Cacklefruit

Natick Farmer's Market: Demos, Recipes!

2011-06-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

Diane and Heidi spent the morning at the Natick Farmer's Market on the Natick Common, giving some cooking demos, schmoozing with other vendors, chatting up the crowd, and generally have a great time. (CU people love to take our show on the road!).

Diane selected some recipes to demo that highlight early summer fruits and vegetables. Since we're trying to be "greener" around CU, we no longer hand out hardcopies of recipes; rather, we direct people to the website and this blog (Okay, we want people to go to the website - is that so wrong?). Anyway, here they are for you to peruse or try at your leisure.

The gals will be back at the Natick Farmer's Market again a couple of times this summer. We'll let you know when we'll be there again - stop by!

Swiss Chard and Sun-Dried Tomato Skillet Mac
(6 servings)

12 ounces small whole wheat pasta (elbow, shells, etc.)
1 bunch Swiss Chard, washed
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 Cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
1 Cup plain yogurt, fat-free or lowfat
1/2 Cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
1/2 Cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

Cook pasta in well-salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1 Cup past water. Set pasta aside.

Separate chard spines from the leaves. Chop spines and leaves separately. In a 12” skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add chopped chard stems and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic. Cook another 3-4 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Add chopped chard greens and stir, cooking, until mostly wilted (another 2-3 minutes). Add sun-dried tomatoes, yogurt, feta, reserved cooked pasta, and about a 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water. Stir and cook until everything is heated through and begins to thicken, about 3-4 minutes. Add more pasta water if you feel it's too thick, but thicker is better. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the pasta, and serve.

Rhubarb Chutney

(3 Cups)
4 Cups rhubarb, stems only, coarsely diced
2 Cups brown sugar
½ Cup lemon juice
½ Cup cider vinegar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 Cups raisins
3 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger
10 whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves

Combine rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over MEDIUM heat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Return to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender but still holds its shape. Remove immediately and cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Veggie Burgers

2011-05-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile.
At a local restaurant a man at the neighboring table kept looking from his hamburger to Lori’s veggie burger, and finally asked, “What are you eating? It looks better than my burger!”

Lori often orders veggie food when she dines out. She says their vegetarian fare is a good test of a restaurant.

Is it my imagination, or are veggie burgers becoming mainstream? Have they become one measure of a chef’s skill and creativity?

Not long ago, a reporter for a local publication called Lori to ask about making veggie burgers at home. As I listened to their conversation it occurred to me that veggie burgers would make a good family meal.

They’d make a great entree for sandwich and/or vegetarian night. (You know: every week you have a pasta night, a soup night, a pizza night, a veggie night, a breakfast-for-dinner night.)

Veggie burgers would also make a good platform for a sauce person like my daughter-in-law: salsa, guacamole, onion-mushroom gravy, pesto, aioli, and even more creative options. Veggie burger rolls would be a good challenge for a baker (daughter-in-law, again).

But I’d want to put them together rather than buy them, so I’d know what was in them. Hmmm, what kind would the family like?

There are tons of recipes for veggie burgers:
Nut burgers.
Falafel burgers.
Red lentil burgers.
Black bean burgers.
Hominy pinto burgers.
Lemon basil tofu burgers.
Lemon, olive, lentil burgers.
Lentil, olive, mushroom burgers.

Basically, you need something for heft – rice, beans, oatmeal, soy product; something to hold it together – an egg, breadcrumbs, cereal; something to give it contrast – carrots, squash, mushrooms, peppers, onions; and some good seasonings – the sky’s the limit.

What if I made a different kind of veggie burger every week or so to see which the family liked best? Then I could put the favorites into our family meal rotation.

I’d have the kids join in a mass veggie burger making session (because they’re too much trouble to make fresh each time) and freeze them. Suddenly, it’s a plan.

Here’s one of Culinary Underground’s recipes for:

Basic Veggie Burger
(4 servings)

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 Cup grated carrot
1/4 Cup grated onion
1 Tablespoon soy sauce or A-1 sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup black beans, drained, or edamame, thawed
1/4 Cup cooked millet or old-fashioned oats
1/4 Cup wholewheat breadcrumbs
1 large egg

Sauté onion and carrot in olive oil until tender. Add soy sauce, salt, and pepper.

In a large bowl, mash the beans well with a potato masher (or pulse in food processor) Add the carrot-onion mixture, the millet/oatmeal, and breadcrumbs and combine. Beat the egg and add, mixing just until incorporated. Form into four patties (you may add more breadcrumbs to make a workable mixture that holds together).

Freeze on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes before brushing lightly with oil and grilling over direct heat for 15 minutes, turning once. Alternatively, broil until brown and crispy, turning once.

Another way to make sure the patties hold together is to bake the burgers in a 350 degrees F oven for about 20 minutes before grilling.

The Eagles Nest, Brewer, Maine

2011-05-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile
Recently, a friend and I were on our way to a workshop in Nova Scotia. Just before lunch, outside Bangor, we stopped for gas. We asked the attendant (yes, it was a full-service gas station of all things!) where we could get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. He thought for a minute then said, “Oh, the Eagle’s Nest. It’s right down the road on the left.” He assured us that the locals went there.

We almost missed it. The place looked like a derelict house with a sign out front. Inside, it actually did look like somebody’s house with some tables and stools crammed in. It was early, so we lucked into a table in front of the picture window overlooking the Penobscot River.

The river view was soothing. Inside, it was good people-watching. You know how sometimes when you go to a local place you feel uncomfortable? People stare at you, or you want to stare at them and don’t dare? No problem. The Eagles Nest was friendly and laid back.

We weren’t sure we wanted a whole lunch, but the menu made the decision for us. Now, you have to realize that some of our friends have elevated the lobster roll to an icon. When they heard we were heading north they said, “You have to get a lobster roll!”

Personally, I think lobster rolls are overrated – all that mayo, and white bread. And expensive! I’ve heard people say they’ve paid more than $20. Still, lobster roll was on the Eagles Nest menu, and only $13. So I ordered it.

Truly, it was embarrassing. A HUGE mound of lobster claw meat, lightly dressed with – I don’t even think it was mayo. It was a struggle to find the roll under all the lobster. Fries, of course, and absolutely delicious cole slaw – again without a mayo dressing. Because I’m a slaw fan, I was nearly as excited about that as about the lobster.

OK. I’m a convert now, as least as far as Eagle’s Nest lobster rolls are concerned. There are other ways to get to Nova Scotia, but taking route 9 out of Bangor takes you by the Eagle’s Nest.

The Secret of Clafoutis

2011-05-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile.
What do you call a dessert that’s quick, simple, not too sweet, and comforting? One answer might be clafoutis, a French dessert of cherries baked with a batter topping.

Clafoutis can actually be made with all sorts of other fruits, but then it’s called flaugnarde, which to a non-French speaking person sounds like a tongue twister.

I’d never had clafoutis until we made it in a Very Basics class. It just made so much sense as a dessert. I really like using fruit in a baked dessert, and sometimes making a pie or even a crisp is just not in the cards.

Now, you might think that the secret of clafoutis is the almonds, which are pulsed with the flour in the food processor. But actually, it’s the temperature. Clafoutis is served lukewarm. There is something both delicious and comforting about a warm dessert. Plus, it’s frangrant. Here’s Lori’s recipe:

Cherry Clafoutis
(4-6 servings)

3 Cups fresh cherries (pitted or not)
Sugar to taste
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1/3 Cup whole blanched almonds
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Dash of salt
3 large eggs
3/4 Cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350O F. Butter an 8” square pan.

Pit the cherries, if desired, halve them, and sprinkle with sugar to taste. Let sit while preparing other ingredients.

In a food processor, pulse flour and almonds until fine. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt and mix again. Crack in the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Pour in the melted butter and milk and pulse again until well blended.

Arrange cherries in the prepared dish. Pour batter over cherries. Bake for 40 minutes, or until set. Transfer to a rack and cool. And serve with confectioner’s sugar.

* The pits give it a slightly different flavor.

Diabetic Support Group Recipes

2011-05-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Quinoa

On Wednesday, Lori gave a standing-room-only talk with benefits (samples of healthy dishes) for the Diabetic Support Group at Marlborough Hospital. She talked about adapting old recipes in healthy ways; new ingredients like quinoa and edamame; and old favorites that have always been healthy.

Here are a couple of recipes from that talk; culinary Underground students may recognize them:

Culinary Underground’s Grain & Nut Salad
(4-6 servings)

2 Cups cooked quinoa
2 Cups cooked millet
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/4 Cup chopped fresh mint
Salt and pepper
1 Cup fresh blueberries
1 Cup chopped cashews

Cook the grains separately; spread cooked grains on a baking sheets immediately and cool for 10 minutes. Whisk together dressing ingredients; toss grain with dressing while still warm. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add berries and nuts. Chill.

VARIATIONS:

Try other grains like barley, farro, or brown rice.
Substitute dried cranberries, fresh pineapples, raisins, peanuts, etc., or any combination of fruit and nuts that you like.

Peanut Butter “Truffles”
(36 treats)

2 Cups natural unsweetened peanut butter
1/3 Cup wheat germ
1/2 Cup dried skim milk
1/3 Cup honey
1/4 Cup currants
¼ Cup sunflower seeds
¾ Cups unsweetened coconut or sesame seeds

Mix wheat germ, milk, sugar, currants, sunflower seeds, and salt. Add enough peanut butter to make the mix firm but not crumbly. Roll into balls, then roll in coconut or sesame seeds. Will keep for several weeks stored airtight and refrigerated.

Soup Without Fear

2011-05-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile
At last night’s Very Basic class, Soups and Stocks, Lori told the participants: “Put your class materials away.” (They had handouts like “How to Build a Soup,” “Types of Soups,” and “Soup Garnishes” along with recipes for preparing stocks and for some soups.)

“I was going to blindfold you and let you pick stuff from the pantry to make a soup,” she said. Instead she gave them assignments.

“Here’s what you need to make a soup,
One onion, diced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 Cups liquid (stock, water)
3 to 4 Cups vegetables, beans, grains, pasta
½ pound protein (optional)
Seasoning

“Sauté the onions in the olive oil. Add the remainder of the ingredients and simmer,” she said.

Lori separated the participants into teams, each with a different assignment to prepare:
Corn Chowder with Ranch Crackers or
Thai Curry Soup with Sesame Croutons or
Red Lentil Soup with Gilroy Garlic Bread or
Southwest Chicken Soup with Cream Biscuits

There was a bit of uncertainty – what if it tastes bad; I’ve never done this before; and so on – but Lori reminded them that soup consists of a fat, stock, veggies/protein, and maybe some extras. You can’t fail.

And what about that taste part? Lori taught them how to figure that out, too, but that’s the subject of a future blog.

Blog readers already have the recipe for Gilroy Garlic Bread in a previous post, but here’s the scoop on the Red Lentil Soup. It’s the favorite in Lori’s household.

Assignment #3: Red Lentil Soup

Fat: Canola or peanut oil

Veggies: 1 carrot, peeled and diced
              1 stalk celery, diced
              2 garlic cloves, minced

Stock: Chicken or fish stock

Extras: ½ Cup red lentils
`          ¼ Cup red wine
            2 Tablespoons tomato paste
            1 Tablespoon Italian seasonings

Directions:

Saute the carrot, celery, and garlic with the onion.

Add the stock, lentils, red wine, tomato paste, and Italian seasonings. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Use the immersion blender to make a smooth soup.

Did you taste it for seasonings?!

Garnishes: Top with equal parts chopped fresh garlic, parsley, and lemon zest; serve with Gilroy Garlic Bread.

Moroccan Orange Salad

2011-04-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile
“What beautiful oranges!” That’s Lori when she’s grocery shopping – she admires things.

“The broccoli rabe is gorgeous this week,” or “Look at those big, fresh bunches of watercress!” She thinks: “What can I do with that watercress?”

Of course Lori goes to market with menus for classes in mind, but she’s not oblivious to other attractions. In the case of those oranges, she was shopping for a custom class in Moroccan cooking. In addition to Muhamarra, Harira, B’stilla, and Moroccan Chicken with Lemons and Olives, the class prepared Orange Salad with Orange-Flower Water. Fortunately, the oranges in the market were beautiful that day.

That was yesterday. Lori brought out the leftovers today for lunch. I sampled the orange salad. I was transported. I’d never had cinnamon with oranges. I don’t remember tasting orange water either, though I was familiar with rose water. The combination was like an elixir.

Along with tasting, we got started thinking what else you could do with this salad? Sure, you could serve it over microgreens, or in endive or, I know it’s a salad, but why couldn’t it be the most delicious dessert? Serve it in a small bowl with a squiggle of melted dark chocolate or on a base of thin chocolate cake or over ice cream or ricotta. Maybe it would taste good with cardamom instead of cinnamon…

The thing is, maybe we should just go to the market from time to time to observe and appreciate.

Orange Salad with Orange-Flower Water

(6 servings)

3 navel oranges
2 Tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon orange flower water
Ground cinnamon

With a very sharp knife, peel oranges, removing skin and pith. Slice crosswise into thin rounds. Arrange on a flat plates, overlapping slices. Sprinkle with sugar and orange flower water; dust with cinnamon. Cover and chill.

The Mighty Microplane

2011-04-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile.
When I was a child, it was my job to make the salad for dinner. Every. Night. We had salad every night.

I guess I’m glad that I learned to make salads and expect them as daily part of my life. The possibilities are endless and it’s a great way to get fresh vegetables. BUT grating things like carrots and cabbage was a problem. I used an ancient box grater and left almost as much skin in the salad as vegetable matter.

So, when I took my first class at Culinary Underground and encountered a microplane, I was pretty excited. No more skin shreds. No more fine grating and trying to capture the results by scraping between those sharp holes. No more laboriously and endlessly grating parmesan using special gadgets that never quite work.

The first thing I did after buying a microplane for myself was to get one for each of my grown-up children. I was propagating microplanes. And the first thing I thought of when we were establishing the Kitchen Corner here at Culinary Underground was microplanes.

Yes, we have microplanes, bouquets of microplanes:

Microplane Preminum Classic Spice Grater
Microplane Preminum Classic Medium Ribbon Grater
Microplane Preminum Classic Zester Grater
Microplane Mdium Classic Extra Coarse Grater

Come in and take a look. They make great gifts!

French Bistro Cooking at the Library

2011-04-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

We’ve had a couple of requests for more recipes from our class at the Weston Library on French Bistro cooking (see the April 1 blog post). In addition to the Matalote Normandie, we had Artichoke Tapenade and Endive and Walnut Salad to start, and Alice B. Toklas Prunes served with brie to finish. So here you go:

Artichoke Tapenade
(1-1/2 Cups)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 Cup large pitted green olives
1 Tablespoon capers
14 ounce water-packed artichokes, drained well
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and cayenne, to taste

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the garlic, olives, capers, artichoke hearts, lemon juice, and olive oil, and until almost smooth, but still chunky. Taste, and add salt, cayenne, and additional lemon juice, if desired. Serve with toasted slices of baguette or crackers.

Endive and Walnut Salad
(4 servings)

6 Belgian endives
1 Tablespoon Sherry wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon coarse Dijon mustard
Pinch of sea salt, or plain salt
1/3 Cup walnut oil or olive oil
1/2 Cup finely chopped walnut pieces, toasted

Pull off and set aside 16 whole leaves of endive. Slice the remaining endives crosswise, on the bias, into 3/4-inch lengths. Separate the pieces and transfer them to a large bowl.

To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the Sherry wine vinegar, both mustards and the salt. Gradually add the oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly to make a smooth emulsion.

Toss the sliced endive and the nuts with the dressing. Mound some of the salad into the whole endive leaves. Serve immediately.

To Alice B. Toklas, with Love
(2 Cups)

3 dozen pitted prunes (the largest you can find)
4 Cups ruby port
1 Cup sugar

Soak prunes for 24 hours in 2 Cups port. Transfer to a medium saucepan and add 2 additional Cups of port along with the sugar. Cook over MEDIUM-LOW heat, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes. Cool, cover, and refrigerate.

How the Mint Salad Happened

2011-04-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

(Posted by Maile.) It was time for another fabulous Greek cooking class with Chef Cristina Kallias here at Culinary Underground School for Home Cooks. Cristina’s classes always delight the senses, making the most of simple but elegant ingredients.

Chef Lori was typing up Cristina’s class materials. Among them was a recipe for fig salad, but fresh figs are not in season at this time of year. What to use instead?

Cristina recommended avocados. Lori went to several stores and found only rock hard fruit. On the other hand, there were huge, fragrant bouquets of fresh mint in the markets. So Fresh Fig Salad evolved into Fresh Avocado Salad and finally became Fresh Mint Salad.

This kind of process is at the heart of Culinary Underground’s philosophy. Use fresh, seasonal ingredients (local, if possible). Be flexible and creative: let what’s good at the market dictate your dishes. When you think about it, going shopping becomes an adventure of surprise and discovery. Betcha never thought about food shopping that way!

Fresh Mint Salad
(4-6 servings)

1/2 Cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 Cup honey
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

One bunch fresh mint
1 cucumber, chopped
1 juicy tomato, chopped
1/4 Cup chopped red onion
1/4 to 1/2 Cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 Cup walnuts, chopped
Crumbled feta (optional)

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl and chill until serving. Wash and dry mint leaves. Trim off stems. Chop cucumber, tomato, and onion. Set aside.

Dry-sauté pine nuts and walnuts in small skillet over LOW heat just until fragrant. Be careful to not burn them. To assemble salad for each serving: layer mint leaves on plate and add a layer of the remaining ingredients on top. Drizzle with some chilled dressing and serve.

Wishing and Learning with Johnny’s Selected Seed Catalog

2011-04-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile.
Every year, along about the end of January, beginning of February, the Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog appears in my mailbox. It’s usually a bitter cold, if not snowy day. This year it must have been snowy. When wasn’t it?

Sure enough, on the cover was a woman, seen through the snow, holding a basket of carrots and winter greens. Such a hopeful sight, that catalog! I know, it must take a lot of trees and postage to get the publication out, but I feel as thought they’ve sent me a huge gift, just when I needed it most.

On the catalog cover it says “Over 325 Organic Products,” and that’s what I want to talk about: the incredible bounty of offerings and information. Back when my mother was gardening in the 1950’s, we used to pore over the Burpee catalog. We thought the variety of vegetables was wonderful. But the Johnny’s catalog of today is a more like a wishbook of international scope, with a touch of poetry and a vast array of ecological information.

It has arugula; sylvetta; altor mizuma; shungiku (edible chrysanthemum greens); 5 kinds of cress; purslane; 7 kinds of mustard greens; mache; sorrel; collards; and flowering kale, plus various shoots and sprouts.

There are 40 or 50 kinds of lettuce and 21 kinds of hot peppers alone; 9 pages of tomatoes; 19 kinds of basil; and 2 dozen varieties of sunflowers. It has 18 pages of culinary and medicinal herbs, with uses where appropriate, and 34 magnificent pages of flowers.

Moreover, the text reads almost like poetry: purple broccoli and carrots; gold beets and ruby cabbages; cheddar cauliflower and lemon cukes; white, green, and purple-black eggplants; yellow raspberries - a rainbow of surprises.

Page 106 is all about self-reliant and sustainable farming:

Pasture mixes of grasses and legumes for livestock grazing.
Hay, silage, and forage turnips for livestock food and tillage.
Growing and mixing feed rations, including grains, sunflower seeds, and bird food.
Cover crops for green manure, nutrients, and improved soil tilth.
Insectary plantings to increase pollination of crops and provide nectar and habitat, control nematodes, and increase organic matter in the soil.

Last but not least, there are 26 pages of equipment and supplies you wish you had, plus advice, and all kinds of charts. For example, there’s a chart that compares seeds with respect to:

Sowing season.
Nitrogen fixation.
Growth rate.
Beneficial insects.
Primary uses, and more…

The cover also says, “Extend your season. Be first and last to market.” You know they’re talking to the people who grow the fruits, vegetables, and herbs you buy at farmers’ markets. With cover crops, pasture mixes, and prices per 50 pounds, it’s like being let into a farmer’s life.

Thinking about where your food comes from can be more than a pleasant pastime, especially with the assistance of a growers point of view. When you read the Johnny’s catalog, you get a very integrated education.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com

Matelote Normandie

2011-04-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

Since we moved to the new space, we have been reluctant to take our show "on the road" - we just love our kitchen too much! However, we venture out in our little van every little while and today we offered a class at the Weston Library on French Bistro cooking. In additional to a little tapenade for an opener, we also prepared a Belgian endive salad with walnuts. To finish the meal, we opted for a cheese course - a nice Brie with Prunes Alice B. Toklas, a favorite around here. The piece de resistance (getting a little French there) was Matelote Normandie. This fish stew is generally made with freshwater fish or eels, but in coastal Normandy, they prepare it with saltwater fish and mussels. Since we have similar ingredients in New England, this fish stew can be prepared easily - and there are many local breweries that produce some fine hard ciders. Try it!

Matelote Normandie

3 pounds fish fillets (at least three kinds)

3 Tablespoons softened butter

3 Tablespoons flour

10 ounces small mushrooms, washed and trimmed

1 Tablespoon butter

2 pounds mussels, debearded and picked over

1 Cup hard cider

1 large onion, diced

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 Cup Calvados

3+ Cups hard cider

Bouquet garni of thyme, parsley, and bay leaf

1 Cup heavy cream, warmed

Croutons and fresh parsley, chopped

Slice the fish filets into 3” pieces; they should be the same shape. Cover and refrigerate.

In a small bowl, knead the butter and flour together with a fork to make a paste. Refrigerate.

In a small skillet, heat butter over MEDIUM-LOW heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat, and set aside.

In a large stockpot, bring 1/2 Cup hard cider to a boil. Add the mussels; cover and steam over MEDIUM–LOW heat for 3-4 minutes. Use tongs to transfer open mussels to a large bowl. Recover and continue steaming for 1-2 minutes. Remove opened mussels to a bowl. Cover mussels loosely with foil to keep warm. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Strain the cooking liquid into a bowl, measure, and reserve.

In the same pot, heat butter over MEDIUM-LOW heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened but not brown. Stir in the Calvados; cook until the liquid evaporates. Add reserved mussel liquid and enough hard cider to make 3 Cups of liquid. Add bouqet garni. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until liquid ifor 5 minutes.

Arrange the fish in the pan; season with salt and pepper. There should be enough liquid to just cover the fish. Simmer gently, about 5 minutes. Divide fish among heated plates with a slotted spoon and place in the oven.

Whisk the beurre manie into the poaching liquid and bring the mixture back to a simmer to thicken. Add cream and reheat about 30 seconds, or until cream is hot (don’t boil!).

Ladle the mixture on top of the fish, garnish with mushrooms, croutons, mussels, and parsley. Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Cooking from the Pantry

2011-03-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Posted by Maile.
Recently, we were part of the Worcester Wine and Food Festival. It was full of restaurant folks serving fancy food. It was all very yummy, but - we’re not a restaurant; we’re a cooking school, and we wanted to serve something our students would make. So we decided on gougeres, which we make in our Very Basics series, filled with homemade herbed ricotta, which we make in our cheese classes, topped with pickled red grapes, which is a garnish that could appear any time.

Though the flavors were subtle, the gougeres were well received, and they looked great. There were, however, a few “interesting” comments. Not the response you want to hear! So when the Taste of MetroWest event came along, Lori turned to the pantry.

Now, we’re always teaching our students about stocking the pantry and putting meals together from what’s in the pantry and fridge. Lori found that she had the makings for three spreads that would go with the gougeres and ricotta: Lime Curd, Spanish Strawberry Preserves, and Carrot Halwa.

Well, you have to remember that Lori’s a super-creative cook and knows all these great techniques. That’s why she’s the chef and we’re the students. Lime Curd – luscious; Spanish Strawberries – divine; but Carrot Halwa?! I tried it. It’s delish! A great way to get your carrots, too.

Carrot Halwa

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Cups grated carrot
2 Cups milk
1/4 - 1/3 Cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Grating of nutmeg

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over MEDIUM-LOW. Add carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and no longer “raw”. Add the milk; increase the heat to bring it to a low boil. Lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until milk evaporates. Add the sugar and cook, stirring, until caramelized, about 4 minutes. Add spices.

NOTE: Halwa is usually served with cashews decorating it or actually as an ingredient. At the last minute, Lori added a handful of pistachio nuts.

Puff Pastry

2011-02-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

During introductions for last Thursday’s Sensuous Mediterranean class, one of the participants remarked that she’d attended a laminated dough class at Culinary Underground a couple of years ago. “And I’ve been making croissants every week since then!” she said. We thought she was joking until another student remarked, “It’s true! I’m her neighbor and she’s always coming through the back yard bringing croissants. Her kids put in orders for ham and cheese, or chocolate or whatever, and she makes them. Delicious!”

Now this is the kind of thing we love to hear. I wasn’t here last Thursday, but I was at that laminated dough class a couple of years ago. For me, it was a dream come true. When I was a child, my favorite dessert was a Napoleon. I still think cheese straws are the best munchies, and a really good croissant is a revelation. We made all that and more during that class. The technique was new to me, but it wasn’t difficult. Like learning many new techniques, the mystery resolved into confidence.

The idea that making croissants could be a weekly ritual sounds delightful. Treats like this make for family memories. My daughter’s signature Sunday dish is a beautifully-arranged plate of fresh cut fruit. Another friend makes special pancakes. But I must say, croissants trump them all.

As it happens, I’ve been thinking about puff pastry because we have a puff pastry class coming up on Sunday, March 6. We’ll be making Napoleons, Cheese Straws, Palmiers, and Pithiviers. I wouldn’t be surprised if some croissants are part of the menu, too.

Over the Moon and Beyond Basics

2011-02-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

We’ve always said that our Very Basics and Beyond Basics Series are the heart of Culinary Underground’s program. But somehow, the focus is always on Very Basics. And why not? It’s where you learn techniques, and that’s what gets people so excited. Once you’ve learned basic cooking techniques, you have the confidence to try most anything, right?

We love to think about the content of our series – what you’ll enjoy, what we think you should learn, how best to teach it. In the case of Beyond Basics (BB), there is so much to choose from! Going beyond basic techniques, building on the experience you already have, expanding your knowledge of ingredients and flavor profiles is exciting and challenging. Beyond Basics is where you become an accomplished cook.

It’s hard to describe BB classes because there is something that happens when you’re cooking with a group of other dedicated and enthusiastic cooks. And, of course, students bring their own sets of experiences and preferences, so it’s always different.

We can say that in each session we include information on the more unusual flavors and ingredients, the skill of composing meals and menus, and approaches to plating and garnishing.

We can say that moving beyond salt, pepper, and parsley is a sign of serious cookery and the first BB session is a festival of herbs and spices – where to get them, how to use them. We can say that the appetizers in session two are not your everyday selections – they’re delicious works of art.

We can say that you will become familiar with selecting and preparing whole fish, oysters, calamari, and lobster, with cooking poultry in more sophisticated ways, and learn to bone, butterfly, and ballotine.

We can say that we believe vegetables and grains can and should be the stars of the meal and in our classes we’ll prove it.

But really, it’s more than all that. Beyond Basics is where it all comes together: flavor profiles, new ingredients, even more techniques, more sophisticated cooking, but most of all, participants who love to be in the kitchen. It’s an unbeatable combination!

Let's Hear it for the Pressure Cooker!

2011-01-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

The pressure cooker was a daily part of my childhood during the 1950’s. My father had heart disease, and my mother was a devotedly healthy cook. She had a huge vegetable garden from which she (with occasional help from us kids) canned, froze, and preserved large quantities of fruit and vegetables. We had veggies from the garden year round, always cooked for a quick few minutes in the pressure cooker. Its use was so routine that the sound of steam being released signaled that dinner was ready.

Pressure cookers became popular along with many other labor-saving appliances after World War II. Then, with the advent of prepared food, frozen entrees, and microwave ovens, pressure cookers disappeared for a while. But cooks like my mother, who valued freshness, nutrition, and taste have always known that pressure cooking produces great results.

Along with a Singer Featherweight sewing machine, one of my mother’s major gifts to me as a new bride was my own pressure cooker. At first I used it the way my mother had, mostly for vegetables. Then I branched out to beans and other entrees. My mother-in-law contributed a delicious recipe for Transylvanian Goulash: pork chops or shoulder with sauerkraut, sour cream, paprika, and dill and caraway seed. You’d think that recipe has too many strong flavors, but pressure cooking melds them beautifully in a short time.

In a pressure cooker you can make:

Soups and stocks
Beans (including “baked” beans)
Rice
Curries
Meats and main dishes
All kinds of vegetables
Puddings and desserts

Fissler pressure cookers in two sizes are available in our Kitchen Corner, and we have classes on how to use them. A sample class menu with an Italian theme is:

Risotto Milanese
Braciole in Rich Tomato
Red Wine Poached Pears with Amaretto Crunch

Happy New Year to All (with some musings on Hoppin' John)

2011-01-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

I know; you’re probably tired of New Year’s by now. It was a good day to take it easy, maybe cook something simple, nutritious, and delicious… like Hoppin’ John. According to tradition, Hoppin’ John has the added benefit of forecasting prosperity in the coming year.

What is Hoppin’ John? Like most dishes it has many variations, but the basic ingredients are black-eyed peas and rice, usually cooked with some kind of smoked pork: ham hocks, bacon, or bits of ham. What’s wonderful about black-eyed peas and rice is that, together, they make up a complete protein. You get a flavorful, nutritious, dish for a song.

Possibly that’s the beginning of your new year’s prosperity; if you make Hoppin’ John on a regular basis, you may not become rich, but it’s a start on savings.

On New Year’s Day, black eyed peas, which symbolize coins, are often accompanied by greens – collards, mustard greens, kale, chard – which not only symbolize folding money, but balance the meal’s taste and add nutritious value. (Personally, I can’t resist adding cornbread – actually, it’s hard to resist adding cornbread to almost any meal!)

A food native to Africa, black-eyed peas (also known as cowpeas, or field peas) traveled via the slave ships, and spread wherever the slave trade touched. For more than 300 years this legume has been a source of sustenance in Brazil, the Caribbean, and much of the United Sates. We think of black-eyed peas as a bean, but the taste and texture is somewhere between a pea and a bean.

There are almost as many Hoppin’ John recipes as there are cooks. You can make it like a pilaf, a salad, with Andouille sausage, Creole style, or just plain peas and rice with pork. My son recalls that, as a child, he used put up with the taste of the black-eyed peas to get to the ham. Here’s an intriguing recipe for a soup using black-eyed peas. I got it from a friend who thinks she got it from someone in her book club or knitting club. (Further research shows that it’s Mollie Katzen’s recipe from Vegetable Heaven.)

Black-Eyed Pea and Squash Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

Serves 6 to 8:

1 Cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked

1 Tablespoon butter

2 Cups minced onion

2 Tablespoons dry mustard

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 pound fresh mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced

10 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced

1/4 Cup dry sherry or vermouth

1 2-pound butternut squash, peeled and diced (about 5 Cups)

4 Cups water

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Minced parsley for garnish

Place the soaked peas in a saucepan and cover with water by at least 2 inches. Bring to a boil, turn the heat way down, and simmer, partially covered, until tender – about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, mustard, half the garlic, half the ginger, and half the salt. Sauté over MEDIUM HEAT for about 5 minutes. Stir in all mushrooms and sauté for a few more minutes, then add the sherry or vermouth. Cover and cook over MEDIUM heat for about 10 minutes.

Add the water and half the squash. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add cinnamon, lemon juice, vinegar, along with the peas, and the remaining garlic, ginger, squash, and salt. Cover and cook over LOW until the most recently added squash is just tender. Season liberally with black pepper and serve hot.

How the Kitchen Corner Came About

2010-12-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

The truth is that good kitchen gear is a great pleasure; the right tool for the job and all that. But we at Culinary Underground also have a modicum of restraint; we think each piece of equipment should work for more than one purpose.

I remember taking the Culinary Underground Very Basics Series and being enchanted by the salt pig, the gnocchi paddles, the melon ballers that we used to core pears. Cool, simple tools I didn’t really, REALLY need but after taking the VB series I would surely be doing more cooking and didn’t that justify their acquisition?

Well, you know where this leads. Before long I upgraded from a hand mixer to a refurbished stand mixer (be still my heart), from a 30-year-old food processor bought used to a 12-cup Kitchen Aid. Every now and then when I can’t resist any more, I’ll indulge in a fabulous pot, like the 3-quart saucepan I coveted and now use for just about everything.

Students in our classes are always asking, “Where can I buy this?” We can and do send them to the nearest kitchen store, but we’ve always kinda wanted to have a little kitchen store ourselves.

Back in Lori’s home, there was no room at all for merchandise. But now! Now we have space – a really cozy corner where we are slowly accumulating all our favorites. As Lori says, “You don't need a lot of expensive gadgets to cook well, just quality items that work well and last.”

We’ve had a lot of fun selecting the goods for the store and discovering new good stuff in the process. Like USA Bakeware and Regal Ware's American Kitchen pots and pans we use in classes; Fissler knives that sharpen beautifully but are unbelievably comfortable in the hand; sustainable bamboo cutting boards that look and feel great - and are dishwasher safe.

Currently, I have my eye on a 10” Regal Ware American skillet. With a pan like that, I could do almost anything.

Brooklyn Vanilla (also known as Bronx Vanilla)

2010-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

We think Date Nights here at Culinary Underground are the best. Everyone is relaxed and out for a good time. Canoodling over the cooking pots adds a different flavor to the menu.

So we’re always looking for good date night ideas. Lori came up with the improbable name, Brooklyn Vanilla. “What’s that?” everyone asked. “Some new kind of dessert?” Cause who doesn’t love vanilla?

Turns out that Brooklyn Vanilla is diner slang for garlic. (Actually, it’s Bronx Vanilla, but Lori likes to do things a bit differently.) And who doesn’t love garlic?

We made Fried Calamari with Skordalia, which is the Greek garlic sauce served with fried foods; smoked garlic and goat cheese soufflés (we smoked the garlic on the stove top – isn’t that cool?); celery root salad with Korean pickled garlic vinaigrette (never let it be said that we don’t travel in our kitchen!); and Gilroy Garlic Bread. As one student said, “I’m famous for my garlic bread. Why have I never thought of using mayonnaise?”

Here’s the recipe:

Gilroy Garlic Bread

(6 servings)

1/2 loaf French bread

3-4 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste with a little salt

1/4 Cup mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

Fresh parsley, chopped

Mix together mayo and garlic; add pepper to taste. Let stand 15 minutes. Trim ends of bread; slice in half lengthwise; toast lightly. Spread cut halves of bread with mayo-garlic mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Place on cookie sheet and top-brown until the broiler until lightly brown and bubbly, and cheese is melted. Cool slightly and cut into small pieces to serve.

We’ll leave you with a Brooklyn/Bronx style joke:

“Three nickels will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat.”

Maple Pumpkin Butter for Applefest & Spirit of Shrewsbury

2010-09-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

This year, as in year's past, Culinary Underground took our show on the road and set up booth at a couple of local fall festivals. Northborough's Applefest was two weeks ago and tomorrow is the Spirit of Shrewsbury's Oak Street Expo. We offer free samples of some of the recipes our students learn to make in our classes, talk to folks about home cookin', and generally schmooze and enjoy the day. We'll be at Southborough's Heritage Day in a couple of weeks, too.

People often ask us for the recipes for things we prepare for these events. We usually bring along some of our homemade ricotta cheese because we (a) love to teach people to make homemade cheeses and (b) we just love cheese! I stay true to my Pennsylvania Dutch roots by eating ricotta or cottage cheese with apple butter and love to spread the gospel of this pairing. This year, we're offering our Dessert Bruschetta: toasted croutons with pumpkin pie spices, topped with lightly-sweetened homemade ricotta and maple-pumpkin butter.

Pumpkin butter is easier to prepare than apple butter (which involves peeling, coring, slicing, dicing, spicing, simmering, and stirring...for hours). Pumpkin butter uses canned pumpkin; you can buy a sugar pumpkin and do the whole peel/cook/puree thing, but most chefs agree: there's no difference between the homemade version and canned. So make life easy for yourself.

Maple Pumpkin Butter
(about 2-1/2 Cups)

One 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
1-1/2 Cups dark brown sugar
½ Cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over LOW heat. Partially cover and simmer until thick, about 35-45 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid scorching. Cool and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Charlie Boy’s Swamp Pickles and The Best Granola Ever Made

2010-07-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

It’s picklin’ season! Actually, I like to preserve all year ‘round – citrus fruits peak in mid-winter, so that’s the best time to make marmalade. Late spring is the time for freezing and jamming rhubarb and strawberries. But midsummer through the end of fall is the busiest time in the canner’s kitchen.
With all the stuff we’re getting through our CSA, the canning kettle is on the stove several times a week. I prefer to do small batches a couple times a week, rather than a three day round the clock blitz. And so much of the stuff can actually be done in stages – cut and salt cucumbers overnight, for instance, then pickle them the next day.

Chuck is a big fan of bread-and-butter pickles, which I’ve made for years. However, he likes his spicy – really spicy. I’ve played around with stuffing the jars with those dried little hot pepper pods that you can buy in bulk at the Chinese market. But the pickles are never hot enough to suit.

So, this year, Chuck took over the B&B’s. I fled the kitchen to the relative safety of the living room, where I could listen and cringe. Many pots were rattled and jars clinked for the next hour. He finally emerged, looking victorious with the finished product in hand. Which, to be brutally honest, looked awful. Like he’d pickled them in swamp water or runoff from a Superfund site. Are those cucumbers floating around in there – or eyelids? Seems that, instead of mustard seed (which he couldn’t find), he put in the same amount of powdered mustard as seed called for in the recipe. So not only are the pickles simply hot from the peppers, but they are sinus-blasting due to the pungency of the mustard. And a bit too salty; rinsing the salt off the pickles has to be thorough. However, these are mere rookie mistakes. The crinkle-cut chips are deliciously crispy and I think they’ll be even better one they’ve had a couple of weeks for the flavors to meld.

Chuck also wanted homemade granola, which I don’t make often enough. So, I gave him some guidelines, and set him loose. It's with mixed feeling that I report that his granola was the best ever. Just the right balance of toasty cereals and sweetness, dammit. Asked about the ratio of his dried fruit mixture, he smugly replied that it's a "trade secret". I kid; it’s really very gratifying when the student surpasses the master. Well done, Grasshopper!

Despicable Me - I Have Minions!

2010-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Boy, ignorance really is the night of the mind. In the beginning, I didn’t have cooking assistants for our kid’s camps. Enrollment was low because we were just getting started and, with four or five kids, I didn’t really think about it. But going it alone was pretty challenging.

But after our second summer, enrollment picked up and I was exhausted at the end of each camp. Because I was very territorial about my culinary domain, I stupidly fought the idea of having anyone in there working with the kids. After suffering from prolonged whining, Chuck made some convincing arguments in favor of kitchen help vis-a-vis time management, physical wear-and-tear, and the pitfalls of hubris. ("But it's only hubris if I fail, right?"). So, bowing to (instead of laughing at) the superior intellect, I invited one of my students who had “aged out” of the kid's classes to assist. Instant success! The little kids loved working with a teenager – it’s way cooler than having an adult breathing down your neck. One adult for every four kids is the general rule for this kind of thing, and it's a good one. The drive to defend my territory against interlopers evaporated. And so the tradition of having young cooking assistants has continued for subsequent camps.

Now our summer camps are big and busy and we have some really terrific assistants again this year. They, too, came up through the ranks, as it were, starting out in the first camps as students. They are familiar with the kitchen, the equipment, the techniques, and the routine. Working together is a kind of poetry, especially as they anticipate my needs or simply take the initiative. Best of all, they are incredibly cheerful about the dishwashing aspects of the job! They even get the little kids stacking the dishwashers, with minimal grumbling. Bliss, pure bliss.

Herbs Abound (and a recipe...)

2010-06-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weather is brutal for humans, but great for the herb garden - it's really lush. For the French Herb class last week, we got to use a lot of them, in a chilled herb soup, a strawberry tart, a bernaise sauce for steamed asparagus, and an fresh herb salad. The piece de resistance (hey, this was a French class, right?) was a a rack of lamb with a rub made with lavender. Maile brought over a beautiful bouquet (why can't I grow it like that? Damn her green thumb!). I partially dried it for several hours in my oven, which has a "Dehydrate" setting which works really well for the herbs.

As the summer progresses, we're going to continue to use the herbs in our class recipes, especially the kid's camps. I've found that the kids really love to cut them and use them in recipes. The fact that you can grow stuff, pick it, cook with it, and eat it, seems to fascinate them. They especially love decorating with edible flowers. It's one of the little ways we have of showing the little tykes where their some of their food comes from - the ground. Wouldn't I love to have some chickens! Backyard chickens, a beehive, and a worm farm: that's our goal.

I digress. As herbs grow wilder, I'll have to start filling the freezer with herbalicious compound butters (chive blossom is a favorite), make some herb vinegars, and put up some herb sugars and herb syrups. Oh, and pesto, which is easy to make and freezes well. There's nothing like popping open a container of basil or mint pesto in January. It's summer in a jar.

Chive Blossom Compound Butter
(1/2 Cup)

1 stick butter, softened
2 generous Tablespoons chive blossoms, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon chives, snipped
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt to taste (you won't need it for salted butter)

In a bowl, smash softened butter, chive blossoms, snipped chives, lemon juice, and salt to taste. For into a 1/2 log (about the same size as the original stick of butter) and wrap tightly in wax paper or cling wrap. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Use on hot drained pasta, steamed or grilled vegetables, or toasted baguette slices.

CSA Rhubarb and A Crisp Recipe

2010-06-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb Crisp

Week Two of the CSA didn't offer much that's new - still early in the season - but this week, raspberries were offered (and they were terrific), as well as ramps (aka wild leeks, wild garlic). More strawberries, too, even better than last week's, and more rhubarb. Because there's no such thing as too much rhubarb.

Ramps are kind of a cross between garlic and scallions; I used them with some fresh corn (no, not local - it was from the Carolinas) which I removed from the cob and sauteed in olive oil with the ramps and a little fresh thyme from the garden. Some of the strawberries were steeped in vinegar overnight, then cooked to a syrup with some sugar and strained. Chuck used the syrup in his birthday Sodastream to make strawberry shrub. And the rhubarb? Well, there are so many recipes that it's hard to choose, but rhubarb crisp is always a winner.

If you've never made a crisp, try this recipe. It's easy and variable according to whatever fruit is in season. I make it with rhubarb, strawberries, and Bing cherries and apricots in the spring, switch to peaches, blueberries, nectarines, and plums during the summer, and apples and pears in the fall and into the winter.

The only adjustments I make is the amount of sugar: rhubarb needs a lot, but I always taste my other fruits and berries before proceeding, as they can vary greatly. Use old-fashioned oats for a chewier texture, quick-cooking oats with a finer texture. The nuts are optional - we insist on them!

Rhubarb Crisp
(4-6 servings)

4 Cups rhubarb (about 2 pounds)
1/2 Cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 C. cold water
2 Tablespoons white wine

3/4 Cup flour
3/4 Cup granulated or packed brown sugar
3/4 Cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 Cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
4 Tablespoons melted butter or canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 1-1/2 quart shallow baking dish (a 9" x 9" square baking pan work well).

Wash and slice rhubarb into 1/2" pieces. Toss with sugar and cornstarch and let stand 15 minutes. Add water and wine and turn into baking dish. Prepare crumbs by stirring dry ingredients and in a bowl, and slowly adding melted butter to form large crumbs. Toss in the nuts, if you're using them. Sprinkle the mixture on top of fruit, pressing lightly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the liquid is bubbly. Allow to stand about 5-10 minutes before digging in. The accompanying scoop of ice cream is not necessary, but it can't hurt.

Natick VNA Event: A Fresh Taste

2010-06-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Maile's handiwork - and some munchies!

Things get really busy, and lack of time to devote to volunteer work is something that bugs me. So, I try to work it into my business. One thing we do is host area Girl Scout troops to help them earn their cooking badges. And every once in a while, we get to take our show on the road for a charitable event. Last week, we turned out for Natick VNA's annual fundraiser, A Fresh Taste. It's a food and wine pairing evening, with an auction to raise funds for the VNA. It's a great cause and one we were happy to and honored to be part of - great people, great food, great wine.

Suzanne and I were there, serving Smoked Salmon Brandade on Pumpernick Toast with Horseradish Creme Fraiche with Chives. Maile provided a killer centerpiece of veggies, herbs, and flowers for our table. The leftover veggies went into the stock pot - now that's recycling!

CSA-Week One: Spinach!

2010-06-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Spanakopita

Thursday marked the first week of my CSA share pickup at Nourse Farms. I like the way they have things set up:, I get 30 points a week to spend. All the produce is set out in boxes and each item assigned a number of points. Shareholders can then select exactly what they want, rather than receiving a box of goods that may contain stuff that they’re not crazy about. Things like strawberries (and were they beautiful) were limited to one quart and one pint per person.
Since this is still early spring, the variety was limited but the produce was choice. I selected rhubarb, fresh mint, strawberries for Chuck, some fabulous beets (with greens), a bunch of red chard, a head of lettuce (a Big Giant Head of lettuce), and a bale of spinach. Yikes!

The spinach would cook down quite a bit, but still, what do you do with it all? Salad? Forget it; I'm sick of salad and summer hasn't even revved up. Solution: spanakopita, the great Greek phyllo pie. Made with steamed spinach, goat cheese, ricotta cheese, some garlic, and a load of the fresh mint. Working with phyllo always sounds like a lot of work, but isn't really; the pie went together quickly and made a terrific meal, with dividends. Of course, a rhubarb crisp was absolutely necessary for dessert. I may make some beet preserves if I can pry the recipe from my friend Darlene, a woman who knows beets. A saute of beet greens and bacon, some rhubarb BBQ sauce, and mint pesto should take care of the rest of it. (The chard I pawned off on Maile, along with the rest of the lettuce - seriously, the salad boycott is on).

Lovin' the CSA – all the benefits of gardening without weeding!

Eating Local in Victoria, BC

2010-06-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Salt Spring Cheese Company

We’re back from Canada, but the trip was rejuvenating and all, and we spent time these year seeking out the best of the local food scene. A few notes:

We so love our homemade pizza that we seldom eat it out. But sometimes, such as vacation times, we venture out and try some store-bought stuff (if only to confirm that our own is superior). Imagine my surprise when we discovered Pizza Pi, just around the corner. Hand-crafted pies, whole-grain crust, local ingredients – the commitment to local so great that even the furniture in the place was made by local craftsmen. We ordered a medium pie, but should have gone bigger, because it was so great. Lots of vegetarian options here, too. This place deserves to be more well-known.

We also discovered Red Fish, Blue Fish this trip. OMG, as the kids say –really great, local, sustainable seafood prepared simply, tempura style. Hand-cut, twice-fried, Kennebec potatoes. A terrific curried slaw. A quick look at the menu indicated that we’ll have to go back three or ten times in the future. Best of all, this little fish shack is housed in a shipping container plopped onto the wharf on the Inner Harbor. No indoor seating here, just a couple of tables where patrons can sit, nosh, and watch the floatplanes take off for the mainland. Later, we strolled over to our favorite gelateria. Red Fish Blue Fish offers cupcakes from Pink Sugar Cupcakery for dessert. The kid in line in front of us was campaigning pretty hard for one, but his mom wouldn’t cave. I was surprised, because they’re all vegan and healthy and all (and I’m a sucker for a vegan cupcake myself). At $3.50 a pop, though, I can understand her refusal – that’s a lotta quatloos for a cupcake, kiddo.

Lastly, a day trip via the ferry to Gulf Spring Island had us walking a couple of miles from the wharf to Salt Springs Cheese Company. The island is beautiful and the day perfect; the farm itself was idyllic, what with the sheep, horses, goats, and chickens, not to mention that half-dozen border collies running around, wanting to play. We got to see their cheese making operation and to sample all of their offerings at their beyond-cute store. We came away with our favorite cheese, a Camembert-style round called Juliette. It’s improving with age as it sits in the fridge.

Eating local – it’s really worth seeking out, wherever.

Cooking is a Vacation (for some people!)

2010-05-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

I’m sitting at my window overlooking the marina in Victoria, BC, where Chuck and I are vacationing for a couple of weeks. It’s cool and rainy today, unlike home, which, I understand, is sweltering. I hope my neighbor waters our herb garden!

Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands here in British Columbia tout themselves as the organic capital of Canada and there is a vibrant organic-local-whole foods-veggie-whatever, thing going on. The movement is reflected best in the small, casual eateries and coffeehouses all around town. We like to go out for a cup every afternoon and try to dine out at least once a day. (It would be easy to do this three times a day, but we have to limit ourselves, or get fat/go broke simultaneously.) To give you an idea of just how difficult it is to resist the siren call of Victoria, not one block from where I'm currently typing sit three favorite places, all in a row: Habit, Mole, and Café Bliss. Okay, the last one isn’t a favorite. If I so much as hint at raw food cuisine, Chuck dramatically quotes Woody Allen (“I like my food dead. Not sick. Not wounded. Dead”) and follows it up with an elaborate mime of incipient death (throat-clutching, eye-popping, gag-relflexing, a final floor-crashing “faint”.) No sashimi or wheat-grass smoothies for our boy!

But vacations out here are one of the few times during the year when I actually get to do what I call “relaxation cooking”. I let the rhythm of the day, my mood, and the market inform the meal. It is quite a change from my real life, when that ticking clock and what's hanging around in the fridge determine what gets thrown together; on class nights, I'm limited to a little plain yogurt before late-evening sampling of our student's creations. And despite the seductions of its many restaurants, Victoria offers a lot of great fodder for the home cook looking to be creative.

Our proximity to Chinatown, just a half-block up the street, is great. In a few minutes, I'm going to stroll over and select fresh fruits and veggies from the sidewalk market. The stuff is way cheaper than the grocery store and I love to be able to cook based on what’s fresh that day. And whatever looks good is going to find its way onto the plate tonight. Fresh Asian noodles are made daily and bagged for easy pickup at the place next door, as well as Chinese baked goods and BBQ – I’d provide a link to this place, but it’s a no-frills, cash-only concern that doesn’t even seem to belong to the 20th century, let alone the 21st. I'll skip the Chinese herbalist today, since I don’t know what the hell goes on in there anyway.

After that, I'll walk another couple of blocks for fresh whole-grain bread at Cascadia or Wildfire. For a baker like me, these places are pure kryptonite, baby. Maybe a little something for dessert? Or a couple of vegan muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast? Witness me settling for both! Time permitting, a visit to Silk Road for loose tea, probably a smoky Lapshang. Last stop: the local Whole Foods clone for essentials (Island goat cheese, red lentils, Peace River honey, TP) and then it's back to my little condo kitchen.

I'm back! On tonight’s menu: a stir fry of spot prawns – it’s the season! – with bean sprouts, some fresh choi, and other good things, like Queen Anne cherries, the first of the year. And if the sun comes out, as it’s been trying to do for the last hour, we’ll dine on the patio overlooking the inner harbor, watching the University crew team rowing again the sunset.

Ciao for now from the Pacific Northwest.

Good Eating at the Big Fresh (A Restaurant Review)

2010-05-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

I thought the Big Fresh would be just another chain restaurant like all its neighbors. Quite the opposite. Big Fresh supports the locavorian movement with organic foods, and high quality produce from Land Sakes Farm in Weston and Heirloom Harvest in Westborough.

The menu is posted above the open kitchen area. I was blown away by the variety of cheaply priced seafood dishes. Should I order the Seared Alaskan True Cod, the Blackened Wild Alaskan Salmon with Jasmine Rice, or the Salmon Wrap? There were a variety of wraps (including their famous falafel wrap), salads, fish plates, and stir fries.

I settled on wild salmon and my boyfriend, Oliver, chose the Salmon Wrap. We could have gone for more variety… on the other hand I would be able to compare two forms of their salmon.

We sampled a buffet of iced teas, including Crimson Berry, Orange Rooibus, and Black Tea Mango. The café also offers unique sodas and lemonades.

We took our tea to a booth by the window and looked the place over: purple walls, eclectic lanterns hanging above each booth, pictures on the walls, stained glass art by the cook station. It was a relaxing venue.

Within a few minutes, our food was ready, and I ordered a side of hummus and pita, along with a slice of freshly made Sweet Potato Pie.

Even though I ordered the lunch portion, the salmon platter was enormous. There was a sizeable filet, perfectly pan seared and blackened, covered in a tangy creole sauce. The salmon was tender. Its peppery taste was complemented by the spicy, sweetness of the sauce. Contrary to tradition, the sauce tasted more of carrot than tomato.

The side dishes were a generous portion of jasmine rice and a hot succotash salad of fresh organic greens, red pepper, lima beans, purple onions and small black beans. The salad was slightly blackened and tossed in vinaigrette. The textures balanced quite well.

Oliver’s wrap was composed of a warm tomato tortilla, salmon, dill mayonnaise, jasmine rice and organic greens. Tangy dill complemented the salmon pieces, which were fishier than my filet but equally delicious. The hummus was the creamiest I’ve ever had and made a great dipping sauce for the wrap.

I was so full I had to take the Sweet Potato Pie home. It made a delicious dessert later. Pureed to perfection, the sweet potato had the consistency of pumpkin pie. The crust was delicate and moist and every bite, though so packed with taste, was light and fluffy.

I highly recommend Big Fresh and will definitely start frequenting the café myself. The majority of dishes are under $10, which struck me due to the quantity, quality, and variety. Seemingly, it is an anomaly in the Framingham community, made even more apparent by the chain mall it’s in, as mentioned earlier. I truly hope that this little treasure gets more exposure!

The inexpensive, full course meal provided by Big Fresh warmed my stomach and my spirit on a cold, rainy day.

Longing for a Home Cooked Meal

2010-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce myself. I’m Rebecca LaPier, and I’m doing some work with the folks at Culinary Underground. One of my tasks is to write the occasional blog posting, and one of my pleasures is to attend the occasional cooking class. Recently, it was Dessert Buffet. Yum!

Now for the blog post. I grew up on a farm in Upstate New York, where my mother fed us three very hearty meals a day. Each meal involved meat – my dad has his own personal butcher – milk, vegetables from our garden, fruit, and some kind of homemade biscuit or bread. Truth? My mom’s cooking was delectable. I was her little helper in the kitchen. She taught me all the basics, which she had learned from her mother. Pie making was especially fun for us and we continue to enjoy this tradition.

I never knew how much work planning and preparing three meals a day took until I was out of my parents’ house. In college, food was cooked for you and easily accessible, and I could still go home on holidays for my mother’s feasts. Then I moved in with my college sweetheart, Oliver. We lived in Framingham, five and a half hours from my parents. Visits grew less frequent and my longing for home cooked meals grew stronger. I realized how lucky I was to have a mother and father who truly valued homegrown products prepared by their own hands.

At first, Oliver and I subsisted on fast food and processed, microwave meals. What complete blasphemy given how I was raised! Working full-time made me lazier and more apt to swing by the combination KFC/Taco Bell for a Famous Bowl and some value tacos. It is unbelievably easy to fall into this pattern.

As we settled into the area, however, and grew more accustomed to living in our apartment, we decided we needed to familiarize ourselves with the kitchen. It isn’t the biggest, most functional kitchen, but it has the essentials. We actually could make those home cooked meals I missed so much.

And what fun we’ve been having! We get out the wine, throw on some music, and talk about the workday while preparing a real meal. Now, every time I go to my parents’ house, my dad loads me up with various meats – including my favorite, venison – and homegrown vegetables like sweet corn, potatoes, and tomatoes.

It seems like a small thing, but I’m proud that Oliver and I have gotten back to home cooked meals. It’s something so precious, so economical and practical that seems to have been lost. Thankfully, places like Culinary Underground are bringing back home cooking. After taking Lori’s dessert seminar, I realized what a great team Oliver and I make in the kitchen.

The Secret of Peanut Butter Eggs

2010-03-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

One of the continuing kitchen pleasures for me is the challenge of doing things from scratch. And I've noticed that our classes in cheese-making and artisan bread baking are more popular then ever. Maybe it's the recession, maybe it's awareness about our compromised food choices, but people are very interested in knowing what goes into what they eat these days or just how to do things for themselves.

Working with chocolate falls into this category. Every year, I vow to skip making the candy eggs around Easter, and every year I cave. The commercial peanut butter eggs are just re-configured peanut butter cups: they just change the shape at the factory, wrap 'em in pastel paper, and ship 'em out. When we were kids, my mother would order homemade peanut butter and coconut eggs from the local UCC church. Church lady Easter eggs! Always dark chocolate, with a little sprinkling of finely crushed peanuts on top of the PB eggs to distinguish them from the coconut eggs. (Some people seem to loathe coconut - "it's the texture". These are the same people who devour flotillas of maki-nori at the sushi restaurants.)

Fast forward about 20 years and 300 miles from home. Finally, after one Reese's inferior pb egg too many, I got the craving for the real thing, had to duplicate the churchy eggs. My first attempts were okay - good texture, good chocolate, JIF premium, forming and drying the centers overnight, etc. But the taste was...meh. It was definitely the filling - the peanut butter just wasn't right. And it wasn't just the taste, but "the texture". A confirmed JIF fan, I reluctantly tried the rival brand, Skippy, and was somewhat relieved at the resulting similar result. Okay, maybe it was all those fillers and added sugar; my next attempt was with homemade peanut butter. What a disaster! The oil separated after enrobing in the chocolate, oozing out of the microscopic chocolate pores like some kind of hemorrhagic fever had struck. They were too gross to even think about eating. Exit - compost heap.

Okay, once more unto the breach, but this was gonna be the last time. The money spent trying to perfect the damn things, I could've bought a Fabrege egg. At a disreputable convenience store, I purchased the cheapest, dustiest, no-name jar of PB out there at a disreputable convenience stor and, lo! Success! The secret was non-premium pb, the kind you wouldn't want to eat straight because of it's dry, grainy, overly-peanutty taste. But those qualities of texture and taste were perfect for the eggs.

And so, the code broken, I continued to make the eggs, along with their coconut counterparts. I didn't make them every year, but often enough to gather a following of pb egg addicts. Namely, my husband, my parents, and my kid sister. This year, the folks are watching their weight and Chuck begged me not to put temptation in his path. So I'm sending them to my sister, who's always biking and hiking and doing other calorie-burning things. I think they call those things "exercise". Hey, pb is a great protein and dark chocolate is practically a health food, so they work as part of a healthy lifestyle regime. Or at least, I think that's what she will tell herself - I certainly do.

Pancakes and Dwight, RIP

2010-02-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

This Tuesday is, for those who keep track of such things, Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday – the last day of celebration before Lent. Being a Pennsylvania Dutchie, I celebrate it as Fastnacht Day. Fastnachts are potato doughnuts, which sound ho-hum but they are the best, the best, doughnuts you will ever eat. I could eat a dozen of them right this second, with butter and King table syrup. In our house, the last person out of bed that day was “the fastnacht”, a shameful thing to be. But doughnuts are good, right? To me, to be “the fastnacht” is to be an Oscar Meyer wiener.

The day is also celebrated in places like England as Pancake Day; Olney, England is home of the famous pancake race. And thinking about religious holidays and pancakes got me thinking about my father-in-law, who died recently and suddenly. Dwight and I had a…well, a strained relationship. But we always found common ground in food talk. (Mostly this was a reaching-out effort on his part, which I lately came to realize and appreciate; regrettably, I never got to tell him so.) Over the years, I taught him to make granola, which he did religiously and helped him with his bread-machine issues. Another recipe we explored together was buckwheat pancakes. He remembered that his mother would mix up a huge bowl of the batter and have it resting in the icebox; in the mornings, she would fry up the cakes. Dwight wanted to recreate them and turned to me for help.

Well, I had never had them; most Americans hadn’t really eaten them after WWII when white flour replaced it and other whole grains in pancakes and most other baked goods. Buckwheat is enjoying a renaissance because it is gluten-free (and therefore great for people with wheat allergies). Ergo, I assumed that Dwight’s mom’s pancakes were yeast-raised. I had made Russian blini and the Brittany buckwheat crepes before and figured buckwheats would be similar. A little research found that most of the old recipes called for making a starter, much like sourdough, and letting the batter ferment overnight. Newer recipes call for mixing white flour with the wheat flour and using eggs and baking soda and all kinds of other leaveners – forget that. So, I got out the buckwheat flour, sour milk, yeast, and some other stuff and mixed up a smelly sour mash. So many recipes describe buckwheat as tasting like mushrooms – this stuff definitely had that fungus-among-us thing going on. “These’ll be great!” I thought to myself that night, taking care that the batter bowl didn’t come into contact with anything edible.

The next morning, I made a test batch of pancakes for Chuck, my husband and lab rat. Success! The resulting cakes were sternly Presbyterian: heavy, grim, and gray. John Knox may not have feared any flesh, but even he wouldn’t have sermonized about the amount of maple syrup necessary for us to choke them down. I sent the recipe on to Dwight, with detailed instructions.

About a week later, he phoned, happy as a boy, to tell me about them. They tasted just like Mom’s! He ate them with sorghum syrup, the sweetener of his youth. I was pleased that he was happy, but even more delighted to hear my mother-in-law yelling in the background about how awful they were. I’m willing to bet he never got to make them again. Dwight’s mom wasn’t the only formidable missionary lady in that family.

I’m saddened by Dwight’s passing. Years ago, he took us to a Korean restaurant in Atlanta. In fluent Korean, he ordered some really nasty things for me, including an octopus dish that was so hot, it took off the top of my head. Recently, a friend and I discovered a Korean family restaurant nearby. We couldn’t read the menu, but the food was great. Among the banchan was a little dish of quivering turquoise squares floating in a fiery-looking sauce. They positively glowed. We tried it immediately. It tasted like hazelnut-quinine Jello. The server told me it was dotorimuk - jellied acorn flour. As I chased the stuff with water and more rice, I thought how much fun it would be to take Dwight to lunch here - to share the experience of blue jelly squares with him, to hear him converse with the owner in Korean, to listen to him expound on the evolution of the Korean language, and to hear him laugh as he tells another story from a life very well-lived. And now that will never be.

Stacks o' Mags

2010-01-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

This year, I’m letting all foodie magazine subscriptions expire and am going virtual. Curling up with a stack of food porn and a glass of wine used to be a pleasure; nowadays, it seems like work (because it is). It’s also less pleasurable because of all the print advertisements. Looking back at some old Bon Appetit magazines (circa 1986), the ads were all food-related. Now, these rags accept glossy, multi-page ads from automakers, jewelers, whatever. Most annoyingly, the food ads are often indistinguishable from the articles - was recently halfway through a great article on cheese before realizing it was an ad for a middle-of-the-pack brand I wouldn't buy anyway.

For years, my favorites were Gourmet and Bon Appetit. The former was glam, globe-trotting, and snobby ("tinned" tomatoes, always), like a girl crush-worthy upperclassman at a ritzy boarding school, destined to marry well and often. The latter mag was by contrast the homebody little sister, a little plain, a little bit the rube, but the food was real. Over the years, the two became almost indistinguishable (having the same publisher helped) as home cooks began cooking more globally and regular restaurant forays became the norm for most middle-class families. Now, Gourmet is defunct and you've gotta wonder how long the rest of these glossies will survive. My current favorites are Eating Well (resurrected after a few years out of print) and Dessert Professional (a girl can dream...and drool).

My biggest problem is letting go of the damn things because there's always one recipe that intrigues, or a technique that looks interesting, or an interview that I keep meaning to read. So I hang on, intending to revisit it and it ain't gonna happen. Here's hoping that going paperless will take care of the packrat problem. (A couple of viewings of A&E's Hoarders usually puts me in the mood to clean up and out.) Will probably just wind up bookmarking the one recipe, the technique, the interview - thus recreating the same problem. Paperless doesn't mean less hoarding; it's organized hoarding.

Welcome to the new blog...

2010-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, and welcome to the new blog.

The old blog died a very sudden death. Originally, it always included a recipe per entry, with accompanying photo. This involved researching the recipe, gathering ingredients, testing the recipe, photographing the results, then blogging about it. Basically, I just stopped posting because all that got to be too much with classes and other commitments.

So, with the new website (almost) ready to launch, I'm resurrecting the blog in a new format. Since the new website includes a separate section for current recipes, the blog is devoted to my two passion: cooking and teaching. We will be writing about classes here and on the road, other cooking schools, the home cooking vogue, favorite (and not-so-favorite) cookbooks and magazines, other cooking teachers in the area, food history, trends in culinary education, thoughts about the whole sustainability, locavore thang, and cooking in the media. Sounds like a lot of stuff, huh? Well, I can always find some culinary topic to flame about: a trip to the grocery store can amuse or outrage me.

The old blog didn't have a name. A food history buff, I named this one "Cacklefruit". For the uninitiated, it's diner lingo for "eggs". As somesone pointed out, isn't it faster for the waitress just to say "eggs"? Of course, but then life wouldn't be as colorful or interesting. Brush up your hash-house shorthand with this list.