Fun on the farm

My new avatar is a goat I met at the Daufuskie Island Community Farm, which is an awesome and magical place, except for an incident when my sister, my mother and I were mercilessly chased by an angry male turkey and his harem. My mom made a run for safety, and my sister jumped a fence and escaped, while I was trapped in the stable with the goats and had to crawl out the goat door. Good times. Anyway, here are some fun photos I took there, which are food related I guess, because community farms make food, and are great places. Especially when they are located on Daufuskie Island, SC.

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Butternut squash frittata with sage and gruyere, recipe from Whole Foods. Served with a raw kale and apple salad with mustard/lemon dressing. So good. 

Gluten Freeish?

This is an example of something I won’t be making/eating in the near future.

I recently revised my little summary to read “gluten free?” As an explanation, I’ve had generalized tummy issues for many years, that have fluctuated between being a severe problem and manageable thing. I’ve figured out most of the food that triggers bad stuff for me, and I usually avoid it, unless I don’t want to. Some articles I’ve read lately and the positive experiences of a friend with similar issues convinced me to lay off the gluten as an experiment. I’ve tested negative for celiac disease in the past, which is very different (and much more serious) than gluten sensitivity (see the difference explained here). Despite the trendy nature of going gluten free, after three weeks I’ve seen some positive effects, so I think I’ll try to stick with it. I’m not freaking out about potential cross contamination, but I’m not eating 4+ pieces of bread a day either. While a future without real beer and real bagels seems pretty bleak, I look forward to trying new recipes and alternative versions of old favorites. For example, I’ve switched from toast to steel cut oats as my breakfast of choice, which presents many opportunities for breakfast innovation and incorporating more fruit into my diet. Huzzah! 

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New Kitchen Gadget! It’s a rabbit citrus juicer! You can see me in the reflection, which is a bit embarrassing. My mom gave it to us for Christmas. I love the look of it, and it’s a sleek, unobtrusive addition to my countertop. That said, it is pretty tough to clean, and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re going on a juicing regimen or something like that. It’s better if you need lemon or lime juice for the occasional [cocktail] recipe or if you’d like to make OJ on a saturday morning. Let me tell you, as a lifelong tropicana orange juice drinker, the fresh stuff is a revelation! I made blood orange / tangerine juice the other day and it was splendid.

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I pinned this NYT recipe for soba tofu noodles with green beans andI actually made it! There is an approximate 1/100 ratio of things I pin to things I make/buy/do after pinning, so that alone is an accomplishment. Also, this recipe was so delicious I actually ate it the night before I started my new job, when I was so nervous I strongly considered plain rice for dinner. FYI, the nerves were unnecessary, the job is great, that’s just what my body likes to do to drive me crazy.

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I served the lentils and chard with homemade pita. I used a Mark Bittman recipe, which was much more successful than my last attempt at pita. Bklyn Foodie has the recipe here.

Spiced Red Lentils with cucumber yogurt

When I made this, I served it alongside the chard from my previous post, because it is another Ottolenghi recipe, this one from Plenty. Equally delicious, and even easier to adapt for a quick dinner of spice lentils and rice - you don’t have to be too precious with all the ingredients for this one, and I didn’t have all of them on hand - but following the recipe does pay off in flavor. 

Spiced Red Lentils with cucumber yogurt

adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

1 cup red lentils, rinsed

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

2 1/2 inches peeled fresh ginger, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno or other green chile, chopped

1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

4 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

(10 curry leaves) (1/4 tsp fenugreek) (pinch asafetida) (I didn’t used these, so don’t take my word for it)

1 16oz can diced tomatoes

3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

3/4 cup fine diced cucumber

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp lime juice

1. Soak the lentils in the 1 1/2 cups water for 15-30 minutes. Use the time to do your chopping.

2. In a dutch oven or other large pot, put the mustard seeds over medium heat. When they start popping all over the place, add oil, onion, pepper, ginger, cilantro and garlic and give it a stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the spices and curry leaves and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Add lentils, water, tomatoes and some salt. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until lentils are cooked.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, lime, cucumber and oil with a fork. Serve lentils topped with yogurt sauce and more cilantro leaves. 

Swiss Chard with tahini, yogurt, pine nuts

Wow. I haven’t written anything here in quite a long time. Sorry. I moved, I got a new job, I’m still in school. It is a lot. I’m still cooking, just not writing about it too much. Anyway, this dish is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s amazing book Jerusalem, which is worth buying if only to gaze longingly at the beautiful photographs of delicious food. Thankfully, I didn’t even have to buy it because it was given to me for my birthday. Yay!

Swiss Chard with Tahini, Yogurt, Pine Nuts

Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

1 bunch swiss chard, rinsed, tough stems removed and roughly chopped

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil 

5 tbsp pine nuts

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup white wine

3 1/2 tbsp tahini paste

4 1/2 tbsp plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp water

1. Sauce: Whisk together tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, water and 1 chopped garlic clove with a fork, set aside.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add chard stalks. Simmer for 2 minutes, add leaves, simmer for another minute, drain and quickly shock in cold water. Squeeze excess water from the chard using your hands, or by pressing in between paper towels.

3. In a large pan over medium heat, combine oil and butter (yes!). Add pine nuts and toss until golden. Remove the pine nuts from the pan and throw in the rest of the garlic. Cook for a minute, then add the wine (stand back!) Let wine reduce for a minute, add the chard and stir until warm. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve chard topped with pine nuts and sauce.

  

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Coming soon: Mediterranean feast dinner, with homemade pita, spiced lentils, and chard with pine nuts and tahini yogurt 

White Bean Pizza

(alternative title: how to take a delicious looking vegan recipe and throw a bunch of cheese on it.)

The crust: Smitten Kitchen pizza dough recipe

The toppings:

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed

3 cloves garlic

juice of 1 lemon

olive oil, several glugs

crumbled goat cheese, 1/2 cup

shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup

1 yellow onion, sliced

How to:

The sauce is basically white bean hummus - put the beans, the garlic, the lemon and the olive oil in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Cook the onions in a nonstick skillet with a little oil until browned and soft

Top the pizza with bean puree, onions, and cheese. Cook on a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven for ~10 minutes.