apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had family in town last week (fringe benefit of living in Florida is people do come to visit) and I cooked a ton. Young brothers eat A LOT. This week I've been laying low. I made pasta and greens with a poached egg on top two nights in a row.

But I did finally put up pictures of those Spanish desserts I was asking about a while back...

http://www.mekuno.net/archives/almonds_oranges_spanish_for.html

I can't wait to go to the first farmer's market of the season in my neighborhood. My mouth waters at the thought of having fresh spinach, chard and french breakfast radishes.

Today I made a quick lunch from left over parmesean and pea risotto. I tried making risotto cakes/fritters but forgot to add the eggs and they fell apart. I ended up with a krispy hash of left over risotto. I added a little tomato sauce and it was yummy!

I'm counting the days until the Farmer's Market opens in my neighborhood. I cannot wait and I go very Sunday to get my goodies for the week.

Tomorrow I'm having friends over for Brunch and I'm making toast with melted gruyere cheese topped with roasted asparagus and a fried egg on top.

Sunday I'm going to my favorite bakery for coffee and a Red Velvet Cupcake! Yum!

Miss V I'm coming over to your house tomorrow! Sounds yummy!
:)

Holly

I had a fun cooking week. My vegetable drawer has been packed since I started doing Urban Organic (so much so that I'm now cancelling every other week) so on Sunday I made veggie lasagna with eggplant and zucchini and I mixed some soft tofu into the ricotta. By Wednesday I was eager for a little meat so I made meatloaf from here:

http://technically.us/eat/articles/2006/03/23/favorite-meat-loaf

and also risotto with dandelion. Here are some (amateur) photos of the results. I just got a new digital camera today so hopefully I can get a little better at the food styling in the future...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67406767@N00/123980135/

Miss V, that sounds delicious!

abby, what size box to you get from Urban Organic? Have you had a good experience with them? My husband and I are considering signing on.

I have had a good experience so far, and we get the regular box. There is just too much stuff for myself and my husband to finish every week. And I don't think that the small box would really alleviate that issue. So I've taken to just emailing and cancelling every other week and it seems to work well.

As far as the contents, I sometimes feel pressured by them because one week, say, there won't be tomato or cucumber and I really just want a simple salad with dinner. But then I feel guilty going out and buying tomato and cucumber when I have a refrigerator full of spinach, chard and green beans. But then sometimes I feel like it pushes me to research new recipes and try out new things. Like the dandelion risotto mentioned above.

Apologies for posting a second time, but I'm hopeful more people will be checking out the new thread...

Any advice for finding artichokes? I used to get them at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia or at Haymarket in Boston - is there similar place in NY?

Thanks!

sarahw -- Have you tried the Union Square greenmarket? Fairway and Whole Foods will probably have them, too...

That risotto looks so good right now...

There's some left in my fridge -- you're welcome to it ;)

yeah! new thread!
Luke, what's a French Breakfast Radish?!

when it got dismally chill and rainy in NYC
I made a panade for dinner, which is sort of like
ordering in a pizza, but better

there's gruyere, leftover bread, and greens, along with carmelized onions and broth
actually, it's a savory bread pudding
There a great recipe in Zuni, also plenty googlable

the Zuni one calls for everyone favorite
swiss chard

I used spinach 'cause I had it
and three huge shallots since I didn't have #1 onions
and less broth since I wanted to bake it for half the time
and I like it less wet anyway

The one time I had young unbitter dandelion greens
I made that fried egg thing too
with some anchovy involved. mmm.

bon weekend, y'all

Wow! Thanks Abby! Too bad I'm in Florida... ;-)
I like your blog, btw.

Guido - I made a panade a couple months ago, from a recipe on Orangette. So good, especially when it's cold. Fresh broth and melty cheese with gooey bread and chard...

That's not my blog -- I just found it the other day (can't remember where). It's a guy and his mom blogging about cooking. That's where I found the meatloaf recipe.

sarahw
you will not be able to find artichokes at any greenmarket in the city b/c they're not grown around these parts
the beauty of the greenmarket is that the produce has to be from within a certain radius of miles, i think maybe like 200 or so, and i'm pretty sure 'chokes can't be grown in this climate
that's also why there's no veges at the market right now
sigh, i can't WAIT til spring actually, uh, SPRINGS

oh-- and btw, this weekend i plan to make my gran's pickled red beet eggs and maybe bake some shaker bread -- i'm feeling old tymey this weekend

Abby, good to hear you had better luck with the dandelion greens from Urban Organic than I did. I used them as salad greens with a hot bacon and dijon dressing -- a Mark Bittman recipe. I didn't trim off enough of the ends, I think, becasue they were too tough and bitter. Maybe these greens were too mature to use raw or with just the quick cook from the hot dressing? The dressing was good. We ended up eating a few of the greens like lollipops, just biting the top of the greens off and then discarding the bitter ends of the leaves.

That's what I've read about dandelion -- it needs to be boiled for about 5 minutes before it's sauteed or whatever you're going to do with it. Mine was still a little bitter, bt mixing it with creamy ricey goodness definitely cut the bitterness.

Abby, I'm off to Urban Organic to pick up this weeks box. If I get anything as challenging as those dandelion greens again, I'll post and see what you think!

Heading from LA to NY this weekend, and have all Monday and Tuesday to myself to wander around the city and one day I'd like to create a picnic for myself to enjoy in central park--any recommendations of upper east or west side blocks where I can go from one shop to the next to pull together a fab lunch? I'm thinking cheese, meats, desserts, veggies, drinks...

Also, anyone looking for more chard recipes, the cookbook Sunday Suppers at Lucques has a great swiss chard goat cheese tart that I made last week. Easy and yummy.

not cooking too much this weekend--i'm headed out of town next week and don't want leftovers rotting in my fridge. but, i'm totally looking forward to making seder with my mom. we're going italian this year, so i'll take pics and post when i get back....

guido,

French breakfast radish is a skinny fingerlike radish about one to two inches with a red tip and white body. take a look at of a picture here: http://producejigsaw.blogspot.com/2006/02/peppery-roots.html

I used to hate traditional radishes but then tried these and love them.

I love them and love their peppery bite and juiciness. They are so fresh and are a great munching snack.


You guys' description of making panade made me cringe. At first glance I though you said you cooked a panda! eeek!

try the radishes... you will love them

hi everyone, you may remember I got stuck cooking roast turkey on a weeknight this week. Right now I have 2 pots on the stove, one with the wings & legs, tomatoes, etc. for a turkey chile recipe from Epicurious & in the other I'm making turkey stock for a soup tomorrow! Gotta cook them 2 hrs+. But it smells so good in my apt.! It's cold & rainy out so it's comforting..
Have some leftover cooked turkey meat -freeze it?

Happy weekend cooking! Off to look up that panade recipe, guido, sounds good. Love the bread pudding idea.

O Luke, it only gets worse
my dog's pet name is panda

hi leeds!
turkey goes well in mole . . .
and you could use some of that broth in a panade
I'd freeze it asap
because turkey has such an off smell in the fridge

I want to make the daikon kimchee Bittman put in the NYT this week . . .
but prolly not until next week

I made my first visit ot the market today and am now stocked up for a spring meal of tasty greens: spinach, broccoli rabe, Momma Bok choi, mescelum, baby carrots. I can't wait to cook it up, cuz that's what I wuz born ta do!

you could make turkey tetrazzini with it and freeze it.

or just whip up some turkey salad for next week's lunches.

Can anyone think of a good recipe to showcase salt?

I got some Murray River mineralized salt flakes (they're pink and very delicate in flavor, with a slightly earthy tone) so I want something that will be enhanced by the salt, without overwhelming it. I am usually a very bold taste person, so would like to see about creating a very light and delicate taste - and no meat or poultry is the other requirement - as well as no shellfish or peanut. :)

Thanks!

Second meal for the day:

Broccoli Rabe sauted in ginger lime butter with soaked raisins and tosted walnuts and crumbled goat cheese with a splash of sherry vinegar and a dash of sugar.

http://recipes.robbiehaf.com/O/573.htm

I have to admit that I like this soup from the Olive Garden...so I made it at home this weekend and it turned out pretty darn tasty! Actually, I made it without a recipe and then found this version later - which was similar to what I threw together.

Rachel ~

Why don't you sprinkle it on simpled sauteed greens? I would look for simple and fresh flavors and sprinkle it on top: olive oil ice cream, fresh tomatoes (when in season), greens - even salad, scrambled eggs....

Rachel (in Denver):

With a great salt, I lean towards salads. Sounds like your salt would be great for a traditional caprese (tomato, basil, fresh mozarella, drizzled olive oil and sprinkling of salt).

hi Guido! Found the panade recipe in the Zuni cookbook, got ingredients (long cooking, huh..?) I'm using org. baby spinach as well.
Notice recipe is posted today, yay!
I had time to prep.ALL ingredients this morning, will cook it tonight. Thanks for suggestion, will use my turkey stock. Re mole, is there a recipe you like/suggest? I can look it up later also.

liz, thanks for your suggestion of tetrazzini, can you believe I did not find a recipe (looked in about 6 books). Could have found it on the net but I try to avoid computers on the weekend! Good to know that it freezes though! Ended up freezing the white meat (lge. chunks) to tackle later.

Had first bbq of the season yesterday! It was my best friend's birthday. Picked up marinated skewers (chicken&pork) & thick pork chops at a Greek butcher's-they were amazing! Birthday boy made a salad of (home)sprouted beans (mung & chick peas) with thinly sliced zucchini & tomato dressed in olive oil & apple cider vinegar. Yum! Threw in a couple of sweet potatoes directly on coals: intensifies the flavour. Bread slices went on the grill as well!
I made 3-layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing. All & all, a good food weekend (we had a weekend-long birthday celebration - went out for a leisurely lunch on Sat. in his honour..!)

Miss V, I did a spin on your brunch dish and it was fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenblossom/126368628/

mmm, carrot cake

hi leeds!
the red mole (or green) in your Bayless will be great.
Do you have access to some good chiles?
I'm still enjoying working up some mole paste from a Mexico trip...it keeps really well in frozen...
I went to dinner last night with a friend's first attempt, and it was fabulous.

Hope you enjoy the panade mightily -- less broth = less cooking time and less soupyness. Nice crunch...

I barely cooked this weekend! As much as I love to, boy do I love an invitation out...

I also made a yummy soup.

Puereed bean soup:

Saute onion and garlic, add rosemary and red pepper flakes, add one can of chick peas and one can of butter beans, add two-three cups water/stock. simmer. Puree at the end I added frozen peas and baby spinach and a pat of butter. Finished off with grated parmesean cheese.

leeds, my mom always made tetrazzini with cream of mushroom, which i'm sure is not orthodox (but very, very southern!).

here is giada's recipe from the food network, which i'm sure is more authentic:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30144,00.html

i have made it with chicken and, during my white-trash college days, canned tuna. yum.

guido - re good chiles: dry or fresh? I'm still trying to get a handle on Mex. cooking as you can tell. Lucky you with your frozen mole paste. When I was in Mexico years ago I picked up The Best vanilla extract ever, lasted a for years!(big bottle). Wish I could get a hold of some, can't get similar tasting.
thanks for the panade tips-looking forward to it!

I agree with you, cooking is fun & relaxing for me but the home cooking of someone else always seems to taste better! Is it because all there is to do is enjoy (no work), or because each cook gives his/her own 'touch'. Both! :)

leeds,
mole
chiles
dry!

pasilla and ancho for mole coloradito
for example
those + mulattos in mole negro
(this is from memory...)
but there's probably a mole for whatever chile you can find
you are looking for them to be supple and meaty. Dried chiles keep REALLY well if stored properly, so it's possible.

for green and yellow mole, that's fresh peppers
and herbs

btw, the recipes take a little while roasting, toasting, and grinding everything, so it's earlier Bayless (One Plate, not Everyday)
What you have in Mexico tastes different because there's things like burnt avocado leaves involved that are unlikely to happen in our kitchens. If you only had the right leaves...
STILL it's totally delicious and worth making with what we can get in El Norte.

Diana Kennedy is uber authority on mole in the English language, but Bayless helps me cut to the chase and get it done.

I am making my way through a big bottle of vanilla that a coworker brought back from Mexico and just loving it.

I don't know so much about authentic Mexican cooking, but I do know that there are zillions of different kinds of chile peppers. I have a little Thai pepper plant outside my front door - these are supposed to be really, really hot. And dried are more intense, generally, than their fresh counterpart, right? Because the heat is more concentrated and not diffused throughout the cells. I use a lot of little dried red peppers in Indian cooking - just two or three of these is enough to make an entire dish sting!

I wonder how that works with the really hot little peppers.

I grew habaneros last summer (and weird, in the kitchen through part of the winter) and I can't imagine them getting any hotter . . .

Anchos, which I'm pretty sure are smoked poblanos, can be quite mild. More mild than the average poblano. So I don't know if the intensity thing bears out across the board like it does with dried herbs like oregano and sage.

Chiles link on my name . . . oy vey

in re mexican vanilla
i read something recently (and, of course i cannot for the life of me remember where) cautioning against using mexican vanilla extracts
they said that if you're not careful and buy a *ahem* unknown brand (or something) the vanilla can be toxic
apparently there's this additive called Coumarin that comes from a nut, that smells and tastes just like vanilla and is cheaper, etc, etc
i have a big bottle of the stuff that i bought when i was there a few years ago, but now i'm totally creeped out about using it
from what i've read, if it was too cheap to believe, its probably not the real stuff, and might hurt you in the end
sigh