Morning Coffee

Sometimes, all a gray morning needs is a beautiful cup of coffee. Caffe Calabria in North Park never lets me down. They make a viennese latte that is just divine -- a normal (properly proportioned) latte which is a rarity in this town with a touch of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I swear they have the best coffee in all of San Diego. Never bitter. Never acidic. Always perfect. Only problem is they often close at 3. But I guess, then, it is no longer my morning coffee, so that's OK.

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Another vegetable that I get too much of in my vegetable box in the summer are fresh beets. But roasted every so simply and paired with goat cheese, these are delicious little critters.

Ingredients:

3 beets
olive oil
salt
pepper
walnuts
honey
1 log goat cheese
lettuce (mix baby is the best)
avocado oil


Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Scrub beets. Do not peel, but simply slice them into 1/4 inch thick slices. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the surfaces of the beets begin to wrinkle and absorb the oil. (make sure they are soft enough that you can slice on with a fork before you call them done). Remove and let cool.

While the beets are baking, make some candied walnuts. At least, this is the cheat that I use. In a pan, toast the walnuts on medium high heat until you begin to smell the oils. Pour just enough honey over the walnuts to lightly coat them. Stir for another couple minutes until the honey begins to harden. Put aside to let cool.

Assemble the salad with the remaining ingredients. I dressed it simply with avocado oil, but you can use any oil or very simply oil and vinegar dressing (there is enough flavor in the iingredients that you don't want to complicate the palate.

Summer Vegetables, French Tian Style

Summer means lots of zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes. Lots. Bags and bags of them. They make for a great challenge as I try to figure out what to do with them beyond the typical marinate and roast or zucchini bread. Here's one idea I had. This is a baked summer dish. It does require kitchen heat, sadly. I ended up baking it late at night once the day's heat had subsided. But it is worth it. The layered yumminess of vegetables flavors mixed together is good hot right out of the oven or cold the next day for lunch.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
3 zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 onion or 2 leeks (including greens), sliced into very thin rounds
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smooshed
1/4 cup walnuts
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Grated parmesan
Herbs de provence (fresh is best, but there is enough moisture to use dried)


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil. Lay the eggplant on it. Generously drizzle with salt and vinegar. Bake for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, heat enough oil over low heat in a thick skillet to cover the base. Slowly saute the onions with the garlic until their sugars start to turn brown. If you've got time to properly caramelize, that would be even better.

Take a bread pan and spread the onions along the base. Now, layer the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes on top of each other. With each set of 3, sprinkle walnuts, herbs, and grated parmesan. For the top layer, alternate everything to make stripes of color. After it has baked for 25 minutes, top with a little more parmesan, herbs, and walnuts. Continue to bake until the cheese begins to become golden.

Bake for a total of 30-40 minutes.

Vegetable Smiles

I love my weekly vegetable box. Some weeks it amuses me more than others. This was one of the very amusing weeks. Look what I got. He was waiting to greet me as I pulled him out of the paper bag.

Nicoise Salad

It's been too long since I've posted. Somehow summer involves less cooking than normal. Especially in the heat wave we've been having here. However, what that does mean is a lot more salads and cold soups and simple foods. A favorite one of these is this simple salad. It does involve a very small amount of cooking - but not enough to either make the meal a hot meal or heat up the kitchen. So perfect for when you are sick of everything raw but still don't want to be near anything hot. And it's SO flexible.

Ingredients:

Thin slices of tuna (preferably sushi grade so you can leave the core raw) - One per person
One hard boiled egg per person
Lettuce
Grape tomatoes
Oil cured olives - both green and black
Green beans, stemmed
New potatoes, the tinier the better (if larger than an inch in diameter, cut them in half)
Fresh fava beans or edmame beans - shelled and cooked
Red onion, thinly sliced
Radishes, thinly sliced
Handful of fresh basil
Nice olive oil for cooking tuna and drizzling
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Steam the Green Beans until just barely cooked and still a little crunchy - about 5 minutes. Since the size of green beans is so variable, I always just test and watch them rather than set a timer. Run under cold water to cool and stop the cooking.

Boil the potatoes until they can be pierced by a fork. Run under cold water to cool.

Heat olive oil in a thick pan on high heat (if you've got an iron skillet, use it!). Sprinkle Salt and Pepper onto both sides of the Tuna Sear the Tuna for one minute on both sides (2 minutes if not using sushi grade tuna).

Spread Lettuce on the plate. Place remaining salad ingredients around the plate, each in their own part. Place Tuna in center. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
Play around with the ingredients as you'd like. The core is the tuna, olives, green beans, and Potatoes. Really, after that, it's all game. Add artichoke hearts or garlic cloves. use no lettuce. substitute red pepper for radishes. Just have fun with the combination of fresh, crunchy, raw, cooked, sweet, bitter, salty.

Fig and Almond Tart

I was recently in San Francisco and went to a farmer's market with one of my friends. We went looking for seven fresh vegetables for a Moroccan stew (which we found, oh so yum!) but before anything found baskets of the softest freshest black mission figs for real cheap. So we bought two. And out of those two came a lovely tart. I made it up as I went, but it was fantastic with a touch of vanilla bean ice cream.

Ingredients:

1 pie crust (substituting vanilla for water)
1-2 baskets fresh black mission figs, sliced in half
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour


Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out tart crust, press into a buttered and floured tart pan.
sprinkle flour over base of crust (it is to absorb any moisture from the figs)
Spread figs in the crust in concentric circles.
Sprinkle sugar over figs
Sprinkle almonds over figs.
Sprinkle honey over everything.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until juice is bubbly - so it will thicken a little as it cools slightly.
Cool slightly before serving.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I don't know when it happened, but I love brussel sprouts. Nowadays I can't seem to get enough of them. Any excuse. My favorite way to make them is super simple. It's all by eye and taste. And goes with so many things.

Ingredients:

Brussel Sprouts - cut in half
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan, grated finely
chile pepper flakes (optional)
garlic, finely chopped (optional)
balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F

Toss the brussel sprouts in oil, salt and pepper and any of the optional ingredients you want.
Spread onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with parmesan.
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until crispy on the outside (but not burnt) but soft enough on the inside to be easily pierced by a fork.

Mole Negro

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Amazing how reading and writing can take over one's life. To make up for it, I've put together one of the best sauces ever. I've always wanted to learn how to make this...and this is a combination of a friend's mother's recipe and one that I found in Saveur Magazine. Serve over potatoes (cooked with garlic and salt – a good conduit though not the best balance to the sauce), queso fresco (seriously the best combination with the sauce ever!!!), or cooked pork (marinated in chipotles in adobo sauce, honey, vinegar, oregano, and garlic). I’m still looking for more vegetarian options with this sauce. When I come up with them, I’ll tell you.

Ingredients:

5 tomatillos, stemmed, rinsed, and quartered
1 tomato, halved
1 small yellow onion, quartered
6 (total) dried pasilla, california, and negro chiles, stemmed and seeded
1 ripe plantain cut into 1⁄2" cubes
1 cup mixed nuts and seeds: peanuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, sesame seeds
3 tsp oil
¼ cup raisins
2 ½ cups chicken broth
2 oz. Mexican chocolate, chopped
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground cinnamon
salt to taste
fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Preheat to oven to broil.
Line a baking sheets with tin foil. Really, you want to!
Place prepared tomatillos, tomato, and onion on sheet.

Broil for about 15 minutes, until soft and browned. I like to stop just before real charring. Put vegetables and any juices into a large bowl and let cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 400F.
Place prepared dried peppers on lined baking sheet.
Bake 3 minutes, turning once. Do not over do the peppers, as they will get bitter.
Place peppers in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let soak for at least 15 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the soaking liquid.

Remove foil from baking sheet.
Place nuts and seeds on sheet. Toast in oven until oils begin to smell, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat oil in large heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add plantain and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, until it begins to brown. And nuts and seeds, raisins, and vegetable mixture. Stir for another 3 minutes. Add the chiles, along with ½ cup of the reserved liquid, broth, chocolate, cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Stir until the chocolate is melted (a matter of minutes).

In batches, blend until smooth.

Pain de Campagne

This recipe is very slightly modified from The Bread Baker's Apprentice (the best bread book every if you are learning yeast breads, like I still am). It provides a richer flavor the longer you give the yeast to activate and gas. Because of the whole wheat flour, it doesn't rise and create bubbles the way a traditional country bread would, rather it has a more spongy texture (though I've occasionally gotten it just right to get large holes in the final bread)

Ingredients:

Pate Fermentee
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat white flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp yeast (from a package of dry active)
1 cup water, room temperature

Bread
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat white flour
3/4 tsp salt
remaining package yeast
1 cup (plus some if needed) warm water (as hot as your sink will make it without steaming).
extra flour for dusting.

Spray bottle of water

Directions:

In a medium bowl, to make the pate fermentee, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Add 3/4 cup water and stir until it comes together to make a ball. Add more water by the spoonful if needed. Turn onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 6 minutes. Make sure it is lightly tacky and pliable, but not sticky; your hands should remain clean.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl. turn to coat the ball with oil. Cover with plastic (or a damp towel) and let ferment at room temperature (about 70F) until 1 1/2 the starting size, about one hour. Punch down gently, cover again, let rise a second time, about one hour.

For the bread, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast. Cut the pate fermentee into small peices and add. Add water and stir until everything comes together into a ball. The dough should be soft and pliable, but not sticky. Add more water if needed.

Turn onto a lightly floured counter. Knead for 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to keep it tacky but not sticky. After 10 minutes of kneading, you should be able to stretch the dough so thin that you can see light through it before it breaks.

Oil a large bowl, place dough ball into bowl, turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic or damp towel. Let rise 2 hours until it is double in size.

Gently remove dough and place on a lightly floured counter. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife (so as not to degas the dough) cut into 6 pieces. Shape dough delicately into loaves by stretching the tops towards the bottom. Spray with oil. Coat with flour. Cover and let rise for 1 hour until at least 1 1/2 original size.

Place a heavy metal pan on the bottom of your oven (or the lowest possible rack). Preheat oven to 500F. Have 1 cup boiling water at hand and ready to pour.

Transfer dough to generously dusted baking sheet or bread stone (the stone would be in the oven already, the baking sheet won't be). Immediately pour the boiling water into pan at bottom of oven. Close oven. 30 seconds later open up of the oven and spray the loaves with water. Close oven. Repeat spraying 3 more times. Lower oven temperature to 450F. Bake for about 15 minutes (turning half way if needed for even baking). The loaves will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom when done.

Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Sweet Potatoes and Mango Relish

I've been making this recipe for at least 10 years now. It is easy, good in winter or summer and packed full of flavor. It's really hard to mess up sweet potatoes - just add a couple spices and they are golden! The salsa is really flexible. I often use a little of whatever my favorite tomato salsa from the store is at the moment to mix in with the mangos, sweet peppers, and lime, and cilantro.

Ingredients:

for the potatoes
4 sweet potatoes, skin left on, scrubbed, and sliced into wedges
1 tsp each cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt, pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil

for the salsa
1 large mango, cut into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbsp cilantro (more if you want)
zest and juice of one lime
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 spicey tomato salsa of your choice.
1 Tbsp hot sauce (a non-vinegary but smokey one, such as boulder or d'oni - no tobasco!!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Toss together all the ingredients for the potatoes in a large bowl. Make sure the potatoes are well coated with oil (add more oil if needed). Spread on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 30 minutes, turning once (bake until the begin to brown on the edges and are tender in the center).
While the potatoes are baking, mix together the ingredients for the salsa. Let sit 30 minutes (overnight is best) before serving so flavors can mix.