I am Thanksgiving. I made cheer. I seized power. I created cranberry sauce, and it tastes and looks and feels exactly like cranberry sauce.
It was very easy to make. I had, let's see, probably about a half-pound of cranberries (fresh cranberries from the co-op). A little bit of orange juice. An apple (Golden Delicious, from the co-op). Sugar. Nutmeg. Cloves.
You heat the cranberries in a pan (cast-iron skillet in my case).
When they start to pop (literally, you will hear them pop and see them splitting - watch....),
add sugar (you will need a lot, so just add some and then as it's cooking, keep tasting and adding more if needed), nutmeg (a little), a few cloves, the apple - diced very small (I used 3/4 of the apple), and splash on some orange juice (I used a very small amount of orange juice; just remember what consistency you want to end up with, kind of gelatinous; you will also probably add more orange juice little by little as it cooks).
Once the cranberries have started to pop, you don't want to cook them any longer than 15 minutes, or the pectin will break down in a bad way and it won't set properly. So add these ingredients, stir it up, start tasting the juices and adding sugar as needed, add a little more orange juice now and then if it's dry and it hasn't cooked for about 15 minutes yet.
When it's sweet and the apples and cranberries are soft and it's getting a little gelatinous, turn off the heat, put foil over the pan and let it sit in the steam and the fruit will continue to soften and the gel will firm up a little. Then you can put it in a bowl and put it in the fridge if you want to serve it cold. Make sure you taste it as it is cooking, so you get it the right sweetness. After you set the cranberry sauce aside, heat up some leftover vegan Field Roast, potatoes, sweet potatoes and asparagus, and throw it on a plate with your homemade cranberry sauce and some apple sauce. Mashed potatoes and gravy would also be a great option. Sweet corn. Green bean casserole. Pumpkin pie. I had a brownie for dessert. :)
Does it look perfect?! And it tastes perfect, refreshing, sweet but not too sweet, gelatinous, the whole nine yards. Wish I had more sweet potatoes, is all. Mmm, can't get over this cranberry sauce.
They chipped out a space at the corner of the park and conducted the Clark Park Farmers' Market, though it was abbreviated, as some vendors did not make the trek out in the remnants of the blizzards.
When we first arrived, we didn't think they were there. Most of the space usually occupied by the market was covered in about three feet of icy snow. The tables that were there were arranged differently, smushed together in the corner, behind a snow drift. The selection was limited. No greens, no broccoli. The guy who is usually there with all the greens and roots was not there. The bean-and-spice lady was not there. The apple people were there, as always, and the ones we think of as the mushroom people.
Saturday Shopping List
a quart of white mushrooms 6 red potatoes 2 giant white sweet potatoes a jar of apple syrup a loaf of multi-grain bread a bowl of hot, black-bean soup 4 brownies
total: maybe $16, I didn't actually count
The bread and bean soup came from Milk & Honey market, on the way there. And then from Fu-Wah, we got a jar of Vegenaise and some Smart Deli "ham" slices.
We still have broccoli, sandwich greens, brussels sprouts, peppers, and green beans from Weaver's Way. We're planning to make another trip out there on Monday. Now that I have sweet potatoes, I'm going to make another yellow split-pea soup. I still have just enough split peas for one more soup, and this time I have an orange pepper to add to it.
Remember how, when 23" of snow fell on Philly two weeks ago, I simply assumed there would not be a farmers' market and did not brave the blizzard to trudge down to 43rd Street and verify?
We couldn't go to the farmers' market this weekend, on account of we had a blizzard. This is only an assumption, but I'm betting there was no Clark Park farmers' market this weekend. It was the second biggest snowstorm in Philadelphia's history. 23.2" of snow fell on the city starting around 1 a.m. Saturday and continuing through about 6 o'clock this morning.
Like all good citizens, we scurried out on Friday to gather in things we imagined we might need during the storm. Things like bread, potatoes, chocolate cookies, tofu, and wasabi peas.
We had a hunch there would be no farmers' market, but that was OK. We got potatoes, onions, and bread at a little store called Milk and Honey (ironic place for vegans to shop, but they do have good bread and limited fresh produce). At Fu-Wah, we got mushrooms and instant noodle soup. We still have good kale from last week. We still had some cauliflower and parsnips, and plenty of garlic.
One thing we forgot: Beer. So, we had to go out for that yesterday.
See what I mean? Probably no farmers' market.
Now, this is interesting. You know how, when I make blended soups (i.e. Indian Red Lentil or Potato-Leek), I always have to blend it in batches in my small blender (i.e. my smoothie maker)? And you know how I was saying I wanted to get an immersion blender?
So, on Friday, I went out onto the porch and there was a box addressed to me. It was a shipping box, like from Amazon, so no return address. I took it upstairs and opened it. It was a Cuisinart Immersion Blender. There was no name anywhere on it, on the packing slip or anything. I suspected my parents. Called my mom, she had no idea what I was talking about. Hmm. Must have been one of the sisters. So I was going to check, but I mentioned the gift on my other blog, and the sender claimed responsibility. Turns out to have been from a lovely friend named Jen, who knows the virtues of the immersion blender, because she also likes to make Indian Red Lentil Soup, and in fact, gave me a recipe for it a while back. (Remember?)
This blender is sweet. It comes with a chopper/mincer, and a whisk. This is it:
This is not the only recent addition to our kitchen.
*drumroll*
The old frying pan and saucepan are retired. After a long journey to Target on the 64 Bus on Wednesday, we are the very pleased owners of a cast iron skillet and a stainless steel saucepan with a glass lid (pictured above). I am thrilled with all of these new tools. Thrilled. Food tastes so much better cooked in cookware that doesn't interfere with it. This cast iron skillet is already the love of my life, and I expect us to get closer over the years.
OK, on to the soup. Using all of my new toys, I made the most delicious and filling soup this morning. It's a potato soup. I started with 12 small Yukon gold potatoes (very small, like golf balls). Cut them up and -- oh, also at Target we got two new, sharp knives, woohoo! -- put them in water in the stainless steel pan, to boil.
In the cast iron skillet, I poured a little olive oil and started heating the other ingredients for the soup: a yellow onion, two cloves of garlic, curly kale, cauliflower (about half of a smallish head), baby Portabella mushrooms (4-5), and the unexpected superstar of the soup... three parsnips. Parsnips taste like carrots, only stronger, with more bite. I had forgotten we had them, but I came across them and decided to add them, and I'm glad I did.
(kale, chopped, ready to add)
(everything together in the skillet - except the potatoes)
The potatoes had long since come to a boil and been turned down to simmer. When they were soft, I added the other ingredients, put the lid on it and let everything simmer together for a bit. For seasoning, I added salt, pepper, rosemary and parsley.
When I decided it was done... (I really don't know how long these things take... it's done when things seem soft enough and it tastes good... or however long it took me to feed the cats and make tea... if you need help timing it, you could call me and ask me to feed my cats and make tea, and I'll call you back when I'm done and you'll know it's time to take the soup off)... It was time to use my new toy. I didn't think to record this from the beginning, but here's how it works.
You want to be careful not to lift the blending part of the blender (the tip) above the surface (or even to the surface) of the soup. Submerge the tip of the blender and then turn it on, obviously. It's tricky because the blender pulls you more than you think it will. It seemed to keep suctioning to the bottom and I wasn't even supposed to really have it touching the bottom. Once, in trying to pull it up, I accidentally broke the surface, and the soup kind of exploded a little bit (no real damage done), and all the cats got interested and thought I was cooking something demonic on the stove. That's right, cats. That'll teach you.
I got the hang of immersion-blending after just a few moments, and it was super easy. After using the blender, you can remove the blending attachment (the other part is just the motor and you can attach the whisk or the chopper to it), and rinse it.
This soup was surprising and delicious. What made it surprising is that the strongest flavor was the parsnip. That's why I'm calling it potato parsnip soup. It gave the soup a crisp, fresh taste that perfectly offset the heavier, foodier, more wintry taste of potatoes.
We had it with slices of bread with Vegenaise, which we also stocked up on at Fu-Wah, in preparation for the blizzard.
The texture was airy and creamy and perfect. Much more inviting than a soup blended in a smoothie-maker. Because the soup contains kale and mushrooms, it's going to be a good source of protein and will fill you up. The kale and cauliflower and parsnips give you vitamin C, other vitamins, calcium, and other minerals.
Happy holidays, everyone!
If you have snow, enjoy it, and I hope something fun and useful turns up on your doorstep, too.
Mark and I went out for lunch yesterday at Su Xing House, one of our favorite restaurants.
My fortune said: Good news will come to you in the mail.
Mark's fortune said: The night life is for you.
Once, at Kingdom of Vegetarians, a less upscale but still yummy place in Chinatown, where we had our first date, Mark got a fortune that said: A nice cake is waiting for you. Actually, I believe that happened on our first date. Come to think of it, I'll take that as a compliment.
Not long before that, I was at a coffee shop on South Street that gives fortune cookies with your check, and I got the fortune: It tastes sweet. I still have this in my wallet.
Yesterday at Su Xing House, we ordered two lunch specials and split the main courses: Sesame Seitan and Mushroom Delight. We always have the Sesame Seitan; this was our first time ordering the Mushroom Delight. Three different kinds of mushrooms, snow peas, and a delicious brown sauce that has a "comfort-food" taste. On the side were brown rice, miso soup, and spring rolls. This place is amazing. It's fairly cheap, delicious, and it doesn't look cheap. The decor makes you feel like you probably shouldn't be there, but the food assures you that you should.
And from Huffington Post, here is a good, quick guide to winter vegetables available year-round at farmers' markets. Complete with beautiful photos and links to recipes.
I love winter vegetables: roots and cabbage and cauliflower, red beets, yellow and orange and dark green squash, many colors of potato, and of course deep dark sweet soft mushrooms for rich, protein-heavy, comforting goodness. Add to that chestnuts, beans, and lentils, and I am learning that there's no need to change my shopping habits in wintertime. Nature provides.
Here it is, December 5th. First snow in the forecast. And we've just come back from shopping at the farmers' market.The Clark Park market was back, after its unnerving hiatus last week. It was 66 degrees on Thursday. Today it's in the 30s. Kind of exciting and cozy. We bundled up and walked down to the park. It was raining a drizzly rain, but the air is so cold it bites your face a little bit, and my boots did not sink into the mud the way they do in summer and fall. It feels like winter out there, for sure. It smells like winter. Yesterday, we rearranged and cleaned the living room. Now that we're back from shopping, the plan is not to leave the house again.
So what do you get at a farmers' market in December?
Saturday Shopping List
about 3 pints of chestnuts
1 quart or so of yukon potatoes
1 bunch of curly kale
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 stalk of brussels sprouts
1 giant head of cauliflower
1 quart of white mushrooms
a lot of purple carrots
7 smallish red tomatoes
4 yellow onions
2 green peppers
a jar of strawberry jam
1 loaf of white bread
1 loaf of red onion sourdough bread
3 chocolate-banana muffins
total: $52.45
On the way home, we stopped by a small grocery for bagels. That's what I had for breakfast, with sauteed tofu and onions. Still have red lentils and plenty of beans, along with sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, broccoli and some dark kale. The dark kale actually makes a good salad green if you shred it up. I had a dark kale salad last night, with onion, garlic, mushrooms, and topped with tiny bits of crispy fried potatoes, with poppy seed dressing. Have also been eating a lot of rice noodles (Thai Kitchen instant noodles), topped with sauteed peppers, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, whatever we have. A staple lately has been brussels sprouts with sauerkraut. The only seasoning it needs is garlic and a little bit of salt.
Thursday night, we had a pizza from Papa John's. The first time they delivered it, it was mistakenly covered with cheese. By the time they delivered the correct pizza (tomato sauce, mushrooms, onion, black olives, green peppers, and banana peppers), we were starving and the pizza was delicious.
I'm calling this Jen's Indian Lentil Soup, on account of I got the recipe in the first place from my friend Jen.
I'll be making this soup again today. It was delicious and warming, but somehow it made the weather cold. Warm weather was in the forecast, then I made this soup, which is perfect for cold weather, and then the weather turned cold. So I shouldn't make it again today, because the weather is beautiful and heading up to 70 degrees, but I'm not superstitious and I want my Indian Lentil Soup.
The original recipe I got from
Jen was for a big batch of soup, with one lb of lentils, two sweet potatoes, 8 cups of water, etc. I tried to cut the recipe in half, and I don't have measuring cups, so the recipe depicted here is for sort of half the original recipe and it's not exactly in proportion.
First, cut up sweet potatoes. I used two, one giant and one normal-sized. What you see here isn't all the sweet potatoes I used, the rest were already in the roasting pan. This is just to show you the size chunks I cut them into. Put them in a pan and pop them into the oven at 350 degrees. You're going to let them roast until you get everything else ready, which should be when they're done. I think I ended up leaving them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. You want them to get very soft, like the filling for a sweet potato pie. It doesn't take long if they're cut like you see above.
The next thing you want to do is put on the water (I used about 6 cup-like-measures, which is not really half of 8 cups, but it seemed like the right amount.) Add red lentils. I used half a pound. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer.
Cut up 2 or 3 carrots (I used, again, one giant one and one medium one - I used maroon carrots). Cut up a medium sweet onion. And a red bell pepper. I used 3 small red peppers. Whatever you use, just be sure the peppers are red, so the soup's color will turn out nice (Thanks for that tip, Jen!). Sautee all these ingredients in olive oil on the stove, adding 1-3 cloves of crushed garlic (I used three, of course). Don't forget salt.
When the lentils are soft and the vegetables in the skillet are soft (but not too soft), add the skillet contents to the lentils. Take the sweet potatoes out of the oven, if they're done, which they should be. Add the sweet potatoes to the soup. Add curry powder and ginger. I have the ginger in powder form, too, but if you have fresh, I imagine that would be great. I don't know how to give you guidance on how much to use. I recommend adding them slowly and letting your taste guide you.
Remove from heat and allow to cool, if you're going to use a regular blender to blend it. If you're awesome and you have an immersion or "stick" blender, just use that. I let mine cool, blended in the blender, a few ladles full at a time, and then transferred it back to the pot to warm it back up before serving.
On a whim, I added a little cinnamon to mine while blending. It seemed to work. Don't tell anyone you put cinnamon in it (oops). They would think that made it a sweet dish. I assure you it doesn't. But they'll ask, "What's in this?" and you can tell them cinnamon if you want, and they'll be amazed. Or you can keep that as your secret.
When you dish up the soup, add a spritz of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. I didn't have either of these, and that first serving was lacking. I couldn't place what was wrong with it, it just wasn't perfect. Then I got the apple cider vinegar and added a capful to my next bowl. That made it perfect. So don't skimp on this last step.
This is great with toast or bread. I can't wait to have it with the rustic white bread we just started getting at the Thursday farmers' markets. It's also great to bring in a thermos for lunch.
I thought they came in little green pint cartons, but no. They come on stalks.
I never even wondered how they actually grow before. This is the best idea Brussels sprouts have ever had.
I can't believe how much stuff we got today.
I got the ingredients for an Indian Lentil Soup my friend Jen gave me the recipe for, and I'm making that tomorrow. It has red lentils, red peppers, sweet potatoes and curry. Would have been great for this very cold week. The coming week should be warmer, so we'll consider this a trial run.
I should have missed the farmers' market today, because I should have been on North Broad Street learning about Discrete Math and Matrix Algebra in my final day-long Math Immersion class. The Praxis exams are next Saturday, and we have our final review session Tuesday night.
But SEPTA drivers are still on strike (pesky union wants the ability to check and see whether the workers' pensions actually exist - imagine that), and even though AccuWeather said it was 40 degrees, as AccuWeather says every morning at 8 o'clock, my face hurt from the cold by the time I got back from the ATM this morning, and that's only a block and a half away. It was in the low-ish 30s, I would say, and windy. There was no way I was riding my bike in that. (I think someone from AccuWeather comes by my living room and paints a "40 degrees" and a sunshine on my computer screen every morning just before 8 o'clock, regardless of the weather.) So I went to the farmers' market, and I learned that Brussels sprouts grow on stalks. Several tables actually had Brussels sprouts, which is great news, because they've become a staple for me recently. I love to saute them with sauerkraut, as a side for lettuce, tomato, and onion sandwiches. But only one table had them on stalks. So we went for that.
Saturday shopping list
1 stalk of Brussels sprouts 1 lb of red beans 1 lb of red lentils 5 or 6 sweet potatoes 4 red peppers maroon carrots 1 head of green leaf lettuce 1 head of purple cauliflower 1 head of Romanesque broccoli (Romanesco broccoli, Roman cauliflower) 1 head of Nappa cabbage a bunch of fresh fennel 6 tomatoes several small yellow onions 1 Portabella cap a jar of strawberry jelly 2 apples 1 ounce coriander 1 ounce southern spice mix 1 loaf multi-grain bread 1 loaf sourdough bread 3 chocolate-banana muffins
total: $56.76
No repeat of the bizarrely low bill from last week. I really have to let Mark go to the market alone more often, apparently.
In line at one of the tables today, I was writing down prices and items, and one of the vendors asked about the notebook. I mentioned I write a blog about food, and both the vendor and some other customers asked for the name of the blog. If you're reading, hello, and welcome.
We're going to use the Nappa cabbage in soup. A vendor tells us the fennel is good in stir-fry. The Romanesque broccoli is great in stir-fry with Brussels sprouts.
I think the theme this week is red. Red lentils, red peppers, sweet potatoes, purple cauliflower, maroon carrots, red beans, and I'm making a red soup.
And green, because I learned about the Brussels sprouts. Red and green. Merry Christmas.
Oh, that reminds me, I did go to my class, for the last two hours, when I worked up the nerve to ride my bike all the way from West Philly to North Broad in the wind, which was still cold even though the temperature allegedly warmed up into the upper 50s. My instincts said don't go, but I went because I wanted the textbook that was supposed to be delivered in class today, which I would love to read before my exams next Saturday. Found out in class that it was just a cruel joke - the textbooks will be delivered at our final session Tuesday night.
VegetablesGrainsLegumesFruitsshopping lists, cost-benefit considerations, food-related adventures,recipes told mostly in photographsbut with narrative explanation and approximatemeasures
I grew up in rural West Virginia in a series of rented houses and trailers and, homeless for a summer, a tent on Summersville Lake. After college, I worked in community radio in my home state for four years. I moved to Philadelphia in October 2007, for no particular reason.
Philly farmers' markets accept food stamps. All 30-plus farmers' markets operated by The Food Trust throughout the Philadelphia region (including the Clark Park market, featured in this blog) accept the ACCESS card as a form of payment. This is the card used to access benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as Food Stamps.
This site allows you to search any food item and get complete nutritional information in an easy-to-read format. You can search food categories from vegetables to grains to foods from specific restaurants, everything from broccoli to Wendy's.
I am Thanksgiving. I made cheer. I seized power. I created cranberry sauce, and it tastes and looks and feels exactly like cranberry sauce.
Does it look perfect?! And it tastes perfect, refreshing, sweet but not too sweet, gelatinous, the whole nine yards. Wish I had more sweet potatoes, is all. Mmm, can't get over this cranberry sauce.
Posts
