I am waking these days to the sound of the furnace clicking on. The recent plunge of the mercury adds a sense of urgency around the garden. We are bringing in the last of the tomatoes. The basil needs to be turned into pesto and frozen. We have a sudden taste for the deep flavors [...]
Entries from October 2007
Dark Days: Meal 2
October 30th, 2007 · No Comments · Uncategorized
There is always this chicken-and-egg question when shopping for the family dinner: do we approach our provisioning with a preconceived menu in mind, or do we see what the market has to offer and make our meal around that?
I went to the Dupont Circle farmers market on Sunday knowing exactly what I wanted: a [...]
Adios, Bulk Spices
October 29th, 2007 · 7 Comments · Uncategorized
First it was the Israeli couscous, then the whole wheat couscous. Today I trekked down to Whole Foods for a small quantity of ground coriander and found the entire display of bulk spices had disappeared.
Used to be there was a shelving unit near the food supplements stocked with big jars of all kinds of [...]
Tags: spices·Whole Foods
Steel Cut Oats
October 29th, 2007 · 31 Comments · Uncategorized
It’s official. Yesterday in recognition of the cooler weather settling in I replaced the usual granola in a client’s breakfast with steel cut oats.
This whole grain cereal may be one of the healthiest foods on the planet, but I like it particularly for the nutty texture. Still, many consumers have never heard of steel [...]
Weekend Update
October 28th, 2007 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Yes, Virginia, we used to eat something called “vegetables.”
On the all-powerful Oprah Show recently, Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, got a huge platform on which to tout her new method of eating, wherein children never have to be bothered with vegetables again because they’re pureed and concealed in favorite foods such as [...]
Tags: food news
The Unbearable Lightness of Pickled Green Tomatoes
October 27th, 2007 · 7 Comments · Uncategorized
A year ago around this time I was driving 30 miles to a farm supply in Annapolis to buy a jar of something called “pickling lime.” It’s not that I will go to any lengths to find the most obscure ingredients, but I had a peck of green tomatoes on my hands and a [...]
Tags: green tomatoes·pickles
Meatless Cassoulet
October 26th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
We catered a dinner party for a client last night and we were especially puffed up over the fact that most of the food came from our garden here in the District of Columbia about one mile from the White House.
The world may be going to hell in a handbasket elsewhere, but our front [...]
Tags: beans·casserole dishes
Kids Make Middle Eastern Garden Pickles
October 25th, 2007 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Kids love to prep vegetables. I mean the peeling and slicing and chopping. So I wondered if there was any way to construct a lesson for my “food appreciation” classes that might combine a mess of vegetables with my urge to pickle, pickling being a very seasonal activity right now, and we are all about [...]
Happy Birthday Slow Cook
October 24th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
In response to an earlier post about the experience of browning chicken in a friend’s extraordinary enameled iron pan, family members offered to donate one (enameled pan, that is) to The Slow Cook’s kitchen battery. So I arranged an outing with my in-laws to Arundel Mills Mall outside Annapolis to visit the Le Creuset [...]
Tags: sausages
Today’s Lunch
October 23rd, 2007 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Leftover meatloaf with hickory-smoked Benton’s bacon and tomato-bell pepper relish.
Salad from the garden with extra-virgin olive oil, champagne vinegar.
Shopping time: none
Preparation time: 10 minutes
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
