Preparations for Thanksgiving

I always miss the midwest in the deep fall. It's the most extraordinary time of the year and good enough reason to stay there as anywhere in my opinion. But I didn't stay there. I pioneered to the west coast, my family following several years later. And now I hardly ever experience the brilliant warmth of fall colors.

But don't feel too badly for me. I just bring it home in a basket from the market every sunday!

A suggestion for these bloody beets:

steam whole for 20 min. Run the soft beets under cool water and rub the skin off with your thumb. Slice paper thin and sprinkle with Maldon salt (large flakes of sea salt). Chiffinod fresh basil and dab each slice with fresh raw milk ricotta (yet another market jewel sold by a group of suspiciously pretty boys who are far too friendly to be farmers). Run the whole lot over with a stream of your very best olive oil and serve. Moj gets credit for this delight. We had a version of it somewhere but I think she improved it greatly with the basil.

soup for sister

I love to cook for family. I especially like cooking for my sis who is a very good eater and a great appreciator of the mystical kitchen beast called "the cook". Simple food is best, no fuss, no show. I just really want the people I love to be well fed. I’m a believer in whole ingredients, organics, locally grown and seasonal food. Go to your local farmer's market people! It makes a difference.

I was a chef for a short time and I enjoyed learning new things, running a kitchen and designing balanced menus. But there is something so eternal and edifying about making a meal for the folks you love. And because they're family you can futz around in the kitchen for hours experimenting and trying new things without the pressure of looking good. I was enjoying just such a day of futzing recently making soup in my sister’s kitchen while she worked in her studio designing these beautiful dolls.

This butternut chickpea soup would pair nicely with a large Parmesan crouton or toasted Asiago bread from Acme Bakery. But if you're wheat free like me then roast the pumpkin seeds in a spicy cumin blend and add just a tiny kick of heat as well as a seasonal garnish.

And of course, a crisp dry white wine wouldn't hurt.

Butterpea Chicnut Velvet Soup

1 large butternut squash (look for thick necks)
1 med pumpkin (sugar pumpkin works fine but any will do)
1 lg sweet onion
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (use the good one at the end for flavor an inexpensive organic blend will do nicely)
1 12oz can organic chickpeas (AKA garbonzo beans)
2 leeks
1 qt water or veg broth (fresh or store bought but avoid a bullion they’re so salty)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
soymilk/almond milk/milk

• Preheat the oven to 375.
• Chop onions & leeks and toss them into a large pot with the olive oil. Simmer over a low/med heat. Sweat onions with some salt. Stir occasionally.
• Take a very sharp knife and cut the pumpkin & squash in half. Gut seeds from pumpkin and toss in to a strainer. Toss guts from butternut squash.
• Spray or rub pumpkin halves with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and put into oven face down to roast for 15 minutes. Turn halves over and roast another 15. More or less…
• Cut butternut squash into large chunks. Now a word about peeling squash, I hear from Jamie Oliver that you don’t have to peel butternut. That, in fact the peel just softens and can be pureed into the soup never to be noticed again. I take a vegetable peeler and peel. But I’m like that. Feel free to experiment.
• Toss butternut in with onions. Add a little salt and pepper.
• Open can of chickpeas and drain in strainer. Rinse, rinse, rinse! Any time you open a can of beans rinse them under running water several times. This is how you get the gas out before you end up letting it out at inopportune times.
• Toss in with onions and butternut and stir over heat for 5 min.
• Add broth or water. Bring to a boil over a high heat. Keep a steam lid on it or cover mostly with a little room to breath. Keep the flavor in without letting the pot explode is the point.
• Boil it until everything gets soft enough to smoosh with a fork.
• Turn heat down to slow simmer.
• When pumpkin is soft enough to pierce with a fork easily, pull it out and scoop it out of its skin. Dump pumpkin into pot with other ingredients and remove from the heat.
• Puree soup in a blender or food processor. Use every bit of liquid and add more if it seems more like sauce than soup.
• Return blended soup to the stove. Simmer over low heat. Add nutmeg, salt, pepper and whatever milk and stir. Don’t boil it again.
• Pumpkin seeds
• Clean and rinse seeds. Dry with dish towel (not paper). Toss in bowl with olive oil, sea salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, garlic or onion powder and dried herbs like oregano, thyme or parsley. Spread onto baking pan and bake for 10-15 minutes. Shake seeds occasionally to flip them over so they don’t burn.
• Serve soup with pear and aged mild goat cheddar. The combination is lovely.

mom says eat more chocolate

Mom and I met at the Farmer's Market this Sunday as we often do. She's been in good spirits lately despite a long year of health bothers that have taken a toll on her energy. In fact she said she's had a burst of energy lately and she's really been enjoying herself.
Wonderful, I said, what have you been doing, do you think, to have more energy?

Eating more chocolate! she said.

Singing to the choir mom. Singing to the choir.

Hand Me My Purslane

Hello sweeties,

I went to the market this weekend. It's so hot I was motivated to get there a bit earlier than usual. I think I was plodding around by 8am this time. Getting there early is good for two reasons, a less determined sun and the best pick of everything. Guess what i stumbled on? A little herb called Purslane. I've heard it mentioned but never had seen it before. It looks like a cross between Lambs Ear (that lovely dusted ground cover clever people add to their gardens) and watercress. For a buck a bunch I couldn't pass up the opportunity to experiment.

Once home I found this out online:
Medieval herbals describe purslane as ‘cold,’ meaning that it was considered a cure for a ‘burning’ (or malfunctioning) heart and liver. Greeks call it a ‘blood-cleansing’ herb. In Mexico, purslane is considered good for diabetics. Recent research has confirmed that purslane is one of the best vegetable sources of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as carotenes and vitamin C

excellent! I'm on this anti-inflammatory diet a month now - as I mentioned - and I've decided to go another month. But more about that later.

Another attention grabber at the market were the little goblin melons called lemon cucumbers. Again, heard of them, I suppose I've seen them before but had never tasted them. So, I got a sample from a hurried young man at a booth and got myself about 4 of them. I wasn't overwhelmed by the flavor at that point but did detect the lemony essence and I liked the texture. I wasn't in a mood to quarrel with myself about it.

With no real plan for any of the ingredients purchased that day Moj and I went about dinner. We were in foul moods that night. Self pitying and snarling at one another. She took to the grill for fish tacos and I opted for the salad of the evening. Here is what I made:

Purslane Lemon Cuke Salad with Summer Corn

2 bunches of Purslane leaves
3 lemon cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1 cob fresh uncooked sweet corn (yellow is has more beta carotene)
a bit of really good olive oil
a generous splash of white balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
a bit of lemon thyme if you have it (skip it if you don't the other kinds are too strong)
Or fresh basil chiffinod (roll the leaves together lengthwise and slice, deary, gives you sweet little ribbons of basil throughout your salad)

Toss together and let stand for 15 minutes while making the rest of dinner. Just before eating squeeze a bit of lemon over the salad. Toss and serve.

yum,
Romy

Oh, and Moj's tacos were awesome too. She makes a marinade out of tequila.. not on the diet but overlooked just this once. Maybe she'll give us her recipe sometime.

Almost as good to see as to eat

Dr. Irina Tsoy is a little woman with an unassuming presence but the minute she turns her attention to you she has you completely surrounded. You won't realize it at first, it'll seem like a warm bath or a cool glass of lemonade depending on which you need more. She'll say your name at the end of every sentence. She'll stand still and confident smiling as she talks to you without the least bit of arrogance or know-y-ness.

By the end of your first visit to her office you'll have been told you're flabby so sweetly that it will take days for your ego to catch up and be offended.

You'll have been handed a piece of paper eliminating almost everything you eat from your diet but you'll be nodding at everything she says and wanting to go home with her for tea all the same. She'll tell you that you should really eliminate sugar from your diet for good but you'll find yourself happily filling your schedule with more plans to visit her unfussy office behind a row of houses somewhere in Silver Lake.

As you're reclined on her table, needles in your 3rd eye and your fingers, you'll listen to neighbor hood hounds howl at the firetrucks and be remembering her last words as she turned out the light "think of something relaxing ________, like a stream or a mountain".

I like to think of the wind blowing through the leaves of a large oak tree as if I were lying underneath it personally.

I don't think about how beautiful, vibrant, perfectly gorgeous strawberries are on the NO list (allergins apparently).

working lunch on hot hot desert day

LA had a heat wave last week. On a particularly whopping 99 degree afternoon in my apartment I scooted my Herman Miller from the depths of my office (closet) and went into the kitchen for some nutrition. No body really wants much food on a day like this. My organs were feeling as lethargic inside as out. Don't burden us with complicated math or chemistry please, cried my liver. My belly simply looked up and shrugged with ennui. " don esspet muuch" he mumbled mostly to himself. My belly is a surly Frenchman who is more hardy than refined but plays himself a gourmand.

Anyhoo, I poked around the fridge and found the makings of a perfect summer salad. Protein covered, nothing sleepy, a good pop of flavor and chew. Pungent hard cheese finish with the occasional happy burst of a sweet cherry tomato. Yum. With a white Lillet and French Vogue I could have called it a perfect day.

Frissée Salad w/ Beluga Lentils & Poached Egg

2C frisée washed and torn tossed in a bowl with miso dressing,

1/2C little black lentils (cooked and cooled naturally)

a handful sweet cherry tomatoes
1/4C Hard dry sheeps milk cheese

1 soft poached egg
salt & pepper to taste