neighborhood bounty: how to find fruit

"Want one?"

My coworker careened around the office offering fresh figs to anyone in his path. The figs were from a fruit tree on his property, and he didn't know what to do with the excess except share the bounty. He noted my expression while eyeing the fresh figs, and either out of generosity or self-preservation, said that any not eaten would be mine to take home.

Generosity and fresh picked fruit at the end of a day crunching nothing but numbers? Small kindnesses like that can change the shape of an afternoon. 

It made me wonder, though, how many more people are out there with fruit on their hands, fruit that they can't possibly eat or use? Fruit that could do so much good to the health of a community where the expense is prohibitive. 

And, as it turns out, there's a website for that - www.neighborhoodfruit.com. It shows both where public trees are bearing fruit and where kind individuals with fruit to spare will give you the bounty of their harvest - for free! It's a little step, but one that has me smiling inside to out, seeing the community-food connection thrive on the openhandedness of its members.

And my dessert tonight? Care of my kindly coworker, I ate honey-fried figs with greek yogurt and almonds. Don't try to tell me your mouth isn't watering. In the spirit of community, though, if you come to my house, you can have some.

Honey-Fried Figs

Fresh figs, cut in four pieces

Butter

Honey

Heat butter in a pan. Add figs, and swirl in honey. Keep stirring for about 3-4 minutes until figs are tender. Serve with something creamy (greek yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, fresh whipped cream) and something crunchy (almonds, walnuts, toasted sesame seeds). Get fancy and add herbs if you feel like it, or stay homey and eat as is.

the recipe generator

Mountains of fresh, farmer's market produce overwhelming you? Check out this recipe generator from Mark Bittman at the NYTimes - it's inventive, seasonal, and gave me some neat dinner-inspirations for the week.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/08/02/magazine/bittman-farmers-market-recipe-generator.html#/?

zucchini: 20 ways to chow down on squash

Zucchini and summer squash, like June, are busting out all over, and farmers markets are abundantly displaying their green, yellow, and dappled best. Like a good farm-to-table disciple, I am eating zucchini in droves, and therefore am in need of solutions to the piles of squash that now sit dreamily on my kitchen table. The ideas and recipes below traverse the sweet-savory spectrum, and feel free to chime in with any summer zucchini favorites!

Savory

1. Fritters: Grate zucchini, mix it with egg, flour, salt, lemon, and garlic. Form palm sized patties, and fry them up or bake them.

2. Frittata: Saute zucchini and onions in an oven-safe saute pan (cast iron works beautifully). Pour a mixture of eggs with a dab of cream and a smidge of salt over the vegetables and let it cook for a few minutes. Throw in some goat cheese or mozzarella. Transfer to the oven. (Want more detailed instructions?)

3. Tartare: Slice the zucchini paper thin, and drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Mmmm...

4. Pizza: Saute the zucchini, and layer on pizza dough with goat cheese, pears, and caramelized onions.

5. Salad: Roast chunks of zucchini, and toss with onions (raw or roasted), tomatoes, and corn.

6. Stuffed: Hollowed out, roasted a bit, then stuffed with either more vegetables or a mix of ground turkey and vegetables (early recipe - and photographs! - here)

7. Sauteed: With olive oil, basil on top. 'Nough said.

8. Gratined: Layer zucchini and cheese in a casserole dish. Bake. Eat.

9. Sauced: Cooked down with tomatoes and onions, and served over pasta.

10. Fried: Slice thinly, coat with an egg and flour batter, fry, drain, and serve hot.

11. Lasagne: Zucchini strips in place of lasagna noodles in your favorite recipe.

12. Towering: Layer roast zucchini with mozzarella, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and top with basil.

13. Roll-ups: Slice zucchini thinly and lengthwise, and wrap it around the filling of your choice (prosciutto and arugula, perhaps?)

14. Crostini: Cut zucchini as you would slice a baguette, and top with dollops of cheese, or caramelized onions, or corn salad, or chopped tomatoes and basil...

15. Soup: Like squash soup, use zucchini for a milder, sweeter soup.

Sweet

1. Bread: 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, 2/3 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, pinch of salt. Stir that all together, then grate the zucchini, mix it in, and add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and vanilla. Pour 1/2 cup olive oil into two eggs, beat them together, then add 2 teaspoons milk or half and half. Mix the wet into the dry, stirring constantly. Butter a bread tin (or a pie plate if you're like me and don't own a bread tin), and bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes. This recipe is a riff on a recipe from the gorgeous Home Made Summer.

2. Muffins or Cupcakes: the above recipe, but feel free to switch out the dried fruit for dark chocolate chips. Add a sugar topped coating or vanilla icing for cupcakes.

3. Whoopie Pies: I have to give a shout out to Not Without Salt for this recipe. I've toyed around with flavors using this as a base recipe, and her instructions for whoopie pie filling are just about perfect.

4. Pie: A savory/sweet combo, use a tart shell, fill with cheese and thinly sliced zucchini.

5. Cookies: Add in grated zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts, and you get a tender cookie.

Bon zucchini appetit!

and now, celebrating National Vegetable Day!

"Eat your vegetables." How many kids shudder hearing that phrase? It's a threat, one of those phrases that definitely has a second, unspoken clause... "Or else!" Sometimes, the threat isn't even the silent kind - "Eat your vegetables or you don't get to go play!" or "You don't get to leave the table until you eat your vegetables!" Even if your parents never spoke those words, the scenario is often viewed in movies or commercials or tv (ie our contemporary culture) as a vegetable-eating martyrdom, a bizarre ritual of childhood that must be completed in order to go on with the rest of the day. The impending green doom of the dinner hour.

When I was younger, I never particularly liked vegetables either. The much-maligned greens were always last on my plate, and second helpings of mushy vegetables unheard of. Frozen vegetables made me wince and gag, with their icy water pooling in the bottom of the bowl. Salad was mostly tasteless, unless smothered in blue cheese dressing. Tomatoes were almost acceptable, but then again, tomatoes are fruit.

In part, I'm sure it's in our tastebuds. The terrifying and fascinating mapping of taste presented in Salt, Sugar, Fat outlined how children develop a taste and longing for the eponymous three things, and how salt and sugar levels, when lowered in products, don't give the same taste satisfaction to kids. If they aren't imminently delectable, kids don't beg for them, meaning sales plummet. Vegetables don't come with that kind of taste built in - by turns mellow, bitter, crunchy, faintly sweet,"tasteless," and with little to no fat to make a smooth taste, we are not genetically primed to crave these vitamin-, mineral-, and all-around-good-stuff-packed powerhouses over a Twix bar.

And yet. Even though it's not necessarily a longed-for taste at first, when you start cooking more vegetables, and eating more fresh things, it feels good. Not just in that I'm-healthy-and-oh-so-much-more-superior snobby style, but a craving develops for the various tastes in and of themselves - they "grow" on you (please pardon my pun). I can hardly believe the anti-veggite child in me can write this, but I think the vegetable deserves poetic odes. Complex flavors and unlimited variety now have me skipping from vegetable booth to vegetable booth at my farmer's market, or careening around the vibrant stacks at Whole Foods, scooping up this and that, trying out tastes that just aren't found anywhere else. It makes me more adventurous, too, challenging me to mine the internet for unusual greens and what to do with them. Garlic scapes? Not a problem, I can make scape-almond pesto! Kohlrabi? Under control. 3 varieties of kale? To the internet to see what spices and sauces play off each variety! My anti-veggite childhood self may just have grown into earth-and-vegetable-adoring maturity.

And so, in honor of National Vegetable Day, I recommend amending the time honored admonishment: "Eat your vegetables because you like them, and ENJOY!"

market day special: strawberry-rhubarb soup

I volunteer at the Headhouse Farmer's Market, one of my favorite places to be on a Sunday morning in Philadelphia. The volunteer stand is directly across from one of the vegetable stands, and I have spent the past three weeks staring at a table heaped high with asparagus, lettuces, string beans, pints of strawberries and stacks of tart rhubarb. I brought an armful of rhubarb stalks home with me last week and made a pie, and with my leftover rhubarb, I started a compote. Misreading and ignoring directions galore from multiple recipes, I ended up with a liquid-full substance that refused to gel. But it was delicious. Really, really delicious. And so, I turned it into soup. This can be either a sweet first course or a cool dessert for a warm spring night.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Soup
makes 4 larger bowls or 8 smaller ramekins

the soup ingredients:
8-10 stalks of rhubarb (about 4 cups), diced into half-inch pieces
1 pint of strawberries (2 generous cups), sliced
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
zest and juice from an orange
3/4 cup of water

suggested garnishes:
whipped cream
mint or basil
toasted almonds
balsamic vinegar



Mix all of the ingredients together, except for the water. Let the strawberries and rhubarb soak up the sugar for about 30-40 minutes, tossing occasionally.  After a good long soak, add water and turn the heat on. Bring the mixture to a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes, turn off the heat, and let it cool. Once cool, either use an immersion blender or a food processor to mix the soup. Strain through a sieve if you don't like finding chunks of strawberry seeds in your soup, or not for a homier consistency.  Serve the soup either chilled or at room temperature with the garnish of your choice - I choose homemade whipped cream and cinnamon every time. Sip slowly and savor spring turning into summer.

10 simple spring suppers

Ever wish you had a dinner fairy? A shimmering apparition to cook your food and whip up sauces? If such a creature existed, I would gladly import him or her into my kitchen, but in the meantime, I've compiled a list of my I-don't-want-to-cook-dinner-right-now healthful-easy recipes. Since it's spring time, I've stuck to spring-y foods, things you can get cheaply in season right now, and alternated between hot and cold dishes, since the fickle evenings are alternately cool and sweltering. Look for a summer list in a month or two!

1. Asparagus Scramble: mix up eggs, cream, and salt in a bowl. Cut up asparagus and scallions and saute for 1-2 minutes in butter - they should still be crispy fresh when you add the eggs. Add the egg mixture and cook slowly over medium heat, constantly stirring in slow circles to get fluffy eggs. Dollop with goat cheese.

2. Mock Pad Thai: mix peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt, and sugar together. Toss in chunks of vegetables (cucumber, cabbage, broccoli, onion, peas, whatever's on hand) and chicken or shrimp (or not, if you prefer to be vegan for the evening), and serve over lettuce or pasta.

3. Ethiopian lentils: boil red lentils in a 1:3 lentils:water ratio (ie, 1 cup of lentils and 3 cups of water) for 30 minutes. Add berbere spice mix and a little salt and cook for 10 minutes more. If you don't want to toast the spices, don't worry - mixing them together without toasting works just as well, and you can leave out a spice or two if you're missing it (I almost never have fenugreek). Serve with injera or naan.

4. Slice an eggplant in half lengthwise. Make diagonal cross-hatches in the eggplant flesh, and salt the eggplant. Go read a book for 30 minutes (I'm reading As Always, Julia and just finished Salt Sugar Fat). Come back, squeeze out the eggplant juices. Cut up a clove or two of garlic and slip the garlic into the eggplant cross-hatches. Put some olive oil and rosemary or thyme on top of the eggplant flesh, flip the eggplant flesh side down onto a baking dish, and roast at 400 degrees for an hour. Once out of the over, let cool for a bit before you serve. Eat a green salad with it!

5. Green eggs, ham optional: boil green lentils in a 1:2, lentil:water ratio (ie, 1 cup of lentils to 2 cups of water) for approximately 45 minutes (stick a bay leaf in if you have it). Add salt, olive oil, and either some lemon juice or vinegar. Add a fried egg on top. If you're feeling porcine, dice up some ham, bacon, or pancetta to go with it. Or, crumble some feta on there for a kick.

6. Caesar with a Twist: cut Tuscan kale into bite sized pieces, and top with parmesan, anchovies, olive oil, lemon wedges, and bread crumbs.

7. Root Vegetable Rockout: roast some beets (and see my first blog post from last year!), once cooled, toss with cleaned and cut radishes and carrots, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. Add some feta if you're feeling fancy.

8. Sweet Potato Swoon: roast sweet potatoes at 425 degrees for about an hour, or til you can stick a fork easily in the potato. Pull out of the oven and let rest about 5 minutes. While it's resting, saute a green vegetable (broccoli, spinach, snap peas, kale). Cut open the potato, and top with the greens. If you have cheese or leftover chicken in the fridge, top it up. Or, if you're feeling saucy, add salsa to the potato and greens for a Mexican flavor.

9. Italian Stallion: arugula topped with shaved parmesan and olive oil. Add prosciutto for a "kick."

10. Bean Bonanza: if you're super well prepared, stick black beans in water before you go to bed. If you forgot, stick them in cold water before you go to work. Come home, drain the beans, and boil them for an hour or so. Once they've finished boiling, heat a saute pan with olive oil and get some onions and garlic going. And the boiled beans and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. Grate some cheddar on top, grab salsa and an avocado, and dig in.

Cherry Blossoms sing "SPRING!"

sugar shock

I love sweet things. I don't think I'm alone in my sugar-happiness, but recently, my stars are aligning to bring sugar awareness to the forefront of what I eat. When I make a meal or a dessert, I am aware of how much sugar I add, and aware of just what it is that I consume. It's harder to realize, I think, how much sugar might be in every day products, like baked beans or hot dog buns. And that's where this awesome video from buzzfeed comes in - I saw it on Mark Bittman's excellent blog on the NYTimes.  Take a look and a listen, and share your thoughts!

http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/the-sugar-hiding-in-everyday-foods/

And if you liked that video, I highly recommend Michael Moss' Sugar Salt Fat, an eye-opening story of how food companies use knowledge of our taste buds to create food that you literally can't stop eating.

What are your crave-able foods? And is it the taste you crave, or is it the memory of an experience eating the food?