I am back!  Back to cooking, back to blogging, back to the USA, back to San Francisco!

Steven and I returned from our 10 month German adventure at the beginning of November, and have been doing all the things people do when they return to a place they have missed dearly.  I’ve been visiting with family and friends, eating at my favorite restaurants, shopping at my favorite grocery store, jogging along the waterfront, and of course visiting the farmer’s market.

The first saturday we were back I convinced Steven to go to the Palo Alto farmer’s market with me by offering to stop along the way for oh-so-tasty and impossible-to-find-in-Germany breakfast sandwiches.  Eggs.  Bacon.  Cheese.  Bagel.  One would think this delicious combination would be America’s #1 export!

At the market, colorful, plump winter squash were stacked high on vendors’ tables along with whole stalks of brussels sprouts, baseball-sized pomegranates, and all sorts of pears and apples.  What a bounty!  Always a squash lover, I decided to pick up a sugar pie pumpkin.  It’s one of my favorites since it has a wonderful flavor that’s not too sweet, has a good texture, and is fairly easy to peel and carve.  I also picked up some fresh hot red chiles, cilantro, and torpedo onions since I had this curry in mind.  I love coconut milk based curries, and this somewhat unusual one with pumpkin is no exception.  It’s rich and flavorful, a little sweet, a little spicy, but not too heavy since it is brimming with vegetables.  Served atop brown rice, it’s substantial enough for a meal in itself, though it would also be lovely in a spread with other curries, raitas, noodles, etc.  Squash is in peak season right now too, so it’s a great time to try this.

On a totally different note, thanks for sticking with me while I dropped off the face of the planet during our move! :)  and Happy Thanksgiving!

Spicy Pumpkin and Peanut Curry

1 c. water
1/3 c. chunky peanut butter
zest and juice from 1 lime
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. tomato paste

Olive oil
4 medium red torpedo onions, cut into 1-2 inch chunks (or substitute 2 medium red onions)
1 medium sugar pie pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, and cut into 2-3 inch chunks

2 large handfuls cilantro, chopped, divided
2 fresh red chiles, finely diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 400ml can coconut milk
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Mix together the water, peanut butter, lime zest and juice, soy sauce, and tomato paste in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet (14 inch) or a chef’s pan over medium high heat, then add the onions and saute until softened and the edges are beginning to brown, 4-5 minutes.  Add the pumpkin and stir fry for about 4-5 minutes.  Add half the cilantro, chiles, garlic, and garlic, and stir fry for about 2 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and peanut mixture and stir until well mixed.  Loosely cover with tinfoil, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until the pumpkin is tender and the sauce has thickened, about 15-20 minutes.  Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick, or boil vigorously if the sauce is too thin towards the end.

Serve with rice and garnish with the other half of the cilantro and the chopped peanuts.  Enjoy!
(Note:  This curry goes particularly well with Half Moon Bay Brewing Company’s Pumpkin Harvest Ale!)

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Spicy Split Pea Soup, and Thoughts on Comfort Food

- Spicy Slivered Green Beans with Lime and Cilantro

- Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans

There is a serious lack of Mexican food here in Hannover, Germany.  Not just good Mexican food (like the lack of good sushi), but simply a lack of Mexican food in general.  After 10 months of being gone from the Bay Area (where Mexican food is plentiful and delicious), at this point I would settle for some average or ho-hum Mexican food.  Or even Tex-Mex.  I miss it that much.  Alas, the closest thing is Dolores Mission Style Burritos in Berlin, which though tasty, is a very far cry from authentic mexican food.

One of the cookbooks I lugged over here with me is Dianne Kennedy’s The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.  At 526 pages, it is immense.  I don’t make things out of it all that often, since the recipes usually have a long list of ingredients, many of which I can’t find here, and typically take a full afternoon of toasting, soaking, grinding, pureeing, frying etc.  But when I do decide to crack open this cookbook, I am never disappointed.  The recipes tend to have deep, complex flavors, and strike a balance between homey comfort food and gourmet cuisine.  This lazy weekend I decided on a version of her Legumbres en Pipian Oaxaqueño, Vegetables in Oaxacan Pumpkin Seed Sauce.  The original recipe calls for nopales and peas, which I am sure would be delicious, but I think that any combination of sturdy vegetables would work just fine.

This particular recipe isn’t actually all that time consuming or difficult, and the results are fantastic.  The pumpkin seeds lend a unique, nutty, earthy, and almost sweet flavor to the sauce, and the dried chiles plus the chili powder give it a bit of a kick.  It makes a large batch, and the sauce continues to develop in flavor as it sits.

Look for the dried chiles at your local hispanic market, or if that fails, try Whole Foods or your regular grocery store.  The hispanic market will probably be about 20-30% of the cost of Whole Foods, so I recommend checking there first.  I picked mine up on a recent trip to the USA (chiles like ancho, mulato, guajillo etc. are pretty much impossible to find here) — my friend Laurie drove with me all over downtown Washington DC looking for a good hispanic market where I could buy an assortment of dried chiles, chipotles in adobo, and a couple other “staples”.  I was a little worried that going through customs in Frankfurt that I might get stopped for the sheer quantity of dried chiles and chile products in my suitcase.  Ah, what one must do to cook in a foreign country… Did I mention I am coming back to San Francisco for good in 3 1/2 weeks?!

Oaxacan Pipian served over mixed grains

Oaxacan Pipian with Zucchini and Onions
Adapted from The Essential Cuisines of Mexico

8 oz. green pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 large ancho chile (dried), stem, seeds, and veins removed
2 guajillo chiles (dried), stem and seeds removed
4 c. cold water
4 garlic cloves
1/2 t. cumin seeds
3 T. vegetable oil
1-2 t. salt
a large pinch of oregano (mexican if possible)
1/2 – 1 t. chipotle chili powder, to taste (or substitute regular chili powder)

2 T. butter
3 medium zucchini, cut into large (1-2 inch) chunks
3 medium onions, cut into thick rings, then cut in half
1/2 – 3/4 lb. cooked turkey or chicken in bite size pieces (optional)

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a large dry skillet over medium high heat until they puff, about 5-7 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Cover the chiles with the 4 c. water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand for an additional 5-10 minutes.  Place chiles in a blender along with garlic and 1 c. of the chile soaking water.  Puree until you have a smooth paste.

In batches, grind the pumpkin seeds along with the cumin in a clean spice/coffee grinder until they are a fine powder, but with a little bit of texture remaining.  Place into a medium sized bowl, and add the remaining 3 c. of chile soaking liquid.  Mix until smooth.

Heat vegetable oil in a large chef’s pan or sauce pan over medium high heat, and add the chile puree.  Fry for about 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan often to prevent sticking and scorching.  Add the pumpkin seed/water mixture and stir until well blended.  Add salt, oregano, and chili powder.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes until thickened.  Stir occasionally and scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan over medium high heat.  Place zucchini chunks in the butter with the largest cut side facing down.  Fry, undisturbed, for about 3-4 minutes until the zucchini has a golden crust.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add onions to pan, and saute until just softened, about 3-4 minutes.

Once sauce has thickened, add zucchini, onions, and cooked turkey or chicken (if using), and stir until evenly distributed.  Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Serve over rice or with corn tortillas.  Enjoy!

No related posts.

Perhaps you would have chuckled if you saw me leaping into the air, grabbing at bunches of elderberries that grow alongside Moody Road yesterday morning… without a ladder, one must leap!  That’s right — it’s the time of year when elderberries are ripe, and just waiting for wild food enthusiasts to come harvest them.

I’ve been interested in wild foods for a while now (nettles, lamb’s quarter (aka pigweed), dandelion), but usually, I procure these things at the farmer’s market.  This was one of my first foraging experiences — and it was fruitful!

My elderberry haul

A couple weeks ago I picked up ‘Stalking the Wild Asparagus’ (circa 1962) by Euell Gibbons.  This is a fantastic and fun-to-read book with lots of information about wild foods that reads like a personal narrative.  After reading the chapter ‘A Salute to the Elderberry (with a nod to Sumac)’, I figured out that I have a (small) elderberry tree growing outside my front door!  Who knew!?!  It’s funny how things happen right under our noses and we don’t realize it!  Once I figured this out, I started seeing elderberry trees everywhere!  Really, I’ve seen no less than 40 trees while meandering around my neighborhood.

Elderberry tree with ripe fruit

So, yesterday morning I went foraging.  In an hour or so of berry picking, I came away with about 16 cups (4 qts) of elderberries!  Elderberries are tiny, about a half inch in diameter, and require a fair bit of work (de-stemming and rinsing) before they’re ready to use.  The leaves and green stems MUST be removed before using the berries, as I hear there are trace amounts of poisonous substances present (namely cyanide, though I’m no botanist).  The berries are completely edible and safe.

De-Stemming Elderberries

Rinsing Elderberries; skim off anything that floats to the top (dried flower petals, old berries, etc.)

I wouldn’t recommend using the berries raw, as they have a bit of a musty taste;  however, when cooked or dried, any disagreeable taste disappears.  With 16 cups of elderberries, I had quite a bit to work with — I made elderberry jam (recipe above), dried elderberries (to be made into chutney), and elderberry juice (for… cocktails?  and perhaps another jelly recipe — this time with using crabapples for the pectin).

And I must say, the preserves turned out great!  This is a fairly ‘loose’ jam, and is not overly sweet (a problem with many preserves).  The hint of almond adds a wonderful complexity to the jam.  And oddly, for all the preserves I’ve made, this was my first time using purchased pectin.  Previously, I had shied away from commercial pectins for fear of strange additives and chemicals, but I found this at my local natural food store, and thought I’d give it a try.  Pomona’s Pectin is a citrus based pectin, and does NOT require large amounts of sugar to jell properly (not the case with regular pectins like Sure-Jell, etc.).  If you notice, this preserve has only about 25% the typical amount of sweetener in jams — usually it’s 1:1 fruit to sugar.  Having had success with this low-sugar preserve, I envision many possibilities for preserves using low-pectin fruits (cherries, kiwi, peppers, tomatoes, etc.).  I’ve also considered making my own pectin from slightly under-ripe crabapples, but this is a large endeavor  on its own…

Well, foraging is an adventure in itself, and culinary delights often follow!  I encourage you to get outdoors, find some edible wild foods, and try something new!  You certainly won’t regret it!  And a tip if you’re anywhere near Los Altos Hills, CA — there are a plethora of elderberry trees on Moody road near Foothill college and Hidden Villa Farm; Page Mill Road also has 20+ trees.

And for the next foraging adventure — prickly pear!

Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond
using Pomona’s Pectin (citrus-based)
makes ~ 4 1/2 – 5 cups

4 c. mashed elderberries (from about 4 1/2 c. berries)
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 t. calcium water (from Pomona’s Pectin package)
1 c. honey at room temperature
2 t. Pomona’s powdered pectin
1 t. pure almond extract

Sterilize 5 cups worth of canning jars and their corresponding lids and rings according to your favorite method.  (I heat the jars in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes (or longer), and boil the lids and rings for 5 minutes;  leave rings/lids in water until ready to use; leave jars in oven until ready to use)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine elderberries, lemon juice, and calcium water.  In another bowl, combine honey and pectin powder and mix well.  Bring fruit mixture to a boil, then add honey mixture.  Stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes, return mixture to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add almond extract and mix well.  (Note:  with no-pectin preserves, I would do a ‘jell test’ at this point — with Pomona’s pectin, the preserves jell as they cool, and a jell test at this stage won’t tell you anything)

Ladle preserves into jars, filling within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe rims clean, and close with lid and ring.  Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1000′ feet above sea level).  Preserves will set as they cool (allow at least 5-6 hours).  Stored in a cool, dark place, preserves will last for many months.

Cleaned, ready-to-use elderberries

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Plum and Cardamom Preserves

- Honey Roasted Rutabaga

- Blood Orange Marmalade with a Hint of Rosemary

Lamb’s Quarter Filo Pie
based on Spinach Borek at Elra’s Baking

1/2 c. pine nuts
Olive oil
half of one small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 c. scallions, chopped
1/2 c. parsley, chopped
1 large bunch lamb’s quarter, stems removed and discarded, roughly chopped
Salt & Pepper
2 eggs
9 oz. feta, crumbled
1/2 lb Filo dough
4 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line an 8 or 9 inch pie pan with parchment paper, letting the sides hang over the edge.  Alternatively, butter a springform pan.

Prepare filling:
Heat a medium-sized chef’s pan over medium high heat.  Add pine nuts and toast for about 5 minutes, until golden.  Watch the nuts carefully as they go from golden brown to burnt and blackened in less than 2 minutes.  Reserve pine nuts.

Heat about 1/2T olive oil in chef’s pan.  Add onions and saute for 1 minute.  Add scallions and parsley, and saute for an additional 4 minutes.  Add lamb’s quarter and saute until wilted and reduced in volume, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat  and season with salt and pepper.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.  Once lamb’s quarter mixture has cooled a bit, add eggs and cheese and mix well.  Fold in pine nuts.

Prepare crust:
Unroll filo dough on a flat work surface.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel so the sheets don’t dry out.  Working quickly, lay one sheet of filo over prepared pan (edges will hang over quite a bit), then lightly brush with butter.  Repeat laying/buttering process until all the sheets are used up, changing the angle you lay the filo every time to make sure that when you fold the edges back over the entire pie will be covered.

Spread lamb’s quarter mixture evenly over the bottom of the pie, then fold overhanging filo edges and brush with remaining butter.  Bake for 35 minutes, until the filo is golden and flaky.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer pie from pan to serving platter, either by grasping overhanging parchment paper (trim away excess parchment afterward), or by removing spring-form.  Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The more I shop at the farmer’s market, the less often I come across vegetables I’ve never seen before.  When I first started visiting the farmer’s market, I had lots of ‘first encounters’: black radishes, poblano peppers, fava beans, rapini, persimmons, kiwano melons,  and chiogga beets to name a few.  But now I’m an old hand, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything ‘new’.  However, I was at the farmer’s market not too long ago and I came across a huge, bouquet-like bunch of dark leafy greens I had never seen before.  I asked the woman at the vegetable stand what it was, and she answered ‘Lamb’s Quarter — we use it as a cover crop over the winter’.  I promptly bought a bunch and tucked it into my market bag

Once home I did a little research and found that lamb’s quarter can be used anywhere that you would use spinach.  And in fact, lamb’s quarter can be far more economical than spinach.  The aforementioned (huge) bunch at the farmer’s market (which weighed in at over 2 lbs) cost $1.75, whereas mature spinach was selling for $3.50/lb.  Also, though I’ve never had a problem with the astringency of spinach, many people say that lamb’s quarter is less astringent, eliminating the ‘fuzzy teeth’ feeling some people get after eating cooked spinach.

Lamb’s Quarter

With this abundant bunch of lamb’s quarters, I decided to make a version of Spinach Borek, which I first saw over at Elra’s Baking.  The recipe seemed simple, elegant, and delicious.  Plus,  I had a lonely half-pakage of filo dough in the freezer that was begging to be used.  The whole thing came together in less than 30 minutes minus baking time, and the end result was fantastic.

Anyways, I encourage you to keep an eye out for this plentiful weed that is showing up more often at the farmer’s market — it’s delicious, inexpensive, and incredibly versatile.

No related posts.

Wilted Dandelion Greens with Garlic and Pecans

1 bunch dandelion greens, center ribs removed if large
1/4 c. pecans
2.5 T olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 small shallot, minced (optional)
2 T apple cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Coarsely chop dandelion greens and place in a serving bowl.

Toast pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from pan and coarsely chop.

Heat oil in skillet. Once it’s hot, add garlic and shallots (if using) and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add pecans and stir to coat. Remove skillet from heat and add apple cider vinegar. Mix dressing, then pour over dandelion greens, along with a generous pinch of both salt and pepper, then toss to coat. The hot vinaigrette will slightly wilt the greens. Enjoy!

To make this into a main dish, simply add a sliced hard-cooked egg on top of the dandelion salad. Serve with some good crusty bread, a small bowl of soup or other side dish, and a glass of white wine for a light meal. (Shown below with Ever-So-Slightly-Sweet Mashed Turnips)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A new twist on an old saying — one woman’s weed is another woman’s dinner.

It’s true, I really enjoy eating a few plants that are typically thought of as weeds — dandelion greens, sorrel, purslane, and mint, to name a few. Though sorrel is probably my favorite of the ‘weeds’, dandelion greens are a close second. They have a lot of body — more than spinach, less than chard — and have a pleasant bitterness to them, a little like chicory.

Sometimes dandelion greens are cooked like traditional southern collard greens — long and slow with plenty of bacon and onion. This method reduces the bitterness of the greens substantially, and is one of many delicious ways to prepare dandelion. A favorite method of mine is quite the opposite to this long, slow simmer — the greens are served almost raw, wilted only by a hot vinaigrette. When you’ve only got a few minutes, or you want to highlight the bitter character of the greens, this is a great way to go.

Bitter greens are a bit of an acquired taste, but once acquired, it’s hard to imagine the culinary world without them. Just as it’s hard to know happiness without knowing sorrow, it’s hard to know sweetness without exploring bitterness. Plus, broadening your palette is rarely a bad thing.

Dandelion greens are often available at the farmer’s market, and they’re showing up more and more in natural foods stores and boutique groceries. It’s also possible to forage for your own dandelion greens, BUT BE CAREFUL, since dandelions are often sprayed with toxic weed killers etc. Unless you can guarantee the plants haven’t been sprayed, I’d recommend leaving them alone and going for cultivated dandelion from the market.

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Simplest Tomato Sauce with Roasted Onion, Shallots and Garlic