I Would Eat THOSE Carrots

I have learned a lot about carrots.

I confess, I do believe the first carrots I remember eating were cooked.  And I didn't like them.  But they were marginally better than the peas they were nestled amongst.  So I ate them.

Yes, I am talking about those little orange cubes that hung out with those wrinkled green balls - all lately from the freezer - that stared up at me from my childhood plate.

Who ever thought peas and carrots were a good idea?

The mush fest that taunted me from my plate, why did this seem like something that I would ever ever like?









 Turns out, it makes much more sense if THESE are the carrots someone had in mind.  These would make great peas & carrots.  Especially if you were working with fresh garden peas.

These early spring babies are sweet and crispy crunchy.  Heck, even those little buzz cut carrot tops I left on them are pretty tasty once they've been cooked.

Better yet, these babies are so tender and sweet, they don't even need a glaze.  Glazing these guys might even be a crime.  Though - after eating this early spring bounty I can see where the idea of glazing carrots came from.

"Gosh, I wish these giant stored carrots had some of the early harvest sweetness."

And let me tell you after eating these babies, those whittled "baby carrots" at the grocery store look like the false promise they are.

All you need:

Fresh, tender baby carrots.

Salt

Oil

Pan

Peeler/scrubby brush

Knife

Cut off the tops leaving an inch or two -  ASAP.  All that lovely sweetness is being eaten by the leaves.

Give them a really good scrubbing or a quick peel.  Your choice.  You can just scrape them with a knife too.

Trim the green top to about an inch or so.  Toss in a little oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and roast at 425F for about 10 min.

That's it.

Yum YUM!

Dandelion Update - "Cream-of", That Is.

Dandelions are bitter.

And water is wet, and cats shed and disdain the toys you bought for them.  I know.  Very painfully obvious stuff.

But tonight - after a bunch of Julia Child encounters, and enormous success with the

Cream of Sorrel soup, it was time to go out on a limb.

So we went for it.

Nope - just no getting around it.
Cream of Dandelion Soup
looks like all the "cream of" soups.
But they taste REALLY nice.

Step 1.  Find a place with dandelions that is not; impregnated with weed killer, too close to a road, a potty stop heaven for the neighborhood dogs.
These places are there, you just might have to think about it.

Step 2. Pick your dandelions.  Here at the height of weed season this takes all of 5 minutes.






Step 3.  Clean them.  This takes a bit longer.  Dandelions are not eaten all that much by insect life, but they hang out there.  And depending on how you picked yours, they may be a bit muddy.  So give them 2 or 3 washes in changes of water - and then spin or pat them dry.

And you can catch your son snitching the flowers to eat.
(If he's weird like mine.)
Or dip them in fritter batter and fry them.

Step 4.  Cut them up well. And get out the hand blender - as these leaves are heartier, and will need major mechanical assistance to break down.  (Unlike the sorrel which simply disintegrated into the soup - more or less.)

Go back and follow the Potage Feuilles de Printemps recipe.  But bring along the champagne vinegar.  And whatever you do, don't forget the salt.  This one needs both.

After you've made this soup... now you are ready for lots more stuff.  Maybe not ANYthing, but the veggies are not going to scare you any more.

Hardware Gin - Easy on the Palate

One distillery and Two intriguing gins; 

The Hardware Distillery out of Hoodsport, OR - I have to thank them for coming all the way up for the Meet Your Maker event in Seattle.  (That was a worm-drowner of a day).

For I was lucky enough to sample their two completely unique gins.

The first I tasted, the Crabby Gin, was easy on the palate - and I would certainly enjoy as a Martini - with those bright green buttery olives (Castelvetrano in case you were wondering).
It is billed as pairing with Dungeness Crab.  And as a woman who thinks Champagne and Crab is the end-all-be-all of food and wine pairing, I will take them up on this.

Distilled from the usual grain - but also cranberry and pear - the fruit comes across in a gentle, light gin.  It is unique in the group where gins tend toward either citrus forward, flowery or straight up declarations of juniper.  I love all kinds - well the best of their kinds - and Crabby Ginny is certainly an enjoyable new kind.

Second, the R Gin - co called because it harkens back to "the months oysters are good" - is made from barley cold smoked in an Oyster Smoking house.  R Gin was developed (partly) to pair with oysters.  Hmmmm.  I'll have to wonder about that... not having had any oysters on hand at the time.

But in the meantime - it screamed at me to be made into a Gibson.  But not with any ol' cocktail onion.  It needed a scorched onion.  Thus it is a Scorched Gibson if you will.  (2+ oz. gin shaken with ice and served in a Martini glass rinsed with Vermouth - or your favored ratio).

So I burned the heck out of some lightly oiled green onions, rolled them up and sent them for swim in a pickling liquid made of dry vermouth, rice vinegar and salt.

It was a wonder.

OK... I'm the first to admit,
the scorched scallions need some pretty-ing up
for presentation.  But they taste lovely.

To quick pickle some Scorched Scallions:

1. Get a jar usefully sterile.
Choose a small jar with a lid - small canning jars are perfect.
Place the clean jar and lid in a small sauce pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil for two minutes and then leave it at a simmer (or lower) until it is time to use it.

2. Prepare the Pickling liquid
In a sauce pan add
1/2 C dry vermouth
1/2 C rice vinegar
1 Tbs salt

Bring to a boil for a minute and
Return to a simmer until you are ready to use it.

3. Toss some scallions in a little oil
4. Scorch over a grill/grill pan or under the broiler.  Keep an eye on them - it happens pretty quickly.

5.  Roll up the scallions and tie them together with the long green ends or stab through with a toothpick.

6. Use tongs to remove the jar from the hot water.  Place the rolled scorched onions in the jar.
Fill with the hot pickling liquid.  Close the jar, let it cool, place in the fridge for a few days or a week.

Potage Feuilles de Printemps

Cream Soup of Spring Leaves
(Thank You HS French + food-mad vocab)

Sounds Mad, it does.  What a messy, general, non-specific title.

But - as I alternate between long sleeves, sweater, fleece and a wind breaker and then Short Sleeves as a cloud moves, and then back to rain jacket as the rain falls - a hearty, warming, soothing, absolutely delicious soup seems just the thing.  Especially one that is the fruits (or leaves) of spring.

I've stared at Julia Child's Cream of Sorrel Soup for years.  Literally Years!

Yes... this is my mom's, butter stains and all.

And it seems over complicated.  But as I was turning chicken scraps from my freezer into stock (yeah.... I was going all out for this one), I broke it down into language I could see.  And it really turned out to be easy.

And then when I  got to the end... and it was time to make the toasty cheese sandwiches - but the soup needed a bit of fussing about with salt - and I was able to turn it over to the 5th grader...

Yeah it is worth is - and the soup makes total sense on a blustery spring evening.

So how to do this?

Prep - get the stock on the heat - close to a boil.  Clean your leaves - and cut them up in chiffonade or chopped to smithereens.
Measure everything out.  Mix the 1/2 C milk/cream with the 2 egg yolks.

Now it will be easy.


1/3 C onions or green garlic
cook it to soft in
3 Tbs butter

then make a white roux by stirring in the
3Tbs flour (interesting note - just needs to be starch - wheat is NOT essential)
and cooking for about 3 min to toast the starch - or whatever sort.

Stir in the 3-4 C chopped leaves - and maybe a ladleful of hot stock.  Coat with the roux (starch-butter-onion mixture) and keep stirring until the leaves are completely collapsed and maybe falling apart.

Add in the 5 1/2 C stock a bit at a time, so the roux stirs in and is not lumpy.

Stir 2 ladles of the soup into the egg+cream mixture.  Take the soup off the heat - and stir the tempered egg mixture back into the soup.

If it is not rich and creamy enough - stir in a little more butter.
Taste and check for salt.  This would be a bland, boring disappointing soup if not salted correctly.  I had a 5th grader check it for me (see above).

If photographing for FB or Pinterest, or serving for an important dinner with you S/O's boss, decorate with leaves.

Otherwise, eat as you listen to the rain drum on the roof.

Spring: Sorrel & Garlic

Farmers markets are right around the corner.

But in the meantime, my sorrel plants are living up to their billing - tough, willing to put up with my benign neglect, and first to sprout back up out of their roots.

Honest - all I did was leave them alone all winter.

Sorrel is the pleasant tonic of the spring plants.  While dandelion is super good for you (the whole reason it was imported by our fore bearers ) it is BITTER.  Sorrel has many of the same vitamin benefits, but its plentiful Vitamin C and oxalic acid give it a bracing sour flavor.  Lemony even!

But other than throwing it into a green smoothie - what to do?

It is still pretty wintery in terms of the food that's growing.  So that means chives and radishes.  (Those greenhouse people - they are doing much better.)

That means it is still pantry food time.  And what lives in the pantry?  Beans!  

Dried or canned beans are plentiful.  As we keep hearing, they are healthy, easy and full of good stuff.  But lets face it, plain beans are BLAND!

No problem - that also means they are begging for something with a big punch of flavor to be stirred in.  So when the Farmers Markets get rolling - and you see the dried beans for sale - you'll be able to see the other things - dried chiles, garlic (and if you are lucky, sorrel) in the right context.  These are here to bring those beans to life.  

In fact many of the cuisines of the world eat beans for breakfast - and hit them up with something flavorful and/or spicy to punch them up.  (see below for a few examples*)

But I'm specifically taking on the traditional breakfast food of Egypt - fūl medames.  Usually this is mature fava beans (they are tan or cream colored) cooked until soft, then flavored with 1. lemon, 2. raw garlic, 3. cumin, 4. olive oil, 5. salt and maybe 6. a pinch of pepper or cayenne.  

Eat with flat bread.

Perfect: along with the pantry beans, #2 over winters, #3 is in the spice cabinet, #4 pantry, #5 & #6 easy easy.  Ooooh, but lemon?  Oh, right how about a big handful of sorrel chopped to smithereens?  

Bingo.

I had fava beans in the pantry, but chickpeas/garbanzo beans are a fine replacement.  Both are starchy beans with a pleasant toasty flavor.  Split favas are nice because they cook up to a nice ready-to-mash-consistency in about 45 min, whereas dried chickpeas can take up to 3 hours. 

But there is no shame in canned.  Those only need about 15min on the stove to get to the right consistency.  (They do have those outer skins, but they are edible so you can just ignore them.)

So for a tasty, filling breakfast or lunch here's what to do:
(By the way - you can cook these beans while doing other dinner prep the night - or several nights before.  And this is a tasty dish that can happily go for a few lunches.)

Sorrel-for-Lemon Fūl Medames

Ingredients:
sorrel leaves - 1/2 to 1 C
garlic cloves - 4
ground cumin - 2 tsp
olive oil (the tasty kind) - 2 to 4 Tbs (to taste)
cayenne pepper - a pinch or 2
salt - to taste

mature fava or garbanzo beans cooked very soft (instructions below) - about 2 C
water

Equipment:
blender or food processor (or cutting board & knife)
measuring cups and spoons

sauce pan for cooking beans
colander for draining beans (or pan lid)

Prep:
Cook your beans - this can be done the night before, several days before, or even longer - you can freeze cooked beans.  (Some people say they get a little mealy - but since you are mashing them it doesn't matter.)

From dried beans:
Favas -  Pour 1 C dried split favas into the sauce pan.  Add water to rinse.  Rub them together to release any loose powder/starch.  Drain.  Add about 4 C water.  Bring to a boil.  Skim off the scum. Simmer for about 45 min or until the beans mash easily with a fork.

Garbanzos/Chick Peas - do the same, though they can take up to 3 hours.  Shorten the cook time with an overnight soak.

From canned beans:

Garbanzos/Chick Peas - use 2  14.5 oz. cans.  Drain in a colander and give the a quick rinse.  Place in a sauce pan, cover with water.  Bring to a boil. Skim off the scum. Simmer for about 15 min or until the beans mash easily with a fork.

Favas - do the same.

Cook:

Add the sorrel, garlic, and spices to the blender.  Add 2 Tbs of olive oil.  Chop finely.  Taste for oil and salt.  Blend until well mixed.

This is great over chicken or fish or eggs!

Partially mash the beans - and add in the green sauce.  Enjoy with rice, flat bread, sun dried tomatoes, polenta - whatever your little heart desires.

Here's what it looks like with the garbanzos.

*Some Wildly Overgeneralized Generalizations:
(legumes for breakfast)

Costa Rica - Beans & Rice for breakfast with the (in)famous Salsa Lazano
Japan - the notorious, but undeniably strongly flavored, natto (fermented soy beans)
Mexico - refritos with sausage, chicken or pulled pork and some salsa/pico de gallo
India - spicy dahl (lentils) over rice.
and so on.