Spring Radish Quick Pickle

Lately, I've been thinking about pickles, fermentations, and other ways of preserving foods. In addition to a stack of library books on the subject, there's a ginger beer bug (culture) growing on the shelf, plans are in place to try making kimchi, and my growing curiosity on brewing mead. With some time off from classes over the summer, I'm almost living in the kitchen—trying things out, reading cookbooks, enjoying time in my little laboratory.

This morning we went to the St. Paul Farmer's Market in Lowertown and one of the things that made it back to our kitchen was spring radishes. Whenever I see them, I think of my grandparents slicing them and to add to salads; I don't know why this sticks in my mind, other than they must have eaten a lot of them. I enjoy them sliced with a sprinkle of sea salt, or chopped and mixed with butter to spread on crackers.

Given my recent obsession with all things pickled, however, I wanted to trying something a little different. Following this recipe exactly, I'm hooked; there's a sweetness to these, like candy, and they're addictive. I like where this is going, next time I might try a sea salt brine for a slightly more fermented version.

Fried Egg Sandwich with Salsa

It was a bright (and really cold) morning when J suggested we go for a walk before breakfast. As we walked around our neighborhood like penguins trying to not fall down on icy sidewalks, the decision was made to visit the bakery/coffee shop a couple blocks away. We arrived back home with a huge loaf of 100% whole wheat bread and I was compelled to weigh it: 34.5 ounces. Maybe that's more standard than I realize, but wow.

Breakfast is not something I usually cook. But on a morning when I'm putting off research as long as possible, it happens. Lately we've been hooked on fried eggs with salsa between two slices of lightly toasted bread. Timing and process are important in making this, because I think it's best eaten hot.

For each sandwich:
• Have two slices of bread ready.
• Put one slice of bread in the toaster, and simultaneously heat fat in a skillet for egg frying. The fat can be olive oil, butter, bacon grease, anything you'd like.
• Crack egg into the fat once it's hot.
• Toast will probably pop up now. Butter one side if you'd like (I do) and place on a plate.
• Put second slice of bread in the toaster.
• Check egg, and cook to your liking. I don't do runny eggs and often attack the yolk to make sure it is completely cooked through.
• Place egg on buttered toast, top with a little salsa.
• Second piece of toast should pop up at this point. Butter, place on top, and eat.

Make this your own by adding cheese, vegetables, last night's leftovers... the list goes on and on...

Salsa for Cold Weather

Tomatoes of sunshine quality are difficult to find in a midwest winter; while my heart will always belong to pico de gallo, this is a great salsa to make in the dark depths of cold weather. It's fast and can be used on its own (with chips, tacos, etc) or used in a dish requiring ready-made salsa from a jar.

1 28 oz can stewed tomatoes

1 7 oz can diced chiles or 1 or 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed

2 T chopped onion (white, yellow, or green--any variety will work)

1 T olive oil

2 tsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (optional, but highly suggested)

1 handful cilantro, chopped

salt & pepper to taste

Combine and it's ready to go!

Apple Butter

For my parents this turned out to be a great year for apples, Red Delicious, and we brought plenty of them back with us to Chicago. They've never used pesticides on the fruit, which is fantastic, so we were ready to gobble them up. However, I knew we'd never get through a huge bag of them and I didn't feel like making a dessert. The solution was to make apple butter, my first time ever!

It's so easy that there is hardly a recipe for it. You could do this on the stove, but I prefer the slow cooker as it is completely hands off.

Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (or chopped)---you'll need enough to fill your crockpot to the point that the lid almost doesn't fit.
2 tsp cinnamon
Other spices (ginger, cloves, nutmeg)--totally optional, I didn't use them because I wanted a very mild butter

Contrary to some beliefs, apple butter doesn't have any butter in it.

Combine the ingredients above in a slow cooker, and let it run 10-15 hours or so. I started mine at 6pm one day and turned it off around 9am the next morning.

At this point you can puree the mixture, or store it is as with tiny chunks of apple (I didn't mind the chunks). I have yet to learn how to heat process anything in jars, so I simply filled 3 jars of apple butter and stored them in the fridge.

This is great on just about anything, like toast...!

Popcorn in a Paper Bag

What goes best with a big screen tv? Popcorn! I blame the dark winter months and our new high def television for the amounts of popcorn we're suddenly consuming. Is popcorn nutritious? Yes--high in fiber, it's an all natural whole grain food.

Ever since I'd heard about popcorn lung brought on by microwaveable packets, I wanted to figure out away to make it at home--without investing in an air popper. My mom and grandma both had air poppers... and I remember them being difficult to clean.

Enter the glorious paper bag method. Here's how I did it, yielding enough corn for two of us:

1/2 c popcorn kernels
2 T butter (if you want more, go for it)
dash of salt
1 small lunchbag sized paper bag (our grocery store uses small-ish paper bags when they pack breakables like wine or olive oil that we've purchased; they work perfectly for this, and can be used a few times!)
other seasonings (cheese, chili powder, whatever)
1 microwave

1. Melt the butter. Set aside.
2. Put popcorn kernels in small bag, and fold the top over so that the bag is sealed up.
3. Place this bag in the microwave, flap down.
4. Put the microwave on 4 minutes and do NOT leave the room. You'll need to keep an eye on this so it doesn't burn. Depending on your appliance, the corn will probably start to pop about a minute and a half into the process.
5. IMPORTANT: once the popping slows down to a single pop every three seconds, you're done. No, don't try to get that last kernel popped. It's DONE. Just take it out.
6. Put it all into a big bowl, dump in the butter/salt/seasonings and use or hands or a big spoon to get it all coated.

Be ready to make more--it doens't last very long!

Saucy

Today I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, which was not a bad thing. Somehow, cooking usually centers my mind and the week ahead feels much easier to deal with. The added bonus is that most of this week's dinners are prepped and that means less time after work making food. I've read up on the once-a-month-cooking concept, but have not jumped on the bandwagon entirely; it seems to me that this method of cooking would be a bit limiting to me. I've got cookbooks on my nightstand and bookmarked foodie sites for constant inspiration—I'd change my mind far too often. So, I thought I'd start with once-a-week-cooking (kind of).

This barbecue sauce is from the book I Like You by Amy Sedaris. The original recipe must have made a barrel of sauce; my smaller version gives me almost 20 oz or so. Its name is Vulgar Barbecue Sauce....her reasoning was, it's so good it's vulgar. Who could mess with an amazing name like that? I plan to use this later on in the week with fried tofu, collard greens (from our CSA--never had them before!) and maybe some cornbread.

1/4 c butter (half a stick)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small poblano pepper, finely chopped (or regular green pepper)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 tsp tobasco sauce
1 tsp chili powder (more if you like)
1 c apple cider vinegar
16 oz ketchup (not catsup...he he)
3/4 c brown sugar (white would work ok if you're out)
2 T worcestershire sauce
sea salt & pepper

Melt butter in a medium size saucepan, and saute onion, garlic, and poblano/green pepper. When the onion starts to look translucent, add the rest of the ingredients and stir to blend. Simmer this for 45 minutes, stirring every so often (otherwise, it will stick to the pan). Bottle in a jar or other container and keep in the fridge.

Ten Nectarines

I'm a big fan of nectarines, more so than possibly any other fruit. Nonetheless, when our last CSA delivery included ten of them I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all of them before they went bad (and I knew John wouldn't... he has an aversion to stone fruits). Fortunately, I found some fantastic instructions on how to freeze them for later use on ice cream, pound cake, etc.

The process itself was a breeze; no cooking or making sugar syrups. Biggest lesson learned? Nectarines are very delicate, and bruise easily. Once you've got a bruised part, it turns a dark color and gets mushy. I used fresh grapefruit juice for the fruit acid part (it was all I had on hand that would work) and cane sugar. I'll be reporting back when it's snowy outside and I'm still enjoying some nectarines.

The Teriyaki Experiment

One of my favorite addictions is watching cooking shows on public television. For a couple of reasons (well, principle & price) we don't have cable, so I'm not privy to Food Network programming. However, whether it be Scandinavian Cooking, Oregon foodies or French fast food, I'm perfectly at home in front of Channel 11 on a lazy Saturday.

It was one of those easy Saturdays that I happened to watch America's Test Kitchen, and they were cooking from-scratch Chicken Teriyaki. It looked delicious. If I could smell and taste through a television (a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) I'm sure it would have been a heavenly experience indeed.

Now, I don't mind eating chicken but having to handle it raw throws my nerves into a spastic fit. I simply can't stand it; it once mingled with the scent of raw onions on a wooden cutting board and ever since that frozen moment in time I don't cook raw chicken at home (unless absolutely necessary; there's nothing shameful about a rotisserie bird). It was with this revulsion in mind that I chose to make from-scratch teriyaki with tofu. Why couldn't it work? Cook some rice, fry up the tofu, and top with the sauce. The results were fantastic!

Rice, Japanese-style
2 c short grain rice (rinsed under cool water & drained)
2-1/2 c cold water
Combine in a 2-quart saucepan (that has a tight-fitting lid) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to almost nothing, top it with the lid, and simmer for 15 minutes. After the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let sit another 10 minutes.
Note: Begin cooking the rice before the other stuff, as it takes at least 25 minutes.

Fried Tofu
1 block of tofu, frozen for 24 hours, thawed in the fridge, and then pressed (makes for better texture)
canola oil
Slice the tofu, and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt. Heat oil in a heavy pan, and add tofu. Cook about 3-5 minutes until browned & crisp, then flip and do the same on the other side.

Teriyaki Sauce
In a saucepan combine:
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
2 T mirin
1/2 tsp corn starch
In a small saucepot over medium heat, combine the soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic. Stir to dissolve the sugar. In a small bowl, dissolve the corn starch in mirin, and add to the pot. Boil for about 3-4 minutes, until reduced and thickened to a glaze-style sauce.

Serve the tofu over rice, and drizzle with teriyaki sauce.

Summertime Foods (Part 1): Black Beans

Each day this week, the temperature has increased a few degrees and I'm scrambling to collect recipes that require little to no actual heat. I'm not into the raw food lifestyle, so mostly I am paying attention to dishes that can be grilled or salads hearty enough to be a main dish.

We eat a lot of black beans. In fact, I rarely buy any other variety. Once I have a pressure cooker, I'll be cooking them myself but in the meantime they must be purchased in cans. An absurd thing I noticed one day was the addition of high fructose corn syrup or other additives in canned beans. Why?? Fortunately, the store we shop at has its own organic brand (only a few cents higher in cost), which has only the addition of sea salt and water. Perfect.

An amazing black bean salad recipe can be found at Simply Recipes; we had this a few nights ago (made without any changes to the original recipe) and there were no leftovers to spare. It is delicious, and with the exception of the beans, mostly raw. I served this with grilled sweet potatoes and it was sooooo great on a warm evening.

I'm very excited about my recipe below, but it makes sense on a hot day only if the patties are grilled. I've tried a few burger recipes in the past, and usually they are tasteless with a weird texture. These are fresh tasting and hit the spot:

Black Bean Patties
1 15-oz can black beans (drained & rinsed, mash with a fork)
about 1/2 c shredded carrot
1/4 c red onion, finely chopped
small handful of chopped cilantro
3/4 c frozen corn (rinse under cool water to defrost slightly)
1 egg
fresh bread crumbs, as needed (around 1-1/2 c)
few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce (suit to your taste buds)
sea salt & black pepper for seasoning

Combine all ingredients, adding bread crumbs as needed. Season to taste. Form into patties, should make 5-6 depending on the size. If it's hot out: grill 2-3 minutes (or as long as necessary) until nicely browned. If it's cool enough to make them indoors, fry in a skillet with a few tablespoons of veg oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve like a regular burger!

Taco Seasoning Mix

For every packet of seasoning mix I see in a store, I begin the search for an alternative; the packets are usually loaded with salt (yuck) and msg (double yuck). This is a fabulous blend that can be suited to your own taste buds...and gives you piece of mind knowing exactly what's in your taco.

I've used this with both meatless crumbles and ground beef with equally good results. 2 tablespoons of this mix equals one 1.25-oz packet from the store. This recipe makes about 12 tablespoons.

1/4 c dried minced onion
2 T chili powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1-1/2 tsp oregano
1 T sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
2 T cornstarch
1 T dried minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin

Mix and blend thoroughly, store in a glass jar for up to six months in the pantry.

To use:
Brown 1 lb. lean ground meat (or meatless crumbles) in large skillet over medium heat; drain grease if necessary. Add 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix. Reduce heat, cover pan, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes enough filling for 8 to 10 tacos.

Leftovers rating: High. Tacos are good any day of the week.
Note: Adapted from this recipe.