two countries. many kitchens. one table.
zucchini and sorrel velouté
yields 16 ounces (4 cup servings)
what you need:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound chopped zucchini, trimmed
2 cups water
2 handfuls sorrel, stems removed
1-2 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bouquet garni (fresh Italian parsley, thyme, 1 bay leaf)
½ teaspoon kosher salt (and to taste)
4 turns on a pepper mill (and to taste) Read the rest of this entry »
vive le grignotage !
(long live snacking)
tea time, goûter and “un peu sucré ou pas du tout”:
gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake)
One day a friend and I were having tea. He works in the culinary television industry and like most Parisians, he is passionate about food and so our conversation revolved around food, of course. As he poured the tea, he shared with me a saying his grandmother had when she served tea. She would say, “une sucré ou pas du tout” (meaning, take one sugar or take nothing at all). Thinking of childrens’ fondness for sugar (and for snacking), his grandmother’s comment stuck with me and it inspired this week’s simple pleasure: gâteau au yaourt. Read the rest of this entry »
gâteau au yaourt (à ma façon)
(yogurt cake with strawberries and whipped Grand Marnier yogurt cream)
makes one 8” cake
what you need:
cake
½ cup + 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
3 fresh egg yolks
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 teaspoons orange blossom water
1 cup unbleached King Arthur cake flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt (I use Fage 0%)
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
3 fresh egg whites
deep roots, significant growth, and organically so:
McGrath Family Farms and three fresh salads for spring
kale and turnip slaw with mustard seed dressing
strawberry and wild arugula salad on a Ciabatta plank
spring pea and fava bean salad with fava leaves
Mustard seeds are powerful things. When I was a girl my mother gave me a necklace with mustard seeds in a little locket. It represented a parable about the power of faith and how significant growth can come from humble beginnings (tiny seeds). It was also significant to me because her family came from generations of famers. I wore it all the time and when it broke I was girlishly devastated.
My draw to the mustard plant was not unique. In 1868, Dominick McGrath, a sheep herder from Northern California, journeyed to Southern California where he discovered six foot high mustard plants. Significant growth from tiny seeds. Dominick McGrath had found fertile soil and the place where he would sow seeds and plant his family’s roots. McGrath Family Farms was born. I recently visited the McGrath Family Farm and as I picked (and ate) my way through the organic fields, it was the very soil underneath my feet which inspired our lunch that day and this week’s simple pleasure: three fresh salads for spring (and yes, one includes mustard seeds).
wild arugula and strawberry salad on a Ciabatta plank
serves 4
what you need:
1 loaf of quality fresh Ciabatta bread (or pan de mie or country bread)
from the farm
1 cup sliced strawberries, stems removed
2 generous handfuls of wild arugula, trimmed
½ cup rapini leaves
red or green mustard frill leaves (as needed)
fresh arugula flowers (as needed)
small strawberries with stems
dressing
1 packed tablespoon light brown sugar
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon sel de Guérande (or sea salt)
2 tablespoons quality olive oil Read the rest of this entry »
kale and turnip slaw with mustard seed dressing
serves 4
what you need:
from the farm
1 bunch baby Tuscan kale leaves, trimmed and en chiffonnade
1 cup grated (or julienned) purple globe turnips
¼ cup currants
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted Read the rest of this entry »
spring pea and fava bean salad with fava leaves
serves 4
what you need:
from the farm
1 cup freshly shucked English spring peas
1 cup young fava beans, pods removed (skins removed as needed)
2 generous handfuls of fava leaves, trimmed
fava flowers (as needed)
3-4 purple globe turnips, trimmed and thinly sliced
½ cup walnut pieces, toasted Read the rest of this entry »
hungry no more: The Hunger Games Menu
Peeta’s nut and raisin bread with Prim goat cheese
➽
Rue dandelion salad with tracker jacker dressing
➽
Katniss’s rabbit (or chicken) chasseur
➽
Roasted blackberries on a vanilla pod bow with vanilla seed ice cream
and fresh violets for Gale
Impossible for me to resist. I love food. I love books. The title is The Hunger Games. Coincidentally the book (part of a trilogy by Suzanne Collins) is a fad among tweens and teens and it was race with my eldest daughter to see who could finish the book first. She won. We both loved the book and the food references throughout sent my creativity into orbit. However, the power of this book goes beyond the ability to encourage a child’s love of literature, it can also encourage them to eat good food (unbeknownst to them), and as I quickly turned the pages, this week’s simple pleasure, a Hunger Games menu, was born.
“Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor.”
“Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it, and I laugh. It’s real bakery bread, not the flat dense loaves we make from our grain rations.” (page 7)
Katniss’s rabbit (or chicken) chasseur
serves 4-6
what you need:
meat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 rabbit (jointed into two front legs, two hind legs, two halves of saddle)
(or)
3 pound broiler chicken (cut into 2 legs, 2 breasts, 2 thighs)
raisin and nut bread
makes two 1½ pound loaves
what you need:
¼ ounce instant yeast
2 cups (16 ounces) warm water
1 ounce quality honey
4 ounces King Arthur whole wheat flour
~18 ounces King Arthur bread flour
½ ounce kosher salt
1 cup raisins (all colors)
1 cup walnut pieces, toasted
½ cup whole and halved hazelnuts, blanched and toasted
mix of flaxseeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds (as needed) Read the rest of this entry »
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