Goma ae days

In these days of spinach bounty, here's how I take what seems to be an overwhelming quantity of leafy goodness that is busting out of the crisper drawers and threatening to creep into the container of yogurt on the shelf above and render it docile and tidy (the spinach, not the yogurt which tends to stay where you put it). And tasty. Very tasty.

The magic words are: Goma Ae. Brian and I used to order this when we went out to Japanese restaurants (ah, the days before GM was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy) but that was before we realized that we wanted to eat a much bigger quantity of it than any restaurant ever served and that it was so darn easy to make.

Take about 1.5-2 lbs of clean spinach. Pinch off the stems if they are tough. Dump the spinach (you can also add in other relatively tender greens--I put some mizuna in this batch) in a big pot of boiling water to blanch, then quickly rinse under cold water. Once it is cool you squeeze it like hell to get all the water out until it is about the size of a softball:
(If only all such unruly things were this easily contained. Kids...?)

In your mortar put 2 T roasted sesame seeds (you can see I buy the pre-roasted ones at the Asian grocery).
Pestle-ize them to a fine-ish grind:
Then add 2 T soy (I use Japanese lower sodium), 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T mirin, and 1 t sugar and mix it all together.
(I would bet that the above slurry can also be made in a blender if you don't have a mortar and pestle or if your forearms are just too darn tired today for all the grinding. My blender is putting me through hell at the moment by leaking all over the counter no matter how carefully and tightly I attach the base to the jar so I'll stick with the mortar for now.)

Chop the spinach coarsely, put it in a bowl and then dump the dressing over your chopped spinach. Drizzle on 1 t toasted sesame oil.
Use a fork to distribute the dressing and break up the clods of spinach.
Number of servings depends on the level of goma ae enthusiasm in your house. Brian and I can easily polish of a bowl this size but then we are a little piggy when it comes to this stuff.

Tantre farm share, week 1

Last year I became incredibly curious what a week-to-week farm share looked like. I enjoyed reading about the creative uses the Gastronomical 3 ladies were doing with their split Tantre share and I loved Mary's Community Farm Kitchen blog (she not only lists the weekly full share, but if you are a part of her Kitchen CSA, she tells you how she will be preparing it for you).

If any of you are as curious as I was as to what a full-share looks like, I plan to post a photo of my weekly share from Tantre Farm. I also plan to briefly mention what recipes I intend to use to consume all this produce and would love to hear if you have any creative thoughts of what you would do (particularly when I inevitably get stumped by a vegetable!)

If you have a farm share that you'd be willing to photograph weekly, please let me know. I'd love to peek at your haul! I went with Tantre this year because one of the farmer-owners, Deb, came into my picky boy critter's class when he was in 2nd grade and actually got the kid to taste a tiny nibble of raw sorrel. I figure she must be magical because I haven't been able to pry his jaws apart for any leafy green in years and a magical farmer sounded like a good place to start.

So here is the photo of week 1 of my Tantre farm share:

The haul, from left to right: purple lettuce, green lettuce, some over-wintered fingerling potatoes, mizuna, asparagus, huge bag of spinach, french radishes, globe radishes, spring onions, chives

plus some rhubarb that sneaked out of the photo (rhubarb is sneaky like that):

What I plan to do with it:

• Lettuce: salad (duh)
• Fingerlings: roasted with olive oil, fresh rosemary and fleur de sel
• Mizuna and some of the spinach: Warda's Spicy Greens with Bulgur (Tchicha bel Khoubiz) probably served with something lamb based, maybe some kofte
• Asparagus: there are just a few beautiful spears (apparently some slugs have been having a field day with the asparagus crop this year) so I might supplement these with some from the store. I want to make a broiled miso asparagus dish called Dengaku
• rest of the spinach: goma ae (I'll share my basic recipe soon), probably served some variation of miso soup
• French radishes: my favorite cold soup, Chlodnik
• Globe radishes: roasted radishes with radish greens (Yes, you can eat the greens like, well, greens! And this bunch has gorgeous greens.)
• Spring onions: a couple saved for salad, the rest roasted along with the fingerlings
• Chives: I already used up some in a chive-ricotta omelet as soon as I came home. The rest will be used for more omelets and as garnish for the Chlodnik soup
• Rhubarb: pie (which will make my husband very, very happy since he knew he'd be getting lots of healthy food out of this farm share thingy, but didn't anticipate his favorite pie!)

Thoughts? Plans? Ideas?

Soup, and its variations

I have a new favorite soup! And it's easy to make! And it's healthy!

(Whew. Used up my quota of exclamation points.*)

I've always loved miso soup. Even my picky girl critter will eat it. But I always think of it as a prelude to a meal, not as the centerpiece. But this past weekend Sarah changed my mind about that. Both of our Brians had taken their respective 6-year-old critters and headed up north to a state park cabin, leaving Sarah and I each with the luxury of only catering to the needs of one critter and furthermore, eating the kind of food we really love (and which our Brians will eat, but not celebrate).

Sarah made the soup I'm raving about and I brought a salad. I had just been to the farmers market that morning and picked up a gorgeous huge endive, eggs from the Amish farmers and more asparagus. These came together with a handful of walnuts and some spinach thinnings from my garden:
We tossed the greens with vinaigrette and walnuts, then poached the asparagus and eggs. Served with a glass of wine, a hunk of paesano bread and a really stinky Camembert that I got at the Friday Zingerman's warehouse sale this would have been fine for dinner.

But then Sarah brought out the soup! (Ooops. Over-quota on exclamation points.**)

Allow me to present the original:

Miso Mushroom Soup

Barley miso, dashi, spinach, mixed mushrooms, firm tofu, chicken broth

It was a chilly, windy evening and this soup, with the rich, robust flavor from the barley miso, was perfect. It was tangy, it was fresh, it was umami and I loved it.

Last night, I decided I wanted MORE and so, going with what I had in the house, I made a variation on the original:

White miso, dashi, pea shoots, shitake mushrooms, medium tofu, scallions, chicken and vegetable broth, lemon zest (accompanied by a big bowl of goma ae to the left)

It resulted in a slightly more delicate variation, well suited to the sunny day on which it was served. The pea shoots and tiny bit of lemon zest gave the soup a bright, light flavor.

Don't make me pick my favorite because I loved them both. Clearly the recipe is very versatile and adapts to what you have on hand, it is easy to make vegetarian (though I have to say the chicken broth does give this a more substantial flavor), and also potentially useful for using up spare produce. And best of all it takes maybe 10 minutes to make! This soup is going to be in regular rotation at our house, particularly on those frantic nights when there doesn't seem to be any time to cook.

Mushroom Miso Soup

The Sarah Version
(adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

4 cups chicken broth
dashi (instant kind) about 1t or to taste
2 T Barley Miso
4-6 oz mixed mushrooms, sliced
about 1/2 lb spinach
1/2 cake firm tofu, cubed

The Kate Variation
(adapted from Sarah's adaptation from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

1 can chicken broth
1 can vegetable broth
2 C water
2 T white miso
2 t instant dashi
4 oz shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
about 2 oz fresh pea shoots which is a couple of good handfuls ($1.50 worth from the Garden Works folks at the farmers market is plenty for this soup)
1/2 cake medium or soft tofu, cubed
1 scallion, sliced in thin circles
a little bit of lemon zest (don't over do it or it will overpower the other flavors)

Saute your mushrooms in a little canola oil or butter till they are just tender. Then dump in your broth, dashi, water (if making variation 2) and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, scoop out about a 1/2 C of broth and stir it into the miso to thin it. Then dump it back in the pot with the tofu and heat until the tofu is warmed through. Toss in the spinach or pea shoots and optional scallion and lemon zest. Warm gently for a minute until the green stuff is wilted.

Done!
_________________________________________
*Over-use of exclamation points leads to cheerleaderitis syndrome. More than three in a post is a danger sign for developing the disease.
**picture me with my pom poms...

The day my character came alive

A strange thing happened today.

The main character in my work-in-progress novel just came alive. And it turns out that she is 15, not 12 and she has straight dark brown hair, not light brown frizzy hair, and she's short, not tall.

I have to say, this is a little weird.

I have written almost 60,000 words and while many things have been falling in place, there was something that was holding me back. I was getting the plot points, seeing where the story was going, developing conflicts, figuring out resolutions. But all the while my main character felt a little off: stiff, not quite real to me.

Then today while polishing off my second cup of black coffee and eating my new favorite not-so-healthy breakfast (garlic naan with cream cheese, Turkish aleppo pepper and cherry tomatoes) how she should be was so apparent that my hands started to quiver with anticipation of typing it all down. I don't know where she has been hiding, but now that she's here it feels like any of my residual reservations have fallen away.

This is going to necessitate some changes to the rest of the book--now I think it is pretty clear that this will be YA, not middle grade so the voice will have to be tweaked and some of the relationships rewritten. But this doesn't sound overwhelming--with her here beside me, it sounds like fun.

Time of year

There is a lot to love about this time of year in Michigan. Everywhere you turn there is hope being expressed in the plant world--lilacs galore, lilies of the valley popping up, violets that have invaded the lawn growing so thickly that you don't even feel bad when they get mowed, even rain that comes when you need it so that you don't have to drag your lazy ass over to the vegetable garden to water it.

But there's another side to Spring that is perhaps a little less commented upon: impatience. Particularly in the area of food.

When all the flowers are blooming, I don't feel like eating winter squash again or a mealy apple that has been in storage for months or yet another handful of dried apricots. My taste buds are eager for the fresh taste of new produce. Yes, I've been eating asparagus. Lots of asparagus. Truth be told, I'm getting a little sick of asparagus. And there are some greens available at the farmer's market, though the ones in my garden are still super dinky. But petulant little me also wants fruit and for that I am really out of luck--I have been indulging in the occasional Costa Rican pineapple (look! a fruit that is better traveled than I am!) but local strawberries won't be in for another month and stone fruits are in the blossom stage right now.

The other day I had one of those cravings that knock you backwards--I had to have a fruit tart. And I didn't want apple. I considered lemon but decided I wanted something with a little more substance (See, that's why I do all the cooking around here--my cravings are a royal pain-in-the-ass but at least I'm doing all the work. I can't imagine how unsatisfying it would be to cook for me on a regular basis because someone else's efforts might not match up with my hankerings. Perhaps a teeny weeny control problem? Picky bitch? Moi?)

Thankfully my recent effort to clean out the freezer meant that I was aware of a bag of frozen blackberries that had been in there for god knows how long. I Googled blackberry tart, looking for a recipe but every one I found was of the fresh-berries-on-top-of-pastry-cream variety, not something my mushy frozen berries could pull off.

But then my memory came through. I have a spotty relationship with my memory: it is good at pulling up quotations from books that I read when I was 12. Useful, eh? Because we all get assaulted on the street regularly with demands for quotations from Steinbeck's East of Eden (my favorite book when I was 12). But phone numbers? Bah ha ha ha! I have had my cell phone for 2 years and still have no clue what its number is. I am continually amazed that the major utilities companies expect me to know the last four digits of my husband's social security number. Sorry folks, I usually have to look up my own SS #. But hey, back to what my memory does well: In addition to quoting sections of Richard II to you totally out of context, I can remember flavor profiles.

Way back in September 2005 I posted a photo of a raspberry tart that Sarah had introduced me to in May of that year. I don't think I've made this tart since 2005, but my taste buds hadn't forgotten it. The recipe calls for fresh raspberries, but that fruit gets baked with a custardy sort of goo so I thought that a frozen berry with little more structure--like a blackberry-- that wouldn't collapse when thawed might be able to be substituted.

Guess what? I was right! (Allow me to toot my horn for a second here folks, because this doesn't happen very often. Toot toot!)

I present to you the impatience-buster tart: for when you need the flavor of summer but still have to wait.

Blackberry-Impatience Tart
Adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Baked Raspberry Tart

Browned butter is a key flavor component here, both in the filling and in the crust. It gives the tart a depth that balances out the sweetness. So despite the fact that you are impatient, don't skip the browning butter step.

One mostly-baked tart shell--I highly, highly recommend trying this wacko way of making a tart shell shared by David Lebovitz on his blog. It works. Really. That's it in the above photo.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated lemon zest from half a lemon
juice from half a lemon
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream (or creme fraiche, or sour cream)
1 lb bag of frozen blackberries (I used Trader Joe's), defrost and drain them in a colander

Make your tart shell and bake it until it is mostly done (I baked mine for about 11 minutes so that the edges didn't get too brown--it is going back in the oven after you fill it and you don't want those delicate edges to burn).

While tart shell is cooling, heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat; cook, swirling or stirring occasionally, until butter smells nutty and starts to brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer butter to small heatproof bowl to stop cooking; cool butter until just warm to touch.

Whisk egg and egg white in medium bowl until combined; add sugar and salt and whisk some more until light colored, about 1 minute. Whisk in warm browned butter, then whisk in vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Whisk in flour, then whisk in cream (or creme fraiche or sour cream) until combined.

Distribute the thawed and drained blackberries over the bottom of the cooled tart shell (pat the berries with a paper towel if they are still kind of wet). Pour filling mixture evenly over berries. Place tart on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake until the filling is set and does not jiggle when shaken, and the surface is puffed and deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove tart pan ring. Cut into wedges and serve.

Just a little update...

I lost my camera for a week which sabotaged plans for food postings. But I found it yesterday under a pile of crap on the desk so look forward to a recipe for a blackberry tart coming soon.

Other tasty tidbits:

• Need a laugh? read John Scalzi's interview with a stick of butter. I recently read his book Zoe's Tale which was a lot of fun.
  

• Most of the restaurants that are participating in the Main Street restaurant week (June 14-19) have posted their menus. Logan and Bella Ciao's look like decent offerings so I might be making some reservations if anyone is interested in getting together. I'm bummed that Pacific Rim and Cafe Zola aren't participating.
  

• And a little visual tasty tidbit (now that I downloaded the stuff that was on the lost camera):

The oh-so-satisfying 3-sausage sandwich from Eastern Seafood at Eastern Market in Detroit. I went a couple of weeks ago and bought a flat of herb plants at the market and fulfilled my weekly fat quota by eating one of these before driving back. My sausage selections were: andouille, bratwurst and smoked kielbasa, which was a very tasty combo. (John posted a prettier photo of his sandwich here).

EZ dough

I have a new favorite pizza dough. Not only is it ridiculously easy if you have a standing mixer, but it also puffs up way better than the dough I was making before.

It was featured in a recent NYTimes food section article and I made a double batch for pizza night at our house (and had leftovers and another unused ball of dough for later in the week). The only thing that I changed about the recipe was that I rolled it out on parchment paper which makes it so much less messy (and risky) to transfer the pizza from the peel to the stone. In the past I've floured or cornmealed the peel and done the "quick jerk" method to tranfer the pizza to the oven and it never works as well--some toppings always go flying. Parchment means much less swearing.

Pizza Gallery

The classic (for the boy critter)

red sauce, regular mozzarella and pepperoni
Review: he was happy which is saying something

The classic (for grown-ups or kids who aren't scared of food)

San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzerella, chopped fresh basil.
Review: needed garlic or onion. Flavors were supposed to be "pure" but I thought it was a little flat.

The schwoop schwoop (with arugula and butter lettuce salad)

dried black misson figs, gorgonzola, caramelized onions and a little bacon, drizzled with balsamic when it came out
Review: good, but I should have at least doubled the quantities of caramelized onions, maybe even trippled it. Some rosemary would be good too. I didn't think the bacon was very noticable so I'd probably skip it next time.

The G3 (my favorite)

A knock off of a Silvio's combination: grapes, gorgonzola, green garlic with some mozzarella (the standard rubbery stuff) for the goo factor
Review: Excellent. Pungent, salty, sweet, gooy, garlicy. I could see some prosciutto also being good here.

The recipes I improvised from are here:
dough
the schwoop schwoop
classic for grown ups

The only thing I can't figure out how to improve about pizza night is how to sit down. Since only one pie at a time goes in the oven and our whole family can't agree on anything in the pizza department I end up standing in the kitchen for most of the night customizing pizzas and serving people. Granted, I do this with a large glass of wine in hand, but still, I'd love to find a way to feel less like the kitchen wench. Ideas anyone?

mmmmmm....

Sometimes you just need to take a little break from the oatmeal/granola routine.

I went to my first Zingerman's Mail Order Friday warehouse sale yesterday and bought two packs of the Arkansas peppered bacon ($7 each, normally $16). Man is it good. I don't eat bacon that often (for which my heart thanks me) but when I do, I like to make sure it is the good stuff. Occasionally I get it from the Farmer's Market or pick up the Niman Ranch bacon that Trader Joe's usually has. But this stuff is even better. It probably won't be as appealing to my kids--more for me!--because it is heavily peppered, which I love. But we'll see. They aren't awake yet, despite the bacon fumes wafting through the house.

At the sale, I also bought a pound of the Ig Vella's Dry Jack cheese, something I remember from being a kid in the Bay Area ($10 instead of $24), a half-pound of the 1-year cheddar ($4 instead of $7) and two packs of the Vampire Gummies for my kids ($3 instead of $5). The girl critter happens to be on a Vampire kick (she disguised two of her stuffed Pokemon with fangs and wings and brought them along to the sale) so I couldn't resist. And hell, if I get bacon, they can have some candy, though I did have to draw the line at the Italian Chocolate Cigar that she wanted and that was still $12 (normally $20).

Click here to see a list of what was on offer yesterday. It changes weekly (I signed up for their weekly e-mail while I was there) and I can see a new Friday tradition beginning. The stuff at the sale still is expensive when it comes to my regular food budget, but considering the quality and the discount and the treat factor, it seems like a pretty good deal. Not to mention all the samples the girl critter managed to stuff into her squirrel-like cheeks...

Loving Ravelry

It took me a while to get into Ravelry, but now I'm finding it more seductive in the time-wasting department than even my Bloglines feeds.

It has a fantastic database that allows for all kinds of searches: by yarn weight, by pattern type, by just-about-any-search-term-you-can-come-up-with. You can read reivews of yarns before you buy them and find out which are evil and pill almost instantly or that split while you knit and drive you to distraction. And the pattern galleries have helped me make some decisions--you can see what the sweater looks like on real bodies, read about alterations people made, and find out if the pattern was well-written or made people swear a blue-streak.

Thanks to Ravelry, I have FINALLY found a pattern to use up my huge stash of Rowan Biggy Print Yarn:
Unlike many sweaters made with superbulky yarn, the people wearing the resulting sweaters in the Ravelry gallery did not look like they were drowning in wool. I have a tendency to get claustrophobic in bulky yarn sweaters and feel like I'm being swallowed up by a not-entirely-friendly sheep who wants its coat back.

I'm still searching through the Ravelry database for something to do with all the Swish Worsted yarn that I bought to make a wrap sweater (got 3/4 of the way done and realized that I look like I'm wearing a bathrobe when I wear wrap sweaters and ripped it out). I might divvy up the yarn and make this gathered pullover for me and some sort of sweater for Fiona who has commented lately on my selfishness as a knitter.

I am prepared...

...for the great mustard shortage.
Impending global mustard shortages are the only explanation that I've come up with for the bounty of mustards I found when I cleaned out the cupboard. Pictured above are the members of the un-opened stash. Not in the photograph are the 5 bottles/jars that are already in use and housed in the fridge.

Cleaning out the cupboard was an interesting exercise in self-analysis. I'm still trying to understand the reason why I purchased and stashed away two large jars of capers, 3 cans of green chiles (I don't know what I'd use canned chiles for, much less why I have three cans of them) and enough canned chickpeas to keep us in copious quantities of hummus for at least a month. What particular anxiety disorder can be blamed for compulsively stocking up on weird stuff? It would be one thing if it meant we just have too much food lying about, but in my inventory I also discovered big gaping holes for foods that I consider staples. I was sure there would be two or three cans of Muir Glenn diced tomatoes since I love them and use them all the time. There were none. Nor any tomato sauce. Nor a spare jar of peanut butter. But hey, I can bury any dish in an inch of mustard...

Thankfully the freezer purge was not so disturbing. There was a bag of ancient frozen strawberries and one wrapped piece of mystery meat that were discarded but otherwise, most of the effort was in organizing and inventorying what was in there but hard to find.

I made two check lists, one for the cupboard and one for the freezer items, that I'm going to try and see if I can use to stay on top of what is in the house.
I put down the stuff we often have and then made a column to list how much of it there is. Then I laminated them so I can use a wipe-off pen to log in quantities. And there are blank lines where non-regular items can be listed. Of course, I haven't been grocery shopping since making the lists so the test will be whether I log in the new stuff or just ignore the lists and render them useless.