New Veg: The Jerusalem Artichoke

The imposing Jerusalem Artichoke.  

I'd wanted to try one of these forever...I imagined that it would be some kind of lovely, creamy artichoke-heart like root vegetable that would melt in my mouth, and while it was not it was still worth trying.  It had an interesting taste, similar to a very mild turnip and the texture of a potato when it was cooked.  The skin came off in pieces similar to the experience of peeling a twig.  I used it in a lovely quinoa salad with tahini-miso-orange dressing that I brought to a clothing swap.  I can't say that I'm dying to eat this again, but I'd try cooking it at least once more in a dish that showcased its flavour a little more.

Middle Eastern Style Tomato Chickpeas

Chickpea in the city

I love saucy chickpeas and beans.  From late night munchies at local middle eastern joint Ghazale to the delicious, saucy broad beans I had for breakfast in Istanbul, to my grandmother's Pasta e fagioli.
This dish was my attempt to finally capture the essence of the oily, long stewed beans you dip crusty bread into, or savour over rice.  I think I nailed it.

I took an onion, half a carrot and red/green/yellow pepper and sauteed them in a healthy glug of olive oil with some fennel and cumin seeds and some cayenne until they were soft and fragrant.  
Then I added in half a jar of loose tomato puree (conserva to my fellow wops) and two cloves of chopped garlic.  Following that, I patiently boiled the bejeezus out of the mixture for probably half an hour on medium high heat until it started to thicken and get slightly dark. I removed half of the mixture and pureed it with my stick blender and returned it to the pot, then added about two cups of chickpeas.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it a little longer, and voila!  Delicieux!  

     Fall can be dreary, so here's some inspiration: during trying times, with lots of illness in the family my elderly grandmother still found time to garden this spring, and to share some of the bounty with me when I visited.  She grew, shucked and froze 27(!) little packets of her own beans for the winter.  That is one self-sufficient lady! <3

Great food link: Food, Curated

DOUGH Donuts: A Far Cry From The Old Fashioned from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.



The above video comes from foodcurated.com, a wonderful site that I came across and spent way too much time on this week.  It features videos from small scale food producers and store owners, mostly in the New York area.  If you're looking to be inspired, you should check it out.  It seems like a great project!

Radishes

Radishes seem to be insinuating themselves into my life in the past few months.  Never was a radish seen at my family table growing up, and I was probably 25 before I even tasted one. Reading Daikon pickle recipes I found instructions to hang the radish to dry in the sun for days and days.  
Digitizing photos at work of Dawson from the Klondike Gold rush, I found a photo of a woman watering radishes on the roof of her tin shack.  And then this still from the Korean film 'Barking Dogs Never Bite'.  
I need to learn more recipes that involve these bad boys!

Amazebowls (Vegan Rainbow Lunch Bowl)

I took way too long to take the above picture, but I finally gave this purple Kale the glamour shot treatment.
I made this bowl to deal with double-shift lunches.  I cooked up enough yums for three days, including tofu, broccoli, spiced onion and kale, chickpeas, black rice and fresh corn.  I made a 'fresh' type saucy gravy of Korean miso or Denjoeng, tahini, apple juice, vinegar, coconut milk and strawberry puree. Kiss my ass hotdog truck!

Working Class Foodie

I have a few old favourite youtube cooks, and today I was delighted to add a new one. Working Class Foodie teaches you how to make all sorts of delicious things. Here she is teaching you how to make your own seitan!

Chew your smoothie - popsicle time!

 

This popsicle maker is going to change my life.  Okay, that's a bit drastic, but this week it's going to be around 30 degrees every damn day, and I have no a.c.

Enter the popsicle.

This one is a raspberry/banana/soymilk smoothie popsicle, with about a teaspoon of sugar.

I used the raw ingredients for a small smoothie (1/2 banana, a handful of raspberries, a tsp of sugar and about 1/8 cup of soymilk), blended them as I would a regular smoothie and then spooned the mixture into a popsicle mold and froze overnight.

This is maybe my favourite way to eat my fruits!