Root cellars and fruit sellers: thoughts on fruit and veg through the seasons

Ha! I like that title. In the spirit of today's topic, which has to do with the changing of the seasons, the random photo for today will actually be 2 exciting photos from yesterday:


It was sunny! We celebrated by going for a run, then spending the rest of the day inside having brunch (or, as Danny called it, "Not brunch...breakfast AND lunch" and going to the national gallery. oops. But then when we got out of the gallery we were greeting by another surprise: it was still light out! This is around 5:10pm, and we were pretty excited. Okay, we still have a long way to go, but it's about the baby steps.

Okay, on to the meat of today's post, which is fruit and vegetables. When we first got to London, Danny posted the following picture of our weekly farmer's market haul on Facebook with the caption "The bounty of the English summer." Our friend snarkily replied "soon you'll have the discontent of the English winter." Nice. But the joke's on him, because I'm finding the English winter to be quite pleasing so far, particularly the farmers market!





When I heard that our farmers market was year round I was excited, but fairly certain that by winter the color of our purchases would be almost entirely brown - potatoes, turnips, bread and dairy products. But as you can easily see, there are many green and other colored things available in the winter! And it's not so much that foods have disappeared as much as they've been replaced. Blueberries and cherries and strawberries have been replaced by apples and funny-shaped pears. Zucchini, broccoli, cucumbers and peppers are long gone, but oodles of brussels sprouts and a half-dozen types of cabbage have taken their place. Tender lettuces and bok choi are gone, but kale and sprout tops are here to stay (though there is one vendor there still selling salad greens, which they grow in their 5 acres of greenhouses!). And of course there are the piles and piles of things that grow underground and keep very well in a root cellar: carrots, potatoes, parsnips, beets, turnips, celeriac, swede, etc. And luckily, bread, cheese and eggs are always in season! Interestingly, winter squash season seems to have already come and gone. Sad.

With these new winter vegetables have come some well-timed cabbage and root vegetable recipes from the New York Times. We've made four of them in the past few weeks, and the last one I'm planning on making this week. They are:

Braised Cabbage (really good over couscous)
Bess Feigenbaum’s Cabbage Soup (I trusted a woman with the name Feigenbaum to make a good cabbage soup. And it was amazing! The first time I used savoy cabbage, and this week we're making it again with red cabbage)
Winter Root Vegetables over Polenta (yummy, but not earthshattering. I like polenta better when make with 1/2 water and 1/2 milk)
Spicy Braised Sweet Potatoes (make sure not to overcrowd the pan - ours took forever to cook!)
Soba Noodles in Broth with Sweet Potato, Cabbage and Spinach (making this week!)


While we're talking about vegetables (when aren't I talking about vegetables?), I just want to give a shout-out to all of the American fruits and vegetables that I've missed since being here. Of course, the produce market is global, but as we've mostly been trying to buy things from the farmers markets, there are some things we've either given up or haven't had much of. The things I've missed are: corn on the cob, mackintosh apples, peaches, Japanese eggplant, collard greens, sweet potatoes (yeah, we cheated on this one and bought some at the grocery store), heirloom tomatoes. Hmm...I guess that's it. But overall, this farmers market has many things that theone in Brookline didn't, so overall I'm very pleased. If you couldn't tell.

Next time - another recipe for apple cake!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011, everyone!

Unfortunately for you internet addicts out there, our new years resolution was clearly not to blog more often, seeing as we're over a week into the 2011 and we haven't blogged once. So I thought I'd give you a quick update on what we've been doing. But first, RPOTD:

We had dinner with our landlords, and I made this French apple tart for dessert. Recipe is here, on Joy of Baking.com. It was nice and apple-y, not overwhelmed with sweetness or buttery-ness.

So let's see....unmentioned activities of late have included a Boxing Day rugby match at Wembley, courtesy of our friend Lianna who won the tickets in a raffle. It was the Wasps vs. Saracens, both of which are London teams. Because it was Boxing day, and because there were musical entertainers as well, the atmosphere was more family-friendly than rowdy, though it was so cold I wouldn't have been upset if someone had started a bonfire in the stands. We also discovered that although we know the general game-play of rugby, the individual rules about fouls are beyond us, plus it's pretty hard to see what going on in the middle of a scrum or ruck, so there were some parts of the game when we got a little lost. But overall it was a good time, and during halftime a member of the audience, participating in a classic half-time kick challenge, hit the crossbar from about 30 yards out, winning £250,000. amazing! For anyone who is interested, Saracens won 13-6.

Between Christmas and New Years there wasn't too much going on, but we did have the pleasure of getting together with two other expat Swatties, Ele and Jeff, who have recently moved to Oxford. We checked out the Christmas market at Hyde Park, which was bigger than the market in Scotland and had more rides, but it was somewhat lacking in charm (since when are haunted houses traditional Christmas entertainment?). But it was not lacking in warming beverages and french fries in paper cones, so it was overall a good experience. Then we went to the Tate Britain (British art from 1500), which is most famous for its collection of paintings by JMW Turner, and we managed to get about halfway through before museum-foot set in. Then Ele and I did a lot of reminiscing about playing soccer and lacrosse at Swarthmore, and we all headed home to put our feet up.

New Years Eve proceeded in typical New Years Eve party fashion, except this one included a German brother-of-a-friend-of-a-friend setting off fireworks in our host's backyard, which was exciting. We spend the next day recovering and making an enormous pot of veggie chilli.

The next day we got together with another Swattie, yay! Our friend Abigail, who is currently working for the US State Department in an undisclosed location (okay, it's Jordan, but isn't it cooler to think it's top secret???) decided last minute to come to London with her "beau", and we met up with them at the British Museum to catch up and look at old things. The British Museum is really an amazing collection of artifacts from all over the world...some possibly ill-gotten marble statues from the Parthenon, a huge supply of Egyptian mummies, and piles of ancient coins and armor and pots that were literally found in people's backyards all over England.

After the British Museum we split up - Abigail and Tony went to the Tower of London, and we'd both already been there - and we got lunch in Covent Garden then went to the London Transport Museum, which is way more awesome than it sounds (although admit it...to a lot of you this sounds really awesome). I'll spare you the details on the history of the Tube and the bus (short version...when the bus first started it was pulled by horses, and they shat a lot), but here are some cool images we came across.








The first is a sketch of Archway in 1823, which is now a busy tube station and bus interchange right near where we live, and the other is essentially an advertisement from 1907 for our neighborhood and surrounding "suburbs", which are now soundly in the middle of London.


Last week was just a usual work week. Danny went to the archives and I went to my office at the LSHTM. I thought a lot about keywords and journal databases, and Danny thought about religious broadcasting on the BBC. We cooked vegetables.

Oh! just kidding, last week was not just a usual work week...it was the week that England won The Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years! And they didn't just win, it was an absolute crush job. So last week was a bit of a blur, because the matches didn't start until 11pm GMT, and we stayed up late watching every night. And I killed time before they started by engrossing myself in Pride and Prejudice (yay for old classics free on Kindle!) and The Magicians, an "urban fantasy" book that John lent me when I was back in Boston. Kind of a Harry Potter meets Narnia, but set in the US, and with sex and drugs. A fun and engrossing read.

This weekend we furiously set about trying to check things off our ginormous list of things to do in London. Places we hit up:

Apsley House, former residence of the 8 Dukes of Wellington, that now has an impressive collection of things and artwork that were given to the Dukes over the years. Basically, the first Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon on multiple occasions, which caused most nation-states of Europe to shower him with riches. Highlights of the collection included a sword that belonged to Napoleon, The Waterseller of Seville, and multiple detailed, if inaccurate, paintings of the Battle of Waterloo.

Harrods. Again. But this time we were drawn there by some gift certificates we each had. Plus there are massive sales going on in every store in London at the moment, so this is the one time of year we can actually afford anything there. I got some cute green shoes and Danny got a luxurious cashmere scarf.

The Brick Lane/Shoreditch area. This was today's expedition. Our original intention was to check out some of the markets and shops in this artsy neighborhood, as well as one or two small museums that are in the area, but we got a late start and were totally overwhelmed by the markets, so we decided to save the museums for another day. We started with Old Spitalfields Market, which hosts dozens of stalls of funky clothing, old books, and hand-crafted jewelry and accessories, all surrounded by restaurants and cafes. I got a skirt that has owl-printed fabric in the pleats (bird-patterned clothing purchase number two of this year!), and I bought it directly from the designer/maker, which was cool. Next we checked out the Christ Church Spitalfield's, which was built in the mid-18th century in an effort to provide more churches to the "godless" immigrants who were rapidly filling London's east end. Funny how Christians always thought of Jews as godless...

Our next destination was Brick Lane Beigel Bakery, which was just a few blocks up Brick Lane, but it took us about 45 minutes to get there because we were drawn in by lots of used clothing shops, artisanal tee-shirts booths, and stands selling fresh noodles and veggie buns. Danny searched for a classy jacket that would fit his shoulders properly, but alas. Also, I've also never been accosted by so many people advertising their curry houses. The beigel (yes, that's how they spell bagel) shop was a bit disappointing...it's supposed to be one of the best in London, but the bagels just tasted like a Lenders bagel. Oh well...we'll be back to Kupel's in a few months! Then we spent some time exploring the side streets and seeing the Columbia Road flower market close up for the day. Overall the neighborhood has some cool little shops (including one where we bought some Sicilian oranges and home-made jam), but I wouldn't describe it as "gentle", as this New York Times article did.

Okay, I think that just about brings us up to speed. And speaking of speed, in case you didn't know, Danny and I are running a half-marathon in June when we get back to the states, so we've also been running a lot lately. Expect some running-focused blog posts in the upcoming future! Here's a running-related photo to tide you over:


Self-inflicted by repeated kicking, or tendon re-attatchment surgery? You be the judge...

The best jacket potatoes

One of the things I love about England is the omnipresence of of jacket potatoes, or, as Americans call them, baked potatoes.  In addition to the different name, one big difference between English jacket potatoes and American baked potatoes is that jackets count as a meal in their own right.  They’re not the standard accompaniment to a juicy steak; they get their own side (typically a rather limp salad).  Since jackets are more of a main dish, there’s also a greater variety of possible fillings.  But, as Felicity Cloake notes in the Guardian, there’s really no reason to ever go beyond beans and cheese.

Homemade jacket potatoes are just as good, and often better, than what you get in cafés.  In fact, after having some subpar jackets this year, I’ve decided to never order jacket potatoes at a café or restaurant ever again.  Unless it’s really cold outside.

So, without further ado, here’s my recipe for the best jacket potatoes you’ll ever have.  This recipe also includes a modified version of the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for homemade baked beans – you can use canned beans, but with the homemade version so easy (if time-consuming), you should really give the homemade version a try at least once.

We made this on Boxing Day.

Homemade baked beans

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• ~1/2 cup mild molasses (you can substitute brown sugar here if you don’t have any molasses – you won’t need quite as much brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard (if you can find whole-grain mustard, even better)
• 1 pound dried small white beans (navy beans or haricot beans are what you’re looking for)
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon cider or red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

1) Overnight (or at least 8 hours in advance), soak dried beans.

2) Heat olive oil in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft – about 8 minutes.

3) Add molasses, mustard, beans, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, ketchup, and 9 cups water.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.

4) Lower the heat to bring concoction to simmer.  Cover.

5) Cook for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.  Here’s where the mystery of cooking beans comes in.  The exact cooking time will depend on how long you’ve soaked the beans in advance.  After two hours, just check on them every 10-15 minutes checking for doneness.  You want them mash-able, but still with some structural integrity.  If it seems too soup-y, feel free to uncover for the last bit of cooking.

6) Stir in vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Voila!  Baked beans.  When we made these, I was slightly concerned about the mustard flavor overwhelming everything else, but it settles in nicely after all that cooking time.

Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese

• Two large baking potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 leek
• Butter
• Baked beans
• Cheddar (here’s the rare case where the milder stuff might be a bit better than extra-sharp cheddar, but you know what kind of cheese you like)

1) Pre-heat oven to 425° Fahrenheit.

2) Wash potatoes, then prick them a few times with a fork (this is to prevent them from exploding in the oven).  Sprinkle the kosher salt over the potatoes until evenly coated.

3) Place potatoes directly on the oven rack.  After 60 minutes, check for done-ness – the skin should be crisp and the potato should give a little bit when you apply pressure (not too much, since you don’t want it to explode!).  If it’s not done, give it another 5-10 minutes, then check again.

4) While the potatoes are baking, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Halve the leek length-wise, then slice the white parts thinly (you can discard the green bits).  Fry the leeks for a few minutes, until lightly browned – they’ll continue to cook a bit after you turn off the heat, and you don’t want to overdo it.

5) Once the potatoes are done, slice them in half length-wise, but don’t cut it all the way through.  Spoon out the inside of the potatoes into a mixing bowl.  Mix at least one tablespoon of butter (more if you’d like!) and the fried leeks with the potatoes, then mash until well-mixed.  Spoon the mixture back into the potato skins.  At this point, it should look like this picture on the right.

6) Spoon a good-sized amount of the baked beans on top of the potatoes, then grate as much cheese as you’d like on top of it all.  If you like your potatoes as loaded up as I do, it should look something like this:

Enjoy!

What to do with leftover pecans

As you might recall, I made pecan pie last weekend.  As usual, my ability to judge required quantities of ingredients was lacking, so I ended up with about a pound of leftover pecans.  One option (probably the one Becca would have chosen) is to chop them up and put them in oatmeal.  But I have something of a sweet tooth, so I went a different route: candied pecans.

This has got to be the easiest recipe in the world.  So easy that I feel silly using the baking tag on this post.  But there it is.  I can illustrate the whole thing in about four photos.

Here’s what you need: pecans (I had about a pound), white sugar (1/4 cup), brown sugar (1/4 cup), salt (1/2 tsp), an egg, and cinnamon (1/2 tsp).  The cinnamon is not in the picture due to an unfortunate combination of a plastic tub, the plastic bag holding the cinnamon, and our grill.

 

Preheat the oven to 250 F.  Grease a baking sheet.

Separate the egg and put the egg white in a bowl.  Add about 2 tsp. of water to the egg white and beat them until they’re frothy.  Then mix the two kinds of sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.  Stir the pecans into the egg-white mixture until they’re evenly coated.  Then mix the pecans into the sugars/salt/cinnamon combo until all the sugary goodness is coating the pecans.  They should be shiny and gooey at this point.

Pop those suckers in the oven for about an hour, stirring them every fifteen minutes to keep them separate and not sticking to the pan.  They’re going to remain pretty gooey the whole time, but they should start to harden a bit as they spend more time in the oven.

 

Allow them to cool on a piece of parchment paper (so they won’t stick).  As they cool they’ll harden and regain the crunchiness you associate with pecans.  And candy.

Enjoy!

A Week of cooking - more recipes!

Random photo from our visit to South Kensington last night. Or, as we're now referring to it, Little Paris. South Kensington is where French people in London usually live (we were there to see a French movie that was showing as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival), though it's not clear which came first - the French population or the Continental feel. There are very few pubs in this neighborhood, but rather lots of small cafes and restaurants where the food is based around melted cheese, like these crepes we enjoyed at the Kensington Creperie.

They also do a nice dessert...


Okay, now on to the recipes from this week. First, let me just say that I didn't have much work this week. My project is in a bit of a lull until January, which works out perfectly because I have to be back in the States for a month for my residency interviews, and because no one does any work in December anyway (too busy getting drunk at Christmas parties). So this week I had lots of time to plan and cook yummy things for dinner. And I figure I have to cook as much as I can this year, because when intern year hits I can kiss this cushy, quasi-academic lifestyle goodbye. We'll go by days of the week.

Sunday: Ottolenghi's chargrilled cauliflower with tomato, dill and capers. This was incredibly flavorful and fresh. I made some adjustments to his recipe, which I'll point out.

Ingredients: 2 tbs capers, drained and chopped; 1 tbs French wholegrain mustard; 2+ garlic cloves, crushed or chopped very fine; 2 tbs cider vinegar; 120ml olive oil; 1 small-medium head cauliflower, divided into florets; 1 tbs chopped dill (I actually left this out because didn't have any, and it was still fine); 50+ g baby spinach or spinach chopped small; 20g cherry tomatoes, halved; sea salt and pepper

1. Start roasting the tomatoes. The original recipe says to just throw the tomatoes in at the end, but ever since Laura introduced us to oven-roasted tomatoes we just can't get enough. Mix the cut cherry tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, then put them in the oven (cut side up in a roasting pan) at 400.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In the meantime, make the dressing by hand or in a food processor. First mix the capers, mustard, garlic, vinegar and salt and pepper. While whisking or processing, add about 60ml olive oil in a slow trickle until the dressing is creamy (mine never became creamy, but it was still delicious).

3. When the salted water has come to a boil, add the cauliflower florets. Simmer for 3 minutes, then drain and allow the cauliflower to dry. When dry, mix with olive oil and salt and pepper.

4. To cook the cauliflower you can do one of two things - either cook it under a broiler or on the stove in a pan over very high heat. Either way, allow the pan to get very hot, then add the cauliflower, in several batches if necessary, making sure that the florets are not too cramped. Turn them the ensure even grilling.

5. In the meantime, rinse the spinach and steam it, using just the water clinging to the leaves. I just brought a small frying pan to high heat and threw the spinach in for a few minutes until it was wilted. Again, Ottolenghi just says to add the spinach, uncooked, at the end, but I think if you're not using tender baby spinach, you'll want to cook it a bit first.

5. When the cauliflower is grilled, transfer to a bowl and add the spinach, dressing, and tomatoes, which should now be cooked and getting wrinkly. Adjust seasoning and serve hot!

Monday: Beans and Rice with assorted veggies. I was really excited about making a red lentil soup, but when it came time to add the red lentils I realized we were out of them. Danny generously offered to go out and buy some, but I was feeling grumpy and thought we should just go with beans and rice, which turned out to be quite good. As I was planning on making soup, I thought I would make a nice veggie stock first, using all the extra green bits that come with farmers market produce.

Ingredients: olive oil; 1 large yellow onion; 4+ cloves garlic; red hot chili peppers to taste; 3 small celery stalks; 2-3 carrots; 1 red pepper; 1 cup brown rice; 1 cup pre-cooked or canned beans of any kind (or, or course, you could use lentils instead of the rice and/or beans); cumin, salt 'n' pepper. Cilantro and yogurt for topping. Assorted veggies/green for stock (see below)

1. Make veggies stock. I have no set recipe for this, but it generally looks something like this: gather all the inedible/tough bits of greenery (the spinach stalks, tops of celery, greens surrounding cauliflower), maybe add some carrots or parsnips, throw into a pot with bay leaves and/or fresh herbs, sea salt and a bunch of water, then cook until the water is green and fragrant and the green bits look like they've have all the vitamins drawn out of them. Discard the solid bits and voila - veggie stock! For the record, I used the skinny, leafy bits of a small bunch of celery, the tough bits of 2 leeks, the green, leafy bits that surround a head of cauliflower, the stems of a bunch of cilantro, and a handful of fresh sage and thyme.

2. Chop all the veggies in advance, then saute everything in olive oil, adding them in this order: onions until soft, garlic for about 30 seconds, then carrots and celery until softened, then red pepper. Add salt and pepper and cumin to taste (about 1 tsp cumin to start)

3. When all the veggies are soft (but not limp), add the cup of rice and stir to coat in oil. Add 2-3 cups of stock, depending on how liquidy you want the final product. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until rice is cooked. Adjust liquid as necessary.

4. Stir in the beans and season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to add stock if you want, add additional spices as you wish. Serve with yogurt and cilantro.


Tuesday: Grilled coconut kale and rice noodles with peanut sauce. I discovered this kale recipe in the NY times recently (along with a funny article in praise of vegetables), and was excited to try it - I've spend the last few years trying to figure out a way to cook kale in a way that I *want* to eat, rather than just feel like I *should* eat. Well, this was a winner. Sometimes we're content just to eat a pile of greens for dinner, but after waking up hungry at 5am after eating only cauliflower for dinner on Sunday, I decided that the kale should be accompanied by something, and our old favorite of rice noodles with peanut sauce seemed the perfect companion. See above link for the kale recipe - but just a warning, the kale is supposed to marinate for 4+ hours, so plan accordingly! Also, there will be a lot of extra coconut marinade left when you're done. Save it! I used this extra for the coconut milk in the peanut sauce, and in Friday's dinner (see below). I also saved the kale stalks to use in a future stock (pun?), and ended up throwing them into Friday's dinner as well.

Rice noodles with Thai peanut sauce, from “The Voluptuous Vegan”

Ingredients: 5-7oz rice noodles; 1 cup coconut milk (or extra coconut marinade from the kale!); 2 stalks lemongrass; 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter; 2 tsp maple syrup; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1/4 cup soy sauce; 2 tbs fresh lime juice; 1 tsp lime zest; 1 jalapeno; 1/2 tsp salt; scallions; cayanne pepper to taste; chopped peanuts, cilantro.

Additional note - I didn't use lemongrass, and it was just fine.

1. Place rice noodles in a bowl. Pour boiling water over and let sit 10 min.

2. If using lemongrass, combine coconut milk and lemongrass in a saucepan and bring to boil. Turn off heat and let steep for 10 min. Strain out lemongrass.

3. Whisk all other ingredients into the coconut milk.

4. Drain rice noodles and serve with sauce – toss to mix well.Top with chopped peanuts and cilantro, if desired.

Wednesday: Ottolenghi's (again!) Roast potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes with lemon and sage. Yum. Neither of us had ever eaten Jerusalem artichokes before, but they seem to be really big here (ie. our farmers market has them). They are a root vegetable and they have a much crunchier, fresher texture than potatoes, but don't have a very distinctive flavor, which means they absorb flavor nicely (the tofu of the root vegetable world, if you will). Back when I ate meat I really liked the aunt's lemon chicken, and I found that this recipe is a good replacement for it. I think next time I will add some onions at the beginning of the roasting pan, so I encourage you to do the same. The recipe is not difficult, but spends a lot of time roasting, so plan in advance. A simple salad with fresh greens, pumpkin seeds and the ash-coated goat cheese was the perfect complement.

Ingredients: 1 lb Jersey Royals or other small potatoes; 1 lb Jerusalem artichokes; 4 garlic cloves, chopped; 50ml olive oil, 2 tbs roughly chopped sage; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp pepper; 1 lemon; 1/2 lb cherry tomatoes; 1/2 cup Kalamata olive, pitted and sliced in half (I actually used green olives); 2tbs rough chopped flat leaf parsley.

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Wash the potatoes well and place in a saucepan. Cover with salted water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until semi-cooked. Drain, cool, then slice into rounds. Place in a large roasting pan.

2. Wash the artichokes well and cut them into slices about 5mm thick. Add to roasting pan. Add the garlic, olive oil, sage, salt and pepper to the vegetables. Mix with your hands, then place in the oven for 30 minutes.

3. In the meantime, thinly slice the lemon and remove the pits. After the 30 minutes of roasting add the lemon slices and stir. Roast for 20 minutes.

4. After the 20 minutes, add the tomatoes and olives, stir again and roast for 15 more minutes.

5. Remove from oven and stir in parsley. Serve hot.


Thursday: Leftovers :)


Friday: Mixed vegetable curry, I guess I'll call it. This dinner was my attempt to use a bunch of veggies that had been hanging around the fridge all week, as well as the leftover spicy coconut milk marinade from the kale. It actually turned out as good as it was in my head! If you haven't made the kale but want to try this curry, you could just mix a can of coconut milk with 2 tbs lemon juice, 1 tbs salt, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp paprika and I think you'd be okay.

Ingredients: 2 tbs vegetable oil, 4+ garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger root, 1+ hot pepper, 1 large onion, 2 zucchini, 2 carrots, 1 red pepper, 1 leek, leftover kale stems (optional), 2 cups water about 1 cup coconut milk marinade; salt and pepper. Oh, and rice noodles!

1. Chopping first: onions into thick slices, garlic, ginger and hot pepper into almost-paste, zucchini and carrots into half moons, leeks into thick strips, red pepper into chunks. Chopping everything first mean that you don't end up overcooking things because you're not done chopping the next ingredients (which has been a problem for me in the past).

2. More veggie stock! I mostly did this a) because I wanted to pre-cook the veggies and we don't have a steamer, and 2) because I thought I would need more liquid to add to the coconut milk. I basically did this: bring 2 cups water to a boil in a small pot. Add the carrots, cook for a few minutes until soft but not falling apart, remove from water with a slotted spoon and let drain. When water returns to a boil repeat with zucchini and kale stem. Now you have pre-cooked veggies and some delicious cooking liquid!

3. Heat the oil in a large pan. When hot, add the onions and stir until slightly soft. Add the garlic/ginger/hot pepper mix and stir until fragrant. Add the red pepper and leeks and cook until softened. Add the rest of the pre-cooked veggies, the coconut milk mix, and as much of the veggie stock as you wanted (depending on how soupy you want it). Save the rest of the stock for future cooking adventures. Simmer until everything is heated through and the desired softness, about 5 minutes.

4. In the meantime, boil water to cook the rice noodles according to their instructions. Usually this is bring the water the a boil, add the noodles and remove from heat. Let sit until noodles soften.

5. Pour curry mixture over noodles in a large bowl and slurp your way to happiness.


Well, there you have it - 5 yummy dinners that I hope you will enjoy, too!

Things we've cooked...with recipes!

Another gem from Highgate cemetery:


Fall has arrived in London! So far it's much less magnificent than New England fall, but there are a few pretty red vines and some brilliant yellow trees.


While Laura and Mark are napping in the next room (!), I thought I would share some of the things we've been cooking over the past few months, because they were really tasty and you might want to cook them, too! Some of them didn't come from recipes, so I'll try to do my best to point you in the right direction :)


I'll start with a Rogers-Loss family favorite, which is shakshuka. Danny discovered shakshuka first in Israel, at the famous Dr. Shakshuka in Jaffa, and ever since then we try to make it as often as possible. Incidentally, this is also where the chef Yotam Ottolenghi got to know shakshuka when he was growing up. I'm pretty sure I've already linked to Ottolenghi's video of how to make shakshuka, but I'm going to post it again because it's just so good. Watch it here! Or if you'd just prefer to read it, you can do that here. It's filling enough for dinner, but since it's made with eggs, we also make it for brunch sometimes.


Now for something from a very different part of the globe, here is the really delicious tofu and bok choi stir fry (or as they call it here, pak choi). This recipe is super easy, and it confirmed for me that it is *always* better to marinate the tofu before cooking it, preferably with ginger and plenty of chilli. They say to serve it with rice, but I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say that noodles are better.

Hmm...lets see. If you have a garden and are still drowning in late-season zucchini (or courgette, as they say here. and in France), we really, really liked this recipe. Even if you aren't drowning in zucchini, we still liked this recipe :) Jamie Oliver is one of my heros - teaching people how to make delicious food, campaigning (and winning!) for healthier food in our schools...all good things. I'm especially pleased that our photo kinds sorta looks like the photo that goes with the recipe (except with worse lighting - stupid basement!)


Okay, now we're moving on from recipes I can easily link to, to recipes that I actually have to type out. First, Ottolenghi's cauliflower and cumin fritters (you'll notice that we've gotten a bit obsessed with this guy - gay Israeli with an Italian dad, trained at Le Cordon Bleu who states in his cookbook "If you don't like lemon or garlic...skip to the last page". What's not to love?). Seeing as they're just brown patties they don't photograph all that well, but just imagine the creamy, nutty taste of cauliflower, mixed with parsley and cumin and fried in oil, and you'll see why we were so eager to make them. Also on the plate is something I affectionately refer to as "vegetarian mush", which takes on many, many forms. In this case it consists of red lentils, some kind of winter squash, and samphire. We made it for Rosh Hashanah, but it would also be good for Hannukah alongside other fried goods. Sorry for the metric measurements, but this website seems to have good conversions.

Ingredients:
1 small cauliflower
120g plain flour
3 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove (um, or 3)
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 free-range eggs
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
500ml sunflower oil for frying

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the leaves off the cauliflower and snip into small florets. Add to the boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes or until they are very soft.

2. While the cauliflower is cooking, mix the flour parsley, garlic, shallots, eggs, and spices in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Add the soft cauliflower and mix to break down the cauliflower into the batter.

3. Pour the oil into a wide pan to a depth of 1.5cm and heat until very hot. Carefully spoon in about 3tbs of the batter per fritter. Take care with the hot oil! Fry in small batches for about 3-4 minutes a side, until they are brown but not burnt. Enjoy the sound of the spattering oil!

4. Let each fritter try on a few paper towels, and serve with plain yogurt (to which you can feel free to add lemon and cilantro!), if you want.


Hungry for more fried cauliflower? I know, I know, who isn't? We've also tried this fried cauliflower with tahini sauce, which is amazing. Ottolenghi has brought tahini into our lives as something more than just an ingredient in hummus. It's another recipe that doesn't photograph well, but you can imagine. Fried food becomes healthy when you eat it with salad, right?



If fried food isn't your thing (but be honest...fried food is everyone's thing), this spinach polenta topped with tomatoes is a bit lighter but equally delicious meal that comes from a collection of Moosewood recipes we brought with us, courtesy of Danny's mom. The tomato topping doesn't call for red onion, but I added some and is was delicious, so I'll give it to you that way. This recipe makes a lot - I was eating it for breakfast for a few days!

Polenta Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 cup polenta cornmeal
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 or more ounces fresh spinach (baby, or chopped large-leaf)

Topping:
4 large tomatoes or 8-10 plum tomatoes
1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbs balsamic vinegar

1. In a saucepan, bring the milk, water and salt to a boil. Add the cornmeal in a slow, steady stream while whisking. Simmer about 5 minutes, until the polenta is thick.

2. Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes and onions, and chop the garlic into small bits. In a saucepan on medium-high heat, heat the onions until they are soft, then add the garlic for a minute. Add the tomato and the rest of the topping ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. When the polenta is thick, reduce the heat to low and stir in the cheese until melted and smooth. Fold in the spinach until just wilted. Serve the polenta hot topped with the tomato mix.



If you're looking for a really delicious side dish (or main dish, in our case), look no further than this simple but scrumptious grilled broccoli recipe, again from Ottolenghi.

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli
115 ml olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 mild chillies, thinly sliced (or hot chillies, if you like!)
coarse sea salt and black pepper
optional: toasted flakes almonds or very think slices of lemon to garnish

1. Separate broccoli into florets. Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil (enough water to accommodate the broccoli easily). Thrown in the broccoli and blanch for 2 minutes only - don't be tempted to cook it any longer! Transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and allow to dry completely. Once it is dry, mix with 45ml olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Place a ridged griddle pan over high heat (or a pan in the broiler) and leave for 5 minutes, until it is very hot. Grill the broccoli, in several batches if necessary (the broccoli must not be cramped) until the have char marks.

3. While grilling the broccoli, place the rest of the oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and chillies. Cook over medium heat until the garlic just begins to turn brown - don't let it burn!

4. When all the broccoli is cooked, mix it with the chilli/garlic oil and toss. Season to taste and garnish as desired.



Okay, now on to the things that don't have recipes at all. First there is the cranberry bean stew, or at least that's what I'm calling it. In the US they are called cranberry beans, but here they call them Borlotti beans. Usually you buy them in cans but our farmers market sells them fresh, which is awesome because they are so beautiful! I think what I did here was 1) saute 2 medium onions in olive oil until they were soft, then 2) add about 3 large tomatoes, chopped. Once the tomatoes were soft I 3) added the beans and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then let this cook for at least 30 minutes until the beans were soft and the onions were delightfully caramelized. This was really easy, and really, really delicious. The onions were so sweet it was practically dessert.

We rounded it out with some kind of scary-looking purple cauliflower and anemic looking corn. Apparently corn is meant to stay in the Americas, because this stuff is pretty bad. The cauliflower, though, was very good despite it's bizarre appearance. We blanched it in boiling water, coated it with olive oil and salt and pepper, then threw it under the grill/broiler until it was cooked through and getting brown (like the above-described grilled broccoli). Then we tossed it with fresh lemon juice, which is when it took on the magenta color.




Then there's our go-to recipe for green things. When in doubt, we saute some onions/garlic/leeks in olive oil (or occasionally butter if we're feeling decadent), then throw in the greens (sometimes we blanch them first if they seem a little tougher) and cook until they turn an edible texture. With some salt and pepper, it's hard to go wrong. Here we have runner beans on the left, and spring greens on the right.


Enjoy!