Zucchini Pakoras with Tomato Raita

Sooo...the downside to taking my first teacher summer off will be not getting extras from people's gardens at work! I have a bit of a black thumb, if you're wondering why I don't grow more things myself. Still, the zucchini and tomatoes at the market are getting yummier and cheaper as the summer goes on. Recently I've started experimenting with Indian recipes that I used to love pre-pepper allergy diagnosis. Pakoras are so delicious, and can be made vegetarian or with fish or chicken if you like. 

It seems so decadent to deep-fry food, and yet, if you do it right it doesn't add very much oil to the finished product. 

First, make the Raita for dipping. Here are most of the ingredients, minus the cumin. My raita is not 100% authentic, of course, partly because I kept forgetting to get whole cumin seeds to toast. It's still very yummy. 

Put 1 c plain Greek or other strained yogurt, preferably whole milk, in a small to medium bowl. Dice 1 medium tomato and sprinkle it with salt. Wash and pat dry 1/3 c cilantro leaves. If you hate cilantro, use mint instead. 

Finely chop the cilantro leaves and add to the bowl with 1/4 tsp each ground cumin, black pepper and fine salt. Stir in with the tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon juice and put in the fridge until the fritters are ready. 

Next, prepare about 1/2 pound zucchini (2 medium). Wash them, remove the stem end and any stickers, duh, but sometimes I forget, and grate them on a coarse grater. You can use a box grater or the grating disc on the food processor, whichever is less awful to clean. Peel and finely mince 1 shallot or 1/4 onion. 

Put the minced shallot aside. You'll need to drain the zucchini a bit so it doesn't make the pakoras too wet. Put the grated zucchini in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt (maybe 1/4 tsp). Toss a little bit to distribute the salt and press down on it with a paper towel or clean dish towel to start the release of the liquid. 

  

Let it sit and keep draining while you make the batter. You should have a lovely little green pool of zucchini juice at the bottom of the bowl once it's done, in about 20 minutes. 

OK, now you have two more things to grate, this time with a microplane or the fine part of the box grater. Peel and grate a heaping 1/2 tsp fresh turmeric and 1 tsp fresh ginger. If you use dried, use 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp ginger. 

Add the turmeric and ginger to 2/3 c chickpea flour (aka garbanzo, gram or besan flour), 1/2 tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander, and 1/8 tsp ground cloves. Add 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp cayenne if you're so inclined, and, you know, not allergic like me. Stir in 1/4 c warm water to make a thick doughy batter, adding more water 1 tsp at a time if not all the flour has been incorporated. Let sit at room temp while you bring the oil up to frying temp. Don't add the veggies just yet. 

Now, put 1 qt mild oil in a heavy pot. I use sunflower or safflower, but you can also use canola if you're not vehemently opposed to it. People are touchy about their oils these days! Heat over medium-high flame for about 5 minutes before you check it. You want the oil to come up over 350 degrees so you cook at 350 when the food is added and the temp drops. It's best to use a thermometer for this, but somehow I've messed up two of them in the past year. Time to stop buying the cheapies and invest in a good one. In the meantime, I used this wooden spoon trick to check the oil temperature. 

Once the oil is hot, stir the shallots and zucchini into the chickpea batter. I had to move them to a larger mixing bowl to do this properly, at least 4 cup size rather than 2 cups. 

Spoon the mixture into the oil in approximately 1 Tbsp size balls. Lower the spoon down to the top of the oil rather than dropping them from above to avoid splashing the oil on yourself. Move the fritters around with a slotted spoon so they cook evenly. 

Set up a tray or baking sheet with a brown paper bag or a few paper towels laid flat on it. As the fritters turn nice and brown, take them out and place them on the tray so that the paper absorbs the extra oil. Serve immediately with the tomato raita and some more cilantro and tomato. 

City Slicker Farms -- Urban Gardens

Northern California is full of foodies and incredible farmers' markets and upscale supermarkets, and yet has a number of food deserts, areas where residents have very little access to fresh food and rates of related diseases like diabetes are very high.  In 2001, a group of neighbors founded City Slicker Farms, utilizing empty lots and back yards to grow fresh, healthy food for the neighborhood on a sliding scale.

Last weekend, the organization held the Grand Opening of its new space, West Oakland Farm Park. The park expands City Slicker's programs to include a community garden for individuals, teaching space, and even a park and playground for families to enjoy.

For those with an unused backyard, City Slicker can help them turn it into a source of healthy food.

Seedlings are free to community garden participants and include many varieties of greens. 

There were many organizations with information about accessing health care and healthy foods, including some educational games for the kids.

Kids got a prize for estimating blueberries rather than candies. 

At the other end of the space were the park, with a Caribbean singer playing music to get the kids moving, and the playground.

I first heard about programs like these, which give urban neighborhoods new meeting places, green spaces and jobs in addition to fresh vegetables, when I read about Karen Washington and her work in the South Bronx.

I hope this space allows many families a space to play in and establish healthy habits of all kinds. The people of West Oakland deserve it!

Beef Brochettes with Mallmann's Chimichurri

Brochettes? Kabobs? Kebabs? Skewers? Whatever you call them, they're a great summer party food. Add a chimichurri sauce made with fresh herbs, and they become something magical. 

Beef kabobs were one of my favorite grilled summer foods when I was growing up. I also love just plain veggie skewers, and those would also be great with the chimichurri. Mostly I like the meat and veggies together. These are halved grape tomatoes, but zucchini or mushrooms also work well. 

First, though, the Chimichurri. Make it at least one hour ahead, preferably one day in advance, so the flavors have time to come together. Chimichurri is an Argentine sauce, but somehow in my year of study in Argentina, living with three different families there, it never made it onto my radar. They happened to be families that didn't serve that with their asado (grilled meats, an important part of the Argentine diet). It seems to be all over the place in the U.S. these days, but to make it myself I decided to turn to Francis Mallmann, a famed Argentine chef featured in the Chef's Table series on Netflix. The original recipe is from NY Magazine here. 

It's a very simple, yet very flavorful sauce made with fresh oregano, parsley, garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Yes, you could use dried herbs, but in summer, why would you?  (Use 1/3 the amount you'd use of fresh, so 1/3 c dried oregano in place of 1 c.)

Wash 1 cup each parsley and oregano leaves, (they can be scant cups, you don't have to pack them) removing the stems before measuring, and set on a dishtowel to dry for a few minutes. Put 3/4 cup water and 2 tsp fine salt in a small pan and heat until the salt is dissolved, stirring a bit. Set aside. Peel and finely mince about 2/3 to 3/4 of a head of garlic - you can take the smell off your fingers with some lemon juice when you're done. Set the garlic in a medium bowl. I could have minced more finely, but it was getting kinda late! A garlic press would be perfectly fine to speed up the process. 

Finely mince the oregano and parsley and add it to the bowl of garlic. Stir in 1/4 c red wine vinegar and 1/2 c olive oil. Whisk in the water-salt mixture, stirring well, cover the bowl tightly and set in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably a day. It'll keep for about three days. And now, the meat...if you're using bamboo skewers, don't forget to soak them in water for an hour before grilling! This is less important if you're using a grill pan on the stove like I am, but still, don't catch your food on fire, please. If soaking this way, turn them upside down to get both ends wet. 

Mix the marinade in a medium-large bowl: 1/3 cup each red wine vinegar,  olive oil, and strong brewed coffee, 1 tsp each ground mustard, salt, and pepper, and 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic. 

Cut 1 to 1.5 pounds beef (something tender is good, like tenderloin or sirloin) into even sized cubes and put in the marinade for 30 minutes to an hour. You can leave it at room temp for that long, but if it'll be longer, put it in the fridge. 

While the meat marinates, prepare the other veggies. Cut them to the same size as the meat if possible--leave small cherry tomatoes whole, or halve them if you cut the meat very small. If you use an onion, cut it in half and pull out one or two layers together before cutting into chunks. That way you can cut the chunks more evenly. 

Now, assemble the brochettes. Thread on a piece of meat, a slice of onion, and a piece of veg, then repeat. Or make some that are all meat, or all veg, however you like it. Heat up the grill or a grill pan while you do this, nice and hot so you get pretty grill marks on the outside. 

Cook, turning once halfway through, until you see nicely dark brown spots on the outside. Start testing for doneness with a couple of end pieces and put them back on if need be. it could be just 2 min per side, or 5 or 6 per side or more depending on your fire and the size of the pieces. Enjoy with the Chimichurri and your favorite summer libation!

May Update

Hi everyone - I just realized I haven't posted at all this month. Life has been so crazy that I haven't even had the energy to be creative. End of semester testing and paperwork, numerous visits to the vet's office, oh, and there was the strike. I've been eating as well as I can through it all and finding that the change in what I'm eating is helping me feel better than I'd have thought. I'm taking some time off this summer, so I should be able to think of some really fun stuff to share.

Of course, in the midst of all the madness of the last couple of months, my trusty food processor went kaput (RIP). The motor was fine, but that little plastic thingy on the lid that locks it broke off. Wah! I got a new one and I'm really happy with the one I chose, as it also acts as a mandolin slicer, slicing evenly with adjustable thickness. Check out the three thicknesses of radishes (thinnest setting and next two) and the cucumber (thickest setting). I wanted to keep slicing and test all the settings at once, but a girl can only eat so many radishes on one bowl of black beans. I love the paper-thin look of the radish at the top, and I don't have to worry about slicing off my fingertips with the mandolin!

The top of the processor has a feeding tube with two options, a small tube for skinny things and the standard feeding tube for wider things like whole blocks of cheese, which I haven't tried yet.

You adjust the thickness with a sliding lever that lowers or raises the blade. Pretty nifty, no? That's all for today - see you after the end of the semester!

Black Pepper and Oregano Frico (cheese crisps)

Oh my goodness it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything new...sometimes life just gets way too crazy, so I'm extremely happy to have a quiet couple of days this weekend.

I've been playing around with Frico, which are basically just grated cheese crisped up in a pan or in the oven. The oven saves a bit of time over doing them one at a time on the stovetop, but I suppose you could make more than one at a time in a pan if you did them small like this. You can buy them at Costco or Whole Foods, but if I go to Costco I'll buy a bunch of other stuff I don't need and WF sells them for $7.99 for 3 ounces. I'll stick to making them at home!

I tried a few different kinds of grating cheeses, Parmesan, Romano and Asiago, and while they taste a little different, they all make really great little snacks. Mixing them tastes really good, too.

Plain Frico is great, the perfect one-ingredient recipe. But I decided to try it with oregano first, and then added black pepper, too. Cut the rinds off of the cheeses you use and save them for making soups and stews (but throw away the wax part if there is one, of course). You can use pre-grated cheese, but the texture might be off a little depending on what additives they put in the container.

For about 20 small Frico, pre-heat the oven to 375 and use:

• 2 c grated Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated black pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp dried oregano 

For every cup of grated cheese, use 1/8 tsp black pepper and 1/4 tsp oregano. 

Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper or a Silpat thingy. I have two of those, but my cleaning goddess thinks they look nice on top of the rolling dishwasher, where I keep a lot of my small appliances, so I'm leaving them there for now.

Use a tablespoon to put little mounds of the cheese and spices on the baking sheet. Press down on the mounds to make them even and space them out a little. Pop them in the pre-heated 375 degree oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. Check to see if they're evenly golden brown, and if they're not, put them back in for another minute. Repeat the checking. If there's a little white left, those spots will be more chewy than crispy, but I kinda like that. The one on the right had a little chewy area. Yum.

The pic above is of some larger ones I made. You can shape the Frico like these by putting them over something round like a rolling pin immediately when they come out of the oven, or just let them cool in their flat shape. When they're cool, enjoy them for a mid-afternoon snack or with a cocktail! This little guy liked the plain ones I took to the picket line on Wednesday!

Maple Pecan Cheesecake Bars

I've been tinkering with this one for a couple of weeks now, and it's a really lovely and comforting (co-worker approved) treat without too much sugar added. It does require a few hours of refrigeration to set up, like any cheesecake, but apart from that it's very simple to put together. 

There are just a few ingredients: pecans and dates for the crust, and cream cheese, sour cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and one egg for the filling. 

First, bring the cheese, cream and egg to room temperature. Pre-heat the oven, then start the crust. Put one cup of pecans (toasted or raw, but no salt added) 1/3 cup pitted dates, and a tiny pinch of salt into a food processor. Start by pulsing and then press on until it's all evenly ground together. This should just take about a minute or two. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with a piece of foil big enough to hang over two edges (you'll use this sling to take the bars out of the pan later) and press the mixture evenly into the foil liner. Press it a little up the edges, too. Set aside until the filling is ready.

Now, the filling: Put 1 1/2 pkgs cream cheese (12 oz) into a mixer or a bowl and stir a bit. Add 2-3 Tbsp sour cream and 1/4 cup maple syrup and mix until combined on medium-low. It's important to not over-beat the cream cheese. It's ok if it's a little lumpy looking--the lumpy bits will melt into the rest. If it's over-beaten, on the other hand, it'll be lumpy when it's cooked. 

Add the egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla and beat just until mixed in well. Spread evenly over the crust (an offset spatula woulda been perfect for this, but the silicone scraper was already covered in batter, so why dirty something else?) and put in the 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes, just until set on top. Let cool at room temp for one hour, um, somewhere your pets can't get to it and sneak little bites when they think you're not looking, and then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. 

Remove from the pan, using the foil sling, and cut into pieces. Serve as is or with a cup of coffee. Most of all, enjoy the treat! 

Hearty Meatball and Veggie Soup

Living by myself and loathing kitchen cleanup as I do, I'm always a fan of a one-pot meal. This checks all the right nutritional boxes, too: protein, healthy carbs, natural fat and lots of veggies. It takes about an hour total and serves four generously. 

With the butternut squash, it hits the ratios for Always Hungry Phase 2. Without them, it's almost exactly phase 1, and leaves you a little room for a little sour cream or parmesan.

For the meatballs, use 1 lb of 85/15 ground beef, 1 egg (beaten before adding), 1 Tbsp chickpea flour, 1/2 tsp each of granulated garlic, salt and oregano, and 1 small diced shallot (about 1-2 Tbsps).

Feel free to play with these ingredients. Use turkey or veggie meatballs if you like, or all-purpose flour, or fresh garlic.  

To form even-sized meatballs you can use a scoop, but I find it kind of a pain to clean mine well so I'd rather not use it for raw meat. Instead, I divide the meat into four parts and then divide each of those parts into four meatballs. Next time I think I'll make them even smaller.

Next, you gotta brown the meatballs to make a nice little crust to keep the flavor in them in the soup. Put a teaspoon of olive oil in the pan and brown them on as many sides as you have patience for! I usually only do two or three "sides". Remove them from the pan and set aside.

I saved a little time by sauteeing the meatballs in this pan and the onions in the soup pot, then sauteeing the other veg in the yummy bits from sauteeing the meat. 

Usually I do it all in one pot, layer by layer. 

Saute one medium onion, diced, in 2 tsp olive oil in a heavy Dutch oven or stock pot.

Saute 2 cups of chopped vegetables in the other pan, or add to the onions if using one pot. Leave in the yummy bits from the meatballs either way. I started the mushrooms before the zucchini to get them a little more brown.

Add 1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes to the onions and stir in the other vegetables if they're separate. Fill the can halfway with water and put the water in the pot. Bring to a simmer for about five minutes.

If you have a piece of Parmesan in the fridge, cut the rind off and toss it in with the tomatoes. It'll add lovely flavor to the soup.

Rinse and drain one can of chickpeas or your favorite beans (about 1 2/3 cups). Add to the veggies. Next, add 5 cups of chicken or veggie broth, homemade or low-sodium from the store. 4 cups plus one more cup of water would also work, especially if you just want to buy one box of broth.

Bring the soup to a boil and then add the meatballs and 1 cup cooked diced butternut squash (if adding raw, cook until soft with the other veggies). Simmer for 5-10 more minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve by itself or with a little parmesan sprinkled on top.  If you make 16 meatballs, put 4 in each serving.