What "Spring" tastes like

Oh, I so wish I could take credit for this (insanely simple) dish... and I guess I could, but I don't want to risk the wrath of the Karmic Food Police.

 

My grandma, Karol, lived in Westport, Washington for about three or four years while I was growing up... something that, even while short in duration, I still look back on as one of the best memories of my childhood. Grandma had a good-sized garden plot in her backyard, somewhere between her barn-turned-house (really!) and the horse ring, that had everything from tomatoes to sugar snap peas and more... but, honestly, my brain kind of stalls out after the sugar snap peas. I remember sitting on the back steps with my sister and processing a giant bucket of the verdant, crisp bites of nature.

... peel, open, skim 'em out.
... peel, open, skim 'em out.

We would usually discard the pods, so I was more than welcome to help myself to what I considered the best part.

Here's a recipe from Simply Recipes that I absolutely recommend that you make. Tonight. Or now.

Seared Sugar Snap Peas Recipe

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 10 minutes

Almost all the prep time in this recipe is taking the strings off the sugar peas. Once you have that done, the rest is easy.

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound sugar snap peas, strings removed
• 3-4 scallions or green onions, sliced on the diagonal
• Salt
• A pinch of sugar
• Zest of a lemon
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
• Black pepper to taste
• Lemon juice to taste

Method

1 Heat a large sauté pan on high heat for 1 minute. Add the olive oil to the hot pan and heat it until it shimmers, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar peas and toss to coat with the oil. Sprinkle salt over them and toss again. Allow to cook, undisturbed, for 1 minute.
2 Add the green onions and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar. Toss to combine. Let cook for 1 minute. Toss and cook untouched again, this time leaving everything undisturbed for 2 minutes.
3 Turn off the heat, mix in the lemon zest and mint, then add black pepper and lemon juice to taste. Serve at once.
Yield: Serves 4-6.

Mid-Spring Spice-n-Rice

Between the fickle, on-again-off-again Seattle spring weather and a baby who, at 38 weeks, seems disinclined to acquiesce to any requests to leave the womb, I figured it was time for a little spice. Who knows? Maybe it would send some cosmic spark out into the world (and, in turn, my uterus) and start a little warmth.

The menu last night consisted of things that weren't necessarily seasonal - as is still my goal of this here blog-o-food - but, as I was thinking about it, the ingredients weren't entirely anti-seasonal, either. I think it was more of a "staple" dinner; things that we usually have in our pantries and refrigerators anyway, so why not use them up?

Mid-Spring Spice-n-Rice menu
Spicy Citrus Meatballs, Rice, and C&C Honey Cornbread

Spicy Citrus Meatballs
Ingredients
1 family-sized package of frozen meatballs
1 1/2 cup Johnny's Jamaican Me Crazy marinade
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
3 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs cinnamon sugar

Directions
Place frozen meatballs in a 2 - 3 qt, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat.
Add marinade, orange juice, and ketchup and cover for 10 minutes allowing the sauce to come to a boil.
Stir gently, and add brown sugar before turning the heat down to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Add cinnamon sugar, stir, and serve

Rice
Ingredients/Directions
Prepare rice as you typically would. For a family of four adults and one toddler - and planning on leftovers to make rice pudding with the next day - I use at least two cups of rice, four cups of water, and 2 tsp salt. I've found that Jasmine rice is the best all-around rice, but Basmati is also great! Bring the rice and water to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring regularly. When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and let stand for 18 - 22 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

C&C Honey Cornbread
Ingredients
1 box Krusteaz Natural Honey Cornbread mix (any honey cornbread mix will work)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbs fresh cracked pepper
2 tsp salt
1 chipotle bouillon cube (find these in the ethnic food aisle)


Directions
Follow the directions on the box for preheating (400 degrees F.) and adding the first four ingredients
Evenly scatter the shredded cheese and stir into the batter before adding pepper and salt
Crush the chipotle bouillon cube in your hand, and mix into the batter
Follow the directions on the box for baking, depending on the pan/muffin tins you decide to use, let cool for 5 minutes, and serve.
(I buttered an 8x8 metal pan, which I've dubbed "The Cornbread Pan" since I've only ever used it for such, and baked the mix for 27 minutes.)


Start-to-finish, this dinner took 35 minutes and, even better (!), will provide dessert for tonight in the form of rice pudding. Sometimes, it pays not to plan!

Christmas Tree Soup

The only thing I love more than participating in a holiday tradition is creating a new one - whether intentionally, or completely by accident. Last night was probably one of the best "accidental tradition creations" I've ever had!

While my mother-in-law and husband were out looking for a Christmas tree (in lovely Seattle-rain fashion), I dove head-first into my first pureed soup, with all the vegetables coming from our weekly farm share! It was a little daunting, I admit, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted the main flavor to be; Did I want to go exotic? Spicy? Ginger-y? Sweet? Did I want to do as my father-in-law not-so-subtly hinted at and add meat and, if so, what kind? What do I serve with it? Should I leave any texture to the soup and, if so, how much and with what? Will the food processor do a good enough job, or will this come out looking like semi-solid baby food?

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. The mix of vegetables in and of themselves were amazing, and lent a lot of flavor to the soup just by roasting them... and the vegetable stock and wine that I used were perfect. *sigh*

So, here's the final recipe that I came up with while my husband showed our almost two year old son what struggling with Christmas trees looks like:

Ingredients
1 acorn squash
6 medium carrots, peeled
1 large turnip, peeled
1 medium beet, peeled
1 small head of garlic, peeled
Canola oil
Salt and pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 large yellow onion
2 Tbs salt
2 tsp dried ginger
1 Tbs dried sage
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch of red pepper flake
1 tsp chipotle hot sauce
1/2 cup red wine
3 cups of vegetable stock
2 red potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup of heavy cream

Method
Preheat the oven to 415 degrees
Chop the squash, carrots, turnips and beet into roughly the same size chunks, and place on a cookie sheet along with the peeled garlic (leaving the cloves whole).
Drizzle with the Canola oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven for 10 minutes (if you have a "speed back" option, 15 - 20 if you don't).
Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and saute in the butter on medium high in a medium, heavy-bottomed soup pot, adding the spices once the onion has begun to soften.
Take the vegetables out of the oven, and turn them over for even roasting.
Turn the heat on the spiced onions down to medium-low, and sweat for 5 minutes.
Add the wine and chicken stock to the onions, stirring quickly to get the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
Chop the potatoes into roughly 1'' pieces, and add to the pot, increasing the heat to high. Boil for 5 - 10 minutes, or until mostly tender.
Remove the vegetables from the oven, and place in the food processor and pulse until they all are mixed together fairly well, then add the potatoes and some of the onions from the pot. (It's okay if some of the liquid from the pot gets in to the vegetables.) Pulse together well, until a fairly smooth texture is achieved; you may need to scrape the sides of the processor bowl on occasion.
Carefully add the pureed vegetables to the liquid in the pot, and stir to combine with the liquid.
Once combined, add the heavy cream and taste for seasoning.
Serve while hot!

Serving Suggestions
I made cornbread muffins, which were excellent alongside this soup. You could really serve any kind of bread, although sourdough might be a bit heavy.

Hot Weather = Cool Food

Seattle's summer came late, as usual... arriving on July 5th. With it, a mini heat-wave has descended upon our green city, leading me to bring out any/all warm weather recipes for my family that I can find.

Your local supermarket can be pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to finding local and/or seasonal produce... heavy on the "miss" if you're completely honest. A lot of the stuff you'll find in there has been shipped across the country (or the world), frozen, or packed full of preservative and/or pesticides. Then there are those rare moments when... *insert choir of angels singing here*... you luck out.

Last night was my lucky night!

I stopped by Safeway on the way home, and they had the biggest, freshest, most AMAZING watermelons I have ever seen! Already wanting to try out a recipe for watermelon & cucumber salad, I was able to form an entire meal around this delectable treat... and my family LOVED it!

Last night's dinner:

 - Hawaiian-style baked Tilapia
 - Watermelon & Cucumber Salad
 - Corn on the Cob

1. Hawaiian-style baked Tilapia

5 frozen Tilapia loins, thawed
1 TS salt
1/4 c. Soyaki Sauce (Trader Joe's)

Preheat the oven to 400 (F). Spray a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray, and lay out the Tilapia. Sprinkle with salt, then pour the Soyaki marinade over the fish. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes or until the fish is nice and flaky.

... isn't that EASY?!

2. Watermelon & Cucumber Salad

1/2 c. white vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 TS red pepper flakes

Salt

8 cups seedless watermelon, cubed

4 English cucumbers, peeled and chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1/4 c. sweet chili sauce

Combine vinegar, sugar and pepper in saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil 1 minute, remove from heat and cool. Slice cucumbers and toss with 1 tsp of salt. Let sit in colander for 30 minutes. Pat dry. Just before serving toss watermelon with salt in a large bowl. Add cucumbers, red onions, celery, pepper syrup, and sweet chili sauce and toss. (recipe adapted from: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/327/WatermelonCucumber_Salad13199.shtml)

See you in the kitchen....!

- Krystal

End-of-Spring Spontaneity Dinner

One of the first foods that comes to mind when I think of spring is:

What can I say? It's a charmer.
In my continuing effort to cook as season-mindful as possible, I've found that just listening to your gut (every pun intended) is the best resource. We naturally crave lighter meals in warm weather, and tend to prefer heartier, warm dishes in the fall and winter. What a considerate body you have! That's why asparagus is such a great spring-time vegetable; it not only tastes great, but has the fiber that our bodies are missing from the other 'light' spring foods, or the heavier, meatier items we consume in the colder months.

The Dinner:
Panko-crusted Chicken
Sauteed parsnips, asparagus, and garlic stalks
Yellow mashed potatoes

The Recipe(s):

Panko-crusted Chicken

... well, I bought it from Whole Foods, already seasoned and ready to go. I know, I know, I cheated! Unfortunately, I received my just rewards for said cheatery, as the only thing the chicken had going for it was its crispy topping. The bird itself was dry, and the seasoning in the crust was bland. I have learned my lesson.

Sauteed parsnips, asparagus, and garlic stalks

• 3 large parsnips, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2'' slices
• 1/2 bushel of asparagus, trimmed at the 'natural point'
• 1/2 bushel of garlic stalks
• 1 TS butter
• 3 TS herb flavored olive oil
• 2 TS soy sauce
• 1/4 c. Soyaki Sauce (Trader Joe's... so good)
• 1/3 c. chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add all of the veggies, and toss them to evenly coat in the oil/butter mixture. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce, and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the Soyaki and chicken stock, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

** It may seem like too much chicken stock, but trust me; the veggies absorb most of it,
and the rest is turned into a really nice, thick coating thanks to the sugars in the Soyaki sauce. **

Yellow mashed potatoes

• 5 large yellow potatoes
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 6 TS butter
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 TS freshly ground salt
• 3 TS freshly ground garlic pepper

 Peel the potatoes, and chop into 1 - 2'' chunks all roughly the same size. Place in a pot, and cover with chicken stock. Bring to a boil. When the potatoes are tender (stab them with a fork to tell), drain them and put them immediately back in the hot pot. Add the butter and milk, and mash them to your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper.

** Putting the potatoes back in the hot pot helps to evaporate any left-over
moisture that makes the potatoes seem gummy or mushy. **

The Verdict:
Well... everyone ate it - that's usually a good sign. My 18 month-old even picked up the chicken from his father's plate and gnawed on it until it was gone!
In the future, I would, again, make the chicken myself instead of letting Whole Foods do the work for me. It would have been worth the additional 2 - 5 minutes of prep-work for better flavor.