red flannel hash for Easter brunch

 This was my contribution to today's brunch at Peter and Katie's. It was an amazing spread - so much good food: a citrus salad, bacon biscuits, two kinds of frittata, roasted spiced potatoes, another roasted vegetable dish with purple (!) brussels sprouts, scones, cinnamon rolls...mmm...

I first had red flannel hash at the Duluth Grill. It was so pretty and I loved the idea of adding beets to breakfast hash. I think it's important to first roast the vegetables, so they get that sweet roasted taste, and then saute them with the bacon and onion to get them crispy and get a little bacon flavor. But of course the vegetarian version is good, too. If you add a poached egg it's a more substantial breakfast/brunch, or even lunch or dinner. :)

ingredients: sweet potatoes and/or regular potatoes, beets, carrots, onion, bell pepper
chop everything into roughly 1/2-inch dice. 
make: roast vegetables in oven, tossed with olive oil, thyme*, rosemary, salt, pepper
This can be done the day before - roast all the vegetables, then re-heat in a pan the next day. 
in a pan: sautee the bacon if using, then add vegetables and cook till hot, stirring.

*thyme tip: it can be difficult to peel thyme off the fragile stems. If roasting vegetables in the oven, just put the fresh thyme sprigs on top of the vegetables. They dry out and the leaves fall off the stem; those that don't can be easily crumbled off after baking. 

baba ghannouj / ghanoush (eggplant spread)

I've been away for a week - in sunny LA - away from work, winter and cooking. :) So I was glad to go to the grocery store today and think about some things I was craving, and how to restock my fridge for the busy week ahead... I happened to still have an eggplant, so I made a baba ghannoush - a mashed eggplant spread. Yottam Ottolenghi has a beautiful version with bright red pomegranate seeds in Plenty, but I couldn't find any pomegranate. Oh well, still tasty. And I learned this charred eggplant trick. 

spiced pickled beets

My favorite spice, just on looks: definitely star anise. It's just the prettiest thing. :)

This is another recipe from Diane Morgan's Roots. We had a bunch of little beets in last week's CSA, so decided to try something new. First you roast the beets, by wrapping them individually in foil and baking at 350 until soft (about 30-60 minutes depending on size). I then unwrapped them and peeled them under cool, running water. This way your hands don't get stained and the skins slip right off.

Make sure you have a clean jar (either run through dishwasher or wash by hand with hot water). Toss together beets (about 1/2lb total) and shallots (2-3, sliced). Put mixture in jar.

In a saucepan, add 1 cup cider vinegar (240ml), 1/4 cup water (60ml), 1/4 cup brown sugar (50g), 1 tsp salt, half a cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 1 star anise pod, and 1/2 tsp whole allspice. Bring to a boil, stir, and after boiling one minute, remove from heat. Pour liquid into jar (with beets/shallots). Wipe rim clean and attach lid. Let steep at room temp until cool, then store in fridge at least 3 days. They will keep refrigerated up to 1 month.

I like them, I have to say I don't love them...I do think I might try some more recipes, and some more pickling... such as these beets pickled with ginger and anise  or these with cardamom. :)

spicy lentil and sweet potato stew with chipotles

Here's another one from the New York Times recipes for health... a spicy lentil stew with sweet potatoes. I got sweet potatoes of the white variety...by accident. They look the same as the orange ones from the outside (or very similar). But I started to peel it and it was white inside. Diane Morgan explains in Roots, there are two main kinds of sweet potatoes, the "soft," orange variety that "cooks up soft and moist," and the "firm" variety with "creamy white or yellow flesh that remains mealy and relatively firm." And let's clear up for once and for all...

What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?
Diane Morgan: "The firm variety was already being grown in the United States when the soft-fleshed type was introduced. To distinguish them, the latter were called yams because they resembled the unrelated African yam of the genus Dioscorea, and the term stuck."
Sweet potatoes: many varieties, including garnet, jewel (soft, moist-fleshed), but also Jersey, white Triumph, Kotobuki, Okinawa (firm, mealy).  People call the orange ones yams, but they are not yams. 
Yams: at least as old as the Jurassic era...they are most often an "oblong tuber with a rough, sometimes barklike skin and a starchy flesh that is hard and brittle when raw but quite tender, even creamy, when cooked." (Diane Morgan) Some varieties can weigh as much as 100 pounds!

Sweet potatoes were brought to Spain by Christopher Columbus - nearly a half century before the potato. Portuguese traders brought them to India and China.

crepes with spinach, caramelized shallot, and gruyere

 So I have a bit of a cold, which is annoying and kept me home today, but hasn't spoiled my appetite. Just makes me want comfort food. As in: pancakes, every day. Came home and made oven pancake for dinner, the next day made crepes for lunch. With spinach! That counts as a wholesome meal, right? Didn't even put syrup on it...Gruyere is just as good - or better.

I wanted to try out something from this book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, by Michael Ruhlman. (Yes, another great library find.) Ruhlman's philosophy: "When you know a ratio, it's not like knowing a single recipe, it's instantly knowing a thousand." He gives you all these cooking/baking ratios, so you don't need your measuring cups, with the thought that weight is more accurate than volume. Plus, as I've already said, measuring with the scale is so much easier. So, for example, crepe batter: 1 part liquid : 1 part egg : 1/2 part flour

So I put the bowl on the scale. Zero it. Add egg. 61 grams. Add 61 grams of milk. Then add 30 grams of flour. Mix. Done. Super awesome. If you're making sweet crepes, you can add sugar and vanilla in addition to the base; if you're doing savory you can sub stock for milk...you can vary the recipe in many ways. I used sprouted flour, as well. You can use buckwheat, you can add herbs to the batter... And crepes are the best vessel for anything. Best of all nutella, but there are many savory options, too.

Get inspired by the menu from Good Girls go to Paris (Detroit). 
They have lots of savory crepe ideas, including: chevre, fig jam / ham, swiss / feta, olives, spinach... and some more complicated ones: chicken, brie, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, herbes de provence. Yum.

Flammkuchen: thin, crispy, delicious

Flammkuchen is one of my favorite things to order in Germany - especially in the summer with a nice beer. It will always remind me of my mormor, who has had it on several trips to Germany with me and really likes it. But Flammkuchen is also great in the winter: the only ingredients on the traditional Flammkuchen are bacon (Speck), onions and crème fraiche. The onions are sliced paper-thin and the bottom crust is thin and flaky. Often you can find other variations: with leeks, mushrooms, cheese, ham...the possibilities are endless.

Flammkuchen is originally from the border region Alsace (tarte flambée), which changed hands between France and Germany enough that the cuisine spread across the border. In Germany you can pretty much find it on menus all over (especially at restaurants specializing in Southern German cuisine), but more traditionally so along the Rhine and closer to France.

I tried the recipe in Luisa Weiss's book My Berlin Kitchen and it turned out well. Her dough uses a small bit of yeast, one of the recipes I've seen uses a flour/salt/oil/water dough, from chefkoch.de. (I also tried making it for Jessica once and for whatever reason it totally failed...the creme fraiche melted like butter and it was a mess...who knows...)

The trick is to roll the dough out really thin, and turn the oven up as high as it goes and bake it quickly.  Another tip: use partially frozen bacon, and slice it thin from the package, so you get little piles of thin bacon strips. The Germans often sell Speck in little pre-cut cubes. You want lean bacon, which is closest to German Speck. 

cabbage, greens, and wild rice gratin

I found this recipe for a Greens and Red Cabbage Gratin just when I had cabbage and beet greens that needed to get used up. I also had some cooked wild rice, and so after getting some good cheese at the store this whole thing came together really nicely. Waste not, want not, right? I couldn't believe how pretty this was while putting the pieces together - the red cabbage turns purple-bluish, and the beet greens are really vibrant red-green. Pictures rarely capture the deliciousness of brown food, but in this case I think it's not too bad. While eating lunch I was asking myself why I don't make casseroles or gratins more often. This one was really nice - packed with veggies and whole grains, plus the crispy, cheesy top. And leftovers for later this week. :)

not-so-Irish soda bread rolls with currants and caraway

 I'm not a huge fan of St. Patrick's Day...Although I guess my aunt found out my great-great-great grandmother was born in Ireland. Green beer is just not my thing. Or wearing mustaches or headbands with antennae. Soda bread, on the other hand...a delicious and quick bread? Currants and caraway? I'm in! These came out a little deformed, but very delicious. I substituted some sprouted flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. After our Sprouted Grains class at Zingerman's I really wanted to try it out in some baking. Bad thing: sprouted flour is pricey. Like $10 a bag. So I will try just subbing in some for the nutritional benefits, but probably not shifting over to baking completely with sprouted flour. 

 

P.S. thank you to Melissa Clark for writing the recipe in grams, so a) it's easier, and b) I could measure out the ingredients with one hand while eating a cookie in the other.

raw beet slaw with fennel, tart apple, and parsley

Here's another one from Diane Morgan's Roots: The Definitive Compendium. Fun beet facts: the beet was probably consumed "in some form" in prehistoric times. It was first grown for the leaves, and the Romans first cultivated it for the root. It wasn't grown in the US until the 19th century. And funny, as I was making this I was listening to NPR and heard Diane Morgan talking about carrot top pesto from her book!

How to store beets: You should store the greens separately, wrapped in paper towels and in a plastic bag, and not wash the beetroots for storage. (I like all these storage tips since we get vegetables biweekly - especially lots of winter storage veggies.)

dressing: olive oil / lemon juice / orange zest / honey or maple syrup / salt and pepper
slaw: 
1 medium red beet, matchsticks (or grated on box grater)
1/2 fennel bulb, trimmed, halved cored, matchsticks
1/2 crisp granny smith, matchsticks (or grated)
1/2 cup parsley and some of the fennel fronds

Combine the chopped ingredients with the dressing.  You can also grate the beet and apple on a box grater. It goes really quickly, and adds a bit more of the apple juice to the salad. This is also good mixed with salad greens.

fragrant lamb tagine with prunes and almonds

This recipe comes slightly ill-timed...as it's a great hearty, spiced winter stew, and today is the first day in Ann Arbor that truly, truly feels like spring. (Please, be here to stay!) Anyways, it's so fragrant I can't wait to eat it anyways. It's a recipe from David Tanis's Heart of the Artichoke. Tanis describes visiting Morocco and tasting this dish, "on top of the world" in the sand dunes of the Sahara. It's good, but I found that it had a bit too much sweetness. I would maybe reduce the golden raisins and prunes to 1 cup total when making it again, and adding some lemon juice and cilantro.

Wild Rice Salad with Butter Beans, Garlic-Roasted Carrots and Fennel

This is a good one... I saw the salad on My New Roots and loved the combination of wild rice and carrots. It smelled soo good as the fennel, carrots and garlic were roasting. It packs well as a lunch, too.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup wild rice (uncooked)
1 can butter beans (or navy, cannellini), or from dried (+ 8 hours)
4-5 medium carrots, cut into diagonal discs
1/2 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small red onion, sliced thin (or about 1/4 of a larger red onion)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch fresh dill
fennel fronds
salt, black pepper

Dressing:
olive oil / cider vinegar / dijon mustard / maple syrup / salt

Beans: If making beans from dried, soak overnight, or 8 hours. Drain, rinse, and cook about 45 mins.

Make wild rice: rinse wild rice, drain, and put in a pot, cover with cold water. Add salt, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until tender (about 45 minutes). Drain the excess water.

Roast carrots and fennel: Preheat oven to 400.  Wash carrots and slice on diagonal. Cut fennel into pieces roughly the same size, and mince the garlic. Add with oil salt and pepper to a baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't let the vegetables get too soft.

Combine ingredients: Mix dressing and add to warm beans, rice, carrots. Add paper-thin onions, and dill and fennel fronds. Tip: add the red onions to the vinegar to soak while you cook so they lose a bit of their raw bite. You can also salt them, let them sit, and run them under cold water to rinse. This also makes them a bit more neutralized.

Recipe inspired by My New Roots: Warm Salad Month: Wild Rice Butter Bean and Garlic Roasted Carrot Salad

Kohlrabi Schnitzel, plus how to use your winter CSA, part III

This was the latest installment of fine produce from Sunseed Farm (late February-early March). We still have some of the potatoes and beets in storage...it's getting to be quite a lot of beets. For lunches I made some carrot couscous that had some beet greens, and recently Moroccan carrot salad. And that great squash lasagne with rosemary and garlic.

And with the kohlrabi (that little green thing on the far right), we made a Kohlrabi "Schnitzel". I've seen this recipe on a lot of German sites and blogs. Funny: one site I found said they are also called "falsches Schnitzel" [fake Schnitzel], and for one person it was a "Kindheitstrauma", a "childhood trauma." Germans, weigh in?

Anyways...Jessica had made some fresh breadcrumbs from the stale rinds of Zingerman's bread we had lying around so I decided to give it a try. First I par-cooked the sliced kohlrabi in some boiling water about 5 minutes. Then I dipped the kohlrabi in some egg, then the breadcrumbs (seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and paprika), and pan-fried them. There are also vegan versions of this recipe in which you just bread the "Schnitzel" with flour, then breadcrumbs. Kohlrabi is also really good raw, nice and crunchy.

BAKE! Sprouted Grains class at Zingerman's Bakehouse

For Christmas my friend Jessica gave me a BAKE! class at Zingerman's bakehouse. We decided to do sprouted grains, since it's a little out-of-the-ordinary (and I didn't think learning how to make croissants or fondant would be a good life health decision...). So we did this four-hour class with the amazing head baker and "principal," Shelby. He was so wonderful and enthusiastic, and was great at spreading his love and appreciation for baking. Zingerman's doesn't sell any sprouted grain breads, in part because the technique is best suited to smaller batches.

In the class, we made two breads, a yeasted bread and an Irish soda bread, as well as chocolate chip cookies. And we got to taste a "trial" scone recipe. We also learned more about the sprouted grain process. Sprouted grains are more nutritious because when the seed starts to grow, different enzymes start to work and different nutrients appear. It makes the grain more like a vegetable and less like a starch, in terms of digestion. Read here for 10 reasons to bake with sprouted grains (from one green planet).
To sprout grains, you can soak any wheat berry or grain (wheat, rye, spelt, barley). The instructor suggested you soak them in water first for 24 hours, then rinse and drain the water, then soak 8-24 more hours at room temperature (not in sunlight). You just want the end of the grain to start poking out (far left, above). It seems that the biggest "mistake" is that you let them over-sprout, causing your baked goods to be mushy and overly-moist. After soaking and sprouting, you can dry the berries and mill them into flour (which is also commercially available at some grocery stores), or you can grind them as such (middle photo), which can be done in a food processor. We did this, mixing it with flour, to make a yeast bread (photo of dough, right). We left the class with two loaves of sprouted grain bread, a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies, and the Irish soda bread. It was a great evening. :) I have kinda taken a break from bread-baking for a while, but maybe this will get me back into it! I also want to try adding sprouted grains to some salads.

we went home with sooo much stuff!

For some more on baking with sprouted grains see:
Huffington Post: How to Cook with Sprouted Grains
Nourished Kitchen: How to Sprout Grains 
Modern Alternative Mama: Tips for Baking with Sprouted Grains
- Sprouted Blueberry Muffins

moroccan carrot and chickpea salad with dried plums and toasted cumin vinaigrette

I got this great book from the library: Diane Morgan's Roots: The Definitive Compendium. It has sections on each root vegetable, with a little bit of "history and lore," information on varieties and nutritional info preceding the section of recipes. I am learning fascinating food trivia, such as: the first carrots were probably purple, originating around Afghanistan, before spreading into India, China, Japan, and then westward into Spain. They didn't "develop" orange carrots until the 17th century in the Netherlands. This plant history is giving me a whole new perspective on what is "native." It's just fascinating how much can happen in three centuries, the way plants are transported and grown in new places.

Oh, and one more fun carrot fact: The beta-carotene in raw carrots can only be absorbed about 10%, whereas cooking them increases this to 29%.

Anyways, this book is full of great recipes. Here's the first one I tried, with some small changes. Makes about 1 medium-sized bowl (serves 4 as side). It has great flavor and the mix of sweetness from the dried plums and crunch from the toasted almonds makes it really perfect. I adjusted the recipe to make roughly half of the original. Even with toasted the seeds myself it came together really quickly.

rich, creamy butternut squash lasagne with rosemary and garlic

This squash lasagne is a little bit rich and decadent...but very tasty. The roasted squash gets really sweet, and if you add some good salt and fresh pepper it balances it out perfectly. You need a salad or something raw on the side so it's not too rich (we served it with the winter slaw, but a green salad would be good, too).  I also discovered this recipe through the "Best of Epicurious," and Jessica and I had a big squash to get used up and were having intense German board game night for four. Perfect. Like all lasagne dishes, it's a bit time-consuming to make all the parts and assemble, but then it makes a huge pan. It's good if you have a friend in the kitchen to help you. :)

winter slaw with creamy sesame dressing

I already made a really good winter slaw (with yoghurt-poppyseed dressing), not too long ago, but I was craving it again for that nice raw crunch. Decided to vary the recipe slightly based on a recipe on My New Roots for a roasted sesame winter slaw. When you're shredding cabbage, you get a lot. So plan on sharing or making this for a crowd. :) And finding new recipes for all the leftover cabbage. Like this roasted cabbage soup I made a while back. I might try something new from this list of "7 ways to make cabbage sexy" from Food52. The pasta with caramelized cabbage looks really good...and the little fritters. Or maybe this pasta from 101 cookbooks... Anyways, here's another slaw for you. I grated the carrots this time instead of chopping matchsticks, which makes this come together really quickly, especially if you have a mandolin to do the cabbage. Also added in some broccoli stems, just cause I had them.

warm chicken salad with whole grains, hazelnut, broccoli and spinach

Sometimes you just feel like you haven't been getting your vegetables lately... and you want some salad, but it's winter and you don't want cold salad...a warm salad is a good way to get your veggie fix. This recipe has whole grains and warm chicken. It's a little simple, but I liked the combination of ingredients and it felt very satisfying.

Update 3/5: when re-heating the leftovers I added a generous teaspoon of good dijon and it gave the dish another star. Dijon always reminds me of my lovely former roommate Chloe, who would add it to everything, but especially chicken and vegetables. :) I adjusted the recipe for some dijon in the vinaigrette, but also feel free to add liberally to the dish itself.