think – that is if you are living on the east coast and it’s 5.99 a pound rather than more than double that here in California!

Thanks Pastor Ryan! Thanks Pioneer Woman!

For a foundation on cooking risotto, you can look at Ree’s post on Basic Risotto.