Korean Pancakes & Penne Arribiatta

The Food Nanny
September 8 &9, 2009
Meal 1: Korean Pancakes and Assorted Namul, BBQ Tofu, & Soba with Fresh Edamame
· Remove the tofu to an ovenproof dish and bake at 350 until hot.
· Warm pancakes in a dry nonstick pan or in a microwave. Serve the namul chilled and use the pancakes to make little ‘tacos’ with the fillings and tofu.
· Serve the noodle salad chilled.

Meal 2: Penne Arribiatta with Meatballs or Grilled Eggplant, Camembert Breadsticks, Mixed Greens
· Serve the bean salad at room temp but do season with salt as we omitted it to prevent to tomatoes from disintegrating.
· Warm the Penne as well as breadsticks in oven at 350. Cover the penne with some foil and give the 15-20 minutes. Then remove the foil and add the breadsticks for the last 5. The cheese on the breadsticks is from Prairie Fruits goatsmilk.
Local Notes:
Green is my favorite color, and those edamame reset the bar. Check that GREEN out, man! Look out for your own this weekend at the market. Buy more than you expect to use and plunge them into boiling salted waterfor a solid 4 minutes. Check for doneness by picking one out of the seething boullion and popping a bean from its pod and eating it. It should not taste starchy and raw. When they are done plunge them into cold water then drain and freeze. So dig that! - your own locally grown edamame treat full of nutritiuon and umami just sitting at your behest awaiting need or desire.
I also want to encourage you to get some ground pork for the Moore's ( they are in the South West corner of the market.) This is an overlooked item that is very versatile and a quick meal 'solution' type item. The 1# packs thaw quickly in warn running water or thrown in the sink in the AM while dashing out. Just pull it and figure what you'll do with it later. We use ours to make meatballs for pasta and sauce (surprise), chili, taco filling, pizza topping, pan fried noodles, meatloaf, burgers, and best of all: morning sausage patties great with pancakes or in an bagel egg sandwich. Seriously, get a bunch. Buy 10 for a great price break.

Technique:Making Hay
...while the sun is shining is the trick, and right now we are past the apogee of this year's garden fruit harvest. So, if your don't do it now you will miss the opportunity to can, freeze, dry, cure or otherwise preserve the tomatoes, summer squash, egglant, beans, corn, warm season crops etc. of 2009. Yes, this point has arived sooner than is typical. I told you it was a bad year; like grapes.
We here at Food Nanny are getting ready to put up for the season. Our first big Blue Moon Order arrived today. Thanks, and lots of love Jon! In essence we are purchasing, in advance, the food that you and your families are going to be eating this coming Autumn, Winter, and Spring. I am not employing hyperbole. We will likely buy a half ton of food in the next three weeks. Bring on the peppers, eggplant, and tomato! Put up potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbages, onions, and garlic! Nothing but the best will do! Am I wrong?!?
Investing the coming labor and cost is the best example of what I see as our comittment to you our members and it's how we succeed at supplying you with outstanding local food during those seasons. This act is not only practical from our standpoint, but it is symbolic of our relationship based approach to this business. We invest for you now and ask for a return investment in the viability of our business over the coming seasons. Its a part of why we offer, and I ask more of you to consider the Academic Calendar Comittment Plan. If we know we can count on you, then we can guard the risk we take in spending capitol now to cover menues to come, plus it offers you a discount in exchange for your word, 'cause we know time are tight.
If we didn't do all this advance purchasing one item you would not be seeing this winter is roasted red pepper. Ever see what a jar of these go for ? Well you can can that idea. Here's the best way to preserve red pepper:
1)Buy fresh red peppers at the market.
2)Fire up a grill and cook them on a side untill charred and blistered ( don't get too carried away). Rotate them to a new side until they are cooked evenly in this way.
3)Transfer the ashen phoenexes to a cookie tray. If you layer them divide the layers with freezer paper or similar.
4) When cooked, immerse the whole tray into your freezer overnight.
5) Now transfer the frozed, charred peppers to zipper bags - job done.
When you want to use them simply run tepid water over the frozed pepper and rub the skin right off. Its like magic compared to peeling freshly roasted peppers. Use them on pizza, in salad, as antipasto, for soups, sauces/coulis, in chili....
I think the above is the best 'kitchen tip' I know. Use it well.

Eggplant Stirfry & Sweet Corn and Sheep Milk Crepes

The Food Nanny
September 1&2, 2009
Meal 1: Chinese Eggplant with Ginger-Garlic Sauce, Cucumber Soup, Trio of Rices
· The soup may be warmed or served chilled.
· Warm the rice in the microwave, or in a sauté pan with a little oil. The rices are Basmati, short grain brown and Japanese black rice.
· For the stir fry: Heat some oil in a pan until it is almost smoking hot. Drain off any excess liquid in the veggie container and carefully tip the veggies into the pan. Stir and cook for a minute or two. Shake the sauce vigorously and then pour it into the pan with the veggies and stir to coat. Allow the sauce to simmer and thicken for 1-2 minutes. You may need to add a little water to allow the eggplant the minute or so it needs to braise in the sauce and completely cook.

Meal 2: Sweet Corn and Sheep’s Milk Cheese Crepes, Ratatouille Casserole, Chick Pea Salad
· Serve the bean salad at room temp but do season with salt as we omitted it to prevent to tomatoes from disintegrating.
· Warm the crepes and the ratatouille in the oven for 10 -15 minutes at 350.

Heirloom Tomato Galettes & Two Sisters Soup

The Food Nanny
August 25 & 26, 2009 Meal 1: Heirloom Tomato Galettes, Sicilian Grilled Eggplant, and Cucumber & Fava Bean Salad
· Warm the galettes in the oven at 350° until hot – about 10 minutes.
· Heat the eggplant by toasting it in a dry sauté pan on both sides for a few minutes, or warm them in the oven too. Be careful to not burn them and their delicate seasonings.
· Season the cucumber salad with some salt. We omitted this to prevent wateriness. Serve chilled.

Meal 2: ‘Two Sisters’ Soup, Anaheim Chiles Stuffed with Sweet Corn Masa, and Soybean & Barley Succotash
· Heat the soup on the stovetop or microwave. FYI it is dairy free.
· Remove the chiles carefully from their dish and transfer the succotash to a serving bowl. Season with salt as we omitted it to help prevent the tomato from leaching all its water. Replace the chiles in the dish and heat them in the oven at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until hot.

Local Notes

The chiles have arrived in their spicy and green forms with a smattering of reds. Hopefully that shall become a tumble, although this is a notorious year for the warm season crops like chiles, tomato, melon, etc. That being said I just got some gorgeous zucchini from Blue Moon, the eggplants for the Sicilian slices were absolutely perfect, and the tomatoes for the galettes were a sight to behold. I must confess that one of my true delights in being a professional cook is beholding food in quantity: a pile of heirloom tomatoes, logs covered in mushrooms, boxes of red peppers, bushels of corn, bellies of pork. It is one of the privledges of the position; but, mama's, don't let your babies grow up to be line cooks.

P.S. If you haven't treated yourself to one of the Moore's melons you have yet to bite into summer.

Technique

The Two Sisters soup is derived from the Three Sisters Garden of Native American iconography. The two featured sisters are squash ( yellow summer squash) and corn. Sweet corn is one of the great gifts of summertime. We just recently purchased 16 dozens for your Food Nanny shares this winter. Freezing is a great way to preserve this crop and the results are far superior to that of any supermarket variety. Furthermore the task is NOT labor intensive because the corn is so fresh that you do not have to blanch the kernels. All you need to do is this:

1)Husk the corn and cut the kernels from the cob with a chef knife.

2)Tip the kernels into a ziplock bag and freeze.

Thats it. Now get cobbing!

Zucchini Latkes & Hand Made Ravioli

The Food Nanny
August4&5, 2009
Meal 1: Zucchini Latkes, Baby Lima Beans with Sweet Corn, Green Bean Almond Salad
· Move the latkes to a sheet tray if there are more than 3 in your pyrex and oven heat them at 350 for 10 minutes or until hot.
· Serve both salads at room temp.
· The latkes are nice topped with a little yogurt or sour cream if you like.

Meal 2: Chevre and Collard Ravioli, Fresh Tomato Sauce & Mixed Greens
· Empty the sauce from the jar to a sauce pot. Rinse the jar with a little water and add this to the sauce. Bring to a simmer.
· Add the ravioli to the simmering sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the ravs are hot and tender.
· Dress and serve the salad.

Potato and Sweet Corn Soup & Tamales

The Food Nanny
July 27&28, 2009
Meal 1: Potato and Sweet Corn Soup, Rustic Rolls, Cucumber and Eggplant Salad
· Warm the soup on the stovetop, or perhaps eat it chilled.
· Warm the roll.
· Serve the salad chilled. Be sure to season it with salt as this ingredient was omitted to prevent wateriness.

Meal 2: Pinto Bean Tamales, Black Bean & Rice Salad, Mixed Greens
· Heat the tamales in a microwave or in the basket of a steamer insert. It should take about 5 minutes.
· Enjoy the rice either at room temp or warmed in its casserole dish. Alternately you can warm it in a pan with some oil and a dash of water.
· Dress the greens and serve.

Local Notes:

Technique:

Cooking Egplant- is terribly imortant. There is, to my knowledge, no great recipe calling for undercooked eggplant. It is a volatile plant so my experience in technice comes with a caveat. But here's what I do: Cut the fruit appropriately and salt it generously. Allow it to steep as long as you may, but not more than an hour is necessary. Next, rinse the eggplant pieces in a collander and shake them off. Dress them with oil and perhaps some seasoning and prepare to grill tem or pan roast them. To pan roast them do use some oil but generally allow the pieces of eggplant to toast being sure to cook them through with one turn.

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.