Stuffed Red Peppers and Equinox Stew

The Food NannySeptember 27&28 2011
Meal 1: Stuffed Red Peppers, Black Beans and Rice & Blue Moon Salad Mix
• Warm the stuffed pepper over rice in an oven covered at 400 for 15-20 until warmed through.
• Dress and enjoy the salad

Meal 2: Equinox Stew, Challah Knots and Apple Crisp
• Warm the curry on the stovetop. Thin if necessary and adjust the seasoning.
• Warm the Challah in the oven at 350 along with the crisp. Allow the Crisp to continue to warm while you eat dinner.

Split Pea Curry and Big Fat Burritos

Meal 1: Curried Split Peas, Naan, Brown Basmati Salad

·       Warm the curry on the stovetop.  Thin if necessary and adjust the seasoning.

·       Warm the naan on a gas burner or in the oven for a few minutes.

·       Serve the rice at room temp, or heat it in a pan with a little oil and a splash of water.

Meal 2: Big Fat Burrito and Mixed Greens

·       Heat the burrito in the oven at 350° for 5-10 minutes or until warm and a little toasty. 

·       Dress and enjoy the salad

Notes:  The burritos are chock full of butternut squash, sweet corn, red pepper, beans,  rice, and our 'patented' cilantro pesto.

Sweet Corn Chowder and Grilled Pizzas

Meal 1: Sweet Corn Chowder, Broa Rolls, Blue Moon Mix

·       Warm the soup on the stovetop.

·       Warm the rolls and dress the salad.

 

Meal 2: Grilled Pizzas with Kale and Roasted Red Pepper, Grilled Vegetable Medley, Whole Wheat Pasta and Tomato Salad

·       Heat the pizza in the oven at 450° for 5-10 minutes or until hot and the cheese is melted. 

·       You may warm vegetables in the oven too alongside pizza or serve them at room temp.

·       Enjoy the pasta salad at room temp.

NOTES: 

Broa is a Portuguese peasant loaf made with cornmeal and flour, traditionally served with a fish stew.

The pizza dough is a Neopolitan - style high moisture dough that seemed intimidating to handle last night, but mellowed in the fridge and grilled up beautifully getting nice color, texture and color over the open flames.

 

Pasta e Fagioli and Falafil

Meal 1: Pasta e Fagioli , Black Quinoa Rolls, Blue Moon Mix

·       Warm the stew on the stovetop.
·       Warm the rolls and dress the salad.

 

Meal 2: Falafil Patties, Roasted Eggplant Salad, and Barley with Sweet Corn

·       Heat the falafil in the oven at 350° for about 10 minutes or until hot. 

·       You may warm the eggplant in the oven too alongside the falafel or serve it at room temp.

·       Enjoy the barley salad at room temp.

Roasted Tomato Soup and Sweet Corn Enchiladas

Meal 1: Roasted Tomato Soup, Double Rye Rolls, Grilled Summer Squash Salad

·       Warm the soup on the stovetop.

·       Warm the rolls.

·       Enjoy the salad at room temp.  It may need a sprinkle of extra salt.

 

Meal 2: Sweet Corn Enchiladas, Baked Black Beans, and Annatto Rice Salad

·       Heat the enchis and the beans in the oven at 350° for about 15 minutes or until hot. 

·       Enjoy the rice salad at room temp, or even warm it in the oven for about 5 minutes OR in a sauté pan with some oil and a splash of water to warm it though.

The Food Nanny

August 23 & 24 2011
Meal 1: Two Sisters Soup, Seeded Whole Wheat Rolls, Aztec 5 Grain Salad
• Warm the soup on the stovetop.
• Warm the rolls.
• Enjoy the grain salad at room temp.

Meal 2: Summer Veggie Pot Pie with Crumble Topping, Pesto- Challah Knots, Potato Salad with Roasted Red Onions
• Heat the pot pie in the oven at 350° for about 15 minutes or until just bubbling. Add the crumble topping and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Warm the rolls.
• Enjoy the salad chilled, or even warm it in the oven too for about 5 minutes.

Pasta Purses and My Own Sweet Corn Festival

Meal 1: Roasted Eggplant Agnolotti with Marinara, Semolina Loaves, and Blue Moon Mix

·       Give the pasta dish a gentle shake and/or stir then either A). Warm in the oven until just bubbly or B). Turn out and heat through in a sauté pan.

·       Warm the bread and dress the salad.

 

Meal 2: Sweet Corn and Black Eyed Pea Stew with Deep Dish Corn Bread and Melon Salad

·       Heat the stew on the stovetop.

·       Warm the cornbread at 325° for about 10 minutes.  Be careful to not darken the sides much more.

·       Enjoy the melon chilled.

NOTES:

Agnolotti are delicate little purse-like members of the ravioli clan.  They are more fun and more efficient to make though.

Garnish the pasta with some grated Locatelli type cheese and some fresh basil from your yard, if you have it.

There are leeks from Tomahnous Farm and jalapeno from our garden in the corn bread.

The Food Nanny

August9&10 2011

Meal 1: Grilled Pita with Hummous and Crudité, & Farfalle with Tomato and Basil, plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars!

· Warm the pita in the oven briefly, or directly on a gas burner– just enough to warm it.Cut and dip or make a sandwich with the veggies and hummous.

· Add salt to the pasta salad, we omit it to prevent wateriness from the tomato, and serve at room temp.

· Bet you know what to do with the cookie bars!

Meal 2: Stir Fried Eggplant and Basil with Noodles and Cold Cabbage Salad

· The noodles are fine at room temp OR Heat a sauté pan with a little oil. Nonstick is fine. Add the noodles and a splash or water and allow to warm through. Transfer to a serving plate.

· Reheat the pan and add the eggplant and its sauce Allow to simmer a minute or two and serve hot.

· Serve the cabbage chilled.

Cucumber Vichyssoise and Sweet Corn Quiche

Meal 1: Cucumber Vichyssoise, Pizza Bianca, Mixed Greens
• Warm the pizza in the oven briefly – just enough to warm it.
• Dress the salad and serve the soup chilled.

Meal 2: Sweet Corn Quiche, Green Bean Salad, and Tomato/Eggplant Napoleons
• Warm the quiche in the oven at 350° until just warm ~ 10-15 minutes. Room temp is fine too.
• Serve the beans chilled.
• Serve the napoleons at room temp or transfer to a baking sheet and warm with the quiche.

Notes:  This is what all the pizza bianca should have looked like !

Beat the Heat Cooking

Cool food isn’t about what is trendy.  It is really about what to cook at home when you could just as soon sear steaks on the patio.  Grill notwithstanding.   Here are some of my top picks for eating in the heat.

Skip meals.  I’m down to about one a day.  I just don’t want to eat in this weather and the effort necessary is greater than caloric return so…

Eggs.  Eggs are great summer food.  Simple fried eggs cook up fast and won’t heat your whole house.  They are light but satiating.  Next, up the ante by making an omelet.  Again, they are fast and nutritious and infinitely variable.  Moreover, they make a great summer dinner along with a salad or chilled soup or other home garden bounty.  Hardboiled eggs are a summertime workhorse.  Cook off a few dozen, refrigerate and use as needed.  Not only do they make a great snack to facilitate your meal skipping habit, but they fall into line easily in an antipasto platter of chilled and pickled vegetables and some charcuterie and cheese, or in a chef style salad. Last, but certainly not least, is egg salad.  We are junkies for the stuff and once it is made will eat it pretty much nonstop until it is gone.  For a real treat pick up some Alkayam whole wheat pita - the large thin ones.  Toast them quick, place egg salad, greens, tomato, bacon, etc. on one side of the circle, fold the whole thing over like a taco and discover what pita is all about.  This technique also rocks with grilled sausage, roasted red pepper, and pesto.

Hot Smoked Salmon "Mango Style"

Salads. First, pick up some Blue Moon mix and then add everything you have on hand and make giant, hearty, chef salads.  I really love salads with beans in them and lentils, garbanzos, and kidney beans are my top choices.  You can certainly use canned beans.  I always have some on hand for occasions like this. Hard boiled eggs are great additions to your supper salads adding protein and a lustrousness as the yolk portion mixes with the dressing and coats the greens.  Also consider poached or over-easy eggs.  The broken yolks on the greens is not just good.  It's kinda sexy.  Another great addition is sardines.  Our boys just DEVOUR these rich little fishes and they are packed with everything good for your body, limited in those that aren’t, and considered to be sustainably harvested.  First timer?  Try The King Oscar brand Bristling Sardines in oil. They are Grade A, but the Brunswick ones work fine too.  Specialty markets carry these great little smoked sprats from Russia in a round can.  They are black and gold and lightly smoky.  Just smashing with a salad.  Other smoked fish is good too and I recommend trying your hand at hot smoking some wild salmon on a grill if you have one. You can do enough to make it worthwhile and the refrigerate the rest for 2 weeks, or freeze it.  Cheeses are great contributors too: blue, chevre, Gorgonzola, cottage, farmer – whatever you have.  The only limit on salads is what you need to use up in the fridge.  Consider the greens a canvas and remember a good oil and vinegar dressing is often best.  Ditch tht corn syrup slurry ASAP.



Marinated Farmer Cheese
 and Minted Snap Peas

Beans and Rice.  Cook off a bunch all at once and use it throughout the week.  This will serve you well when your brain is a melted puddle and you can’t think what to make for dinner - you already have a step in the right direction.  Having these foods on hand will save you time and heat during the prep.  Together both make quick burritos or tacos. Thgey also make a nice stuffing for eggplants or summer squash.  Beans alone make fast soups (Recipe: black beans and their cooking broth, yogurt, diced red onion, diced cucumber, diced tomato, minced garlic.  Mix all in a bowl.  Season. Viola: Chilled Black Bean Soup), are a great fortifier for salads, easy to serve with eggs (huevos rancheros).  Beans also make hummous which is a great hot weather food.  Let there be no mystery as to why it came from the Mid-East and not, say, Norway.  Now, if you firmly believe dinner needs, must-be a heated affair, make some fried rice - a dish invented from cold, leftover rice.  Add 1# of the Moore’s ground pork along with some good soy sauce, chili paste, and a little brown sugar for a real smash.

Marinated Grilled Zukes and
Half Sour Pckles in an Antipasto

Whole Meat Roasts.  Yep that’s right.  Nothing says deep summer heat like roasting a turkey, whole bone in rib roast or better yet a ham, does it?  Consider it an investment.  Pick one day to heat up the house, cook up a big piece of animal and then eat beautiful, beautiful cold cuts all week long: sandwiches, chef salads, mayo based salads, in antipasto’s (starting to see how these all fit together?), or just standing there, right off the bone, with the fridge door open.  Also consider brisket, pork loin, top sirloin, and whole chickens.  Some of these you can do on a grill too. thus sparing your home the hot oven treatment.  What about fish?  OK here’s a trade secret: Take a whole side of wild salmon (that farmed stuff at the supermarket is shit, and don’t believe otherwise).  Lay it skin side down on a sheet tray.  Brush lightly with melted butter.  Add salt and pepper.  Bake at 325° for about 1 hour, or until the thickest flesh is firmed.  Cool.  You now have the best ‘poached’ salmon ever.  Those fish shaped boilers are for suckers.  Serve this fish with a yogurt/cucumber/ mint sauce and some white wine.  

 Suddenly, hot summer nights ain’t so bad.

Deep Dish Pizzas and Summer Time Sloppy Joes

The Food Nanny
July 26 & 27 2011
Meal 1: Summertime Sloppy Joes on Challah Rolls, Cole Slaw, Peach Crisp
• Heat the Joe mix on the stovetop until just hot, add some water if necessary and adjust the seasoning. Toast the roll.
• Serve the slaw chilled. ADD salt as this was omitted to prevent wateriness.
• Heat the crisp in the oven at 350 until just bubbling ~15 minutes. 

Meal 2: Deep Dish Pizza with Oven Dried Heirloom Tomatoes, Mixed Greens, Pickled Beets
• Warm the pizza in the oven at 350° until warmed through ~ 10-15 minutes.
• Dress and serve the greens.
• Serve the pickle chilled.

Caballero's Pie & Curried Chic Peas

The Food Nanny
July 19 & 20 2011
Meal 1: Caballero’s Pie, Blue Moon Mix, Tomato and Cucumber Salad
• Warm the pie in the oven at 350° until hot and just bubbling ~ 20 minutes.
• Dress and serve the greens.
• Add a sprinkle of salt to the tom/cuke salad, toss and serve chilled.


Meal 2: Curried Chic Peas with Tomato and Kale, Naan, Brown Basmati with Coconut
• Heat the curry on the stovetop until just hot.
• Warm the naan in the oven.
• Heat the rice in a sauté pan with a little oil and a splash of water to steam it through.

Notes:

• The rice salad may appear 'bound', this is because it is seasoned with coconut oil, which hardens when refrigerated.  It will melt quickly when heated per the instructions.
• There are whole allspice berries in the curry please LOOKOUT!-  I know they are annoying, but using whole spices is key to making proper curry.

Black Bean Soup & Savory Blintzes

The Food NannyJuly 5 & 6 2011

Meal 1: Black Bean Bean Soup, Hand Cut Tortilla Chips, Live Cucumber Pickle Salad
• Warm the soup on the stove top. It’s also good chilled. Enjoy with the chips.
• The salad is best at room temp. Drink the brine – its probiotic!

Meal 2: Savory Blintzes with Ratatouille and French Lentils, Mixed Greens and Quinoa Salad
• Toast the blintzes, starting seam side down in a sauté pan with some butter. Cook 2-3 minutes. Flip, cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve.
• Serve the quinoa at room temp, dress the salad.

the Food NannyJune 28 & 29 2011
Meal 1: White Bean Soup with Kale and Lemon, Orzo with Roasted Red Pepper and Chevre, Cucumber/Tomato Salad

• Warm the soup on the stove top. It’s also good chilled.
• Serve both salads at room temp, but add salt to the cuke salad as this ingredient was omitted to prevent excess wateriness.

 

Meal 2: Fusili Arribiata with Roasted Eggplant or Homemade Sausage Crumbles, Mixed Greens, Semolina Rolls

• Toss the pasta and sauce/topping in a sauté pan and warm over medium heat with a splash of water until hot. Adjust the seasoning.
• Warm the roll briefly in the oven. Dress and serve the salad.

Stir Fried Veggies and an Early Summer Pot Pie

The Food NannyJune 21 & 22 2011

Meal 1: Pan Fried Udon with Stir Fried Vegetables and Tofu Satay

• Heat the satay in the oven or a toaster oven. A microwave might work too – I don’t have one…
• Remove the noodles and rinse them well in a colander until loose. Shake dry very well.
• Get a pan (nonstick is good) with some oil very hot and CAREFULLY add the noodles. It will spit like mad – so don’t be afraid! The noodles can sense your fear. You may need to do it in batches depending on your share size and pan size. You want the pan to stay hot; crowding it will cool it too much. Allow to cook about 2minutes without moving, then stir or flip with a toss of the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes more. Transfer to a serving plate and dress with soy sauce and sesame oil if you have it.
• Reheat the pan and add a little more oil. Quickly stir fry the veggies and serve atop the noodles. Serve all and enjoy!

Meal 2: Early Summer Vegetable Pot Pie with Crumble Topping, Multigrain Knots, and Blue Moon Mix

• Remove the crumble topping and reserve.
• Heat the pot pie at 350°for 15 minutes or until just bubbling. Stir; add the crumble and heat 3 minutes more. Serve.
• Warm the roll briefly in the oven. Dress and serve the salad.

Big Fat Burritos and Early Season Zucchini

Meal 1: Burly Barley Burrito, Baked Black Beans, Blue Moon Mix

·       Warm the burrito in the oven at 325° for 15 minutes or until warm. 
·       Warm the beans in the oven too, or on the stovetop if you like.
·       Dress the greens.
 

Meal 2: Curried Chic Peas and Zucchini, Khichri, and Naan

·       BE AWARE OF WHOLE CARDAMON AND ALLSPICE IN THE CURRY AND KHICHRI
·       Heat the curry on the stovetop.
·       Warm the naan in a dry skillet or briefly in the oven.
·       Heat the khichri in a sauté pan with some oil and or butter and a splash of water to heat it through.

Quiche and a Thai Hot Pot

Meal 1: Asparagus and New Potato Quiche, Pain d’Epi, Blue Moon Mix

·       Warm the quiche in the oven - 325° for about 20 minutes until warmed.  Warm the bread too.

·       Dress the greens.

Meal 2: Thai Curry Hot Pot and a Chard Spring Roll

·       Portion out the noodles and different vegetables into each bowl.  Heat the curry to a simmer and pour into each bowl allowing the contents to steep.

·       Eat the spring rolls chilled.

Napini w/Cici, a Fougasse, & Falafil w/ Chard

Meal 1: Chic Pea Stew with Napini, Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper Fougasse, Mixed Green• Warm the stew on the stovetop.
• Warm the fougasse in the oven - 300° for about 10 minutes until warm and soft but not toasted.
• Dress the greens.



Meal 2: Falafel/Chard Croquettes, Grilled Pita, Moroccan Carrot Salad
• Warm the croquettes in the oven at 350° until hot – 10 minutes. Add the pita for the last few minutes.
• Salt and toss the carrot salad, serve chilled. We omitted salt to prevent wateriness.

Asparafest: Savory Asparagus Blintzes and Asparagus Bisque.

Meal 1: Asparagus and Chevre Blintzes, Risotto w/ Garlic Chives and Blue Moon Mixed Greens

• Heat some oil and butter in a sauté pan to medium hot. Gently place the blintzes, seam side down in the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes. Flip. Cook 2-3 minutes more and reserve.

• Place the risotto in a sauce pot. Add enough water or milk to form a loose, but not watery porridge. Heat, stir and finish with butter, cream, shredded parmesan, fine olive or truffle oil or other decadence of your choice. This should only take a minute or two. Serve immediately.

• Dress the greens.

Meal 2: Asparagus Bisque, Amaranth & Olive Oil Boules, Sprouted Grain Salad

• Serve the soup chilled or warmed.

• Warm the bread, and serve the salad at room temp.

Some of the green garlic, from the garden, in this week's menu.

Flowering Kale and Baby Bok Choi

Meal 1: Pizza Bianca with Chevre and Napini, Three Bean Salad, Mixed Greens

• Warm the pizza pieces in the oven at 325° for 5 minutes or until warmed.

• Serve the bean salad at room temp and dress the greens.

Meal 2: Stir Fried Veggies with Baby Bok Choi, Fried Rice, and Grilled Tofu Skewers
• Heat the skewers in the oven for a few minutes, or remove from the skewer and cook with the veggies.
• Heat some oil in a sauté pan. Fry the rice and stir in a splash of water to heat it through. Transfer to a serving plate.
• Next, get some oil smoking hot in a pan. Add the bok choi leaves. Stir fry 1 minute, then add the remaining veg and sauce. Cook one minute and serve over the rice.

Notes:

• Fresh greens and their flavor are very tender, so we sent the choi raw.  The kale flowers (napini) should have recieved equall tenderness, but we learned to next time par cook the pizza shells and add the greens and cheese later. 

Tradish-AHHHHn!!

     Tuesday evening brought this year’s Passover holiday to a close. The favorite meal to mark the return of leavened foods to our homes is pizza. Or out for Chinese.

     But it is the traditional foods of the holiday that hold such significance intrinsically and for me. The Passover Seder meal tells from where we have come, who we are, and where we are now. The Seder plate itself is laden with gastronomic symbols that lead us to the story of our ancestry: The matzoh bread of oppression and liberation, the wine of sublimation and sanctity, the bitter herbs of suffering, the charoseth of labor, the salty water or our lamentations, the green herbs of spring, the roasted egg of rebirth and the Eternal, and the lamb roasted in sacrifice and bounty and remembrance.
     These symbols lead the ceremony, and the dinner itself is the halfway point of its observance. Our meal, like many Jews of Eastern-European descent, was comprised of those foods traditionally eaten by our great-grandparents and their elders in their diaspora homes. Potato kugel, braised brisket, carrot tzimmus, rolled cabbage, matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish with horseradish, roasted fowl, and fermented beet russel or a borscht are the foods that grace our tables. While not a year goes by that Martha Stewart or Light Gourmet or whomever else doesn’t offer their ‘inspired’ twists on this cannon of American Ashkenazi cookery (Lemon Zest Matzoh Balls or Tri-Colored Gefilte Fish anyone?) most of our lot would generally be appalled if most of these dishes didn’t take their place beside Elijah’s cup at the table. I for one lament this, but wouldn’t change it. For though the cuisine of the Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions is far more sophisticated and celebratory, it’s not mine.
      My Bubbie’s Passover cooking was among the first to have really penetrated my psyche as a person and ultimately as a cook. I can vividly remember the smell of her chicken soup, the flavor of the sweet, earthy russel, and the meaty tang, and slight crunch of my favorite – the rolled cabbage. Though my parents took us, from young ages, to into the great ethnic hubs of our melting-pot metropolises and their accompanying eateries, it was Bubbie’s cooking that really convinced me that cooking was something great; something alchemical and mysterious and attainable and important to my being. So, our Passover meals this year were not only a solution to the challenge of Passover cooking, but they were an homage, and a personal journey, and I was happy to be able to share it with you.
     Maybe next year we will try something even more traditional.
     Braised udder anyone?

Spinach and Chevre Agnolotti & Moraccan Chic Pea Stew

The Food Nanny
April 26& 27 2011

 Meal 1: Spinach and Chevre Agnolotti with Chard and Sun Dried Tomato, Ciabatta, Mixed Greens

• Boil some salted water. Plunge the agnolotti when the water boils. Boil 1-2 minutes.

• Heat the chard mixture in a sauté pan. When hot, add the drained agnolotti and toss to coat. Serve.

• Dress the greens and serve with the warmed rolls.

Meal 2: Moroccan Chic Pea Stew over Two Spiced Rices with Sweet Sultana Noodle Kugel

• Heat the kugel at 350° in the oven for 15 minutes or until warm.

• Warm the stew on the stovetop and allow it to simmer.

• Heat the rice in a sauté pan with a little oil and a splash of water to heat it through. Serve beneath the stew.

The Food Nanny
Passover 2011

Meal 1: Bubbie’s Stuffed Cabbage, Carrot Tzimmes, Twice Baked Potato Casserole.
• Add a couple ounces of water to the tzimmus and heat in the oven at 350 until bubbling 10-15 minutes. Adjust the seasoning before serving.
• At the same time/temp as above heat the cabbage and potato in the oven. The cabbage will need to bubble, the potato casserole should brown up on top.

Meal 2: Matzoh Ball Soup, Blue Moon Mixed Greens, Half-Moon Macaroon
• Warm the soup on the stovetop and allow it to simmer for a few minutes to ensure the matzoh balls heat through.
• Dress the salad and then enjoy your dessert!

Season of the Onion

Barbara Kingsolver noted that, historically, February is called ‘Hungry Month’ in about a hundred different tongues. But, for us April is the month that challenges our kitchen. What is the cuisine of earliest spring? Everyone is ready for a change from the steadfast but stodgy roots of winter, yet the hearty fruits of summer are months away, and there is only so much heft you can put into a green leaf.

Let the Earth tell us what to eat: the earliest shoots popping up from winter’s nap are the alliums. The onions, garlics, and their kin. Chives, garlic chives, leeks, walking onions, scallions, the wild onions and the aristocrat of them all – the ramp Allium tricoccum.

These vegetables have both the brightness of color to uplift your spring meals, as well as the strength of character to lend themselves to some richer preparations. Classic onions are themselves at the end of their dormancy but still good for roasting or sautéing as the body of a main dish. But, as green onions become more available do yourself a favor and replace those big sprouting bulbs with scallions. The big professionally grown ones from the market are particularly good. Buy some extra and dress them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and grill or broil them whole for a great side to steak, atop burgers, or with a grilled fish.

If your pantry’s supply of garlic is running low or gone, that’s OK, because you planted the extra, small cloves of garlic last fall, right? Well, it’s time to start digging those shoots and eating them as green garlic. I also plant each fall some of the bulbils from my hardneck garlic to also harvest as green garlic each spring. These thinner plants are cut and used like herbs. Green garlic makes a smashing soup, great stir fry, or can be chopped from top to bottom and used as you would garlic cloves.

Chives are hands down the classiest of all the herbs. Use them by the heavy handful in eggs, savory custards, pasta salads, mashed or buttered potatoes, or in grain salads while they are at their quality peak during these cool days. Chives are rare at the market; they are a reward for the home gardener, so plant lots.

But it is ramps that capture the imagination of the palate more than any other allium. They are wild, ephemeral treats and you should learn how to hunt them or where to buy them. If you buy them it is a sound investment to go ahead and transplant some (or many) of them. You will need to plant them in moist, shady places, and in clumps. They are forest plants and will not thank you for favoring them with a little extra light. They grow beautifully at the base of mature trees. Over time they will self divide and self seed. Their flavor is a perfect blend of garlic and leek; aromatic without being fiery. To cook them, do little. A fast sauté in hot fat or a flash on the grill is all they need to accompany asparagus, morels, and meats divinely. You can certainly also use them to infuse eggs and custards, but generally treat them more as a vegetable than an herb.

Savory Bread Pudding and Tortilla Soup

Meal 1: Savory Bread Pudding, Spinach Soup, Blue Moon Mixed Greens

• Cover the pudding with foil and warm in the oven at 350° for at least 20 minutes. Remove the lid and heat for 5 more minutes.

• Warm the soup, or even enjoy it chilled.

• Dress the greens and thank the heavens, and Jon, that they are back!

Meal 2: Tortilla Soup, Refried Beans, Annatto Rice with Pepitas

• Warm the soup on the stovetop. Garnish with a little yogurt if you like.

• Warm the beans in a microwave or in a saucepan. You can also try steaming them in their dish if you are inclined.

• Serve the rice at room temp, or sauté quickly with some oil and a splash of oil.

NOTES:

• The bread pudding is made with leeks, onions, green garlic, and our own log-grown shiitake mushrooms.
• After some middling attempts I really got the spinach soup this week.  The key to keeping it brightly colored was cooling the broth to 150 degrees before pureeing in batches with the spinach and then cooling it quickly in wide food pans in the fridge.

Carrot Soup and Pasta Primavera

Meal 1: Spiced Carrot Soup, Lentil Salad, Sweet and Sour Bulgur
• Warm the soup. Garnish with a little yogurt if you like.
• Serve the lentils and bulgur at room temp.

Meal 2: Pasta Shells Primavera, Roasted Cauliflower Salad, Semolina Rolls
• Warm the pasta in the oven – 350° for 10-15 minutes.
• Serve the cauliflower at room temp or warm it briefly in the oven.
• Warm the rolls in the oven for about 5 minutes.

NOTES:

• Yep, a little bit of heat in the soup.  A little ginger too.
• Primavera mix: spinach, chevre, fennel, and some roasted reds for color.
• Try a dash of lemon juice on the cauliflower - I didn't want it to get 'soggy' in transport.

Soba and Edamame Salad & Stewed Black Eye Peas

The Food Nanny
March 29/30, 2011

Meal 1: Soba and Edamame Salad with Miso Soup and Glazed Turnips

• Warm the miso soup but do NOT boil it.

• Serve the noodle salad at room temp.

• Quickly sauté the turnips and carrots with a little butter and a splash of water to heat them through.

Meal 2: Stewed Black Eye Peas, Cornbread Squares and Braised Collards

• Warm the stew on the stovetop – feel free to add some ham or bacon first!

• Quickly sauté the collards and onion with a little butter and a splash of water to heat them through. Ditto the pork…

• Warm the cornbread in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Mu Shu Tofu & Spinach Eggplant Lasagna

The Food Nanny
March 22/23, 2011
Meal 1: Mu Shu Tofu with Rice Flour Crepes and Fried Rice
• In a hot pan with some oil, fry the rice to warm it. Add a splash of water to steam it through. Transfer to serving plates.
• Return the pan to high heat and quickly stir fry the mu shu to heat it. Serve.
• At the table, fill the crepes with the mu shu and eat as little packages.
Meal 2: Spinach and Eggplant Lasagna, Whole Wheat-Olive Oil Batards, Organic Lettuce Salad
OPEN CAREFULLY!! The lasagnas are very full!
• Heat the lasagna at 400 ° for about 15 minutes or the interior is bubbly and the cheese on top begins to brown. Warm the bread too!
• Dress the salad.

Sanity

Sanity never came my way

Sanity never came my way

I don’t know what I’ll do today

‘Cause sanity never came my way

-Anastasio, Fishman, Mcconnell, Gordon, Pollack, Marshall

     Life and work; the whirring clutter of the ins and outs, comings and goings, risings and sleepings; the peeing, the pooping, baths, dishes, clothes, e-mails, news postings and on and on can create a din that we come to accept as normal. A mental white noise to which we are as inured as New Yorkers sleeping through 6 alarm fires. When sanity does come, it settles on you like a peaceful snow; a quietude where you say things like “Oh, hi Self. I know you.”

     As K. and I finished up this week’s meals and prepared for pack-out I realized that the quiet reverie descending upon my mind was a dose of sanity. The source: my parents were in town and the help they offered by spending time with the kids was beyond therapeutic. It was humanizing.

     One of my driving cultural inquiries is: How and when were we convinced to accept quantity over quality? For example, why make and eat only one or two good strawberry -rhubarb pies each year when you can get a limitless supply of crappy ones year round at the super market? Somehow we accepted this trade a few generations ago with all the trappings of prosperity and ingenuity that nearly replaced breast milk with “Formula!” Now we know better. Nothing beats what mom makes, and it is probably just as true for pie. For strawberries too.

     Precipitate from this: Why did we ever abandon the multi-generation model of home and community? According to Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America and Wes Jackson’s Becoming Native to this Place the fracturing of American culture from settled communities into scattered ‘nuclear’ units was not an incidental consequence of natural progression. It was the calculated impact of economic policies deliberately designed to drain rural America of its population and autonomy so as to flood urban centers with cheap labor, and to replace homemade with Made in China. In hindsight, we allowed ourselves to be flossed of our insurance, our health, our history, our faith and culture, our know how, our safe havens - our humanity. No wonder people are already lining up to become compu-symbiants.

     My family is no different. My closest sibling is 200 miles away. My parents are 1000 miles away. My children’s aunts, uncles, and cousins of varying degree are scattered all over the US east of the Mississippi, and some overseas. I’m guilty of it myself. And no, Facebook does not make it better. So when they eventually get fed up with me and run away from everything I taught them, to whom will they go? Someone who loves them, or someone with something to sell?

     I confess I don’t have answers. This is a lament. All I have learned is that you can’t make your kids stay near you, but perhaps you can work to make something they want to come back to. It is inevitable that as teens and young adults they will want to get out into the world to walkabout and make themselves. But at some point, probably when they turn to forming their own family, they will begin to feel like coming home. It would be nice to have something to offer them other than a commute.

The Food Nanny

March 15/16, 2011

Meal 1: Vegetarian Sloppy Joe with Whole Wheat Rolls, Hand-Cut Tortilla Chips, and Macaroni Salad

• Heat the joe on the stovetop or microwave. Thin with a little water if necessary. Toast the rolls.

• Enjoy the mac salad chilled. You know what to do with chips!

Meal 2: Winter Squash Bisque, Sun Dried Tomato & Chevre Fougasse, Spinach Salad

• Heat the soup on the stovetop, and warm the fougasse in the oven 5-10 minutes.

• Dress the salad.