Adventures in Vegetables

I finally bit the bullet–so to speak–and cooked and ate leeks for the first time that I know of. If you have never seen a leek–or don’t know if you have–this is what they look like once you lasso a passel of them.

A little like green onions (spring onions, scallions) on steroids. They looked otherwise familiar, though, and then I realized why.

So I trimmed them, and this is all that was left. I looked it up on the internet, and this is all that’s supposed to be left. What the internet did not tell me, but I’m telling you, is that leeks are feelthy. FEELTHY! They must grow them in fine black silt, because I can’t imagine that they could afford to sell them at such a reasonable price if they had to pay people to rub fine black silt into every possible crack, pit and fold. I peeled a couple of layers off what was left and I shot some high-powered water jets into the cut ends, and I still had to pull one puppy out of the pan as its outer layer got translucent and I spotted some silt underneath.

So anyway, I cooked them thusly:

BRAISED LEEKS

• butter or margarine or oil (just a bit)
• 1 cup broth or bouillon
• sprinkle of sugar
• sprinkle of paprika

Heat the butter and bouillon in a pan. Add the leeks. Cover and cook on medium high for about 15-20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with just a pinch of sugar. Continue to cook, uncovered, turning occasionally, until liquid is gone and sugar caramalizes on leeks. Put on plate and sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

Bottom line: DELICIOUS! We’re light eaters, so we only ate one each. I don’t know if we’re going to do plain leftovers or if I’m going to put some with something else: leek and potato soup, for example, or leek and something pie. We’ll definitely have these again, if I can find them again. Two thumbs up.

MA

writing prompt: Have a character buy, cook and eat an unfamiliar food. Make it as I-Love-Lucy as you like.

My Susie Homemaker Day

Yesterday, I was all Susie Homemaker. Anybody else remember those ads for child-sized brooms, aprons, etc. with the bright little voice singing about how Susie Homemaker can help Mother around the house with her very own cleaning implements?

Not that I cleaned. I guess I was more Betty Crocker, now that I think of it. I made sweet-and-sour pickles (recipe in an earlier post) and pesto (ditto) and put some coffee in cold water to infuse for cold brew coffee (again ditto).

Then I was going to cook my kale and my leeks, but I had all that pesto, and I just couldn’t pass up fresh pesto, so I kept some out and froze the rest. Cut up some portabella mushrooms and sliced some yellow squash paper-thin and cut some tiny fresh green beans into little bites and sauteed it all in a bit of butter. Cooked some frozen cheese-stuffed ravioli and mixed veg, ravioli and pesto. Also made a salad of fresh spinach, Gala apples and walnuts. I had Blue Cheese dressing and Charlie had California French. (Mine was better.)

Then, before I went to Mom’s to finish reading Ellis Peters’ THE ROSE RENT to her, I made some dog biscuits for Joe. (Joe is the dog.)

When I had vegetarian dog-lovers living with me, I made this recipe vegetarian. This time, I had a bunch of lard left over from seasoning my cast-iron skillet, so I made it with lard.

MICROWAVE DOG TREATS

• 1 c  Whole wheat flour or mix whole wheat and rye
• 3/4 c  Dry milk
• 1/4 c  Cornmeal
• 1/3 c  Shortening–butter, margarine, lard or oil
• 1 tb Bouillon granules–veg or meat
• 1/2 c  Plain flour
• 1/2 c  Quick cooking oats
• 1 ts Sugar
• 1  Egg, slightly beaten
• 1/4 c  Peanut butter plus
• Hot water to equal 1/2 cup

Combine flour, cornmeal, milk, oats and sugar.  Cut in shortening, add egg, boullion, and hot water. Add extra water or flour, if you need to. Knead 5 mins. and roll in 1/2″ thick and cut out to favorite shapes. Micro at 1/2 power for 5 to 10 mins, rotating plate.

Joe loves these. They do NOT look just like my smoked tofu. They do NOT! Shut up!

Today, I need to work on the updates to my pro site and read more of my #4 daughter’s book. It is AWESOME!

MA

writing prompt: You make something for the dog and a person eats it OR you make something complicated and time-consuming and somebody thinks it’s for the dog.

Not the Lunch I Expected, But….

I was going to meet Jane in Louisville for lunch today, but the forecast was for occasional heavy rain and cloud-to-ground lightning, so we postponed it. Naturally, it’s been sunny all day.

So I stayed home and picked produce and made sweet-and-sour refriger8or p1ckles and pesto. I also called Jane so we could “unload” on each other. I put the word in quotations because unloading on someone implies transferring your burden to him or her. When we unburden ourselves to each other, the loads just get lighter for us both. Everything seems more manageable, and we feel better able to cope after a get-together. That’s how I feel, anyway, and Jane tells me that’s how she feels, too.

For lunch, I pan-fried the leftover smoked tofu I made the other day, put it on English toasting bread, with aged Swiss cheese for Charlie and Swiss and pepper-jack for me, then pan-toasted the sandwiches on both sides. Oh, my goodness. Yum.

I got a BUNCH of stuff at the farmers’ market and the grocery yesterday, la la la, I sing and dance. I’m going to cook ALL the kale at once, and freeze most of what we don’t eat tonight. I also scored some leeks, which I can seldom find. Gonna boil those babies and serve them with butter. Leftovers are going in a leek and Feta pie, I do believe. Maybe some leek and potato soup with some kale in it. AND SAUSAGE from the farmers’ market, perhaps-perhaps.

MA

writing prompt: Take a character who has to stay home instead of doing something he/she really wanted to do. Have him/her do something that would move a plot forward because of the change.

Self-Plagarism

A couple of years ago, I wrote this post:

FAIRY CAKES

My friend Anne recently reminded me of how I met her late mother. I overheard Mrs. K talking to someone and, recognizing her accent as English, waylaid her. I had been reading — yes, English mysteries — and wanted to know what “fairy cakes” were. She said they were like cupcakes, and told me how to make them particularly fairy-like. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I have since found that cupcakes or fairy cakes were developed during the 19th century, possibly as a cross between muffins and cake. They were called cupcakes because the ingredients were measured in a cup, rather than being weighed. Traditional fairy cakes have equal measures of butter, self-rising flour, castor sugar and eggs. To make a cupcake (of whatever recipe) into a fairy cake: Cut the tops off the baked mini-cakes and cut each circle into two half-circles. Put a blop of icing on top of each cake and stick the half-circles into the icing to resemble wings. Thanks, Mrs. K!

The English mysteries I had been reading were the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes, beginning with THE MAN WITH A LOAD OF MISCHIEF. One of the characters, Aunt Agatha, is addicted to fairy cakes, so I had to find out what they were. Here’s the recipe I’ve worked out:

FAIRY CAKES

• eggs
• butter
• self-rising flour
• sugar (not powdered, but finer than regular–a food processor will do it)

First, break the eggs into a measuring cup and mark the quantity. Combine the eggs with equal amounts of the rest of the ingredients. Bake as you would cupcakes.

They’re VERY tasty, whether you make the little wings or not.

MA

writing prompt: What would your main character do if someone came to visit and ate all of something instead of taking some and leaving some?

Another Fine Mess and Some Amazing Things

Happy Meatless Monday! I got an email from the Meatless Monday folks with links to fantastic recipes. Meanwhile, our own Meatless Monday is off to a grand start. Here’s our menu:

Breakfast:

Peach Pecan Pancakes–I cut up some local July Albertas and broke up some pecans into pancake batter. I drizzled mine with a little pure maple syrup, but Charlie used my blackberry goop (supposed to be jam, but it didn’t set).

Lunch:

I plan to make grilled cheese and maybe tomato soup.

Supper:

Baked acorn squash, using a squash I bought at the farmers’ market.Leftover smoked tofu, warmed and crisped in a hot skillet. And this fine mess, which we had last night but enough was left over for tonight.

ANOTHER FINE MESS

• cabbage
• mushrooms
• noodles

I put cut up cabbage in boiling salted water. Cut up mushrooms–in this case, portabella and white button–and added them. When the cabbage was nearly done, I put in some noodles and cooked according to package directions. Drain and butter, season with salt and pepper as desired. Next time I make it, I’ll do more cabbage. Thought I had a BIG mess o’ cabbage, but you know how it cooks down. *sigh*

AMAZING THINGS:

1. Here is a gizmo I bought off one of those impulse racks they hang off the shelves at the grocery store. A friend of one of my daughters loved it so much, I bought him one. I think he used it to pick cigarettes out of his pack, or possibly other people’s packs. It’s actually an olive grabber, but it works for pickles, too, or anything that isn’t too heavy. Can’t pick up a cat with it, for example. Just press the plunger at the end and these creepy looking wires come out. Release the plunger, and the wires close, gripping whatever they’re around.

2. Our #3 daughter came over the other night, and pointed to the driveway and said, “Look, there’s a little toad. I saw one the other day, mowing the grass.” I said, “Get outta here! You’re lyin’! Was it on a regular-sized mower, or a tiny little toad-sized mower?” After she thought about it a minute, she said it was on a regular-sized mower, but I still think she’s lying.

3. At church yesterday, the preacher told the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, and he said something I’ve heard a thousand times, but that only jumped out at me yesterday. “There was a lot of grass at that place.” I was like, “Dude–that explains everything.”

I had another amazing thing, but I forgot it.

MA

writing prompt: Keep a list of amazing things you come across. Write them down so you don’t forget them, when you’re old like me.

Smoked Tofu

So last night I smoked some tofu and, despite the doobie jokes on FaceBook, I enjoyed it very much. If you want to try tofu, I highly recommend this preparation, whether you smoke it or bake it or fry it, though each way results in a different texture. No, you don’t have to run out and but a pack of ZigZag. If you don’t know what is, God bless you.

Anyway, first buy some tofu, the firmer the better. I get Extra Firm, if I can find it. NOT SILKEN. Even the extra firm silken tofu is soft. Okay, stuck the package in the freezer. When it’s frozen solid, get it out and defrost it. The freezing breaks down the something and makes it more porous and makes the water come out better…or something. Anyway, that’s what I was told to do, and it works for me, so I do it.

Then press as much of the water out as possible. That’s why the firmer the better. I don’t have the patience to put the tofu between two plates and weight them down and let the water slowly drain out. I just grab the block and squish it. SQUISH! SQUISH! TAKE THAT, WHOEVER PLANS TO SEND ME A REJECTION LETTER! TAKE THAT AND THAT AND THAT!

After the tofu is good and squished, mix up this marinade:

TOFU MARINADE

• olive oil infused with garlic–little less than 1/3 cup
• sesame oil added to olive oil to make full 1/3 cup
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup white wine
• salt (if soy sauce is low sodium)

Mix.

Now, decide how you want to cook your tofu. If I’m going to bake or fry it, I slice it into equal slices. Because I was going to smoke it in my stove-top smoker, I left it whole. Put it in a container in one layer. Don’t stack it, if you’ve cut it into slices or cubes.

Pour marinade over tofu. Turn tofu once, to make sure it soaks up as much of the marinade as possible.

When you’re ready to cook it, smoke it for about an hour, bake it at 350F for about 45 minutes (turning once) or fry it until it’s brown on both sides–not long.

I smoked the tofu along with some vegetables (yellow squash and sweet potato) using hickory wood. When it was done, I sliced the tofu and served it. It needed a little salt because I didn’t add much to the marinade. It tasted very rich and smoky. Tofu doesn’t have much flavor of its own, so it picked up the tastes of the smoke, the wine, the olive and sesame oils, the garlic and the soy sauce. Unlike the fried or baked versions, this version was juicy. It’ll be good cubed and added to stir-fry, or maybe in a cold salad in place of smoked chicken, and it’s always good in a sandwich.

MA

writing prompt: Under what circumstances would you eat tofu? If you already eat tofu, how would you try to get a non-tofu eater to try some?

Vini, Vici, Emi

I came, I saw, I bought. Produce, that is. Yes, I have been to the farmers’ market and have carried off the spoils.

Man–next week, I’m wearing body armor. It poured down rain all night and was still spitting a little this morning, so I wasn’t sure I would go, but then Charlie invited me to join him with a couple of our friends for breakfast out, and I figured I might as well swing by, just in case they were set up in spite of the weather.

They were. A few more pavilions than last week and, at 8:15 (they open at 8:00), the place was crawling. We were all eying one another, sending daggers of thought: “If you get to that booth before I do, don’t you DARE buy up all the green tomatoes!” and “I’m putting up tomato relish, so don’t even THINK of stopping me from buying that whole basket!” That was not a pretty site. On the other hand, it was very nice running into lots of friends there. We all had our reusable market bags and caught up each other’s doings and children’s doings. Felt very European.

I came home and told Mom (she didn’t want to get up early enough to fight in the war, and if you go after 9 all the best things are gone) that it was all very Miss Mapp.

Well, it’s thundering, so I must away. Au reservoir, as Mapp would say!

MA

writing prompt: Make two characters squabble over a piece of produce.

Bread and Stuff

Last night, I made Eggplant Parmesan (the easy way) out of an eggplant I bought at the farmers’ market. Also cooked some of OUR green beans potatoes and onions. YUMMMMM…. And I made bread. The bread was the basic recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, with a twist.

EGGPLANT PARMESAN

• olive oil infused with garlic
• eggplant
• seasoned bread crumbs
• grated Parmesan
• tomato sauce
• oregano, chopped
• mixed shredded Italian cheese

Cut up the eggplant and put it in salted water. Mix breadcrumbs with some Parmesan. Dredge the eggplant in it. Heat olive oil. Brown the breaded eggplant on both sides. Oil a baking pan and mix the oregano with the tomato sauce and put a little bit on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the eggplant slices in the pan–flat, layered, overlapped, whatever. Sprinkle with cheese, pour in the rest of the tomato sauce. Cover and bake at 350F for about an hour. Uncover the last part of baking, if you wish, and sprinkle with more cheese.

——–

BASIC BREAD RECIPE

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons salt
• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 cups bread flour

Mix yeast and salt in large bowl. Add water and stir to dissolve yeast and salt. Add flour. Work with hands, if necessary, to incorporate all flour. Should be sloppy. Put in loosely covered container to rise until doubled. Refrigerate until cold.

To bake, sprinkle with flour and pull off a hunk. Shape it as desired, folding the floured surface under so the whole hunk is coated with a film of flour and put to rise. Turn on oven to 450F. Make sure the oven is at that temp before you bake. My oven takes about 20 minutes to heat up to 450F, which is how long you should let the bread rise, so that’s handy. Slash the surface so the baking bread won’t break out in ugly and put into oven. For a crisper crust, pour 1 cup HOT water into a pan in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on a rack. Listen to it crackle! Wheee!

NOW, last night, I pulled out the hunk I was going to bake and worked a bunch of the mixed Italian cheeses into it before I put it to rise. I made enough for two meals… except that we ate it all last night! You can work herbs into the hunk you pull off, or garlic powder, or fruit and nuts and sugar. Fantastic recipe from a fantastic book.

and now:

SONG FOR AN ANT

Oh, ant, you counter crawler, you,
Don’t do what you were born to do
And search for food upon this board
To carry back to home and hoard.

Oh, do you think, because you’re small,
I might not notice you at all
And, if upon my dough you feed,
You’ll look just like a poppyseed?

Well, ant,
You can’t.
squish

MA

writing prompt: What would you do if you found an ant on some food you were getting ready to cook? Would any of your characters do otherwise?

Fair Weather Friends

I was all “Yeah! Cool! I’m on my way!” when I got several days of high view stats. Then the views plunged to my normal levels, that is to say, almost none. So I checked to see what had drawn people to the site for those few–those noble few–days. I won’t repeat the words, because that might draw traffic from people looking for that term, which this post isn’t about, and that would just be mean. And, you know, we don’t have to be mean. Because no matter where you go, there you are. Thanks, Buckaroo, for those words of wisdom. (Moment of silence, while we replay our favorite scenes from BUCKAROO BANZAI.)

What people wanted was a recipe for something that involves cucumbers, salt, vinegar and dill and results in something one often puts on hamburgers. You know what I’m talking about. And now that they have my secret, they have deserted me. Life is hard.

I’m making more of those cucumber items today, in between bouts of making the cat get off the desk/diningtable/husbandchair/printer…. Work, work, work.

I’m also in the process of getting my backlist ready to submit to Echelon Press for e-publication. E-RE-publication, actually. I’ll post when they’re available again.

Blueberry season is over, alas, but peaches and melons are in–YAY! My ever-lovin’ husband has been peeling and pitting fresh peaches for me and bringing them to me in small porcelain dishes. Makes me feel like a queen.

Maybe life isn’t so hard, after all.

MA

writing prompt: Have a character learn that someone is only a temporary friend who wants something specific from him/her.

Herbs

I know, I know–all my fellow Boomers who came of age in the ’60’s are going, “Herbs? Dude….” but I mean real ones. Whenever Charlie complains that we spend more (especially in terms of his time) on the garden than we save, I can always point out the herbs. I price them sometimes, when I buy the ones we don’t grow, and that stuff is expensive!

We have basil (for pesto, mostly), oregano, mint (for Mint Juleps and Mint Tea and Cucumber Mint Salad), sage, rosemary and dill (mostly for pickles). The picture here is of oregano. You’re really supposed to harvest it before it blooms, but the blooms are so pretty, I just can’t.

Today, I plan to make pesto. I have one very bushy oregano plant outside the door so, even though it’s raining steadily, I’ll pop out and cut a bunch, process it in the food processor and freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes out into a plastic bag.

PESTO

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup garlic-infused olive oil

Put in processor. Process.

When I’m making just enough for one meal, I moosh it all up in a mortar and pestle, but I’m sure not going to do that for a winter’s worth! Laziness, thou shalt be nameless, but thy initials are Marian Allen.

MA

writing prompt: If you could only grow one food plant, what would it be?