chicken curry with gentle spices

This morning at the farmer's market I began to see the slow down of the season. There has been probably one fewer vendor each week, but it has been a natural recession. However, today, two of the vendors I normally count on were gone, probably breaking for a month or two until the next push of California fruits and veggies gets going, but it was a sharp awakening that winter is finally here. I did manage to get a few things: carrots, celery, spinach, apples, grapes and head of garlic for my chicken curry. The remaining ingredients for the week I found at either TJ's, a little market up the street from them, or the or the butcher.

I did notice lots of broccoli and artichokes at the market this morning, along with more greens, swiss chard, rapini, etc. So next week I will focus on recipes that include these items.

Tonight I made a fabulous Chicken Curry from my favorite new cook book The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift. The recipe, Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices was a yummy Indian like curry, full of flavor, but not too spicy.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

gingerbread cookies with lemon filling

Over the holidays I made several batches of these yummy treats. The gingerbread is a nice cookie by itself, spicy but not too dark. However, once the smooth lemon icing is added in the middle a whole new animal is born. I took these to several holiday parties this year to rave reviews.

The recipe came from Food and Wine's December 2008 issue which highlighted unresistable holiday desserts. One of the featured bakers was Nick Malgieri, his recipe below, director of baking at New York City's Institute of Culinary Education.

Recipe for Ginger Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Nick Malgieri, Food and Wine: December 2008

cookies
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1& 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

filling
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 & 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and position racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Make the cookies: In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter and sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and molasses until just mixed. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just incorporated, scraping down the bowl.

3. Drop small spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheets, 3 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until risen and fallen and slightly firm; shift the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through for even baking. Let cool slightly, then transfer the parchment paper to racks and let the cookies cool completely.

4. Make the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with the confectioners' sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the lemon juice until well mixed and a nice smooth frosting has formed.

5. Arrange the cookies in pairs on a large work surface. Spoon or pipe 1 rounded tablespoon of the lemon filling onto the flat side of half the cookies. Sandwich with the remaining cookies, pressing them together so the filling spreads to the edge.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

beef and vegetable stew

Last Sunday I found all kinds of fruits and veggies that looked too good to pass up. Beautiful stalks of chard, and flavorful fall sugar snap peas, yukon gold potatoes, lovely orange beets, a gigantic red pepper, an heirloom tomato, and a couple chilies and shallots rounded out the veggies. We both love fruit, and eat a lot of it each week either during the day at work, or as a yummy dessert. Apples of course are still crisp and ripe right now, and we picked up bunches of grapes, several pears, and for the first time a couple satsuma oranges.

Dinners this week have included a vegetable and beef stew, roasted beet and pea salad, and beef tacos with lightly fried potatoes, chard, red pepper and chilies. The beef and veggie stew was a combination of all the veggies here, plus some left over from last week.

Recipe for Sunday Beef and Vegetable Stew

1 pound stew beef, cubed into edible sizes
Chopped veggies galore - I used some shallots, garlic, celery, potatoes, left over green beans, carrots, bell pepper, a Chile, and several leaves of chard chopped up.
Beef broth
Spices

First brown the beef in a large soup pot with just a touch of olive oil. Scoop the beef out to rest while you slowly fry the shallots, and garlic until they begin to soften. Add celery, and slowly add remainder of veggies, minus the chard, a enough water that the veggies don't burn but can cook together nicely. After about 10 minutes, as the flavors begin to meld, add the beef back into the pot, and add a couple chugs of beef broth. Bring to a boil and the simmer.

Simmer the stew for several hours, being sure to check the water level every so often. Once the beef is tender to your likeness or about 30 minutes before serving add the chard and take the lid off the pot. This way the chard will remain semi-firm when served, and some of the liquid evaporated off making the stew nice and thick.

On Sunday I also tried my hand at bread baking, and served the stew with a couple slices of homemade brown bread.
(photography by: alison clayshulte)

market abundance and finding the lay of the land

This morning my husband and I visited the Tesmescal Farmer's Market like we have every Sunday that we've been in town for the past couple months. I love this market. It is not the biggest market in town, but it is neighborly, and fun, and un-pretentious. There are booths bursting with produce and nuts, music, jam's and pickles, and a growing number of wonderful food merchants. But, more about the market another time.

Today, after much thought, I have decided the direction for this blog. I want to focus on local flavors, within 150 miles of my home in Oakland. Most of our grocery shopping already comes from this fabulous Farmer's Market, but I always supplement with items from either TJ's or Berkeley Bowl. In order to really focus my cooking, eating, and blogging on the local flavors of the area I've decided to use the market as inspiration. Each week I will head to the market and pick out what looks the best and most flavorful. I will post a picture of my food finds on the blog. My goal over the course of the week will be to make nutritious, and flavorful meals, and to supplement as little as possible from outside the 150 mile radius.

I also believe in sustainable farming / business practices and will plan to feature items, restaurants, or organizations that I think are completely supporting this practice.

While I love to cook, I also am an avid baker and will begin putting my baking experiments and recipes in an area called "bake house" on the blog. If I haven't posted my own recipe I will be sure to link to the cookbook that inspired me.

Finally, I am so fortunate to be able to buy good food that nourishes my body and excites my soul. I believe that all people here in Oakland and around the world should have access to food that is healthy and nutritious. I will dedicate this blog to also writing and posting about work going on around the world that moves towards this goal.

Tomorrow...this week's market finds and my first market meal.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)