June 20, 2008

braised baby turnips

I think baby-anything is cuter than its adult version. Puppies, kittens, baby seals, baby pandas, regular people babies. Baby vegetables, especially turnips, are cuter than their adult counterparts too - just look at these baby turnips - aren't they just adorable?

Just look at them - aren't they adorable? So little and white and perfectly-rounded - bursting with spring freshness! As soon as I saw them at the market, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them and it wasn't anything complicated. Why mess with perfection?

So what I did was a simple braise - in olive oil and lemon juice with a few garlic cloves thrown in for flavor. Some herbes de Provence a little salt and white pepper - and that's it. And then I had the turnips with a little white wine, closing my eyes in bliss. They didn't taste of the earth like mature turnips do, but of the sun and rain, filled with juice, bursting with a sweet flavor - unhardened by the seasons and the temperature. Babies they were - so unpolluted and pure - and so darn cute on my plate, I almost paused to eat them. Almost, of course. And then a few minutes later, they were gone, with a lemony taste lingering in my mouth for a few more moments.

January 03, 2008

sauteed brussels sprouts with onions and lemon zest

Happy belated New Year to everyone - I included the picture above because the lemon zest looked so much like confetti, it reminded me of a celebration! I've been quite absent from regular posting having had an unprecedented month of work, travel, being sick.

I've been cooking not as often as I'd like. It's been cold. We've been attending holiday this and holiday that. We went to Texas and ate barbecue and I lost my voice and had to get antibiotics and was called for the rest of the trip the Christmas Mime (because I could mime oh-so-expressively). So one of the New Year's resolutions is to post more regularly! And take better pictures. And get some more camera equipment like a sexy macro lens I've been eyeing and a flash! All thanks to a more than generous B&H gift certificate from KS's dad's family, I can now indulge in those items! Oh, I can't wait!

There are also design tweaks in the works. They're so late in arrival that I wanted to keep this an absolute secret from you, but I am hoping that very soon, you'll see a much sleeker version of SassyRadish!

Some other resolutions involve my being more web savvy, learning CSS, understanding the intricacies of MT 4.0 and becoming my very own web designer extraordinaire! With the new addition to our household, our iMac looks very inviting and promising, if this can't make me more design-literate, all hope is then lost.

I know that I've already written about Brussels sprouts recently and it's one of those been-there-done-that stories, but really I can't get enough of those miniature cabbages! They are soooo cute! And soooo good! And as one of my resolutions last year was to use the produce already in my fridge, no matter how much the glossy recipes call to me. And so with five pounds of Brussels sprouts from Satur farms, something had to be done. Half of them went into the recipe here, and another half became part of the chicken stew I'll write about soon.

What are some of your New Year's resolutions? And what would you like to see on this site? Could be more recipes of a specific type, like "More Russian food!" or better functionality (like a recipe index!) or better photography, punchier writing, or something else! Please give suggestions and don't be worried about hurting my feelings. If there's something about the site that drives you crazy, let me know as well!

November 21, 2007

sauteed brussels sprouts

Well, it’s the night before Thanksgiving. I’m not sure what happened between October 31 and today, but whoo-boy did it go fast. I look back and all that I can clearly remember is working a lot, getting’ down at a couple of bar mitzvahs (I vaguely recall something about tequila shots) all this peppered with infrequent gym visits and some hours, not nearly enough to my liking, spent in the kitchen under the glowing artificial light. I’ve been talking to my lens a lot too – I’m trying to make it do things it’s simply not designed to, and alas, this awesome, great lens will someday be mine, but for its hefty price tag, not just yet. And a good flash would be a great thing too, but also in due time.

For a Russian expat, I took to Thanksgiving like a fish in water. Our first year in America, I made my mother have a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner. We cooked our turkey, but unfortunately, in our ignorance and poverty, we used only a pop-up timer cooking a free turkey that my Dad received from his employer. Needless to say, the turkey (being free and pumped with hormones and whatever, in addition to the timer that guarantees your turkey will be dry) tasted like pressed wood chips and we decided that Americans were silly for having to consume this crap year in and year out. And yet, we persisted in cooking the turkey each November, never quite getting the desired results until I found that magic recipe – that silver bullet. Oh, I’ll be writing up about that too.

For various reasons, the holiday has been a favorite of mine, not the least of which is because my favorite foods are served at the dinner table. But really, a holiday that has nothing to do with shopping, or presents, or the ever-growing consumerism – a holiday that focuses on togetherness and gratitude, what’s not to love? For years now, I’ve hosted Thanksgiving dinners for friends, first in college, and then later in New York. Each year the party would grow larger and larger until last year, when it all culminated with a thirty-one person feast! And this year? Well, work got the best of me. I’m sad to report, that I am one tired radish. And so I didn’t want to make plans, or commit, or host or do anything. I wanted to play it by ear and a few days ago KS and I decided to have a Thanksgiving for two. Just us, the turkey and a few other favorite dishes of ours. We’re very excited and we can’t wait to make all that delicious food. In fact, the cranberry sauce is already hanging out in the fridge, waiting to meet its turkey.

I hope you all have a wonderful, delicious and comforting holiday. I wish you all moist, juicy turkeys, flavorful stuffings, oozing, delicious pies. Below is one of my favorite recipes for Brussels sprouts, which I’ll be cooking up tomorrow, albeit in a different form, but this dish, which can be prepared minutes before you sit down to dinner, makes for a delicious side. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 07, 2007

spicy swiss chard

Oh people, I tell you don’t mess with a good thing when you know you have one. It’s like this – you have this amazing, perfect food that is best at its simplest preparation, and you love making it and in fact you make it all the time, but always feel a bit of a cheat. I mean, take for instance Swiss chard – perhaps one of my and KS’s favorite vegetables. We eat it a few times a month and our method has most often been steaming it. With washing and trimming off the stems, the whole process takes a few minutes, no more. We sprinkle a bit of salt over our steamed chard and eat it plain as a side to our meals. It’s a “meaty” green and tastes best, to us anyway, this way.

But I always feel as if I’m cheating and being lazy. Anyone can steam chard – it’s not exactly cooking, nor is it particularly “sexy” blog material. No one will read about steamed chard and rush to the kitchen to make it – it’s as easy as it gets, a “duh” of the recipes – too embarrassingly simple to write about. But it seems to be that the “duh” is the hidden “aha” in this case.

The trouble was that this dish was like a good thing gone bad. Or as KS put it, I took a good, clean, wholesome dish, and turned it into a cheap, street hussy. And that's kind of how I felt about it too - Swiss chard went from noble to common.

This recipe here was all kinds of wrong – the sauce was overpowering, it took over chard’s natural taste and flavor and as a result, neither the sauce, nor the chard were all that noteworthy. A disaster it was not, but really, it was a disappointment all around. Food Network, (Bobby Flay, even though this wasn't your recipe, I'm looking at you!) I was hoping for a better recipe. I suppose a lesson learned here is that sometimes the simplest is really the best. Tomorrow, I will tell you about what happens when you mess with a classic, tried-and-true recipe by getting that last minute “creativity” spark – nothing good to say the least, but for that, you’ll have to tune in tomorrow. I hope the cooking blunders will stop at that for awhile.

October 24, 2007

roasted acorn squash with a wine reduction sauce

It never ceases to shock me that KS and I will disagree on food likes and dislikes. I naturally assume that we’re so well-suited that it’s simply impossible for me to like, nay love tomatoes, and for him to be tolerant of them. As a child, I would eat ripe tomatoes like one would eat apples, biting into them hungrily and devouring them with but a sprinkling of salt. KS looks at tomatoes as good and sometimes delicious even (when we find a good heirloom variety in season), but he would hardly trip over himself running to the market to find the best tomatoes available. Same with deep, dark chocolate desserts. I look at molten chocolate cake and I can’t help myself (kind of like last night at the New York Chapter MS Society Dinner of Champions where I devoured a cake in no time). A spoonful of it in my mouth is one of the closest heaven-on-earth moments I’ve experience. KS, on the other hand, can have a bite and push the plate over to me. How can one be so calm and composed about chocolate I will never, ever know. I suppose there’s always more of it left for me!

And so when we went to the market and I picked up a butternut squash, impatiently imagining all the amazing things I could do with it, KS gave me a bored look and pointed to the acorn squash. I shot the look right back and pointed to the butternut. He – to the acorn. And thus we repeated the process a few times, until I gave in and picked up the acorn squash, making him promise me that our next squash will be a butternut one. Compromise, after all, is one of the magical things that makes cohabitation possible.

After our pact to practice equal opportunity squash treatment, this little, cute acorn squash came home with us and lived on our counter for a few days while I devised a plan for its demise. I didn’t want to just roast it. And we’ve already steamed our fair share of acorn squash (we put our steamer to some good use). I would look at the squash, tilting my head from side to side, thinking, “What am I going to do with you?” And this idea came to mind, plus we had some leftover couscous that I didn’t want to go to waste. All in all, I love the idea of stuffed squash – it’s easy, delicious and it looks gorgeous on a plate. And while acorn squash is tasty and almost meaty-tasting when you roast it, I cannot wait to make the butternut this week. Maybe I’ll get KS to switch sides of this squash disparity and join the butternuts. I am always so hopeful.

September 25, 2007

of no particular consequence whereupon i long for a lens, get rid of white rice and get fed delicious beans

Are you liking the interminable titles yet?

I’ve gotten spoiled by KS lately, who has been making me dinner when I get home from a late night at work or even later after a gym session. I think that when you get home at 8:30pm, I am not very drawn to my kitchen. Instead, I want to eat and be done with it all by 9pm. To make the matters more difficult, we have officially entered the autumn season as now days are shorter than nights (Hello, fall!) and unless I break down and get one of the funky flash attachments, I am going to be looking at pictures of sweaty, glistening food (gross!). And let me tell you, food that has that flash glow is just not appetizing. Not on pictures anyway.

But as much as I am going to lament my camera equipment deficiencies, I’m not going to budge and buy the pricey equipment just yet since purchasing $750 lenses while living on one income is a tad frivolous. I will sigh and swoon every time I look at B&H website, but I’ll hold my ground. Lens, oh beautiful, lovely, stunning lens - wait for me. You are now on my Wish List, and thus you know I have eyes only for you, but be patient, my lovely – we’ll be together soon!

But back to dinner – cooking at 8:30pm just doesn’t entice me, does that make me lazy? Hopefully not, especially, if KS gets to flex his creative muscle in the kitchen for you all to see. He is much more of a practical cook than I am, using what he has at his disposal, whereas I will get ideas from perusing an site after site after site. Not to mention blogs that give constant inspiration!

With the meal KS made last week of basmati rice and stewed beans with vegetables and herbs, we finally completed our white rice supply. No more white rice. The only rice that will cross our threshold now will be brown. Or wild. But not white. Did I mention we no longer stock white sugar either? It’s all either turbinado or demerara at Chez Radish. It's like we've become food racists!

The beans with vegetables and herbs were tremendous – the aroma of cooked cilantro and garlic was so seductive, I resisted the urge to lick my bowl clean. I mean, I already have food hands, I should probably try to maintain some decorum while eating. And it’s always good to take a break from animal-based protein. I often find meat or chicken too heavy for consumption at night. And the beans, I’m certain, can be served over just about any rice, or grain or even couscous, if you want to have some kind of a starch. Alternatively, you could just spread the beans over a toasted piece of rustic garlic-rubbed bread and enjoy a variation on a traditional bruschetta.

September 22, 2007

where carrots meet atonement

It’s Yom Kippur today, so why am I writing about food? Well, last night while figuring out our dinner options we were trying to come up with a quick and tasty way to use our carrots, which were hanging out happily in the fridge, but a few more days and Yom Kippur today and my Sunday business trip (Sunday, I know), it was either now or never with these carrots.

Now, I’m pretty weird when it comes to carrots. I love them raw and I love them in things like chicken soup. In fact, as a kid I loved carrots in my soup so much that my mom would always put in extra carrots in my bowl and they would be the first things I would eat. I think I even made up a song about eating carrots in my soup. The blurry memory is lazily rolling around in my head, but luckily I can’t remember the song! And yet, when my mom made stewed carrots (tzimmes), I would refuse to touch the mushy, orange mess on my plate. Boiled soup carrots were fine, but the stewed carrots were not. I’m still fickle with my carrots, not to such an extent, but some cooked carrots I won’t go near.

I’ve got to confess I’ve cooked nary a thing this week. It’s been a confluence of events – my office relocated further uptown and east, and coming from Tribeca has managed to make my work commute 45 minutes door to door. I know, living in Manhattan and spending 45 minutes each day twice a day commuting, is pretty sad. And work has picked up so much. There are meetings and conference calls and business trips and of course work that you do at your desk to add!! So when I would come home at 7:30 or later, my lovely KS had dinner waiting for me – so the next few entries will be about his magical and filling concoctions. We’d eat, and by 8:30, I’d be pretty much a tired, lackluster monkey.

Ah, but the carrots! I thought, at first, to shred them and mix them with a generous serving of freshly chopped garlic, some raisins and olive oil. But then my heart (and stomach) earned for something warm. Since I just told you about my cooked carrot dislike, you understand my conundrum. And then, a little idea appeared in my head and I was all aflutter – I could warm the carrots with some sesame oil and sesame seeds and voila – I’ll have a meal I like. I added some garlic to the carrots along with a little bit of curry mix. Some salt, a couple of minced dates, and the warmed carrots were done. The whole process grating and all took about 15 minutes. How’s that for dinner in a hurry? We ate our carrots with the remnants of the picadillo KS made the night before. While I liked my carrots just fine, KS loved the orangey warmth. The trick is to just warm the carrots and not cook them – this way you preserve the texture and taste of raw carrots, but give it a little more of that fall comfort. Looking back, I would have added a dash of cinnamon. And if we had any cilantro, the dish would have sparkled even more! But in no time, we ate a tasty dish and salvaged the contents of our crisper!

And now that I’m sufficiently hungry, Yom Kippur seems even longer to me. Fasting isn’t a food blogger’s strongest suit. How long will I last? I have low expectations for myself!

September 12, 2007

food hands

Sometimes I have this elaborate story to tell you about how this or that recipe came to me. And at other times, I don’t. I have cravings I cannot quite rationalize, I then will literally dream about the dish and the next day I must make it or hell will freeze over.

KS has by now learned not to argue with my cravings. Even at times when we have other food in the fridge practically going to waste – if I get that look in my eyes, all bets are off. It’s on occasions like these that I develop what he calls “food hands”. I’d be shoving a forkful of food in my mouth and hear him say under his breath, “Foodhands!!” For the readers scratching their heads over the term, imagine, if you will, preternatural hand speed made popular in the Matrix series, but focused on food consumption as opposed to hacking your enemy to bits. Food hands seem to say, “Come near me and my food, and scary things might happen to you.” Apparently, my diminutive stature is very deceiving when it comes to feeding myself.

After our SC sojourn, I’ve been craving large lima beans, the kind you soak over night and cook for over an hour the next day. The kind that when expand are as big as well-sized almonds. They’re also often called butter beans, and in my lexicon they’re called “edible bliss”. They are indeed very buttery, earthy, filling and definitely satisfying. They’re my favorite bean in the whole wide world and I could probably eat them if not every day, then very often indeed.

And that’s about all on these beans. With the abundant and sinfully good tomatoes we have in season right now, these beans are simply heavenly. And with fall creeping up on us, they’re somewhat of a good segue into the season. A little earthy and yet when eaten cold the next day (that is if you have leftovers) – a little summery. Or if you want to puree them in a food processor and serve warm, drizzled with some good olive oil, they’re heavenly on crostini.

Of course, with a dish this good – you too could develop food hands. And then your loved ones might be in danger.

July 20, 2007

tabloid envy

Oh man, sometimes I get into the mode when I want to write about a recipe and words just flow, you know. And sometimes, I make a dish and it is heavenly. And I can’t wait to share it with all of you. And then – my mind goes all fragmenty and vacant. I write a few pieces and nothing quite flows and I scrap the whole thing and begin all over again. And this recipe is one of them.

And yet I cannot figure out why – because if anything this dish is so amazing, easy, delicious and healthy that I should have no problem singing it praises. I should just feel so inspired by the fact that there is nothing about this dish not worth noting, but instead I look at the pictures, salivate a bit and go back to the blank sheet to type something, anything that might induce a bit of sex-appeal for the dish. You know, every dish wants to be sexy in some way or another. It needs to have its edge, its je ne sais quoi, its mojo!

But here’s the rub – if say gossip magazines were loaded with nothing but positive and wonderful news of celebrities, the gossip magazine industry as we know it would cease to exist. Or sell a lot fewer magazines. Because people like to read stories with a little bit of hair on them. No one wants to read a happy-go-lucky story. We eat up negative tabloid news like nothing else - and someone's making a mint on this! Some actress falling off the wagon and the next day a picture of her passed out in her car is front pages news; an innocent looking heartthrob getting caught with a hooker in an alley; a cherubic, stunning model videotaped doing cocaine. This is the stuff that really propels the sales into the stratosphere. I guess because this dish is the equivalent of a Meryl Streep celebrity-type, there's little edge that it has. Talented, elegant, appealing, but not in the least bit scandalous or mysterious – when was the last time you read about Meryl in People, US Weekly, or OK?

I guess the missive is this – unless you dislike any of the ingredients listed, you need to make this dish. Soon. And if you dislike, pine nuts for example, just take them out and make the dish without them. I suppose if you don’t like zucchini, then you’re pretty much out of luck as the rest of the dish goes out the window, but few people I know dislike zucchini. In fact, no one I know, dislikes it.

So, it’s quite simple, you see. Make the dish. Taste for yourself. And let me know if you don’t love it – because I’ve yet to make this and have leftovers the next day. And there you have it, short, sweet, to the point. Nothing controversial about stuffed zucchini (unless you want to make a juvenile crack about me saying "stuffed") – but I tried to come up with something zany for you, and it amounted to nothing. I suppose this would make me a failure at a tabloid magazine – I like happy stories both in print and on my plate!

July 11, 2007

good things, but i digress

As a child, I once attempted to eat a daisy. My younger cousin, who was my opposite in each and every way (I liked to cook, she didn’t; I liked sitting quietly and reading, she liked to run around and climb tress) wryly noted that only cows ate daisies. People don’t eat flowers, she said. She had a point.

It wasn’t until Martha Stewart’s beautiful how-to on making candied flowers to decorate cupcakes that I actually entertained thoughts of once again putting a flower in my mouth. They were pretty and sparkly, almost jewel-like in their crystallized splendor. And while I stayed indifferent to cupcakes for many years thereafter, candied flowers were always a weak spot. Was it the aesthetic? Having tried my hand at these candied flowers awhile back, I have to say to you this – Martha, good things or otherwise, has too much time on her hands. On second thought, this is her empire, what she makes her living on. Me? I just try to make dinner a few nights a week when I get home from work/gym/fill-in-the-blank-errand-of-your-choice so that I could photograph and write about it as some not terribly distant future. Oh yeah, and I use flash. Like, a lot. Because poor souls like me actually have office jobs, and not trying to discover the next “good thing” (Radish Mice? Is this idea cool or what? And why didn't I think of it?). But I digress. Back to the story now.

A few years ago, I saw fried zucchini flowers on a restaurant menu, and had to try them – they were delicious. A love at first bite, I wanted to make them at home the next day! The only problem was that I couldn’t find them in the store, or at the farmers market – apparently the chef got them from a farmer friend of his as a favor. The zucchini flowers are very seasonal and up until now, haven’t crossed my path. That is until my last grocery order – when I saw them and pretty much assembled a basked of highly perishable produce (more on that later!) just so I could get my hands on these beautiful, delicate golden-yellow blossoms

KS seemed somewhat excited about these when I told him I was going to make him fried zucchini blossoms, but understandably he wasn’t jumping out of his seat until he tried them and found them as tasty as I do! These are so easy to make, I feel almost ashamed writing about it, but perhaps that’s sort of the point – good food can and should be simple. And that’s a good thing.

June 30, 2007

urban farming - part three

I know, I know, more garden updates, but every week there is something new. Like nice, new, round little tomatoes, or oblong tomatoes - but they're there and growing and getting bigger by the minute.

We counted over 20 tomatoes on one of our plants - that is how many our eyes could see. But there are tons more other flowers, which means, more little tomatoes in the works!!

And people, we have two pickles already growing and resembling edible stuff. Two. Pickles. Where they there a few days ago? No. But one day we were watering the plants and this guy was just hanging out staring right at us. We were speechless before we felt giddy.

The squash is out of control. Perhaps because they feel late to this garden party (they were planted a few weeks later) and the seeds lay dormant in the soil, they want to fit in, catch up on their growth, and show the other plants what they've got. For reasons unknown to us, the squash growth is beyond anything we expected and would've believed had someone told us what to expect. We would have chucked it to slight exaggeration. But I am telling you - the squash and the cucumbers continue to impress our doubting minds.

So there we have it: our vegetables, like our herbs, are thriving, but I decided so spare you another shot of basil or sage - I just wanted to show you our budding little harvest - I can't wait to see what happens this week!

June 23, 2007

urban farming continues

I know it seems a bit too soon to post about how the garden is doing, but things have changed so much so soon, I feel like I should share with you about our (ahem KS’s success) and greenies’ progress. Well, I am happy to report that everything is going swimmingly and things are growing like there’s no tomorrow and they’re just gunning it down. It’s like a race to the harvest line out there.

We have a new addition to our “family” so to speak – the squashes. They’re a peaceful and quiet family that’s growing in a window box they will very soon outgrow. We are in the process of finding the appropriate real estate as not to make them feel improperly housed. They are cute and little and have just emerged from the soil all at once it seems. I suppose they’re a tight-knit bunch.

I’ve dubbed myself as the absentee mother because a few days might pass before I take a look at our garden, sometimes too busy with work and sometimes cognizant that KS will water them. I’ve felt pangs of guilt in the last few days and have made a resolution to spend more time with the plants – giving them their much-needed love.

But as you can see from the pictures, things are glorious, green, and growing! And while I am treasuring each new day of this beautiful weather, a part of me just wants to fast forward to see what our harvest will look like.

We need more “stuff” for the garden. Larger window boxes, pots and perhaps a more environmentally friendly bug spray – ours is some kind of an organic soap that makes them slide off, but I want to find something really truly safe. Something I could make at home, but don’t have to make at home.

All in all, this garden is making me and KS realize a few things. Like our love of the land and soil and enjoying the ‘farming’ process – if you can call it such at this point in the stage. What does this mean about us? I’m not sure. But the garden continues to provide this elusive feeling of zen – there is something about this process that is so calming and grounding (pardon the pun) – that it is difficult to put into words. Sure we giggle with glee at the sight of a new leaf or a new flower, or seeing that little tomato grow bigger and bigger, but there’s more to it. I am, for one, amazed at the thrust of life on our deck. The push, the need, the sheer fortitude of these plants to procreate, grow, get bigger, produce fruit – it’s the strongest force of life I’ve ever observed – and perhaps this all sounds trite and sugary, but I really don’t mean for it to be. I am just excited that a month ago, we planted the seeds, potted the plants. And today we have a thriving little garden growing on our roof in New York. Urban gardening at its inception stages – who knows where we’ll take this project of ours?

Radish's note: Even though I have just posted a few days ago about the garden, the pictures you saw were at least 2 weeks old. The pictures in today's entry were taken by the insomniac me around 6:30 in the morning - yes, I know, I should sleep at this time, but who can sleep with such glorious sun pouring its rays everywhere?

June 18, 2007

the greenest thumb

I’ve never been a plant girl. Never quite understood what the fuss was about. You know, those things growing in pots, and you have to water them. Unlike with a dog or a cat, plants give you no love, they never cuddle next to you, and if they die, you might feel a hint of remorse, but chances are, you aren’t going to go into a month-long mourning because your lucky bamboo plant just didn’t make it.

So I never had much desire to purchase plants and besides the Japanese peace lily, all thanks to Hot Fuzz, I haven’t owned plants since living with my parents, and that was a long time ago. But I a garden. And I don’t mean a basil here and a rosemary here – I mean, I wanted a harvest. Things I can make into a salad, or pickle, or snack on.

And so in the dead of winter when KS and I talked of making better use of the upstairs deck when it finally warms up, we tossed around the idea of growing some herbs and vegetables come springtime. But who knew this was indeed going to become a reality – one that is blooming and showing us promises of summer’s bounty?

Over Mother’s Day weekend, we stopped by a nursery in Westchester and picked up all kinds of little green guys, gravel, planting soil, pots, organic plant food, and seeds. As soon as the plants were over at our apartment, we got to work. We planted during the dark, with limited light, often groping our way through this process. Neither one of us has ever really planted before, or grown vegetable from scratch, but we were excited and eager.

For the first week or so, things looked grim. Our plants were drying out, looking limp and on the brink of death. We watered them with great care, only at night, we talked to them, we mixed their soil, but to no avail. The herbs and vegetables were looking less and less like plants that were going to give us a harvest at the end of the summer – they were about to meet their maker! One of the plants, an alpine strawberry bush, gave up the fight. We used it as compost for one of the tomato plant, hoping that it’s what the strawberry bush would have wanted.

But then something happened, and I give credit solely to KS, who lovingly tended to the plants daily. Upon getting home from work, he would immediately go upstairs and water, plant, weed, fertilize and tend. One day he came down and said he couldn’t believe his eyes – the very basil and sage that were drying up and turning into straw days before, were strong, verdant and bushier than ever. He even plucked a few leaves of the basil for us to use!

Over the next few days the plants really took off. Peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers began to flower. Parsley that was all but dead, turned the brightest shade of green imaginable. Cilantro perked up. Sage grew another layer of fuzzy leaves. In short, our little almost-herbarium became something of a miniature Eden. And every day when we climb the stairs to the roof, we find more green leaves on each plant, more flowers, more promise of vegetables to come. The cucumbers, in particular, are growing as a frightening speed, almost doubling in size each day. And while it sounds a bit hoaky, we’ve turned into a bit of nerdy farmers in our after work past time. We’re delighted to see each new leaf and each new flower. And while plants might not look all that different from day to day, to us, who monitor them with a meticulous eye, they show something new every day. I have never thought that watching plants grow, plants that I am tending to, would be such a personally rewarding and thrilling process, but it is. I cannot imagine not doing this again and again. And expanding our garden to perhaps include a lemon tree, or a squash (already in the making). Who knows – by the end of summer, you might see pictures of things KS and I grew ourselves, on a rooftop of a downtown New York apartment – a little idyll of our own bearing fruit.

December 20, 2006

ignoring all things atkins-related

Sunday morning was not a gentle awakening to some. Some of us, and it wasn't yours truly, were recovering from a night of mixing rum, tequila and karaoke in one headache-inducing cocktail, making a solid, hangover-recovery breakfast (or lunch, in our case) an imperative cure.

Being that grease and starch go hand in hand to ease the next morning ache, and that Hannukah is upon us in full force, I thought it would be appropriate to fry some grated potatoes in oil and serve it up with sour cream. Latkes - were the main reason for the last minute, yet festive Sunday afternoon meal. For good measure, to round out the offering, I threw in some French toast, and some artisanal cheeses, Humboldt Fog*** among the selection.

Over the years, I've collected quite a few nouveau latke recipes. There are the zucchini and dill ones, the sweet potato and chili and cumin ones, the yellow squash and Parmesan ones and so on. I have about half a dozen and these are just the ones I've decided to keep
after trying all the recipes that came my way.

However, during Hannukah, nothing quite speaks to me like a plain, traditional latke - a recipe so simple, it seems almost lazy. I don't even add onions or pepper to mine - I like the plain taste of salted, crispy potato so much! And so, after a quick consultation with my mom, I went straight to business. I avoided pureeing my potatoes in a Cuisinart, as that gives a bit of a soggy feel, and instead opted to grate the potatoes on the coarse side of the grater, by hand. I did a bit of approximating with other ingredients as the proportions are never quite exact - the starchiness of potatoes varies and it's the consistency you're after!

The result was nothing short of delicious - the latkes came out crispy on the edges and perfectly browned. I only wish I had photographic evidence, but my beloved SRL was left on the Upper East Side this weekend, while I stayed in Tribeca. Apologies to everyone for lack of original photography with this post. I am trying to make up for it with humor. And a recipe below.

December 15, 2006

silver linings

I get all confused when winter rolls around. Do I get excited over wearing sweaters, or do I sit around all mopey that we get three hours of daylight? Do I start making a list of all the stews and soups I can make or start a countdown to the springtime equinox? Being a creature of all things comfort-related, sweaters and food finally win out. Sure, I mope a little about how it’s cold and dark outside, but I mope while shoving a forkful of food into my mouth.

Last Friday, I invited a friend for dinner, but given my current job-seeking status, I spent the day running about without so much as having given a fleeting thought as to what I was going to feed my hungry, weekend-ready guest. I got home with only an hour to spare and had to think on my feet – fast. I had very little in my cupboards, and even less in the fridge. A can of cannelloni beans caught my eye. And thus a simple dish was born.

Whenever I am at an Italian restaurant, I always look for warmed cannelloni beans in the appetizer section. I find it filling, comforting and delicious. So I wanted to make warm cannelloni beans, but spruced up a bit. You know, for the holidays. I added tomatoes, basil, onion, and some other ingredients and it turned out incredibly well!

I am telling you, people, this recipe is so simple and so good that you will make it over and over again. Unless you hate beans. In which case, you’d probably never even try to make it in the first place. My guest had seconds. And thirds. And then complained that I didn’t make enough. Which was true, I was craving more of it myself.

If you plan ahead, unlike me, you can soak the beans and cook them, instead of resorting to canned ones. If, however, you’re like most people, you can hardly plan your next few hours, never mind dinner.

December 05, 2006

Something Familiar Something Peculiar

Among my favorite food, squash firmly holds its own. I like all kinds: spaghetti, butternut, acorn. While looking over a menu a few nights ago, I picked the tagliatelli mostly because it came with a butternut squash. My only complaint is that some squash can be so hard to cut. I'm a wee bit weakling and the squash is sturdy and hard. Trying to slice it feels like I am going to lose an appendage at any moment.

Unless of course, you have wonderful helpers, strong and manly, to do the dirty deed for you, leaving you to just waltz in and cook the vegetable - truly the easy part.

Acorn squash is both tasty and good for you. And if you took it, sliced it, and roasted it in the oven sans any spices, it would still come out delicious and great. And sometimes, naked squash, as I like to call it, is just what you need. But on other days, you might want to give it a little extra kick: some red, hot chile, and a dash of tabasco sauce to the marinade. Surprisingly easy to make and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!

October 27, 2005

Spiced Glazed Carrots

With Thanksgiving less than a month away, I though of pulling a few of the last year's recipes to set the mood. This time is my favorite time of year, filled with great comfort foods: warm, full of spices, filling.

When the temperatures begin to drop, my craving for root vegetables grow. Roasted beets or turnips find their way into my meals. Having grown up in Russia, where plenty of root vegetables are consumed year-round, I never had to develop a taste for them. In fact, I never had to hear my mother say "Eat your vegetables!" to me - it was more like "Eat your meat!" In America, I learned, in school, that liking beets was a very uncool thing. It painted me as a borscht-belt immigrant with her weird foods. Chicke nuggets were in, root veggies were out!

Surprisingly, carrots were not as uncool as their other earthly cousins. Carrots, smothered with dip, were acceptable. My first encounter with a crudite left a sad impression as carrots sticks lay side by side with celery and tomatoes, all dried up and bent out of shape. The irony was that I hated cooked carrots.

As a little girl, I had to eat a lot of tzimmes, a traditional Jewish dish with cooked carrots, honey, raisins and cinnamon. It sounds good to me now, but back when I was a tiny, wee thing, I dreaded the dish like the plague. As I got older, I grew to love cooked carrots and even crave tzimmes now. But that recipe will be saved for another day. Perhaps when Passover hits and I need to contribute to the Jewish cooking ideas. The spiced, glazed carrots I made for Thanksgiving last year, my favorite holiday, were a hit with everyone at the table. Even the self-proclaimed vegetable haters.

Not only did they taste good, but they looked quite pretty with their green tops decorating the platter!

September 26, 2005

Apples - Welcome Fall

Fall is my favorite season for many reasons! The changing of the leaves, the cooler climate, the crisp air in the morning, the harvest, the first donning of the fuzzy sweater, and that first fall apple, fresh off the tree, firm, crisp, tart, the leaves still attached!

This pretty thing was a particularly fine specimen of what fall means to me. The herald of the fine season still had the lush leaves.

So what can you do with all the apples of the season? The list could be as long as your wish. For there can be pies, jams, butters, crumbles, ciders, juices, salads, and more. Or you can just bite into one and savor the season!

The most common apple you can pick on a farm is a Mackintosh, incidentally my least favorite of apples. Mackintosh apples are really cooking apples and aren't great for raw consumption. With a white flesh that quickly browns upon exposure to air, and lacking the balance of sugar and acidity, it's an apple that brings forth its finest qualities when cooked and the sugars take over, making it an ideal candidate for pies, sauces, and other cooked dishes. Cortlands, which look a lot like Mackintosh apples, but are larger and have less red on them, are perfect for cooking as well, but they're also incredible for eating - firm, crisp flesh that perfectly balances tart and sweet!

I won't delve into just how many different types of apples are out there (because there are lots!) and what they're best used for, because if you like apples, you'll do a little digging on your own, and few things are as exciting than discovering a new version of something you love.

If you do live near a farm that has an apple orchard, do yourself a favor. Take a Saturday or a Sunday and go apple-picking! The experience will be relaxing and exciting all at once and in your own special way, you'll open the door to fall!