A Taste of the Tropics for the Dark Months

     So I am blessed with a great group of friends.  We were thrown together through our children:  preschool coop and kindergarten primarily.  They are all 16 +/- now.  Our kids don't go to the same schools.  They are all only's or one of two's.  Maybe that's the lynch pin.  They all, curiously, amazingly, get together and seem to resume their conversation and relationship even though it may have been months since we last gathered.
     I believe we would get together if this were not the case, but it is one of those great superlatives that our kids enjoy each other's company as well.  And they are now at an age where you can have an intelligent conversation with them.
     We had one of those get togethers the other day.  My task was the dessert.  What to serve a fairly large group of people, which makes for a refreshing and not-too-filling dessert?  Oh did I mention that it needs to be gluten free?  There are many things that fit that bill, to be sure.
      Luckily for me, I had just engineered just such a dessert recently.  To boot, it is somewhat tropical in flavor, which, given the cold and dark season we are in, makes it a welcome option.  It's not February yet, but I am already beginning the slog toward the days of longer light.  Any illusion of light and the tropics fits my bill.
      This used to be a pie.  I don't know the original source, but find the same version (more or less) on Fine Cooking.  But I don't generally make it as a pie anymore.  Neither do I use the same topping that is included in that recipe.  I haven't had tapioca for a while either, so that was substituted.  So by now it is a cousin of the original recipe anyway.  But to my mind, this is a better version.  The blueberries really get to stand out here.

Blueberry Lime Crisp 

adapted from Fine Cooking

serves 4-6

2 pints blueberries  (see notes)

1/2 c. sugar

3 T cornstarch

zest and juice of 2 limes

Crisp Topping:

1 c. almond flour

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temp 

1/8 t kosher salt

1 c. regular oats

1/4c unsweetened flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 425F.  Mix sugar, cornstarch and lime zest together.  Add the berries and lime juice.  Place in a pan large enough to hold this (a 9" square pan works well).  If the berries are frozen,  cover the pan with foil, and bake 15-20 minutes.  They will not be completely thawed after that, but it's fine.  

Make the crisp topping:  mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter, mix until well blended. Add the oats and coconut.  It should be lumpy.  Cover the berries with the topping.  

Decrease the oven temp to 375F, and bake the crisp for another 20-30 min, or until it is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.  

Notes:  you can use fresh or frozen berries.  This doubles well, use a 9 x 13" pan or similar size.  The cornstarch is an estimate.  If you use less the juices will be looser, and the topping may sink into the berries somewhat.  It will still taste good, but may not be as pretty in appearance.  

My Rant Against the Donald and Jeb

     It occurred to me tonight that what the world needs right now is what works for my cats.  They were crabby today:  Even though the sun is shining, it's cold.  It gets dark early, which translates into being forced inside early.  The food delivery person (me) wasn't attending to their needs.  Even after said food delivery, there was further crabbing.  Out came the cat nip oil.  Spray it on the cat tree and the world is in bliss.  Peace on earth.
     This week has been weighing on my mind more so than most, probably thanks in part to extensive media coverage about Paris.   Paris, in an of itself, is tragic, it's horrible, yes.  Last Friday was their 9/11, I suspect. I am ashamed to say that it has struck me more than Beruit.  Or Mali.  This is not because I don't care about Beruit and Mali.  It's because I have been to Paris many times, I can somehow see this as happening to me therefore.  But I can also see the contradiction in this.
     The rhetoric of our narrow-minded, xenophobic government officials and very vocal pundits has just exacerbated my overall sense of unease.  That we are nearly on the anniversary of a post that I did in 2012 is not lost on me.  That was about Sandy Hook.
     Nothing that I will write here is original thought.  It has likely been stated somewhere else.  But I need to empty my brain.  I listened today to the podcast of the Week In Review from KUOW.  That podcast, or rather, the words of one of the commentators, really distilled it for me.   I will put the link at the bottom, for whatever it's worth.  The initial segment focussed on bigoted comments from a local legislator, as well as national figures and their blarney.   They spoke of Jay Inslee's comments, as well as how Washington welcomed Vietnamese refugees when California didn't want them.
     Knute Berger spoke of analogies.  (The italics are my addition.) "It's striking the contradictions that are in some of the positions. If so-called radical Islam is the enemy why would we not help people who are fleeing the enemy?  It doesn't make sense.  We want refugees vetted at a level that the same people refuse to vet citizens when it comes to buying guns.  In other words there are these contradictions about how much of a national security state is there and who is it for?  Is it only for people of color, is only for people that you don't like?
     "....The Pacific Northwest has a terrible racial history, and it's a history that we really don't want to think about.  There is a reason that cities like Portland and Seattle are among the whitest in the country.  It was by design,  at least partly by design.  A lot of settlers moved here to get away from the race politics of the pre-Civil War era and the Civil War era.  They didn't want to end slavery, but they wanted to get way from the fight over slavery.  So states like Oregon passed racial exclusion laws that said no black or mulatto could live in the state of Oregon.  The Chinese exclusion was another thing, where we refused to allow Chinese to become citizens and we tried to literally bodily ship them out.  Seattle at one time banned all native Americans from the city.
     "We have two Americas.  One is the America of the Statue of Liberty.  And the other is the America when we freak out we immediately blame the Other."  
     Yeah.  What he said.  Have we not learned ANYTHING from history?  Lists of Jews and Communists in Germany.  Interning Japanese citizens.  Forget about the fact that the majority of ISIS are not even from Syria.  That isn't even the point.  This excessive hyperbole, this blaming of the Other, it is shameful.  It portrays a shocking lack of understanding of history, both regional and global.  It portrays a disturbing undercurrent of bigotry.
     That we think that terrorism only stems from one segment of people clearly belies facts like what happened in Oklahoma.  Or Sandy Hook.
     All of this, if it were coming from a few crackpots like Rush Limbaugh would disappoint me, it would irritate me, it would suggest to me that the crazies are getting air time again.   The part that is disturbing is that there are people who are clearly buying into this:  demonstrations against Jay Inslee in Olympia yesterday for standing up in a yes, symbolic act, but courageous non-the-less one, of embracing refugees.
     And in addition, the high profile rhetoric of presidential contenders, namely Bush and Trump, galls me even further.  You would somehow expect that people in very visible positions, people who ASPIRE TO LEAD THIS COUNTRY, TO REPRESENT THIS COUNTRY ABROAD would speak in a more measured tone, and more thoughtful and considered tone, using words that demonstrate a careful informed review of the facts.  But no, instead they spew bigoted crap out of their mouths and perpetuate  shocking and disgusting lies and further twist the facts for their audiences.
     What does this say about us?   That so many people find truth in these appalling statements, that they agree, and even encourage these people demonstrates to me a festering and ugly underbelly of racism and prejudice in our country.
     I truly thought that Donald Trump would be a flash in the pan.  He would flare and disappear back into whatever hovel he came from.  That he has not speaks volumes.  The rest of the Republican contenders and their hangers-on are no better.
     So.  If one of those bigoted yahoos make it into office, I may have to move to Canada.  At least there the PM is speaking sense.  But in the mean time, how can we aerosolize the human equivalent of cat nip oil?  Because we all need to get along here.
     Listen to the Week In Review, at least the first 20-25 minutes of the 11/20/15 episode.  I only touched on part of the discussion.
     And I'll shut up now.
http://kuow.org/programs/week-review

   

Starting School With a Smile, or, How To Get Your Neighbor To Call You a Goddess

     Geez, it's been a while.  There is nothing like the brain/bandwidth/energy/space sucking effect of completely destroying your kitchen as a DIY project to subsume almost everything else.  That has been my summer.  Garden has gone to hell.  No trips, no vacations, not much cooking, nothing to post.  Except the progress of the kitchen.  The result is FANTASTIC.  It's not done (yet) but the kitchen is completely functional, and pumping out dinners, breakfasts, canned applesauce, tomato sauce, and baked goods.  I love my kitchen!  I am baaaaack, and starting to calm down all over the place.  Wahoo!  I have even planned a long weekend trip to visit my friend Katie!
     The kitchen progress is another post.  This post is about cake.  This cake is a stalwart backbone of my baking repertoire, and never fails to please.  Bryce loves it, even though it has nuts in it.  My neighbor loves it.  It keeps well.  It travels well.  It serves well for breakfast, dessert, snack.   I can hardly recall where I obtained this recipe, but did the due diligence to google it, and I am betting Sunset is my source.  Their source is a place called Aravaipa Farms.  All well and good, but I am here to say that I have doctored, nay, nursed (hah!) this to a different recipe:  tweaked it so much, that it only somewhat resembles the original recipe.  You can google it with the above references if you want the original recipe, but why bother?  This is the one that will get you called a goddess.
     It will also send your kid out of the house with a smile on her face, this first day of school.  I am choosing to believe that this is at least partly due to the cake, and not to the fact that the strike is over, and the serious socializing---er, learning---can now begin!
     I have made this in a pan before, but find it turns out better in a tube pan.   I could see it working well in individual bundt pans if you have them but adjust baking times accordingly.

Morning Banana Cake

(adapted heavily from Sunset's recipe from Aravaipa Farms)

1 1/2 c. white flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

Stir together and set aside.

1 1/2 c sugar

1 c. mashed bananas

1T vanilla

Mix in a medium bowl, then add:

2 eggs

1/2 c. melted butter

Then add the following, alternating with the flour mixture, until moistened:

1/2 c. applesauce

1 c. buttermilk, or yogurt mixed with milk

Pour into a buttered tube pan, bake at 350F until a long skewer comes out clean and cake pulls from the pan sides, 50-60 minutes.  

Cool x 15 minutes, then remove from pan.  Serve warm or cool, and wait for the accolades to come. 

Of Birds and Bees

     Well, as if I don't have anything else going on in my life, remodel-wise, spring proceeds on unabated. As usual my garden is amazingly fecund, and I have been able, through the miracle of no- rest-and-less-sleep to keep ahead of the weeds.  There are changes afoot on 2 fronts that are amusing and at least temporarily distracting.

 First the birds.  Over the last year or so, Brandis and I lost 2 of the older chickens.  The original portion of the flock are older now, and so the first death was a shock, but they are over 5 years old now.  For chickens, that is getting on.  We fully expected to see them stop laying this year as well.  So in January, we ordered more peeps!  They arrived about a month ago, and have been a source of amusement and stress ever since.  Originally 6, one died before they arrived.  Then another died about 2 weeks later, for no discernible reason.  Generally, you figure that some baby chicks die, for unknown reasons, but 2 weeks later was a shock to us.  We had a scare with a 3rd peep, but that has passed as well.

   
     Of the remaining birds, 3 are bantams, which is new for us.  One is a Polish Crested, who will have feathers that look like a punk rocker on her head (Ludmilla).  Brandis' dog, Jack, has been a great baby sitter, although you just have to wonder what's going on in his head about all of this.  You forget, until you have peeps again, how goofy they are:  trying to fly out of their box, racing around.  They get almost frantic when separated from each other.  Remembering our foibles with Calamity Jane, we are very hesitant to let them outside for a while, at least without close observation.
     And then we will have to figure out how to integrate the flock as well.  Stay tuned for more posts on this one.

     It was over dinner, looking out over said fecund garden, that we noticed the bees.  One of my bird houses, which has never had a bird tenant, had bees coming and going.  There was a lot of buzzing going on, and it turns out that we have a bumble bee hive!  These gals are great pollinators, so they are naturally welcome.  No honey to be obtained, and according to my friend Kit, they are not likely to stay around past this season.  We will then rejoice and enjoy the visit, and be grateful for their service.
     Finally, if all goes well today, we will participate in this year's Chicken Coop Tour!  This is very exciting, and has forced Brandis and me to knuckle down and address some ongoing garden issues:  we have built our garden gate, the approaches, with steps, to it, and spruced up our coops.  Brandis is still working on the design elements of her coop siding.  If all goes well, we will have the great back hoe removal of bamboo next week.

Pork Tacos, or, what to do when you have no kitchen

     Well, it's been pretty busy around here.   I hardly know where to start!  The kitchen remodel goes on, somewhat sluggishly at the moment, but it goes.  We are down to studs, shiplap flooring and a whole lotta dust.  The French doors have handles, the windows are in, and the roof is no longer in danger of collapsing, as the Versalam beam is in, supporting the joists, and correcting a whole bunch of pre-existing construction errors.  Between the wiring, the joists and some rather odd framing done by previous homeowners, it's been a real adventure trying to get some things right.

      So, currently, my kitchen is in my living room, we wash dishes in the bathroom sink.  It basically feels like camping in a house.  Everything is on bare bones supplies, and takes twice a long as it normally would.  The framing is in place now, though, and I can see the potential for what this space will be.
     Being food obsessed with no kitchen is a challenge.  I have eaten a few meals that are merely fuel.  But I try to keep up standards, such as they are.  Dinner tonight definitely upheld standards.  It helps that the garden is in full swing, and I have a barbecue to back me up.
     I developed the pork recipe a few years back, and originally made it in the oven.  But it works more easily on the grill, and there are fewer dishes that way, a great benefit when you only have the bathroom anyway!
     The concept is this:  brine the pork, pat it dry, salt and pepper it, then grill it, adding a glaze half way through.  Add to that a delicious and very simple mango salsa, and dinner is on!

Chipotle Pork Tenderloin
serves 2 with left overs, or 4

2-3 lbs pork tenderloin

5tsp salt

3/4c sugar

4 c water

2-3tsp chipotle in adobo sauce

2T brown sugar

1 T plus 2 tsp olive oil

Additional accompaniments:  cilantro, shredded cabbage, radishes, corn tortillas, cotija cheese

Dissolve salt and sugar in water, and brine the pork for 1 hour.  

Prepare your grill:  preheat or get the coals ready for a medium fire.  

Pat dry, oil with 2 tsp oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Grill over medium to high heat, turning every 3 minutes until browned, total of 9 minutes.  

Meanwhile, mash the chipotle, add the remaining oil and the brown sugar and stir.  

When the pork has browned, brush with the chipotle mixture, and return to the grill.

Grill over medium heat, turning every 2-3 minutes, until browned and lightly charred on all sides, approximately 10 more minutes.  

Remove, and let rest 5-10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, heat the tortillas in olive oil on a stove, and make sure the salsa is ready to go.   Then slice and cut the pork into batons for tacos. 

Serve with sliced cabbage, cilantro, radishes and any other accompaniments that light your fire.  

Quick Mango Salsa

serves 2

1 mango, diced

1/2 cucumber, peeled so that there are stripes of peel left, and then diced

3T diced red pepper

1 scallion, sliced thinly

1 T jalapeno, minced

Cilantro, if you remember, which I didn't

1-2T rice vinegar

2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, taste to correct seasonings.  

Enjoy, and feel smug that you can do this WITHOUT a kitchen, unless yours is still intact.

Breakfast revelations

     Ok, I am a little late to the table here (ha ha ha).  Megan Gordan's book Whole Grain Mornings has been out for a while,  and failing that, she has published in a host of other venues.  But I am here to tell you that she writes an amazing recipe.  It's no wonder she is famous for her granola.
     My breakfast option has fallen into a rut.  Actually, it falls into ruts regularly.   I went through the buttermilk and fruit puree fad.  Then the muesli fad.  Most recently it was the Dave's Bread with turkey and defrosted berries (it is winter after all) fad.   The berries are not on the bread, but accompanying it.   On a whim I checked out the above mentioned book from the library.  She writes recipes that are seasonally organized, and each one has a whole grain in it.
     I should clarify for those who are thinking this is a lot of oatmeal and granola.  Oh no.  The sky is the limit here:  rye flakes, amaranth, bulgur, cornmeal, farro are all fair game.  That is only a partial list.  So this morning I had a muesli with rye flakes, coconut and dried mango.
    To plan ahead for tomorrow, I made her farro with apples and cranberries.  Both of these are amazing recipes.   She is not too heavy on the sugars, and many, if not most of her recipes are able to be dairy free.  (Morgan:  dairy free.  You need this!)  Some are both dairy and gluten free.
     Neither are all the recipes sweet.  Each seasonal segment includes savory options.  It has made me rethink breakfast.  And I bought the book.
     My goal is to break up my routine with a variety of options, and thus try to avoid the rut.  I failed to photograph the farro combo, but my adapted version of her recipe is below.

  Warn Farro Breakfast Bowl with Apples, Cranberries and Hazelnuts

serves 2

2 T coconut oil

1 apple, unpeeled, and cut into small chunks

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1 c cooked farro (see below)

1/4 c hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

1/4 c. dried cranberries

1-2T honey

option:  plain yogurt

Sauté the apple in the coconut oil until softened, then add the cinnamon and farro, continue to sauté until heated through.  Add the nuts, cranberries, stir to combine.  Add honey.  

Serve with yogurt (or not, if you are Morgan).  I find it makes an amazing treat dairy free.  I haven't gotten to the official breakfast yet.  

To cook farro:  Boil 1 c farro in 3-4 c water for 20-30 minutes, until tender.  It will have a chewy texture.  Drain.  This will make 2-3 c.  cooked farro.  This is ok, as you will find it can be added to a host of options:  sautéed kale, for instance.  Or make more of the recipes in this book.  You won't be disappointed.  

The Time is Here

     The time is here, the time is now.....I think that comes from a children's book, but I can't quite dredge it up.  Not to worry, I am adopting it as my mantra for February.  The focus of this mantra?  It is my kitchen, naturally.
      I have been living in this house for 13 years.  When I moved in the hideous vinyl flooring was peeling up.  The cabinets are the really cheap pressboard Ikea type.  The cabinet doors didn't match up.  You could see the drywall taping.  There is a walled in brick chimney in the middle of the house.  The lighting cans are only 50-75% functional.  It should therefore come as no surprise that I have been considering a remodel for years.
     The first obstacle was a combination of inertia and early childhood rearing.  I simply didn't have the bandwidth.  There was probably a bit of fear mixed in.  There were other issues that took precedence:  the dry rot in the bathroom shower, for instance.
     The good thing about the dry rot is that it forced an issue, I had no choice.  There were pillbugs in the shower!  That project taught me that 1.  I can do this.  2.  It won't bankrupt me.  3.  I really love my bathroom.  4.  Beware of exploding projects.   I chose to expand (explode) the project to include replacing all the pipes and switch the hot water heater with a tankless system.  I don't regret those decisions.  However, it took longer and cost more.  Lesson learned.
     There is nothing like remodeling your bathroom to make you realize that your kitchen is awful.  This project is bigger though.  It will cost more.  It necessitated looking at the behemoth in the room: the pantry and hidden chimney.  These items waste space.  I won't explode it to include refinishing the hardwood floors in the house, no way.
      It is my good fortune that my next door neighbor is an interior designer.  She has been my visionary, and is able to translate that vision into CAD drawings.  So the plans are in place.  Actually, they have been largely in place for almost 2 years.   Somehow, this winter, I finally found the courage and focus to take this on.
      It will involve knocking down a wall and expanding the opening to the living room.  French doors, replacing appliances.  The highlights (to my mind) are the limestone counters---Fossils!!,  and the painted cement backsplash that my friend Morgan will do for me.  That, and a new stove.
     The first step is to move the electrical panel, which is out of my league.  To that end, above mentioned Morgan helped me demolish the drywall on a wall last weekend.  This has impelled and inspired me.  I want to knock it all down now!  I want to get going!  I want to rip up the peeling vinyl and live out of boxes (ok, maybe not quite the latter).
     I will control myself for now.  The electricians come on Thursday.  After that however....The time is here.  The time is now.

 Jura beige limestone.  Fossils!  

 Morgan's gorgeous cement board walls.  

 Camera jiggle, but here is my helpmate from Saturday's fun

Yep, that's nob and tube wiring.  The Mickey Mouse electrical panel is beyond.  

   
   

Winter suppers

     Funny to be posting about winter suppers today, when the thermostat outside nearly hit 60.  But as it is still January it feels right.  Dinner tonight was a simple affair, cobbled together after a day of working in the yard.   It has been a dark winter, and this weekend is the early beginning of it's end, which I celebrate.
     It came together slowly whilst I was pruning dead raspberry canes and enabled by my latest cooking guru, Nigel Slater.  This man is a genius.  I often judge a cook/writer by the number of books that I own.  So Deborah Madison and Dorrie Greenspan rank highly.  I still have several Mollie Katzen books, but look at them less these days.  Rising above all of them is Nigel, the author of several well known books.  What has appealed to me lately are his duet of Kitchen Diaries and Notes From the Larder, two books that are both diaries of a year of cooking and gardening (beginning with January and so on) and peppered with method, recipes, musings.  It makes for great reading (at least I think so!) and great inspiration.   I am actually limiting my reading to the month at hand.  This helps to keep my culinary energies in check, and seasonally apropos.
     Back to dinner:  a simple affair of salmon and cabbage.  But the seasonings and method make the meal.  I failed to photograph this meal, and it would be in the lousy light of my kitchen, it would have been a mediocre photo at best anyway.  Thus you will have to use your imagination and then just break down and make this meal.  I say that, as it was grubbin' good.
     So the cabbage was Nigel's inspiration.  One January entry was for steamed cabbage tossed with bacon and a splash of vinegar.  This was what hit me as I was being scratched by the raspberries.
     I love cabbage.  While steaming it might have worked fine, it smacked of too many pots for my taste.  So this was actually simplified by browning the bacon, and then removing it, but leaving the fat behind.  Then I sautéed said cabbage with salt and pepper until bright green and lightly browned on the edges.  Toss in the reserved bacon and the aforementioned splash of vinegar and there you go.
     To make the salmon coordinate with this dish, I went with mustard.  My sister does this frequently with halibut, but it works just as well with salmon:  You make a simple glaze of mustard and mayonnaise (or sour cream) and bake the fish.  The mayonnaise keeps the salmon moist.  The mustard goes with the salmon AND with the cabbage.
     That's it!  This meal could have accommodated a starch, but I didn't bother.  And the salty bacon and mustard made for a meal that brightened up the winter darkness.  Anything that can do that is worth repeating, in my book....

Honey Mustard Salmon

serves 2

1 salmon filet, approx 3/4 - l lb.  

salt

equal parts Mayo or sour cream and mustard.  I used honey mustard

If using dijon mustard, add 2tsp honey

Preheat oven to 425F.  Pat the salmon dry, and sprinkle with salt.  

Mix mayonnaise and mustard (+/- the honey).  Spread generously on the salmon

Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on 1.  the thickness of the salmon and 2.  how done you like it.  I tend to like it on the BARELY done side, so go for the 10 minute version, for a filet that is about 1" thick.  

           Cabbage Sauteer with Bacon

serves 2-3

adapted from Nigel Slater

2-3 slices bacon, sliced 1/4" thick

4-5c sliced cabbage, I sliced about 1/4" thick and cut into pieces approx 2-3" long

salt and pepper

2t white balsamic vinegar (another light colored vinegar would work here too)

Brown the bacon, and remove to a plate.  In the reserved fat, saute the cabbage until just green and barely translucent, lightly browned.  While sautéing, sprinkle lightly with salt and generously with pepper.  In the last 1-2 minutes of cooking, add the bacon.  When finished, sprinkle with vinegar.  

Enjoy!