Cook Local

Hi everyone....

This is the other half of Cook Local (I guess you can call me Local, and she's Cook ) here and, as you may know, I recently came into a whole bunch of free time by way of the early ending of a contract gig I was working at Microsoft.

So, since I'm at home, I figure I should be doing some cooking and, in doing so, expand some of my horizons.
Cue up the way too many blogs I read, most notably, What We're Eating and their particularly scrumptious looking Chipotle and Blue Cheese Souffle.

Patricia and I have been on a bit of a blue cheese kick lately, so this recipe seemed right up our alley (or down our gullet, as the case may be).

This recipe is not without its hurdles for me, most namely that I really don't work well with eggs.  And I'd never made a souffle before.  And I'm not much of a baker.

Making this dish, which calls for 4 eggs total, I used 6.  First one I crushed in my own hands trying to bread, the fourth or fifth I managed to tear the yolk wide open.  That isn't to say the others were 100% either.  I managed to rip two of the yolks and my egg whites were a little yolky, and I'm sure my yolky was a little white.

All in all, tho, it seemed to work out in the end, but before we go to the digital proof...

Lets look at the local-ness of the ingredients.

Butter - Organic Valley, like Horizon, does get some bad press for being such a large organic farm and being too corporate.  I half agree with it and generally try to buy some other brand... Mother's Choice I think.  But overall, I just keep getting tempted to make my own butter.  It seems pretty easy, really.  Here, go see for yourself:  http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=113&title=Making+Butter. 

Milk - Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon Island.  Local and Raw.

Sharp Cheddar - Tillamook Cheese, Tillamook County Oregon.  We generally like much less mass produced cheese, but, sometimes cost comes into play.  At least Tilamook is right down the road, more or less.

Blue Cheese - Wisconsin.  No, it isn't local.  Which is sad, since Oregon has such a nice selection of blue cheeses, but 2/3rds of a cup is a pricey proposition, and it might be a waste of a good cheese.  But, on the other hand, for some recipes, the quality of ingredients make for a much better dish.

Pureed Chipotle in Adobo - Ok, this was really not local, it was from a can.  If we end up needing more of this, we'll learn how to make our own.  Peppers are pretty plentiful over the summer at the farmer's market.

Green Onions, Cilantro - Organic, yes.  Local, not a clue.

Parmigiana - I wonder if there is even a local source for parmigiana.

Eggs - Skagit River Ranch.  They sell us meat, they sell us eggs.  Luckily, during the winter, the eggs are plentiful.  Over the summer, you need to get there and line up before the market opens to get the eggs.

Flour, Cream of Tartar, Salt and Pepper - Not a clue.

Now, all that said, lets look at the photographic evidence of my souffle mastery.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually do photographs for the whole process.  I was a bit rushed and nervous.  Next time I won't be cooking it alone and I'll have some help... and a new camera.

Before we put it in the oven:

And lo, they are risen!

First, the 'in the oven' shot.  We were a bit worried they'd fall fast, so P grabbed a shot before even pulling it out.

But the fears were unfounded, they lasted to the stove-top:

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close ups!

That second one was one of my favorites, along with the other back one which looked similarly craggy, but the front one looks..... well, it looks like a biscuit topped pot pie, funny enough.

You know, I wrote this entire post and never even stopped to think about talking about how they tasted.  They weren't 'Oh. My. God.' level, but, they were good.  The insides are... well, I'll be honest, this is the second souffle I've eaten in my life, and the first was a dessert, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The insides are... well, if you would almost think it wasn't cooked, it isn't exactly soupy, it isn't solid.  It is almost like oatmeal, but a little thicker.

But, over all.  It was good.  We will make these again.

We got this recipe from a post on Roots and Grubs, but the original recipe comes from the January edition of Fine Living Magazine. If you haven't checked out Roots and Grubs yet, run, don't walk there. Matthew is entertaining and the recipes he posts always sound great.

Anyway, onto the recipe. Basically, boil some small potatoes. You can use new potatoes, but we bought 50 pounds of potatoes from the farmer's market back in December and have been grabbing a handfull or two every few days.

Once the potatoes are mostly cooked (they should be fork tender, but not so tender that they fall apart), remove them from the water and let them cool slightly. If you can, let them cool a couple of hours. Drizzle some olive oil onti a cookie sheet. Place each potato on the sheet and with the heel of your hand, smash each potato on the cookie sheet.

When you're ready to cook them, preheat the oven to 450. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil (don't skimp) and sprinkle some kosher salt on them. Roast them for 30-45 minutes until they turn this reddish color.

Enjoy!

Notes: The actual recipe said you should cool the potatoes thoroughly. They even suggested you boil the potatoes up to 8 hours ahead. We don't usually have time for that. But, we found that boiling them, smashing them, and roasting them all within the same hour didn't produce quite as crunchy results.

These potatoes are also great cold.

It's not a big secret - I'm not a vegetable fan. Don't get me wrong... some green beans fresh from the garden cooked with some melted butter over them are one of life's great pleasures. Corn-on-the-cob from a road side stand is also pretty darn good. Boil it for 5 minutes and brush melted butter and a little salt over it. But other than those two vegetables, I've never been a big fan of green stuff.

As we were paging through one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks, we saw a picture of roasted asparagus.

Let me ask you? Doesn't this look good?

That's freshly grated parmesan cheese over the top of the asparagus.

This is one of the simplest recipes we'll ever post. (* = organic, & = local)

Ingredients:

• Asparagus *&
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil *
• Parmesan cheese &

Preheat the oven to 400.

Now, I'll let you in on a little trick. There's a simple way to ensure that your entire asparagus spear is edible. Take the spear in both hands, fingers at each end. Bend and the spear will snap off where it becomes inedible. Do this for each spear and place it in a glass baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over the spears and top with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. While the asparagus is baking, grate some fresh parmesan cheese. (Do yourself a favor - don't use the pre-grated parmesan. A small block of parmesan cheese looks expensive at first blush, but it lasts forever and the taste doesn't compare.)

When the asparagus is done, pull it out and sprinkle the parmesan over the hot asparagus. Slide the dish back into the oven and let it cook another 2 minutes.

That's it! Less than five minutes of preparation and 22 minutes of cooking.

Vegetables and I don't always get along. In particular, though wilted greens always look good, I've never met a wilted green I liked. As we were on our way home one night, J suggested that we get some kale. I was a little unsure about this, but I figured that he'd eat it at least and I'd try it.

Well, after we cooked the kale, I was amazed. It was great. So great that we stood there in the kitchen while the rest of dinner was cooking eating it directly out of the bowl.

We will definitely be making this again. As usual, * = organic and & = local.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds kale (2 bunches) *
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil &
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic *&
• Red pepper flakes
• Red wine vinegar (a splash)
• Salt and pepper

Remove the stems from the kale and chop the leaves coarsely. Wash and drain. In a large pan, heat 3 tbsp of the oil and a layer of kale over high heat. (NOTE: Do not heat the oil and then add the kale... very bad idea). Stir to rotate the leaves. As the kale wilts, add more, until you've added all of it. Add some salt, reduce the heat to medium, and cover.

Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. The length of cooking time will depend on the age of the kale. Older kale might need more than 4-5 minutes. If the leaves start to dry out, add a splash of water. Once the leaves are tender, remove the lid and let any remaining water cook away.

Transfer the kale to a warm bowl. Add the last tablespoon of oil to the pan with the garlic and red pepper. Saute for a minute or two. Pour the garlic mixture over the kale and add a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

We're really trying to eat more vegetables and expand our horizons a little. So when one of our favorite farmer's market vendors told us about over wintered cauliflower, we decided we'd give it a try.

J found a recipe on the Food Network web site and we went to work. Well, to be honest, it wasn't that much work.

Ingredients (* = local, & = organic)

• Cauliflower *&
• Olive Oil &
• Sliced garlic *&
• Lemon juice *
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese *

I didn't put any proportions in the recipe because really, they aren't even needed. Simply cut the cauliflower into florets and place in a roasting pan. Slice a few cloves of garlic and mix it in with the cauliflower. Drizzle olive oil and lemon juice and turn to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Roast in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When you remove the cauliflower from the oven, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese over the top.

So, this was good. I still can't say that I love cauliflower, but I would make and eat this again.

When I walked into the University District Farmer's market last weekend, I saw something I'd never seen before on their What's Fresh sign: "Freshly milled flour". W00t! We practically made a beeline for the stuff. But flour wasn't all we found. Bluebird Grain Farms sells freshly milled flour as well as a grain called Emmer. Emmer is a very old grain that isn't very common in the United States. It is still grown and used in Italy, particularly in Tuscany and Umbria. Emmer has a high protein content (up to 16%) and is often good for people with wheat or gluten allergies. We haven't tested this theory yet, but we did bring a sample to a friend with a wheat allergy. Hopefully she'll have something to report back on soon.

I was told that Emmer could be made into a risotto and with it's high protein content, we figured J's blood sugar might tolerate it. So we gave it a try. This recipe was inspired by a risotto recipe from Tasty, but really, it was mostly improvisation.

Ingredients (* = organic, & = local)

• 1 1/2 cups Emmer * &
• 3 oz dried assorted wild mushrooms *&
• 6 cups water
• 1 cup parmesan cheese

We picked up the mushrooms from Foraged and Found, a booth at the local Farmer's Market.

I soaked the mushrooms in 6 cups of hot water for about an hour. When I was done, I poured the water through a strainer into a large pot. The water was a lovely golden brown. I then chopped the mushrooms in to small pieces.

I added the emmer to the water and brought it to a boil. Then I added the mushrooms. I let the mixture boil for 10 minutes, then turned it down to medium and let it simmer for another 40 minutes until the emmer had the texture I was looking for. If you've never made risotto before, it should just look like a gooey mess of rice and mushrooms. I stirred in the grated parmesan cheese and we were ready to eat. (That's salmon with Tom Douglas' Tokyo Rub and Oven Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan with it).

Oh, and for the record, there was no appreciable blood sugar rise from all that risotto.

I think I'm in love. No, not with J. I know I'm in love with him. I think I just might be in love with Emmer. This wonderful grain has let us make something I wasn't sure John would be able to enjoy - risotto. I'm looking forward to making fried rice, chicken cacciatore (which is best served over rice), Asian dishes (also served over rice) and even taking the Emmer flour and making pasta out of it. This could be our ticket to carbs without the blood sugar impact.

We had some asparagus the other night and I just didn't feel like cooking it the way we usually do. So we found a recipe from the Amateur Gourmet - Asparagus Risotto. Now, warning... when we first looked at the link, we were wary. The picture looked... well... I won't go into what it looked like. Needless to say, it's green. But the description sounded fantastic. Our picture looks a little better, but that's because Emmer is brown.

We've never been disappointed by an Amateur Gourmet recipe, however, so we decided to be brave.

Ingredients (* = local, & = organic)

• 1 pound asparagus *&
• 1 qt of chicken broth &
• 1 small red onion &
• 4 tbsp butter *&
• 3 tablespoons olive oil &
• 1 cup Emmer (or risotto rice) *&
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan

Wow! We did pretty well on the local and organic ingredients. We could have even had local wine, although we don't drink white wine often, so we just bought some of those little Sutter Home bottles. Soon we'll make our own chicken broth and even that can be local and organic.

Directions

We cut the tips off the asparagus and set them aside. Then we chopped the remaining stems into one inch pieces.

I boiled some salted water and blanched the asparagus tips for 3 minutes. I strained them out and then boiled the chopped stems for 4 minutes. I strained the chopped stems and blended them in the food processor for a couple minutes until they were mostly smooth. (Keep the tips separate).

I diced a red onion into very small pieces. I love our newly sharpened knives.

Now get ready for a whole lot of stirring. In one pan, I heated the chicken stock on a low heat. I seasoned it with some salt and pepper as well. Then in another saucepan, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and about a tablespoon and half of olive oil. I sauteed the onion in the butter/oil mixture for 10 minutes over low heat. Then I added a little over a cup of Emmer to the onion mixture and stirred it until the Emmer was coated with the oil.

I added a ladle full of chicken stock to the pan with the Emmer and onions and stirred. Here's the time consuming part. You need to cook the Emmer until the first ladle of chicken stock is almost gone. Then add another ladle. Rinse, repeat.

If you're using rice, this process should take about twenty minutes. If you're using Emmer, it'll be closer to an hour. A few minutes after the last ladle of chicken stock went in, I added the white wine, parmesan cheese, and asparagus tips. Stir and serve.

I was IM'ing with a friend the other night and mentioned that I was going to fix myself a dinner plate. His immediate response was: 'Salmon and risotto?'

I guess we've gotten predictable. But really, with the discovery of a rice type grain that doesn't raise John's blood sugar and thus the return of risotto to our lives, how can we not go a little overboard on the risotto recipes?

Tonight's rendition: Fiddlehead Ramp Risotto.

First off, ramps. A ramp, according to Wikipedia, is a wild leek. I've never seen ramps in the store, or even called out specifically at the farmer's markets, but another local food blogger has talked about them and I've started to see them mentioned more often.

Now, fiddleheads, I've seen often. One of the local farmer's market vendors (Foraged and Found) sells them regularly. They have always intrigued me with their spiral shape and tiny curls.  So, a bag of fiddleheads later and we were on our way.

Ingredients: * = local, & = organic

• 1/2 cup ramps *&
• 8 oz bacon or pancetta *&
• 2 cups fiddleheads *&
• 1 tbsp oil &
• 2 ounces butter *&
• 18 oz rice (or Emmer) *&
• 1 glass white wine
• 6 cups chicken stock *&
• 2 oz grated Parmesan cheese

Wow, we did great on the local and organic ingredients this time. Only 2 ingredients didn't make the cut.

So, we didn't end up with ramps, but rather leeks. I fear we've already missed ramp season. I sliced the leek very thinly and then rocked my knife back and forth dicing the leeks finely. I then coarsely chopped the fiddleheads and parboiled them for about 3 minutes.

Next came the bacon. Cook the bacon first. Trust me on this. <grin>

Grab a large pot and a smaller saucepan. In the smaller saucepan, pour your chicken broth and warm the stock gently. If you use cold stock for the recipe, you'll be lowering the cooking temperature of the risotto which will just prolong your process.

In the large pot, add the butter and a bit of oil. Saute the ramps, bacon, and fiddleheads for a few minutes. Add the rice or emmer. 

Look! I finally got to use our new scale!

Stir the emmer to coat it in the butter and oil and then add the wine to the pot to deglaze the pan. Note: I didn't really have any crunchy bits to deglaze.

Let most of the wine cook off and then start adding the chicken stock. Add the stock a ladle or so at a time and let the mixture simmer. When that ladle of stock is almost gone, add another ladle. If you're using white rice, this process should take about 20 minutes. If you're using a whole grain or emmer, the process could take up to an hour. 

Next, measure out 2 ounces of parmesan cheese. Yay! Another opportunity to use the scale! Mix in the cheese and serve.

This was an excellent recipe. The saltiness of the bacon mixed nicely with the creamy cheese. I'd love to make this again with pancetta. I think it would be a little lighter. In addition, 2 cups of fiddleheads wasn't enough. Next time I'll use 3 cups.

I'm looking forward to our next risotto... we found a shrimp and samphire risotto recipe to try. Don't know what samphire is? Stay tuned.

Yes, I know that anyone who reads this blog is now thinking that I should change the name to "Risotto Local". But really, when you've been avoiding rice like the plague for 2 years and finally you can have it again, you tend to go a little crazy.

For the past couple of weeks we've been curiously hovering around the Foraged and Found booth looking at something called "sea beans". Also known as samphire, these are not strictly beans. Samphire grows in the rocky salt-sprayed regions along the sea coast and coastal marshlands. It's an annual plant, growing in the fall and winter and producing in the spring.

So last week, we decided to take a chance and bought some. A quick search on the net yielded a few different recipes. We went with crab and samphire risotto. This dish can easily be served as a side or a main dish.

Ingredients (* = local, & = organic)

• 10 oz Emmer *& (or arborio rice)
• 1/2 lb samphire *
• 1/2 pound crab meat
• 1 small onion, finely diced *&
• 2 cloves of garlic *&
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron
• 2 tablespoons parsley *
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter &
• 3 tablespoons olive oil &
• 2 tbsp lemon juice &
• 4 cups vegetable stock &
• 4 tablespoons white wine
• 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Chop everything (the onions and the garlic). I diced everything rather finely.
2. If the samphire has any brown stems, remove those and rinse.
3. Set a large pot of water on the stove and get it boiling. (Do not salt the water).
4. Parboil the samphire for 2-3 minutes. It should turn a slightly brighter green. Rinse in cold water to stop it from cooking further and set it aside.
5. Now, you'll need two pans on the stove for the rest of the recipe. Pour the vegetable stock in the smaller of the two pans and set it to medium-low. You don't want it to boil, but you want it warm.
6. In the other large stock pot, melt a tablespoon of butter with a little bit of olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes until both are soft.
7. Add the emmer or rice and stir to coat with the oil and butter mixture. This process should only take a minute or two.
8. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until most of the wine has been absorbed.
9. Now, add the hot stock, one ladle at a time. Stir the risotto regularly. When the first ladle of stock has just about all cooked off, add another one. Lather, rinse, repeat.
10. When you're out of stock, mix in the lemon juice, crab, parmesan, and samphire. When you start adding the samphire, it will look like a lot. In fact, you might be tempted to only add half of it. However, keep mixing it in. It will combine nicely and if you have a little extra, don't worry. Enjoy!

I don't think I can honestly keep saying that I don't like vegetables. I mean seriously... I'm sitting here, half an hour from dinner, salivating over this:

I can't wait to eat it. In fact, I'm going to the kitchen right now and shovel a couple forkfulls into my mouth.

Ok, I'm back. I love pasta salad. I never eat it because we don't keep pasta in the house. It's simply not diabetic friendly. Emmer, however, is apparently very diabetic friendly. Nothing I've made thusfar with Emmer has affected John's blood sugar.

So today, I decided to make Emmer Salad with Fresh Garden Vegetables.

Ingredients * = local & = organic

• 1 1/2 cups Emmer *&
• 3 1/2 cups water
• Olive Oil &
• Red wine vinegar
• Red or sweet onion *&
• 3 stalks of celery &
• 3 carrots &
• 1 cucumber *&
• 2-4 cloves garlic *&
• 1 small red chili pepper &
• 1 red bell pepper &
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• Shelled peas *&
• Basil &

We did great for this recipe. The only ingredient that wasn't either local or organic was the red wine vinegar. We can actually get local and organic red wine vinegar, so as soon as we run out of the non-organic stuff, we'll switch.

Directions

1. Boil the water in a saucepan. Add the Emmer and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 35 minutes. If there is water remaining in the pan, drain the Emmer and cool.
2. Prepare the vegetables:
• Thinly slice the onions
• Peel and slice the cucumber
• Thinly slice the celery
• Slice the carrots
• Crush, peel, and chop the garlic
• Mince the red chili pepper
• Thinly slice the red bell pepper
• Shell the peas
• Rip up some basil leaves
3. Mix the veggies, capers, and emmer thoroughly. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

I loved this salad. Next time, I'll add more cucumbers, more carrots, and some small pieces of fresh mozzarella. I'll also vary the spices a bit.

Yes, I know. The one or two people who read this blog are probably getting sick of reading because it's all risotto all the time. I'm sorry for that. Well, I'm not exactly sorry. I mean, you can't blame me for going a little risotto crazy now that we know John's blood sugar likes Emmer. Rice is now back in our lives like a long lost friend. It's been fun catching up with Emmer, and I am looking forward to many new adventures we'll have together.

This recipe was fun to make, because I got to play with garlic. As an added benefit, it was tasty too.

Ingredients * = local, & = organic

• 2 whole heads of garlic, unpeeled *&
• 1 quart chicken stock *&
• 1 tablespoon olive oil &
• 3 shallots *&
• 2 cloves garlic *&
• 1/2 bunch celery &
• 14 ounces rice or emmer *&
• 2 glasses white wine
• Salt
• Handful of fresh thyme &
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter *&
• 4 ounces parmesan cheese
• Fresh panko bread crumbs &

Directions:

Well, this is much like every other risotto I've made with one exception. The first step is to take the two whole heads of unpeeled garlic and stuck them in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes. Pull them out and set them aside to cool.

Meanwhile, start heating the chicken stock in a saucepan. You don't want it to get to simmering, but you do want it pretty warm.

Dice the shallots, garlic, and 2 cloves of garlic.

In a different stockpot, add the olive oil and saute the shallots, garlic, and celery for about 5 minutes. Add the emmer (or rice) and stir to coat well with the oil. 

Add the white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Let the wine cook down until there's just a little bit left.

Next, add a generous pinch of salt and a ladle of hot stock.  

Now comes the fun part. Remember that garlic? Take each individual clove and squeeze it into the risotto.

I was actually able to peel some of the roasted garlic and put the soft whole cloves into the pot, but I still had to squeeze some just for fun.

When you're done, add the fresh thyme and some black pepper.

 Stir to combine.

Continue to add stock, one ladle full at a time as the previous stock cooks off.

When you get down to the last little bit of stock, watch the risotto carefully. Take it off the heat once the stock has been absorbed and add the butter and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and cover.

You'll want to check on the risotto and give it a stir every couple of minutes until the butter melts.

In a separate pan, heat a little bit of olive oil and add the bread crumbs. Stir to coat and brown slightly. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the risotto to serve.

I don't like mushrooms. In fact, I pretty much categorically refuse to eat them. John never liked them either. They always smell good cooking, but I've never liked the taste or the texture. But Orangette (one of our favorite food blogs), had a post about morels. The recipe intrigued us, as did her beautiful narrative about morels.

Then, a few days later, Roots and Grubs (another of our favorite food blogs) did their own post on morels.

At the farmers market this weekend we saw morels at Foraged and Found. We were sunk. Resistance was futile.

We brought about a quarter of a pound home with us and had to wait until tonight to cook them.

Ingredients

• Morels
• Whipping Cream
• Butter
• Bread

We used local morels, Organic Valley whipping cream, Mother's Choice butter, and Tall Grass Bakery Walnut Levain bread.

Brush the morels lightly with a vegetable brush to remove any dirt and slice them in half. Don't wash them unless you have to.

Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a large saucepan. Throw in the morels.

Here's where I had a little trouble.

Orangette says to let the mushrooms release their juices and then reabsorb the juices again until the morels are almost dry.

Well, I cooked ours for about 10-15 minutes. They did release their juices, but they never got to the almost dry stage.

At this point, the smell alone had me salivating. I turned off the stove and added about 2 Tbsp of whipping cream and some salt.

I gave the mixture a couple of stirs, just so the cream combines with the morels.

John took a couple slices of walnut levain bread and spread a bit of butter over them.

He toasted them on the grill for a couple of minutes and we assembled the masterpiece.

At this point I feel it necessary to repeat: I DO NOT LIKE MUSHROOMS! I do not eat mushrooms.

 

 

 

I ate these. I salivated over them. I savored them. They were buttery, creamy, salty, earthy, and rich. I could have licked the bowl. When they were gone, there was an appreciable sigh of sadness. It will be at least a couple of days before we can get more morels.

After we'd both finished our two toasts, the following conversation took place:

J: "I almost wonder if the bread was a little overpowering."

P: "Maybe. We can try it again with a plainer bread."

J: "Ok!" (said with such enthusiasm that I wondered if he loves morels more than me)

This weekend at the market, we will surely return with more than a quarter of a pound.

Perhaps I've mentioned Orangette in the past? Perhaps I've cursed her (in jest of course) for exposing me to a heretofore unknown and undesired world of morels, a passion which I'm afraid might leave me too poor to even pay for my own wedding.

Well, Orangette got married a few weeks ago, and she and her now husband did a lot of the cooking themselves. I'm thoroughly impressed and can only hope of presenting our guests with 1/100th of the homemade goodness that she's working on. She's the inspiration for our first attempt at pickled vegetables - pickled carrots.

John used the following recipe.

Ingredients * - local, & = organic

• 1.5 cups of water
• 3 cups apple cider vinegar &
• 2 cloves of garlic *&
• 1/2 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1/2 tablespoon Thyme
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 3 bunches of carrots *&

John trimmed the carrots and stacked them in quart sized mason jars. He then mixed the other ingredients together in a large sauce pot and set them to boil. Once they came to a nice rolling boil, he let the mixture simmer for 4-6 minutes and poured the hot liquid over the carrots. We let the jars cool and put them in the fridge.

We've tasted the carrots once a week since then and I will call them a success. After one week, they were simply average. After two, the flavors had meshed a bit more and they took on a slightly more rounded flavor. After three weeks, they were even better. We still have two full jars in the fridge and I'm looking forward to seeing if the flavors change further as time passes.

I'm excited about trying our hand at other pickled vegetables over the next few months. We're having two weddings - one in New England and one in Seattle, and hopefully the Seattle wedding guests will be treated to a variety of local, organic, and homemade treats. Stay tuned...

Doesn't the above equation sound good and exceedingly simple? Well, it's unfortunately slightly more complicated than that, but only very slightly. After a very long week (can you say exhaustion? no? you're too tired? me too), we came home tonight ready to kick back and enjoy our weekend.  But the other day, I mentioned a new recipe to John involving Pyramid Brewery's Apricot Weizen. He was immediately intrigued and vowed to make it at his next available opportunity.

So tonight, we made Apricot Beer Bread. This was about the easiest bread we've ever made. This is a dense, slightly sweet bread that would work well for breakfast or dinner.

Ingredients (* = local, & = organic)

• 3 cups flour (we used Emmer flour) *&
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil &
• 12 oz Apricot Weizen or other apricot beer *
• 1/2 cup dried apricots

We preheated the oven to 350 and buttered our 10.5 inch cast iron pan. You could also use a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

We then mixed all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and made a well in the center. Next, we added the oil and the beer.  We only had to stir the batter for a minute or two until all of the flour was mixed in. Then we sprinkled the dried apricots in and gave it another couple of turns before pouring the batter into the cast iron pan and sliding it into the oven.

At this point, I admit, I licked the spoon. I wouldn't normally do this for bread dough. Cookie dough, sure. Bread dough? No. But this dough smelled wonderful. The taste was just as good.

55 minutes later, when the toothpick came out clean, we pulled the bread out of the oven.

One thing I love about baking bread in the cast iron pan is that as long as you remember to butter the pan well before you add the dough, the baked bread just falls right out of the pan. We turned the bread onto the cooling rack, waited about 15 minutes, and tasted.

Well, ok, we did more than taste. I cut a pretty big hunk off and we devoured it. It smelled exactly like you would think a beer bread would smell. The flavor was light, but sweet. The only thing I didn't like about it was the dried apricots. I've always felt that dried fruit has a slightly chemical taste to it from whatever they use to preserve the fruit. I could taste a slight aftertaste of this flavor whenever I bit into a bite of dried apricot. We'll make this again, but without the dried fruit.

We've branched out a lot over the past two years. John now eats sausage, I eat a lot more vegetables than I used to, and we both eat mushrooms (well, morels at least).

I've liked eggplant parmesan for several years now, but that's not the same as liking eggplant. After all, in eggplant parmesan, the eggplant is basically just a conveyance for sauce and cheese. What doesn't taste good with sauce and cheese?

Today, while browsing Slashfood, I came across a new eggplant recipe. Wouldn't you know it? I had two eggplants sitting in the fridge. So, onto the experiment.

Ingredients

• 2 local, organic eggplants
• Organic light mayo
• Wheat germ (a few tablespoons)
• Parmesan cheese (a few tablespoons)
• Salt and pepper

Directions

The directions couldn't be easier. Peel and slice the eggplant and lay it on a foil lined oven sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and brush each slice of eggplant with a thin layer of mayo. Then sprinkle the whole dish with wheat germ, salt, pepper, and grated parmesan cheese.

Broil until the cheese is brown and crispy.

This was quite good. We both felt, however, that this would have been even better with some sort of dip. Hmmm... maybe with say a tomato sauce? While that would be ironic, I do think I will use this method the next time I want to make eggplant parmesan as well. It would be a lot easier than breading the eggplant and a lot healthier than frying it.

Next time I'll also brush the foil with a thin layer of olive oil. The eggplant stuck to the foil just a bit.

Here's a close-up. 

As I've mentioned previously, I don't have a long standing respect for vegetables. However, as part of our goal to improve our health, lose weight, and help control John's blood sugar, we're really trying to eat a wider variety of vegetables. As we were wandering the farmers market the other day, a friend picked up a Kabocha squash. We got to talking about my quest for vegetables and she referred to this squash as the 'squash for people who don't like squash'. Since I am easily influenced and happen to trust her food sense, I got in line right behind her with a squash of my very own.

Preparing this squash couldn't be simpler. John sliced it in half and I scooped out the seeds. I put the two halves cut side down in a glass baking dish and added an inch of water to the dish. I baked it for about 45 minutes at 325, until I could stick a fork in the rind and have it penetrate easily.

From there, I scooped the squash out, added a couple pats of butter and some brown sugar. That's it. Instant vegetable.

Everyone gets into a rut sometimes. Whether it's a workout rut, a house rut, or a cooking rut, they exist and they can be pretty deep and hard to escape from. I can't say that our cooking was in a deep rut, but I have been wanting to branch out lately and try a few new things. To that end, one of my goals this year is to try more of my own recipes. I have a good sense of what types of flavors go together, so I should be able to create the occasional winner and the more than occasional second place meal.

One of my first experiments was with a food I know I can cook well: risotto.

There are very few secrets to a good risotto. You start with rice (or in our case, Emmer Farro) cook it long and slow by adding a small amount of heated broth at a time, and then finish it off with some cheese. There are lots of other things you can do to it, but those few steps are all that's basically required.

We knew we had some dried mushrooms at home, but we wanted some other flavor to add to the risotto. John suggested fig. I was skeptical. Figs? Really? With mushrooms? But the more I thought about it, the better it sounded.

So here is our recipe for Wild Mushroom and Fig Risotto.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Emmer farro or rice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups mushroom broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 ounces dried mushrooms
• 1-2 cups dried figs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat 2 cups of water to just below boiling.

In a heat-proof bowl, pour the hot water over the dried mushrooms. Let sit for at least half an hour.

With a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms, but reserve the liquid. It should have a lovely brown color.

Roughly chop the soft mushrooms and set aside.

Chop the figs into quarters.

In a saucepan, add the 2 cups of mushroom broth and the mushroom water. Heat on low.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the Emmer or rice and stir to coat.

Add the heated broth, a half cup to a cup at a time to the Emmer. You should only add the next half cup of broth when the previous half cup has nearly cooked off.

When you are down to the last half cup of broth, add the chopped mushrooms and chopped figs. Once the broth has nearly cooked off, add the Parmesan cheese and serve.

We've been eating Kale at least twice a week. It's easy and tasty. But a few weeks ago we were tempted by some broccoli from Alm Hill Gardens. We weren't sure what to do with it, but then John suggested we use the same basic procedure we've used with the kale. After a bit of thought, this is what we came up with.

Ingredients

• 6-8 cups broccoli
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the broccoli for 5-6 minutes, until it is a bright green.

Remove the broccoli from the heat and add a second tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic sesame seeds and saute for 1 minute. Pour over the broccoli and add a teaspoon or so of soy sauce. Serve.

Be careful not to overdo the soy sauce. Start with a teaspoon and taste. You can always add more.

I've been sick the past few days. Actually, I've been ill for almost a week now. I've barely gotten off the couch, let alone cooked anything. But today, I knew I was on the mend when I decided, for no apparent reason, to take some cream that we had in the fridge and make my own butter.

Yep, that's right. I made butter! It was unbelievably easy. What was not unbelievably easy, was taking the YouTube videos that showed the process. I couldn't find the portable gorilla pod, so these videos are going to be a little shaky and disjointed. I'll take new ones soon.

I took about 6 ounces of heavy cream and dumped it into the KitchenAid. Started it mixing on speed 6 and just let it go. The first video isn't all that interesting. So I'll skip posting it.

The second video however is a bit better (although it is a bit grainy).

You might be able to tell that the cream looks pretty chunky at this point. I stopped the mixer and looked. Was this butter? It was pretty solid. But it smelled very much like cream. So I kept going.

All of a sudden, the chunky cream split into a yellow solid (the butter) and a milky liquid (whey). Just like that. It took all of 2 seconds. After that, I scraped the solid butter out of the mixer and put it on paper towels to drain. I took a second set of paper towels and tried to squeeze as much liquid as I could out of the butter. That's it.

All total I made 4 ounces of butter out of 6 ounces of heavy cream. Not bad for all of 5 minutes work.

During the summer, we eat a lot of salads. In fact, we'll often buy two large bags of salad each week and have salads for lunch every day. We  add lots of fun stuff, like chicken breasts, almonds, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and croutons. This makes for a great salad with one exception. I hate most commercial salad dressings. We've tried many different options and I've just not found anything that I enjoy eating day after day. So this year, I'm going to try to make my own dressings. This was my first attempt.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 6 Tbsp orange juice
• 3 tsp agave nectar or honey
• 3 Tbsp raspberry cider vinegar
• 1 medium shallot
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp orange infused olive oil
• Salt

Directions

Chop the shallot. In a small food processor or blender, mix everything except for the olive oil. Pulse until the shallot is finely minced. Add the olive oil and pulse once or twice to combine.

Serve over mixed greens. This would also likely make a good marinade or rub for chicken.

Patricia's Notes: For my first dressing attempt, without a formal recipe, this was quite good. I used a largish shallot and I think it would have been a bit better had the shallot been medium instead, but otherwise it was excellent.

I've already introduced you to one of my favorite asparagus recipes. In fact, I have a really hard time cooking asparagus any other way. I just don't think these tender stalks need much accompaniment. Though when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. After all, what better accompaniment to just about anything than cheese!

Gruyere cheese is a smooth, rather strongly flavored cheese, reminiscent of Swiss. Though strangely, I don't much care for Swiss cheese (gasp!), yet I'm very fond of Gruyere. This tart was very easy to make, yet not the easiest thing in the world to eat. Still, I'll make it again.

Asparagus and Gruyere Tart from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Serves 4

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 6 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
• 1-1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus (From Homestead Organic Produce)
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400. 
2. Lightly flour the counter or work surface and roll out the pastry until it measures 16x10 inches.
3. Score the pastry dough about an inch from all edges.
4. Use a knife or fork to pierce the the dough inside the score marks at regular intervals. This will prevent the pastry dough from bubbling in the oven.
5. Bake the dough for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the baked dough and sprinkle with the cheese (don't be shy, use as much as you want!)
7. Trim (or break) the asparagus and lay the spears over the cheesey dough in a single layer.
8. Brush with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender.