Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke, Purple Potatoes and Salmon

Our school started a CSA that's two months old and I am really enjoying the benefits of farm fresh vegetables every week.  As a site administrator and volunteer, I get a bag of free vegetables every week that I volunteer.  I work for veggies, every Thursday since December.  Last week we got purple Peruvian potatoes, cauliflower,onions, kale, cabbage, and Jerusalem artichoke along with oranges and apples.  My family managed to eat the majority of the vegetables before the weekend was over, with the exception of the cabbage. I made Cauliflower couscous from the cauliflower and Bird Seed soup from the kale, potatoes and onions.  Last Friday I made the easiest and tastiest meal from four of the ingredients in the CSA bag.  Roasted potatoes, onions, Jerusalem artichokes with salmon and a salsa verde sauce from oranges and parsley from two weeks ago.  I am thinking of making melted cabbage with the only thing  left from my bag that I haven't eaten.  More on that later......stay tuned!

Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke, Purple Potatoes and Salmon
with Parsley Salsa Verde

4 large potatoes
5-6 large tubers of Jerusalem artichokes
1 large onion
1 1/2 pounds of salmon fillet, skin removed, cut into 4 equal pieces
1/2 cup of olive oil
11/2 teaspoon of salt and  fresh cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 420 degrees
Peel potatoes and and scrub Jerusalem artichoke, make sure you scrub them well because little bits of dirt will adhere to the ridges. Peel some of the Jerusalem artichoke skin if you can.  Cut the chokes, potatoes  and onions into small two inch pieces.  Line a large baking pan with foil and toss the vegetables with 1/4 cup of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Put pan into oven and bake, after 20-25 minutes check to see if the veggies are turning a golden brown, use a spoon to turn the vegetables for even coverage. Meanwhile, rub salmon with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Drape the salmon pieces over the vegetables and put back into the oven for another 10 -12 minutes.  Take care not to overcook salmon. The salmon should be slightly pink in the center. While salmon is cooking, prepare your salsa verde.

Salsa Verde
1 large bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
juice and grated rind of 1/2 a large orange
1/4 cups of white balsamic vinegar
1/2 cups of olive oil
1 teaspoon of capers
1 anchovy
1 teaspoon of salt plus fresh cracked black peppers
If you don't have capers and anchovy, you can skip them , it will still be delicious

Put everything in a blender and process until smooth.  It'll be  a bright green grassy color. So pretty against the orange of the salmon and purple of the potatoes.

A Roadhouse Restaurant and Cauliflower Couscous

Last Christmas our family rented a house in Sonoma county.  It was a wonderful home in the middle of the redwoods with a large meadow and an old orchard full of crazy mushrooms.  It was remote and far from any large town, but only 18 minutes to a restaurant called Zazu.  The restaurant bills itself as a roadhouse with great food.  The husband and wife team grow most of their own produce and have a chicken, pig and sheep ranch.  They have great foodie reviews and a bacon club! So of course we had to make our way in the dark one lane highway, guided by a bitch of a GPS system, to have dinner there on a  rainy night. 

The restaurant met all of our expectations, from the rustic decor to the inventive foods. Two dishes stood out in my memory.  One a pappardelle pasta with roasted beets, greens and pancetta and the other a pork osso buco with cauliflower couscous.  I went home and promptly made the pasta dish a few days later, loving the beets and greens.  The cauliflower couscous was completely forgotten until tonight when Paul requested osso buco for his birthday dinner.  Our refrigerator was full of CSA vegetables when I opened it to consider a side dish.  A head of cauliflower rolled out of the fridge and landed at my feet. Tada! An inspiration was born.  I am one of those crazies who plunge head first into a recipe without consulting any resource. "How hard can it be?"  Sometimes it's really hard, but tonight the stars are aligned and the couscous was delicious.  I added in a cup of cooked whole wheat couscous to the cauliflowers because I didn't think it was enough to serve my family of four.  I also added in some preserved Meyer lemons that I made with lemons from my tree.  It has an exotic citrus note that I really like. One day soon we can talk about preserved lemons, a good, good thing.

Here's the recipe, a great way to disguise cauliflowers if your kids don't like it.

Cauliflower couscous

1 large head of cauliflower
3 tablespoon of butter
¼ cup of chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon of lemon peel
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt & pepper
1 cup of cooked couscous
1/4cup  of chopped preserved lemons (optional)

Trim leaves off cauliflower and discard or save for vegetable stock. Using a serrated knife, shave the head of cauliflower florets until you get to the inner stems and core, reserve these for vegetable stock. Transfer the cauliflower trimmings to a food processor and pulse until they resemble coarse couscous or chop the cauliflower on the cutting board very finely.

Melt butter in a large frying pan on medium high heat until it foams up and turns brown, take care not to burn the butter. Add in cauliflower and sauté for 4-5 minutes until some of the cauliflower picks up a golden tinge and is tender. Add in a teaspoon or two of salt until it develops enough flavor. Take pan off heat and add fresh cracked black pepper, lemon peel, lemon juice and parsley. Add in the cup of cooked couscous and mix well. Readjust seasoning and drizzle with a good virgin olive oil. 

Serve it as you would couscous, a side dish to osso buco, roasted salmon, or baked chicken.

Variations:  add in 1/2 cup of slivered almonds, 1/2 cup of golden raisins, and a pinch of cinnamon.



Zazu Restaurant

A Parisian Breakfast

We are celebrating a milestone birthday for Paul today, he turns forty. Our plan was to spend it in a luxurious Parisian apartment in the Place de Vosges. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. Ours went awry with the decision to buy a new house this spring and a car emergency that warranted the purchase of another one.  It's been a few years since we went to Italy for my birthday and I had hoped to give Paul the same incredible present that he gave me. The only thing I can afford to give Paul now is a picture of the Eiffel Tower in an Ikea frame, seriously, that's what he's getting.  Photoshopped with us in the picture, isn't technology great?  The best alternative is to give him the feeling of being in Paris on this very special day.

Europane has been a family tradition for many years. Paul & I spent our courtship over their delicious pastries and incomparable French toast, made only on the weekends.  Our weekend breakfasts are more special when Sumi Chang, the owner, stops by to chat with the girls and offer us a taste of pastries fresh from the oven.  Holly and Sophie are rewarded for their doctor/dentist torture sessions with a visit to Europane.  Sometimes I randomly reward myself for the torture of motherhood and the savagery of my kids.  A cup of latte with their fleur de sel macarons make the world a more civilised place.  Europane is the kind of bakery/cafe that you would find in a typical French neighborhood.  There's a great mix of people, Caltech staffers, young professionals and families with very happy kids.  The European style pastries are made fresh daily and the egg salad sandwich sets the bar for all other egg salad sandwiches. This morning I braved the chilly weather @ 58 degrees, brrrrrr,,, and drove to Europane to pick up an assortment of beautiful pastries and a chicken pot pie to surprise Paul.  The girls squeezed fresh tangerine juice and Holly picked a sweet bouquet from the garden.  Fresh brewed coffee from Jones Roasters rounded out his Parisian breakfast.  After breakfast Sophie played "Ode to Joy" on her violin, sending this birthday straight into the stratosphere.

Joyeux anniversaire a mon mari!

EuroPane  950 E. Colorado Blvd, Ste 107

A Basket full of Goodness

Some women fantasize about a mansion on the hill and a closet full of designer clothes.  I fantasize about a country farm full of edibles and a garden full of flowers; with chickens for eggs and bees for honey. The nearest approximation of that dream is my weekly visit to the farmer's market.  I live vicariously through those farmers. They are dedicated to the art of farming and the drudgery and inconstancy of nature. We live in the age of large industrial agri-business that specialise in monoculture produce. The produce are bred for disease resistance and shelf life. You only get one varietal choice of each vegetable. The flavors are  mostly a third or fourth tier consideration. These small farmers provide a delicious alternative with  their heirloom varieties and fresh seasonal selections, all grown with care.

I have taken on the role of fundraising VP at the elementary school this year.  The challenge is sorting through the junky gifts and candy fundraisers that proliferate the PTA fundraising world.  We were presented with an opportunity to bring a CSA to our school and earn money in the process.  CSA is community supported agriculture, originally developed to help urban dwellers support small farmers by buying into "shares" of the farm.  The shareholders get a weekly box with fresh produce that the farmers grow and the farmers have a  customer base to support their farm.  It's a mutually beneficial relationship. Our CSA is going strong after two months and the produce is so delicious and amazing.  Our shareholders get an opportunity to try new varieties and exotic fruits.  Purple Peruvian potatoes, sapote, cherimoyas and Jerusalem artichoke.  Last week we had the most sublime tangerines. They were tiny, delicate and thinned skinned but so juicy, sweet and tart.  The kind of fruit that you will never find in the supermarket because of their delicacy.  It's  a weekly town hall on our school lawn when we all get together to trade recipes and marvel over the abundance of the produce.  The variety is amazing when you consider that we are in the dead of winter.  The rest of the country is swallowed up in snow and we are reveling in the sunshine and eating bell peppers and oranges!

It's a beautiful sight to behold, every Thursday, when our CSA team sets up the produce table and our kids swarm us, begging for apples and tangerines. I wish this for every school.  I wish this for you and your family.

CSA California

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

I was at the Pasadena Farmer's Market this weekend and picked up a beautiful head of green cauliflower and some French fingerling potatoes from Weiser Farms.  Paul and the girls were rumbling about being hungry when I walked through the doors.  Desperate to make something healthy and delicious, I whipped up this standard in our family.  Creamy cauliflower soup.  The green of the cauliflower and the celery turns this soup into a delicate jade color.  Serve it up with some country bread and a dose of smugness, cause this soup is good and good for you  (O:>

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower cut up into small chunks
2 medium size potatoes, quartered
(preferably French fingerlings or Yukon Gold, they'll lend a creaminess to your soup)
1/2 an onion, rough chopped
1outer stalk of celery and the 1 inner stalk with leaves, rough chopped
1 32oz box of vegetable broth, or your own homemade chicken stock
2 small bay leaves and parsley or chives to garnish
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Makes 8 servings

Equipment: stock pot & blender

Sautee the onions and celery in the olive oil on medium high heat until soft and translucent.  Add in stock,cauliflowers, potatoes and bay leaves. Add water if necessary to cover the vegetables completely. Bring to a boil and simmer with a half covered lid for about 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat and spoon out 2 cups of cauliflowers into a bowl, roughly mash them with a fork and set aside. Fish out your two bay leaves, those suckers can be hard to find, fun, fun! Puree the rest of the soup in  a blender until creamy and smooth, taking care not to burn yourself when the blender is on.  Start by filling the blender only 1/3 full and blend on low, slowly add in the rest of the soup until it's blended smoothly.  You will have to do this twice.  Pour the soup back into the pot, add the mashed cauliflowers back into the soup, and season again to your liking.  If you want to go wild, add in two tablespoons of cream, but then you can't be sanctimonious or smug any more. 

Baker Creek Seed Company

I am in love with this seed company.  The catalog is a luscious compilation  of  rare, heirloom varieties in full descriptive splendor.  The images of the fruits and vegetables will send you into a state of bliss.  Instead of reading the latest New Yorker issue, I have been reading through this well-thumbed catalog every night before falling asleep.  I carry it around in my bag and leaf through it in a spare moment.  It's simply fabulous.  I can't wait for my seeds to come.  Visions of summer's harvest dance in my head.

Can you imagine the caprese salads this summer?  Or gazpacho?

Golden bright lemon-yellow sweet snow peas on 6' vines with purple fllowers

Red Okra! 

A relative of the hibiscus, can you tell?

Imgagine this edible beauty in your flower bed.  

My Holly loves her okra.

Dragon Tongue bush beans

Purple Podded Pole beans, discovered in the Ozark mountains in the 30's

Five Color Silver Beet Chard

 It'll take your breath away when the sun shines through the stalks

And finally some cosmos, dancing among your edibles.

Are you ready for spring plantings???  Are you ready for an edible garden filled with breathtaking colors and dancing flowers?  This is a great time to plan your spring and summer harvest.  Contact me if you want help planning your field of dreams.



Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Winter color

alpine strawberries

I was out in the garden this morning, catching up on weeding and pruning.  I love being in the garden.  It's the most perfect form of meditation.  The sun in your face and the wind rustling the leaves, ever so slightly.  Birds singing and squirrels chirping.  It was a glorious in every way, except for the allergies.

Here are some images from my winter garden.  Isn't California great?

primrose & alpine strawberries

Mexican marigold

princess flower

blueberry blossoms

fuschia/ hummingbird magnet

lettuce

apples

apples, again!

garden roses

La Diabla and me and coffee and tea

I have a neighbor and dear friend who I call La Diabla. Why?  Because she has a habit of sweetly suggesting "fun" things to do that sometimes gets me knee deep in doodoo.  Like the one time she volunteered me for a "really fun" board position that I didn't know about.  Or the time we were in downtown LA looking for the speakeasy bar that was my obsession.  Oh, I can't tell you that story because my husband and mother-in-law read this blog.  The funny thing is that she's awfully hard to say no to.  So when she called in the middle of a crazy busy day to to suggest that we meet for coffee at Intelligentsia, I said yes.  Although I was an hour behind on most of my commitments, coffee with a charming friend who makes me laugh and feel fabulous about myself seem like a great idea.  What doodoo can I get into in Old Town Pasadena in the middle of the weekday?  I am in!

We meet at Intelligentsia Coffee, so hip and so cool.  It's a piece of Silver Lake in Pasadena via Chicago. I am starving at 11:00 am so I order an Americana and the cupcake lasagna.  Yes, you read it right. Cupcake lasagna, by Heirloom LA Catering.  I've read about their famous cupcake lasagna for years and now Imma gonna eat it!  It's so good and sweetly presented on torn brown paper and topped with a well dressed spring salad.  I am so going to steal this recipe, it's so clever! 

With time still on the meter, we head towards Bird Pick Tea so I can stock up on my favorite jasmine pearl tea.  Have you been to Bird Pick?  It's a tea house on Delacey, specialising in Chinese teas, some of which they grow on their own estate in China. Their parent company is Chinatown's famous Wing Hop Fung.  They have a beautiful selection of teas and accessories and the staff is very helpful and friendly.  There are always great tastings and educational stories behind the teas.  I love it.

I head back towards my car after seeing La Diabla off, feeling full and happy, although now two hours behind on my commitments.  Whatever! 

Bird Pick Tea   and   Intelligentsia

Red Pepper Cream Sauce

How do you get your kids to eat an entire red pepper and half a zucchini at dinner? Through subterfuge and clever disguise, that's how.  I found one lonely pepper in my back yard and decided to add it to the ones we got from the school CSA last week.  Stir fry, stuffed, soup?  Too much work and the kids will just stare at it for days before they'll put it in their mouth.  Then I remembered that I love the taste of roasted red peppers.  Inspired by the Catalan classic, Romesco sauce, I set about making a dinner that had my little girls wolfing down two portions each. Ha, ha, you girls just had double your daily servings of vegetables, suckers!

Here's the recipe if you're in the mood for subterfuge and/or delicious food:

Romesco/Red Pepper Sauce

5 large red bell peppers
3 large cloves of garlic
1/4 cup  of sliced almonds
1/2 cup of half & half or whole milk ( you can substitute vegetable broth for Vegans)
1 teaspoon of Pimenton/ smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cups vodka ; for the hell of it and also because it's really good!

Wash red peppers, slice in half lengthwise, take out seeds.  Put unpeeled garlic cloves and peppers cut side down on a baking tray lined with foil.  Bake in 420 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes until skin is blistered and peppers are soft.  Take the peppers out of the oven when done and allow to cool until you can handle them.  Peel the skin off garlic and peppers.  Put the baked ingredients along with almonds, half & half, pimenton,salt, vodka into a blender and process until smooth. The consistency should be thick and creamy.  Add more water if your sauce is too thick and a tiny bit of bread if it's too runny.  Adjust salt to taste.

I served this sauce over a pound of cooked corkscrew pasta and added in two sauteed zucchinis and some Italian sausage.  Delicious!

Persson's Nursery

I picked up the girls from school today and headed over to Carmela's Ice cream for another dose of creamy goodness.  However, we detoured through Persson's Nursery first.  They have a lust inducing harvest garden that I visit occasionally for inspiration. Eye candy abounds and I am feeling guilty about my neglected garden.  Oh well, ice cream will fix that.

savoy cabbage and calendula

mixed lettuce

broccoli, chard, and sugar snap peas

Goodbye Persson's, til I garden again.

Oh Carmela!

The car temperature registered 90 degrees today when the girls finished their two hour long violin practice at the conservatory.  It didn't feel particularly hot outside, but it gave us an excuse to try the newly opened Carmela Ice Cream shop in Pasadena.  They are justifiably famous for their exquisite small batch ice creams with flavors developed from seasonal farmer's market produce. We got there in time to line up for tastings; Meyer lemon & olive oil, chocolate sorbet, dark chocolate & cocoa nibs, and salted caramel.  I chose salted caramel and the girls got chocolate sorbet and the dark chocolate cocoa nibs.  WOW!!!! My salted caramel ice cream was the best thing I have tasted in months.  If you love the Little Flower Candy Company fleur de sel caramels, this is the ice cream for you. The Meyer lemon was really beautiful, as was the chocolate & cocoa nibs. There were no seatings in the store and the sidewalk was burning hot, so we got into the car, turned on the AC, and ate our ice cream in contemplative silence. I am so glad that my friend and trainer Osha added another day to her core class because I have a feeling this will be  a regular haunt.  So run, don't walk to Carmela...that way you can have an extra scoop.

Update: We went back the following day to try out the other flavors we were obsessing about. I got cardamom, Sophie had brown sugar and vanilla, and Holly got the lavendar honey.  They were all freaking awesome.  And we also brought home a quart of salted caramel for Paul.  Houston, we could have problem here.


Carmela Ice Cream