flower stand haul, oct 3

got what felt like a thousand flowers from Lebak Farms this weekend, mostly dahlias. family businesses rule.

"i can't get into a bed without you, I stack up all the pillows and imagine that you are there" painting by Lauren Vincelli.

Ramps!

oh spring, you have finally arrived. with spring, apparently in NY culinary circles (or more commonly in West Virginia) comes ramps, wild leeks, Allium tricoccum. Super pungent wild member of the allium fammily, tastes like a garlicky spring onion. I'd never eaten them before, but I'm seduced. Apparently its not possible (or preferred) to cultivate them, so they must be hunted on semi-wild lands which, naturally makes them cost more. I'm sure I paid too much for a wild plant that i could find if I only had a place to look, but alas, i don't. They're only available a few weeks a year, which is now, at the Park Slope Co-Op, or from the nice meat-sellers at the Prospect Park farmer's market (i think it's these guys: www.dinesfarms.net) maybe some other places. I jumped on a bunch from the maple sausage guys at PPk (another temptation for another post); thought i could find them growing wild in Prospect Park (fail), and had to buy them again at the Co-op today. Thought I'd post recipies:

Spaghetti with Ramps - this seems to be one of the more common recipes i saw, so i made my own adaptation - sauteed chopped ramps in olive oil (yep, the whole plant) tossed w/ hot (drained but not shaken) pasta, a hunk of goat cheese swirled around to melt onto the pasta, salt, pepper. Good but lacking sparkle, some lemon, red pepper flake might help, and maybe some butter to add some fat to dilute the ramps (does that work?).

Avocado-Ramp Potato Salad - this for dinner tonight w/ homemade blackbean cheeseburgers (it's hot almost like summer here i wanted picnic food). very pungent! with garlic instead of ramps, this is my favorite pasta salad dressing. about 4 side servings.
put 1 lb potatoes on to boil
mash 1 avocado in a large bowl, dress with juice of 1 lime (or lemon), ~1/2 C olive oil
fine chop root end and stems of about 5 ramps & toss in bowl
add fistful of basil, finely chopped & ~1tbsp salt (way more than you think you'd need but the avacado seems to want it), hearty grinds of pepper. stir, let sit while potatoes are cooking.
when potatoes are fork tender, drain and chop in to bite size pieces, add hot to avaocado dressing.
mix potatoes & dressing w/ spatula. season to taste w/ S+P.
now, you can dress with any number of additions; we put in sugar snap peas, feta, capers.
other good additions might include artichoke hearts, tomatoes, good tuna chunks, blanched green beans, pickles, pickled beets? pickled okra? Anything with flavor strong or different enough to combat the ramps. if you wanted milder flavor, you could saute the ramps, i'm sure that'd help at least a little bit, but part of their charm i think is that they're stinky.
serve and kiss the person you're eating with because they have ramp breath, too. it doesn't matter.

apparently, according to JR, the WVA way to eat them is to fry them in bacon grease (like everything else), but we haven't really committed to a baconatarian lifestyle yet. they seem to be often eaten with hashbrowns & eggs, which sounds like an awesome breakfast, too.

any other suggestions? i've got a few left!

p.s. - photo by Dave Smooth, naturally.

a delicious year

2008 although strange & difficult in many ways, was a great year in the kitchen for us. Aside from simple meals like cheese grits with Uncle Bruthas hot sauce, desserts containing booze, meals with friends that make us say 'we are so good at this!' & a tattered Joy of Cooking bringing the old fashioned American baked goods like biscuits & pie crust back into our house, there's been a number of all-day cooking extravaganzas and adventures in eating this year. Partially, I think this is because of our decreased pocketbooks and increased interest in sustainability, self-sufficiency, and decreasing the amount of food waste we create. Partially, it's because of our gastronaut leanings, wanting to explore all the kinds of things we can eat and prepare and the challenge of stretching a meal or ingredient as far as it will go, deliciously.

Best things I ate this year that I didn't cook (in no order):
Cheese Columbo with Eggplant from Coppola's (Richmond)
Virginia's Japanese Pickles (so spicy! send reinforcements!)
Juliana's French Onion Soup (blissfully vegetarian and so cheesy!)
Mom's biscuits (why are they so much better than mine)
Conner+Ben's PB Fudge
Baked Tagliolini with Mushrooms at Ciprinani's
Bonnie's Veggie Burger is still the best I've found in NYC & their fries w/ chipotle mayo (suggestions on competitors welcome)
hibiscus beer on tap at Beer Table - wish i could remember what it was called!
wild figs from Virginia's yard
lavender donuts from Donut Plant
Dave's lavender butter on apple pancakes (this recipe from a dream)

... probably there's a lot more that time and shoddy memory are forgetting... so to all those that fed me well this year - many thanks! come on over and we'll cook you up something good in return.

What was the best thing you ate this year?

I'm reliving my year in food in prep for your enjoyment, and wanted to know - What was the best thing you ate (drank?) this year? Please respond in comments! xo!

debate night seitan shepherd's pie

Dave's got a cold, it's turning fall, the election is coming and we need comfort food. some veggie spot in park slope had seitan shepherd's pie on the menu, so i thought i'd give it a shot. here's my lazy version. serves 2-4

Preheat oven to 400F

scrub and put on to boil about ~1 lb yukon gold potatoes with some salt- the potatoes at the co-op are very small & organic so they didn't need to be cut or peeled, but if yours are bigger you should cut them into medium sized cubes. boil until very fork tender and drain.

meanwhile, dump 1 12oz tub of Ray's Seitan 'Wheat Meat' into a square baking dish. If you don't have Ray's, any seitan will do, but this brand has the added benefit of some kind of fatty gravy like substance included, whch adds some extra juice and flavor to the mix. if you don't have this in your seitan, you might prefer to add some oil, catsup, or some other liquid (gravy?) to keep the seitan from drying out.

chop 1 onion & some garlic and add it to seitan. dress the seitan mixture with about 3Tbs chipotle tabasco, hearty shakes of basil, cumin and pwdrd ginger, pepper, and a dash of salt. stir to combine all ingredients.

add 1 cup frozen corn to the baking dish, patting it onto the top.

cover the dish with foil, and put in the oven to bake while the potatoes are boiling. bake until everything is hot and the onions are cooked - 20-30 minutes.

when the potatoes are very fork tender, drain and mash with as much butter (~1/2 stick) and (soy)milk (~1/2 cup) as you prefer, salt, pepper, whatever else to your taste.

when the seitan is ready - the juices are bubbling, the onions are tender and everything is looking & smelling good, take it out of the oven.

Turn the heat down to 350F.

Pour the mashed potatoes onto the seitan and press into the top evenly. put back in the oven for 10-15 min or so, until they are a little crispy and brownish, perhaps the juice from the seitan is bubbling up into the potatoes. eat and enjoy!

at mom's house shephard's pie is always served with catsup. dave thought gravy might be yummy but we were too lazy to make some (even from a mix). another recipe i have calls for putting cheese in the mashed potatoes which i always love (smoked gouda perhaps?). this can easily be made deliciously vegan if you so desire, using margarine and soymilk in the mashed potatoes. how do you make it?

que es Cranberry Beans?

we'd been lurking the cranberry beans among the lush local produce at the co-op. what is it? is it good? do we like it? so, in the cart they go. ours are fresh, not dried, and after research (internets), a consultation thru a gardeny friend, we ended up with this, done our own way:
Cranberry Beans a la Slow-Paced Monday Dinner (with pesto or other things)
(about 2 servings+tomorrow's lunch,)

1 pound in-shell cranberry beans: shell and rise them, discarding any small, blackish or funny looking beans

in a big pot, bring to a boil about 4 cups water with a half-onion, a bay leaf, garlic, oregano from mom's yard, rosemary from a failed housewarming plant, ground pepper.

Add cranberry beans and cover partially, turn heat down to a simmer, for about 25-40 minutes (ours took more like 40, but we started tasting for firmness at 25). Stir regularly. The good thing about beans is that they just sit and simmer, so you can do other things like watch TV

when you're getting impatient and the beans are almost done, that is, they are soft, the skins aren't too chewy and hopefully they're acquiring a good flavor, approximately the last 5 minutes of cooking, add a splash of hot sauce and about a 1/2 tbs kosher salt. Don't add salt earlier, it makes the beans tough

scoop out the beans with a slotted spoon, and put in serving dish. dress with olive oil, lots of pepper and about 1tbs kosher salt, a heaping spoon full of pesto (homemade with walnuts, leftover from the the night before) and a splash of red wine vinegar, to taste.

We served with a fried egg, summer tomato (for me) and cheese toast.

now, there's probably about 100000 ways you could do this differently. it's inspired by this completely different recipe, but gardeny phil also suggested you dress the beans with (instead of pesto/red wine vinegar) shallots and balsamic. j-a-a would probably put fennel seed and tomatoes in; i'm down with that, and dave def would've added butter. parmasean on top of everything would be nice. jen might've served it with the gifted produce of her fellow gardeners. or maybe nuts?
how do you end up with it?

after seeing a haunted-feeling apartment - a rundown brownstone with dry thorny roses by the lion-guarded white metal fence, a private yard, 'garden entrance' and an okay price, dirty and badly maintained, with a rat problem and a cold wind blowing into the place up from the basement,...
i was convinced to put our money where my thoughts were and go for the warm, west-facing 5th floor two (large) room flat with a regular size kitchen and bathroom with a tub, fire escape and room for the bikes, the bar & the cat, a few blocks from the express trains and the park, with amenities like laundry in building, an elevator, and a thriving multicultural neighborhood. it's nearly twice what the falling apartment is, but for the location (significantly closer to work than falling apartment), and the style, i think im in. d is too, by default, and i hope he's as excited as me about seeing zira bark at obese pigeons on the fire escape where our tomatoes & herbs will grow, looking out onto mimosa trees and 'south prospect park' or 'lefferts gardens' or 'flatbush' or whatever you want to call it in the morning, putting the Love Mr Egg painting above the bed, filling the three closets with all our things, and putting the toys on the built-in shelf in the foyer.

after the unreasonably stressful application process i cleared my head with a scallion cream cheese+tomato+cucumber on an everything bagel, a few phone calls, and a very long walk from the realty office to my temporary home.

got my cards read & she said big changes were in my future.

courage is necessary.oh, hey. it's been a while, huh? did you hear i'm moving to New York on Sunday? I'm a little nervous, and hoping that my couch surfing won't be too much a burden on my friends. have you a reasonably priced apartment for us? just me, the fellow and our charming cat. hopefully this orchid and trompe l'oeil print will make it too. it's trying to snow today and i wish it would, while simultaneously sending everyone to leave me big tips at the pizza shop tonight.
so, moving out of state, for good even, is kind of a big deal, and there are a lot of things I need to do and meant to do but will never get to (for now)

To Do:
-Beardstravaganza, find kickass beard or merkin to wear to my first appearance at this annual shindig - perhaps dave's pricklypear beer will make a debut?
-get rid of lots of stuff - do you need some blank periwinkle t-shirts? a biography of Proust? a Schwinn Peapicker lowrider? a '94 Saturn SL2? slightly broken sewing machine? a huge green couch and a pair of star trek-esque endtables? some old magazines?

-find a suitable tenant for our apartment - is it you?
-go dancing - but where?
-leave this fucking town. yay! screw you yuppies and politicos. remaining friends: I still love you.

meant to do in DC, but won't:
-visit all Smithsonians - only got to less than half. bummer. still time to hit the aquatic gardens and portrait gallery?
-eat vegetarian soul food, eat at Cafe Nora,
-see the Beastie Boys at the 930 Club, spot Dave Grohl hanging out at Black Cat,
-ride the secret US Capitol subway,
-write a DC city guide for Bust,
-fight for District equality including having true Congressional representation, and proper budgeting for the seriously suffering public schools. oh well.
-ride bikes to Mount Vernon (did i ever really mean to do this?)
-get on the board for Transformer gallery (James said I could if I had $5K. Maybe next year)

secret vegetable! (butternut squash)

Once, Dave received a 'secret vegetable' in the mail, the previously unknown butternut squash, a hard winter squash from the Hampshire College CSA share i had with Mod 80.
Unknown, as in 'What the fuck do i do with this?!' Because soup or mash w/brown sugar can only be tolerated for so long, because it is cheap as hell and in season right now, here is what you do:

Butternut Squash-Black Bean Tacos
serves 3

• find a small butternut squash in the fridge where you are housesitting, at the farmers market or grocery. if you are feeding more than three, get a big one!
• chop it in half with the biggest knife you can find. watch your fingers, these things are hard! peel the skin off - it will help to cut it into even smaller pieces. some schmancy stores sell the squash cut/peeled already, but using this method also uses more packaging, so forget it.
• cut the peeled chunks into small pieces - about 1/2" cubes.
• get out a big frying pan and heat olive oil in it over med-high heat. add the squash, try to make sure its only in one layer on the pan. Saute squash about 8 min until it's nearly fork-tender and browning.
• while squash is sauteing, mash 2 cloves garlic, chop fresh sage, and slice a red bell pepper. when squash is tender, add all to the pan.
• Continue saute about another two minutes, till peppers are soft, then add 1 can black beans, with most of the water drained off.
• season with the juice of half a lime, hearty shakes of cumin, salt, pepper, hot sauce, adobo powder, whatever else you like.
• When everything is hot and delicious eat with corn tortillas, guacamole, tomatillo lime salsa(if you're feeling like you love my recipes), cheese and on the couch in front of trashy television like Cribs, garbage pop videos, The Office or Dr. Who. or at the dinner table discussing your day, politics, art, and social constructs, like normal people.

House-sitting for a friend in Prospect Heights, and it's changing my whole attitude about New York. Of course, it helps that she has an effin YARD that includes a patio, sage & roses, a blue jay, & a Sunday morning wedge of sunshine to sit in while you eat breakfast and listen to the church bells. While she seems to have scored a good deal for a small apartment with a yard and a short walk to the subway, it's all relative, and dave and I would both have to be earning three times what we are to afford it. Sad!
But, this fake living in Prospect/Crown Heights has made me feel more excited about the potential to live in Brooklyn for longer than three months.
Went to the Farmer's Market Saturday, and made out like a bandit with local apples, yellow wax beans, garlic, red chard, red pepper, green grapes, cheese, tomato, pear cider and wheat boule. $20. The strange fall weather is putting tomatoes and fresh corn on the same table as winter squash. J & I feasted on butternut squash-black bean tacos before freely-poured wine at Patio Lounge. Tonight: something with yellow beans &/or chard.