Grilled Pita Sandwiches & Early Summer Stew

The Food Nanny
June24/25 2008
Meal 1: Grilled Pita and Turkey/Tofu Sandwiches with Fixings, Chilled Cucumber Soup, & Four Bean Salad
· Serve the bean salad at room temp.
· Serve the soup chilled.
· For the sandwiches: Cut the pita in half, you may warm them if you like. Dress you sandwich with the turkey/ tofu, white bean hummous, fresh sprouts, shredded carrot, and your choice of condiments.
Meal 2: Early Summer Vegetable Stew with Biscuit Tops & Mixed Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette
· Remove the biscuits from the baking dish, and then the wax paper separating them from the stew. Place the dish into a 350° oven for 10 minutes to warm the casserole. Next, replace the biscuits on top of the stew and raise the temp of the oven to 400°. Bake until the biscuits are brown and the stew is bubbly 10 -15 more minutes.
· Dress and serve the salad.
Trivia: How is bread flour different from all-purpose flour and how does it affect baked goods?

We are very excited to be featuring fresh sprouts from the local Tiny Greens Farm. These sprouts offer a wonderful fresh taste and exceptional nutrition to this light but satisfying summer sandwich. They are in operation year round so visit them at the farmers market and expect to see more of their product in your dinners.

The Four Bean Salad is a classic; the recipe here is from one of my mentors Max Hansen of Bucks County - thanks always Max ! I owe him a tremendous ammount for my culinary style.

Blue Moon experimented with some hot house cucumbers this season and they are a hit in my book. Cool and crunchy they make for a clever chilled soup. I like light and simple in summer. The seasons should complement our diet and out diet should acknowledge the seasons. Time as well as place is an important part of eating locally and eating well.

The Biscuit Pie is just a nice one -pot, family style meal featuring those Hakuri turnips once again and the well recieved herb drop biscuits plus a hint of what is to come next week. Shell peas are a seasonal delight that have mostly fallen to the wayside in our over-busied cuisine. Even for restaurants they are too time consuming to address and have thus been only a treat for throwback gardeners of late. We hope to change that. Fresh peas are a true delicacy. We intend to highlight them in the very near future.

The Devil of All Meat Substitutes

Seitan, pronounced fairly exactly like Lucifer's trade name, is a wheat protein that was developed centuries ago ( like, 13!) by Buddhists. It permeated the Buddist cultures of eastern Asia and eventually the cuisines of they and their neighbors.
The proteins are extracted from the wheat grains along with the starches via water and then kneaded to combine and strenghten the protien bonds until a tight structure is produced. Think of over kneaded dough. Synonymously called glutens, wheat protien is a hot topic in food right now, as many people are considering avoiding gluten foods, to avoid wheat allergies or gluten sensitivity. For the1% of us who have celiac disease, a gluten auto-immune response that flattens the lining of the small intestine and thus interferes with digestion and growth, a gluten free diet is the only option for health maintenence.
For anyone who does enjoy bread though, seitan is wonderful to cook with as it has a pockety texture that readily takes up flavors and has a mouth feel that is quite gratifying even to those not initiated to tofu and its ilk. It carmelizes over high heat and thus lends itself well to savory, umami rich presentation. A satay seemld like a logical presentation. And, who doesn't like food on a stick ?

Foccacia Pizza and Stir Fried Garlic Scapes

The Food Nanny
June17/18 2008
NOTE: You will want whipping cream or Vanilla Ice Cream for this meal!
Meal 1: Focaccia Pizza with Roasted Onions and Italian Kale, Kohlrabi Salad, Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake · Heat the Pizza at 400° until the cheese is melted and lightly browned ~10 minutes.
· Serve the Kohlrabi Salad chilled.
· For dessert, warm the biscuits in the oven for about 5 minutes. Split them in half and move to a serving plate. Spoon the filling onto the bottom half, add the top and then top the whole thing with whipped cream or with vanilla ice cream beside. You may warm the filling too if you like.
Meal 2: Garlic Scape Stirfry, Miso Glazed Turnips, Mixed Greens with Goddess Dressing
· Melt some butter in a pan and add the turnips. Add a dash of water and stir to coat evenly and to warm through.
· Heat 2 to 4 T of oil in a pan over high heat. When almost smoking add the stir fry and cook for a minute or two, stirring regularly. Add a dash or water to steam all the vegetables through. Serve immediately. Complement with rice if you like.
Trivia: What is a garlic scape?

The Delights of the Season Roll On In

Greetings Eaters!
The beautiful bounty of our fertile local continues to gain momentum this spring. Two of my favorites make their way onto the menu this week: Japanese Turnips and Bright Lights Chard.

The turnips are small to medium in size and snow white in color. They are one of the best edibles to be pulled directly from the earth and popped into your mouth during field work. They are tender and sweet with a subtle sharpness and overall are a very approachable turnip. Look for them next week and again in the fall as they are a premier roasted vegetable. Cut off their tops and they are excellent keepers, so consider buying some this fall for your crisper drawer and cooking them up at holiday time.

Bright Lights Chard has renovated the image of chard in this country. A vigorous grower these plants are as ornamental as edible. Chard has a mineraly, erthy flavor that is best enjoyed extremely fresh. When cooked this way its natural sweetness comes through complementing its other flavors and making it a distinctive green. It is, of course, extremely nutritious and you should eat as much as you can. I see the results in out healthy little boy every day. During his gestation we ate chard sauteed like spinach, in pastas, in quiches, wilted with eggs over easy for breakfast, in soups, salads, stir fries, and best of all - grilled.

Credit to our dear friend Eric Menzel for teaching us the wonders of grilled greens. The hearty nature of chard particularly suits it well to this treatment and I recommend you try it.
Simply dress the whole leaves with minced garlic, olive oil, and salt. Toss to dress the chard well, but avoid saturating it with oil. Now just lay the leaves onto a hot grill for a few minutes per side. The leaves will char a bit and otherwise wilt similarly to sauteed spinach. Coarsley chop the cooked leaves to facilitate serving and eating. Served alongside other summer, fire cooked treats, the chard is sure to draw interest and fans. For a decadent burger, chop the grilled chard fine and use instead of lettuce, then add some smears of Prairie Fruits Angle Food or Little Bloom cheese!

The Food Nanny
June10/11 2008
Meal 1: Grilled Chard Stuffed with Falafel, Snap Peas & Cous Cous Salad, Spicy Mixed Greens with a Tatziki Vinaigrette
· Remove the falafel from the baking dish and reserve. Now remove the cous cous to serving dishes and replace the falafel to the baking dish. Bake the falafel at 400° for 7-10 minutes or until faintly sizzling. Be careful to not overcook the chard. Serve them over the room temperature cous cous.
· Dress and serve the salad.
Meal 2: Seitan Skewers, Grilled Broccoli Florets, and Hakuri Turnip Salad with Thai Noodles
· Serve the turnip salad chilled.
· Either serve the broccoli room temperature or warm it briefly in a sauté pan with a few dashes of water until steamed through. A brief trip into the microwave might also work.
· Heat the skewers in a very lightly oiled non stick pan, under a broiler, or in a toaster oven
Trivia: What is seitan and who invented it?

Food Nanny
June 3 and 4
Meal 1: Spring Rolls with Spring Vegetable Miso Soup, and California Roll Salad
Warm the soup to hot but not boiling. Add the tofu, after two minutes add the greens and serve immediately
Serve the salad and roll at room temperature

Meal 2: Red Lentil Dolmas, Tabbouleh, Hummous and Pita Crisps, and Marinated Feta
Serve everything at room temperature and enjoy!