Farmer’s Market Recipes: Spring

I like to cook seasonally, and, while I don’t have a garden (hello, super urban environment), I have two things: San Francisco Farmers’ Markets, and my mother’s abundant garden.

That’s lemon basil, basil, baby carrots, peaches, apricots, cherries, and artichokes.  And sweet peas, in the Leaning Tower of Turquoise Vase.

Of course, everything here is fantastic on its own, because it has so much flavor.  If you’re bored with the way Nature produced things, however, I’m your (easily bored) (always looking to find new flavors) girl.  Here are a few ideas.

 

CARROTS

You must try this Ginger-Lime Baby Carrots recipe.  It uses furikake – I have no idea how to pronounce it, having never bought it before, but it’s necessary.  It is $2.39 for a jar at my local Asian supermarket, and worth every penny. The seaweed and sesame seeds impart salt/umami to the dish, and the ginger/lime/cinnamon combination is sweet and spicy.  Paired with the tender baby carrots…well, Adam didn’t get to try any and I’M NOT SORRY.

Note: I did need to use more liquid than the recipe called for, so be prepared.  Also, prepare to strain the sauce if any carrot greens detach during cooking.  They’re stringy and not pleasant to eat.

You could also use the carrots to make this carrot-ginger-miso salad dressing, which tastes great over sauteed “meaty” greens like kale, chard, spinach, and mustard greens.

 

BASIL/LEMON BASIL

Aside from garnishes, what the heck do you do with lemon basil?  (If you’ve never seen or smelled it before, it has small leaves and smells exactly like a cross between lemons and basil.  Creative naming!) I took the easy route and made a lemon-basil-spiked pesto, but if I had bought more, I would have made a lemon-basil sorbet, inspired by the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Cookbook.  Maybe next week.

I used Ina Garten’s recipe, cut down to 1/3 of the original – 4 cups of pesto seemed a tad excessive.  For the basil, I used half regular basil and half lemon basil, and walnuts instead of  pine nuts, because that is what I had on hand.  It turned out beautifully – a mostly-traditional pesto with a sharp lemony kick.

 

APRICOTS/PEACHES

I grew up with an apricot tree, but wasn’t particularly impressed with them as a child.  Mom’s tree will be ripening soon, and since I’ve seen the error of my ways, I’ve been bookmarking apricot recipes to try.  In the meantime, we found some rich, flavorful apricots at the farmer’s market.

Never one to be satisfied with the simple deliciousness of nature, behold my new favorite thing: apricots, drizzled with a little heavy cream (less than a tablespoon), a sprinkling of salt, and garnished with lemon basil.  It’s sweet and savory, creamy, and just a tad herbal.  You could probably do this with any stone fruit, and serve as an appetizer or dessert.

I haven’t tried this yet, but this apricot-whiskey cocktail recipe looks intriguing.

 

CHERRIES (THE SUPERIOR FRUIT)

Last year, I made a cherry ice cream by soaking fresh, super-ripe, pitted cherries in rye whiskey for several hours, pureed half, chopped the rest, and added them to a basic vanilla ice cream recipe.  (Okay, maybe the +1 and I ate a few of those boozy cherries first.  But.)  I also made bourbon-cherry old fashioneds, and this chicken-cherry salad that requires you to fry croutons in chicken fat.  NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS MORE DECADENT AND DELICIOUS.  Yes, that did require all-caps – try it, you’ll see what I mean.

Do you have anything from the farmer’s market or CSA that you’re not sure how to cook?  Let me know in the comments – chances are I have a few ideas!

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home: cookbook review

Buckeye Ice Cream: Honey, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Flecks

I recently went to Ohio to visit my best friend, and as soon as my flight was booked, she had plans for us to go to Jeni’s, a local ice cream joint featuring unusual flavors on par with Humphry Slocombe and Bi-Rite in San Francisco.  For years, she has told me about Jeni’s and her favorite flavors: sweet basil, olive oil, gooey butter cake, lime cardamom (the list goes on).

Long story short: the ice cream more than met my expectations.  More importantly to me, the owner and creator, Jeni Britton Bauer, wrote a cookbook that helps home cooks achieve over 100 of her recipes in a basic ice cream maker.  She used the same Cuisinart 1.5 quart ice cream maker that I own.   The Amazon reviews are glowing: it seems that everyone who orders this book is happy with it.

As soon as I got home, I ordered the cookbook ($14 on Amazon) and rolled up my sleeves.   (It’s so hard to have to make ice cream, I know, but we all have our crosses to bear.  Equally terrible: having to eat it.)

A couple things set this cookbook apart from regular ice cream recipes:

1. The ingredients.  Jeni’s uses interesting flavors for ice cream, maybe ones unadventurous eaters would shun.  Basil ice cream is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely mine.  Other interesting ingredient combinations: beet and marscapone, sweet potato and marshmallow, cucumber, honeydew, and cayenne, and lavender and berry.

Some ingredients are also a little harder/more expensive to find: butter flavoring, food-grade lavender essential oil, dried hibiscus.  However, those are outliers: most of the recipes require easy-to-find elements, but Ms. Bauer encourages the reader to use the finest and freshest possible version for the best results.  This makes for ice cream that’s more expensive than something store-bought, but at least you know exactly what you’re putting into your stomach.

2. The method.  To achieve ice cream that is soft and firm at the same time, most of the recipes use a mixture of corn syrup, corn starch, and cream cheese.  Her method requires three bowls (one can be a small ramekin, and one is used for an ice bath), and often requires bringing ingredients to a boil once or twice*.  It may seem a little fussier than your average ice cream custard, but produces beautiful results.  Once you’ve done it once, it requires very little extra thought or effort the next time.

So far, I have made four ice creams from this book: a sour beer/nectarine sorbet, a goat-cheese/roasted cherry ice cream (which tastes like rich cheesecake), Bangkok Peanut (coconut milk, peanut butter, and cayenne), and the above-pictured Buckeye (honey, peanut butter, and chocolate flecks).  Each came out beautifully on the first try–the only downside is the mess, but cooks more careful than I shouldn’t have a problem.

I highly recommend this book if you’re looking to upgrade your home ice cream experience and love unusual flavors.  Bonus: pints of this ice cream make for excellent gifts.

Here are recipes from the book that I found around the web: Savannah Buttermint, Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk, and seven more, all in one place.

* Make sure to use a pot with high sides, unless you like sticky messes all over your stove.

Gift guide for the cooking nerd

Sometimes I watch Mad Men and wince when the advertising execs assume that women will want kitchen tools or things to make dinner parties easier – not just because of the obvious misogyny, but because in my case, it is so true.  A cute apron?  Sturdy, colorful kitchen utensils?  Razor-sharp knives?  Voodoo doll toothpick holder?  New serving platters?  Do they sparkle?  COUNT ME IN.

Boojiboo retro aprons on Etsy, $28.75 + shipping

For the cook who loves vintage clothing and doesn’t particularly love a mess, I highly recommend any apron from Boojiboo.  I own two myself, and can vouch for their quality, sturdiness, fit, and overall cuteness.  Plus, it’s cool to support independent sellers.  Browsing her Etsy site is dangerous: she already has some adorable retro holiday patterned aprons up.  Must…not…buy… must not host another holiday event…

STAB. Stab stabbity stab stab stab! $11.84 on Amazon.com

For the host or hostess with barely suppressed anger issues (not me, of course) or who just likes passive-aggressively poking at others, why not the Fred voodoo doll toothpick holder?  At $11.84 (and sometimes lower) on Amazon, it’s a great “small gift” or stocking stuffer that is sure to get a chuckle out of visitors.  (I own one and people constantly comment on it.)  Fred has tons of similar silly kitchen gadgets – check them out here.

Joseph Joseph heat-resistant kitchen utensils, $26.47 on Amazon

My old kitchen utensils were biting the dust, one by one – small wonder after heavy use for over four years.  While browsing Amazon one night, I came upon these heat-resistant (up to 480 degrees) utensils that are not only colorful and bright, but are weighted at the handle so the “active” portion of the utensil stays off the counter.  Having used them for several months now, they live up to my expectations and then some.  And did I mention they’re pretty colors?

If you want to get them with a carousel to hold them, that’ll cost you extra.

Shun 8" Chef's Knife, $139.95 on Amazon

And now, back to the pointy things.  For anyone who has never had a really good knife before, put this on your wishlist now.  Sure, the price initially makes me throw up a little in my mouth, but it pays off in the kitchen.  My +1 got the Santoku and paring knives a year or two ago, and, well, let’s just say they sweeten the relationship deal.  Also, were we ever to break up, he would have to pry them from my cold, dead hands, and even then, I would hope rigor mortis would set in.  Point being: a good knife is an absolute necessity, so if the cook in your life doesn’t have one, consider this.

Vintage Barbie Learns To Cook reproduction, various prices on Google Shopping and Amazon

Is your cooking fan also a Barbie fan?  (Really?  Is it me?)  Try finding the 2007 reproduction of the vintage Barbie Learns to Cook doll. It comes in an adorable display box, and if you want the brunette “platinum” edition, that will cost you extra.  About three times as much extra.

Holiday Cocktails card deck, $11.86 on Amazon (and sometimes can be found cheaper elsewhere)

Finally, because no holiday is complete without a little extra cheer, your friends (or you) might enjoy this recipe card deck (paired with a good bottle of booze, if you’re feeling fancy).  It has a lot of standard cocktails, but some have wintry twists.  There are also non-alcoholic drinks, suggestions for garnishes, and a detailed explanation of what basic ingredients and liquors one should generally have on hand.  I find the latter feature particularly useful, and it’s a nice, compact size with great photos.

For more good suggestions, check out Smitten Kitchen’s Gift Guide.  Hers is practical where mine delights in its ridiculousness.

What has been your favorite kitchen/cooking/entertaining gift?

Furnishing a living room on a budget

My first apartment – all to my own darn self! – happened when I was 23.  I moved to San Francisco for law school, I managed to live on my own, and I have never looked back.  (Some people weren’t meant to have roommates.  As a perpetually early riser, I realize that I am one of them.  LET’S GRIND COFFEE AT 4AM!  Whee!)

When I moved out, I – quite literally – had no money.  I had no furniture, other than the stuff at my dad’s home.  And definitely no dishes, no appliances, and no linens.  What was a girl to do?  Call upon the power of her family, that’s what (with your powers combined, I am Captain Decorator!).

My mom is pretty brilliant at shopping for bargains, then refurbishing (if necessary) so that things have a cohesive theme.  Which is exactly what she did for me: she took her extra lamps and furniture, and refinished them so that they would fit my color scheme.

Whereas my mom decorates in primarily warm colors, I had a turquoise-and-white theme in mind for my living room.  So mom took three completely different pieces, and with one or two cans of silvery-pewter paint, fixed it so I had three matching pieces (four, if you count my silver-and-wood-desk!).

This funky lamp was a thrift store find, and used to be a metallic gold/bronze.  I had always loved the shape and the shade – I mean, talk about a statement piece – but the color wasn’t anything I could see myself using.  With some silver paint, the bronze lamp became significantly more subdued, and now it resides behind my couch as a focal point.

My coffee table used to be the glass pictured, but the metal was in shades of pink.  It had been painted with a ”granite” sort of paint, where you paint one color and then spackle a stucco-esque coat on top.  It worked well in one room of my mother’s house, but not for my apartment.  With the same silver paint, all of a sudden it matched the lamp.

Finally, the bistro set (one other chair not pictured) used to be black metal with floral yellow/orange/red tiles.  Again, all Mom did was paint it silver, and poof – I had my very own matching table and chairs, that also match my coffee table, lamp, and desk.

Throw on a plush seatcover, add a lamp (Marshall’s, a $70 splurge, but so worth it) and a Subversive Cross-Stitch, and you have a matching set of furniture that would make any student proud.

The moral of the story?  Go to thrift stores and yard sales, and don’t be limited by what the piece looks like at the time.  With minimal effort and cost, my mom provided me with a set of “matching” furniture that I may not have been able to acquire myself.  It’s also a heck of a lot more eco-friendly than trashing your old stuff and buying something new – and that is never a bad thing.

New from Urban Outfitters: underwear for the office

Oh, Urban Outfitters, really?  High-waisted wool briefs?  Better yet, dry-clean only?  Truly a bargain at $155.

Back in my day, we wore pants or skirts to the office!  And underwear underneath them!

The blazer adds a classy touch.

If I were independently wealthy, model-skinny, and in absolutely no need of a good professional reputation, I would wear these to interviews merely to see if anyone gently points out that I forgot my outerwear.

(“But ma’am, the career office never told us that pants could be too short, only skirts!  They’re professional because they’re wool, you see.”)

Thrift Store Find: vintage turquoise pitcher

Thanks to my mother and one of her roadtrips to the Pacific Northwest, I am now the proud owner of this vintage (late 60′s, early 70′s) turquoise glass pitcher.  This came from a thrift shop in Oregon, and cost less than $5.

It’s particularly timely because I was looking for a pitcher of this shape and size a week prior, when Mom asked if I’d like her to keep an eye out for one.  I said yes, because everything I was finding was smaller, $15+, and clear.  (Clear is nice, but turquoise is the best color ever/the color of my apartment, so…)

One thing I have observed about my mother is that she possesses Shopping Magic.  That is, every time I want something, all I have to do is say aloud, “You know, I’m looking for this particular item…” and it will appear at a ridiculous sale price.  This has worked for everything from designer handbags to vintage Barbies to makeup to vodka to houseplants.  It’s inexplicable.  When Mom goes shopping, stores seem to sense it and roll out exactly what we’re looking for, 90% off.  If she lived closer, I’d be broke(r).

So I wasn’t exactly surprised when she called and said she bought it for me–more envious, really.  How do I get the Shopping Magic, dammit?

Thrift stores are a great place to supplement household items or decor with funky statement pieces like this one.  (In my opinion, items made in the 70′s tend to be hideous when you put the olive, gold, and  burnt orange tones together, but on their own, the gold looks great with turquoise, or the orange looks good with white dishes.)  I have plenty of clear glass and silver serving dishes, so when I have a dinner party (and have the time), I like to pull out big colored glass bowls and stands to add some color.  Definitely shabby-student-chic, but it’s fun to be able to mix and match without spending a lot.