guys. the garden experiment worked! (for the most part). even during the inattentive weeks – these little toms pushed through and today, shiny and bright. and delicious. next year will be more informed, but nothing is quite as sweet as your first homegrown treats.
well, it’s back: fall. i’m not going to lie – i usually dread this season. goodbye summer, goodbye beach, oh hello yet another time of transition, and to top it off, my annual nemesis, that cold cold winter, starts moving in…
so in order to live my life like it’s golden, i’ve decided to embrace this challenging season fully. and how better to kick that off than with some soup! talk is already a brewin’ about soup group in the neighborhood – goodbye fall blues, we have work to do!
potato leek soup with roasted garlic, kale and charred sweet corn
2 -3 potatoes, sliced
1 large leek, sliced
5 leaves of kale, massaged and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2/3 to 1 cup sweet corn, charred on the stovetop in butter
1 head of garlic
3 – 4 cups broth, depending on your preferred consistency
salt, pepper and lemon to taste – i added about 1 tsp of salt at the end
preheat oven to 350 degrees. chop the top of the head of garlic off, and place in oven-safe dish. drizzle with olive oil and generously salt and pepper it. cover dish with lid or tinfoil, and put in oven for 45-60 min until all cloves are roasted through and will easily slip out of their papers.
meanwhile, saute the leek and potatoes in a large pot over medium heat, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. once the leeks are translucent and the potatoes are softening, add 1 cup of broth. simmer for a few minutes, then remove two cups of the potato/leek/broth mixture and puree. or, if you have an immersion blender, go ahead and blend about a third of your soup. you want to keep some of the potato slices and leeks in tact to make this a hearty soup. while you are pureeing, add your roasted garlic cloves to whatever blending method you choose.
return pureed mixture to the pot, and add 2-3 more cups of broth and the charred corn. bring to a simmer. add all the kale, and let it wilt, 2-3 minutes, until bright green. season with salt, pepper and lemon to taste.
soup group is officially in session!
i am trying a major experiment this year: gardening. i have managed to keep 4 house plants alive in the last year, so why not jump to a vegetable garden, right?
a handful of local friends have encouraged me with their swanky gardens and dinners of “fresh from the garden” produce. and so, here is my tiny attempt.
i went overboard with tomatoes, because really guys, you just can’t have enough tomatoes. 6 tomato plants, all of different varieties – grape, cherry, purple, zebra. and so far they are all fairing well.
there are heirloom radishes popping up – a gift from my friend dee that i am so very excited to harvest. red, white, and who knows what else is in the mix.
golden beans and royal purple beans are just now sprouting. there is a mesculen mix, arugula, kale, hot hot peppers, and a couple herbs: nutmeg thyme, tangerine sage, and basil.
this weekend i used the nutmeg thyme to make a white bean hummus on toasted crostini with roasted garlic, lemon and olive oil. looking forward to more inspiration from this tiny raised bed throughout the season!
garden progress – may 13, 2013
On a day when the wind seems to whipping extra fiercely down the streets of center city, I’m dreaming of spring. Sunny skies and fresh produce. That’s all I want. Oh, and a little less wind would be great too.
The screenshot below doesn’t capture the essence of this video. I just love it. It’s a video narration of a chapter from Tamar Adler’s book An Everlasting Meal. Beets, cauliflower, garlic, potatoes, meal prep, canning jars….go slow, enjoy each bit.
“Tamar Adler understands a simple truth that seems to evade a lot of cookbook writers and self-proclaimed ‘foodies’: cooking well isn’t about special equipment or exotic condiments or over-tested recipes (and it sure isn’t about ‘quickfire challenges’ or kicking it up a notch). It’s about learning some basics, respecting the ingredients, and developing a little culinary intuition, or maybe just plain common sense.”
— Colman Andrews, author of The Country Cooking of Italy and Editorial Director of TheDailyMeal.com
I have a lot of favorites. For example: popsicles are my favorite summer treat (clearly), soup is my favorite winter meal (obvi), snap+cider is my favorite drink (what else is there?), and millet wins favorite in the grain category. It’s just so tiny and cute and crunchy and nutty….I love it so.
Two millet recipes in particular have stolen my affection this year. The first is Philly’s own Metropolitan Bakery millet muffin, which has been served for years at the Gryphon Cafe (arguably the center of the universe, for those who did not know). The other is smitten kitchen‘s crackly banana bread recipe, that a friend who knows my love of millet passed along. Thanks MJ :)
INGREDIENTS
4 cups all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups millet, lightly toasted* and cooled
6 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Stir in millet. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla.
In the bowl of a mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. At low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Take care not to over mix (this direction gives me great anxiety – but it is very true – otherwise your muffins will be tough and dry, and nobody wants that).
Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin-pan cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans between the upper and lower oven racks half way through. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes and then remove from pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.
*toast the millet by spreading it out on a cookie sheet and baking it in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Every three or four minutes, take the pan out and give it a careful shake, to make sure that every kernel of millet gets toasted.
Crackly Banana Bread
from smitten kitchen
INGREDIENTS
3 large ripe-to-over-ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/3 cup (80 ml) virgin coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies, or olive oil
1/3 cup (65 grams) light brown sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cup (60 to 80 ml) maple syrup (less for less sweetness, of course)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Salt
1 1/2 cups (180 grams) white whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) toasted millet
Preheat your oven to 350°F and butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan. In the bottom of a large bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon until virtually smooth but a few tiny lumps remain. Whisk in egg, then oil, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla extract. Sprinkle baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over mixture and stir until combined (again – do not over mix! No tough muffins here!). Stir in flour until just combined, then add millet.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool loaf in pan on rack.
I couldn’t decide between muffins or a loaf – so I made BOTH. YUM.
This was the summer of popsicles. New to the neighborhood, I was determined to make friends in West Philly. I am not above bribery. I do believe I won them over.
4th of july firecracker pops
So this blog and I went through some transition…and here we are in Philadelphia in the fall.
Things are cozy and calm. Recipes and food fun to follow. PEACE.
snowed in kitchen 