I’ve spent a fair amount of time staring at fresh fava beans at the farmers market. They always get my attention, but I’m never quite sure what to do with them.
Then, when we attended the shims and shrubs workshop that I mentioned last week, it all clicked for me. One of the bites served there was grilled baby fava beans. A little lightbulb went off in my head — oooh, you can grill them!
These tender, steamed Japanese yams are flavored with curry powder and a twist of lime. They make a great side dish or snack!
I’ve been intrigued by the world of potatoes and yams for some time. I think it probably started when we traveled to Ireland. Visiting the food markets there opened me up to the reality that there were more varieties than the red skinned and russet I was familiar with.
Then my potato passion moved to my own garden when I was growing red and white skinned potatoes. The excitement reached epic proportions the year I grew Adirondack Blue potatoes (what many people refer to as purple potatoes) and harvested 15 pounds from the garden!
I’m not growing my own potatoes right now, but the adventures have not ceased. They continue with cuisines and cultures that I have to admit took me completely by surprise. I’m not sure I ever expected to find so many Asian varieties of potatoes. They are of the sweet potato and yam family, and they are all over my favorite farmers market in Oakland. Purple, white, orange, yellow — it is seriously a rainbow of taters out there.
This tangy pickled daikon and kohlrabi salad makes a super simple side dish for spring!
I’m a big fan of pickled veggies. Asparagus, long beans, cucumbers, carrots — pickle it and I love it. Last year, I gave up on pickling for long term preserving. Meaning no water bath pickling, etc.
I just can’t seem to master the art of keeping things crisp, and the batches end up being too large for us to finish in a reasonable amount of time.
So now I’m into quick pickling. A few veggies, a vinegar mixture, a couple hours in the fridge and a manageable amount is ready to serve.
This recipe uses a gluten-free filling made with olives and almond meal. White button mushroom caps are stuffed with the filling, covered in an easy marinara and baked until tender.
Almond meal is my new bread crumb. I sprinkle it on as a topping, coat fish and chicken with it, and use it to make fillings and stuffings. It doesn’t get quite as crunchy as bread crumbs, but it does add a pleasant sweetness. It also makes a grain-free alternative, so if you want to reduce grains or add some protein, it will do the trick.
I picked up some white button mushrooms last week. Yes, I know. At first glance they seem boring, but they are one of my favorite varieties. They are easy to work with, cook quickly and stay tender. This batch was on the big side, as in about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter for each mushroom. Perfect for stuffing.
I’ve been combining green olives with tomato sauces a lot lately. I love the saltiness of the olives with the sweetness of the tomatoes, so I kept that theme with these mushrooms by adding olives to the stuffing.
The almond meal works so well with these. There is enough moisture in the vegetables to create a stuffing you can mold easily, but if you find yours is a little dry, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of stock to get it to the right consistency.
If you use this as a side dish, it can easily serve 3 and maybe even 4. But if you serve it as a main course like I did, plan on 2, possibly 3. After your first helping you are going to want a few more, so plan accordingly!
This chipotle tomato soup comes together in minutes. It is rich and smooth with a hint of spice from chipotle peppers.
I love the little cans of chipotles in adobo. I do. But every time I buy one I’m reminded that they may be the reason that phrases like – a little goes a long way – were created. I can never seem to find use for more than one pepper out of the can at a time.
My point being, I have another chipotle recipe to share. So here’s to hoping you like things spicy!
This was supposed to be a three bean salad.
I went to the pantry and grabbed three cans of beans, drained and rinsed them and added them to the mixing bowl. It wasn’t until I was halfway done making the recipe that I looked down and thought – wow, all those dark beans look the same. It turns out I grabbed two cans of black beans instead of one black and one can of kidney beans. It seems I have a problem with attention to detail.
Oh well, you are getting a little less variety, but not at the cost of good flavor or a darn easy recipe.
This recipe for carrot and cucumber pickles remains one of my very favorites. If you like pickled veggies as much as I do, this cookbook needs some space on your shelf!
The first time we traveled to Southeast Asia, I completely missed a very important thing about the cuisine.
It’s all about the condiments.
I saw the little bowls of peppers, relishes, chutneys and sauces on our table and I tried one here and there, but it wasn’t until we returned and I researched recipes further that I realized I should have been much more adventurous! Now, I can make a complete meal out of the condiments alone. Sweet, spicy, tangy, pickled, fermented – you name it and I want it.
I’ve become that annoying person at the dinner table who asks a million question of the server. What is that? How is it made? What’s in it? I’ll take any little piece of information I can grab to help me find a recipe so I can make it at home later, or at least attempt to. I always feel a little intimidated because it never seems to turn out just right. But that’s probably because I haven’t really had a reliable resource for recipes. Until now.
Friday is cookbook review day throughout the summer here at Fake Food Free. If you have a love of cookbooks be sure to swing back by for plenty of new ideas and recipes.
I don’t like to call it an addiction. That makes it sound as though it’s a bad thing.
Let’s go with attraction.
Yes. I have a strong attraction to canning and preserving cookbooks.
I have my mom’s old ones, I collect new ones and I never turn down the offer to test one out. Regardless of how simple or complex the recipes in the book may be, I always manage to find something I have never canned before.
I revised my definition of the simple salad after our time in Brazil.
I thought what I was eating prior was a simple salad until I had my first bite of a salad there. I remember thinking — but where are the candied walnuts, the blue cheese, the cranberries, and could I have a little dressing?
It took simple to a whole new level and it took it a while to grow on us, but it did. Occasionally we even find ourselves craving that same simplicity almost 5 years later.
I had the opportunity to spend one afternoon with a friend there while she prepared us dinner and it allowed me to see first-hand how such a salad comes together. First, everything is the same color. No flecks of white from feta cheese or bursts of red from cherry tomatoes. No, it was all, equally as pretty, shades of green.
First lettuce, then parsley and finally a few rings green bell pepper. Next, the secret salad ingredient – salt. I have to admit I had never salted a salad straight from the shaker until we moved there. No pepper, though. Black pepper was non-existent where we lived.
The salt is what made the dressing flavors pop. And what I mean by dressing is loads of olive oil and fresh squeezed lime juice.
When I was trying to use up a few leftover vegetables last week, I decided to return to the basics and recreate a similar salad for dinner. I made a few changes like cilantro because I’m not in love with parsley, red bell pepper because I had it on hand, green onion for the same reason and kale because there was a handful I didn’t want to go to waste.
I went ahead and massaged the kale in olive oil. If you haven’t done this before it reduces bitterness, softens the leaves and really makes all the difference. Just pour the oil over it and rub it in with your hands, working it for a few minutes.
Regardless of whether you use kale or not, a good olive oil is essential for this salad. With such simple flavors, it must be delicious. I’ve mentioned Oregon Olive Mill before and I love their extra virgin olive oil. They recently sent me a new variety called Frantoio. It’s a single Italian olive varietal with a buttery flavor and a peppery finish, which I love in a good olive oil. I was waiting for something simple to use it with so that the olive oil’s flavors would stand out and it worked perfectly in this salad.
When the kale is ready to go just layer on the other ingredients, toss with a little (or a lot) more olive oil and lime juice and it’s ready to serve.
