off the eaten path

As Kirstin said earlier, we’re trying to eat as much local produce as possible this month. So when the local farm market had stinging nettles, we decided to take the plunge and try them out.

Nettles are a family of flowering plant that’s native in the greater DC area. The plants are covered in small, brittle hairs that contain a chemical cocktail that stings if it pierces the skin - they’re the embodiment of the attack plants in the Harry Potter series of books. This is a natural defense for the nettle in the wild, and a deterrent to many amateur chefs. The sign over the basket containing bags of nettles said “wear rubber gloves when handling them.”

And they’re correct: the things do sting, even through thin work gloves. Apparently it is possible to avoid the sting with careful handling, but better safe than uncomfortable. And the best thing: cooking or crushing the nettles destroys the defense mechanism, and they’re very tasty, nutrient-rich, and their deep green color adds a nice contrast to soups and sauces.

So last night, I donned the gloves and made my first nettle dish. A big tip ‘o the hat to Chocolate & Zucchini for the recipe.

Nettle Soup (Soupe aux Orties)

• A dab of butter
• One medium onion, peeled and sliced
• Two small potatoes for mashing (or one large), peeled and sliced*
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One bunch of young stinging nettles
• Freshly ground pepper

* - I didn’t peel the white potatoes I used, and the soup’s consistency was fine. I’d imagine that a tough-skinned russet might be a bit too fibrous, though.

1. Melt the butter in a medium soup pot over medium heat.
2. Add in the onion, and cook for five minutes, until softened, stirring regularly to avoid coloring.
3. Add in the potatoes and salt, and pour cold water or stock to cover by about an inch. Cover with a lid, bring to a simmer, and cook for ten minutes, or until the potatoes are soft (test this with the tip of a knife).
4. While potatoes cook, put on rubber gloves and pluck the nettle leaves from the tough, fibrous stems (discard the stems). Rinse the leaves thoroughly in cold water.
5. When the potatoes are cooked, add in the nettles (they’ll shrink rapidly once in the presence of steam), and cook for five more minutes, until the leaves are soft and wilted.
6. Purée with an immersion blender (or in batches in a blender).
7. Grind in some pepper, taste, and adjust the seasoning.

Serve hot, preferably with fresh, crusty bread.

Notes:

I used thin vinyl “handyman” gloves, and still got stung in a few places, so if you’re using something thin, double-layer. The sting wears off in about a day, give or take. Aloe and cortisone creams can help alleviate the itch and burn.

Also, the amount of salt listed in the recipe was a bit too little for the batch I made - thus the call to adjust seasonings in the end. If you want more kick, add a little cayenne pepper toward the end, before blending.

A big tip ‘o the hat to Chocolate & Zucchini for the recipe.

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Winter has returned to the D.C. area and as a blustery wind sneaks up pant legs and down jacket collars, we reach for warm beverages to warm us from the inside out.

Coffee and tea are wonderful beverages. But if you’re looking for a way to make your beverage into a full-out snack, I’d recommend a cup of cocoa.

Yes, yes. By all means rip into that packet of Swiss Miss or Carnation. I drink them all the time. But for only appreciably longer and with much more exciting results, I invite you to make your own.

To make one serving you will need:

• 3 heaping teaspoons (or regular spoons) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 teaspoons sugar
• a dash of salt
• a mug’s worth of milk
• garnish, such as whipped cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, or a candy cane

If you have the time and the inclination, combine all your ingredients in a pot on the stove over low/medium-low heat. Stir it periodically to prevent the skin forming on the top of the milk. I would recommend multiplying the ingredients several-fold, because your neighbors will soon be stopping by for a long-awaited chat. Or you won’t be able to stop at just one cup. Your home will soon acquire a heavenly scent that transports you across time to when you were small and just coming in at dusk from an afternoon of sledding and snowman-building.

If, on the other hand, you don’t have time or you cannot wait one extra second to wrap your hands around a mug of chocolatey goodness, heat your cocoa in the microwave.

I’ve found the best way is to heat things in phases. Put in half your milk, one teaspoon of cocoa powder, and two teaspoons of sugar and heat for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the milk, two more teaspoons of sugar, and another teaspoon of cocoa and heat for another 30 seconds. Add the final teaspoons of cocoa and sugar and the salt (to bring out the sweetness) and heat for 45 seconds. Stir. Add any desired garnishes. Smile contentedly and wonder why you haven’t done this in so long.

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For the past ten years (has it been that long?), I’ve had Thanksgiving dinner with Kirstin’s family. As an addition to their traditional spread, I’ve prepared a dish out of my mom’s recipe book that always hits the spot.

This dish is best prepared a day ahead of time, which allows the flavors to intensify and the consistency to soften a bit.

Carrots & Peppers

1.5 lbs. carrots, shredded (or 2 bags shredded carrots)
1-2 medium parsnips, shredded
3 medium-sized bell peppers, julienne cut
1 can tomato paste (Redpack or Contadina preferred)
1 small onion, course minced
1 tbs. oil (canola or peanut preferred)
water (might be needed - keep 1/4 cup handy)
1/4 tsp. salt (plus additional to taste)
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (plus additional to taste)

1. Heat oil in large, straight-sided pan over medium heat until oil ripples.

2. Add onion and cook until just transluscent, about 2 minutes.

3. Add carrot and parsnip and sautee, moving constantly, until color deepens - usually about 7-9 minutes.

4. Add peppers and tomato paste to mixture, as well as measured salt, sugar and black pepper. Reduce heat by a tick (medium-low) and continue to cook, moving contents constantly to prevent burning. Add dashes of water if necessary if mexture proves too immobile in pan.

5. After cooking an addition 8-10 minutes, transfer to oven-safe covered bowl. Store in a cold place and reheat either in oven or microwave.

Serves 6-8.

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Recently, Kirstin and I went to England and Wales. We always have fun there, and always marvel in how good British cooking actually is. Yes, some of the old standards are heavy on the creams and fat and low on taste, but some of it is truly marvelous.

As they say, you can scoff at British cooking, but you shouldn’t forget that essential beers (bitter ales), cheeses (Cheddar, Stilton, Wensleydale), sauces (Worcestershire), and baked goods (Sally Lunn buns, pasties, scones) are part of the lexicon thanks to the Brits.

So with that, a couple of great websites:

The Great British Kitchen - a one-stop for British recipes
eggbaconchipsandbeans - a tribute to the English fry-up

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There’s something wonderfully comforting about coffee.

To me, a whiff of the aroma of roasting coffee reminds me of teenage days and nights spent at Salt Lake Roasting Company, where their huge roasters filled the air with the pungent and arousing odes of freshly-cracked Guatemala Antigua, Tanzanian Peaberry, or their Morning Thunder blend (still a fave).

A well-brewed pot of coffee is one of the closest things to true perfection I can imagine. The problem is that it’s very tough to find the ideal cup from a home pot. Add to that the challenge of making a top-notch espresso or frothy cappuccino, with perfect crema on top.

Fear not! Help is a mouse-click away!

The folks at GimmeCoffee have created one of the best online resources for the hobbyist brewer: LearnCoffee has PDF guides (with pictures) that provide step-by-step instructions for brewing the perfect coffee, espresso or steamed milk.

Granted, these guides are not without fault - as Kirstin points out, the steamed milk guide doesn’t cover the delicate issue of adding flavor shots to steamed milk (it sometimes results in curdled milk - blech!). But they’re a wonderful resource for those wishing to improve their “game” with coffee.

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Rudi should never be allowed to leave home, particularly if I am there and armed with a refrigerator full of ingredients. I decided to be adventurous and actually cook something today. Unfortunately, I followed Rudi’s method and not my grandmother’s. Gramma measures ingredients carefully and adjusts all her measurements based on how much she’s making. Rudi, being blessed with some sort of natural cooking gene, just throws things together.

This does not seem to work for me.

I decided to use some of the fresh garlic and cannellinis we picked up at last week’s farmers’ market to make Tuscan-style white beans. But I didn’t want to use half a pound — just two handfuls.

Maybe I should have found out how much two handfuls measured out to. It was probably a 1/2 cup.

I cooked them with some dried sage, per the recipe, added salt (too much) and pepper and simmered until they were tender.

Then I added a clove of garlic.

This, of course, was not your generic bland garlic. This was a head of Silver Solitude, Solitude Farm’s best and most potent garlic.

The recipe, back when it called for a 1/2 pound of beans, called for two cloves. I decided to ignore the math (which also would have required dividing the clove into some fraction) and just put the whole thing in.

Big mistake.

After adding the olive oil, I put it into a bowl and dug in for dinner.

I suspect I will reek of garlic for the next week.

I probably could have cut it with something, but the garlic had already gone to my brain, and I had no idea what to add. Tomatoes, maybe? Rice? Spaghetti?

I’m sure with slightly less (or less pungent) garlic, this would have been a fine meal. I will try it again sometime — after doing the math.

The original recipe:

(From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian Cooking)

• 1/2 pound white beans, washed and picked over
• 20 fresh sage leaves or 1T dried sage
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2T extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place the beans in a pot with water to cover. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. [I was using fresh, not dried, beans, so I just simmered them.] Add the sage; adjust the heat so the beans simmer. Cover loosely.

2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans begin to soften; add about 1/2 tsp salt and some pepper. Continue to cook until the beans are very tender; add additional water if the beans dry out.

3. Drain the cooking liquid if necessary, then add the garlic, along with some more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in the olive oil and serve.

The notes add that you can add some coooked sausage (an interesting note in a vegetarian cookbook) and sautéed red bell peppers to make this into a main course dish.

Makes 4 servings.

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Just to let you know now: I’m not Mormon. But part of the reason I’m around to write this is due to the LDS Church, so I’m cooking a Mormon recipe for a pot-luck party this weekend. I’ve chosen funeral potatoes due to their almost cult-like status amongst those who know just a little bit about the LDS culture.

What are they? They’re essentially a scalloped potato casserole. I’ve seen a few recipes that all differ a little - some call for diced frozen potatoes (a.k.a. homefries), others call for thawed hash brown potato shreds. All call for a cream soup base - celery, mushroom, or chicken. All have a cornflake “crust,” and all feature sour cream.

This is not health food, and the recipes advise the cook to steer clear of low-fat variations on the ingredients, as they don’t “gel” as well as their full-fat brethren.

I’ll post the recipe I use on the site once I cook the stuff - as well as photos, if I’m not dead from the cholesterol.

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For my inaugural posting here on off the eaten path, I thought I’d take a stab at this month’s Sugar High Friday. Redbeard from life in flow had chosen the theme of tarts for June. I have never cooked a tart. I usually don’t even make pies. But I’m game for an adventure, so I went out and bought myself a tart pan.

Then I hit the hard part of the process: what to cook. I thought I’d delve into some of the cookbooks I’ve bought over the years but never baked from. After consulting several, I decided on the recipe for Lemon Chiffon Tart from Marie Simmons’ the good egg.

I am pleasantly pleased to report it was not nearly as hard or as scary as I thought it would be. It wasn’t even as time consuming as expected.

And the best part is that it’s tasty. And very, very lemony.

The crust is delightful. Rudi compares it to a graham cracker crust, because it’s flaky and crunchy. According to Simmons, the dough for this tart crust is known as pâte sucreé in France and is used to make homemade butter cookies as well as tart shells. And I could see why. This may be the only pie crust I’ve ever had that I would consider eating on its own. (Sorry, Gramma!)

The filling is light and fluffy. It tastes a lot like a lemon merengue pie, which, essentially, it is. Rudi describes it as tart and creamy.

This is definitely not a healthy dessert, but I would argue it’s excellent for the soul. And especially good with a cup of tea late at night.

(more…)

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Looking for a Saturday topic, I decided on salad for the summer (or at least until it proves too much of a challenge).

On a hot and sticky summer day, a cold salad is often the best form of light fare. When you already have a diminished appetite due to the human tendency to shut down when it’s oppressively hot, the salad is a welcome delight. The summer brings with it a lot of green salad-friendly ingredients: lettuce of all shapes and sizes, tomatoes in various hues, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, bell peppers, avocado, endive, berries, edible flowers… this list could go on and on. The Dupont Circle Freshfarm Market is a sea of flavors and colors during the summer, with local and semi-local farmers displaying a cornucopia of incredients, many of which would be most tasty in a salad.

So what I’m looking for is salad recipes. It could be a green salad, an egg salad, a new twist on a tuna salad, or possibly a Utah-friendly Jell-O salad. Anything goes - have fun!

And please post your recipes in the comments section! Don’t be afraid - we don’t bite.

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Today’s Dupont Circle Freshfarm market brought some fun new things to our kitchen:

• morels (one of my favorite wild mushrooms - learn about ‘em here)
• ramps (a wild leek, which is a local delicacy)
• strawberries (first of the season - yum!)
• blueberry scones
• red beets
• 2% organic milk
• lilacs (not for eating)

We still have a lot of stuff from last week’s market (including purple asparagus, spring onions, pea shoots and beautiful lettuce), so a lot of good cooking lies ahead.

Any suggestions for recipes?

(Note: most of this was originally posted at randomduck.com.)

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