Peach and yellow tomato bruschetta

By Jo | Published: August 21, 2010

The title is misleading. This isn’t really bruschetta – I had no good bread on hand when I made it.  As you’ll see in the picture, I made it in one large dish, instead of individual servings (that’s polenta, underneath).  But it was meant to go on bread, and would have, if I weren’t too lazy to go to the store.

The bread isn’t important, though. It’s just a delivery vehicle, not the star.  Polenta served just as well.  The star is the mix of tomato and peach – yes, peach – that went on top. This is one of those combinations that will either make you say “yuck” or thoughtfully say “hmm…”  Though I predict that, if you try it, you’ll love it.

Peach and tomato bruschetta

I’ve had this combination kicking around in my head for a while.  Peaches and tomatoes are actually very compatible.  Both are fruits – one acidic, the other sweeter, and both are conveniently in season right now.  I liked using yellow tomatoes here because the flavor is a bit milder and sweeter than red tomatoes, and I love the shades of yellow that come from mixing them with peaches.

You could go all sorts of directions with this.  I chose something close to the bruschetta we’re most familiar with: seasoned with basil, olive oil, a little balsalmic vinegar, and garlic, topped with the local mozzarella that made its first appearance at our farmer’s market last week. But you could as easily use chives and chevre. Or try an Indian flavor, sautéed with cumin and ginger. Or go sweet, with nuts and honey, and have it on your breakfast toast.  Really, there’s no end to the possibilities, and I’m already plotting what to try next.

I’m forever thinking about how to use fruit in savory cooking. I can imagine all sorts of peach-based sauces to smear on grilled tofu.  I actually have a peach barbecue sauce in my cupboard, waiting for me to remember it.  Or peach salsa (this dish is almost a peach salsa already, just add some cilantro and lime – another variation right there). I saw this recipe for peach grilled cheese on Macheesmo the other day, and it’s been tantalizing me.

Do you use peaches in any savory recipes? Or is this whole line of thinking is crazy?

Posted in experiment, seasonal | Leave a comment

Growing potatoes: the moment of truth

By Jo | Published: August 17, 2010

There’s a problem with growing potatoes – or any root vegetables, really.  You can’t tell what they’re doing, under the dirt. You can’t even tell if they’re doing anything at all.  If you’re me, you suspect it’s all for show, that the plant has no intention of producing potatoes, that it might even be laughing at your optimism. You watch the leaves grow, bide your time, and at some point you just say a little prayer and go digging.

The general advice I’ve heard about potatoes is to wait until the plants die back (or until fall, if they don’t die), and then harvest them.  A week ago, our potato plants were tall, green, and happy.  Then, over the past week, they died on us.  Leaves wilted, stems turned brown, and they clearly weren’t going to grow anymore.

Dying potato plant

It was time to find out what was happening under the dirt.

My hopes and fears were great.  On one hand, I had visions of armloads of spuds in that bag, just waiting for us to find them – we’d be eating potatoes from our garden all winter long.  On the other hand, there was no evidence I could see that there were any potatoes at all.  We would dig, and dig, and get only dirty hands for our efforts.  (That, I told Nathan, would make me cry.)

My expectations were somewhere in between, but much closer to the side of no potatoes than too many.  If there were any at all, I’d count it as a success.

And what did we find?

Caribe potatoes

Potatoes!  Not armloads, not a year’s supply. but handfuls of them, enough for a good meal.  (Incidentally, the biggest single crop of anything from the garden so far this year.)  Pretty little purple-skinned potatoes.  Success.

Potato

They were tasty, too, and I understand now why people grow them rather than just buying them at the store. They had a flavor all their own, more potato-ey than other potatoes, and they were light and fresh.  We had them for breakfast, sliced and pan-fried with olive oil and chives.

We just might have to do this again next year – and perhaps even devote a second container to them.

Fried potatoes with egg

Posted in gardening | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Green Mountain disposable coffee is… not so green

By Jo | Published: August 9, 2010

My office has one of these single-serving coffee machines, where you put in a coffee “pod” and out comes a mug-full of coffee.  The pod and the grounds disappear into the bowels of the machine, to be thrown away later.

The New York Times points out that, not surprisingly, these pods aren’t so friendly to the environment. They generate a lot of waste.  The article calls out Green Mountain Coffee, a company that tries to be green in many ways, but is selling an increasing majority of their coffee in pod form.  I can’t visualize how many pods we must throw out at my office in a week, but we’re a highly caffeinated bunch, so I bet it’s a lot.

I completely understand the benefit of the single servings, and not just as a manifestation of our single-serving-everything culture.  In an office, single serving means less waste, and no warmed-over coffee sitting in the pot for hours.  But I don’t understand the need for individually-packaged grounds.  The article talks about reusable filters that can be used with normal coffee, which makes a lot of sense, as do compostable pods.  (In my office, people would lay claim to the pods for their own compost piles.)

But in the meantime, there aren’t any widespread solutions.  I also wonder how the waste from the pods compares to, say, a Starbucks cup.  Are those biodegradable?  I’m not a coffee drinker, so I never really thought about it. But it seems like coffee, of all things, shouldn’t generate a lot of garbage…

Posted in food politics | 3 Comments

My (sad) garden in August

By Jo | Published: August 8, 2010

Some folks have pointed out that I’m long overdue for a blog post, and particularly for an update on my garden. I know this is true. Perhaps the reason I’ve been putting it off is that there’s little good news to share; very little excitement for all the time and effort we put in.

Garden - tomatoes, basil, and potatoes

This isn’t the greatest picture (my camera wasn’t cooperating), but you can see part of the problem right here. The tomato plants are growing out of control – due to insufficient sunlight, I think, they’re growing taller and taller but producing no fruit. I also lost 2 plants to spider mites, but hopefully they’re gone now.

one tomato

One of the plants does have a whole bunch of flowers, and one actual tomato, so I’m crossing my fingers to see if it ripens. It may be that, like last year, we’ll suddenly get fruit when the leaves fall from the trees, and let in more light, leaving us with a late crop that would be much better than nothing.

But ultimately, I’ve come to terms with the fact that our patio just isn’t light enough for tomatoes in the summer. It’s sad, even tragic. I’ll probably keep trying… but on a much less ambitious scale, with much lower expectations.

You’d expect that, if it’s too dark for tomatoes, we should have good luck with greens and root veggies. I’ve been trying to plant more of those, it’s true. But for the most part, anything I plant from seed ends up… well, smooshed. This happened to most of my kale, and all my chard and cilantro. It’ll come up, grow for a few days, then get flattened. I suspect foul play by the local wildlife.

It’s not all bad news though.

basil

Our potatoes have stopped growing taller, and presumably are putting lots of energy into making big tubers. (I’m eager to find out, but want to give them as much growing time as possible before we dig them up.) Our herbs are doing nicely, too: we’ve got plenty of basil, chives, and oregano.

malabar spinach

A couple of my experiments, the ones where I said “this will never work”, have actually turned out better than I hoped. I planted some Malabar spinach, a hot-weather spinach substitute, that’s growing slowly but steadily. I started it too late, after a false start with my first batch, but I’m hoping in a few weeks to have enough to eat.

raspberries

And my scrappy little raspberry plants have actually produced some berries! I wasn’t sure it was even possible to grow raspberries in containers, but I got early fruit from one plant, and I’m hoping for a fall crop from several of them. I don’t expect ever to get more than a handful at a time, certainly not enough for jam or pie, but enough to snack on… good raspberries are hard to come by!

So, knowing what I know now, I’m starting to plan for the fall. I’ll add a bunch of kale (started indoors, probably in the next week), carrots, and maybe even a fall crop of peas. I’m even thinking of building a little cold frame to see if the winter light is any friendlier than the summer.

There has got to be a way to make container gardening work on my patio… I just need to keep trying until I find it.

Posted in gardening | 4 Comments

It’s hot out

By Jo | Published: July 11, 2010

Surprise: it’s July, and it’s hot outside.  We got back from vacation on Monday, and the weather when we got home to DC was about the hottest, muggiest weather you can imagine.  I’m sure it could technically be hotter and more humid, but I defy you to actually imagine what it feels like. DC and Baltimore broke heat records several days last week, with temperatures well over 100 degrees.  Nathan and I have been breaking records of our own, but our records are things like “most ice cream purchased in a single shopping trip” and “most hours spent hanging out in basement.”

My perspective on food and cooking changes when it’s this hot out. My idea of an elaborate meal these days is a bowl of blueberries, or some cheese and crackers. Anything to avoid turning on the stove.  Part of my heat-addled brain would like to post recipes for these brilliant creations I’ve made. But somehow I doubt you’ll be impressed.

Some other thoughts for no-cook, no-effort meals:

  • Smoothies
  • Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and bread
  • Blueberry salad with goat cheese
  • Cottage cheese with chopped fruit
  • Hummus and pita bread
  • Sandwiches

Has it been this hot where you are? What have you been eating?

Posted in easy meals, seasonal | 3 Comments

Beet greens

By Jo | Published: July 8, 2010

I have a confession: I hate beets.  I can’t eat more than a few bites of them.  I’ve even had nice, well-seasoned beets… but after a couple bites, the beet flavor is overwhelming, and I can’t go on.

Beet greens with polenta and mozzarella

I’ve heard for some time that beet greens (literally, the green, leafy part of the beet plant) are quite tasty, and I like greens, so I was curious to try them.  But I never did, because beet greens are always sold with beets attached, and if I bought them, I might have to use the beets.  I guess I could have cooked the greens and tossed the beets, but that just seemed wrong.

So I was amazed when I discovered nearly beet-less greens at the farmer’s market. There exist varieties of beets that are grown primarily for their greens.  The greens grow big and tasty, and the beet (root) part is small, stunted, and not meant to be eaten. Perfection! At last I could try some beet greens in good conscience.

beet greens with almost no beets

The verdict: tasty.  They’re very mild, and ever-so-slightly sweet, not cloyingly sweet like beets.  In fact, they taste more like spinach than beets, and had almost none of the bitter flavor that so many people dislike about greens. If you like eating healthy but aren’t a fan of kale, you might give these a try.

I prepared my beet greens the way I prepare most unfamiliar foods: sauted with olive oil and garlic. I served them over polenta, with some mozzarella cheese on top.  The bunch in the picture made a greens-heavy meal for one, but could comfortably have fed two.

Posted in cooking for one or two, farmer's market | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Vote for a blind chef

By Jo | Published: June 16, 2010

Oprah’s taking auditions for shows on her tv network, which I guess means that Oprah has a tv network now.  (You see how closely I follow these things.) My aunt shared with me an audition from her friend Celia Chacon, who wants to do a cooking show. The catch: Celia is blind.

What a great show that could be! It would take the concept of showing that “anyone can cook” to a new level. In her video, Celia says she talks to a lot of people (sighted and non-sighted) who think they can’t cook. Celia’s a great example of overcoming whatever barriers (real or imagined) stand between a person and learning to cook.

It’s made me think about what the challenges would be in cooking without sight.  Dropping things would be hard – I would make a big mess. You’d need to be extremely organized, not to mention disciplined about using what you buy and cleaning out the fridge (lest you discover something really nasty hiding in the back). I’m sure there are many challenges I haven’t thought of. But the most important sense in cooking, I think, is the sense of smell.  Smell and taste – not appearance – is what really tells you if fruit is ripe, or if the cookies are done, or if you’ve got the balance of spices right. I bet Celia uses her sense of smell much better than I do.

If you’d like to see this show become a reality, please go vote for Celia!

Posted in food in culture | 1 Comment

Kudos to Chipotle

By Jo | Published: June 8, 2010

I tend to get pretty geeky about food politics. I know full well that most people don’t care about it as much as I do, and that plenty of people don’t even know what that means. So it’s exciting to me when I see someone – a private company, no less – trying to educate people about where their food comes from.

This week, that education came from Chipotle. I talk a lot about greenwashing on this blog, which is when a company talks about green issues so they can pretend to be greener than they are. But Chipotle is the real deal; they’re the good guys. They actually make a serious effort to get their ingredients from responsible sources.  The cool thing is, that’s not why I have to wait in line every time I go there. People flock there because their food is really good.

But don’t let me tell you that. You can learn about it from the bag that my last burrito came in:

Chipotle burrito bag

It’s pretty crazy how much influence a single burrito can have, not in a literal sense. I mean, it’s pretty obvious a burrito would have a hard time winning an election (not all, but most). And I’ve never seen a burrito as a lead singer in a band or anything like that (except for maybe that one band in Sweden). But, the burrito you choose to buy & eat, and what it’s made out of, and where the ingredients come from can be pretty powerful. If a restaurant uses responsibly raised pork in their burritos, that means when you eat one, you’re helping to keep a farmer who produces naturally raised meat in business and by doing that you’re influencing the rancher down the road to start changing their practices to be more sustainable & responsible, so they can get a piece of the action, and then maybe that will lead to changes in legislation to make sure that more of the meat in the world is raised responsibly & sustainably. And all of a sudden, that little cylinder of tortilla-wrapped goodness is making policy changes!!!!!!!! See????? Burritos have a lot of pull. So never underestimate the power of a burrito.

Cool, huh? Hardly an exhaustive list of the reasons to buy sustainable food, but a pretty nice quick introduction. And the fact that they practice what they preach makes it even nicer.

Posted in food politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Croissant French Toast

By Jo | Published: June 6, 2010

This is one of those special occasion, once-a-year brunches. Because it is amazingly delicious, and really bad for you, but the deliciousness makes it worth it.

Croissant French toast with raspberries

As you might expect, croissants make wonderful French toast. They are rich and tender and easy to eat. (I like to think there’s something fitting about turning French croissants into French toast… though I doubt they make it this way in France.) They don’t need maple syrup to make them taste good – fresh fruit does the trick much better.

My “special occasion” for making it this morning was supposed to be the approaching end of strawberry season in DC. Vendors at the farmer’s market were telling me there were only a couple weeks left, so I figured it was a good time for French toast and strawberries. But then we found the first raspberries of the season, so we had to change plans and have French toast with raspberries instead.

Good, fresh raspberries are precious. They’re hard to find, they’re pricey, and they don’t keep well. But I love them so much that it’s worth getting them whenever they’re in season (and that it’s worth taking up limited patio space on a crazy experiment to grow them myself – which has yielded a few flowers so far, so it seems to be working!)

They do keep quite badly – I’ve had too many bad experiences of leaving raspberries in the fridge even for a day, and finding them moldy. That’s just heartbreaking, so I always try to eat them the same day I get them. It’s not very hard.

I didn’t do anything special to make the French toast. I used one croissant per person, and made my usual batter of one egg, an equal amount of milk, a big pinch of sugar, and a bit of vanilla. (That amount was just right for 2 servings.) Then cut the croissants in half, coat both sides in batter, then cook each side until it’s lightly browned. Serve it with any sort of fresh berries and, if you want to be truly decadent, some whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Then go dream about it until it’s berry season again.

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Real whipped cream

By Jo | Published: May 23, 2010

Sometimes, when mediocre imitations of food are easily available, you can forget that it’s easy to make the thing yourself. But once you try the real thing, you can never look at the store-bought version the same way again.

Whipped cream is one of those things.  Contrary to popular belief, whipped cream doesn’t naturally come from a can. It comes from cream, which comes from a cow. And if you’ve never made whipped cream from scratch, you won’t believe how good it tastes.  It tastes like cream, while the kind from the can… doesn’t really taste like anything. On top of that, it’s among the easiest things in the world to make. Any kid old enough to use an electric mixer could make whipped cream from scratch.

Strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream

So it seems strange to me that you almost never see real whipped cream.  Maybe you can find it at a really nice restaurant, or at the better sort of ice-cream shop, but 95% of the time, if you order something that comes with whipped cream, it’s the stuff from a can. And to that, I usually say “no, thanks” because it’s just not the same.

real whipped cream

It’s also easy to make flavored whipped cream (though I usually don’t). By coincidence, I read this morning about a company that’s making boozy whipped cream – but with liqueur-flavored additives, not the real thing. If you make it yourself, you can flavor it however you want. Just add a splash of liqueur, or vanilla, or melted chocolate, or orange zest… the possibilities are endless. My only caution is not to add too much of anything, because the end product will be softer.

It’s so simple that it almost doesn’t merit a recipe. But here it is, anyhow.

Real Whipped Cream

1-2 cups of heavy cream (depending on desired amount)
sugar, to taste
other flavorings, to taste, as desired

Before you start, the cream should be nice and cold. If you put the bowl and beaters in the freezer for a few minutes, that will make things go faster.

cream for whipping

Put the cream into a medium bowl. With an electric mixer, beat the cream on medium until it just begins to thicken.

Add a spoonful or two of sugar, and your flavorings. Blend it in, then taste, and add more if needed.

cream with sugar

Then, just keep mixing, on high.  Stop when it’s as firm as you want it. It will take about 5 minutes, or less. Serve it on just about any dessert, and don’t forget to lick off the beaters!  It’s best eaten right away, but it’ll keep in the fridge for a few days.

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