Pad Thai & Veggie Tacos

The Food Nanny
July 21&22, 2009
Meal 1: Sweet Potato Noodle Pad Thai, Cucumber Salad, Grilled Sticky Rice Package
· Warm the rice package in the oven at 350 for about 7-10 minutes or use a steamer, or even the microwave. Unfold it and eat the rice inside the banana leaf wrapper.
· Serve the cucumber salad chilled and season with fish sauce if you have it.
· Rinse the noodles very well in a colander. Drain them very,very well. Add some oil to a nonstick pan and when it is hot slide in the drained noodles being very careful to not splatter yourself. Stir fry them a minute of two and then add the veggies and sauce. Toss everything to combine and season with a little fish sauce if you own some. Serve immediately.

Meal 2: Corn Tortillas with Grilled Zukes and Tomato, Sweet Corn, and Latin Slaw, Frijoles Rancheros, Yellow Rice Salad
· Remove the slaw to a bowl and warm the veggies in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes or until warm.
· Heat the beans in a saucepot.
· Serve the rice at room temp or heat it in a sauté pan with a little oil and a dash of water, or in the microwave.
· Warm the tortillas in the microwave with a towel covering them, or warm them in a dry, hot pan, or directly over a gas burner, turning them to warm evenly. If warming in pan or over a flame, transfer them to a plate with a towel to cover while you warm the others. Assemble your tacos and enjoy with some yogurt or cheese if you like

Local Notes:

OK, it is officially summer: tomatoes taste like tomatoes. I'm sorry we do in fact live in a world where that is not a ridiculous statement; but, the season is here for naturally sweet, fertility flavorized tomato fruit. We even got our first home garden cherry tomatoes today.

These big, market reds from Blue Moon have the professional advantage of an early start and a favorable culturing environment. Those same plastic hoophouses that ensure that beautiful, rich spinach is protected all winter lend their talents to keeping those subtropical, New World delights hot and arid regardless of what our stochastic locale delivers us. One way or another we will usually get 1m of rain annually here which is great for a lot of things, but is over generous for tomatoes which not only are susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections, but are unable to produce sugary fruit when water in excess dilutes the fruit. Like wine grapes.

I was delighted to taste that flavor again, for the first time this year. And grateful, for first fruits.

Technique:

Steam Then Grill

Heres how to make sticky rice.

Buy some sweet Thai rice, synonymously called sticky rice.

Soak the rice overnight in plenty of water.

Line a steamer basket of some kind with muslin or best yet some banana leaf and steam the rice for 10 -20 minutes. To check for doneness just pick off the lid and taste test some. It should be yielding and not starchy.

Heres how to make sticky rice nummy.

Add a can of coconut milk to the cooked rice. Now add condensed milk and mango for a dessert. or add chiles, fish sauce, and herbs for a savory side dish.

Special thanks to street food for inspiring this weeks experiment of wrapping the rice in banana leaves and then grill roasting it. I was pleasantly surprised to taste how much the banana leaf flavor infuses the rice. Thanks to our members to letting us expand our knowledge in this way

Lebanese Pasta Salad & Summer Pot Pie

The Food Nanny
July7&8, 2009
Meal 1: Lebanese Pasta Salad, Grilled Vegetables, Whole Wheat Batard
· Heat the vegetables in the oven at 350 until hot about ten minutes.
· Warm the batard in the oven too – about 5 minutes.
· Season the pasta with salt as this ingredient was omitted to prevent wateriness, then serve. Meal 2: Biscuit-Top Vegetable Pot Pie, Mixed Greens, Three Bean Salad
· Add a small amount of water(2-3T) to the pot pie and incorporate it by stirring. Heat the pot pie at 350 until beginning to bubble – about ten minutes, then place the biscuit top on and heat a few minutes more. Serve!
· Serve the three bean salad at room temp and dress the salad to serve.

What makes pasta Lebanese you may ask, well it is the unique combination of cool and hot: cucumbers and chili paste, sesame and lemon. I like this salad. It surprised me, usually I like it with orzo as a side dish. It needed a more robust shape when placed center stage.

Kohlrabi Soup and Potato Gnocchi

The Food Nanny

June 30 & July 1

Meal 1: Chilled Kohlrabi Soup, Sundried Tomato & Brie Focaccia, Peach Cobbler

• Serve the soup chilled. Alternately, warm it gently on the stove.
• Warm the focaccia gently in the oven or toaster oven-about 5 minutes at 350.
• Heat the cobbler at 350 until beginning to bubble- about ten minutes, then place the biscuit top on and heat a few mintues more. Serve !

Meal 2: Potato Gnocchi with Grilled Zucchini and Tomato Sauce, Cici & Cauliflower Salad, Mixed Greens

• Heat the gnocchi in a saute pan with a little butter or olive oils. Allow teh gnocchi to brown in the pan a bit and then add the sauce to finish.
• Serve the cici (chickpeas) at room temperature.
• Dress Mixed Greens as you like.

Sesame Noodles & Pan Pizza

The Food Nanny
June 23 & 24
Meal 1: Cold Sesame Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu and Spring Rolls

• Remove the tofu to a cookie tray and warm it in th eoven at 350 until hot--less than 10 minutees, or eat cold.
• Meanwhile toss the noodles and vegetables, then serve with the tofu.
• Eat the spring roll cold. If you like drizzle a little soy sauce on it.

Meal 2: Grilled Zucchini and Kale Pan Pizza & Mixed Greens

• Warm the pizza in the ovn at 350 until warm and th emozzarella melts. Then run a knife around the outside of the dish. Transfer it to a plate and enjoy with the salad on the side.

Local Notes

Just a quick note on onions. These indespensables are the backbone of all my cooking and I am proud to say that since last July we have only a few weeks or so using non-local onions. I bought 200 lbs. from Blue Moon before the market ended last fall and they kept us fat and happy all winter until about Mid May. Last week I began using green onions as our mainstay onion with store bought organics in the interem. I was delighted to see Jeff Meyer at market last week with big gorgeous Walla Walla Sweets at his stand and I stocked up using some on the pizza sauce along with some of the last few canned tomatoes from last season. I'll hoard more onions this week for you all and try to give them a feature billing of some kind. Hmmm?

Bread Salad & June Vegetable Curry

The Food Nanny
June 16&17, 2009
Meal 1: Bread Salad with Canellini, Egg, and Poached Potatoes, Grilled Broccoli, & Spinach Soup
· Warm the crutons in the oven on a cookie tray at 350° until hot and crispy – about 10 minutes.
· Meanwhile arrange the greens in a bowl and garnish with the potato,beans, and chopped egg.
· Heat the soup and warm the broccoli in the oven too or serve at room temp.
· Toss the salad ingredients with the hot bread and dress then serve.

Meal 2: June Vegetable Curry, Grilled Flat Bread, Parsi Kichirri Salad
· Heat the curry in a pan with a little water to thin. Serve in bowls and garnish with some yogurt if you like.
· Warm the flatbread.
· Enjoy the kichirri warmed in the oven, on the stovetop with a dash of water or oil, or at room temp.
Local Notes
Why the Hell Did They Let A Bear Peel The Eggs?
Well, the real question is 'How did they train the bear to peel the eggs?'
Anyway, when it comes to egg salad nothing sucks, well, eggs, more than nice, wholesome, farm-fresh eggs. At least until the egg is out of its shell that it. Then fresh hard-boiled eggs are rich and creamy, firm and yielding, fortifying and light all at once. But in their shells, fresh eggs are a bear to peel because there is very little gas built up in the egg. As the egg ages normal cellular respiration produces gasses that lodge between the albumen (white) and the shell (shell). This space facilitates the removal of the shell after cooking. If not present the shell is nearly affixed to the cooked white and a Sissiphean challenge to remove cleanly. So, my apologies on the roughed up hard boiled eggs.
Grill Thrill Seeker
Still more grilled vegetables from the list of :'I never considered grilling that!.' Yes, broccoli grills wonderfully. Follow the instructions for grilling greens posted last week. June is a great broccoli month and since it is starting to roll in we thought we'd give it some feature billing this week. Expect a supporting role next week and for several to come.
Other June vegetables are found in the curry. Seek out the kohlrabi and the turnips. Kohlrabi is one of those vegetables that most restaurants wont serve you, for no good reason other than assuming you won't like it simply because it it neither a potato, a carrot, or broccoli. I love kohlrabi and make a mock potato salad featuring it in the early season before potatoes come into season properly, and also serve it pureed with black pepper and parmesan for a side with special roasts. Also, can you get enough of those little white Japanese turnips? I had to restrain my self to preserve your portions last week of them stir fried with scapes.
So that's what's fresh and hot.
Technique
Curry has taught me a widely applicable technique: Infused oils.
The first step in preparing this curry, and the kichirri (a pilaf of rice and split beans) as well is to make an infused oil. This is done by carefully selecting an assortment, in limited number, of whole spices such as cumin, coriander, fresh or dried chile, anise, cinnamon, fennel, cardamom pods...but they must be whole spices and not powdered, their role comes later.
Gather your spices in a dish considering how they will complement each other and the dish, and understand that a little goes a long way. For a dish for 8-10 for examplieI might use 6 cloves, 6 peppercorns, 1t cumin, 1t corriander and 2" cinnamon.
Next heat your oil and when it shimmers, add the spices and stir. They will sizzle and fry and become aromatic. Being very careful to not burn them, and you must have your onions already prepared before you even heat the oil, let them fry for a minute or so. When ready, dump your sliced/chopped onions ( yes, always) into the pot to stop the spice frying, collect the flavors, and begin the next stage in the process.
This technique is useful when not only making curry, but in say adobo or mole sauce as well. Use it for soups, casserole fillings, on and on. When you want to pump some complex flavors into a dish, consider starting by layering some aromatic spices essences into the oil that will infuse the rest of the dish.

Roasted Red Pepper Stromboli & General Tso's Tofu

The Food Nanny
June 9&10, 2009
Meal 1: Roasted Red Pepper Stromboli, Grilled Greens Salad, Rhubarb Crisp
· Warm the stromboli in the oven at 350° until hot – about 10-15 minutes. · Toss the salad ingredients and dress lightly if you like, the olive oil and garlic that they are grilled with may be just right for you.
· Warm the crisp in the oven during dinner and enjoy for desert. It should be bubbling a little at the edges.

Meal 2: General Tso’s Tofu, Stirfried Hakuri Turnips &Garlic Scapes, Fried Rice Salad
· Serve the rice at room temp or warm it in a skillet with a little oil.
· Get the pan hot and add a little oil. Stir fry the turnips/scapes for a minute or two to heat through. Remove to a plate.
· Heat the pan again and add more oil. Tip in the broccoli and tofu. Stir fry for about 2 minutes, then vigorously shake the sauce and pour over the tofu. Allow the sauce to thicken for a minute or so and serve immediately.
Local Notes:
'Scape from Urbana
I told you we would have some more scapes. I am sorry to have to cut them for your meals, they are such beautiful vegetables. They are serpetine, swanlike, and ballerinaish. I do like to eat them whole, either stir fried or grilled; but, I am a full contact eater and know that we have to be a little more civilized here. Anyway they eat like greenbeans and taste like roasted garlic and are certainly something unique. We may only get another week out of them as they stiffen and unwind and prepare to ripen their bulbuils, and become inedible. The garlic year progresses nonetheless. Soon we will have 'fresh garlic' familiar cloves but from uncured plants. Also, if any member or friend would really like to grow garlic I can give you some cloves from our own personal variety cultivate from local feral stock found at Meadowbrook Gardens. We call it Urbana Tiger, and I will also give you a crash course in how to grow it. You must grow garlic to understand it.

Technique:
Grilled Greens
A deeply loved friend of mine is the most stubborn man I know.
We will call him E. Menzel.
No, no. Thats too obvious.
Eric M.
Thats better.
So Eric M. is an excellent cook and a profoundly motivated fellow. He is fairly convinced that no food item should be inherently considered ungrillable. He will lighly dance any item he can above the charcoal flames, gently teasing ethereal items above the tenuous grate, and suspending them above Smeagol's Demise.
He taught me to grill greens like spinach or swiss chard, and he inspired this salad. I look forward to adding grilled romaine wedges.
To grill greens you must first believe that thin leafy things can in fact be grilled. Next you must dress the greens to protect them from becoming unappetizing crisped mulch. Do this with a generous hulping of crushed garlic in a liberal ammount of olive oil. Toss and massage the greens with their dressing well. With a pair of good tongs lay the preferably whole leaves across the grate of your charbroiler and watch as the greens wilt, begin to mark, and darken in color. Do think of pan wilting spinach as you do this. When they appear half done, give them a flip to finish. If there is a hot spot on your grill, arrange the stem ends towards it.

Pasta e Fagioli & Kale Lasagna

The Food Nanny
June 2&3, 2009
Meal 1: Pasta e Fagioli of Whole Wheat Macaroni and Chick Peas, Polenta with Fresh Herbs, & Asparagus Hash
· Heat the soup on the stovetop.
· Warm the polenta in the oven at 350° until just warm – about 10 minutes.
· Warm the hash in the oven along with the polenta, or heat it in a sauté pan with a little oil for a minute or two, or enjoy it at room temp.

Meal 2: Lasagna of Kale and Hand Rolled Noodles, Mixed Greens, Pesto Bread Sticks
· Warm the lasagna in the oven at 350° until heated through – about 10 to 15 minutes.
· Toast the bread sticks in the oven with the lasagna for the last minute or two. Dress the greens and serve.
Local Notes:
Paste e Fagioli. Spelled just like it sounds.
Does sarcasm get lost in type text?
Anyhow, please look closely into your soup and you wil see 'The Last Carrot.' Since October of 2008 you have been served not one carrot, not ONE carrot that was not grown in this county. Our supply of beautiful Blue Moon carrots has finally run dry and I will do my best to either find someone growing spring carrots, or to do without them until this coming fall. Jon does not grow spring carrots because they are difficult to germinate and manage and just are not as good as they are in the fall. carrot growing in high labor and thin margin and we should kiss Jon's hands for growing them while also trying to run a farm business. They are the best I've ever had and they speak volumes about the sweet richness of our subterranean wealth here in the Great Corn Desert.
In other news the garlic is beginning to change and I used the last of the green garlic to infuse an oil that got folded into the pasta e fagioli at the end. The necks of the garlic are beginning to harden and become inedible. Fortunately, they stiffen to send up a flower stalk called a scape that is edible in its own right. Expect them to feature in next weeks fare. When cooked they taste like a roasted garlic green bean and can be grilles, sauteed, or used to flavor a larger dish. Ask for them at the market.