Three Sister’s Succotash with Crispy Sage (Vegan!)

July 18, 2016July 18, 201617 Comments

The other day I did one of those double glances — the kind you do when a super hot guy walks past you and you reflexively jerk your head back twice to confirm he was really that good-looking. Except I did it with beans.

I walked past these little babies in Berkeley Bowl and after my double glance confirmed they really were that beautiful, I put myself in reverse, grabbed a bag, and filled it up with crimson-streaked cranberry beans without stopping to consider that my fridge was already way too full and I already had more than enough produce that was barely holding on for its life before I could prepare it.

But I didn’t care. When it’s love at first sight, you act before you think. I was acting on such an impulse that I got home with my beans and realized I hadn’t even thought about what I’d need to go with them.

The scrounging session in my fridge revealed an ear of fresh corn and some leftover summer squash from a curry I made last week. There was my answer: the Three Sisters.

For those of you who don’t know, my day job is as a nutritionist for the Native American population (some find it surprising to learn that he Bay Area has a significant urban Indian population — almost 50,000). I have the pleasure of doing cooking demonstrations for our patients and one of my favorite demos I’ve ever done paid homage to the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. These three crops have been planted together in the same mound by native people for centuries in a perfect example of permaculture/companion planting. The corn provides a pole for the beans to grow up, the beans put nitrogren into the soil that the corn needs to grow, and the squash grows around them both, shading the soil to keep it moist and keeping critters out. The three crops also compliment each other nutritionally, providing all the essential amino acids when eaten together. This beautiful relationship between these three crops is reflected in a touching Iroquois legend about the three sisters.

For my dish, I decided that a simple succotash would be a nice way to honor the Three Sisters. The cranberry beans, which are an heirloom bean native to Colombia, turn a beautiful lavender color when cooked and have a super creamy texture that compliments the crisp summer corn. To finish it off with another ingredient native to this area, I fried up some sage leaves for a crispy, earthy finish.

Three Sisters Succotash with Crispy Sage

Servings: 3-4
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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1 lb cranberry beans, shelled
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
8 sage leaves
1 bunch green onion, white and green parts diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 ear fresh corn, kernels sliced off
1 yellow summer squash, diced
1 zucchini squash, diced
1 cup vegetable stock
salt and fresh black pepper

Bring a small pot of water to boil and add the shelled beans and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes or until beans are fully cooked and tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. When oil is hot, tip the pan so the oil pools on one side of the pan and add the sage leaves. Let the leaves fry in the oil for about 1 minute or until they darken in color but do not burn. Remove them from the oil and place on a paper towel for later.

Using the same oil in the skillet, saute the green onion and bell pepper for 1-2 minutes. Add the corn and summer squash and saute for 1 more minute. Add the cooked beans, vegetable stock, black pepper and salt to taste and let simmer for about 5 minutes or until everything is tender, the stock is partly evaporated, and the flavors are melded. Serve hot with two crispy sage leaves as garnish.

Cardoon Moroccan Stew (Vegan!)

May 10, 201614 Comments

Cardoons, or Cardoni, are one of those things that you’ve probably passed by in someone’s garden or a city park, not realizing that a delectable treat was just at your fingertips (if you’re willing to brave the prickly leaves, peel away the fibrous strings, chop them, and boil them for thirty minutes before you even get close to eating them). But bare with me, because they’re worth the work.

If you don’t believe me, trust the millions of Mediterraneans who have enjoyed this vegetable for thousands of years, Imagine a meaty, juicy stem that tastes like artichoke. See? I told you they’re worth it.

I first discovered cardoons two years ago while working on a small family farm in a remote village of Spain. The farmer’s mother, who lived down the road, marched over at least every other day in her black shawl and wool skirt at a pace that was shocking for her 80+ hard-lived years. I usually found her collecting eggs to take back home to make a tortilla de patata for her husband. But one day I spotted her cutting away giant stalks from a large prickly plant that I had assumed was some sort of annoying weed or a lazy artichoke plant that didn’t produce artichokes (they are, in fact, a type of thistle related to the artichoke). I walked over and asked her what it was. “Cardo, niña,” she said. And then she started to explain how she cooks it, all whilst hacking away at the plant and tossing the stalks in a pile on the earth with more energy than I had felt all morning at my easy task of collecting asparagus. “No te preocupes, yo te lo traigo. Ya veras.” Not surprisingly, she promised to bring me some later to try. Typical hospitable Spaniard.

Dusk on the farm in Spain

Later that day she delivered on her promise and brought me my first pot of cardoons. Those giant, intimidating stalks with their prickles and fibers were transformed into tender morsels that had soaked up the flavor of the olive oil and garlic she sauteed them with. I reacted with such love and appreciation for her dish that she invited me over for lunch the following Sunday, where I got to enjoy more of her good cooking. When my time at the farm came to a close a few weeks later, I spent my last evening chatting with her in her kitchen.

Leaving the farm

Once I knew that cardoons existed, I started seeing them around town, in stores and in the ground. Berkeley Bowl has cardoons in Spring, and the workers in the produce department have lots of great tips on how to prepare them. It was chatting with one of them that gave me the idea to introduce more of of the Moroccan spices that so remind me of Spain, and to serve it on couscous, as I do in this recipe. But if you don’t want to bother with all that, you can try the cardoons “Esperanza style” with a drizzle of good Spanish olive oil and sauteed garlic. Either way, I think it’s impossible not to love them.

Cardoon Moroccan Stew (Vegan!)

Servings: 4-6
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1 lemon
1 bunch cardoons
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2 Tablespoons minced ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
3 cups water
1 cup white wine
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh cracked pepper
1 pound red potatoes cut into bite-sized cubes
1 pound tomatoes, chopped
⅔ cup assorted olives, pitted
⅔ cup chopped cilantro
⅔ cup chopped parsley

Fill a pot with cold water and squeeze the lemon juice into it. Bring to a boil while you prepare the cardoons. Cut the base off the bunch of cardoons and discard. Cut the tops containing any large leaves off each stalk and discard. Now working with each stalk one-by-one, use a paring knife to peel away the long edges of the stalk to remove any remaining small leaves or prickles. Then peel away the strings and thin silvery skin along the length of the stalk (similar to de-stringing celery) using a paring knife, or scrape them off using a sharp flat-edged knife on its side. Once the entire stalk has been cleaned, chop it into 2-inch pieces and place them in the pot of lemon water so they don’t discolor. Boil for thirty minutes and drain.

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or flat-bottomed skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onion and saute for 5-10 minutes until the onion is softened and begins to caramelize. Meanwhile, pound the saffron, ginger, turmeric, garlic, and brown sugar in a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste. Add to the onions and saute for an additional 2 minutes to release the flavors. Add the drained cardoon pieces, water, wine, salt and pepper, potatoes, tomatoes and olives and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes and cardoons are tender.

Serve garnished with cilantro and parsley over a bed of couscous.

Cheddar Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (Vegan!)

March 22, 2016March 21, 201621 Comments

I feel like Kraft Mac & Cheese defines every millennial’s childhood. Who doesn’t remember throwing down their Jansport backpack, grabbing their Skip-It and working up an appetite until mom served you a pile of that gooey mac & cheese for dinner.

The truth is my mom almost exclusively served us healthy, homemade, unprocessed food, to the point where my sister and I went crazy any chance we could get our hands on some of that classic American stuff with its high fructose corn syrup topped with trans fat that kids find irresistible. Our friends’ moms always knew when we were around, with the fill-line on the candy jar noticeably waning and all the marshmallows missing from the Lucky Charms box. We had to get our fix before returning home where our mom who, having grown up in Spain, thought kids should be thrilled with a plate of sauteed zucchini and eggplant for dinner.

But every blue moon, on a special occasion like a sleepover or a birthday party, my mom would blow us all away and make us Kraft Mac & Cheese (with the requisite side of cucumber tomato salad to maintain the Mediterranean flare, of course). I don’t know if it’s because the circumstances were so rare or because she really is just that good of a cook, but her Mac & Cheese always came out better than anyone else’s I’ve ever had. My friend Gina used to beg my mom to show her mom how to “make it right,” to which my mom would laugh and say she just followed the directions on the box. Still to this day, Gina talks about my mom’s legendary Mac & Cheese.

Mom serving us Mac & Cheese for our formal dress-up dinner, complete with real wine glasses... so fancy! (Friend Sicily, left; sister Catherine, middle; me, right).

Mom serving us Mac & Cheese for our formal dress-up dinner, complete with real wine glasses… so fancy! (sister Catherine, middle; me, right).

Enjoying carrot cigarettes and bell pepper lipstick at our Mac & Cheese garden party.

Now that I’m all grown up and practicing as a registered dietitian, I’m grateful for all those home-cooked, unprocessed meals I grew up with even if I was jealous of my friends’ cool Lunchables at the time. And now I get to try to share that with my patients so that their kids can also grow up with wholesome foods that will help them grow into healthy adults.

This recipe was inspired by a pediatric obesity group I’m currently running at our clinic, in which the moms requested help with their 3-year-old kids who refused to touch vegetables of any kind. I asked what they do like to eat and, of course, Mac & Cheese was at the top of the list. So I set out to create a healthy, veggie-rich version of this kid classic, resulting in what I like to call “Sneaky Mac.” I prepared it with the moms in the pediatric obesity group the following week (without the garlicky breadcrumbs on top) and every single one of those picky kids ate it all up, unsuspecting that they were getting a whole sneaky serving of vegetables. The end result was a creamy, gooey, vegan Mac & Cheese that gets it color not from artificial food dyes or chemicals, but rather from the Cheddar Cauliflower!

Cheddar cauliflower is basically an orange cauliflower that gets its color from a mutation that allows it to hold onto extra beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A. It was discovered in Canada in the 1970’s but it wasn’t until recently that I started to spot it in grocery stores. Like regular cauliflower, cheddar cauliflower is packed with fiber and Vitamin C, and is a good source of calcium, folate, selenium and potassium. It is delicious prepared any way that you would prepare white cauliflower.If you can’t find orange cauliflower you could totally prepare this recipe with white cauliflower and it would just have the look of a white cheddar mac & cheese. But make sure you don’t ommit the other ingredients. The macadamia nuts give it a little bit of healthy fats and flavor for that creamy mouthfeel, and the nutritional yeast — every vegan’s best friend — imparts a cheesy taste to cheeseless foods (as well as providing B vitamins).

So throw on your dress-up clothes, light up your carrot cigarette, set out the formal china, and enjoy this guiltless, gooey, all natural, diary-free mac & cheese.

Cheddar Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (Vegan!)

Servings: 6-8
Time: 20 active, 30 cook
Difficulty: medium
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1 pound macaroni noodles (can use whole wheat or whatever kind you like)
2 shallots (or 1 onion), chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 orange cauliflower (or substitute white), florets only
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts (if using salted, decrease salt to 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté for 7 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the cauliflower florets, vegetable stock, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.

Place contents of skillet into a blender and add the macadamia nuts, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. Blend until you have a very smooth and creamy sauce, the consistency of cake batter. You can thin with more vegetable stock if needed.

Stir the sauce into the cooked macaroni and place in an oven-proof pan or skillet. Top with the bread crumbs mixed with 1 clove of crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, the remaining teaspoon of olive oil, and the parsley and sage. Place the pan under the broiler for 5-10 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown and the macaroni and cheese is heated through.

Kohlrabi Ramen

March 7, 2016March 7, 201618 Comments

We’re in the midst of a big rain storm in the Bay Area, which happens about as often as a lunar eclipse. We’ve been trudging along for three years in a drought-induced haze, giving the stink eye to the neighbor who’s washing his car with the hose running, turning off the shower water between shampooing and rinsing, convincing ourselves that our brown lawns are eco-cool, wondering whether giving up H20-sucking beef was enough or if now we even need to give up almonds… all these stupid inconveniences distracting us from the fact that we really just miss hearing the sound of good, old-fashioned, life-filled rain.

Rain is such a rare sound now that when it starts, I turn everything off. No more NPR on my car radio, no more music while I cook, just the cadence of five thousand drops per second hitting my windowpane, quickening with the swells of wind. That’s the sound I’m hearing now as I write. And it’s the sound that put me in the mood earlier today — for ramen.

Ramen is the perfect food for cold, wet weather (well, I can’t exactly claim that this 59-degree storm counts as “cold weather,” but it’s at least safe to call it wet). If you’re like me and don’t have a fireplace, you may agree that the only consolation prize capable of filling you with the same coziness of a crackling fire is a steaming bowl-full of ramen.

I created this recipe on a rainy day back in December for an article I wrote for the San Jose Mercury about livening up the winter doldrums with some fun, not-so-common produce. Kohlrabi is one of my favorite winter vegetables, delicious cooked or raw, and perfect for this vegetarian version of ramen. The key to this meat-free broth is adding back some of the strained stock bits to the liquid and then pureeing it to give the broth that thick, meatiness that makes it stick to the noodles. SLURP. YUM.

If you would like to read more about kohlrabi including its health benefits, check out this earlier post for kohlrabi lettuce wraps. Otherwise, just get to work on the ramen so you can sit back and slurp it up to the sound of the rain before it passes us by.

Kohlrabi Ramen

Servings: 4-6
Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 quart vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon yellow or white miso paste
8 ounces ramen or Japanese noodles
2 kohlrabi, greens and stems chopped, and bulbs peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 red chile
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 soft-boiled eggs
3 green onions, chopped

Heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute for 8 to 10 minutes or until the onion begins to caramelize. Add stock, water, dried mushrooms and soy sauce. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 60 minutes. Strain the broth, reserving 1/2 cup of the solids. Add these back to the stock, along with the miso paste, and run it through a blender until smooth.

Cook the ramen according to package directions.

In a large wok or skillet set over high heat, heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil. Add the kohlrabi, chile, ginger and fresh mushrooms; stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes, until the kohlrabi is tender but slightly crisp. Stir in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

To serve, fill four deep bowls with the noodles, top with the kohlrabi mixture, and ladle hot broth over the top. Garnish with half of a soft-boiled egg and chopped green onion.

Nopales con Huevos

February 19, 2016February 22, 201625 Comments

Anyone living in California has seen nopales before, even if they don’t realize it. Those cactus with the big oval paddles topped with spiky red fruit you see on the side of the road or invading your neighbor’s yard? Yup, that’s a nopal, also known as a prickly pear cactus. But unless you are from a Mexican family or are a Mexican-food aficionado, you may be shocked to hear that these spine-riddled cactus go down the throats of eager eaters every day. Sans spines, of course.

Nopal has earned its popularity not only because it’s delicious (more on that in a second), but also because it’s an incredibly healthy, medicinal plant. Long used in traditional herbal medicine, modern “western” medicine is even getting with the program. Research has shown that nopal may be effective at decreasing glucose, cholesterol, inflammation, and even hangover symptoms. And even if you don’t suffer from these afflictions, there is no doubt that its high fiber, vitamin C and antioxidant content make it a healthy part of any diet.

These are some nopales I found (and “foraged”!) yesterday on the Lafayette Rim Trail. I’ve been picking spines out of my fingers all day… but so worth it.

If I had it my way, the nopal cactus would be a regular headliner in every kitchen, as go-to a veggie as broccoli or lettuce. I’ve already posted a ROCKIN’ recipe (if I may say so myself) for prickly pear sorbet using the magenta-colored fruit on top of the nopal cactus. But the cactus leaves… oh the cactus leaves… how delicious they are! Once you get the spines off, each cactus leaf is amazingly juicy, tangy, and exquisite in so many different preparations — raw, boiled, blended or, my favorite, broiled. If you let it snuggle up close to a broiler and char a bit like you would bell peppers, you end up with a complex, caramelized flavor that really compliments the tangy undertone of the nopal.

I do nutrition counseling at a clinic in a Latino neighborhood of Oakland, so nopales come up in conversation at least five times a day. Many of my patients prepare nopal for breakfast — either blended/juiced with other veggies for a quick shot of vitality, or cooked with eggs for heartier fare. While the nopales are traditionally boiled before combining them with the eggs, my version of nopales con huevos brings the nopales even more into the limelight with a bit of smokiness and texture.

I hope you’re already running out of the house donned with gloves and a garden saw to steal some from your neighbor’s yard. Or if you are lucky enough to live close to a market like Berkeley Bowl or a Latino market, the small price you pay for store-bought, de-spined nopales more than makes up for itself.

Nopales con Huevos

Servings: 4
Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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myberkeleybowl_nopales con huevos.jpg

3-4 nopal cactus leaves
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
6-8 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1.5 cups crushed tortilla chips (preferably homemade from corn tortillas fried in a little oil)
Radish and avocado for garnish
Salsa or hot sauce of choice

Use a large, flat-bladed knife to scrape off any spines or rough spots remaining on the nopales. Rub both sides of the nopales with a teaspoon of oil. Mix the paprika with the salt and sprinkle over the nopales. Place on a pan under the broiler very close to the flame, about 8 minutes each side, until slightly bubbled and browned in places and tender inside. Chop into bite-sized pieces.

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Whisk the eggs with the milk and a pinch of salt and add to the pan. Reduce the heat to low and scramble gently for 1-2 minutes until almost no liquid egg remains but eggs are still moist.

Fold in the chopped nopales and tortilla pieces and serve immediately on a warm plate garnished with shaved radish, avocado slices and your favorite hot sauce or salsa.

Romanesco Two Ways: Pickles and Slaw

February 1, 2016June 9, 201621 Comments

Last week I got to do the equivalent of hanging out back stage at a Rolling Stones concert — I got to go to a “managers’ breakfast” with the rock stars of Berkeley Bowl. Diane and Glenn Yasuda opened up Berkeley Bowl in the 1970’s and have built a dedicated team of produce buyers and managers that all gather for breakfast once a month. One of the highlights for me was when one of the managers and photographer extraordinaire, Javier, showed us some of the close-ups he took of Berkeley Bowl produce and we all played “name that exotic vegetable.” Even after blogging about exotic produce for months, the produce buyers Glenn and Nick were hard to beat. It was also fun chatting with Diane, a fellow dietitian and foodie.

I knew this was a family business, but what struck me is how much their staff is an extension of this family, sticking together throughout the years. Some of them started hanging out at the store as kids and twenty years later are still working there. I think that is a testament to the heart and soul behind this iconic establishment.

After breakfast we all walked over to Berkeley Bowl and parted ways to get to work. As I ran around the store looking for inspiration for my next recipe, it felt different. This place that I’ve been shopping at for fourteen years and blogging about for months felt a little more like home now that I knew some of the faces and stories of the people making it possible.

Maybe that was what made me finally pick up the romanesco. Like Berkeley Bowl as a whole, romanesco is immediately impressive to anyone who walks in off the street. But when you look a bit closer and understand the intricacies behind what you’re looking at, it becomes even more impressive. Aside from its electrifying chartreuse color that draws curious shoppers like a moth to a flame, the close-up is what is truly jaw-dropping about this vegetable.

Remember “fractals” from geometry? No? Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales, formed from chaotic equations — in other words, beautiful natural patterns that break into smaller sections that are similar to the original. Well, romanesco is a perfect, natural example of a fractal. In fact, if you want to get really nerdy, it’s actually an approximation of the golden spiral, in which every quarter turn is farther from the origin by a factor of phi. It’s as if God let his nerdy mad scientist friend, Marv, take a stab at improving the cauliflower. As the Fractal Foundation nicely puts it, fractals are SMART: Science, Math, and Art! What could be better?

With a similar taste and texture to it’s relative, the cauliflower, romanesco is delicious prepared in any method that compliments cauliflower: roasting whole, cutting into crunchy florets for crudités, steaming for a quick and healthy side, or sautéing to throw on pasta or with stir-fry. This vegetable is just too much fun to look at and to eat, so I decided to prepare it two ways for my blog.

As someone who loves to snack on pickles as a tasty and light after-work snack, I decided to throw some romanesco florettes into a jar for some quick pickles and boy oh boy, were they crunchy and delicious. I also wanted to keep one raw to preserve its bright green color and crunch, so I combined it with purple cabbage in a super-healthy slaw that is as chromatically attractive as it is delicious.

Whatever preparation method you choose, don’t forget to take a minute to stare at the intricate spirals and marvel at the exquisite beauty contained in our universe. And then maybe bust out your old AP calculus graphing calculator and calculate the logarithm of your fractal veggie. Or not…

Pickled Romanesco

Servings: one 24-oz jar
Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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2 cups water
1 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon mustard seed
3 cloves garlic
1 inch nub of fresh ginger, chopped
1 red chili, sliced
2 sprigs of fresh dill
1 romanesco, cut into florets

Heat water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a small saucepan until just simmering and the salt and sugar are dissolved. Meanwhile, place all remaining ingredients in a 24-oz jar with a lid. Pour the hot vinegar solution over the top. Let cool before covering with a lid and storing in the refrigerator. Pickles will be ready to eat after a couple hours but will be more flavorful if you let them sit at least a day or two.

Romanesco Slaw with Apples and Walnuts

Servings: 4-6
Time: 15 mins
Difficulty: easy
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3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 head of purple cabbage, shaved
3 green onions, white and green parts sliced
1 romanesco
1 green apple, seeded and sliced thinly
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine the first four ingredients to make a dressing. Pour over the shaved cabbage and green onions in a large salad bowl and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

When ready to serve, prepare the romanesco by separating into florets. Set aside the smallest, bite-sized florets, and chop the larger florets into 1/2-inch pieces. Add the chopped florets and apple slices to the cabbage slaw and mix well. Top with the walnuts and decorate with the small romanesco florets before serving.

Roasted Leeks with Blood Oranges

January 5, 2016January 5, 201628 Comments

This week’s recipe is one that I developed for an article I wrote for Bay Area News Group, just released this morning. Given the “mainstreamedness” of the readership, I had to keep things a bit more tame to be accessible to a wider audience, while still giving the recipes an “exotic” spin to stay true to the My Berkeley Bowl theme. This recipe must be my favorite of the four new ones I developed for the article, because I’ve made it five times in the past month.

While neither leeks nor blood oranges are blow-you-out-of-the-water exotic, I figure that since blood oranges are not readily available at most “normal” grocery stores, they fall on the exotic side of the line. And leeks — well, most people that have used leeks have only sliced them up as a muted ingredient playing a minor role in the background of soups or casseroles, like an extra in a movie. So in that sense, I think this recipe is super exotic because leeks are the star of the show for once.

MyBerkeleyBowl_Roasted Leeks Blood Oranges.jpeg

I remember the first time I took a bite of protagonistic leeks like a girl remembers her first kiss. It was a cold, rainy day of February in Northern Spain and my mom, husband and I were on a road trip. We ordered a roasted leek salad in a nondescript bar filled with old spanish men sipping beer and escaping the rain. (Spoiler alert: when you order whatever dish is carelessly scrawled across the chalkboard hanging over a dingy locals’ bar on a quiet street in a Spanish town, Spain always delivers.) This salad came out topped with caramelized leeks as thick as rolling pins, and when I bit into them, I was blown away by how velvety, delicate, and exquisitely flavorful they were when prepared that way. My mom immediately shouted “otra!” to the waiter, knowing that we’d need at least one more salad if she actually wanted to get any (she couldn’t out-fork Mike and I when it was that good).

That salad we had in Northern Spain was the inspiration for this dish, in which I braise leeks with wine and thyme until they are just as velvety and rich as the ones I had that rainy day in February. The sections of blood oranges add the brightness and color that make this dish all the more memorable. It makes a beautiful and unique side dish for a dinner party, or if you love leeks as much as I do, you can enjoy it on its own as a light dinner like Mike and I have been doing.

As a side note, I discovered in my research that blood oranges are actually a result of a natural mutation! How splendidly wonderful is nature?!? Apparently, the Italian dude that first peeled one of his oranges thinking it was just a regular old orange-colored orange was so shocked to see the deep red color that he shouted “tarocco!” meaning “fake” or “phoney” in Italian, and is now the name of one of the three main varieties of blood oranges (along with Moro and Sanguinella). How rare is it now in day to find that something so beautiful and unique is made that way naturally, not by some gimmick or trick?

Fortunately, this whole dish is free of gimmicks — just 100% natural, delicious, beautiful goodness. I hope you enjoy this first recipe of 2016.

Roasted Leeks with Blood Oranges

Servings: 4 as starter or side dish
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: easy
Print

6 leeks, roots and dark green tops removed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 blood oranges

Dressing:

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Sherry vinegar
Black pepper and a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the tougher, outermost layers of the leeks and discard. Slice them in half lengthwise and run under cold water to remove all the grit, ensuring to rinse between the layers. Place the leeks in a single layer in a 9×13″ roasting pan, cut side down. Drizzle with the olive oil, wine, and vegetable stock (the liquid should come about halfway up the leeks), and snip the thyme sprigs over the top. Roast for 35-45 minutes, flipping the leeks over halfway through, until they are tender and lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Arrange the leeks on a serving platter. Cut the rind off the blood oranges, slice into sections, and arrange over the top of the leeks. Place all the ingredients for the dressing in a small jar and shake to combine. Drizzle over the top of the leeks and oranges. Serve room temperature.

Blue Hokkaido Spiced Rice

November 23, 201532 Comments

As fleeting and wonderful as Shark Week, another much-anticipated period hits my household each year: Squash Week (Dun dun dun!). But unlike Shark Week, Squash Week is free of junk science and sensationalism. Well, fine, here’s a little sensationalism for you Shark Week fans:Squash Week airs in the McLively household mid-November, when Berkeley finally gets a mid-60’s “crisp” in the air that piques those fall flavor cravings. The farmers’ markets fill up with squash options of all shapes and sizes. Sure, you have your typical butternut squash and sugarpie pumpkins, but the real treat is picking out those more exotic varieties that you may have missed last fall. And since this is a blog about exotic produce, that’s exactly what I did.

I picked these three out at Berkeley Bowl for my blog, plus a spaghetti squash and delicata squash to whip up some quick work-week lunches. As a result, there has been squash roasting in my oven all week long, as is stipulated in the Squash Week terms of agreement. I’ll roll out the recipes one at a time so I don’t spoil you…For this first recipe, I’m starting with the most unique: the Blue Hokkaido. I think this must have been the inspiration for Walt Disney’s pumpkin carriage in Cinderella, which has this same smoky blue color and is equally enchanting. Inside this beauty is a deep orange flesh that is probably the sweetest squash you’ll ever taste. It has a nice firm texture that is great for roasting, and because it’s a kabocha-type squash, you can eat the skin.This squash, like kabocha, is a Japanese variety, named for the island of Hokkkaido. Like all winter squash, it is a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium and iron, with some calcium as well. In fact, winter squash is considered one of the healthiest foods out there, with blow-your-socks off levels of carotenoids (a potent antioxidant). Its high fiber content is also a huge plus.The recipe I created for the Blue Hokkaido was inspired by my brother-in-law, Mike Byrne, who dropped an entire flat of pomegranates by my house this week (his work as a professional photographer has many perks, like taking home the edible set props). I couldn’t think of a better way to highlight the bright hues of the pomegranates and the squash than a colorful rice dish.
I even had some preserved lemon still left over from this summer that gave this dish even more bursts of zestiness to compliment the rich spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron.
I had bought some hazelnuts to toast and sprinkle on top but, in the race against the sun, I forgot to put them on before photographing it. I tried them later and they are a delicious way to add some protein to the dish. Try it with nuts, or don’t — either way, you’ll love it.

Spiced Rice with Blue Hokkaido Squash

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: medium
Print

MyBerkeleyBowl_Blue Hokkaido_Pomegranate Rice

1/2 cup wild rice
1 Blue Hokkaido Squash, sliced in half, seeded, and cut into 1″ cubes (leave skin on)
5 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and fresh cracked pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Spices: 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise pod, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, 5 cardamom pods, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1 pinch saffron
1 1/2 cup basmati rice
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon sea salt
Juice from 1 lemon
2/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
Seeds from one pomegranate
2/3 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts
optional: preserved lemon

Put the wild rice in a small saucepan with a lid and cover with water until the water covers the rice by 2 inches. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Cover and let rice simmer on low for about 50-60 minutes or until rice is tender but not mushy. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and set aside for later.

While wild rice is cooking, place cubed Hokkaido squash on a baking pan and drizzle with 2 Tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and fresh black pepper and toss to coat. Roast in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 3 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauteé for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic and spices and sauteé for 1-2 minutes to release the flavors in the spices. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice in the oil and spices. Add the water and 1 teaspoon sea salt and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and turn heat to low to simmer rice for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and keep the lid on to let the rice steam for an additional 10 minutes.

When ready to assemble, place the wild rice, basmati rice, lemon juice and parsley in a large bowl and toss to coat. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust seasoning. Top with the pomegranate seeds and roasted squash and toss lightly to mix through. Garnish with preserved lemon and chopped hazelnuts if desired. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.

Splendiferous Salsify Soup

October 26, 2015October 25, 201525 Comments

You probably think I’m crazy. Salsify is a food photographer’s worst nightmare. Why would I ever choose something so ugly for my blog? I have to throw out my usual hashtags of #foodporn and #veggieofthegods in place of #eatmuddysticks.If you’ve ever seen salsify at the farmers market or a specialty produce store, you probably walked right by thinking they were literally the sticks they used to dig up the real root vegetables like carrots and beets. Or perhaps you thought they were parsnips that they found at the bottom of a compost heap. So why, you ask, do I bring you a recipe for these muddy sticks instead of all the glorious fall veggies at our fingertips?

Well, reason one is because this blog is about creating yummy recipes for exotic produce, not your run-of-the-mill butternut squash. But reason two — the far better reason — is because salsify is delicious! If you get over the fact that they look like decomposed witch fingers, they are actually pearly white inside and oh so yummy. They have an earthy taste a bit like artichokes crossed with parsnip, and can be used any way you would eat other root veggies — mashed, scalloped, fried, or in soups (my favorite fall treat).If you need more convincing, here are its nutritional highlights: it beats bananas in potassium, beats almost everything in inulin (a super-special fiber that acts as a prebiotic to keep your gut healthy), is a good source of protein, iron and copper, and has some C and B vitamins to boot.I served this to my family on a beautiful fall day in Sonoma County and we sat around all conjuring up theories on salsify’s origins and relatives (my research now indicates we were waaaaay off). Turns out that salsify is in the dandelion family (if you’ve ever pulled up a giant dandelion with a big, onerous taproot from your garden, it’s not hard to see the relation). Black salsify, like the one I use in this soup, was first cultivated in Spain which is why this variety is also called Spanish Salsify and was apparently popular in the 1500’s because it was thought to ward off the plague (about as kooky a theory as not bathing to ward of the plague). Whether this will protect you from the plague next time you go to Yosemite or not, this is a wonderful, mild soup for a fall day. I hope you enjoy the balance of flavors the ingredients afford: the green apple gives it a hint of sweetness, the splash of vermouth brightens up the earthy flavor of the salsify, and the crispy salsify chips give it the bit of crunch that takes any pureed soup to the gourmet level.

BTW, if you can’t find salsify, go aheaed and give the recipe a try using parsnip — I’m sure it would be delicious!

Splendiferous Salsify Soup with Salsify Chips

Servings: 6
Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: easy-medium
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2 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 large white onion, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 salsifies, peeled and chopped, plus 1 salsify with the peel on for the chips
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 green apple, peeled, seeded and chopped
40 oz vegetable stock
1 splash of dry vermouth (or dry sherry)
1/2 cup cream
Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5-10 minutes until onion softens but does not brown. Add the celery and sauté another 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped salsify, potato, apple and sauté for 5 minutes until vegetables begin to soften. Pour in the vegetable stock and vermouth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.

While the soup simmers you can make the salsify chips. Wash and scrub the salsify and dry with a towel. Slice very finely into thin chips. Heat some cooking oil in a small pan over medium-high heat. Drop in the salsify chips and deep fry until they begin to get a bit wavy and toasted. Remove with a slotted spoon and lay them out on a paper towel to cool slightly and harden.

Next, pureé the soup until very smooth. Stir in the cream/half & half. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly cracked pepper. If you prefer your soup thinner you can add more stock. Serve hot and topped with salsify chips.

Lemongrass Coconut Ice Cream (Vegan!)

October 2, 2015October 1, 201544 Comments

You might want to sit down. Or maybe even lay down. Yes, this gelato should be eaten laying down to avoid injury when you literally pass out because it is so damn delicious.

And yet……so simple!

It is so simple in taste and in process that I’m not going to subject you to a prolix post. Here are the only facts you need to know:

Lemongrass is one of the most enchanting ingredients, with an aroma and flavor so synchronously citrusy and herbal that it keeps you wondering — and you don’t even know what you’re wondering at. It’s a member of the sugarcane family, common in Asian (especially Thai) cooking, and is perfect for infusing into liquids like….
…Coconut Milk, a.k.a. vegan panacea for former ice cream addicts. Don’t you dare buy the Lite stuff. The fat in the Good Stuff is not only healthy for you, but it also gives this concoction such a velvety, rich, creamy mouth-feel that vegan bullies might dangle you over a ledge and demand that you admit you put cream or eggs in your ice cream.
Do yourself a favor and get an ice cream maker. Like I said in the prickly pear sorbet post, I have had wonderful results from this one.

Short and sweet, as promised. I don’t want to waste your time that you could be spending making this recipe.

Lemongrass Coconut Ice Cream (Vegan!)

Servings: 6
Time: 30 mins plus chilling time
Difficulty: easy
Print

2 stalks lemongrass, sliced thinly
2 cans coconut milk (regular, not lite)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2-3 slices of fresh ginger

To prepare the lemongrass, remove the outermost layer of the stalk and then trim the ends and the base off the stalk so you are left with about 5″ of the thickest part. Give the stalk a couple of whacks with a heavy object to loosen the layers a bit and then slice them thinly.

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir gently over medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes to let the lemongrass infuse. Pour into a container and chill in the fridge for 4-8 hours.

When ready to make your ice cream, strain the mixture and throw out the contents of the strainer. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour in the strained coconut milk. Allow the ice cream maker to do its magic until you have a perfectly creamy ice cream. Serve right away or, if you like your ice cream to be more set, you can put it in a container in the freezer for an hour or two.

My Berkeley Bowl

Making my way through the exotic fruits and vegetables of the Berkeley Bowl aisles, one delicious recipe at a time

Category: Exotic Vegetables

Three Sister’s Succotash with Crispy Sage (Vegan!)

Three Sisters Succotash with Crispy Sage

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Cardoon Moroccan Stew (Vegan!)

Cardoon Moroccan Stew (Vegan!)

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Cheddar Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (Vegan!)

Cheddar Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (Vegan!)

Like this:

Kohlrabi Ramen

Kohlrabi Ramen

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Nopales con Huevos

Nopales con Huevos

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Romanesco Two Ways: Pickles and Slaw

Pickled Romanesco

Romanesco Slaw with Apples and Walnuts

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Roasted Leeks with Blood Oranges

Roasted Leeks with Blood Oranges

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Blue Hokkaido Spiced Rice

Spiced Rice with Blue Hokkaido Squash

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Splendiferous Salsify Soup

Splendiferous Salsify Soup with Salsify Chips

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Lemongrass Coconut Ice Cream (Vegan!)

Lemongrass Coconut Ice Cream (Vegan!)

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Three Sisters Succotash with Crispy Sage

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Cardoon Moroccan Stew (Vegan!)

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Cheddar Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (Vegan!)

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Kohlrabi Ramen

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Nopales con Huevos

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Pickled Romanesco

Romanesco Slaw with Apples and Walnuts

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Roasted Leeks with Blood Oranges

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Spiced Rice with Blue Hokkaido Squash

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Splendiferous Salsify Soup with Salsify Chips

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Lemongrass Coconut Ice Cream (Vegan!)

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