Wednesday, July 21, 2010
toast with collard & green olive pesto
Meredith’s first backpacking trip
The big news around here is that five-year-old Meredith and I did our first ever backpacking trip together! We’ve been discussing it for a long time, mulling over our route, destination, equipment, and most importantly, the menu. We settled on Rabbit Lake, a gradual climb of about four and a half miles from the trail head on the upper hillside of Anchorage.
It’s been at least seven years since my last backpacking trip—a long time, considering Dan’s and my enthusiasm for remote adventures before pregnancy, infant and toddler stages. We’ve been enjoying car camping and skiff camping trips since Meredith was born, but Meredith is old enough now to hold her own on hiking day trips. It was time to break out my pack.
So last Saturday after selling our bread at the farmers market, I rummaged around in the basement and ran up and down the stairs all afternoon, unearthing the necessary gear and then testing things out in the sunshine on the lawn. I explained to Meredith that I really did NOT want to discover that I had forgotten the tent poles when we arrived at Rabbit Lake. Or that my trusty WhisperLite stove’s plunger had dried up and wouldn’t pressurize the fuel can. Meredith got so excited about all this testing that she could hardly bear to break down the tent to pack it. Unfortunately, the weather report for the next few days looked rather ominous—especially for Sunday-Monday. Monday-Tuesday looked marginally better, and was our only other option.
Sure enough, we woke to a steady downpour and wind on Sunday, so we decided to postpone for a day and hope for the slight change predicted in the weather report. I PROMISED the distressed Meredith that we would go the next day, rain or shine. It looked like we would get wet no matter what, but we’ve got trips and day-camps and visitors for the next few weeks, so it was now or never. Anyway, we’re tough! We’re Alaskan! If you don’t camp in the rain in Alaska, you never camp!
So… Monday morning at the house was not raining, just overcast and gloomy, but as Dan drove us up to drop us off at the trail head, it began to rain… so we donned our rain gear and hiked our way up in the wind and rain. Turns out that Meredith and I can hike nearly the same speed, as long as I’m weighed down by everything we need—clothes, food, kitchen, tent, and sleeping gear! By the time we neared the top, the wind was howling and it was raining sideways and freezing cold, so we didn’t want to stop for lunch—we just ate our apples on the hoof.
When we got to the lake, we found a slightly protected spot near the lake and set up the tent. Meredith was a big help with the tent in the wind and rain—and I was reminded afresh how demoralizing it is to set up one’s tent in a downpour (those huge drops splatting on the parts that are supposed to be DRY), but we managed. We changed into warm dry clothes and huddled inside our tiny tent, eating our yummy cheese and avocado sal-wiches (Can you see the green smears on Meredith’s face in the photo, below?), and then snuggled into our sleeping bags to get warm. I will forever be grateful that Meredith actually offered to let me put my frozen hands on her warm little tummy to warm them up. Am I a lucky mom, or what?
Lo and behold, the rain let up a bit, so after our lunch snuggle we set out for a little adventure around the lake and on the tundra in a mild drizzle. We had hot chocolate at tea time. By dinnertime it had all but stopped raining, better luck!! We boiled up our Annie’s mac & cheese with green beans, and then we both fell into our sleeping bags after a story and some card games. Meredith went to sleep right away after dinner, but then woke up again at 8pm and couldn’t go back to sleep for a long time because of the bright daylight—so I read more chapters of our book, she ate a bowl of leftover mac & cheese, and finally she conked back off.
On Tuesday morning we woke up to a brighter overcast day, which was lovely. We enjoyed our morning hot chocolate, then oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, and then hiked back down to meet Dan, on his way up the trail to meet us. I’m so proud of Meredith, hiking like a trooper and enjoying her first backpacking trip even in marginal weather!
The recipe below has nothing whatsoever to do with our hiking trip, except that I came up with the recipe just today, the day after we returned. It’s made with Alaskan collards and tomatoes from our CSA box. I LOVE IT. What a fabulous way to eat your greens!
toast with collard & green olive pesto
This pesto recipe is based on one I found on epicurious.com, submitted by Danny Toma. He uses Parmesan cheese in his recipe, and twice as much olive oil—but I found that with the rich olives, I didn’t need the cheese or the extra oil! What a fun way to eat your greens!! I spread the pesto on toast, but you can also use half this amount on a pound of cooked pasta. Just freeze what you won’t use in three days. (A ziploc bag works well.)
slices of hearty whole grain bread
tomatoes
collard & green olive pesto (recipe below)
Make the pesto. Slice your tomatoes. Toast your bread. Apply pesto in thick mounds (remember, it’s your vegetable!) and top with tomatoes. Enjoy, with a napkin at the ready.
collard & green olive pesto
1-3/4 lb collard greens (you can use kale, instead, if you want)
7 to 12 large brine-cured green olives (2-1/4 ounces), pitted
2 garlic cloves
1/4 to 1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut stems and center ribs from collard greens and discard. Slice greens into strips and stir collards into water, bring back to a boil, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 8 to 15 minutes. Drain collards in a colander, pressing on greens to extract excess water.
2. Blend olives and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add collards, water, vinegar, salt, cayenne, and pepper and pulse until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a slow stream. Taste and add more salt if needed.
print this recipe
Saturday, August 15, 2009
broccoli with golden raisins and carrot dip with sunflower seeds and cumin
Julia’s Lunch
Last week I got a call from Julia O’Malley. Yes, THE Julia O’Malley who writes that great column in the Anchorage Daily News. She said she wanted to talk to me about local food and farmers markets, and asked if I would cook something local and seasonal with her. Of COURSE I would! Did she want to come over for dinner? “How about lunch?” she asked. Perfect. We settled on Wednesday, when we could also visit the farmers market at the Dimond Center.
It wasn’t that I was exactly nervous about this meal—but I really wanted it to be great. I waffled about the menu for several days, turning over many different ideas and then rejecting them. I knew I wanted to make a broccoli dish—the farmers markets are swimming in broccoli now, and it’s so sweet and delicious. But what should I serve alongside? Avocado toasts? No, not local enough—only the onions are Alaskan. Lightly sauteed tomatoes on toast? Nope. Last Saturday, I was so busy selling bread that by the time I had a chance to shop at the farmers’ market, they were gone. Carrot salad with currants & mint? Nah… I didn’t have any mint and I didn’t want to go to the grocery store.
So I finally settled on making a menu that I would have made for any friend that came over. “Don’t knock yourself out,” I told myself. “She wants to meet you, not Martha Stewart.” (Well, maybe she does want to meet Martha Stewart, but that would have to be another time.) I would serve something new, broccoli with golden raisins, fresh from the farmers market and hot out of the skillet. And then I would pull something out of the freezer for an accompaniment: carrot dip with sunflower seeds and cumin. I’d made it late last fall when I had way too many carrots on hand, and it would be the perfect thing to serve on toast with the broccoli.
Even though I’d settled on a menu, I was still a little bit nervous on Wednesday morning. I wanted everything to go smoothly and I hoped I wouldn’t stick my foot in my mouth… But my remaining anxiousness evaporated as a smiling Julia hopped out of her car, joking about the long drive to the wilds of Lower Hillside. I asked if she’d gotten her passport stamped; I understand many urban Anchorage-ites rarely travel south of Tudor Road.
We got to work right away on lunch. As I peeled the broccoli stems and chopped the stalks, sauteed garlic and added the raisins and red pepper flakes, Julia and I talked about farmers markets, local food, and cooking the river of fresh ingredients that can turn into a flood this time of year. (She was videoing the whole cooking process with her flip camera.) We enjoyed our lunch outside on the deck, and got a little heady discussing the benefits of local food; beyond just fresh and delicious, buying local benefits our community in so many ways! Suddenly it was 2:30 and we needed to hit the farmers market before it closed at 4pm! Luckily the vendors still had plenty of produce when we arrived at the market, and she got a chance to talk with them, too.
I had a wonderful day with Julia! Not only is she a gifted writer, she’s engaging and smart and funny. I went into our day with the expectation of an interview, and came out with a new friend! Thanks, Julia!!
Oh—and here’s the link to her story!
broccoli with golden raisins
I love this broccoli recipe—I love it hot as a side dish, at room temperature as a salad, or even cold out of the ‘fridge as a snack. It’s loosely based on a recipe in Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast, one of my favorite cookbooks for vegetables. I posted this recipe in my blog once before, but in honor of Julia’s lunch, I’m re-posting it.
1 ½ pounds broccoli, tops cut into bite-sized florets, and stems sliced into ¼” slices (peel the stems first if the skin is tough)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ cup golden raisins
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
sea salt or kosher salt
optional toast:
4 slices thick whole-wheat bread
extra olive oil for the toast
1. Put about an inch of water in the bottom of a pot that you can put a steamer basket in. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. When the water boils, put the golden raisins in the steamer basket and steam for 5 minutes. Remove the raisins, but keep the water in the steamer.
2. Put the broccoli stems into the steamer basket, and steam for 4-6 minutes until barely tender. Check them every minute after 4 minutes, poking with a sharp paring knife. Remove the stems, drain them, and immediately spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This cools the broccoli quickly and allows it to dry out.)
3. Put the florets in the steamer, and steam for 3-5 minutes until barely tender, keeping a close eye on them. Remove the florets and spread them out on a dishtowel as with the stems. When they are cool enough to handle, chop the florets and stems a bit finer with a large chef’s knife.
4. In a large skillet over high heat, warm the oil. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the broccoli, stems, raisins, and red pepper flakes and sauté until the broccoli is quite tender, and the flavors are nicely combined—about 5 minutes. Season with plenty of salt—it will need quite a bit.
5. If you want to serve the broccoli on toast, toast the slices of bread until golden, and drizzle with olive oil. Pile the broccoli on top.
carrot dip with sunflower seeds & cumin
You pretty much need a food processor for this recipe, and with it, this dip is SO FAST to make. It’s much quicker and easier than hummus, for example, since the carrots cook so much more quickly than chickpeas. But it’s rich and delicious and flavorful—and such a beautiful color! Not to mention nutritious!
This recipe is based on one in Veganomicon. The original recipe called for oil, but I think the dip is rich enough just with the ground sunflower seeds. If you prefer a richer spread, by all means add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil!
It’s fantastic spread on our toasted seed bread, or crackers, or our regular 100% whole wheat levain. But it’s also great scooped up with celery sticks!
1 pound carrots, peeled if the skins are bitter
¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds (if you have salted roasted seeds, just use less salt and adjust to taste)
2 small cloves garlic (or 3 cloves, if you like things garlicky)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
1 -2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
1. If you have raw sunflower seeds, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Toast the sunflower seeds on a cookie sheet in the oven (the oven works well if you’re making extra seeds) for about 10 -12 minutes, until golden-brown and fragrant. Check on them and give them a stir if they are getting too brown in spots. Or, you can toast the seeds on a skillet over medium heat until golden-brown and toasted.
2. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add a little salt.
3. Slice the carrots. I do this in the food processor—just cut the stem ends off the carrots and shoot them through the feed tube, pushing with the little pusher cup, small end first.
4. Boil the carrots until soft, 7 to 10 minutes. Drain in a colander when done.
5. Meanwhile, when the sunflower seeds are toasted, peel the garlic and toss it in the cuisinart to mince. Then add the sunflower seeds and process into fine crumbs. Then add the cumin, salt, lemon juice, and carrots, and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor as you go.
6. Taste for salt and adjust the lemon. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 30 minutes).
print this recipe
Thursday, August 13, 2009
toast with nut butter and raspberries
the berry bug
Our neighbors called just as we were finishing dinner and invited us over to pick golden raspberries. It was almost Meredith’s bedtime, and not long before my own… but we couldn’t resist! Meredith has been at Blueberry Camp with her preschool class all week, so she was especially jazzed. “I’m a better berry picker than you, Mom, since I’ve been practicing on blueberries all week!”
Just between you and me, she would be hard pressed to be a better berry picker than I. I inherited a berry-picking compulsion (or is it a learned behavior?) from both of my parents, so I have a hard time dragging myself away from a bush (or a hillside or forest, for that matter) if there is still a berry left. Three summers ago, when Meredith was but a small and tiny mite, there was a banner blueberry year in Kachemak Bay. In a couple of weeks, I picked 40 gallons of blueberries (high-bush), mostly during Meredith’s morning and afternoon nap-times, all around our cabin where I could hear her cry when she woke up. Not that I’m obsessed or anything. Ha.
Even so, I didn’t dissuade Meredith from her delusion that she might be a better picker than I am. I humored her, because I want to encourage this sort of behavior, not crush her with my berry-picking ego. Berry picking is soothing and contemplative, and I love it. I do hope Meredith catches the berry bug, too. It’ll serve her well in the future: filling the freezer and emptying her mind, all at the same time.
THANK YOU, Kari & Wade, for letting us pick your raspberries! As you can see, we enjoyed the berries for breakfast on toast with nut butter. Meredith got especially creative with her design!
toast with nut butter and raspberries
Not exactly a recipe… just a wonderful breakfast this time of year, when the raspberries are ripe in backyards. It also makes a fabulous afternoon snack! We always use our own Rise & Shine bakery whole grain sourdough pan loaves for the toast, but any sturdy whole-grain bread will work just fine.
And here’s how I like my almond butter. I love roasted almond butter (not the raw kind), and I like it a little bit salty, like peanut butter. Most almond butters don’t come salted—but it’s easy to mix in salt when you’re stirring in the separated oil when you first open the jar. If you don’t prefer almond butter, use peanut butter, instead! That’s what Meredith had this morning.
slices of whole wheat sourdough bread
almond butter (I prefer roasted and salted) or peanut butter
raspberries
Toast the bread, and spread it with nut butter. Get in touch with your inner pastry chef and decorate the nut buttered toast with raspberries. Eat with more raspberries on the side, if you like. Sip tea or coffee between bites. Enjoy pure bliss.
print this recipe
Monday, June 22, 2009
grilled southwestern salmon with guacamole on crispy toast
EAT WILD SALMON!
You probably already know that I sell my Rise & Shine Bakery bread at the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market during the summer. As the farmers’ market reporter, I also write the weekly email newsletter that gets posted on our website.
A couple of weeks ago two women from Trout Unlimited contacted me about holding an event to promote Bristol Bay salmon at our farmers’ market. The event, “Eat Wild!,” is to be held this Saturday, June 27, and is designed to build consumer demand for wild salmon. By building support for the fishery, they hope to help protect Southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from the threat of large-scale mining. Trout Unlimited, partnering with our Arctic Choice Seafoods, will be giving away free samples of grilled Bristol Bay sockeye salmon along with recipes and information about Bristol Bay and the risks this fishery faces.
They asked me if I wanted to submit a recipe for their event—and I just happened to have a great recipe ready! At the market last weekend I picked up a glorious sockeye salmon filet so I could make it again and take a photo for you. YUM! I’m definitely planning to pick up another salmon filet this Saturday! You can feed yourself like a King (pun intended) and get yourself on the moral high ground—just by buying wild Alaskan salmon!
The event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Arctic Choice Seafood booth at the South Anchorage Farmers Market, at the Subway/Cellular One Sports Centre near the corner of Old Seward Highway and O’Malley Road. More information is available at www.whywild.org.
grilled southwestern salmon with guacamole on crispy toast
This recipe is inspired by the wonderful fresh local salmon at the market! You grill the salmon with a yummy southwestern rub, then toast a slice of hearty whole-grain bread until crisp. Spread the toast with a thick layer of guacamole, stack the salmon on top, and sprinkle with a little garnish of red onions. Serve with a simple green salad, topped with toasted green pumpkin seeds. And wouldn’t a margarita taste good with this meal? Especially if we have a sunny day and you can eat it outside on the deck!
Even if you have your own guacamole recipe already, you might want to give this one a try—it’s modified from a recipe from a Cook’s Illustrated magazine from several years ago, and I really do think it’s a good one.
For the southwestern spice rub, I really like the choices at Summit Spice & Tea Co. (at 1120 E. Huffman Road). I’d recommend their southwestern blend, or the Slammin’ Salmon, or the Coho Mojo. You could also just use prepared chili powder if you don’t have any of these blends handy.
1 large filet salmon
southwestern spice rub
canola oil (for the grill)
1 small red onion, minced
guacamole (recipe follows)
4 slices hearty whole-grain bread
1. Make the guacamole, cover it with plastic wrap (pressed directly onto the surface to keep it from browning) and refrigerate.
2. Skin the salmon filet and sprinkle it all over with the spice rub, rubbing it on to cover all surfaces.
3. Heat your grill on high heat, and when the grill racks are very hot, scrub them clean with your grill brush. Just before you’re going to grill the salmon, fold a paper towel into a 3” square, and soak this pad in a small dish of canola oil. Swab the grill racks thoroughly with the oil-soaked pad, then immediately set the filet on the hot, oiled rack with the skinned side up (pretty side down).
4. Turn the heat down to medium and cover the grill. Cook the salmon on that side until it has nice grill marks and will release from the grill without sticking, about 4 minutes.
5. While the salmon is grilling, toast the bread on the grill or in your toaster.
6. Use the same paper towel to oil the nearby grill space, and then carefully flip the salmon onto the newly oiled patch. Cook for another couple of minutes until it’s done to your liking. We like it pretty rare, but keep in mind that the thinner tail section will cook faster than the thicker sections. You can either cut the tail off when it’s cooked and let the rest of the salmon cook a bit more, cut the tail section off before you grill it and cook it separately, or just let the tail part get more well-done than the rest of the filet for those in your family who prefer it that way.
7. Remove the salmon from the grill to a plate while you prepare the sandwiches.
8. Spread each slice of toast with a thick layer of guacamole, top with the salmon, and sprinkle with red onions. Serve immediately with a margarita or a cold beer!
guacamole
I buy bags of avocados all year ‘round at Costco. Here’s how to ripen and store the avocados from Costco so they don’t get overripe and go to waste. Buy a bag of them when they are rock-hard, and set them on your counter. Every day (you must be vigilant), squeeze them very gently to see how soft they are getting. When they have just begun to get soft (don’t wait until they are squishy), put them in the refrigerator RIGHT AWAY—this will more or less arrest their further ripening, and you will have a treasure trove of perfectly ripe avocados for a week or more.
¼ to ½ cup minced onion (to your taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 jalepeno peppers, seeded with a spoon and minced
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro (optional)
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
3 ripe avocados
2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1. After mincing the onion, scoop it into a glass or bowl and cover with cold water and let it soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (This takes away some of the bite of the raw onion.)
2. Put the garlic, jalepeno, cilantro, salt, and cumin in a medium bowl.
3. Halve, pit, and peel the avocados.
4. Drain the onion well in a sieve and add to the bowl, stir with a fork. Put one avocado into the bowl and mash the flesh with the onion mixture.
5. Cube the remaining 2 avocados into ½” pieces and put the pieces into the bowl. Sprinkle the lime juice over the diced avocado and mix entire contents of bowl lightly with a fork until combined but still chunky. Adjust seasoning with salt and lime juice. Try not to eat the entire bowl while you’re testing it.
6. You can cover it with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto surface of guacamole, and refrigerate it for a few hours before serving, if you like.
print this recipe
Saturday, June 06, 2009
skillet cornbread
Farmer Boy
I’m reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy to Meredith again. She’s only four years old (well, almost five) and this is the third time I’m reading it to her. You might assume this is because Meredith loves it so. You’d be right… but the more salient reason is because I love it so. Somehow I grew up without reading this book! I read all of the other Laura Ingalls Wilder books, starting with Little House in the Big Woods (which I think is my favorite, actually), but somehow missed this one, the story of Almanzo Wilder’s boyhood in upstate New York. When I read it to Meredith the first time, I was utterly captivated… and as with all books I love dearly, I felt quite bereft at the end. Luckily I have a willing audience for repeat readings, and having just finished it for the second time a couple of weeks ago, we started all over again at the beginning.
Since the Farmers Market is just starting up in earnest, it’s an especially good time to be reading this book. It’s the story of all the work 10-year-old Almanzo can already do, and what he aspires to do, on his father’s farm… milking the cows, feeding the stock, breaking his team of young calves to the yoke, helping cut ice for the ice house, collecting sap and boiling maple syrup, driving the plow horses to harrow the fields, planting the crops, shearing sheep, weeding the vegetables, picking berries, harvesting the crops, threshing the wheat, and hauling wood from the wood lot.
This vast amount of constantly changing and physically demanding work makes for very big appetites, and Almanzo’s mother is an amazing cook! (I add here, that in addition to all the cooking and baking for her family, she cheerfully does all the other work expected of a farm wife: spinning and knitting and weaving their sheeps’ wool into wonderfully warm and durable cloth, sewing all the family’s clothes and linens, doing the washing and cleaning, making soap, candles, and butter, storing the vegetables, and so on.) Anyway, every day, with the help of Almanzo’s two sisters, Almanzo’s mother puts three huge and fantastic meals on the table. These meals are often described in mouth-watering detail, and these sections are Meredith’s and my particular favorites. Meredith will often say after an account of a particularly wonderful meal, “I wish I was Almanzo!” So do I! Here are a few of our favorite sections (and these aren’t even the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners!).
Almanzo ate the sweet, mellow baked beans. He ate the bit of salt pork that melted like cream in his mouth. He ate mealy boiled potatoes, with brown ham-gravy. He ate the ham. He bit deep into velvety bread spread with sleek butter, and he ate the crisp golden crust. He demolished a tall heap of pale mashed turnips, and a hill of stewed yellow pumpkin. Then he sighed, and tucked his napkin deeper into the neckband of his red waist. And he ate plum preserves and strawberry jam, and grape jelly, and spiced watermelon-rind pickles. He felt very comfortable inside. Slowly he ate a large piece of pumpkin pie. [from “Winter Evening”]
[Almanzo and his older brother, Royal] worked so hard [packing ice with sawdust in the icehouse] that the exercise kept them warm, but long before noon Almanzo was hungrier than wolves. He couldn’t stop work long enough to run into the house for a doughnut. All of his middle was hollow, with a gnawing inside it.
He knelt on the ice, pushing sawdust into the cracks with his mittened hands, and pounding it down with a stick as fast as he could, and he asked Royal:
“What would you like best to eat?”
They talked about spareribs, and turkey with dressing, and baked beans, and crackling cornbread, and other good things. But Almanzo said that what he liked most in the world was fried apples’n’onions.
When, at last, they went in to dinner, there on the table was a big dish of them! Mother knew what he liked best, and she had cooked it for him.
Almanzo ate four large helpings of apples’n’onions fried together. He ate roast beef and brown gravy, and mashed potatoes and creamed carrots and boiled turnips, and countless slices of buttered bread with crab-apple jelly.
“It takes a good deal to feed a growing boy,” Mother said. And she put a thick slice of birds’-nest pudding on his bare plate, and handed him the pitcher of sweetened cream specked with nutmeg. Almanzo poured the heavy cream over the apples nested in the fluffy crust. The syrupy brown juice curled up around the edges of the cream. Almanzo took up his spoon and ate every bit. [from “Filling the Ice House”]
When Almanzo trudged into the kitchen next morning with two brimming milk-pails, Mother was making stacked pancakes because this was Sunday.
The big blue platter on the stove’s hearth was full of plump sausage cakes; Eliza Jane was cutting apples pies and Alice was dishing up oatmeal, as usual. But the little blue platter stood hot on the back of the stove, and ten stacks of pancakes rose in tall towers on it.
Ten pancakes cooked on the smoking griddle, and as fast as they were done, Mother added another cake to each stack and buttered it lavishly and covered it with maple sugar. Butter and sugar melted together and soaked the fluffy pancakes and dripped all down their crisp edges.
That was stacked pancakes. Almanzo liked them better than any other kind of pancakes.
Mother kept on frying them till the others had eaten their oatmeal. She could never make too many stacked pancakes. They all ate pile after pile of them… [from “Sunday”]
So… I tried to think of something that I make that is like Almanzo’s mother’s wonderful meals.. I surely don’t have a farm family to feed, and while I don’t make cornbread as often as Almanzo’s mother does (and she makes it so often she just tosses the ingredients together in a bowl, never needing to measure them), I do love it! I hope you enjoy it, too.
If you haven’t already read Farmer Boy I hope you’ll check it out; it’s inspiring and heart-warming and wonderful. And then I hope you’ll take the time to visit a farmers market in your neighborhood! I’ll bet the wonderfully fresh produce will inspire you to cook and eat wonderful meals with your loved ones!
skillet cornbread
This recipe is based on one from a long-ago issue of Cooks Illustrated. I love this cornbread—it doesn’t call for any grain but cornmeal (no wheat flour), so it’s got GREAT corn flavor and a fantastic dense, moist texture with a crispy crust that you will love. It’s not sweet, cakey, or fluffy, though—so if you like that kind of cornbread, you should stick with your regular recipe. The other reason I love this cornbread so much is because years ago, my mom gave me her grain grinder attachment for her KitchenAid Mixer (when she stopped making her own bread). So I can use absolutely freshly-ground cornmeal. I’ve read that it makes a difference to use freshly-ground corn, since cornmeal goes rancid quite quickly, and that gives it a bitter flavor. So… if you don’t have your own grain grinder, try to get the freshest cornmeal you can, and store it in the freezer, maybe—and use it up as quick as ever you can!
The original recipe calls for a cast-iron skillet, but I just use a regular 8-inch oven-proof skillet. When I want to make a bigger batch of cornbread, I make a double batch and bake it in my biggest skillet—it’s 11 inches across.
1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon olive oil (or, substitute all olive oil)
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably freshly-ground or stone-ground
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup water (rapidly boiling)
3/4 cup buttermilk (or substitute half plain yogurt, half milk)
1 large egg , beaten lightly
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Measure 1/3 cup cornmeal into medium bowl. Mix remaining cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in small bowl; set aside.
3. Pour boiling water all at once into the 1/3 cup cornmeal; stir to make a smooth, slightly thick mush. Add more boiling water if necessary to make a mush, rather than a stiff chunk. Whisk in buttermilk gradually, breaking up lumps until smooth, then whisk in egg.
4. When oven is preheated, set 8-inch oven-proof skillet with butter and olive oil in heating oven. Let it heat for 5 or 10 minutes, until very hot and butter is completely melted.
5. Stir dry ingredients into cornmeal mush mixture until just moistened. Carefully remove skillet from oven. Pour hot fat from the skillet into the batter and stir to incorporate, then quickly pour batter into heated skillet. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and instantly turn cornbread onto wire rack; cool for 5 minutes, then serve immediately.
print this recipe
Monday, May 11, 2009
toasted cheese sandwiches with red onions, sundried tomatoes, and crunchy romaine lettuce
Bliss Yoga with Margo
So I’ve been writing to you lately about how I’ve been trying to take care of myself… by saying “no thank you,” and letting go of some obligations. We closed the bakery for a holiday in February, and after unsuccessfully trying to start a practice of sitting still and meditating to try and calm myself, I decided that committing to a daily practice of some relaxing yoga might be a better alternative. My goodness, it’s hard to sit still!
I’d been doing a little yoga now and then for the past couple of years with my friend Margo. She is an amazing teacher, and her lessons focus more on relaxation and body alignment than other classes I’ve taken. Rather than getting a workout from her lessons, I’d get an amazing sense of calm. My body would feel more aligned and healthy afterwards, like I’d just given myself a massage. But I wasn’t good about keeping up a regular practice—my life felt too busy and frantic, and I just couldn’t add one more thing.
But by February, with all the things I’d been juggling, this wasn’t an option. I needed something to help me relax and find some balance in my life! So I called Margo and asked her if I could take weekly lessons, and committed to doing my own daily practice during the week. Luckily, she was willing! Our lessons are different than any yoga I’ve ever done. Most of them begin with shavasana, relaxation pose, lying down with my knees draped over a tall stack of blankets so my back slowly melts into the floor. After I’ve completely melted away the tension of the day, we begin doing stretches and poses that are designed to release tightness that I’ve inevitably created by running, biking, or cross-country skiing. Margo’s yoga is not about getting exercise, but rather, to relax from the exercise that I do at other times. And it’s about the mental relaxation, too.
Each week Margo prepares a little handout of our lesson to put in my yoga notebook, with the week’s sequence illustrated by little stick figures so I can remember the poses when I get home. That way I can use any of my lessons in my daily practice, depending on what I feel like doing. And Margo always says, if I don’t have time to do anything else, just do a 15 minute shavasana. (That’s her yoga recipe for busy moms.)
I have to say that doing a weekly private yoga lesson with Margo, and then a little bit from the yoga notebook we’ve created each day (even if it is just the relaxation part) has made a huge difference to my body AND my mind. I’m not walking around all stiff and sore and stove-up from running and biking—instead, my back is relaxed and feels strong and healthy! And the relaxation every day has made a big difference to my mental space, too. I’m more prepared to meet the challenges of the day, whether I’m baking hundreds of loaves of bread, dealing with a missing CSA vegetable box, or comforting a hungry and tired Meredith at the end of a long, busy day… I have more resilience and calm with which to handle it. Thank you, Margo!
If this kind of yoga sounds like your cup of tea, Margo is teaching some small ten-week classes this summer in her little yoga studio in her house. Each class is limited to six participants, so you get a really wonderful and intimate experience. If you live in the Anchorage area, you can still sign up—she has a few spaces left for the classes starting at the end of May.
Bliss Yoga with Margo Sorum
Cost: $130 for 10 classes (classes are limited to 6 participants)
Tuesdays, 4:00-5:15pm from May 26 to August 4 (No class June 23)
Thursdays, 4:00-5:15pm from May 26 to August 4 (No class June 25)
Please email or call Margo for more information, or to register for her class: or 907-947-2030.
Since this blog is all about wonderful things I’ve learned from Margo, I figured I’d include a great recipe she’s shared with me! It’s a new way to make toasted cheese sandwiches! And are they ever blissfull!
toasted cheese sandwiches with sundried tomatoes, red onions, and crisp romaine lettuce with balsamic dip
You might think it’s silly to have a recipe for a toasted cheese sandwich, but this recipe is something else altogether. Since Margo made one of these sandwiches for me, I’ve not made a regular toasted cheese sandwich. Instead of the usual plain cheese filling, you grill the sandwich with sundried tomatoes and red onions in it (OK, so far not that different), but here’s the kicker: after the sandwich is completely toasted and the cheese melted, you open it up and pop in a wad of fresh romaine leaves. Then you close up the sandwich and eat it, crunching the lettuce leaves and enjoying the melty cheese, dunking each bite in a little dish of balsamic vinegar. It’s so easy, and SO yummy! It’s great for lunch, or you can serve it with any seasonal vegetable dish or green salad for a wonderful dinner.
slices of 100% whole wheat sourdough bread
softened butter
sharp cheddar cheese, or whatever cheese you prefer, sliced
oil-packed sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced (don’t put too many in)
thinly sliced red onions
lots of leaves of washed, dried romaine lettuce
good-quality balsamic vinegar (Costco brand is fine)
1. Spread each slice of bread with a thin layer of butter. On one slice, on the unbuttered side, line up a few slices of tomatoes, then layer slices of cheese, then top with red onions. Top with the other slice of bread (buttered side out).
2. Place sandwiches in a skillet over medium heat and grill slowly until the buttered bread is nicely browned on both sides and the cheese is well melted.
3. Take the sandwich out of the skillet and set it on a cutting board. Open it up (try not to burn yourself on the hot cheese) and pack it with several leaves of romaine. Close it back again and carefully cut the sandwich in half.
4. Put a small dish of balsamic vinegar on the table and dip your sandwich in as you eat it. We love trying the different vinegars at Summit Spice and Tea Co. (1120 E Huffman Road).
print this recipe
Sunday, April 12, 2009
egg salad sandwiches and grilled asparagus
Easter traditions
One of the fun things about growing up is that you get to start making your own holiday traditions. At least, I thought I ought to be able to do that when I got married, since my mom and dad always had wonderful holiday parties with their friends (and accompanying children). However, I hadn’t reckoned on the power of family proximity. My mom and dad had moved to Alaska before they met—my mom from San Diego, my dad from a small farming town in Washington. I remember very clearly, soon after Dan and I were married, checking with my mom to see if she minded if we did our own thing for Easter. I was shocked when she seemed hurt and disappointed at the suggestion.
I told her that we had an idea to hike Bird Ridge with some friends and then come home and make pizza with toppings (including ham and sliced hard boiled eggs—the obligatory nod to tradition). I was honestly confused at her reaction, and I told her that I was just thinking of doing like she and my dad had done… finding friends of our own to celebrate some of the holidays with. “Yes,” she said, ”of course that’s what we did—but that was because our families were so far away!” Suddenly I had a totally new perspective on those wonderful holiday gatherings I had grown up with—certainly all those close family friends FELT like family (WERE family!), but now I understood that my mom had missed her parents and siblings at the holidays.
Still, my dad thought it was perfectly reasonable for us to do our own thing on this one holiday, and my mom came around without too much fuss. And of course we shared many meals with my parents in all seasons, holiday or no.
But now, as time has passed, the Bird Ridge hike, as well as the ham and egg pizza, has gone by the boards… As soon as our daughter Meredith got heavy enough to be a burden in the baby carrier, we switched strategies. One year we pulled her in the pulk on an afternoon’s ski trip up in the mountains above Anchorage. But these past couple of years, egg hunt festivities have replaced mountaineering. These days we’re more likely to have a family ski or a short hike. And for dinner? We invite the remaining family in town: my brother and his girlfriend, Christi. I guess I’m getting to be more like my mom all the time!
But, unlike my mom’s Easter ham, this is what we eat for dinner: the unconventional but by now, thoroughly traditional egg salad and grilled asparagus. Are you laughing? Come on, are you seriously going to tell me you DON’T like egg salad? These sandwiches are SO good when you make egg salad with homemade mayonnaise (especially when you use extra-virgin olive oil for the mayo). And of course I love to use up those colored hard-boiled eggs that Meredith has mined out of snowdrifts, from under trees, and behind car tires. I think you’ll love this meal, whether you make it for Easter, or any time in the spring with great bundles of asparagus!
open-faced egg salad sandwiches
Mayonnaise
Of course, you can use mayonnaise from the store, and your egg salad will still be delicious. But if you want to make truly luscious egg salad, I recommend making your own mayonnaise; the olive oil really does make a difference! You can make it the day before and you’ll be all ready to mix it up with your Easter eggs. Isn’t it funny: egg salad is eggs mixed with an egg dressing!
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 egg
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt (adjust to taste)
pinch of white pepper
1 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil, or a mixture of extra-virgin and regular olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar
Combine the mustard, egg, salt and pepper in the bowl of a blender or food processor. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a slow, thin, steady stream. Process until the mixture starts to thicken. Stop when all the oil has been added and scrape down the sides. Then add the lemon juice a little at a time, combining well. Taste for salt and white pepper, and add more lemon juice if you like. Transfer the mayonnaise to a jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Perfectly Cooked Hard-Boiled Eggs
This method keeps the eggs from overcooking, and ensures a creamy yolk without that green ring around the outside of the yolk.
1 dozen eggs (or fewer)
In a heavy pot, cover raw eggs with cold water. Bring slowly to a boil over medium heat, and when the water starts to boil, let the eggs simmer gently for one minute. Turn the heat off, put the cover on the pot, and let it sit for 6 minutes. Then carefully pour the water off and run cold water over the eggs, draining and replacing the cold water until the water stays cold. I usually drain the water once, refill it partway with cold water, and then fill the pot with ice cubes.
The Egg Salad Sandwiches
Is it silly to include a recipe for such easy (and delicious) sandwiches? Maybe, but this is how I make them. I like to use up the hard boiled Easter eggs that cracked in the dyeing process, so the egg whites are crazed purple and bright pink. Makes it more festive, don’t you think?
12 perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs (see previous recipe)
mayonnaise (see previous recipe, or use store-bought)
Dijon mustard
fresh-ground pepper
paprika (optional)
flat-leaved parsley, chopped fine
slices of whole-grain bread
1. Peel the eggs. If you’re interested in cutting down the saturated fat a little cut 4-6 of the eggs in half and discard the yolks. Chop all the eggs up into a bowl. Add mayonnaise to moisten nicely, including a couple of large dollops of mustard to your taste (I like quite a bit, but use your own judgment). Add freshly ground pepper, and if the mayonnaise and mustard didn’t add enough salt for you, add salt.
2. Toast the bread well and top each slice with lovely thick mounds of creamy egg salad. Dust with paprika and more pepper, then sprinkle lavishly with parsley. Eat with your hands or with a knife and fork.
grilled asparagus
This is so easy it’s almost embarrassing to call it a recipe, but since it’s so good, and you might not have discovered it yet, I’m including it here.
a pound or two of fresh asparagus (buy more than you think you could possibly eat)
extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
1. Heat your grill to very hot.
2. Snap the ends off the bottoms of the asparagus, as close to the bottom of the stalk as they will still snap nicely. Toss them with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.
3. Turn the grill heat down to medium. Grill the asparagus until they are nice and tender and have grill marks all around; about 9 minutes, turning them every 3 minutes or so.
4. Eat them right away or else eat them later at room temperature. Try not to eat them all right as they come off the grill, because you are likely to burn your tongue, and the rest of your family will be annoyed.
Tip: To keep your asparagus fresh when you get it home from the grocery store, cut about a half-inch off the bottom of the stalks, wrap a wet paper towel around the bottoms of the stalks, and stand them upright in an open plastic bag wrapped around their bottoms. Fasten the bag around the bottom of the stems with a rubber band.
print this recipe
Sunday, February 22, 2009
avocado toast
I think this recipe might be my favorite thing to eat. I love it just about any time: as an appetizer when we have guests, as a sandwich for lunch, or as part of supper, served with a soup or salad. I know, avocados are not exactly indigenous to Alaska. BUT we can get Alaskan red onions, and you can of course buy your hearty, whole grain bread from a local baker—wherever you live!
I’ll list six great things about this recipe. (I started with three, and then had to keep adding more.)
1. The main nice thing about this recipe is that it tastes really good. I’m confident that you are going to love it. The creamy, rich avocado with the tangy bite and crunchy texture of the onions is really a great combination.
2. Another nice thing is that it looks lovely. Isn’t it a knockout? The dark brown balsamic vinaigrette on a slice of sourdough toast, covered by the beautiful light green, creamy avocado, topped with a pile of bright pink pickled red onions, and then sprinkled with a dusting of freshly ground black pepper—this is ART.
3. A third nice thing about this recipe is that it’s great any time of year that you can find good ripe avocados—and that’s pretty much all year ‘round, at Costco. Here’s a tip for dealing with the bags of avocados you buy at Costco. Buy a big bag of them when they are hard and green, and set them on your counter. Every day or so, squeeze them very gently to see how soft they are getting. When they have just begun to get soft (don’t wait until they are squishy), put them all in the refrigerator RIGHT AWAY—this will more or less arrest their further ripening, and you will have a treasure trove of perfectly ripe avocados for a week or so. Just don’t forget to check them every day when they are out on your counter—you want to catch them JUST at the time they are starting to get soft, and then refrigerate them.
4. Another great thing is that you can make a big batch of all the components ahead of time, and have them in the refrigerator, just waiting for hunger to strike, or guests to arrive. Then you can whip this up in the time it takes to toast your sourdough bread (chopping the pickled red onions and peeling the avocado), and sit and relax with a glass of wine with your guests instead of dashing around in the kitchen trying to throw something together.
5. If you’re cooking for people who don’t eat meat or dairy, you can make this and you will be their hero forever, because it’s yummy and wonderful and doesn’t even have bacon or cheese in it.
6. Trust me: if people eat enough avocado toasts, they won’t really care what else is for dinner.
avocado toasts
This recipe is loosely based on one I found in Deborah Madison’s Savory Way.
1 large, ripe avocado (see #3 above)
balsamic sauce (recipe below)
pickled red onion rings, chopped coarsely (recipe below)
4 thick slices sturdy whole-grain bread (sourdough if possible!)
freshly ground pepper
1. At least an hour before you want to make this, make the pickled red onions. They will keep for a couple of weeks in your ‘fridge, so make them ahead!
2. Whisk together the sauce ingredients. This will keep in your fridge for a couple of weeks, too.
3. Halve the avocado and peel it. Slice the flesh about ¼” thick.
4. Toast the bread.
5. Spoon some of the sauce ingredients over the toast, then cover the toast with slices of avocado. Sprinkle the pickled onions over the top of the avocado (or put a mound of them on top—whatever you prefer) and finish with plenty of freshly ground pepper.
balsamic sauce
¼ cup minced yellow onion
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a small bowl, whisk together everything but the oil. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Season to taste with salt.
pickled red onions
1 pound red onions
1 quart boiling water, approximately
1 cup white wine vinegar
water as needed
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns, lightly crushed
2 pinches dried thyme
a pinch of chile flakes (optional)
1. Halve, peel, and thinly slice the onions into rounds. Separate the half-moons and put them in a bowl. Pour the boiling water over them, to soften, for one minute, then drain in a colander.
2. In a large jar, put the sugar, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and chile flakes. Put a little hot tap water into the bottom of the jar and swirl it around to dissolve the salt and sugar.
3. Scoop the onions into the jar and pour in the vinegar. Add water to cover the onions (no more than a cup—add more vinegar if more than that is necessary).
4. Put the lid on the jar, shake to combine, and keep it refrigerated. The pink color will begin to infuse in about an hour.
print this recipe
