Tomatillo Guacamole

We got tomatillos in our share earlier this summer. I had actually never had one before, and I had to look them up to see what they were and what to do with them.


Wikipedia told me: The tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica) is a plant of the tomato family, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato (Spanish: tomate verde) in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are grown throughout the Western Hemisphere."


Sounded like I should put it in some kind of salsa or guacamole, and I figured my usual mix of veggie, spices, herbs and oil should do the trick.  I served it with blue corn tortilla chips, and the resulting recipe was tart, tangy, and had a delightful mix of textures. A must-try if you have tomatillos on hand for some reason.

Ingredients

Tomatillo guac!

The Jam Plan (Albino Currants)

For those of you who are Friends fans, you will appreciate the title. For those of you who aren’t, well…moving on!

A couple of weeks ago we got some albino currants in our CSA. I’ve never cooked with fresh currants before, so I decided to try my hand at a jam. We had some delicious lemon-rosemary bread, so I decided to tailor the recipe to go with those flavors. I trolled around on the internet trying to find something I liked, but I didn’t. So I just tossed some things together and waited patiently for the results:

Rosemary Currant Jam
Ingredients
1 pint of currants, picked over and rinsed
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp crushed, dried rosemary
2 tbsp (or more to taste) sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
Water

Ingredients

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Directions
Using a potato masher, pulverize the currants. Put currants in a small pot and cover with water. Add herbs and 1 tbsp of the sugar. Bring to a dull boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste for sweetness, and add more sugar if needed. In a small bowl, whisk about a tablespoon of water with the cornstarch until smooth, and add mixture to the currants to thicken. Continue to simmer for 10 more minutes. Add water or more cornstarch to get the consistency you like. Chill and serve with toast or over yogurt.

Finished product! Breakfast.

Blast from the past! Parnsip Purée and Sweet Potato Chips

In the fall, our farmshare (Enterprise Produce) provides a plethora of autumnal storage crops, including parsnips and sweet potatoes. Parsnips, which look sort of like albino carrots (and are a relative of the carrot) actually have a greater nutritional content than carrots. Sweet potatoes are also a powerhouse for fiber and vitamins…though in this incarnation maybe not so much.

Anyway, one cold autumn evening last year I looked into the pantry. All I saw were a bunch of boring root veggies and potatoes, and I felt despair coming on.

Until I recalled seeing a recipe for parsnip purée over at Jane Spice.

Jane is known for adding flair and flavor to the seemingly most boring veggies, creating dishes with lots of interest and color. I adapted her recipe to make a warming, nourishing and spicy soup.

For the sweet potatoes, I decided to take a stab at my recently purchased mandoline slicer. If you don’t have one, go out and get one. Now. It will change your life. We fried up some crispy sweet potato chips in some neutral oil, tossed with sea salt and black pepper, and plated with the soup to add some crunch!

Parsnip Purée (adapted from Jane Spice)

¾ pound parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 large zucchini chopped
1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 quart vegetable stock (I make my own…I will write a post about that at some point. Easy, economical and incredibly useful.)
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp chili powder
1 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and soften for three minutes. Add the garlic and the spices and stir over at high heat until combined before adding the parsnips, zucchini and stock. Season to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer until the parsnips are soft, then liquidize to a smooth consistency (I used a blender. An immersion blender or carefully utilized food processor could work too).

Settling In

Well, here we are! We are in our new place (thanks to the moving help of some amazing friends) partially unpacked and surrounded by a sea of boxes. I have pretty much unpacked the kitchen (of course!), because that was the first thing I needed to get back to a feeling or normalcy. I've missed cooking in the past couple of weeks as we have prepared for the move. It's been a lot of pizza and Groupon meals, which has been lovely, but I am ready to get cooking again.

We received albino currants in last week's share, and I decided to put some currant jelly on the stove while I unpacked. I've never made jelly before, but I decided to throw some ingredients together and see what happens. I will post results later this week. In the meantime, a shot of the lovely little currants:

Albino Currants

Juicing

I. Love. Juice.

After (accidentally) taking a vegan cooking class, I started reading a bunch of different vegan blogs, and it was then that I started reading all about the juicing trend. After dropping a small fortune at The Blue Shirt Cafe on freshly squeezed juices, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy my own juicer.

I now juice anything that I can get my hands on. Well, almost. Some friends who heard me wax poetic about how awesome and powerful my little juicer is suggested I juice things like steak or a tuna fish sandwich. I stick to fresh produce. I usually incorporate carrots and apples as a base with some ginger or citrus for bite, then toss in whatever else in the fridge or from our CSA box* that needs to be used up.

Today's juice incorporated 3 carrots, 2 apples, 3 small yellow squash (from share), one head of curly kale (from share), one half of a lemon, a knob of ginger and a pint of blueberries.

The kale, which I usually like to have as kale chips using The Kitchn's famous recipe, had sat in the fridge a little too long. Making it into a juice was a good way to extract its nutrients. While this mish mosh of ingredients might seem like they'd combine to make a strange medly of flavors, this was actually a delicious juice. Carrots, squash and apples were a nice, mild and sweet base. The berries, lemon and ginger added some brightness of flavor. The kale is a powerhouse of vitamins. Here is the final product, garnished with a sprig of sage:

The juice produced was enough for 4 servings. Do you juice? What is your favorite flavor combination? Give it a try to get your necessary servings of veggies and fruits while also putting to good use what might otherwise go bad. 'Til next time!

-Abbie


*We have subscribed to our Community Shared Agriculture program since September '09. Every week we have a local pick-up of locally grown (mostly in the state of MA in the summer or the East Coast Food Shed in the winter) veggies and fruits. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to eat freshly, try new produce and who cooks often.

New name?

So, I initially thought that this blog would be a place to post food pictures and recipes. And I still want it to be that. However, I think I will likely use this as a more personal outlet (although food on its own is still incredibly personal). As I progress in my post-college life and learn more about keeping a home (ahem...apartment), planning for the future, becoming a partner, etc., I think that I will broaden the topic of this blog to include the greater domestic sphere as well as other aspects of my life. I've never been able to keep a journal more than a few months, and I'd like to use this blog to document my experiences, from the mundane to the momentous. So on that note, here is a recent kitchen caper: a vegan summer meal of grilled tofu, peppers and onions.

Quick, no fuss recipe for the marinade (an improvisation):

Take a couple cloves of garlic, a handful of rinsed parsley, salt, pepper, 1/3 c. of OJ and a couple of fresh limes, squeezed. Blend in food processor until smooth. Add in oil until you have reached a dressing consistency. Let the tofu and veggies marinate in a covered bowl for about an hour. Grill until lovely char marks appear!

First Post

Dear Reader(s?),

My name is Abbie. I am 24 and this is my first blog. I live in Somerville, MA, and I love to cook. By day I am a development associate at a NFP in Boston and a nanny. By night, I am a cooking TV show host (well...I pretend). I have always loved food...thinking about it, looking at it, preparing it, and eating it. The TV, when on, is usually on the Food Network channel.

My experimentation in the kitchen from an early age eventually led to a desire to take actual classes to get some real skills under my belt. While studying abroad in Paris I had the opportunity to take a great cooking class with French chef Francoise Meunier (http://www.fmeunier.com/). I was hooked. Back in the states I took two more classes: an Italian cooking class and a vegan gluten-free class (by accident...I was under the impression it was vegetarian.) This accidental vegan class sparked a passion for vegan cooking...however, sadly, I am am an omnivore at heart and a cheeseaholic. So while I have incorporated vegan cooking into my repertoire, I don't think I will ever be able to convert fully. However, I do hope that you will enjoy my musings, ramblings, pictures, recipes, and whatever else might enter this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Abbie