Cooking: Yellow Curry with Chicken, Green Beans, and Purple Yams

This Thai curry is easy to make if you have yellow curry paste on hand.  I am fortunate to live where a wide variety of exotic grocery items are not difficult to find. For those in the Seattle area, I bought this curry paste at Central Market in Shoreline.

At their most basic, Thai curries are rooted in curry pastes, made from ground lemongrass, galangal, ginger, chilies, shallots, spices, and other ingredients. Yellow curry is one of the mildest; green and red are hotter.

Purple yams show up seasonally here in the Northwest. I found organic ones at both Central Market and at PCC. They have a deep purple skin and mottled purple flesh that turns bright purple when cooked. They are less sweet than garnet or jewel yams. If you can't find purple yams, use another type.

This version features two cooking techniques: simmering and roasting. Roasting the yams and mushrooms intensifies their natural flavors and prevents the yams from turning to mush in the curry. I served this with Thai jasmine brown rice (recipe follows main recipe).

Thai Yellow Curry with Chicken, Green Beans, and Purple Yams
serves 4

2 yams, scrubbed and trimmed
6 crimini mushrooms, trimmed, then sliced into 1/8-inch slices
1 Tblsp olive oil

1 Tblsp coconut oil
1 tsp whole cumin seed
½ large onion, thinly sliced
2 Tblsp Thai yellow curry paste
1 tsp sea salt, divided
1 ½ lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped into 2-inch pieces
1 can (15 oz.) coconut milk
2 single skinless, boneless chicken breasts*
1 large avocado, quartered, peeled, and sliced
1-2 Cups fresh cilantro leaves

*Cut each chicken breast into four pieces, then cut each piece into ¼-inch slices

Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Cut each yam in half, then cut each half in half again lengthwise. Starting at one end, make an angled cut, rotate the yam a quarter turn toward you and make the next angled cut. The goal is to end up with pieces that are about the same mass and no larger than 1 inch in any dimension. (This is called a roll cut in Chinese cuisine.)

Toss the yam chunks and mushrooms with the olive oil, then spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. I lined my sheet pan with parchment paper. Season lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast the vegetables until a knife tip easily pierces the yams, about 25-30 minutes; remove from oven and reserve.

While the yams and mushrooms are roasting, heat the coconut oil in a large sauté pan, Dutch oven, or wok over medium-high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the cumin seeds; they should sizzle.

Add onions and ½ tsp sea salt and stir. Fry the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are wilted and just starting to color, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the curry paste a fry for a couple of minutes.

Add green beans and stir fry a couple of minutes, then add the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, add remaining ½ teaspoon sea salt, then lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer 6-8 minutes; beans should just be tender-crisp. Add the chicken, stir well, and cover. Simmer an additional 6 minutes, add the roasted yams and mushrooms, stir gently, then turn the heat off and let sit covered another 5 minutes. Taste and correct salt if necessary.

Serve with brown, red or black rice. Garnish with avocado chunks and lots of fresh cilantro leaves.

Thai Jasmine Brown Rice
serves 4

2 cups Thai jasmine brown rice (any whole long-grain rice can be used, such as brown basmati, Thai red, or black rice)
4 cups water
½ tsp sea salt
1 Tblsp butter (optional)

Wash the rice well in a bowl of water; strain with a mesh strainer.

Heat two burners—one to high, and the other to the lowest setting. If you have a gas range, this step is unnecessary. Bring water to a boil, then add salt, washed rice, and butter, if using.

Boil, uncovered, until the water level falls just below the level of the rice. Don't stir it! Move the pan to the cooler burner (or adjust your gas burner), cover, and let gently simmer for 15 minutes. Lift lid and gently use a fork to check if water remains in the bottom of the pan; if so, recover and continue cooking  for 5 minutes, then check again. When the water has been absorbed, turn off the heat, fold a clean towel and cover the pot, then set on the lid. Let rice sit at least 10 minutes or more. The towel will absorb moisture and prevent the rice from getting wet.

Just before serving, fluff rice gently with a fork.

Cooking: Green Papaya Salad with Mango

Green papaya salad is a mainstay of Thai cuisine; in fact, some say it is the single most popular dish among Thai women. It's refreshing and assertively spicy.

Traditionally made with long beans or green beans, this salad is made in large mortars in Thailand, where the papaya and beans are pounded to soften them until they are wilted. Few American cooks will have a large mortar on hand, so this recipe uses a rolling pin instead.

I didn't have any beans, so I left them out. I added some mango in their place and substituted almonds for the more traditional peanuts. To make a nice lunch, I cooked some sweet short-grain brown rice with half water and half coconut milk. The rice made a nice, rich, counterpart to the spicy salad.

Look for green papayas in Asian markets. We found ours in Seattle at Uwajimaya.

Green Papaya Salad with Mango
serves 4

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon coarsely chopped green chili, such as serrano or jalapeño
1 green papaya, peeled
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into sticks
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons rapadura or turbinado sugar (use any unrefined or raw sugar)
10 grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons chopped, toasted almonds
fresh cilantro

Combine the garlic and chilies in a mortar and pound to a paste; if you don't have a mortar and pestle, mince them very finely together. Set aside

Grate the peeled papaya with a box grater until you can see the immature, white seeds inside. Remove any seeds that get into your grated papaya. Spread the grated papaya on a large cutting board and use a heavy rolling pin to crush it, going over it repeatedly until the papaya shreds are softened and wilted. Have some fun with it.

Combine the wilted papaya and the garlic-chili paste in a bowl and mix well. You can use your hands to squeeze them together, working the seasonings in well. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and mix well. Stir in the mango sticks and grape tomatoes.

Serve topped with toasted almonds and fresh cilantro leaves.

Excellent the next day, too.

Cooking: Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Chocolate Custards

My love affair with baked egg custard goes back a lo-o-ong way, to my childhood. My paternal grandmother, the one who lived on a farm her entire life, used to keep some in the refrigerator, which was the first place I'd head when we visited.

There's something so comforting in this easily-digested treat, made at its simplest with just eggs, milk, and sugar.

Now that I'm all grown up, I find myself still craving this childhood treat, but wondered if I could adapt it to be free of dairy and sugar. This led to some internet research, where I learned that egg custard can be made with coconut milk. I am fortunate to have inherited my grandmother's custard cups, and mixed the custard in my mother-in-law's old Pyrex glass mixing bowl (the kind that came in four colors in graduated sizes), which added a note of nostalgic satisfaction to the process.

For the first batch I made, last summer, I steeped crushed lemongrass in some warmed coconut milk, strained it out, then proceeded to add eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. While not as creamy as a traditional custard, it was pretty tasty, especially paired with fresh berries.

I had been experimenting with combining unsweetened cocoa powder and mashed banana in things like muffins, and that became the base of this latest experiment. The addition of some extra-spicy Vietnamese cinnamon added a lot of flavor.

These custards have more the texture of a panna cotta than a traditional, gelatinous baked egg custard, but they satisfied my craving just fine.

Baked Chocolate Egg Custard
makes 6

5 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup well-mashed very ripe banana
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used strong Vietnamese cinnamon)
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 325° F, with a rack in the center of the oven.

Combine banana, cocoa and cinnamon and mix well to blend. Set aside.

Beat eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until slightly frothy. Whisk in the banana-cocoa mixture and mix well.

Divide custard between 6 custard cups or individual ramekins. Place in larger pan, then pour hot water into the larger pan until it is halfway up sides of custard cups.

Bake 30-45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Remove custard cups from water bath; let cool 10 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Cooking: Yukon Gold Gnocchi with Roasted Beets

Most days, I aim to keep cooking simple. Once in a while, though, it's fun to try something more elaborate. This dish, Yukon Gold Gnocchi with Roasted Beets and Beet-Merlot Reduction, is certainly that.

Adapted from a recipe in The Artful Vegan, a cookbook from San Franciscso's Millennium Restaurant, this is one of those dishes that demands some prep, starting the day before with the making of a dark roasted vegetable stock, rich with red onions, mushrooms, herbs, and wine, carefully reduced and strained. It's the kind of thing that happens daily in restaurant kitchens, rarely in home ones, where what seems like an enormous amount of vegetables are converted to a couple of quarts of intensely flavored stock. When people ask me what one thing they can do to improve their home cooking, I often suggest making their own stocks. This is usually met with silence and stares, but unless you've done it, you don't know what depth of flavor you've been missing.

The day of serving started with baking Yukon Gold potatoes for the gnocchi and roasting red and Chioggia beets. Chioggia beets are perhaps the most beautiful of all the root vegetables, striped internally in red and white.

The recipe called for peeling the beets, which I suppose is de rigueur if you're a high-end restaurant, but at home I don't peel most vegetables. I simply want the vitamins that lay just beneath them, as well as the fiber. The beets got tossed with some vegetable stock, a tiny bit of oil, salt, allspice and cloves, then were roasted at 400°F until just tender, about one hour. They got set aside, and were re-warmed prior to plating the dish.

On to the gnocchi. The potatoes, baked at 400°F until just done, then cooled to room temperature, were peeled (the skin comes off with just a little help from a paring knife), then mashed. Flour and a little salt was added to make a soft dough. In hindsight, I could have added more flour, as my gnocchi teetered on the edge of falling apart when cooked, but they were very tender.

The dough was rolled into a rope about one inch in diameter, then sliced into 1/2 inch slices. They got pinched in the middle to make little bone shapes, then went onto a flour-dusted sheet and stuck in the freezer for at least an hour.

On to the reduction. This starts with lightly caramelizing halved shallots in some olive oil, then adding a quartered red beet, some rosemary, some thyme, and some dried porcini mushrooms. After a brief sauté, a couple cups each of the dark roasted vegetable stock and a good Merlot are added. After reducing by half, this mixture is strained, dried cherries are added, and the sauce reduced by another third. The smell was intoxicating.

Another of the garnishes suggested by the book is tarragon oil. This is made by blanching fresh tarragon, shocking it in ice water, drying it, then blending the leaves with oil. So green!

To finish the dish, the roasted beets were re-warmed in the oven and the gnocchi went into a large pot of boiling, salted water. When they floated to the surface, they got transferred to a plate with a little olive oil. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, more olive oil was heated with some minced garlic. The gnocchi went into the skillet to sizzle a while, until they just started to brown, then chopped parsley was added.

To plate, mound up some gnocchi in a soup plate. Arrange some roasted beets around it, then add 1/4 cup of the reduction sauce. Garnish with a few chopped walnuts, drizzle with some of the tarragon oil, and a final dusting of parsley.

This dish has an amazing depth of flavor, intense and rich, while containing very little oil or salt, and no black pepper or other strong seasonings. Not something I'll be making regularly, but good to have in the repertoire for special meals.

Plus, there is enough of everything left to have it for dinner again tonight. Happy New Year, indeed!

Cooking: Holiday Party Fare

The biggest holiday of the year is upon us, with parties and dinners and generally lots of indulgences. So, what do my thoughts turn to? Kale…

No, seriously.

Knowing that we are likely to have at least a few sugary treats during the season, I'm trying to pack as many different tasty greens into our meals as possible. As fortune has it, there are some incredibly nutritious choices in good supply right now, including cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and various kinds of kale.

This salad uses lacinato kale, sometimes marketed as "dinosaur" kale because of its textured leaves. Whatever your greengrocer is calling it, it's a nutritional powerhouse, low in calories but high in vitamins A and C, a smattering of calcium and iron, loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids, and a rich source of soluble fiber. Good stuff.

Many people are put off by greens, perhaps because they've only had them cooked to death or smothered with strong flavors like vinegar. This salad uses raw kale that has been "massaged" with a little salt. The result is a wilted, tenderized green that hasn't been overcooked. Add in a few tasty additions and top with Spicy Beets, and the result is stellar. Black mustard seed is pretty important to this dish—look for it in ethnic markets, spice shops, or from online sources. It adds a pleasant, distinctive, almost nutty flavor that can't be duplicated with other spices.

A food processor fitted with a shredding disk makes quick work of grating the beets; or, use a box grater.

Deep Green Salad with Roasted Yams and Spicy Beets
serves 4

Make the Spicy Beets (can be made several days in advance)

3 T olive oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
2 large shallots, cut into fine slivers
1 green chili, thinly sliced (jalapeño or serrano)
1 lb trimmed but unpeeled beets, grated
1 teaspoon kosher salt (use less if using table or sea salt)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Heat oil over medium-high; when hot, add mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, add shallots and chili. Fry for 30 seconds.

Add beets; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add salt and 1/2 C water. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower heat. Cook gently for 10 minutes.

Uncover, turn heat to medium, and cook for 3 minutes; add lemon juice and stir to mix.

Cool completely before adding to the salad (the beets are delicious hot on their own, too).

Make the roasted yams

1 yam (unpeeled)
1 small red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat oven to 375°F with a rack in the middle. Trim stem end of yam, then cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 1/4 inch slices and place in a bowl. Cut red onion in half lengthwise, then into 1/4 inch slices; add to bowl. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar and toss to coat. Spread out in single layer on rimmed baking sheet, then season lightly with salt and pepper to taste, plus the thyme. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the yam slices can easily be pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove and let cool.

Make the salad

1 large bunch kale, with ribs removed (lacinato kale seems to work best for this)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (use 1/2 teaspoon if using table salt)
1 ripe but not mushy pear
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ginger juice (or, fresh ginger, minced or grated, then squeezed in the hand to extract the juice)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cut kale into 1/4 inch strips. Place in a large bowl and add 1 teaspoon kosher salt (see note in ingredient list above). Set a timer for 2 minutes, then “massage” the kale with your hands, squeezing and mixing as you go. The kale will start to wilt and turn a vibrant deep green. When the 2 minutes are up, add the cooled roasted vegetables to the kale.

To prepare the dressing, combine the pepper, ginger juice, mustard, and balsamic vinegar and blend. Whisk in the olive oil until combined, then pour over the salad. Toss until everything is well coated. Cut the pear in half, core, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes; add to salad and gently toss. Top with a large dollop of the Spicy Beets and serve.

Cooking: Cabbage Koftas

One of my favorite cooking web sites is Manjula's Kitchen. I especially love watching her knead doughs for rotis, parathas, and other Indian breads, using just her right hand. But what a hand! So expressive.

I've made several of her recipes, although I usually dial back the chilies to better suit our palates.

Recently, she posted a video about making Cabbage Koftas, fritters made from mostly cabbage, with some seasonings and a binder. Manjula serves her koftas in a spicy tomato gravy, but I wondered what they would be like in a mixed vegetable curry with coconut milk. Dinner with friends presented the perfect opportunity. I used garbanzo flour instead of gram flour (which is made from hulled black lentils) and a modified frying technique. Here's my revised recipe.

Cabbage Koftas
makes about 16 koftas

2 cups finely shredded cabbage (I used red cabbage)
1 hot chili, seeded and chopped (I used a Santa Fe chili; jalapeño or serrano would work well, too)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed (or use 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cups garbanzo flour
oil for frying (I used sunflower oil; coconut oil would work beautifully, too)

Begin heating oil over medium-high heat in a cast-iron or stainless steel skillet. There should be 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.

Combine cabbage, chili, cilantro, ginger, cumin seed, salt and flour in a bowl and combine. Using your hand, press the mixture together, squeezing as you go, until the cabbage exudes enough moisture for the whole thing to hold together. Keep at it—this can take a few minutes.

Test the oil by dropping a small ball of the "dough" into it. The oil should start to bubble around it.

Form small ovals of the mixture by squeezing them and patting them into shape, then gently lay them in the hot oil. Continue with as many as will fit in the pan without them touching—if you crowd them, things will steam, not fry. Leave them alone, bubbling away, for a couple of minutes, then gently turn them. I just used a table fork for this. If you try to turn them before the bottom has crusted, they will break.

Continue cooking on the other side until it, too, is crisp and golden brown. Press the ovals lightly with the tines of the fork—when they feel solid, they're done. Remove to a plate lined with a paper towel, then continue cooking the remaining mixture until they're all fried.

These are utterly delicious to eat out of hand and would make a great appetizer or first course, served perhaps with a fresh chutney. Frankly, they were so good, I don't even think that is necessary.

I used them in a different fashion, however, placing four of them in the bottom of the dish before serving a luscious vegetable curry over and around them. The curry contained lots of onion, garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, chopped chilies, carrots, yams, cauliflower and green beans, plus coconut milk. Seasoned liberally with home-made curry powder, it was sublime.

The delightfully chewy, rich-tasting koftas were like little bundles of treasure. I'll definitely be making these again, soon.

Cooking: Wheat-Free, Sugar-Free Muffins

"What!!?"

Take a deep, cleansing breath or two. Better now?

I've posted previously about some of the dietary changes we've been making of late. Less a diet than an entirely different way of thinking about what we put in our bodies, it's had some remarkable effects already, particularly for me.

We kept hearing about this "anti-inflammation" diet craze that seemed to be sweeping the island. Hey, it's not that big an island; word travels fast. What was amazing was just how many people we knew or met who had taken the classes and experienced a wide range of relief from many common symptoms. Between my sweetie's arthritis and my chronic digestive and allergy problems, as well as being overweight, there were many compelling reasons to check it out.

In the course of taking the classes (if you live in the Seattle area you might want to check them out at this web site), one of the recipes that was provided was for Joanne's Muffins, made with no wheat and no sugar. Intrigued, I whipped up a batch and, somewhat surprised, we found we like them.

Being an inveterate tinkerer in the kitchen, however, I immediately began thinking of slight alterations. We really like this version, which omits the olive oil completely (because I forgot it, but it didn't affect the final outcome at all), and adds grated carrot, cooked quinoa, cinnamon, ginger, and both vanilla and almond extracts. Here's the revised recipe:

Joanne's Muffins, Amended
makes 12 muffins

1 cup cooked squash, pumpkin or sweet potato (I used canned organic pumpkin)
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 large carrot, grated
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs, lightly beaten until creamy
2 cups almond flour (usually sold as almond meal—keep this in the refrigerator or freezer)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use less if using table salt)
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 12-muffin pan with unbleached muffin papers and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except pumpkin seeds. Mix well. Because there is no gluten, you cannot really overmix this batter.

Using a large spoon, fill the muffin cups to the top. Place a few pumpkin seeds on each muffin.

Bake for 25-35 minutes (check them at 20 minutes). Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan.

When completely cool, wrap the muffins individually. Keep some in the refrigerator for immediate use, and freeze the remainder in a zipper bag. To serve, rewarm in a 300 degree toaster oven.

If you are used to eating a lot of sugar (as we were), these will not taste very sweet the first time you make them. If, however, you do not eat sugar, the subtle sweetness of the banana and pumpkin is quite delicious. We like these just as they are, with some fruit, for a satisfying breakfast. Add a cold-brewed iced coffee: oh la la!

You can also add blueberries to the batter, or substitute almonds or hazelnuts for the walnuts. Substitute sunflower or sesame seeds or poppy seeds for the quinoa. And if you are trying to consume more good-quality oil, add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the batter.

Cooking: Cold-Brewed Coffee

I like coffee. I like the way it tastes, I like the ritual of making it, I like the caffeine, I like the activity of drinking it.

This doesn't mean, however, that I drink a lot of coffee. I like to have three or four good coffee beverages a week, and that's it.

When I say coffee beverage, I'm not talking these days about elaborate concoctions with flavored syrups (really not much more than sugar), caramel (sugar), chocolate (more sugar) or even dairy.

Black. Straight espresso, drip or iced americano.

One thing I've learned is that when you drink coffee black, it needs to be really good coffee. That's not really a problem here in the Puget Sound region—good coffee roasters are everywhere. I'm also looking for organic, shade-grown, and "fair-trade," again, not a problem to find these days.

Recently, I've found my taste buds responding to different stimuli as a result of some major dietary changes we've made, and the double espresso I had been enjoying at the local coffee house just didn't sit well on my tongue. It suddenly seems too acidic, too tannic. What to do?

I haven't solved the problem of my weekly coffee house indulgence, but at home I've started cold-brewing coffee, and I'm really liking it.

Cold-brewing coffee couldn't be easier: simply combine ground coffee with cold water and let it sit awhile, then filter it. Here's the technique I've been using, which makes delicious coffee.

Cold-Brewed Coffee
makes enough for 2 cups of coffee or 2 iced coffees

1/3 cup medium grind coffee (caffeinated or decaf)
1 1/2 cups cold water (use filtered water for really good coffee)

Combine ground coffee and water in a jar with a lid. Give it a stir and let it sit at least three hours, and up to twelve. Strain through a coffee filter. Store the coffee extract in a glass jar or bottle in the refrigerator.

To use, mix half and half coffee extract and either hot water or cold water. This recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Cold brewing coffee doesn't extract the acids from the coffee beans the way hot water does, so if you like the acidic bite of traditional coffee, you might not care for cold-brewed. If, however, you're looking for something with all the flavor but much more mellow, give cold-brewing a try.

By the way, if you garden, put the coffee grounds in your compost or simply bury them in the garden. They also make an excellent mulch for acid-loving plants like rhododendrons, Japanese maples, and blueberries. Studies have shown that coffee grounds may also reduce slugs, who can't handle the caffeine.

Cooking: Lamb with Green Beans, Artichokes, and Black Olives

This is a rich and satisfying dish that borrows from Provençal traditions.

Lamb with Green Beans, Artichoke Hearts and Black Olives
serves 2, with leftovers

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 pound lamb sirloin, trimmed of all fat and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 large onion, in 1 inch chunks
2 small shallots, chopped (or use one of the humongous ones that they sell in the grocery these days)
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
3/4 pound green beans, stem end trimmed, in 2 inch pieces
2 small red skinned potatoes, in 1/2 inch dice
1/2 cup pitted black olives, cut in half
1 cup canned artichoke hearts, cut in half
fresh marjoram
fresh thyme
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a large sauté pan or medium-sized dutch oven over medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil until it is shimmering. Add the lamb and stir it about so it gets coated with the oil. Brown the lamb, stirring it occasionally, until it is nicely browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the remaining olive oil and the onions and shallots. Season with a sprinkle of salt and some black pepper. Continue cooking until onions are just starting to soften, then add garlic, green beans and potatoes. Give everything a stir and continue cooking for a few minutes.

Add the olives, artichoke hearts, leaves from 4-5 sprigs of marjoram, and leaves from 6-8 sprigs of thyme. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt (use less if using table salt) and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook until the beans and potatoes are just tender. Give it a stir a couple of times during this process.

When the beans and potatoes are tender, taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

This was absolutely delicious. To make the plate proportional, I also served a salad made from romaine, spring greens, quartered fresh figs, diced avocado and a handful of blueberries, dressed in a red wine vinaigrette.

A wedge of watermelon for dessert was just perfect.

Cooking: Mushroom Ragout

Traditionally, a ragout is made from meat, usually with various vegetables as flavoring agents. Here's a meat-free version that tastes rich and satisfying. I served this tossed with brown rice pasta and fresh green beans, with simple herbed baked chicken and a spinach and blueberry salad.

Mushroom Ragout
serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
4 ounces oyster, white beech, chantrelle, or shiitake mushrooms, whole or sliced*
1 cup vegetable stock or water
fresh marjoram
fresh thyme
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When it is shimmering, add the onions. Season with a little salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until onions are soft and starting to turn golden, about 10-12 minutes.

Trim and slice the button mushrooms. Trim the "exotic" mushrooms, and cut up if large.

Add the mushrooms and garlic to the onions and cook until the mushrooms have given off all their water and they start to turn a golden color, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Strip the leaves from 2-3 sprigs of marjoram and 4-5 sprigs of thyme and add to the mixture, along with the vegetable stock or water. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

* I found organic white beech mushrooms at my local grocery. Look for them where Japanese produce is sold. Or, use the widely available shiitakes or other local wild mushrooms when you see them in the store or at the farmers' market. You could also substitute some reconstituted porcini mushrooms (or fresh ones, if you're lucky enough to find them).

Cooking: Vegetable Sushi

I had some leftover purple sticky rice from dinner a couple of nights ago, so I thought I would try making some sushi with it.

These rolls, which would technically be known as makizushi in Japan, are made with vegetables only. I would have added some avocado if I had a good one in the house.

Traditionally, sushi rice is seasoned with rice vinegar and sugar, and cooled by gently moving it about in a large wooden tub, all the while fanning it to dry it out. I didn't do that. Here's my simple recipe, which omits the sugar.

Vegetable Sushi

makes 3 rolls (18 pieces total)

1 cup cooked purple sticky rice (or use any leftover rice)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

thin strips of carrot, cucumber, snap peas, avocado, or any other vegetable you like

3 sheets toasted nori

bowl of cold water (for dipping your fingers)

Put the rice in a bowl and fluff it gently with a fork. Sprinkle the vinegar over the rice and, again gently, fluff it around. The point is to season the rice without breaking it up.

Place 1 sheet of nori on a sushi mat (I used a Silpat, or just use a cloth napkin or lint-free towel). Spread 1/3 of the rice in a pile. Dip your fingers in the water, then use your fingertips to spread the rice out in an even layer. Leave a 1.5 inch strip across the top of the nori uncovered by rice.

Lay strips of vegetables near the edge closest to you. Don't overstuff—just a few strips will work. Using the mat (or napkin or whatever), lift the front edge and start rolling the sushi. Once you get it going, you probably won't need the mat. Keep rolling until you reach the edge where there is no rice. Using your fingertips, wet the exposed nori at the back edge, then firmly roll the whole shebang together. The water will help seal the roll.

Place the roll sean-side down in a dish and do the next one. Remember, this should be fun.

These can be served immediately, or refrigerated for up to 3 days in a covered container. To serve, run a sharp knife under cold water, then slice each roll into six pieces.

Serve with tamari with as much wasabi mixed in as you like.

These rolls are quite good, crunchy and cool. The rice is sumptious. The wasabi will wake up your sinuses. It's all good.

Cooking: Bulgar Patties

We're testing wheat to see if either of us has an inflammatory response to it, so I thought I'd try making some bulgar patties.

Bulgar is made by soaking and cooking whole wheat, drying it and then stripping off part of the bran. The remaining kernel is then broken into small pieces.

Although it loses some fiber in the process, it still retains enough of the bran to qualify as a mostly whole grain. Because it has already been soaked and cooked, bulgar can be very quickly prepared. Traditional tabbouleh recipes often call for the bulgar to be covered with boiling water, then left to re-hydrate without actually cooking it again. While not as nutritious as whole wheat berries, it is nevertheless handy when you're short on time.

Bulgar Patties

serves 4

1 cup water

1/2 cup bulgar

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic (or more), thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon wheat-free tamari

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder

3/4 cup garbanzo flour mixed with 1/2 cup cold water

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, then add bulgar, onions and garlic. Simmer, covered, until water is absorbed, about 5-10 minutes. The bulgar I used, from Bob's Red Mill, took about 15 minutes to fully absorb the water.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Pop this mixture in the refrigerator to set up a little (I stuck mine in the freezer for 15 minutes). Heat 1/8 inch of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it is just starting to shimmer, drop large spoonfuls of the batter into four mounds, flattening slightly with the back of the spoon.

Fry until set and golden on the bottom (the upper part will start to look dryer, too), then carefully turn them over and cook the other side.

I added about 1 teaspoon of curry powder to my mixture, which was very nice. They were satisfyingly crispy/chewy on the outside and moist on the inside. I served them with a simple sauce made by stirring together 1 tablespoon sugar-free mayonnaise (Trader Joe's makes an organic one), 1/2 teaspoon double-strength tomato paste (from a tube), plenty of freshly ground black pepper, and a few dashes of Tabasco. Very tasty.

The next time I make these, however, I think I will add some chopped parsley or other herbs, as well as some chopped sun-dried tomatoes. They would also be great with grated vegetables mixed in, like carrot or zucchini.

Wealth

’Nuff said.

Cooking: Crisp Roast Kale

Kale, round 2.

There are dozens of recipes for crispy roast kale floating around on the internet, but the basic premise is the same. Here's my take.

Crisp Roast Kale

serves 2

1/2 bunch kale

1 tablespoon olive oil

sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the kale and shake it mostly dry. Using a sharp knife, trim out the tough stem. Finely shred and put in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and toss to thoroughly coat the kale. You can do this right on your baking sheet if you don't want to get a bowl dirty; just be aware that raw kale is springy and you may end up with it all over your counter, which you will also have to wash.

Spread the kale on a rimmed baking sheet and stick it on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Roast for 5 minutes, remove and turn things over with a spatula. Return to the oven and continue roasting another 6-7 minutes, or until the kale is crisp. Test it to see.

When it's done, remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. I used Celtic gray salt (which I keep in a grinder) and it was great.

These are so light, crisp and delicious. We had them alongside some roasted carrots, yams, onions, and beets, and a meatless burger. It's impossible to eat these with a fork—pinch some between your fingers and have at it.

I'm thinking these would also be a fabulous garnish for puréed soups, or piled onto a salad or tostada.

Cooking: Sautéed Kale with Curry Pine Nuts

Kale is in good supply at the farm stand and farmers' market, and we're increasing the amount of vegetables, especially dark green ones, in our diet.

However, we both have a bias against greens. Too tough. Too bitter. Too…green.

How to cook them so we actually eat them? Here's one option.

Sautéed Kale with Curry Pine Nuts

serves 2

1/2 bunch kale

1/2 sweet onion, such as Walla Walla or Vidalia, diced

2 cloves garlic, sliced *

olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 lemon

Wash the kale and shake off most of the water. With a sharp knife, cut out the stem. Stack the leaves and very finely shred them. This works best with a sharp knife, as these greens are tough.

In a large sauté pan or wok, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion. Sauté until onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the sliced garlic (slicing the garlic keeps it from burning so readily) and cook for 1 minute. Add the shredded kale and toss it to coat in the oil. Season with kosher salt (greens benefit from salting both at the start of cooking and at the end).

Pop a lid on the pan for a few minutes, then stir everything again. Replace the lid for a few more minutes, or until the kale is nicely wilted. Watch it so it doesn't burn. Remove the lid and continue cooking, stirring often, until the kale is done to your liking. Season with a little more salt, ground pepper, and lemon zest.

Drizzle a little more olive oil over the greens, then squeeze the 1/2 lemon over it all. Serve topped with Curry Pine Nuts.

Curry Pine Nuts

1/2 cup raw pine nuts

1-2 teaspoons curry powder

Place the pine nuts in a small, dry skillet over medium-high heat and toast, stirring often, until they start to turn a nutty brown and they sweat a little oil. Stir in the curry powder and continue toasting just one more minute. Remove to a bowl to cool.

We had this with some red quinoa topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, and some fresh tomato.

* If you grow your own garlic or have access to a farmers' market, try using fresh garlic. Basically, fresh garlic hasn't finished forming the dry paper skins that separate the cloves. When really young, you can chop up the entire head; once the skins begin to form, just peel them. This garlic is delicious and mild.

Cooking: Prawns with Corn and Fava Beans

While at a farm stand this morning, we found bags of fresh fava beans, which we're seeing all over the island this year. Later, at a produce stand that sets up on Fridays and Saturdays, we found the first luscious, fresh sweet corn of the season. My old Ohio farm roots kicked in, and I thought "Succotash!"

Traditionally, succotash is a melange of corn and lima beans. Why not use the favas, though? Sure, they're a little work to prepare, because you first remove them from the pods, then blanch them, then slip off the tough outer skins to reveal the incredibly green goodness inside. These were so fresh that if I had been puréeing them (mixed with lemon juice, salt and pepper) I might have left the skins on.

We sat on the front porch, shelling the beans, something I did countless times with my grandmother when I was a child. In those days, it was first peas, then lima beans, then "shelly" beans, which were then dried for winter consumption. I have a lot of fond memories of sitting on the old glider liberating the legumes from their pods.

We don't have a glider, and we don't have a farm, and we didn't grow the beans ourselves, but it was still pretty satisfying to sit there with my sweetie, watching the birds and doing something productive.

The thing about fava beans is you need a lot of them to end up with anything. Five pounds of beans in the pod may only yield two pounds of shelled, peeled favas, which is why I usually pair them with other things when we buy them.

Prawns with Corn and Fava Bean Succotash

serves 2

olive oil

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 small jalapeño pepper, minced

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds fresh fava beans (unshelled weight)

4 small ears fresh corn, cut off the cobs

1/2 pound large prawns (about 8), peeled and deveined

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 ripe avocado, cubed

Prepare the fava beans by shelling them. Remove the nibs unless your beans are very small. Bring a pot of water to the boil, add a lot of salt, then dump in the beans. Bring back to the boil, then boil for 1 minute. Remove the beans to a bowl of water with some ice in it to stop the cooking. When cooled, remove the outer skins. Small, fresh beans may not need this step; eat one and see. To remove skins from larger beans, pinch a small hole in one end (the skin will have become slightly elastic), then squeeze the bright green bean out of the skin. Set aside.

In a 12 in non-stick skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. While it's heating, pat the peeled shrimp dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.

When the oil is hot, slide in the garlic and jalapeño and cook for 1/2 minute. Add the corn kernels, season with salt and pepper, and turn the corn so it gets coated with the oil and the garlic isn't all trapped on the bottom, where it can burn. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the corn becomes less milky looking. You can cook the corn until it starts to caramelize, if you like, but for this dish I just wanted a fresh corn taste.

Gently stir in the peeled fava beans and mix them in. Cook for one minute more, or until the beans are tender (taste one). Push everything to one side of the pan.

Drizzle a little more olive oil in the empty part of the skillet, let it heat up, then lay in the prawns. Sprinkle them with the grated orange zest. Cook about 2-3 minutes, then turn them over. Continue cooking for just 1-2 minutes, or until they are opaque and firm. Turn off the heat.

Pile some of the succotash in the middle of a plate and top with the prawns. Garnish with avocado.

This was delicious as is. Add fresh herbs or a squeeze of fresh lime juice for another twist.

Cooking: Scallops

While at the grocery this morning, I noticed these succulent scallops, labeled "Wild - Chemical Free." Not sure how they know they're chemical free if they're wild, but they were irresistible. Into the cart they went.

We're changing the way we eat around here, eating less protein and grains and more vegetables and fruit. We're also avoiding dairy for the time being, so sautéing in butter, what I would usually do, was out.

Here's how I decided to do them (I made this up as I went along).

Pan-Seared Scallops

serves 2 (you might want more)

4 large scallops

1/2 Yukon gold potato, sliced 1/4 inch thick

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper (I used Mignonette pepper, a blend of black and white pepper with coriander seed)

1 teaspoon grated organic orange rind

1 teaspoon finely shredded fresh basil

coconut oil (or use olive oil)

In a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (it's usually solid at room temperature). When it's shimmering, lay the potato slices in a single layer. Push them around from time to time until golden, then season with salt and pepper and turn. Continue cooking until the tip of a paring knife just barely penetrates the center. Remove to a plate.

(At this point, I threw a bunch of wax beans, trimmed and cut in half, into the hot pan and cooked, shaking and flipping frequently until they started to brown in spots, then removed them and set aside.)

Add another teaspoon of coconut oil to the pan. While it's heating, dry the scallops thoroughly with paper towels. If you put them in wet, they will steam instead of browning. Season with salt and pepper, then place in the hot oil. Cook about 4-5 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown and slightly crusty, then flip them over and continue to cook another 4 minutes or so. Don't cook them until they're completely firm, or they will toughen.

A couple of minutes before the scallops are done, add the potato slices back into the pan to warm.

To plate, lay out two slices of potato and top with a scallop on each. Sprinkle with the grated orange zest and basil. Serve the remaining potatoes with the beans.

We had this with a salad made from sliced carrots, sliced snap peas, cubed avocado, and sliced orange. The orange juice, plus a small splash of walnut oil, salt and pepper makes a lovely bright-tasting dressing. Toss it all together and pile it on.

Dessert was fresh local raspberries and a Washington state apricot. So delicious.

Cooking: Curry Powder

I love curry. My sweetie likes it, too, so we enjoy making both Indian and Thai curries at home. I have always just purchased curry powder, albeit good ones, like this one from Penzey's Spices, usually supplementing it with additional cumin and/or coriander. I also use Madras curry powder in the green tin, as well as Balti seasoning (also from Penzey's).

When planning a lamb and vegetable curry for my sweetie's birthday dinner, I decided to go the extra step and blend my own. Off we went to an island purveyor of herbs, spices, coffees, teas and other good things, where we bought whole cumin seed, whole coriander seed, white peppercorns, and black peppercorns (not for the curry, but hey, you have to have black peppercorns in your arsenal).

Back at home, I put 2 tablespoons of cumin seed, 3 tablespoons of coriander seed, 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper (because this was to be a mild curry; increase for more heat), 2 teaspoons of black mustard seed, and about 10 white peppercorns in a small, dry skillet over medium heat. I kept a close eye (and nose) on the spices as they roasted in the pan. Every now and then, I gave the pan a swirl, to keep things toasting evenly, as well as to take in the luscious aroma (be careful sniffing it, though, if you have added a lot of hot pepper flakes, as the essential oils of the peppers are volatilized by heating). When the mixture was toasty brown, and the mustard seeds were just starting to pop, and the smell was heavenly, I poured it all into a bowl to cool.

When cooled, I put it all in my spice grinder (which is just a normal coffee grinder that we reserve for spices) and ground it to a medium-fine powder. After pouring it back into the bowl, I stirred in 1 tablespoon of ground termeric and a teaspoon of ground ginger.

The result was stunning. The curry powder has a wonderful, lively freshness to it, and is slightly nutty from the toasting. I used about 2/3 of it in all in making the curry, which had lamb, cauliflower, green and wax beans, carrots, cubed yam, lots of onion, ginger and garlic. Because we're not currently consuming dairy, I added coconut milk. The finished dish was so fresh and delicious, packed with vegetables and little bits of browned lamb sirloin, and redolent of exotic spices.

I was hoping for leftovers, but we ate every single bite.

Cooking: Ginger Syrup

Summer has arrived on the island, at least for this week, and my thoughts have turned to interesting, refreshing beverages to sip while we relax in the garden.

Ginger syrup, spicy, aromatic, and just a little hot, is a versatile thing to keep in the refrigerator. At its most basic, it is delicious mixed with club soda over ice, with or without a slice of lemon or lime. It's a great addition to any homemade lemonade recipe. How about sweet, iced tea with ginger syrup? Of course, when our weather turns cool and rainy again, which, this being the Northwest, it assuredly will between now and August, it's great in hot tea, too.

I'm also thinking of using it in sorbets, like blackberry or white peach. Adding it to the poaching liquid for pears...

Best of all, it's super-easy to make. Here's how.

Ginger Syrup

makes about 1 quart

4 Cups water

4 Cups sugar (use whatever sugar you like)

4 large "hands" of fresh ginger root (the ones I used were literally larger than my own hand)

In a non-reactive saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let it bubble for one minute.

While the syrup is bubbling, wash and slice the ginger into 1/4 inch slices. There's no need to peel it. After the syrup has boiled for one minute, add all the ginger (you should have at least 4 Cups of sliced ginger). Let the syrup simmer for 10 minutes, turn off the heat, and let it steep for another 15.

Strain the syrup through a fine sieve and discard the ginger (or add it to the compost). Let cool, then store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.

We're going to have some with dinner to accompany BBQ ribs and homemade potato salad. I can't wait.

Cooking: Fig-Stuffed Roast Pork

I recently saw a recipe for a fig-stuffed pork loin in The New York Times, so I thought I would have a go at it. Here's my modified recipe:

Fig-Stuffed Roast Loin of Pork

serves 6 or more

1 Cup dried black mission figs

Port (either tawny or ruby; I used Jonesy, a blended port from Trevor Jones of Australia)

1 boneless pork loin, 2 to 3 pounds

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced (about 1–2 Tablespoons total)

Cut stem tips off of figs, then place the figs in a tall drinking glass. Cover with port and let sit for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Stick a long, thin knife through the center of the pork loin (go in at one flat end and come out the other; I used a boning knife for this). Take a wooden spoon and insert the handle into the cut you just made, wiggling it around a bit to enlarge the hole somewhat. Stuff the figs inside this cavity. If you can't get them all in, you can add them to the roasting pan or reserve them for when you make the sauce.

Tie the roast with thick, cotton butcher's twine. It should be nice and plump. Place the pork in a roasting pan, then pour about 1/2 Cup of the port used to soak the figs over the pork. Season the meat well with salt, pepper, and the minced rosemary.

Place the roast in the  pre-heated oven and roast for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325° and baste the roast with either pan juices, or more of the fig-soaking port (do not let the pan dry completely—add water if you don't want to add more port). Continue to baste the roast every 15 minutes, until an instant read thermometer reads 145° or 150° when stuck into a think part of the roast (make sure it's not in the fruit stuffing, but actually in the roast). Remove the roast and tent with foil to keep warm.

Place the roasting pan on a burner and turn the heat to medium-high. If you have any fig-soaking port and/or figs left over, add to the pan. If there is no liquid in the pan,  you can add fresh port or water, about 1/2 Cup. Scrape up any congealed meat juices and brown bits, and boil the sauce until reduced and slightly thickened.

Slice the pork to the desired thickness (it will be moist and pale pink), then drizzle with the sauce. Serve extra figs on the side.

I served this with spaghetti tossed with some butternut squash that I had cut into bite-sized pieces, then roasted with sweet onion, garlic, fresh sage, salt, pepper and a healthy drizzle of olive oil. I reserved about 1/2 Cup of the pasta water, adding it, along with about 1/2 Cup of freshly grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese (this was for two servings). I meant to add a handful of chopped Italian parsley, but it got forgotten in the end.

The pork was extremely moist and succulent, the port adding a complex fruity sweetness that was nicely offset by the rosemary. We're looking forward to having leftovers in sandwiches tomorrow.