Organic

Carrots Galore: Two Carrot Soups & a Carrot Side Dish

by liz · Jan 3, 2019

After I’d been a member of my local farm share – Silverlake Farms – for several weeks I realized I needed more carrot recipes. These were the most beautiful vibrant carrots I’d ever seen. I’d been eating them raw or in salads, along with the gorgeous radishes I also received each week.

I scoured the internet and asked my cooking friends, but didn’t come up with anything that unusual. Turns out carrots are best in the forms you already know: carrot soup – puréed of course – glazed carrots or as part of a base (as in soups, roasts or mirepoix).

I tried various interesting-sounding dishes I concocted myself, like mirepoix chilaquiles (better than it sounds!) and as an accompaniment in braised cabbage.

I ended up making two soups – the Purist’s form (my friend who knows the right way to cook any food) and one blended with tomato. I also dreamed up a glazed carrot dish with honey and blue cheese. All were supremely delightful.

The first soup was the Purist’s. He believes you don’t need to add any sugar, no seasoning besides salt, pepper and ginger nor any chicken broth nor cream.

And it would only work if you had the correct 2-speed Waring Pro blender and homemade vegetable stock made from organic veggies, preferably purchased at a local farmers’ market. So yes, I bought the blender, but I changed the recipe.

I brought my loot over to my friend and fellow foodie’s apartment, the Comedienne. We sautéed the carrots with shallots, onions and ginger, then added sherry, basil, mint and sage stuffed inside a leek (stuffing a hollow leek with herbs was the best idea the Purist had) and let it simmer. We did add chicken stock and cream and then threw it all in the blender. It was divine.

Another cold night, I took inspiration from Au Bon Pain and tried my hand at a tomato-based soup with puréed carrots. This time I sautéed the carrots with garlic and onion (and ginger, a nod to the Purist), added store-bought organic tomato soup, vegetable and chicken stock plus a tiny bit of cream. This soup was satisfying and rustic. I ate the whole pot that night with a crisp green salad.

And finally, tired of soup, I tried a glazed carrot recipe. I sautéed the carrots in olive and grapeseed oil over high heat, adding a dash of white wine and some garlic – ginger too! – and coarse sea salt. I lowered the heat and cooked it all down a bit, then added some honey and finished it with crumbled sharp blue cheese. Honey goes very well with both carrots and blue cheese, so why not put them all together?

This was definitely the best thing I’ve ever done with carrots.

Read the results of this eating-more-vegetables-in-season experiment:

Vegetables In Season: New Year Resolution

by liz · Jan 1, 2019

I believe in buying locally. I believe in small farms feeding America. I try to eat as many vegetables as possible at every meal because it’s virtually impossible to get in the number of servings recommended for your daily diet, the number needed for fighting off cancer cells not to mention helping regulate various bodily processes more efficiently and keeping you as young as possible. Vegetables = the new fountain of youth.

Eating vegetables in season is just smart, because that’s what you’ll find at your local farmers markets. So when I got an email from my newly-sprouted local neighborhood farm with an offer to join their new Community Supported Agriculutre (CSA) program, I promptly signed up for 10 weeks of fresh, locally-grown winter LA vegetables.

The first Friday pick-up got me a bunch of carrots, celery, arugula, dandelion, spinach, romaine lettuce, fresh garlic, radishes, mizuna (lovely mild mustard eaten raw), red onion and cilantro. The next week I got carrots, red onion, cauliflower, radishes, turnips, broccoli, tat soi, fresh shallots, romaine, arugula, izuna. After that it was celery, broccoli, carrots, radishes, fresh garlic, mizuna, red romaine lettuce, green romaine lettuce, italian parsley, baby bok choy, arugula, green curly mustard… You get the picture. It was a LOT of vegetables.

This CSA share was the best value in Los Angeles, but it was really going to challenge my recipe repertoire.

Read the yummy results of this eating-more-vegetables-in-season experiment:

Braised Cabbage You’ll Want to Eat Every Day

by liz · Dec 1, 2016

This week I got the most gorgeous pointy head of green cabbage I’ve ever seen. It was so becoming I kept it out of the crisper drawer so I could lovingly admire it every time I opened the fridge. I thought about my head of cabbage often, wondering what would be the best way to cook it. My friend the Comedienne cooks my favorite cabbage as a side to her best baked chicken ever – or should I say an under, since it cooks under the chicken, absorbing all the juices and drippings. It’s delicious.

But this cabbage deserved to be the star of the show, the main event. I remembered Molly from Orangette describing how much she liked eating cabbage; she cooked it with hot sauce and she could eat it every day. I wanted to make cabbage like that.

I searched her site and found 2 more cabbage recipes (braised) – a stove-top braised recipe for red cabbage and an oven-braised recipe for green – so I switched out the cabbage color to make my own stove-top braised green cabbage with CSA carrots and a poached egg. I used my sweet, sweet head of green cabbage, substituted one of my favorite white wines for the chicken stock/water, opened some good sea salt, and finished it with artisan olive oil from Santa Barbara wine country.

Molly was right; I could eat this cabbage every day.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into rough ⅓-inch slices
1 large carrot, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
1 medium head green cabbage, about 2 pounds
1-2 cups good-quality dry white wine, enough to cover cabbage halfway
Sea salt
⅛ tsp crushed red pepper flakes or other spice mix (or Sriracha sauce to finish)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent and slightly golden. Add cabbage, wine, salt, and seasoning. Cover pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is very soft but not falling apart, about an hour.
Allow the liquid to cook off, so that the bottom caramelizes a bit. Stir the cabbage to incorporate the browned cabbage. Serve immediately.
Top with poached egg and Sriracha sauce if desired.

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Read the results of this eating-more-vegetables-in-season experiment:

Secret Recipe Club: Baking Healthy Oats into Desserts

by liz · Nov 14, 2011

This month, I had a fun new assignment called the Secret Recipe Club. Food bloggers sign up, then we are each given a secret assignment to make one recipe from another member’s blog. And today I’m baking more healthy oats into desserts!

Don’t these Pumpkin Oat Streusel Muffins above look good? I’m glad I got Delicious Existence so I could choose another baked-oat-dessert: Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Pie with Dark Chocolate Drizzle. Danielle is a passionate holistic health counselor and dedicated vegan and gluten-free cook…something I’ve never tried. I thought this would be an interesting test: can I successfully make this recipe, only shopping at my local grocery store?

Some of the ingredients were hard to find, so I substituted agave nectar + organic sugar for sucanat, dried cranberries for raisins (just for fun) and I couldn’t find oat flour that was gluten-free. I also added a quarter cup of organic sugar and a teaspoon of sea salt before pouring it into the baking dish, above.

After baking, the consistency more resembled scones, which Danielle does mention in her recipe. These would be great with no topping, just served warm topped with a little butter.

I did have some trouble with her recipe for the glaze, so I ended up using a technique from Toll House, melted in a baggie and squeezed out in a drizzle, as shown in the video above. Watch here to see how it’s done.

It was still a very healthy recipe that I can feel good about for a treat or for breakfast, above. And it’s pretty!

This got me thinking about our own recipes, so i found some healthier dessert options with oats. One is Pumpkin Oat Streusel Muffins, shown at top.

Another is this recipe for Good-For-You Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies, above.

Michel Guerard: Heaven’s Delight for One More Night

by liz · Jun 4, 2011

As the pleasure of the Baker’s company had already begun its slow, steady decline, the town of Eugénie-les-Bains, in France’s southwest corner, just outside the French Basque region, came just in the nick of time.

This town has long been celebrated for its healing spring waters and tranquil valley setting, and as we coasted into town on a winding road lit golden by the late afternoon sun, I could see why thousands of people have been relaxing, easing their pains, and “taking the water” here for years.

Acclaimed chef Michel Guerard gives folks another reason to make the trek here to improve their health: cuisine minceur, a form of healthy cooking that Guerard invented. It’s basically cooking in a traditional French method, but with lower-calorie or higher-nutrition substitutions. Think fish steamed in a concentrated, fragrant spring vegetable broth instead of pan-fried in bread crumbs with butter. Fresh, light, satisfying and French are the defining words for Guerard’s unique, form-enhancing cuisine.

The town was simply beautiful, with one quiet road leading through the small valley floor. Small rock and sandy paths led off each side of the road into gardens and trees and old stone churches and houses. Water fountains, flowers, lawns of grass and pastel-painted shutters on the windows surrounded us as we pulled into La Maison Rose, the most affordable of Michel’s three lodgings in town, Les Pres d’Eugenie (which, with his two restaurants, seemed to take up one entire side of town).

I felt such relaxation and peace here that I began to drink in long, slow, deep breaths of the fresh spring air, and to feel slightly better about us. Hope was peeking through the French countryside, and we would dine well tonight!

The main house held the gourmet restaurant, while a simple restored farmhouse held Guerard’s rustic restaurant, La Ferme aux Grives — built to look like his childhood home, with food cooked over a fire in a big hearth in the main room like his mother used to cook. We chose the gourmet menu in the white and beige-colored dining room. It was the most beautiful and peaceful dinner setting I had ever seen! I could barely see any other diners for the nooks of tables and gorgeous flowers everywhere, and the waiters excelled in hushed voices and silent steps. Michel himself was also here, with a constant smile and a warm handshake.

The sun was setting and a warm breeze wafted in. I felt positively serene and agreeable to any story to come from the Baker’s mouth tonight. The wine certainly helped. And the first course was a mushroom soup, with a “cloud” and truffles on top, see above. Sigh.

Then steamed lobster with butter and herbs, plus duck breast and foie gras with a trio of citrus sauces. So delicious! And so light!

And, of course, his signature local fish with fresh spring vegetables and a fresh, savory consommé.

And the cheese course: gooey French cheeses are the best antidote to anything that ails you, including affairs of the heart.

The desserts were the best: this was a lemon soufflé with a brûlée top. Gorgeous on the plate and heaven in the mouth.

I love rhubarb (reminds me of both my Kansan grandmothers) and our menu happened to have a Festival of Rhubarb listed! What luck, to enjoy a plate of rhubarb tarts and pastries along with a baked bread pudding with rich, creamy rhubarb ice cream. It was a dream.

I was thankful and full and resigned. This elegant dinner would be our last real pleasure — our last act of kindness and love — and I would always remember it with a smile and a long, deep breath.

A Girl Needs Her Greens: How to Eat More Greens

by liz · Mar 11, 2010

I had joined a CSA program in my hood, and I was starting to see green. Every week I picked up two large bags full of vegetables, many of them greens of some kind. Curly mustard greens, Chicoria (dandelion greens), Mizuna (Japanese mustard greens) and stinging nettles. What’s a girl to do with all these greens?

The Purist told me the way to cook greens was to wilt them with olive oil and garlic, which was delicious. I began wilting greens at every meal. I had wilted greens on top of my fried eggs and toast, for lunch on a warm goat cheese crostini, as a side to tomato risotto for dinner. I also made salads with the greens, then went back to wilting them. It was all good, and good for me, but I needed something different.

One day we got stinging nettles. I had to handle them with gloves or plastic bags before cooking them so as not to get a red rash from the stinging hairs on the stalk. And what to do with nettles besides wilt them like greens? Then, during a weekend in Santa Barbara wine country, I had a a wild nettle flatbread with farm egg, leek cream sauce, smoked mozzarella and thyme at a local organic restaurant (Full of Life Flatbread Bakery). Pizza! With the slightly bitter/smoky twist nettles had on greens – combined with local produce and mozzerella on crispy organic pizza dough! Oh!

A new flatbread obsession took hold: I had to recreate this flatbread – over and over. A girl’s gonna need more greens.

Thank god for CSA.

Read the results of this eating-more-vegetables-in-season experiment: