Radicchio: Garden Series Part X

This will likely wrap up my 2013 garden series, which I'm happy to report was ten posts in total.

I finally made it out to the garden to clean it up a couple weeks ago, before the real winter weather rolled in. Under the mass of dried and dead tomato vines and the pole bean hedge, I found that I still had plenty of Swiss chard, sage, parsley, and thyme (no rosemary).  And radicchio!  What a beauty!

In standard store-bought salad mixes, I am not a huge fan of the thick, bitter leaves.  And although Italian eat radicchio regularly (hence its Italian name- and those are hard Cs there), I totally grew this one for its looks and it didn't disappoint.  It starts out as a hardy green that forms a head.  At one point, I tried sautéing these green leaves with salt and olive oil, but the dish was too bitter to eat - so much so, I started to wonder if the plant is actually poisonous at this stage.

Then I left the plants to themselves and they started turning their famous deep purple at the veins and edges. Quite beautiful, really.  I decided that once they turned full purple, I would try grilling or braising them... something to get some char on the cut side and to be served with vinaigrette.  It worked.

SIMPLE RADICCHIO, BROWNED AND DRESSED

• 1 small head radicchio (or endive or romaine hearts)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 t. dijon mustard
• More salt and pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese, to garnish (optional)
• Polenta-No Burns, No Mess (optional serving suggestion)

Peel outer leaves off of the radicchio until you reach the clean, tight inner leaves.  Trim stem end and slice lengthwise in half.

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet (this skillet should have a lid that fits it for later) over medium-high heat.  Once hot, place the radicchio in the skillet, cut sides down.  Allow to sizzle for a minute, reduce heat to medium-low and cover.  Allow to cook for about 2-3 minutes and turn off heat. The radicchio will release a lot of moisture, so to avoid oil splatter, you can leave the skillet covered until sizzling subsides.

Meanwhile, put 1/4 cup olive oil and vinegar into a Mason jar or similar container. Add mustard, a pinch of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper.  Seal jar and shake well.

Remove the radicchio from skillet using tongs and place on top of polenta (or by itself on a plate). Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with vinaigrette (you'll have plenty leftover for future salads), and top with parmesan. The radicchio will still be slightly bitter, but should be balanced with the vinaigrette and have some nice, crispy edges from the browning.  Enjoy!

Garden Series, Part VIII: Carrots and Cucumbers

Recently, I was in the middle of a baking project and realized I had missed lunch.  Also recently, I went on an excursion to H-Mart in the suburbs with a dear friend of mine and loaded up on ingredients not found in the local grocery.  Such a good match, these two occurrences.  Throw in some garden produce, and you've got a late lunch. Or dinner, I'm not picky.

But not to worry, I'm not giving you a recipe with a bunch of hard-to-find ingredients.  In fact, it relies on the American standard of the sweetest, most-hydrogenated peanut butter, which I love despite all its failures.  Of course, you are welcome to use the natural stuff, if you have that sort of thing lying around.

Besides the Jiffy, the most exotic ingredients are soba noodles, Sriracha, and shiitake mushrooms - all of which one can find in the regular grocery store, but probably for twice the cost.  I'm not sure about the Sriracha, though, since I bought a huge bottle of it the last time I went to H-Mart and have never looked back.  It's basically an essential pantry ingredient.

In the pictures, you'll see a pile of fried seaweed with sesame seeds.  This stuff is seriously delicious, but probably far less likely to be found anywhere but the giant Asian grocery in the suburbs.  It turns out that it's best eaten as a snack on the side anyway.  I have no idea what's in it it either, but I'm pretty sure that it's manufactured to have an addictive balance of salt, sugar, and fat that makes it so you can't stop eating it.  You'll never know whether I'm snacking on it right now while I'm writing this.

As for the carrots and cucumbers, I highly recommend getting your hands on homegrown.  I know this isn't necessarily that easy, but homegrown carrots are the best.  They taste really, really good and if you eat conventional baby carrots from the supermarket, you will be really surprised at the carrot-y taste of back yard carrots.  I grow a variety of them because I am still fascinated by purple (Cosmic) and red (Atomic) carrots after my fifth garden.  I grow a few different cucumbers, but my long-standing favorite is Suyo Long.  It's a strange-looking variety that stays crisp, has few seeds, and refreshing cucumber flavor.

SOBA NOODLES WITH VEGETABLES

• 1 bundle (serving) soba noodles
• 2-4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and cut into matchsticks
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• large handful mung bean sprouts, picked over and rinsed
• radishes, or any other vegetable that sounds good (optional), cut into matchsticks/julienned
• 1/4 avocado, sliced
• olive oil
• pinch salt
• 2 t. peanut butter
• 2 t. soy sauce
• Sriracha, to taste

Cook soba noodles according to package directions.  Rinse well under cold, running water and allow to drain.

Heat a scant tablespoon olive oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add shiitakes and stir to coat with oil. Stir in salt and sauté until thoroughly cooked.  Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, and Sriracha.  In individual serving bowl, toss together noodles, shiitakes, cucumbers, carrots, sprouts, and sauce.  Top with avocado.  Feel free to add more soy sauce and/or Sriracha to season to taste.

Serves one. 

*Later in the week I made a crazy delicious Bacon Pad Thai.  I took no pictures of it, but perhaps round two will surface in a week or two.

Eating Well

Well, maybe.  We humans can't quite figure out this very basic survival instinct, can we?

Having read multiple books and watched documentaries and listened to lectures and so on, it seems that we are very confused what how to eat well.  No matter how much we praise things like flax today, tomorrow it will be deemed over-estrogenic and out out out!  And it is generally well-known these days that low-fat diets lead to weight instability (and inhibit healthy brain function) and that once-vilified butter is way better for you than trans-fatty margarine. It seems to me that keeping it simple is the way to go.

Of course, I'm not the first person to notice this (thank you Michael Pollan, personal idol).

And I mean simple in a variety of ways.  Unless we have diagnosed health problems, our nutrition should not be so complex that we cannot figure it out for ourselves - after learning the basics, of course. It should also not be so strict that we can never indulge.  I call this the Mental Happiness-Body Forgiveness Principle (actually, I don't and just made up that term right now).  If I don't feel like a bad person for enjoying a slice of birthday cake or poorly planning my day's food plan, I will probably feel good and healthy afterwards.

And our food should generally be simple, too.  Limiting pre-packaged and processed foods makes a huge difference, which throws a wrench into the simplicity of planning meals. Now, understand that I make complicated foods at home, like gumdrops and marshmallows.  Each of these require a couple of processed ingredients that I wouldn't suggest eating all of the time, like carageenan gel and boxed pectin, and well, sugar, albeit organic and fair trade.

People tend to make the assumption that I have a sugar addiction, which is not true.  Sure, I enjoy sugary treats, but for me candy works perfectly. If I want something sweet, a couple of pieces of candy quenches the desire and I'm done with it.  I understand that having candy around doesn't work like that for everyone, though.

So why am I offering this diatribe?

I just finished with the main phase of testing my food sensitivities.  And speaking of simplicity, this was an inordinately complex process. Each day started with a large glass of water and liver-support tea before eating anything.  And before coffee.  I also tend to skip breakfast normally, so I had to get on schedule.  Breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner were all planned and balanced and, thankfully, good.  But I did have to make and pack all of my food, every day.

Water is calculated on individual body weight, daily weather, and activity level.  It's a normal amount of water, but I needed to drink steadily throughout the day and not save it all for the evening like I tend to do.

I also needed to take a probiotics supplement.  I should start by stating that I feel weird about supplements - or anything that is expensive and takes weeks to work, if it does at all, and offers no proof of success. And the whole Butter-Margarine-Butter Problem (also just made that up), in which a wonderful new supplement is considered poison a year later (fish oil, I'm looking at you).  But probiotics are awesome.

Without getting too detailed, taking a program of probiotics does wonders if your systematic yeast is off.  I will try to keep this short, especially if you've seen Gentlemen Broncos and would rather never hear the word "yeast" again. Basically, because I've taken antibiotics a couple of times in the past year, my bacterial balance was thrown off.  I cannot believe how much better I feel after the probiotics.  It worked within two weeks and now I'm done with them until the next time I notice symptoms.


Anyway, I felt great for the duration of this process.  I'm currently taking a three day break to enjoy the holiday weekend and eat some treats, but now I have a common sense plan to go back to.  Here it is:

• Eat three meals a day, plus a snack and a small dessert.
• Lunch and dinner should be mostly vegetables, some cooked and some raw.  Don't eat anything raw that doesn't sound appealing raw.  (That's my takeaway, since raw zucchini sounded gross and it was gross and it made me feel gross.)
• Remember to include protein. Fat, too, but I was already on board with that.
• Remember to eat fruit (I'm notoriously bad about actually eating fruit).
• Stop drinking water a few hours before going to bed.
• Stick to olive oil and butter for cooking fats.
• Weigh oneself every morning to collect data on weight gain.  This is for checking water retention (read: inflammation), not actual weight.
• Keep track of other negative responses to food, like upset stomach, increase in seemingly-unrelated health issues, traditional allergic reactions, or skin irritation.
• Continue to make meals look appealing and attractive and enjoy them.
• Don't worry about it.

These guidelines allow me to feel well and determine if a new food is something I react to.  Or that something that is commonly reactive is fine for me, like wheat or dairy (YES!).

So here's a balanced meal that makes me feel good.  Hopefully it makes you feel good, too.


A BALANCED VEGETARIAN DINNER

• olive oil
• onion, sliced hull-to-hull
• carrots, diced
• beet (here I used a candy-stripe or "chioggia" beet), diced
• zucchini, diced
• 2-4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• kale, chopped
• handful of mixed greens per serving
• apple, diced
• 2 ounces cheese, diced (I used blue cheese) (optional)
• 1 ounce goat cheese, per serving (or 2-3 ounces if not using other cheese)
• balsamic vinegar
• dried cherries or cranberries, handful per serving (optional)
• pepitas or sunflower seeds, handful per serving
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a tablespoon-ish of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté until softened, then add carrots and beets.  Once softened, add zucchini and shiitakes.  Continue to sauté until all vegetables are cooked through and slightly browned on the edges.  Season with salt and pepper, toss, and add kale.  Stir in gently and cook until kale is bright green.  Put about half of this on a plate and top with goat cheese and seeds.

Place mixed greens in a bowl and  top with apple, cheese, and dried fruit.  In a jar, pour in equal amounts balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Add a pinch of salt, cover, and shake to emulsify and pour over salad.

Depending on  your opinions about combining apples and dried fruit with everything, you may want to stick with just goat cheese and mix half of the cooked veg directly into the salad.  Top with the goat cheese, vinaigrette, and seeds and dig in.

(About 2 servings)

And finally, don't forget to enjoy these last few weeks of summer!

Garden Series, Part VI: Solanaceae, or The Nightshades

Tomatoes! Tomatillos! Chiles! Eggplant! Potatoes! And basically everything good!

My favorites of the garden are starting to come into season.  There is a strong tomato focus to my garden and I have recently discovered that eggplants are quite beautiful. If you know me, you may know that I'm not a fan of bell peppers (blech!), but I do love the spicy kind, and chiles also make for pretty plants.  This year, I gave Purple de Milpa tomatillos another chance, and while they are not ready yet, there may be hundreds in a week or two.

It turns out that the members of the Night Shade family make great cooking companions.  Most of my gardening and cooking energy goes to the tomatoes, as I can them and freeze them and use them throughout the year.  As if I'm a pioneer.  Or a survivalist.  (I'm neither, but that's beside the point.)  But other than a potential jar of pickled jalapeños, the non-tomato night shades get consumed right away.  We'll see about using up those tomatillos...

It also turns out that mixing together tomatoes, eggplant, and chiles makes for a great puttanesca sauce.  Well, at least with the addition of some pantry ingredients, like capers and pickled peperoncini (American-style, not the strict Italian translation). Olives would be great, too, but I'm out. It's also entertaining to me that "night shades" make up the sauce that was for "ladies of the night." But I love a little wordplay and I'm aware that I'm kinda nerdy and cerebral. 



I was a little worried about posting too many pasta recipes, and then realized that pasta can almost always be replaced by pouring the sauce over polenta.  I thought of this as I was eating and found myself wishing I had done this in the first place.  So, if you're not into pasta, think about polenta.


PUTTANESCA

• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 hot chile, sliced
• 1 small eggplant, chopped
• 4-5 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 T. capers
• 2-3 peperoncini, sliced (American-style)
• salt and black pepper
• handful of basil
• parmesan, to garnish
• chèvre, to top
• 1/2 pound penne OR POLENTA

Start water for the pasta, or prepare polenta.  While heating and cooking, prepare the sauce.

In a medium cold skillet, pour in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add garlic and set heat to medium.  Once the garlic begins to sizzle, stir a few times and allow to cook for about 30 seconds, depending on the heat of the stove. Add chile slices, give a couple stirs, and then add the eggplant.  After about a minute, add the tomatoes, capers, and peperoncini.  Allow the ingredients to cook and release their juices.  After about five to ten minutes, they will come together as a nicely textured sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.

If using pasta, reserve a little pasta cooking water, drain, and toss directly into the sauce.  Loosen with pasta water as necessary.  Chop basil at the last minute and toss along with the pasta and sauce. Serve topped with parmesan and some good, solid chunks of goat cheese.

If using polenta, ladle the polenta into bowls.  Toss freshly-chopped basil into the sauce and pour over the polenta.  Garnish with parmesan and goat cheese.  Enjoy outside on the patio overlooking the garden.  Perfect.

Garden Series Part V: Green Beans & Chiles

This week the garden has been neglected.  It was not intentional, but for once I was busy doing more traditional thirty-somethings' pass times.  If you live in the Denver area, you may be aware of the UMS (Underground Music Showcase) and that it can take up a lot of your time.

It was fun and I saw some long-overdue shows.  I saw many friends and had many drinks.  I happened upon Residual Kid, and holy shit, they were awesome.  But if I'm being honest, I normally tend towards the nerdier of hobbies.  Like this poor garden, overgrown with runner beans and turnips and dill.  And wilting in the July sun.

Most of the time, friends are surprised about the gardening habit.  I'm not sure they are more surprised that I actually have a back yard in the city or that I would willingly do all the work.   I usually meet the astonishment with confusion, because I see it as more than rewarding for not much work at all. Sure, digging up 300 square feet of compacted soil by hand is serious labor, but I only had to do that once four years ago and there is machinery available for that sort of thing.  And I don't mind working when I'm properly compensated.

If you really want to know about why I do it, it's not just about the produce or eating off the land.  It's not about making any and all guests take my garden tour (which is pretty high on the things-I-love-about-gardening list). Although I am concerned about the food industry and I like to know where my food comes from, I'm not even trying to reach some high level of local eating.  It's mostly because I find the entire process endlessly fascinating. Every summer I am shocked to see what I get from a handful of seeds in March.  I am enamored with the hundreds of heirloom and unusual varieties that you just never see at the grocery store.  I consider getting some sort of advanced degree in botany.

Plus, I'm growing quinoa this year.  Quinoa, guys!

As for my other nerdy interests, like cooking and sewing and learning about things...uh, I'm not much of a camper or an athlete. Ahem, but when the world ends and we sink into survivalist indecency, I will have clothing and food and a warm quilt and I will know stuff.*  And I share.

Oh.  How about a recipe?

BLISTERED & SPICY GREEN BEANS

• Large handful green beans, trimmed
• Splash olive oil
• 1 hot chile, sliced thinly
• Salt to taste
• Sesame oil

Set a medium pot of salted water to boil and meanwhile prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Once at a boil, blanch green beans for about 2-3 minutes.  Strain through a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.  Drain well and blot them with a towel to dry before adding them to hot oil.  Ouch.

Put olive oil in a medium sauté pan and heat to medium-high.  Toss in chile and allow to sizzle.  Once hot, add the blanched green beans and toss to coat.  Stirring or flipping the pan only a few times, allow the beans to cook until blistered on all sides.  Season with salt and plate them up.

Drizzle a very small amount of sesame oil over the top.  Pretty delicious.



*I'm feeling a little ornery this time.

**The purple beans in the first picture are Trionfo Violettos.  They turn dark green when cooked.  The purple chile is a 5-Color Chinese Chile.  These make for such beautiful plants - the chiles start purple, then turn white, yellow, orange, and red.  The purple stage is quite spicy enough.