North America

Sophia made us dinner...

emma — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:46:07 -0400

Sophia and I are in upstate NY. Yesterday we were filming at Eve's Cidery in Ithaca-- we will be posting the video we made with Ezra, Autumn and James of Eve's Cidery the last week in September so stay tuned! Now we're in Cooperstown, we're going to spend the weekend canning and preserving foods, next week we are participating in The Last Supper, a multimedia arts show in Brooklyn on September 20th. We are doing a food installation- a recreation of a food pantry so we are busy bees this weekend getting prepared for the show.

Since we've been filming for the past few days I had a lot of editing to catch up on so that was most of the evening. As I was editing away in the kitchen, Sophia was cooking us a tasty dinner-- she was testing a recipe we will be posting next week, a low-sodium soup for Senator Harkin.

This is how we like to work, cozily traveling, good company, good food- cooking and creating as we go.

Creamed Corn with Poblanos and Cilantro

sophia — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:40:50 -0400

Don't let the name fool you, this is hardly the heavy creamed corn people are so familiar with. We grate 2 of the cobs to release the "milk", and only add a tablespoon of cream. All of these ingredients are available at the farmer's market, so we encourage you to use local sources. Local butter will had a whole new dimension to your cooking. Serve this side dish with fresh lobster, or any other fresh fish available to you.

2 T local butter
¼ red onion, small dice
1 poblano pepper
6 ears of fresh corn
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional, see below)
1 handful fresh cilantro

Heat the oven to 400ºF. Roast the poblano pepper on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place in a bowl covered with a towel. After about 10 minutes, or when cool enough to handle, peel away the skin. Remove the stem, split open, and remove the seeds. Slice the poblano into small dice.
Meanwhile, shuck the corn and remove the silk. Cut the kernels off 4 of the ears, and grate the remaining two. To safely cut the kernels from the cobs, lay the cobs horizontally flat on a cutting board, and then slice each strip, rotating around the whole cob.
Heat up a large sauté pan with the butter. Add the red onion and sweat until translucent and cooked through. Season with some salt. Add the poblano peppers and keep stirring. Add all of the corn and stir. Add the heavy cream if using, and lightly simmer until thick. Season with salt to taste (and whatever other spice entices you).
Chop up the fresh cilantro and stir into the corn before serving.

Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

Notes: Most farmers markets have poblano peppers available, but if you cannot find them, use red peppers instead.
If you do not want to use heavy cream, slice the kernels off 3 and grate 3. That way you will have more “milk” from the corn.

Fresh Fig and Star Anise Compote

sophia — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:51:20 -0400

This is a simple, yet luxurious compote featuring fresh figs. We used Black Mission figs for this recipe, but you could also try it with Brown Turkey or Calimyrna. Figs are incredibly healthy and full of fiber and important minerals, such as iron. Actually, what we think of as one fruit, is actually millions of tiny little fruits (each miniscule pulp inside is actually a little fruit in and of its own). This healthy spread is great for a myriad of settings, so take a look at the serving suggestions below.
The cooking time is about 30 minutes start to finish.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, thinly sliced horizontally
2 cups fresh figs, quartered
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
pinch of ground cumin
1 star anise
1 scant tablespoon organic honey

Heat up the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the shallot and cook them slowly until they cook through, then gain color and caramelize.
Add the figs to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Pour in the water and seasonings and keep cooking until the figs soften and start to break down. Make sure to keep stirring so that the fruit does not get stuck in the pan.
Cook until the water is gone and the mixture has broken down and melded together into a compote.
Stir in the honey and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste. Remove the anise and serve.
Makes about 1 cup.

Serving Ideas:
Serve over slices of fresh mozzarella di bufala (pictured above).
Serve on crackers with fine cheeses, such as manchego, idiazabal, and asiago.
Serve on crackers with smoked bluefish.
Use as a spread on sandwiches with coldcuts.
Eat with yogurt for a light dessert.

Guajillo Ketchup

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:23:25 -0400

This homemade ketchup recipe is inspired by the flavors of the rugged Southwest. We made it slightly spicy by adding guajillo chile peppers, which you can find in the produce section of most supermarkets. The next time you have a barbeque, be sure to make this and give your guests a different kind of condiment.

3 T olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 dried guajillo chiles, stems removed*
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ - ½ cup water
1 T + 1 tsp. molasses
½ tsp. salt (or to taste)

In a large skillet, dry toast the chile peppers until they darken on both sides. Take them out of the pan and submerge in hot water to let them soften.
In the same pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and start to fry the shallot and garlic cloves. Toss in the bay leaf. Add the tomatoes and keep frying for a bit more, then lower the heat and let the juices cook down a little bit. Pour in the vinegar, and enough water to just barely cover the tomatoes. Bring the contents of the pan to a simmer.
Meanwhile, remove the seeds of the chile pepper and add the chiles to the pan.
Simmer for about 5-8 minutes until reduced a bit. Remove the bay leaf.
Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender, add the molasses and salt, and puree until smooth.
Heat up the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pan, and strain the liquid through a sieve back into the pan. Reduce the sauce until it resembles ketchup, stirring constantly, so that none of the sauce burns along the sides of the pan.
Season with salt if needed, and transfer to a bowl for serving.
Makes a bit more than 1 cup.

*If you would like a slightly milder version, just use 1 guajillo chile.

Drunken Blueberry and Blackberry Cobbler

emma — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:20:40 -0400

This is our take on a Cowboy-type cobbler. It is “Drunken” because there is quite a bit of tequila mixed with the berries before it goes into the oven. We also added some corn flour to our batter, giving it that crunchy sweet edge.

¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour
¼ cup corn flour
¼ tsp. salt
3 T light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
3 T cold butter, diced
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk
1 T honey
3 cups blueberries and blackberries
4 T brown sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 oz. tequila

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Sift and combine the flour, salt, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Next, cut in the butter. (You can also do this by using the food processor).
Once the mixture resembles coarse meal, pour in the egg and milk.

In a separate bowl, mix the berries with the brown sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, and bourbon. Spoon the mixture into 4 individual ramekins, or into a pie plate.
Spoon the dough over top, smoothing it over with a spoon. Brush with milk or an egg wash, and bake for 20-30 minutes. It is done when the cobbler topping is cooked through.

Sprouted Pumpkin Seed Burger

emma — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:13:30 -0400

These healthy veggie burgers are made with sprouted pumpkin seeds. When raw pumpkin seeds are soaked for 6-24 hours, their enzymes “wake-up” and become active. Soaked seeds have more protein and minerals readily available for the body, and are easily digested. Pumpkin seeds are especially beneficial for men’s health. You can eat these burgers uncooked, but we like to throw them on the grill for 10 minutes.

1 cup pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
1 cup textured soy protein (TSP)
¾ cup boiling water
2 T olive oil
2 large portobello mushroom caps
1 ear of corn, shucked
¼ cup zucchini, finely chopped
2 T sundried tomato, finely chopped
1 tsp. ancho powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp. salt
2 T ground raw pepitas (not soaked), or breadcrumbs

Leave the pepitas to soak in a bowl covered with plenty of water overnight, or anywhere between 6-24 hours.
When you are ready, drain the seeds and press out the excess water.
In another bowl, pour the boiling water over the textured soy protein (TSP), and let sit for a few minutes to soak in.
Next, finely chop the portobello caps into very small dice. A good way of doing this is to cut them in half horizontally into two layers, and then dice them.
Cut the corn kernels off of the cob with a large knife.
Heat up the olive oil in a sauté pan and sweat the diced portobellos. You don’t want to sauté them, but just cook them softly through without getting any color.
Take the pan off the heat and let them cool.
While the veggies are cooling, grind up the drained pepitas in a food processor until they are fully ground and start to form a mass.
Mix together the ground pepitas, veggies, TSP, ancho, cumin, paprika, and salt until thoroughly combined.
Add enough ground pepitas or breadcrumbs until the mixture holds together.
Form into 3.5 oz (give or take) patties and let rest for at least 30 minutes before grilling.
Grill on both sides for about 5 minutes in very high heat (some of the burger will stick to the grill if it is not hot enough).

Makes 8 burgers

Cantaloupe with Fresh Feta and Basil

sophia — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:45:47 -0400

This is a simple appetizer using only 3 ingredients. It is inspired by Turkish cuisine, in which ripe, sweet melons are often paired with salty cheeses. Fresh basil provides color and a slight accent. According to where you live, adjust the ingredients: if you do not have a local feta, another type of crumbly cheese will do. Feel free to experiment with different varieties of heirloom melons as well.

The amounts will depend on how many people you will want to serve, so you will have to use your eye and intuition for this recipe, but below are some approximate amounts.

1 cantaloupe
¼ cup feta cheese
3 basil leaves

Slice the cantaloupe in half, and scoop out the seeds. Slice the halves lengthwise into thin pieces. 1-2 pieces per person will suffice.
Slice the rind off with a sharp knife and discard.
Arrange the melon slices on a serving platter and pour over any juice that they released when they were sliced.
Crumble the cheese over the slices.
Stack the basil leaves and roll up like a cigar. Thinly slice across to create a chiffonade.
Garnish the melon slices with the basil and serve.

Gemelli Pasta with Chile Pasilla and Thai Basil

sophia — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:07:32 -0400

We thought that it would be difficult to find Thai basil, so we used Sweet Basil in our Drunken Thai Noodle dish. We ended up having to rename them Not Really Thai Thai Noodles. However, we have found Thai basil at the New York City Greenmarkets, putting us to shame. This is our answer, Not Really Italian- Italian Pasta with Thai Basil!

¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed
1 Pasilla chile pepper, dry toasted and soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
1 handful of fresh Thai basil from the farmers market, thinly sliced
2 heaping tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
200 g of gemelli pasta (or fusilli)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil with some salt.
In a small skillet heat the olive oil on medium-low heat along with the garlic. Let the garlic infuse the oil slowly for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, drain the chile pepper of its soaking liquid, and open up along the side lengthwise. Remove the seeds. Chop up about 1 heaping tablespoon worth of pepper, to be roughly the same size as red chile pepper flakes.
Add the chile peppers to the olive oil, and continue to cook for about 5 more minutes, being careful not to fry the chile peppers. Turn off the heat and remove the garlic.
Cook the pasta according the instructions on the package and drain, reserving about ¼ cup of the cooking water.
Transfer the pasta back to the pot with the reserved water, and pour in the chile oil. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and Thai basil.
Serves 2.

Going Loco for Local!

sophia — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:38:36 -0400

I am going to let everyone in on a little secret recipe I am working on. It is a local version of Cobb Salad. I never really liked Cobb Salad, but when you use local ingredients, you have to give everything a second try. This all started because I happened upon Avocado Squash at the Union Square Greenmarket one day. I have to admit that I often lament the fact that avocados are not a local ingredient. Their smooth texture and richly subtle flavor are one of a kind. But these Avocado Squash that I found are actually quite comparable and make a great substitute. Lately I have been going loca (sorry, I am a bit cheesy at heart)brainstorming all of the things that I can make with avocados using local ingredients. I am going to publish my recipe during September's local eating month, but I wanted to let everyone in on what is going into it. Red leaf lettuce provides the base of the dish, chicken is simmered in some aromatics, creating a tasty soft meat, Avocado Squash are roasted until nice and soft, purple peppers are thrown in for their awesome color, heirloom tomatoes are sliced and added in, and local blue cheese adds a salty crumble. I am not going to share with you my secret recipe for salad dressing, nor the hidden spice that makes this extra special. You must all stay tuned for early September when we can enjoy the harvest at its peak.

Corn on the Cob with Fresh Herb Oil

sophia — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:16:29 -0400

We listed only a few of the herbs available at the farmers markets right now. Please feel free to use whatever herbs you can get your hands on, as they go perfectly with corn.

Fresh cobs of corn (about a dozen)
1 cup parsley leaves
½ cup cilantro leaves
½ cup basil leaves
¼ cup dill sprigs
¼ cup mint leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 ½ cups olive oil (or blended olive oil and another light flavored oil, such as grapeseed oil)

Rinse the herbs well and pat dry.
Blend all of the herbs, garlic, salt, and oil together in a blender.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Shuck the corn cobs and remove the silk threads.
Boil the corn for about 3-5 minutes. Drain and place on a plate.
To serve: pour the oil into a deep wide plate and allow for people to dip their corn into the oil.
Serves 6 people 2 cobs each.