Recipes

Tonight kicks off the first month of the SGT book club. And let me just tell you, books and food are two of my favorite things in the world, so I couldn’t be more excited to jump in! 

“You deeeep them!” explained my Argentine mother standing behind a cutting board overflowing with seemingly every vegetable known to man. She made a dipping motion with the cauliflower floret in her hand, while trying to keep her piles from avalanching into each other. “Like fondue?” I asked hopefully, visions of chocolate-covered strawberries dancing in my 10-year-old head. “Si, pero tiene mucho mucho ajo!” Lots and lots of garlic.

With this morning’s announcement of 2009’s Academy Award nominees, it seems appropriate to look at food from the perspective of a movie goer. Last year, two broadly released movies featured food in a starring role: Food, Inc. and Julie and Julia. We’ll find out today if either of them garners any nominations.

A new year full of possibilities and quandaries lies before us. If you’re trying to figure out how to feed yourself and your family more home-cooked, tasty, local meals without breaking the bank, purchasing a myriad of strange ingredients, or spending hours in the kitchen, keep reading.

As Mother Nature has decreed it, the start of the New Year in Minnesota is always a cold one. For me, a salad just doesn’t hold the same appeal this time of year as a hot, hearty meal, so I'm getting reaquainted with my slow cooker. Also known as a Crock Pot®, the slow cooker is not a sexy kitchen appliance. But what it may lack in pizzazz it more than makes up for in its ability to do all sorts of heavy lifting, transforming simple ingredients into something far greater than the sum of its parts, all while you’re off doing something else.

There’s nothing like the taste of raw honey. That musky, grainy, slightly tart explosion of sweetness is the most important part of my morning routine. Thickly spread between a slice of toast and a thin schmear of almond butter... and, ahhhh, who needs coffee?

It’s because I’m half-Greek, you know. We Greeks grow up with the taste of honey in our mouths. We get honey in warm milk to help us sleep; honey and lemon juice in hot water to soothe our sore throats; honey straight up to calm our coughs. All that honey almost makes us look forward to the next cold or flu season.

Isn’t it great to be done with your shopping in plenty of time? You can sit by the fireplace, relax, and sip a mulled something-or-another? Wait, what? You’re NOT done? Well have no fear, I can help. But first, understand that there are a three levels to this problem; the key is knowing which level you’re in.

Yellow-Level Alert: You’re here if you still have a day or so to whip together a gift. You have time to make and/or pick up something, though it’s got to be quick.

Photo credit: Erincooks.comMy family celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas, and with today being the first day of Hanukkah, I can practically fry a potato - or a sweet potato - in my mind. I've often wondered how the ancient Jews in Israel knew that I'd be wanting to serve up seasonal food in Minnesota this time of year. Proof that God exists? You tell me.

Porketta is one of those recipes that you shove in the oven and forget about. The meat emerges tender and succulent. It serves a bunch of people, and the leftovers – sliced high and piled on crusty baguette, or slathered with bbq sauce on a soft, whole wheat bun, or diced and simmered in ragu for pasta – make things easy on the cook.

It’s one of those recipes that came to the Iron Range with Italian miners, was adopted by Czech neighbors and Norwegian farmers, and is now found on menus throughout the Twin Cities (and given an uptempo spin).

Now that our Harmony Valley farmshare deliveries have slowed to just once every 2 weeks, I get especially excited when they come. Any lover of tasty soup recipes will tell you that you can never have too many root vegetables, too much squash, or too much garlic. And this week being the start of Thanksgiving ... well, let's just say I'm grateful once again for fresh, locally grown sweet potatoes to put beneath mountains of marshmallows and brown sugar.

Not all locavores live in the cities. There are plenty of suburbanites, like me, who appreciate the benefits of buying and eating locally grown, sustainably harvested food. That’s why so many of us suburba-locavores (New word! Are you reading, Merriam-Webster editors?) shop at Lakewinds.

Adam Anderson, former chef at Lucia's (currently at Whole Foods), creates Simple, Good, and Tasty recipes on a regular basis, using the ingredients from our Harmony Valley Farm CSA boxes. Here's his latest.

Just before embarking on my week-long stay at a cabin with my in-laws and friends, I posted to Twitter and Facebook, hoping to find a local cocktail that would impress the crowd. My friends chimed in helpfully, offering suggestions such as "gin and lake water" (thanks Graeme!) and "lemonade with Shaker vodka, muddled local raspberries or Door County cherries, and mint (thanks nearly everyene else?)."

This recipe was provided by chef Adam Anderson, formerly of Lucia's restaurant in Minneapolis. It uses local, seasonal ingredients - many of which are found in this week's farm shares across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Roasted Carrots, Golden Beets and Green Beans with Crispy Chard and Fresh Chevre

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

When it comes to making and preparing food, you can’t get much more local than homemade. When your food is prepared, cooked, and served all in the same factory – a home kitchen – there is a sense of ownership over the food. It’s not just the sense of accomplishment, but also because it is so much easier to know your ingredients. There are tons of prepared, cured, and processed foods on the shelves of grocery stores that used to be made at home - they’d be much better tasting (and better for us) if they still were. It may seem like a lot of effort to make your own ketchup, jam, cake, or bacon; but it doesn’t need to be.

This recipe came to me from my new friend Michelle O’Kelley. She says it originally came from Bon Appetit in August 2000, and was recently delivered with her CSA box. According to Michelle, "it’s so simple and I happen to have all the ingredients on hand (except the Pernod)." We're getting tons of fennel from our farmshare this month, so a new recipe for it is welcome in my house. Here goes:

Fresh Fennel Vichyssoise