Red, Green and RAW

October makes me think of orange, gold, brown, purple and deep red. This Farmer's market trip ended up having a red and green theme which was sort of random. It reminded me of Christmas. Just so you know, this color theme was not done on purpose! It just... well it just happened. 

See for yourself:

Apples, red bell peppers, grapes, raspberries, garlic, pears, strawberries, basil, chard, squash, fresh bread and raw milk. Yum.

Even though it's October those strawberries were amazing. I wonder if they were a second crop of strawberries? I know our strawberry plants produced two "crops," one in May/June and one in late September. 

Most exciting new booth at the Alameda Farmer's market: Organic Pastures!!! This is the coolest thing that I have come across in quite a while. Organic Pastures is a locally operated dairy whose cows are grass fed. The best part is that all their dairy products are RAW.  This milk is incredible. I had seen it at (and bought it from) natural grocery stores in the area, but not at the farmer's market!! I'm pretty sure it's cheaper at the farmer's market (no middle-man) and there are more choices.  I would definitely give their milk a try if you are okay with drinking raw dairy. Check out their website for more info. 

Front Yard Harvest

I have a thing for odd fruits and and vegetables. There's something about the intriguing names of heirlooms and the nonconformist look of these old-fashioned varieties that is fascinating. Not only do I adore heirlooms, I also like rare and dare I say, weird veggies and fruits. I am drawn to them the way a moth gravitates towards a light on a dark night. 

In front of my house, on the slim strip of earth between the sidewalk and the street sit four quince trees. Odd? Indeed. 

The quince is not an easily eaten fruit. Although it is in the same family as the apple, it is not something that can be bitten into and enjoyed because it is hard and bitter.  Because of this, my family never used the quince. Once, we had a nice lady knock on our door and ask if she could pick some of the quince, my mom said, "go for it, take as many as you like." 

Last year, as my interest in cooking, local food and the Slow Food Movement grew, I decided I would use the quince. After all, how hard could it really be? I remembered seeing a few recipes in my Deborah Madison cookbook so I decided what the heck. 

I decided to poach the quince in water and sugar. This brought out their unique taste and turned them that rosy coral pink. Doing this also made the quince sweet enough to eat. I will admit I found the taste and texture a bit odd. But, I did make an apple and quince crisp that was quite delicious. I also made a tart of quinces, apples, and pears.  When combined with these other fruits the quince flavor was more subtle. 

 

From what I have found, quince seem to have a few main uses:

1. Quince Jelly 

2. Quince Butter (similar to apple butter)

3. An addition to applesauce

4. Chutney

5. An interesting addition to apple and/or pear desserts

6. Quince syrup

Right about now, early October, is when our quince ripen on the trees. When quince are ripe, they turn a golden yellow and have a very flowery perfumed scent.  I just picked them this afternoon and a think I have a few pounds of quince sitting in the kitchen. 

Now the question is what will I make with them this year? 

Labor Day Eat-In

Slow Food USA has been pushing a new campaign called "Time for Lunch." The idea is to get schools to serve kids real food. Our food system needs to be overhauled, and starting with the food that the government feeds kids in schools in an excellent place to start. 

As part of the Time for Lunch campaign, on Labor Day, there were "Eat-Ins" organized by Slow Food members and held all over the country.  My friend Anna and I went to the one here in Alameda at Franklin Park. It was a potluck so we brought a baguette from the Feel Good Bakery and some Humboldt Fog Cheese from Farmstead Cheeses and Wines.  The weather on Labor Day was gorgeous, so we rode our bikes over to the park.  Often times food can be hit or miss when there are potlucks. Well, not at this potluck! Practically every dish I tried was absolutely delicious!

From the Slow Food website: 

The National School Lunch Program provides a meal to more than 30 million children every school day. 

By giving schools the resources to serve real food, we can grant 30 million children the freedom to be healthy. By teaching children to eat well, we can make a down payment on health care reform. By providing children with locally grown fruits and vegetables, we can support local farmers and create green jobs in our communities. By purchasing local food, we can stop wasting oil on transportation and start curbing global warming. By raising children who enjoy real food, we can start laying the foundation for America's future prosperity.

This fall, the Child Nutrition Act, which is the bill that governs the National School Lunch Program, is up for reauthorization in Congress. By passing a Child Nutrition Act that works for children, our nation can take the first step towards a future where no child is denied his or her right to be healthy and where every child enjoys real food.

That’s why it’s time for Congress and the Obama Administration to: 

1. INVEST IN CHILDREN’S HEALTH.  

Give schools just one dollar more per day for each child’s lunch.

2. PROTECT AGAINST FOODS THAT PUT CHILDREN AT RISK. 

Establish strong standards for all food sold at school, including food from vending machines and 

school fast food. 

3. TEACH CHILDREN HEALTHY HABITS THAT WILL LAST THROUGH LIFE.  

Fund grants for innovative Farm to School programs and school gardens.

4. GIVE SCHOOLS THE INCENTIVE TO BUY LOCAL.  

Establish financial incentives that encourage schools to buy food from local farms for all child 

nutrition programs.

5. CREATE GREEN JOBS WITH A SCHOOL LUNCH CORPS.  

Train underemployed Americans to be the teachers, farmers, cooks, and administrators our 

school cafeterias need.

More details can be found here. 

Slow Food USA has an online petition that has been signed by 21,868 people so far.  It only takes a minute to sign it. If you believe in what is trying to be accomplished by this campaign please go and sign the petition here.

Anna at the Eat-In

Enjoying my delicious plate of food

August Meeting - Fantastic Fruit Crisps and Cobblers

For the August meeting we focused on Summer Fruit desserts. I rode my bike to the Old Oakland Friday farmers market that morning and bought lots of fruit. My messenger bag was heavier and fuller than it is when I carry my books to school. It was a full load! 

The blackberries and raspberries

We had blackberries, raspberries, white nectarines, yellow nectarines and peaches.  I let everyone figure out what type of crisp and cobbler they wanted to make. They came to the agreement of having a blackberry and raspberry crisp and a nectarine and raspberry cobbler. 

Preparing the fruit

Smile!

Layers of white and yellow nectarines

The raspberry and nectarines all ready to have the cobbler dough put on top

Out of the oven with a nice golden brown cobbler topping

Mariah showing off the lovely crisp topping 

Mixing the berries with the sugar

Ready to go in the oven

Chester stirring the custard for the ice cream

To go along with our fruit desserts we made cinnamon ice cream. Instead of simply putting the cream, sugar and flavoring into the ice cream maker, we made a custard based ice cream. This means that there are egg yolks in it and we make a custard as the base of the ice cream. This produces a smoother and creamier ice cream. It also takes a little more work. But in the end it is worth it! To make the cinnamon we steeped a couple of cinnamon sticks in the cream before we used it. This produces a subtle cinnamon flavor. This technique can be used for other flavors as well. For example, it is possible to make an incredible mint chocolate chip (or simply mint) ice cream by steeping fresh mint leaves in the cream (this even gives the ice cream a slight natural green tint). 

The final creamy, cold and delicious product

A little runny, but delicious none the less!

Picture perfect berry crisp

Julie and Julia

This evening I went to see the new "foodie" movie, "Julie and Julia." It was very well done and I definitely enjoyed it. It made me realize that I knew very little about Julia Child, although she has been a huge figure in the American culinary scene of past generations. I guess I am a little bit young to have seen the influence she had on home-cooking in the United States.

I think the two cookbook authors whom I have truly learned how to cook from, have been Deborah Madison and Alice Waters. Their cookbooks are my bibles.

Michael Pollan wrote a wonderful article talking about the influence Julia Child had and how she was different from the current chefs who are on the Food Network nowadays. I found it rather eye-opening. 

Now I've just been meaning to get a hold of  The Art of French Cooking...

The Summer Garden

I just got back from vacation up in Oregon. When I went outside to look at the garden, I saw that the tomatoes had been growing and ripening like crazy while I was away. I picked a whole basket of the cherry tomatoes and there were still lots left on the plants. There's also a zucchini growing on the zucchini plant, with some more blossoms around it.

Orange orbs bursting with flavor

So many deliciously sweet tomatoes!

The Big Ones

Box o' Tomatoes

The Lonely Zucchini

Squash Blossoms

Chives

The tomato harvest (with mint and thyme in the background)

With all these delicious tomatoes, I knew I needed to make something for dinner that really highlighted the fresh picked sweetness of these pizza. What better way than a homemade pizza!

This is one of my favorite pizzas, the recipe is from Deborah Madison's, Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. It's called "Zucchini Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese." It has zucchini and fresh mozzarella, and then you make a mixture of of the sliced cherry tomatoes with a little garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. This is sprinkled on top and then you sprinkle goat cheese (feta cheese works as well). As soon as it comes out of the oven you sprinkle more fresh basil and brush the crust with garlic olive oil. The crust is simply a home made pizza dough of whole wheat / white flour. It's very thin and crispy. What really makes this pizza special is the freshly picked, homegrown, tomatoes.

That night's dinner: Pizza!

July Ravioli Making

Any type of pasta is good, ravioli just happens to be one of the best.  Especially when the pasta dough is made by hand and the filling is made from scratch.  Then raviolis become absolutely amazing. Our July meeting took place at Tricia and Lily's house (in their lovely kitchen). Tricia taught everyone her tips and tricks of how to make excellent pasta dough and ravioli. We had a smaller group than usual, but this simply meant more hands-on time.  

Making the dough. Lily slowly incorporates the egg into the flour. 

The trick here is to not lot the eggs escape from the nest of flour before they are mixed in. 

Ingrid making the ricotta and herb filling. 

Vivi chopping basil for the ravioli filling.

Ta da! The filling, all ready to go into the ravioli.

 

Vivi and Chester rolling out the dough with the hand cranked pasta maker. 

Showing off a nicely rolled, thin layer of pasta dough!

One of the coolest tools ever, the ravioli mold. Put one layer of pasta dough, then the filling, then cover with the second layer of dough, go over it with a rolling pin, and voila! One dozen ravioli have been made. 

Makin' the raviolis.

Raviolis ready to be cooked!

The tomato sauce we made to go on our ravioli. This was some of the most amazing tomato sauce ever. I learned that to make authentic tomato sauce like they make in Italy, you need a food mill, and after the sauce has been cooking for a while, you run it all through the food mill and it ends up having an amazingly smooth texture. 

Ravioli with a butter, cream and parmesan cheese sauce.

The ravioli with tomato sauce and a garnish of fresh basil. 

Enjoying the meal!

I really want to give Tricia a big thank you for helping out with this meeting and hosting it at her house!

Alameda Plum Ice Cream

I'm not a huge fan of ice cream. Especially the kind that can be bought in stores. It's too sweet and has too many additives. Generally I lean towards sorbets when it comes to frozen treats. It does not weigh you down like ice cream. However, homemade ice cream is a treat that should be had every once in a while.

On a rare Alameda day that actually felt like summer (as in, it was pretty hot out) I happened to have heavy cream in the fridge and I felt like making a dessert. I decided to make some ice cream. Only a few months ago, did I even learn that my mom actually owned an ice cream maker. I followed the recipe in Alice Water's "The Art of Simple Food."

As Alice says, "Ice Cream is universally loved -- and homemade ice cream right off the dasher is the most desirable ice cream of all. There are basically two versions. The first is simply sweetened and flavored cream, frozen. The second is a frozen custard made with sweetened cream and egg yolks, which produces a richer, smoother ice cream."

I followed the recipe for the custard style. I did a variation on the recipe, using plums instead of strawberries. These plums were very small, rather tart plums that weren't that great for eating on their own. They were off of someones plum tree here in Alameda, because my mom picked them up off of Stephanie's porch through the Alameda Fruit Exchange.


I pitted the plums and then heated them over the stove with some sugar. After this, I pureed them in the food processor. I then made the custard/cream mixture and let it cool. Once it was cool, I added in the pureed plums. I put the mixture in the ice cream maker and let it work its magic!

The ice cream turned out just right, sweet, but with some natural tartness from the plums, and very creamy. It was delicious. It was a pale peachy orange color with flecks of red. It was so rich that it took a very small amount to completely satisfy.

The final product

Pizza and Fro Yo

Making homemade pizza is a lot of fun. It's relatively easy and there are many imaginative ways to top a pizza. For our May meeting, Tricia was kind enough to make some of her delicious sourdough pizza dough for us (it's a dough like the one used at the Cheeseboard or Arizmendi).

So much of pizza making is in the prep. Vegetables need to be chopped, cheese needs to be grated and cut, hard vegetables need to be precooked, sauce needs to be made, and herbs need to be picked and chopped.

Ingrid chopping mushrooms

Vivi roasting bell peppers

Mariah and Vivi removing the charred skin from the peppers

Lily picking some herbs for her pizza

One of the most important things when making a good homemade pizza is having a pizza stone for the oven. By pre-heating the oven for half an hour at 500 degrees with the pizza stone in it, the pizza will have a crisp crust without overcooking the toppings. A pizza peel is also helpful in getting the pizza into and out of the oven. I use a fine cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking to the peel. There's nothing worse than having a pizza covered in toppings and ready to go into the oven, only to discover that one part of the dough is stuck to the peel.

Homemade pizza sauce

Before
After

This meeting everyone got creative. We split into a few different groups. Each group brainstormed until they came up with a satisfactory combination of toppings for their pizza.

There were three completely different pizzas that we made. One was a pizza with no sauce, fresh mozzarella with feta, herbs and olive oil. Another was a combination of tomato sauce, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, mozzarella, feta, and basil. The last pizza was more along the lines of a traditional margarita pizza with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil. This last pizza had a little bit of a disaster when it was being moved from the pizza stone onto the pan. It broke and the cheese and sauce slid and it became a saucy-cheesy mess. It still tasted good though!

As soon as the pizza is removed from the oven, it is sprinkled with fresh herbs and the crust is brushed with and olive oil and garlic mixture.

Not only did we make pizza during this meeting, we made frozen yogurt as well. I happen to be a huge fan of the trend of "tart" frozen yogurts such as the stuff they sell at Tuttimelon here in Alameda. It's tangy and sweet at the same time. In one of my recent Sunset magazines they had a recipe on how to make a similar tart frozen yogurt. The recipe called for only two ingredients: plain nonfat yogurt and sugar. Mix them together and put them in the ice cream maker. Easy? Definitely.

The article recommended using a very high quality yogurt with no additives, so we used the nonfat Straus European style yogurt. Actually, I think it was the nonfat plain european style yogurt from Trader Joes's. (Interesting little side note: When I went to Slow Food Nation in SF last year, I talked to the guy at the Straus Creamery booth and he said that the plain European style yogurt at Trader Joe's is actually Straus yogurt. But only the plain nonfat and whole fat European style ones.)

Holding a dish of fro yo with cherry sauce

A few days before the meeting I had went out to Brentwood with my mom and my friend Ruth to pick cherries. We had two paper grocery bags almost full of cherries. So at cooking club we made a cherry sauce for the frozen yogurt (fro yo). The sauce was simply pitting the cherries and cutting them in half, and then sauteeing them over medium high heat with some sugar until the sugar caramelized a bit and the cherries released some of their juice.

Standing in front of a tree laden with cherries

The cherry sauce