Growing Chefs

NEW WEBSITE

2008-02-25T08:51:00.001-08:00

www.GrowingChefs.org is up and running!
Love and look forward to seeing you there,
Annie Novak

Pam of Ronnybrook

2007-11-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

Pam is the best part about buying milk and butter in New York. If you time it right, and her sister has visited her already, she might have freshly made coffee cake on hand. If not, just enjoy the fact that she's got a great smile and is secretly super sassy. I had the honor of working with Pam twice this year, and after three years of being completely in love with Ronnybrook products, it was like actually meeting St. Peter after always wanting to go to Heaven. Only better, I bet, because in heaven they probably eat boring stuff like ambrosia, and I really just wanted ginger ice cream and mixed berry yogurt drinks. Which, hurrah, Ronnybrook carries.

You can find Pam at Tompkin's Square (Ave A and 10th) on Sundays, the Upper West Side (97th and Amsterdam) on Fridays, and at the UN market on Wednesdays. Ronnybrook also sells at Union Square on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Get there early; they sell out fast!

Ray Bradley at Market

2007-11-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

I met Ray Bradley a while ago, but met him properly this year while working the 97th and Amsterdam Market on the Upper West Side. A wonderful farmer and excellent human being, one of the best parts about Ray besides his delicious veggies is his sense of humor, which he pulls out every now and then without any warning whatsoever. It probably helps that he works next to Pam, of Ronnybrook Dairy fame, and the two of them can banter raunchily back and forth all morning long. He has a great album of beautiful photos of his farm on hand if you'd like to see it, and yummy honey. You can visit him at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn on Saturdays. For the wintertime, he's selling marvelous dried spices with his compadre in crime, Mr. H. Maharawal, my friend's father. They're the two most spectacularly bearded men in NYC. Meet them, greet them.

Kira's Farm

2007-11-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

It's a pleasure enough to be able to eat well-grown food after speaking to the woman who grew it, but (hurrah!) I recently got the chance to SEE the very dirt Kira Kenney grew it on, too. Tucked against the backdrop of a wicked-beautiful ridge, we tramped up to Kira's and helped harvest a little broccoli in the bitter, sun-bright cold the Friday after Thanksgiving. Right around her house, your voice picks up a good echo, too. It's gorgeous. Thank you Kira, for the food and the lovely way you tend your dirt!

Teachin' Plants

2007-11-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I had the fun honor of teaching at my friend Tal's after school program up in the Bronx not too far from the Botanical Gardens. We talked about lemon balm, beans, carrots and all manner of things from dirt to greens. Three cheers to Tal for taking good care of these smart (and often adorably sassy) kids!

Squash Art

2007-11-08T09:15:00.001-08:00

As if they weren't beautiful enough on their own, Kira Kenney of Evolutionary Organics recently put these glorious squash on display at her stand in Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. I've posted eight gazillion photos of Kira's produce on this blog, mostly dressed in the colors and textures nature stuck on 'em, but Kira's handiwork is so damn awesome I thought it'd be a shame not to immortalize it a bit before they got composted. Where this woman finds the time to lay fertilizer, sow a winter cover crop, carve major works of art, and bring us organic goodies to eat at market, I dunno.

Pumpkin, a la Frank Chung

2007-10-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

Frank Chung, of a thousand volunteers at the New York Botanical Garden, has once again claimed his crown for having the most volunteer hours of all. Hurrah! Frank tends our China Garden, a four-bed plot in our Global Garden section. Look at that pumpkin in his arms! What a beautiful milky-pale beauty!

Pumpkins are rad to cook with--they can be sweet or savory. The most simple dish I put together recently was diced, steamed pumpkin in a bit of butter with a few sage leaves. A good collection of herbs can be had at the Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from Keith Stewart, and if you're around on Wednesday, Kira's stand on the South-west corner can hook you up with some of the sweetest pumpkins on the planet.

Honestly: Carrots are truly spectacular.

2007-10-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to deadpan this one and say it with all my heart: carrots are outrageously awesome. If you haven't thought about this lately, they are ROOTS. You pull them out of the dirt and eat them and they are as sweet as candy. I would understand if they grew from a pretty little flower on a pretty little tree like a pretty little apple: but carrots (and sweet potatoes, a raptorous story for another day) fight their way past rocks and grubs and worms! Wow. I love you, carrot. You are my working-class hero.

Two Meerkats of Meerkat Media Arts Collective (meerkatmedia.org) visited the BotGar last week to shoot some footage for an ongoing documentary about Colony Collapse Disorder, bees, and local honey. We watched kids shake their boodies like bumble bees, talked about gourds, and ate a lot of fresh grub in the process.

Gina pulled her first carrot out of the ground. It was fantastic.

Planting Garlic

2007-10-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

More than the changing of colors in the trees (which this year, who knows why, has been oddly bland here in NYC), putting bulbs in the ground is a sure sign of fall. Sigh. This past week at the Botanical Gardens, we said good-bye to our plot and gave it the final gift of garlic--Keith Stewart's garlic from Port Jervis (NY), to be precise. A delicious hardneck Rocambole, this garlic produces fat, juicy cloves for our harvest in July. We lay salt hay down to tuck it in for the frost.

If you're hankering to plant garlic, it's as easy as finding a garlic you like (I recommend shopping around the farmers' markets and asking what they fancy), seperating the cloves, and planting them about 3" apart and 3" down if they're of a fair size. If the weather stays cool, they'll pop up little green shoots in the springtime. When they produce a scape (flowering stalk) in the spring, cut it off (to force the plant to focus on a full bulb); when the leaves start to brown and fall back, you know your head of garlic is ready to harvest.

Garlic is clonal--if you like what you've got, replant some of the cloves. I don't remember the exact numbers, but Keith told me once from a half-dozen heads, he's now got a several fields of thousands of garlics.

Gorgeous Gourds!

2007-10-25T05:31:00.001-07:00

I've never grown a plant I didn't eat--This fall, our New York Botanical Gardens Community Plot was planted with decorative gourds. This variety is called Speckled Swan--my favorite was our weensy Pear Bicoloreds.

Mushrooms with Walnuts

2007-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Extremely simple, suprisingly delicious. Mushrooms are a great fall food--true, you can get them earlier, but it feels good to eat such a woodsy food when the woods are turning such pretty colors!

Mushroom growers are a pretty neat bunch. They seem to make a very deliberate choice when they go into fungi-farming. Growing (usually) on a bag full of sawdust, mushrooms require the sort of care that reminds me of keeping a pet bat. It has to be dark. It has to be cool. And it has to drink your blood. Juuust kidding. Happy Halloween!

Mushrooms with Walnuts

(note: walnut oil is pretty pricy, but it's damn good. If you can't splurge, a virgin olive oil is good. Try not to use cheap oil, as mushrooms pick up bad flavors easily.)

Ingredients:
Walnut oil, for the pan
1 shallot
Garlic, to taste (I used 2 cloves of Keith Stewart's Rocambole)
10 small mushrooms of your choice
Handful of walnuts

Saute garlic and onions together until onion is soft and translucent. Add mushrooms and cover pan. Lower heat and let the mushrooms cook 'til soft, stirring as necessary to prevent burning. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a toaster oven or your oven for about 5-6 minutes, until the bitterness goes. (Or simply add the walnuts right after you add the mushrooms to the pan.)

Serve on whole-wheat bread, on top of eggs, or with pasta and a white cheese. Put it on your pizza! Eat it in your pajamas! Whatever you'd like.

Jerusalem Artichoke: What is this thing?!

2007-10-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

This might blow your mind, but the Jerusalem Artichoke is neither from Jerusalem nor an artichoke. It is, in fact, a Girasole (sunflower), with a tasty--if weirdly artichoke-flavored, to some--tubereous root that we at the FamGar (New York Botanical Garden Family Garden) have recently tried for breakfast.All I've ever learned about "sunchokes" I learned from the internet--and Manissa's brother Hans claims they're yummy raw. I know they're super good for you (lots of iron--don't peel them!). Here's a sampling, followed by a recipe suggestion:

STORAGE: Keep the tubers wrapped in plastic and refrigerate. They will keep up to two weeks, but it's always best eat them as fresh as possible for the best flavor and nutrition. Their sweetness is known to increase when refrigerated after harvesting. If you grow your own, refrigerate them for a day or two before consuming.

PREPARATION: Scrub the sunchokes clean with a vegetable brush. Since much of their nutrients are stored just under the skin, it's best not to peel them. Once cut, sunchokes discolor quickly, so it's best to cut them close to serving time, or cut and immerse them in water with lemon or vinegar to prevent oxidation. Cooking them with the skins on may cause a darkening of the skins because of their high iron content.

RAW:
Slice sunchokes and enjoy the crunch they add to your salad.
Slice and serve them along with crudites and dips.
Shred them into a slaw. Dice them into a chopped salad.
Slice, dice, or shred and marinate in a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or rice vinegar
Coarsely chop sunchokes and add to the blender when preparing raw soups.

STIR FRY: Slice, dice, or shred and stir fry along with other fresh vegetables in a little extra virgin olive oil. They will become softened in about 4 to 6 minutes. For a tender crisp texture, stir fry about 2 to 4 minutes.

BAKED: Sunchokes can be baked whole or sliced. Toss them in a bowl with a little extra virgin olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Set the oven temperature at 375 and bake 30 to 45 minutes for whole, and 20 to 25 minutes for sliced, turning them half way through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

STEAMED: Coarsely chop the Jerusalem artichokes and put them into a steamer basket. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue at high heat and steam for 5 to 8 minutes. Test for softness. Remove and season to taste or mash like potatoes.

BOILED: Sunchokes can be boiled whole or cut as desired. Bring a covered saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add sunchokes and boil for 10 to 15 minutes for whole, and 5 to 8 minutes for cut up. Season as desired or mash like potatoes.

Sunchoke Pecan Sandwich
Yield: 3 to 4 sandwiches

1 ripe avocado
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash cayenne
1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 120 ml) organic canola oil

2 cups (480 ml) coarsely shredded sunchokes
1/2 cup (120 ml) raw or toasted pecans, coarsely chopped or coarsely ground
1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 to 8 slices whole grain bread
12 to 16 large basil leaves
3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
3 to 4 butter lettuce leaves

+To make the avocado sauce, wash the avocado, cut it in half, scoop out the flesh, and place it in the blender. Add the lemon juice, salt, and cayenne and blend briefly. With the machine running, slowly add the canola oil, using just enough to create a thick, creamy sauce. Stop the machine occasionally to scrape down the sides of the blender jar and stir the mixture.
+To make the sunchoke filling, combine the sunchokes, pecans, and red bell pepper in a medium bowl. Add enough of the avocado sauce to moisten and hold the mixture together. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
+Spread a thin coating of the avocado sauce over one side of each of the bread slices. Spread the sunchoke mixture over half the bread slices and top with the basil leaves, tomato slices, and lettuce. Place the remaining bread slices over the filling and cut the sandwiches in half..

The family that eats together...

2007-10-18T11:07:00.001-07:00

Spoons Across America, a wonderful program for kids (sort of Slow Foods, the junior version) has been touring a delightful number of children through the Tribeca Greenmarket where I sell fruit (apples, for the moment). I am crushing on "Spoons" like no other. I came across this quote on their website and nearly spilled tears for happiness.

“The greatest thing you can do for your children is to cook and share food
with them. The precious moments you spend together around the family table
go way beyond the food itself; they lead to an understanding of the benefits
of healthy eating and are the basis for good family relationships.”

- Jacques Pepin, national spokesperson of Spoons Across America

Class Prep!

2007-10-16T13:22:00.001-07:00

Each Monday when I make the journey up to Connecticut to teach Growing Chefs, I see how much stuff I can fit in my bike bag without toppling over. This was last week's bounty: about 100,000 lbs of food.

The joy of my own kitchen is getting to make a big, exciting mess any time I want to.

Squash Pie

2007-10-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Waaah! Look at this amazing squash Kira grew (and I biked back to the Bronx!) It's Japan's answer to a pumpkin, and if you ask me, sweeter and lovlier than our own Halloween icon. I made it into a pie with no sugar and it was just fantastic.

To prepare squash, simply cut it in half, take out the seeds, put it face down in a dish with a little water (to keep it from burning) and bake at 350*F for about 40 minutes, or until soft. The smaller the squash, the shorter the baking time, and vice-versa.

Pie is easy to make. For a simple crust, I mixed whole wheat flour and white flour in equal parts, added an egg and oil until it was pliable, and spread it thin along the bottom of a greased pie dish. This is a very basic, plain crust, but it maintains a flaky texture and I like it.

To make the pie filling, I simply baked the squash and blended it (you can use a food processor or mash it by hand) with some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, the usual). If you're so inclined, as I was, you can wisk in an egg or two and a half-cup of cream or so. I've been known to add honey or brown sugar, although I'm steering clear of sweeteners now that the cold weather has set and plants are getting sweet on their own.

Knish!

2007-10-16T07:06:00.001-07:00

This Monday, Growing Chefs put together some wonderful little knishes. To my suprise, no one in Darien, Connecticut had heard of knish! so we were free to experiment with our own fillings without fear of traditionalists' retrebution.

Here's the recipe:
DOUGH
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sift. Now wisk together:
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup warm (NOT HOT) water

Fold in. Do not overmix (or it'll get tough). Let stand and rise 10 minutes. Divide into four balls and flatten each on a well-flour-dusted surface into a square at desired thickness (my square was slightly bigger than my hand).

Fillings!
We made mashed potato, mashed sweet potato, mashed blue potato and pears-with-cinnamon fillings. Use about three hearty spoonfuls (about 1/2 cup) of filling to line the center 1/3 of each dough square. Fold bottom and top, tuck sides, and seal with by running a wet finger down the seam.

Bake at 350*F for 35 minutes. To get a nice gloss, brush the top of the knishes with egg yolk before baking.

Carrots aren't just orange, you know!

2007-10-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

When chattin' about food, I'm often surprised by how many people feel so terribly sure that tomatoes are always red, beans are always green and carrots are most certainly orange. You would think in a world so aware of human diversity, we'd step back and wonder why those are the ONLY colors we see sold in our grocery store shelves. The truth is, veggies come in crazy colors--and they're no harder to grow!

Carrots are a primo example. As any ancient cookbook will tell you, carrots, for the Romans, were primarily white and purple. It wasn't until the Dutch visited Queen Elizabeth and presented her with a tub of their famous butter and wreath of golden carrots, green frilly stalks still attached, that the orange carrot we know today became the popular norm by her decree. True, they taste nice--but until you try the sweet notes of a Belgian icicle variety, or the dirty rich taste of a scarlet nantes, you haven't really eaten carrots.They don't have to be straight, either! Look what happens when this root hits a rock!

WORMS!

2007-10-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yum! Worms are extraordinary, beautiful creatures with a proclivity towards my soil. We pulled this out of the compost and immediately ate it. Just kidding. We put it back.

Happy Birthday, dear garden!

2007-09-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated the Third Season birthday of our plot with gifts of compost, "worm doody" and the gently sprinkled application of sea kelp and fish emulsion.

We planted kale and kohlrabi, too.

Then I came home and planted dinosaur kale (nero, lacinato--you name it), ate kohlrabi, and encouraged the BBQers in the back to compost their grilled fish. Sort of the same day, twice.

Lavender Blueberry Soup

2007-09-21T21:32:00.001-07:00

Manissa wasn't so keen on this soup, because she loves blueberries so much it seemed a pity to alter them so throughly. But I like the rich--almost tart--mulled flavor of this curious soup. It makes use of lavender, an interesting and underused herb, and can compliment any part of a meal. I've tried it as a dessert, with yogurt or a dash of sour cream; I've used it as a main, baking the strained, pulpy blueberries into a cornmeal crust (see "vegetable tartlets" for recipe).

Blueberry Lavender Soup

2 pints fresh blueberries (or more)
1 cup hearty red wine
3 cups water
12 ounces of local honey*
2 1/2 teaspoons dried lavender
juice and rind of three lemons (and orange juice, if you fancy)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
pinch salt, to taste

Put all in a stock pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with creme fraiche, fresh blueberries, lavender florets. Serve hot (on ice cream is nice) or cold (I used olive sourdough as a dipping bread--sounds weird, but it was quite lovely!).

*On honey--Dwayne Newcombe, of the Friday market in Union Square, has a lovely, darkly flavored bamboo honey which would pair really well with this soup. For a lighter note, try his linden honey. I used apple blossom honey from Toigo Orchards (my Sunday market in Tompkins Square), and accented it with manuka honey from New Zealand, as it is very velvety and rich.

Fall Squash!

2007-09-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

Sunshine Kabocha, Portimarron, Red Kuri and Confection Kabocha--fancy Brazilian dance moves, or fabulous squash? From nutty to sweet, from yellow to orange, these guys are my new favorite thing.

Squash is really easy to prepare. My basic approach is to cut in it half, deseed it with a spoon, and bake them open-side down in a casserole dish or pie pan with about an inch of water at 350*F until they feel soft (use a fork, not your fingers)--about 40 minutes to an hour. You can spoon out the yumminess and proceed to:
--mash it with herbs
--eat it with cinnamon
--try it in a pie
--blend it into a soup

For this soup, I took these two guys, and while they were cooking up nicely in the oven, I sauted onion and pears in butter, added cinnamon, nutmeg, a touch of chilli powder, and a 1/3 cup or so of apple cider. When everything was cooked down and savory, wham! I put it in the blender. The result? a sweet soup, tempered by cream. In a moment of genius (and needing transport!) I let it cool just enough and then put it in a used OJ container. The soup picked up the subtle flavor, and didn't spill in my bag when I biked! Hurrah recycling, hurrah soup! The vegetable side was a "root mix" (garlic, ginger, turnips, carrots and beautiful blue potatoes) in a mix of spices. Ideally, particularly because of the potatoes, a beautiful creamy curry would do, but instead I just fried them in a light amount of peanut oil, adding spices to draw out the flavor. I have a bag of savory spices from Fiji (check January's entry to see the beautiful spice market!) that did the trick. Mmm!

Eggplants with Spicy Shallot-Tomato Sauce

2007-09-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

God, aren't eggplants gorgeous? This sauce is really easy--and with the tasty addition of tumeric, a nice vacation from the wide range of Italian basil & tomato twists on cooking.

Eggplants with Spicy Sauce

Cut as many eggplants as you want to eat into round slices about 3/4" thick. Soak them in a bowl of saltwater (water, plus 1 tablespoon salt) for at least a half hour.

For the sauce:

In a food processor or blender, blend to a paste:
1/2 a large bell pepper (red is pretty and tasty, too)
4 medium shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves or more, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
...with 4 tablespoons of water.

Set aside. In a pan, heat
3 tablespoons oil, preferably peanut (allergies--try corn oil)

When hot, add sauce paste. Stir and fry for seven minutes, or until the paste looses some of its moisture.

Now add:
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

Stir 4 additional minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer 3-4 minutes.

Drain eggplants. Pour peanut (or corn) oil to 2" thick depth over medium heat. When hot, slip in eggplants in a single layer. Fry 7 minutes, or until golden brown on each side. Lift out with a slotted spoon; pat dry. Repeat until done.

Set the sauce over medium-low heat. When hot, put in the eggplants. Gently fold eggplants into the sauce. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature!

All the ingredients were so beautiful. I don't have a photo of the finished dish, but trust me, it looks ruby-red and delish.

Fried Green Tomatoes and Basil-ly Red Tomato Sauce

2007-09-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

In about a week or two, worried for the approaching frost, a lot of farmers are going to start selling you something you wouldn't normally buy (except for that really cute movie)--green tomatoes. We have 'em in our garden, and once they get frost-bite and turn brown and rot, we won't be able to do anything with them, either. When trimming back the tomato plants, I salvaged these green guys so Keegan could make Fried Green Tomatoes. This is basically what he did:

Fried Green Tomatoes in Cornmeal Flour

Slice green tomatoes about 1/4" thick
Warm up a pan with 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Wisk 1-2 eggs in a bowl.
Put about 1 cup cornmeal in a bowl (we used blue cornflour).
Dip green tomato slices in egg mixture, then coat with cornmeal flour.
Fry both sides until crispy and brown.

When frying stuff, it's important to keep the oil clean. If you notice bits of flour are floating off and the tomatoes are soaking up more grease than goodness, just let the pan cool, wipe it out, and start again.

We ate these with a tomato sauce Manissa made. Everyone has their own method with tomato sauce--she says the trick is to squeeze the seeds and water out of the tomatoes before slicing them. Then (like applesauce), you just put the chopped parts in a pot with olive oil, add some onions (saute them in a pan a bit first), eggplant--whatever else you like in your sauce (zucchini, etc.) and a whole lot of minced garlic. Let it cook down (about 30-40 minutes), and then in the last 5 minutes add a ton of basil. You can see how big our pile was!

Look at this plate of food! Kimchi, eggplant dip, stuffed cabbage, tomato sauce with basil, fried green tomatoes, and good lord, breaded salmon (Alaska woo!). This magnificent party on a plate was followed by homemade, locally-grown peach sorbet.

Yellow Eggplants!

2007-09-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

We recently harvested all these veggies from our backyard garden in the South Bronx. It looked too pretty to eat. Not! We ate all of it! It was awesome. We had tomato sauce with full-on basil, fried green tomatoes in blue cornmeal and eggplant dip (see below).

The yellow (as yellow as a banana!) and "lavender touch" eggplants came from the Howell Family Garden (at the Bronx BotGar), and were baked, peeled, mashed with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice into a delightful and easy-peasy eggplant dip.

Golabki!: Stuffed Cabbage

2007-09-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday at market, I was given a cabbage. The last time I interacted with cabbage was six years ago, when I saw it being fed to manatees in Tampa, Florida. I remember it made them very gassy. Stumped for a more refined way to enjoy this interesting brassica, I asked my Polish coworker, Karol, for suggestions. Here's what I ended up doing:

Fill a pot with water and simmer. Place cabbage upside-down. Do not let boil begin to roll! Just steam the outer leaves until they turn a brighter green and soften. Remove from pot and let cool a bit. Peel back outer leaves (about 4-6).

Meanwhile: prepare 1 cup of wild rice (bring to a boil in 2 cups water with 1 tablespoon olive oil; simmer and cook 30 minutes).

While the rice is cooking, take your open cabbage and begin to carve it out. I just attacked it with a knife, taking care not to break the outer leaves that were holding it in shape as a "bowl." We saved the interior we'd cut out and our neighbor Beth came over and mixed it up into a Korean kimchee dish.

Chop 3 cloves garlic and about 1 inch of ginger. Once rice is cooked, mix in garlic and ginger with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, fresh dill (about 2-3 inches of feathery bits), and sage (I lightly crisped five leaves with olive oil).

Spoon rice mixture into cabbage. Fold outer leaves until it's nice and tight. Place back into hot simmering water, only this time, stem-side down. Steam for about 10 minutes. To serve, slice it any way you'd like. I cut it like a pie (because I like pie).

This is good hot or cold. We didn't have any leftovers to put in the fridge, or I'd tell you which is better.

Consider the Pickle.

2007-09-07T23:15:00.000-07:00

This time of year, I start to stockpile. It turns out, pickling is easy. I chopped up some cucumbers, fit them into a jar, filled it about a third of the with vinegar, added water, added salt to taste (and sugar to taste, if desired), and added more vinegar until full. Brilliant. If desired (and desired it was indeed!), one can add a bunch of chopped garlic, shallots (because they fit better than onion, and are a bit milder), and "pickling spices," which run the gamut from cloves to cilantro seeds. You can buy a mix, or pull the seeds off your bolting plants, or pick and choose from your spice rack. I also pickled beets with vinegar, water, a touch of sugar, a cinnamon stick, ginger, and hot pepper flakes. You have only to boil them first and remove the skins. Theirs is the most beautiful jar: they are blood-red and juicy.

Green Chicago! a visit to the markets.

2007-09-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

Back in Chicago to visit family, the documentary superheroes at MeerkatMedia.org sent along a mission: find and film urban beekeepers. A few trips to some spectacular farm markets later, I was off and running to visit the Chicago Honey Coop.

I met up with Dr. Israel in a beautiful community garden/urban apiary to talk about colony collapse, the taste of city honey, and everything bee. Over the course of the interview, in a reinvented abandoned lot on the South West side, I was stung three times on the head. Here Dr. Israel walks through his community garden at sunset, towards the apiaries.

Here are some other city pics: an urban garden against the skyline, lovely sprouts from Bill's market stand near Lincoln Park Zoo, and a garage crushed by a tornado near my aunt's house. Yes: tornado.

Easy Tasty Rice with Plums

2007-09-06T08:37:00.001-07:00

I had leftover wild rice (actually a grass!) and a bunch of sweet, slightly brusied plums from the Tompkin Square farmers' market. Here's what happened.

Lightly butter a pan. Throw in the cooked rice. Cut plums, add with pine nuts (or walnuts) and saute until warm and juicy. Keep stirring so rice doesn't stick. Remove from heat. Add a heaping spoonful of goat cheese. Stir. Serve. Admire the salty-sweet-savory-nutty flavor. Beg for more.

You can make this with any fruit, any nut, any cheese and any grain. This one just happened to become the most lovely of pinks.

Butter-Fried Pumpkin Gnocchi

2007-09-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

A foray along our garden fence through the forest of basil and tomatoes that guard it revealed, hurrah, our first fall pumpkin. With any squash, my first move is always to cut it in half, put it on a pan with a 1/2" of water, throw it in the oven at 350*F---and then use the next 45 min-1 hour while it cooks to thumb through all my recipe books deciding what to do. Soup, pies, pasta---squash is the reason I don't groan at the creeping cold. Happy September, and here's a really easy recipe that I'm making right now. Literally. There's flour on the keyboard.

Butter-Fried Pumpkin Gnocchi

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon (generous) baking powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter (I used Ronnybrook, as always)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Whisk pumpkin, egg, salt, nutmeg and baking powder in large bowl to blend. Mix in flour (dough will be soft).

Dip 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon into boiling water to moisten. Scoop up generous 1/2 teaspoon of dough and return spoon to water, allowing dough to drop. Working in 2 batches, repeat dropping 1/2 teaspoonfuls of dough into water, first dipping spoon into water to moisten each time. Boil dumpling until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to colander and drain.

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add dumplings. Sauté until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer dumplings to bowl. Sprinkle with cheese and serve. This recipe is also delicious with fried sage or thyme. The fresh leaves can be tossed into the pumpkin puree, or flash-fried until crispy to use as a garnish.

Makes 4 Side-Dish Servings.

Melon Salsa

2007-08-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

For Graduation Day at the Botanical Gardens, we encored our Peach-Corn salsa (with Sungold Cherry tomatoes, etc). Examining our pepper plants, we found their beautiful chocolate-red-green tie-dyed skin had contracted some sort of patchy black rot.

Melon Salsa is another refeshing twist on the same theme--and melons should be available at the farmer's market for at least another week. Thai basil, a cinnamony, darker-flavored (and somewhat purple-stemmed) version of your normal Sweet Genovese, is also available. I found it at Kira's stand, Evolutionary Organics, both in Union Sq (Weds) and Grand Army Plaza (Saturdays).

MELON SALSA

Ingredients
1 deseeded, diced melon
1 peeled, diced seedless cucumber
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon gently shredded Thai basil
1 tablespoon chopped mint
1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and diced
1 knob ginger, peeled and diced
salt to taste

Watermelon Gazpacho Soup

2007-08-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Check it out: watermelon and corn! Of all the plants we've grown this year, I'm clearly most excited about their success. To celebrate, then: watermelon gazpacho. It's almost the end of summer--what could be better? The only foodstuffs I couldn't find locally were the citrus.

2 cups 1/4-inch-diced watermelon
2 cups orange juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (seedless if you can find it) cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, basil or cilantro
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Process 1/2 cup of watermelon, along with the orange juice and oil, in a blender or food processor until pureed. Transfer to a medium bowl, along with remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Can be made several hours before serving.)

Crepes and Saucy Fruit

2007-08-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

As August closes, we're going to have to say a fond farewell to our East Coast peaches, apricots, and plumps. I'm mourning them with a simple crepe recipe. You can pick up really good fruit at Toigo Farms--Sundays at Avenue A and 10th, and Wednesdays in Tribeca by Fulton and Chambers.

Dice fruit. Place in a lightly buttered saucepan* with 2 cinnamon sticks and a dash of salt. Simmer until broken down, about 1/2 hour. Serve hot, warm or cold as a garnish for:

CREPES
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon (a "dash") of salt

Using a few drops of extra virgin olive oil or butter for the pan (oil tends to hold better w/out burning longer), pour only a thin layer of batter. Flip as soon as the bottom holds.

Crepes are a delicate art: they aren't pancakes! Don't put too much batter on the pan, and keep an eagle-eye on them so they don't burn or cook unevenly. They are fast, tasty, and if you look in the fall recipes from last year, you can make 'em with all sorts of goodies.

*You can also use enough water to protect the bottom of the saucepan and skip buttering your fruit. Don't forget, though, as the fruit breaks down it's going to get juicy! So you may have to strain your sauce.

Pumpkins!

2007-08-02T12:07:00.001-07:00

Thanks, mom! The seeds have
taken well and "off the grow". I'm hoping we have pumpkins ready for halloween.

The little sprouts alongside the larger pumpkin are morning glory, which, aaaack, never seem to stop self-seeding.

Squash!

2007-08-02T11:59:00.001-07:00

There's a lot of squashing going on in the fields these days. Kira of Evolutionary Organics (at Union Square every Wednesday) graciously let me have a whole bunch of beautiful squash to take up to the NY Botanical Gardens so we could make Summer Squash Muffins. We mixed Italian zucchini, striped summer squash, and mini zukes. Here's our recipe:

Summer Fresh Squash Bread
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups mixed really exciting & healthy flour (like amaranth flour or whole wheat flour mixed with oats)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups fresh grated summer squash, salted and squeezed (to remove extra water)
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2 very ripe bananas or 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional:
1 cup chopped nuts (peanuts or walnuts are good)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
grated zest of one large orange

Directions
1. Sift together dry ingredients
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar and blend well. Stir in banana (or oil), vanilla, zucchini, nuts, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Blend in dry ingredietns. Turn batter into two greasoned 9x5" loaf pans.
3. Bake at 350*F for 50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out of the center of the loaf clean. Remove loaves from pan, and set on their sides until cool. Chill for easier slicing.

Steamed Kohlrabi

2007-08-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Kohlrabi, broccoli's UFO-looking cousin, is all over the markets these days--Kira's selling it at her Union Square Stand, Evolutionary Organics. Because it's a brassica, it gains sweetness with cool temperatures--which means it can only get better, come November! The swollen stem, peeled and sliced, tastes delicious raw (when fresh) or cooked in stir-fry. I have a few in my garden, and here's what I whipped up.

Simple Steamed Kohlrabi

1. Remove leaves, root and skin of purple or white kohlrabi. Slice.
2. In a pan, saute some onions. Add 1" of water with vegetable stock cube, or, if you have it, just add 1" of veggie stock. Add kohlrabi slices. Let steam until just tender (but not mushy).
3. Drain water. You can eat it as is, or season with your favorite steamed-veggie sauce (nama shoyu or braggs, for example).

Don't the leaves look like Red Russian kale? Yes, they're cousins, too! The taste of kohlrabi is sweeter than kale, however--and certainly nothing like brussel sprouts, another family member.

Summer Peas and Pasta

2007-08-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

You can't say no to fresh summer peas. Ask Tim and Kevin of Windfall Farms. They can't. They tried and they just can't.

Summer Peas and Belly Button Pasta

4 large fresh shallots, minced (greens and bulb)
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup (or more) mixed snow peas (whole) and sugar snaps (hulled)
1/2 cup pea blossoms (sold at Windfall Farm stand...how convienient...)
grated zest of 1 organic orange
grated zest of 1 organic lemon
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
1 small bunch basil
12 ounces shell or "belly button" pasta
salt and pepper, to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

Preparation

Wash your hands and all your fruits vegetables--save the pea blossoms, which will bruise. Scrub the citrus fruits especially well, as you are eating the peels.

Prepare the pasta according to cooking instructions. In the meantime, dice the shallots (we used scissors), mince the garlic, toss the mint and basil. If the leaves are large, cut to bite-sized. Set aside.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss with peas, cheese, salt and pepper. Add lemon and orange zest, and toss again. Add fresh herbs and toss more gently. Garnish with pea blossoms.

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

2007-08-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

Squash plants grow gendered flowers. When pollination is complete, and little zucchini appear at the base of the female flower, the male flowers can be harvested and cooked (hurrah!). A few nights ago my upstairs neighbors (this is Mariah) helped me invent this delish dish.

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

1. Gently open each flower and remove the pistil with pollen.
2. In a bowl, mix a cup of ricotta cheese, a handful of pinenuts, a sprinkling of nutmeg and/or cinnamon, and a peach each of salt and pepper.
3. In a second bowl, wisk together three eggs.
4. In a third and final bowl, pour about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs.
5. In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Stuff the zucchini blossoms with as much ricotta as they can hold without bursting (about 1 tablespoon or less), and twist the petals shut. They will not hold perfectly, but they should be tacky enough to keep closed.
6. Dip each flower in the egg mixture, and then roll in breadcrumbs. Fry about 1-2 minutes on each side, or until just browned.

They are bested served hot. We ate ours with a little hot sauce.

Summer Corn&Peach Salsa

2007-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Tomoates, peaches and corn are perfect locally-grown summer treats. We're eating sweet, beautiful sungold cherry tomatoes in our garden, and peaches and corn from the New York City Greenmarket--a gracious gift from Toigo Farms, who sell on Sundays at Tompkins Square (on 9th and Avenue A). The best part of this salsa is the color, which is a good indication of how many vitamins it has!

Ingredients
2 ears fresh corn, husked
1 cup (or more) fresh sungold cherry tomatoes
1 large red onion, chopped
1 large fresh peach (or more), chopped
2 fresh colorful bell peppers, deseeded
1-2 garlic cloves, to taste
salt and pepper, if desired
(optional) 1 small green chile pepper, seeds removed

Instructions
1. If your corn is particularly farm-fresh, you can just cut it off the cob and set the kernals aside. If not, bring water to a boil, cook five minutes, drain & cool, and remove kernals.
2. Wash the sungold tomatoes and cut them into quarters. Set aside with corn.
3. In a food processor, pulse tomatoes, peach, bell peppers, garlic cloves, and optional chile pepper.
4. Mix in with corn and sungold tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to serve.

This dish will keep up to a week in the fridge, but keep your eye on how soft the fruit is getting--this salsa can "turn" quickly! I like having it fresh, so I'd rather "halve" the recipe for smaller portions than trying to save it.

The World's Largest Zucchini

2007-08-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

What do you do with world's largest zucchini? I don't know, yet, but I'm thinking baked...or fritters...or sliced and grilled...or soup...if you have ideas, email 'em in. I'll post a recipe as soon as the cooking happens. So far it's been on a world tour of 140 blocks, from the farmers' market up to my house. It's quite a saavy squash.

Vegetable Tartlets

2007-07-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

This past week, I harvested my first eggplant of the summer. It wasn't very big, but in the company of all the other ingredients in this amazingly easy (and yet so fancy-pants looking!) recipe, it made a great dinner.

Vegetable Tarts in Blue Cornflour Crust

For the crust:

2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
1 teaspoon sugar (I used brown sugar--honey might taste nice: I have to experiment)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup ice water

For the Filling:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium zucchini, thinly diced
1 medium eggplant, thinly diced
2 small yellow onions, quartered and seperated
1 bunch kale, cut into ribbons
1 package vegetable broth mix, stirred into about 1/2 a cup of water
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 bunch basil (about 1 cup), cut into ribbons
feta cheese, to "garnish"

1. Make the crust. Pulse flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt in a food processor (we used our vitamix). Add butter; process until mixture resembles coarse meal. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream; process just until dough holds together. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour or up to three days.
2. Preheat oven to 350*F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 thick. Cut out rounds to suit the size of your tartlet pans--I used muffin tins, so I cut mine to the size of a quart-container lid and then folded them into the muffin cup space (after greasing it lightly). Put the finished tins or muffin tray into the fridge for 1/2 hour.
3. Make the filling. Heat up the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, squash, eggplant, and onion, stirring--about 2 minutes to cook. Add water and vegetable broth mix; season with salt and pepper. As soon as the liquid has mostly evaporated, add kale and cover until wilted, about 3 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and red-pepper flakes.
4. Spoon veggie mix into pastry shells. Top each with 1/2 tomato. Bake 40-50 minutes. Top each tart with feta cheese to serve.
----------
I had leftover dough. I'm planning on experimenting for breakfast tomorrow--zucchini strips with pine nuts, raisins and feta? Mixing in pesto, whole basil ribbons, and loose corn? The versatility of this recipe, once made once, is pretty awesome. I'm exited to have such an easy dough on hand for future combinations. Wait until fall, when you can stuff it with squash and sage....or pumpkin and nutmeg...or mushrooms and thyme...mmmm....

Moosewood Pilgrimage

2007-07-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine my slack-jawed, open-appetite ecstasy from the photograph, but I promise that my first visit to the Moosewood Restaurant was nothing short of spiritual. I had an artichoke and potato-with-thyme and cheese confection that had so many layers of taste it felt like three meals, and then, when I was close to death from happiness, was presented with the dessert menu. Bosc pears poached in red wine sauce with black pepper, cloves, lemon and cream? Yes, please. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you though the cookbook could change your life, please, bite into their food. Hurrah for local produce, hurrah for vegetarians, and a hip-hip-hurrah for the concept of dessert with black pepper's subtle bite, which only made the local-dairy-whipped cream float sweeter on the palate.

Sweet Summer Garden

2007-07-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Two things are official: it's hot and our plants have grown large. The squash in particular has taken off. Right now all the leaves are the size of chair seats. I know because, on a whim, I sat on one. Yes: it's huge.

Cook Islands: Last Food Stop Before America

2007-05-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

The name alone seemed promising: The Cook Islands? Yes, please! Hey, I love to cook!

Named, in fact, by-and-for Captain Cook, cooking on the Cooks is a rather meaty affair. My vegetarian take kept me away from their true delicacies (fish!) but here's my best take.

I landed in Rarotonga, the largest of the many scattered islands in the group. About five hours from New Zealand and a good 45 minute flight from its next neighbor island, Aiutiki, Raro can be circumnavigated in a day (an hour or so by scooter). The exterior is beautiful beach; the interior, an even more beautiful jungle. Farms of papaya, banana and taro dominate a quilted landscape. No buildings rise over two to three stories. Town is a few blocks long. Besides missing my brassicas (broccoli, kale, and companions), it really was paradise.

In an echo of my Maori Hangi meal in New Zealand, I went to an Umo, or traditional pit roast. Like a Hangi, the meal was prepared a day in advance, and cooked over hot stones underground. Unlike a Hangi, with its separate layers, the Umo combined its veggies and meats: pumpkin and arrowroot, kumera (sweet potato) and taro. Chicken was tied in a string and cooked relatively whole; pork and beef were also included.

Many islanders I spoke with at Saturday market also laughed about their propensity to cook everything (literally, everything) in coconut cream. Poking around market at what I thought was a loaf of bread, the "baker" was amused to inform me it was, in fact, pounded taro root baked with...suprise! the rich cream. Tearing into the heavy, taffy-like snack later, my stomach quickly growing leaden, I realized maybe a tropical (read: humid! hot!) climate combined with so much coconut might not be so idyllic after all.

It was somewhat to my relief that I discovered Noni Juice...or so I thought. Touted as an excellent antioxident (perfect for battling all those high-calorie-diet free radicals!), Noni Juice comes from the fermented noni fruits. I can't think of a better word for these lunar-pale, battered-soccer-ball looking tree-fruits than "weird." And "weird" is a great word for the gnarly taste of their juice, which brought to mind both soy sauce and alcohol (never a good combination, in any way). Good for me or not, I'll have to pass--even if it means giving up coconut milk.

The Many Face of Flax

2007-05-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

The only thing you can't do with Flax is eat it, which may beg the question of why I'd bother including it on a site obsessed with edible local delights. I'll tell you. Flax, my friends, is a great plant. The Maori (indigenous New Zealanders) would beat it, dry it and weave it into clothes and baskets, including all the containers used to store fish and food. Look at the striking profile its flowers cut against the sky! See how boldly it beats back the sea, growing where it pleases! Doesn't it make you think of dinosaurs, of adventure, and of the awesomeness of plants?!

My First Meat

2007-05-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

"Food is an agricultural act," Wendell Berry writes. With this in mind, I garden, putting as much of myself into my food as possible while living in New York City. What, then, of meat?

I've been a vegetarian all my life. I decided for myself long ago that the first time I could catch, kill and prepare meat would be the first time I'd try eating it.

Easter: on a fishing trip off the Coromandel Penninsula, New Zealand, about 16 miles out from the sundapple shore (cold morning cooking into hot afternoon, partial clouds--), I cast my first line with six friends on Ian's boat, the Avian. It's quiet and gorgeous. The water is calm; scattered with islands. Clear jellyfish babies swim in little curved parenthesis just under the surface of the sea.

I've never really been fishing, and I'm afraid of embarrassing myself. Thankfully, I catch four fish--including, quickly, the first of the early day. Snappers. They're about 25 cm long apiece, spotted green and pinky-gray, and in the plastic cooler where we toss them they take a long time to gasp to death. It's the biggest Christian holiday of the year. I'm torn between the lovely symbolism of our multiplying fish and my surfacing distaste at the mounting numbers of our killing. Gulp. Yum?

We take in many more fish, but after my first few, I stop fishing. It's enough for me to watch everyone else bring in more than I thought we need. We catch tarakihi, cod, trevally, parrot fish, and gurnard. Spectacularly, Pam catches a fish and snares a second fish above it in a loop of her line. In a climactic end to a dwindling day, we even land a small blue shark who bites his way off the line before he's in the boat.

The things I cannot bring myself to do: cut and prepare the bait. I also find myself unable to twist, in the assertive way Gary can, the fish's jaw from the barb of the hook. Nor can I toss it into the cooler. I have dropped a cat from my lap and watch it land itself untangled. This fish, as it hits the plastic with a smack, is too much for me.

In the end I prepare my fish simply, per Pam's recommendation. I'm surprised at how wetly muscular it feels. The bone prickles up like nettles under damp silk. I slice it out. There's less give than I anticipated: not tough, but bound. I dab the meat with Kleenex. There's a bit of blood on one side. I pat in in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of flour, lemon pepper, and black pepper. I fry it in (already warm) 2 tablespoons of butter. I put it on a plate and have a seat. The first bite comes up. It's delicious. But after three bites, all I can think of is pulling the barb of the hook through the fish's mouth. Of the minutes turning into a quarter-hour, the fish still alive and gasping on its side in the cooler. Oh my God, I realize, I'm eating fish.

So I stop. It's just not for me. I'm crying, and embarrassed for it, but that's the end of that.

Purangi Winery

2007-04-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Like California, New Zealand has a fair share of flash wineries: long landscapes of carefully cultivated vines, graveled paths, gently swaying trees bordering the drive like Zeigfield ladies singing in their leading man. For me, the great offense of wineries is always all that jazz. By the time of the tasting, I can't tell if I'm drinking good grapes or sipping at the refined masquerade that I live in a 17th century chateau. In contrast, the Purangi Winery, sitting near the banks of its namesake river, offers a run-down, joyful alternative, and fabulously sweet and tasty locally made liquors. The liquors from the fijoa, a small, uniquely citrus-y fruit with a jelly-like texture; and manuka, New Zealand's blossom honey, were my favorites. But more the best part is Danny Evans, the loquatious vinter, whose helpful banter guides you through mangrove politics, a collection of fossils and kauri gum, samples of Purangi Winery products, and (two months after a first visit) remembers your face to welcome you back.

Pacific Rose Apple Crepes

2007-04-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

My last fortnight in New Zealand was among the best of the whole three months! I stayed with Pam and Gary of Pukekohe. We used these Pacific Rose Apples (Pam's tree at their bach--holiday home--in the Coramandel was a grafted gift from a botanist friend) to make simple crepes. The secret to their fluff? Adding beer to the batter instead of baking powder, and letting it sit to rise for a 1/2 hour. To keep the apples from turning brown while you prepare the batter, put the diced bits into a bowl of water.

Dunedin: Southern and Scottish

2007-03-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

Dunedin: if you believe the welcoming sign, this city actually begins in a field of cows about 30km before its actual skyline. In which case, it's one of the only places I've visited where the "urban" population of bovines may exceed its human counterpart.

Further up the road on the way to Christchurch, we came across a beach famous for its boulders. Skeptical? We were, too, until we found out these perfectly round rocks appeared out of the ground--shaped not by water, but by the pressure of the sand and soil! It was like coming across a nest of dinosaur eggs.

Kaikoura: Dolphins for the rich, Seals for the Annies

2007-03-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Kaikoura is a choice destination for two things: swimming with dolphins, and eating good seafood. Me, I stood the appropriate 10meters from a seal and scowled into the early morning sunshine, and then ate a yummy lunch of tomato and basil from the hostel's garden. Alas, I don't know the name of this amazing tree, but I reckon "Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree" could be put into Latin quite nicely.

Kaka Point, the Caitlins

2007-03-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

Kaka Point, a small beach town that heads off the Caitlins. Rubber ribbons of seaweed tangle up the shoreline.

This trio of plants embraces most of the coolness of NZ fauna: a cabbage tree spikes up in the background, flax's funny flowers claw the sky, and, alas, I don't know the name of the fiery flower in the foreground, but it's everywhere around these parts.

Christchurch: Baking Pavlova

2007-03-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Emus: large, flightless, frighteningly crabby. Chickens: small, not very flight-oriented, frighteningly hungry all the time. Christchurch: European-imitation city on the midway point of South Island's east coast.

In an abundance of eggs, one must make PAVLOVA, New Zealand's favorite cake. Basically you whip 4 egg whites into submission with a cup sugar. When it's stiff, you add a teaspoon of lemon or vinegar, and bake it. My own Pavlova, although with fresh eggs from that morning and delish organic sugar, fell flat and ended up being either a marshmallow or a sugary omelet, depending on your point of optimism. I'm happy to say it was very good for me, thanks to the eggs, and I slept about 3 hours, thanks to the sugar.

Fjords!

2007-03-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Milford Sound is supposed to be the most beautiful "tramp" in New Zealand. Hike, that is. I found it wet. And yes, magical.

On the way out we got stopped by some cows. The delay was about 15 extremely cow-smelling minutes.

Apple, Peanut Butter and Cheese Sandwiches

2007-03-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hitting the lower latitudes of South Island: rain, mist, glaciers. Meeting Kea (alpine parrots, the only of its kind in the world). Watching the towering rocks cry waterfalls. Perpetually being cold; astounded.

The beautiful thing about sandwiches is the lack of rules.
Here we combine the protein, dairy and fruit sugars of three New Zealand products: leguminously soil enriching peanut butter (nothing too lofty for my favorite spread), local apples and cheese.

My Only Lord of the Rings Reference

2007-03-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently this is "Scenes from Middle Earth." It's outside Queenstown.

Wanaka: Monkey Trees and Afkhan Cookies

2007-03-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day found me in a tent, eating a simple meal of rice. However, I'm extremely excited to announce I also discovered AFKHAN COOKIES, a NZ/Oz treat that combines the powers of cocoa powder AND cornflakes to make an extremely delicious, highly unlocal treat. If you've been good and eating your garden-grown veggies all day, then yes, you may have this recipe.

Wanaka is also host to the Monkey Puzzle Tree. Take note of its spikes. Now ask yourself this puzzle: How does a monkey climb this tree? Hence the name. Shameful botanical humor.

Pancakes Rock!

2007-03-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

The West Coast of South Island, New Zealand, is reputed to be the wildest corner of the country. My foodie eyes lit up when the map said "Pancake rocks". Boy, was I ever disappointed when they turned out to be ancient and mysterious geological formations spitting spumes of salt water. I wanted pancakes, man.

Here's a good pancake tip I learned in upper North Island: when you want fluffy pancakes, whip the milk before adding it to the batter. Also, if you're going to put pancake batter in the fridge overnight, when you take it out the next day, add another sprinkling of baking soda.

Live from the CENTER of New Zealand!

2007-03-09T00:39:00.000-08:00

Nelson, on the South Island, claims to be the Center of New Zealand. Alas, it turns out the actual center is in the middle of the Cook Strait. It's too bad you only find that out AFTER ascending the unbelievably steep hill to the viewing point and placard which (misleadingly) suggests you've made it. No, turns out you have to swim to get there. Forget it!

Blueberry Pirates

2007-03-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

One of our tasks on the Blueberry Farm was to work fairs, vending pancakes and ice cream and, of course, blueberries. Lucky me, the first fair I went to featured not only Scottish bagpipers, but PIRATES! Actually, that was us, post-tatoos-extravaganza. And p.s.: WHAT is a fudge bag? I now know, but do YOU?

Wellington

2007-03-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

Wellington, home to tons of art and film stuff is also really, really beautiful. There ya have it, erudite and succinct. The Te Papa, Wellington's big, exciting Everything Museum, was worth a visit for the architecture as much as the content.

The Blueberry Farm and Bakehouse: Upper Hutt

2007-03-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

4,000 blueberry bushes, two calves, many chooks (chicken), a cafe and trailer: that's what it takes to make a Blueberry Farm.

Upper Hutt, about 45 minutes outside of Wellington city, looks a lot like Northern California. Here's the view of the farm, the blueberry nets obvious enough. The icy river cuts a narrow path along between the mountains and the blueberry orchard.

Blueberry Chocolate Biscotti

2007-03-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

Turns out, biscotti are genius and easy to make. Challenged to make a dessert for the Blueberry Farm Bakehouse, I came up with this recipe. The chocolate dipping sauce, which I paired with black pepper and lemon (don't knock it 'til you try it!) offered a sweet-savory pair to the slightly sour hint of the tart blueberries in the dry cookies. Mmm! Pass the tea and bikkies!

BISCOTTI (with blueberries and chocolate chips)
2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
1 egg white
2 tbs grated lemon peel
chocolate chips and blueberries to taste/appearance

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Mix dry ingredients and gently beat eggs. Mix dry and wet ingredients, then turn in chips & berries. The dough will be a little wet, but don't fret. Using a spatula and floured hands, scoop out 1/2 the dough and form a log about 10-12" long. Make a second log of the remaining dough. Space them at LEAST 6" apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 25-30 minutes, until just firm. Remove from oven, and cut at a harsh diagonal (see below photo) into slices about 1/2" thick. Reduce heat to 325*F and bake for 15 minutes. DO NOT OVERCOOK! They'll harden as they cool.

To make the chocolate dipping sauce, the easiest way is to set up a pan of water and put a bowl in it as the water boils. Put a bar of chocolate in the bowl, add milk and a bit of butter, and then your flavorings. I seasoned it with black pepper and lemon (to taste). The more/less milk & butter you add, the texture and thickness of the dipping sauce changes. Duh. It's delish and easy.

Other killer combos: dried fruits dipped in a honey-tinted chocolate sauce; chocolate chip biscotti with lemon sugar sprinkled on, and cinnamon biscotti with honey. I mean, you can't go wrong. Yum.

Fine Farm Dining: Frittata Night and Thai Delights

2007-03-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

In my ten days at The Blueberry Farm and Bakehouse in Upper Hutt (just above Wellington, and the site of many a Lord of the Rings scenes), don't think we just cooked with blueberries! My dinner debut on the farm featured a Swiss Chard Frittata, lentils cooked up in apple juice pressed from our wee orchard, and oatmeal-manuka honey cookies with museli.

I pulled lavender from the garden to soak in our drinking pitcher, which took a bit of the tap-water edge off.

Dinner number two was "Thai themed" by popular demand. Rice boiled with peanuts was the side to a garden-based veggie mix and home-made peanut sauce, and dessert featured the decidedly unlocal and delicious pineapple charred in butter-tossed coconut flakes. To compensate for the ahem, "carbon footprint" of the pineapple, I also threw in some backyard blueberries tossed in lemon-and-lavender sugar.

Kiwi Berry

2007-03-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

Kiwi fruit, originally the "Chinese Gooseberry", is seen here bald, shrunken and seccant (pff, did my mouth pucker!). Did I mention also, overpriced? But how novel!

For Lactose-Loving Eyes Only

2007-02-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday afternoon in the company of a bevy of long-lash'd ladies--a dream come true for bovinatics. These beautiful dairy queens, a Holstein-Friesian breed, were an olfactory repreive after Wednesday's pig trip. Ryan, Porky's son and the cow's keeper, leases the land from his family and has built up his own herd over the past decade. He milks twice a day, at dawn and about half past-three. It takes about ten minutes per cow, each of the 200 or so rendering about 20 liters a day. The machines taking in the milk ("cups") make a muted grumble, with the soothing, mechanised pulse of an airplane cabin circulating air. The dairy, although old-fashioned, is maticulously clean. Well, there is cow shit everywhere. But it smells...nice. Grassy and hot.

The milk is pumped through pipes through a cooler to a tank, where it is collected every two days. At every pick-up, the milk is graded for quality and nutrition content. Ryan produces the reciept with pride: because of the care he takes in selecting breeding, as well as the health and hygine of his "girls," the numbers are high and low in all the right places, well better than the national average.
He also shows me a poster with the 40-odd bulls available as breeding studs up in Hamilton. "This is the Penthouse of bulls," he explains. They do look hunky. Unlike Playmates, however, their semen stats are listed alongside: protein counts, fertility levels...not sexy, but necessary to find the right donor for your herd. Ryan spends about $23 a shot for sperm, keeping about a quarter of the calves born (about 45 per year). The females are kept, the males sold once weaned, at about 12 weeks. It's a lot of math, and I hear helping 200 multi-ton women succesfully go through labor is no walk in the park, either.

As the cows mill around, lining up to milk, Ryan hi-hos and hi-yahs them into place with a firm gentleness that's echoed in the manner of confidence and affection he maintains as he speaks about each cow. He points out his favorite. She's mostly black, with a chill demenor. She moseys to the end of the milking chamber with a lazy grace that makes me think of...well, a cow. It's pleasant to watch, like a Golden Retreiver settling into her favorite worn spot on the floor. When Ryan, up to his elbows in plastic gloves and shit-covered sleeve guards, moves quickly to spray sanitizer on her udders and slip the cups on to begin milking, she barely flicks her tail. Even so, I steer clear. Cows can seem docile to the point of dumb, but they aren't stupid: the previous day, when I'd tried putting on the cups, the relationship wasn't as good. I was nervous, they were nervous, and at about five feet above my head was a cow-butt, ready to fountain out digested grass. After one go, I gave the reins back to Ryan.

These days in New Zealand, Ryan thinks it's a good time to get into dairy farming. There's constant challenge in it, and the technology, he figures, has never been better. He talks about the math and business of the weather, the play of proper rotation and soil care in feeding his herd, how he can surf twice a day if he'd like and still make a mean living, and overall, the freedom a dairy farmer has as their own boss on a day-to-day basis. Granted, the large grain of salt in the room is the intensity of a cow's udder bursting with milk twice a day, starting at dawn, and your responsibility to it. Also, the dairy industry is paid in American dollars and with the NZ dollar strong against it, transport costs up and large corporations buying up most of the milk at their prices, the margin for profit isn't what it used to be. However, if you're looking for a life that puts you at the base of a volcanic mountain, grants you coastal access to a sweeping horizon of sea, and lets you hang out with sweet ladies on a daily basis, then it's heavenly. Standing at the edge of his land, the sun setting golden and gorgeous on the Tasman Sea, Ryan stops at a paddock gate to wax poetic. "Every day I wake up and feel this good," he says.

And it's true. I smell weird and there's cow crap on my big rubber boots, but my heart is exploding at how gorgeous everything is. The air tastes like salt and the land lays in giant folds of velveteen grass, black sand creeping up from the seashore. A few minutes later, we head back to the house for red wine with his partner Meaghan and my friends Hayley and Co. "You know, though, I'd really like to have a vineyard," Ryan says, "Have your wine drunk all over the world..." I can't help but laugh. I guess the grass IS always greener.

Porky and his Pigs

2007-02-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today I was fortunate enough to visit a small-scale, three-generation family farm. I got to hang out with an inordinate amount of pigs. They don't lie: pigs STINK. It's a smell that stays with you all day. Porky, my appropriately nicknamed host, was gracious and knowledgable, and not shy in his advocacy for omnivorism. He showed me how he milks his herd of goats, and his son Ryan showed me how he milks his cows. I milked one each, which was a first!

The chef event of the day was a pig slaughter. It was a terrifically difficult but facinating experience to watch. However, I feel it's inappropriate to document it on this site. I'm setting up a separate page with photos and information, and will post the address shortly. I encourage everyone who feels up to it to take a look. Again, it is NOT at all for the faint of heart.

Lemon Crepes with Sugar

2007-02-13T02:49:00.000-08:00

In New Zealand, the first tree everyone plants in their yard is usually a lemon tree. Next to follow is usually a grapefruit tree, and then almost literally anything else you fancy, because the climate is celestial. One morning I woke to find Hayley making this for breakfast. She explained it was a traditional NZ meal. I was afraid I was still dreaming but no, it was delightfully true.

LEMON CREPES with SUGAR
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3/4 oz butter, melted
a pinch of salt
extra butter, for greasing the pan

Cook crepes, then sprinkle with sugar and squeeze lemon juice all over them.

Side note. An afternoon walk to a public fountain forced me to wonder: is this traditional NZ soup?

Potatoes with Mint

2007-02-13T02:43:00.000-08:00

Mint grows prolifically world-wide, and potatoes (in season in NZ, but delicious from winter storage in NYC) can't be beat year-round. Hayley introduced me to a New Zealand classic salad recipe that got "two utensils up!" from her son Sam.

Potato Salad with Mint
8-12 baby new potatoes, washed well, cubed, and cooked 'til soft
handful of mint, leaves finely minced
2 tablespoons of butter or to taste
salt to taste

Toss the hot potatoes in a bowl with butter. Scatter mint and toss again. Serve with salt (and pepper) to taste.
We ate ours with fresh boiled corn and raw spinach as a side.

Birthday Feast(s)!

2007-02-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

I imagine many of us make Quesadillas the same way: a bit of olive oil on a pan, a few torillas, some cheese and an assortment of veggies tucked deliciously inside. Our twist for the debut of "quesadillas in New Zealand" (mind you, this is a country lacking, by and large, in black beans) was to add a couple of Kiwi-style filling flares.

Kumera (white sweet potato), cubed and boiled until just soft, then fried with cumin, salt and pepper
Avocado, tomato and cucumber, treated with salt and vinegar
Raw onion (a NZ favorite) and tomatoes

My lovely hostess Hayley and her gentlemen Sam & Eben also made a wonderful chocolate log birthday cake. The recipe is brilliantly easy and low on the sugar-butter-oil quota. It's super fast to make, and, as Eben showed us, even a four-year-old can do it!

Chocolate Log

3 eggs
125 g (4 oz) sugar
Beat until thick.

Add:
2 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened is best)
1 tablespoon boiling water
Mix.

Add:
75g (3 oz) flour, sifted with
1 tablespoon baking powder
Mix. Melt and add:
25 g (1 oz) butter

Line an 8x8" cooking pan with foil. Bake at 375*F for 10-12 minutes, until knife comes out clean. When cooked, turn into wax paper sifted with icing sugar. Spread with jam and roll right away while warm.

If it suits you, once the cake cools you add frosting to make it look like a proper log covered in bark. We just ate it straight up with the jam and it was delish, particularly because it had a singing candle on it.

What to Eat during a Near-Death Experience

2007-02-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

The last day I had as a 23-year-old, I attempted a summit climb of New Plymouth's volcano, Mt. Taranaki. It's important to prepare for a big climb. But I did not. I haven't hiked anything in about a decade. I got lost in a cloud, fell down a cliff, lost my hat (found it again!), and fell asleep with drool on my face in a public place. I DID, however, pack an excellent lunch. Hurrah for being raised in the Midwest, where everything is FLAT.

WHAT TO EAT if you're going to be UNDERPREPARED in EVERY OTHER REGARD on a CLIMB:
1 generous helping of pasta, loaded with seasonal veggies, a portion of cheese, olive oil&lightly salted
2 apples
1 spare sandwich of spinach, tomato and cheddar
1 helping cashews from your thoughtful sister as a birthday gift
1 handy chocolate bar
1/2 handful of butterscotch candies to give away to fellow hikers so they don't forget you if and when you get lost

In all regards besides the cumulative 20minutes where I was sure I was a goner, the mountain was beautiful. More beautiful, however, is the sensation of eating a proper dose of carbohydrates when throughly exhuasted halfway up a steep and ashy landscape, overlooking the sea and sky, and feeling your blood rush with sudden energy as your body digests a proper lunch. Mm'm mmm good!

Maori Feast in Rotorua

2007-02-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

I spent about 18 hours in the city of Rotorua. I was able to cram in a visit to a geothermic public park full of smoking mud craters, bike to and hike through a redwood forest, and eat with the Mitai family, a Rotoruan Maori tribe who make a mean Hangi.

This Hangi was made to cater to about 100 visitors, but this "barbeque in a pit" cooking style can be found family-sized at:
http://www.shelfordfeast.co.uk/hangi.html and I highly recommend it. My vegetarian version included soft, smokey kumera (a white-fleshed sort of sweet pototato), as well as a stuffing made with poisonous orange berries, the toxins removed by the 24 hour subterranian cooking process. I'm told a lot of Hangi are made well on the beach and include fish; I liked the tubers in mine and can only imagine the delicious possibilities of stacks of parsnips, carrots, potatoes and onions.

Good Day from Flaxmill Bay

2007-02-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

Every morning I wake up to this. Compounding my fortune is the abundance of FEIJOA, a funny little fruit that grows all over (local! fresh!) and is closely related (unproven but rumored) to the New Zealand "Christmas Tree", the Pohutukawa (poe hoo tu kawa). The feijoa fruit, which I can only describe as "passion-fruity" and "round and green", can be made into an excellent (if super-sweet) liquor, juice or dessert sauce. At Eggcentric Cafe, it's paired as a sauce on apricot-and-pumpkin-seed-topped carrot cake.

Funny Flowers

2007-02-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

With plants as pretty as these, it's with regret that I have to announce none of them are edible. The pitcher plants, however, will eat YOU.

The strange one at the top (not my hand, the plant) is known as either monkey or kangaroo's tail. Earlier today, at a winery, I was told by the proprietor that the kangaroo derives its name from the inquiry "wot's that orange-colored rodent?"and the Aboriginal reply to the English-speaker, "Que? Can't hear you." Say that once fast and you'll figure it out. I don't think it's a true story, do you?

Orange Honey Almond Sauce

2007-02-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

If the name doesn't sell you, let me fill you in a bit on bees. New Zealand and Australia, until recently, were the only two countries on the planet unaffected by a mite blight that has been striking (and snacking on) bee populations, wild and tamed. Alas, NZ's North, and now South, Islands were invaded. In a globally unprecedented action, South Island retaliated by moving their apiaries (boxes full of kept bees) up to North Island, allowing the predator insects to gnosh on the wild bee population until it there were none. Then the bad guys, starving to death, would either flee South Island or perish, making it safe to return the bee boxes back.

Honey in NZ is mainly Manuka, which is a rich and different (thicker, rougher, darker) flavor than our windsome little American wildflower make. So when I say "Make this orange honey almond sauce!" my recipe advice is to support NZ in these troubled buzzy times and try a midgen of manuka. (What the hell is a midgen? It's a bit more than a smidgen.)

If this recipe seems overwhelming (Saffron threads! Sherry vinegar!), don't worry. Sliced oranges with almonds and honey are great on top of salads, ice cream, yogurt or just together as friends in your mouth. You don't HAVE to make this whole dish. But Gold Star for You if you do. It's not a local meal, but it sure does make winter (yours, not mine!) snow taste sweeter.

Now here is a flower that comes from a tree near my "bach"(holiday home): will it get pollinated by bees, or will it be last of its kind? The drama never stops in NZ.

Orange Honey Almond Sauce
Preheat your oven to 400*F.

Meanwhile, in a large pan over medium high heat, fry 'til golden:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped

Push onions aside. Fry until savory;
2 garlic cloves
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 cinnamon sticks

Mix onions back in. Lower heat slightly, and add to pan until carmelized (1-2 minutes):
2 tablespoons h

Eggcentric Cafe, Flaxmill Bay

2007-02-03T19:24:00.000-08:00

The past week I've been living and working in Flaxmill Bay, about 10 minutes (and a ferry ride) from Whitianga, in the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. Dave and Denise, owners and head chefs of Eggcentric Cafe, have been my kind hosts--esp. with regards to Dave's kindnesses in sharing his recipes and expertise in making a delicious, creative menu. Every customer that leaves the place has (minimum) two positive adjectives to match their thank-you! This picture shows Dave's "Full Monty"--a brunch option featuring a split fried sausage that he says is awesome second only to a whale's tail rising out of the sea at sunset. Hey, he said it.
Peanut Chut

An example of Dave's kitchen genius at work is his use of this excellent chutney recipe. Derived from Tom Kline's Exploring Taste and Flavor, is an excellent side dip. Dave reckons the reason everyone loves it with his chicken is because it has a series of complex flavors--sweet and savory, salty and tangy--everything that makes your tongue say "woo hoo". I just like pounding it out with a mortar and pestle. If you have the patience, you won't be sorry to have this hanging out in your fridge for quick snackin'.

Over medium-high heat, fry up:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red chilli, deseeded and minced
3 coriander (cilantro) roots or the bottom of the stem

Add and cook 3-4 minutes (until carmalized)
4 chopped shallots
4 tablespoons sugar
(if it's burning, add a little dash of water)

Add 2 tablespoons blanched peanuts, as well as water to dilute.
Remove from heat. In small batches, crush with a mortar and pestle.
To your mash, add:
1 tablespoon seasame oil
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime

Garnish with 20 coriander leaves.
Dilute with water if necessary.

Kiwi for Lunch

2007-01-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple salad from the menu of Eggecentric Cafe, my short-term home in Flaxmill Bay, New Zealand. Kiwis, also known as Chinese Gooseberries, had a name-change in the 1950s or '60s, when they became a big export in NZ. Since the small, brown flightless bird icon already had the name, they figured a small, brown, flightless fruit could share it as well. I think that's what happened, anyway.

Kiwi Salad
You will need (to make 2-3 salads):
1 sweet potato, peeled, sliced and thinly shredded with a peeler
1 kiwi fruit, cut bite-sized
1 small red onion, ringed and sliced
Mixed baby greens
balsamic vinegar or dressing to your taste

In a pan with oil to fry, crisp up the shredded sweet potato. They should be ribbon-thin. When throughly browned up and crunchy, prepare your washed, tossed greens, decorating with fresh onion rings and kiwi bites. Drizzle dressing. Top with ribbony, crunchy mess of sweet potato.

Down Under the Downunder: Safe in New Zealand!

2007-01-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

My first stop in New Zealand is the farm of the Biggs of Kaukapakapa. (Cow Kappa Kappa, "white bird rising from the swamp.") The trees are marvelous! There are Puriri (purr-rr-ee), covered in red berries to tempt wood pigeons until they fall fat from the branches in the arms of the waiting Maori; then the Lysiandra, with its beautiful red velvety branches and purple blossoms (see picture); and along the river which flows saltily from the sea, Mangroves. As we kayaked, the small little green and yellow seeds of the Mangroves floated along next to us like beads, waiting to find a suitable shore to grow from.

As Lou Biggs explained, each Mangrove seed has the energy to send out not one root, but up to three in succession. If the seed dislikes the soil it finds, it pulls its root up from the bank, drifts on, and tries again. Hmm. I smell the perfume of metaphor.

One of my favorite trees, however, was found atop the cow paddock, where I found a pine tree that seems to have built a catherdral nested in its branches!

Fast Food Fiji

2007-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

McDonalds: "Bula" is the all-purpose Fijian word for Hellohowareya, what's up and good day. As for the Keepin' Fiji Clean, I'd make the small footnote that most of the garbage I saw in Suva (there wasn't too much, actually) was food packaging...from KFC.

Should fast food not be to your liking, maybe a recipe from the Fijian National Museum will better suit you:

Human Flesh BBQ
Wrap flesh in the leaves of the Bordina or SouBokola (Solanum Uporo) plant. Make a sauce from its tomato-like fruit (see picture). Serve with Malawaci (anthropohagrum, which yes, is derived from the Latin for "eat with man") as a veggie side.

Kava, Fiji's Favorite Swill

2007-01-24T16:41:00.000-08:00

The root of the kava plant, dried and then milled to powder, is Fiji's most popular traditional drink. The powder is pressed through a silk bag, and then if you're lucky, you get to sit around the spice market at 10am with some old IndoFijian guys feeling your mouth go numb as you sip from a dirty plastic bowl with a coconut shell. The brew from the stem is less narcotic than that made with the roots. It's a traditional gift to give a bundle of roots as a thank you to the chief any village you stay in.

Food! Fiji!

2007-01-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Suva, Fiji is home to the largest market in the South Pacific. It smells like a delicious blend of banana and spices, and the cool of the nearby ocean harbor. All sorts of people were selling all sorts of things! The spikey looking fruit is Jackdaw, whose seeds you extract by hand to eat the white placenta 'round them. I picked up a funny pizza recipe:
Pizza (topped with)
bananas
tamarind chutney
chicken
yogurt

Update from Suva

2007-01-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

Fiji's coup has emptied much of the country of tourists, the capitol in particular. I stopped by the presidential palace during the changing of the guard. Each soldier has to stand a 2 hour shift--I witnessed the 12-2pm, during which you can neither wipe your brow nor swat the flies.

Fiji

2007-01-24T15:47:00.000-08:00

My first stop in Fiji was the tiny island of Mana, off the Western Coast. Circumnavigable in 2 hours, I set about to explore. It's home to only 300 people. There's an expensive Japanese-owned resort, an indigenous village with a cheaper backpackers' hostel, and a reality show set, which is very jealously guarded and filmed on the opposite side of the island.

Obstensively hunting for vegetables (I found cassava fields, papaya groves and potato vines) we got high up in the hills. The dogs (Two Spot, Due Spot and Spot) followed 'til we stood South Pacific. Here are some plants we saw, including a papaya tree.

New Vegetable in LA, CA

2007-01-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

A crunchy, watery tuber from a mint-family plant, my pal Kathleen and I tried some pricey CROSNES at the Hollywood Farmers' Market my first morning in LA. A recipe of French culinary origin suggests sauteing them in butter--alas, California has no Ronnybrook Dairy.

The Great Adventure Begins!

2007-01-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

2006 harbored no white Christmas in either NYC or Chicago, so I took the Amtrak California Zephyr from the midwest to beautiful San Francisco in search of snow. About 26 hours into the trip, we found it: heaps and piles in Colorado, icy tracks in Utah, and ground cover in Nevada. The trip total was an agonizing 50+ hours. Culinary notes include watching a woman and her daughter eat microwaved hot dogs and a beer for breakfast on Day 2, myself going without fresh fruit for over 30 hours, and receiving a concilatory bag of crackers and cookies from Amtrak when a frozen switchback and the deportation of a lunatic at 2am in Salt Lake City delayed our trip 7 hours.

Pear&Sweet Potato Soup

2006-12-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

Simple and delicious. This soup tastes far more masterful than the talent required to make it! Use the best butter (Ronnybrook) and food/fruit (locally grown!)for the most sophisticated flavor.

In a large pan, heat a generous 2 tablespoons of Ronnybrook butter.
Slice into coins:
1 sweet potato
1 medium onion (yellow is good)
1-2 crisp pears of choice

Cover and let simmer until the sweet potato can be easily pierced with a fork.

Add 2 glasses of water, or until your pan is full. The amount of water depends on how thick you like your soup.
Add salt and pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and a large pinch (teaspoon+) of cinnamon, to taste. Bring to a boil, then (right away!) bring to a simmer or turn off and let cool a bit.

In even portions of water/veggie&fruit goodness, blend until all is smooth, creamy and delightful.

Garnish with scallion dice. Simply trim them with scissors. This soup is also delicious garnished with sprouts (I tried sunflower), or with tossed salted cashews thrown in. I would also imagine if you're feeling adventuresome, some pineapple on the side would be delicious. It's also great with a small helping of white wine stirred in after it's cooled a bit.

Market Dinner! Leek and Carrot Rice with Soft, Sweet Turnips

2006-12-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

It's cold! and you know what that means. The sugar plants burn off in the summer during their "it's hot and we're freaking out!" stage of metabolism is now in the "it's winter and we're just chillin'" stage. A classic example is the carrot, which, thanks to frost, has become worth its weight in sugar-coated-gold. To celebrate, here's dinner:

Prepare rice as you normally would. While it comes to a boil, wash and dice several fresh delish market carrots and healthy lovely market leeks. (The diced leeks pop into beautiful rings like Chinese handcuffs!) When you reduce the rice to a simmer, add these treats.

In a seperate pan, heat olive oil. Add cut turnips. Small, white turnips are best--sold in a bunch at the market, you can dice them and even keep their savory greens. Cook over med-high heat until very lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add 3/4 cup water, some diced leeks, and cover with a lid or (if you're me and have no lid to match your pan) a plate. While the rice cooks, reduce this pan to simmer as well, and let everything cook itself for about 15 minutes. The turnips should be firm on the edge but deliciously soft and sweet, like mashed potatoes.

To serve, add salt and pepper, or even a touch of soy sauce. Yum!

Thanksgiving Recipe published in SATYA magazine!

2006-12-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

SATYA, a magazine dedicated to animal rights, environmental activism, good food and good livin', published a recipe of mine last month for their Thanksgiving issue.

Check it out
"Giving Thanks from Field to Fork" at

http://www.satyamag.com/nov06/index.html

Squash-and-Potato-Free Winter Dinner

2006-12-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

For us local-eaters, winter is a welcome borage of squashes and 'taters. But why not salad, still? Hydroponic sprouts, grown indoors on trays of water, are a crisp, tasty, extremely healthy and delicious option too. For dinner the other night, I made veggie crepes and a sprout-celebrating salad, as well as a sweet simple dish of roasted apples.

Salad (mostly from Windfall Farms, in Union Square)
Sunflower and pink-stemmed buckwheat sprouts
Fresh diced radish
Fresh diced purple carrots
Baby spinach
Lettuce

"Thai-style" Winter Veggie Toss
In a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, toss, cover and steam:
Baby bok choi
Broccoli
Purple carrots
Turnips (ask your farmer; some turnips are better to stir-fry than others--I like the small, juicy ones from Hawthorne Valley over the larger, baking version at other stands)
Non-local ingredients: cashews and pineapple, a dash of organic, low-sodium soy sauce and about 1 Tbs. organic peanut butter)

Apple Bake
about 8 apples, diced
Grease a casserole pan with butter. Toss apples in pan with 2 Tbs cinnamon. Bake about 20 minutes or until soft at 350*F. If desired, serve inside of crepes with Hawthorne Valley biodynamic maple-vanilla yogurt.

Building a Bed

2006-12-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

The results our in: our soil isn't great. After the test results came back from Cornell Cooperative Extention, raised beds seemed the best option. So, with help from the Family Garden staff at the Botanical Gardens, I got to saw up some scrap wood and drag it home. Months later, today's freezing weather kept me indoors, and I decided to do a little drilling.

Building a raised bed is relatively simple. If you have access to good compost, it's the best option for urban gardeners. A raised bed can be built over any drainable surface (i.e. not on top of concrete!), and allows you to treat your plants to the good quality soil they deserve. It's also a great way to recycle untreated scrap lumber, as I did.

This bed is about 2 1/2x bigger than its outdoor partner. I'm hoping to use it to plant veggies in the springtime, when I return from three months in New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Lights, Camera...

2006-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Coming soon, thanks to Lex Powell and the meerkats at meerkatmedia.com: a lovely film about birds. It's impossible to be as good as nature when it comes down to making beautiful things, but it's fun to try!

Also, hurrah, in the springtime future, a longer film about our favorite subjects: farms and food! Whet your appetite with this small short (link to follow soon)...

Breakfast!

2006-11-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Oh wow, some days food just arrives like a Zeusian shower of gold onto the waiting Danae of your appetite. This morning, craving oatmeal but without any in the house, I made what I shall herafter refer to as "The Best Day Ever Breakfast Mush".

In a pot with a lid, combine

1 cup lentils, washed and drained
1/2 quart water
4 small lovely locally-grown carrots, diced
1 lovely round locally grown onion
...bring to a boil, then simmer about 35 minutes. Don't be turned off that it gets all mushy. If it doesn't, you did a better job than I did. I'm infamous for bad bean-and-rice making.

Now, the goodies. In a saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Then add:
1 teaspoon each of
cinnamon
coriander
cumin
and
1/2 teaspoon cayanne and nutmeg.
Toast this delcious spices until the smell is amazing (about 3 minutes). Stir in your eagerly awaiting lentil mush. Eat it warm right away! You can also add salt, pepper and lemon juice, toast some pita slices, and eat it as a dip.

I'm eating it right now, this minute, and I couldn't be happier and more full of yum-yum-yum sounds.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

This morning I got to the Greenmarket around 9am. All the farmstands were packed with beautiful produce--and extra hands to help! Despite the chilling wind, everyone seemed really cheerful. Thanksgiving is a popular Greenmarket holiday--there's nothing like picking up a new vegetable you've never cooked before, and getting the farmer's favorite recipe to try it on your family! I picked up parsnips for the first time, and substituted them in for potatoes in the following recipe. Personally, I think potatoes get way too much attention as it is during Thanksgiving--I wanted to give other root crops a chance to shine.

"Lasagne" of Fall Vegetables
...and Mushroom Broth Topping

1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds carrots, thinly sliced
1 pound parsnips, thinly sliced
1 pound turnips, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced shallots
1/2 cup sliced garlic
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 325*F. Double layer butternut squash in greased, salted/peppered 12x9x2" baking pan. Top with 2 tablespoons of

shallots, garlic & thyme mixture. Layer remaining veggies. Season with extra shallot, garlic & thyme mix. Dot with butter. Bake 1 1/2-2 hours, or until tender. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Mushroom Broth

3 tablespoons white button mushrooms, thinly sliced and sauted in 1 tablespoon butter and 3 ounces of honey until lightly colored. Combine with 5 cups water. Bring to a boil; let simmer 30 minutes, stirring. Strain into a bowl. Add: 4 ounces sherry vinegar and 3 ounces soy sauce. Melt 3 tablespoons of cold butter into a saucepan and add all broth ingredients. Wisk. Pour over lasagne.

South Bronx "Nardening"

2006-10-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight I crept out into the yard to enjoy the "starlight" of Manhattan glowing on the horizon and check on the garlic and tulip bulbs. Unlike in Westchester, where deer and squirrels love to dig up and nosh on these bulb-treats, ours seem to turn up their little button noses in favor of garbage.

It was time for a little nardening (night gardening). I laid out more dead leaves in the compost to encourage decomposition. Mmm, the stink! Then I readjusted the cat/rat guards in the raised beds. Finally, I thought about our little yard.

For me, Growing Chefs has long meant the nurturing of habits that carry outside the classroom: good eatin' and good livin'. Tonight, in my yard, I watched the tree branches poking out of the abandoned car in the yard next door blow back and forth in the wind before the rainstorm. Even the weeds waved prettily. It's not the best of yards by landscaping standards, but I love it, and I love that it reminds me, when I'm cooking up kale and garlic for dinner, of their roots. Besides herbs and the wee salad of a month ago, my yard hasn't yielded much of a harvest, but living on a block with no trees, it's a great escape to The Great Outdoors--or at least, Great Dirt.

Salad's served!

2006-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Aw, how cute! The salad seeds that the squirrels, cats and other critters haven't dug up is coming up in adorable style! Note the lovely purplish hues of the baby mustard. For whatever reason, note the obstinent lack of anthocyanin pigmentation of our one tree. Hmm. If it doesn't change color within the month, I'm going to slip some red slips of tissue into the boughs and call it even.

Farm Weekend! Recipes for Fall Eats

2006-10-08T22:17:00.000-07:00

Here's what you gotta cook this fall: crepes! My pal Lex P. met me up at Keith Stewart's farm in Port Jervis, New York, and we made three types. One: (crepes with) apples, shredded carrots, garlic, a touch of scallions, nutmeg, cinnamon and Ronnybrook butter (from the Union Square Greenmarket), two: broccoli, garlic, bell peppers, peanut butter, rice vinegar, and honey; and three: tomatoes, basil, sage, and oregano. You'll be so glad you'll jump (in the mustard) for joy. All of these things are available at Greenmarket right now.

Fight for Your Right (to Have Radishes!)

2006-10-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

War! It's Radish & Lettuce Versus Cats! This particular cat is perched on the abandoned car in our neighbor's yard. The leafy "tree" is actually our other nemisis, Japanese Knotweed, which seems to draw its Evil Strength from the car, growing in a very unweedy thicket over our fence. The cat loves to paw our sprouts (curiosity will not kill it!). Solution: abandoned overturned dishrack-style thingeroos. Right back atcha, kitty!

Sprouts!

2006-10-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

All sorts of things are growing up in the yard: radishes, scarlet creepers I was pretty sure were dead (until look: buds!), and that perpetual party-pooper, Japanese knotweed. JK and I are developing a special relationship: every morning I go out and win a few battles, but the war is so clearly going in favor of this weed, I can almost see its smirk.

Little 2x2.5 Beginnings

2006-09-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday after work at the Botanical Gardens, Dave "the Worm Guy" helped me put together a beautiful wooden compost bin, 2x2x2. Totally jacked up from using the electric saw and power drill for the first time, I built two raised bed frames as well. This is the baby, with six rows of crops: radishes, lettuce and peas. What we can't harvest before the frost we can eat as sprouts!

Muscoot Farm Trip

2006-09-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I made a dinner inspired by a trip up Westchester to Muscoot Farm, where I fell in love with some chickens wearing feathered disco pants:

End-of-Summer PepperEgg Delight
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 eggs (kisses, chickens!)
1/2 cup cooked rice with mild curry seasoning

Saute peppers and onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Clear the center of the pan and fry each egg, scrambling gently. Turn rice and peppers into egg as it scrambles. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Then I made this for desert:
1 very ripe banana
1 ripe peach
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup oats

Cut and mash banana and peach in a bowl. Saute butter and sugar; add fruits. Season with cinnamon. Toss in oats. Stir until hot and oats begin to thicken.

I ate it on top of a small scoop of cinnamon ice cream. Yum!

Home sweet Garden: Before and After

2006-09-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

I recently moved to Mott Haven, and with that step, acquired a garden. The bottom photo shows all the weeds that came with it; the top photo is the proud result of eight collective hours of hand-weeding with my young neighbors Ashley and Taysean, aged 12. We've got grand plans: composting, raised bed veggies, herbs galore. And we're keepin' it organic.

Biodynamic! New superhero, or farming fun?

2006-09-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, as a representative of, uh, myself, Growing Chefs went to a Biodynamic Farming Conference hosted by the wonderful Hawthorne Valley Farm of Ghent, New York. My favorite workshop was "Making Biodiesel Fuel," which, I assure you, is easier to do than you'd think! If you have $3000 to throw down to get the equiptment, it becomes (hurrah!) like cooking shortly after: the right ingredients, the right timing, and poof! you can drive a car with the pleasant aroma of french fries wafting after you in the breeze. Hurrah, hurrah because--One: this is better for the planet, and two: this is cheaper than unleaded.

Any diesel engine can convert to biodiesel, either at 100% or a B-10, B-20, etc. level. If you have an older car, the b-fuel is going to clean it out and make all the old cracks your dirty unleaded has been stopping up wash out. My novice recommendation, therefore, is to try this little project on a well-kept machine. Or start with a percentage of biodiesel before cranking it up to full-on use. Moi, I just own a bicycle. But I think this concept is pretty nifty.