Fiddlehead Ferns

I've always been a little bit afraid of Fiddlehead Ferns. Being an urban forager who roams through cute gourmet shops is quite a different thing than being a forager forager who actually goes into the woods and picks things. But I've been wanting to cook fiddleheads for years - so when I was hiking near Seattle on Whidbey Island and saw them growing wild, then soon after saw them in a grocery store in Connecticut, I knew it was a sign. Suddenly, Fiddlehead Ferns were showing up everywhere in my life. I had to eat them.

Sold for an affordable $6.99/lb, I bought a half pound plus some angel hair pasta and prosciutto. I still felt a little bit of unease - I'm mean, look at these things in my sink! - but I got passed it when I realized how easy they are to cook. Simply give the ferns a quick swim in boiling water (3 minutes or so) and then saute them into whatever dish you like. The flavor is a lot like asparagus and the texture is similar as well but crunchier.

The recipe below serves 2. The prosciutto can be subbed out for mushrooms. This pasta would be delish with a Sauvignon Blanc or Albarino wine.

Fiddlehead Ferns with Pasta and Prosciutto
1/2 lb. Fiddlehead Ferns
1/3 box of angel hair pasta
6 pieces of prosciutto, sliced thin and torn into shreds by hand
2 Tbsp olive oil
Grated Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil enough water to cook the pasta. Add Fiddlehead ferns first, boiling for 3 minutes. Remove the ferns from the boiling water and then put in the pasta to cook. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a pan. Add ferns and a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute ferns 4-5 minutes, then add prosciutto and another Tbsp olive oil. Turn off the heat, add the cooked noodles and cover the pan. Let sit 1-2 minutes, then serve pasta garnished with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino.
Recipe by Jennifer Meier

Behold, the Humble Vegetable Peeler

We all have that kitchen utensil that we dread using. It's the one that never works right and causes us to swear and grumble and not have as much fun in the kitchen as we should be having. And yet, we never throw this utensil away. We never buy a new one. For no reason other than human laziness (and sometimes cheap-ness) we just keep using the crappy utensil we hate. In my case, this is a vegetable peeler. The Husband swears that if you press down with one finger and hold it at just the right angle it works just fine. This is also the man, however, who thought the vacuum worked fine even though to make it work he had to push down on the top of it with one foot and hop around the room on the other foot while he vacuumed.

I hate our vegetable peeler. It was not until yesterday however, when I used a friend's OXO Swivel Peeler that I finally saw the light. The peels practically flew off the carrot! I was done peeling in record time! Suddenly, I loved peeling vegetables!

This week, go through your drawers. Take out that peeler or knife or spatula or pan that you've always hated and throw it away without a bit of guilt. Cooking is hard enough without unnecessary irritations slowing us down.

Old Mother Hubbard . . .

. . . went the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone. When she got there, the cupboard was bare and so the poor dog had none.

I've been reaching deep into the bowels of my cupboard this week, opening cans and boiling noodles and grains that have been in there for who knows how long. Yes, it is good to keep a well-stocked pantry, but it is also good to flush out the pantry now then. Spring is the perfect time to do this sort of cleaning and so is the week before you leave on extended time away from your apartment, which happens to be my motivation. I vowed to buy as few new groceries this week as possible and to shop only from my own cupboards and refrigerator. I've had some admittedly bad meals (the night of sardines and quinoa was rough) and some good ones, like this easy salad of cabbage, carrots and garbanzo beans in sesame-soy dressing.

This recipe can be adapted for whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. The egg can be left out if you like; I just happened to have one lonely egg sitting in my fridge that needed to be used. The garbanzos can also be subbed out for other forms of protein: chicken, salmon or tofu would be good.

Vegetable Salad with Sesame-Soy Dressing
1/4 of a cabbage, finely chopped or grated
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 egg, either scrambled or hard boiled.
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 tsp brown sugar
dash of red pepper flakes


Combine the cabbage, carrots, garbanzos and cooked egg in a large bowl. In a pan over medium heat, toast the sesame seeds for 3-5 minutes until very lightly browned. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and cilantro over the vegetables. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, scallion, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss well.

Ode to a Mini Kiwi

Even in our over-sized culture, I still believe that smaller versions of anything are always irresistible. This is true for inedible objects (baby shoes, VW bugs) and edible ones (cupcakes, kumquats). It is for this reason that I believe the mini Kiwi will be the next "in" fruit, charming everyone from innovative chefs to mothers desperate for something new and healthy to put in their kid's lunch. The mini Kiwi is showing up in more and more produce departments, forcing consumers to ask themselves some tough questions, such as: "why am I still buying big, hairy Kiwi fruit that are hard to peel when I can buy cute little bite-sized kiwis that can just be popped right into my mouth?" and " why am I taking the time to slice a big Kiwi fruit into a fruit salad when I can just throw mini Kiwis right into the salad?"

What is there not to love about the mini Kiwi? They taste exactly like regular Kiwis, except maybe a little sweeter. The outside peel is edible and you can easily tear or slice off the tiny stem. They are about the size of a large cherry. The only down side is that miny kiwis don't keep very long, so I don't advise buying and then forgetting about the little guys in the back of your fridge for a week like I did. But if you do, just throw 'em into a smoothie, which adds a healthy dose of Vitamin C.

So cute. So not-furry. Mini Kiwi, you are the fruit of the future.

Move Over White Wine

The scenario is always the same. I'm intrigued by a recipe , I start to read it and imagine making it, and then I come to the ingredient that is always the kiss of death: 1/2 cup white wine. Aargh. When you're only an occasional white wine drinker and the other person in the house won't even touch the stuff, it seems like such a waste of wine and money to buy a bottle for 1/2 cup. I can't just stop making recipes that call for white wine, so I knew I had to find a solution. And like so many problems in life, I found the answer in a bottle of Champagne. Well, not Champagne exactly, but sparkling wine. An eight dollar bottle from Washington State's Domaine St. Michelle to be specific. Brut sparkling wines have the same crisp, dry taste as white wine, so why not use bubbly in a recipe instead of white wine? A dry Prosecco from Italy or Cava from Spain will work just as well and can often be found for around $10 or less. Buy a Champagne stopper to cork the bottle and your bubbly will last in the fridge for another 1-2 days. Cooking is all about improvising and making a recipe your own. And if you're someone who doesn't always love being in the kitchen, a glass of bubbly always makes it much more fun.

Dr. Bragg

So who is this Dr. Bragg, exactly, and why would I want his liquid aminos?
As if the seventies-looking yellow label isn’t already slightly suspicious with its claim of “serving health to America since 1912,” the label also has three words that I dread seeing together: delicious healthy gourmet. Not that gourmet food can’t be delicious and healthy, but when these words are put together on a label it usually means, “not only is this expensive, but it tastes like cardboard!” But I decided to give the mysterious Dr. Bragg a chance anyway, mostly because I’ve been seeing more and more people going through check out lines with his products. Specifically, the Liquid Aminos. Amino Acids are the building blocks of proteins that help our bodies with growth and maintenance. A balanced diet is the best way to maintain the proper balance of amino acids. Or, it turns out, you can just buy a spray bottle from Braggs.

Not quite sure what to do with this “all purpose seasoning from Soy Protein” I read the label, which recommends it on everything from vegetables to popcorn to jerky (I ended up just spritzing it on some white rice). While the flavor isn’t that bad, (it tastes kind of like soy sauce) products like this make me wonder, “what’s the point?” Do I want to use a liquid seasoning some guy in California with sketchy advertising and ingredients cooked up? Or do I want to use a liquid seasoning that has been used by Asian cultures for two thousand years?

I don’t know about you, but I’m sticking with my soy sauce.

Granola

Over the years I've made many valiant attempts at making food at home that can easily be found in a restaurant or store. And over the years, I've had to admit defeat more than a few times. Marshmallows, for one. Why would anyone try to make homemade Marshmallows when you can buy a bag of perfectly fluffy, uniformly shaped Marshmallows for a few bucks? This is a good question and one I asked myself after the third time I found myself scraping thin, sticky, spongy homemade "Marshmallows" out of a pan. I have also vowed to The Husband and myself that I will never again attempt to make Thai food. Why go to five stores for fifteen different ingredients that I always manage to turn into an inedible mix of sweet/spicy/fishy flavors when I can simply pick up the phone and have Pad See-Iw delivered in twenty minutes?

But there are some things that never taste as good when they are store-bought and are incredibly easy to make at home. Pita chips, for one. Ricotta,surprisingly, is another. And last week, I added Granola to this list. I love Granola and I have never found a version in any store that I have fallen in love with. And believe me, I've tried them all, spending as much as $10.00 for a mediocre experience. It's usually too sweet or too dry. It usually has too many oats and not enough nuts. The flavor is often bland or artificial tasting. I am so much happier with my own homemade version that I will never buy Granola again. This recipe is easy to make, relatively healthy and can be adjusted to your personal tastes. Like more dried fruit? Add more! Love pecans and hate almonds? No problem! Trying to cut back on sugar? Just add less! The only ingredient I wouldn't tinker with is the oil - if you must cut back, just be warned that your Granola might lean towards something a horse would enjoy eating more than you.

3 cups old fashioned oats
3 cups nuts (I usually use a combination of two or three nuts. My favorites are pistachios, pine nuts, slivered almonds, pecans and pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (optional)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey (you can also use maple syrup)
1 cup dried fruit (sometimes I use less, especially in the summer when I add fresh berries to a bowl of Granola)

Preheat oven to 300. Mix first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together all other ingredients (EXCEPT dried fruit). Pour liquid over oats and nuts, mixing really well to completely coat. Pour Granola onto a rimmed cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper.) Bake 1 hour, stirring several times. Take out of the oven and add dried fruit. Let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.